“And when they’re ready,” continued Adrian, “they go back home and take up the cause of the Renegades wherever they’re from. There are Renegade chapters all over the world now. People who have dedicated themselves to the defense of justice. And it all started right here. Well, not right here.” He cast his eyes toward the tall ceilings. “The Renegades technically started in the Dread Warden’s basement, but that was a long time ago.”
He led them down the narrow walkway that extended across the length of the training hall, two stories over the grounds below. Adrian pointed out different areas Nova might want to check out when she had the chance, from obstacle courses and target practice to sparring rings and a climbing wall outfitted with various materials to mimic different climbing surfaces to an enclosed saltwater pool to row after row of barbells and free weights.
“Just say the word if you ever want a spotting partner,” said Oscar. “Ruby and I come down here all the time.”
“Not Adrian?” said Nova, glancing at him.
Adrian cast Oscar a wry look. “I like the climbing wall and the obstacle courses, but free weights bore me out of my mind.”
“He’s intimidated by me,” said Oscar. “He doesn’t like being reminded that I can bench-press way more than he can.”
“That’s true,” said Adrian, shrugging.
They continued on, Adrian doing his best to point out any resources that might be of interest to Nova, except everything seemed to be of interest to her. They had just passed the equipment rentals counter, where a vast wall held everything from nunchakus to snowshoes, when Nova gasped and grabbed Adrian’s elbow. He startled and turned to her. Nova retracted her hand just as quickly, fisting it against her stomach instead.
“It’s that girl,” she said, nodding toward the floor. “The one from the parade.”
He followed the look. “Oh yeah. That’s Maggie. Alias Magpie, because of her, um … appreciation of small, shiny objects.”
Nova drew herself up, cheeks flushing. “She’s a thief! The Renegades tolerate that?”
“Who are we talking about?” said Ruby, craning her head. On a mat below, Magpie was standing on a plank over an enormous tank full of dirt, using her power to excavate increasingly large and heavy metallic items from the ground, as if her small hand held the power of an industrial magnet. “Oh, her. She’s mostly a scavenger, I think.”
Adrian nodded. “There are lots of abandoned places in this city, and she’s helped us find a lot of useful stuff. Silverware, batteries … things like that. It comes in handy, especially while we try to get trade and manufacturing up and running again.”
Nova scowled. “Taking my bracelet wasn’t scavenging.”
“I know,” said Adrian. “You’re right. Obviously, theft is against the code. But a lot of the kids who come here, Magpie included, had pretty rough childhoods. Sure, there are some parents who think it’s great when their kid turns out to be a prodigy, but there are also lots of people who are still afraid of what we can do. Who don’t trust us. And for them, to have a kid with superpowers is”—he frowned, his heart twisting as he thought of countless stories he had heard of young prodigies being neglected, abused, even abandoned—“not ideal,” he finished lamely, returning his gaze to Nova. “Anyway, when they get here, we try to teach them right from wrong, but it can be hard to overcome some of the survival instincts they’ve developed up to this point. We’re working on it, though.”
Nova was still watching Maggie down below, her lips pinched. Then she glanced down to where her fingers were spinning her delicate bracelet around the wrist of her gray uniform. Clamping her hand over the bracelet, she sighed. “Don’t tell me the Renegades have set up a children’s home for wayward prodigies, on top of everything else.”
“Nothing that official,” said Adrian, smiling faintly. “But when kids come to us without any families of their own, we do try to find a Renegade family for them to live with.”
Nova glanced up at him, and he could see a question lingering behind her eyes. Maybe she was wondering about his own family, his own past. The adoptive celebrity dads everyone wanted to know about.
She turned away without mentioning them, though, lifting her chin as she scanned the busy hall. “Where does the Sentinel train?”
Adrian tensed. “What?”
Her expression was thoughtful as she peered around. “The Sentinel,” she repeated. “That Renegade that showed up at the parade? Does he train here with everyone else, or is there a special area for him? Or … Renegades like him. Are there more than one?”
Her tone was light, innocent, but Adrian couldn’t stop gaping at her, unable to tell if the question was really as innocuous as it sounded, or if there was something more to it than appeared on the surface. If there was an accusation hidden beneath her words.
When Nova faced him, curiosity was etched into her features.
It was Ruby who responded first. “He’s an impostor,” she said, with enough spite to make Adrian flinch.
Nova turned to her. “The Sentinel?”
“He’s pretending to be a Renegade,” said Ruby, “but he’s not. He’s a fake.”
Nova’s gaze shifted between the three of them, a small wrinkle forming between her brows. “You all really believe that?”
Her focus landed on Adrian and he managed to gather himself, shaking off the bout of paranoia. “No one had ever heard of him before that day. Whoever he is, he hasn’t revealed his identity to anyone here.”
“But he’s a prodigy, and a powerful one,” said Nova, and somehow, that small, offhanded compliment sent a faint surge of pride through Adrian’s chest. “And who other than the Renegades would have the resources to make a suit like the one he wears? Or find a way to combine multiple superpowers into one human being?” She glanced at Ruby and Oscar, but somehow her attention always seemed to return to Adrian. Searching and quizzical, as though she could tell how hard he was trying to act oblivious. “If you guys don’t know who he is, then … maybe he’s a classified project that hasn’t been revealed to everyone yet. Right?”
“That’s what I thought at first too,” said Oscar. “But when the Council heard that he’d been acting on their behalf, claiming to have acted on their orders and whatnot, they seemed livid.”