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Four burst back up into the sunny air of Tentakeel Outpost, leaving the darkness and pressure of the kettle pipe behind. She stretched high above her head, little yellow zapfish flopping in her hands, before hopping down off of the kettle and pumping her fist.
The score was five-zip, advantage Agent 4. Take that, Octarians!
A feeling of buoyant satisfaction put a bounce in Four’s steps as she made her way towards Cuttlefish Cabin, tucking the zapfish under her arm. She twirled her Hero Shot in her other hand, shoulders swaying, a melody on her lips.
This was fun.
She’d had her doubts about this whole “New Squidbeak Splatoon” thing, initially. Seemed pretty sketch, what with Marie leering out over the squids in Inkopolis Square from beneath that weird umbrella. Now that she was here, though, popping octogoons and saving the day or whatever it was she was supposed to be doing, Four was pretty glad that she’d followed a stranger down a sewer pipe. Lots of cool sights, great exercise, and her new boss brought snacks whenever she finished a mission!
Life was good.
Rounding the corner, catching sight of Cuttlefish Cabin in the distance, Four increased her speed. “Hey, Marie!” she called out across the outpost, waving her scaly prize over her head with a grin. “I got your zappy fish! How close am I to filling up my stamp card?”
There wasn’t an answer. Four raised an eyebrow as the echoes of her voice faded across Octo Canyon, pulling the zapfish close to her again and advancing more cautiously towards the Splatoon base. Had any Octarians gotten up here while she was away? Did Marie get attacked?
Coming up on the cabin, Four cast a wary glance across the scene. Nothing seemed out of place, no signs of a struggle - just no Marie. In the five or so days that she’d been working with the white-haired squid, it was the first time that she’d seen the cabin unattended.
After a moment, Four realized that the door into the building was ajar. She paused, glancing between the open doorway and the increasingly distressed fish in her hands. The girl had never been into the cabin, either - she didn’t spend much time at the outpost, and when she did, it was usually just to sit down on the bench outside and have a snack with Marie. There were some dang comfy cushions on that bench. But regardless, Four didn’t know what was in the cabin, or even if she was allowed inside - she figured she was, on account of the whole secret agent thing, but she hadn’t seen enough movies to know if a secret agent could get fired for walking into a restricted area or something.
That being said, she also didn’t know where she was supposed to put this zapfish. Maybe there was, like, a zapfish housing unit inside the cabin? Or some kind of pressure tubes that Marie stuffed the little suckers in that would shoot them off back towards Inkopolis?
...open doorways were very enticing, though. The yellow-headed Inkling eyed the entrance greedily, feeling a growing urge to see what was inside.
Well, no time like the present! She probably wouldn’t get fired.
Having convinced herself, Four put her Hero Shot into its holster and stepped forward, grasping at the door to Cuttlefish Cabin. It was a weird slidey kind of door, and seemed to have gotten caught on its guide lanes - maybe that was why it was open, and Marie just hadn’t noticed. The agent nudged it back into place with her foot and the door smoothly slid open, allowing Four to look into the darkened interior of the Splatoon base.
She didn’t know why, exactly, but she had sort of been expecting the inside to look less shabby than the outside. Bright lights, chrome walls, the kind of place you’d expect a secret base to be. Instead, the interior was pretty dark, only a single window allowing sunlight to drift inside and illuminate the old furniture and multitude of miscellaneous bits and bobs within.
Most of the cabin was taken up by a single room, with a doorway to her left and another one in the rear-right corner.
Four did not see any zapfish housing units.
“Marie?” the Inkling called, stepping further into the cabin. No reply. A glance around the corner of the first doorway revealed it to peek into a small and very old-fashioned kitchen, with actual burners on the stovetop and pipes working their way around the fridge and cabinets. A number of food boxes and old, empty cartons were piled up in one corner of the countertop. Four recognized a few of those as being the boxes for the food that Marie would bring her sometimes.
Returning her attention to the main area, Four swept her eyes along the aged furniture and decorations within. Aside from a big collection of knickknacks and some books that rested on a bookshelf to the rear of the cabin - Four spotted a few of those funky old scrolls that she’d nabbed from the Octarian bases, rolled up and neatly tucked in between a pair of almanacs - the only thing of immediate interest to her was a newspaper and a stack of note paper which had been left beside an empty coffee cup on the table next to the couch.
Four sidled between an armchair and the sofa, then flopped down onto it, putting the zapfish down on the cushion next to her and patting its head.
“You mind if I set you here for a sec, lil’ guy?” she asked with a grin.
The fish inhaled, then jittered wildly as a spark of electricity crackled around its whiskers, wide eyes staring blankly at Four.
“Right on.”
Ignoring the coffee cup which was placed on a really dainty-looking cloth thing, Four scooped up the newspaper. She wasn’t normally the kind of squid to care about stuff like the news - she didn’t even watch TV - but unless there was another agent or some kind of ghost that Marie hadn’t told her about, her boss had recently been rifling through this thing.
And Four did care about Marie, or at the very least she wanted to know more about the girl than what she currently knew, which was nothing. Apparently Marie was a big pop star a few years ago, and from their talks in between missions, Four had figured out that she was working at a radio station now. That was all well and good.
But neither pop stars nor radio show hosts typically ended up as secret agents, as far as Four was aware.
So the Great Zapfish had gone missing - big whoop, was Four’s first thought. The giant slippery dude could fly, and she could swear that she’d seen his huge smiley face swimming around near Piranha Pit from time to time. He’d probably be back in like, two days tops, after he’d filled his belly with all the piranhas. At least, Four assumed that was why they called it that.
Actually, were zapfish carnivores?
Sidetracked! The point was, what she hadn’t thought was ‘oh squid, the Great Zapfish has been squidnapped!’ And yet, Marie had. What was more, Marie had been right. She was either a conspiracy theorist who’d had a big break or she’d known from the start.
So, okay - pop idol turned secret agent. Sure, apparently. Keeping tabs on the Great Zapfish? Sounds like something a secret agent would do for some reason, they were usually mysterious about stuff.
But Four was a secret agent now, too! And she figured that she was due to get some information about what exactly was going on here. Marie was way too shellbent on fighting the Octarians for this to be about the Great Zapfish alone.
So if she was sitting in here and flipping through newspapers while Four fought the Octarians, it seemed like a pretty good place to start!
Four furrowed her brow as she held the newspaper up to the light, squinting at the tiny text. Marie better be careful with these, or she’ll end up with granny glasses to match that robe. she thought, somewhat frustrated at how long it was taking her to read each line. Weren’t newspapers meant for old people? Why would they print the words so small? Did the paper people charge by the square inch or something?
It took her five minutes to get through the first page, at which point she was ready to just toss up her hands and go wait outside for her boss, but at the very end was a sentence that snagged her attention.
‘Flip to page five for the latest news about the Squid Sisters!’
Four hummed to herself. ‘Squid Sisters’ was the name of the idol group that Marie had been a part of, right? Curiosity piqued, Four flipped through the article, coming to a pretty sizable picture in the middle of another ocean of text. The image was of an Inkling girl with the longest tentacles Four had ever seen, a massive smile on her face as she waved to the cameraman.
Under the image was a subtitle - ‘Callie of the Squid Sisters, missing in action! Studio shrugs its shoulders!’
Callie, huh?
Interested, Four started to read the attached article. Very quickly, she found herself absorbed by the details which it contained.
Callie and Marie, two of the biggest pop stars known to Inkopolis in the last decade. After over a year of sitting at the top of Inkling musical culture, the queens were dethroned after they split up following the results of a Splatfest that had pitted them against each other. With both of the Inklings focusing more on their solo careers, new artists took the stage, and Callie and Marie faded into relative obscurity, no longer constantly flashing their smiles on the city stage.
Four had only been in Inkopolis for about a month, so that explained why she had never heard of them - the split had apparently happened over a year ago. While Callie went off to begin an acting career, Marie stayed behind the scenes as a radio host, which made sense considering the article’s claims that Marie was the more reclusive of the two. That lined up with what Four had seen of Marie, as well.
And apparently, they were cousins, too? Not just an idol act, then, but family performing together.
And Callie was missing.
It had said so right at the start, but Four only remembered that fact when she came to the portion of the article that talked about when it happened. A little over a week ago, the same time that the Great Zapfish had been kidnapped.
Kidnapped by the Octarians.
And Marie just so happened to have been recently rereading an old newspaper - Four quickly checked the date this thing had been printed - about her cousin, who went missing at the same time.
Suddenly, Marie’s big vendetta against the octos felt a lot more personal than before. The yellow-headed girl leaned back on the couch, placing the newspaper on her lap and rubbing her forehead in contemplation.
Marie had seemed pretty desperate when Four first encountered her - literally the first squid to walk by had been given the job of Agent 4. ‘A busy girl,’ she’d called herself - busy keeping up appearances, unable to spend all of her time hunting down her cousin?
Four eyed the note paper, wondering if she’d find notes about Octarian movements or something scribbled on there in Marie’s flowery handwriting. Instead, she found a lot of rough scrawlings about stuff to do with the radio station - guest appearances, ideas for contests, scheduling changes. It all looked like it had been written in a rush, or maybe while the girl was distracted. Was she working on this while she was talking to Four during missions? Doing homework for her job while on Splatoon duty?
A busy girl. Unable to deal with the Octarians properly if she also wanted to do her job properly. Stressed out by having to deal with radio work, agent work, and searching for her cousin, all by herself. Of course she’d snatch up the first helper who didn’t call her crazy.
Yeah, Four had seen everything she needed to. A lot about Marie’s attitude towards this operation had become a whole lot clearer. Her respect for the white-headed Inkling had grown considerably.
As she stood to head back outside, setting the newspaper back down onto the coffee table, Four’s eye caught sight of another item - looked like a little notebook - that appeared to have been dropped onto the floor. She must have missed it since it was hidden under the table when she came in. Curiosity overtaking her, the agent bent down to pick up the notebook, turning it over in her hands. The only labeling on it was a handwritten line on the inside cover that said ‘Splatoon Activity Log, Volume 2’ and had a date from two months ago underneath it.
Four opened up a random page, finding the contents written out very neatly and tidily. Man, if this was Marie too then that girl had a lot of writing styles. She wondered if that was more of an idol thing, or a secret agent thing.
Or maybe it was just a Marie thing.
These idle thoughts occupied Four as she scanned the page until her eyes caught on a specific word, drawing her out of her digressing train of thought.
‘Callie.’
Anticipation mounting, Four worked back to the beginning of the entry and began to read.
It’s been a few days now since I got Cuttlefish Cabin properly set up. The Octarian kettles are pretty well-hidden, just like last time, but there’s a group of them pretty close to the grating. Took it upon myself to go down one of the kettles for some basic recon, found a lot of troopers and stuff but no sign of Callie. I couldn’t spend too much time down there since I had to get back to the station but I’m sure she’s here somewhere. I could really use another set of hands, feels like I’m getting stretched way too thin. I know Callie would just tell me to nap, but how am I supposed to take it easy when she’s probably behind octo bars right now?
Well, there it was. Four nodded to herself, satisfied to have so quickly confirmed her theory. This wasn’t just about the Great Zapfish or some kind of selfless desire to protect Inkopolis, although Four figured that was probably part of it too. She was looking for her cousin, spirited away into the night, potentially abducted by the Octarians.
Sounds personal to me. she thought to herself. Four didn’t know why Marie had chosen to hide this particular facet of the operation from her - maybe to avoid making Four feel like she was just being used as an unpaid detective instead of a secret agent - but she definitely expected Four to find Callie down in Octarian lands.
Four wondered if there was anything else in here? Maybe Marie had found a lead or two. Curious, she flipped to a newer page, finding an entry that had been written just a few days ago.
Agent 4’s been making good progress on the zapfish hunt. We’ve already got two back, and it looks like the Octarians haven’t even updated their base defenses all that much. So far, Four is skipping right along through their compounds, even if it’s just the fringe areas without any Octolings. It’s really good to have someone else here helping out, especially someone who’s so energetic and adorable - the look on her face when she comes back with a zapfish is the cutest thing. I’ll go ahead and mark it down as a victory for the Splatoon that we got someone as easy on the eyes as -
Four threw down the notebook like it had shocked her, a flush spreading across her face.
This wasn’t just an activity log. This was a journal, wasn’t it? This was Marie’s journal, wasn’t it? She’d just read Marie’s journal, didn’t she?
Oh man she was definitely not supposed to have read that. Pangs of guilt were stabbing at Four as she looked down at the notebook. She swallowed painfully.
An image of Marie flashed through her mind, the cheeky older squid calling her cute, and Four felt her cheeks warming. Alright, time to go.
She grabbed the zapfish from its position on the couch and jumped over the coffee table, embarrassment and anxiety mingling together as she hurried to the door. Four almost exploded out of the cabin and back into the light of Tentakeel Outpost; she took two steps forward, then crouched down to the ground and groaned, squeezing the zapfish to her chest and burying her face in its rubbery hide.
Cod, that was so uncool. She’d only wanted to know where to put this stinking fish, not peep on Marie’s private thoughts. What kind of squid labeled their diary as an ‘activity log,’ anyway!? Come on, Marie!
Though even as she thought that, the unpleasant truth wormed its way into her brain that Marie probably hadn’t expected Four to go snooping around inside the cabin. She’d probably have hidden it or something if she’d known that Four would go into the building - or if she’d known that Four would go rifling through her stuff.
“Jeez, this sucks.” she mumbled into the zapfish.
The little creature jittered again, and Four pulled her head back to avoid any unfortunate zaps. Her hearts stopped for a moment at the sight of Marie emerging from the grating in the distance, then gave a throb as she took in the sight of the idol’s state of dress.
Marie was wearing a dark green hat and a face mask - presumably to hide her identity when she went out, since she was technically famous - as well as a short green jacket over a white T-shirt and black short shorts.
Four had never seen Marie in casual wear before - this ensemble showed off a lot more of Marie’s legs and arms than the kimono did, her skin smooth and unblemished. With a start, Four realized that she was staring, and she leaped to her feet, nerves flaring up as she remembered the open doorway to Cuttlefish Cabin behind her.
Luckily, it looked like Marie hadn’t noticed her yet, fiddling with a large duffel bag and backpack that she wore on her shoulders. As quietly as she could, Four scurried back to the cabin, yanking the door shut and fleeing wildly in the direction of the Octarian kettles. Her hearts were hammering in her chest; Four didn’t stop until she’d rounded the bend, exhaling hard through her nose and clutching the wiggling zapfish tightly.
It took a moment for Four to gather enough courage to take a peek around the corner. Seemingly having resolved whatever the problem was with her luggage, Marie was striding confidently in the direction of Cuttlefish Cabin. It was with bated breath that Four watched her boss reach the door, step inside, and close it behind her.
She sank to the ground, groaning. Way too close.
The girl didn’t feel comfortable about anything that had just happened, not intruding into the cabin nor trying to hide that fact from Marie. That being the case, she had absolutely no idea how she would have explained herself - it probably would’ve been as easy as saying “hey Marie, you weren’t here and I wanted to know where to put the zapfish, so I went in the cabin. Didn’t find you there. Where do I put the zapfish?” It was basically the truth, even! But that journal entry had gotten her all frazzled.
Four absentmindedly put a hand to her cheek. Judging from how warm it felt, she was probably still blushing. Freaking embarrassing, she was supposed to be the cool squid!
Resting her head against the wall, Four sighed. Her mind drifted back to her boss. At the very least, now she knew that Marie had a personal stake in the zapfish hunt; Callie was missing, and it was pretty likely that she’d been abducted by the Octarians since she and the Great Zapfish had gone missing on the same day. Pretty unsubtle of the octos, honestly.
That said, now that she knew what was at stake, Four only felt her resolve strengthening. Fighting off these goofy Octarians was really fun, and she was really good at it, but she wasn’t sure that she could keep treating it like a game - not entirely, at least - when she knew that Marie was back at home base, throwing herself deep into an exhaustive search for her cousin while keeping up with a full-time job and keeping pace with Four.
Her respect for Marie had grown a lot, as a matter of fact. Before, she’d mostly just considered Marie to be a kind of aloof, but still sassy, secret idol agent. Fun to banter with, but a little weird and obfuscated. Now she had a much better picture of her boss - a devoted and hard-working individual, responsible and kind underneath all of her quips and saucy attitude. She was a really mature squid, and she thought Four was cute.
That last thought slipped in before the girl even realized it. She squeezed the zapfish again, feeling fresh embarrassment wash over her.
A cool, mature squid thought she was cute. That was a new one.
Her ruffled mind wandered back towards the sight of Marie in casual wear. Even in clothes that were kind of loose like that jacket and those shorts, without her big kimono, Four could get a much clearer picture of Marie’s figure - the older Inkling had a lot more going for her than Four had first thought. Especially those legs…
Man, idols were something else.
“Agent 4?”
Marie’s voice crackled through her headset, making Four yelp in surprise. For a moment she’d thought that the squid was standing right beside her, and as she tried to calm her racing hearts, she heard the idol remark, “Big yelp. You doing okay over there? Where are you?”
Frick, her headset was live.
“I’m on my way back!” she said quickly. “Got the zapfish! You startled me, I, uh… hadn’t heard from you in a bit, wondered where you went.”
“Sorry about that.” Marie replied. “Some supplies in Cuttlefish Cabin were running low, so I made a quick run back to the city. Hope you weren’t too lost without me.”
“Hey, I’m back, aren’t I? I’ll be at the cabin soon.”
“See you soon, then.”
The communication cut off, and Four pressed a palm to her face. New guilt had followed the new embarrassment. She felt all screwy, like someone had put her in a jar and shaken it up.
Four breathed deeply, then shook her head. Come on, Four, game face! Go time!
She stood up, waited a few moments to make sure it didn’t actually look like she’d just been waiting around the corner, then stepped out into view of the cabin. Retracing her steps from earlier, she found Marie, once again wearing her kimono, sitting on the bench outside of the building. Four tried not to recoil at the sight of a familiar-looking newspaper which sat beside the idol.
“Hey Marie!” she called, waving. Her boss’s eyes lifted up to meet hers, and Four felt something tighten in her stomach. “Got you a brand new zapfish!”
“Really? Looks pretty second-hand.” Marie smirked.
Four walked with springing footsteps to Marie’s side, handing the zapfish over to her. The idol took it gently, wrapping it up in her lengthy sleeves. “Good work, Agent 4.” she said casually. “So what’d you find in the cabin?”
“Well, it was - “
The yellow-headed girl stopped as Marie’s words caught up to her. Not what she had expected. Not good. She looked down open-mouthed, jaw working furiously, as Marie’s smirk widened and she reached for the newspaper.
“This wasn’t where I left it.” the white-haired Inkling remarked smoothly. “Neither were my notepads. And I know there aren’t any ghosts in the cabin, so it must’ve been a certain secret agent shuffling things around. Any disagreements?”
“...no.” Four admitted, sheepishly scratching her chin. “I went in there, yeah - was trying to find a place to put the zapfish since you weren’t here, and I got curious about what you’d been reading.”
She swallowed. “Am I, uh… fired? Or something?”
Marie simpered, lifting a hand to cover her amused smile. “Not at all.” she answered. “Cuttlefish Cabin is the Splatoon’s base, you’re allowed to go in whenever you want. I just thought it was funny that you tried to hide it.”
“Hey, we’re secret agents.” Four objected, feeling relieved that Marie didn’t seem upset. “Maybe I was trespassing on a restricted area or something above my pay grade.”
“It’s an old creaky shack, Agent 4.”
“Well I know that now!”
Marie snorted. “You’re quite a squid.” she said smoothly, standing up. “Let me go get this thing secured, I’ll be right back.”
She left, disappearing into the cabin, and Four breathed out the tension that had been locking up her limbs, sitting heavily on the bench. Her eyes drifted over to the newspaper, and she frowned.
...Marie hadn’t said anything about the diary. Maybe she hadn’t noticed that it was out of place, too? Or maybe she thought that Four had just knocked it aside with her foot or something, instead of reading it - it had been on the ground after all.
Well, either way, Four really, really, really did not want to be the one to bring it up. She would absolutely crumble like a house of cards if Marie asked her about it, and that would be a whole new level of embarrassment. She might prefer just jumping off of the outpost - at least then she’d finally learn how high it was.
Marie returned with a large bowl of potato chips, sitting down beside Four and setting it between them. “The spoils of a successful supply run.” the idol remarked with a subdued grin. “Dig in, Four.”
The younger agent eagerly complied, not realizing how hungry she’d gotten from all the looting and shooting unil food was directly in front of her. It may only be potato chips, but it’d tide her over until she got back to Inkopolis and could grab something from Crusty Sean’s. Besides, it was free! Marie ate much slower than the ravenous girl, taking the chips one by one as opposed to Four’s messy handfuls.
Well, more for Four! Her boss seemed more interested in watching Four eat than in eating herself, eyes glittering faintly as the yellow-headed girl worked her way through half the bowl.
Every so often, though, she’d catch a glimpse of Marie giving the newspaper beside them a wistful glance as the two of them ate. By the third time she’d spotted it, she was certain that it was about Callie.
Four didn’t like the unhappy look that kept crossing her boss’s face when she regarded the paper, so she decided to fix it. An idea crossed her mind, and Four felt herself swelling with the giddy anticipation of one who’d hatched a nefarious plan.
She wasted no time putting that plan into action.
“Hey Marie, what’s a salmonid’s worst fear?”
Marie glanced up at her, potato chip halfway to her open mouth, and gave her a surprised look. When Four only smiled innocently, the white-haired squid gave a smirk and placed the chip back down. “Starvation?” she answered, eyebrow raised.
“A bear-acuda.”
Marie snorted, raising a hand to cover her mouth and averting her eyes. When she glanced back towards Four, her eyes were shining a little brighter - she opened her mouth to speak, but Four pressed her advantage.
“Sorry, was that a little… un-bear-able?”
Another undignified chortle escaped the idol, and she waved a hand as if to ward Four off. “Four, you - “
“What, you think the joke’s wearing out? I guess it is getting kinda thread-bear.”
“Stop it!” Marie cried, grinning and doing her best to suppress her snickering convulsions. “Jeez, Four, why are they all bear puns anyway?”
“I’ve been doing a lot of salmon runs lately for Mr. Grizz - that kind of shady place in the square?” Four replied, keeping her tone casual despite the close attention she was paying to Marie. When she saw the idol’s guard drop, she went for the kill. “It’s pretty easy, like inking fish in a bear-el.”
Her boss laughed, finally worn down. Four’s hearts warmed at the sound. She’d never heard an honest laugh from the squid, or seen a smile on her face that wasn’t snarky or smug. As Marie bent forward, wiping tears from her eyes, the yellow-headed agent found her attention drawn to the idol’s genuine smile. Being the one who put that smile on her face felt… really good, actually. It was like she’d been completely revitalized.
Four triumphantly took another potato chip from the bowl, satisfaction mounting.
“You’re such a goofball.” Marie said when her laughter had died down. Her posture was much more casual now as opposed to the stiff and proper way she normally sat on the bench. “Reminds me of another squid I know.”
“Are you suggesting that I am not a uniquely talented and capable individual?”
The older Inkling shook her head, smiling. “You’re definitely one of a kind, Four.” she remarked. “I can already tell.”
Leaning back, the idol said, “You know, we haven’t had many conversations that weren’t related to the Splatoon. Got anywhere to be?”
Four shook her head quickly. “Nope, my day’s as clear as the sky.”
“Well then, why don’t we sit and chat for a bit?” Marie offered. “I’m interested to know what my agent gets up to in her downtime.”
Four was all about that.
The two of them didn’t talk about anything important, sitting together outside of Cuttlefish Cabin. Four’s latest records in Turf War, her favorite gear, eventually they moved on to things completely unrelated to turfing like what music they listened to (Marie making a pretty overt suggestion that Four listen to some Squid Sisters). Even so, Four spoke easily and listened with rapt attention whenever Marie spoke back. The idol’s manner was relaxed, as opposed to the more aloof way she usually conducted herself, and she seemed pretty openly interested in what Four had to say. Four could feel herself warming as they talked.
She liked Marie a lot better when the squid was happy.
Firmly, the girl resolved to start treating this whole secret agent thing as less of a game. This wasn’t just about the zapfish to Four anymore, either. She swore to herself that if it was the last thing she did, she’d find Callie and bring her back to Marie, right after twisting some octopus tentacles into knots.