Victoria Island, Lagos — 8:43 PM
The first explosion shattered the windows of a twenty-story commercial building.
The second overturned three cars.
The third brought an entire section of the road crashing into the drainage channel beneath it.
People screamed as dust and smoke filled the streets. Drivers abandoned their vehicles and ran for cover. Shopkeepers pulled down their shutters while pedestrians scrambled into nearby buildings.
Above them, a helicopter circled the intersection.
Its searchlight illuminated the source of the destruction.
A gigantic man stood in the middle of the road, surrounded by wrecked vehicles and shattered concrete.
He wore black metallic armor that covered his chest, shoulders, and forearms. Orange lines pulsed across the armor like rivers of molten lava. His enormous hands ended in five metallic claws, each capable of tearing through steel.
His name was Dreadclaw.
He raised his right hand, and the orange light beneath his armor intensified.
A sphere of energy formed above his palm.
"LOOK AT YOU!" he shouted at the fleeing civilians. "RUNNING, HIDING, SCREAMING! THIS IS WHAT YOUR SO-CALLED PEACE LOOKS LIKE WHEN REAL POWER ARRIVES!"
He closed his fist.
BOOOOOOOOM!
A circular shockwave raced across the intersection, lifting a delivery van into the air and smashing it against the side of a building.
Dreadclaw laughed.
"For years, powerful men have controlled this city with money, influence, and fear. They think their towers make them untouchable."
He looked toward the surrounding skyscrapers.
"Tonight, I will show them what true power means!"
The police helicopter descended slightly.
"Dreadclaw, this is the Lagos security response unit! You are surrounded! Put your hands in the air and surrender!"
Dreadclaw looked up.
"Surrounded?"
He smiled.
"Then I suppose I should make a little room."
He extended his arm.
Orange energy gathered around his claws.
KINETIC BURST!
The blast struck the helicopter's side.
The aircraft spun violently, its rotor assembly shaking as the pilot struggled to regain control.
"WE'VE BEEN HIT!" the pilot shouted.
The helicopter began descending toward the surrounding buildings.
Dreadclaw watched with satisfaction.
"One down."
Suddenly, a red flare shot into the sky.
It burst above the helicopter, releasing a cloud of metallic particles. A compact emergency device activated near the aircraft's damaged rotor assembly, reducing the descent long enough for the pilot to regain control.
The helicopter veered away from the buildings and headed toward an open landing area.
Dreadclaw frowned.
"What?"
A young man stood on a nearby rooftop.
He wore a black tactical suit with dark-blue lines running along his arms and chest. A lightweight mask covered the lower half of his face, and a compact technological device rested against his left wrist.
He examined the helicopter.
Then he looked down at Dreadclaw.
"You know," the young man called out, "there are easier ways to get people's attention."
Dreadclaw looked up.
"Who are you?"
The young man stepped off the rooftop.
He dropped several stories before firing two cables from his wrist device. The cables attached to the side of a building, slowing his descent.
He released them and landed on the road.
Dust rose around his boots.
He straightened his jacket.
"My name is Madu Enoch."
Dreadclaw stared at him.
Then he burst into laughter.
"You expect me to take you seriously?"
"No," Madu replied. "I expect you to surrender."
Dreadclaw's laughter stopped.
For several seconds, he studied the young man standing before him.
Madu appeared ordinary.
He wasn't enormous. He didn't possess visible armor capable of withstanding explosions. He carried no obvious heavy weapons, and there was nothing about his appearance that suggested he could challenge someone who had just destroyed an entire intersection.
Dreadclaw smiled again.
"You have courage, boy. I'll give you that."
He raised his right fist.
"But courage won't save you."
Madu glanced at the fist.
"Interesting."
"What is?"
"The way your energy gathers around your forearm before you attack."
Dreadclaw's expression changed slightly.
Madu continued.
"The orange light intensifies about half a second before you release a burst. Your right shoulder also rotates backward before you generate maximum force."
He tilted his head.
"That probably helps you stabilize the discharge."
Dreadclaw stared at him.
"Have you been watching me?"
"For approximately two minutes and forty seconds."
"And you think you've figured me out?"
"Not entirely."
Madu raised his hands.
"But I've learned enough to begin."
Dreadclaw roared and charged.
His speed was astonishing for a man of his size. The pavement cracked beneath his feet as he crossed the distance between them.
He swung his enormous right fist toward Madu's head.
Madu's eyes sharpened.
In that instant, his extraordinary mind began processing information at a level beyond ordinary human intelligence.
He calculated Dreadclaw's approach speed, the trajectory of the punch, the angle of the shoulder, the position of the villain's feet, and the likely direction of the next attack.
His hyper intelligence transformed the information into a single conclusion.
The punch is too powerful to block.
Dodging backward would leave me vulnerable to a follow-up strike.
Moving laterally offers the highest probability of survival.
Madu stepped to the left.
Dreadclaw's fist passed beside his head.
The air pressure alone sent dust flying across the road.
Before the villain could recover, Madu struck the outside of his elbow.
THUD!
The punch barely hurt Dreadclaw.
But it disrupted the angle of his arm.
Madu stepped behind him and kicked the back of his knee.
Dreadclaw staggered forward.
"What?"
Madu retreated immediately.
He hadn't expected the attacks to cause serious damage. His objective had been to test the villain's physical stability.
The result was useful.
Dreadclaw possessed tremendous strength and durability, but his armor restricted some of his movements. His powerful attacks also required him to shift his weight before releasing maximum force.
That created openings.
Small ones.
But openings nonetheless.
Dreadclaw turned slowly.
"You little insect!"
He slammed his foot into the ground.
BOOOOOOM!
A shockwave spread across the intersection.
Madu's mind processed the attack.
Radial force propagation.
Ground-level transmission.
Estimated effective radius: twelve meters.
Insufficient time for ordinary evasion.
His eyes moved toward a construction barrier beside the road.
He seized it and drove it into a damaged drainage opening at an angle.
The shockwave arrived.
KRAAAAAASH!
The barrier redirected part of the ground-level force into the damaged channel. Madu used the momentary disruption to dive behind a reinforced concrete road divider.
The divider cracked.
Fragments struck his shoulder.
He rolled onto the pavement and rose, breathing heavily.
Dreadclaw stared at him.
"You survived?"
Madu brushed concrete dust from his sleeve.
"Apparently."
"How?"
Madu pointed toward the damaged road.
"Your attack travels through the environment. That makes the environment part of the equation."
Dreadclaw clenched his fists.
Madu's expression remained calm, but his mind was racing.
Physical strength: exceptionally high.
Durability: high.
Kinetic energy generation: confirmed.
Attack patterns: partially predictable.
Primary vulnerability: potential dependence on body positioning and energy stabilization.
Conclusion: direct confrontation is inefficient. Victory will require adaptation.
He looked at the villain again.
Dreadclaw raised both arms.
Orange energy surged across his armor.
"You've annoyed me enough!"
The surrounding air began to tremble.
Madu watched the growing energy sphere.
For the first time, he recognized that his opponent possessed enough destructive power to kill him with a single mistake.
He took a slow breath.
Then he smiled.
"Good."
Dreadclaw frowned.
"What?"
Madu lowered his center of gravity.
"Now I know you're taking me seriously."
Dreadclaw unleashed another blast.
The intersection erupted in orange light.
And Madu Enoch prepared his next counter.
TO BE CONTINUED...