Homesick

Chapter 5

It didn't take long to reach Kara's house, partially because we were running and partially because she doesn't live far from the school. When we reached her small, crooked house, with only one-storey, the lights were on inside.

"Is your dad at home?" I said, squinting through the windows.

"No, he hardly is at home. He's probably out at the pub again. He hasn't been the same... since mum died," said Kara, shrugging. "He probably forgot to turn the lights off again."

Kara led me to the side of her house, where she unlocked the side door. It creaked open, revealing her backyard, but since it was so dark, i couldn't see what it was. Kara unlatched a flashlight off her belt and shined it around to check that there was no one there.

We walked to the giant hedge at the back of her backyard and Kara squeezed through this little space on the side. I stared at it.

"Come on!" hissed Kara, beckoning me forwards.

Wondering what this would all be about, i squeezed into the place she was standing and saw what was beneath my feet was not grass, but a black podium. At the moment Kara stepped on it a voice said electronically.

"User detected." said the voice. "Proceed."

I gasped as the podium gave a sudden jolt and elevated downwards, underground. I was plummeted into darkness for a few seconds, with Kara next to me. But suddenly, several lights had turned on and i could see that it was a huge lab. Several more lights had turned on after that, and i could see the lab in full view. My eyes widened.

Desks surrounded the border of the room, all strewn messily with pens and paper, a bulletin board with pictures pinned on it was on the other side. Arrays of weapons, gadgets and gears were stored neatly in it's holders on the other side, smoke bombs, pistols, swords, gauntlets and spiked balls were arranged in order. But at the front of the room, in transparent glass cages were Kara's different suits, all dressed on mannequins. Some had a hood, some were bulky suits, some were thin and they were all different colours.

The podium elevated to the and blended itself in. Kara and i got out and i stared in awe around the room. Kara went to the different suits where she placed her hand on the glass holding a bare mannequin. The glass slid down where she ripped off her outfit and lay it on the ground, where little metal clippers extended out of the sides at began putting the suit back on the mannequin.

"Woah," I said, looking around. "This place is wicked."

"It's nothing," said Kara, waving it off. She walked over to the bulletin board and i followed her.

On the centre of the board, pinned, was a picture a very burly man, who looked like Chris and Cable's father. He was unshaved, was square, broad shoulders wearing a fur coat. His teeth was bared in this picture; he looked like some kind of savage animal.

"Who's he?" I asked, staring at the picture, half-guessing the answer.

"He's Claw." said Kara softly, still staring straight at him. She looked at me with her bright blue eyes. "He got that name because he accidently got injected by a serum... the serum held the DNA and genetics of a male lion, making him absorb the strength, speed and agility of it. He's partially immortal. He's feared by most people and-"

Kara looked straight into my eye.

"He was the one who killed my mother," she said, looking down at her feet.

That hit me like a tonne of bricks and i looked down at my feet, not knowing what to say.

"Oh. I'm sorry." I said.

She nodded it off.

"Who're those?" I said, pointing at the pictures circling Claw.

"Those are people known to work for him." said Kara. "This one's called the Roamer, he's known to buy most of Claw's weapons."

I stared at the man, who had raised his fist and had the same gauntlets the man Kara had killed was wearing. He was wearing a red mask.

"This one's called Fisk," Kara pointed to a man who wasn't wearing a hood. "He burnt his arm off and Claw upgraded him a prosthetic arm, which supposedly have dangerous weapons attached to it."

"Damn," I said, as Kara turned away from the board. "What are we going to do?"

She smiled and beckoned me over to the desk.

"Claw has nearly finalised the weapon to destroy New York City," Kara explained. On the map was a huge drawn tower, on the top bearing five huge laser guns. "These guns have been modified and built as strong as they can, powerful enough to demolish New York. But the thing is-"

She swung the backpack over her shoulder and placed it on the desk. Kara unzipped it and drew a what seemed like a giant glowing blue diamond. I stared at it.

"This is Claw's," she said, pointing with her gloved fingers to a tiny symbol etched on the top of the shining core. It was a single, long claw etched on the top. "That's his symbol. This is Claw's energy core, this is the most important part of this weapon. Without this, he can't power any of his weapons, so it won't work. This is his only one, and he's tearing the whole city apart to look for it. There's only one thing: keep the core safe and disable his weapons. If we fail one thing, then New York is going down to ashes."

She looked at me.

I gaped at her.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"Tomorrow at the break of dawn, we break into Claw's headquarters and we need to attempt to disable as much parts of his weapons as we can," said Kara, her eyes glinting.

"We?" I croaked, noticing.

"I knew you'll say that," said Kara, rolling her eyes. "You're coming with me, Jack, you're the only person that knows, so you have to come."

"Me?" I chuckled, like it was a joke. "I can't, Kara, i'm just this weirdo, you know it. I can't fend and fight off bullies, i can't use pistols and swords like you do. Kara: i'm not an assassin. I can't do the stuff you can."

Kara stood up and kneeled down at me sitting on the chair. She looked into my eye seriously.

"Jack, if we don't stop them, New York is dead. Our families and everyone's in New York will be dead. I saw my mum die right in front of my eyes, and i can't lose anyone else, i can't let it happen again. You'll always learn to do the stuff i can," said Kara. Then she smiled a little. "Eventually."

I looked up at her and she stood up

"C'mon, Jack, we better go to sleep, it's already really late." said Kara, walking towards a cupboard.

"Wait, what, Kara but i haven't-"

"Now." demanded Kara, throwing me a squashy sleeping bag. I didn't have the strength to argue, so i just slithered in. Kara did the same and closed the lights in this room. Everything went pitch black.

"You know," said Kara's voice in the darkness next to me. "It's nice to have someone to talk about all this stuff and not having to worry about it. It makes a nice change."

"I know." I replied, rolling over to the other side and smiling.