Page 87 of Supernova

Adrian tossed the figure into the middle of the battle. It landed facedown in the carpet.

Defeated.

Max stared at it a long moment, then picked it up and set it back into the line of combatants. “So,” he said, his tone more upbeat, though Adrian sensed some strain. “What are you going to do about the missing comics?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe it’s time I come clean, though. Tell everyone the truth.”

Max turned to him, surprised. “Really?”

“I don’t know. I don’t feel like I’m ready, but it also makes me sick to my stomach to think of Nightmare holding this secret over me. Whatever she’s planning, if I outed myself first, it would take away her ammunition. And besides, with everyone so focused on Ace Anarchy and the Agent N publicity and Genissa Clark’s threats and now the ongoing search for Nightmare and the rest of the Anarchists… maybe the whole Sentinel thing won’t seem like such a big deal? It could kind of blow over, you know?”

Max’s cheeks twitched with a stifled laugh. “Sure. The vigilante who’s been embarrassing the Renegades for months and defying the Code Authority every few minutes turns out to be none other than Adrian Everhart himself.” He nodded sagely. “That will hardly cause a stir.”

“Thanks for the encouragement.”

Max’s crooked grin returned, for real this time. “On the bright side… at least no one thinks your girlfriend happens to be one of the world’s most wanted villains anymore.”

Adrian’s pulse skipped to hear Max referring to Nova as his girlfriend. Coming from someone else made it sound so…official.“True,” he said. “That does make things easier.”

Thinking of Nova made him even more determined to fix whatever he had ruined when he hadn’t believed in her innocence. The way she’d kissed him on the pier seemed to suggest that she’d already forgiven him, but he didn’t want to take any chances. He never wanted to lose her again.

His thoughts were interrupted by a tiny, shrill screech. Adrian started, but Max, used to the noise, lifted his palm and examined Turbo. “About time you woke up, little dude. Are you hungry?”

The velociraptor unhinged its jaws in what might have been a yawn, then untucked its back legs. It took a few awkward attempts to climb to its feet. Max sighed. “Yeah, you don’t feel so great. I know. I’m sorry.”

Turbo stood, watching Max with its black eyes. It made another sound—this one a pathetic mewl—and slowly reached forward one little claw, stretching the tiny needle-like talon forward until it barely tapped the end of Max’s nose.

Then, like watching a wind-up toy as it finally wound down, the little dinosaur grew still.

Neither Max nor Adrian spoke for a long time. Adrian wanted to say something to comfort Max as he stared at the creature, now as motionless as one of the plastic figurines, but he didn’t know what to say.

Finally, Max let out a long, slow exhale. “I’m glad you made him. He was a fierce little dude.”

“Yes, he was.”

A small, impish smile sparked over Max’s face. He set the dinosaur, frozen in its final stance, in the middle of the battlefield. “And he is going to make one hell of a supervillain.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“IDON’T KNOWif I can travel through a magic mirror.”

Nova considered Narcissa with disbelief. “That might have been good information to have yesterday.”

Narcissa shot her an exasperated look of her own. “Well, maybe you should have told me what you were planning! I know you Anarchists are all ‘every man for himself,’ but I would have thought spending so much time with the Renegades would have made you more of a team player.”

Nova opened her mouth to rebuke the idea that she could learn anything useful from the Renegades, but she stopped herself. In truth, Narcissa might have had a point. Exhaling, she asked instead, “Do you really think it won’t work?”

Narcissa screwed her lips to one side, pondering the question. “I mean, it probably will? But I guess it depends on what sort of… enchantment, or whatever, it has on it.” She shrugged. “Do we have any other options?”

Nova blew a lock of her bangs out of her face. “Not really, so let’s assume for now it’s going to work. I stashed the mirror here, in a pile of construction equipment.” She drew an X on the blueprint that showed the floor layout for the headquarters’ ground and mezzanine floors, including early plans for the laboratories near the quarantine. “Once you’re in, you’ll go down this corridor, then left through these doors, and the storerooms are on your right. I don’t know which storeroom, so you might have to check them all. And I also don’t know who they have on night duty these days, but you can bet they’ll be watching this floor closely, so you have to be quick once you’re in.”

Narcissa appeared thoroughly unimpressed. “And here I was hoping to get some quality reading time while I was there.”

Ignoring her, Nova added, “And don’t forget to bring the mirror with you in case you need a quick exit.”

“You can stop with the obvious. I’ve been doing this my whole life.”

“Fine.”

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