Neel Dervin and the Dark Angel

by Neeraj Chand

  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.

  One day Neel had done his warming up routine, and was waiting to begin his exercises. He bent to tie his shoelaces more tightly. One of the problems of his new found speed was that the friction from his speed wore the soles off the shoes he wore very quickly. He was regularly supplied with brand new and very expensive shoes, but wore through them just as quickly.

  “You"ve done well so far.” Arjun was saying as Negiand Premi stood next to him. “But now it"s time you learn something a little more difficult.”

  “Okay, I"m ready.” Neel said, standing up and facing Arjun.

  Arjun brought out his hand from behind his back. He was holding a gun.

  “This is a Beretta 92 semi automatic pistol.” Arjun said quietly as Neel stared at the gun. Negi and Premi were watching him intently. Neel looked up at from the gun to Arjun.

  “So there are going to be alot of guns involved in this kind of business?”He said slowly, even as he realized it was a silly question.

  “Yes, quite a few.” Arjun said gravely. “But you can handle them, trust me. Close your eyes.” Neel obeyed him. “Now accelerate your brain speedlike we practiced.” Neel took a deep breath and pushed his mind"s attention inward. His heart beat increased, and he focused his mind, slowly willing it to increase the speed of his thoughts until they blurred past at a blinding speed. He opened his eyes, and now the world was moving in slow motion around him.

  Arjun raised the gun, and fired. Neel jumped violently and then backed away rapidly, his heart hammering. The sound of the bullet leaving the gun had been louder than anything he had heard before. It was like an explosion inside his brain. Arjun stared at him while he tried to slow his brain down. It was made considerably harder by the tingling of his nerves.

  “The sound cannot hurt you or your eardrums.” Arjun"s voice came over the ringing in his ears. “It can, however, give you excellent warning and ample time to dodge the bullet. You will have to get used to thatsound. Again.”

  Neel hesitated, staring at the gun. Arjun did not lower the weapon. Slowly, Neel stepped forward again. He closed his eyes and again forced his mind to speed up.

  Arjun waited for a moment. Neel nodded, gritting his teeth. Again, Arjun fired a shot. The sound assaulted his ears again, but this time Neel did not turn away. He saw the bullet leave the gun, and followed its progress until it buried itself in the wall in front of them.

  Neel closed his eyes briefly and slowed his brain down.

  “You saw the bullet?” Arjun asked him.

  Neel nodded. “It was still pretty fast.” he said. “But I saw it.” “Which is why we will now start a new part of your training.” Arjun said. “ Until now, you have been taught things a normal person is taught. You will now be taught techniques that your enhanced mindwill find useful.” He brought Neel to the centre of the hall and stood in front of him.

  “There are certain things that you are now capabl e of which an average human would find impossible to do.” he said. “One of the biggest advantages you have now is that your reflexes are much, much better than everyoneelse"s. The speed with which a normal human views a situation, recognizes the danger, decides how to handle it, and then acts accordingly is considerably slower than yours. In dangerous situations, that gives you an amazing edge.”

  Neel nodded. It was true that the speed of his reflexes was even faster than his running speed. Those reflexes had already been of great use to him in learning the parkour techniques Arjun was teaching him. Split second timing was essential in parkour for planning the next move during a run, and that split second meant a great deal more time for Neel than it would have for anyone else.

  “A bullet does not move in a completely straight line from the time it leaves the barrel of the gun to the time it reaches its target.” Arjun was saying. “Rather, it rises after leaving the barrel and then immediately begins to drop. A lot of factors affect its speed and direction. I will teach
you to understand that path so that you can dodge bullets effectively. Are you ready?” Neel nodded.

  “Then let"s begin.” Arjun said as he raised the gun again.

  * * * Arjun had taken to driving him around the city for a while after picking him up in the afternoon. The length of the drives depended on how well Neel remembered the places he had memorized in the map. Apparently Arjun had already committed the entire city map to his memory. He would drive them around the city, asking Neel where he thought they were, and correcting him when he answered incorrectly. Arjun did not seemannoyed that Neel"s memory of the map wasn"t perfect yet and did not yell at him, for which Neel was grateful.

  His practice with guns was improving. At first, he had practiced with color pellets. They left a bright, accusing spot on his clothes whenever he failed to dodge correctly. Nevertheless, Neel quite enjoyed those sessions. As he continued practice, his speed and movements improved, until he was able to dodge all the pellets easily.

  That was when Arjun introduced the rubber bullets. These were much faster than the color pellets, and much more dangerous. Rubber bullets can fracture ribs and break bones in the normal human body. Neel"s increased bone density meant he was not in danger of that, yet the bullets were quite painful when they hit him.

  It was then that Neel understood the importance of the technique that Arjun was teaching him. While dodging the color pellets, he had concentrated on individual pellets and dodged them one at a time, something his speed allowed him to do with ease. But this technique did not work when he was up against the much faster rubber bullets fired at him from multiple points.

  Neel learned to follow the trajectory of the bullet to judge where it would hit before it left the barrel. He learnt to follow the sweep of the barrel to see where it would trace a line with the bullets, the velocity of a shotaccording to Neel"s increased brain speed, their parabolic path, and even the coriolis effect of the Earth"s rotation on long range projectiles. Arjun had an extraordinarily keen knowledge of the subject, and he carefully told Neel the signs to look for, from the eyes of the shooter to the angle of the barrel. These skills came slowly, and during the first few sessions, Neel was hit so many times that he lost count. But as Arjun repeatedly pointed out, it would come to him eventually. It was simply a matter of practice, practice and more practice.