Sahej hardly reached the roof level of the ground floor before falling back on his feet. It would have looked like an extraordinary jump to a passerby, but this much wasn't enough to reach the top.
He crouched on the pavement, trying to remember how the power in him must be opened. He always had trouble controlling his strength in the morning, but unleashing it deliberately wasn't in his muscle memory. He felt the muscles in his legs, their names unknown to him, but his time at the gym gave him the knowledge of the ones involved in the task he had at the moment.
'Think, think, think!', he pestered himself as he walked in circles, unable to remember how it was supposed to be done.
'Calm down,' Riya's voice came from the back of his head, he most likely hadn't had this conversation, but her voice continued, she possibly had answers, 'Calm down and try to feel the energy, the unlocking must come after that, right?'
He exhaled deeply from his nose and took a large mass of air from his mouth, focusing on inflating his chest, feeling the outline of the chest cavity, the muscles; the void where the air went; the sternum taking the pressure.
His mind came to peace at once, more due to finding his strength than the breathing exercise just now. He was aware of his whole body, every fiber, every bone, and coalesced with them the Godly, mysterious energy that had forcefully entered his body. He focused on his quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calf muscles, which would make the jump, and his shoulder and neck, both bone and tissue, which could break under the pressure, feeling the presence of the white smoke that was just there, waiting to be used, he tensed these organs, and he felt it, the superhuman strength, its inconceivable magnitude giving him confidence.
It started to express itself in the rest of the body very slowly, but that would come in handy later, he crouched again with surety and flexed the muscles again before jumping straight up.
The ground started to crumble as he began to push off himself, in an instant he was flying parallel to the face of the building, and the gentle wind was in a favorable direction as it kept him pressed that way. He faced straight, staring into the concrete to reduce the drag, he looked up halfway through to not miss the roof. Making the basketball dunk move a fraction of a second later than what would have been ideal, he redirected his momentum to end up crashing into the water tank, the injuries taken were not substantial, and would heal themselves in minutes, now he had to set course for Mumbai while still being in the city. As far as possible, Sahej didn't want to send shockwaves through the human-occupied areas. He searched for his workplace from the roof, then crossed over to the other edge, if the angel's path were to be followed, his next launch would be asymmetric from the long, main street face with little distance from the edge where he stole the sunglasses. The skyline didn't look favorable, the wind would help, but gravity was his enemy. Tall corporate towers only went about 10 kilometers before ending sharply, the land beyond that had 5 stories at max, and residential towers were visible on the horizon, he needed a jump capable of reaching the horizon.
"Tch", that didn't seem plausible, the air resistance at that speed would not allow it, and he was no longer on the ground, the edge of a building would have its limits irrespective of the launch angle.
He will have to do it.
He will have to create a shockwave in the middle of the city.
****
Sahej couldn't digest the possibility, but saving Riya was a greater priority than a bunch of commoners, if he were going to do it eventually, it would be better to do it immediately, he gulped his resistance with the saliva in his mouth and took some steps back.
A shockwave echoed through the area as Sahej ran to the edge and took off, causing half of the roof to crumble. His planned landing spot was short of the midpoint between the tall residential and commercial buildings, but at least he could minimize the damage. He continued to fly through the sky at subsonic speed after the initial boost died. Anxiety ran deep in his heart as he couldn't see himself reaching the destination on time, but there were still endless possibilities open for the rest of the journey.
He somersaulted to land feet first on the wide street, packed with people and vehicles on both sides, Sahej's heart was filled with doubt again, but there was no time to reflect. This place was bound to have cameras and someone among the few who saw him coming must have whipped out their handheld devices.
"From the deepest depth of my heart, I am sorry for what's about to happen", he said to the woman knocked down from her two-wheeler as he snatched the dupatta wrapped around her face and did the same to his face, covering his hair, nose, and mouth. What he just did could be viewed as improper conduct with women.
But she probably wouldn't live long enough to judge that.
Sahej made his second jump, pushing himself off the solid ground without any restraint, leaving behind a crater and flattened bodies.
His landing on top of the residential tower was perfect, the roof was a designer hexagonal pattern with a deep green color, Sahej held the top with his palm, and his feet were slightly sunk into the tiles. He took out his feet while still holding onto the top, he looked back at the skyline where he started to confirm his further course. The direction was clear, and a faint sense of the enemy's location came to him, maybe this came as a consequence of using his powers at the fullest or the relative proximity they had at the moment, should the sense strengthen as he approached him, it would be ideal.
He took the Spiderman stance at the top and prepared for his next leap, this one wouldn't be able to give him a good enough push, but just a few kilometers away he could see the endless plains of undeveloped land, and at a certain point beyond them would lie farms of wheat with some annual and perennial crops. Running barefoot from the beginning was the best choice as the shoes would give in at one point and temporarily slow him down, sustaining the effort to keep running at supersonic speed would be easy once the energy takes it to avoid fatigue, the time in reaching this spot was enough to strengthen his body for the resistance. He didn't know how to run with a form that would efficiently use his muscles and reduce drag.
He tucked in his feet to make a half rotation before landing on the plain and dashed forward at full force, no time to take a breath. But he couldn't even reach the sound barrier, Sahej tried changing his form by leaning forward and pushing off the ground at all times, something he thought Olympic track and field players do, but noticeable improvements didn't happen, sustaining the effort to keep his current pace had started to take its toll, his lower back began to break, threatening to rip him in half, his face and eyes were pressed flat and his vision was almost black.
Sahej came to a rather sudden stop over a few kilometers. This much wouldn't cut it, he needed to figure out a technique. His body bounced back to perfect health as the vapor filled his vision momentarily, and he had an idea.
With one leg behind him and one leg at ninety degrees in front of him, he cupped his right hand into a tight fist and pushed it to his side with the palm of the left, he punched the air at his full strength, and boom!
Sahej opened the fist as he started running through the air pocket with a much lower pressure than normal, his body was already adapted to extreme low-pressure conditions. He gained speed quickly and surpassed his previous record. The pocket was about to collapse around him when he launched another punch with his left and withdrew his right. This punch didn't have the strength of the first one, but Sahej had already gained enough momentum and rushed through the city boundaries, finding himself in wet farmlands while shadow boxing at 1.5 Mach speed.
The wet soil provided relief to blisters on his feet he didn't realise he had, but he didn't need to worry about them anymore anyway.
He jumped cities, villages, highways whenever he saw them coming, chasing the ever growing feel of the enemy's whereabouts, which he noticed again after it's growth rate increased with a jump, his senses possibly refining themselves in the adaptation of his body.