Fast. Fast. And fast.
- the only magical 3 words I could mutter as I saw him. His aura, his power. It was beyond everything I've ever seen. His chiselled abs that stood out from his tight spandex suit..
What the f*ck are you staring at Sejal ? - I r...
"How's vahini ?", I asked as I pulled down my mask. "She's stable for now. But..", Dr.Sejal hummed. "She has fractures all over her body even her face.. I don't know how she's going to react after she wakes up."
"And PF ?" "It seems he saw something. Something that's messing with his brain. He keeps on mumbling something. But I can't figure out what because of his mask. It simply won't come out", she complained.
"And.. how are you ?", I finally asked. She didn't answer, instead just walked away. But she paused all of a sudden and clinged to the wall. I rushed towards her and caught her. "Are you okay ?", I asked as I noticed her crying. "No, I'm not. And even you can't do anything about it", she said as she sat down.
I picked her up and made her sit on a nearby chair. "Tejas, I've messed up everything. I thought I could be like everyone.. thought I could socialize.. have fun.. be myself.. But how stupid was I..", she muttered.
"What are you talking about ?" "It's because of me and my recklessness, that everything around us is happening ! REDZ's shares are dropping down due to allegations over Project Affection. This whole legacy of my father will soon collapse.. just because I wanted to start anew.
Vedant and Mayuri don't deserve to be there. They're in there because of me.. I called Mayuri to save me..", she cried heavily. "Everything I touch, crumbles and gets destroyed." "No Sejal, it's not like this", I said as I wiped her tears. "It's not your fault."
"It is, Tejas. It is my fault. Everything was fine till I decided to rebel against my oppressive mother. I think it's better to just do what she says.. I can't be with you. You know why", she said as she removed my hand from her teary cheek and masked herself again.
"I know what you want.. you love me. You want to get us married. Have kids, start a family.." - I recalled her words.
"Dr.Sejal", I stood up as I pulled my mask up. "Take care of vahini and PF." "Now where are you going ?", she asked.
"I told you na, it's all my mistake. And I'm going to correct it. Whatever it takes."
***
Our house was sealed. Baba was put in isolation. Aai was CoV positive and it was the beginning of the first wave. So, it was expected.
I had a check up : I wasn't infected. Maybe that's because of the vaccination I had. Maybe it was because of my powers. Idk. Spandan would probably be chilling with his family. He had no idea about all this for now.
I made my way to ASPEX Industries. I knew only one man could help me right now. The Versatile.
"This won't happen. You need to have an ID", the guard didn't let me in. "Uncle, I know Mr.Omkar personally. I even came last month with my.. associate", I protested.
That's when I saw Mrs.Neha Jamadar talking with someone. "Neha ma'am !!", I called out.
Did she know me ? No. Will I still try to get inside ? Yes.
"Do I know you mister.." "Tejas. Tejas Shinde", I said.
"I don't recall that name." "I know something about The Devil that Mr.Jamadar doesn't."
She thought for a while. "Let him in", she said.
"I want to meet Mr.Versatile. It's urgent", I said. "I don't how you know so much about our family but..", Neha ma'am said. "Mr.Versatile told me himself", I continued. "I know him. You have to believe me. I want his help !"
"Ok Tejas Shinde. I'll help. But atleast show me some proof that you're The Satvar." "I had my suit. But that freak Negative Satvar stole it from my house. I noticed it today."
"Then I can't help you-" "Atleast call him and ask", I objected.
"Just one chance", she said and she called him. I looked around the empty conference room. It was so spacious. The seats were so luxurious.. "I have a good news and a bad news for you", she said as she ended the call. "The good one first !" "Omkar recognises you. That's surprising actually.. but he isn't available for now."
"Wait ? What ?! Is he doing something important ? I can wait", I said. "He's in Dubai. Doing some important work indeed. What's your work anyways ?"
"I want an upgrade."
***
"What's this ?!", I asked. "You remember Dr.Sejal was going to announce joint venture of REDZ with ASPEX ? This was it", Neha ma'am showed me the new building. It was majestic.
"Dr.Sejal ?!", I exclaimed as I saw a familiar face. "Mrs.Neha called me up. You're the last person I expected", Sejal said.
"So what's the plan captain ?", Neha ma'am asked sarcastically. I walked to a whiteboard and picked up a marker. Take down Negative Satvar - I wrote.
"You could've just said it. But ok how do we do that ?", Neha ma'am asked. "Don't tell me you want my husband to fight that speed-freak." "No. No. Only speed can defeat speed", I said.
"You don't have your speed right now", Dr.Sejal reminded me. "Yess, right now. But I do have my speed at certain times..", I said as I drew a straight horizontal line and continued to make a drawing like this :
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I referred to the paper that PF gave me when we met. The Past. The Present. The Future. And the After-Future. I wonder what part of that was actually true.
"In my timeline, I had 3 encounters with Negative Satvar. First one that's 20 days from now on. Then, the day of train accident, I met him second time and then finally I met him today. The day he actually should die but he doesn't.
"You said something about speed, didn't you ?", Neha ma'am pointed out. "Yess, each of these points is where we've fought. Each time we fought, we've liberated enormous amounts of energy. Even the train accident was actually due to these energy blasts. Unfortunately, I realised this late."
"You mean you knew the train was going to crash ?", Dr.Sejal asked. "Makes sense now, you told your dad to not go. Because you already knew the train was going to crash." "I didn't. I just felt insecure. I felt vulnerable. So I didn't-"
"You knew Avinash was going to die..", she said as she left. "What's with her now ?", Neha ma'am asked. I just shrugged. "What are you waiting for ? Go after her !" "I think she needs some space." "Damn you kids. Tejas, go and comfort her", she adviced. "And as for the upgrade, I know exactly what you need."
"What ?", I asked as I paused in my tracks. "A new suit."
