He frowned, shaking his head.
“Oh. Well … they say Ace…” She cleared her throat. “Ace Anarchy himself did it. Supposedly, there was a … a dispute of some sort. Between the two gangs.”
A dispute. Like the Roaches murdering Ace’s brother and his family.
“Huh,” said Adrian, scratching behind his ear. “That explains why the Roaches were so quiet those last few months.”
Nova glanced from Max to Adrian and back. “So, the Captain rescued you and, what, did they adopt you too? Are you two, like, brothers?”
Adrian’s smile started to return, and the sight of it made something unwind in Nova’s chest. “Something like that.”
“I always had to be kept separate from the others, though,” said Max. “Captain Chromium is the only one who’s immune to me. When they started construction on headquarters, here, they designed these rooms for me, specifically. They wanted me to feel like I was still a part of the Renegades, still in the middle of everything, even if … you know. I’m not really.”
“Captain Chromium,” Nova mused, trying to keep the scorn from her tone. Always with the invincible Captain. “And the suits they have to wear to get close to you?” she said, nodding toward the chamber outside the quarantine.
“They were decontamination suits,” said Adrian, “but they’ve been retrofitted with chromium in the lining and around the edges. It allows people to get close for a little while, but his power will still affect them eventually.”
Nova’s lip curled. It seemed that whatever Max could do wasn’t fatal, otherwise his parents couldn’t have transported him all the way to the bridge. But then, what was everyone so afraid of? “I really wish you could just tell me what it is you do.”
“Someday,” said Adrian. “It’s not personal. Most people here don’t know. Not that we don’t think we can trust our own Renegades or anything, but the Council is afraid that if too many people knew, it could leak out, and … there are a lot of people who would want to kidnap Max.”
“Or kill me,” Max added, calmly as giving a weather report.
“Okay,” said Nova, “I won’t pry anymore.”
She only sort of meant it. They had given her more information than they probably realized—at least enough to start formulating some theories, and she hoped that once she had access to the Renegade databases she would be able to learn a lot more. “So now I know what became of your parents…” She glanced at Adrian. “What about your mom? Did Lady Indomitable die in the battle?”
He shook his head. “Before. They received a tip that one of the villains was planning a retaliation murder, because some guy had been selling out their secrets. Mom volunteered to go stop it. But the next day, she was found in an alley…” His jaw twitched. “She’d fallen from the rooftop. Or, maybe she was pushed. The thing is, falling off a building shouldn’t have killed her, because…”
“She could fly,” said Nova, thinking of those photographs she’d seen of the original six. Lady Indomitable had been beautiful and strong, twists of black hair framing her face and that smile like a constant toothpaste advertisement. She and the Dread Warden were the only members of the vigilante group to wear capes, and in every picture of her she seemed to be levitating a few feet off the ground while the golden material flapped behind her.
“No one saw it happen,” said Adrian, “and no one knows which villain was responsible for killing her, or how they did it. How they could have disabled her long enough to…” He trailed off, and he didn’t have to finish.
How does a prodigy who can fly fall off a building?
“What about your dad?” she said. “I mean, your biological dad. Don’t tell me he was a superhero too.”
He chuckled. “I don’t think so. She told me he was some guy she rescued when a shoe factory collapsed. She flew him to safety, they were both pumped up on adrenaline, one thing led to another … honestly, at that point I told her to skip to the end of the story, ’cause I was five, and ew.” He shuddered and Nova couldn’t help but laugh. “Anyway, they tried going on a few dates after that but he couldn’t handle the pressure of dating a superhero, so it ended before she even realized she was pregnant.”
Nova leaned her shoulder against the glass wall. Inside the quarantine, Max had seemingly grown bored of the conversation and was rearranging the buildings she’d pointed out to him earlier.