Rhodoreef

35. The Purple Fog

A chill spread to her very extremities. Memories cascaded in. Oxygen was suddenly scarce, making her gulp in one lungful after another.

"Well, well," Dilip said, feet crunching glass as he came to a stop right in front of her. "I didn't expect to see the pretty little mermaid here today."

He sported a bulletproof vest over a beige shirt, and his hair was styled into brown spikes. His whole manner was unruffled—a striking contrast to the death and destruction in the lab. She struggled against her captors.

He smiled. "Still very feisty."

"How did you know?" she hissed, forgetting that he wouldn't understand.

"Your language sounds so alien...Anyway, isn't it ironical that you arrived right where I wanted you to be?" He paused, the smile intact. "Although this is needless destruction. I'm also curious what exactly you're planning. We do have an idea."

Manta grunted, apparently putting up a fight to free himself.

Dilip turned to his soldiers. "Neutralize the merman there. We have enough male specimens here."

Even as Dea shrieked in rage, a shot sounded. Sagari winced. Then all was still.

Dilip's eyes flitted to Sagari, and he issued his next command, "This female here seems to be the leader of this operation out of what I've seen. We don't want her trying anything. Knock her out for now—she might come in useful."

"Yes, sir," a female soldier said and spoke into a mouthpiece, seemingly requesting a knock-out drug.

"No need."

"Sir?"

"Just hit her on the head like they do in the movies." He let out a chuckle. "She'd live if she's lucky."

All it took were two sharp blows from the butt end of a human firearm. The merwoman slumped against her Cypod.

Dea realized that she was shaking. Manta is dead. Sagari would be tortured. She'd die of asphyxiation if she doesn't wake up. And Ribbontail...

The thoughts cycled in an endless loop while a buried shard of her soul awakened. Her chest constricted. You drove them to this. And you're alive while they paid with their lives. As pain seared through her heart, the world darkened, swimming in and out of focus.

"So, where were we?" Dilip turned back to her. "I'm surprised they sent you on this mission. Of course, ever since you escaped, I knew you merpeople would launch a rescue operation, but I didn't expect you here. There's also been an incident near a coral atoll, where we've been running some...fishing operations. Makes me wonder..."

She slowly recovered from her momentary breakdown. Hate swirled in the maelstrom within—not just directed at the monster before her, but at herself.

Suddenly, an incoming message agitated one of the humans. Rapid-fire communication took place—too unclear for translation. On the far side, two more soldiers came running in through the main entrance. A loose light flickered and dimmed a section of the lab.

"What is it?" Dilip snapped.

"There's been a secondary breach, sir," the man said in a troubled tone. "Seems to be reinforcements, but there are human fighters. We don't know—"

"What? That's absurd. How many and where—"

A crash ruptured the quiet, and a small force burst into the lab, guns blazing. Eyeballs swiveled, and hands clenched on firearms.

Dea gasped.

It was a motley bunch of individuals, some on legs while others sat in Cypods. Blue smiley faces were scrawled on some of the helmets. Leading the merpeople was a familiar figure—daunting once upon a time, but now evoking the opposite effect in her.