The Girl With Metal Claws

The Alarm

NISH

"Welcome," Vincent Turner said with a creepy smirk spread across his face. He had caught them sneaking around as he had a spare key to his room. "What a beautiful day to have two young ladies in my bedroom."

"Ew, are you a p*****t?" Nish blurted out immediately but Meraki didn't say a thing. She looked like she was shocked to the core. She stood with her fists clutched, angry but helpless.

"I don't know, am I?" Turner grinned wide. Nish remembered that he was also one who had escaped that day, leaving Elliott and the others alone. For Turner's selfishness and cowardice, Gabrielle had to lose her life.

Everything went downhill from there. Nish knew how much of a bad idea it was to trust that man.

"Meraki, let's go," Nish stepped up.

"Ah, are you in a hurry? Let's finish the business you were here for first," the man's grin just got wider as he turned around and locked the door behind him. Meraki and Nish flinched.

"What are you doing?" Meraki spoke out.

"What? I thought you wanted to talk to me alone," he said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Meraki! Are you going to keep listening to him?" Nish complained, watching her swallow her tongue. When she didn't reply, Nish walked up to Meraki who had stiffened with fear. She leaned in and whispered in Meraki's ears. "I know the fear you're feeling because of what happened in your childhood."

Then Nish backed off and said the rest of the sentence out loud so Vincent could hear.

"But you have no reason to not give this coward a taste of his own medicine," Nish said, pointing at Vincent.

Maybe it was Nish's words or her guts, but it set Vincent off and he rushed to Nish with raging anger. He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her towards him.

"What did you say, you little b****?" Vincent rashly held her by her hair and shook her. Meraki ran to them and started pulling on his hand to make him let Nish go.

"Let her go!" Meraki yelled.

"How dare you-"

"Stop spitting while you talk, you old geezer," Nish spoke out rashly and instantly, her knee went up. She kicked Vincent in his groin and he shrieked in pain immediately. Holding his crotch, he fell back squirming in pain.

"Ugh, I wish I could do that to him," Meraki said, regretting.

"There's still time," Nish winked at her and seizing the opportunity, Meraki walked to Vincent, who was rolling on the floor in pain. She pulled her feet back and kicked Vincent hard and he wailed.

"Damn," Nish let out at how seriously Meraki had taken her, "we gotta go."

After that, they opened the lock to the door and ran out of the room. They ran through the corridors of Meraki's mansion without caring who saw them. The Butlers and servants noticed them and called out. But they didn't chase after Nish because Meraki was with her.

In one breath, they ran out of the main exit and stopped only when they reached Meraki's car. They gasped for air as they came to a halt.

"All that struggle.. for nothing," Nish said, feeling the regret and nervousness of what might be the consequences of hitting Vincent Turner, the current Security General.

"Not true," Meraki said, huffing. She raised her head to look at Nish and shot her with a mischievous smile. Then, she held up her fist and opened it to reveal a key that she had been clutching all along. "Here is the result of our struggle."

Nish smiled. She took the right decision counting on Meraki.

~

Meraki insisted on waiting outside as Nish entered the basement. She was conscious about facing Elliott and the others after leaving that way.

Nish felt she had an upper hand.

"Are you sure you're not coming?" She asked.

"No," Meraki said, tossing the key she had found in Turner's room to Nish.

"This might be a chance for you to explain yourself?" Nish offered. Her words seemed to turn something in Meraki's head and she walked up to her. "Coming?"

Meraki nodded, Nish smiled.

Then, she knocked on the door thrice and stepped down the stairs. Fred, George, Meredith and Elliott sat inside, surprised when they saw Nish entered. Meraki took her time but she entered awkwardly as well.

"Hi," Nish said, nervously. "You might've figured why we are here."

They didn't say a thing except blankly staring at the girls. Nish hesitated, running out of things to say.

"Look, I know we might not be of much use anymore because we lost our powers but we still.. can help." She said.

"And how is that?" Fred asked, a hint of a frown on his face.

"Meraki?" Nish said, passing the key back to her. She took the key and walked up to Fred. Meraki placed the key on the table and looked up at them.

"This key is how we can help. It's the key that has always been stuck with Turner. There must be some secret behind it," Meraki said. She had stolen it off of Turner when he was charging at Nish.

George picked up the key and started examining it. Then, he nodded with approval.

"Good," Fred complimented them. "But you don't have to do this."

"What?" Nish said, stepping up. She felt they were being denied joining back into Glendell.

"Meredith?" Fred said.

"I can make you the strongest power holders," she concluded.

~

The next morning, Nish woke up to see Meraki gone again. She had been leaving for school too early in the morning without ever explaining. But Nish had noticed it in her face how she mostly looked anxious with her restless eyes.

Nish's phone chimed with several texts at once. She picked up her phone to see Keith. The time Keith asked for her number, she had to give her parents' number to save the day. But soon, she had bought a new sim card just for Keith.

They had been texting for weeks but their conversations seemed to go nowhere.

"You up?"

"I need to tell you something."

"Come on. Don't bail out on me now."

"I am waiting for you to wake up."

"COME ON."

"I know this might be awkward, but I'm outside your house."

Nish jumped out of bed after reading the numerous series of texts Keith sent her one by one. She ran to look outside her window and saw Keith standing, leaning against his black sedan and looking up at her. He started waving.

"Give me 15 minutes," Nish typed out quickly and ran to the washroom.

Later, she came down and locked the house while Keith watched her. She had hastily put on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She had no time to tie up her hair.

"You're a mess," Keith chuckled.

"It's your fault," Nish rolled her eyes at him and walked straight for the car door. But she stopped and turned to him. "You're giving me a ride, right?"

"Certainly," Keith nodded and Nish got in. She was glad she could finally be herself in front of him because she didn't have many expectations from Keith. She didn't want to get included with guys who already had someone else in their hearts.

The ride started a little awkward till Keith turned on the music and they bopped their head along with it.

"What did you want to tell me?" Nish asked, giving up on the thought that it was something about her. And her premonitions were correct.

"I'm going to talk to her today," Keith said. When Nish turned to look at his face, she was surprised to see him blushing unknowingly. Maybe it was the pangs of unknown jealousy that she felt or it was just loneliness.

But it wasn't a pleasant feeling.

"And you're going to help me," Keith concluded.

"Why?"

"I told you, you can't bail out now," Keith said. His words made Nish feel triggering by her feelings. She felt like she was being used for his own benefits. Just like Harold, she was seeing Keith in the same light.

"Why do you like Meraki?" She asked.

"I don't know," Keith replied after thinking for a long time. He kept wondering.

"If you have to think that long, maybe you don't like her at all," Nish blurted out. Her jealousy was speaking louder than what she wanted to say. Maybe it would hurt worse if Meraki reciprocates his feelings.

Keith glanced at Nish once but he didn't say anything. The ride went on.

~

During lunch, Nish hesitated to go out to look for Keith even if he asked for her help. She didn't want to have anything to do with either of them. But her curiosity had overpowered her impulses as soon as the lunch started.

She took her time but she eventually reached the lockers. It didn't even take her much time to spot Keith but he wasn't standing idle. He was talking to someone. And that person was Meraki. Even if she looked as uninterested as she always did, she didn't walk away.

Nish stood in the corner, watching them and digging her nails in her palm with anxiety. Things looked good for Keith but not for Nish. He was blushing twice as harder as he was earlier.

"Who.. is that?" A voice came from behind Nish, startling her. She turned around to see the person she least expected to see. Rose.

"Uh, that's Meraki," she said.

"I know, duh. Who's the guy beside her?" Rose looked more serious than curious for gossip. She was the kind of a girl who loved gossips, Harold and backstabbing people in Nish's eyes.

"Don't act like you don't know Keith," Nish shot back. Rose sighed.

"I meant.. well.. are they like.. dating?" Rose asked, trying to play it cool but her eyes told a different story.

"Not yet," Nish let out a deep breath. When she looked back at Meraki and Keith, she was shocked to see Meraki chuckling lightly. "But they might."

"Oh," Rose said.

"Why? Are you calling your dibs on Keith now?" Nish asked, rolling her eyes at Rose.

"Not.. on Keith," she spoke out and then immediately, she ran off before Nish could say anything else. Nish was left confused. But then her eyes went wide.

If not Keith then...

~

Meraki and Nish got off of the car when they reached the Spring Market. They were headed to the basement when suddenly, Nish saw several people running away as their life depended on it. The others looked confused but slowly they started seeing things.

Slowly, a commotion was created by something unknown to Nish and Meraki. Suddenly, the town hall emergency alarm started blaring through every corner of Spring Market.

A danger had dawned.