Rogue Heroes - The Awakening

A Step towards the Unknown

Viren opened his eyes to find himself in an under construction building, tied to a chair. He could feel pain, in the back of his head. He remembered returning home from the college, after the first day of his conference. The usual route, that he took was blocked, which had caused him to take the other route which was mostly deserted. As he had been driving, the front tire of his car had got punctured all of a sudden. He had come out of the car, to examine it, when a strong blow had landed on the back of his head, rendering him unconscious. It was now, that he had gained consciousness.

"Hello?!" he yelled, struggling to free himself from the ropes, "Who are you? And why have you got me here? Leave me please. Hello??"

After a while, he saw two men, dressed in black business suit walking towards him. They stopped a little away from him in the shadows.

"Hello, Mr. Acharya," one of them said, "I sincerely apologize for the circumstances in which you have been brought here. Its just that... we wanted some information from you. After that, you are free to go anywhere you want."

"What... what do you want to know?" Viren asked, in a fearful tone. However his mind was far from fearful. He knew exactly why he had been kidnapped. He had been expecting something like this, for quite some time. But he was not going to bend so easily in front of these scoundrels.

"We have heard that your brother – in – law, Mr. Dijvijay Rawat had been involved in a research. We just want its details. UP – TO – DATE," the man who had spoken earlier replied.

"I... I seriously don't know anything about it... His research was a... was a private matter... he... he didn't even share it with my sister," Viren pleaded.

"Mr. Viren," said the man in sickly sweet tone, "Please don't force us to show our rudeness to you. Cooperate and you will get to leave very easily."

"I am saying the truth," Viren said, once again in a pleading tone. "I really don't know anything about all this.

The man clucked his tongue and turned to look at his companion, who nodded and made a hand signal. At once, four to five men arrived with hockey sticks.

"Show our guest our hospitality till he accepts to cooperate with us," The man, who had been talking to Viren, said and left with his companion.

Soon enough, the surroundings were filled with the sound of beatings and the painful screams of Professor Viren Acharya.

The night sky was illuminated with stars, even though it was a new moon night. A soft breeze was blowing. Daksh and Kimi returned home to find their friends waiting outside their house. They had expected this however.

"You guys weren't there at college today," remarked Aryan, as soon as the Rawat siblings reached them. They just nodded at his remark and went on to open the door of their house.

Soon enough, the gang was seated on the sofa inside the house.

"Mamu has been missing since yesterday evening," Daksh said, in a grave tone, looking at the centre table. Kimi just turned her face and closed her eyes to stop her tears.

The others were too dumbfounded to react.

"H... how?" asked Bali, finally coming out of the shock.

"No idea," Daksh replied, his eyes covered with a thin film of tears.

The atmosphere was silent and tensed for a while.

"Did you... did you guys report this in the police station?" asked Sachit, worriedly.

"We are coming from there only," replied Kimi, trying to keep her voice from cracking. Nimit who was sitting beside her, pulled her in a side hug and rubbed her arm, reassuringly. The hall was filled with silence once again, with only the sound of crickets coming from outside.