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The room the Manifest shut herself away in will never not give Callie the creeps. It’s always dark, with the Manifest’s face only being illuminated by the glow of computer screens surrounding her. There's a constant low droning noise from the speakers hung up on the walls.
Callie tries not to snoop around as she remains bowed in front of her leader, but she can't help herself. On one of the screens, she can see an army of Jelletons fighting an Octoling. Even with the oddly blurry quality, she can pick up on their green-tinted skin.
“Callie,” the Manifest says, snapping Callie back to attention. “Where is your cousin?”
“She's with the new people who just arrived. She's giving them their masks,” Callie replies quietly.
“I thought that was your job.”
“She...doesn't seem to trust me at the moment.”
The Manifest tilts her chin up slightly and frowns. “Do you believe she's right to think that?”
Callie swallows hard. “I may have said something disorderly. It was merely a lapse in judgment, I swear it won't happen–”
The Manifest puts up a hand, cutting her off. “Do not worry yourself, my Disciple. I understand that things were more difficult for you.”
“They were, ma’am.”
“Then please, don't concern yourself with things like that. I know you're no traitor. You have been nothing but orderly otherwise.”
Callie draws in a shaky breath and hopes that the Manifest can't hear it. She's always hated sitting under her gaze. She can never tell what she's thinking under that visor.
The Manifest goes to say something, only to pause and turn her head towards a screen behind her. She interlocks her fingers in front of her as she frowns. Something's wrong.
“Frye, send some of the Masks to alert the other Disciples. We have an unexpected visitor,” the Manifest says in an almost annoyed tone.
“As the Manifest directs,” Frye responds from somewhere in the room. Callie didn't even know she was there.
She can hear rushed footsteps outside the door as Frye moves into view. Callie hasn't seen her in a while, despite them both being in the same building most of the time. Her tentacles are a bit longer than when they last spoke.
“Both of you go and help find them,” the Manifest orders.
“As the Manifest directs,” both Callie and Frye say in unison.
Callie stands up and walks with Frye out of the room. She can see Big Man down the hall, most likely coming to guard the room in their absence. She wonders if he ever wants to do something else with his day.
The two of them split up as Callie wanders down various hallways and peeks into rooms all while Masks scramble around her to try and find the intruder.
“Ma’am. You shouldn't be wandering around the building with an intruder loose.”
Callie has to stop herself from jumping at the voice behind her. She instead calmly turns to the Mask standing there with an off-white Splattershot in her hand.
Despite the pale tentacles and the mask covering up her face, she’s able to recognize her from her voice alone. Her name was Ruby once, but that was stripped from her a while ago. At one point she was Callie’s rescuer and Marie’s favorite agent. Now she's a Mask.
“What are they going to do to me?” Callie asks.
“They could kill you,” the Mask replies.
“I’ll be fine. Focus on finding them before they get to me.”
“But ma’am, the Manifest directed that I–”
Callie holds up a hand and cuts her off. “I direct you to go and find them. Protecting the Manifest is more important than protecting me. Now go.”
“Of course, ma’am,” the Mask bows and rushes down the hallway.
Someone rushes by her, and she spots them in the corner of her eye. They weren't wearing off-white like any of the Masks or Disciples, and they weren't holding any weapons.
The intruder.
She picks up speed as she begins chasing after them, her ears twitching at every footstep and slip they make when they turn a corner too fast. They're fast; it’s no wonder they haven't been caught yet.
Callie rounds one final corner and spots them backed against a dead end. She stops behind them as they notice and immediately back themselves into the corner with a wide-eyed, fearful expression.
She can feel her hearts squeeze just a little as she stares down at the intruder. He’s an Octoling boy no older than 15, his tentacles styled in a messy pompadour.
She can't help but think this kid looks familiar.
“What's your name, kid?” Callie questions softly, crouching down in front of him.
“It’s Linus,” the boy replies shakily.
“Linus,” Callie repeats. “That's why you look familiar. You’re Agent 8, I remember now.”
She only knows Linus as the kid who fought his way through the metro, a place she still doesn't fully understand. She knows he’s an experienced fighter, so why is he in here completely unarmed and fleeing like a sardine with its head cut off?
Callie’s expression softens as she sighs. She isn't supposed to be doing something like this. She's supposed to be dragging him to the Manifest. At the same time, she knows this kid shouldn't be getting dragged into something like this.
She sighs and stands back up, reaching down and yanking him to his feet by the elbow. She can hear him let out a quiet ‘oof’ sound as he gets tugged along. She can tell he's too afraid to make any sudden moves. He definitely knows he's outnumbered here.
“Why show up unarmed?” Callie asks.
“I didn't want to fight anybody, not even you,” Linus replies.
“You showed up in enemy territory completely unarmed because you didn't want to fight?”
“I just wanted to sneak in and free Marina without hurting anyone. I hoped that if I did, you all would stop trying to kill me.”
Callie shakes her head. She feels bad at how defeated the boy sounds. She knows how close he is to Pearl and the Manifest, and she bets that all he wants in the world right now is for the Manifest to be free.
She continues leading him as she searches for a back exit out of the building. She looks around and over her shoulder before she kicks it open, allowing it to look like he broke it open while escaping.
“Listen to me, Linus. I know you want Marina back, but believe me, this place is too heavily guarded, even for a kid like you.” Callie grabs him by the shoulders and ushers him out the door. “You have no respawn pads, nothing.”
Linus sighs and nods. Poor kid just wanted to free her. She couldn't rat him out even if she tried. She's not a villain.
“Get out of here, okay? If you're gonna show up again, at least show up with a weapon,” Callie nudges him between the shoulder blades.
“What about you?” Linus asks.
“Don't worry about me. I’ll tell them you got away. Now get lost.”
Callie watches as the boy runs away and out of sight. She waits until she knows he's gone for certain before she walks back into the building and leaves the door kicked open.
“Have you found them yet, Callie?” Frye calls from down the hallway.
Callie looks back at the kicked-open door before responding. “No, it looks like they got out through a back exit. They're long gone.”