Captivating

Garrett and Plex made their way back to the room with the large metal door, making sure to walk cautiously past the turret. It was still covered in vines, but barely. At any moment, it could snap the weakened vines and start shooting at the duo. Thankfully, it remained motionless and seemed to not notice them. Carefully, they snuck inside the jail cell room and closed the door behind them.

The scent of death assaulted Garrett's nostrils, but he forced himself to power through the smell. "Okay, she's over here." Garrett hurried along to the jail cell where the woman was. "Hey! Can you hear me? Are you still alive in there?" There was a brief pause but the gray-skinned woman barely lifted her head in response. She held it up for a few seconds before letting it gentle rest back on the ground. "Oh good, she's still alive. Plex, can you break these bars?"

Plex studied the bars up and down, then gripped them with its hands. Plex pulled and pulled on them, but despite their rusted and worn look, the bars were incredibly sturdy. "These are far too solid for me to break," Plex said. It turned its attention to the lock of the door. The light from Plex's face scanned the lock, covering every bit of it. "However, good news. I can open this lock."

"Great! We're gonna get you out of here, Miss." Garrett had to hold himself back from calling her Vanessa. He was certain it was her, but there was no telling. Plus, as he learned earlier with Cerezie, calling out a random stranger by their name didn't exactly leave a good impression. "Just keep holding on."

"I am going to need something small and thin," Plex said, gesturing with its fingers how thin it needed. Garrett looked through his stuff, which was very limited in supplies. All he had was the backpack, the bag of coins, the spear, the ring, his sword, and his shield. It wasn't like he had gone to any nearby town or anything. The only supplies Garrett had was what he had found so far in the Darge. "Ah, those are perfect."

"What, these?" Garrett said, looking at the pieces of scrap metal from the scout that Cerezie had destroyed earlier. He had completely forgotten that he had taken them.

"Yes," Plex said, picking them up in its hands, "These are exactly what I need." Carefully, it bent the pieces of scrap metal into something that loosely resembled a key. "This should work with an 83% probability."

"I like those odds," Garrett said, putting everything back and turning to the jail cell. "You're almost out, Miss."

Plex inserted the crude key into the lock and slowly twisted it. Garrett held his breath, anxious, and praying the key would work. If this failed, the only other option to get her out would be to find the key but there was no telling where it was or if it even existed anymore. There was a loud clunk as the lock turned, then the snapping of metal. Garrett and Plex both looked as Plex held up the broken end of the key.

"Well, it still worked," Plex said as it swung the squeaky door open. The remaining scrap of the key was hardly useful, but Plex still tucked it into a small compartment into its arm, just in case.

Garrett rushed over to the woman and, with his sword, cut the bonds that were holding the woman. He removed her blindfold and ungagged her as he checked over her for signs of life. Her pulse was hardly there and her breathing was shallow and labored. Her outfit was dirty from days upon days of being in this jail cell. Upon seeing her up close and clearly, this was absolutely Vanessa, the artist demon he encountered the second time around, though mostly a shell of her previous self.

"She needs medical help," Garrett said, struggling to stand up with her. He huffed and strained himself to stand up, but quickly fell to his knees. "Ugh, I can't lift her. She's pretty light, but I'm too weak and injured to carry her."

'...Ugh... I shouldn't have made so many excuses in gym class...' Garrett thought to himself.

"Here, hand her to me," Plex said. Cradling her head, Garrett passed Vanessa off to Plex, who managed to carry her with no issue.

"Okay, so, how are we going to get her any help?" Garrett asked as the two of them left the jail cell. "I don't think that Cerezie has anything, I definitely do and neither do you." Garrett closed his eyes and thought. "We could leave and go to the nearest town, but then we'd leave Cerezie alone down here. But, if we stay and rescue Cerezie, then we risk the health of this lady." He opened his eyes and turned towards the one door and keypad that was there in the room. "Plex, could you possibly hack this thing?"

"Allow me to see," Plex said, looking at the keypad. "Ah, this is Anikind symbols. I do not quite understand them, but it is possible that I may interface with this." Plex reached back into its head and pulled out a wire and held it near the device. "However, I can tell this keypad is linked to the security system here. If I start doing this, we will encounter more guards. I can't judge how long it will take me to break the code. This is risky that would wager all three of our lives. I cannot fight while I am doing this."

Garrett groaned as he began to consider the outcomes. Vanessa absolutely needed medical attention, neither Plex nor Garrett could provide, but they also couldn't just leave Cerezie down here. Plus, there weren't any other paths that Garrett knew of, besides going back the way they all came, which likely just lead outside. Reasonably, there was only one thing to do. He was chosen as the Hero of Asuria.

"Alright Plex," Garrett said, holding up his shield and swapping his sword for his spear. "Start trying to open that door."

"Understood, Boss." Plex plugged himself into the device and the sound of electronic beeps and chirping began to fill the room.

Garrett waited, ready for whatever security came for them. His breath was heavy and his whole body was ripe with adrenaline. He could feel sweat beginning to roll down his cheeks as he began to hear the faint sounds of something coming towards them. He gripped onto the spear tightly and crouched into an attack pose.