Like Adi prophesied, there were some people in their safehouse. Vachi and Adi didn't rush in but they observed for a while. The other members who went out with them hadn't returned. Maybe they were captured or they managed to keep themselves safe, but they had to deal with the issue at hand.
"We go in like we don't know anything. And let's get captured."
That's what they did. It didn't take long actually. As soon as Vachi set her foot inside, she was caught. She acted like she wanted to escape but they took her to her teammates quickly. The Home team was all sitting quietly. And their eyes changed when they saw her.
The opposite team members left. Wrong move.
They should have kept someone to watch over them. Because they made a plan without talking.
It was totally done by Hima. She had some major illusion powers. So they used her powers as the last move. Her move was very helpful and that became the basis of their next fight.
Kal, Chitra, and Surasa immediately freed themselves and then helped Adi and Vachi from their ropes. Vachi didn't know how to escape from the ropes. Anyway, that was the skill she should really learn later.
Also, they had to find where Mrinal was hiding. The fact that he wasn't caught showed how much he knew about the tracks around the safe house.
They slowly opened their door. Vachi came out first. She moved forward keeping an eye everywhere so that no one could jump on her suddenly. She came to the main room and slowly emerged from behind the curtain. The room came into view. She didn't see any of the members of the opposite team. But Mrinal was standing with his back to her.
He slowly tied a rope to the door and then to a pillar.
"What are you doing?"
"I got scared by you."
When everyone else entered the room, they were very surprised.
"Mrinal, that's not the way you close the room. You have to tie it like this so that if anyone comes out, the paint will spill on them. You have to understand physics."
Kal started his teaching mode. But anyway, Vachi was really impressed by Mrinal's actions. He single-handedly took on nine members.
"You are good."
"I could do this because of the Chaos team and my teammates. I know the traps so I led them there and then I caught them."
He blushed as he spoke.
"Whatever it was, it was awesome," Surasa exclaimed.
Hima and Chitra nodded.
"We have the elites of a superhero team and a sidekick team. It's cool. We can release them with IDs and then follow them."
Everyone agreed with Adi. So they just carried the members and left them in the forest. After doing this, Adi and Vachi followed them to their strongholds. All this sneaky following made them really hungry. There were two days for this fight. And they didn't find the food for the evening.
"What about food?" Vachi asked.
"Don't worry. Surasa will go with Team Chaos and get us all the essential items."
"But the team Chaos isn't back yet. What if they were captured? What if other members were captured?"
"Haha. Don't, worry. I know that they are all very sneaky people. You should know that the people in your class are no way Normal. They are very adept in these jobs. In my opinion, if someone gets captured it should be the superpower one because they rely on superpowers the most. But the Normals rely on their brains. This is what that's necessary here. We can't win with superpowers because our opponents are powerful but we have an absolute advantage if we use our wits against them."
That's true but it seemed a little farfetched. Sometimes it also depended on luck. No matter how perfect your plan is, you can still fail.
Anyway, her power wasn't buzzing so there wasn't any major problem about to happen.
"Let's go back. We found their hideouts. Now we eat and then sleep. Anyway, nighttime is supposed to be time off. And no one will break the rules."
Vachi nodded at Adi. She also felt that no one would do anything in the night. Even if they did, they would be ready anyway.
Vachi came back and found all of them safe. But yeah, Team Chaos looked worse. Looked like they had used some explosives because their clothes had obvious holes in them. And looking at their black faces, it should have been a good fight.
"Yoh are really looking bad."
"Well, we were caught all at a time. Those sidekicks are really strong. They caught us all, eight members. Only you two guys escaped."
Vachi was surprised by what Mridul said. That was something she never imagined happening. Catching all of them, that should be epic.
"They are strong."
She analyzed.
"Yes, stronger than superheroes."
Abhay seconded.
That was not a good sign.
Because knowing you win is not enough. You have to do something to win. Vachi felt that the future was everchanging. If she wanted her predictions to not be wrong, she had to work to make them right.
It was like a paradox. Both right and wrong. What would happen if she didn't work? Will her prediction make things happen so that it will become eventually true? Or the future will change and her prediction will become false. It was so confusing. Anyway, she took the way between 1 and 0. She will still try to make things work and if they end up right, it's good and if they end up wrong, it's not her complete fault.
The superpower just showed her a way but not the only way. What way she wanted to use was her decision entirely. So she had to work for what she wanted.
"We have to eat then we will make further plans."
"Who can go out with Surasa and get us food?"
The five-member team set off. Sugandh, Surasa, Abhay, Chandra, and Adi left. Vachi got details from the rest of them and understood the situation properly. Listening to their narration, she felt like the sidekicks had some kind of trackers or something. They seemed all-powerful. Which was very unscientific.
She kept thinking of plans for a long time till the members came back with a bag of rice and some vegetables that Surasa found. It was really a boon for her to be with them. Otherwise, they would have to eat fried rice without any seasonings. And also, all of them were no cooks and even boiling water was a task for them.
So the food was awesome. Because the fragrance made all of them surround Surasa. They looked like hungry wolves.
"Okay, back off. Let her cook. Only Hima will be with her. And you, Sugandh, learn cooking. The guys are hoping you will learn."
Anuj told them. He had some ulterior motive there. Maybe they wanted to steal recipes and teachers. Anyway, it was all fun.
The dinner was very calm. All were tired anyway si when they ate, they became more energetic. It was a tournament otherwise they would camp there.
"Go to sleep, you will have to wake up at four. No one stays here. Go!"
Well, they struggled but left.
"So, Vachi, you are a good leader. Never knew you can head a team."
"Avni, you are joking."
"Anyway, I think being with Normals makes you happy. I didn't know that then. Maybe we will come by frequently to your class because I see that Hima likes you. And Chandra goes everywhere Hima goes. He is tough to put up with."
That was new.
"What? He is good."
Avni rolled her eyes and gasped.
"You never saw him fight with me. He is a nuisance."
Vachi couldn't believe but she had to. Anyway, what Avni said was naturally the truth in her opinion. And she was always on her best friend's side.
"Let's go."
Adi watched her go and stayed up for the watch. He was supposed to watch for six hours. Anyway, he was always up to do some work. It was rare for him to be so quiet. He had to work on his business, the organization, the academy stuff, and what else. He couldn't bring that all here, obviously. So he had to sit there in silence.
Many people have something going on in their mind like mindless chatter or background noise. Only when you are alone with your thoughts, do you get to know who you are. Adi didn't want to know himself.
Because whenever there was something quiet in his mind, he would miss his mother.
Longing for loved ones doesn't go away. Maybe time dilutes the feeling but it remains. It feels like a path diverges when you lose someone. You always think about the divergent point. And hope to go there every moment you think.
"Good night boss, " His magic communicator clicked. It was the only thing no one noticed that he could bring in plain view. It operated wirh his magic.
He smiled and watched the sky.