Agent 4's older brother, Gideon, had been concerned for his younger sister for the past couple weeks. She had been acting a little different since then. For example, she now was obsessed with the old band, the Squid Sisters, who hadn't been popular in two whole years. She also was really good at turf war, and she had only just arrived in the square. The two lived together in an apartment in the square. When their younger brother reached the age of fourteen, he would move to the apartment, too, along with their parents.

Recently, though, Four had been quiet. Gideon wanted to see what was going on.

"Hey, Ashira?"

At first she didn't respond, being a little more used to the nickname "Four", rather than her birth name. Ashira. Right. She'd spent too much time with the NSS.

"Yeah?"

"You feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"You've been acting quiet. Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, just couldn't sleep last night. That's all!"

"Just making sure," her brother said, smiling back at her.

As Gideon left the room, Ashira reached for her phone. Marie had texted her. Greaaat, another "my cousin has become addicted to sunglasses" mission. She was tired, and didn't want to do anything like that, but after she read the text, her face changed.

"Hey, Agent 4. How's life? Probably boring. I feel you. Wanna meet me in Tentakeel Outpost? I have a surprise. (PS don't tell Callie!)"

Eh, better than having to do another mission, unless the surprise WAS a mission. UHHHHG. She texted back "Okay what time -_-"

"I'm already there smh. Feel free to come when ur ready, dou"

"One sec on my way ^o^"

"Sounds good :)"

Agent 4 of the NSS grabbed a backpack, stuffed her uniform and some snacks in it, put on her snow boots, and headed for the door. Just as she was about to leave, Gideon noticed and asked what she was doing.

"I'm meeting some friends."

"Where?"

"In the square."

"Be back in an hour or two. We're gonna visit mom and dad for dinner. Let's not disappoint Levi. He likes talking to you."

"He should be able to handle himself. He's twelve, but yes. I'll be back shortly."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Agent 4 ran through the busy square in squid form to avoid being noticed. When no one was looking, she dived through the grate and popped up in Octo Canyon. Marie was standing there. She wasn't in a kimono or her pop star dress or anything. Just her casual Agent 2 outfit.

"Hi Marie! Ashira Adler, Agent 4 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, reporting to duty!"

Marie didn't laugh. Marie looked serious and dead inside.

"Y-you okay?"

"Hello, Four."

"That's not answering my question, but okay."

"How's your day?"

"Not much happened. Your's?"

"Same. I let Callie sleep in today. She might still be sleeping right now."

"Oh. Cool. You said something about a surprise, right? Maybe I'm just remembering things wrong. Did you?"

"Oh, yes. I did."

"Is it another mission," Four whined.

"No, well, not REALLY."

"Well, what is it?"

"Uh, I don't know if it's here yet."

"Oh. Ya just wanna talk?"

"That's fine.

"What'd ya wanna talk about?"

"I'm not quite sure. Any plans for tonight?"

"Yeah, me and my older brother are gonna visit our parents for dinner tonight."

"Interesting."

Marie's phone buzzed.

"It will be here shortly."

"What? The surprise thing you mentioned?"

"Precisely."

"Okay!"

Meanwhile. Callie had just woken up. She got out of bed, brushed her fangs, got dressed, managed her six-foot-long tentacles, that sort of morning stuff. However, she noticed Marie wasn't at home. Probably just shopping or something. But then she noticed Marie's laptop lying on her bed. Weird. Marie rarely used it. She opened it up to see what Marie was doing. Callie nearly had a heart attack. What was Marie doing?! Heart racing, she read the private messages from the forum, wanting to cry.

"So, how do I know to trust you"

"It's fine. We only want the kid"

"Promise you won't hurt her?"

"Promise. 99.9999999999% promise."

"K. I trust you."

"When do we meet you?"

"3:30 tomorrow. You good with that?"

"Sure. Where?"

"Outside of Inkopolis Square. To the west. We'll be at the bus stop"

"Fine with us."

"You sure you have the money?"

"Positive."

Callie slammed the laptop shut. It was 3:04. She only had twenty-six minutes! Quickly leaving her apartment, she grabbed her bike and rode to the bus stop. Why she didn't just take the bus, I don't know. She's Callie, what do you expect? Also, how does public transportation have any dramatic effect? It doesn't. Anyway, by the time she got there, it was 3:33. Three minutes late, clam it! Marie was standing there. Alone.

Marie noticed her cousin, but didn't say anything. Or do anything. She was just, well, still. Silent. The expression on Marie's face was an expressionless expression. Marie didn't bedge, or even twitch, when Callie repeatedly called her name.

"MARIE." No response. "What did you do?!"

Marie stood still, breathing heavily. "C-callie… I'm sorry. I-I…"

"Let's just go home."

"O-okay."

Gideon had noticed that his sister STILL hadn't come back. Two whole hours had passed, and she wasn't home. He tried texting and calling her multiple times, but she never picked up or wrote back. He was worried. REALLY worried. He had just about given up all hope when someone knocked on the door of his apartment.

"Come in."

To his surprise, the person at the door said "It's locked." Oh. So it probably wasn't his sister.

"Right."

He unlocked the door and opened it. Welp, he was shocked. The person in the doorway wasn't his sister, sure, but he expected a sales person or something. Nope. He didn't know how to respond. It was Callie from the Squid Sisters!

"Uh, um, uh, uh, er, um, hello..."

"You don't happen to be the older brother of Ashira Adler?"

"How did you…"

"She hasn't been home in a while, has she."

"No. She… hasn't."

Callie explained the entire story to Gideon. After hearing what had happened to his sister, he felt awful. Just awful. However, he was a little weirded out that Callie had told him NOT to call the police, and tell his parents that Ashira was busy.

"Wait, why?"

Callie couldn't reveal her identity as Agent 1. What should she say? Uhhh…

"Let's just say I know some guys who could help with the situation."

"Who?"

"Can't tell you that," she said, and with that, she left.

That night, Callie met with her grandfather and demanded an emergency meeting. The captain nodded. He had no idea why, but he trusted his granddaughter. He called all the other guys to a meeting, which resulted in some pretty harsh texts back.

"I'm gonna wake up my twin brother. He shares a room with me," Three wrote.

"Pearl won't get out of bed D: ", Marina texted.

"I understand that something is important, but I am still confused. You've called meetings three days in a row now, and I am starting to wonder why. Could something be going on in your life? If so, I apologize for you. Life has a way of working out where-"

Reading Eight's texts was impossible.

Eventually, everyone came. Pearls was still asleep in squid form, and Marina had to carry her the entire way. Of course. Everyone looked exhausted. No kidding; they had to get up at like four in the morning to go to this "emergency" thing. Speaking of the four, where was she? Marie wasn't there either… Something was clearly going on.

Cuttlefish stood on a chair and looked at everyone. "My granddaughter has something to say. Callie, would you like to talk?"

Callie stood up. "Yes, please." Callie looked around. Everyone was looking at her. They all wanted to know what was going on. She breathed in, exhaled, and continued. "Yes, as you may have noticed, my cousin isn't here right now. She's locked in the closet of our apartment. I locked her there. I… I don't think she's okay."