On the way back to Octo Canyon, I ended up telling Synthia about the New Squidbeak Splatoon, since it would've been the best explanation for why the Octarians would have wanted to kidnap her. She was surprised by what I had accomplished and saw how much I had grown in the past few days since I've been working for Marie. We kind of joked about how the letter I got wasn't that much of a sham after all and that I would be set for life after this, but I had to tell her about the secrecy of the society and how Master probably wouldn't understand anyway. She understood me and said she'd keep it secret as well.

We got back to Tentakeel Outpost, where Marie waited for the two of us.

"Farris! Synthia!" she said cheerfully. "It's good to see you back again."

Synthia went up and introduced herself personally to Marie. "Farris told me about the society," she said. "I'll make sure I don't say anything."

"Thanks, Synthia," said Marie. "To be honest, I'd understand if you said something about the Octarians to your friends. They were your captors, after all."

"Yeah..." said Synthia. "To be honest, I don't really remember much after I got captured. All I remember is them giving me a pair of shades that messed with my head. It didn't... feel very pleasant."

"I was afraid they were going to do more," I said to her. "The fact that the shades were all they did to you puts me at ease."

Marie seemed to turn away for a moment, almost like she was remembering something.

"What's wrong, Marie?" I asked.

Marie looked at me with a sad face. I could tell something came to her mind.

"Can I talk to you for a bit, Farris?" she asked.

"Um... sure," I said.

"Synthia, you can just wait here if you want," said Marie.

"O... okay," said Synthia.

Marie led me to the lookout in Tentakeel Outpost. We both looked out together. The sun was about to go down. It must have taken all day to find and rescue Synthia and take care of the Octarians in Beaker's Depot. I was beginning to get a little tired.

"Farris," she said to me. "I want to thank you again for all you've done so far."

"You're welcome," I said. "I'm glad to have an opportunity to help out."

There was a short pause. Marie was definitely not acting like herself. She seemed to be mourning again. I wasn't sure what she was thinking about, but I had an idea.

"I think it's about time..." she said. "to tell you my other purpose in asking for your help."

I looked over at her. I knew exactly what she was going to say. "Go on."

Marie hesitated for a moment. I could tell she was struggling through this. "When we met..." she began. "I told you I was searching for the Great Zapfish..."

"You did say that," I said.

"Well..." she continued. "I'm afraid that's not the whole truth."

"Hmm?" I said. "Oh... you mean your cousin?"

"Yeah," said Marie. "You probably heard it on the news. More than just the Great Zapfish, my cousin Callie vanished on the same day. I don't know if it was the Octarians, but I have a feeling..."

"Hmm..." I said. I had known about Callie's disappearance the entire time and figured she was leading up to that. Marie must have known how much I knew, and just wanted to get a monkey off her back.

"So yeah," she said. "I'm Agent 2 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, and Callie is Agent 1. Then there's Agent 3, who went away after the first time the Great Zapfish vanished and came back."

I raised my eyebrows for a moment. The very mention of the words "Agent 3" brought back the time when Ally told me the truth about who she was. I felt a little uneasy but didn't want to say anything so as not to raise suspicion from Marie.

"And then there's our granddad, Cap'n Cuttlefish, who's leading the entire operation. He's also off somewhere and won't be back for a while. I was supposed to be protecting Inkopolis while he was gone, but then Callie... the Great Zapfish..."

"Yeah..." I said. My heart was beginning to melt for her. I didn't know how much pain she was in until now, and now it was becoming painfully clear that she was sorely missing and lost without her cousin. I decided then that no matter what it took, I would get to the end and find who was behind this, then show them who really was the boss in Octo Canyon, as well as retrieve the Great Zapfish and find out what happened to Callie.

"Sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Farris," she said to me eventually. "We'd be totally sunk without you."

"It's okay, Marie," I said to her. "I'm just happy to help you with this, even if we have come out empty-handed, right now."

Marie looked back at me with a smile. I could tell she needed to get that off her back and was feeling better. "I know we'll find her if we just keep looking. Think you can see this one through for me... Agent 4?"

"Of course, I can," I said. "This is both for your sake and for my sake that I'm doing this..."

"What's that mean?" Marie asked me.

I looked back into the horizon. "To tell you the truth, Marie... I was a nobody. After our recent recruit came aboard, I kind of just became obsolete in my team. I don't know what happened that I deserved this, but it got annoying to the point where I wanted to try to fix it. That was until you sent that letter to me..."

Marie seemed to realize that she had gotten me out of trouble when I was still at the S.F.C.N.Y. I didn't say anything else. We both just looked out into the horizon for a moment. Then my radio began to buzz randomly. I took it out of my pocket. Marie got closer to listen.

"What's this, all of a sudden?" I wondered aloud.

The radio static had a few lines in between: "Lea... No... LEAVE NOW!" *Click*

We were both thrown off by the sudden message. I quickly turned on the mic and said, "Who's there? Who are you?"

No response. Marie tried next:

"Hey, whoever you are! If you try to stand in our way, Agent 4 will mess you up!"

Radio silence. We were both very confused.

"Geez... what was that?" I said.

"Hey! Everything okay over there?" said Sheldon from the radio.

"Yeah, just a mysterious radio communication..." said Marie. "You heard it too, right?"

"Yep! I wanted to make sure you guys were good," said Sheldon.

"Yeah, we're fine. Thanks for checking in," I said as I turned off the comm. Marie and I looked at each other, then decided it was best for me to head back. I put away the Hero Suit and regrouped with Synthia. After Marie saw us off, the two of us went back to Seanon Fields and back into Inkopolis. The sun was just off the horizon in the middle of setting. I took her back to the S.F.C.N.Y. HQ, where Ally, Emily, and Kara were waiting for us. The three were overjoyed to see Synthia back. After a little while, Ally went up to me and talked to me softly.

"Was it difficult?" she asked me.

"In some ways, yeah, but in others, no," I said. "The Octarians did have their nasty tricks, but it was pretty straightforward after a while bringing her back.

"Okay, good," said Ally. "You seem to be doing well for yourself."

"Yeah..." I said as I looked off into the city. "But... I feel like I should be more concerned."

"Why? What's wrong?" she asked me,

"It's Callie," I said. "She hasn't been found yet, and I'm beginning to think she's linked to the Octarians in some way. Before coming back, our radio was hijacked again and I could hear someone trying to tell us something to the effect of 'Leave now,' or something."

"Huh..." said Ally. "Did the voice sound like her?"

"I don't know," I said. "But it was definitely female, and the boss stages are indicative of Callie's colors - pink, black, and white."

"Hmm... You might be right, then," said Ally. "Whatever happens, Farris, I hope you can find out what happened to her."

"Yeah. Me, too," I said.

Chloe eventually joined us in welcoming Synthia back. She personally thanked me for rescuing her and said that she'll try not to let her be taken the way she was again. I was doubting what she said, but I didn't want to sour her mood so I didn't say anything. Synthia and I went out to get something to eat, as I had promised her when we were on our way back to Octo Valley. She had a lot of questions about the New Squidbeak Splatoon, and I tried to answer them as best I can. Most of them related to Marie and her leadership role, but others were about the connection between the disappearances of Callie and the Great Zapfish and the work that the Octarians were doing. I still didn't know what was going on, but I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what we were getting ourselves into.

After taking Synthia home to her apartment, I went back down to Inkopolis Square to see if anything had changed. Thankfully, not much had changed, but the cheap Octarian music was still there and selling steadily. Looking back through the selection, they were all tracks I heard back in Octo Canyon, in some specific areas. Perhaps there was more to this than meets the eye. I talked to the jellyfish at the counter and asked him about the music collection that just arrived. He mentioned that it was Octolings that brought them in and gave a large offer to put them up and get their own booth. That pretty much confirmed that the Octarians were behind it. This was going to be tough to keep secret if the Great Zapfish came and the music went away almost at the same time. I was hoping that it wasn't going to be a bid deal, but we were just going to have to see.