Jailbreak

Citrinas stands calmly in the chamber with the massive monster. She had studied it for some time, now confident her ward would protect her. After looking it over a final time, she turns to the glass wall between them and the observation room. She had made herself invisible, so the duke's appointed researchers couldn't see her on the off chance something went wrong with her plan. This will be enough subjects to overwhelm him. She focuses on her magic, and the glass wall shatters.

"Wake up, scum."

I wake up fresh from possessing Kara, still upset from Camilla's condition, apparently just in time for none other than Captain Roger to bang against my cell. "...and to what do I owe the pleasure?" I sit up, rubbing my eyes. Looks like Blobby is with Bel for now...

"You're being summoned, and I don't trust the regular guards to escort you. Now let's move." He swings the door open. "I don't have all day."

Complying, since this might be one of my few chances to plead for freedom, I follow in handcuffs. He leads me through the Facility, with twists and turns that I honestly didn't even realize were there, before stopping at a sealed door, which looks similar to one you'd find on a ship back on Earth. He places a hand on the flat surface of the door before turning the wheel and unlocking it.

Behind the door are stairs, and after locking it behind us, we travel down several flights before reaching the floor. We were on the ground floor before, and combined with the ship door, it's clear whatever's down here is under stricter lock and key than the prisoners topside. There are a handful of glowing orbs hanging off the walls like torches that dimly light our way.

Getting bored with the silence, I finally speak up. "Where are we even going? What's down here?"

"It'll be you if you don't-" He stops short. I follow his gaze, dimly seeing what looks like a person passed out on the ground. "Stay back." Roger draws his sword and cautiously steps forward.

"I didn't realize you started caring about me."

"Shut it!" He whispers as he kneels down, turning the **** man's head side to side, like he's looking for something on it. He stands again, raising his shield in a defensive position. "Stay quiet and stay close."

Is...this what Bel was mentioning? "What's-"

"I said to shut. it." He glares, and begins slowly walking forward.

I squint at him angrily, but try to play nice and keep quiet. At a snail's pace, we travel further forward. It's not much longer before the tunneled stone surrounding us becomes clearly worked, but not in the style I'd gotten used to from the prison. Those bricks are seemingly standard rectangular bricks, while these ones are long, tall slabs. The corridor opens up, revealing, to my best guess, some kind of laboratory, with consoles loning the walls, and dimly lit with those same torch-like glowing orbs.

The far wall seems made of glass. Or, it would be, if the shattered remnants of it hadn't littered the floor, alongside a dozen or so **** bodies scattered about the large room. Beyond the glass, barely visible if it weren't for its sheer size, is a massive plant, but it seems...wilted. How long has it been down here?

As we enter further into the room, I begin to hear some groaning from one of the nearby people. Roger quickly sheaths his sword and rushes over. "What happened here?"

The man sits up, rubbing his head. "The...the em...the specimen acted out. It...appears she used some sort of...sleeping spell..."

'She'? Not 'it'? I furrow my brows at the man. Everyone here has been referring to monsters as 'it' so far... I walk toward the verdure in the containment chamber. As the pair talk about what happened, I examine the creature. Definitely doesn't look like a 'she'... The plant is bulbous, with a wilted, stemless rose acting as the centerpiece, giant green leaves stretching under it, and vines stretched across the cramped confines of the broken container. Now that I think on it, kinda looks like an ivysaur, minus the animal part of course. I activate God's Eye, finding out that the man was actually correct, and the rose is female. Rose Empress? Huh... Wait... I read through one of its features, before suddenly turning around. "Roger, get back! They're all-agh!" I'm whipped from behind and slammed across the room, back near the entrance. With my hands bound, I can do nothing to stop myself from tumbling across the ground.

Roger doesn't react quick enough, as the man he was helping grabs hold of his sword, ripping it from its sheath and throwing it away, the blade clattering against the stone floor. All the other scientists, as they seem to be, clumsily get up and quickly make their way toward the disarmed captain.

I cough. "They're all -kha- mind controlled!" As the group converges on Roger, I polymorph into a childish form and pull my hands free of my restraints, before dropping the effect entirely. I begin running the distance to help Roger deal with the mob surrounding him, when I begin feeling an agonizing pain in my head, around my temple. I stumble to the side and scream from a migraine that hurts worse than the time I got hit by truck-kun. "We...need to leave! Now!" Fighting through the pain, I continue forth, conjuring a light blade in one hand and holding my aching head with the other.

Roger, for his part, seems to be doing well with just a shield, bashing into his assailants on his way to reach his sword. However, it's clear he's not giving his all, because if he was, I'm pretty sure these people wouldn't be standing. He reaches his sword and sheaths it, before unhooking his sheath and wielding the combination as a blunt object to swing at the mob.

As for the mind-controlled scientists, they're movements are sluggish, but they're not zombies. They move with purpose, gripping and grabbing at Roger's arms and armor. I slowly catch up to them, my steps wary and weary, but as I raise my blade, Roger shouts: "You kill them, I kill you!"

I grimace, changing my light blade for a fire blade, the flames dancing in my grip, before I swing down, burning through the back of one scientist's clothes. I stagger again, the pain in my head spreading and intensifying. "Forget them... We need to go!" I step backward toward the door, trying to keep my eye on Roger. Despite my hatred for the captain, he's also probably my best bet to get out of prison.

Why are you...so resistant?

I instinctually look toward the giant plant. For some reason, I know that she's speaking to me.

Free me...get me...out...of here...

I see Roger begin to get overwhelmed, getting disarmed again...and I fall to the ground, exhausted from the pain in my head. My blade disappears...

. . .

I briefly stir, seeing what looks like Roger out cold on the floor nearby, but something seems...off about him...and a flower seems to have grown on his head...

. . .

I wake up again, but only enough to feel myself getting dragged somewhere...

Citrinas hovers above the city, holding what to an outside observer would look like an empty jar. After casting another protection spell on herself, she opens the lid...