Characters: Ajēya
Real name: Sanju Bihari
Occupation: Student, Adventurer
Identity: Known to the public
Legal Status: Citizen of India with no criminal record
Place of Birth: Thiruvananthapuram, India
Known relatives: Dr. Vikram Bihari Ph.D (father), Dr. Sujatha Bihari Ph.D (mother)
Group Affiliation: Provisional member of Sanrakṣaka (aka The Protectors; India's superhero team)
Powers and Abilities: As a result of various biological enhancements by the symbiotic microbial alien species called the Hold, Ajēya possesses vast superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability and reflexes. Soon after his initial transformation Sanju could lift an approximate maximum of 40 tons but after absorbing the Hold from a defeated Kezarnekt warrior his powers have increased -- he is now able to lift objects in excess of 85 tons and is capable of flight at speeds many times the speed of sound.
Because of Ajēya's symbiotic relationship with the Hold he is now immune to terrestrial disease.
Brief Personal History: Drs. Vikram and Sujatha Bihari were structural and design engineers working on launch vehicles for the ISRO; India's Space Research Organization. When one of the ISRO's rockets collided with an uncharted object in low orbit and crashed back to Earth, they were part of the recovery and investigative team. While disassembling the downed craft, they came into contact with a dust-like substance of unknown origin. However after a period of quarantine and observation they were cleared to resume their duties. Roughly a year after this event, Sujatha gave birth to the couple's son, Sanju.
Sanju was a sickly child and always seemed to be afflicted with some recurring cold or other ailment. Repeated hospital visits and tests from some of India's best doctors revealed no cause for the boy's near constant state of illness. Sanju however took it all in stride and was a happy, funny and hope-filled child in spite of his medical struggles. The frail boy would lose himself in comic books, video games and in his own fantasies where he could be as healthy and as powerful as he wished.
One day, just after Sanju's 11th birthday, he fell to the floor as crippling seizures, headaches and a raging fever struck. Fearing for his life, his parents rushed him to the nearest hospital and Sanju was placed in the intensive care unit. That night as the staff struggled to lower his fever and diagnose the cause of his seizures, Sanju transformed. As a shocked medical team and his parents watched, he grew from his height of just under 4 feet to an astounding 6 feet 5 inches tall. He also gained an amazing amount of physical mass -- all of it unbelievably powerful muscle. Sanju came through that turbulent and frightening night reborn within the body of a man with Herculean stature.
As his doctors struggled to understand what had transpired, Sanju spoke -- but it was not the voice of the 11-year-old child. It was the sound of many voices speaking at once. The voices called themselves the Hold, and apologized to Sanju's parents for the many years of illness their presence within the child's system had caused. They explained that The Hold was a microbial symbiotic alien life form that had been sought after, cultivated and used for millennia by war-like star faring races due to the Hold's ability to grant incredible physical abilities to their hosts. This particular branch of The Hold (more than 200 billion microbial "citizens") had been adrift on an asteroid, keeping their mortally wounded host alive for nearly 1000 years before finding themselves in Earth's orbit and colliding with the ISRO's rocket. Nearly 90 billion Hold microbes died acting as transport for the others (the dust found on the rocket) and they moved on to Vikram and Sujatha soon after. As the Hold typically bonded with new hosts during the first stages of conception, they were part of Sanju from the very beginning. The constant state of illness Sanju suffered was the effect of the Hold subjecting itself (and him) to every existing terrestrial disease and virus and defeating them. Sanju would never be ill again.
The Hold further revealed that Sanju now possessed vast superhuman strength, invulnerability, stamina and the ability to fly -- abilities that he needed to become proficient in using immediately.
The microbes had heard the "Holdsong," which meant that other Hold were approaching. Their former masters, warriors of an alien race called the Kezarnekt, were rocketing to Earth to remove the Hold from whatever host they inhabited; a process that would result in the host's termination. Sanju had approximately five hours to get a handle on his abilities before engaging in life or death combat with four super powered alien warriors.
Dr. Sujatha Bihari quickly used her connections at the ISRO to begin mobilizing India's military and super-humans while Sanju flew himself and his father out to an old airfield to test his abilities. Sanju was now strong enough to lift and throw a small plane or bus and he could fly faster than most aircraft. However the boy had never been in a fight in his life.
Roughly five hours later, four Kezarnekt warriors attacked, raining fire and destruction down on the city of Thiruvananthapuram. Before Sanju flew off to support the Indian military's defense efforts, his father hand painted the word "अजेय"(Ajēya -- the Hindi word for ‘unstoppable" ) on his chest, to remind him that he was now like the heroes he used to read about.
Sanju faced off against the Kezarnekt in the skies above his city and used the element of surprise to defeat one warrior. However he soon found himself outmatched by the more experienced alien soldiers. Just when the battle seemed to turn for the worst, a nick-of-time save by armored Indian tech hero Mighty Bhishma allowed Sanju to get his second wind. Mighty Bhishma and the young defender managed to defeat two more combatants before Bhishma's armor was damaged and he was forced to withdraw. The day was finally won when the final warrior launched a diabolical attack against Sanju's father, causing the Hold within Sanju to convince the desperate boy hero to allow them to merge with the Hold microbes within their enemy -- an act that would destroy the Kezarnekt soldier but would also put Sanju's own life in danger. With his father's life in the balance, Sanju consented and the Holdsong filled the air once more. After a terrible struggle Sanju stood triumphant over the immolated Kezarnekt warrior -- whose Hold had now joined with the young hero's own, adding to his power.
Sanju was cheered as a national hero and dubbed "Ajēya" as a nod to his father's hand painted logo. Mighty Bhishma extended an invitation to join the Sanrakṣaka (India's superhuman champions) and Sanju's parents agreed to their son being granted provisional membership and trainee status (they were also granted special advisory status). Even as a provisional member Ajēya has aided in battle against some of the most powerful threats the Sanraksaka has faced in recent times; including the Gada Sisterhood, Critical Mass and the Kala Naga. Recently the Bihari's were visited by John Henry and Meridian of T.A.S.K. who sought permission for Ajēya to join their young hero trainee program. Sanju's parents were extremely honored but ultimately declined as they thought it was too soon for the 12 year old to leap fully into the world of super heroics. They did however assure the leader of T.A.S.K. that Sanju would be available when they felt the time was right.
Written by Damion Gonzales
Character design by Sean Isaakse