Page 88 of Supernova

“What if the storerooms are locked?”

“They will be.” Nova reached for the pile of folders beside them and shuffled through until she emerged with a white ID card—the same she’d once nicked off an unconscious administrator outside the Renegade security room. “This should get you access.”

“Should?” Narcissa said dryly, pocketing the card. “What if it doesn’t?”

“How good are you at picking locks?”

Narcissa’s eyebrows rose in dismay.

“Kidding. If this doesn’t work, then just get out of there and come back here. We’ll switch to plan B.”

“What’s plan B?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“Comforting,” Narcissa deadpanned.

“You’re the one who got me out of jail. You wanted me to help with strategy, so that’s what I’m doing.”

“Yeah, but I figured we’d be plotting the ultimate downfall of the Renegades, something that would take months, maybe even years. I didn’t think we’d give ourselves less than a week to rescue the most infamous supervillain of all time.”

“I like to aim high.”

Narcissa laughed, but there wasn’t much humor in it.

“I’ll talk to Cyanide and check on how the decoy is coming. Be ready to move on this tonight—headquarters tends to be emptiest between three and four a.m.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be ready,” said Narcissa. “But look, I need to be honest with you. I think trying to stop the execution and rescue Ace Anarchy is a terrible idea and I know a lot of the Rejects think so, too. Maybe you can persuade some of them to join you in this crusade, but I won’t be one of them, and I’m not going to push anyone else into it, either.”

“What are you talking about? You just said—!” Nova pointed at the blueprint.

“Yeah, I’ll do this,” said Narcissa. “But not for you and not for Ace Anarchy. I’m doing it for all the prodigies who have been oppressed by the Renegades. This will be a huge blow to them and their dominance, and I’m all for that. This is what my grandfather would have wanted me to do. But I’m not going to the arena with you, and I don’t know how many of the others will go voluntarily, either. We’re doing this so we can live better lives, lives with peace and freedom.But people are going to die if you do this, and that’s not a risk we’re all willing to take. Not for Ace Anarchy, at least.”

Nova crossed her arms. “So much for teamwork. Don’t you realize how much Ace Anarchy has done for us? For all of us?”

“Yeah, I do realize what he did. But he also drove everyone into a war! And I know you care about him, but… I’m not sure I agree that we need him to take down the Renegades. We can do this without him. And if you and the Anarchists don’t make it back… then we’ll do it without you, too. You are handing us a pretty awesome weapon here.”

Nova glared at the blueprint. It felt like a betrayal, but she’d known Narcissa for such a short time, she wasn’t sure why it surprised her.

“Fine.” Nova started to roll up the blueprint. “You wouldn’t be much use at the arena, anyway, but I do need to know who’s with us so I can work it into my strategy. And make sure you don’t leave any Agent N behind when you’re leaving that storeroom.”

“Of course.”

One of the Harbingers appeared in the hall, his gold robes rustling around his legs. “Cyanide asked me to tell you the substance decoy is just about… ow!” He clapped a hand to his arm and spun around.

Nova jumped to her feet, already tensed for an attack. But it was only Leroy standing behind the boy, a small needle in his hand. He grinned sheepishly. “Apologies. I only had to be sure—”

Before he could finish, the Harbinger boy let out a groan and collapsed against the wall.

“So very sorry,” Leroy said again.

Honey appeared, coming to see what had caused the yelp. Sheseemed mildly intrigued as she took in the unconscious boy. “What’s wrong with him?”

“He’ll be fine. Should wear off in ten minutes. Twenty at the most.” Leroy held up the needle, showing Nova. “Good news. The paralysis poison is ready. I’m going to call itAgent P.”

Nova grimaced. “For the sake of fostering good will, let’s try to find willing volunteers next time you need to test something, all right? But… nice work.”

“Thank you.”

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