Venus Carter had a plan. And of course she did, what kind of assassin would she be if she didn't? It was simple: she'd pretend her arm and leg (someone came down and broke her leg, but her arm was totally healed, so it was fine) weren't healed, and she'd pretend that she was in excruciating pain. She's been faking it for the last couple of hours whenever she heard the door open, so hopefully they wouldn't suspect anything. Venus considers herself an excellent actor, so her plan really should work.
Anyways, because she's in so much pain, they'll underestimate her. She'll be seated by the bars when they come in, and she'll have her head down between her knees. When they address her, she'll pretend to be unresponsive, forcing them to reach through the bars and shake her awake. Or slap her, either one works. With her inhumanly fast reflexes, she'll grab their arm and break it, just like they did to her. Then, she'd grab their head and bang it against the bars, knocking them unconscious. Or killing them. She didn't care.
Even though a different person came to check in on her about every hour, Venus noticed they all had the same set of keys hidden in their breast pocket. She knew this because a particularly arrogant boy had taken them out to dangle in front of her face, baiting her so she would reach through the bars, giving him the chance to break her arm. Again. Venus didn't take the bait, she was patient. She'd have to bide her time in order to successfully escape. After that boy, she eyed the breast pocket of every boy that came down to check in on her. The same, sharp budge was always there, and if she listened hard enough, she could hear the jangling of the keys in the completely silent room.
So, once they were knocked unconscious, she'd reach through the bars and grab the keys, letting herself out of the cell. She'd quickly undress the boy and put on his clothes, so she could hopefully blend in when she got upstairs. It wasn't a great disguise, since there was no way she could pass as a guy, but it should work long enough for her to find a way out. She'd have exactly an hour; she's been counting the intervals in her head, and the boys always came every hour.
It was a simple plan, one that wasn't overly complicated. The only problem was, Venus's leg hasn't completely healed yet. She gave it a couple hours, hoping it'd heal perfectly like her arm, but her fibula was completely shattered. The boy who broke it had done so with a large, flat rock. He had managed to wrestle her leg between the bars and hit it repeatedly. At least Venus knows just how strong they are; she knows for sure now that they've been injected with the serum. She could walk, but it wasn't very fast. And she walked with a limp, which definitely wasn't ideal. All the boys upstairs would be in perfect shape. She couldn't possibly fit in. But the plan had to go on, so she just hoped the adrenaline would make her injury painless.
Venus was practicing walking around her cell in the meantime. It was extremely painful, but again, she wouldn't let pain stop her. She was not weak. She had exactly three minutes until the next boy showed up and her plan would be set in motion. At the one minute mark, she dropped to the floor near the bars and made sure to adjust her jacket loosely around her healed arm, giving the illusion that it was still broken. Propping her broken leg in front of her, she thought of the bones shattered within it. Hopefully, with that disgusting thought, her face went pale. And finally, to sell the act, Venus did not wipe the sweat that beaded across her face while she was practicing walking.
The door opened, and a boy walked down with food in his hands. It hasn't been twenty-one days, perhaps they were trying to poison her. Still, she kept her head down and mimed unconsciousness, listening to the boy's footsteps draw nearer. She heard him drop the tray gently and kneel down, peering at her battered form.
"Hello? Excuse me? Are you okay?" He said softly, examining her body for signs of consciousness.
Venus was confused. This boy seemed nicer than any of the other boys that she met. His footsteps were lighter, his voice softer, and words kinder. And he brought her food? They must be trying to trick her, with this good-cop bad-cop ruse. Dick and her used to use that tactic when interrogating criminals, she knew it better than anyone. But what did they hope to achieve?
