A/N:
^ these songs I put there since the last two chapters are the ones I listen to as I write
There are other songs too in my playlist but I put the one I like the most in every chapter and I will continue to do so from here on out
Why?
Duh because I want to lol
😊
• • •
"The shipment is on its way, Mr Cronos,"
A man in a three-piece armani suit said on the phone. The person on the other line said something that made the man in fancy suit swallow his saliva, his adam's apple going up and down on his throat.
"Of course, Mr Cronos. Again, my apologies for the delay. I take full-"
The man never finished his sentence. Mr Cronos on the other line ended the call. He rubbed his temples with his thumb and forefinger before turning his attention to the men packing in the warehouse.
"Hurry up people! We have a deadline here!"
About a hundred muscular men, majority of which were armed with semi automatic rifles and only god knows what else, scrambled to finish their tasks. While a number of these men guard all points of entry and exit, most are packing and moving crates towards a container van.
"Sir, the first container has been sealed. Should we head out first or do we wait for the others?" One of the workers approached him.
"Start moving," the man in fancy suit curtly said. His jaw was set, projecting a strong and stern persona.
"Yes sir,"
The worker left to carry out his task of driving the first container truck. Escorted by four dark bullet proof SUVs, two in the front and a couple more behind, the huge eighteen wheeler eased its way out of the warehouse.
This is the largest shipment for that quarter of the year and the man in fancy suit took extra measures for the security. He doesn't want a repeat of the last two disastrous incidents just three months ago that almost cost his precious life and their operating budget has yet to recover from.
And with that, he is walking on thin ice with Mr Cronos so to speak.
"Mr Kruger, we have a situation..." One of the guards called his attention as soon as he dispatched the worker and the first batch of the shipment.
His jaw tightened as he sucked in deep breath. He tried to calm his boiling temper by smoothing his dark three piece suit but his attempt only made him look more anxious. His crystal ice blue irises met the dark eyes of one of the henchmen.
"Tell me nothing is on fire again. I have had enough fire incidents in my entire life,"
"No. It's someone from the office..."
The office meant The Oval Office.
He briskly went past his hireling to take a peek. And right there at the edge of the port where the massive cargo ship was docked, a dark sedan was parked. And he knows exactly to whom that sedan belongs to.
Kruger nodded to three men who understood immediately what he meant. One of which is the head of security who called instructions to other men while the other two went on separate ways to their positions with their sniper rifles. He then checked his own handgun before concealing it underneath his expensive suit.
The night was eerily quiet but Kruger knows there are more people hidden in the shadows as he walked towards the sedan. Watching and waiting. But he was not scared. If there was anyone that scared him more than his own mother does, it's Mr Cronos only.
"Mr Chief of Staff," he curtly said at the man behind the wheel.
"Kruger,"
"What brings you to Port Newark in such a fine evening, Sir,"
"You know why I'm here. The president appreciates the sponsorship however, recent events came to attention,"
"And what recent events are you referring to?" Kruger already knows the answer to that. In fact, he knows more than what the President's Chief of Staff does.
The man is oblivious, so is his boss who is sitting in that office.
"You need to move your base of operations for safety purposes. Either that or Cronos and I have to discuss all these shipments and transfers. In person,"
Kruger regarded the man before him with steely gaze, "You see Mr Chief of Staff, Mr Cronos is a very private man, apart from being generous. Whatever you need to discuss with him, you have to discuss with me first. Then perhaps I would deliver whatever message you have. After all I'm still the diligent messenger between you,"
"The fires, Kruger. Twice in the last few months that cost billions. Once an arson investigation begins..." A frustrated sigh came out of the middle aged man who worked for the so-called leader of the free world, "Tell Cronos to meet, we have serious security issues to discuss,"
"The first batch is on its way as we speak. There will no delay or blazing fires for that matter. Distribution will follow soon after and then the cash flow will outpour as it should be. Tell your boss not to worry about those fires or any investigation. It has been taken cared of,"
"Are you sure? What about the senator?"
"Do not worry about Senator Cabello, he is well taken cared of. You tell POTUS that the pesky fires are not an issue anymore. It's getting late sir... Perhaps you should be on your flight back to DC," he said monotonously but his blue eyes were full of warning.
The presidential chief of staff was smart enough to understand what he is implying and closed his window.
Kruger then briskly walked away from the man in the sedan. He can still feel his eyes burn his back but what the man doesn't know is that he will never see Mr Cronos no matter what issue may arise. The man only has a name. The man only has a voice.
But the man does not have a face to show...
• • •
For the rest of her day, she was completely distracted.
Confused and in utter disbelief.
She barely managed to get through her other deliveries after her encounter with the weird ladies of the weird old building. Now, pedaling her way to Fitz Lounge on her beloved bike, she is still thinking of what happened that morning.
Twice, Lauren almost hit her face on a lamppost. Then, twice on a fire hydrant, one of which almost flooded the street that she scrambled away from before cops noticed it. Then, twice again she almost hit some pedestrian who on both occasions gave her the middle finger.
She really can't focus.
What that Lena person told her was ringing in the back of her mind.
She was told by that Lena person that she was special. But she never thought she ever was. She was just her.
She was just Lauren.
There may have been occasions in the past where she cut herself through wire fences and nails from lose floorboards and the occasional beatings of other bigger, meaner street kids, and she thought her healing quickly was something natural and common to people. Bruises that she got from the troubles she's been into in the past, may it be running from cops or running from big kids who bullies her into giving her food away, that typically takes days to heal goes unnoticed by her since it just goes away as soon as patches of black and blue appear on her skin. Few wounds and cuts from when she tripped and fell on subway stairs and street curbs that just disappear as soon as they materialize on her skin.
She didn't take notice of it all until today.
Lauren had no idea she can do the impossible. She was not sure how that fire in that room came to be. More so, she had no idea she can absorb a blazing flame like that as if she was a cloth pressed to a spilled water on the table.
It hurt as hell.
But the pain subsided just as her burned flesh healed instantly. It was unimaginable, but it happened. And that Lena person said she knows why. That she can help her understand.
That Lena can help her understand how she was able to take in such a huge flame without turning into a dead pile of charred human flesh.
Lauren wouldn't believe her. Especially when the woman started talking about her father, her mother. Her mom did not die in a fire, she was murdered. Five loud bangs. She counted. Even at five years old, she knows how to count already and read her own storybook and write her full name. Her mom taught her well.
She knows it was that five loud bangs that killed her mother. Five loud bangs and she was facedown in a pool of sticky red.
That Lena person thinks she knows something but she doesn't. She doesn't know her, or her mother. And even if Lauren can barely remember her father's face, she would bet her beloved bike that Lena doesn't know him either.
Nobody knows her or the hell that she went through since she ran out through that tunnel that night, being chased by the most ruthless of humans.
As far as she knows, she's just Lauren.
Lauren the homeless. Lauren the charity case. Not Lauren Michelle Jauregui. Not Lauren the magic healing potion who can cure third degree burns. Not Lauren, the daughter of some disgraced millionaire from Cuba.
Not Lauren, the elemental of some kind, whatever that shit means...
Lauren thought to herself as she finally halted her bike in the back entrance of the music bar lounge. She ran her hand through her dark locks, scratching her scalp a little, in hopes of easing the ache that has been crawling in her entire being all day before quickly chaining her bike to a concrete post. With a sigh, she entered the backdoor and greeted by her boss, Fitz.
Fitz also happens to be the bartender and he was currently carrying a boxful of Irish whiskeys.
"'sup kid!"
"Hey Fitz..."
"You look like crap,"
"Thanks... So are you,"
Fitz chuckled as they went on opposite directions, him on the bar, her on the staff room. She left her sling bag on the locker, then pulled the guitar from its case.
Then, she went out to the side of the stage where an older musician named Max was playing a jazz tune in his saxophone. She looked around and saw that, just as usual, the lounge was getting crowded.
And this crowd in the lounge always remind her of a distant memory.
She learned how to play the guitar when she was ten. A homeless guy in dreadlocks named Bob taught her. She was watching him play on the park one day after reaping her prize from snatching some lady's purse. She was very impressed so much she wanted to learn. It was the first time she wanted something else for herself aside from food and tattered tarp to sleep on. Bob agreed to teach her only if she would sing, and if she share halfsies of whatever leftover food she gets from her wanderings. She was okay with sharing because her mom always taught her that sharing is a good thing but she was not aware she can actually sing.
She doesn't know many songs at the time not until Bob told her about Johnny Cash and Bryan Adams and Bob Marley and Madonna. But when she did sing something she heard from the radio, people gathered and threw more coins on his hat. Eventually, when she shares half of her food and whatever else she stole from someone's purse, Bob shares half of the coins to her then teach her play the guitar. He also shares a piece of his mind about stealing from people.
For about a year, she sang with Bob in the park and the subway and by the theatre and people always gather around them. For about a year, he taught her to play the guitar, until that one fateful day when he caught a stray bullet right through his chest in the middle of a gang shootout. He pushed her behind a concrete wall with his guitar so she won't get in the way. Just like the way her mom hid her under that trapdoor with the flippy phone years before.
Just like her mom, he was murdered too. And since he was killed by that bullet that day, she has been learning to play the guitar on her own. Singing some Johnny Cash or Bryan Adams or Bob Marley or some Madonna song by herself. Just like she was learning to live her life on her own, alone, since she was five.
That Lena person thinks she knows her, but she doesn't know all that.
Her thoughts were pried away from the past as she stared at Bob's guitar that she now holds in her hand.
"Kiddo, you're up... Are you okay?"
"Yeah..." She lied and faked a smile.
Like she always does.
Lauren lies all the time people ask her if she was fine, and always fake a smile. People believe it for some reason. People around her think she's okay, she's tough as nails. She was used to it, but she knows that she is far from being okay.
Since that night, she was never okay and she doesn't think she will ever be.
Not until she serves her purpose. Her reason why she went on for so long.
The bright lights on the stage turned more subtle as she stepped up. She ran her hand longingly at the length of the guitar's neck before resting her fingers against the strings, contemplating what song Bob would approve, what song her mom would want to hear her sing. She always think of this each time she sits on the high stool chair with her eyes closed and rest Bob's guitar on her lap.
Like always, Lauren can only hope that whatever she sings to the crowd tonight was something both her mom and Bob would approve of. Then, she remembered the first song she first learned to sing along with the guitar. Bob was very proud of her that day when she completed it.
With a sigh, she opened her eyes, brought her mind back to the present and began her first song for that night...
🎶 I swear to you
I will always be there for you
There is nothing I won't do
I promise you
All my life I will live for you
We will make it through 🎶
• • •
"She's good," Normani commented.
She remained silent, watching and listening to the girl on the stage. The same girl who they met earlier that day after she brought their food in. The same girl that Camila and Lena are certain to be The One, but Normani and Dinah are a bit skeptic of. Ally wisely wanted to know more before jumping into anything though she was hopeful that this girl is indeed who they were looking for. The girl whose name she came to know as Lauren.
It suits her... Her name...
She thought as Normani was saying something to her but her attention was solely focused on Lauren since she started her song. It's not just her green eyes anymore that was pulling her, but listening to her at the moment, it was her voice now as well.
It was raspy and whole and something about it that just lures Camila, like a siren to a sailor. Making her unaware of her surroundings, making her aware only of her voice and her song.
She was sent with Normani to tail Lauren right after she stormed out of the safe house. Lena wasn't particular with the details, but it is her understanding that a mention of Lauren's family caused her to leave immediately. The older woman didn't bother to follow because apparently something else was on her mind.
And Lena was very positive Lauren is The One.
She grabbed a few things in the backroom, then grabbed Dinah, instructing Ally to be in house sitting duty while sending Camila and Normani to Toby's Diner to keep an eye on Lauren.
Because apparently, they were not the only people looking for The One.
The Great Evil himself has plans that involves The One.
For at least eight hours that day, the two young elementals ran around the city inconspicuously behind a tiny speeding vespa with boxes of food secured behind its driver. Until they were led by Lauren, on a dark blue mountain bike this time and not the vespa, to a suburban neighborhood right on the other side of the city, which they assumed where the green eyed girl lives. The, after grabbing what appears to be a guitar, they were eventually led to this hole-in-the-wall music bar lounge.
The place was small and smoky and packed with people, even on a Monday night. And these people, just like her, are all entranced by the singing voice of the beautiful girl on the stage.
A chorus of clapping and whistles broke out moments after Lauren strummed the last chord of her song.
"Thank you..." She rasped on the microphone with a little devilish grin that most certainly added to her already overflowing sex appeal, "That song was called I'll Always be Right There by Bryan Adams, a personal favorite. This next one is a requested song by that guy on the bar who's serving some poison to the ladies. Anyway, Fitz here's your song,"
A very familiar tune filled the room and for some reason, Camila found herself more spellbound.
🎶 My life is brilliant
My love is pure
I saw an angel
Of that I'm sure 🎶
"Oh damn, this girl can give me the chills and this song is like a cliche of some sort, also it is as old as Lena," Normani commented as she sipped on her vodka soda.
"That song was released in 2004, it's not that long ago..." She mumbled trying to tear her gaze from the person on stage but failing no matter how much she forced herself to and gulped her mojito.
"Still, a long time ago..."
Normani and Camila haven't reached legal drinking age just yet but the both of them managed to snag themselves some cocktail drinks from the bar. Then right after doing so, they hid themselves far behind the crowd by the entrance.
Lauren sang a couple more songs after the famous James Blunt song, and each time, the crowd are always engrossed and broke a fit of loud cheers of clapping and whistling soon after. Then, the girl acknowledges her well-entertained audience with a toothpaste commercial worthy smile, despite her cute bunny teeth, and a little wave. A split moment later she hopped off to the side of the stage, lingered a while at the bar before going in the back.
Just as soon as Lauren disappeared, Camila and Normani left Fitz Lounge and their unfinished drinks. They went straight to Camila's silver lexus parked just across the alley where the back entrance of the lounge is.
Minutes later, the two of them watched Lauren emerge from the backdoor. The girl unlocked and pulled the chains off her bike then walked with it. She paused to look left and right, studying the random and scarce people passing by at a quarter past eleven in the evening.
Then, those green eyes landed on Camila's silver car. Though her windows were tinted dark and the girl won't be able to see inside, she was sure that Lauren knows to whom exactly the car belongs to.
"She spotted us," Normani commented.
Lauren intently stared at the car for a while. Her gaze was probing, as if daring the two girls in the car to come out and confront her. It made Camila utterly uncomfortable.
"Should we approach her?" she asked Normani.
Before Normani gave a response, Lauren mounted her bike. She was about to pedal seemingly towards them when two speeding dark SUVs dashed their way just as she was about to go in the middle of the street. Though there wasn't any contact, the sudden speed caused her to fall out of balance on the sidewalk.
The two speeding SUVs were followed by an equally speeding eighteen wheeler cargo truck and two more dark SUVs. It caused Lauren to scramble off the street with her bike, and Camila to step out of her car, ready to run across the street to the green eyed girl's rescue.
Camila took a sigh of relief seeing that Lauren was okay and was dusting herself off. The two of them made eye contact and immediately the water elemental's chest heaved as though her breath was knocked out of her and a shiver ran through her skin, aware that the evening breeze has nothing to do with it.
Then their stare off was broken. Out of nowhere, a dark van obscured the beautiful view across the street. Silhouettes of two men in dark hoodies appeared to have grabbed Lauren, forcibly pushing her inside the van.
Right in that very moment, Camila never felt such strong power surge through her like crashing tidal waves just underneath her skin...
• • •