Sitting outside on the porch under the light and warmth of a new sun, Kasumi beside her, Aquila finished filling in the others on the situation and the plan. They still looked shocked from the revelations.

    “So, that’s what we’re going to do,” Aquila finished. “Are there any questions?”

    “What are our chances of getting out in time if the portal doesn’t work?” Natsuki asked.

    “About fifty-fifty,” Aquila replied. “Best guess, anyway, without knowing how long we have.”

    “Can you estimate how long we’ve got?” Natsuki said.

    Aquila shook her head. “Not yet – not without at least another couple of jumps, anyway.”

    Natsuki shared a concerned look with Sayori, Yuri, and Yukari. “And the odds of the portal working?”

    Aquila looked at Kasumi. Kasumi nodded. “A lot less,” Aquila replied. “But it’s not zero.”

    Cap nodded, Yuri clinging to his arm. “Okay. Whatever you’re going to do, before you do it, I need you to send me to the hub world so I can join the fight.”

    Yuri stared at him in shock. “Cap, no. Please, no.”

    Cap held her gently by the shoulders. “Yuri, I’m a superhero. I may be on extended vacation, but that doesn’t change who and what I am. And that means that I protect people from those who would harm them. This isn’t a limited war that will burn itself out anymore – this is a madman trying to end billions of lives and capable of doing it. I can’t walk away from that.”

    Yuri shook her head and gave Aquila a helpless, pleading look.

    “If you go, Balthazar will kill you,” Aquila said. “You don’t know what it’s like to be up against somebody like him. There’s nothing you can do to stop him.”

    “I’ve seen you fight,” Cap stated. “I’ve fought at your side. I think I can manage.”

    “But you’ve never fought against me,” Aquila stressed. “You’ve never seen me use more than a fraction of my abilities in combat.”

    Cap took a deep breath. “I can go from zero to faster than the speed of sound in a heartbeat. I think you’re underestimating me. Let me go and save those people.”

    Aquila glanced at Yuri. She was shaking her head, tears running down her cheeks. “Okay,” she said, standing up. “If you can get the better of me, I’ll send you to the hub world. And if the portal works, I’ll go with you after we’ve sent the rest, including Kasumi, home. You’ll need my help there if you’re going to do this, even if all I’m doing is drawing Balthazar’s fire.”

    “No!” Kasumi cried. “You made me a promise, remember? You said you’d never leave me again!”

    Aquila gave her a sad smile. “I know. But I can’t do what I will need to do unless I know you’re safe. So, if Cap actually has something up his sleeve that I don’t know about, wins, and the portal works, you’re going home with the others.”

    “You may think that way, but you’re going to keep your promise!” Kasumi insisted. “You’re going to take me with you, or you’re going to come home with me!”

    “Not this time,” Aquila said. “I’m sorry.”

    “Do something,” Aquila heard Sayori whisper to Natsuki. “Say something clever.”

    “I don’t...I don’t know how to make this better,” Natsuki said quietly.

    “But why?” Kasumi demanded.

    “Because Cap’s right,” Aquila replied. “Like he always is with these things. If there’s a chance to actually stop Balthazar and prevent him from killing all those people, I can’t walk away and let them die for the sake of my promise to you. I’m sorry. I need two sticks large enough to stick in the ground, a normal piece of paper, and a pen. Can you please draw these for me.”

    “I am not okay with this,” Kasumi said, opening up her sketchbook and starting to draw. “Here they are,” she said, showing Aquila the drawing. Two sticks, a white piece of paper, and a pen appeared on the porch. “You’d better win.”

    Aquila picked up the sticks. “You said you could go from zero to the speed of sound in a heartbeat. Is thirty feet long enough for that?”

    Cap nodded.

    “You can’t seriously be about to fight him,” Sayori said.

    Aquila blinked. “What? Cap’s my best friend – I would never hurt him. I’m done fighting and hurting people. No, I’ve got a better test in mind.” She handed Sayori one of the sticks. “Here, you can help. Put this in the ground somewhere. Yukari, put this stick in the ground thirty feet away from it.”

    Sayori and Yukari shared a puzzled look, and then stepped away to plant their sticks. Aquila knelt down and wrote You’re dead! on the piece of paper. Then she picked up the page and walked over to Cap.

    “All you have to do is get from one stick to the other without me touching you with this piece of paper,” Aquila said. “If you can do that, then you would have stood a chance against me in a fight, and that means you might just stand a chance against Balthazar. Agreed?”

    Cap nodded. “Agreed.”

    “And if I win, and touch you with this piece of paper, you stay at Yuri’s side and you go where she goes, wherever that might be. You worry about saving and protecting her first. Agreed?”

    Cap paused and nodded again. “Agreed.”

    “Get to one of the sticks,” Aquila said. “I’ll start sixty feet away.”

    Cap nodded and walked over to the nearest stick. Aquila counted off paces away from him and then turned around. “Is this sixty feet?”

    “It’s close enough,” Cap called back.

    “Whenever you’re ready, then. Everybody give him space, and don’t get between him and me.”

    Later, Aquila wondered what it must have looked like to the others. From the looks on their faces, it must have been a shocking sight. She reached out with her powers and froze Cap in place before he had finished his second step. Then she walked over to him as steadily as she could, put her hand on his shoulder, and pressed the piece of paper to his chest.

    “I’m sorry,” she said, leaning against him. “I really wanted you to be right, and for us to have a chance at stopping him. We save the people we love, and that’s all we can do. You can move now.” She lowered her voice. “But I’d really appreciate if you wouldn’t for a moment. I’m feeling very light headed. Not a word to Kasumi and the others, okay?”

    Cap stood still, letting her rest against him. “That thing you just did, did you try it when you fought him?”

    Aquila nodded. “It didn’t work.”

    “Thank you for giving me the chance to try,” Cap said.

    Aquila smiled. “It’s the least I could do for my best friend.” She took a deep breath as her head stopped swimming. “Kasumi, I think you and Cap are right and we all need some proper rest. We’ll try the portal tomorrow afternoon. Until then, go easy on the sketchbook for me, okay?”

    Kasumi nodded. “It’s a good thing I already drew us some board games.”

Aquila stared at the round, stone portal. Carved symbols decorated the outside ring.

    “The decorations are interesting,” Cap said.

    “It’s from this show my parents used to watch when I was growing up,” Kasumi explained. “This group of military guys and an archaeologist would go through this big round gate and fight aliens on other worlds.”

    “You put in the safeguard I suggested, right?” Aquila asked. “Can’t have it sending us somewhere random if our world is out of range.”

    Kasumi nodded. “It will connect to our world, or none at all. If it doesn’t turn on, it means that our world is out of range. If it does turn on, the last person through needs to press this button.” She pointed at a stylized drawing of a stick of dynamite. “Ten minutes later, it will atomize itself.”

    “Moment of truth, then,” Cap said. Yuri grabbed his arm and squeezed it. “Let’s turn it on.”

    Kasumi stepped forward and pressed the button to activate the portal.

    Nothing happened.

    “Okay,” Aquila said. “Random hops it is. Tomorrow we provision for the trip and get a bit more rest, and the day after we leave.” She glanced at the portal. “And we had probably better hit that self-destruct button before we go, just in case.”

NEXT: “Camp”