Chapter Text
The first thing he registered when he opened his eyes was the overwhelming abundance of light. Blinking once, twice, the world above him slowly came into focus. There wasn't much -- a greyish ceiling with a few halogen lamps scattered here and there, evidently the source of the blinding light. One of the lights was rather inconveniently placed directly above him, making his head throb.
Harry groaned as he sat up and found that he was lying on a dirty foam mattress in a small room. There was a large glass tank that was half-filled with water sitting in the corner. The tank had a metal grille covering the top, and the top half of the glass was horribly grimy.
Where was he?
Oh, yes. He was on a mission in the Pacific Ocean, gathering intel on a group participating in unethical scientific experimentation. They were also involved in the trafficking of endangered animals for the production of medicines. The last he remembered, he had been on a ship to China. If the tilting of the floor underneath him told him anything, it was that he was still on the ship.
The fuzziness in his head probably meant that he had been drugged, which in turn suggested that his cover had been blown or that somebody had caught him. Of the two, the former was the most likely. His cover had been flawless, and he had had absolutely no contact with any Kingsman personnel ever since he had boarded the ship.
Harry rubbed his face and groaned. He looked down at himself and found that he was only wearing his shirt and a pair of jeans. His watch and shoes were gone, which meant that the only tools that he had had on him were gone as well.
Shit. Buggering shit.
A splash from the tank of water jolted Harry out of his train of thought. Harry squinted at the glass and saw a dark blob in the slightly murky water. As the blob moved closer, Harry was surprised to see that it was a huge fish tail. He was even more surprised when a palm was pressed to the inside of the dirty glass and wiped the grime away to reveal the head and torso of a young man attached to the top of the tail.
The... mermaid-- no, merman's tail was long and slim, with deep blue and green swirled all along the length of it. The shimmering scales transitioned smoothly to the pale skin of the merman's stomach. His upper body was built like a swimmer's, the skin at the sides of his body and his neck broken by evenly-spaced gill slits. He had blonde hair and beautiful emerald-green eyes that matched the rich greens in his tail.
Harry couldn't help but gape a bit. Was he dreaming? Or hallucinating?
He stood up and staggered to the tank. The merman reached a hand through the metal grille and waved at him.
No, he definitely wasn't hallucinating.
The merman cocked his head at Harry. Harry rubbed his hands over his face again.
"I'm in a cell with a merman after getting drugged by a group of animal smugglers. Merlin is never going to believe me when I tell him," Harry chuckled.
"Who's Merlin?" a melodic voice asked.
Harry started violently, but relaxed.slightly when he realized the voice belonged to the merman.
"Merlin is a friend of mine," Harry replied cautiously.
"Oh. Does he work with them?"
"He does not belong to the organization that operates this ship, if that's what you're asking."
"Do you work with them?"
"No. I was sent to gather information on their organization. Why do you ask?"
The merman simply lifted the fins at the end of his tail out of the water to show Harry. They were tattered and torn, with a few jagged holes here and there. Then, he pressed the side of his tail against the glass. Upon further inspection, Harry found that large patches of scales had been removed, and skin samples flayed from the muscle and left without medical attention. There were also a few scars scattered here and there.
Harry realized that they had been experimenting on the poor merman. It sickened him to the core to think that any human being would hurt and torture such a beautiful and (once) innocent creature.
The merman seemed embarrassed at the amount of attention Harry was giving his tail and lowered it back into the water, his face a bright red.
"How long have you been here?" Harry asked.
"A few months. I lost track after Day 76."
About 2 and a half months. The ship had been somewhere near Africa then.
"May I know your name? If you're comfortable with sharing it with me, that is."
"It's Eggsy."
"Nice to meet you, Eggsy. I'm Harry, and I'm going to find us a way out of here."