Far away in the tunnel lights streaked past as DJ tore through the underground road, bike's engine screaming, water spraying off the tires. He didn't slow until the steel doors slid open.
He didn't parked his bike he let it drop, he wasn't in the mood to care. He swung off his cracked helmet . Sparks crackled along its edges as he tossed in the floor cracking the floor in process..
He didn't fix his hair, he yelled. "RONY?"
Nothing. No reply came.
"…RONY." louder this time.
Still nothing..
He walked deeper in, boots echoing, suit humming as it colled down from the rush.
He enter ready start a barrage of question, about his insanity and what the hell he did there. He almost wanted to throw punches, and as he walked inside he stopped.
He saw him.
Different.
Rony sat on the floor, back against a console. Beer bottles everywhere, empty, some even shattered. His shoulders were slumped head down.
DJ froze.
He'd never seen Rony drink. Not even once.
He took a step closer. Saw the red around Rony's eyes. The dried lines or tears.
DJ seems to understand something and yet not seems to.
He had a hundred questions hundred thoughts — he wanted to ask Krish, about the suit, about how the hell they came so close to killing a man who could wipe a city off a map, one who even a self proclaimed God couldn't— but currently none of them fit the moment.
He sat down beside him.
Picked up a bottle without looking.
It crumbled in his hand. Glass breaks on contact.
"Shit." He didn't even react. Just let it fall.
He leaned forward, elbows on knees. Head down.
"…Why?" this is the only thing he could muster to ask.
Silence stretched.
Then DJ muttered, voice cracking just a little.
"Why the fuck you wanted to kill Krish of all people?"
He shook his head. "You almost did it. And I'm not even gonna ask how that felt so easy. Like—" He laughed, hollow. "—like we had kryptonite."
He turned slightly. "How did he become that weak?"
Rony didn't look up.
"He wasn't weak," he said. His voice was rough. Like sandpaper. "He just didn't take us seriously."
DJ stared at him. "Then why?" he asked. "Why all this? Why did it work?"
Rony finally lifted his head. Just enough.
"What do you think his greatest strength is?"
DJ frowned. "His strength?"
Rony shook his head. "No."
He swallowed. "His biofield."
DJ waited.
Rony started, "Scientifically bio—"
"English," DJ cut in.
Rony chocked on dry breath and continue "Fine. It's like an invisible shield around him. Always on. Protects him from everything. Literally everything."
DJ's eyes moved.
"I just needed to shut it down," Rony said. "And I did."
DJ turned fully toward him. "Why?"
Rony looked at the floor again. "I was angry."
DJ paused. "…Angry?" it didn't seems sufficient but with Rony it did.
"For what?"
Rony didn't answer right away. His shoulders sagged further.
"Do you know where I live?" he asked.
"In the house," DJ said. "You know. Your place."
Rony let out a half laugh. "Yeah. And where's that house?"
DJ hesitated. "East Mumbai. Slum apartments."
"What's the building called?"
DJ opened his mouth. Closed it. "I… don't know. I just call it the east slums."
Rony nodded once. "Those buildings were given by the government."
DJ looked at him.
"To people who lost their homes," Rony said, "and their families."
A beat.
" Carl incident.Three years ago"
DJ's immediately understand something, he looked down. Not knowing what to say clearly."You… lost something?" this came. Out.
Rony smiled without humor. "Everything."
Silence sat heavy between them.
"I didn't know," DJ said quietly, his anger has long gone now.
"You don't even know my full name," Rony replied.
DJ nodded. "Fair." he really don't know.
Rony exhaled, slow. "I planned it for three years."
DJ looked up.
"I pulled every file, Every backup, Every half-deleted record I could find. I tracked his patterns, His power cycles, His reactions." His fingers twitched. "I tracked every weakness."
DJ stayed silent.
"At one point," Rony said, "I even thought about kidnapping Supriya, just to ask him how to kill him."
DJ's head snapped up and he looked st him, Rony didn't look back
"One year," Rony went on, "was just thinking of ways to kill him. One year to test them. One year to realize none of it was simple."
He laughed softly. "I made hundreds. Thousands. Weapons that shouldn't exist. Stuff that crosses every line in human history I...just.."
He stopped talking.
DJ waited.
"What stopped you?" DJ asked.
Rony rubbed his face. "My heart said kill him."
A pause.
"My mind didn't."
DJ frowned. That wasn't how people usually said things. He stood up slowly.
"So what now?" he asked. "You fought Krish. What if he comes back? What if he decides to finish it?"
Rony looked up at him then tired smile crept onto his face.
"What makes you think," he said, "that I only have one plan for him?" Just as the words left his mouth, a sharp but before they can say further a loud beep cut through the room.
Both of them froze.
Another beep. Faster this time.
Rony's head snapped toward the monitors, He was already on his feet, crossing the room.
"No," he muttered.
DJ followed. The main screen had gone dull gray. A single line blinked in the corner.
SIGNAL LOST.
Rony leaned closer, fingers flying over the console. "No no no… come on."
DJ felt it too. That tight, wrong feeling in the chest. "What is it?"
Rony didn't answer right away, He checked feeds, opened logs, rewound timestamps.
Then, sharper— "Plan B."
DJ paused. "The drone?" he asked quietly.
"The one in the mine,, yes. " Rony said. "You remember."
"The one sent to grab the camera," DJ replied his tone becoming worry. "Yeah."
Rony nodded fast. "It was transmitting the footage from Sakshi's camera Then—" he pointed at the screen, "—it just stopped."
DJ immediately looked at it close.
That plan mattered, the whole point was distraction, keep Krish busy. Get proof. Get answers.
"And now?" DJ asked.
Rony pulled up the last frame that ve got. Static. Half a tunnel wall. Motion blur.
"Now it's gone."
DJ leaned in. "Gone how?"
-----
Far away, deep past the city lights, Middle of the creator zone.
A convoy rolled in slowly heading towards the pull-water nine.
Roy stepped out of the car before the engine even cooled.
He didn't care about the rain or the umbrella that jis bodyguard tried to put. He wasn't in hurry he just that that look in his eyes, feeling already annoyed.
He walked straight into the cube-shaped control building the pull-water mine. Automated lights flickered as he walked in, guards with. Machine gun following him. Everyone inside went quiet without being told.
Roy entered the industrial lift , slowly taking them down.
The lift ride was long, silent and filled with sound of machinery.
The lift stopped with a click sound, and when the doors opened, guards were already waiting. Roy looked at one particular, he looked nervous, standing too straight . He looked at his hand he held out two things with both hands.
A camera.
And a small disk-shaped drone.
"We found these, sir," the guard said quickly.
"Near the security zone. I was doing a routine pass."
Roy took them without a word.
His mood, already bad because what happen earlier and this two things sank that even lower.
He turned to the scientists standing nearby.
"Explain."
One of them adjusted his glasses. "The drone uses Pullwater-based insulation, sir. It negates the EMP field we've placed around the mine."
Roy's fingers tightened his eyes turning little colder.
He didn't question further.
He powered on the camera.
Images flashed.
Still frames.
Angles from behind pipes.
Faces he recognized..
Then video.
Sakshi..
Alive—then not.
The cave felt smaller. Like the walls leaned in.
Roy didn't blink. But his eyes changed, something was about to burn.
He looked up slowly. "What was it doing here?"
The scientist answered too fast. "It was transferring the data—"
Something started to burn, but it wasn't warm it was cold.
His eyes become dangerous
.
The scientist felt it immediately.
"I mean—" he corrected himself, voice shaking just enough, "—it attempted to transfer. It didn't succeed. We stopped it. In time."
Silence.
Roy eyes didn't calm, he studied him for a long second.
Then his face eased. Just a fraction.
"Good," Roy said calmly.
Too calmly..
"I want this analyzed," he continued, handing the camera back. "Every frame. Every signal trace."
He walked away without waiting for an answer.
He went deeper in the mine.
He looked at his secretary. "Give me a phone."
The secretary didn't ask why.
Roy took the phone, he stared at the pool of pull-water, a faint smile appeared on his face.
The kid has two brushes, but he is still a kid in the end.