Jim and Leslie exchanged a quick glance. Then Jim slapped Aaditya on the shoulder.
'You're a good kid. Your dad would have been real proud.'
And then he and Leslie were gone.
The stepped into the corridor, firing their weapons. None of their shots hit the daityas, who were concealed behind two large barrels. The daityas leaned out and fired. Leslie spiraled in mid stride and fell. Jim ran straight at the daityas, shouting and firing. Then he too went down. Then Aaditya was in the corridor, his vajra held before him. Both daityas had exposed themselves in shooting down Jim and Leslie. Aaditya fired a burst, hitting one of them. Shiva leaped across the corridor and cut him down the other with his trident.
Aaditya entered the command centre. Kalki was there, with no cloak to cover him. His red body was mottled with scars and growths, his wings were spread open behind him, his eyes were ablaze.
He took one look at Aaditya and spat, his spittle sparks of flame that landed just short of Aaditya. Kalki stood up straight, towering over him.
'You are too late.'
SEVENTEEN
'Shiva, my friend, it has been ages since our paths crossed.'
Shiva just leaped towards Kalki, bringing his trident up in a killing blow. Aaditya watched in astonishment as Kalki parried the blow with apparent ease and used one of his wings to literally swat Shiva away. Shiva came up rolling in a crouch, as Kalki advanced on him.
'I did not think I would have the pleasure of crushing you with my own hands. This is indeed a bonus.'
Shiva stood up straight, a blade in his hand. Even his muscled mass was dwarfed by Kalki's fearsome apparition. He gave a quick glance towards Aaditya, and nodded. That was all he had time for before Kalki swung with a curved blade. Shiva stepped out of the way, bringing his own blade up, a blow that Kalki blocked with ease, and their struggle continued. Shiva's signal had been clear enough-he would try and hold Kalki, but now it was up to Aaditya to figure out how to stop Kalki's plan.
Aaditya looked around in panic. What could he do? How could he possibly stop Kalki's plan? The display over his wrist showed that he had now less than five minutes to go before the charges detonated. For an instant, he wondered if Kalki had already detonated the charges, and their assault had been in vain, but then he spotted a bank of monitors in a corner showing feeds from several news channels. Kalki must have tuned into them to see the reaction to the havoc he planned to wreak. None of them mentioned anything about quakes or tsunamis. So he still had time. He sat down in the large chair in the middle of the room and looked at a display on its armrest. It was counting down. A light below it glowed green. Aaditya tried to calm his mind, which was almost impossible to do, with the rising panic and the sounds of the life and death struggle between Shiva and Kalki behind him. He wondered if Kalki's systems worked like those of the Devas, which was a safe bet since he essentially had been one of them.
'Send up the sphere and open it for incoming craft.'
He watched with relief as he got an acknowledgement. Now the other Devas and the Ganas could come in. All he needed to do now was to terminate the explosions that Kalki had planned.
'What is the status of the charges?'
A holographic screen appeared over his right armrest. It had a simple message. 'All charges armed. Four minutes to detonation.'
'Abort. Repeat, abort.'
The message just stayed the way it was.
'Cancel. Terminate.'
He kept trying, but nothing seemed to work.
Aaditya was now on the verge of tears. Tears of panic and sheer terror. He could not have come so far only to watch helplessly as the world was destroyed before his eyes. He felt strong arms grab him from behind and lift him in the air. He struggled in vain as he was turned around like a doll and found himself face to face with Kalki.
He looked around. Shiva lay slumped in a corner of the room. Kalki brought his face close and Aaditya recoiled at the stench. It was the smell of death and decay-of dead mice, rotten food, of the fate that Kalki had in mind for all of mankind.
'I have waited thousands of years for this moment. Who are you to stop me? A mere boy? A cripple. You could have been on my side, now you can only watch as my rule on Earth begins.'
Aaditya felt his hair being singed from the flame that was in Kalki's eyes. He had spotted what was in Aaditya's pocket. The lucky patch. Kalki snorted dismissively as he took it out, still holding Aaditya in the air effortlessly with one hand.
'A pathetic token to remind you of a pathetic man. Fear not, you will soon join your father.'
Kalki spat on the patch, and it burst into flames, its ashes crumbling to the ground at Kalki's feet. Still dangling in the air, Aaditya saw a plug in Kalki's right ear and wondered if the thought controls worked the same way as for the Devas. It was a gamble, but it was the last chance he had. The problem was that he had no way of pulling the plug out. He could barely move.
Kalki opened his mouth, just inches from Aaditya's face. Inside, a fireball was forming.
Then, suddenly, Kalki's eyes widened and his grip came loose. Shiva's trident was impaled on Kalki's thigh. Shiva was at Kalki's feet, bringing his blade down for another strike. It gave Aaditya the time he needed. He reached out and pulled the plug out of Kalki's ear. Shiva's blade connected and Kalki dropped Aaditya, the plug falling a couple of feet away from him.
Kalki kicked Shiva away and advanced on Aaditya. Only twenty seconds were left till the charges detonated. Aaditya crawled towards the plug, but felt Kalki's grip on his right leg. Kalki began pulling Aaditya towards him, screaming in rage.
'I will burn you limb by limb!'
Aaditya's hand was just inches from the plug, but he was being pulled back, unable to resist Kalki's strength.
'Maybe I'll just burn your other leg and your arms so you can live like a cripple!'
Aaditya reached down to his right thigh and felt for the catch there. As Kalki roared in anger with Aaditya's prosthetic leg in his hand, Aaditya picked up the plug and put it into his ear. There was a flash of blinding pain. When he opened his eyes he saw Kalki leaping towards him, talons bared, his wings spread, like a predatory bird about to pounce on its prey.
Seven seconds left.
There was just enough time to still his mind and give the command to stop the detonations. Kalki must have known what he had done because he screamed as he bore down on Aaditya, determined to rip him to shreds and then detonate the charges again.
Aaditya closed his eyes, but Kalki never landed. He felt a gust of wind and heard a thud. When he opened his eyes, Kalki was in a corner of the room, his left wing sheared off in half. At the doorway was Vishnu, his hand held out to recover the discus that had just done the damage. Behind him were Indra and Durga. Kalki looked at them calmly.
'My war is not over. It never will be.'
He spat out a huge fireball into the middle of the room that blinded everyone for an instant. And then, Kalki was gone.
Everyone's eyes turned to a CNN news report on one of the monitors in the room. It showed thousands of people gathered at Times Square in New York. There were similar groups throughout the world, many praying, others crying, all waiting for what they had come to believe was going to be the end of the world. Aaditya could hear the newscaster speaking, a sarcastic smile on her face.
'For those of you joining us at this hour, it is 12:55 Eastern Standard Time on the 21st of December, 2012, and as far as I can tell, the world has not ended. Please stand by for the Sports News.'