Shadow part 1 : past and present

Chapter 1 – Red Eyes in the Rain Time: 2:17 AM Location: Shivajinagar, Pune – Abandoned Apartment Block Pune never really sleeps. After midnight, it breathes differently. The roads empty out. The lights go dim. But the darkness? That’s when it starts to move. In a crumbling building, far from the main roads, a teenage girl sat duct-taped, shivering on the floor. She was only sixteen. Eyes wide. Face wet with tears. Three men circled her like they owned the night. > “Nobody’s gonna hear her scream in this dump,” one of them said. “Just finish fast,” another muttered. “I don’t like this place.” They didn’t hear the footsteps above them. --- Upstairs, rain poured onto the roof. Heavy. Constant. One figure stood at the edge—still, silent, watching. Shadow. Wearing a black suit with armor padding, drenched but unmoving. A hood covered most of his face. But from the mask, two soft red lights glowed—where eyes should be. He adjusted the grip on the batons strapped to his back. Inside the mask, he was calm. But something inside him? Burning. He’d been tracking this group for three nights. Tonight, they made a mistake. They touched someone innocent. --- CRASH! The glass window exploded. A figure dropped into the room like a nightmare. Boots hit the floor with a crack. The three men froze. > “Who the hell—” Too late. Shadow was already moving. His fist connected with the first guy’s face—fast, brutal. The man went flying back, slammed into the wall. The second pulled out a knife—sloppy move. Shadow spun, blocked, elbowed him in the ribs, then twisted the arm until it snapped. CRACK. The third tried to run. Shadow kicked his knee out from behind—then grabbed him by the collar and slammed him to the ground. Three men. Eight seconds. Done. --- The girl stared up at him. Breathing hard. Terrified. Shadow crouched beside her, gently cutting the tape off her wrists with a small blade. > “You’re safe now,” he said, voice low—glitched by his own voice modulator. “Police will be here soon.” She tried to ask something. But her voice cracked. > “Who... are you?” He looked at her. > “Just a shadow,” he said. And before she could blink, he was gone. --- The girl was rescued minutes later. She told the police everything. About the mask. The red eyes. The voice. The way he moved. They didn’t believe her. But word spread fast. In the underworld of Pune, something new was moving through the night. Not a cop. Not a killer. Something worse. If you see two red eyes in the rain— you better pray you’re not the reason they’re watching.