THE HOUSE OF HEROES
Pingo moved around in
the big hallway, taking snacks and drinks from waiters moving with trays laden
with food. God knows how, but the members of the House of Heroes were extremely
rich, and they didn’t spare any expense in organizing a new year’s party. Not
that there were many to attend- only members of the HOH had access to the
HeadQuarters situated at the middle of the Pacific. Supplies had to be flown in
from Canada by HOH’s secret supplier. But even with the handful of people,
Pingo was having the time of his life. Learning that his grandfather was alive
and well back in Delhi was a huge weight off his shoulders. Apparently killing
Pingo was supposed to be a suicide mission, so the air-hostess who member of
D.H.O.K.L.A blew up the plane to avoid
getting arrested and to make sure there wasn’t any evidence of Pingo’s death.
But luckily his grandfather had escaped in the nick of time on a parachute and
rescued by HOH, which always had information about this mission. Grandfather
was sent back to Delhi since he wasn’t really allowed inside the HOH HQ. Pingo
took a roasted chicken leg and sat down next to Umbrellabot, who was really a
young man of about thirty who had a magical umbrella he had invented. One can
use it to fly, shield against bullets and also shoot bullets. He was the one
who wore a black jumpsuit with Umbrella motifs.
“Hey Pingo”
“Hey U-bot,” Pingo replied, “You know, I never can get
around learning everyone’s names. Can you run me through them again?”
“All right. The guy who turns in a human frog is called the
Poison-Dart-Frog, or PDF in short. The boy who can influence minds is called
Furro.”
“And Janitor?”
U-bot took a swig of his coke and answered with a burp, “Oh
that fatty? He excellent at detecting enemies even when they aren’t visible. He
does this thing called the clean sweep that exposes every hidden thing.”
“Cool! But thing is, isn’t it all a bit strange? Like are we
mutants or something, like the X-men? I think a lot about it.”
“I haven’t figured out what we are exactly yet. But this I
know we aren’t mutants. I’ve checked Furro’s genetic composition. Perfectly
normal. I suspect its some kind of magic in our body that I haven’t been able
to find out yet. I suspect some kind of virus that’s attached itself to us. A
special pathogen.”
“But all your power comes from your umbrella. What
superpower do you have eh?” But this time PDF, the DJ of the day had cranked up
the music and Pingo felt like his ears that were tuned for Gujarati classical
music were going to blast. He took a cheese quiche from a passing tray.
“Umm, my superpower is something no one can really
experience. How do you think I was able to make my super umbrella? Brains, man.
That’s my superpower. Come throw a number at me. A big one.”
“Three hundred sixty seven.”
“Another.”
“Fifty nine”
“If multiplied, the answer is 21653. If the second number is
divided from the first, the quotient is 6.22033898305.” U-bot said all this in
just the blink of an eye. Pingo’s quiche nearly fell out of his mouth.
“Wow”
“Enough about me. Tell me about your Dhokla story”
Pingo started. “Well it wasn’t pretty difficult to bust the
ring. The scandal was that there was a company which would pack drugs into
Dhoklas and distribute it across the country, unsuspected by anyone. No one
really checks the composition of Dhoklas anyway. This particular drugged brand
of Dhoklas would be hidden in Dhokla shops until special customers would come
and ask for it. They would all be drug addicts and they would know the code
word for asking for the special thing. Sometimes these druggies wouldn’t have
money and would lootshops for their Dhokla. I happened to witness such a thing
and by luck the particular looter had good connections with the suppliers and
turned me over. I woke up bound and gagged in the factory. After realizing what
they were doing, I tried desperately to stop their shipment and then
accidentally cut my hand in the machine. My blood got mixed with the Dhokla mix
and then they had to stop it obviously, as the blood would be clearly seen by
officials. By then my grand-father found out where I was and came in with a
police team to bust them out. So it’s not my contribution really. I just
accidentally managed to stop one of their weekly supplies.”
“You were great man!
I would have loved to be in your place. You must be a legend in your
country!”
“Not really. Anyway, why is the door to your South Room
always locked? Someone inside?”
“Yes, and you must never ever try to meet him” U-bot said in
a very alarmed state. His voice was strangely hushed.
“Who’s inside?”
U-bot got his face close to Pingo’s and said in a soft
almost inaudible whisper- “Pelicandy”
