Meanwhile, Delta was in a serious pickle. Marina's near-interrogation had left the agent seriously questioning whether Marie was fit to handle her own Canyon mission…but she hated the idea of betraying both a friend's trust and a superior's direct orders. Now she sat on the Squid Sister's composite couch, listening to the idol brainstorm ideas for an upcoming offensive that Delta was extremely hesitant about. The agent had spent the past thirty minutes suggesting ideas that might delay things, but none had stuck so far.

Marie had propped herself on an elbow and pursed her lip, thinking hard. "…I could send you in to eliminate each Board member—either all together or one by one. We'll need to make sure it looks like a skirmish."

Delta squeezed her eyes shut, frantically searching for yet another excuse. "…What about the barrier?"

"Good point, but I don't think they can power it without the Zapfish." Marie sat up and crossed her arms. "Besides, even if they could, we didn't wait for the shield to fully deactivate last time. We wound up sneaking you in as a captive." She went quiet, rubbing a pensive thumb across her chin. "…Y'know what, that…might not be a bad idea."

Delta straightened herself in protest. "But—"

"And maybe we can talk to Sheldon about a large-scale explosive…" It was too late—the idol was off in her own world. "Maybe he could augment one of Marina's hyperbombs. Then you could plant it in the Board's meeting hall and we could take them out all at once—that way there's no need to worry about who voted for what."

Delta dropped her shoulders with a resigned, irritated sigh.

The idol nodded to herself, satisfied, and stood with a huff. "I think that's enough for now—it shouldn't be too hard to figure out the details from there. Which is good, because I'd…" her eyes darkened as if an angry cloud had eclipsed the sun; she tried to hide it by glancing away. "…I'd rather shred them sooner rather than later."

Marie quickly slipped into her room—but Delta only had a second to herself before the idol poked her head back out. "Oh, and…Cal should be home soon. Make sure she doesn't eat the rest of those crabby cakes, yeah?" She jerked her chin at the three remaining treats on the kitchen counter, waited for Delta's absent nod, then shut her door.

Agent 4 finally dropped the act and raked two irate hands through her tentacles. Delta was uncertain, torn, and—most of all—frustrated at her own paralytic indecision…but now there was something else, manifesting as one thought that rang above it all:

Force must parallel danger.

It was one of the most basic, rudimentary lessons she'd learned from her coach in Echo's Edge. The amount of force deployed against a threat must be directly proportional to the threat itself—an underuse allowed things to escalate, while an overuse welcomed unnecessary dangers. To Delta, this rule was both obvious and sacrosanct; and yet Marie was willing to risk civilian bystanders—who were blameless in Callie's brainwashing—in a near-terrorist bombing that Delta wasn't even convinced needed to happen at all.

Force. Must. Parallel. Danger. And so Marie was in flagrant violation of a rule embedded into Delta's identity. To say that had ticked her off was an understatement…and it had finally tipped the scale.

Agent 4 grabbed her shellphone, pulled up her message history with Callie, and began typing: "Marie is trying to do something stupid."

It was about two seconds before the bouncing ellipsis bloomed into a response: "Again? Don't worry girl I GOTCHU"

Delta allowed a smirk, then locked the screen and pocketed her phone. There were a few moments of ominously foreboding silence…

…before Callie came crashing through the front door with the force of a tornado hyped on coffee.

"OKIE-dokie—time for an Operation Smack Sense into Marie!" She'd barely hung her messenger bag on the coatrack before zeroing overeager eyes onto Agent 4. "Hit me with it—what's the cousin doin'?"

"So…" Delta began with a finger to her lips, closing the front door behind the Squid Sister; Agent 1 waved her off, swiping two crabby cakes from the kitchen counter and stuffing them into her mouth. "Remember that Canyon mission that Marie's been up to?"

"Uh-huh." Callie nodded, swallowed, and snatched the third.

"She wants me to head back into the Canyon, by myself." Delta continued, furrowing a confused eyebrow at the pink squid's green earrings—green was Marie's color. "I'm supposed to eliminate the Board of Advisors by planting a beefed-up hyperbomb in their meeting hall."

Callie had stopped chewing at "Board of Advisors." She stared back at Delta, still as a statue, before finally gulping down the rest of the crabby cake. "That's BS."

"Yeah." Delta nodded, emphatically. "She might even want to pull last year's tactic to get pa—"

"She's trying to get captured?!" Agent 1 blurted out, clenching one hand into a fist. "Does she know how horribly that's gonna blow up in her face?!" She began pacing with a surprisingly angry growl; the pink squid's exuberance had quickly given way to frustration, irritation—a whole mix of emotions that Delta hadn't anticipated. "Even if the Board was stupid enough to fall for it, who says you're gonna make it past their personal guard?"

Delta paused. She didn't know that the Board had their own security detail.

"…Right." The younger agent ventured again. "Fully aware. I need help talking her out of this whole thing."

"Oh, you're gonna get more than that." Callie pursed a stern, almost angry lip. Wild eyes landed on Marie's closed door—she grabbed Delta's wrist and began marching. "All this just 'cause she feels guilty…if she thinks she can get away with dumb squit behind my back, she's got another thing comin'."

Delta tried to hide her wince. Callie was walking into this with a lot more antagonism than Agent 4 would've liked.

"Hey. Marie." Callie swung the door open and barged in, depositing Agent 4 in front of her. "Mind comin' clean 'bout this little secret of yours?"

Marie glanced up from the purple-sleeved book she'd been reading. Her gaze flicked to Delta, only to shift back to Callie, then back again. Curious eyes narrowed into suspicion.

"…I thought I'd told you to stay quiet." Her voice was a low growl.

"I just…" Regret hit Delta like a train and she fumbled for a defense, shooting a finger at Callie with a high-pitched squeak. "She pulled rank! A-and stuffed animals…"

"Stuffed animals?" Marie glared at her costar, shutting her book with an irritated snap. "You blackmailed my agent?!"

"I wouldn't have needed to if you'd just been straight with me." Callie's stern shoulders spiked into a sharp shrug. "What gives?"

Marie stiffened. "It's just a touchy subject."

"Is it so touchy that it makes you scour through the Canyon?" Callie raised an irritated eyebrow at Marie's attempt to swallow her recoil. "To the point where you've been doing it—and I quote—'for a while now?'"

"…Really?" Marie turned to glower at her confidant, golden eyes glimmering with betrayal. "You had to tell her that, too?"

Delta's eyes squeezed into a regretful wince—that was a secret she hadn't meant to disrespect. "I…I'm sorry."

"Yeah she did, apparently." Callie dropped her arm with an exasperated pant; Delta could see hints of hurt buried behind her golden-eyed glare. "And y'know what—it's a good thing that she talked. Because don't even get me started on this half-baked 'plan' of yours."

Marie's gaze zeroed back onto her cousin. "And you've got a better one?"

"How 'bout something that's—I don't know—NOT a kamikaze attack?!" Agent 1 flailed in aggravated exasperation. "Something that doesn't chuck Four straight into custody? You designed that bait for Octavio, not the Board—and he's not even around to fall for it! If they trace your comms again—and believe me they're gonna—then Four won't be the only one in an Octarian cell, and then they'll…they'll…" Callie stopped herself and flung a semi-frantic hand through her tentacles, an angry exhale sizzling through her nostrils like hot steam. "…Please tell me you at least thought of that. Please."

Marie clenched her jaw, but Delta could spot the tiny, ever-so-slight widening of her eyes. She hadn't.

"Coddamn it, Marie!" Callie's hand hit her thigh with an emphatic swear. "What's gotten into you?! You're the thinker and I'm the go-getter—why am I the one pointing this out and not you?!"

"…Look. Every mission's gotta have some kind of risk." Marie pursed her lips with a slow, tense wave of her hand. "You know that. Strategy is just one of those things where you simply have to trust—"

"Trust you?!" Callie nearly shouted back, incredulous. "Marie. I don't care what your little book says." She looked her cousin dead in the eye. "This. Crusade. Is. Going. To. Kill. You." She angrily yanked at her tentacle bow, ignoring Marie's dagger-eyed glare. "Honestly! Just wha'd'ya think you're even doing with this bullsquit—"

"Saving your hide." Marie's prompt reply had developed a hint of animosity. "This Board of Advisors needs to learn that their actions won't be tolerated; anyone who even thinks of trying that again gets removed from power. Forcibly." Delta's ears picked up a hiss on that last word.

Callie's eyes flicked between Marie's, then she ran a hand through her tentacle bangs with a huff. "Then why'd I have to drag it outta Four like I was pulling fangs? What happened to last year's talk about including each other in stuff like this?"

"That's…" Marie turned away with a frustrated growl. "This mission doesn't count. It's for your own good."

"'For my own good?'" Callie glanced away, folding her arms with a brisk, curt nod. "Mmkay, then I should have some say in what happens, don't'cha think?" Golden eyes flicked back onto their target; Marie's mounting animosity might've concerned Delta, but her cousin showed no signs of backing down. "I don't like what this 'good' does to my cousin. I don't want it. Stop."

"I'm not stopping." Marie whirled back around, sternly returning Callie's glare. "Out of the question. What, they get to do this to you—" she motioned at Callie's forehead, "—and get away with it, scot-free?" Her shoulders rose into a slow, indignant shrug. "You can't expect me to let that go."

Delta pursed a concerned lip as her gaze flicked between the two Squid Sisters—tensions were rising like no tomorrow.

"And don't even think about ordering me to stop," Marie jammed a finger at her cousin, "because I know you are. Poor orders can ruin a campaign; sometimes a good general needs a little insubordination. I'm dealing with this threat and that's final."

Callie's eyes narrowed and her shoulders spiked into a disbelieving shrug. "Have you ever thought that you, y'know, might not be thinking about this clearly?"

"You're one to talk." Marie didn't hesitate.

"I'm not the one charging straight into a manta's maw!" Callie shook a frantic finger at herself. "I'm the one saying that's a bad idea!"

"…Look." Marie's voice had dropped dangerously low. "I can handle this. Four can handle this. If we made it work last year, then we can do it again."

That was when Callie's face finally began to fall. Delta had reached the same conclusion: the pink squid had tried her absolute hardest, but Marie had dug her heels in the sand. Callie would've had her hands full with Marie's intelligence alone—but with her pent-up, angry lust for justice thrown into the mix? It was like trying to halt a dammed waterfall that had been cooped up with nowhere to go; and with Agent 2's quickly-shortening fuse, the conversation was going nowhere fast.

"…I had a feeling you'd say that." Golden eyes returned to her cousin as Agent 1 drew another breath. "So if you're not gonna look out for yourself then I'm gonna do it for you. I'll be helping with this mission from here on out—'cuz somebody's gotta make sure you're not doing anything stupid."

"…What?" Marie's voice was a bewildered breath, and she waved her cousin off with an irritated scoff. "No. I'm calling you out right now—you're planning on the opposite of 'help.' I'm fine and I don't need your babysitting."

"Too bad—I'm doing it anyway." Callie's shrug was immediate. "I'm not Four, I'm not gonna stop something the second you say no. I'm a part of this now and you'll just hafta deal." She jammed a finger at her costar…even though Delta had narrowed her eyes at the Squid Sister's insinuation. "We've been partners in crime our whole lives. You're stuck with me. Pulling an Operation Crabby Cakes without me is against the Law of Cousins and you know it."

"This…" Marie hissed as she dropped her hand. "Is. Different. I might be sneaking around Gramps, but this mission is slightly more important than a couple extra treats." She held up a thumb and forefinger for emphasis. "Just slightly. There's no room for…"

The green squid stopped herself with a guttural, aggravated groan. Marie clenched a fist, squeezed her eyes shut, and trembled a furious finger to her cousin's ear. She stayed like that for another second and her voice was a harsh whisper when she finally spoke.

"…Are those my earrings?"

Those words had added another forty tons to the room's already mountainous tension. Callie knew she was in trouble; her face scrunched into a grimace and she went silent. She very, very slowly, unclipped the offending earrings and placed them back onto Marie's dresser.

Then, in her best attempt to save face, Callie whirled around and pointed right back at her cousin. "Not the point. The point is—"

Marie finally lost it.

"I told you my jewelry was off-limits!" Marie's frustration had finally exploded like a newly-cracked caldera—Delta could practically see the steam shooting from her ears. "Stop taking my stuff!"

"Then stop taking my stuff!" Callie hollered back, flicking an arm at the makeup bag on Marie's dresser. "Get your own!"

"I HAVE MY OWN!" Marie roared as she charged her cousin, tackling the pink squid to the ground. "YOU KEEP USING IT THAT'S THE PROBLEM!"

Marie's smack was effortlessly thwarted with a buck, grab, and roll. Callie swiped a pillow from the bed and struck her in the face with it…then smacked her another couple times just to rub it in. Then she was up and out the door—Marie's muffled grumble sounded like "can't even get a single stupid hit in," and she tore the pillow from her face with a salty growl.

"…Stay." Marie jammed a finger at Delta and stood, newfound weapon in hand. "I'll deal with you later." She yanked the door open and disappeared into the kitchen. "Now where'd you—YOU ATE THE CRABBY CAKES AGAIN?! COD DANG IT CALLIE THIS IS THE THIRD TIME YOU'VE EATEN THEM ALL BEFORE I CAN EVEN HAVE ONE!" Delta cracked the door open to watch a righteous pillow snipe Callie behind the makeshift fort she'd made out of the sofa.

"GRAMPS SAYS THEY'RE FOR BOTH OF US!" Delta slammed the door just in time to protect herself from Callie's pillow.

"'BOTH OF US' INSINUATES I GET SOME!" Crash.

"WELL, WHA'D'YA WANT ME TO DO 'BOUT IT NOW?" Another crash; Delta did not want to open the door and investigate. "YOU WANT ONE? LEMME JUST BARF IT UP FOR YA—"

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE I JUST CLEANED"

"LANGUAGE, MISSY—"

A knock on the front door startled the girls into silence. Delta heard both of them swear—despite Callie's earlier chastising—followed by hasty scrambling. A pair of footsteps hurried to the front door and clicked it open.

"Hi, Gramps!" Both cousins cheerfully sang in their best totally-innocent-granddaughter voice.

"Ahoy, girls." Cap'n Cuttlefish answered in his aged rasp. "Thought I'd check up on my favorite lil' grandsquids." There was a pause and Delta decided it was safe to crack the door open again. "You two havin' fun?"

"Oh yeah, we're just…hangin' out." Callie dismissively shrugged, strategically leaning against the wall to block the broken vase from her grandfather's view. "Girl talk."

"Expressing our never-ending support for each other." Marie's casual reply hadn't missed a beat, and Delta watched Callie struggle to keep a straight face at her cousin's snark.

But Cuttlefish—to Delta's surprise—cracked his own smirk. "Awright, well, try not 'ta kill each other." His eyes strategically fell onto the empty plate on the kitchen counter. "Ah, look'it that—those crabby cakes were mighty popular, eh? Lemme go make some more…" the ancient general pretended to start down the hall, only to poke his head back into the apartment. "Oh, this ol' noggin almost forgot—could you girls stop by the Cabin later today? Need yer fresh teamwork for a lil' sumthin'…" He sent a mischievous wink at Delta and vanished from the doorway.

"You got it, Gramps!" Callie called after him, before shutting the door and turning back to her cousin with a devilish grin. "…Now, where were we?"

"For the record," Marie jabbed a finger at the pink squid. "I swear way less than you do."

Callie returned a finger without skipping a beat. "Shut the &%$#&$ #&% up or I will &%$#&$ #&% you up."

There was a dead, stunned silence for a few seconds, before Marie finally broke her composure with a snort—and then the two dropped to the floor, howling with laughter. And whatever tension that remained had evaporated within an instant.

"Haah…" Marie wheezed as she sat up, "…I really needed that."

"I know." Callie bounced herself into a squat. "You're welcome." She dipped her chin at her cousin. "Now can we finally talk about this like civilized squids?"

Marie stared off into space, then drew a deep, conciliatory breath. "…For the record, I hadn't meant to shut you out. You're…" she paused for a resigned huff, "…you're right. If this has to do with you, then you should have a say in what happens."

"Look—I wanna hand it to the Board, just like you." Callie gestured between the two cousins. "We share that. In fact, if anyone's blind livid at their stupid little faces—that I can't even remember—" she paused for a frustrated growl through angrily clenched fangs, "it's me. Trust me, I'd love for a chance to march right up to the Board and give 'em a piece of my mind. For what they did to me and my family." Callie punched an indignant fist into her palm, but relaxed her shoulders with a loud exhale. Her golden eyes were back to open honesty when they returned to her costar. "…I just don't think it's worth losing my cousin over."

"That's why I don't want you to do this." Callie dipped her chin, placing a hand onto the wooden floor. "The Board's a bunch of cold-blooded meanieheads, Marie—just look at what they did to me." She pressed a palm to her chest, then shook her head. "I don't want the same for you."

"Cal…" Marie's features softened before her chest heaved into a regretful, slow sigh. "Here's the problem: I found something. A threat. A chink in the armor. I wasn't ready to be right about it, sure, but it's still there. And if there's even just a chance of last year happening all over again, then…" the idol's voice faltered with a quiver; she raked a shaky hand through her tentacles with an unsteady, anxious pant. Her other arm swept at the broken vase, scattered pillows, half-snapped swiffer, and all-around mess that the apartment was in. "Look at all of this. As annoying as they may be, I don't want to lose these moments with you, either—and I almost did last year. And that's…" she rested her forearms on her knees, "…that's why I have to do something about it."

"I know I know—I see that now," Callie conceded with a resigned wave. "We're tryin' 'ta look out for each other and we're at an impasse. So…" she turned back to her cousin, tapping ten fingers onto the floor's hardwood. "…Compromise. If you say the Canyon's a concern, then I trust you—but we'll run recon and watch 'em 'stead of chargin' in headfirst. And if we see the Board start to make a move—" Callie jammed a fist into her palm, "—then we'll wallop those suckers into oblivion." She dropped her hands and dipped her chin to lock eyes with her cousin. "But we're gonna do it together, okay? Look at what it's doing to you on your own—all this panic went straight to your head. I don't want you shouldering too much 'till you snap." Callie drew a deep, heavy breath, and bit at her lip. "Don't make me watch you fall for the same mistake I'd made last year."

Marie's face scrunched into a revelational grimace, and Delta had finally begun to understand why the pink squid had wanted to help so badly. The agent didn't need to be told that Callie's own, pent-up stresses had played a huge role in her capture last year. Now not only was Callie concerned for her cousin's safety, she was also watching her fall for the same trap; except this time the pink squid could see it coming…but she hadn't been allowed to do anything about it. That must've been an immensely powerless position to be forced into.

And given Marie's relenting exhale, Callie's words weren't lost on either listener.

"…Alright. You win."

A weatherworn fence. A pair of brass-rusted komainu. Bright stone steps marching up to a thick, gravely-guarded gate. Even the overburdened air held its respectful moment of silence.

Clack. Clack. Clack. Silent were the somber stone slabs, once solid blue jeans stood before the sentry. Normally visitors had to state their business, but this one didn't even need to speak. The guard had already heard it so many times before.

Heavy wooden planks rumbled open to a silent courtyard. Tan-soled loafers crunched through the fine gravel with unyielding solemnity. They stepped beneath the low, oriental-tiled roof; a white-cuffed hand rested against dark spruce and slid the shoji screen aside.

The arrival was silent yet it still turned heads. Others knew to pack up and leave; they could pay their respects another time. The visitor's gaze stayed fixed on the shredded stone wall, dead ahead.

The sullen marble echoed a step. Slow. Steady. Heavy. Then another. And then another, and another, each more leaden than the last, until they halted a foot from the artifact's protective glass. Silence.

A broken, barely-perceptible breath. It was time to begin.

A single strike of a match. A hiss. Flare. Then it settled into somber steam at the end of an incense stick. Well-practiced fingers fed the other end into a bronze holder on the right.

Another match. Another hiss. Another stick. This one slid into the left-hand holder. There were two trails of smoke now, like wisps of charred steam leaking from the nostrils of an ancient dragon. And they smelled like burnt lavender.

The matchbox returned to a pristinely white pocket. A bouquet of purple windflowers settled onto elegant tablecloth. Two fingers guided the phonograph's reader onto the record—a buzz.

The mind-numbing static was welcome. It almost reminded the visitor of an emotional anesthetic. Sometimes it helped blunt the loss. Other times it didn't. But it never, ever, cured it.

A slim hand slowly, painstakingly, spread against the protective glass. Three fingers rested above a message penned onto gashed stone. Eyes closed—the room went black. Sharp inhale.

…The hymn began to play.

Its words did no better than the static. Neither could touch the soul-crushing agony of losing her. Nothing could. But such an observation did not call for cries and wails and fists shaken at the sky. It was a simple fact. A scientist does not cry over simple facts.

No. It was high time for the fruits of a new approach. One that guaranteed purpose behind the pain.

A/N: So! That was probably a trip. That last scene is a really good example of how it's not about the amount of detail, it's about the kind of detail. Holy cow that makes such a big difference.

The ending might've been a tad abrupt, though, but I decided that was ok since this actually isn't the last you'll see of this scene—it's a new little thing I'm trying out. We'll see how it goes.

But man oh man, that argument between Callie and Marie was the major reason why this chapter took so long. It was SO difficult to get them from seriously dire to outright ridiculous and then back into serious for a heart-to-heart…and in a way that actually flows and doesn't take you guys on a tension rodeo. Holy. Smokes. That was stupidly hard.

I did my best to make the subtext as clear as possible, but even then I imagine that some of you are going to be confused over why the earrings were such a big deal, because not everyone has experienced the joys of having a sister. So, explanation: yes, earrings are an extremely hot-button issue between sisters/sisterly cousins, and possession is a huge point of contention between siblings in general. There's also the ability to get into screaming matches over the most ridiculous topics out there—like the time my brother and I got into a debate over what brand of peanut butter our parents bought…12 years ago. However in this case, a lot of the tension from the screaming match actually came from the more serious argument, and the earrings were the straw that broke the camel's back (even though that alone could reach screaming levels)—which is why there's a much more tame conversation once Cuttlefish gives Callie an opening for that super-intelligent icebreaker. So, basically, that ridiculous part vents the tension and lets the cousins return to the real matter at hand without wanting to tear each other's heads off. And I never want to look at that scene again XD

And, if some of Callie's points seemed a tad…unusual, that's because they should. We'll get into that later.

For now, thanks for the reception on the last chapter, and I'm gonna go draft up a MUCH easier one for next time XD