“Do it,” the President mumbled. He closed his eyes. “Send a nuke. The fastest, the biggest payload we’ve got. Order the military to evacuate, get as many people out as we can. We need to end this.”

“Sir,” Clarke protested, “It’s a violation of the Disarmament treaty with-”

“I’ll deal with the Russians,” the President murmured. He shook his head, not looking up from the blur of Heydrich, speeding through open sky. “I’ll deal with the fallout. I don’t care what I have to do, if it brings this son of a bitch down, so be it.”

“Ready the launch,” he commanded, and the room moved on his orders, “Bring me the codes.”

He shook his head, staring helplessly at the screen and city. “May God have mercy on us all.”

*****

Jane stopped breathing. She stared, open-mouthed at Captain Dawn.

“Ninety eighty-four,” she whispered. And suddenly Morningstar, the carpet, the table, Elsa, the Captain, everything – all of it clicked into place. Jane staggered, her hands reaching out, catching on the side of one of the mirrors, the room spinning before her eyes. She was… the boy…

“Not always.”

Her head snapped up to Dawn, heart hammering in her chest.

“Sir,” she whispered, her voice trembling, her entire body electrified, shooting through with a giddy, electric rush. “Holy hell, sir, Walter I mean, I get it, I understand now, I-!”

She paused, shaking with excitement. “Sir,” she gushed, “My name is Jane Walker. I’m an Acolyte, part of the Legion of Heroes, except not this Legion, the Legion from the future, from 2001.”

Dawn’s blank expression opened into a slight frown. He leaned back, looking at Jane like she was crazy.

“What?”

“I know it’s hard to believe,” Jane continued, talking so fast it felt like she was going to trip over her own words, “But I swear it’s true. I’ve come back in time – I think, I’m eighty, no, ninety, no a hundred per cent sure – because we need you sir, the world’s in danger and we need you, right now, well not now, but right now in my time and…” Her voice trailed off at the Captain’s blank expression. “Is any of this making any sense to you?”

Walter hesitated. “You’re… you’re from the Legion… in the future?” he sniffed.

“Yes!” Jane almost kissed the air. “Yes! I know it’s insane but look, look at what I’m wearing, look at my armour!” She pointed her hands wildly at the cracked and torn crimson and gold Kevlar-woven plating. “And look! Look, I’ve got the-” she stuck her shoulder out, leaning enthusiastically forward, “-I’ve got the badge, I’ve got…”

“We can travel in time?” Dawn whispered slowly, his eyes glazed over, not seeing the silver eagle the empath was thrusting in front of his face. Jane hesitated.

“Well, it’s less we can so much as I can,” she conceded, “And I mean, barely, I’ve got no idea how it works, I just sort of got led here, I don’t know how to…” Again she trailed off, shaking her head, trying to flush away the doubts, “But it doesn’t matter, sir, you’ve got to help us,” she pleaded, “You’ve got to stop him, Klaus Heydrich, I mean, the Black Death, you haven’t heard of him yet but he killed you and now-”

“He what?!” yelped the Captain, sitting up like someone had stabbed him in the spine.

“Yeah!” rambled Jane, “He killed you, and then he destroyed Africa, and now he’s back and-”

“How?!” Dawn interrupted her with a strangled cry. Jane blinked.

“How what? How’d he destroy Africa? He supercharged his cells with energy and-”

“No!” he cried, “How’d he kill me?!”

“Oh,” said Jane, a bit taken aback, “Well… he’s an empath. Blood based.” She huffed impatiently at the blank look on the Captain’s face. “He absorbs people’s blood and permanently gets their powers.”

“And he copied my power?” said Dawn, his face scrunching in scepticism, “I don’t even think I have blood anymore.”

“No, I don’t think he-” began Jane, before she realised what he’d just said, “Wait, you don’t have blood? What do you have in-” she stopped herself, “You know what, never mind. No, the Black Death didn’t get your powers, he just managed to combine his and, and defeat you, I guess, he was more powerful.”

Captain Dawn looked horrified.

“When did this happen?” he whispered, his green eyes wide.

“Ten years ago,” answered Jane, then corrected herself, “Ok, ten years in my past, six years in your future.” She pressed on, recounting her history. “He started killing people in Africa. The Legion went to fight him and he killed them all, and then you went and fought him too, and everyone thought you won.” She averted her eyes slightly. “But we were wrong. He killed you, stole your identity, then…” Her voice trailed off. “And now he’s back,” she finally managed to get out, “Stronger than before. And he’s going to take over the world, my world – and you’re the only one who has any chance of stopping him.” She looked up at Dawn’s blank, horrified face, her eyes pleading. “You’re our only hope.”

There was a long pause.

“So let me get this straight,” Captain Dawn finally said, his face inscrutable, “This man – this ‘Black Death’ – killed me once already. And now he’s stronger.”

“Yes,” began Jane, “But-”

“And you want me to go fight him again?!” yelped Dawn, retreating up and out of his chair, recoiling away from her, “He’ll kill me!”

The rush of excitement that had been racing through Jane’s mind came to an abrupt, crashing halt. She gaped up at the giant, simpering superhero. “What?!” she cried, unable to believe what she was hearing, “What do you mean ‘He’ll kill you’?! We’re talking about the fate of the world!”

“I, I, I, I, I, I, I can’t,” stammered Walter, “I can’t do it, you don’t understand, I, I don’t want to die!”

“You just tried to kill yourself!” cried Jane, in utter disbelief.

“That doesn’t mean I’m just going to throw my life away!” Walter wailed like some white-gold child. He retreated a step further away from her, lips trembling. “I can’t, I can’t do it, not without her, not without Caitlin I-”

And before Jane’s despairing eyes, he fell to his knees and once more began to cry.

“I can’t,” he sobbed, golden cape heaving against his shoulders, “I just can’t. I can’t fight him, I’m sorry, I’m not brave, I don’t-”

“You have to!” Jane implored. She dropped to one knee in front of him. “You… you’re the only the one that stands a chance, I believe in you, you have to do it, you…” A tightness spread across her chest. “…you have to try.”

“But I’m scared,” whispered Walter, tears streaming silently down his cheeks, “You said it yourself, I’m not strong enough, he kills me, I can’t… I can’t…” He sniffed quietly, his eyes on the floor. “What if I can’t do it? What if I fail, what if I die? I… I’m supposed to be a hero.” He gazed up at her through shaking eyes, his face wet and frightened. “Heroes never lose.”

Jane looked down at him – at this glowing, broken man, wracked with fear, paralysed because for the first time in his life he might not be strong enough. And she remembered being where he was, feeling what he was feeling. Seeing Morningstar burn. Walking, waiting to confront the Black Death, her and the Legion, even though they’d known they couldn’t stop him, even though they’d known it was probably hopeless. She thought about James, Mac, Celeste, all of them, how they’d all stood while he’d slaughtered them – how they’d never given up, never given an inch. About Matt – loyal, loving Matt – who’d never once stood down, never once backed off. Not for Ed. Not for her. Not when it was someone he cared about. Even though he had nothing; even though he was the least powerful person in the world.

And slowly, like it was someone else talking, she started to speak.

“Being a hero, it’s… it’s not about winning or losing,” she said softly, “It’s not about being the strongest, it’s… it doesn’t matter how strong you are. Whether you succeed, whether you fail, who you are, what you can do. Being a hero isn’t about strength. It’s about doing what’s right.” She swallowed and looked up. “And knowing you’re going to fail,” she said defiantly, “Knowing you’ll change nothing, knowing you’ll be forgotten, but trying anyway… it doesn’t make you less. It makes you more.”

Jane shook her head and smiled, sniffing back the sadness tugging at her heart – because suddenly she understood. Suddenly she knew what she had to do. She took a deep, ragged breath – feeling the cracks in her face, the pain in her chest – and with a single step, turned away from the man she thought she’d loved.

“I’m going back,” she said quietly, “I’m going to fight. I can’t stop him. I know that.” She looked back at Dawn, still standing in his corner, paralysed with fear. “But I’m still going to try.” Her beaten face moved into a small, sad smile. “Even if it kills me. Even if I’m going to die.”

“But why?” the man whispered, “If you can’t win, what’s the point?”

“Because I have to,” Jane replied simply. She shook her head. “Because I can’t just stand back and do nothing. Because it’s right.”

There was a long, empty silence.

Slowly, Captain Dawn lowered his eyes – the fear on his face fading to stillness. Fading to shame.

“You sound like her,” he said quietly, “Like Caitlin.”

Jane closed her eyes, feeling them growing hot and blurry. Her mouth quivered in a weak smile. But she didn’t falter. Even now, even at the end, she could say that much. Hold her head high.

She opened her eyes, and looked back at Dawn.

“I’ll ask you,” she said to him, “One last time.”

She held out her hand.

“Come back with me.”