"Danny. Danny."
Danny opens his eyes. Someone is behind him, holding him, their arms round his legs, taking his weight.
"Stephanie?" he mumbles.
"May as well call me Valkyrie," she says. "Can you lift your hands off the hook?"
Danny makes the mistake of looking up. A river of stinging sweat flows into his eyes, blinding him. He grits his teeth, tries freeing himself.
"Can't move my arms," he says.
She releases him, and his full body weight hangs from his wrists again. He swings a little, enough to see her hurrying to the wheel on the wall when he cracks one eye open. Stephanie, or Valkyrie, dressed in black, sweating in the heat, but not looking overly concerned about it.
"They're waiting for you," he says. Christ, he's thirsty. His words feel thick and slow. "This is a trap."
"Yep," she says, "bears all the hallmarks of one." She abandons the wheel, comes back over. "What a place, eh? Bigger on the inside. Like the TARDIS. Look away." She raises he hand. "This is going to be bright."
He closes his eyes but not all the way, and sees white lightning crackle from her fingertips. The lightning hits the chain and suddenly he's swinging wildly. He looks up. The chain is scorched. He can see a clear fracture in one of the links.
"Sorry," Valkyrie says, reaching out to steady him. "Haven't done this in a while. Another blast should-"
A large shape bursts from the door and Danny shouts a warning, but he's too late. Jeremiah swings a sledgehammer into Valkyrie's ribs. The impact lifts her sideways.
"Mr Gant!" Jeremiah screeches. "She's here! She's here!"
Valkyrie tries to get up. She's wheezing. Jeremiah doesn't give her the chance. The hammer comes down, right between her shoulder blades. Valkyrie flattens out.
"Mr Gant! I have her! I have her, Mr Gant!"
He goes quiet all of a sudden, and assumes the look of a man to whom an idea has just occurred. He leans the sledgehammer against the wall, takes hold of the collar of Valkyrie's jacket and drags her from the room. Amazingly, Valkyrie is still half conscious, but she's in no fit state to fight back. The last Danny sees of her is her boots.
He starts swinging wildly, kicking out and twisting. The broken link bends a little. He torques, grunting with effort.
He stops when he hears footsteps. Moments later, Gant walks in with a smile on his face, a smile that dims when he realises Danny is the only person here.
"Where are they?" he asks.
Danny swings from side to side, but doesn't answer. Gant fixes him with a stare. "She's here. Your usefulness is at an end. Allow yourself a few minutes more of life and tell me where they went."
"Jeremiah took her," says Danny. "Through there."
A troubling frown crosses Gant's face, and he strides from the hut.
Danny kicks his legs up in front, then swoops them behind. He starts swinging forwards and back. With every swing, he kicks higher. The chain creaks. Kick in front, swoop behind. Kick and swoop. Higher and higher. He looks up as he swings. The broken link widens its jaws.
Kick and swoop. His shoulder is on fire. Kick and swoop. Kick and-
The world tilts, suddenly and without warning. The broken link gives way and he's crashing to the floor. He rolls over, gets to his knees, but he can't wait for his burning muscles to soothe. Up he gets, feeling returning to his arms. His hands are still cuffed, but his fingers are tingling. He flexes them until he's sure he can grip, and then he picks up the sledgehammer.
He leaves the hut, limping only slightly, and steps on to a bridge suspended by chains. It sways under his weight, almost tips him into the sea of fire. He crosses, doing his best not to look down. He can still hear the screaming.
Danny gets up to the platform ahead and takes the metal steps down. He pauses to wipe the sweat from his eyes, then continues on to where the steps flatten and meet a grille floor. More stairways and bridges lead off it. He leans over the railing, glimpses Gant on the level below him. It takes him a moment to figure out the best way down, but when he has it, he hurries after him.
Hefting the hammer, he approaches a hut suspended entirely by chains. He can hear voices inside.
"The audacity," Gant is saying. "The sheer audacity of you. I'd almost be impressed if I wasn't so disappointed."
Danny peers in. It's a small room, with a heavy, bloodstained work table against the far wall. Valkyrie is on the ground, not moving. Gant is standing over her, his hands on his hips. Jeremiah stands with his back to the door, his shoulders slumped.
"No," Jeremiah is saying, "I was just getting her ready for you, I was just-"
"I'll tell you what you were just doing," Gant snaps. "You were going to kill her. You were going to kill her and claim the credit all for yourself."
"Mr Gant, no, I would never do-"
"And yet here you are, Jeremiah. Here you are in your fetid little cubbyhole with your grubby hands round her throat. Do you think this is how she would want to die? Do you think this is how anyone would want to die?"
"No," says Jeremiah meekly.
"I thought you were better than this. I thought you respected me more."
"I'm - I'm sorry, Mr Gant. I was weak. I saw her, I put her down, I was going to give her to you, I was. But... but Mr Gant, I haven't killed anyone like this in a long time."
"I let you kill ordinary people. Isn't that enough for you?"
There's a pause as Jeremiah hesitates. Danny wipes his hands on his trousers, and takes a grip on the sledgehammer. It isn't as wide as he'd like, because of the cuffs, but it's a firm grip nonetheless.
"What?" Gant says, irritated. "Out with it, for heaven's sake."
"You said you'd let me kill the next one," Jeremiah says quietly.
"You're not ready, Jeremiah."
"You always say that." He's almost whining now. "When will I be ready?"
Gant adopts the tone of a disappointed parent. "I don't know. Up until a few minutes ago, I would have said soon. Very, very soon. Maybe even today. I was so close to letting you do this one. But after this... after this, Jeremiah, I just don't know any more."
"Mr Gant," says Jeremiah, and he's crying. "Mr Gant, I'm sorry."
Danny takes another peek.
Gant is looking down at Valkyrie. "I need to know I can trust you, Jeremiah."
"You can," says Jeremiah. "I promise you can."
"I don't know. I don't think so."
Gant turns away a little more and Danny sees his chance. He runs in, swinging. Jeremiah hears him and ducks under the sledgehammer, but all that does is clear a path right to Gant's face.
And it's like he's swung the hammer into a metal pillar.
The shock of the impact wrenches the sledgehammer from Danny's hands and he cries out and staggers back. The hammer clatters to the floor and Gant shoots Danny a smile.
Jeremiah roars, charges, takes Danny off his feet. They go down, the big man's weight on him. Danny barely has any fight left. Jeremiah brings out a knife from somewhere. Danny grabs Jeremiah's wrists with both hands, but not fats enough to stop his arm from being nicked. They struggle with the blade. Gant doesn't say anything. Doesn't even move.
They roll across the floor, Danny finding reserves of strength he never knew he had. Gant doesn't follow the fight. He's just standing there, smiling and not moving.
No, wait, he is moving. But very, very slowly.
As he struggles with Jeremiah, Danny remembers the people in the gas station - the dead bodies stacked up in the backroom. How had Jeremiah found the time to do all that, unless...
Gant said this house was magic. Danny doesn't know about magic, but this place definitely defies reason. Valkyrie shot that weird light from her hands and Gant himself hadn't even blinked just now when the sledgehammer hit him. OK, so if the house really is magic and Gant and Valkyrie are magic, then maybe Jeremiah is, too. And by the looks of things his magic is the ability to draw out his kills while the world slows down around him. The perfect power for a serial killer.
Danny refocuses on the knife. Jeremiah's strength is leaving him with every breath he puffs out. He's relying on his weight now to keep the knife in position - saving the last of his energy for one final push. Sweat rolls off Jeremiah's forehead and drops on to Danny's face, on to his gritted teeth. Danny heaves, and they roll, and for a moment Danny is on top, but then Jeremiah flips them over again. Danny's head knocks against Valkyrie's leg. The tip of the knife scrapes his chest.
Danny lets the blade dig in. Sensing that his moment has arrived, Jeremiah grunts and snarls and drives downwards, but Danny surprises him by holding on, and they strain and struggle and strain again, and Jeremiah is the first to weaken.
Danny shoves him off, rolls on top, and Jeremiah gasps and cries, like he doesn't want to play any more. Danny knocks the knife from his hand and, just like that, normal time resumes around them.
Gant turns, his smile quickly becoming a scowl as Danny finds himself being lifted off the floor. Valkyrie has him.
"Run," she says.
He runs. She's right behind him. They run across the swaying bridge of chains and mesh. Twice Danny's foot slips through, dangles above the fire, and twice Valkyrie has to haul him up again. They reach a spiral staircase on the other side, and head up.
"I cant," Danny gasps.
"You have to," Valkyrie says.
He trips and falls and he bangs his knees and scalds his hands on the hot metal, but he keeps going. He doesn't know how, but he keeps going. By the time they reach the top, his legs are jelly. Valkyrie wraps her arm around his waist, and she practically carries him onwards. Some distant part of his mind takes a moment to appreciate her strength.
"I'm all turned around," she says. "Any idea how we get out of here?"
He looks around, then points at a distant platform. "There I think."
She scans the area, finding the quickest path through all the walkways and bridges. "Got it," she says, and they're off again.
Danny lets himself be led. He's too tired to do anything but follow blindly. Valkyrie is the expert here. She's the warrior. He's just some guy.
They cross another chain bridge, almost get to the platform when Gant clambers up a ladder on the other side.
Valkyrie holds out her hand. She grits her teeth, focusing, and lightning bursts forth. It hits Gant square in the chest, burns right through his shirt, but he never sops smiling.
"I'm afraid you can't beat me," he calls to them as he nears. "But if you surrender now I promise to make your death relatively painless."
"Back," Valkyrie whispers.
Danny retraces his steps, the chain bridge swaying. He gets to the last platform and looks back. Valkyrie's hands are glowing white, but instead of firing that lightning at Gant, she grips the chains on the bridge. There's a snap as they break, and lurch, and the bridge sags, and Valkyrie turns and leaps as it collapses. Danny catches her.
They look back at the other platform, at Gant who snakes his head in an amused fashion. Calmly, he takes another set of stairs.
"This used to be easy," Valkyrie mutters. "You shoot someone, they go down. Mostly. This guy... this guy can't be hurt."
"No," says Danny, "he can. I think. I heard it. They were going after this woman, there was a fight, I heard Gant, you know, in pain. Not much pain but... definitely hurt."
Valkyrie wipes her sleeve across her forehead. Her jacket looks crisp and dry - so unlike Danny's own sweat-soaked shirt. "Well, he's not feeling any pain in here."
"He says he's master of his domain."
Valkyrie looks at him. "Maybe that's it. In this house, we can't beat him."
"So what do we do?"
"We take it outside."
She has another look at the criss-crossing walkways and chooses a new route. Danny runs by himself to the next set of stairs, but she has to help him climb them. When they reach the top, they find themselves on the same level as the door out of here.
Valkyrie leads the way across a chain bridge. Danny comes after her - slow but steady, gripping the chains and making sure is feet don't slip off the edge. This is the longest of the chain bridges, and it sways dramatically as they transverse it.
"Huh," Valkyrie says. She has stopped walking, and she's scanning the area. "Can't see him."
Danny stops behind her, grateful for the chance to catch his breath.
"Can you see him?" Valkyrie asks.
Danny grunts, shakes his head, not really bothering to look. All they have to do is get to the platform on the other side, pass through the hut he'd been chained up in, and take the walkway to the door. They are almost there. Almost out.
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 grans 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 leas 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 through 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 nobs 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.
The act of killing, this time seen from the outside. To Danny, a blur of movement. To Valkyrie, a struggle that is going on forever.
Danny lunges forward to help, but the blurred images are no longer there. There's a screech behind him and he whirls. Valkyrie lies on the edge of the platform, clutching Jeremiah's hand as he dangles over the sea of liquid fire.
"Help me!" Jeremiah screams.
But his weight, plus all the sweat, prove too much, and he slips from Valkyrie's grip and disappears, screaming, into the flames below.
Valkyrie stays where she is for a moment, then she gets up. She wipes her hand on her trousers.
"No!"
They both look round at the scream. Cadaverous Gant stand on a higher platform, a hanging chain in his hand.
"Danny," says Valkyrie. "We have to go-"
She doesn't even get the chance to say "now". Gant leaps into a deep swing. At its apex he lets go, and for a moment Danny thinks he's going to miss the hut, but he slams into it, scrabbling for purchase before he slips. His fingers dig in. He climbs on to the hut's roof, then drops on to the walkway, and strides to the platform.
"The first chance you get," Valkyrie whispers to Danny, "you get out of here."
Danny shakes his head. "I'm not leaving you."
"Get out of here and get help," Valkyrie says, and walks towards Gant, her hand glowing.
She fires that lightning and Gant just walks through it like it's nothing. He hits her and she goes spinning.
"I'm going to rip your heart out," says Gant.
