Page 135 of Supernova

“My job is to make this world safer for everyone, civilians and prodigies,” said the Captain. “Which would be a lot easier if we weren’t always having to defend ourselves from villains like you!”

“Those civilians treated as like abominations!” Ace roared. “Don’t you remember what it was like before I decided it was time for things to change? They hunted us! They tortured us! They murdered innocent babies, all in fear of what they might become! And they will turn on us again if we don’t keep them in their place.”

“What place is that? Should we just enslave them for our own purposes, then?”

“Why not?” said Ace. “You know it’s what they would have done to us if they’d been able to manage it.”

The Captain shook his head. “With you in power, all anyone knew was fear. I’ve worked too hard to clean up your messes. I won’t let you do this again!”

Ace scoffed. “I’ll admit, I did make some mistakes, but I’ve learned from them. It isn’t enough to destroy the existing world order. You must destroy it—and then rebuild the world to fit your vision.”

“No, Alec. We have been given a gift. We should use these gifts to better society, not just to stoke our own egos. Not just to put ourselves on pedestals.”

Ace chuckled in amusement. “How trite, coming from you. I have never known a time when you didn’t put yourself on a pedestal. Besides… you’re wrong, my old friend. We have no obligation touse our powers to help the people of this world, not after what they did to us. Our only obligation is to ourselves. And once prodigies are no longer governed by fear or arbitrarycodes, they will recognize their place. We will soon be in a second Age of Anarchy, but this time we will not be villains. We will be gods!”

The Captain shook his head. “You’re delusional, Alec. You can’t defeat me.”

“I don’t have to defeat you, my old friend. You are going to defeat yourself. Soon, you will know what it means to feel powerless, just how you left me all those years ago. Cyanide, if you’ll do the honors?”

Cyanide reached into an inside pocket of his trench coat. Captain Chromium tensed, eyes narrowing. The villain pulled something small from the pocket and held it up.

Adrian leaned forward. “Is that a flask?”

Queen Bee shushed him.

The flask was lifted from his grip and sent drifting toward the Captain below. Hugh snarled and braced himself, angling the pike toward the flask as it came to hover an arm’s length in front of his face.

“My chief chemist has distilled a particularly potent batch of the substance you call Agent N,” said Ace. “We wanted to try a little experiment, to see if you are, in fact, invincible to your own poison. All you have to do… is drink it.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because if you don’t,” Ace said slowly, “we’re going to kill your son.”

This, too, brought no reaction from the Captain, who had probably been expecting it. His voice remained steady, if also cut through with a new edge. “For all I know, he’s already dead.”

“You think I would waste a perfectly good hostage?” Ace swept an arm toward the bell tower. “Behold. Safe and sound.”

Queen Bee reignited the oil lantern, filling the belfry with its subtle, steady light and drawing his dad’s attention up to them. Relief brightened the Captain’s face.

“I’m fine!” Adrian yelled. “Don’t worry about me!”

He was surprised at how confident he sounded.

Beside him, Nova lifted the gun so his dad could see it, holding it against Adrian’s temple.

Adrian turned his head to look at her, not shying away even as the cool barrel pressed into his forehead. “You’re not fooling me with that.”

She ignored him, her focus on the scene below.

Ace chuckled. “As you can see, he’s very muchnotfine. Which leaves you with a decision to make. Sacrifice him to protect your own powers, or sacrifice yourself and save the boy you raised from childhood, who has already suffered so much in his young life. It is a difficult choice. Let us see how much you truly care for yourgreater good.”

Hugh scrutinized the side of the bell tower and the roof of the cathedral, and Adrian could imagine him trying to plot out another option. A way to be the hero, as he always was.

“Don’t waste our time,” said Ace. The flask bobbed in the air. “This deal comes with an expiration. Besides… it may not even affect you. Your invincibility may yet hold. How will we know if we don’t try?”

“Don’t!” Adrian yelled. “Don’t do—”

Queen Bee grabbed his head and slammed it against the stone window frame. He grunted and fell to one knee, his head ringing like the bell above. The blow throbbed through his skull and into his teeth.

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