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Chapter 2

At first all anyone knew was that Atargatis Entertainment was under investigation for some financial inconsistencies. The first thing that Ellie had been worried about was that her debts had not been paid off. But reassurances from the management of the park and some research online showed she was still completely debt free. Everyone was a little concerned, but given the success of the park they figured it was something minor. A fine would be paid, maybe some executives would be replaced. There wasn't even a noticeable dip in the park attendance.

No one was ready for what was uncovered. Not some simple tax evasion or money laundering on the side. No this was a far, far worse crime and a scandal that would taint the reputations of everyone working for Atargatis. This was beyond shocking. It wasn't merely a death at an amusement park or a cover up of sexual abuse. It was human trafficking. Atargatis Entertainment, the park, everything had been nothing more than a front and a creative bit of advertisement.

Innocent women were kidnapped off the street. Put through a brainwashing program, they were then altered into mermaids. The poor women were sold as pool toys for the super wealthy around the world. And this was only the beginning. Everyone knew Atargatis was working on more augmentation programs than just the mermaids. Who knows what else they would have turned people into and for what reasons.

And Ellie had been a part of it. Of course she had no idea; she was fooled just as much as the public had been. But she was a part of the facade that was hiding the true intentions. Everything changed overnight. Ellie couldn't even fire up a web browser anymore with what she had seen being said about her and the other mermaids. Called everything from freaks to traitors against women it was too much, as if they weren't victims too in all this.

The FBI had the park on lock down as they investigated and cleared each and every employee. Not that there was anywhere Ellie and the other mermaids could get too. She knew for a fact that Dr. Boyer had been arrested already. That news made it around pretty quickly and it made Ellie feel sick knowing he had been the one to operate on her. She felt used and betrayed as she looked back on her interactions with him. After that the mermaids were sequestered into their rooms, but could still talk to each other over the coms.

The manhunt was on for the higher ups in the company, many of which had fled the country. Several had been caught before they could flee or were caught in countries with extradition treaties. But far too many were still out in the wind. At least one buyer had been caught as well, but most were outside any jurisdiction that cared about the situation. Assuming, of course, the buyer could even be tracked.

Ellie watched it all play out on the news as she spent the time in her room. She really wished the FBI would let them out, they were all going a little stir crazy. But more than that, Lisa had been taking all this news incredibly hard. Ellie did what she could over the coms to talk to her but it wasn't enough. Ellie just needed some time with her friend face to face. Her requests kept falling on deaf ears.

Ellie was just about to turn off the news when the anchor stopped mid sentence.

“We have breaking news with the Atargatis Entertainment scandal,” the anchor stated.

“Did they find that fucker?” she was referring, of course, to the CEO Rob Hopkins.

“There has been a startling discovery within the R&D department of Atargatis Entertainment. Apparently the documentation that had been provided to the government on their augmentation procedure was falsified. Unlike what the government, public, and no doubt most of the employees of the company were told, the augmentation is permanent. As far as can be gleaned from the company records there is no way currently to reverse the process that turned those women into mermaids.”

“No, no, no!” Ellie shook her head not believing it, “fuck no!” she tossed her tray with her half eaten lunch across the deck. Tears were starting to well in her eyes, “everything was a lie...” she whispered to herself.

Everyone had said it was only a five year commitment. What were they planning to do if they hadn't gotten busted their first year? Sell her off as slightly used if she didn't re-up her contract? As Ellie held her head in her webbed hands and started to sob, those words from her teacher floated back into her mind: 'remember, things can always get worse'.

The comm buzzed and she saw it was Lisa. She did her best to control her own crying before picking up.

“Lisa?”

“I'm sorry! God I am so sorry!”

“Lisa, I-”

“I talked so many women into this, I talked you into this!”

“You didn't know Lisa, none of us did.”

“The worst part of all of this is, I wanted to stay like this. I got my wish but the rest of you will never get to be normal again!”

Ellie heard some splashing followed by a loud slapping sound.

“Lisa? Lisa? Talk to me damn it!”

“I'm sorry,” she sounded strange, “I don't deserve this life if I damn you with me.”

“Stop talking like that damn it! What is going on?”

“I'm sorry! Promise me,” she sounded like she was gasping, “promise you won't let them put me in the ground.”

Ellie was freaking out, “Lisa! What did you do?”

There was no response from her friend. Ellie disconnected and called into the handlers that something was wrong with Lisa, a medical emergency. She didn't care what the FBI was going to do to her, she left out her lock and swam as fast as she could to Lisa's room. They were good friends and they knew each other's door codes. As she swam into the room she couldn't see Lisa at all.

She swam up to the surface as fast as she could. Lisa was laying on the deck twitching as she tried to breathe. She must have jumped out of the water, that had been the splash and loud sound that followed. Ellie lunged out and grabbed tightly onto one of Lisa's hands and tried to pull her back into the water before it was too late. The door slammed open and a pair of agents burst in

“Help me!” Ellie screamed, “She's going to die!”

They just stared at her.

“We can't breathe air you fuckers! Help me!” tears were streaming down her face as she tried to pull Lisa back in the water.

Finally one of the agents ran over and helped to push the beached mermaid back into the water. Ellie quickly dove with her friend. She saw Lisa's gills barely moving at first.

Damn it Lisa, come on and breathe!

Not knowing what else to do, Ellie pulled the other mermaid through the water with her trying to get more water to flow over her gills. She could hear muffled shouts from the deck above her. She looked at Lisa and her gills were moving more, but were still weak. She swam back up to the surface, holding onto Lisa's still limp body.

Some of the medical staff from the park had arrived. Turns out the medical staff were under the highest scrutiny for knowing involvement and most of them were still at the park under the lock-down. They confirmed what Ellie had done was the right thing given the circumstances. Ellie carried Lisa to the lounge area and left her in the care of the medical staff so she could be yelled at by the FBI agents.

“Ms. Derstine,” Special Agent Harper looked down at her from the deck, “you were instructed to stay in your quarters.”

“Yeah well, I'm not about to just swim in circles while my best friend dies.” Ellie crossed her arms as she glared up at the agent.

“We would have handled the situation.”

“Please, I had to tell your men to put a drowning mermaid back in the water. She would already be dead if I wasn't here!” Ellie looked over to her friend being tended to, “fuck, I may still be too late for all I know.”

Harper sighed, “Ms. Derstine,”

“This is your fault for keeping us all locked up in our rooms! We are already feeling isolated and after that news bulletin...” Her eyes went wide. “Fuck! You better go check on everyone!”

“What are you talking about?”

“They didn't tell you before the news? Fucking typical. We’re stuck like this, we can't go back to normal, we never could. Just the sort of thing to put someone over the edge, don't you think?”

Harper glanced over at Lisa before sighing and calling in a welfare check on all the mermaids.

“I'm going to Lisa, you want to yell at me later I'll be in my room all night.” She swam the short distance to her friend. “How is she?” She asked the med tech.

“Blood pressure and heart rate are better, she still hasn't come to,” he shifted to face Ellie and she saw 'Tom' on his name badge, “we should get her back to the recovery tank.”

“Do you need me to take her there?”

“We don’t have a choice,” Tom shook his head, “the only guys who could run the tank carriers have already been let go.”

“Of course, right?” Ellie shook her head.

“Take this,” Tom handed her a small box, “if something happens on the way hit this panic button and we'll be ready for an emergency.”

Ellie nodded and clipped it onto her top. She then took Lisa into her arms and started to swim towards the medical wing. Halfway there, Lisa started to come around. Ellie let out a silent sigh as Lisa blinked at her.

[What were you thinking?] Ellie signed.

Lisa looked away from her before she replied with [my fault.]

Ellie shook her head, [not your fault,] she pulled her into her hug, her long tail wrapping around Lisa's tail as she held her tight.

Ellie could tell she was sobbing, even if she couldn't hear it. She only held her tighter. When Ellie felt Lisa start to relax she released her from the hug. Taking her by the hand they swam slowly to the recovery tank. Ellie saw a bit of relief on Tom's face when Lisa swam in under her own power.

Ellie swam up to the surface first. “Sorry it took so long, we needed a moment.” she removed the panic button and handed it back to him

“We were starting to get worried, but it's ok,” Tom said, taking back the transmitter, “think you can talk her into coming up to talk to us?”

“I'll see what I can do,” she slipped back down under the water.

Lisa was floating in a corner of the tank, her back turned to everyone. Ellie touched her shoulder gently. She turned her head slowly, seeing a soft smile on Ellie's face.

[Come up, they need to talk.] She signed.

Lisa looked away then nodded slowly and swam up to the surface.

Tom turned to Ellie, “I'm sorry, I have to ask you to leave, for her privacy.”

“No!” Lisa shook her head, “no, please I want her to stay.”

Ellie took Lisa's hand, “I'm not going anywhere.”

***

Lisa seemed to show no long term effects from her near suffocation. They were bringing in a mental health professional to spend some time with her, but until then she would be in the recovery tank under observation. Reluctantly, Ellie left her to return to her room. She could hear the muffled sounds of the TV up above. Realizing she must have left it on she swam up to shut it off. Ellie was surprised to see Special Agent Harper waiting there for her watching a basketball game on the TV.

“I hope you don't mind, the news was depressing.” Harper said, turning to face her.

“I mind that you're in my room.” She said, glaring up at him.

“You invited me over to yell at you, remember?” he reached into a bag and pulled out a can of beer. “You look like you could use a drink.”

Ellie swam to the shelf and accepted the offered beer. She flopped down on the shelf exhausted before cracking it open.

“How is she?” Harper asked.

Ellie took a long drink before she answered. “Physically she's recovered, there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage. They are keeping her until someone can talk to her.”

“I got word they are sending a few therapists over actually. By the way, I don't know if anyone else was planning something stupid before we got there, but everyone was safe. I've talked to my superiors and I've gotten the ok to open up the, what do you call it again? That break room?”

“The Coffee Pot,” Ellie sighed, “I guess they finally realized we're the victims here.” She gulped down the rest of the beer, “so what happens next?”

“Honestly I don't have a fucking clue.” Harper shook his head. “We just can't send you ladies home.”

“I don't even have one to go to anymore.” Ellie let out a bitter laugh. “That was supposed to be a problem I'd worry about years from now with a fat bonus check in my pocket.”

“I don't know what to tell you. Fuck, this isn't the case we thought it was when we started to investigate Atargatis.” He reached down for a beer of his own and popped it open, “There were reports of some funny business in the books, we thought it was just money laundering, maybe smuggling.”

“So you aren't part of the Augmented Human Crime Division?”

“I guess I am now,” Harper took a long drink, “that didn't exist until this shitstorm happened. You know, most of the crime the FBI investigates is white collar. I'm really more of an armed accountant than anything else.”

“After the past week, I appreciate the honesty.” She said tossing her empty can into a bin, “Got another beer over there?”

He tossed her another can, “better than drinking alone, right?”

Ellie cracked the can and took a drink. “So they say. The worst part of all of this is, it's not like I can get a job as a performing mermaid. First job I was really good at too.”

“Yeah, I can see how after this scandal it would be hard to sell tickets. Maybe in a couple of years...Sorry, that was a stupid thing to say.”

She shook her head. “Forget it. “Ellie took a long drink and stared out across the water. “You know, I don't hate being a mermaid, really. It's more so that I am stuck in here as one. When this place is officially shut down for good I'll probably be stuck in a tank somewhere else.”

“We've seized as much of their assets as we could. Hopefully that will let us set you up somewhere.”

“It's not just a tank and equipment. Food, electricity, some kind of connection with the outside world. We need all of that. Not to mention, look at this place, there were places we could go all over the park. We're not just stuck in one tank the whole day, or at least we weren't”

“Hey, I did something about that, cut me a little slack.”

“I have a question, and I understand if you can't answer it. How many of the people here knew what was going on for real?”

“Not many, I can say that much. Most of them were regular people just working at a theme park like a large part of central Florida. Even among the higher ups, plenty of them were involved in just the day to day running of the park. Like the head chef, Renee Rodin. A nice guy and accomplished chef. All he did was design menus and develop signature dishes. After this he'll be lucky if he gets a job flipping burgers.”

“Fuck, I met him. Renee was so nice, going over any food allergies I had before cooking the meal himself, and it was delicious. Renee personally brought me my first meal after I got out of recovery even. He deserves better than this.”

“You all do, ” Harper sighed, “but speaking of food, do you want anything?”

“No, not tonight,” she finished her beer, “thanks for the beer, but I'm just going to call it a night.”

“I'll let myself out then.” He got up and turned off the TV. “There are probably going to be another round of welfare checks in the morning as a heads up.”

“Good to know, goodnight Agent Harper.” She waited till he was gone before killing the guest room lights.

Swimming down she stripped off her top and just let it float away. Ellie slipped into her sleeping net but only dimmed the underwater lights a bit, she didn't want to be in the dark. She felt exhausted but her mind was restless.

Can things really get worse? I suppose they could stick us in aquariums as permanent guests. Or maybe they just euthanize the lot of us like unwanted pets. Fuck, What am I going to do? What can I do?

Restless as she was, Ellie eventually drifted off to sleep. She was awoken by an annoying buzzer. It let her know there was an incoming com call. Ellie hit the BRT button and untangled herself to swim up and answer it.

“What?” Ellie asked, still groggy.

“We are just checking in on you, Ma'am.”

She let out a long sigh. “Right, the welfare checks. Other than being grumpy for the rude awakening, I'm fine, move onto the next girl.”

“I was also to inform you the break room is now open and you are free to go there if you wish.”

“Thanks, bye.” Ellie ended the call.

Splashing water on your face doesn't do much to wake a mermaid, but being up in the air does. Ellie started getting ready for the day. She found her top up against the intake grate and pulled it off. Ellie slipped it on and checked herself in the mirror. Her eyes didn't look so great, but she doubted if any of the mermaids were any better. For the first time in nearly two weeks she swam to the Coffee Pot.

Ellie was the first to show. But even if she was alone, it was at least a change of scenery from her room. Since no one had been in there since the park was locked down, the room was still stocked. She went up to the machine to get a cup of coffee and waited to see if anyone else showed up. She didn't have to wait long.

“Hey Ellie.” Sara said after breaking the surface.

“Hey, good to see you.” She left her coffee on a shelf and swam over to give Sara a hug, “I've missed you.”

She returned the hug. “Yeah, it's good to see you too. Though it looks like I'm not the only one who had a rough night.”

Ellie half smiled. “Yeah, I’m going to need more than just one cup of coffee this morning.”

Ellie retrieved her cup of coffee and sipped while Sara made one for herself. Sara slowly stirred in the sugar and creamer. Ellie could tell she wanted to ask her something.

“Besides the obvious, what's wrong?”

“I heard a rumor on the com yesterday that something happened to Lisa. I know she didn't pick up when I tried to call her.”

“She's in the recovery tank right now. She should be fine, just under observation for now.”

“What happened? Why is she there?”

“It's not my place to say, you'll have to ask her.”

“Come on, Ellie, I'm her friend too.”

“I know you are, but please, just let her have her privacy on this, ok?”

The other mermaid sighed before taking a sip of her coffee. They both drank in silence for a few moments.

“Hard to believe this is all happening, isn't it?” Sara asked.

“Which part? That we were part of a human trafficking ring or that we were tricked into giving up our lives on dry land?”

“Both,” Sara shrugged her shoulders, “how the hell did I let myself get talked into this?”

“Because they made us an offer we couldn't refuse. I was completely fucked between my own debt and what I inherited from my mom. How could I turn down working it all off in just five years and get a fifteen thousand dollar check in my pocket?” Ellie shook her head. “Hell, I even enjoyed it. It was the first job I was ever really good at.”

“What else can we do now other than be mermaids? It's not like I can go back to retail. Maybe we could work as divers? I don't know.”

“I'll tell you what I do know,” Ellie stared into her coffee, “if I ever get my hands on Hopkins I’m going to drag him down underwater and watch him drown.”

“Ellie!”

“What? That's what mermaids did, they tempted sailors into the water only to drown them. Seems fitting that that bastard gets drowned by the hands of a mermaid.”

“But you'd end up in prison or worse!”

“Look where we are now.” Ellie gestured around her. “We’re already in a prison and when this place is shut down we'll all end up in tanks somewhere, slowly going crazy as we swim back and forth. Does it matter if the tank is in an aquarium or a penitentiary?”

Sara sighed. “God, I didn't even think of that. Fuck, things are worse than I thought.”

“Yeah well,” she glanced down as she saw a few more mermaids swimming in, “things can always get worse.”

________________________________________

Original story and setting by Syntaxerror37

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