Denial

I love that you like science so much.
Do you know what's best about science, Marie?
It's the only thing that's always true,
Even if people don't want it to be.
Constant and dependable,
Just like my little girl.

Marie drops her smoothie. It clatters to the floor, but she pays no mind, because—because...

What she heard over the radio. The interference. Sure, it was—just scratching and nonsense and couldn't be understood, but.

But it can't be understood in a way she's—she's sure that— "Are... uh..." She takes a deep breath, steadies her voice. "Are you holding the phone upside-down?"

There's no sound for a moment, not even Four's breathing over the line. Maybe Marie's wrong. She has to be wrong. She has to—

"Ugh... I totally was."

Holy squit holy squit holy squit. "CALLIE?!"

"Um..." the person on the other side clears her throat. "Nope, this is definitely not Callie!" It's Callie. It's Callie, it's Callie, it's "So just... leave. It's dangerous here!" YOU'RE HERE, CALLIE. "And it's not safe at all!"

The normalness of it, Callie repeating herself when she gets flustered, hits Marie in the eyes. "Ummmm..." A tear slips down Marie's cheek. "Don't those mean the same thing?"

"WHATEVER! JUST GET OUT OF HERE! I'M NOT CALLING AGAIN!"

"W-wait! Don't go!" Nothing. Nothing, nothing, "Callie?!" Please, please... "CALLIE!"

Nothing. Nothing at all. She's gone.

That was Callie. It was. "I... I can't believe it. Could Callie really be working with the Octarians?" More tears slip down Marie's cheeks, and she closes her eyes.

"A-agent 2?" asks a tiny voice in her ears.

Oh, squit. Agent Four's still out there. "Agent Four, I need your help now more than ever." Four doesn't say anything, but honestly, that doesn't mean much right now. "You're not much of a talker, are you?" she asks, just to fill the silence. "Well, you're still here, so I'm going to keep telling you to do stuff. LET'S GO."

There's the sound of a superjump as Four leaves the kettle, then a very, very quiet, "So what do I do?"

Marie doesn't know how to answer. She rests her face in her hands and hopes Four doesn't ask again.

That was Callie. That was completely, totally, absolutely Callie. It was Callie, and the first evidence she's alive, since October. Six months. Six months...

And all she had to say was 'go away'.

There are four Octolings in Inkopolis that weren't there two months ago. Three Octolings who, one at a time, she talked to with their glasses on, who were completely hostile until she removed their glasses by force, who stayed confused and angry for several minutes until it turned to confusion, who kept demanding their glasses back and repeating themselves and looking lost until they heard Calamari Inkantation. Three of them didn't respond to Calamari Inkantation with their glasses on, or even respond to it after their glasses came off, until they stopped being angry and hostile and just became confused.

One who told her after that he'd listened to her and Calle singing it live, back when the zapfish went missing the first time. He froze, his glasses still on, his face wrinkling with confusion, and declared, in broken Inklish, that he was going crazy. He'd responded even better once his glasses were off.

Something cold soaks her feet. Marie looks down. The smoothie spill's spread.

Marie kicks the cup out of the way, strips off her wet socks and shoes, and leans over the communicator settings. Surely, there must be something she can do. Some way to get Callie back.

Callie is there. Callie is with the Octarians, and... and...

She's alive.

Marie blinks hard, the settings blurring in front of her, because Callie is alive. Really, truly.

Is she hurt? If she's wearing those glasses, she may not have any idea what's going on, where she is, who she's with. She may not even know she's working for the Octarians; or maybe she does. Maybe she does, and she's given up. She's given up, she's been tortured and hurt, and if they don't get there fast she'll be killed. Maybe she's telling them to stay away so the same thing that happened to her doesn't happen to Marie.

Oh, Callie, Callie, Callie.

The headset has quiet noises still, just the pleased yips of the latest zapfish as Four pets it, the rustle of her walking back to the cabin, but Marie keeps her door closed, stays in the room. Four's fought an Octoboss today—and she's terrible with chargers, Marie probably could've taken out the Octo Shower in a quarter of that time, but Four kept insisting she could do it. But even if it had been easy, she couldn't ask Four to go into the field again after an Octo Boss.

Callie.

Marie should take off this headset and tell Four what a great job she did today. She should cook Four some supper, because that girl's so tight on cash Marie's sure she skips meals, and give her tomorrow off. She should return the two zapfish Four's recovered this week.

Callie.

Marie has an interview tomorrow and a radio show she has to do live the next day and a date with Drown and Sync and Four's already in the cabin but Marie twists the knobs on the communicator and aches to hear what isn't there any more.