Valkyrie curses and pushes him and Danny cries out and falls, almost slipping from the bridge as a dark shape swoops overhead, cackling with glee.

Cadaverous Gant, swinging from a chain like Tarzan, and coming back this way.

Valkyrie grabs Danny’s hands, pulls him up. Gant passes again, his long fingers barely missing Danny’s shirt. The swing takes him up high and he leaps like a circus acrobat, snagging another chain, and swings in at a different angle. This time when he passes he kicks at the railings and the bridge lurches and Valkyrie nearly falls. Danny lunges, his hands grabbing her jacket, steadying her. She fills the air with imaginative swear words, and Danny releases her. Then something snags his shirt collar and he’s plucked off his feet.

Valkyrie spins, grabbing the chain of his handcuffs. The sudden stop is jarring, and above him, Gant grunts in surprise.

Danny hangs in the air between them. Below him is nothing but fire.

“I can hold on forever, young lady,” Gant calls down, laughing. “Can you?”

Valkyrie’s free hand glows. Lightning surges and bursts forth, rattling the chain Gant hangs from. He lets go and Danny drops. Valkyrie braces herself and Danny comes to a jarring stop once again, the pain in his shoulder sending bright flashes before his eyes. He hangs there, not even daring to scream. He sees Gant out of the corner of his eye, swinging gently above them.

Danny doesn’t know how Valkyrie is holding him, but she is. And, incredibly, she starts to pull him up.

As they sweat and strain, Gant watches. When it becomes clear that Danny’s going to be able to clamber back on to the bridge, he sighs, looks around, and starts climbing the chain into the darkness above.

Danny gets to his feet. Every part of him is trembling.

“Come on,” Valkyrie says. He nods dumbly, and follows.

They get to the platform. Danny’s legs give out. He tries to get up before Valkyrie notices, but she looks back.

“I’m fine,” he says.

“We’re almost there.”

“I know. I’m fine.” He gets up, gives her a smile to reassure her, and his eyes widen.

Valkyrie turns as Jeremiah runs at her.

He slashes at her with the knife. Once again, Danny is surprised by how fast he is, but Valkyrie doesn’t try to duck or jump away. Instead, she meets him, moving right into him, wrapping her left arm round his knife arm and repeatedly slamming her right palm into his face. Jeremiah’s nose splits and his lips burst and there’s blood everywhere. The knife clatters to the metal floor. Valkyrie sweeps his leg and he lands heavily, mewling like a spoiled child. He reaches up, grabs her hair, yanks her down on top of him. His hands encircle her throat. They start to blur.