All three girls were still sitting in the alleyways. Raven and Starfire had both finished telling parts of their stories. Perci smiled at both girls. "Now that you two know each other a bit better, what do you say we go save the boys?" She asked about to stand up when Raven and Star both stopped her. Both girls had grabbed one of her wrists pulling her to sit back down. "We're not finished yet." Raven said with a slight smirk. "Agreed. You have yet to tell us your story." Starfire added giving Perci a curious smile.
"B-but we have to save the boys." Perci said sort of worried for the boys but more so worried about what the girls would think of her. "You were able to hear our stories. It is only fair we get to hear yours, Perci." Starfire said softly. "It's really long and...not...pretty." Perci said refusing to look at either of the girls. "The boys can wait a little longer." Raven said making Perci let out a hard sigh. "Fine...you guys asked for this." Perci said making Raven roll her eyes and Starfire clap with joy.
"In the outskirts of Gotham City, there was a building dedicated to new scientific discoveries. A group of scientists were determined to create an equal or something far superior to Poison Ivy." Perci started her story. Her eyes staring at her hands as she picked at her still healing hand. "They started by trying to combine very resilient plants with human DNA. They used weeds, grass, pretty much anything that could grow anywhere. After multiple failed experiments...someone suggested they try a less resilient plant. After a few more failures with slight areas of success, they used roses. Something clicked and...I was made."
Both girls watched as Perci accidentally knocked her hood down as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously. Her (h/c) strands still managed to cover her face slightly. "I didn't want anything to do with them." Perci said letting out a light laugh. "They started working on teaching me the difference between good and bad...that was all they really ever taught me. I guess they didn't see a need to teach me about other things." Perci said with a shrug of her shoulder. Both girls started to get more and more interested in her story.
Flashback besties:
"Okay, let's go through this again." A male scientist said as he sat down on the white tiled floor a few feet away from a young girl with (h/c) strands covering her face as she looked down at the patch of small sprouts she'd made around herself.
"Can you look at me?" The scientist asked the girl, but she didn't budge. The man moved a bit closer to her making sure to still keep his distance. He pulled out his pen gently tapping the girl on the shoulder. Just as soon as he tapped her, thorns came out of her body by a foot. Her (e/c) had stared at him frightened.
The girl stared at the scientist for a few seconds before the thorns slowly crept back into her body. "That's it...it's just me. Now, let's get back to work." He said pulling out a large stack of flash cards with different pictures on all of them. "Do you remember how to play?" He asked the girl only receiving a blank look. "I'm going to show you some pictures and you're going to point to which ever one's are good okay?" He explained only receiving the same blank stare.
The scientist showed the girl numerous pictures that were supposed to teach her the difference between good and bad. She had gotten every single one right in the scientists eyes. "Okay, last one. This one is a new one you haven't learned yet. Just try your best." The man said holding up a two more pictures. One was a picture of people the girl recognized. It was a picture of the scientists and a good handful of others she hadn't recognized. The other was a woman with red hair wearing a green suit covered in leaves. The girl stared at both pictures before looking at the scientist waiting for the answer.
"No, I can't give you the answer. Think about it. You have two choices, one is good one is bad. You can figure this out." The scientist said giving her a soft smile. The girl thought for a moment before pointing at the picture of the people she knew. "Excellent!" The man exclaimed frightening her. Thorns shot from her body again and the scientist realized he'd scared her.
"Can you show me what we do to things that are bad?" The man asked holding up the stack of everything they referred to as bad. The girl stared at him as he placed the stack carefully down on the edge of the patch of sprouts. Once he moved his hand away the sprouts quickly became shark thorns and vines as they torn the pieces of paper to shreds. Just as fast as they'd appeared, the vines and thorns turned back into small sprouts.
The day had droned on for the girl and it was time for her to rest. The room was dark except for the one small light they always kept on for the girl. She was sound asleep when the sprinklers above her came on. Thorns and vines covered the entirety of her body once she felt the water dripping from the ceiling.
'They use too much.' 'She's grow ill if they keep going.' 'Do you think she's awake?' She heard...something. It wasn't how the scientists talked to her. It was different...but she understood more than when the scientists talked to her.
The vines around her slowly started to break away. The leaves growing from the stems turning yellow. The small white rose blooms drooping down and the petals dying around the edges. The girl felt like she was slowly drowning from the amount of water, but she didn't know the feeling was bad.
'I can sense her.' 'She's awake.' 'Her roots will start to rot.' 'There's too much.' 'She's not safe here.' 'We're not safe here.' 'They're hurting her.' The voice continued and she covered her ears trying to block them out.
'They can't water her every night.' 'It's too cold.' 'There's too much water.' 'They're making her weak.' 'Maybe that's what they want.' 'What?' 'What?' 'Why?' 'Shh...they're coming.' The voices stopped. (Y/n) uncovered her ears as she looked around the room. Thorns had pried out from her skin as she looked for the source of the voices.
The next night was the same story. However, the sprinklers stayed on much longer than they normally did. 'They're going to kill her.' 'Her roots are going to rot more than ever.' 'You said they might be making her weak on purpose?' That question caught the girl's attention. The scientists told her she was strong and she needed to stay strong. So why would they make her weaker?
'They've been watering her more.' 'They're doing this on purpose?' 'Maybe.' 'But why?' 'Why?' 'Yes, why?' 'To control her.' 'More than they already do?' (Y/n) listened to the conversation as she stared down at the water that had filled the room up to her ankles. Her head was pounding, but she wanted to learn more.
'Shall I check on her?' 'Yes.' 'No.' 'Yes.' 'You'll get caught.' 'By who?' 'Them.' 'No...by her.' 'She's awake.' 'She has been.' 'How long?' 'Since they started watering her.' 'I'll check on her.' 'Yes.' 'No.' 'Don't leave.' The girl continued to stare at the slowly rising water when she heard something coming closer to her. She looked up to see a small plant poking out of an air vent from the ceiling. The girl squinted her eyes at the plant trying to avoid water from going into her eyes.
'Do you see her?' 'She's here.' (Y/n) noticed that the second voice was closer than the others had been. 'What is she doing?' 'Staring.' 'At?' 'Me.' 'You?' 'Yes.' 'Do you think she hears us?' 'Not sure. She needs to escape from here.' The voice seemed like it was coming from the plant poking from the vent.
'What?' 'Why?' 'What's wrong?' 'No drainage.' 'What?' 'Why?' 'To keep her weak.' 'She's growing stronger.' 'They don't like it.' 'Something is different.' 'How?' 'It's supposed to drain. Why is it not?' The girl stared up at the plant for a moment before looking down at the floor.
In the center of the room was a grate over the drain. Nothing had changed physically on the surface, but (Y/n) noticed the plant was right. It wasn't draining like it normally did. 'Her leaves...they're starting to rot.' 'She needs to leave.' (Y/n) carefully moved towards the center of the room. The water sloshing around as she moved. 'What is she doing?' The girl stared down at the drain before prodding at the grate with her fingers.
'She knows.' 'Knows?' 'Knows what?' 'Wait.' The girl paused for a moment as she heard the last one before looking up at plant waiting. 'Strange...continue.' 'Me?' 'You?' 'No, her.' 'Her?' 'Quiet.' The girl's eyes moved back down to the closed drain grate. She tried to pry the cover off with her fingers, but it didn't work.
An idea came to her mind as she placed both of her hands over the cover. She concentrated hard and a large sharp thorn came out of her hand piercing the drain. She held her hands over the drain, not sure if it had worked. The sound of the water starting to drain made her remover her hands. The cover was now just a hole in the floor that led to the pipes system of the facility.
(Y/n) looked up at the plant and they seemed to be staring at each other. 'Can you hear us?' Instead of receiving an audible answer, dark pink roses appeared in the girl's hair. The girl watched as the plant grew a small wildflower. 'She hears and understands us.'
Present:
Perci was still picking at her healing hand as she continued her story. "I was becoming stronger and stronger, but I wasn't fully in control of my powers. Hell, I'm still not completely in control of myself." She gave a slight laugh as she tried to make herself feel better about her past. "The scientists decided to take...precautions. I'm not sure if they realized or not, but...they were slowly killing me. I-I didn't even realize it was happening. I just knew that I felt sick all the time. Everyday I felt worse and worse. Unfortunately, I was still a lot stronger than they wanted me to be." "What did you do?" Raven asked softly. A disappointed sigh left Perci's mouth as she tried to piece her next words together.
Flashback:
(Y/n) was sitting in the brightly lit room. She was curled up in the corner with her head nodding off trying not to pace out. She couldn't breathe through her nose, her head was pounding, her body ached, her leaves were yellow, and black spots had started to appear on them. The usual patch of sprouts that would surround her decreased in size by half. The sprouts at the outer edge had all died off while the ones closer to her were still alive, but in extremely poor health.
"We need to keep working." (Y/n) managed to glare over at the scientist that was sat a few feet away from her. They both sat in silence as the scientist held up a single flash card with a dog on it. The only noise being the sound of the girl's hard and heavy breathing.
"Is this good or bad?" The man received no answer as he took a deep breath trying to calm himself down before he became upset at the girl. "Once we're finished, you may go back to sleep. Is the dog good or bad? Use your words...just like we practiced." He stated sternly. He was so close to his day at the facility being over and done with, but he couldn't leave until (Y/n) cooperated.
(Y/n) blinked a few times as she tried to get her vision to focus on the flash card. "B-bad." She said softly as she struggled to remember what they taught her not too long ago. "Speak up." The scientist said as he became more and more frustrated. "Bad." She managed to say louder. "No, dogs are g-" "Bad! Bad, bad, bad!" The girl said louder. She held her head in her hands as she shook her head no aggressively.
"No! These are good!" The man yelled at her. "Bad, bad, bAD!" (Y/n) yelled back as she threw her hands onto the tiled floor. Vines with large thorns had grown out from her hands and across the floor. They crept closer to the man as he quickly moved away from the girl. His back had pressed against the wall and thorns were only a couple inches away from his body. The man didn't even notice that the thorns were extremely dull compared to how sharp they've been in the past.
The man was able to see the pained, confused, and angry expression on the girls face through the plants. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she continued to say the same word again and again just loud enough for him to hear. He watched as she finally noticed the tears. The thorns and vines slowly retracted as her anger vanished. One of her hands touched her cheek. Her whole body flinched as she felt how wet it was.
Panic quickly flooded (Y/n)'s body as she tried to figure out what was happening. Thorns that were exceptionally sharper than ever before continuously shot in and out of her body. Her hands gripped her hair as her breathing became faster and harder.
"Y-You need to calm down." The scientist tried to say calmly to the girl, but she couldn't hear him over her panicked state. Vines started to cover her hands as she gripped her hair even tighter. Her gaze met the ground and she could see the thorns going in and out of her body at a fast pace.
(Y/n) ended up holding her breath, but it made her panicked state even worse. She didn't even notice the man as he opened her door and ran out closing it behind him. A loud ear piercing scream left her mouth. (Y/n) was left all alone as she screamed bloody murder until her throat was raw.
She had finally finished screaming. Her vision was fading in and out faster than before. Her panic attack had taken every ounce of energy she had left. (Y/n)'s breath was heavy as she collapsed on the ground. All of the extra vines and stems that had grown out of her body fell lifeless. The green color quickly fading to black as they all shriveled and died.