Episode 13: The New Recruits
Roshan stood inside the living room of his house, looking in awe at the new makeover he gave to his room. "How amazing. There are exactly four paintings across the room. An even number," Roshan grinned. "There are six vases of flowers across the room. An even number. And I finally got a second coffee table as well. An even number. Oh! This can't be even more perfect!"
"Hey I got you your eggs!" Sanaya exclaimed as she walked into the room. But as she came in, she tripped over the carpet, accidentally pushing one of the vases down onto the floor, breaking it to pieces as some of the eggs fell off the plate and onto the floor. Roshan looked on in horror. "NOOO! YOU BROKE MY PRECIOUS GOLD VASE! NOW THERE ARE ONLY FIVE OF THEM! AN UNEVEN NUMBER!" Roshan screamed.
"Oh come on," Sanaya rolled her eyes. "Its just a pot."
"ITS NOT A POT! ITS A VASE!" Roshan shouted.
Roshan then looked at the floor and gave a look of shock, seeing the eggs on the floor. "AND NOW THE EGGS ARE TOUCHING THE FLOOR!" Roshan yelled.
"I think I feel like shooting someone." Sanaya shook her head as Roshan continued to go on and on, screaming to the top of his lungs. At that moment, Sanaya then turned around, seeing Krish and Chaya had stepped into their house.
"Oh! Krish! Chaya!" Sanaya exclaimed while Roshan then composed himself. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Came to see how the engaged couple is doing!" Krish chuckled.
"Oh shut up! If this woman was my wife, she'd turn the whole house into an odd fest!" Roshan exclaimed.
"Please. With your eccentric behavior, I might as well become an oddball myself." Sanaya said.
"Let's be real. Mr. Moron here came here for another reason." Chaya said.
"And what is that?" Sanaya asked.
"We asked Bhoomi if she'd come with us to the diner downtown. But she said she had 'work' to do." Krish said.
"Why the emphasis on work?" Roshan asked.
"Because she doesn't work on Mondays!" Krish exclaimed. "Which could prove my theory!"
"And that is?" Sanaya questioned.
"That Sagar and Bhoomi are secretly dating!" Krish replied.
"And that's just stupid." Chaya rolled her eyes.
"No it isn't! You saw the way he beat me on the head for fliritng with her! Talk about Mr. Over Protective!" Krish exclaimed. "There's something brewing! And I want to find out what it is!"
"The only thing brewing here are these boiled eggs which are now touching my floor!" Roshan cried. "Man! Why do I have to take care of everything in this house?!"
"Dude, just get yourself a dog so you can clean stuff like this up." Krish said.
"Not A DOG!" Roshan exclaimed as he grabbed Krish by the collar of his shirt. "TWO DOGS! I can't have just one dog here! That's an odd number!"
"Okay, man. You can let go now," Krish said and Roshan then released his grip on Krish's shirt. "So are you coming?!"
"We'll come...just to know that this is all false." Sanaya said.
"I'm surprised you're tagging along with this." Roshan told Chaya.
"Someone has to babysit." Chaya rolled her eyes.
Fifteen minutes later, Krish, Chaya, Sanaya, and Roshan were sneaking around near the flower shop where Bhoomi worked at. As they peaked into the shop, they noticed only one girl working at the shop. And it wasn't Bhoomi. "See! She's not here!" Krish exclaimed.
"So? Maybe she comes later?" Sanaya said.
"She always comes to work at ten in the morning! And its eleven!" Krish exclaimed. "She must be with Sagar! I know it!"
"And how are you going to prove it?" Chaya asked.
"Watch this!" Krish winked. He then drew out his cellphone and began dialing Sagar's number on the phone. As he waited, Sagar finally answered. "Hey, Sagar! I'm going to the diner for breakfast! You want to come? Oh. You hurt your arm? You okay, man? All right. Get better. Will see you then. Bye."
"Sagar hurt his arm?" Sanaya asked.
"Yes," Krish said. "Which means Bhoomi must be there."
"And what proves that?"Chaya asked, annoyed.
"She's the caretaker type! She must be there to take care of his precious arm!" Krish exclaimed. "Come on!"
And so, the group then headed off to Sagar's apartment. Once they reached the floor he stayed on, they went near the hall by his room. "And how do you know Bhoomi is here?" Chaya asked Krish.
"There's no way of us finding out from here." Sanaya said.
"Look! Someone's coming! Hide!" Krish exclaimed.
The others then moved their heads behind the wall where they couldn't be seen. Krish then peeped his head enough for him to see and be hidden. He then grinned as he noticed Bhoomi walking by, holding a white kit in her hand as she then opened the door of Sagar's room, entering inside and closing the door. "HA! I told you she would be here! She just walked into Sagar's room!" Krish told the others.
"Really?" Sanaya said, surprised.
"If they're this much in love, my dad should've hooked them up instead!" Roshan exclaimed.
"Yeah. It would be better than getting married to this moron." Sanaya rolled her eyes.
"You watch it there!" Roshan exclaimed.
"So...are we just gonna sit here and do nothing?" Chaya asked.
Inside Sagar's apartment room, Sagar was laying down on the couch while Bhoomi was sitting on a stool, opening her white kit, revealing first aid supplies inside. "So how did you injure your arm?" Bhoomi asked Sagar.
"I don't know. For some reason, this arm always tends to pain a lot. And just today it started bleeding."
"That's weird. Did you hurt yourself while we were on a mission or something?"
"Its possible. But you really didn't need to come and take off work for me."
"Its fine. Your health is more important than anything else."
Sagar looked at Bhoomi, surprised at her response. Realizing what she had said, she then explained, "I mean...if you're not feeling well, then how can you lead the team? You know what I mean."
"Oh yeah," Sagar replied as Bhoomi took a cotton swab with rubbing alchohol on it and began to rub over the spot that was bleeding on his arm. She then blew over it, seeing it pained him a bit. She then placed the cotton onto the wound and began to wrap around the arm with a white bandaging cloth.
"Tell me something."
"Yeah?"
"Why didn't you ever become a nurse?"
"Are you kidding, Sagar? I always wanted to become a nurse. But after mom and dad died, I had no support to go to nursing school. So now I have to work at the shop and do other odd jobs to save money for that. But its okay. Things happen for a reason."
"I guess I know that feeling. I lost my parents when I was only five. My grandmother looked after me all these years so I never lost the prescence of a parent in my life. But still...I wish I could've known more about them. Or at least had someone else to call family."
"Interesting. I find something we have in common now."
"Maybe there's more. I just never thought of talking about."
The two looked at each other in silence. But the silence was broken once Roshan barged into the room, slamming the door down and shouting, "SAGAR! WHY ARE THERE FIVE LETTERS WRITTEN ON YOUR DOOR?! ITS AN ODD NUMBER!"
"That's my name, you moron." Sagar said, annoyed.
"You dumbhead! Why'd you blow our cover?!" Krish exclaimed as he tackled Roshan to the ground.
"And for something stupid like that?" Sanaya added.
"Well one moron is around, the other is bound to act like one." Chaya said.
"Why are you guys here?" Sagar asked.
"To see what was going on here!" Krish replied. "And I was right! You two are dating, aren't you?!"
Sagar didn't know what to say as his face turned red. On the other hand, Bhoomi was turning red with rage. "GET OUT OF THIS ROOM!" Bhoomi shouted at the others to the top of her lungs as the four then dashed off in fear. Sagar looked at Bhoomi, confused and scared. Its amazing how she can be the most sweetest person ever and then take a U-turn and go completely beserk! Sagar thought to himself.
"Those guys can be so annoying!" Bhoomi shook her head. "Anyways, your arm is all bandage now. So you should be okay. If you need anything else, let me know."
"Uh yeah. Thanks," Sagar replied. "I'll see you later then."
With that, Bhoomi left Sagar's apartment, while Sagar looked on as she left.
As Sagar sat alone in his apartment, he was surprised to see a portal open inside his room on the wall. He then got up, standing before the portal. "A portal? But who opened it?" Sagar asked. Suddenly, a pair of hands came out from the portal, grabbing hold of Sagar and pulling him inside by force, closing the portal as he was now gone.
Sagar's eyes were closed in fear, unaware of where he now was. Once he opened his eyes, he found himself tied up along with the rest of the Spectrum who were now with him as well. "What the hell?! How'd we get here?!" Krish exclaimed.
"And since when were we all tied up together?!" Sanaya asked.
"Only I will be asking the questions here." a voice said.
The Spectrum looked up, surprised to see a tall, dashing young man approach them alongside a young woman and another man. All three appeared to be wearing some black colored uniform and even had medals as well as weapons on them, intimidating the group. Sagar looked around, seeing the room was quite empty and dim lighted as well.
The leading man then looked upon the Spectrum. He had slick, smooth brown hair at a medium length and green eyes that no one would fail to notice. "Hello handsome." Sanaya said quietly, admiring the young man.
"Hey!" Roshan exclaimed upon hearing Sanaya's comment.
"You have a problem?" the man asked.
"Um...no!" Roshan said as he remained silent.
"What is all this?!" Sagar asked. "Who are you guys?! And why are we here?!"
"I said myself. I'll be asking the questions here. So no back talking from any of you or I'll have to take matters into my own hands." the man said.
"Oh you can talk as much as you want!" Sanaya exclaimed.
"Don't we at least have the right to know why we're here?" Chaya asked.
"And why you tied us up?" Bhoomi added.
"I thought you all would know," the man said. "After all...you all have been working for a criminal for a while anyway."
"What?! What the heck is this about?!" Krish asked.
"Does the name Suri ring a bell?" the man questioned.
The Spectrum looked at each other in shock. "I knew it," the man said upon seeing their faces. "Well, before we do the real questioning...let me introduce myself. I'm Ranveer Arora...Colonel of the Ekta Military Service. And you all...are here for interrogation in the criminal activities of Vardhan and Suri."
"Colonel?" Roshan gulped. "As in...army?!"
"This looks bad for us." Krish shook his head.
"Sir, I'm telling you! We're innocent!" Sagar pleaded with Colonel Arora. After minutes of interrogation, the Spectrum were doing their best to tell the Colonel and his subordinates of their innocence. "How do I know that? Records show that you were the ones collecting prism shards for Suri. Is that correct?" Colonel Arora questioned.
"Yes! But hear us out!" Bhoomi exclaimed. "We have our own prism shards ourselves! We're the Spectrum!"
"Each one of us owns a shard that is part of the inner prism of the Ekta Prism. Each shard is of the visible light spectrum." Chaya explained.
"And along with each shard, it possesses an elemental power as well." Sanaya continued.
"Why are only the girls doing the talking?" Krish asked Sagar.
"And how do we know you're telling the truth?" Colonel Arora asked.
"Because if the reflection of a optical prism gets into our eyes, then our eyes change according to our individual colors on the Spectrum." Sagar replied.
Colonel Arora then turned to the other two officers. "Officer Dutta...test it out." Colonel Arora asked the woman officer.
She nodded and then went to the closet of the room where she took out an optical prism and shined it within the dim light. The rays from the prism hit the eyes of the Spectrum members, changing their eye colors as they said they would. This surprised the Colonel and the other officers.
"Colonel, they're telling the truth then." the other officer said.
"So what made you work with Suri then?" Colonel Arora asked the Spectrum.
"We worked with him on the presumption that we would be restoring Ekta to its original state by collecting all the prism shards of the original prism and then putting them back together." Sagar explained.
"Interesting," Colonel Arora smirked. "Well then...since you're no longer working under the wrong influence, we can take you in instead."
"What do you mean?" Bhoomi asked.
"A group such as yourself can't be left alone without the right guidance. And with powers like the ones you guys possess, you can prove to be useful for the military," Colonel Arora explained. "Its a simple matter. You will remain as the group you are. However, you are now under military guidance. Whatever work or job you do...its from the military now. Besides, the military itself is trying to restore all the prism shards of the Ekta Prism. You'll be doing your jobs again...just under the right people. And you will be helping us with nabbing some of our enemies. Officer Dutta, get the documents ready for them to sign. They are part of the military now."
"Um hello?! When did we say yes to this?!" Krish exclaimed.
"You kinda have no choice. Unless you want us to arrest you for working with a criminal." Colonel Arora said.
"Shut up, Krish!" Chaya snapped.
"That's more like it. You'll start work as soon as you sign the contract," Colonel Arora said as he began to leave. "Officer Dutta, unite them as well."
"Yes, sir." Officer Dutta nodded.
"I'm not so sure about this." Chaya said.
"I hate army guys! They're all so scary!" Krish exclaimed.
"What's there to complain about? We're working with such a handsome man like him! There's nothing to worry about!" Sanaya said.
"Since when did you start talking like this?!" Roshan questioned Sanaya.
"For some reason, I actually have a good feeling about this." Bhoomi told Sagar.
"I could say the same," Sagar replied. "Its a new phase for us."
Kumkum Bhagya
