Maryada FF: Vidya-Gaurav (p. 30) - Page 14

Chapter 34: Reconnaissance

He waited until he was sure that she was asleep, until her breathing had changed to a slow and elongated rhythm, before leaving his bed to walk to their clothes-stand where her sarees from the past few days were still hanging up to air out. The window shades were parted and there was sufficient moonlight streaming into the room to allow him to sift through the clothes until he found what he was looking for… there was a blouse there with a deep tear right along the shoulder, almost ripping the sleeve off. The rage came on so quickly that he clutched the cloth in his hand as he forced himself to breathe normally. He walked to the bathroom and closed the door and ran the exhaust fan before retrieving and unlocking his spare phone.

He typed in a text rapidly.

"To: 696969

Did you know that it was my wife?

From: 00O00"

He only had to wait a minute before the reply came back.

"I was told afterwards."

He took a deep breath after reading the text. Anger never helped, he had to remind himself time and again.

"Why was I not told?" He sent his next question soon after.

"I thought you knew." The reply came back right away now.

"Who was on patrol that night?"

"M2"

"Ah… the Rogue. He knew that it was my wife?" he asked again.

"Yes."

"And the hand that was chopped?" he asked now.

"Two rapes; five sexual assaults; all pending. Will likely walk on all counts. Unsubstantiated evidence. He has backing in high places."

He resisted the urge to hit something and instead opened the window to lean out into the cool night.

"Next time, chop something more substantial." He typed rapidly.

"Roger." The wry reply came back quickly.

He smiled without humor.

"There appears be one more break-down in this communication chain. Why was I not told that the article was going to press today?" He asked what he had been waiting to ask since he heard the news that afternoon.

"It did not go from here. I was under the impression that you had been behind it."

He re-read the reply before texting back.

"Do we have a leak? Only you have access to that information."

"It was not from this end. Are you sure no one on your end has access to it?"

"Yes." He replied, although now he wondered.

"Put a call into your sources at the newspaper. I want to know who Trojan is. The next installment is scheduled next week, same day. Change your files; I will change mine as well. I want to know where the leak is."

"Roger."

This insistence on adopted military talk from American movies occasionally amused him; but it was the only humor they had, and so he allowed such contrivance from the other party.

"My wife. Was she a purposeful target?" He asked one last question. Even though he knew the answer, he had to be sure.

"No. Coincidence."

He didn't believe in coincidences, even when he could allow that there were isolated ones. And thus he replied, "See that it doesn't happen again. It's a request."

Wow...I wondered about Vidya's story when I read the previous part but put it down to too much thought on my part! 😲 Gaurav's caped crusader avatar...wonder if the story behind the marks is related to this or something else!

Chapter 35: Traitor

The next evening, when she got out of the coaching center, she saw his car parked right outside. She knew that it had been too much to hope that he wouldn't figure out that she had been talking about herself. She hadn't known how to tell him the night that it had happened, what with everything that had been going on between them then. She was glad that he knew now; even though it hadn't been him that had saved her, she believed without rhyme or reason that she would be safer if he knew.

He caught her standing on the doorstep of the building and got out of the car to lean against its door. She couldn't help but smile at the irony at the sight; what a perfect sight of domestic bliss they must seem to others. She wanted things to be the way they were, notwithstanding her traitorous heart. But in these matters, she wholly believed that there was no feeling that could not be overcome by willpower. And, she was going to test hers out, believing that she would be successful. There was even a practical way to do it… to be the way that they were two weeks ago, she would have to act the same as she did two weeks ago. Any residual awkwardness on her part would have to dissipate… So, he loved another woman. She knew that had been likely before; she now knew it for the truth. Time to move on with that truth.

"This is a surprise." She said when she was close enough to him.

"I am full of surprises." He smiled back.

He indeed was…

A few minutes into their drive and after some pleasantries about how their day had been, he finally said in a serious tone.

"Vidya, I want you to learn self-defense."

Yes, he was definitely full of surprises.

"Alright…" she finally said uncertainly.

He looked at her to read her reaction before saying, "There is a woman whom I know who teaches self-defense classes for women. It's nothing elaborate; just simple things that you can do to protect yourself if you are ever attacked… again." His tone changed on the last word and she thought it sounded harsher than the others.

"I was kind of hoping that the Man in the Cape would keep coming…" she said with a straight-face, wanting to make light of the situation now. She did not want to think of it.

He looked at her in surprise and she looked at him as well, noticing how taken aback he looked.

"Bad joke. He might be busy that day, of course." She couldn't help adding.

This time he laughed even as he thought about how true that may be...

"I am starting to think that I should be jealous." He remarked absently now as he looked ahead to the road.

She laughed without humor. "Yes, I imagine that there is no jealousy greater than the one for a man without a face."

"Would you want a man who saves you each time or one who teaches you to save yourself?" he asked seriously.

"Of course I would rather be saved… why would I take on the unpleasantness of being responsible for my own life when I could be a properly helpless damsel in distress? I mean, that whole thing reeks of some weird women's lib killed fantasy scenario, don't you think?"

It was so soon after their fight that he was surprised that she had gone right back to how she used to be, with her tongue-in-cheek humor. Not that he was complaining… he was only eternally grateful to have her back as she was… He looked over to her side to see her expression. When she saw him looking, she added seriously, "Alas, I will save myself. Relying on dashing superheroes is so 20^th century."

He laughed out loud and she finally smiled.

"Please don't keep such things from me again, Vidya, even if we are fighting." He said afterwards. She nodded.

"So, you are in? You will learn self-defense?" He asked now, his tone jovial once again.

"Just tell me when to start." She replied in jest, but he surprised her when he answered, "I am glad you asked that. I was thinking today, as in now."

The car stopped then and she found herself in front of a non-descript house in a relatively quiet neighborhood.

"This is where I am going to learn?" she asked.

He nodded as he got out of the car.

"I will be back in an hour to get you. The teacher is expecting you."

"Um…" she looked at her books and down at her sari and back up at him. "I am not dressed for… strenuous physical activity…"

"She has clothes for you inside. Don't worry."

"Alright…" the suddenness of it all struck her as odd, but she nodded anyways and walked inside.

He went for a drive while she was in class. Just as he pulled over to the side on a nearly empty road, his phone beeped and he pulled it out to check.

The text only said **** which meant that he needed to check his other phone.

It was not good news:

"To: 00O00

Leak identified. Trojan unidentified.

From: 696969"

"Where is the leak?" he asked.

"From my end. An unusual variant of a Trojan, incidentally. Remote access to my laptop."

"Shit!" he muttered to himself before he typed, "Any other files on your comp that are… sensitive?"

"No. Nothing of that sort is stored on this particular laptop except these. Someone was particularly targeting these files. Someone knows what we do…"

He considered that message for a moment before texting back,

"…or there is a traitor amongst us."

Wow...the mystery deepens! Awesome Devi!

Chapter 36: A Mishap

"A traitor? Whoever this is, I don't think he is working against us." A return text came back in a few moments.

"Not yet. But he has his own agenda, one that is hidden from us. We are a small enough group, certainly not big enough to have a member with a separate motive from us. Thus, any dissidents will have to be suspect." He sent his reply and waited.

"Roger. Will be on alert. Another news. Called the tabloid. They said that they cannot reveal the author, partially because I don't think they are entirely certain about the identity of the source. They won't get the next part until the day before it goes to print. That is next Tuesday."

"We will wait then." He shut off his phone afterwards and sat back in his seat thinking. Nowadays, he increasingly felt like he was juggling too many balls in the air… and that there was one that snuck in there without him noticing…the only way he knew that it was there was because he was off-kilter.

He hadn't contacted Salome since that day when she had asked him not to, although he did keep tabs on her as he had done during the past three years, just to make sure that she was indeed safe. She remained as she was, traveling more frequently now than before, usually out of country… but it was not anything that she hadn't done before. He used to go with her at times; in fact, those were some of the best memories they ever had, but inevitably they had had to return… one always had to come back home... not matter what hellhole it may be…

His phone beeped again; it was the alarm that he had set to alert him to head back to get Vidya.

He pulled into the driveway and waited outside the car. Within a few minutes, a woman came out of the house towards him.

"Are you Vidya's husband?" she asked and he nodded, straightening away from the car.

"Would you come in? There's been a bit of a mishap."

He rushed up the stairs and into the house and the woman led him to the back where several women were clustered around in a crowd around someone.

They all looked back when they heard him and parted way for him as he walked towards his wife. She was sitting on a chair with her left foot balanced on another chair and Mrs. Fernandez, the self-defense instructor, was bending over her knee.

Mrs. Fernandez tapped and then pressed down on different parts of her knee and he saw Vidya wince once in pain. She must have heard the silence that fell over the crowd because her eyes suddenly opened and she looked up at him, her eyes widening. Mrs. Fernandez had given her a cotton churidar to wear and now she had the bottom of it lifted past her knee as Mrs. Fernandez inspected the damage.

He raised his eyebrow at his wife and she tried to tug down the bottom of her churidhar as she shook her head at him.

Mrs. Fernandez looked at her in surprise, saying, "Wait, I wasn't done yet."

Vidya looked back at Mrs. Fernandez, embarrassed now. "I'm sorry. But I'm alright. Really. I am truly alright."

She turned to him again and Mrs. Fernandez finally followed her gaze to look back at him.

"Oh Gaurav. There you are. We had a little accident. Vidya fell and I think that she may have twisted her knee. But she keeps telling me that she is okay. I think you should definitely ice it when you get home."

By the time she turned around to face Vidya, she had already shrugged down the edge of her churidhar bottom so that it covered her fully once again and was starting to get up. She stumbled in her haste, just as he had known that she would do. He made her nervous at times… Just as Mrs. Fernandez steadied her, he walked forward to swing his wife up into his arms.

She was visibly surprised and looked around them at the women, some of the young ones now giggling, before whispering without looking at him, "I am alright, really. Put me down."

He didn't acknowledge her request as he thanked Mrs. Fernandez and started carrying her back towards the front of the house, the women following behind.

"Honest, Gaurav. I can walk. Put me down." She bit out to him a second time in a whisper, trying to keep a smile in place as she looked over his shoulder at the women behind.

"Be still Vidya. It's only a few steps down to the car, but if you keep wiggling like this, we might both fall on our behinds." He said in a matter-of-fact tone.

She looked up at him briefly, but did not resist afterwards.

One of the girls rushed ahead thoughtfully to open the passenger-side door for him. He thanked her before leaning in to place his wife on the seat.

"My books and sari…" she whispered to him before he pulled out.

He nodded and straightened just as one of the girls passed him just those items. He thanked her as well and walked around to the driver side of the car, giving a brief nod and wave to everyone around.

Once he started the car and pulled out of the driveway and noticed that she was still quiet, he asked, "So, is this a clever ploy to get the Man in the Cape to reappear?"

He turned towards her just in time to see a small smile appear on her lips.

After a moment, she replied, "It depends."

"On what?" he asked.

"On whether it's working." She said just as she rolled down the window fully.

This time he did laugh out loud.

When they got home, he walked around and carried her out of the car, once again to her resistance, this time more vehement.

"Someone is going to see…" she whispered.

"I thought that is the only way that I am allowed to touch you…" He whispered back and she looked up at him in surprise.

He didn't acknowledge her look of surprise as he carried her in and up the stairs.

Chapter 37: Andromeda

Almost three weeks after that day, she was kidnapped. She had finally convinced Gaurav that she did not need to be picked up by him everyday and that she could use her newly acquired, albeit shoddy, palm-heel-strike and kick-him-where-it-hurts skills to protect herself. Little did she know how untrue that was… Just as she was walking out of the coaching center to catch her bus that evening, she was caught unawares and before she could even think of raising her palm or knee to activate said attacks, someone held a musky cloth to her nose and she felt a darkness steal over her. Her body slumped as her mind retreated from consciousness.

***

"Your wife is with me as of 7:01 pm. If you want to see her alive, come to this address." Such was the text that he received at 9:29 pm just before he reached home from work. His first reaction was to call his mother to check and, indeed, Vidya had not reached home yet. His mother was surprised at his question as she thought that Vidya was with him. He told her he would call her back and waited a few minutes before calling to say that Vidya had just been running late from the coaching center and that she had now been found. He told his mother that they may stay out for the night, much to his mother's predictable surprised pleasure.

He didn't waste a minute before turning his car around to head to the address mentioned in the text; it was a deserted corner of two roads much removed from any main streets. But, no sound greeted him other than the beeping of his phone. A new text came through now, giving him yet another address, which he knew was at least a half hour's drive out of the city. When he arrived there, in the middle of an inconsequential town, yet another text came through, this time asking him to drive even farther, at least 45 minutes out still…

Someone was leading him on a merry chase for a reason; they wanted him to become angry and agitated… and so he would not.

When he arrived at the third location, his phone beeped on cue. This text was a bit different from the others though.

"Welcome to the Poseidon, Perseus. Are you ready to rescue your Andromeda?"

-the CUP"

The CUP?

"Who are you? Where am I? Where is my wife?" he texted back quickly before flipping his other phone on and sending another text.

"To: 696969

Random question. Andromeda was tied to a rock to be devoured by a sea monster in Greek mythology, right?"

-00O00"

OP, his ever reliable resource and wingman of thirteen years replied back within a few minutes.

"To: 00O00

"Yes. Perseus rescued her before she met her unfortunate fate. Are you in trouble? By the way, the fourth chapter on the SSP is coming in print tomorrow, and you must have guessed of course – it's printing in another tabloid."

From: 696969"

There was nothing to guess about that. The maverick who had stolen the expose about his father that had taken him years to put together had taken on a novel approach for its publication. Every week, each successive chapter was going to a completely different tabloid. Once the second chapter was picked up by a different one, there had been an uproar from the first tabloid, the upset giving it more popularity than the usual trash such papers printed. By the time the third chapter came out in yet another tabloid, both the content and the odd publication strategy had become something of a phenomenon. But that mattered not in the least right now and he texted back.

"To: 696969

Have you heard of the CUP?

From: 00O00"

He glanced at his regular phone, waiting for further directions, while trying to keep his impatience down and not let his agitation take over.

But the phone that beeped now was the one with OP's text.

"To: 00O00

the CUP? Yes, I have, but it's is a myth. He doesn't exist."

From: 696969"

That did not sound good. Not that anything that had happened since he got the first text at 9:29 pm had sounded good.

"To: 696969

What is the myth?

From 00O00"

He glanced at the other phone again, still frustratingly mute. He checked to see whether his last text had gone through and when he saw that it had, he forced himself to not text again.

Beep.

"To: 00O00

Well, he is basically a vendor. But the legend is that the service that he sells is… a specialized form of torture. If you have obscene amounts of money to pay, you can buy his service for any purpose really… including murder. Although, he does not take on work that is just straight murder. While he has no qualms about killing people, the central purpose of buying his service is to get something out of someone that they are not willing to give… like secrets… or favors… or loyalty… You get the idea. But like I said, it's a myth. He doesn't exist. How did you hear about him?"

From: 696969"

Still nothing on the other phone.

"To: 696969

What is so mystical about that? Sounds like every other psychopath or Mafioso out there.

From: 00O00"

He didn't have to wait long before the reply came.

"To: 00O00

Ah, that's because you don't know what the CUP stands for. It's an acronym, but you probably already guessed that. It stands for the Cruel and Unusual Punisher.

From: 696969"

Cruel and Unusual Punisher

The other phone beeped just then.

"I am the legendary CUP, of course. If you didn't know, I am sure that whoever you were just texting now enlightened you." He looked up and around him. He had already figured that he must be being tracked; one or both of his phones were likely compromised, although he seriously doubted that it could happen with the second phone. It was untraceable and disposable and he changed it weekly.

He looked back down at his phone to read the rest of the text.

"You are in Poseidon, just as I told you before. And your wife, the incandescently beautiful Andromeda, is here with me too. I am the beast Cetus to your Perseus. Come… Come rescue this exquisite nymph who is shackled quite provocatively to the proverbial rock in my lair."

He closed his eyes as a deep chill spread through his body, no longer able to stop the images that flooded his mind about what could have happened to his wife.

The phone beeped again before he could release the breath that he was holding in.

"Each minute you delay will cost this untouched sprite of yours. You know, there is a luminescence that only virgins have… Your wife's body is practically glowing with it…"

The chill in his body turned just that swiftly to rage and he quickly opened the car door to step out into the pitch dark. Before he could take a step, he was grabbed from either side and blindfolded while someone else tied his hands behind his back.

"Walk!" he heard the harsh whisper behind him as a hand pushed him forward.

Devi...Its becoming more and more of a deep mystery...cool!

Chapter 38: The Beast

He didn't know how long he walked or how far, but after what seemed like an eon, they made him pause and he heard a door creak open. They prodded him forward yet again and he resumed walking, gradually coming across several sets of stairs that led down, although with a blindfold on, he could only imagine what his surroundings looked like…

By the time they reached their final destination, the air had gotten chillier... His imagination ran amok, picturing a dark and deep cave where a Beast waited for him at the end… He ordered his brain to stop filling in for the information that could not be gathered through sight.

They finally untied his hands, but it was only so that someone could roughly pull off his suit jacket. While his hands were trapped in the sleeves of his jacket that they were pulling off from behind him, someone tore his shirt and undershirt from the front with a knife, the blade nicking his chest. He gritted his teeth to keep from exploding.

The room was definitely cold, which he could now feel quite palpably on the bare skin of his chest and back.

They let him keep him pants on – he was grateful for small favors – but made him take his shoes off.

"Where is my wife?" he asked, almost at the end of his patience, but no one answered him.

They prodded him to walk again, one of them offering the warning, "There is a step in front of you now."

He stepped up onto what felt like a giant slab of stone beneath his feet. It was warm… The stone had to be heated somehow; otherwise, it should be colder than the chill in the air. When he paused to absorb the heat into this body, he felt someone push him from behind again. He controlled his impulse to elbow back, now that his hands were free. If his wife weren't being held here, he would have done much more than elbowing. As she was, he would just have to wait...

"That is a mean scar you have there on your back. I think you are not as mild mannered as you seem to everyone, Perseus…" He heard suddenly, the voice seeming to come to him from everywhere all at once. His blindfold was still on and thus he only paused in place to listen further. But no voice came after.

The guards didn't push him anymore, but merely turned him around and walked him back until his back hit another slab of stone. This was warm to the touch as well. Just as he guessed their intention, they raised his hands so that they were on either side of his head and he felt the hardness of steel close around his wrists. His legs were spread apart as well and shackled similarly. He couldn't help tugging against the manacles on his hands, his body's natural instinct to fight restraints kicking in before he could stop himself. But he stopped such pointless and counterintuitive show of agitation… it was exactly what they were hoping for and he didn't want to indulge them just yet…

"I pose no threat to you now. Would you take off my blindfold?" He asked, raising his voice so that it reverberated throughout the room to whoever was listening.

A loud laugh came through what he now recognized as surround-sound speakers. "Did you think you posed a threat to me before? Even if I had let you run free, you wouldn't have done or said anything except what I asked you. Isn't that true, Perseus? Because, even if you haven't let yourself touch your Andromeda, you would guard and protect her with your life. It's just the sort of man that you are… or so I hear."

"You do not know what sort of man I am." He said quietly, although he was sure that the omniscient pretender at the other end could hear him just fine.

"Hmm… you are right. I don't know what sort of man you are… not really… But I am not terribly interested. I am only interested in your father."

"My father? What does he have to do with this?" Even as he asked the question out loud, he was surprised. He had been almost positive that his father was behind this whole thing.

"Your father has everything to do with this, of course. Your father has everything to do with your life, Perseus. Don't imagine it otherwise. Even this stunt that someone has been pulling with publishing tabloid trash about your father, it's only benefiting him. No one who matters believes any of it. And the people who read that trash have heard worse. So, now we are left with a man whose reputation has grown exponentially by function of the same elements that set out to hurt him. Whatever doesn't hurt him really does make him stronger…"

"How do you know all this?" he asked now, buying time.

"That is not the right question, Perseus. The right question is, Why are you here? And What do I plan to do with you? And of course, Where is your wife? Wouldn't you agree?"

Something about that statement sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

He did not acknowledge the other questions, but merely asked, "Where is my wife?"

He could almost hear the voice smiling now as it said, "Ah, I am glad you asked. Remove his blindfold."

Someone approached him then to pull off his blindfold. He blinked his eyes several times before it opened fully. There was little light in the room and what there was came from wall scones and overhead spotlights. One of them was shining directly on him and as he watched, what seemed to be a wall across from him suddenly gave in and moved before starting to rotate slowly.

Once it turned 180 degrees, the wall clicked into place once more, no longer giving any indication of its disguise. The overhead spotlight on that side turned on gradually so that he could see what was in darkness before.

It was a simulated stone wall similar to his… there was a woman shackled to it, her hands chained together above her head and her feet chained together at the bottom. She wore a white sari that was made translucent by the fact that it was partially wet. He could see what was making it so - every few minutes or so, thin streams of water ran rivulets down the wall, her sari slowly absorbing the moisture. Her hair was unbound and pulled to the front on the right side, now partially wet as well.

"There is a primitive beast in all of us that makes us think that this is a most erotic sight." He heard the voice boom out around him even as he swallowed hard. He felt as if his throat was closing in as something indescribable threatened to overpower him.

"This is not an erotic sight. She is chained up, you sick F@#!" he yelled out.

There was a slight laugh now before the voice spoke again, this time seriously, "Do not lie to yourself. You have never found her more desirable than you do in this moment. And in the event that you are determined to fool yourself, don't worry, you have plenty of time to watch her in all her glory and revise your opinion… By the end of your time here, Perseus, you will be fighting to get out of those shackles because you will be mad with lust for your wife."

If it was legal to marry a FF, I would totally marry yours :)

I swear I'm in love with it! (In a totally non-creepy and non-disturbing way!)

The story has been crafted with such enchantingness (is that even a word?) and such subtlety...I'm at a loss of words! There just aren't good enough words to describe your FF, let's just leave it at that. :]

Originally posted by: xxdevilishxx

If it was legal to marry a FF, I would totally marry yours :)

I swear I'm in love with it! (In a totally non-creepy and non-disturbing way!)

The story has been crafted with such enchantingness (is that even a word?) and such subtlety...I'm at a loss of words! There just aren't good enough words to describe your FF, let's just leave it at that. :]