The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Disappearances

While Reid was spending time with his mother, Elizabeth on the other hand was having a serious discussion with her grandfather.

“How much do you trust this ‘source’ of yours?” Commander Gareth asked. On the table in front of him lay an open black folder.

“I trust it enough to act.” Elizabeth firmly said. “Besides, it’s the only lead we’ve had so far.”

This information came from Darius Rook, after all. If there’s anyone who knows everything happening in the cities, it’s him.

“If this information is correct, we might have a problem” Gareth Said, leaning forward letting his chin rest on his knuckles while he mulled over the situation.

Calling it a problem was an understatement. The folder’s contents detailed a chilling reality: victims were being kidnapped by an unidentified group for reasons as mysterious as the group itself.

Even Darius, the Pit Master—a man whose network, according to Elizabeth’s knowledge, usually left no stone unturned—had almost no information on them.

The only information the folder had on the mysterious group was that individuals with the same cloaks started appearing around the city two months back but they laid low while familiarizing themselves with the cities underground networks, only to suddenly start acting now.

The other information on them was, for some reason, their suspected bases around the city.

If these locations were accurate, then the case had just gotten a lot easier but Gareth was still skeptical about trusting it.

“So what do you plan on doing with the information?” Elizabeth asked curiously.

“I plan to hand it over to the city police and they’ll prepare to raid these places to see if your source was legit” Gareth replied.

“What if the mysterious group has people in the police?” She asked again, unsatisfied with her grandfather’s choice “besides forming a raid force might take up to two days, enough time for more victims to disappear.”

“Don’t worry, I’m handing this information over to someone I trust and he’ll act on it as swiftly as possible” Her grandfather assured but she still looked unconvinced so she requested.

“I’d like to ask for permission to check out these locations” Elizabeth asked respectfully.

“Denied, you’ve already completed the task I gave you” He quickly denied “Just leave this to me and start preparing to leave with the new recruits in a few days.”

“But I can—” She started.

“No means no!” Gareth’s voice was firm, leaving no room for argument. “Sending you to investigate the disappearances was risky enough. If your father—or worse, your mother—finds out I put you in harm’s way, they’ll have my head on a platter.”

“I understand” she gave up. Both her grandfathers would never willingly put her in danger so she relented.

“You have to understand, Izzy” Gareth’s voice took a softer tone “Even if I know you’re strong enough to defend yourself, I would never put you in harm’s way.”

“I know grandpa” Elizabeth answered her voice also softening “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright” He answered closing the file and putting it in his desk’s drawer “so, do you want to have breakfast with me?”

“I’m sorry, Grandpa, but I have some guests to take care of back at the hotel,” she said apologetically. “Rain check?”

He gave her a small smile, though it couldn’t quite mask the flicker of disappointment in his eyes. “Of course. I’ll let you be on your way then.”

She stood up walked around his work desk and gave him a hug.

“I love you grandpa” Elizabeth said and left the office after he said it back.

Her face remained stoic until she got back to her car when it suddenly changed into a grin.

With a tap on her watch, a holographic display popped up, showing the same map with highlighted locations as the one seen in the folder.

She knew her grandfather wouldn’t let her get more involved in the case than she already was so she had scanned the map back at her hotel room.

“I’m sorry grandpa but my curiosity won’t just let me sit back and do nothing” she whispered to herself before tapping the watch again, closing the hologram.

“It’s hunting time tonight” she said before driving off, heading back to the hotel.

______

Back with Reid.

He had spent the entire day catching up with his mom and only returned to the hotel late in the night.

Exiting the elevator, he noted that the others were already back and in their various rooms so he also walked to his.

Arriving at the door to his room, he noticed, strangely, that it was slightly ajar.

He eliminated the possibility of room service or any of the hotel staves since there wasn’t any light coming from the room.

“An intruder then” he concluded.

He then both summoned Rusty and his metal bat from his inventory.

“Rusty use [pause] as soon as I open the door” Reid whispered to which it squeaked in affirmation.

As Reid pushed the door open, Rusty quickly used [pause] making sure to place anyone in the room in a temporal lock.

Reid flipped on the switch and as he suspected, someone was in his room. But unlike what he expected, the intruder was not frozen in time.

She just sat on his bed with a light smile on her face, looking directly at him.

“Elizabeth?” He asked.

“Yep and I must say, you really have good instincts” she praised “keep it up”.

“Thank you” Reid said, lowering his bat and guard “but why are you in my room.”

“To ask for a favor” Elizabeth stood up and started walking towards him.

“Listen, Elizabeth you’re beautiful but—” before he could complete his sentence, a file was smacked on his head.

“Not that you idiot” she reprimanded and handed over the file in her hands “I need your help with this.”

Reid opened the file up and saw that it was a map of the city with some highlighted locations.

“What’s this?” He asked, unsure of what he was looking at since the highlighted spots didn’t look like any tourist spots.

“Those are the suspected locations of the group responsible for the recent disappearances.” Elizabeth explained.

“Please don’t tell me..” he said, getting a bad feeling about whatever Elizabeth was planning.

“I need you to help me raid these places” she confirmed his thoughts.

“Damnit, why is it always me?” Reid grumbled.

“Because I already bought your silence ” she said with a straight face “plus you’re the only one I know who isn’t connected to my grandpa.”

“Why don’t you just do it yourself?” He asked ” I’m pretty sure, raiding those locations should be a piece of cake for you.”

“Yes it would, but you’ve witnessed the power of a platinum ranked haven’t you?” Sh said “that much destruction in the city will cause panic among the people.”

“And that’s where I come in?” He asked already seeing where this was going.

“Yes, you’re strong enough to handle your own but not too much to cause large scale destructions” she concluded and asked”Will you help me?”

“Do I have a choice?” He asked.

“Yes you do” her answer came quickly and Reid could tell that she was being honest.

“Sigh, I’m gonna regret this” he mumbled under his breath before speaking up “when do we start?”

Elizabeth perked up, hearing his answer, before replying “we start now!”

Reid groaned, dragging a hand down his face. “Of course we do. No time like the present, huh?”

Elizabeth smirked, her expression unapologetic. “Exactly. The longer we wait, the more time they have to cover their tracks.”

Reid groaned, dragging a hand down his face. “Of course we do. No time like the present, huh?”

Reid muttered something under his breath but grabbed his jacket and prepared to leave with her. He then proceeded to summon his other two forged-beasts.

Rusty squeaked in excitement, hopping up onto his head with Nyx, while Beel rested on his shoulder. Elizabeth watched the little forged-beasts with interest before her eyes rested on Beel.

“You fixed it?” She sounded surprised seeing the once broken forged-beast working again.

“Yep, its name is Beel” Reid replied and introduced.

“You also name your forged beasts?” Her surprise doubled.

“Of course I do, who doesn’t?” Reid asked with a raised eyebrow. Normally everyone names their forged beasts, or so he thought.

“Not many” she replied “some see it as weird, since they consider it the same as naming your screwdriver or any other tool.”

The information surprised Reid but he didn’t comment on it.

Elizabeth also summoned her purple dragon but this time it was in a smaller form “this is Ragnarok”, she introduced.

Reid looked at the dragon and noted that even though it was shrunken, it still radiated waves of power unlike his forged-beasts whose auras are completely hidden.

“The prophecy from Norse mythology?” He asked in interest as they rode the elevator to the lobby.

“Yeah, I love reading those” she said.

“I see” he nodded as they walked out of the elevator and towards her car.

“Where do we start first?” He asked when they were already seated in the car.

She pulled up the map and pointed to one of the highlights “here, since it is the closest.”

Reid just relaxed in the car’s seat as she drove. He already accepted to helping her with this, so there was no turning back now.