[ WP ] A supervillain , having thought he was the hero all along , comes to grips with the truth .

`` Time has caught up to you, Epoch.'' 
 
 Epoch, hunched over and staring at his hands, nodded slowly. Sirens from all over the city wailed, and the shining moon overhead was obscured by smoke. `` I know.'' 
 
 His enemy and victor jumped down from his perch, his padded feet making no sound on the asphalted roof. The approaching man looked around him, his eyes reflecting the burning city around them. He turned back to Epoch. `` Do you see now? Do you see what you have done?'' 
 
 Epoch looked up for the first time since his enemy had defeated him. The Mighty Monolith stopped just in front of him and waited, hands on his hips, his yellow cape billowing up behind him. `` Yes.'' Epoch looked back down at his hands. Time was a funny thing, was n't it? A few years ago, he had suddenly lost the ability to control time completely. Instead of being able to stop time or visit any time in the past, he was suddenly only able to slow time, and the years he was able to go back had slowly dwindled until finally he could only visit a few days past. 
 
 `` I truly am sorry that it's come to this.'' The Mighty Monolith crouched down so that he could be eye level with Epoch. `` You have to come with me.'' 
 
 Epoch chuckled dryly. `` And what, rot in your cells for the rest of my life? No thanks.'' Even with the ability to slow time, he had n't been able to save Danielle. He had revisited her death a thousand times in an attempt to save her, but slowly the invisible clock of time struck zero, and he was no longer able to visit the moment. That had been when he could only visit a week in the past. Then it had been a day. And now... 
 
 `` I ca n't wait.'' The Mighty Monolith waved a hand angrily around him. `` There are people dying out there, Epoch, because of *you*. Either come with me now, or I take you down right here on this rooftop.'' 
 
 Epoch looked at his hands, ignoring the hero in front of him. He come to realize, after Danielle's death, that he was n't really a hero, after all. He only lived for her. Before her, he had lived, but it was n't *truly* living. Not without her. And then when she died, he began to question what he'd done. He had n't saved people because they needed saving; he saved people because Danielle wanted them to be saved. He did n't stop criminals because he wanted them to stop, he beat them senseless because Danielle wanted them to stop. After Danielle, he did n't care. After Danielle, nothing mattered. 
 
 `` That's it.'' The Mighty Monolith moved forward, his eyes burning with fire and judgement, but still hiding behind both there was sorrow and resignation. 
 
 Epoch stared intently at his wrinkled hands. He had aged considerably since Danielle's death, both mentally and psychically. It was over, then, was n't it? His fingers twitched and the sirens around him hesitated briefly for a second before continuing. 
 
 `` Time has caught up to you, Epoch.'' 
 
 Epoch, hunched over and staring at his hands, nodded slowly. `` I know.''
