Nature in Hiding

4- An attack on the attackers

"Aye!"

Gyaan pulled back Ahana towards the back of the bus again, before anyone could see her.

"Are you crazy? Marching towards doom like walking in a park," he whisper-yelled.

"What else should I do? The school is under attack," Ahana stressed the words, so the idiot could understand the severity of the situation.

"Plus they are just four men. I am sure I can take them."

"You crazy woman, they have guns." Gyaan threw his hands in the air.

"And I have fire," Ahana said, raising her eyebrow in response.

She folded her arms, while tapping her foot in the ground, impatient to stop the talks and go inside the school.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you so eager to go and expose your powers?" He asked, before muttering, "Never wanted to help anyone before, so what's the rush today."

"You do realize that Sameera and Avan are stuck inside, right? Or did you forget the other elements already?" She deadpanned.

"Stop fighting and think over a solution," Neer interrupted, "We need to do something before someone gets harmed," he said, gesturing to the other two about the lack of sound.

"Did they leave?" Ahana asked, jumping a little to peep from the window, as she tried to figure out the reason behind the sudden lack of screams.

Gyaan immediately pulled her down, cursing internally for her reckless behaviour. He pointed a finger to his lips and hinted at the twins to wait and listen.

Soon enough they could hear the attackers ordering everyone to move inside the school.

"We need to hurry, before they lock everyone inside the school. It is a dead end once they close the school down," Gyaan said, as he took out his mobile to call police.

Ahana closed her eyes in frustration. One moment he said to hurry and the next moment he did this. Who knew how much time the police would need to come? What if the attackers succeeded in their plan before the law enforcers could even arrive?

Ahana glanced at Neer, and both of them nodded at their unsaid decision. The twins left Gyaan to converse with the police and tip-toed towards the school gates, while hiding behind the vehicles on the road.

Neer gestured to Ahana to move near the wall beside the gates. They crouched down and looked ahead, trying to work out something that could help without outing their powers.

While trying to figure out a solution, Neer spotted a water pipe near the potted plants inside the school. He moved a little, and tried waving his hands, hoping for a parent to see him.

Fortunately, they were behind the wall that was adjacent to where the attackers were standing. Being in the same line, they couldn't see the twins, but the parents on the opposite side could. However, they had to look outside for that. And these all were looking at the attackers or to the ground.

Neer was about to lose hope when one man moved his head. The man's eyes widened looking at the youngsters hiding outside the gate. Neer quickly raised his finger to his lips, hoping that the man would keep quiet. Fortunately, the man understood and nodded stealthily.

Neer gestured towards the pipe a few times, before the man understood the clue. Neer showed him three fingers, asking him to wait until the countdown, before picking up the pipe.

"Cover me," the man whispered to his students. Luck was by his side as he was surrounded by 9th and 10th std students. They all were tall enough to cover him.

The students moved a little by little, so as to not draw attention towards them. They all managed to make a shield as they came together. Their sports sir quickly moved, being undetected by the eyes of the attackers. He soon picked up the water pipe and waited for Neer's signal.

"Ahana, we can't have misfires. Somehow get rid of those guns," Neer requested.

He was sure that the attackers wouldn't be able to aim when he started his plan, but they could still blindly fire and hurt someone.

"Sure, that's easy. I will just make it unbearable for them to hold the gun," Ahana said, rubbing her hands evilly.

"Don't heat up the gun or it will explode," Neer warned.

"I am not an idiot," Ahana rolled her eyes, although knowing that she would have heatened it up if it was some other object.

She crawled towards the other side of the gate, and hid behind the wall that directly faced the attackers. Focussing her gaze on all their wrists, she started her work.

Within seconds, their wrists started burning. Their eyebrows got furrowed in confusion as they experienced the hotness around their wrists, before they started screaming in pain. They shook their hands trying to get rid of the unbearable pain, letting their guns fall on the ground in the process.

"3, 2 and 1," Neer whispered under his breath, while giving the signal with his hands to the sir.

"Move," Sir yelled, as he picked up the hose.

The students parted away in an instant, giving their Sir a free range as he splashed the attackers with an unimaginable force of water.

The attackers were baffled, first from the pain and then by the attack. They were unable to move or see as water pelted down upon them.

"Everyone get out of the school," the sir yelled as he continued attacking those men.

Parents started running along with their small kids, almost trampling anyone who came into their way.

"This will just make things worse. Make a line. I promise this will let you out faster," the students yelled, having already gone through drills. Although the drills were for fire hazards, they were sure that it was the best possible way to get out.

Their yelling went to waste as the parents were in no mood to listen to everybody.

"Students get out of here," the sports sir yelled, seeing that the good souls had stood behind to help everyone out first.

"Let's take another hose, before an attacker manages to pull out. After all, it is four attackers against one Sir," another teacher said.

"Yes, you are right," a few other teachers agreed and moved towards the janitor room for extra equipment.

They all stopped short on their way when they saw so many water buckets lined up.

"How was Sir able to use the hose? Where did the water come from?"

These were the questions that ran through every teacher's mind as they remembered asking the students in the morning to help fill the water buckets for the potted plants, because the tap line connected to the hose was broken.