"Do you know what's happening here?"

Crystal shrugged. "I think you're breaking things you shouldn't."

"Not me. This dungeon. The compound outside. What is the purpose? Why are you here? Who do you work for?"

Ah. So he wanted information. She glanced at the eldritch monstrosity behind him (Soul-Seeker, level 9) which gave her vague feelings of unease even without its evil eye fixed on her. She shuddered at the memory of how it had twisted her mind in against her so easily, so readily corrupting her thoughts. She looked away quickly.

"Well?"

"I don't know." When in doubt, ignorance is a better shield than deception. "I get paid, I guard volatile magical beings and ensure they don't break out, and I kill monsters to get levels like we're living inside a freaking video game." She shrugged. "Does any of this sound familiar?"

For a moment she thought she'd pushed too far, that he would slap her or stab her, or set his nightmare beast on her. (She'd have to find a way to write up a report on that thing, if they were going to encounter them again that information would be invaluable. She'd probably even get a bonus for reporting it.)

"Who do you work for?"

Crystal snorted. "Agent 92. Good luck with that."

"Is he not Awakened?"

"He is, but some of them have figured out how to change their display names."

The guy hmmed, but didn't seem to disbelieve her. That was something. She covertly tugged on the armbands, testing their stability and weight. The left one felt less secure, but having one hand 'free' wouldn't help much.

"So this agent 92, he hired you to do what?"

"Guard this containment site." Obviously. Why was he wasting everyone's time with these pointless basic questions? She flicked mentally through her abilities list. Drift... not helpful. Force Drift... she sized up the distance between them, and decided he was out of reach. And he had a flying thing with him, so it wouldn't do as much.

"Have you seen how these people are treated?" Now his facade of professionalism was cracking a bit, anger seeping into his voice.

Somehow, that was even worse. She wouldn't have imagined someone lower-level could make her feel vulnerable.

"Well?" he demanded.

"We don't mistreat anyone." Her voice came out oddly defensive.

"Why are you keeping all these people inside a live and active dungeon?"

Crystal stared at him, incredulous. "Have you ever tried containing a volatile magical entity in a normal prison? The ones who can't punch through stone given a few hours are the minority."

"Why would a dungeon have halls and halls of human-containment cells? I can tell what parts were man-made and which are dungeon-formed, and these cells are dungeon-formed."

That took Crystal aback. "A construction team came in with blueprints to build them, why would you think a dungeon...?"

His scowl deepened, but he changed the subject. "Where do they keep the dead monsters they collect?"

Crystal shook her head. "I don't know. I didn't know that was something they do. I deal in live monster containment."

"Do you know anything?"

"Not really." She tried a casual laugh, but it came out high and tense. "I do my work, take my paycheck, level my class, repeat. I bet none of my other friends make as much as I do."

"You can't pretend to be ignorant of what's happening here."

Crystal shrugged. "How much am I supposed to know? We're a containment unit. We contain powerful and dangerous entities." She eyed the pair of them with raised eyebrows. "You can't claim it's not necessary."

"Most of those 'powerful and dangerous entities' are kids who don't know any better."

"If you honestly think that makes it better and not worse, I don't know what to tell you. I wouldn't let my kids run around free with those kind of powers. Why should they get a pass just because they're younger and stupider than most?"

"Well, I'm taking them home with me. Don't come after them again."

"I don't 'go after' anyone. We're containment. We hold. If you want to stop the collection teams, that's between you and them. Or you and administration. Either way." She tugged at her manacles, frowning thoughtfully. "So what's it going to take for you to let me out?"

He didn't answer for a long time. "Guide and protect the people escaping containment. They'll need help getting to the surface."

"Going somewhere?"

The tamer leveled a piercing gaze on her. "Do you want to help, or do you want to stay out of the way? Those are the options."

She considered a minute, then shook her head. "I'll take my chances here, thanks. I don't want to be involved in your little breakout."

There was a chance something could get in to eat her, but she was willing to bet that would be less of a problem than if she was caught aiding an escape attempt. At least if they found her locked up down here, she'd have a valid excuse for failing in her duty.

"What do you know about the capture teams?"

"Nothing specific. They bring in entities they've collected. I make sure they don't leave. That's all I know."

"You're a liar."

She couldn't think of a good answer to that without giving away that, yes, she was a liar. She knew a lot more than she was letting on. She may not have been told much, but she wasn't an idiot. She could see between the pages.

"Lash? Is it necessary for your mental assault to block out reality?"

Crystal's stomach immediately twisted, fear gripping her as the monstrous eye shook its head.

The look the man gave her when he turned from his monstrous pet to her was somehow worse than the empty expression, worse than anger. Something like regret.

"You don't have to do this." Her voice cracked, rushing out desperately. "I'm nobody. I'm just a guard. No one tells me anything! I swear."

She looked away, avoiding looking anywhere near the monster, but it was no use. Those purple tentacles wrapped around her throat, around her forehead, twisting her face up--

The world distorted around her. The ground lurched and she jumped back by pure reflex, chains tugging at her arms as she leaped onto the bed. The floor was gone, falling away into darkness, fire flickering from the depths like a crack into hell. The walls began to crumble, claws tearing through from the other side, stone melting at their touch.

It's not real, it's not real, it's not--

Then she heard shouting in the distance and the floor abruptly settled. For a moment everything doubled, vision blurring between an infernal abyss and the stable smooth stone of the cell.

Then the giant eye turned away, rushing toward the sounds. Her interrogator growled in irritation, but ran after his wayward abomination. He shoved the door shut as he ran out, but she didn't hear the click of a lock.

The left manacle was still flawed, vulnerable. She could crack it open if she could get the right angle. She shoved it as far up her hand as it would go, until she felt it all but cutting into her thumb and the back of her hand, then pressed it against the very corner of the bed. She had to lie on her side to get it against the sharpest section. Then, with a pre-emptive wince, she slammed her other shackled wrist down on it.

A ringing clang echoed out. If anyone were paying attention to her, they'd have heard that. She battered at it again, flexing her trapped hand in an attempt to snap it open.

Nothing. Too solid.

She'd never tried applying Skip to a single part of her body before, but in this moment she did it without thinking, hovering her right hand above the weakened shackle on the left, building power as she held her breath and counted the slow seconds. Then smashed her hand down with as much force as if she'd fallen from a hundred feet up.

The manacle cracked. Both pieces broke open, falling away. The right must have been weakened too. Made sense, the invaders were reusing chains they'd already cut open once to remove the prisoners. More surprising was the fact that she didn't break any bones in the process.

She didn't pause to second-guess her fortune. Grabbing the spell wand she kept in the seam of her pants, she hurried to the door and looked out. The stranger was nowhere to be seen. The eyeball thing lay slumped against the wall, half deflated with a puddle of grey-yellow ooze slowly seeping out from it.

"Mrs. White, you have thirty seconds to tell me exactly what is going on here."

She spun, back straightening as she recognized Commander Saunders' voice. "Attempted breakout, sir. At least one intruder. I don't know if he got anyone else. They knocked me out with that thing," she pointed to the remnants of the eye, now almost completely flattened, its gooey insides spreading out across half the floor. "When I came to, I was in the cell."

Commander Saunders stepped closer, his shoes clicking on the stone. "Did you tell them anything?"

"No. Nothing of consequence. Nothing they couldn't have guessed."

The commander narrowed his eyes. "Nothing of consequence? And what information of consequence are you authorized for?"

Crystal swallowed. "None, sir," she said faintly.

"So what is it that you could have told him?"

"Nothing?" But she wasn't a good enough liar to actually defy her commander to his face. "I've heard things," she confessed. "Things I probably wasn't supposed to. Scout powers, you know, stealth and observation. I--"

To her shock, he put a hand on her shoulder, voice softening as he looked deep into her eyes. "But you didn't tell him anything, right?"

She shook her head. "No sir."

"Then it doesn't matter. If we need to bump up your clearance level a bit for your own protection, that's my call to make. Of course, with the additional risk, we'll have to increase your salary by a commensurate amount."

"Sir?" She must have heard him wrong.

He nodded, not quite smiling, but the closest thing to it she'd ever seen. "Just tell me what it is you know, and I'll fill you in on the rest." He glanced around at the filthy corridor with a disgusted look. "As soon as we're safely back in my office. You just tell me everything you know, and I'll take care of the rest."

"Of course! Thank you sir."

He shook his head. "Don't thank me just yet. You don't know the half of what you've volunteered for."