"You've caused us WAY too much trouble," the woman said as they walked down a hallway.
The sisters were being guided at gunpoint, the lithe woman behind them holding the pistol, while the large man with the metallic hand clumped ahead. They were trapped.
They emerged into the inn's dining room. Carl lay slumped over on the floor, his bleeding head cradled by Claire who's wheelchair sat empty several feet away. Claire looked up, her eyes held tears, but also a defiant look of rage that was directed at the two strangers.
The man hauled two chairs away from a dining room table and placed them in the center of the room. The armed woman motioned towards them with her pistol, "Sit."'
Val gave her sister a side eyed glance. Why hadn't she torn the pistol out of the woman's hand and flung it across the room? Or turned the man's metallic fist to slag when he had grabbed a hold of her in the hallway?
Mand didn't acknowledge her look. Instead she moved to the chair as instructed.
"You as well." The woman said pushing Val on her back, causing her to slightly stumble forward.
Val caught herself. She saw Mand give a motion with her head to come and sit down. Val felt rage beginning to well up inside of her. WHY WASN'T SHE DOING SOMETHING? Despite this, she sat down on the chair next to her sister. The large man clumped over and stood right behind them. Val could smell the stink of alcohol coming from his breath.
The woman pulled a chair out and spun it around so its back faced the girls. She sat down, her legs bowed, and arms folded to rest on top of the backrest. She nestled her chin on top and looked out at the girls. Val noticed that the woman's icy, whitish blue eyes shone with a cold intensity.
"What do you want?" Mand asked.
"Ahh, straight to the point," the woman said. "I like that."
"Why are you following us? What do you want?" Mand pressed. The woman wasn't falling for it. She had the look of a bully who had just pushed a smaller kid into a puddle, and was waiting for them to rise so they could push them back in. She smiled the wicked grin of a predator playing with its prey.
Val could tell that Mand had enough. She could see sweat starting to bead on her sister's face, her eyes focused on the pistol. The weapon shimmered for a minute, it's outside casing cascading in a colorful mosaic. Then it stopped.
The woman's smile grew wider as she held up the intact weapon for the sisters to see. "Wondering why your powers don't work little girl?"
Mand said nothing.
The woman reached into a pocket and withdrew a small metallic box. She touched a button at the top and the box folded in on itself, revealing a small shard of what looked like glowing red glass. She held the piece in front of her and inspected it
"This keeps you from using your powers," she said. "As long as a metalmancer is within a few feet of it, it completely shuts them down."
"What?" Val thought. With that she tried reaching out to the mechanisms of the pistol, hoping to disable them. Normally, she could feel every gear, screw, and cog in a device, but right now she felt nothing.
Mand narrowed her eyes. "What do you want?" she tried again.
"It's not WHAT I want, it's WHO I want." The woman got up from the chair. She motioned her pistol to Claire and then to Mand. "And it's you two."
"Metalmancy," said Mand. "You want us for our metalmancy."
"Correct!" said the woman enthusiastically. "We had originally come here just for her," she said motioning again to Claire. "But we were delighted to hear of a young girl that had repaired an entire bridge by herself! Who would have thought that we would have been able to nab both of you at the same time. The gods smile on us don't they brother?"
The large man laughed, "Bringing two should net us a nice bonus."
"We had thought that we lost one of you with that stunt with the fire," she continued. "But when we came here to retrieve the other... here you were!"
Val was confused. Why were they just after Mand and Claire. She was a metalmancer herself.
It then struck her. Val hadn't used her powers at either the bridge, or since coming into the city. They didn't know! Metalmancy was rare enough, but for two members of a single family to have it was pretty much unheard of. They thought that she didn't have any powers!
Carl groaned, the woman walked over and squat down.
"His headwound is pretty nasty," she said. "It would be a shame if he didn't get medical help soon."
"Please," said Claire. "I'll do whatever you want, just let me get help."
The woman stood, she put a finger to her chin in a dramatic thinking pose. "You know, I only need the two of you. If BOTH of you leave with us peacefully," she motioned towards Val. "This one here could run and get help for your dear old dad."
"Ok" Mand said. "I'll do it."
The woman looked to Claire, who nodded in agreement.
Val's mind raced. No, there had to be something that she could do. They've gotten out of every jam they've ever been in, there had to be a way out now.
"Excellent!" the woman proclaimed. "Brother, tie this one up, but just enough for her not to follow." She was pointing at Val. "Hopefully, you'll be able to wiggle yourself loose in time to save your large friend here."
Val's mind continued to race. Think! Think! Every possible solution she could think of wasn't viable.
The man with the metallic hand grabbed a tablecloth off of one of the tables. He wrapped the material around Val, binding her to the chair. He then moved over to Claire and lifted her up, bringing her to the wheelchair.
"Mand! What are you doing? Don't go!" Val pleaded.
"Don't worry, we will keep her safe," the woman said. "As long as she behaves."
Val wanted to shout, "Take me, take me. I have powers. Take me with you!" But the tears flowing from Claire's eyes convinced her not to. If she went with them, there would be nobody who could go get help for Carl.
The large man wheeled Claire out the front door.
"Goodbye, sister." Mand said.
"Oh, enough dramatics, come along then." the armed woman said.
With that, the two disappeared out the door.
For the first time since she was born, Val was without her big sister.