‘Pandian, I will ask one last time. Do you think we got the right girl?’ Nayar asked.

Pandian did not respond. His eyes gazed into the distance; his mind seemingly lost in deep thought.

‘Pandian!’ Nayar said trying to reach him.

‘I heard you and I have same answer as before. I don’t know,’ Pandian replied.

‘It doesn’t make sense. We spied on her for three months and found nothing. Had she known we were following her around, then she wouldn’t walk into our trap like she did,’ Gana said.

‘That or she is really good at sneaking in and out,’ Nayar commented.

‘Even to invisible eyes? Think any of our guys betrayed us?’ Gana asked.

Nayar sighed and replied, ‘I don’t know.’

The evening sky was lit in bright orange. Had it not been for the looming feeling of doom, Sandhanam and his men would have enjoyed a relaxing day of cards and entertainment. But right now as it stands, it has turned into a faceoff with the devil herself.

Sandhanam sat in the courtyard quietly waiting for the Lady aka Arora to arrive. He hadn’t spoken a word to anyone after giving out the orders an hour ago. Nobody knew what was going through his mind, but they all knew whatever it was, it wasn’t anything good.

His men surrounded the building on all four sides, armed to their teeth. There was no place for melee weapons this time, even if there were an army of twenty going against one girl. They had only one order, fire on sight. It was there only chance.

Surrounding the farmhouse were four watchtowers, all of whom were just makeshift wooden structures. It was sufficient for the moment, where men stood by, ready to fire at her with their sniper rifles.

Pandian, Nayar, and Gana sat beneath the tree in the front yard. They were guarded by at least ten men and yet, the dread of incoming doom was inescapable. They constantly debated where they went wrong with their judgement. So sure, they were of their theory, when the time came to present it to their boss, they were ready to put their life on the line. Yet, Sandhanam chose to wait. Sending his men to spy on the girl and find out once it for all if she truly was the Lady. Despite all the effort, they could not catch the girl or the Lady in the act. In the end, they chose to lay a trap and into which the girl walked in like an innocent deer. However, in the end the plan backfired and now had invited the lioness into their den.

Still, all was not in vain. She was coming to their turf where they had the chance to rig the fight in their favour, but was it enough? None would give a straight answer.

Nayar’s phone buzzed which he soon responded to. ‘She is here,’ said the voice on the other end.

Immediately, everyone in the vicinity stopped where they were and turned to Nayar.

‘Mani, did you see where she came from?’ Nayar asked.

‘No idea. She appeared out of thin air and she is headed for the main gate,’ Mani replied.

Pandian and the other two got up and walked to the main gate. Looking out at the thin mud road, he saw a woman draped in white walking up towards the house.

‘What the hell? She is just walking in, like we invited her to our wedding,’ Gana commented.

‘Everyone!’ Pandian shouted, ‘get ready!’

One of the goons, Sandhanam’s personal guard Rajendra, walked forward and ordered Pandian, ‘get behind us!’

Pandian and his men fell back, as all others charged forward. They formed a wall encircling the main gate with their guns aiming at the centre.

‘You sure no one else is with her?’ Nayar asked on the phone.

‘No. I can’t see anyone else around the farmhouse and others have not warned of anyone else,’ Mani replied.

‘Okay, stay on guard,’ Nayar said.

Arora walked through the main gate and stopped right before the arsenal of guns aimed at her. Her appearance was simultaneously underwhelming and frightening. The first thing that struck them was how short she was. It is hard to take someone serious when they had to look up to meet your eyes.

She stood before them with her feet firmly rooted on the soil beneath her. There was calmness in her eyes and by no means did she feel intimidating. ‘I see your Sir has decided to stay and put up a fight. Now be kind and let me and him talk like two grown adults,’ Arora said.

‘Fat chance girl. There will be no talking, just…’ Rajendra said and before he even completed his sentence, he shot the first bullet at her.

All the twenty men followed him by pulling their triggers, blinding Arora with gun fire.

However, before even the first bullet could reach her, Arora jumped into the air above them. Rajendra looked up to see her coming down onto him with her right leg stretched out. He attempted to jump out of the way but was too late and found himself buried into the ground below.

Arora spun to her left, delivering another kick into the goon right next to Rajendra, sending him flying into the men behind him, knocking them down like bowling pins. The goons behind her aimed their guns towards her but Arora reacted faster. She picked up Rajendra from the ground by his shirt and tossed him in their direction, knocking them down.

Pandian stepped back and watched in silence as Arora proceeded to take down each and every man, giving not even one of them the chance to shoot at her again. ‘Nayar. Do it,’ Pandian said.

‘Ramesh, take the shot now!’ Nayar talked into his phone.

There was only silence following his order. A cold shiver travelled up his spine.

‘Jogendar, Viraj! Anyone, take the shot!’ he ordered.

There was only silence.

‘Mani, can you see the others!’ Nayar asked.

‘Nayar… their towers are empty!’ Mani replied.

The trio looked back up to see their army of men laying on the ground with Arora standing firmly on her feet, unharmed. She punched the last goon in his gut before dropping him on to the ground.

‘Should have had at least a few men guarding those towers,’ Arora said standing up straight, ‘then maybe you would have stood a chance.’

She calmly walked over to the tree under which laid a set of farming tools. She picked up a billhook from it and pointed it at the three of them and said, ‘but it is not a bad plan.’ She then threw the billhook in the direction of Mani’s tower. The speed at which it travelled was unreal, no human could produce such strength. The billhook sliced through one of the wooden legs of the tower, tipping it over and sending Mani crashing into the ground screaming loudly.

The trio pulled out their pistols and stood guard before the main door. Arora looked at them delightfully surprised. ‘Man! Your devotion is something else. If only you guys knew who deserved such dedication.’

She walked towards them slowly, daring them to pull the trigger. But the trio instead backed away. They got closer and closer to the main door until they couldn’t go any further.

Arora stopped and asked, ‘so, what now?’

From the corner of her right eye, Arora saw a dull flash. She turned toward the flash only to be greeted by a bullet the size of her thumb, seconds away from kissing her cheek. Her heart pounded against her chest, her skin turned red hot, and her iris were wide as a coin. She pulled her head back, as fast as she could, but the bullet proceeded to pierce her mask, cutting through the layers of Teflon. Almost instinctively, she turned her head, away from the bullet. The bullet skidded off the surface of the mask before flying off into the distance. Arora fell back onto the ground, shaken but unharmed. She grabbed onto one of the many pistols on the ground and rolled away, just as a barrage of gunfire slammed into the ground.

She ripped the pistol apart and threw the gun head in the direction of a haystack, sitting to her right just outside the outer wall. Loud screaming erupted from the haystack before falling dead silent.

The trio did not stop firing giving Arora little to no room. Soon as she threw the gun head, she pushed herself off the ground with a powerful burst of her aura. The burst was powerful enough to throw the trio back, pausing their firing for a moment.

They looked back up to see the Lady standing once again with a naughty smile on her face, ‘oof! That was close. Fell for the oldest trick in the book.’

‘Go,’ Pandian whispered.

Nayar and Gana charged towards her immediately.

‘Really?’ Arora said. She stretched her hands out just as they met her, with her fist ready to slam into their guts. But both spun away from her. Each of them grabbed her either arm and pulled her back with all their might.

Pandian rushed in and Arora reacted by lifting her left leg for a front kick. But Pandian stopped just before the kick reached him. He grabbed her leg and pushed it beside his right torso. He pushed forward, placing his gun right under her chin and pulled the trigger.

Arora’s smile did not fade as she knew that the gun would not fire. A dull click echoed inside Pandian’s ears and the world around him went dead silent.

‘You are smart, but luck ain’t your good friend today,’ Arora said.

She picked up her right leg and kicked Pandian off her before swinging forward and gaining a footing. She picked up both Gana and Nayar with ease and slammed them into the ground. ‘Sorry to feint you. I just wanted to see what you planned to do.’

Pandian picked himself up. He looked at her with fierce eyes. He threw his gun at her as hard as she could and charged at her. Arora deflected the gun with ease and grabbed onto Pandian’s hand just as it grabbed her mask.

Pandian could not move his hand as he tried hard to pull off the mask.

‘You are tenacious. But I will not let you have that satisfaction,’ Arora said before crushing his hand, sending Pandian screaming in pain. She pulled him in and punched him in the gut before dropping his unconscious body onto the ground.

The farmhouse turned quiet once again. She stood amidst the sea of unconscious men quietly observing the house with her ears. She could only hear one soul sitting inside. Reaching for a hidden pocket within her suit, she pulled out her smartphone. She tapped on it several times before returning it back into her pocket. She steadied her nerves and quietly walked into the house.

Sandhanam hadn’t moved an inch. As Arora walked up to him, he watched her with furious eyes from underneath his furrowed brow. ‘Come on in. Why don’t we have ourselves a little chat?’

Arora encircled the courtyard before walking up to the chair in front of him and taking a seat. She looked calm as the morning sky but that calmness intimidated Sandhanam more than any enraged eyes he had seen in his life.

‘So, what is it you want to talk about?’ Arora asked.

‘Monica… everyone calls you the Lady in White. Do you have a name for that clown suit?’ he asked.

She looked back at him with a grin. ‘I see you are still fixated on tying me and that poor girl together in this mess.’

He blurted out a laughter and replied, ‘pretend all you want. I know that it is the truth.’

‘You can spin a story around coincidences but in the end, it will remain a story. But let us not waste time on chit chat shall we? We are here to put an end to things. So how about we get down to it?’ she said.

‘Do you really expect me to come at you? Throw a punch? Fire a bullet?’ he said before shaking his head, ‘I spend close to two hours a day, doing baseless shit just to stay alive.’

‘So, you have given up already?’ she asked.

‘I lost when I showed you my face. Biggest mistake of my life was believing in sloths who haven’t done a thing in their life.’

He was right. Had he not tried to trap her, she wouldn’t even have known who he was, nor would she have come after him. ‘Your biggest mistake was you pretending this whole ordeal to be a game,’ she said as she got up from her seat, ‘but let’s not dwell on it. The police should be here any minute and you have some explaining to do.’

Sandhanam threw a nasty smile at her and said, ‘in your dreams.’ He pulled the edge of the arm rest, revealing a shining metal hidden inside it. Without hesitation he pulled it back down towards his chest, but was stopped just before the tip of it touched his chest.

Arora’s strength was unmatched. He felt like his hand was held back by an iron grip. He proceeded to drop the bottle of rum in his other hand and reached into his shirt for his chain, but once again it never came out.

‘The world of the living is not done with you, yet. Time to pay for your crimes,’ Arora said before pulling both his arms out and away from his body. She grabbed on to his forehead following which a bright blue flash filled the room. What happened next was a complete blur to Sandhanam.