Depths of Chicago's sea

Within the shallows of the Atlantic Ocean, deep underwater a few kilometres out from Chicago, an urchin community dwelled. Or at least, a community perceived by the everyday sea dwellers as a harmonious niche but to other more insidious and sinister creatures, a place to inflict harm. Centuries ago, the water hues would've been as clear as crystal and as light as day. However, years of humanitarian pollution, oil spills and shipwrecks have rendered this oceanic area of the world somewhat murky. An air (or water) of gloom overshadowing its, once, unspoilt nature. Corroded remnants of abandoned ships used in construct by the anthropomorphic sea dwellers.

The place, known to all locals and visitors was known as Beversea Hills’ Reef.
Looking out the window of a perforated makeshift boat which had since been converted into a diner, agent Guppy sighed. A gold coloured gilled anthromorphic fish with human like hands but plain tail fins, he was doning a regular office shirt under a trenchcoat. His face overshadowed by an oversized hat.
He was at a loss since his last case had ended. Yes. It was a win. Through a filtered goldfish bowl. The repercussions continued, however, to haunt him. Like a diluted pollutant that never quite faded away.
Small thoughts would wash up the shore as he’d wonder what it was like to eat, breathe and swim like a regular fish. However, that wasn’t the course that was taken so he was always quick to relinquish and let those thoughts drown out to sea.
He drifted his attention, to one of the angel fish female waitresses. Expression still unchanged. Although the glance did not go unnoticed.

"Whale whale, why the lorng face?" A voice broke in, coming from a sharp toothed fish. His accent mimicking that of a New Yorker.
Someone Guppy was all too familiar with. He slowly turned around from where he was seated and looked at him in an unphased manner. Truth be told, he wasn’t happy he was here.

A creep who always seemed to be at this casual diner. One he felt would often randomly and unwelcomingly come and talk to people. Today, was Guppy’s turn.

"You look different," Guppy said without answering his question. Truth be told, sometimes his grinny fangs made him uncomfortable "have you been fishing for humans?" He joked. Except the serious and almost uneasy tone let the light humour of the question down. Half the point of that question was to confirm whether this fish was above him in the food chain or whether he was more ambitious than settling for mudskippers.

“Well I don’t get nick named Count. Pirahnnacula for nothing!!” the fish laughed, slapping guppy on the back really hard. Which wasn’t appreciated or well received from the gold fish.

“Well, aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” fanged fish asked.

“Excuse me?” Guppy asked, raising a brow ever so slightly.

“Caught you staring longingly. Come on… Don’t be Koi!”

“What is it you really want?” Guppy cut him off. His puns were becoming one too much.

“Well…” the fangy fish said softly, turning his head from side to side rapidly, sweeping the surroundings with his ravenous eyes. Guppy noting any hint of subtlety being shot to pieces. Which made his fresh face frown again.

“I heard from an insider you’re some sorta a super secret agent!” he exclaimed. Leaning in far too close for the fish’s comfort.
Guppy backed away somewhat, wiping the spit off his face. He took his hat off to make sure he could clean his whole visage. A fresh face despite the annoyance he was donning.

“Well, guess it’s not a ‘super’ secret anymore,” he retorted.

“Listen to me pal! This’or pay huge…”

“Really NOT interested in the money,” Guppy folded his arms.

“Oh oh a tree hugger… am I RIGHT?! Yeah yeah… I get it!” which earned a further frown from Guppy.

“This really might interest you, you know.” The gruff fish said “I mean it does like you give two fins about the ohcean hear.” He continued to explain “you’ll knohw as we speaks right now, there’s a massive oil spill over yonder…”

Guppy’s eyes followed the Pihranna like fish’s finger which pointed out the window.

“I don’t see anything… what… wait…” Guppy’s eyes etched slightly wider for the first time since the conversation had started. He scrutinized the horizon “doesn’t look like an ‘oil’ that’s spilling to me…” He was thinking out loud. Nonetheless, ‘Fangy’ smiled and took the opportunity to reply.

“Oh! So you do care?” he sniggered with gleaming fangs. Stepping back to stand right behind Guppy, he placed two hands on his shoulders to speak as his conscience “now now, who made yous an expert on pollution spills all of a sudden? Could it be that it made ya who ya are todays?”

The agent glanced over his shoulder at ’Fangy’.
His words irked him. Much more than him invading his personal space once again.
Guppy pulled away to stare back at ‘Fangy’ defiantly. Keeping eyes locked whilst placing his hat back on his head.

“Welp. Doncha look at me like that son. That oil aint gonna clean itself up.”

“Why do YOU even care so much?” Guppy demanded “all seems a bit suspicious, this. Are you working for…?”

“Oh, you’ll be knowin’ all that in all doo course.” The Pirhanna like fish grinned “now GO!”

Guppy gave the fanged fish one last defiant and challenging look, before reluctantly turning around with a snort.

He could feel the ‘worn out welcoming’ stranger smiling behind him.

Seemed he wouldn’t be retiring soon after all.

“Agent Guppy… Agent Guppy…” a muffled digitalised voice could be heard.
Guppy stopped in his tracks before his journey towards the murk that was floating from the surface of the sea and infiltrating the rest of dwelling towards is home town.
He turned towards his trench coat and brought out a walkie-talkie.

“Guppy here.” He said apathetically. His eyes still locked on the black and red murk in the far distance.

“Not very bright eyed and bushy tailed this evening, are we mister Guppy?” a British accent was heard over the rudimentary communicator.

“Well, I AM a fish…” Guppy sighed. He knew he used to have a better sense of humour but somehow time had made him harsh.

“Very well,” the agent on the other line replied “Guppy, I need you to investigate a ship above water. We suspect they are dumping some sort of pollutants into the ocean. Unconfirmed as to what it is. Not too far from your home town. Beversea Hills Reef…”

‘They really need to change the name. Not much of a tourist attraction anymore.’ Guppy’s eyes frowned to a tired and bothered look.

“Yeah I already got tipped off about that!” Guppy replied, making haste towards his destination “Hey! Did you guys take anymore recruits since my holiday started?”

“No. None to our knowledge Mr. Guppy.”

“Right.”
Guppy had no time to consider who the creep was back at the diner and why he had approached him and made him aware of some sort of sinister incident going on.

For now, he had to get within reach of the murk. Which no doubt, may have been linked to the boat above the water.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Guppy thus made his way towards his destination. The murky horizon ahead. Credit reluctantly due to the Pirhanna back there for tipping him off before his agency.
Something still didn't smell right in his mind. And it wasn't just the fact that that fangy chap wasn't very vigilant with flossing his teeth.

Guppy stopped swimming for a bit. Hidden amongst some deep rocks which almost served as a cliff top, he was able to gaze out into the distance and have better look at the murky mist ahead. By now his fishy eyes could make out more detail of its diluting path. Black and red slick slowly infiltrating the lower depths of his home town.
Sure enough, the source responsible was not far away either.
An oversized ship could be heard chugging the waves from high above. A daunting foghorn sounding intermittently to signal its approach.

Before he could swim any further, he suddenly felt a fin brush his shoulder.

"...what the?!" He yelped, swishing around to point a gun at the perpetrator.
What he saw, instead, however, was common cod fish that had sunk to the surface of the platform they were on. Eyes wide open and darting. On its side and rasping.

"Hey, are you alright?" Guppy asked, cautiously lowering his gun to observe the fish.
It was a sinking realisation after Guppy calmed down but what he noticed next was an ill appearance of the fish before him. He had a cluster of blisters on his gills. Inflamed and bulging. With white heads.
Around the rest of the fish's body was streaks of tarry substances.

"... Can't... Breathe..." The fish managed to gasp "I can't..."

"No, stay with me here!!" Guppy said, his first instinct to try and help the casualty but though twice about touching the contaminant riddling its gills.
As a result he stood there sheepishly with palms out.

"... You... Need to get out..." The fish was muttering "no one can survive this... Thing..."

Guppy knew the victim was on borrowed time now. Choking out bubbles with what sounded like lungs ripping.

He sighed deeply. Yet conversely his heart was racing.

His eyes widened somewhat with his mouth slightly ajar as heard a body hit the ground with a slap before his feet.

Another victim. Bloated, tumourous and covered in blisters. Choking and gasping.

"...can't... can't breathe..." the fish's tongue lolled out. Practically paralysed.

The gold fish gritted his teeth as heard the fish's dying words.

Guppy's fishy body was suddenly cast in shadows as he looked up to see a rain of fish sinking towards where he was.
Floating down against their will like a pummel of rain.
He had to get out or he'd find himself to one fate or the other.
Battered by a pile of dead bodies.

Or contaminated with the pollutant which would have him meet the same fat as the school of fish.

Beversea Hills, close to the slick in progress:
Moving swiftly with the prevailing current, a contender for possibly the oddest fish in the sea was speeding towards the Beversea Hills District, and the ship in the process of spilling an as-yet unidentified pollutant into the waters there. The anonymous tip hadn't been a red herring, as she'd feared- a spill was in progress... accidental or deliberate it was difficult to say, but since the ship was stuill chugging along, the crew apparently unconcerned about the substance spilling by the gallons into the ocean suggested the latter. The possible damage a spill like that could do... even to waters already as murky as Beversea Hills... it was enough to make a person green around the gills. Were there no depths people wouldn't sink to? When would they realise it wasn't all just a drop in the ocean?

She shook her head to clear it of that line of thought. Pondering the ills people could do to one another could wait, right now she had to investigate what damage had already been done... her eyes widened slightly as she observed a dense rain of fish falling towards the ocean bed- school might be out, but class was in session! She needed to see just what effect the spill had had upon the unfortunates plummeting to the bottom of the sea. With a flick of her fins she swam closer, skirting the edge of the slick as she made her way down, in time to note a peculiarity: Amongst the mounting pile of poisoned poisson, a single golden-coloured fish floated, evidently in distress, but just as evidently not a regular civilian. He had a purposeful way of moving and a jaded look in his eyes that made her believe that, if he didn't know what was going on, he was looking into it...getting to grips with the scale of the problem. It might be a good idea to begin her enquiries by finding out a little more about him? Drifting gradually towards him, she lightly tapped his shoulder before addressing him.

"Pardon me if I'm interrupting," she said politely, "but you seem a little out of your depth here. I was wondering, have you any idea what the substance causing this is? And," she added, as she looked around to take in the scene, "if there's anything we can do about it? This seems almost like a deliberate act, but I don't want to rise to that bait without being able to back the accusation up".

Guppy almost jumped out of his gills and fins as he felt his shoulder being tapped. Almost like when that Pirhanna man snuck up on him earlier in the shipwreck diner.

What was it with people and their way of startling him today?

“Oh oh hello…” he said awkwardly, stepping back a bit. Or rather, swimming back a bit. He scrutinised the femme for a couple of seconds.
Not knowing what species she was.

Before he could question anymore, he realised once again the predicament himself and the newcomer were now in. Tumbling fish bodies sinking to their death with themselves as about to be buried alive.

“Come on!” he said, taking her hand so that they could find some sort of rocky shelter to escape the fallen beings. They narrowly missed a contaminated fish body as they tumbled under the entrance of a small rock cave.

Guppy rolled and hit his head against a rocky wall.

Seeing star fish circling his head for a few seconds, he massaged his head and winced to get his bearings.
As he got up, he sighed when he saw some of the substance on his trenchcoat. He quickly whipped it off and chucked it aside. He wasn’t too worried at this point whether it got onto him himself. He had no time to worry unless cause and effect was already in action.

“There goes my disguise,” he skulked. By now, he had a purple tuxedo on and white shirt underneath with a trademark black bowtie. Which appeared unscathed and newly pressed and iron.

He turned his attention back to the new attendee. Hoping he hadn’t been too heavy finned by pulling her away from danger.

He noted she was a species he hadn’t met or come across before. How peculiar. He was sure he knew his school of fish and sea creatures very well. At least around Beversea Hills and many other parts of the ocean.

Was she an agent as well? It seemed that she had had the same suspicions as himself. That this may have been a deliberate act. And she, too, wanted to know what this substance may be.

However, he also had to question whether this fish was authentic or whether this was bait. First there was the shady Pirhanna fish in the diner that appeared to know too much, then his agency was slow on relaying the news and now this fish shows up out of nowhere. His mind was floundering to make sense of these events.

“Out of my depth did you say?” he recalled her saying earlier “I had everything under control there!” he replied, frowning.

“You sure turned up out of the blue so conveniently, didn't you? Before I answer your questions- Who are you, may I ask?” he said, awaiting her answer.

Having realised the mounting pile of bodies might soon transform them into flat fish, she had no objections to seeking some shelter. The cave they found may not have been homely, but any port in a storm. As the golden fish rid himself of his trenchcoat, she wondered if she might be able to do an analysis of the substance that was now befouling it, but there was a time and a plaice for everything. Noticing the combination of purple tuxedo and white shirt with black bowtie he wore beneath his trench coat, she realised her initial guess was correct- he was no small fry, but he wasn't a fishy character either. He was an agent, not unlike herself.. though possibly of a different agensea. With the ever-shifting currents of power causing frequent changes of poliseas, those in power could be chumming together one day and getting their hooks into each other the next. However, that wasn't a line of thought she wanted to follow... besides if you followed the offishal line on everything you'd never get anything done. Her attention was caught by his line of questioning, weighing every word and considering carefully, she gave him her answer.

"If you did have things under control I apologise," she informed him, "but the scale of the problem seemed bigger than that. As for my turning up conveniently- well I don't want to debait with you, but I came following a salmons from my overheads to investigate. As for who I am- I'm Cera Dipnoir, sepcial ensign with the agensea... and, I've an ocean our crossing paths like this may not be coincidence".

Agent Guppy listened on intently to what the newly arrived guest had to say. How extraordinary it was.

"Cera Dipnoir did you just say?" he speculated with an inquisitive manner about his face and tone. He could still
here the fish bodies falling to the ground. Gasping and struggling. How convenient waves of struggle like these would come about.

"Yes I did have things under control!" he bluffed, uncertain as to whether she bought it or not. Whether he had everything under control,
or not, it was always his demeanour to remain as cool as a codfish.

"Nonetheless, I appreciate your concern," he smirked with half closed eyes "it is rather uncanny that our paths have crossed like this. And I certainly won't say no to some company to get to the bottom of who is behind all of this."

An uneasy thought passed Guppy's mind. Could this all be a trap of some sort?
He'd manage it later, if that was the case.

"I know these oceans quite well, come follow me and we'll dodge these beached up whales."
Guppy didn't mean to sound insensitive if that was what he was coming across as. Nevertheless, he knew sticking around would send them to their fishy grave.

Guppy looked towards an opening through the roof of the case. Just enough so that they could both get out.
He had his right arm out with a watch and punched in some numbers that then transformed into a slingshot.
Presumably he'd use it to catapult them both out at a post haste speed away from the raining, decaying fish.

"Take my hand!" the goldish reached out "or do you have a better plan?"