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“I’ve been dreaming of this my whole life,” she whispered. “To be rescued by a real Renegade.” She simpered, regarding Oscar as if he were the eighth wonder of the modern world. “Thank you … thank you so much for saving my life.” His cheeks reddened. “Uh … yeah. You’re welcome.” Oscar glanced at Ruby, uncertain, but when he stood up, his chest was puffed out more than it had been before. “All in a day’s work.” Ruby snickered.
“Hey, guys?” he started, feeling the pulse of adrenaline all over again. “You’re going after her,” said Ruby. “Yeah, we know.” “Better be fast about it,” said Oscar. “You know Nova’s not going to save any of the glory for you.” Adrian’s lips flickered in a grateful smile, and he ran.
Earn their trust. Learn their weaknesses. Then, destroy them.
His team would be wondering where he was. He would have to explain why he was soaking wet.
“Sketch?” Gasping, he spun around. Nova stood on the other side of the street, peering at him like he was an unknown amphibious species she was preparing to dissect. “Nova,” he stammered, hurrying back up the hill and stepping over the guardrail. “Er—Insomnia. Hi.”
“Has Smokescreen been cleared?” asked Tsunami. “We’d like him to debrief the cleanup crew.” The healer nodded. “Yes, fine. His injuries were negligible.” “Negligible?” said Oscar, holding up his forearm, which was wrapped in white bandages. “Their getaway driver scratched me when I was getting out the handcuffs. What if the guy had rabies or something? This could be a mortal wound here.” The healer eyed him warily. “You can’t get rabies from fingernail scratches.” Oscar huffed. “I said, or something.” “Have you checked him for an overinflated ego yet?” teased Ruby. “I’d hate for him to float
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She was just all—Oh, Smokescreen! I’ve been dreaming of your smoldering smokiness all my life!”
Oscar nodded. “I’ve found that my smoldering smokiness does have that effect on people.”
“Yep,” said Oscar, idly swinging his cane. “She’s pretty much in love with me.” “Who isn’t, right?” said Danna, flashing a cheeky grin. “Exactly. Thank you, Danna.”
“Who said anything about dating?” said Oscar. “I just thought she might want to be the president of my fan club. Good help is hard to find.”
“Actually, I think I’d better head home before the news stories get too convoluted. I like to give my uncle the story from my point of view before he hears it all thirdhand.”
Superheroes are only as good as their conviction. Sometimes, a smile is the most powerful weapon we have.
“I’m only going to say this once, Adrian. Do not try to go after Hawthorn by yourself. Or any of the Anarchists, for that matter. You understand? It’s dangerous.” Adrian pushed up his glasses and opened his mouth to speak. “And don’t try to tell me that dangerous is how superheroes are supposed to operate.” Adrian snapped his mouth shut.
“Were you worried?” said Adrian. “No.” “What? Not at all?” Max started to respond and Adrian knew it would be to deny it again, but he hesitated and admitted, “Maybe for about five seconds or so, but I knew you’d be fine.” “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“I’m actually becoming fond of the covered-in-bandages look. It’s like a fashion statement.” “Is the statement that you’re a total badass?” asked Oscar. “Do you even have to ask?” she said, grinning at him.
It was an announcement for the annual Sidekick Olympics happening that weekend at City Park. “Sidekick Olympics, awesome,” said Oscar. “I’ve been thinking the superhero gig has gotten to be too much pressure. A sidekick role sounds much more laid-back.”
“Hold on. You’re a superhero?” said Oscar, feigning shock. Then he leaned against her shoulder, batting his eyelashes. “Did you know, I’ve always wanted to be rescued by a superhero?” Ruby laughed and shoved him away, even as her cheeks reddened. “You make a terrible damsel, Oscar.”
Nova attempted to act sympathetic—how awful, how boring, how can anyone stand it?
Any small slipup could reveal her identity. Any little clue could end this charade. An attack could come the moment she let down her guard.
So you need to let us know if it starts to feel like too much. You want to take some time off, set some limits on your work hours, that sort of thing, you come talk to me … or go to Snapshot and she and I can discuss it. Just, please”—he lowered his voice—“for all the skies, don’t complain to Tamaya without talking to me first, because she is an adamant abuser of the phrase ‘told you so,’ and no one needs that, you know what I mean?”
“Adrian really knew what he was doing when he picked you out at the trials. That boy has great intuition.”
Adrian looked surprised and, she thought, a little disheartened. “Artifacts? But … what about…” “I’ll still be doing patrols. Remember, I have a lot more hours in my day than you guys have.” Adrian nodded, but she could still see a shadow of concern behind his glasses. She knew exactly what he was thinking. Just because she never slept didn’t mean she shouldn’t occasionally rest.
“Thank you all for coming today on such short notice,” said Hugh. His Captain Chromium uniform was comprised of skintight fabric that made it seem like even his neck muscles had been lifting weights.
They were the superheroes who protected the world. And, in doing so, controlled the world.
It’s selfish to risk the lives of innocent people in order to serve our own agendas. It’s thoughtless to put civilians at risk so we might achieve glory. That might be the course of villains of the past, or vigilantes like the one who recently called himself the Sentinel. But that is not who we are.”
Adrian sank lower into his seat. Nova remembered him once talking about the code, and how the rules set forth by the Council could be hypocritical when, during the Age of Anarchy, they themselves had had no problem endangering innocent lives, so long as they caught their enemies in the end. Back then, the Renegades were notorious for causing catastrophic destruction or engaging in fights that led to plenty of innocent onlookers being wounded, but it hadn’t seemed to bother them at the time. They would have done anything to ensure their side was victorious.
Sometimes Nova felt like the Renegades of the past had more in common with the Anarchists ...
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She could call it self-defense, but there had been more than self-preservation in her mind when she’d pulled the trigger. She’d been afraid for the children and families at the carnival. She’d been furious with Ingrid for tricking her, again. She’d been worried for Adrian.
If that made her a Renegade, fine. Because she believed it made her an Anarchist too.
Nova frowned. If prodigy healers weren’t enough to cure the sick and injured patients at the hospital, why didn’t they just say that? Why didn’t they encourage more civilians to study medicine? Why were the Renegades so determined to act as if they really could save everyone, when they knew perfectly well they couldn’t?
We have developed a tool that is harmless to our non-prodigy population, and therefore puts no civilians at risk, while offering a safe and efficient way for us to neutralize prodigies who refuse to abide by our laws. We intend for this tool to become our most practical means of dealing with prodigy noncompliance. We call it … Agent N.”
“This is proof that not every prodigy deserves their powers. It’s because of villains like her that we need Agent N.”
“Today, I will be telling you more about the product called Agent N and giving a demonstration of its abilities, so that you can see and understand its effectiveness firsthand.
“This vial, containing just ten milliliters of the agent, has the ability to swiftly and permanently remove the powers from any prodigy on this planet.”
This was the first anyone was hearing about Agent N, and yet, seven inmates had already been neutralized? By whose order? Under whose approval? Had there been trials set up? Were the inmates given any choice in the matter?
It had to be a violation of human rights, but … who cared about the rights of villains?
Did they even see Winston as a human being? Or had he become nothing more than a science experiment to them? Just like Max, and how many others?
Nova knew Winston well enough to tell that he was frightened. He was hiding it as well as he could, but buried deep behind his eyes was a bewildered, silent plea. For mercy. For rescue. For a way out of here. He must have known it was useless. Surrounded by Renegades, trapped in their headquarters, without a single ally …
His breath became erratic. His jaw began to tremble. A low, distressed wail crawled out from between his lips. “N-no,” he stammered, his voice coated in terror. “What is this? What have you done?”
Winston Pratt sobbed on the stage.
“Well,” said Oscar, “that was about a thousand times more intense than I expected it to be.
about human rights, but this is a violation of prodigy rights.” “Villains don’t get rights.”
This is oppression, pure and simple. If they succeed, the Renegades will be putting themselves even higher above everyone else than they already have. There will be no one to challenge … us. No one to stand in our way or keep us from achieving total power, and then where will humanity be?”
“And once they”—she paused—“once we have total power, what’s to keep us from becoming villains ourselves?”
“How nice to see you,” said Honey. “I was beginning to think someone might have conducted an exorcism and sent you back to the underworld.” “You believe that’s where I’m from?” said Phobia, his raspy voice eerier than usual in the dank chamber. Honey hummed to herself. “Well, I don’t think you’re from the suburbs.”
But then Ace opened his eyes again and they were burning. “He is an abomination.”
“Yes, power,” said Honey, her eyes laughing in the candlelight. “I told you it was attractive.”
“You are afraid…,” Phobia rasped. “Afraid to feel too deeply, afraid that the truth will—” “Okay,” Nova interrupted, almost shouting. “Don’t need the evaluation right now, thank you.”
Her chest squeezed under the weight of their growing expectations. She was doing her best, but at the moment, she was doing her best not to let her escalating panic show. She could do this. She would not fail. “I know, little Nightmare,” said Ace. “I have faith in you. And when you succeed, we will rise again. We will all rise again.”
“That’s just what we call it. There’s been a surplus of new items coming in lately, what with the library and the Anarchist holdings. I’ve got an entire shelf back there full of confiscated hair accessories from Queen Bee herself, believe it or not.”
