Logan had been working late and had stopped to stretch. "Hey Peter could you get…" he stopped when he realized his friend was not there. Then he noticed Lana's dot was not showing on the map on his computer. He quickly reviewed the data and saw when she went missing. He tapped a bunch of keys and suddenly more dots were there and he was able to piece together what happened. He wanted to contact Dobin but it was late and he'd be asleep. He sent a text to him and Vorden to let them know Lana had been taken to the dungeon. He also sent the same to General Mike to ask why the agreement had not been honored. He then continued his research trying to figure out how to get Peter and now Lana out of the dungeon. After thinking about it for a few minutes, he also sent a message to his mother. He may not be able to cover Peter but she could get Lana out and that may give him insight into how to rescue Peter.
**************
In the dungeon, Lana was not sleeping. There were screams echoing off the walls. Her legs were jelly as memories of the past came back to her. The screams were louder here. And more numerous. He called this place heaven. It sounds like Hell. She breathed deeply then started listening to see if she could hear breathing. Invisible man was still here, she knew it. Then she wanted to slap herself but, to give herself credit, she did take two blows to the head. She didn't have her bag with her and the ground here was not dirt. She could do something but refused to do that with witnesses. She didn't know if there were cameras down here or not.
She closed her eyes and breathed for a few minutes, trying to settle her mind. The task was not easy as the screams continued. She then opened her eyes and saw the aura approaching her from the front with a knife in his hand. She guessed he had picked it up while her eyes were closed. She threw out her climbing rose whip with more force than she ever had. Her fear and desperation overcame her. The vine wrapped around his neck with such force it threw him against the bars of the cell. The white energy in her vine was greater than she had ever seen it. She pulled the vine to bring him closer so she could kick him. Instead, the vine sliced his head off as it returned to her. She let out an ear-slitting scream.
"THAT FUCKING HURTS!"
She started blinking as though somehow her eyes were related to her hearing. Calm down Lana. They will find you and let you out. Calm down. Breathe. She slowly approached the bars of the cell and looked out. She couldn't see anyone.
"Peter, was that you?"
"Yeah. Who am I talking to?'
"Lana."
"I thought that was you. My guards are in shift change so I can't talk but if you get out of here, let Quinn know I'm okay so far. Truedream is an arsehole."
She gasped at the mention of the name, "I … I will."
"Why are you here?"
"Duke wants to appease Truedream by offering him my ability. He was also going to allow these two to have their way with me. I'll let Duke keep their corpses."
"You killed them?"
"Yeah… I… I've never done that before."
"Sounds like they earned it."
She slid down the bars and started to cry.
"Don't you do that. Save those tears for someone who deserves them."
She bit back on the tears. "Thank you." She heard the sound of footsteps and knew his guards were returning. She went to the back corner of the cell and made herself as small as possible. She tried desperately to block out the sounds coming from the other direction but her efforts were all in vain. She didn't sleep a wink. Instead, she kept pressing her hands against the wall and calling out to her tree. She didn't know where she was or how far down she was but it was the only thing she could think of. Each time she did, she pushed herself to exhaustion. She did this four times throughout the night.
She still had her armor on and she could feel Caser moving around once in a while as he woke to eat and went back to sleep. She wanted to reach in there and pet him but she was afraid to drop her armor. She was getting ready to send out her energy once more when she heard the door open again. She didn't know if it was change of guard again, someone coming to release her or something else. The footsteps were slow and deliberate. That didn't sound like a friend. She cowered into the corner she had been in all night. She could hear three sets of footsteps.
She held her breath as the steps drew near. Then a face appeared she had only learned recently. It wore a vile smile. The two other sets of footsteps were those that accompanied him to the assembly that day. It was the man who caused her nightmares. It was Jack Truedream.
"Good morning beautiful." He looked around the cell. "Looks like there was a party in here last night. Did you kill these people?"
She stared at him praying it was a dream or an illusion brought on by the terror of being in this place. It's just a nightmare.
"Are you going to answer me?" One of his guards opened her cell door and he entered but didn't get too close. First Kevin needed to do his job. Put her to sleep. Kevin took one step toward her and she screamed.
At that exact moment the wall above her exploded. Chucks of rock went flying toward Truedream, his guards, and the cell bars. Roots reached down and grabbed her. She instinctively wrapped herself in a ball, tucking her head and holding her knees. She closed her eyes tightly.
She heard, "She's getting way!" and "Stop her!" She smelled dirt, moist and fertile. She felt closed in. The air was thick and it was hard to breathe. It felt like humans were not meant to be here. The energy from the roots felt familiar. She felt comforted and loved. She relaxed and didn't fight what these roots were doing. Eventually she felt the air was cleaner and she could breathe better. Then she passed out.