An Upgraded Soul

A suburban area outside Bangalore, Time: Late night.

In a desolate narrow alley with very little light, fifteen people grouped together. Many of them were holding hockey sticks, some were even holding steel rods while some held onto knuckledusters. All of them were drunk and some were even wobbling as they waited for their leader to come.

"So, why did the leader call us out at this time, is any new 'stock' coming?" a curious youth who had just joined them holding a bicycle chain in his hand asked excitedly. He was new to the gang and so was over-enthusiastic about his job to prove himself. But he did not expect that all the members who had already arrived stare angrily at him as they lowered their heads as if brazing for something unpleasant.

A person with spiked yellow hair which contrasted horribly with his dark skin looked at the youth and shouted with a voice filled with rage, "How could you not know that our leader had been humiliated today like never before."

"What happened, big brother? You tell me who had the gall to humiliate our boss, I will skin him while he is alive," the curious youth also responded passionately as he tried to use this chance to prove his loyalty. The other people who had already gathered here before him looked at him strangely.

"That bastard said that our boss's wife is so ugly that he wouldn't f**k her even if she snuck n.a.k.e.d into his bed," the goon with the spiked yellow hair replied with outrage.

"I feel the same… cough cough," the youth choked on his own words as he almost replied instinctively, he tried to rectify the situation without taking the time to think about his words, "I mean how dare he speaks ill about Boss's wife, I would totally f**k her if she snuck n.a.k.e.d into my bed." Only after a few seconds after he finished did he notice what he had just said. While he thought that he was finished, the spiked hair guy also shouted spontaneously, "Yes, me too."

One had to know that not one of these people were in their best conditions as usually, this was the time they drank like a fish and slept with p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.es.

Some of the more stable minded people pursed their mouth tightly so as to stifle their laughter but the others couldn't hold it in as laughed uproariously as they held their stomachs and rolled on the ground.

The spiked hair guy also realized what happened as he slapped the youth and roared, "idiot, what are you saying? We all know that Boss's wife is very beautiful, right?"

"Whose wife did you say is beautiful?" a deep snarling voice asked.

"Boss's wi..." the spiked hair guy turned to look at the tall and muscular bald guy with an eye patch over his left eye followed with a grim-faced person.

"Bo...Boss, I...I have gathered all the people as you commanded, let me personally go and catch that skinny son of a gun who humiliated your wife which was equal to humiliating all of us." the spiked hair guy rambled on without realizing how ambiguous his words sounded as the corner of the bald guy's mouth twitched while two other people who couldn't hold back themselves burst out laughing.

The bald guy who happened to be the mob leader of the red street was shocked when he heard that a thin and lean youth had disparaged his wife's appearance in a prime local bar in his own turf. The painful part was that all the people actually laughed at these words without an ounce of fear.

His profession was something which was based on banking on the fear of the people. If people stopped fearing him, he would lose his value and frankly, he did not know anything else to change professions at this age. So even if he himself agreed with the youth's words, he had to catch that youth and make an example out of him if he wanted to remain a mob leader otherwise, someone would definitely replace him. Especially now that new gangs have infiltrated Bangalore's underworld.

So here he was, summoning all his underlings in their drunk state to initiate a search and chase of that youth who had escaped from that bar before he arrived. But now he felt he had done a mistake, how would he catch that kid with these airheads? Just as he was depressed, he saw a thin youth running away chased by four goons. The four goons turned towards them as they shouted loudly, "This is the guy."

"Excellent, everyone, chase him, I want him, "the bald guy roared fiercely and started to run followed by everyone. they ran at their best speed to catch that person and get it over with as soon as possible but the reality disappointed them.

Not even 300m had been covered as one by one began to slow down as their energy reserves depleted and they became worn out. They were not professional athletes who followed a strict exercising routine and a balanced diet. They spend their days scaring people with violence, drinking, fooling around with call girls and playing card games. it would be a miracle if they stayed fit with this routine.

Just as the bald guy was thinking of stopping as his stamina was also depleted, he saw 'his' goons chasing that bastard into an unused railway warehouse. He smiled and roared, "Let's go, we have caught that kid."

The other goons also finally reached as their clothes stuck to their back as they were drenched with their stinking sweat. Their legs suddenly felt empty as they struggled to hold their weight. Some of them took large gulps of air as they tried to recover.

The bald guy laughed triumphantly as he ordered, "Close this warehouse so that he can't escape again, you guys bring that bastard over here, let me demonstrate what happens to those people who go against the great one-eyed devil." the actual situation however disappointed him as the four 'goons' surrounding the youth smiled as they walked and stood behind him while the youth started laughing, "the great one-eyed devil? More like the one-eyed slowpoke, if I had run any slower, I think even a school kid would have overtaken me."

"elder brother Adi, did I not say this before? A half kilometre is enough for these small street hooligans," Faizal also smiled as he looked at the exhausted gang drenched in sweat with disdain.

"Well, I did not expect that these idiots would make things easier by locking themselves in, lets get started, I take five, you four manage the other 12," Aditya grabbed hold of wooden stick which was lying around and walked towards the bald guy with a smile which almost 'looked' evil. Roaming the evening hours with Faizal, Phani, John and Dhanush, subduing and destroying small gangs, had rubbed off on him as Aditya was becoming accustomed to making people suffer without much constriction in his heart.

Especially, when Aditya thought that Sameera was also taken by 'that' organization and might still be alive, a sense of urgency took over him to up his game. For one, he knew that his parents had some time left but he could not say the same about Sameera. He needed that ability that Tya promised which would get him off the surveillance threat. He had given himself and Hamsa a day of time. If she was not completely cured of her trauma by then, he would have Tya stop it and utilize that energy for the new ability. After that ability had been formed, he could continue the treatment. Anyway, Hamsa had become almost normal and was looking happy and peaceful to him these days.

But Aditya's heart knew that Hamsa was still suffering. If she had truly became normal, she would have started going to college or she would not have a struggling expression on her face whenever she went out to buy groceries or to Saanvi's home. But it was a clear choice for Aditya when he compared a few days of Hamsa's suffering with the life and death crisis of Sameera, he chose the latter with no hesitation.

He had not informed to Kumari of the possibility of Sameera been still alive as he did not want to get her hopes high only to push her further into abyss later. He chose to bear this burden himself as he is already experiencing the same feeling with his parents. Also, Kumari was anyway not able to help matters with her limited strength.

"Finished?" Aditya asked when threw the last guy of his quota on the ground as he whimpered in pain holding his broken arm. Aditya's breathing was stable and some sweat could be seen on the tip of his nose. Taking on five guys had become very easy for him now in contrast to when he thought he was taking a risk when he rescued Hamsa. If he wanted, he could take on the whole gang by himself though he would have to resort to some tactics but today's main theme was training his subordinates. Yes, Taarini had allocated him these four people who were already familiar with him. They had to follow his orders just like they followed Taarini's.

So Aditya had been 'training' them every evening for the past few days to increase their combat ability. Though Aditya could not say he was as good at fighting as those black belt martial artists, when it came to street fighting which had no set of rules or patterns, he was confident that he could take on anyone. If he used 'Slow Timing' and 'Sensifull', even Taarini or any other top martial artists could forget about touching him let alone beat him.

When Aditya activated Slow timing, the world practically slowed down 60 times. He had ample time to see what kind of attack the enemy was using, whether there were any feints, hidden attacks and also plan the best and most efficient way to counter that attack. So unless the enemy was inhumanly swift that Aditya could see the attack but his body was still not capable of moving out of the way, he was confident in his fighting skills. Also, he could be ganged up on by many people which would also make him vulnerable to attack.

During the past few days of destroying targeted gangs, Aditya had been training his skills like avoiding being surrounded by the enemy in groups, dividing the enemy group into small numbers and taking them out one by one. One had to know that once a tactic has been utilized in front of Aditya, then they could forget about using the same tactic ever again. Aditya was able to remember, record, analyze and prepare counter tactics in an instant. Also sometimes, Tya would recreate those scenes in his world and then both of them would also discuss the most efficient method to escape, defend, counter attack etc it was one of Tya's favourite pastimes.

Faizal got a small cut in his lower lip while the others also had some bruises on their limbs. Each of them had taken down three of the opposite side which was usually a thing to brag about in their group. But, when one witnessed a teenage kid take down whole gangs containing 10-15 people by himself every night for a whole week, Faizal and others felt awed and frustrated at the same time. They had already become numb to such scenes, so when they saw that Aditya was already finished before them, it did not surprise them in the least.

"Okay, get them all in the line," Aditya said as he sat down in a chair and activated 'Sensifull'. The time to fulfil his main objective has come. Aditya nodded at Faizal who looked at the leader who in turn was looking at Aditya through the corner of his eye like he was a devil and asked, "Who among you work for the Mumbai Mafia Alliance?"

No one spoke as Aditya took in each and every one of their expressions all at once as an unnoticeable smile surfaced on his face. As he had assumed, these people were not trained to hide their expressions like those professional spies. He caught a small fish today. One look and you know what they are thinking. Especially, for Aditya who had been training his detection and body language analyzing skills with the help of Tya. He was becoming increasingly adept at this. He wondered how he would fare against true spies.

"I know that a new gang called 'Mumbai Mafia Alliance' has entered Bangalore but I am not working for them," the bald guy stated honestly as he did not want to get on the bad side of these guys. He already knew that his gang was finished as at least two months would be required for everyone here to recover completely. He was sure a new gang would easily take over his area within this gap.

Faizal did not wait for the answer as he looked at Aditya who had already stood up and pointed at a guy to the baldy's left. He had a grim face which contorted with terror when he saw Aditya pointing at him. He wanted to escape but Aditya had personally broken his leg which immobilized him completely.

"Take him and leave the others, I want all the things on his body, mainly his mobile. Be quick as Miss Taarini is expecting us." Aditya walked away as he whistled while Faizal and others carried the wailing person and left without saying anything to the others as the leader looked on with a blank face. What had happened just now? They asked a question but even before he answered completely, they just dragged away one person leaving everyone else.

His heart shuddered when he heard the word 'Taarini', were these people subordinates of Taarini? All the other gangs in Bangalore were assuming that Taarini was finished without her elder brother's protection. Only now did he know how foolish and ignorant everyone was. The youth who had just recently joined the baldy's gang who possessed a loose tongue, witnessed this scene as he muttered, "cool".