The weeks following Tejas's first secret act of heroism were a blur of intense focus. By day, he was Tejas Joshi, diligent science student. By night, and in every spare moment, he was an engineer, designing and building. His small bedroom transformed into a makeshift lab, filled with sketches, fabric samples, and the hum of modified electronics.
His primary challenge was friction. The heat generated by super-speed was immense. His final design was purely functional: a sleek, orange one-piece suit, the color a reminder of the object that gave him his powers. Smooth lines minimized air resistance. The material was a multi-layered system he painstakingly created: a breathable base layer bonded with flexible, ceramic-polymer composite panels designed to absorb and dissipate extreme heat.
For anonymity and protection, he didn't add a hood. Instead, he crafted a sleek, form-fitting orange mask that covered the lower half of his face (nose and mouth), leaving the upper part open. Integrated seamlessly into the top of the mask were streamlined orange lenses, like high-tech goggles, to protect his eyes from wind and debris at high velocity. The look was minimalist, aerodynamic, and striking.
He made the suit himself, stitching and bonding the materials with meticulous care. Finally, after nearly a month, it was ready.
He took the finished suit back to the abandoned textile mill on a bright Saturday morning for a test run. He pulled it on. It fit perfectly. He secured the mask, the orange lenses clicking into place. He took a breath, focused, and moved.
WHOOSH!
He crossed the vast factory floor in less than a heartbeat, stopping smoothly, the suit absorbing the heat. He ran again, faster, weaving around broken machinery, a silent orange blur under the shafts of daylight filtering through the broken roof. He pushed himself harder than ever, the suit performing flawlessly. It worked. He felt ready.
His chance came sooner than expected, later that same day. He was heading home after his test run, still buzzing with adrenaline (though now back in his civilian clothes), when chaos erupted on a major arterial road near Dadar. He saw it from a distance – a speeding jewelry store van weaving recklessly through the afternoon traffic, pursued by two black SUVs. Gunshots echoed in the bright daylight. A high-speed robbery.
Without a second thought, Tejas ducked into a deserted alley. He quickly changed, pulling on the orange suit, securing the mask and lenses. He took a deep breath. Showtime.
He exploded out of the alley, accelerating instantly. He became an orange streak, a blur of motion weaving through the startled drivers and honking cars faster than anything they had ever seen. The daylight made him incredibly visible, a flash of impossible color against the grey asphalt.
He caught up to the lead SUV in seconds. The world slowed down around him. He ran alongside it, ripped the driver's side door off its hinges, ran ahead, grabbed a discarded tire, and wedged it under the front axle. The SUV spun out, crashing harmlessly into a pile of roadside vendor carts.
He turned his attention to the second SUV. It swerved, bullets spraying. Tejas ran straight towards it. Just before impact, he vibrated his body, passing through the SUV like a ghost. He solidified, reached back, snatched a heavy chain from a nearby barrier, and tied the back axles together. The SUV skidded to a halt.
He disarmed the stunned robbers from both SUVs in a blur, tying them securely together with the same chain. The entire sequence, from exiting the alley to neutralizing both vehicles and all robbers, took less than fifteen seconds.
By the time the first police cars arrived, sirens screaming, they found two disabled SUVs, a group of securely bound armed robbers, and a pile of confiscated weapons neatly stacked on the pavement – all under the bright afternoon sun.
Of the orange streak, there was no sign.
Or so he thought. As he paused for a fraction of a second in the shadow of a flyover pillar, ready to speed away, a news van, caught in the traffic jam caused by the incident, swerved to the side of the road. A determined-looking young female reporter jumped out, microphone already in hand, spotting the flash of orange. Her cameraman scrambled to follow.
"Wait! Stop!" she yelled, running towards him. "You! The one in orange! Who are you?"
Tejas froze. He was caught, exposed in the broad daylight. He could run, disappear in an instant. But then, he thought about the scientists, the woman in the market. Hiding forever wasn't an option. Maybe it was time.
He turned, letting the news camera get a clear shot of his masked, orange-lensed face.
"Who are you?" the reporter asked again, breathless.
Tejas paused, the name forming in his mind, simple, direct. "TEJ," he said, his voice clear, slightly filtered by the mask.
"Tej?" the reporter repeated. "What... what can you do?"
"I'm fast," Tej replied simply.
"We saw..." the reporter stammered. "Did you do this? Stop them?"
"I did," Tej confirmed.
The reporter's eyes widened. "There have been rumors... the fire at Futura Dynamics... they said someone impossibly fast saved those scientists. Was that... was that you too?"
This was his chance. To claim his first act. To step fully into this new role.
Tej looked directly into the camera lens, his expression hidden, but his stance confident. "Yes," he said. "I saved them."
With that, before the reporter could react, he vanished. Not in a blur, but in an instant snap of displaced air, leaving the reporter, her cameraman, and the growing crowd of onlookers staring, speechless, at the empty space where the orange streak had been just a moment before, the afternoon sun glinting off the spot.
The chapter ends with the news broadcast live across Mumbai, showing the bound robbers, the disabled vehicles under the bright daylight, and the reporter breathlessly telling the city about the impossible speedster who called himself TEJ, the same mysterious hero who had saved the scientists from the lab fire. Tejas Joshi was no longer a secret. Tej had arrived.
[To be continued…]
Support me: vanshbosssrahate@oksbi (UPI ID)
Author: Vansh Rahate
Editor: Vansh Rahate
Story by: Vansh Rahate
Under: Alaukika Studios