The Girl With Metal Claws

Under The Light

ELLIOTT

His eyes snapped open to a similar sight. Several people leaned over him, inspecting if he was dead or alive. Once they saw his eyes opening, they sighed with relief.

But as expected of the people in Wellspring, no one bothered to reach out and help him stand up. Neither did they try to ask him why he had fainted on the sidewalk. The most they would do was call the cops if someone had died. In a minute, the crowd around him dispersed as he sat up.

He felt dazed but he was fine. He wasn't hurt. The blood in his vision and the wound in his head didn't exist. But it did exist in someone else's memories.

Elliott could imagine what Asami's memories were made of.

He sat on the footwalk and looked around to see he was just outside his apartment building. He looked up to the railing of the terrace but Asami wasn't there. He gathered himself up and walked back to his room.

~

The next morning, Elliott got ready to leave for school when his phone chimed.

"I'm down," Jack's text said. Elliott frowned as he climbed down the stairs and out of the building to see Jack standing against his car.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I said I'd take you," Jack said, walking to the driver's seat, knowing he would follow. But Elliott didn't. He felt cautious of everything now that he had stolen the only possible lead that Gabrielle had to reach Asami, the music box.

"I have to go to school," he said.

"When did you start caring for school?" Jack asked, suspicious of his behaviour. He walked up to Elliott and tilted his head. "I've been noticing this for quite a few days, what's up with you?"

Elliott hesitated, knowing he wouldn't be able to blatantly lie to Jack without thinking it through.

"It's just... the incident at school that was caused by the girls' powers. The school almost burnt down. The authorities doubt it was one of us so we need to attend school every day till the investigation ends," he said, hoping he'd buy Jack with that.

"Come with me, Elliott," Jack said with a stern look on his face. He was a stubborn and hard-to-please guy, which was sometimes a burden on Elliott to live up to his expectations. "Let's hunt that Turner guy down."

"But.."

"They cannot do anything to you without evidence," Jack said as he grabbed Elliott's hand and tossed him inside the car. He got into the driver's seat and started the car.

"Where are we going?" Elliott said, giving up.

"To the hotel he's staying at. I've checked his background and he seemed real fishy," Jack said as he swerved his car and entered the main road.

"What does that mean?"

"There's no record of what he's been up to for the last 5 years. No one knows what he's been up to all these years he had disappeared but now, out of nowhere, he has reappeared as the Security General of the city."

"That's true. Also if we consider what Meraki said, there must've been a feud between Francis and Vincent that has led to Vincent taking revenge on her father. Something is up with him," Elliott said, thinking closely.

"We'll see," Jack said and sped up the car.

~

Hotel Blue Dale was one of the most expensive hotels in the city that stood tall in the market square. While Jake's car was parked a few blocks away from the entrance z their eyes were set on the prize.

It might've been their lucky day as they noticed a man in a brown suit and a hunched back posture exit the hotel with a cigar in his mouth. He greeted a random man on the sidewalk as he started strolling away from the hotel. Supposedly, taking a walk.

Jack followed Vincent in his car, keeping a safe distance. A few minutes passed away.

"Does the man look... decent?" Elliott pointed out. He must be fooling himself with the good old look on Vincent Turner's face but he didn't look doubtful.

"He does," Jack agreed, a look of worry on his face, "but he's not innocent."

Just when Elliott and Jack were mentally debating over how much effort they should put into exposing him, Turner made the debate one-sided. As Turner passed by an alley, he looked around to clear himself out of anyone watching and he casually slipped into the alley.

Elliott heard Jack scoff, proved wrong.

"Every decent man is evil when no one's watching," Jack smiled one of his provoked smiles. It was time to leave the safe space of the car and follow a new direction. A new suspect.

~

Jack led the way to the opposite side of the door, being alert to the distance between Turner and them. As Elliott peered into the alley, he noticed Turner walking deeper inside with his usual laid-back walk. Once he was out of sight, the both of them followed.

Turner looked a little sloppy with his moves, not even looking around once. He wasn't too smart, Elliott thought. He stopped in front of a steep slope that led to a lower door. It looked like the backdoor of the hotel Turner was staying at.

Elliott wanted to follow him further inside but Jack was against it. He glanced at him and shook his head.

"He doesn't look like the kind of fool who would just walk to his hideout without being alert," Jack pointed out.

"What are you pointing at? Do you mean he's trying to lure us in?" Elliott said, frowning. Judging by how calm Turner had been all along, it was only possible he had some tricks up his sleeve.

"Let's retreat for now," Jack said, laying low as they walked back measuring each step.

"We were so close..", Elliott muttered under his breath. He heard Jack's disdainful sigh. He sounded annoyed as Jack glared at him.

"We're not leaving, i***t," Jack scowled at him and Elliott raised his hands. He knew Jack never let go of something that easily. Especially when it's fun. "Have you ever seen me lose?"

Elliott shook his head and chuckled as he followed his lead. They'd figure something out like always.

~

Jack walked into the hotel Blue Dale trying to look older than he actually was. He kept the same expression throughout as he proceeded to ask for a room to rent. Elliott also watched his spirit leave his body when he heard the price for booking a room.

"Now what?" Elliott asked, mockingly. Jack shot him an annoyed glance but that turned into a smirk in a split second. Jack took out his purse, fished out a credit card and cashed it.

"Now... we'll let the old man sponsor us," he smirked maliciously. The credit card was George's which Elliott had no idea how Jack had. But, that set off the plan, right?

As they headed their way over to the hotel room, they spoke about what to do next. They didn't need to be in the room they paid for.

"Check the left wing, I'll go right. Be alert," Jack said as he walked off.

The plan was to look for the hotel backdoor where Turner was from inside the building and find out what he was up to. There weren't many people in the corridors which made sneaking around easier for Elliott. Jack was a spy, he wouldn't even be seen in a crowded area.

He opened a few doors but he reached a dead-end every time. He walked around hideously but he could not hear any voices neither did he find any door that led to the back of the hotel. After a long search, he could see the bell boys walking through the corridors, glancing at him doubtfully.

"Couldn't find none," Elliott texted Jack.

"Meet me at the incinerator," his phone chimed back. Tucking it back into his pocket, Elliott headed to where he was called. Once he reached the door, he quietly slipped through ignoring the "staff only" sign. He met Jack halfway.

"There's no backdoor here," Jack announced as he proceeded to look around the room and flip over things.

"Did you call me here to just tell me that? If we search again, maybe we could-"

Jack shushed him immediately and slowly stuck his ears on the wall beside him. His hands traced the linings of the walls and his eyes marked the ceilings. He stood back and signalled Elliott to focus.

Elliott concentrated for a few seconds before he started hearing the soft muffled voices of people talking. It was almost inaudible but it was coming from the opposite side of the wall.

"But there's no door, right?" Elliott asked and Jack nodded his head.

"But...", Jack's eyes trailed off to the large chimney and then to the vent attached to the ceiling and then back to Elliott. Elliott's face was carved in sheer horror as he shook his head vigorously.

"No. Never. Don't even think about it," he gasped.

"You know you'll do it," Jack chuckled as he motioned to the chimney.

"But you're the spy," Elliott said matter-of-factly.

"You're shorter, now come on," Jack said, dragging him to the opening of the chimney knowing they didn't have much time. Elliott looked up, taking sharp breaths, and realised the climb wasn't too long. As the muffled voices turned rougher, he leapt up and stuck both his hands and feet on the inner wall of the chimney, trying to get to the vent.

Panting, he somehow managed to go up to the dark and smoke-filled funnel till he could seep into the vent and crawl ahead. The vent creaked as he made his way through. The small shaft had holes for ventilation and Elliott could hear the voices clearer than before.

"I need them to be taken to the Eighth Avenue tomorrow night at ten. A second late and I'll throw you back to the garbage I picked you from," a booming voice sounded. Of Turner's, Elliott thought.

"But sir, the doctor said they won't wake up this soon-".

A loud smack sounded which made Elliott look to his side. That's when he realised he could see through the hole into the back room that was partitioned with a wall. He was on the vent in between with Jack waiting in the incinerator room and Turner, who just slapped a man twice his size, in the other.

"I want them there, do you understand?" Turner's evil eyes glared at the man and he nodded, not saying another word.

That's when Elliott's eyes moved to a stacking pile behind Turner. When he took a closer look, he saw people. Their bodies were stacked upon each other, hands and mouths tied and their eyes closed. They were breathing but they barely looked alive.

What was going on, Elliott thought, horrified?