The Girl With Metal Claws

Returning

ELLIOTT

Elliott, Meraki, Nish and Isis reached the abandoned bus stand where the buses didn't stop anymore. They laid Meraki down and sat on the seats, panting and breathing deeply.

"Whatever we did to school, we can go to jail for it," Isis said. The destructed library, about 30 hostages and the burnt infirmary. If anyone saw any of them involved, they'd all go down.

"Shouldn't be new for you," Nish said sarcastically.

"Do you understand the situation we are in?" Isis shot back.

"No YOU two are in the situation. I was invisible the whole time so I'm out of this. Once Elliott helps me get rid of these powers, I'll walk right out of this." Nish scowled and leaned back on the seat.

"It's more complicated than that. You have to come with me." Elliott said, standing up.

"Rule number one, never trust the quiet kid," Nish whispered in Isis's ears.

"I was the one who saved all of you. You owe me that much." Elliott insisted.

"You sure can fix this, right?" Isis asked and Elliott nodded with genuineness in his eyes.

"Okay. Let's see what's this about." Nish said, arching her back.

"Uh.. ugh.. where.. where am I? What the f**k?" Meraki stammered as she slowly got up after all this time of being unconscious. "Who the f**k are y'all?"

"We are.. kidnappers." Isis blurted out. Meraki made a strange face and looked at all of them in an awkward silence.

"Can you just stick to not being illegal for once, Isis?" Nish said, shrugging dramatically.

"I thought she'd get scared and agree to cooperate," Isis whispered.

"Before that, you'd be on your ass. She throws hands." Nish whispered back. Isis nodded in understanding.

"You have fire powers and you fainted so come with me." Elliott took the lead and started hurrying. Nish let out a sarcastic laugh and shoved Elliott back as if to say 'let me do the talking'.

Nish went ahead and started a detailed explanation with examples and occasional diagrams to somehow get Meraki to understand a thing she was saying. It took her almost twenty minutes.

"...And before you say 'that's bullshit', let me tell you, we are also just as confused as you. To get rid of this, we need to cooperate because these powers are worse than this i***t of a guy there." Nish completed, pointing at Elliott.

"Stop talking or -", Meraki struggled to stand on her feet but her legs gave up and she plopped back on the seat.

"She's weak, she'll have to cooperate now," Isis said, smiling creepily.

"Are you a sadist?" Nish said, scowling.

"Can we go now?" Elliott asked. Nish walked in front of Meraki and leaned forward.

"Just cooperate and you'll be fine, okay?" She said. Meraki looked like she was too weak to care about it anymore. So they helped her up and started following Elliott's lead.

~

"You are sus," Meraki said, pointing at Elliott as they stood in front of the basement door.

"You do look too innocent to trap three girls in a basement but I'm concerned now," Nish added. The two of them were ganging up on Elliott. It was true that quiet people are like closed books that people don't try to read often and Elliott fell in that category of people. It was very much likely for them to ask such a question. So without trying to answer, he humoured them.

Partly, to clear out the stereotype.

"If that was my intention, the girls wouldn't be you two." Elliott scoffed, letting them know that they weren't his type and then he knelt on the ground to open the basement door.

"Your target is Isis then?" Nish gasped dramatically. Elliott sighed, opening the door revealing a dark underground way with stairs.

"You must be kidding me." Meraki backed away.

"Never going in there." Nish backed off too.

"Don't worry. We have powers, remember?" Isis said, walking into the basement without hesitating.

"She's way too obsessed," Nish said, turning around to leave. Then she stopped and turned back to see Meraki going down the stairs after Isis. "Traitor."

Nish stomped towards the stairs and carefully walked down. Elliott walked behind them and locked the door.

George, Fred, Jack and Gabrielle stood in front of Isis, Meraki and Nish. There was some real explanation needed.

~

"So you mean an old man, another old man, an old woman and a kid are going to help us kill the Phoenix?" Meraki asked, pointing at each of them.

"You missed the guy over there," Nish said, pointing at Jack.

"No, he looks like he can do something," Meraki replied.

"And he's hot." Nish completed, checking out Jack once again. Even if Jack had his eyes buried into his phone, Elliott noticed a smirk. He did love attention.

"Listen, young ladies, you are a strong and responsible women capable of making your own decisions. So, you need to think and tell me your decision like a smart woman." Gabrielle said, with her head held high like she was royalty.

"No," Meraki answered right away.

"I'm too pretty to die young," Nish answered.

"I'm in," Isis replied, with a straight face. Everyone looked at her.

"Good. I like you already, you strong woman. It's time for people like you to rise and bring about positive change." Gabrielle said, proudly. "And the two of you, your safety is completely my responsibility. It's my magic inside your bodies, it has the capability to protect you. It can even bring you back from death once. But if it comes down to that bad of a situation, your powers will be immediately withdrawn and you'll be set free."

Isis, Meraki and Nish exchanged glances at each other.

"And you'll be paid," George added.

Isis stood up and put away her chair. Then she walked to Elliott's side and stood beside him.

"I don't need this counselling, I'm a part of this now," Isis said, determined.

"This is a suicide mission and we are just a bunch of minors." Meraki pointed out, mentioning the four of them including Elliott.

"You are minors with incredible powers inside you. You are not just any minor." Fred said, speaking for the first time in a while.

"But why us? You have a logical reason for that?" Meraki said.

"Because you three are fated to be in this. You three are the only eligible holder to these powers." Gabrielle insisted.

"How do you know this? Are you god?" Nish scoffed in disbelief.

"I'm the closest thing to god. I'm a shaman." Gabrielle said, revealing her identity. The room went silent for a minute.

"I'm stepping out of this. I don't want to involve myself." Nish announced, ready to get up.

"Do you understand how big the responsibility is? People are getting murdered brutally. God forbid, what if one of them were your loved ones? Would you still 'step out'?" Fred snapped at Nish, irritated.

"We are risking our lives too here. It's not a joke. So without being so impulsive about such a big deal, just take your time to think about it." Jack said this time and then he turned to Isis. "You too. Don't just decide on the spur of the moment. Think about the risks. Just take some damn time, all of you."

Everyone looked startled by Jack's sudden words of wisdom. He had a faded British accent. But he was right and got the point into everyone's heads.

The atmosphere turned silent as everyone fell deep in thought.

"After today's Amberville incident, I think the Phoenix has gone berserk. That's not a good sign." Elliott said, suddenly turning uncomfortable.

"47 victims in just one night. Can you imagine that?" George said, sighing and putting his cane away.

"Why does Amberville sound so familiar?" Elliott asked.

"Garry.. the guy we brought that day for interrogation, used to live there. He was a decent guy." George said rubbing his eyes after taking off his glasses.

"Did.. did he?" Elliott said, a feeling clenching his stomach.

"Yes. The houses where bodies have been found were shown, Garry's house was one of them." Fred replied, his eyes stuck intensely on the floor.

"We shouldn't have let him go back," Elliott said, regretting. After meeting Gabrielle a few days back, they had forced Garry to go back home because keeping him with them would be of no use. Garry wasn't involved with Phoenix at all, so he was good to go.

After Garry somehow agreed on going back, that was the last time Elliott had seen or heard of him.

And now there he was, dead.

In the hands of someone insane, lurking in the shadows, watching everyone, knowing everyone.

The room was filled with emotions, pain, indecisiveness and everything that could only hurt people.

Suddenly, a loud banging sounded on the basement door getting everyone alerted. Elliott started rushing towards the door but he was stopped by Jack.

"It might not be someone we know because the code of knocking was three consecutive knocks. Be careful." Jack warned. Elliott walked forward and climbed the stairs. The banging on the door continued.

"W-who is this?" Elliott said.

"Open. Please open the door and let me in. SAVE ME." The muffled voice yelled. Elliott was too taken aback to think much and he opened the door right away.

Elliott toppled back a few steps as the person barged into the basement, wailing like an animal in agony.

It was Garry.

"I... I almost got arrested. I want... wa.. water." The person said, gasping deeply for breath. Everyone stood still, confused, watching the person panting in front of them.

Garry was gasping for breath, wearing a duck printed night onesie and a worn-out pair of slippers.

"You.. are alive?" Jack said, shocked as anything.

"I am. Am I not lucky?" Garry managed to say before falling on the ground to sit down.

"You dumbass," Fred said, walking up to him and patting him as a form of affection. Elliott could see that Fred was a little teary-eyed. Even if he was the strongest of them all, he wasn't exactly so emotionally.

"But we have to go now," Garry said.

"Where?" George asked.

"Amberville. There are things you have to see." Garry replied.