章 10: Escapade

There comes a moment in every human's life, where they see something unbelievable right before their eyes and yet chooses not to believe it—or rather, they don't seem to have the balls to believe that such a thing happened. This was one such moment. Everyone saw who held the last contact with the barricade; everyone saw what happened to the barricade that this person contacted; everyone saw the initial triumphant reaction of the person responsible. Yet they just couldn't grasp it as a realistic situation, since they literally saw the barricade flew around hundred meters away in such an elegant fashion that one would think that it was a paper plane instead. Such a spectacle was not supposed to happen in the mortal realm. The people couldn't believe it because if had to be true, then that one person would be an anomaly—which he was, for a fact.

Thankappan and Kunjan were flabbergasted upon seeing the flight of the barricade. Gibli felt thankful that he backed away from getting hit by Taro. On the other hand, Taro seemed really happy to destroy some shit, since his job in Wados was cleaning up such shit. He understood why the Wadorian citizens loved to cause a ruckus every now and then.

However, the thing that surprised all four was that none of the people around them looked shocked or didn't even care to stop as they ran past the free space caused by the utter destruction of the barricade. "Wow, these guys are really passionate about running into the building!" Gibli exclaimed. He felt like the people around them were so devoted to their task and WPP itself that they didn't give a bat's eye about their surroundings.

"Nah, it might be just that they couldn't salvage the reality of the situation." Kunjan guessed it on point. However, none of them could believe that such a thing could happen and quickly dropped the notion.

"Look. Are you sure you did this with the minimum power you could muster up?" Thankappan turned and asked to the visibly happy Taro.

"Okay, like it's not the bare minimum! If we are to talk about my strength in percentage level, I would assume that I used somewhere around one to five percent of my total power." Taro replied as he cracked his knuckles.

"Oh, my God! Like, I don't even wanna imagine what would happen if you used your entire power in this planet. It would just vanish into thin air within a second, right?" Thankappan's voice quivered as he imagined that catastrophic event.

"Never have I seen someone speak of their power in such trivial fashion other than one particular race. Taro, tell me. Are you really from Wados or are you a denizen of the martial planet?" Kunjan asked. He remembered witnessing the utter destruction caused by one of the martial planet's finest at that moment.

"I can assure you that I'm a Wadorian. However, I do have some connections and friends in the Martial planet." Taro was born super-powerless. So, he did what he had to do and learned a ton of martial arts. And what better place to do that other than the planet literally named the home of martial arts. He fondly looked back to that place and the people whom he met with.

"Okay. I think this conversation could also be held back in Holy Land, right? So, what do we do now?" Gibli interrupted the conversation and asked. He seemed really tense about such a free approach towards things.

"You're right. Although, I don't think there's much to talk about anyway." Kunjan looked at Taro for a few seconds before he continued. "Look, we completed our objective, we broke through the barricade and they are in the building. We get paid extra. So, we can just turn around and leave now." Kunjan answered much to everyone's relief. They didn't know how they got their asses out from this situation, so they didn't want another one.

"Guys, aren't the police supposed to guard the frontline and arrest them. Then, why the hell are they here?" Thankappan asked as he pointed behind. The police had surrounded them and they had sticks in their hands.

"Hmm, shall I fight them?" Taro asked as everyone looked at him with horror.

"No, they'd die from it!" Gibli screamed.

"How about we get hit with everyone? It'd just be a few hits and we could escape during the confusion." Kunjan suggested. Taro and Gibli nodded their heads along, but one person did not agree with this plan.

"Screw it. It's easy for you guys. One has a dud body immune to external attacks, other has a very tough exoskeleton and this one doesn't look like he could get hit with any earthly attacks. So, who do you think the exception is? Me! I didn't spend all these years in the dungeon so that I could get hit!" Thankappan cried. Like, literally he was on the verge of gushing out with a whole lot of tears.

"I thought you learned some body hardening techniques back in the dungeon." Kunjan replied to the plea.

"Just because I learned a few body hardening techniques, that doesn't mean I like to get hit like you people do. I'm not a masochist, you bastards!" He screamed, before someone muffled him by covering his mouth and dragged him along.

"Shut your trap if you wanna escape!" It was Lonappan with the save. He saw the entire episode unfolding and yet waited for the right time to jump into the conversation. He was meticulous in weird sorts.

"Wait! How are we gonna do that?" Kunjan asked. He didn't sense Lonappan beforehand because he isn't capable of sensing faint presences. However, he was curious about Lonappan's plan.

"Well, if you shut up and follow me, you'll get it." He sounded a bit enraged as he spoke. He asked them to blend in; instead they ended up causing a ruckus of unimaginable scale. He was pissed off and rightfully so.

The guys decided to shut their mouths after that and decided to quietly follow Lonappan. In the end, they had an auto-taxi waiting for them a little farther away. And inside it was Gopan, vigorously waving his hand.

"Hey guys, once again!" Gopan gave out a smile as he continued waving his hand.

"Hello, Gopan. Why are you here?" Kunjan asked. Gopan was supposedly the organizer of the strike in this part, however he was not present in the main site now and instead was frolicking around in the auto-taxi.

"Well, this is my day job." He replied as he continued playing around with the steering wheel.

"And here I thought you were a loyal subordinate for the WPP." Kunjan said half-jokingly.

"Loyal? Sure. Blind follower? Hell no. I got four kids to look after. I can't go to jail for no reason!" Gopan replied. Unlike his cheerful self, he decided to answer it a bit more seriously.

However, Thankappan was focused on the big picture. "You got four kids? In this time and age? Aren't you supposed to do some family planning or something?" He asked.

"Well, the plan was for two kids, but we were blessed with twins for both times." Gopan answered with a pleasant smile in his face. Anyone could easily guess the love he held for his children through his smile.

"Hey, you're invading his privacy with such questions! Back off with it." Lonappan scolded them.

However, he was quickly stopped by Gopan. "No, that's fine! We're all acquaintances after all."

That said, the rest of the journey was a dread, since no one dared to open their mouths due to Lonappan's warning. Lonappan isn't strong by any means. If we are to consider power alone, his elite subordinate would easily topple him. However, his words carry extreme weight and has a certain amount of dignity. Ina parallel universe where the king's rule exists, Lonappan would've made an exemplary king.

"Alright everyone, get out now." Lonappan ordered the lads once they reached Holy Land and the lads followed it.

"Had a blast today—like literally!" Gopan laughed as he handed a card to Kunjan. "Here's my number. If you lot get into some shit, call here and I'll sort it out."

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind." Kunjan politely bowed his head as Gopan left the premises.

"Well, that's done. So, do whatever the shit you do now and I'll do mine." Lonappan said as he bid farewell from the crew.

Later that night. Everyone seemed to be fast asleep—well, other than Taro. He always had a weird sleep schedule since his Wadorian days. He had many sleepless nights trying to hone his martial arts skills so that he could stand straight in the society without getting ridiculed or called powerless. It took a toll on him and now he rarely sleeps.

"Why the hell are you still awake?" A voice came from behind. It was Lonappan, who managed to sneak into the Holy Land with the key that Timothy gave.

"Well, why the hell are you even here? You do know that there's a family living in the opposite room, right? You shouldn't sneak in like this in the middle of the night." Taro scolded.

"You're right. I'm sorry." Lonappan apologized. Both stood silent for few minutes before Lonappan handed him a box.

"What is this?" Taro asked.

"Cigarettes. You want one?" Lonappan asked as he lit one for himself.

"No, thanks. I'm trying to quit." He couldn't handle seeing cigarettes after his awful experiences with it. Somewhere down the path of his life, he became addicted to this stuff. And now that a new chapter began in his life, he was desperately trying to avoid the demons of his past.

"Oh, it seems cigarettes are prominent stuff back in your home planet too. I didn't expect that." Lonappan said as he disposed the cigarette. "I'll avoid smoking near you from now on."

"I appreciate that." Taro gave out a faint smile.

"Now, shall we talk some important stuff?" Lonappan asked. He looked dead serious.