The Starling Saviour

Chapter 19

The rest of the scientists were clearly preoccupied, as they weren't present in the lab.

'What are you... waiting for?' I wondered curiously, wanting to know why she was so tense.

'The Culebra Gang... They're back,' she said sadly. 'And they're attacking all over the Glades. No one can stop them. I'm waiting for something to analyse; I don't know how else to help.'

'I do,' I thought of how to help in the matter.

I desperately wanted to help the officers out instead of doing nothing in the lab like Helena had been doing. But she had shown me when she came rescue me and Tommy from the gang that she was capable of making a difference.

'How?' Helena asked me, lost. 'We're scientists, not officers! But you do seem to be able to survive in a fight and fend for yourself, you saved all those people in-'

'And you can too,' I interrupted her before she got too carried away. 'I saw you save me and Tommy from that gang! I know you can help too.'

'But, that was just basic self defence skills,' she denied. 'I'm not like you at all.'

It had definitely seemed like she had implied she could do much more down in the gang's base, but I just kept quiet, not wanting to upset her.

'Okay, so anyway, about what I'm going to do,' I changed the subject quickly. 'I'm going to tackle this problem head on, walking downstairs, right in the middle of it all.'

'But that's not doing your job,' Helena pointed out. 'Won't Lance get annoyed at you or something?'

'I'm sure he won't,' I shook my head. 'And anyway, if he does, what does it matter?'

'Your job, Aria,' Helena finally let out the real reason why she was worrying. 'Your job is up here, with me in the lab. You can't just go round doing other people's jobs, you might rub people up the wrong way.'

'They probably need all the help they can get,' I reassured her, trying to explain why I wanted to go downstairs. 'There's not really much do to up here when an attack on the city happens, but instead we need to fight for the safety of this city.'

'But, how?' Helena asked, acting oblivious.

I didn't know if she really had no clue or not.

'We help the officers,' I said simply. 'If you don't want to fight, you can always hand out provisions and help civilians or something. I'm sure there's something you can do.'

It was like something was stopping her from helping, something I couldn't pin down. Was it just the lack of helpfulness or was there something more to it?

'I do want to help, Aria,' Helena said, as if she could read my mind. 'I'm just... Worried. I've never done anything like this before!'

'You did when you saved me and Tommy,' I again mentioned that time when Helena valiantly rescued us from our demise. 'You told me that you trained to be ready for anything. So you could help out on the field if you had to. So, I know that you have it in you. You just have to try.'

'Okay,' she nodded bravely, my persuasion skills serving us well. 'I'll come with you.'

'Good,' I smiled. 'Now we can show that Culebra Gang who they're really messing with.'