Neel Dervin and the Dark Angel (17 page)

“Good.”
DoctorFahim said. “I might as well tell you that we had been planning to have
you shifted to a more appropriate facility for your education, just in case it seemed that going
back to your school might be causing problems.”

“What!” Neel exclaimedin alarm. “No way. I was fine, sir, really!I don‟t need to be
moved to another school.”

 

“Then you can continue atElvitar‟s.” DoctorFahim said with a smile. “And now you
can get back to your training.”

 

Neel left the room with Arjun and the two headed towards the gym. “I didn‟t know they
were thinking about moving me.” Neel said, looking up at Arjun.

“Only if it was absolutely necessary.” Arjun said. “Like I told you before, secrecy is
crucial to this project, and it would have been a risk letting you go there if your friends had
noticed anything different about you.”

“Well, I can handle school fine.” Neel said.

 

Something in his voice made Arjun glance at him. “Then is there something else
bothering you?”

Neel shrugged and was silent for a second. But finally, the urge to share his problems
with someone who would understand was too much. “We played football today.” He said
finally.

The two made their way in silence to the gym. It was some time before Arjun finally
spoke.“I take it the game wasn‟t a success?”

“I tried to play.” Neel‟s voice had grown
flat. “I almost crashed into two of my
classmates.I would‟ve broken their legs if I hadn‟t stopped myself in time. And if I‟d played
much longer, I know I would‟ve lost control and speeded up in front of everyone.”

“I‟m very sorry, Neel.” Arjun
said in a lowvoice. “I tried to warn you about this from
the start. You have incredible abilities now, but they come at a certain price. I told you that
you would have to be careful around others. It‟s very easy for you to physically hurt them if
you‟re not careful. Caution must becomea part of your life now.”

Neel shrugged. “Yeah, guess I‟ll just to learn to live with it.”

 

They arrived at the gym, where Negi and Premi were waiting for them as usual. Neel left
to change into his exercise clothes.

 

“He looks depressed.” Premi observed, watching Neel walk towards the changing
rooms.

“He had his first game of his favorite sport today since the accident.” Arjun looked at
the other two men grimly. “Needless to say, it wasn‟t exactly a success. I‟m actually
surprised there weren‟t any casualties in that game.But now he realizes he can‟t play with his
friends anymore without putting them in danger.”

“Poor kid.” Negisaid softly. “I couldn‟t imagine not being able to play games at that
age.”

 

“Power like his can‟t be an advantage in every situation of his life.” Premi said.“At least
he seems to have accepted the fact rather than trying to fight against it.”

 

Neel returned wearing his exercise clothes, stretching his arms, neck and shoulders as he
came towards them.

 

“Sorry to hear about the game, Neel.” Negi called out to him.

“Thanks
.” Neel said with a smallsmile. “It‟s no big deal. I‟ll learn to live with it.”
“Besides, you already have quite a lot of physical activity in your life.” Premi observed.
“None of your friends from school know what it feels like to run at ninety miles per hour and
jump thirtyfeet in the air.”

“Yes, you may not be able to play football anymore, but you can throw the ball out of
your school grounds if your classmates annoy you.” Arjun said with one of his rare smiles.

 

Neel‟s grin widened as he assumed the correct posture and prepared to punch.“I‟ll keep that
in mind.”

 

* * *

 

Dusk was already falling when he returned home that day. He unlatched the front door
and parked his cycle inside. He found his mother in the living room, poring over a paper.

 

“How was coaching, Neel?” his mother asked him as he entered.

 

“Fine.” Neel called out from the kitchen as he went to get a bottle of water. “I‟m really
starting to understand what they‟re trying to teach me now.”

 

“Good.” his mother said, returning to her paper, a pen poised in one hand.

 

“What are you writing?” Neel asked, sitting on the sofa near her. He uncorked the bottle
and drank from it deeply.

“An article about the state of the park in Delhi Hart.” his mother sighed. “How am I
supposed to writean exciting article about litter responsibility?” Neel nodded
sympathetically.

Neel‟s mother
worked for a local newspaper called Jagaran. At the start of her career she
had been an investigative journalist, travelling the country in search of news. Neel‟s father
had been a journalist as well. Nikhil Dervin had had an adventurous nature and a love of
travelling, and often took assignments in foreign lands. It was while covering a political strike
in Srinagar inKashmir that Neel‟s mother and father had first met, and discovered that they
both had worked for the same local channel at one time. Neither had planned on a
relationship so soon in their careers, but amidst all the turbulence in that area they had gotten
closer. Not even all the strikes and violence could take away the majestic and heartwarming
beauty of Kashmir, popularly dubbed „Paradise on Earth‟ by tourists. They had explored the
beauty of the Vale of Kashmir and the Jhelum River together, and had grown to care more for
each other every day.

Their friendship had ripened rapidly. On returning to Delhi,
Neel‟s father had accepted a
position with his mother‟s news channel. They had dated for a year, and then after a short
engagement they married. Twelve months later his mother had become pregnant with Neel.
In the middle of her seventh month of pregnancy Nikhil had been called away to cover a
series of riots in Africa among the immigrant Indian population there. He had hated to leave
his wife in her pregnant state, but accepting the assignment meant a huge bonus, and very
possibly a position with a national news channel which had shown interest in him. The extra
money would come in very handy now thatthey were starting a family. Neel‟s grandmother
had assured him that she would look after his young wife, her new daughter in law. Nisha
Dervin had not wanted him to leave either. But she understood how important the assignment
was for their future together. And so on a quiet, peaceful morning they had stood outside their
house in the fresh blowing breeze. Nikhil had kissed his young wife one last time and left,
promising to come back in time for the delivery with enough money, he hoped, to move them
to a better house.

For more than three months after his departure there had been a period of silence that
seemed to stretch out to eternity. And then finally they had received news. Nikhil Dervin had
died in Africa after being caught in the middle of a gang war on the streets of Somali in
Ethiopia.

Neel had been a month old at the time. His mother had been devastated and had gone
into shock for days.Neel‟s grandmother stayed on with them, looking after her daughter as
well as her grandson. Eventually the news had sunk in fully. The world and her
responsibilities could not wait for her to grieve, and Nisha Dervin prepared to take care of her
infant son on her own.

She had never returned to active journalism. There was no time to travel when she had a
son to raise. She had worked as a part time reporter and freelancer for two years. And once
Neel was old enough, she had applied for and secured the position of a journalist for Jagaran.

“Maybe you could write about the effects of non bio degradable wastes on the
ground,
like whatwe‟re learning about in class.” Neel suggested. “Mrs. Jha keeps telling us we‟ll be
left with barren soil and not have anything to eat but worms and insects in a few years. That
sounds pretty interesting.”

“It‟s an idea.” his mother said, smiling at him. “And I‟m glad to see you‟re paying
attentionat school.”

 

Neel grinned. “I have to catch up on a bunch of homework now.” he said as he rose.

 

“I‟ll call you when dinner is ready.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Neel went up the stairs noiselessly. His mother liked to have peace while she was
writing. He entered his room and closed the door softly behind him.

A few minutes later, Neel stared at the homework spread out in front of him, on his desk
and his bed. Five pages of compositions. Two historical and four geographic maps. Two
chapters worth of exercises in math. Four chapters in science. All together, he was looking at
roughly four solid hours worth of work.

He sighed wearily, drawing out his pen. He grabbed the English book and his notebook,
and bent over them.

One and a half hours later, he sat back, stunned, his entire work complete.
He stared at the work he had done. He had known his speed would help him get the
work done quickly, but he had not hoped for anything this dramatic. He also found that he
could remember a large amount of what he had written down.

He picked up a page of composition. The writing had become erratic and blurred in
parts, difficult to read, and some of the areas had holes driven in them where he had pressed
the nib in too hard. His new abilities were definitely going to be useful here, once he learnt to
apply them properly. Like Arjun had said, the technique wasn‟t perfect yet, but now it was all
a matter of practice.

A big grin slowly forming on his face, he bent over a fresh page and set to work more
carefully.

 

CHAPTER 7: Evolution

 

Neel‟s life had settled into the new routine. He attended school. At two thirty, he left for
Swan labs and stayed there for two hours.

His time at the laboratory complex was slowly chan
ging him. He didn‟t even notice it at
first. But gradually, his punches and kicks became smoother and more accurate. His balance
improved. The number of laps he could run around the field increased steadily. The
techniques of parkour that Arjun was teaching him were slowly, and by dint of regular
practice, becoming a part of his natural reflexes.

He always had something new to learn. As soon as he seemed on the verge of mastering
a technique, he was introduced to something new and even more difficult. He learnt how to
block punches, dodge hits and to counter attack. He learnt how to run steadily for hours
without slowing down. He learnt how to use his limbs to lift his entire body over obstacles
without decreasing his speed for an instant. Vaults, wall crawls, climb ups, drops and the like
were taught to him daily. Continuous climbing, made extremely difficult for normal people
because their hands had to support the weight of their bodies, meant nothing to Neel‟s
powerful arms.

He should have been overwhelmed by the flood of training, but it seemed his trainers
were right. He was able to process all the information he gained, as long as he was paying
attention, and he practiced his exercises daily in his room whenever he could find the time.
He felt like a new born child who was just learning to use his senses and limbs to understand
the new world around him and explore his surroundings. It was difficult as well as
fascinating work.

They were also teaching his about the nerve clusters in the human body that made for
prime attacking points. A strong enough strike to the area resulted in unconsciousness. Neel
was taught to identify those spots, although he never used them in the sparring sessions.
Arjun had told him that they were to be useful for when he needed to finish a fight quickly.

A large and highly detailed map of Delhi and the surrounding areas had been pinned to
the wall in the hall. Neel was informed by Arjun that he was supposed to memorize the layout
of the city, with every road, street, back alley and building. Neel had stared at the map in
disbelief, finding it difficult to believe that he could accomplish such a gigantic and
complicated task. But Arjun had been firm.Neel wasn‟t even sure whether this exercise was
going to be particularly useful, but he did as was directed. Although it had seemed impossible
at first, every day he committed another part of the city to memory, and slowly the map
began to take root in his mind.

From time to time, Doctor Fahim or Divya called him from his training and asked him
various questions about his general health. How many hours did he sleep at night these days?
Was he hungrier since the accident, or had his appetite remain unchanged? Did it seem as
though his hair or nails were growing unusually rapidly? How exactly had his hearing and
eyesight been affected by the intake of the serum? Was his sense of taste affected as well?
Tests were done on him often. He had been told that Divya was preparing a detailed list of his
complete health and well being. Even with all the interest the military was taking in him, he
was still part of a scientific experiment, and the more they learnt from his experiences the
better.
There were also quite a few times that he met General Bakshi and the Defense Minister,

Mr. Rai. The latter was usually very kind to him, and inquired as to how his training was
going. General Bakshi rarely spoke but watched him narrowly, and at the time of their visits
Neel was convinced the General was watching his training closely through the painted
window. The knowledge only served to increase his sense of discomfort. Neel knew the
general did not like him. And even though the General never said anything negative to him,
his relentlessly forbidding gaze had an intimidating effect on Neel.

Two months into the training, Neel was becoming remarkably proficient in his fighting
style. His coaches did not praise him too much, but they were very pleased and more than a
little surprised with his quick grasp of the various techniques. He sparred regularly with the
three, keeping his speed as low as possible, and began to learn to hold his own in a fight
against them depending solely on his skills.

The first few days had been hard, with Neel too busy keeping his strength in check to
worry about technique. Like Arjun had said, there was an upper limit to his normal strength
beyond which it turned into super strength, and he needed to learn precisely how much force
he needed to produce to achieve balance in his strikes. The first few weeks had been
particularly dangerous for his three trainers, and most of the sessions ended with them
clutching some part of their body in painthat had come in contact with Neel‟s fists or feet,
with Neel apologizing profusely to them. After the first few sessions his trainers began to
wear extra strong padding materials during the spars, so that no serious damage would be
done to them while Neel learned to handle his strength. And Neel was finally beginning to
learn that control. The sessions now became more about skill than brute strength, and helped
him greatly in learning to become a skilled fighter.