“Artwork genesis. Cool. That’s a good list, isn’t it?”
“It’s an awesome list.” Truthfully, it was more impressive than Adrian realized. He rarely saw Max use any of the abilities he had gathered from prodigies, most of which had been absorbed when he was a child. Telekinesis from Ace Anarchy, metal manipulation and matter fusing from his birth parents, a bit of invisibility taken from the Dread Warden before they realized what it was he could do. Now, of course, Adrian’s power, and maybe even some of Nova’s. He may not have been powerful in all of these abilities, as demonstrated by the car that was now a jiggling pile by Adrian’s ankle, but he was powerful enough. In fact, if he wasn’t trapped inside this quarantine all the time, he would have made one hell of a superhero.
Adrian opened his mouth, ready to tell him just this, when Max blurted out, “Can the Sentinel give himself any power?”
Adrian blinked.
“Don’t say that you don’t know,” Max continued hurriedly, “just … pretend you’re guessing, or whatever. That is how it works, right? You’re somehow … I mean, he’s somehow drawing the powers into reality? Or … do you … does the Sentinel actually have power mimicry, and artwork genesis isn’t the original power at all?”
Shutting his eyes, Adrian massaged his brow. “I don’t…” He paused and sighed heavily. “Okay, if I had to guess…” He returned his focus to Max, peering at him intently, hoping to convey that should anyone else ask about this, ever, it was only a guess. “He’s still figuring out how many powers he can give himself and the overall extent of the abilities. He’s … sort of making it up as he goes along.”
“I figured,” said Max, in a tone that made Adrian bristle. “But do you think … has he tried invincibility yet?”
“Invincibility?”
“You know. Like the Captain.”
Adrian leaned back on his hands. Somehow, he hadn’t given much thought to replicating either of his dads’ powers, or any of the Council’s. Perhaps it felt too much like crossing an uncrossable boundary. He could never become Captain Chromium or the Dread Warden, he could never replace them—and that’s not what any of this was about anyway. But to imbue himself with their abilities, especially the Captain’s invincibility or superstrength, would have seemed almost disrespectful to everything Captain Chromium was, everything the world admired.
But at the same time, he knew precisely why Max had asked about this power, among all the superpowers of the world.
Because of his invincibility, Hugh Everhart was the only prodigy who could get close to Max. And though Max did a good job of hiding his loneliness, and Adrian largely tried not to think too much about it, in that moment it became clear how much he must yearn for interactions that weren’t divided by a glass wall or a chromium-edged suit.
“I don’t know,” he said finally, slowly. “I honestly don’t know.”
Max nodded in understanding, and Adrian could tell he wasn’t angry at this response. It was the truth. Adrian didn’t know if he could bestow himself with invincibility, on any level, and certainly not to the level of his dad. Max must have recognized the honesty in his words.
But already Adrian’s mind was swirling. Considering. Wondering …
“You should go check on Nova.”
Adrian startled. “What?”
“I bet she’s really freaked out still. It seemed like she actually enjoyed being awake all the time.”
“I’m not sure enjoyed is the right word…,” said Adrian, trying to recall her exact words when they had talked about how she spends her time. “But I do think she’s proud of what she accomplished because of it. She doesn’t just read comics and draw, like I probably would. Instead, she made herself into a Renegade.”
“Exactly,” said Max, “and I might have taken that away from her.”
Shaking his head, Adrian moved to stand. “Never. She’s one of us now, whether she likes it or not.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
THE COUNCIL’S OFFICES had not been included in the initial tour of Renegades Headquarters on Nova’s first day, but she was aware of their existence. The floor number was posted on the directory in the lobby, and Nova had been intending to come check them out, but she’d had no reason to. Nothing she could have used as an explanation, at least, in the event that someone asked her what she was doing.
As she stepped cautiously from the elevator, though, she realized she needn’t have worried. On first arrival, the floor appeared to be deserted. At least, the central receptionist’s desk was unoccupied and Nova could hear no signs of life coming from the open doorway behind it. Her gaze darted around to the security cameras tucked obscurely around the ceiling, and she reminded herself to act natural. To pretend that she had every right to be there.
Which she did. She was a Renegade, and this floor wasn’t off-limits, according to the directory on the first floor. She wasn’t even planning to do anything while she was there other than look around, but that knowledge did little to ease the sense of paranoia flitting around inside her head.