Brahampton Stadium was clean and quiet on a Sunday morning.

I watched from the Gladiator as the police cordoned off the area. Men in blue and police cruisers kept the crowds - and the merely curious - back.

The entire area had been cleaned and swept for explosives twice since the morning. Once before the news cameras showed up, and once after.

Choppers soared over the stadium, scanning every inch of it with cameras, and drones floated in the sky. Four fire engines stood by, ready to intervene for the blaze everyone expected to break out.

The clock in my armor showed eight forty-five. It was time.

I stepped out of the Gladiator and marched towards the police line.

The Commissioner of Police, Paul Matthis, was there personally. I recognised him from his photos.

Matthis stepped forward. “Belessar.”

“Commissioner Matthis,” I greeted him.

“The Tanisport Police Department once again requests you to refrain from this course of action.”

“Your concerns are noted, Commissioner. I request you to stand aside so I can finish this.”

The Commissioner looked pained, but stepped out of the way.

I marched on.

: my bots are in position. No sign of Agni.

: She has fifteen minutes.

Jeffrey O’Rourke was waiting just beyond the police line. “Belessar. How are you feeling before the big fight?”

I almost laughed. Was that what they were calling it?

“No comment, Jeffrey. Should you be so close?”

“Hey, I can handle a little heat.”

I frowned. “Stay safely back, please.”

Something in my voice must have convinced Jeffrey, because he backed off.

: i wish you’d let me be there

: you know why you can’t be

: if things get difficult for you, though, i’m coming in

: with the swarm

: only if the armor fails, nothing less than that

: make sure you don’t kill her

: we shouldn’t have to keep a global terrorist alive to save London

: it is what it is

I took up position in the centre of the stadium.

Drones floated in the sky, their cameras capturing every movement. The police were planning to stop Agni from entering the stadium, possibly by intercepting her.

Nanocloud had spotted the police snipers taking up positions last night. A quick call by me to Fraser, followed by a very stern talking to from the Department of Defense and DURABLE to Commissioner Matthis’ office, had seen them withdrawn in minutes.

For now, the police had been instructed to maintain a cordon - and that was it.

Commissioner Matthis was still expecting his men to spot Agni - without knowing what she looked like - and prevent the battle.

Sadly, he wasn’t as familiar with ultras as he should have been.

Fifty feet away from me, a torch burned in the centre of Brahampton Stadium. The flame had been lit at six in the morning - a ritual that the Brahampton staff followed religiously every Sunday.

I’d made it a point to avoid looking too closely at the flame. Nonetheless, we knew what Agni’s entry point was.

I checked my suit status again.

HP: 130/130+5,000/5,000

PP: 378/378

MP: 675/675

CP: 300/300

AP: 324/324

PSYDEF: 51

Shield: 0/100 (Off)

$ 1,133,829

XP: 16240/21000

Ethics: +328

Eight fifty-seven.

I checked my power levels.

FUSION REACTOR ONLINE: 100%

POWER CAPACITY: 200 KW

BATTERY RESERVE: 6060 MJ (100%)

SHIELD STATUS: OFF (TURN ON FOR 100/100 SHIELDING)

The good thing about five Heavy Power Packs is that they provided enough juice to run the suit for almost fifteen hours, even without the fusion reactor working.

Or fire some really high-powered weapons.

Nanofibre Weave was meant for police actions, Boar Armor for infantry combat; but the Greyhound was meant for war.

In time - possibly in London - I would need to put its abilities to the test.

Meanwhile, I had an Agni to quench.

And as the clock touched 09:00:00 AM, the torch flared brighter, and Agni appeared.

The supervillainess was dressed in the clothes I’d first seen her in - biker leathers and a helmet.

“New suit?” she called out.

“My Sunday best,” I shot back.

Agni laughed.

It was a strangely human laugh.

“You know,” she said conversationally, “I’ve never been challenged before. Everyone else either hides or tries to hunt me down.”

“It seemed less messy.” A line came to my head from somewhere. “Saam, daan, danda, bhed.”

The words startled Agni. “You know Sanskrit?”

“Well, a little.”

“Let me guess. You looked me up, figured a line in Sanskrit would impress me?” She cocked her head. “Do you even know what that means?”

“Treat people first as you would be treated,” I replied. “If they trespass once, forgive them. If they trespass again, punish them. If they trespass a third time, cut them out of your life.”

“It’s close,” murmured Agni. “Looks like you do actually know some Sanskrit.”

“My Hindi’s not terrible either.”

“Really? It’s been a long time since an ultra spoke Hindi to me.”

“Do you give them time to talk?”

The villainess cocked her head. “A valid point. Usually they’re screaming within five seconds. Which reminds me.” She waved a finger. “You’re overdue.”

Fire slammed into me.

FLAME ATTACK!

20 DAMAGE REDUCED BY FIRE RESISTANCE.

20 DAMAGE NEGATED.

Agni was gone.

I stumbled forward, searching for the elemental.

Another wave of heat slammed into me.

FLAME ATTACK!

20 DAMAGE REDUCED BY FIRE RESISTANCE.

20 DAMAGE NEGATED.

Where was Agni?

: she’s hopping across the stadium

: how?

: uh …. She’s set the entire stadium on fire

I glanced around.

Nanocloud was right. The entire stadium was burning.

Lines of flame raced across the rows of seats. In mere seconds, Agni had set every chair, table, net and board in the area on fire.

And as I watched, she blinked from one burning chair to another, then another, and then another.

She was hopping across distances hundreds of feet apart, never staying in a single place for more than a second.

FLAME ATTACK!

20 DAMAGE REDUCED BY FIRE RESISTANCE.

20 DAMAGE NEGATED.

And in those second long intervals, she would launch an attack and hit me.

Well.

She came prepared.

Fortunately, so did I.

I launched my newest explosive.

The Cryogenic Grenade flew through the air and exploded in the middle of a row of seats.

Frost expanded rapidly, and the flames went out.

I turned rapidly in her direction and fired off another Cryogenic Grenade. This created another frozen zone, but she’d already jumped out.

: watch out!

I dodged as another lance of flame splashed behind me.

Agni had jumped again. Fine. I didn’t need her to stand still.

Inventory.

My new weapon slammed into my hands, and I opened fire.

The M22 Assault Rifle is a standard U.S. Army weapon, also available to British soldiers. I’d surprised the heck out of Pemberley for asking for one. Still, they’d agreed - grudgingly - to give me a modified version with a high-capacity magazine.

Agni was laserproof, not bulletproof.

Now, bullets slammed into chairs, tables, and seats as I spun around, firing as quickly as possible.

Agni flashed from one location to another, zapping out of the way of the bullets.

“Cheater!” she yelled, blinking from one location to the next, laughing. “Good idea, though!”

A wave of flame washed over me. The blaze rolled harmlessly over my armor, but the rifle wasn’t so fortunate.

I hurled the gun aside just before it blew up spectacularly.

Another burst of flame hit my armor.

FLAME ATTACK!

20 DAMAGE REDUCED BY FIRE RESISTANCE.

20 DAMAGE NEGATED.

Fine, next trick.

I grabbed a knife from Inventory and hurled it.

UNERRING THROW!

The knife slammed into Agni’s arm. She cursed, then yanked it out.

AGNI -10 HP!

An explosion slammed into me.

SUPERHEATED SPLINTERS ATTACK!

110 DAMAGE REDUCED BY FIRE RESISTANCE.

110 DAMAGE. ARMOR POINTS: 4,890/5,000

Maybe I couldn’t do this all day, but I could certainly keep it up for a while.

I struck back with Mindstrike.

MINDSTRIKE RESISTED!

… What? You could resist Mindstrike?

No matter.

Except that Agni had jumped somewhere else again, so I needed to find her again…

My sense of people’s locations told me she was… there.

I hurled a Lightning Strike at her.

She jumped. Again.

The Lightning hit a burning chair.

The chair exploded. Burning bits of plastic began to rain down.

FURNITURE DESTROYER UPGRADED. YOU CAN NOW TRIGGER THE DESTRUCTION OF FURNITURE AT RANGE.

A bolt of fire slammed into my back, again.

FLAME ATTACK!

20 DAMAGE REDUCED BY FIRE RESISTANCE.

20 DAMAGE NEGATED.

I spun and hurled another Lightning Strike.

Too late. Agni had jumped again….