The Girl With Metal Claws

Caught

ISIS

"Legal statements?" She said with a blank expression on her face. She felt speechless, trying to pretend like it was a joke.

"Yes," Jack nodded, with equal disbelief and remorse at his own words. Isis could still hear the fast-paced guards on the floor below them. They didn't have any big if a plan in the first place. "We need to meet Fred and Garry first. They'd be leading then."

"But how do we get there?" Isis asked, slumping over and tripping on her tongue. She slowly started climbing down the stairs and peeking over to the second-floor corridor. Jack grabbed her arm and she turned to look at him.

"Wear this first," Jack said handing her a black mask as he was wearing. It was better to hide their faces than to get recognised.

"Do you remember when I told you you're perfect?" Jack blurted out. His face immediately flushed in a faint tint of red but he didn't let go of her hand. Isis stared back at him with surprise. She felt her face warm up.

"I.. don't remember you telling me that," Isis replied slowly with her head shook down. Jack hesitated and let go of her hand and started scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah... I meant you're.. strong. I mean- you can handle it. Which mean you can.. count on me too. Uh, that it-"

Isis was a little taken aback by Jack's sudden behaviour. She smiled softly at Jack and seeped her hand into his without thinking through. Then she realised she was holding his hand out of nowhere. She flinched and tried to let it go.

"Come on, now," Jack smiled, holding Isis's hand tighter and leading the way down the stairs. Isis couldn't stop staring at the glowing look on his face. As they entered the corridor of the second floor, it was empty.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching their way and Jack sprinted to the nearest corner, hiding against a wall, with Isis. They crouched down and whispered back and forth.

"If they see us, they'll shoot," Isis let out nervously. Jack shook his head and prepared his revolver in his hand as the footsteps approached closer, luckily it was just one of them.

Isis reached out and touched his hand and shook her head side by side.

"Using a gun would be noisy and alert everyone around that we're here. We have to be noiseless," Isis knew better about breaking in and being silent. There have been multiple occasions where she had to use such skills to live through.

Breaking in, stealing school question papers, shoplifting, cracking open locks and safes. Isis had mastered it all. And the main reason she knew all that was because of her father. He had been in jail for years after being caught for committing robbery and murder.

Maybe that's why she never opened up to people. She didn't want people to see her under the red light. She wanted to be someone normal, not an outcast.

"I didn't think of that," Jack murmured, putting his gun back. That's when the footsteps sounded just beside them but the guard didn't stop. He didn't notice Jack and Isis and continued to walk ahead.

That's when Jack stood and crept up to the guards. He leapt over the guard with Jack's forearms against his neck until he dropped his rifle. Jack crouched over him and knocked the guard down instantly. He retreated as the guard fell over.

"We need to hide him," Jack said, wiping his face. Isis got up, impressed by his skills, and stood in front of the fallen guard.

She stuck her ear to the nearby door in the long corridor and determined the room was empty. Isis slowly pushed the door to the empty room open and stuck her hand out over the guard. She focused for a second and then opened her straining eyes.

The fainted guard's body started sliding across the floor on its own and Isis let it inside the empty room instantly. Then, she locked the door from outside, trapping the guard in the room.

"Saves time," Isis smiled at Jack, wiggling her fingers after showing her magic trick and he started chuckling. They moved ahead.

They repeated the same tactic as long as they could. The guards came alone while they hid in the corners. Jack knocked them out as quietly as possible and Isis flung them into rooms while they were unconscious. Carefully, they reached the archive room where they were supposed to meet the other two.

"Took your sweet time, didn't you?" Fred said, rushing and flipping things inside the archive.

"How did you guys get in?" Isis asked.

"From the back door yet we were welcomed by a few equipped men," Garry smiled softly, rubbing his palms together. He had a distracted look on his face.

"You guys might not know but Garry can get quite violent sometimes," Fred raised his eyebrows while appreciating him.

"That's because my ancestors were.. hunters," Garry nodded as if he was sharing unknown information. He had always been a jolly and outgoing person. But ever since Gabrielle died, he had toned down. No, everyone did. No one could smile without regrets anymore.

"So, where do we find those statements?" Jack asked, immediately. He was getting restless after knowing that they weren't safe.

"The real question is why do we need those papers," Garry sighed. He looked like even he didn't know why. "George came up to us when we were getting ready to break in and he whispered things to Fred. I have no clue and he won't tell me."

"Fine, I'll tell you," Fred said, affectionately patting Garry's head. Then, he leaned in towards them and started stating the reason. "George told me that the plan of taking down Phoenix that he had in his mind needed Glendell to be authorised. He said we'll have to plan on bigger grounds this time and we can't do so if we are an underground agency."

"But stealing official papers and forging the legalisation of Glendell will get us into deeper sh*t. What is the old man thinking?" Jack said, shocked.

"Do we have a choice?" Garry said leaving the others with nothing to say. He was right. It would be more of foolishness to not follow through with George's plan. They all had black masks on but their expressions were well conveyed by the look in their eyes.

"Where do we go then?" Isis asked.

"We'll split and search for the main cabinet. You'll find them either inside a locker or on the drawers. If you don't find them, retreat to the terrace." Fred explained. Even if the plan was thought out, no one had a confident or convinced expression on their faces. They were just as lost.

One by one, they exited the archive room. They took control of each side and split accordingly. The four of them went four different ways.

Isis walked through the cleared out corridors. The doors had name tags attached to them but she entered each one of the rooms, leaving out nothing.

"Hey! Who are you?" One of the guards pointed their rifle at Isis as she entered a room. Annoyed, she flicked her hand and his rifle fell off of his hands. She ran up and jumped on him with her hands around his neck and she knocked his own by snapping his neck.

She had learnt it from Jack. The trick made the people faint for a good amount of time. Then, she extended her hand out and focused on each of the things. Instantly all of the furniture in the room rattled and the things started floating.

Isis understood how effortlessly she was able to use her powers without hesitation. She thought of Jack and his confidence, skills and the glow in his eyes and a smile appeared on her lips. He was impressive.

While the things floated, Isis searched through everything but there was no sign of the legal statements. Disappointed, she eased off her powers and everything fell on the ground, scattered.

She exited the room to enter another one. Isis searched thoroughly, even if it took longer. She was confident about her powers, she was certain about her revenge. It needed a lot more effort than just a few minutes.

Minutes passed as she exited the last room of the area empty-handed. Staying alert, she made her way through the stairs towards the terrace. That's when she saw out of the corner of her eye, someone lurking in the shadows at the end of the corridors. She flinched a little and kept staring at the shadow.

Her heart thumped in her chest at the sight of the dark shadow moving around but nothing of its features could be made out.

"J-Jack? Is that you?" She called out, frozen with fear. She stepped forward towards the shadow at a distance. Suddenly, she saw more movements and realised, it was not just one.

A loud low growl sounded and the figures started moving out of the darkness. The corpses moved towards Isis, hearing her voice and knowing she was human. Isis held her hand out, freezing in fear, but her eyes went wide when she saw the never-ending masses bolting towards her.

A scream left her mouth, knowing she couldn't take them alone even if their pace was slower. She ran up the stairs without turning back once and headed to the fourth floor but she knew they were following her.

She slammed the door to the terrace open and burst through the door, panting in fear.

"She's here- what happened?" Garry said, running to her. All three of them were there already.

"The creatures are in. They're chasing me!" Isis cried out.

"We have to go," Fred said, immediately. They were about to tie the harness clips to rope glide to the other terrace where Meredith was but that would take too much time. Fred asked Meredith to untie the rope on her side and that they would climb down to the street floor.

Meredith did as she was told and the rope was let go off. Instantly, they held onto the rope and started climbing down as fast as they could, one by one. After scathing their hands and struggling, their legs finally hit the ground one at a time. They started sprinting away the moment they reached down.

Suddenly, a bullet shot sounded it pierced through. Everything went silent except the sound of Jack falling onto the ground, the bullets buzz and the squad and police standing around. They had forgotten about the squads on the streets.

For Isis and her mistake of luring the corpses.

They were caught like deer in headlights.