章 9: Break through
It took them an hour, but the five of them were finally at their destination. "Central government controlled telecom center, huh? I guess this is as good as a place to conduct a strike as any." Kunjan blurted out, as if he's flexing his extensive knowledge about the places to the other aliens. However, the others appreciated it, since they already placed Kunjan in a high standard, unbeknownst to the plankton himself.
"Yup, but it seems like the police has already caught whiffs of it. Look at those barricades!" Lonappan pointed out towards the barricades besides the police forces surrounding the area.
"Well, the WPP did proclaim this strike on national television. So, this does makes sense." Kunjan replied.
"Anyway, we're here now. What're we supposed to do though?" Gibli asked. Since he had not been outside for the longest time and wasn't particularly interested about the news, he had no idea how strikes usually worked in Earth.
"Well, people usually aggressively protest at this point. But our goal isn't that. Our goal is to blend in with the crowd and make it seem like we're protesting." Lonappan replied.
"But we are protesting, aren't we?" Gibli was visibly confused. Sometimes, he can never understand what Lonappan means.
"Indeed. However, we have to absolutely make sure that we don't get caught during this." Lonappan answered.
"What?" Thankkappan who stayed silent for the entire ordeal, looked surprised as he heard about the possibility of them getting caught.
"Why else would the police be here?" Lonappan asked.
"To control the mob." Thankappan answered almost immediately.
"And how do you think they'll control the mob?" He asked yet again, to which Thankappan replied in quick succession.
"By arresting people?"
"Precisely." Now that he got the answer he wanted, Lonappan took his leave. "Well, I got some people to meet, so I'll just leave."
"What are we supposed to do?" Gibli asked yet again, since Lonappan didn't give him a clear objective before.
"You remember Gopan, right? Meet him. He's the organizer around here." Lonappan responded as he blended into the crowd.
"Sure." Gibli faintly spoke as he saw Lonappan go.
But, Lonappan stopped in his tracks and turned back to his junior. "Thankappan, I'll leave them in your hands." However, he quickly changed his decision, up on realizing the error in his decision. "Shoot, maybe not. Kunjan, you're in charge."
"Hey, a little belief in me would be appreciated!" Thankappan gave out an ungodly pout.
"Earn it, my dude. Earn it." Lonappan laughed it off before finally leaving the premises.
"So, we have to find Gopan, huh?" Kunjan looked around, searching for Gopan.
However, they didn't have to move, since Gopan bumped into them beforehand. "Hey, guys!" Gopan spoke, whilst waving his hand.
"Speak of the devil." Gibli sighed.
"Hello. We were just talking about you." Kunjan welcomed Gopan to the fold as he extended his hand.
"I see. Seriously, thank you for coming though." Gopan replied as he shook on it.
"We're WPP members, after all." Kunjan replied. A keen eye-sighted person could see a faint twitch in Kunjan's stoic exoskeleton, as if he was trying to give out a friendly smile.
"That's the spirit!" Gopan spoke enthusiastically before looking at the barricade. "Although, we're gonna have a hard time breaking the barricade this time around."
"Huh? Breaking the barricade? Why?" The four of them were surprised. They didn't know this part of the plan.
"Weren't we supposed to have a peaceful ruckus or something?" Gibli asked, laughing nervously.
"We are. It's just that breaking the barricades symbolizes that the people opposes the decisions taken by this government and are trying to break through, so that their voices could be heard." Gopan explained the significance of his actions.
"Wow, I didn't expect such a deep symbolism in such a deed." Thankappan looked up to Gopan in awe.
"Yea, but you said it's gonna be hard this time. What was it like earlier?" Kunjan asked him the relevant stuff.
"Well, the police force is just a bit more this time. Well, the possibility of them hunting us down even before we reach the barricade is highly probable." Gopan briefed on the situation.
"Isn't that against the law? You wouldn't have caused a ruckus by then, right? So they can't do such a thing unless provoked, am I right?" Kunjan asked, yet again slightly flexing on his prowess.
"That part's simple if they place a mole among us. They'd just throw a rock or two at the police and voila, they got their incentive." Gopan laughed it off, even though his words carried serious weight.
"That's cheating!" Gibli squeaked. The squeak did not suit his lanky self.
"This is a war, basically. Everything's legal." Gopan gave out his great wisdom.
"So, we have to give it our all and try to break through the barricade then." Thankappan blurted out his thoughts. He looked excited.
"That's what we're aiming for." Gopan agreed with Thankappan in this case.
"The pay." Kunjan uttered in a low voice.
"Huh?"
"Will there be any pay hike if we're able to pull it off?" Kunjan asked to the baffled Gopan.
After staying silent for a few seconds, Gopan busted into a laugh. "It seems that someone's quite greedy for the money! But yes, there's a possibility that you'll get a thousand per person if we can pull it off." He said as he nodded his head.
Suddenly, all of them looked seriously fired up. "We are pulling it off!" They collectively thought.
"It seems like you made your decision. Also, why don't you talk about it with Lonappan?" Gopan asked, since he was a bit concerned about the sudden change in their behavior.
"Uh, yea sure! Bye, Gopan." Kunjan took his leave as soon as possible, dragging the other three with him.
"Okay, guys. See you later." Gopan decided not to question this, since it seemed like they looked genuinely faithful towards WPP.
After getting a few meters away from Gopan, Kunjan finally let go of their hands. "Shoot. Lonappan is not gonna allow us to break the barricade now, is he?" Kunjan voiced his main concern.
"Well, he did ask of us to blend in with the crowd." Thankappan replied.
"Yea, blend in; not stand out!" Kunjan spoke..
"Wait, before you go any further. What's the plan?" Gibli still had no idea of anything that was going on. He had been asking for a plan since long ago, but no one seemed to give out a clear cut reply. He just couldn't handle it. Arkians respected a well laid out plan more than anything.
"Simple. We let Taro break it." Thankappan gave out the brief and concise plan.
"Do you even know the meaning of blending in?" Kunjan shouted, since he heard Thankappan speak absurd stuff.
"Yea, if it got uncontrollable, I might've to take some drastic measures to protect your identity." Thankappan seemed to agree to that assessment as well. He was dangling towards both sides at this point.
"Hmm, that doesn't sound too good. We have to be inconspicuous about our approach." Kunjan knew that even though Thankappan sounded like an idiot at times, he was still an MIB agent trained in a reclusive dungeon. He could very well be a ticking time bomb.
"How about if Taro gently break through the barricade?" Thankappan slightly modified his earlier plan.
"Well, wouldn't that make him stand out too?" Kunjan retorted back.
"Look around you. What do you see? You see a mob. And what do you think they're trying to do? The same think that we are. Therefore, if Taro somehow is able to control his power, then we can utilize the confusion created by the people and break through." Thankappan explained.
"Sounds like a plan!" Gibli joined in on Thankappan's bandwagon.
"You know, we've called you an idiot all along—but you do deserve some credit here and there!" Kunjan was, for some weird reason, approving Thankappan's minimal plan as well.
"Oh, thank you for the compliment." Thankappan took this praise to his heart.
"Guys." Finally, Taro who had not spoken a word since arrival, spoke out.
"Yea?"
"There's just a small problem with this plan." Taro sounded grim.
"What is it?" Kunjan asked.
"Look, ever since I landed on this planet, I've never been able to go all out with my strength. So, I extremely"really don't know the extent of my power." Taro explained as he clenched his fists.
"Damn, that's the stuff only a monster could say." Thankappan looked towards Taro in awe.
"Hmm, this is a problem." Now, Kunjan's expression was grim as well.
Suddenly out of nowhere, Gibli jumped towards Taro and screamed. "Punch me, Sadanandan."
"Huh?" Taro was extremely puzzled by this sudden development.
"I said punch me! Although, it's a bit risky, we Arkians have a reinforced body, much stronger than whatever material that barricade is made of." Gibli said as he tightened his bbody to the maximum.
However, Kunjan smacked him on his head before anything happened. "Shut the fuck up! You are one of the final remnants of the free civilization of Ark. Give an ounce of respect to your civilization, even if you don't care about yourself. Trying to get hit with a punch, it seems." He scolded Gibli.
"I'm sorry. I should have thought it out." Gibli gave out his sincere apology.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Thankappan asked, since it looked like a dead end.
"We've got no choice. Gotta trust our gut on this and let him swing." Kunjan replied as he waited for the event to begin.
#
"You ready?" Kunjan asked Taro, who was in the frontlines as well as the other two. The mob was gushing in and were also trying to break through on their own. Some tried climbing, but the police quickly pulled them down.
"Yes." Taro nodded as he took a deep breath.
"Cool. Just gently push the barricade when I ask you to." Kunjan recalled their super basic plan.
"Sure." Taro nodded yet again.
A few minutes of silence followed as Kunjan focused on his surroundings. However, in a specific moment, the entire mob gushed towards the barricade at the same time. Kunjan picked this up and shouted. "NOW!"
What came later was utter destruction as the barricade flew above the police officers heads as if it was a paper plane and landed on the telecom center's doorsteps.
"Holy…"
"What in the…" The aliens had no words to say.
"I did tell you guys! This is the best I could do to suppress." Taro gave out a smile, now that he did it without destroying the entire city.
#
In the meantime, Thankappan was alone, looking for the other four. "For God's sake, where are these people now?"
However, instead of them, he bumped into Gopan. "Lonappan!"
"Ah, Gopu-chetta. Have you seen the others?" He asked.
"Oh, they didn't tell you about it?" Gopan expected them to meet by now and was surprised.
"About what?" Lonappan asked yet again.
"They were extremely"really enthusiastic when I talked about breaking through the barricade." He smiled as he spoke.
However, for Lonappan, it was horror. "Shoot. Are they in the front lines now?"
"If they planned to do that, then most probably." Gopan nodded.
"Shit. I gotta go." Lonappan throttled himself towards the front as quick as he could, but to no avail. By the time he got there, he saw a blasted out barricade and a smiling Taro surrounded by his shocked colleagues. "Ah, so much for blending in." Lonappan sighed.
#
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The_Chimp
The_Chimp Ayy! Another morning release. Nothing much to say. Even if you liked it or disliked it, even if you didn't vote for it, I'd love if you comment on it, because I'll have an idea of what you lot think and how garbage or great my writing is. This applies for every chapter. Feel free, my dudes and dudettes!
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