The Girl With Metal Claws

Dimensions

ELLIOTT

"Sit back.. and watch?" Jack said, his brows furrowed. He was scrolling through his phone but he was alert. "Are you sure we can afford to do that now?"

"Yeah, we can. Look closely, Jack, there's no one ahead or behind us," Fred said. He was speaking of things that worried Elliott but he knew Fred and his tactics.

"That's incorrect. There are too many people around us, trying to do all they could to get on board with the case. Do you think we are the only agency in Wellspring? F*ck, we aren't even legal." Jack said, wincing in frustration. Among everyone who tended to look at the bright side, he wasn't one of them.

"Jack! I told you not to say it out loud," Garry pointed out because he knew the girls didn't know about it. Even if they weren't there, Jack had to be cautious about it.

"I don't remember asking for an outsider's opinion," Jack snapped back at Garry, shutting him off. Elliott sat quietly, his head moving to and fro from one person to another.

"Watch it," Fred warned him and he backed off.

"I don't understand," Elliott spoke up, "we have the whole plan laid out. I don't see a point in waiting. I'm sure that Phoenix wouldn't hesitate a second before beheading us."

"Finally..", Jack sighed, letting Elliott be his voice.

Suddenly, a knock on the basement door sounded three times and it opened with a clack. The two entered the area with curious expressions on their faces. Gabrielle walked up to their table and placed a faint golden box in the middle and walked off to one of the shelves. George came to the table and joined the others.

"That's true," after he heard the matter of concern, George nodded. "We'll follow this."

"Isn't it better.. to just execute the plan and get over with it?" Elliott said, his inhibitions were speaking. Everyone stared at him and he composed himself.

"What makes you think fighting blatantly with a bunch of trainees against Phoenix would make you win?" George said, his voice calm but pointy. Elliott realised he was being desperate. Desperate to wipe that prude grin off of Asami's face whenever she looked down at him.

"But why?" Jack asked.

"Because we've been around too much lately. We've been involved in a lot. If we continue disrupting and turning the game against the police, we'll be the enemies," Fred explained.

On the day of the Westwood incident, Meraki and the others had restrained the police to save themselves but that action was also, in a way, overpowering the police. Letting the prisoners escape was also an act of treason.

"It'll be a matter of time till they recognise who we are," Garry added.

"So, we'll hide again?" Jack asked.

"We'll stay down, keeping our eyes focused," Fred paused him a second, standing up, "but not on Phoenix, on the police. Whatever move they make, we'll follow but in the opposite way. We'll be the plan B the police aren't aware of."

Everyone fell quiet, thinking about it. Among everything that wasn't making sense, Elliott found it as a way of escaping confrontations. Better to be thieves than not be able to stand a bullet.

"How will we do this?" Jack said, placing his hands on the table and leaning over it.

"The new Security General of the city has been appointed today. We have to take advantage of the uncertainty people have about the new official," George said, sipping on his cup of coffee and shaking his head from side to side.

"Wait," Elliott said, frowning, "Meraki's dad is the Security General."

"Yes.. but he's been replaced by a man named Vincent Turner. Apparently, her dad misused the authority of having all the data. The mayor refused any of his pleadings and hired Vincent in a matter of hours," George said.

Suddenly, Elliott's head shot up and he glanced at Jack. He was already looking at him. Realisation settled between them. It wasn't her dad, it was Meraki herself. She did it all.

"What is this?" Garry said, pointing at the golden box that had almost seemed to have been overlooked. Everyone focused their attention on it as Elliott reached out and picked it up. He turned it over and over again, not attempting to open it up.

Just then, he noticed the bottom of the box and the name carved in it. Asami. Her name. He looked up. He had something in his hand that belonged to her. It felt like an achievement, a step closer to her walls.

The basement door started rattling once again without the three knocks before. The door swung open and everyone got up from their seats, backing up. Jack threw his hand around to get the hole of the nearest weapon when someone slowly climbed down the stairs. Meraki emerged, her face stuffed with a burger as she stared back at everyone else.

"Ugh, these girls..", Fred sat back down, annoyed. Everyone sighed with relief.

"What?" Meraki asked.

"Did you forget the rule of knocking three times?" Jack rolled his eyes and she frowned, holding her hand up.

"Well, guess what?" Meraki said, smiling expectantly but nobody looked enthusiastic. None of them were a fan of secrets and surprises. "You have a new freeloader."

"Huh?"

"Me!" She said, announcing.

"Are you planning on staying here?" Garry asked. He stayed in the basement himself because he couldn't go back to his house for legal reasons. Even Fred stayed in the basement, namely to take care of Garry but everyone knew he had loneliness issues.

"Just for a few days... I just need an escape from my house," Meraki sighed, placing herself on a chair.

"Is this one of your rich-kid tantrums?" Elliott laughed lightly.

"Aw, did daddy refuse to buy you a private jet?" Jack said, mockingly, joining in on the laughter. Meraki glared but that didn't stop them from having the time of their lives.

"No, a man who used to beat me to a pulp since I was 5, is back in the city. He's in my house, I need a refuge," Meraki said, her eyes gazing coldly at the table, distracted. Elliott couldn't tell if she wanted to share it or if they forced it out of her.

But either way, the room fell silent. Guilty, to say the least.

"Vincent Turner," George said.

The colours faded from Meraki's face as her eyes shot up. She kept looking at George expectantly, knowing something was wrong.

"That's the guy, right?" George asked over Meraki's horrified face.

It was about 6 in the evening when they decided to head home. Meraki, Fred and Garry stayed back. Gabrielle and George left together, they looked closer than before. Still nipping at each other now and then but they didn't despise each other. They seemed to have talked it out over their journey together.

"Hop in," Jack said. He held a cigarette in his mouth as he offered Elliott a ride.

"No..", but Elliott realised he had no reason to deny it. He dropped his shoulders and entered Jack's car. "When did you restart?"

"Since things went down. You know I smoke only when I'm frustrated," he grinned sheepishly.

"I don't want to sound like a mom but-"

"Then don't say it. You know I'm not going to listen," Jack shrugged. Elliott nodded and turned his eyes out of the window. Even if he let out a deep breath, it didn't lighten the heavy feeling in his chest. Jack cleared his throat a little, "tomorrow you're coming with me."

"Where?"

"To see what that man Vincent Turner is made of," he said, turning on the ignition of his car. With that, he drove the car out of Spring Market.

~

Elliott got out of the car and headed straight to his apartment building. He didn't look back but he could feel Jack's eyes on him. His calculative stare seemed to burn through Elliott's skin. He rushed his way inside and up the stairs.

He didn't stop on his floor but kept on climbing up till he reached the terrace. He stood outside the closed terrace door of the building, seeping his hand inside his pocket. He took out the thing he had been hiding, the thing he had stolen. The golden box sat in his hand that he had sneaked away when Gabrielle wasn't watching.

Elliott pushed open the door to the terrace and sunshine spilt into the stairway. The sunlight was faint and it cast a golden glow on everything. But when his eyes accustomed themselves to the sunlight, he noticed the small figure sitting up on the railing of the terrace. Her back was turned to Elliott.

He quietly walked up to Asami, maintaining a distance from her. He knew he had come up to the terrace to specifically meet her but that wasn't all. He knew what she had done to the woman named Cassandra Lauren even if she told him she didn't. Asami had no reason to not lie to Elliott.

He stood beside Asami, placing his hands on the railing and leaning on it. He could feel the wind cooling-off on his face.

"I found something that belonged to you," Elliott said. He sighed, realising how powerless he felt because he couldn't even confront Asami about lying to him. But he knew she already knew. "You carved your name in it."

Elliott quietly placed the music box on the gap between both of them. He felt Asami turn and give it a look before turning back to stare ahead.

"That piece of metal scrap isn't going to-"

"No," Elliott said, interrupting her. "I'm not trying to do that."

"Then why are you showing me this?" Asami was quick but messy with her words. She looked disturbed.

"Because this means something..", Elliott said. Finally, he turned to look at her face for the first time at that moment, "because this means you had a childhood."

Asami's face remained unmoving but Elliott was looking at every corner of her face. Her white hair looked golden, flowing sloppily as the wind blew. But her face seemed to remain ashen, no amount of sunlight could fix it. No amount of sunlight could take the ruthlessness from her eyes.

"And I want to know," Elliott said, walking on thin ice, "I want you to tell me."

As the words left his mouth, Asami turned to look at him. She looked uneasy and her dry lips were quivering. Elliott stayed still, trying to understand why she looked that way. She had never looked that readable and off guard. Stunned, his eyes trailed down from her eyes to the blood that was trickling down from her nose.

She was bleeding.