But if the Renegades wanted to believe that all illicit activity happened through back doors under the cover of nightfall, so be it.
“So we’re just going to watch those doors all night?” she asked.
“Pretty much.” He grimaced. “I figured we’d go in shifts. I thought you could go last, since you’ll be the least likely to fall asleep.”
Least likely. Like it still might be a possibility.
Nova stepped away from the window. Adrian nodded at Oscar, who took his place as the first lookout.
“Is the Librarian a villain?” asked Oscar, staring across the street. “I mean, like, with superpowers? Or is he just a bad guy?”
“He’s a prodigy,” said Adrian, “but I’m not sure exactly what he does. Nothing violent, I don’t think.”
“Knowledge retention,” said Nova. The others turned to look at her and she started. “Is … what I’ve heard,” she added lamely. “I think that’s why they call him the Librarian. Not just because he, you know, runs a library, but supposedly he remembers everything he reads, word for word. Forever.”
“Makes sense,” said Ruby, opening a bag of candy.
Allowing herself to relax once the attention of the group moved away from her, Nova sat cross-legged and stared at the pile of snacks they’d brought. Red licorice ropes, jelly beans, peanut butter cookies, and an assortment of canned energy shots.
“This is the first time you’ve all done this, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” said Ruby, grabbing a handful of jelly beans, picking out the purple ones and dumping them back in the bag, before throwing the rest into her mouth at once.
Nova gestured at the spread. “This is a sugar crash waiting to happen. Didn’t anyone think to bring … I don’t know, carrots? Or some nuts or beef jerky … or you know, something with nutrients?”
Ruby blinked at her, then looked blankly at Oscar. Neither spoke.
“I could run to the store,” said Adrian. “There’s a corner store three blocks away. If you need something…”
Realizing that he was looking at her, Nova shook her head. “It won’t matter to me, but…” She waved her hand through the air. “Never mind. Don’t worry about it. I’ll take over whenever the rest of you pass out, which I’m betting will be sooner than later.”
“Shows what you know,” said Oscar. He was leaning against the window frame, tapping the end of his cane against the floor. “I’ve got the stamina of a triathlete.”
Nova’s eyebrow lifted.
“He didn’t mean it that way,” muttered Adrian.
“Didn’t I?” said Oscar, with a suggestive glance in his direction.
Adrian snapped his fingers at him. “Eyes on the window.”
Nova glanced from Oscar to Ruby. It was the first time she’d seen them in civilian clothing—he in a checkered-blue dress shirt, the sleeves rolled to his elbows, and she in a T-shirt with the SUPER SCOUTS logo scrolled across the chest, a fan-comic from overseas that was immensely popular, but that Nova had never actually read. As Red Assassin, her black-and-white hair was always pulled back high on her head, but tonight it was down in loose pigtails that made her look adorably harmless. What was most striking, though, was the thick white bandage wrapped around her upper arm, disappearing beneath her sleeve. Nova wondered if Ruby had been injured during their fight at the parade, though Nova was sure she hadn’t wounded her.
Adrian, too, was dressed casually, almost exactly as he had been at the parade. Red sneakers. Blue jeans. A dark long-sleeved T-shirt. There was nothing particularly fashionable about the outfit, but it fit him well, hanging in just the right way to suggest toned muscles underneath.
She looked away quickly, annoyed that the thought had occurred to her.
“We brought games,” said Ruby, when the silence tipped toward uncomfortable. She riffled through a backpack and pulled out a deck of cards and a box of dominoes. The tiles inside clacked noisily as she set it down on the blanket. “Anyone?”
When a quiet lack of enthusiasm greeted her, she shrugged and grabbed the deck of cards instead. “Fine. I’ll play solitaire.”
Nova watched her lay out a row of cards. “So. This is the life of a superhero.” She glanced up at Adrian. “No wonder everyone wants to be one of you.”
He met her look with a smile and lowered himself onto the other corner of the blanket. “Everyone wants to be one of us,” he corrected. “And yes. We are living the dream.”