The fire was everywhere.

I dashed through where the wall used to be. The kitten was screaming in pain - her fur was on fire. I hit her with a Heal and tossed her to the side.

Then I let Valotti down on the pavement and looked for the attacker.

No sign.

The woman on the bike. She was gone.

Lara ran out behind me. “Is Valotti okay?” she yelled.

“No, he hit his head,” I yelled back. “Get him to a hospital fast!”

“Come with us!”

I shook my head.

Flame smashed into me.

FIRE DAMAGE! 15 DAMAGE FROM CONCENTRATED FLAME!

TEST OF BURN RESISTANCE: FAILED!

YOU ARE BURNING! 10 FIRE DAMAGE PER SECOND!

I snapped a quick Heal off.

STATUS EFFECT: BURN IS REMOVED.

ARMOR: 375/400.

Where was the woman?

Another spurt of fire lashed out at me. I dodged.

Lara was dragging Valotti to a car. Good, at least she’d realized she wasn’t the target.

I was.

Grumman hitting back?

I raced forwards, just in time to avoid another geyser of flame that shot out from under where I’d been standing.

Where was she?

Only one way to find out.

I dodged another spike of flame and lashed out with Mindstrike.

MINDSTRIKE! 20 DAMAGE TO HIDDEN FOE!

The flame stopped for a second.

Then, the entire street burst into flames.

Waves and waves of flames washed over me.

FIRE DAMAGE! 15 DAMAGE FROM CONCENTRATED FLAME! YOU ARE BURNING! 10 FIRE DAMAGE/SECOND!

Heal removed the Burn effect, but my Armor was down to 350.

This one was good.

But not good enough to avoid Mindstrike.

I lashed out again, in every direction.

The purple lines of my power raced across the street and behind a building. A scream.

Then, another blast of flames. This time, it was if every window on the street was firing a flamethrower at me.

MINDSTRIKE! 20 DAMAGE TO HIDDEN FOE!

I dodged like a maniac.

Another attempt at Mindstrike ….. But this time there was no target.

The flames were still raging, but now they began to fizzle out.

Sprinklers started to work, and water began to douse the flames.

I kept another Heal ready, just in case….

AGNI HAS FLED THE BATTLEFIELD!

YOU HAVE BEEN VICTORIOUS AGAINST THE ULTRAHUMAN AGNI FOR NOW. HOWEVER, YOU CAN TRUST IN THE FACT THAT SHE WILL RETURN.

NEW QUEST ALERT: FACE THE FIRE.

SURVIVE THREE OF AGNI’S ATTACKS AGAINST YOU. 1 OF 3 SURVIVED.

REWARD: +2500 XP, ????

FAILURE: DEATH

Oh crap…..

That was Agni? The world-famous terrorist who’d killed two hundred thousand people?

: are you okay? That whole thing happened really fast!

: I was just attacked by an ultra called Agni

: Are you sure it was her

: that’s what my power says…. I got a quest for surviving her attacks

: no, no, no … this is so not good

: you need to get to safety fast

: home?

: head elsewhere for now… I’ll scan the area, see if the bots can find her

: not come home?

: not yet… Agni is way more dangerous than Grumman

I made my way towards the base. Then I detoured into an abandoned parking lot and changed into normal clothes. Then I took a train, and just to be on the safe side, took it in the wrong direction from home, switched halfway across, and then walked a hundred metres to the next line to take a third train home.

Anne still hadn’t been able to find Agni.

By the time I got home, it had been nearly an hour since the attack. Anne met me at the door. “We need to talk.”

“Agreed. Downstairs?”

“Downstairs.”

In my basement lair, I dropped my armour on the table. Large chunks had been scoured away, vaporized by the flame. I scowled. “This is not good.”

“Agni is bad news,” said Anne. “Very bad.”

“Ryman told us about her. Why would she be after me anyway?”

“I did a bit more research while you were out.”

“What did you find out?

“Basically her origin story. When the protests broke out in Pakistan in 2070, the army suppressed them and shot a lot of civilians. In Karachi, Waqtwazir stopped them - he took the side of the protestors. Then, a few days later, four ultras attacked the main Pakistani army base in a place called Rawalpindi.”

“Four ultras?”

“King Shah, Waqtwazir, Agni and Hifara. Hifara could create tunnels underground - long, deep ones. Agni set Rawalpindi ablaze.”

“The entire city?”

“Most of it. She went street by street and hunted down the Pakistani soldiers. Burnt hundreds alive. King Shah hit their armored formations and aircraft. Then Hifara collapsed his tunnels under the city, leaving the few who survived or hid buried under tons and tons of earth.”

I sat down, stunned. “That’s… that’s got to be a war crime.”

“Waqtwazir was killed a couple of days later, fighting the Pakistani Air Force. That didn’t stop the other three. Agni cut loose, and hunted down Pakistani troops across the country. She burnt even more soldiers to death. King Shah hit the capital city the next day, killed hundreds more, and killed the President of Pakistan. At that point, the country broke out into a civil war; when things settled, we had North Pakistan, South Pakistan, and Balochistan left over.”

“How come no ultras stopped Agni? Or King Shah?”

“It was an internal Pakistani matter. Or so their President Duraid said. Right upto the point King Shah killed him.” Anne took a deep breath. “This is serious, Andrew. What I’ve read online about her motives … they say she hates ultras who cooperate with the military. The most powerful ultrahumans who cooperate with professional armies– she burns them to death. Less powerful ultras have kept away from cooperation because, well, nobody wants to be on her hit list.”

“And now she’s in Tanisport.”

“You need to tell DURABLE about this, fast. And your friends in the Army. I’ll keep looking for her… did you get any idea what she looked like?”

“She was in biker leathers and a helmet.”

“Do you know how many bikes are in the city….. Never mind, I’ll keep looking. I’m sending DURABLE the mail.”