The creature that was once Dr. Bharat Maske huddled in the shadows of an abandoned warehouse near the Mumbai docks. Weeks had passed since the horrifying night in the lab. The memories were a chaotic nightmare of screaming alarms and a searing, agonizing pain as the green, living meteoroid had consumed him. He had smashed his way out of the facility in a blind panic, a monster fleeing from his own reflection, and had found refuge in this forgotten, decaying building.
He was a prisoner in his own body. His new form was a constant source of terror. His skin was a thick, jagged hide of dark rock and pitted metal. He felt no hunger, no thirst, no need for sleep. There was only the war inside his head. The brilliant, logical thoughts of Dr. Bharat Maske were constantly fighting against the cold, silent, and incredibly ancient consciousness of the rock.
His new powers were a curse. His strength was uncontrollable. He tried to pick up a small metal cup, and it crumpled into a ball in his rocky fist. He tried to lean against a wall, and his hand went right through the brick. The green energy that flowed through him was even worse. When he felt a flash of anger or fear, a blast would erupt from his hands, blowing a hole in the warehouse wall.
Slowly, over weeks of hiding, the scientist within the monster began to fight back for control. Dr. Maske realized that if he didn't master this new form, he would remain a danger to everyone. He began to treat his new body as the ultimate experiment. He would have to learn its rules from scratch.
He started with strength. He spent days practicing, learning to lift delicate objects without crushing them. He then focused on the green energy. He learned to draw it into his palms, to shape it from a chaotic explosion into a focused, controlled beam. He was a scientist, and this was the greatest problem he had ever had to solve.
One night, he heard a news report from a small, discarded radio. The police in Mumbai were baffled by a series of strange events over the past month—unexplained explosions and sightings of a "man made of rock" who could "shoot green light from his hands."
"...the mysterious figure, which witnesses describe as a man who appears to be made of a meteoroid, is still at large," the news anchor said. "The police are urging citizens to be on the lookout for this... 'Meteoroid Man'."
The man who was once Dr. Maske stood in the darkness, listening. Meteoroid Man. The name felt right. Dr. Bharat Maske was dead, a victim of his own ambition. He was something new now.
As he finally gained control over his powers, the logical mind of the scientist took over completely. The alien instinct of the rock was still there, a cold presence, but Dr. Maske's human will was now in command. His goal was not to embrace this new form, but to escape it. He couldn't live like this, a monster hiding in the shadows. He had to reverse the process. He had to try to become normal again.
His new purpose was clear. He had to go back. Back to the source of his transformation. Back to the lab where his life had ended and this nightmare had begun. He hoped to use his research, his equipment—whatever was left of it—and his newfound control over the meteoroid's energy to find a cure, a way to separate himself from the alien rock that had become his skin and his prison.
He left the warehouse that night, a dark, silent figure moving through the shadows of Mumbai. He was no longer a panicked monster. He was a scientist on the most important mission of his life.
He reached the high-tech research facility he had escaped from weeks ago. It was now a cordoned-off crime scene, surrounded by temporary fences and security warnings. But for a being of his power, these were minor obstacles.
Using a focused, silent energy blast, he disabled a security camera. With his controlled strength, he pried open a sealed service entrance without making a sound. He slipped inside the dark, empty building, a ghost returning to his own tomb.
The chapter ends as Meteoroid Man stands in the doorway of the ruined lab where he was created. The room is a wreck of shattered glass and broken equipment. His glowing green eyes scan the destruction, the brilliant mind of Dr. Bharat Maske already analyzing, calculating, and forming a plan.
"The experiment failed," the scientist's thoughts echoed inside the monster's mind. "Now... the cure begins."
[To be continued…]
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Author: Vansh Rahate
Editor: Vansh Rahate
Story by: Vansh Rahate
Under: Alaukika Studios