Authors Note: I hope you enjoy the chapter! Please leave a review on what you have thought about it! Have a good day, and take care!
A burst of shock surged around everyone over what they just heard from the worshiper. Not only had he willingly allowed his big teeth to be ripped from his mouth and his tentacles to be cut from his head, but he refused to accept his species as a squid, and kept insisting he was human. Imagining other inklings and octolings thinking or doing the same thing was more worrying for them all, but if they all truly desired to be humans, that somewhat made things a little creepier. Humans were a race that went extinct hundreds of years ago after a great disaster flooded the world. No one knew what this disaster was, but no one had been able to survive the flood, and when water began to vanish and more land became available, squids and octopi evolved, and inevitably the Great Turf War followed a couple of hundred years later.
"I've never felt so sorry for someone before…" Marie stated. She wondered if the entity that these followers worshiped had somehow come up with a complex lie to convince all of the followers into doing this, but it was the worst crime above any that they had witnessed, and they had no idea how to handle this. The situation was falling way out of the Special Squid Service's control, but they had to keep up their best effort. This was a life or death situation for a lot of lives, and DJ Octavio's claims to that had been proven true by the time these odd worshipers had appeared.
"What should we do with him? It's getting late," Maize asked what to do with Violet he still had the ancient egg in the glass container under his arm. ECO was trying to think on what to do, the three agents brainstorming. No one wanted to release him, and nobody wanted to consider taking him to their homes to keep him under their watch.
"Don't you worry, squiddos. I can watch Octavio and this Violet guy both at once. It'd be nice to have another checkers opponent," Captain Cuttlefish happily commented. DJ Octavio looked annoyed, but he was glad there was someone else who could undergo the torture of how simple the board games are, since the old inkling was not much of a challenge.
"I can hear you!" Violet screamed from the wall he was tied up beside, but his voice was ignored.
"Gramps, you call me if things look shady, alright?" Marie requested. Her grandfather chuckled patting her head.
"Marie, your grandpa isn't as frail as he looks to be," Captain Cuttlefish claimed. The white inkling sighed, trying to calm down, aware her grandfather was the one who taught her some basics to hand to hand combat, but she doubted he could replicate the same attacks.
"I'm heading home. You have a good night," Marie bid Maize and ECO goodnight.
"You take care," Maize told her goodnight. The robotic octoling waved, watching the Squid Sister leave. Both she and Maize were aware that Marie was desperate to change into clean clothes, and there was a good chance that the disguise was going to be trashed.
"I'll take this little guy home," Agent 3 said while holding the egg. His glasses were covered in ink, and were desperately in need of cleaning. He could only see through the right lens. He had a good few scratches and bruises to take care of on top of that, as well as his concerns of his splatterscope being damaged.
"Ehh? Little guy?" ECO quirked confusedly. All she saw was a rocky egg. If it was really thousands of years old, then she doubted there was anything inside the egg that could have survived, if the egg itself was even an egg at all.
"Well… it's still an egg, and in one of the sunken sea scrolls, I read that squishies used to hatch from eggs before squids evolved," Maize responded with his current thought process. There was some peculiar reason why this egg did not hatch, and he was expecting it to be a squishie inside. The mechanical octoling's chest light was blank as she put a hand on her head.
"I… I can't tell if it's adorable how you think, or if you have a low IQ," she admitted. It was so confusing. She sighed, her chest light changing to purple as she smiled.
"But I'll lean toward adorable," she decided. She saw no harm in this since he was watching over the egg anyway. Violet was lying on the floor, having slid off the wall he was propped up against. It was getting late, though Maize could tell she had something on her mind.
"Hey, if you're worried about Octoronia, don't be. I'm sure she'll be fine," Maize reassured, thinking that it was a good thing that Octoronia had lashed out at DJ Octavio like that. It was good to get that built up anger out of her system. He could only guess how long she had kept it pent up.
"No, it's not that. I know she'll be fine. But she will probably lock herself up in the workshop all night…" ECO said, but insisted that was not what was on her mind. She looked at his splatterscope, looking over the damage it took from all of that fighting.
"It's just… can I come with you? I'd like to fix your splatterscope," the mechanical octoling nervously requested. Maize paused for a moment, looking at his charger. He did not want to tell her to go home, under the risk of upsetting her.
"Err… sure, I guess. You can also help me find ways to try and hatch this little guy," Maize agreed to let her come to his home for the night, appreciative of his close friend for wanting to take care of his weapon, but it was easy to tell she was more concerned about him, although she looked a little annoyed at how determined Maize was wishing to hatch this egg. But one thing for sure, he needed to have a talk with her, too. Agent 3 left with Agent 5 shortly after with the egg's case under his arm, leaving Captain Cuttlefish and DJ Octavio alone with Violet, hoping things would be alright with the elders watching over the slightly creepy worshiper.
Marie had made it all the way back to her apartment complex back in Flounder Heights, tired and exhausted. Once she disembarked the elevator, she took her hat off her head, groaning, letting her tentacles loose carelessly. She approached her door, unlocking it and entering into her apartment.
"Callie! I'm home…" Marie called out closing the door behind her. She heard the sound of the shower running from down the hall. She guessed her cousin was cleaning up. And just when Marie wanted to just go straight to the bathroom to clean all this off her disguise.
"Hm?" Marie heard a whine, rubbing her head. She tossed her hat aside, letting it carelessly fall to the side of the living room. She went to the nursery where the noise came from. She approached the crib, seeing the small squishie lying inside it, awake.
"Hey, Bondi. You wake up from a nap?" Marie greeted the squishie, seeing him reaching toward her and wanting to be held.
"Squee…" Bondi sniffled. The Squid Sister gained a small smile, reaching down and picking Bondi up out of his crib, cradling him into her arms. The two month old squid snuggled into her chest. She felt a lot of joy seeing how calm he became in her arms. He was a very content squishie, all things considered.
"You're so adorable, Bondi… I know I wasn't happy when Callie adopted you at first… but things changed fast on that. I can't see things being the same around here without you," Marie spoke to Bondi, acting like this was a little story telling session to entertain the squishie.
"Squeep?" he could only say, barely understanding his aunt.
"Me and your mom love you a lot. I wanted to have a squishie too, but Maize kind of talked me out of it and insisted I think on it more… so in a month, if I haven't changed my mind, he'll be helping me have a squishie," Marie continued. However when she said it aloud, she felt silly for talking about this to Bondi, but he seemed all too happy to just have her holding him.
"Ma-Marie?" that familiar voice chimed. Agent 2 instantly gained a blush across her face and gulped.
"How did I know you'd get me in trouble somehow?" Marie murmured. Bondi giggled at how silly her face looked. She turned around with him in her arms, seeing Callie standing there, having cut her shower short upon hearing Bondi crying from waking up from his nap.
"Hey C-Callie…" Marie nervously greeted her cousin, seeing her wearing her usual outfit, though her tentacles weren't done up into their usual bow.
"…you wanted to have a squishie?" Callie asked, wanting to know if she was telling the truth. Confessing thoughts to a newborn squid was probably not the white inkling's best decision. That was just what she got from wanting to confide her thoughts in the squishie.
"Yeah… I did… and I kind of still want to," Marie answered while handing Bondi over to his mother. The atmosphere of the room did get a little more awkward. The squishie cuddled into his mother, happy to see her again, even if she had only been gone for a few minutes.
"And Maize is the one you decide to have be the father? Oh gosh, are you pregnant?" Callie questioned, aware of how easy it was to get Agent 3 to agree to help them with anything, but this sounded bit insane. That did not help her cousin's embarrassment.
"N-no! I agreed to wait a month before I decide!" Marie quickly defended herself. This relieved her cousin slightly.
"I don't think grandpa would be too happy with Maize if you were pregnant with his squishie… but I still gotta ask, why do you want to have a squishie?" Callie questioned. She was afraid that her cousin was jealous of Bondi, but Maize had reassured her otherwise over the phone.
"I… I feel unfulfilled ever since you got Bondi. I started to realize how little I've accomplished in my personal life. Sure, I'm rich and famous and now an agent on a great service, helping every inkling and octoling we can… but I just still feel empty," Marie admitted, explaining to her cousin how she felt inside, the same way she had to Maize. Callie approached her.
"Marie… you're one of the only reasons I feel fulfilled in my life," the black inkling stated.
"What do you mean?" Marie questioned in confusion, wondering if her cousin was just trying to cheer her up.
"Marie, you remember that competition that first started our road to success? We spent days practicing our singing, and when we got on stage, I froze up. The only thing that kept me calm was you," Callie reminded her of the first competition they had one with their singing that had started the Squid Sisters' popularity on the road to fame. Sadly, the black inkling's stage fright had been affecting her ever since then, and she always looked to her cousin for comfort on the stage.
"I would have never made it this far without you. I love you, grandpa and Bondi a lot, and I don't know how I would live without any of you," Callie finished her exclamation. She always felt fulfilled in her life as long as she had her cousin alongside her. The two always synced up perfectly, aside from their fights. Marie stared at her, unsure what to say.
"…oh, Callie… I'm sorry for being so selfish," Marie sniffled, and then she hugged her cousin. Bondi got a bit squished between the two, giggling at the embrace which he saw as a fun little game. Marie felt horrible like she had taken her cousin for granted. She never realized it until now. The white inkling had been thinking she had lost her cousin's love and care.
"Hey, you weren't being selfish at all… and if you still want to have a squishie in a month, then I'll be there to help," Callie reassured with a smile.
"Squee!" Bondi chimed. Marie gave a smile back, glad to have her cousin's support on the matter. But Callie had one more thing she was wondering about on her mind, and Marie could guess what it was.
"So… do you… y'know, love Maize?" Callie quirked. Once again, Marie was embarrassed as she buried her face in her hands.
"No… yes… I don't know… can we please just move on? I have a lot I need to fill you in about," Marie tried to brush the topic aside. She had to fill Callie in about the crazy cultists' efforts and all that had occurred. She felt silly for getting caught up in this conversation, but she was glad they had it. Now they had to be prepared for anything. This was a huge mission to the Special Squid Services, and it seemed like every agent available was going to get involved.