Archenemies (Renegades, #2)(38)

Arrogant, she wanted to say. Asinine. Completely, unrealistically overconfident.

But she reeled in her thoughts just in time. “Uh … right,” she stammered. “That’s right. Renegade HQ.” She laughed awkwardly. “Who would ever try to break in here?”

“And given that the vast majority of objects are available for rent—” Callum shrugged. “There’s no need for the added protection. The folks up in the security center keep a close enough eye on us down here.” He saluted the camera.

“I’m sure they do,” said Nova, meandering away from him. She ran her fingers over the shelves that, frankly, didn’t seem to have been dusted in recent history.

But there was no sign of Ace’s helmet.

Her shoulders drooped.

“Is the restricted section not meeting expectations?”

She spun around. Callum was watching her, holding a pair of antique aviator goggles in one hand. “Prophetic goggles,” he said emphatically. “Come on. How can that be disappointing?”

“Sorry,” said Nova. “I was just…” Inhaling a sharp breath, she confessed, “I heard a rumor that Ace Anarchy’s helmet was in here. I thought it would be cool to see it in person. And not, you know, on the Captain’s pike half a block away.”

“Oh,” said Callum, setting down the goggles. “That’s a replica, actually. The one he carries around at the parade? Total fake. The real one’s down here, but if you weren’t impressed by the goggles, you are going to be really disappointed by the helmet.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll show you.” He breezed past her.

Nova’s eyes widened. It could not be that easy.

Halfway down the aisle, Callum paused in front of a metal cube sitting on a shelf. “Ta-da,” he said, thumping its top. The cube was roughly the size of a small microwave. “I give you Ace Anarchy’s helmet.”

Nova stared, horror and denial creeping into her thoughts. “I don’t understand.”

“Well, after the Battle for Gatlon,” said Callum, leaning his elbow on the shelf as he prepared to go into another history spiel, “the Council tried to destroy the helmet, but were unsuccessful. So to keep it from falling into the wrong hands again, Captain Chromium made an indestructible chromium box to hold the helmet for the rest of time. And here she lies. Protected. Secure. Completely inaccessible.” He patted the cube again. “And I get it. I mean, it caused so much destruction and that kind of power shouldn’t be made available to anyone, you know? But at the same time, the historian in me is a little sad that such an important relic is going to sit here, unable to be seen or studied, forever.”

Nova’s mouth went dry as she stepped closer to the box.

There should have been some fanfare here. A spotlight streaming onto the shelf. A set of ropes keeping onlookers at bay. A pedestal. But there was nothing. Just a dusty box on a dusty shelf.

Why hadn’t the Dread Warden told her this when he’d said the helmet hadn’t been destroyed, when he said it was here, in the artifacts department?

No one is ever going to use that helmet to torment the people of this city again.

His words carried new meaning now. Nova had imagined a coded safe, a security system requiring retina scans and fingerprints, even armed guards keeping watch over the helmet.

She had never imagined this.

Imprisoned in a chromium cube. Forever.

She felt a light tug at her wrist. Her bracelet was straining against her skin, as if being pulled toward the box and the helmet inside.

Nova lifted her hand. The bracelet pulled harder, until the thin filigree dug into her skin. The empty prongs that had never received the gemstone they were intended to hold stretched outward toward the trapped helmet.

“Huh,” said Callum. “Never seen that before.”

Nova dropped her arm and took a hasty step back.

Callum’s attention stayed on her wrist. “What’s that bracelet made out of?”

“I don’t know.” She clapped a hand over the bracelet to hide it from view. It was the truth. She didn’t know what the material was. As far as she was aware, it didn’t have a name, and she wasn’t about to tell Callum that it was made from solidified bands of ethereal energy only her father had been able to access.

Just like she wasn’t about to tell him that it was made from the same stuff the helmet was.

“Copper, maybe?” said Callum, scratching his ear. “Can copper be magnetized? I’ll have to look it up. Anyway.” He swirled his hand toward the box again. “There you have it. The helmet that almost destroyed the world. Ready to head back?”

Callum led her out of the vault, chatting the whole time, though Nova didn’t hear a word. She ignored the awe-inspiring objects they passed. She barely felt the mask digging into her back.

What was she going to tell Ace? What would she say to the other Anarchists? Ever since they’d learned that the helmet hadn’t been destroyed, they’d been hinging their hopes on getting it back. On giving Ace back his strength, his power.

What were they going to do now?

There had to be some way to get inside that box. Captain Chromium wouldn’t have made it impossible to access the helmet. What if the Renegades needed it someday?

She couldn’t walk up to the Captain and ask him about it, but … she did know of one other person who might have an idea.