"there must be an easier way to do this." marlin said, tangled up in cords and wires. fragment or punctuated correctly

That would be a fragment, as there should be a comma in between the quotation marks and 'this', indicating that the speech cam directly from the speaker. (aka Marlin)

you need to include the text. we have no idea what you are referring to

most likely the answer would be a.) cupidity

definitions:

cupidity - greed for money or possessions

hydrophobia - extreme or irrational fear of water, especially as a symptom of rabies in humans

pathology - the science of the causes and effects of diseases, especially the branch of medicine that deals with the laboratory examination of samples of body tissue for diagnostic or forensic

patho -   relating to disease