The Girl With Metal Claws

Nevertheless

ELLIOTT

Phoenix was gone. She left behind an ocean of blood and dead people. But something in Elliott said she knew he was here. She knew of everyone up on the terrace but she decided to spare them. Just for a little time.

Fred took Turner and the others followed them down the building as they entered one of the spare rooms. They sat down to talk as Elliott and Jack stood behind Fred's chair.

"There's something that's bothering me," Fred said, glancing at Turner's averted face.

"What is it?" He said in a low voice.

"How did you know Phoenix will come here? How did you plan all of this?" Fred asked. Turner decided to stay quiet. Fred leaned in and spoke with a deeper voice. "Who told you Phoenix would come here?"

"I-I spoke to him," Turner said, hesitating.

"Who?"

"Phoenix. I spoke to him," as Vincent said those words, Elliott felt offended. Because he refused to believe Asami would show herself to anyone else and because Turner was lying.

"If that was true, you'd at least known Phoenix isn't a man," Elliott spoke up, watching the colours fade from his face. Jack raised his gun in front of Vincent's eyes and tried blackmailing him.

"Meredith," Turner said.

Elliott's eyes widened. He had thought Meredith was an ally of Gabrielle but she worked for anyone without being sceptical.

"Shamans in Wellspring are either dead or starving," Fred sighed, "I'm not surprised she helped you for bags of money."

"So, what's your deal?" Turner asked with a smirk.

"I'm gonna keep it straight. Join us," Fred said with a determined glance. Elliott and Jack shot each other a look with bewildered eyes.

"What are you doing?" Jack whispered to Fred but he was shut down.

"Join you? A bunch of losers?"

"You little-", Jack was shut down again.

"This guy here can take down all of your men alone. Who's the loser here, Turner?" Vincent's mouth got shut after hearing Fred. Fred placed his hands on the table. "We're the ones who ruled Wellspring. All of the police and officials in the crime department worked under us. But-"

"But then you did some crazy sh*t and got banned. Now, don't you have some balls asking a security general to work under an illegal rotting agency?" Turner said, rolling his eyes. Elliott felt the sudden urge to punch him across the face but he relied on Fred. He saved them from every situation.

"Well, picking up prisoners from the police stations and throwing them like trash in front of a barking dog isn't very legal of you as well," Fred tilted his head aside. It was his objectifying glare. Turner was left speechless again.

"Look, we understand you're trying to capture Phoenix. But can't do it alone. If you want the praise, share it." Jack added in. He had fun dealing with such people.

"Call us. Take your time," Fred got up after tossing his fancy visiting card to Turner. And with that, he left the room and the boys followed him out. Once they were out of the building and into the gruesome street, they avoided looking at the bodies knowing it'd be enough for them to look at it in the next morning's news.

"Finally, Fred got to show off his visiting-card after a whole year of not being a detective, cheers," Jack mocked him, slinging his arm around Elliott.

"Cheers," Elliott chuckled.

~

Once Elliott returns to the basement, he fishes out the music box from his bag pack. Now that he had it, he had to return it to where he stole it from without anyone noticing.

When no one seemed to be noticing, Elliott walks behind the small kitchen counter as it was where Gabrielle kept all of her things at. He thoroughly glanced back to see if he had anyone's attention. Slowly, he took the music box and placed it on the third shelf.

Suddenly, he felt someone slide beside him on the counter. Shocked, he turned to the side to see Gabrielle standing beside him watching. Elliott stood speechless knowing he was caught.

"I just-"

"It's okay," Gabrielle said, lightly. She had a smile on her face.

"You knew?" He asked.

"I had a feeling," she nodded as she passed him a cup of coffee. "Drink up, you've worked hard."

Elliott took it and they stood side by side watching the others. They were laughing about something Elliott didn't understand. Everyone had messed up lives but that moment felt important. Through the circus, their lives had been, little moments like that of warmth and relief made life bearable.

"I'm sorry, I should've told you," Elliott confessed. Gabrielle didn't reply, instead, she sipped on her coffee.

"Elliott, sometimes you've to step back and let others take control of the wheel. You're at a constant fight with your mind, you'll exhaust yourself." Gabrielle said sighing and her voice calm.

"I can't be at rest. Everything is eating me up," Elliott exhaled, blowing on his coffee. That's when Gabrielle placed her mug in the sink and turned to look at Elliott. She reached out and held his hand with a concerned look on her face.

"I know you're going through things and you're also hiding things. But that wouldn't be good for your actual intentions. All of our intentions. I've been feeling this way for a long time but I wanted you to think. You'll have me by your side whenever you need me. I'll help you, you just have to say one word," Gabrielle said hastily. She was worried someone else would hear their conversation. But Elliott kept staring at her, observing if she was bluffing. "Do you understand?"

Elliott deliberately nodded, not knowing how to reply. It felt like baggage that he wanted to let go of. He wanted to tell everyone about his association with Asami. He wanted to use his connection with Asami as a benefit for his team. But he always held back.

~

Three days had passed till then.

Mr Morgan made it a routine to keep a special eye on Elliott. He might've even plotted a few spies because Elliott always had a feeling of being watched.

While Elliott remained at a constant state of restlessness, George and Vincent spoke and made the necessary formalities agreeing on working together secretly. They also started working on the plan of how to execute the mission. Elliott had also suggested Meredith in on the plan to which the others had agreed.

But Meraki was still not aware of Vincent working with them because of her childhood mishaps with him. That worried Elliott because of how short-tempered she was. It was only natural.

Elliott had been avoiding any kind of contact with Asami. He didn't know how but he always knew where he would find her. So, he was decisive to avoid stepping anywhere near where she was. In those three days, she hadn't shown up but he was being watched constantly. The murders in the city continued almost daily.

This had to be stopped.

"That's what the secondary sector is all about. Now, we'll move to the tertiary sector. So, what is tertiary sector-", the teacher taught the whole class of distracted students. Just looking at the woman, Elliott understood she had no will to teach. She talks to herself for almost an hour and leaves every day.

Elliott was also a part of the students who particularly didn't pay attention. He turned his face and gazed outside the window beside his seat. The sky was a mix of sunshine and clouds. He took a deep breath and stared at the huge cloud peaks. His eyes trailed down from the sky to the cars running on the road. It was a good day...

Or so he thought until his eyes fell on the person gaping up at him from the other side of the road. The white-haired monster that he hated to see but whose control he couldn't resist. Her face was blank as they locked eyes with each other. He was in the third-floor classroom.

A shiver ran down his spine as he saw a smile creep up on her face.

"Elliott! Pay attention!" The teacher commanded and Elliott looked away from the window, hoping she would go away. After a minute when he looked out from the window, Asami was gone.

Five minutes had passed. Elliott's feet tapped the floor with anticipation and nervousness. He felt her near him. Somewhere around.

Suddenly, the classroom door snapped open. The door slammed on the wall with a loud thud that startled everyone. In the doorway, she stood with her eyes planted on Elliott. A moment of silence spread across the room as the whole class looked at Asami in shock and confusion.

Asami smiled again and started walking her way to Elliott's seat in the back row.

"Hey, who are you-" the teacher said with a shaky float her appearance but she abruptly stopped. Just then, her eyes closed and she fell on the floor, fainting. As Asami made her way to Elliott, everyone she walked past, fainted. Slowly, the whole room except Elliott fell into a deep sleep.

"Don't kill them," he said, panting at his hesitation.

"Oh," Asami stopped and looked back at the passed out people, looking apologetic, "You should've told me earlier."

Elliott's eyes widened with horror and shock as he found no remorse in Asami's eyes. He expected nothing from her because of her insanity.

"What do you mean? Did you-"

"Come with me," Asami said with a small smile while she held out her hand for him to hold. She smiled a lot.