“There has been a challenge!” Blacklight repeated, for anyone who wasn’t paying attention. “Insomnia, in order to take your place among the Renegades, you must defeat one member of the challenging team in a one-on-one duel. You may choose your opponent. Do you accept this challenge?”
“Wait,” said Adrian—so loud that his own voice booming back at him made him jump. “Frostbite, listen.” Genissa turned a haughty gaze on him, one eyebrow lifted. “I know we can use skills like hers, both on my team and in the broader Renegades organization. I respectfully ask that you retract your challenge.”
Genissa laughed. “News flash, Everhart. The rest of us don’t sleep for sixteen hours of the day, either. It’s not exactly a superpower, and besides, how can any of us be sure she’s telling the truth?”
“Why would she lie?” he said, the question echoing through the stadium.
“Because she wants to be one of us,” responded Genissa. “Because they all want to be one of us.”
“Then why wouldn’t she make up a more…” Adrian flipped his fingers in the air. “… super superpower? Why not—”
“I accept the challenge.”
Adrian’s attention darted back to the field. Nova was standing with her hands clasped behind her back, chin lifted as she stared at Frostbite. “I accept the duel.”
Smirking, Genissa Clark pushed her chair back from the table, ice crystals already forming along the knuckles of her hands.
“Not with you.”
Genissa paused.
Nova pointed a finger at the enormous figure lurking behind Genissa’s table—too big to sit with his teammates, his body too heavy for the collapsible chairs. He lumbered forward and the bright lights of the arena reflected off the rough stones implanted along his gargantuan arms.
Adrian’s jaw dropped.
Beside him, Oscar started to choke on his drink. “Is she nuts?”
On the field, Nova turned her hand over and curled her finger, gesturing for the beast to come closer. “I’ll fight the Gargoyle.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
EVERHART.
Frostbite had called him Everhart, and in the span of a single heartbeat Nova realized why he had seemed so familiar to her at the parade.
He was Adrian Everhart. Son of Lady Indomitable, one of the original Renegades, and adopted son of none other than Captain Chromium and the Dread Warden. She felt like an idiot for not having realized it sooner. She had certainly seen his face on a fair number of tabloid covers, splattered across newsstands throughout the city, and even though she would sooner burn those periodicals than read one, she should have known. Even if she’d been too young to care when the adoption had made front-page news. Even if she believed that the public’s ongoing idolization of their family was one of the major problems facing society that day, and she outright refused to partake in the media’s obsession with them.
He was the son of her sworn enemies, and she should have known.
She would make up for her ignorance now, though. She had been accepted by a Renegade team. By his team, and if there were ever an opportunity for her to infiltrate their ranks and learn more about the Council and their weaknesses, surely this was it.
But … first things first.
The audience was in hysterics as Gargoyle lumbered onto the field, but they were muffled in Nova’s ears. In her head, she could still hear Honey’s screams as the Gargoyle tore apart her hives. She could still see the way he smiled as he did it.
Gargoyle was systematically flexing his biceps as he approached, each one thicker than Nova’s head. The patches of stone on his exposed skin shifted and undulated, moving along with his flexing muscles.
A hint of a smile twitched at the corners of her lips.
She was going to enjoy this.
The rules were explained over the loud speakers. Nova did not have to knock him down or leave him unconscious, which was good, as there was no way she’d be revealing her true power and linking herself to Nightmare while in Renegade territory. Luckily, she didn’t need skin-to-skin contact to defeat him. All she had to do was get him to touch the ground outside of the ring.
And try not to get crushed by the behemoth in the meantime.
“Do the contestants understand their objectives?” Blacklight asked, though the screaming from the stands was so deafening Nova almost couldn’t hear him.
She lifted a hand into the air. “Can I have a weapon?”
The question echoed through the arena, momentarily quieting the crowd. She dropped her hand again. “We weren’t allowed to bring non-prodigy weaponry with us today, but as my claim of being skilled with a multitude of weaponry is a part of what’s being challenged, it seems fair that I have something to defend myself with.”