With almost no resistance it sunk beneath the surface and disappeared. Her gaze drifted up to the limp form of Xen. His breath was shallow and she knew from the way he held himself that some bones were broken. Despite that, he had one arm outstretched from delivering a final attack. His tear stained eyes glared at her with contempt before he passed out. Her body shook as Jason lifted her up onto her feet.

“Twenty-Two? Hey, focus!” He shouted at her, though the voice sounded miles away, as he tore into his shirt and tried to plug her arm.

She stared at where he was applying pressure. A clean cut straight through the shoulder. Even though he was applying covering it up now, her blood was pooling on the ground beneath them. Twenty-Two grabbed onto the ball of cloth he was holding against her and started moving down the tunnel. When she wasn’t looking, a deep rumble came from within the pool and black fumes rose from the surface, blanketing over the back end of the room and separating them from Saul and Plafluf.

I need to get out of here. Why am I even here? Keep the pressure tight, one foot after the other. Twenty-Two thought to herself in a illucid way. Am I going to die? I need to get to Olivia, back to the hideout. I’m going to die if I don’t get back there. I’m going to die...

Jason was shouting at her, and she stumbled onto the floor as her vision weakened. Vaguely, she felt herself being lifted into the air. Though she felt like Jason was telling her to stay awake, she shut her eyes anyway. Being held brought back nostalgic feelings in her, though her childhood was devoid of being held like this.

There are worse ways to die, I guess. Being held like this feels nice anyway. I just wish I wasn’t so cold. Maybe if I go to sleep I’ll die in peace. Yeah, just have to close my eyes for a bit. I’ll be better in a second. Just need some rest.

For a moment her body felt lighter and lighter. She shifted her weight slowly to make sure she wasn’t floating, but found the space around her was colder than it had been before. Her eyes opened and had to adjust to the dimly lit cell. The grogginess of her body snapped away as she clutched at her right arm, letting out a sigh of relief as she felt it was still there. She sat upright on the cot with her eyes closed and cracked her neck slowly, still having to squint to try and make out anything near her.

“Pox nightmares. Jason? Where are you?” She asked, rubbing her eyes.

She let out a yawn and stretched her hands out in front of her. The yawn stopped short, and her heart started pounding faster again. Her pale arms, once covered in heavy scars, were suddenly immaculate. Twenty-Two frantically scanned the room around her, the memories of where she was coming back to her all at once. She fell off of the small cot and scrambled for the door when it opened up in front of her.

Two humans, one of which was holding a Bouli in his hands. The Bouli were a reclusive resident species that lived almost exclusively in their section of the Upper Ring. They were slug-like people, barely weighing over ten pounds as adults. They had six tentacle appendages stretching out along the length of their bodies, and a small skirt of skin that they used to move around normally. The one in front of her was mostly a soft shade of ping, with spots of black and swirls of yellow flowing over the tentacles, almost like golden armbands. Most people in the city have never even met a Bouli, let alone actually been inside their section before. Those that have are either wealthy merchants making incredibly lucrative business transactions, or workers and slaves. The latter number greatly outweighs the former.

A strange squishing sound came from the Bouli, their equivalent to clearing one’s throat. “You were found illegally entering this restricted area which is privately owned but on lease from the council for purposes of research in sensitive matters. After being detained, you admitted to entering the premises in pursuit of a person on the ground of law seeking the Erudine people. Does this information sound correct?”

“It’s accurate. You’re not allowed to impede a member of the maskless.” Twenty-Two responded. What am I even saying? I need to get out of here as fast as possible. There’s something really wrong about this place, but there’s a fog in my head.

“Unfortunately it is not that simple. Ever since the human insurrection and subsequent bouli take-over, new laws have been put in place for the safety of the general populace. These rules override the cultural ones of the Erudine, sadly. Because of this you are to be treated as a criminal interloper and to be treated as such for the time being because of your confessions.” The Bouli responded in a cold tone, both its front tentacles clasping together.

“This will not stand! The head of the maskless will demand my return as soon as possible, as well as an explanation for abetting a criminal. It was agreed by all other races that the law keeping of the Erudine would not be broken by other races.” Twenty-Two warned the Bouli. “You have no authority to hold me here for performing my sacred duties.”

“Unfortunately for you, we do. Considering you are now a legal prisoner here, you can be enlisted to perform labor for studies under commision for the city. Labor in this case will mean assisting in research.” The Bouli said before waving its right side tentacles at the other human. “Please subdue her and bring her to the primary laboratory.”

The other human nodded and took his gloves off before moving towards Twenty-Two. She pressed her back against the wall and get ready to kick out if he got close. He hesitated for a second, twisting his body to the side so she couldn’t catch him in any weak spots and started waving his hand out to bait an attack from her.

He’s treating me like a wounded animal. She thought to herself as she glared at him. All I need to do is get past this one human and I should be clear to make an escape. There’s something wrong about him though, but I don’t know what. Least my power should be enough to incapacitate him. What is this feeling of fear, though? There’s something wrong about this situation but I can’t remember it.

He took a step closer and she struck out with her right leg. She managed to catch his arm and send him stumbling away a few steps. Where she connected with his leg suddenly tingled like static and the muscles fell limp. It only spread up to her knee, but the dead weight was throwing her off balance. The man took advantage of this and rushed her, managing to take a blow to the face that left him with a bloody nose.

“Stupid mask wearing... Just go limp already, will you?” He grumbled at her, plugging the bleeding with a handkerchief in his pocket.

Her arms were losing strength fast from the paralyzing effect, but terror drove adrenaline through her veins. It wasn’t enough to fight back, but she managed to touch her cheek. Rather than the scarred and pale flesh she had known, there was a firm mask and hood covering her. All at once she remembered where she was, and what the nightmare would soon become. She tried to cry out, but the needed muscles could not. Instead all she could muster was a loan moan, a mixture of fear and pain.

The man grabbed her by the waist and slung her over the shoulder. All that was left to resist in her body was a small amount of neck movement, as well as her eyes. They left the room quietly, but it would not have mattered if they spoke. Like most of the Bouli’s section, it was an assault on almost all of the senses. The air was heavy with humidity, and a faintly sweet smell of rot and mold. She looked to the side as best she could while they walked, seeing many other cells like the one she came from. They were not as lucky as her, with some having scars or missing limbs. Worst of all were the ones with clearly malfunctioning powers, even though in all likelihood they were here willingly.

As they moved further down the hall she let her head relax and stare at the metal floor beneath them. It was slick water, patches of mold growing out along the cracks in the ground. The smell of them was making her head spin. The Bouli were known to eat mold and rotting things, as they lacked teeth or powerful acids to break down more dense food material. It’s a mark of their alien nature that they never stopped to consider other methods for having food be available to them without disgusting the other citizen races.

Eventually the group came to a stop, and the human place Twenty-Two down onto a table. With only vague sensations left in her limbs, she realized they were strapping her down. The memories came back again as her heart started racing. The static over her foot was dissipating now, and with it the rest of her body was regaining motion.

“Alright, we’ll give her body one more minute to recover. Without excessive handling, she should have regained sensation within her body. Primary, could you please recheck all strappings and secure her head? Secondary, set me down and bring the tool table up to the right side.”

Primary, the man who had been carrying Twenty-Two, set about tightening the straps again before he brought up two vices on either of her temples. Even as she got more control of her body, they held her head fast in place. After that was done, he circled around her and exited out of the room. Outside of her view, a table rattled up to her, and more footsteps sounded off. For a few moments there was only the slick sound of the Bouli moving across the platform she was attached to, but then came the metallic cling of tools being prepared.

“You’ve been awfully quiet. I didn’t have them gag you because of that, but now I’m concerned my primary assistant’s ability may have caused some permanent damage to your vocal cords. Would you mind speaking for me?”

“By our goddess, what are you doing to me?” She hissed out at him. Why can’t I just wake up?

“Ah, good, you are capable of speech.” The Bouli replied, ignoring her question. “I think that should mean that you are at least aware of your surroundings. One final question before we begin, can you feel this?”

She shivered as the Bouli pressed one of its tentacles against her right wrist. “Get your slimy appendages off of me and answer my question!” Stop answering his questions, you’re only going to make things worse! Wake up before it starts all over again!

“Unfortunately it is a matter of city security that I cannot tell you the specifics of what we are going to be doing. I can say that your momentary discomfort and suffering will all serve a purpose. Great care will be taken to avoid permanent damage to your body. Well, at least in terms of functionality. The nature of these experiments requires some aesthetic and superficial scarring.”

Please not this, I don’t want to do this anymore. “My suffering? You had better let me go right now or so help me I’ll—!"

Her demand was cut short as she sucked in breath suddenly. The Bouli had taken a sharp blade off of the table where she couldn’t see and was dragging it down the length of her forearm. Warm blood rushed out of her body and she let out a scream of agony. She started convulsing, feeling death rush towards her for a few of the most agonizingly long seconds of her entire life. Before she could pass out, the same slimy appendage rolled over her wound and the cutting pain was replaced by a burning one. The scream mellowed out into a moan as she got light headed. Her limbs were shaking at the sudden changes in pain and normalcy, as the burning faded into nothing just as quickly as it wiped away the cut.

“Hm, as expected, it does seem to heal the wounds quite well. There is something wrong with where it was applied though that differs from a natural healing process. Perhaps this trait is exemplified in the Erudine? We should acquire more in the future to test this.” The Bouli muttered to itself.

“Let me go!” Twenty-Two demanded, her voice hoarse from the screaming. “You can’t get away with this!” No one is coming for me. I can’t get away from them. There’s nothing left to do but suffer.

“Primary! Could you please come back and gag the patient?”

More footsteps and Twenty-Two found herself staring up at the human from before. He brought out a rag from his pocket and tried to force it through the slit in her mask for a few seconds before giving up.

“What’s the problem?”

“That mask. I think I need to go under the hood part attached to it if I’m going to get a gag in her mouth, but with the vice up I think I’d have to paralyze her again. Mind waiting a while for me to do that?”

“No, no, no, that won’t do at all. We’re on a pretty tight schedule today as things are, so I don’t want to wait several minutes just for a noise issue. If the mask is complicating it, why not just cut the hard part off?”

Twenty-Two’s heart sank in her chest as the human looked down at her. With a shrug, he reached across the platform and grabbed a knife from the Bouli.

“Hey... what are you doing?! You can’t take my mask off! Do you even realize what you’re doing you monster?!” She cried out, thrashing as best she could to keep the knife away. “I’ll stop shouting, just don’t take my mask off!” It’s just a mask. That’s all it ever was to me. My mask means nothing to me.

The human pressed one hand on her head and started cutting the fabric around the firm mask porition. Even if the sloppy knife work ended up knicking her face in a few places, she couldn’t focus on it. She was openly weeping by the time they pulled the mask off completely. She threw her head from side to side as best she could, but the vices would not allow her anguish even an inch of movement. With the mask gone, the human plunged the cloth into her mouth and secured it with an attachment to her head restraints. Even through the fabric, her muffled whimpering continued.

“Actually, the presence of the mask makes me wonder... Primary, hand me the knife if you would please.” The Bouli asked as it moved over Twenty-Two’s chest.

He handed the knife and left them alone once again. Eventually his tentacles came into view, and she could feel his body resting along her chest and neck. He lifted the knife over her right eye and adjusted it a few times in the air, another tentacle bringing up a small jar of pitch black liquid.

“You might wish to close your eyes for this one. I’m afraid that if I cut over or near the eye it might get damaged in some way.”

The knife lowered slower towards her eyebrow, tears blurring her vision from all the sobbing. As it sliced into her face and started circling around. The intense pain moved over her like a pulsing wave. The blood from her wounds rushed out and filled her eyes, mixing with the tears and stinging the still open eyes. As she finally forced them shut, she felt her body sink beneath the platform and land onto something soft. With the gag gone, she shot upright and screamed.

As her eyes opened, she realized she was back in the hideout. More than that, her scream and startled both Jason and Olivia who were also there. Her breathing was still erratic to the point where she couldn’t focus, but as she calmed down she could tell something was wrong. Jason had grown some stubble, and there were clear bags under his eyes. The moment Twenty-Two started to settle down, he rushed off of his chair near the beds and pressed a flask of water to her lips. It was only then that she noticed how dry her throat was, and eagerly gulped down the drink. The rush of fluid was too much for her throat, and she started hacking up.

“You can’t imagine how worried I was about you.” Jason told her, leaving the flask in her lap and collapsing into his seat. “After we got out of there, you passed out. You’ve done nothing but toss and turn in that mattress since yesterday evening.”

Twenty-Two went to shift herself in bed, but fell to the right side. Picking back up to a seated position, she felt over her right side, remembering how she lost the arm. The bandages were clean at this point, and wrapped around her chest tightly. She pressed her fingers against the shoulder and winced, feeling the large scab buried beneath the white fabric.

“If we’re done researching we should head back to the king’s domain. Already wasted three days sleeping, don’t want to stay here any—" Twenty-Two started to say as she rose from the bed.

Almost instantly her legs started to give way. Jason caught her in time and lifted her back onto the mattress with a small grunt before standing up. “No way. You’re going to be staying in bed here and recovering. You must be in shock after losing a whole arm, and I can’t begin to understand how that feels, but you’re going to have to take care of yourself.”

“We were both really concerned about you, Twenty-Two.” Olivia chimed in finally. “I wish I’d just brought everything I needed right away. If we didn’t split up, this could have been avoided...”

“So you want me to blame you for losing it?” She asked bitterly.

“W-What? No, of course not!” She said, holding up her hands defensively. “I just... I want to apologize for it anyway. You didn’t—"

“Deserve it? Don’t lie to me, human.” Twenty-Two said before swigging the flask of water, letting it drip across her chin. “You live by the sword, you die by the sword. I got into that fight to begin with, I let my guard down for one second and it cost me this. There’s nothing to it more than that. Don’t give me your pathetic pity just because I’ve been vulnerable for so long.”

“Hey! She was just trying to make you feel better, the least you could do is not throw it back in her face.” Jason said, reaching for the flask.

Twenty-Two brought it to her lips again and drained it. The pale skin of her throat flexed with heavy, painful gulps as she rushed to drink. When she was finished, she threw the flask on the ground and fell back onto her bed, pulling the covers over herself. A brief silence passed over the room, both Jason and Olivia not wanting to press her further. They watched her legs bend as she curled up into a ball on the bed, clutching at her lost arm with the one that remained. The Erudine are a notoriously slender race, but when she wanted to, Twenty-Two knew how to make her frame imposing. Right now, her more natural feeling was leaking out of her body language.

“Listen, Twenty-Two, I’m going to want you to stay here for the time being. Me and Olivia will handle the new mission we’ve received, and then we’ll be out of the Megaden. I’m sure the king will let you have some peace and quiet to adjust to this when we get back.” Jason told her, sitting back down in his chair.

“New mission?” She asked, turning her head towards him as she faced away.

“The king wants us to figure out what the purpose of the chamber is. From what little information I was able to get, it seems like a pretty important nexus of some kind for all of the structures we’ve visited so far. Alzholme architecture doesn’t usually work this way, so he’s curious about why this specific exception exists.”

“Basically... we’re going to have to go back inside the room.”