"What do you mean Fiyero's in danger?" Galinda demanded. "The Wizard said…"
"What? What did the Wizard say?" Elphaba cried.
"Remember earlier, when I told you that I escaped Talor and then found you?"
"Yes…" the green girl hissed suspiciously.
"Well that wasn't exactly true…"
"Glin…" Elphaba huffed. Then her eyes widened again and a tremor shook her body. "Never mind that; right now we've got to find Fiyero." She grabbed her friend's arm and towed them towards the Emerald Palace.
"How do you know he's in danger?" Galinda asked, trying to keep up.
"I don't know," the green girl admitted. "I just do."
/
"You will pay for this outrage!" Fiyero shouted at Morrible as her guards dragged him towards the operation chamber. "I am a prince; you have no right to treat me like this." His noble upbringing had made the Winkie a little haughty, but in this dire situation that escaped his notice. Maneuvering quickly Fiyero managed to kick the legs out from under one of his captors. He fell with a grunt and the Winkie swung his free hand into the other guard.
Roughly pushing Madame Morrible aside Fiyero galloped down the first open hallway he spotted. The Emerald Palace's prison was small and mostly empty. It also had no unlocked doors leading outside. "Crap," the Winkie muttered, wheeling to find himself cornered by Morrible and a pair of very irritated guards.
"Mister Tiggular, I would hate it if my men had to hurt you," the headmistress leered.
"No you wouldn't," he spat.
"You're right," Morrible snickered. "But I'm sure you would hate it if I had to hurt your Miss Elphaba when we catch her." She could almost see the fight trickle out of her quarry at those words. "If you cooperate Elphaba won't be in any pain during her operation. In fact, you may not even need alterations if you agree to go along with the plan."
"But you said I'd presented you with an opportunity to test…" Fiyero trailed off in confusion.
"Either way you're presenting me with a test subject," the headmistress explained. "Whether it be you or Elphaba." The Winkie flinched, imaging Fae with sparkling, shallow eyes forever.
But perhaps he could fool them. "Alright," Fiyero sighed. "I'll do it. Just don't hurt Fae."
/
"He's in the basement," Elphaba informed Galinda. "It's probably a prison."
"How do you know that?" the blonde wondered in astonishment.
"I'm not really sure," her friend shrugged.
"Your magic is so confusifying," Galinda complained. Elphaba nodded, rubbing her temples.
"We're just gonna have to go through a ground level window and wing it," she muttered grudgingly. The green girl did not like jumping into a dangerous situation without a plan.
/
"I hope for your sake that this plan goes off without a hitch," Madame Morrible hissed.
"It will," Talor assured his employer. "It took me several hours, but I managed to convey the permanent mind alteration spell devised for Elphaba into liquid form." He held out a syringe. "Get Fiyero to inject her with this and it's over."
"I'm not sure Fiyero will cooperate," Shiz's headmistress growled suspiciously.
"You forget that we have Galinda as a backup," Talor pointed out. "The Wizard stopped me before I could actually get to personality modification, but for a few seconds I had free reign."
"Well how does that help us?" Morrible demanded impatiently.
"The first thing my spells do is create a control link; meaning I can get back inside her head with another simple spell. It worked on Elphaba in the throne room."
"Couldn't you just use it on her again?"
"Not if Galinda's cured her with that spell you wrote," Talor muttered.
"I didn't expect the Wizard to be such a softie," Morrible shrugged. "I commend you Talor; this plan does seem airtight. Let's hope appearances aren't deceiving."
/
Fiyero unhappily sat in his prison. Guards stood at attention outside, though they were just props. The plan was for Elphaba to swoop in and rescue her boyfriend. Then the Winkie would inject her with the syringe tucked carefully into his pocket. However Fiyero wasn't planning to follow the plan. He hoped to find another solution when the girls finally arrived. After all he had the needle to use as a weapon if necessary.
"Hello Mister Tiggular," oozed Madame Morrible's voice. She swept imperiously into his cell, grinning like a devil. The Winkie afforded her only a terse nod. "Focused are we?" she cackled. "I just wanted to let you know that Talor and I will be supervising your little mission. It wouldn't do for you to run off with Miss Elphaba now would it?"
"No, it wouldn't," Fiyero replied tightly. Why in Oz did this woman get such pleasure out of tormenting people? For that matter; why did she have members of the Wizard's guard at her disposal? If he was lucky these questions would be answered later, hopefully by Elphaba or Galinda.
"Well, we'll see you soon," Morrible exclaimed, waving for Talor to follow her into an adjacent cell. Fiyero supposed they had some sinister way of spying on him from there. Suddenly a commotion shook the entrance to the prison segment. A guard could be heard shouting orders until he was abruptly cut off. Green flame billowed beneath the door.
"Sweet Oz," Fiyero whispered to himself. "Here we go."
Don't you love cliffhangers? *grins evilly*