ArHi FF! Dante's Labyrinth: Thread 1 [Completed] - Page 23

Who is this *punisher*???????? o_O

Intriguing Update...

Very interesting...very curious to see how Arnav and Khushi's relation will proceed here.

Very interesting or intriguing update as Dr. Malvika is trying to have her own benefits from Khushi but I dont think you will make Khushi that easy. Till now she has been great manipulator, eagerly waiting to see how this story unfolds.

Wow interesting
So this new Dr is wanting to use khushi as bait to catch the person who slashed khushi but not to help khushi but to further her own career , is that why they r giving her drugs she not need to make her less alert or somethin? Hope khushi beats her at her own game
Thanks for pm plz keep em comin n update soon

Originally posted by: RockBarbie

The question should be - why does an man/woman becomes a superhero?

Anyone can become a superhero. Not every superhero has super powers and not every person with superpower becomes a superhero. The three examples you have taken can be used as examples along with Spider-man as they are successful movie franchisee.

Batman and Iron-man are an ordinary men with extraordinary will power, intelligence and copious amount of cash. Superman is an alien wearing a mask of human. What we see him with super powers is his real identity. Spider-man gets bitten by a radioactive spider and undergoes mutation.

But each of them take the role and responsibility of a vigilante [lets not call them superheros] when their city needed it. So the thing that made them superhero is the same thing when a man on street reacts to the corruption and tries to fight in his own way.

Everyman is a superhero who fights against injustice, power and system in whatever capacity. They may not win and lose their fight in the process but if they are fighting for the greater good of the people, then it is an act of a heroism.

That's the true spirit of superhero...is it not?

this is so interesting story..

Chapter 05: Abomination of the human mind

Malvika arranged dinnerware on dining table and took a step back to observe her handiwork. Dr. and Mrs. Jha were expected any moment and she didn't want anything amiss. She had hoped a social evening with the couple could be useful to worm her way into Dr. Jha's professional life too which could play in her advantage.

She had casually broached the subject two days before when Dr. Jha was finishing up his first interview with Khushi. She was mildly surprised when he refused coffee and ushered out talking about his waiting wife. She hadn't pegged to be a married man. She met him again the next day at prosecutor's office discussing preliminary report about Khushi. She invited him and his wife, Anjali, to dinner the next day at her residence. Shyam looked pleasantly surprised at the invite but had wholeheartedly accepted after the initial shock wore off.

Twenty minutes later, she invited Dr. Jha who had arrived without his wife.

"I am sorry Dr. Singh, Anjali couldn't make it for dinner tonight. She sends you this," he said handing Malvika a Tupperware container. "She prepared this hoping you will like it." He said smiling.

"I don't want to be addressed with my professional title in residence. Please call me Malvika," she said accepting the container. "May I call you Shyam?" She asked softly. He nodded.

"Is Anjali alright?" Malvika asked opening the container and smelled cardamom, sugar and desi ghee; halwa.

"She is fine…just minor sprain." Shyam said and poured himself a glass of water.

"What happened?" Malvika asked coming out from kitchen with two bowls of dessert.

"Oh, it was quite comical," Shyam chuckled. "She was all dressed up for the dinner with a pretty pink cocktail dress and her heel broke while she was climbing down the stairs."

"That doesn't sound good!" Malvika said pouring the two of them white wine.

"It doesn't but I couldn't help but laugh at her tumble." Shyam laughed softly at the memory and accepted the wine.

"She is okay, right?" Malvika asked sitting down on sofa. Shyam nodded. They relaxed into the evening both of them easing into conversation surrounding their work. Malvika carefully avoided topic regarding Khushi and kept the topics as generic as possible. She was initially disappointed that Anjali couldn't make it but seeing the way Shyam was talking about his work uninterrupted made her secretly glad.

"Deciphering Arnav has taken a long time and it continues so," Malvika lamented as she ushered Shyam to the dining room.

"He is already here for a year and half, isn't he?" Malvika nodded. "He isn't cooperating?"

"Oh, he cooperates. But the problem lies in separating the truth from the bullshit," Malvika said resignedly.

"Malvika, do you know why there was no case filed on him after the incident in rehab center?"

"The claims made by few of the staff members of that rehab that Arnav may have coerced two to four individuals into relapsing and overdosing didn't hold up when the center tried to file a complaint. There is no evidence of Arnav doing anything to those people but that's what few people from the rehab center claimed in loud voices. The victim's family managed to file a complaint but no witnesses came. I guess Raizada family had bought them off," Malvika replied.

"There is a marked difference in his behavior when compared to his days in rehab," Shyam asked.

"See, that's what doesn't make sense. In that rehab center, there were several instances where he tried to break out of the facility, picked fight with orderlies and coerced few people to instigate a fight. But here he mostly keeps to himself and manages to stays out of trouble." Malvika explained.

"So you have him under manipulative sociopath with above average intelligence then," Shyam concluded a bit hurriedly.

"I wouldn't go and describe him as a classical sociopath. I understand that he exhibits many of the sociopathic traits but they all stem from pre-pubescent period when he first started showing anti-social traits." Malvika chewed the food slowly.

"His mother's death," Shyam remembered. "Or may be the traits were never recognized when he was young," Shyam added thoughtfully.

Malvika shrugged. "It could be either or both. But he clams up whenever the conversation leans towards his childhood."

"You think there are bad memories associated with that?" Shyam inquired.

"If there are, no one knows. His father was quite detached from the family, always traveling and running the business. He grew up amidst houseful of maids with his mother and after his mother died, there was a caretaker appointed to him." Malvika said.

"He is a strange enigma…even for us," Shyam said.

"He is an enigma but not as big as Akash," Malvika said raising an eyebrow.

The fork in his hand fell on the plate with a loud clang and Shyam was startled at his own action.

Malvika's face dawned in realization when Shyam's ashen face explained it all. "I am so sorry Shyam. I forgot that you and Akash worked together," she said apologetically.

"That's alright Malvika I was just surprised when you mentioned his name." Shyam said wiping his shirt with the napkin.

"It's been three years since that incident Shyam." Malvika said softly.

Shyam's hands stilled. "Yes, it is. But…he was my friend, you know? I know him since medical college days and we entered this profession together. Now we stand on either side of the border and I wonder who represents what."

"Dr. Akash was an accomplished psychiatrist till that tragedy stuck his family." Malvika said. Whenever she saw Akash acting the way he did, something twisted inside of her. It scared her and made her go numb when she explored the possibility of being betrayed by one's own mind.

"The worst part was, the job fell on my shoulders to certify his sanity. When he sat there in front of me with wide vacant eyes, telling me a story about a goldfish and a monkey, I saw deterioration and degradation of human mind. It was the first time in my adult life when I cried so much," Shyam said feeling his throat clamming up.

"I am sorry to hear that Shyam." Malvika said sincerely. "Will you be talking to him when you are visiting this facility?" She asked.

Shyam shrugged. "I don't know yet Malvika. It's hard to face him really. One of the most brilliant minds of our profession is now enslaved by the said definitions. It's irony at its worst." He said.

"Did he really butcher the man who killed his wife and daughter?" Malvika asked unable to contain her curiosity.

Shyam looked up and stared at her unblinkingly. "The man who burglarized Akash's house and killed his wife and daughter was injured in a gang fight. Akash brought him home, nursed him till he regained his health and then tortured him for eighteen days before killing him. By the end of it he was so messed up and drowned in that red hot rage that he lost sight of sanity. But everything broke lose when he found out that the man hadn't killed his family. He had burglarized his home and had left after which the real killer came in. Akash couldn't handle that truth I guess," he said.

"What are you trying to say here, Shyam?" Malvika asked softly.

Shyam smiled. "Thanks for the dinner Malvika." He said pleasantly.

Malvika watched Shyam leave the compound in an easy gait. Her vision shifted to the monolith structure several yards away from her residence.

Her cellphone rang and at the same moment when emergency alarm sounded.

Something had gone wrong in the facility.

Me!

me 2nd!

so there 2 killers in akash's backstory...damn ...he healed him only to torture him...

nice update.