“Oh,” said Ruby. “In that case … sorry!” She paused. “Except, still not really, because I totally just beat Oscar’s high score!” She pumped her fist into the air.
“This battle is far from over,” said Oscar, leaning against the machine. “I demand a rematch.”
Ruby popped her knuckles. “You can have as many rematches as you’d like. I am never giving up this lead.”
“Hey, guys,” said Adrian, “where’s the new girl? You didn’t scare her off already, did you?”
“Changing,” said Oscar, jerking a thumb over his shoulder while Ruby deposited a new coin into the machine’s slot.
“Oh,” said Adrian, glancing toward the private rooms, just as a figure emerged from the hall. He straightened. “Oh.”
Nova caught his eye and seemed to falter midstep.
Breaking away from the others, Adrian approached her, tucking his hands into his pockets. He was still in jeans and a jacket himself, figuring there wasn’t much point in putting on his uniform if they wouldn’t be doing any patrol duty.
“How does it feel?” he said.
She glanced down. Holding her bundled street clothes in one arm, she ran her other hand self-consciously down the side of the uniform. “Long.”
Adrian followed the look and saw that the legs of the uniform were puddled on top of her sneakers.
“But I can sew,” she said. “I’ll fix them when I get home.”
“Naw, don’t worry about it. I’ll have the alterations department pull another uniform and amend it. You’ll have it tomorrow, or maybe the next day. They can get backed up right after the trials.”
Nova opened her mouth and he could sense an argument building there, so he quickly added, “We didn’t bring you on to be a seamstress.”
She hesitated, then closed her mouth again, and in that moment Adrian realized what made her look so different when she’d first emerged from the hallway. At first, he’d thought it was just seeing her in uniform, a uniform that stood for bravery and strength, traits she’d displayed at the trials but that were now exaggerated by the bold red R.
But no, it wasn’t that at all.
She looked different because she seemed, in that moment, laughably, almost hysterically uncomfortable. Nervous and maybe even a little awkward, rather like she had when he’d drawn the bracelet clasp onto her wrist. It almost didn’t seem possible that this could be the same girl who had challenged the Gargoyle with unwavering courage. Who had emanated nothing but fierce determination while surrounded by an entire arena of screaming spectators.
“Here,” said Adrian, pulling out his marker. “You need a bag.” He moved toward the nearest table and sketched out a large tote bag. Lifting it from the acrylic surface, he took the handles and gave it a shake, holding it open for Nova to drop her clothes into.
“Thanks,” she murmured, shoving the clothes inside. She wrapped her hands around the base of the bag’s handles, almost as if she were avoiding touching Adrian’s hands as she took it from him. “You sure do enjoy showing off with that trick, don’t you?”
Heat warmed the back of his neck. Had he been showing off?
“Well, it can be pretty convenient … sometimes.”
Nova looked briefly like she would smile, and he started to wonder if she was teasing him.
“Anyway,” he said, gesturing toward the corner of the lounge, “you can put it in the lockers over there while we give you the grand tour.”
A rage-filled scream pulled their attention toward the arcade game, where Oscar was laughing maniacally while Ruby pounded at the buttons. “My controls froze up! That so doesn’t count!”
“Please direct all complaints to the great scorekeeper in the sky,” said Oscar, popping his knuckles in mockery of how Ruby had done so before.
Adrian capped his marker and tucked it away. “Believe it or not, they’re actually really great superheroes.”
Nova met his gaze, and he could tell she was unconvinced. “Did you mention something about a grand tour?”
*
ADRIAN HAD PLANNED ON only taking Nova around to the areas of headquarters they used frequently as a team. The lounge she’d already seen, so he thought they would stop by the cafeteria and the training hall, then do a quick team-simulation on the virtual reality floor and call it a day. But the second the four of them stepped into the elevators, Nova’s curiosity surprised him. She wanted to know about the armory and how they distinguished what weapons were housed there versus those that were stored in the vaults specifically intended for powerful prodigy artifacts. She wanted to see the laboratories in research and development, and though they didn’t have clearance to go inside, Adrian caught her craning her head to see through an open door as one of the technicians passed by. She was curious about their forensics work, the investigations departments, Council Hall, and the state-of-the-art prison cells—though here again, Adrian could only describe them to her as best he could; he had never actually been inside to see them himself.