I rewrote this chapter about 50 times, and I'm still not entirely happy with the pacing. On one hand, it feels like it's moving a bit too fast. But on the other hand, if I continue to drag it out longer, this fic will never end. So it's a bit clunky, but this is more or less good enough, I think.

"…Found him!"

A shout from somewhere behind him awakened Giorgio. Sitting up with a groan, he nearly lost his balance, hurriedly putting a hand out in front of him to stabilise himself.

Wait… This isn't my bed. Where am I?

Turning to his side, he saw a large, water–filled tank with a mermaid sleeping peacefully underwater, tail swishing slowly from side to side. Daylight was shining in from a small window above the tank, showing that morning had arrived.

…Oh crap!

To his embarrassment, he realised he must have fallen asleep while talking to Evan.

"Giorgio, what on earth are you doing down here?"

Turning towards the basement door, he saw Alan and Wesley standing there, staring at him in bemusement.

"Are you seriously telling me you were sleeping here all night?" Wesley continued.

Giorgio flushed. "It wasn't on purpose. I was having trouble sleeping last night, so I came down to talk to Evan for a while and ended up falling asleep."

Wesley shook his head in disbelief. "I seriously can't believe you. I know you've been spending a lot of time with Evan, but you didn't have to wake him up in the middle of the night for no reason."

"Keep your voice down, will you?" Giorgio hissed, glancing over at the still–sleeping mermaid.

"We can talk about this later," Alan interjected. "We've been looking for you for ages."

"What for?" Giorgio asked distractedly.

"What for?" Wesley repeated incredulously. "Did you forget you're supposed to be leaving on a mission today?!"

"…Oh crap!" Giorgio's eyes widened in horror.

"I don't believe it! You actually forgot, didn't you?"

Fortunately for Giorgio, Alan stepped in before Wesley could rip into him even more.

"You'd better get going," he said. "The Director is already mad enough as it is, and he's about 5 minutes away from ordering a full–scale manhunt for you."

"Yeah, sure. Let me just—"

"Giorgio?" A quiet, confused voice interrupted him.

Turning, Giorgio saw a sleepy Evan rubbing his eyes.

"Hey Evan. Sorry, did we wake you?"

"It's okay. Were you here all night?" Evan asked, looking nervously between him and the other two agents. While Alan and Wesley seemed friendly enough, he didn't know them as well as Giorgio and wasn't as comfortable around them yet.

"I fell asleep," Giorgio hurriedly explained. "Listen Evan, I need to leave for an assignment. I'm not sure how long it will take, but I might be gone for a couple of days."

"Oh." Evan's face fell, though he tried to hide it. "I understand. You have to take care of your own work too, after all."

"I'm sorry to leave you here like this. But I'll come see you when I get back, okay?" Giorgio promised.

"Alright then," Evan said, trying to put on a brave face. "Take care of yourself."

"Not to interrupt, but you REALLY need to get going NOW, Giorgio," Wesley interjected. "Unless you intend to change your job status to 'unemployed'".

"Alright, alright! I'm going!" Giorgio raised his hands defensively. "But before that… Since I won't be around, could the two of you come down here to keep Evan company while I'm gone? You're not scheduled for another assignment for a while, right?"

"Us? I mean…" Wesley seemed surprised by the request.

"Please?" Giorgio gave the older agents a pleading look. "I don't want Evan to be alone the whole time until I'm back, and you know that Keith will probably want to come down here and mess around if nobody else is visiting. Evan already said he finds you guys nice but not as loud as Keith, so…"

"Sure, we'll keep Evan company when we can," Alan promised. "Now hurry up and go!"

With a last lingering look at Evan, Giorgio turned and raced out of the room.

An awkward silence descended. Though Alan and Wesley had visited Evan before, they had yet to have done so without Giorgio present up till now.

"Hey, if you don't want us hanging around here and bugging you—" Wesley began.

"If you guys don't want to spend time coming down here to say hi—" Evan said at the same time.

They stopped, looked at each other, and started laughing.

"Let's start over," Alan suggested. "You already know us, but I'm Alan, and the not–as–cool guy over there is Wesley."

"Excuse you?" Wesley said in mock indignation. "Such slander, I swear."

As the three of them began talking and laughing, Evan found he was smiling despite Giorgio's departure.

Five days later

Just as Giorgio had expected, the Director had not been pleased at Giorgio's tardiness the day he left on his assignment. Fortunately, he'd returned with another successful mission under his belt, which had helped to mollify the Director.

Now that he was finally home, he couldn't wait to see Evan. Wondering how the mermaid had fared in his absence, Giorgio made a quick detour to his apartment to stow away his weapons after finishing his mission debrief, then headed straight for Evan's room.

As he descended the final set of stairs, Giorgio heard a burst of raucous laughter echoing from beyond the basement door.

Curious, he pushed the door open and was met with a surprising sight.

A laughing mermaid was tossing a beach ball high above Wesley and past him towards Alan. Wesley jumped as high as he could in an attempt to intercept it, but to no avail.

As Alan caught the ball with a whoop of delight, Giorgio felt a twinge of jealousy somewhere in his chest, seeing how Evan seemed to have bonded so quickly with Alan and Wesley in his absence.

Despite knowing he should be glad that Evan was making more friends and learning to socialise, he couldn't help feeling left out, as though he had been replaced as Evan's friend.

But then, Evan caught sight of Giorgio standing in the doorway, and his already massive grin grew even wider.

"Giorgio! You're ba—ACK!" He spluttered as the beach ball, thrown by Alan without his noticing, splashed into his tank, soaking him.

"Whoops, sorry Evan." Alan stifled a laugh. "Welcome back, Giorgio."

Seeing Evan's obviously delighted reaction at his return, some of the tightness in Giorgio's chest eased and he shook his head slightly, kicking himself for his knee–jerk reaction.

Don't be ridiculous, Evan can be friends with more than one person. You don't want him to be so isolated that he only has you for company, right?

"Hey guys," Giorgio greeted the trio. "Looks like you're having fun."

"Alan and Wesley taught me how to play Monkey in the Middle," Evan said happily. "I can't be the monkey because my tank is all the way in the back here, but I've been having fun throwing the ball around."

"That's good to hear. Was there any trouble while I was gone?" Giorgio asked.

"Evan was a bit mopey for the first day or so after you left," Wesley explained. "We came down here to cheer him up, and some of the other agents swung by to visit too."

"Keith came a few days ago," Evan piped up. "He said he was sorry for scaring me the last time he visited. And then he gave me this beach ball. Said it was a present so I had something to play with."

"That was nice of him," Giorgio said with a smile. Bringing a mermaid a beach ball as an apology present sounded exactly like what the boisterous veteran agent would do; Keith could be impulsive and overly energetic at times, but his heart was definitely in the right place.

"He even tried to teach Evan to play volleyball, but Robert made him stop after the basement started getting really wet and slippery," Alan added, snickering at the memory.

Yup, that sounds like Keith too… And Robert, for that matter.

Stifling a laugh, Giorgio asked, "Have any of the scientists asked about Evan yet?"

"Oh right, Richard passed along the message that Rachel will be the one looking after Evan's health," Wesley told him. "The Science Department assigned her to handle it since Biochemistry was her original field of study before joining the VSSE, and also because she has a decent bedside manner."

"Oh! That's good to hear." Giorgio let out a sigh of relief. "Evan, I can assure you that you have nothing to worry about. As promised, I'll stay with you during the examination, but Rachel Miller is a very gentle and sweet person. You'll be in good hands with her."

"Well… If you say so, then I'll believe you, Giorgio." Evan was still a bit nervous at the thought of being examined by a scientist again, but he did his best to swallow his fear.

"I think the Science Department was waiting for you to get back before arranging for a check–up, Giorgio," Alan added. "You should probably go see them and work out the details."

"Now?" Evan asked. "But he just got back! Come on Giorgio, play a game with us first."

Saying so, he picked up the discarded beach ball and threw it to Giorgio, who deftly caught it.

Well, why not? I haven't had a chance to unwind for a while.

"… Alright, let's go. Alan, catch!"

The next day

"…Heart rate and temperature readings are normal as well," Dr Rachel Miller concluded.

As Giorgio had promised, Rachel's kind and friendly demeanour had gone a long way towards putting Evan at ease.

Although the mermaid had been a bit tense at the start of the check–up, he had mostly relaxed by the time Rachel had finished her examination. He'd handled the tests she needed to run on him remarkably well, even when she needed to draw a vial of his blood for testing.

Of course, it helped that she had put Evan at ease first, assuring him that they only needed his bloodwork to be sure there weren't any alarming abnormalities in his system that might point to Dr Anderson having tampered with him in more insidious ways than the obvious.

Rachel began packing up her medical equipment as Evan watched her from his tank. Giorgio was in the room too, though he had mostly stayed silent, merely leaning against the side of Evan's tank and allowing Rachel to work her magic.

For obvious reasons, it was rather difficult to conduct this check–up in the infirmary. Not to mention, Rachel had suspected that Evan was still too shy and self–conscious at the moment to have a medical examination in a place where other people could see him.

"Your weight's a little low, though admittedly, we're basing that on standard height–and–weight calculations for humans," Rachel added. "The same goes for everything else, but everything seems in order from what we've been able to gauge. You don't appear to be feeling too hot or too cold, for instance."

"Well, if I am, you guys can always adjust my tank's water temperature, right?" Evan said with a laugh. "Thank you for being patient with me. Sorry I was a bit scared of you earlier."

"Oh please, you're one of the more pleasant patients I've had." Rachel waved off his apology with a laugh. "You should see how Wesley reacts when it's his turn for vaccinations…"

"Anyway, how's your appetite? You said you weren't hungry when you first arrived. How about now?"

"I'm starting to get a bit peckish, I think," Evan admitted.

"Well, we've been trying to figure out what to feed you for a while," Rachel said. "Based on what you told us and what little we've been able to decipher from Dr Anderson's destroyed notes, we're thinking perhaps some form of raw meat would work the best. Perhaps raw fish, since that tends to be a bit safer for human consumption than some other forms of raw meat, and we don't know how much of your digestive system is still human."

"Obviously, we have no idea what she was actually feeding you, and we probably wouldn't want to feed you whatever it is anyway; from your description of the taste, it sounds like she might have been drugging your food to get you addicted to it. Possibly some sick form of behavioural conditioning so that you'd follow her orders for more food."

"What?" Evan was shocked. "Then… If I've been eating drugged meat… But… Wouldn't I have shown some sort of reaction if I've been on drugs?"

His tail twitched nervously. Seeing this, Giorgio reached out, laying a comforting hand on Evan's back.

"We can't know for sure yet," Rachel admitted. "The bloodwork will tell us if there are any traces of drugs in your system. But for now, I think it's a fair guess that they've worn off by now, since you said you were fed something else for quite a while."

"But… That worries me too, in a way. If Dr Anderson was trying to create some form of behavioural conditioning in you, abandoning it halfway through wouldn't have helped her in the slightest. What was the purpose of that?" The scientist was mostly thinking out loud to herself, but Evan felt a chill run down his spine anyway.

"Um… Doc?" Giorgio spoke up, gesturing to Evan. The mermaid was looking visibly nervous and worried at this point.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to worry you," Rachel quickly apologised. "I promise, we'll do whatever we can to figure this out. You just focus on getting healthier and putting on some weight, alright?"

"Alright, sure. But… Do you think I could have something to entertain me down here?" Evan asked. "The beach ball Keith gave me is fun, but I can't really play with it all the time. And if there's nobody in the room, it's a bit boring. Not to mention I can't throw it around the rest of the room since I can't exactly get out of the tank to pick it up if it's out of reach."

"Hmm, something for your mental stimulation would certainly help," Rachel mused. "I'll see if we can bring you something else. Maybe some pool toys, or a basketball hoop, or even a climbing rope secured to the ceiling, if we can manage that."

"As for getting out of the tank, maybe there's something we can do about that," Giorgio added.

"For the time being, we could set up a rope and pulley system of sorts; you'd be able to use it to fetch stuff from across the room, and it would be pretty fun to play with in itself. We could add baskets of stuff that you can haul over and mess around with."

"In the long–run, perhaps we could see about designing some sort of wheelchair for you to move around?" He suggested. "Your arms work fine, so if we found a way to make a tank of water you can sit in and attach it to wheels, you could wheel yourself around and explore the rest of the building."

"Those all sound like pretty cool ideas." Evan was excited now, forgetting his earlier apprehension from when Rachel was talking about his diet. "Keith offered to try to teach me to walk on my hands so I can get out, but that sounds pretty hard…"

Rachel let out a groan.

"Alright, here's a new rule for your healthcare: Please, whatever you do, don't listen to Keith's suggestions," she said. "He means well, but Keith can be rather… reckless at times."

"Walking on one's hands is hard enough for a human," Giorgio agreed. "I don't think your tail is made to balance upside down like that, and you definitely don't want to hurt yourself repeatedly landing hard on your tail."

"Aw, fine." Evan pouted a bit. "In that case, please do what you can to brighten up this place. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful you guys rescued me, but being in the basement by myself is starting to get pretty boring."

"We'll see what we can do," Giorgio promised.

Report on Evan

As per Dr Rachel Miller's medical report (see attached report for details), Evan appears to be in sufficiently good health for now. However, Dr Miller was concerned about his weight being too low, likely because Evan hasn't eaten in a while.

Based on our ongoing observations, the scientists' efforts to decipher Dr Anderson's surviving notes, and Evan's own words, as reported by Agent Giorgio Bruno, we have decided to try feeding Evan a diet of raw fish for the time being.

Cooked fish as well as non–meat products that we've tried, such as bread and fruits, don't seem to satisfy Evan's metabolism. Oddly enough, while he's neutral to the taste of most non–meat products, he also reported that he finds the taste of cooked fish to be entirely unpalatable.

I believe this to be a result of his genetic mutation, that his taste buds are governed by the same part of him that is responsible for his unique metabolism. Evan has reported that even after eating the above foods, he feels no less hungry than before.

Conversely, raw fish seems to be the most effective, although not by much more. Evan says that after eating it, he still feels hungry, but to a lesser extent than before consumption. The amount of food consumed is unlikely to change this, as we witnessed Evan eat 15 raw tuna in one sitting and before reporting that he still didn't feel full.

Currently, Evan's bloodwork shows no signs of drugs lingering in his system, though I concur with Dr Miller's hypothesis about his previous food being drugged. I have asked Agent Bruno to observe Evan further to see if there's any sign that Dr Anderson's attempted behavioural conditioning of Evan, whatever its purpose, has taken hold or is altering him.

In the meantime, as per Evan's request, we have spruced up the basement with various objects intended to encourage his mental stimulation and reduce his boredom levels.

Agent Bruno's suggested rope and pulley system has been implemented, and we have also installed a small basketball hoop and a dartboard (meant for use with small foam balls and soft darts).

The rope and pulley system also comes with a velcro–equipped lasso, as do the other moveable objects in the room, so that Evan can more easily retrieve items that are otherwise out of reach.

As a final note, several agents have been bringing plants and other forms of decor to Evan's room to liven up the place. Some of them have also taken to doing their work in the basement instead of upstairs in the office, which brings me to my next point:

If you strongly feel that you MUST work in the basement to spend time with Evan, fine, but please, for all our sakes, do NOT bring pen–and–paper documents down to the basement.

It's hard enough to read your handwriting when the paper is dry, let alone when it's soaked because one of you idiots thinks it's funny to start playing volleyball (again) while someone else is doing time–sensitive paperwork.

Report compiled by Officer Christy Ryan

Two months after Evan's arrival

Rationally, Evan knew that things should be fine. Life was better than it had been for a long time, after all.

He had a beautiful room in the VSSE HQ basement that was decorated with a lush forest of flowers and potted plants that various agents had given him.

He had lots of toys and exercise equipment that he could play with, both with others and by himself.

He even had an easel and paints, after someone had figured out how to set things up so that Evan could do watercolour painting without having to dip his brush in his tank to wash it.

And, of course, he had friends who came to visit him all the time. Even if they were busy working, they'd simply bring their work with them when they came to visit, keeping Evan company while working on their reports (never mind that they were technically forbidden from bringing paper and ink documents down; at worst, they'd have to rewrite a page or two if it got wet).

But Evan's hunger had not gotten any better.

Although the VSSE had tried a myriad of foods to supplement Evan's diet, none of them had worked adequately to sate his hunger.

They had switched away from fish to raw pork after determining that it worked the best out of all the meat options they had tried. But nonetheless, while Evan didn't feel the same level of ravenous hunger immediately after eating, there was still an unabating hunger somewhere inside him that continued to grow.

He ate every day, and yet he seemed to grow hungrier all the time.

His dreams were filled with the taste of that meat he hungered for. Sometimes, the scent of it followed him into the waking world, and he could swear that he'd almost smell that odd, sweet scent just somewhere out of reach…

"…Evan?"

He snapped out of his thoughts, seeing Giorgio staring at him.

It was getting harder and harder to focus these days when people were talking to him. He'd find himself spacing out and thinking about his hunger, only to find that his friends had been trying to get his attention for a while.

"Sorry Giorgio, were you saying something?" Evan apologised.

"Is everything alright? You looked like you were zoning out again," Giorgio said worriedly.

Evan sighed.

"Yeah, I was… Well, you know. I'm sorry, I'm just really hungry," Evan admitted.

"We're trying to figure out a way to fix this, but…" Giorgio bit his lip. "We could try giving you way more food, but it seems like your metabolism just burns it all away in the blink of an eye."

"But there has to be something we've overlooked," he said fiercely. "So don't give up hope, alright? We're going to do our best."

Evan nodded tiredly, closing his eyes and trying to remember the fantastic taste of the meat he used to have. It was so juicy and tender, with the right amount of fat… You could offer him a prime cut of steak, and it wouldn't have tasted better than the strange meat he'd had.

Suddenly, he smelled it. That delicious, heavenly scent from his dreams. It was fainter, to be sure, but he would never forget what it smelled like.

Baring his razor–sharp teeth, he snapped at whatever it was…

"Hey!"

Giorgio's shout of alarm broke him out of whatever trance he'd been in, as though he'd had a bucket of icy cold water dumped on him.

A startled Giorgio was staring at Evan with wide eyes, having snatched away the hand he'd been reaching out to place on Evan's shoulder.

Evan's mouth was still wide open, teeth bared and… dear God, he could feel himself drooling.

"Giorgio, I… I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me!" Evan shrank back, horrified.

Giorgio was staring at Evan with an expression that Evan had never seen before. To the mermaid's eyes, it looked to be somewhere between puzzlement and horrified comprehension.

As though steeling himself for something unpleasant, Giorgio took a deep breath, then let it out again.

"That didn't happen, alright?" He said quietly. "This doesn't leave the room."

He should have protested. He should have insisted that Giorgio needed to report what just happened, and that he might end up attacking someone else again in a worse way.

But he was frightened…

And he was so hungry.

So he said nothing, and Giorgio settled a bit further back from the tank, his smile a bit dimmer than it had been earlier.

Burnt fragment of Dr Sophie Anderson's private research notes

Subject 125 continues to fascinate me. Even after his transformation, my little sea angel still has his human mind, unlike his fellow mermaids. This is the breakthrough I've been looking for!

Imagine: An army of creatures with fearsome fighting abilities, yet able to not just follow orders but also think. If I could train them to listen to me, they would be able to infiltrate anywhere. I'd be unstoppable, and the world would bow to me.

It's time to start my dear sea angel's training. I'll begin by feeding him the special diet he needs…

Unofficial notice outside basement

As per Agent Bruno's advice, visits to Evan's room are temporarily suspended for everyone else, as Evan is not in the best of spirits due to his still–poor diet.

The second time it happened, Giorgio was in the middle of bringing Evan food.

After the initial incident, Giorgio had told the other agents that Evan wanted to be alone for a while because he was tired and didn't have the energy to be around other people at the moment. Though the Science Department had initially wanted to send Rachel back to Evan's room for another check–up, Giorgio had persuaded her to hold off for now.

So for the time being, Giorgio was back to being Evan's only visitor until they could fix the issues with Evan's unexplained hunger.

In the meantime, they were tripling Evan's previous food supply (thanks to emergency donations from the cafeteria, which would now be out of pork chops for the foreseeable future).

Although he found it a bit lonely to have his world shrink down again, Evan hadn't said anything about the changes. He was afraid that if he started asking questions, he wouldn't like the answers he'd get.

But then, it happened again.

As Giorgio put the plate of raw pork on the small table beside Evan's tank, Evan closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

There was a stack of something near him. It smelled okay, but not the best. But oh, there was that appetising scent again! It was near the stack, and it was starting to move away—!

Before the delicious taste could evade him, Evan lunged forward and bit down.

An agonised yell cut through the haze of delight clouding his mind, bringing him to his senses.

That delicious taste was on the tip of his tongue…

But he was biting into the flesh of Giorgio's wrist.

Instantly, he let go, jerking back in horror.

"Oh God! Giorgio, what… I don't… I didn't mean to!"

Giorgio was doubled over, gritting his teeth as he did his best to wrap his injured wrist with the long sleeve of the shirt he always wore.

"It's nothing, just a flesh wound…" He hissed, dabbing at the blood on his wrist.

Evan had, fortunately, missed most of Giorgio's arm when he lunged, merely catching the edge of his skin. Despite the initial bleeding, it actually wasn't that deep, and it certainly could have been a lot worse.

But it shouldn't have happened at all.

"Giorgio, this time you have to tell someone," Evan insisted. "This is insane!"

"We'll talk about this when I get back." Giorgio tried for a smile but ended up wincing in pain. "Promise me you won't do anything stupid until then."

"Giorgio…!" Evan called out after his friend as the latter left the room, leaving the mermaid staring at a plate of cold, raw pork and filled with an ocean of guilt inside him.

"Holy crap Giorgio, what happened?" Alan called out as Giorgio walked into the infirmary.

Those five words were enough to get the attention of almost everybody in the room, and they turned to look at the agent as he walked past them, a bloodstained towel wrapped around his left wrist.

Flushing slightly at the unwanted attention, Giorgio did his best to ignore them, making a beeline for the nearest available doctor.

As the doctor began unwrapping the towel and preparing the antiseptic swab, Giorgio felt a tug on his uninjured arm.

"Seriously, that looks awful! I thought you weren't on assignment this week," Alan said, looking at his fellow agent worriedly.

Realising he wouldn't get out of this without some sharp questions, Giorgio let out a sigh.

"What are you two doing here?" He asked.

"Getting patched up after a firefight. Stupid drug dealers and their guns," Wesley grumbled. "And don't change the subject. What the hell happened to your hand?"

"It's not as bad as it looks, okay?" Giorgio retorted defensively. "It's already stopped bleeding."

"Yeah, but what caused it in the first place? You've been here at HQ for the past week. What did you do to make your wrist bleed like that?" Wesley asked.

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, and he looked suspiciously at Giorgio.

"You've been down in Evan's room for most of the week… Did something happen?"

Startled, Giorgio stammered a bit, scrambling to find an answer that wouldn't make things worse.

"Look, I…"

"You what?" Wesley asked. Alan and the doctor were also looking curiously at Giorgio.

Giorgio sighed. "I tripped and fell, alright? I was playing with Evan down in his room, didn't look where I was going, and ended up landing hard on something. I didn't want to say so because I was embarrassed about being so clumsy. Anything else?"

"If you gentlemen don't mind, I'd like to finish treating my patient today," the doctor finally interjected, shooing Alan and Wesley away.

Giorgio heaved an internal sigh of relief at escaping the interrogation, already thinking about the conversation he was going to need to have with Evan.

Lost in thought, he failed to see Wesley still looking at him suspiciously.

Burnt fragment of Dr Sophie Anderson's private research notes

Curses! That fool! Pathetic child! How dare he?!

I was so sure that Subject 125 would be the key, but I was wrong. Another dead end.

It seems that 125 developed a bond with Subject 134 (female, red hair) during his earlier captivity. Instead of attacking her or even fighting back, he simply cowered like a pathetic wretch, allowing himself to be maimed.

Although he retained his intelligence and capacity for rational thought, 125 lacks the innate bloodlust of previous prototypes. What good is a killing machine without killer instincts?!

Perhaps this situation can still be rectified. I've ordered my assistants to feed 125 with leftovers from previous failures for the moment. If 125's earlier behavioural conditioning took root properly, he may still be trainable, albeit in a more roundabout way.

3 years I've been feeding him nothing but the meat of captives unsuitable for use as test subjects. Perhaps if 125 grows hungry enough, he'll learn to fight for his food when it becomes available. If he won't fight by choice, his instincts will make sure he has no choice in the matter.

I shall instruct my assistants to stop feeding him. Maybe I'll use some of my more useless assistants as bait to see whether he learns to be a killer after all…

"Aye. Mermaids. Sea ghouls, devil fish, dreadful in hunger for flesh of man. Mermaid waters, that be our path. Cling to your soul, Gibbs, as mermaids be given to take the rest, to the bone." ~ Captain Hector Barbossa, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

I'm guessing everyone saw the twist coming at this point.