Knowledge
Look, squiddo,
This is pretty scary.
Nightmare scary,
Grown-up scary.
And I can't un-tell you.
So I ask again:
Are you sure you want to know?
"Remember to back off and take cover if you need a breather," Marie says into the mic. "No more foolishness like that stunt with the splatling yesterday, understand?"
"But this is—"
"It's not Moray Towers. I know what it looks like. Be careful." Marie presses the button to turn off her mic and watches the screen. Four's being properly cautious as she goes for the first mini zapfish. She should be fine for a couple minutes.
Marie looks at the laptop in her lap and rereads through the planned questions at next week's talk show. No surprises; not after she started crying on set after the surprise question about Callie. She only answers one more before glancing up to check on Four's progress. She'll give the girl some advice—
And she freezes, words dying on her lips.
Four is fighting two Octolings at once. She can handle them, too, though no doubt she'll need to duck into her ink to recover when this is done. But the Octolings...
They're not wearing goggles.
They're wearing sunglasses.
Sunglasses with a very familiar shape. A very—
Marie is out of her chair before she knows what she's doing, her own headset on and hero gear half-equipped. "Four," she says, "how many mini zapfish do you have?"
"Three!" Four says cheerfully. "I'll go for the fourth once my vision clears, I've got ink spots."
"Don't," Marie says, her voice quiet and sharp all at once; she buckles on her hero shot and slings her charger into a holster on her back. "I need you to retreat to the spawn pad."
"Retreat? But—"
"How many Octolings are in that area?" Marie talks right over Four.
Four sucks in a breath. "Uh, four. Why?"
Marie goes into the cupboard she built. They have ten cepha cages; she selects four. "I noticed something, through the camera. I need to check it out. Don't do anything until I get there."
Four doesn't say anything for a moment. There's just the sound of swimming. But then, "Okay," Four says. "I'm just below spawn. I should be able to climb up by the time you get here."
Carrying all four of these is awkward. Marie can't superjump with more than two at once. She takes two to the outside of the kettle, then the other two, then, gripping two hard, ducks inside.
She plops onto the spawn pad right next to Four, surprising a cry out of the girl. "Agent 2? What—"
"Shush," she says, setting down the cages. "There are two more of these, I'll be right back."
"But—"
Marie's out of the kettle again before Four can finish, and back again moments later. That done, she dusts off her hands and grips her charger so hard it hurts. "The two of us together will go after the next mini-zapfish. I'll cover you. Once you have it, retreat to me. I need to see something."
Four's eyes are wide and scared, staring at Marie, and Marie takes a deep breath. She reaches to rest a hand on Four's arm, and Four flinches, just a little, then holds very still.
Marie puts a hand on Four's shoulder and squeezes anyway. "I promise, you've done nothing wrong," she says, letting her hand keep Four secure, and Four relaxes slightly. "You've been an amazing agent. I just think I saw something, and I need a closer look."
"Something bad?" Four asks. "Do I need—"
"You don't even need my help," Marie promises. "Honestly, I'll probably be in the way in a scramble; you're much better up close than I am." And Four beams at her; honestly, Marie can get so far with praise. "If I'm wrong, then I'll take this stuff and go right back to base. But I need these things here if I'm right." Marie blows out a long breath. Nerves. She wants to chew on her tentacles, but they're tied back, and anyway, her hands are full. "Get the next mini-zapfish, fight as normal, but once you've got it come back to me."
Four ducks her head and rubs the back of her neck, pulling out of Marie's hold, then hoists her dualies again and nods. "Okay."
Without another word, Four starts making her way back down the tower. Marie shadows her, far enough away not to get drawn into any fights, close enough to snipe as needed. Four inks as she walks, a habit she hasn't broken from turf war, moving at a steady pace with regular dodge rolls and only ducking into ink when she needs to refuel; she's already taken out the defenses on this side. Marie follows at full charge, taking short swims alternating with quiet steps. The weight of the ink in her charger is a reminder, more of a burden than the charger alone.
An octosniper spots Four. She dodge-rolls out of the way. They're almost at ground level.
As Four approaches the next mini-zapfish, an octoling superjumps over to fight. Marie's breath catches in her throat. No. It's... that's...
As Four comes back, mini zapfish in tow, Marie breathes, "Callie wore those same sunglasses."
There's no doubt. Those are the glasses Callie got at final fest. The ones she wore everywhere for most of the last year. Before she disappeared.
Four's eyes widen. "Your missing—agent 1? Who's..."
Marie nods. "We knew about the goggles—I went over them with you back in sector two. But sunglasses, too... Marina Ida didn't know she was being interrogated, but she basically confirmed what Octarian eye covers did." Marie frowns as a laser slips over their spot, hidden behind a few boxes.
With practiced motions, she slips on the scope, peers around the box's edge, and takes out the octosniper.
Four sucks in a breath. "That was awesome."
"That's why aiming is important," Marie says. "Now. Those things I brought down? If we don't splat the octolings, I can shove them in there and take them back to Inkopolis. Question them. Figure out..." she trails off, because it hits her then, like a charger shot between the eyes, that Callie was wearing those things.
"You're not gonna hurt them, right?" Four asks, and Marie snaps back to attention at the feel of Four's hand tugging her sleeve. "I know they all respawn, here, but if you take them and keep them somewhere, then they wouldn't be near the respawn pads and it'd actually... you know, that."
Marie gives Four's longest tentacle a tug. "Absolutely not," she promises. "I'll... one at a time, I'll see if taking their glasses off breaks the brainwashing, and I'll try music. Marina said she came out of it when her glasses broke and she heard Calamari Inkantation, and we know that song has special powers. I'll keep them at the old news building; it's still up for sale." And she still has her key.
It won't take much for her to make her and Callie's old dressing room into an Octo containment facility.
Four nods, her eyes huge. "I still can't believe you got to talk to a celebrity like Marina," she says. "Do you think I'll get to meet her someday? And—and Pearl? Pearl is amazing, they're both amazing, and I've never even met a real celebrity."
"You do remember that I'm a celebrity, right?" Marie asks, careful not to smile.
"You work on the radio," Four says. "No one on the radio is a real celebrity."
Marie rolls her eyes and leaves it, for now. "I'm gonna superjump up there and grab two cages, then come back. If you lure them out one at a time, we can do this. Together."
And, as Marie goes, she considers. Maybe she should ask Off The Hook if they'll be willing to talk on her show at some point. Maybe hearing Marina fan out over her will get Four to change her mind.