Archenemies (Renegades, #2)
Marissa Meyer
For Garrett and Gabriel, future superheroes
CAST OF CHARACTERS
THE RENEGADES: SKETCH’S TEAM
SKETCH — Adrian Everhart
Can bring his drawings and artwork to life MONARCH — Danna Bell
Transforms into a swarm of monarch butterflies RED ASSASSIN — Ruby Tucker
When wounded, her blood crystallizes into weaponry; signature weapon is a grappling hook formed from a bloodstone SMOKESCREEN — Oscar Silva
Summons smoke and vapor at will
THE RENEGADES: FROSTBITE’S TEAM
FROSTBITE — Genissa Clark
Creates weapons of ice from water molecules in the air AFTERSHOCK — Mack Baxter
Causes the ground to move with earthquake-like force GARGOYLE — Trevor Dunn
Mutates all or parts of his body into solid stone STINGRAY — Raymond Stern
Delivers venom via a barbed tail
THE ANARCHISTS
NIGHTMARE — Nova Artino
Never sleeps, and can put others to sleep with her touch THE DETONATOR — Ingrid Thompson
Creates explosives from the air that can be detonated at will PHOBIA — True Name Unknown
Transforms his body and scythe into the embodiment of various fears THE PUPPETEER — Winston Pratt
Turns people into mindless puppets who do his bidding QUEEN BEE — Honey Harper
Exerts control over all bees, hornets, and wasps CYANIDE — Leroy Flinn
Generates acidic poisons through his skin HAWTHORN — Name unknown
Wields deadly thorn-covered tentacles
THE RENEGADE COUNCIL
CAPTAIN CHROMIUM — Hugh Everhart Has superstrength and is nearly invincible to physical attacks; can generate chromium weaponry THE DREAD WARDEN — Simon Westwood Can turn invisible
TSUNAMI — Kasumi Hasegawa
Generates and manipulates water
THUNDERBIRD — Tamaya Rae
Generates thunder and lightning; can fly BLACKLIGHT — Evander Wade
Creates and manipulates light and darkness
CHAPTER ONE
ADRIAN CROUCHED ON THE ROOFTOP, peering at the delivery entrance behind Gatlon City Hospital. It was early morning—the sun hadn’t risen yet, though hints of light were turning the sky from charcoal gray to pale violet. The dimness made it difficult to see anything ten stories below, beyond a couple of vans and a supply truck.
“I have eyes on the getaway vehicle,” said Nova, who was watching the quiet streets through a pair of binoculars.
“Where?” he asked, leaning toward her. “How can you tell?”
“That van on the corner.” She swiveled her view from the vehicle to the hospital door and back. “Nondescript, blacked-out windows, engine still running even though it’s been parked since we got here.”
Adrian sought out the van. Steam was rising from its exhaust pipe in great white clouds. “Is there anyone inside?”
“One, in the driver’s seat. Could be more, but I can’t see into the back.”
Adrian lifted his wrist toward his mouth, speaking into his communication band. “Sketch to Smokescreen and Red Assassin. Suspected getaway vehicle is parked at Seventy-Ninth and Fletcher Way. Set your stations to the south and east escape routes. Still waiting on internal recon from Monarch.”
“Roger that,” Oscar’s voice crackled back at him. “We’re on the move.”
Adrian tapped his fingers against the rooftop ledge, wishing the back entrance to the hospital had better lighting. There were six street lamps, but three of them were burned out. Shouldn’t someone have taken care of those?
“Can I see?” he asked.
Nova held the binoculars out of his reach. “Get your own pair.”
Though he wanted to be irritated with the response, he couldn’t help a twitch of a smile. It was fair enough, he supposed, as Nova had spent twenty minutes that morning explaining to Oscar all of the modifications she’d made to this particular pair of generic binoculars. They now sported autofocus and stabilization functionality, motion targeting, night vision, a video recorder, and computerized lenses that could display GPS coordinates and weather forecasts. And because that evidently wasn’t impressive enough, she’d also added software that combined targeted facial recognition with the Renegades’ prodigy database.
Evidently, she’d been working on them for months.
“Fine, I will get my own,” he said, pulling his fine-tip marker from the sleeve of his Renegade uniform. He started to sketch a pair of binoculars onto the side of a metal utility box. “Maybe I’ll give mine X-ray vision.”
Nova’s jaw tensed. “Were you always such a one-upper?”
He beamed. “I’m only kidding. I would need at least some basic knowledge of how X-ray vision works. But I’m definitely giving them that motion-targeting feature you talked about. And ergonomic handholds. And maybe a flashlight…” He finished his sketch and capped his marker. Pressing his fingers against the metal surface, he pulled the drawing from the utility box, transforming it into a functional, three-dimensional reality.
Kneeling beside Nova again, he adjusted the width of his new binoculars and peered toward the street. The van hadn’t moved.