102 Wake-up Call

'What is the right thing to do when you are pitted against people who have no qualms about killing you and your close ones?'

'Is killing them by yourself, just because you possess the required capabilities, the ethical thing to do?'

'Does this agree with the way that I want to define myself?'

These were the conflicting thoughts that ran in Aditya's mind as his eyes seemed to have flames burning in them in the darkness as he looked at the horrific scene in front of him. The fire in his eyes was the reflection of the burning building in front of him whose flames reached tens of meters into the air while a dark smoke that emanated from the fire engulfed the stars in the sky. Aditya was sure that this smokescreen would be visible even if one was kilometres away from this area. Because it was a sparsely inhabited area as well as night time along with Taarini's preparations, no one came to the site.

Cries of despair filed Aditya's ears as he looked at the building in flames and the people who were still pouring fuel onto it so that the flames spread faster. He felt that if there was a hell, it might resemble this scene. Munna had people surround the building and start shooting under his leadership before even Taarini came. He knew that Taarini would definitely take a soft stance if she was the one in charge. Also, Munna did not want Taarini to be forced to make the hard decisions and make her suffer if her indecisive attitude caused her own brothers to be killed.

They had thought that the opposite party might put up one last fight but they did not imagine that the mafia leaders would just stay in the building refusing to come out. Munna had already prepared for it, he started burning the whole building from one end and have the flames spread towards the other so as to smoke out these people like how you force a snake to leave its anthill.

In the beginning, the mafia leaders inside tried to stop from starting the fire but their efforts did not succeed and the fire started successfully. Once it started, the rest became easy as people truly started coming out as they couldn't breathe inside. Each and everyone was taken down with no exception. Not even the working personnel were spared as Munna conjectured that the mafia leaders might disguise themselves as one for escaping or for launching surprise attacks. But these innocent people were utilized as human shields as these people attempted to escape but weren't successful in the end.

This was the kind of ruthless decisions that Taarini would struggle to take. But Munna was fine with this kind of collateral damage as long as his brothers were not put at risk trying to act humanely. He would rather be the devil. That was his way of upholding his promise to his elder brother Manu who wanted him to look after Taarini's safety.

Actually, such bloody gang wars were never before seen as usually things would get resolved through a show of strength and a little negotiation as no one wanted to just smash their heads against each other like brutes. But the times are changing and the future benefits of occupying the whole underworld of a metropolitan city in the future were something to die for.

Munna had only known about this when he had participated in the discussion with Aditya's elder sister and Little Miss. While he and Taarini got this news from Saira, the other gangs got this news from the Mumbai Mafia Alliance who was actually acting on the orders of their new boss in Mumbai. This was also the reason that Munna took this fight very seriously. He did not want to let a rat escape as it might cause never-ending trouble for them.

Even if Taarini did not want to take any part in this fight and stay away from the underworld, Munna was not naive enough to think that a deeprooted power like Taarini's would just be ignored by the opposite party, taking her word for it. It was not possible, so the only route was going forward and making sure that there was no second power in Bangalore which could match them.

Munna did not even spare Kasi's gang who was actually quite friendly with elder brother Manu. Kasi's gang had been assimilated into their gang a few days ago.

By the time that Taarini and Aditya had reached the location, the fire had reached the other end and most of the people were already killed. Especially, all the innocent people were among the first to be killed off. A freezing aura spread around Taarini when she saw this but she did not move. She glanced at Munna once but did not say anything as she watched the scene calmly while it was Aditya whose heart chilled when he saw this scene.

He calmly took upon treating wounded people. He had some seriously wounded people sent to the hospital while small injuries or bullet wounds to limbs was first treated by him before being sent away.

Though his hands were moving dexterously without any flaw, Aditya's mind was filled with scenes of people been shot down or burnt and the cries filled with anguish echoed in his mind endlessly. At that moment he did not see mafia leaders who had lived the most luxurious lives with money earned by doing similar deeds, he just saw humans trying to live.

No one was treated any different from the other in this bloodshed. Leaders, goons, innocent workers were killed just the same. Aditya noticed the coldness in Munna's and Raghav's gaze as they killed people and suddenly felt that after all these days of knowing them, this was their true nature which they kept hidden during normal times.

Aditya was capable enough to take down all these people and stop this conflict forcefully but his heart was not sure of anything right now. His own mind split into two parts where the logical part stated reason after reason for how Munna was doing the right thing while the emotional part wanted nothing but to stop this carnage as it was unable to see any more pain.

He did not know if the conflict in his heart was good or bad, so he turned his attention towards what he could do, healing. His heart convulsed when he remembered that it was his help that had actually made this scene possible. Did he have these people's blood on his hands? The answer was affirmative.

At some point, Taarini came and sat beside Aditya. She held Aditya's hand as she muttered in a low voice, "you and me, we are outlaws, people who have the acquired abilities to be unbound by the system. We have made sure that the law can't catch us. In this level, do you know what stops us from becoming cold and merciless monsters?" Taarini looked at Aditya with clear eyes.

Aditya shook his head while he kept his head down. Taarini looked at the burning building as she said, "it's our own conscience. That is the only scale we have that can keep us in check. But do you know how hard it is to maintain a clean conscience when you have this power? Most of such people fall in the way and turn into parasites of this society which are eventually eliminated automatically when they cross the 'bearing' threshold of the society."

Aditya raised his head to look at Taarini who continued, "we all have our own perspectives on life, on what is right and what is wrong from what we see, hear and read. But once you enter the real society, the boundaries between right and wrong start to blur slowly. You will find that people can not be segregated as good and bad people easily. You will find that humans are more complicated than that."

" For example, when two countries go to war, both of them have opposite perspectives which are equally true to each of them. Rebels in one's perspective are 'freedom fighters' in others. You may think that the other side's narrative is false and thrash, it may also be true but you cannot deny the fact that some people are ready to give up their lives based on this 'thrash' perspective. We all know the popular perspective but never the actual truth because the absolute truth lies well hidden and no one has the time or the ability to dig deeper. Even if you feel that you think that you found the absolute truth, you will discover many people around you who feel like theirs is the absolute truth which would be very different from yours." Taarini spoke as she looked ahead.

"So, the only way the people like us keep a clean conscience is by deciding on our own moral bottom line. In the end, you have to decide the threshold which you will never cross even if you have to die. My bottom line is to achieve a safe and secure life for me and my followers. I try to stay away from disturbing other people's lives as much as possible but when I am forced by situations, I immediately choose the safety and well-being of my people over others without a second thought."

"In the same way, elder brother Munna's moral bottom line is my safety. As long as my safety is threatened, he does not mind becoming a devil to guarantee my safety. He wouldn't even listen to my orders if these instructions run counter to his bottom line" Aditya looked at Taarini when he heard these words.

Taarini turned and looked straight in his eyes with a gentle expression for the first time. Aditya felt a little clarity slowly dawning in his mind as he looked at her crystal gaze. She gave a beautiful smile and said, "So, I suggest that you figure out your perspective and moral bottom line on which you could guarantee that you will hold on to, no matter what. Because according to my opinion, you are in dire need of one. I can say with certainty that you have the highest potential to practically ignore the thoughts and compulsions of the society more than anyone I know."

"You will find in the future that you are answerable to no authority. I know that you are too busy right now with thinking about saving your parents but have you ever thought about what happens when you save them. How are you going to use your abilities? What is the direction? What are the limitations?"

Taarini patted Aditya's hands a little as she said, "I know that you have been brought up imbibed with wonderful teachings from your parents. You have your heart in the right place. You might not believe when I say but it is very rare to find in this current society, especially, in the people who hold the true power in this world. But I feel that you are taking these characteristics of yours for granted. I want you to treasure this side of yours as it is very valuable in my eyes."

Taarini's eyes became stern as she warned, "If you don't figure out your way quickly, the day will come when you will be forced to take a stand with no prior heads-up. And on that day, when you face a decision to kill or not to kill, whatever decision you take, a part of you will be split forever."

"Killing is not done easily and, the psychological and moral costs of killing are high. If a person takes a life, even out of necessity, reconciling that action with one's continuing moral goodness takes a great deal of psychological and moral effort. Killing someone without having to split yourself requires nerves of steel and a rock-steady consciousness."

"So you have to question yourself whether you have the conviction to do the ugly job and if you don't have it, you will fail to remain the same Aditya in the future. You will become someone who is alien to yourself and your closed ones. At that time, even if you manage to save your parents, they would not be able to recognize you anymore." These were the words that her elder brother had spoken to her when he had returned injured from the Kargil war. Taarini felt that Aditya needed to know these thoughts of her elder brother which had helped her in many crucial times.

Aditya's heart trembled when he heard these words. It was true that he had been avoiding this issue from the moment Taarini had asked him to kill a person (Rana), a month ago. He had consoled himself that somehow he would be automatically ready when the situation arose and avoided figuring out the hard questions, his inner conscience raised. He had buried them deep within his heart as he wanted to postpone this issue as long as possible.

But today's impact shattered this unrealistic fantasy. He realised that he was woefully unprepared to deal with this issue which threw him into a vortex of conflicting thoughts from which he could not escape. Taarini's words was the required wake-up call for him as he realised the dangerous junction that he was in. He realised the dire consequence he would have faced if he had continued to ignore this critical issue. Aditya's eyes lit up with resolve as he clenched his fists. He turned to face Taarini as he smiled at her and hugged her tightly.

Taarini was stunned when Aditya hugged her but she did not avoid as she held him and patted his back gently. She whispered in his ear, "you may be feeling guilty as these deaths were only possible because of your help. It is true that you have a part in this but at the same time, you have saved my followers and your brothers from being killed by these people in the future and for that..." Taarini kissed him on his left cheek, "thank you."

The faces of the core members became dark when they saw a brat taking advantage of their little miss while the new members were gritted their teeth. They were even more shocked when they saw their little miss kissing this brat.