Page 116 of Renegades

“And in your opinion,” said Tamaya, folding her fingers together, “if you had waited and called for backup as you were intended to, would the Detonator and the Sentinelandthe Librarian’s granddaughter all have slipped through our fingers? Would the library be in ruins, along with what we can assume was volumes of evidence that might have led to the arrests, not only of Gene Cronin, but perhaps countless criminals and villains that have been trading with him all these years? To that effect, do you think Gene Cronin would be dead if you had assistance, or would he currently be in custody, where we could question him for further information?”

Adrian didn’t answer. None of them did. He didn’t really think they were expected to. His attention slid to his dads. Simon was rubbing his cheek. Hugh was tapping his fingers against the arm of his chair.

Finally, it was Simon who cleared his throat and sat up straighter. “We will never know what different outcomes might have occurredhad you acted differently. Wedoknow that, because of you, Gene Cronin and all those weapons will never be a threat to the people of this city again.”

Tamaya scoffed. “One positive in an otherwise egregious mess.”

“What do you propose, Thunderbird?” said Hugh. “We all agree that they went against our orders and acted irresponsibly. At the same time, Adrian made a strong point—they were trained as a patrol unit first and foremost. They had reason to believe that illegal activity was happening inside that library, and they acted on it. It is difficult to fault that.”

“Then perhaps,” said Kasumi, “the solution here is not to punish them for their mistakes, but to encourage their strengths by returning them to their regular patrol duties. Perhaps we should not have transferred them to this case in the first place, and our error can be remedied by removing them from it.”

“No,” said Adrian, his shoulders tensing. “We want to see this through. We want to find Nightmare.”

“We know you do,” said Simon. “But if you cannot be trusted—”

“We can be trusted. Look, we acted prematurely, we get it. Message received. It won’t happen again.” He reached for the small podium, gripping its sides. “But I still believe we can find her.”

“Adrian,” said Hugh, his tone firm. “You were reckless, and I have to assume that is in part because of how… personal this assignment is becoming for you. Finding Nightmare is not worth risking your life.”

“We’ll be more careful next time. I promise.”

Hugh frowned and exchanged looks with the others. It was, in the end, Blacklight who suggested three days of probation for the team from street work and patrol duty, though they could continue to use any resources at headquarters to further their investigation asneeded. The ruling was agreed upon, and they were dismissed, but Adrian stayed at the podium.

“What about the Anarchists?” he said. “What about the Detonator?”

Hugh sighed. “We attempted to apprehend them last night, but they were expecting us. I’m afraid the Detonator got away, as did the rest. We will be releasing a report to all patrol units this morning, encouraging them to be on full alert so long as these villains are at large.” A shadow passed over his face. “Unfortunately, many of our finest Renegades were injured in the altercation. We had become complacent with regards to the Anarchists, believing they could not be a great threat without Ace Anarchy at their helm. It’s now clear how wrong we were.”

Adrian clenched his fists. “Why weren’t we there? We forced the Detonator to reveal herself. We should have had the chance to go after her—all of them.”

“Well, thank the powers you weren’t,” snapped Simon, his eyes blazing with such intensity Adrian drew back a step. “Did you hear what Hugh just said? Renegades were injured last night—alotof Renegades, some of them our best fighters and tacticians. You aren’t—” He hesitated, a small grimace creasing the space between his dark brows. He was substantially calmer when he continued, “Each of you has the makings of a great superhero. I, for one, would like to see you survive long enough for that potential to be realized.” Then he fixed his gaze on Adrian, fierce with worry. “We need you to be careful.”

Adrian swallowed, and for the first time he started to give more consideration to the Detonator’s ramblings at the library. She had wanted to hurthimmore than any of them, knowing how it would hurt his fathers. He’d dismissed the threat outright—she was avillain, she wanted to kill all the Renegades—but now he wondered how much of a liability he posed. If something happened to him, could they go on being the superheroes the city needed?

Of course they would. They would have to.

But the look of horror that crossed, even briefly, over Simon’s eyes gave Adrian pause. Before he knew it, all the irritation he’d felt for not having been included in the raid on the Anarchist’s tunnels melted away.

“Will you let us know if you find anything about them?”

Simon glanced around at the others, before nodding.

“And…” Adrian wiped his palms down his sides. “And did they find anything that might have suggested a connection to Nightmare?”

It seemed, for a moment, that they were all hesitant to answer. Finally, it was Hugh who said, “There was a train car, one that was recently occupied and lived in. We dusted for fingerprints, and some matched the prints that were found on Nightmare’s gun. But we did not find her uniform, or as yet, any clue as to where she or the others might have gone.”

The knot in Adrian’s stomach loosened. It was something. It was a start, and a confirmation.

Shewasan Anarchist.

Licking his lips, he met each of the Council member’s eyes in turn. “Might I make one request?”

“A request, Mr. Everhart?” said Tamaya, her expression suggesting that she thought it was the height of insolence for him to be making requests after everything that had happened.

“I would like to question Winston Pratt.”

Behind him, Nova inhaled sharply.

“We know now, or have plenty reason to believe, that Nightmareis an Anarchist. We have an Anarchist in custody. I would like to interrogate him myself.” He hesitated, before adding, “It will be a good way for us to fill our time during the probation.”

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