Renegades

Nova almost immediately returns to the subway station to check on the Anarchists but finds them hastily packing to leave their shelter for good. Nova protests, but Leroy insists that they have no choice, and she rushes to pack her own things. Nova almost walks into a mysterious, closed-off tunnel that leads to the cathedral where she was raised, but she suddenly hears a scream and runs back to her friends. 

She finds them preparing for combat with a group of Renegades, with Honey giggling because she has allowed a red-jacketed needle wasp to sting one of the attackers. Ingrid blows a hole in the wall while Phobia and Leroy’s poisons hold the Renegades back, and most of the Anarchists escape in Leroy’s car and head to Nova’s “house.” Before they leave, however, Leroy refuses to allow Ingrid into the car because of her foolish actions at the library. Ingrid protests, furious, but Leroy stands his ground. Nova also refuses to get in the car, promising that she can get out of the situation without violence, since the Renegades think that she is one of them. Once alone, Nova then slips out, grabs her communication band from its hiding place, and sits on a rooftop, torn between two sides and choosing neither.

Adrian and his group are brought to Council Hall to be punished for acting without cause. Adrian is stunned by the beauty of Council Hall, and reflects that the Council members, clad in their superhero regalia, seem very different from the people he knows as family or family friends. The Council commends the group for saving lives and bringing the active status of the Anarchists to light; however, the Council also demands answers for the group’s irresponsible behavior. Adrian explains his perspective, defending his actions, and although Thunderbird opposes Adrian, Captain Chromium defends him, saying that Adrian and his group had been trained as a patrol unit to enter dangerous situations. The Council eventually gives Adrian and his group three days of probation, warning them not to get involved with the Anarchist fight, since many talented heroes were hurt in the raid on the Anarchist lair last night. Adrian asks for permission to question Winston Pratt (Puppeteer), since the raid confirmed that Nightmare is an Anarchist. The Council agrees to consider his request. As they leave, Tsunami asks a nervous Nova for help in cataloging weapons taken from the fire. Nova agrees to work nights.

Nova is eager to help with the weapons so that she can falsify information and poke around in the Renegades’ databases, potentially protecting herself and the other Anarchists in the process. She joins Adrian on a visit to Max, and as she corrects some details in his glass city’s depiction of her childhood neighborhood, Adrian reveals that his mom used to patrol that same area. Nova decides to help Max build a hydraulic elevator for his model of headquarters tower, and he agrees to get syringes from the medical staff but refuses to answer any questions about why they take so many samples from him. Max reveals that his parents are dead, but he doesn’t care because they threw him off a bridge when he was two weeks old, believing him to pose a risk to them and the other Roaches (their gang). Nova confirms that if his family were Roaches, they’d be dead; she knows that Ace Anarchy killed all of them to avenge her family.

Max again refuses to tell Nova what his power is, but he and Adrian share more about their childhoods. Adrian explains that his mother died trying to save someone from a retaliation murder. (This is heavily implied to be Nova’s family.) However, Adrian says that his mother’s death should have been impossible since she fell to her death although she could fly. Adrian asks what Nova’s “uncle” thinks about her position as a superhero, and Nova evades the question, since there is no honest answer to this. Magpie suddenly appears and hands Adrian a written letter—a covert approval of his interrogation of the Puppeteer.

Nova feigns a fear of puppets to try and get out of the interrogation since Winston knows who she is but doesn’t know that she is working undercover. However, Adrian refuses to let her out of this task. At the interrogation, Adrian convinces Oscar to take the chair, knowing that he is in pain from his disability and has been overexerting himself. This gesture makes Nova realize that Adrian is a genuinely good leader. When the guards bring Winston in, he can barely hide his surprise at Nova’s presence. Adrian interrogates him about the Anarchists and about Nightmare, which confuses him further, but he manages to clumsily lie, claiming that Nightmare’s real name is Noreen and that she gets her supplies from hardware stores. He expresses that he genuinely doesn’t know where Nightmare would have gone, but when Adrian promises him paints and dolls, he reveals that she liked Cosmopolis Park. (Nova’s false backstory claims that she once worked there.) Winston also makes up a story about Ace finding Nightmare as a child in the park, after which the Anarchists befriended her and raised her. This makes Nova feel guilty about betraying him. The interrogation ends, and the group decides to try and investigate the park, even though they doubt that Winston’s story is entirely accurate.

Nova relaxes when it becomes clear that nobody can produce any new information on her Nightmare persona after the interrogation. She starts enjoying her time in her cubicle in headquarters, reviewing photos of weaponry and cataloging it. She does this correctly but always edits the entries to remove references to the Anarchists. One gun that she finds links her to Chromium’s report on her family’s death, but she is relieved to see that the pictures are password-protected. She continues to seethe in anger at the knowledge that Chromium had known her family was endangered and yet refused to save them. Seeing this information, she becomes even more convinced that the Renegades do not deserve to be in power.

As Nova tries to calm down, she looks outside and sees Max and a few dozen of his buildings floating in midair. She realizes that Max is telekinetic, but he shouldn’t be, since his power is listed simply as “absorption.” Telekinesis of this level of power was also Ace Anarchy’s prodigy skill, and this raises her suspicions. Max suddenly spots her, and as his concentration breaks, he falls and cuts his hand on the glass. Nova sprints to him and runs into the chamber, bypassing several airlocked doors in her desperation to help. Max has been stabbed through the hand but desperately tries to get her to leave. She runs to give him medical attention, but before she can reach him, her vision blurs, and she collapses in exhaustion, suddenly falling asleep on the floor.

Adrian and his team—minus Nova—go to get late-night sandwiches, and Adrian takes an assortment back to HQ for Nova, hoping to use it as an opportunity to get to know her better romantically, although he doesn’t want to admit this to himself. As he enters, he hears people in a panic and spots Max banging on the wall and pointing to Nova’s unconscious form. He runs into the quarantine himself, but his powers start to drain out of him by the time he reaches her. Using his spring tattoos, he jumps out into the antechamber to avoid losing his powers entirely. Adrian wakes Nova, who bolts upright, screaming. He explains that she fell asleep and reveals the truth of Max’s powers; Max steals other people’s power, sometimes permanently, and takes it for himself. Nova convinces Adrian to test his own superpowers, which he does; they still work. Nova then tells him about Max’s levitation, and Adrian nervously tells her that Max stole that particular power from Ace Anarchy.

Nova is confined to the hospital so the Renegades can test whether she has lost her sleeplessness. This limitation frustrates her, as she wants to leave and test her real power on an unsuspecting citizen. Danna comes to visit her with a care package, revealing that she only has a few more days before she can go back to the field. Danna shares that she has infiltrated several places with her butterfly form, including a warehouse and an office upstairs containing artifacts from prodigies. Before Danna can share details, Frostbite appears and mocks Nova for going into quarantine, but they get Frostbite to leave. Danna then teases Nova about Adrian coming to visit her at three in the morning, but because Nova does not want to think about the implications of this, she pretends to check Danna’s temperature and puts her to sleep. Nova then leaves the hospital.

As Adrian helps Max to repair his glass city, Max confesses that he has stolen Ace Anarchy’s power. Nova startled him because he has been hiding the true strength of his telekinesis for years. Now, he asks Adrian if he is evil because of this power, and Adrian steadfastly denies this idea, reminding Max that he has a choice in what he does with this power. Max accepts this, then demonstrates that he has also absorbed a weaker version of Adrian’s powers, although he has no idea how much he took from Nova. Max then interrogates Adrian about his superpowered jumping and implies that he is aware of Adrian’s secret identity as Sentinel. Adrian refuses to confirm anything, but they discuss the Sentinel’s powers anyway. Max wonders if the Sentinel could give himself invincibility, but Adrian dislikes the idea, not wanting to tread on Captain Chromium’s territory. However, he realizes that if he were invincible, he could finally get close to Max. Worried about Nova, Max sends Adrian to check on her.

Nova goes to the Council offices to look at their collection of artifacts. She feels sick when she sees an artistic rendition of the Battle for Gatlon, featuring Ace’s crumpled body at the base of the cathedral, even though nothing had been left of Ace’s body. At the end of one hall, she spots Ace’s helmet, but before she can approach, she gets a message from a concerned Adrian. Although initially irritated, she soon feels gratified. However, she ignores his message and moves closer to the helmet, overwhelmed with memories of her uncle. As she gets closer, she notices that the helmet is a fake, and she laughs. 

Suddenly, the Dread Warden (Simon) finds her, and she hurriedly explains that she can tell the helmet is a fake, making up a lie as to how. He confirms this, then tells her that the fake helmet is a symbol, while the real one is kept in a high-security location. Nova feels hope when she realizes that the real helmet was not destroyed. As she and Simon talk, Nova marvels that she can enjoy an entire conversation with her enemy without contemplating ways to kill him.

Nova then asks Simon how Max got Ace’s power; he confirms that Chromium (Hugh) carried the young Max on his back so that the boy could steal Ace’s powers and weaken him enough to take the helmet. Ace subsequently jumped three stories into a raging fire and disappeared. Simon states that he loves Max as much as his own son, even if he has never been able to hold the boy. He thanks Nova again for trying to save Max. Nova leaves, reflecting on the fact that Ace tried to kill Max during the entire combat, even though Max was a helpless infant.