The water in the tank sloshed as it jerked to a sudden stop and the Mer within had to brace her hands on the glass to avoid being heavily jostled. She hated being moved around like this, but supposed it was better than being hauled around by the tail. They had done that a lot when she had been small, until she grew enough they risked damaging it too much. Not that it had ever been meant to support her weight above the water. She gazed around the room she had been brought to and her heart squeezed with anxiety.

There was a tall table with thick restraints hanging from it. They swayed slightly, the gleaming buckles glinting as they were struck by the harsh overhead lights. Above the table was a box shaped device, white with a black stripe running across the side. Various beams and hoses and wires were strung from it and the Mer shied away as much as her small tank would allow. She knew this room and this device, and she hated it.

She flinched when the door opened and a pair of black boots and dark pants filled her view. She craned her head to see a man staring down at her. This was not the man who usually came – not the one who loved to hurt her – but the other one, who always studied her and watched her just a little too long with a different expression. His was curiosity, like she was a puzzle to be solved. It made her uncomfortable. Perhaps what was worst about him was that she did not know what to expect.

Over time, she had come to learn the patterns of the bad-man. He hurt her – they all did – but he took immense pleasure in it. Almost seemed proud or gloating about the accomplishment. She feared him above all else. But he liked to punish her more than he simply enjoyed causing her pain. If she lay limp and meek and gave in to the inner sanctum of her mind, he got angry. It was always worse when he was angry. He would rip into her mercilessly and drag her from mental sanctuary until she was shivering and sobbing and unable to move.

It only happened twice before she learned to fuss – never too much – but to hiss and thrash and give his interns a hard time. She would get in trouble then, be punished, but it was always more bearable than when he was angry.

But this other man, this one was different, and she never felt well after his experiments. She hated them the most. She peered at him warily as he pulled on a pair of metal link gloves. He always used them when he dealt with her. She growled when he pulled the lid off and curled into a tight ball. There was not much room, but when he reached his hands in, she whipped her tail out and connected with the side of his arm. He had already been pulling back, so she did not do much damage, but he still shook his hand and muttered a word that she did not understand. It was spoken with venom, however, and he glared at her. On instinct she shrunk back.

He stepped back out of the room and returned shortly after with another person. A bit of a heavier set girl with short blonde hair around her chin and a face full of freckles. The Mer recognized her as one of the younger workers who cleaned the floors and equipment at night. She must have been the first person he found.

The Mer blared her fangs again, her heart racing. She did not fuss with this man, she genuinely resisted his machine that made her feel so pained and poorly for a long time, on top of everything she had to endure usually. He had given up before and she held the hope he would do it again.

Not this time, however. His helper pulled on a pair of the same gloves and they both advanced on her. There was not enough room in her tiny tank to avoid them both. She hissed again, but then the girl was grabbing her tail. She winced ad the hands pinch the sides of her fin against the metal links. She could not turn to strike, and the man had her around the waist in a heartbeat. His other arm looped under her chin, causing her to gag slightly as they hauled her up out of the tank.

She had a bit more energy at the moment and it had awoken her often dormant fight response. The Mer bucked in their grasp, contorting her body until the girl lost her grip on her slippery scales and they were forced to drop her. She winced at the sharp noise produced as she struck the ground, but she quickly straightened herself out and pushed herself away from their feet.

The man lunged for her and she snapped at his outstretched hands. He jerked back and grumbled more to himself than to her. “So you’re going to be difficult today, then?”

The Mer merely hissed at him in response.

He ran a hand over his balding head, then shrugged. He made a gesture to the girl that the Mer did not understand. She frowned and her hesitation cost her as the older girl's weight dropped down onto her at the butt of her tail. The Mer hissed and thrashed as she attempted to buck the girl off. She turned with her fangs bared and the man was waiting for her. She had her mouth open in a snarl and he jammed a thick rubber wrapped bar into her mouth. It caught behind her fangs and she reared in surprise. Hands pushed her down while more dragged at her face as they tied the bar into her mouth.

The Mer hissed again, but she knew it was pointless. Now that she could not bite, they were no longer worried about her. She fell limp as they picked her up again, the fight draining from her as they held her tightly. Any further resistance was pointless and would land her in trouble.

They flopped her down on the table and her head was guided into a plush framed hole. She felt hands squeezing at her tail as it was dragged straight out until her bones felt stretched, and then was locked into place. A strap was pulled tight across the base of her skull and another over the ridge of her tail where the scales melted away into her skin. She chewed her lip, fear fluttering her heart in her chest, but she did not move.

“Good girl,” the man praised, giving her a pat on the head. She gritted her teeth and lay there, effectively unable to do anything else. Her eyes closed as she heard the machine start up. The high pitched whine hurt her ears, but it quickly faded away and was replaced with a loud buzzing.

The Mer was shaking by the time the overhead box portion had lowered and pressed against her back. The bottom was coated in a straight line of tubes that aligned perfectly down her back to sit in the spaces between each of the ridges of her spin.

Tears dropped down her cheeks, the air whistling in her nostrils as she inhaled. A second later, the pain came as the machine made a sharp beeping noise and then hissed. Multiple needles pierced down the length of her spine and her body went ridged. The pressure continued to increase and the Mer's lips parted in a silent scream. As it went on, she began to feel ill, dizzy and weak.

After what felt like an eternal stretch, there was a clicking noise that jarred her back and poured white hot agony behind her eyelids, and then it released and the needles pulled free.

When the straps were removed and she was lifted off the table, her head lolled and she reached- though there was nothing in her gut to purge. Exhaustion rolled over her in waves and her body was shaking. She was lowered to the floor and she tried to brace herself on an arm, but it quivered and then buckled and she collapsed. Her chest was heaving and she felt as though someone had reached inside and torn her insides out.

The man crouched down in front of her and hauled her up, looping an arm around her chest to hold her dangled in the air with her tail trailing on the floor. The bar was tugged from her mouth, but she did not have the strength for that to mean anything. She saw a flash of pink and then a rubbery bulb was pressed to her lips. The man pushed it into her mouth and then an overly sweet fluid flowed over her tongue. It was not very good, but she was starved and weak, so she gulped at it as best she could.

“There,” the man muttered. “That wasn’t so bad.”

He lifted her and dumped her back in the water. She curled her tail and sunk to the floor of the tank, still breathing heavily. “Lexi, take her back now please. Make sure she’s marked off-limits. I took a lot and she needs to recuperate. We’ll be moving her next week. Go in and give her another one of these every hour until she starts to give you a hard time, then you can stop. It’ll be a while before she’s up and moving again, and I want to make sure her counts are kept up.”

The Mer was exhausted and barely registered the words, but one thing stuck in her mind as the assistant began to wheel her back out. Move me where? What else new could they possibly find to do to me? She had been moved around before, and it was always terrible. She did not want to know the answer of what was planned for her next.

Slumping against the glass bottom, her eyes dropped shut.