The Girl With Metal Claws

War : Here lies...

GABRIELLE

Her hands were involuntarily trembling as she crumbled the note in her fist. She felt betrayed and tossed away. Everything she had done to create the perfect plan and the perfect revenge on Phoenix, was drifting away from her hands.

They didn't trust Gabrielle. Gabrielle couldn't make them belief her plan's legitimacy.

But what ached her heart was how she could avenge Max's death. That night 2 months ago when Max coming back home to Gabrielle after a long day at work, he was attacked and ripped into shreds mercilessly. He never returned back to her mother that day. Neither did his disfigured body.

All Gabrielle had of him was the pictures of his bloodcurdling corpse. She broke down.

"Regroup, everyone, regroup," George called out to the others in the walkie-talkie, shocked and in denial. Meredith, who was supposed to add to Gabrielle's strength, was gone.

She had turned out to be a similar coward like Turner was. She was worse, Gabrielle cursed her in her mind. She cried for her.

~

Isis wrapped her arms around Gabrielle, comforting her while the others paced around the room helplessly. They all had a similar question in their minds that they were iffy about saying it out loud. After a minute, someone did speak their mind.

"What if we.. go back? We know it's too much of a risk," Meraki said in a soft voice to assure that whatever she said was just a piece of advice. It didn't hold a right to be taken into consideration.

"We've lost all our backups and Ms Gabrielle cannot do this all alone," Nish added and Isis agreed to it. So that they don't have to face the worst sequences, they saw it as an opportunity to prepare better.

"They're not completely wrong, we should leave. What change can the eight of us even make?" Jack said, immediately realising what he had said. All of them exchanged glances of severity. They knew what they felt and how they sounded exactly like Turner and Meredith.

"If we back down now, we'll back down again. We'll keep backing down till it becomes the easiest way out for us. We'll start relying on that before we realise," Gabrielle spoke in murmurs that made everyone else feel guilty of their viewpoints.

"Let it be so then. I'm not ready to put anyone's life in danger for my greed of owning back the rights to my agency. I never wanted this," George said, sitting on the chair with his head buried in his hands.

"Aren't you a detective? Didn't you pledge to look after people's safety the day you took up this title?" Gabrielle charged up at George, infuriated. She felt inferior because of her inability to make people trust her process. That made her fume with anger.

"But I've taken the responsibility of those kids. It's dangerous, we both know it," George tried reasoning with her but pointing at Isis, Meraki and Nish.

"I took their responsibility. No matter what happens, they'll stay safe. I ensured that," Gabrielle was panting while she spoke, "did you never trust me? Was I only imagining being the driving force of this mission?"

"Meredith and Turner were never a part of this plan. It was Ms Gabrielle who assured us of her strength. I trust her," Elliott said, knowing how she was feeling inside even if she didn't deserve to feel that way. She was a woman with vast knowledge and skills and no one can take that away from her.

A silence spread through the room and they took a moment for themselves. Suddenly, a loud crash sounded from outside. They were still at Bernsville.

"It has started," Fred announced and everyone was startled.

"Okay, let's try this," George finally said, giving in. "But if anything goes wrong, we escape. Agreed?"

"Yes," everyone else said together.

"But wait, what're you planning to do?" Fred asked. With Meredith gone, the chanting couldn't be done alone and based on her absence, half of the shortlisted methods has to be wiped off.

Everyone had an expectant look on their eyes as they looked back at Gabrielle. Elliott felt the goosebumps on his body as he stared at her emotionless eyes.

"There's only one way left," Gabrielle said, "chant exorcism."

~

ELLIOTT

Through past experiences, Elliott had realised the power of crazy ideas that force people to push past there limits. To walk that extra mile. It might look very convenient and easy to deal with but does that how things always end?

Success?

Elliott stared at Gabrielle's fear stricken face even if she tried her best to hide it. He was good at reading people, better at giving them space. But he walked and knelt in front of her chair. He held Gabrielle's hand.

"You're not pushing yourself, right?"

"I'm trying not to," she replied, nodding.

"There'll always be second chances," Elliott said, trying to plead her with his eyes.

"Say what you want but never ask me to give up," she was stern with her words and the way she thought. While George and the others discussed further ahead, they tried their best to keep Elliott out of it as much as possible.

They didn't know that the safest of them all was Elliott himself. He had the devil's word. The devil everyone wanted to exterminate.

He stood up, feeling a little dizzy. He thought about how this day would mark the end of the existence of Asami. Maybe then the voices in his head escape and she'd be nowhere to be found.

Maybe then he wouldn't know where to go to find her or the coldness of her touch that drive him insane.

"Stop," Gabrielle raised up her hand at George and the others. She stood and walked up to them, "I don't want anyone coming with me. The method is very unscrupulous and it might hurt anyone near it."

"What do you mean?" Isis asked.

"When I'll try to exterminate Phoenix, she'll try her best to resist. But the chant is made for bounding her to a place till her existence wipes out. It will get crazy." Gabrielle looked down at her feet, her eyes telling a different story. "You guys stay back."

"Impossible," Jack announced, picking up his handguns, "there's no way I'm letting an old woman fight alone."

"Yes, we can't stay back," Nish said. Gabrielle immediately shot her with a murderous gaze and she quietened down.

"Don't force me to put a spell on the door," she warned and picked up her rugged bag and stormed out of the safe house. She looked angry and agitated.

"This woman, ah," George said, sitting back down in frustration.

"Let's go," Fred said.

"But she said-", Meraki started.

"Did you really think we'd do that?" Fred smiled with determination and everyone smiled back wickedly.

After all, they were more than family.

~

The air brushed across their skin bringing in the sense of sunrise. They had been fighting for it all night but the reason they came to Bernsville in the first place was in action. It was time for the confrontation.

Elliott and the others decided to keep in the shadows because they didn't want to get on Gabrielle's bad side. As they watched her walk through the streets and tightly clutching on to her bag. She walked but she often bent down to pick up small stones from the pavements and put it in her bag.

When she walked past the tallest building in the locality which was overcome with smoke, she abruptly stopped. She closed her eyes and started muttering something inaudible.

"Disperse," George ordered and immediately the rest of them spread out secretly and took cover by hiding a few metres away from each other so that they could attack if needed.

Gabrielle's muttering led to the the smoke growing wider and darker. Slowly, the smoke from the building, covered the whole area with black haze. Think could barely be seen clearly. They refrained themselves from coughing and blowing their cover.

In a few minutes when the soot started wearing out, Elliott felt goosebumps stinging his skin. As he looked back at Gabrielle, he found her staring away at a distinct figure. That distinct figure was the one who's existence was the reason for all the stir in all of their lives.