The Girl With Metal Claws

Retaliate

NISH

"I'm going back," Nish said with a determined face. After talking to Isis earlier, she was stupefied to know that Meredith was now working for them.

She was mortified with the idea. The woman for whom Gabrielle died, how could they trust Meredith again?

To get things back in their hands, Nish had to go back to the basement. She had to see things for herself. She felt like it was her responsibility.

"What?" Meraki said, in disbelief.

"I have to go back to them," Nish said, in a hurry. Her words were stumbling because she didn't want to defy her.

"You're useless to them anyway," she shrugged, even if she looked nervous.

"That's for them to decide, not you," Nish said, storming back to her bedroom and slamming the door shut.

After a moment, she grabbed her handbag and rushed out of the house after he saw Meraki switching through TV channels.

Nish headed straight to Spring Market, and to the basement. She wanted to be welcomed back, no matter what had happened.

~

"You?" Garry said, being the first one who noticed her. The others just stared at her, confused.

"I.. am sorry," Nish said.

"Are you back?" Fred asked, hesitantly.

"Look, if you're here to make snarky comments, then you're not welcome here," Jack said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"No, that's not what I want," Nish replied. When she saw Elliott look at others and nod at her, she knew she had earned her place back. She felt satisfied.

"Meraki?" Elliott asked her and she shook her head, signalling that she had no intention of coming back.

"But I've something to say," Nish walked ahead to the table where, on the opposite side, Meredith was sitting quietly. She had not raised an eye to look at Nish since she had entered.

"Trusting her again.. will be regrettable," she said. Meredith raised her eyes and locked them on Nish. "In the future, if she could, she'll leave us in a blink of an eye to save herself. We'll be left alone, again."

"Yes, but-", Garry was interrupted.

"It's us who should change the way we think," George spoke up, breaking his silence. He stared down at his hands with a fierce gaze as he spoke.

"Us?"

"It.. is not required for you to run headfirst into something without knowing if you'd win. It is not required for you to risk your life for something that futile. No one has to make the mistake G-Gabrielle made," George's voice echoed through the room.

"But she did it for us. She was fighting Phoenix for our mission," Isis said, not being able to understand.

The room fell silent as George smiled bitterly and pressed his hands against the table.

"She didn't," George said, his head shook down. "Her eyes were filled with anger and impatience, that day. The anger of being underestimated as no one trusted her plan enough. Everyone escaped, bailed out. Meredith, Turner."

Nish buried her head in her hands, her eyes threatening to burn with tears. She heard it all.

"Her eyes wanted revenge for her son. Her eyes were selfish, hopeless. If only something, she did it for herself. Gabrielle let the anger numb her of all the other miseries," George sat back down on the chair, in grief and dejection.

After a pause, another voice spoke up, breaking the string of hushed thoughts within the room.

"I can give you... your powers back," Meredith put forward, staring at Nish and then at Isis.

"You can?" Isis asked, stepping forward.

"I can. I can also make you use it right," Meredith continued, dragging the attention of the girls.

"You can't win us over with that," Nish spoke out.

"I don't have to win you. Until I can work with you while still assuring my safety, I'll be here for as long as I'm needed," Meredith was someone with a fixed aim and strict values.

Surely, it was delusional to ask someone for their lives without them achieving nothing more than trauma and a little cash. It wasn't expected of anyone to do such a thing.

~

"You're back already?" Meraki asked as Nish entered the house. She nodded. "Did they take you in?"

"I.. have something to talk to you about," Nish blurted out, knowing she needed guidance on matters like this.

"Go ahead," Meraki turned to face her.

After that, Nish explained to her everything she knew about what was going on in Glendell, with Meredith, with George. She heard it carefully then she suddenly got on her feet.

"Meredith's no good," Meraki declared, conflicted to hear Meredith's participation in Glendell.

"I think so too," Nish got up.

"If we want to outrun her involvement with Elliott and the others, we have to prove ourselves more worthy than them," she said.

"Ourselves? I thought you weren't-"

"I can't watch Meredith ruin more things for us, I have to be involved in a way or other."

"What's the plan?" Nish asked, nodding.

"Vincent Turner," Meraki replied with a smirk.

~

"What are you planning?" Nish asked, almost dumbstruck at what she was looking at.

"We're going in," Meraki said, crouching down to tie her shoelaces as they stood in front of a huge mansion. It was the kind of mansion Nish had only seen in movies.

"Pfft," Nish laughed out loud at Meraki's transgressions, "we don't even have any powers and you're talking about breaking into mansions. Hold your horses."

Meraki turned around to shoot Nish with a spiteful gaze and sighed.

"I live here," Meraki confessed, moving ahead past her. Nish took a moment to compose herself before running to catch up with her. The mansion had tall walls and guards planted at the gates.

"You can just walk in through the main gate if it's your house," Nish stated, trying to put her in a position to know if she was lying about the house being hers. She was a doubtful person.

"It'll alert everyone, just follow me," Meraki moved ahead to the back of the mansion where it was just tall walls surrounding the mansion. Meraki's eyes shifted all over the floor, focusing on particularly nothing.

Nish realised it wasn't possible to climb over the walls because of the barbed wires on top of the walls. So, she decided to stick around with Meraki till she finds something to do. That's when Meraki crouched down and ran her hand on the ground.

She instantly gets hold of something on the ground and she pulls it apart. A fake sheet of grass planted on the ground tears off revealing a manhole on the ground. Nish's mouth dropped open at how real the grass had looked all along. Making sure no one was looking, Meraki knelt and removed the lid of the manhole.

"It'll lead us to the storeroom.. inside," she said, already halfway inside.

"You do realise I can misuse this information later, right?" Nish said. She didn't know Meraki was that trusting that she went as far as telling her how to break into her own house.

"You won't do it," Meraki said, unhesitatingly.

"Yeah," Nish chuckled, climbing down into the manhole slowly. A lot of struggle and crawling later, an opening showed up. Meraki, who was leading through the tunnel, pushed the lid open carefully and they exited the filthy smelling manhole.

They kept their voices and footsteps quiet as Meraki stuck her ear to the door of the storeroom. Nish noticed how even the storeroom looked luxurious with whitewashed walls, polished furniture and well-organized things, unlike her storeroom.

Meraki pushed the door open and exited after alerting Nish. The long blinding golden corridors and interiors made Nish awestruck. But along with that, they saw the opportunity as the corridor was empty.

"Do you know where to go?" Nish asked, leaving the storeroom and crossing the corridor, onto another room.

"That man has always lived in a specific guest room every time he overstayed his visits," Meraki said, gritting her teeth.

"But why does he live here too?" Nish asked.

"Because he's the worst type of person you'll see. He might've blackmailed my father again after stealing his title. He was the one who conspired against my father and became the Security General. But I'm.. also one to blame," Meraki shook her head thoughtfully but she raised herself and got back on her feet.

It was easier to move through the long corridors of the mesmerizing mansion because Meraki knew every corner of the house.

"He's the reason our family keeps getting messed up. Our lives get ruined the minute he steps in," Meraki said, her voice breaking. It felt like her mind was speaking to herself.

"Who.. is he to you?" Nish asked, unsatisfied with her vague explanations.

"My dad's stepbrother," Meraki said.

Suddenly, Nish phone chimed with a notification aloud and they flinched. She quickly turned her phone silent under Meraki's glaring eyes. But then she stopped.

"It's Keith," Nish yelped.

"We're in the middle of something," Meraki reminded her but Nish ignored her while she read Keith's text.

"Change of plans," he had written. Since the day Keith had asked for her number, both of them were chatting. But through all those days, he hasn't once texted Meraki which had got her hopes up.

"What?" Nish texted back.

"I decided to text Meraki after I talk to her at school. I don't want to look like a creep," Keith texted back, wiping the smile off of Nish's face. She didn't text back and dug her phone back into her pocket. "Let's go."

~

"This is the room," Meraki said, standing cautiously outside a closed door.

"What if he's inside?" Nish asked, knowing Meraki was being rash with her decisions. She was least bothered with any of the Butlers and servants who traced along the corridors. It was her house, after all.

"He's at work now," she assured, turning the knob of the door and pushing it open. The open door revealed a huge room. The room smelled weird despite being beautiful. It also had clothes scattered all around almost looking like it was robbed.

"Search through the shelves and show me if you find something relevant," Meraki said, walking off to the other side of the room. While she went over the drawers and cupboards, Nish flipped through pages after pages, not even understand some.

She turned to ask Meraki to change positions when a clack sounded. Startled, both of them froze at their places at the sight of the person.

"Welcome," Turner smirked at them.