The Girl With Metal Claws

Time

ELLIOTT

He let out a deep breath, his stomach crumbling as the tension released. Elliott was safe from the corpses. It meant as long as he was safe, the people around him were safe. He turned away and ran over to Nish who looked shocked at what she had witnessed.

"Close your eyes and run," Elliott said, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the exit and into the street. The corpses growled louder than ever at the mere sight of Nish but she held on to Elliott's hand as they ran through the agitated corpses.

They growled and stamped their feet in anger but none of them touched Elliott nor Nish. Terrified but safe, both of them stopped at the alley where they met Meredith.

After that, there weren't any questioning, any conversation or any rough statements. Meredith stood with her eyes closed and holding both of Nish's hands in place. She chanted spells that made Nish flinch now and then. She was giving Nish her powers back.

After another fifteen minutes, Meredith let go of her hands.

"Now you have your powers," she declared, "..but they are no longer ordinary."

"What do you mean they aren't?" Nish spoke up, looking a little dizzy. She wasn't steady on her feet.

"The power you have inside you has branches. It has abilities of its own. This power has made you strong but physically," Meredith explained, channelling herself out of her chanting.

"But.. what about them?" Nish said, "you said you'd give us our powers back."

Meredith smiled and tapped Nish's shoulders. Then, she stared deep into her eyes as if to convey something.

"Now, this is the time for me to show you what you're capable of," she said, holding Nish's hand once again and rising it up.

"Is this going to work?" Garry asked, worried.

"It will... if Nish wants," she replied. Then she turned to Nish and asked her to focus and continue focusing on what was in front of her. She was asked to focus on the powers flowing through her veins and her mind. Once she could concentrate to that extent, she can use her powers on her own.

Nish closed her eyes shut and started focusing. Everyone was surprised to see how quickly she could channel her brain. They watched as Nish started disappearing starting from her legs and moving up to the rest of her body. She was turning invisible but that wasn't all.

Once her arms disappeared, her hands that were intertwined with Meredith kept on disappearing. Soon, it reached Meredith and she started disappearing too. The power of Nish had expanded itself. Anything she touched, was meant to disappear.

Elliott found Nish smiling softly at how strong she felt after the power broke and they appeared.

"This is how we will go to Jack and the others then," Fred announced, getting up his feet and ready to move. They were just about to leave when Elliott felt something creep up his spine.

He turned around to stare at the far end of the alley. It was empty but he knew it wasn't nothing.

"Elliott, let's go," Garry called out.

Just then, someone walked out from behind the alley wall and stood at the end of the alley where Elliott was looking at. He was looking at Asami who stood with a similar smile on her face like he saw the night before. He stood watching her but no one else spotted her presence.

Only Elliott saw her.

"We don't have time Elliott," George said, sounding tired. But Elliott already had other explanations in his mind. He got to his feet and started dashing away from his group and towards his destruction.

Towards Asami.

"Where are you going?" They yelled behind him.

"I'll be back!" He yelled back, running behind Asami as she disappeared into the next alley and then the next till Elliott had run too far to turn back.

He must've been out of his mind.

"Why do you always appear out of nowhere?" Elliott blurted out, distressed and out of breath. He looked up to find Asami chuckling silently at his state.

"Why do you always follow me?" She pointed out leaving him without words. She waited for him to get back his ability to walk.

"You need to stop..", he took a deep breath and stood back up straight, "...putting me in a position where I have to choose. I'm not a fast thinker."

"Yet you choose me every time," the corner of her lips curved into a smile and she held her hands behind her back, tilting her head to make her smile seem more prominent. Elliott immediately looked away, feeling embarrassed.

"Where now?" Elliott asked, trying to refrain from asking Asami about what happened the previous night. But it felt too real to be a figment of his imagination.

Asami just pointed at the street ahead of her and signalled him to follow. He did just that, a little awkward. As he continued following her, he started seeing people running around, police patrolling and noises of busy footsteps. But no one seemed to notice Asami neither Elliott. As if they weren't walking from the middle of the commotion.

Asami took a turn and crossed another alley to reach an empty street. But they weren't empty at all. As the both of them walked in the middle of the street, Elliott found himself stiffening. The corpses fed on other dead bodies at every corner of the street.

Elliott watched the corpses raise their head to look at him and hiss with anger. But no one bothered coming closer. He winced at the gory scene of common people being fed on.

"Stop all of this," he snapped at Asami, stopping himself from following her anymore. She turned around and fixated her eyes on him. She looked like she was misunderstood.

"I cannot stop something I didn't start," she said.

"You created them!"

"Yes, but I didn't send them here. Why should I bother?" She shrugged, turning back. Elliott knew he couldn't get answers from her before it was too late.

"Please," he choked out reluctantly, "can you do it?"

Asami stopped in her tracks and turned back again. Her face looked a little surprised. A teasing smile appeared on her lips and she took a step towards him.

"I can," she grinned wide, "but you need to beg for it."

"W-what?" He said, stumped.

"Come on. Let me see how far you can take your pretend play of being a saviour. Can you put your pride aside before asking me to do you more favours?" She let out with a challenging gaze, knowing she had defeated his manipulation.

"Do you think you're doing me a favour by sorting out the disaster you created?" Elliott snapped back, clutching his fists with anger. He stared back brightly at her. When she didn't say anything, he shook his head and knelt on the ground.

"It truly doesn't matter to me how low I've to go. And maybe you're right. I do care about myself the most... but exterminate you is also a selfish need of mine. And if it means I've to save a lot more people from your hand, that would also be my priority," he shook his head and chuckled bitterly. "If that's what you want, look. I'm on my knees. Please.. just.. stop this."

Asami didn't react to any of it. She just heard it all with a superior expression on her face. Then, she walked up to Elliott and gently placed her cold hands on his cheek. She brought her face to his and stared at him.

"You're quite good looking, you know?" Asami held his face up. Confused, Elliott looked up at him and just then, she blew a strong jab on his abdomen and he fell over groaning. "But you talk too much."

Then, she walked away knowing he would still follow.

"You're.. going back on your words, Asami!" Elliott called out, still squirming with the booming pain.

Asami extended a hand and snapped her fingers. Instantly, all the corpses feeding on the flesh, crumbled to ashes and scattered on the ground just like that. Elliott who was still crouched down on the floor somehow stood up and started limping behind Asami.

She had kept her words yet again.

~

Asami climbed up the stairs to a nearby building and stopped when she reached the terrace without paying any attention to Elliott who was struggling to match her pace.

Elliott could also feel the faint taste of blood in his mouth from Asami's hit. Once they entered the vacant terrace, he collapsed on the ground again. He knew he wasn't too strong physically but in that situation, he was helpless. The sun was about to set in another hour or so.

"I need to ask you something," he said.

"What?"

"Where were you last night?" He asked after going through it in his mind a million times. Her expression looked unpredictable but she shook her head with what looked like her flustered face.

"You don't remember?" She asked.

"I do. I just can't wrap my head around it," he confessed.

"We were together last night," she turned away to look at the sky. Elliott, startled, turned angrier than he thought he would be. He walked up to her and grabbed her arm, yanking her to him.

"Everything I saw yesterday was fake? Were you mocking me by showing me a reality that was made up? Those letters, that journal, you..", he was gasping hard, more disappointed than upset. She placed her hand on his with a confused look on her face.

"What you saw last night was the reality you ran from. I just reunited you with what you missed," she said.

When Elliott left his house and moved to his foster home, he had nothing with him. He felt no attachment with anything back home that he needed to take with him. The journal was what he had left behind, but now he had it stored in his mind.

It was all for her.

"Why? Why do you always-"

Suddenly, loud noises of cars screeching and terrorised people sounded from below. Elliott whipped around to look at what went down. That's when he spotted numerous cars and lots of people with equipped weapons filling out and spreading across Spring Market.

"The Squads," Elliott said, shocked.

"The fun is just beginning..", Asami said with a tight-lipped smile.