San Francisco, a street.
On that street, a battle between gods was unfolding.
Sol gripped Mjolnir, his blond hair whipping wildly in the night wind.
His opponent stood twenty paces away, a figure wreathed in fiery light.
Agni.
The Hindu god of fire, the lord of sacrifices in Vedic mythology.
His skin was deep red, like red-hot iron. A golden crown sat atop his head, and each of his four arms held a flaming trident.
The paving stones beneath his feet had been scorched white. The air around him warped and twisted as waves of heat surged.
"Norseman."
Agni spoke, his voice like fire crackling over wood.
"You've overreached."
Sol said nothing.
He merely raised his right hand. Mjolnir spun once in his palm, and the runes on its head lit up with blue-white electricity.
"You were stolen from an Indian temple and locked in a museum basement."
"Now you're awake, and the first thing you do is come pick a fight with me?"
Agni's slit pupils contracted.
"That silver-tongued bastard stole me from my temple."
"The first thing I saw when I woke up was you."
"Norseman."
"You people hauled me around like cargo, and now you're asking why I'm fighting?"
Sol sighed.
"You're holding me responsible for what Loke did?"
"He's one of you Asgardians!"
Agni's flames suddenly shot a foot higher.
"You Asgardians have never had any regard for other gods."
"Odin, you-all of you look at us like we're a bunch of uncivilized savages."
Sol frowned.
"I've never thought that."
"Of course you haven't." Agni sneered, flames dancing along his tridents. "Because you can't even be bothered to think about it."
Sol wasted no more words.
He raised Mjolnir. Lightning suddenly burst from its head, and a blue-white bolt tore through the night sky, illuminating the