Lewis slowly begins to wake up, opening his eyes groggily, feeling dazed and confused, unable to remember anything since heading out to the moon pool for his date with Cleo. 'Where am I?' Lewis silently wonders to himself, feeling queasy as his mind and vision spin out of control, giving the teenager a massive headache.
As the disgruntled merman slowly comes back to his senses and becomes more aware of his surroundings as he slowly regains full consciousness, Lewis finds himself lying strapped down to some sort of metal table; his ankles and wrists cuffed to the said table to prevent him from escaping. The boy is also startled to see that he has been stripped down to his underwear, feeling the icy coldness of the metal underneath him. Glancing around the dimly lit room in a hurried panic, the teenage scientist tries to pick up on any sort of clues that could give him an idea of where the hell he could be.
Unfortunately, the room is extremely bare; the floor appears to just be worn down concrete while the walls are tiled in an off-white colour, providing no windows that would allow in sunlight and clues as to where Lewis is. It also appears that the only objects currently in this mystery room are the cold metal table that Lewis is already lying on and a small trolley a few meters away from the table with all sorts of needles and other medical equipment neatly lying on top of it. The sight of the medical instruments causes Lewis' heart to skip a beat and the saliva in his throat begins to thicken, which he tries to swallow down. Deciding that he doesn't want to stick around and find out what those instruments are for, the merman attempts to pull his wrists and ankles free, but his efforts are in vain. If anything, Lewis makes his situation worse by digging the restraints into his skin, causing red marks and even a couple of droplets of blood to appear where the cuffs are cutting deepest into his skin.
Lewis eventually gives up on trying to wriggle out of the restraints, realising that it's a hopeless endeavour. Whoever put him here obviously isn't just going to let him wander out so easily. That brings Lewis to his next line of thought: how did he get here and who would have brought him here? Suddenly, his most recent memories from before he woke up hit the merman all at once, like an out of control train. He was here because of Linda Denman. Lewis grinds his teeth in annoyance and his nose wrinkles in disgust at the mere thought of the Doctor, upset that he most likely will have to deal with her again sometime very soon.
Continuing to lie on the metal table like some sort of lab rat, Lewis sighs and stares up at the ceiling in defeat. He has no idea of when something is going to happen, if anything were to happen at all. The anxiety-ridden teenager is already losing track of time: there aren't any windows in the room, so Lewis can't even tell what time of day it is. For all that he knew, he could have already been lying here on this strange table for several hours, or maybe just a few minutes. Either way, Lewis strongly suspects that he is being watched by someone from somewhere. He supposes that he needs to try and get used to being watched in this strange place; this is going to be his new life and will eventually become normality, after all. Denman is never going to let him go. Lewis just hopes that she will stick to her end of the deal of not hurting Cleo, Emma or Rikki.
A small flood of relief flows through the teenager, thankful that at least his girlfriend and the rest of his friends are still safe. It doesn't matter what happens to him, just as long as the mermaids don't get hurt. Lewis still completely blames himself for Linda finding out about his friends in the first place. It was an incredibly stupid idea to try and sneak into her lab to examine DNA samples from Cleo, and even more foolish of him to accidentally leave the sample behind for Doctor Denman to see. His infatuation with her work had completely disarmed his ability to think logically.
As the minutes — possibly hours — tick by, the aspiring young scientist begins to get more and more tired of just waiting around for nothing to happen. If Denman and her team wanted to experiment on him and torture him, they might as well get it over and done with.
"Hello, is anyone there?" Lewis shouts into the void, hoping that someone will be able to hear him. He's almost certain that there would be some sort of camera in this room keeping a monitor on the teenager.
"Doctor Denman?" The merman tries again, turning his head towards the door, waiting for someone to walk through.
"Don't you guys have heaps of experiments and tests to do on me? Why not get started now, huh?" Lewis calls out loudly once more, knowing that he is likely provoking Denman and her team, but he doesn't care at this point. He has already lost his freedom and control of his life; what more does Lewis have to lose?
Suddenly, the door bursts open, breaking Lewis out of his self-pitying thoughts. Lewis watches as Doctor Denman herself walks into the room, carrying a clipboard and a pen. She carefully closes the door behind her and walks over to the table Lewis is lying on, a thin smile curving up at the edges of her mouth.
"Ah, it's good to see that you're awake, Lewis. I trust that you had a pleasant sleep." Linda greets the teenager with fake — but apparently required — pleasantries.
"Cut the bullshit, Denman. Just get to the point." Lewis snarls, not in the mood to play any sort of mind games right now. Linda raises her eyebrows and scoffs in disbelief whilst shaking her head, a hint of annoyance etched into her expression. From Lewis' perspective, it seems to him that Linda is a little bit… offended?
"Very well, if that's the way you want it to be. I was just trying to be friendly. We are going to become very well acquainted with each other in the next few weeks, after all." Linda says, still sounding a little upset, to which Lewis merely rolls his eyes.
"What are you going to do with me?" Lewis asks, choosing not to respond to Denman's comment about them spending a lot of time together in the upcoming weeks. He is sure none of it will be pleasant for him.
"Well, we have already conducted some parts of a basic physical examination while you were asleep, including some simple blood tests, both in your human form and merman form to try and identify the differences. So far, the results seem promising. But that's only the beginning, I'm afraid. Of course, to get a thorough and accurate physical examination, you have to be awake so that we can complete all of the required tests. But then from there, things will begin to get more complex as we try and learn every single detail that makes you... well, you." Linda answers, sounding excited and fascinated at the idea of future experiments that she could experiment on Lewis. Realising this fact, Lewis scowls in response, hating being seen just as some sort of fun science experiment for Linda just to play around with.
"I must warn you though, it's going to be a long, painful and tedious process. However, it is a necessary process that I hope one day you'll understand." Linda continues, and for a moment Lewis swears that he can see a tiny bit of sympathy in her eyes. Lewis quickly dismisses the thought, putting it down to him just imagining things. There's no way that a crazy scientist like Doctor Denman, who would rip Lewis apart piece by piece if she had to, would ever be able to feel any sort of sympathy or remorse for him. It's just not possible. Hell, she's the one that keeps saying that he's not even a human being anymore and doesn't have the same rights as everyone else. Lewis is almost certain it can't be as simple as that from a legal standpoint, but then again, why would a deranged and discredited scientist care about the intricate details of morals and ethics in scientific research?
"This is wrong! You won't get away with this! People will look for me! What are you going to do when the police find you?" Lewis snarls, staring up at Linda in disgust.
"As I said back in the moon pool, I have made sure to completely cover our tracks. There won't be any believable evidence for the police to find that they can trace back to us. They will have to conclude that you just ran away and never came back. Even if the police were to find any sort of evidence, you should know that it would lead them to your fish friends first. Besides, if the police are somehow able to find us, do you really think that they or the law would be on your side? Something like you shouldn't even exist, but somehow you do. The world will want me to keep studying you in captivity, to make sure that you're nothing that humans should fear, and figure out how something like you can exist in the first place." Linda explains with a nonchalant shrug, hoping that Lewis will realise that there is no way for him to get out of this and his only choice is to comply.
Seeing Lewis' extremely unimpressed expression with a hint of hurt and betrayal in his eyes, Linda sighs tiredly and asks, "Look, I get that you aren't on board with all of this. Not yet, anyway. But do you want to know something that intrigues me and makes this all so much more interesting?"
"What?" Lewis snaps back harshly, scowling up at his captor.
"With you being the way that you are proves that merpeople don't have to necessarily be born in the ocean. I mean, when I was here on the Gold Coast only a year or two ago, you were definitely just as human as I was. But here we are now, and all of that has changed. I could never previously be sure about the idea of humans somehow turning into half-fish creatures at a later stage in life, as that seemed more impossible than merfolk existing in the first place," Linda begins to explain to the teenager breathlessly, her mind whirling with hundreds of theories and questions.
"But?" Lewis says impatiently, eyes narrowing as he continues to glare up at Linda.
"But then I saw you jump into the canal after leaving my boat the other day. From all I knew of Cleo, Emma and Rikki, they could have always been mermaids, and I guess that is still possible," Linda replies honestly with a small shrug.
"But you, you're definitive proof that complete cellular mutation doesn't have to be present from birth! With enough time, money and research, there is a real possibility that your cellular mutation could play a part in wiping out terminal diseases. Surely even you have to find that amazing." Linda continues to speak when Lewis doesn't comment.
"At the cost of my life, and you threatening my friends just so there's maybe a small chance there might be a breakthrough in curing certain diseases?" Lewis scoffs in response, his eyebrows raising up into his fringe in disbelief.
"Imagine a world where people wouldn't have to die of cancer anymore! If I remember correctly, didn't your father die of cancer, Lewis? With your help, we can try and stop other kids from suffering that same fate!" Linda exclaims, wishing that Lewis could understand things from her point of view.
"Don't bring my dad into this! That's not fair!" Lewis says as a scowl reappears on his face.
"Alright, alright, fine. I'm sorry." Linda surrenders hurriedly, raising her hands in the air to help signify her sincerity.
"What are you going to do with me when you get all of the information you need anyway?" Lewis asks tiredly, knowing full well that Linda doesn't have any intentions of letting Lewis walk free.
"My research funder, Robert Wilson, will be delighted to meet you, I'm sure. He has been trying to find proof of merfolk for years, after being saved by one many years ago in his youth. Once I'm done with you, Robert can do whatever he wants. I suspect that he will want to show you off to the world and let people gawk at you. If I were you, I'd try and get used to being kept in small spaces, particularly small tanks." Linda replies with a cold, cruel smile. Lewis angrily pulls against his restraints again out of anger and desperation, praying that he can still get out of this somehow by some sort of miracle.
"Hey now, remember that you agreed to cooperate with us. I don't need to remind you of the consequences if you don't." Linda says warningly.
"Leave Cleo, Emma and Rikki alone!" Lewis cries out, tugging against his restraints once more, ignoring the pain of the cuffs digging into his wrists and ankles.
"I guess we'll see about that, won't we?" Linda retorts threateningly as she glares down at Lewis. After a couple of tense silence filled seconds, Linda quickly composes herself and tucks her long blonde hair behind her ears.
"Okay. So, we won't do any more tests on you today. I want to take the time to plan everything out and make sure we conduct every test necessary to analyse every part of you. For now, my colleagues will escort you to your new room, which you will be staying in 24/7 unless you're undergoing tests and experiments. Is that understood?" Linda asks as she walks back over towards the door and opens it, allowing two large, intimidating looking men at least twice the size of Lewis walk into the room.
"Do I at least get clothes?" Lewis comments, feeling extremely uncomfortable and exposed by just being in his underwear like this while being examined by the group of scientists.
"Of course. We have a set of clothes waiting for you in your room." Linda laughs as she steps aside, allowing the two men to walk over to Lewis and unstrap him from the table. Before Lewis can even begin to react, his new bodyguards hoist him up by hooking their hands under Lewis' arms and begin shoving him out of the creepy dark room with the metal table. As the three of them walk down the hallway, Lewis glances around him to get at least some sort of idea of where they might be. The corridor is long and narrow, with many doors presumably leading into rooms all lined up in a row on both sides of the drab, grey walls. Very few light bulbs are hanging from the ceiling in irregular intervals, but it is at least enough of a source of light for Lewis to somewhat make out the scenery around him.
The two guards continue pushing Lewis along through the corridor, causing Lewis to trip and stumble a few times. The drug that had been injected into him back in the moon pool still hasn't worn off completely yet, his limbs feeling numb and useless. Eventually, the guards stop outside a door with the number 25 labelled on it. One of the guards let's go of Lewis as he grabs out his keys, finds the correct one and proceeds to unlock the door. Once the door is open, the two guards shove Lewis inside, who falls onto the hard concrete floor, wincing in pain. Lewis glances over his shoulder to look at the two men standing in the doorway.
"You will receive three meals and three bottles of water a day, and they will be delivered to you via this slot in the door," one of the men says, pointing towards a section about halfway down the door that appears to look like it can be opened. It's not very wide or large, but it looks good enough to slide a container of food through.
"This door will only open when Doctor Denman wants to start running tests. Is that clear?" The other man asks, raising his eyebrow slightly.
"Yes..." Lewis mumbles as he gives the guards a small nod. Without another word, the two guards step back out into the hallway, quickly shutting the door and locking the merman inside the dark room. For a few moments, the teenage boy just continues to lie on the cold hard floor with his eyes closed in despair, having a hard time trying to process that this is his new reality. After several minutes though, the young scientist pushes himself up into a sitting position and takes time to observe his new surroundings.
The room is fairly small, and once again there are no windows; his only light source coming from a small lamp sitting on the floor, next to a rickety old bed with a mattress that looks like it has been rotted through. On the other side of the room, Lewis spots a toilet and small sink with a stack of toilet paper standing between them. While it is fairly dirty, Lewis is relieved to at least have a toilet in here. He also spots a pile of folded clothes that have been laid for him on the old, rotten bed. Lewis sighs as he crawls his way over to the bed and grabs the clothes, hurriedly putting them on. He notices that on the right front side of the shirt, the letters "Subject A" have been stitched into the fabric. A sour taste fills Lewis' mouth as he quickly comes to the realisation that he is not Lewis McCartney anymore. Instead, he is nothing more than some sort of lab rat to be poked and prodded by a bunch of people who can no longer see him as a person, only recognising him as Subject A. That very thought makes Lewis want to throw up.
After a few moments of contemplating whether or not it is safe or healthy to do so, Lewis eventually sits down on the bed, shuffling towards the back of it so he can lean against the wall. Lewis pulls his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs tightly. He has never felt more alone or terrified in his entire life. How the hell did he ever end up in his mess? God, Lewis wishes his life could go back to normal, before all of the Mako Island mayhem began for him and his friends.
"At least you're still safe, Cleo. I hope you know how much I love you. Please don't look for me. I don't want you to end up like this, too..." Lewis mumbles to himself quietly as he squeezes his eyes tight shut as tears begin to well up in his eyes, feeling completely helpless and doomed to his fate.