Cryptotrappers!

Cryptotrappers- Those Who Drown

Friday 3rd, and it was good to be back, at home base, and unpacked. Naturally none of us really had any knowledge of how to contain a Kasa Obake to its liking, but throwing it into an empty containment chamber with a hat stand certainly didn't seem to be doing too badly. Still, entirely sorted and ready for a fresh new mission, the team and I were just waiting for Eva to give the explanation. To our surprise, she began it with a question.

"What animal do you think is the closest genetic cousin to the mermaid?" Eva began. What sort of a question was that! And for that matter, how were we supposed to know?
"I don't know, a fish?" Randy asked, which despite it's unspecific nature, seemed to be the best answer any of us could come up with. Eva smiled, and gave her answer.
"That was actually a trick question. What we would call a 'mermaid' is actually an entangled mess of divergent and convergent evolution that created a variety of aquatic creatures with similar traits. Ningen are a variety of merfolk closely related to cetaceans, meanwhile Selkies are closer related to pinnipeds. Sirens closest biological relatives are a species of barracuda. Still, all are identified as cryptids, and to the untrained eye they could be assumed to be the same creature. Your mission today will send you after one of the most interesting varieties of merfolk, in my opinion, one that even cryptozoologists know little about. I'm sending you deep, deeper than you've ever been before, all the way down to the Bathypelagic Zone."

Eva went on to explain that she had taken the liberty of preparing for us a sort of capsule room, similar to a bathysphere. And by us, I meant Lucy and I, since it didn't sound like anybody else would fit. The goal would be to transport to the coast, sail to the deeper ocean, and then get lowered down to a few thousand feet below sea level. Though they wouldn't be in the room, or actually anywhere near it for that matter, we'd hopefully still be able to communicate with the other three on the boat above us.

Our goal was to find, lure in and capture a Bathypelagic Mermaid. To do so, we had one atmospheric diving suit, one ACD, one net to hold the target in place if needs be, and eight Displacers to bring the fish-folk to a tank back at the lab, that Eva assured us was the right lighting, salinity and pressure for it to thrive. Was I exactly 'happy' to have another go with the Displacers? Not overly after last time, but what would the chances be of the Amber-Clad showing up three thousand feet beneath sea level? So after a few minutes of preparation, and a firm decision that this was not the mission for Seth, it was time to go.

The teleporter brought the five of us to a back alley by a pier; Eva had clearly gotten the captaining bug and she was ready to take us out to sea again on a pre-prepared sailing ship. As the rest of the team boarded the ship, I took a quick look at the room I'd be spending a good few hours, if not days, in. It was fairly small, about big enough for two people but not roomy even then. It would have been spacious enough but there was a fairly large suit taking up room next to an ACD. Plus, it had a pretty complex way of getting out to protect any people inside from the pressure, namely Lucy and I. Still, I don't even think that the room was big enough for Sid to have been able to sit inside without ducking, and with how cramped the room was, well, it wasn't exactly something I was excited for.
"I'm hoping you're not claustrophobic, otherwise this could be a pretty bad experience for us both." Lucy spoke from behind me, having apparently come to check the room out herself without me noticing.
"After the Hydra cave? I hope not." I replied, smiling. "I guess I'll be in the suit and you'll be behind the drone?"
"Unless I've developed cryptid attraction abilities overnight, seems so." Lucy replied, smirking. The blowing of the horn informed us that we'd be setting off soon and should report to the deck.

"And we're off! Back out to the ocean we go!"
Randy seemed pretty excited to be heading out; I was less so. He wouldn't be down in the deep depths, in a sweaty suit and trying to net a merperson. He'd be doing, well whatever the hell Randy does when I'm not around. Whilst I didn't know much about merpeople, anything that was surviving that deep underwater hadn't done so by being passive and kind; especially something about human sized. At least it wasn't Sirens, I suppose. But the further we got out to see the more I was dreading going down in that small room, and in that suit. It didn't help that there was so little to do on the ship; at least I could tend to the cryptids beforehand to take my mind off needing to go down for a mission. Still, eventually, no matter how long it seemed to take, the journey ended. What had to be done had to be done, I told myself however, and for the sake of the mission, it was almost time.