There was something endearing about the way Max was watching Adrian. A bit of awe, coupled with an abundance of hope.
Yesterday, Max was a prisoner and an outcast. Valuable and loved, yes, but also an anomaly. A science experiment. A lab rat. He knew it as much as anyone.
“What about Agent N?” said Nova.
Adrian turned to her, startled. “What about it?”
“It was created using Max’s blood. Will the charm protect people from it too?”
Adrian’s eyebrows knit together over his glasses. He peeked at Max, but Max just shrugged and said, “Don’t look at me.”
“I don’t know,” said Adrian. “It might.” He opened his mouth to say more, but hesitated. He studied Max again, then looked back up at Nova. “Yes. I’m pretty sure it would.”
“And does the Council know about this? They’ve put so many resources into developing Agent N … and there was this necklace in the vault the whole time, able to protect someone from it? There could be other things too. First the Captain is immune to Max, and now this?” She bit her tongue to stop herself from talking, worried that her eagerness would show.
Protection from Max. Protection from Agent N.
Maybe the Anarchists didn’t need to be quite so worried about this new weapon after all.
“I’m convinced no one knew about the medallion and what it could do,” said Adrian, “otherwise someone else would have taken it out of the vault as soon as Agent N was revealed. And you heard them at the presentation. There are no known antidotes. And invincibility, like my dad has, is just about the rarest superpower ever documented. No one else is like him. There’s no reason to think his powers can be replicated, at least not where Max is concerned. There might be other things that could act as a ward against Max’s power, but as far as I could find, this is the only artifact of its kind.”
Maybe Adrian was right, but even so, the existence of this charm gave her hope that Agent N wasn’t the death knell for the Anarchists.
She wondered if such a charm could protect others from a power like hers, too. As an Anarchist, Nova most often used her ability to put people to sleep as a weapon, but sleep in itself didn’t weaken a person, beyond making them vulnerable. If anything, sleep helped to restore them. It was an interesting puzzle, and one she would have to consider at length if Adrian shared the discovery of the Vitality Charm with any more Renegades.
“Could I use the charm sometime?” she said, plastering a smile to her face. “It would be easier to help Max reconstruct the broken parts of his city if I could go in there.”
“Sure!” they said in unison, and the way Max’s eyes brightened made Nova’s heart surge.
“But,” said Adrian, “I think we should give it to Simon first.” He grimaced apologetically. “It’s just symbolic, but … I know it would mean a lot to him.”
She refused to let her smile fade. “Of course. I understand.”
Adrian’s expression was so endearing Nova felt a little guilty for contemplating how the charm could serve her purposes over Max’s.
“I know it doesn’t change everything,” said Adrian. “You’re still stuck in the quarantine. You still can’t go out into the world. But … it’s something, right?”
“It’s a lot,” said Max. “Even just…” As he gestured between himself and Adrian, his control over his emotions started to crumble. “This has been … This is…”
Adrian wrapped an arm around Max’s shoulders and pulled the kid against his side.
Nova turned away. She felt like she was intruding. Not just because she wasn’t a part of their family, but because she wasn’t even really a Renegade. She didn’t deserve to enjoy this moment with them.
The velociraptor, who had disappeared into his nest, emerged and made a melancholy cooing sound, poking at Max’s ankle with its needlelike talons. Wiping his eyes, Max stooped and picked it up, pointedly avoiding Nova’s gaze.
“Max,” she said, hesitantly, “why … why don’t you just live with a non-prodigy family?”
Adrian flinched. “I’ve thought that, too, but…” His face was tight with pain, but Max only shrugged.
“It’s okay,” he said, resigned. “I’m fine here.”
“No, you’re not,” said Nova. Her fists clenched. “You’re a prisoner! You’re a—a—”
Adrian shot her a warning look and she bit back the words on the tip of her tongue.
You’re a science project to these people.
“It’s not safe for me to be out in the world,” said Max, letting the tiny dinosaur nibble at the tip of his thumb. “I could cross paths with a prodigy at any time, and it wouldn’t be fair to them. And also, if news ever got out about who I am and what I can do … it would make me a target. There are still villains out there who would want to use me for their own purposes—”
“Or anti-prodigy zealots who would love to get their hands on a kid who can wipe out superpowers,” added Adrian.
“And also…，” Max said, his voice distant. “I’m needed here.”
Nova ground her teeth. Though there might be some truth to what Max was saying, she couldn’t help but feel that it was also a whole lot of fear propaganda, intended to keep him a compliant prisoner.
“For Agent N?” she asked.
Max nodded.
“How long have you known about it?” said Nova. “Did you know what they were doing with your DNA samples all this time?”
“Not … exactly,” Max said, tucking Turbo into his pocket. “For a long time I thought they were trying to find a way to neutralize me. So they wouldn’t have to be keep me separate from everyone anymore. Eventually, I realized it was more than that, though. I figured it was something like Agent N, but I didn’t know for sure.”
“Skies, Max, maybe it would work on you,” said Adrian, eyes brightening again. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it until now. I was so excited about the charm, but … why couldn’t we just inject you with Agent N? You wouldn’t be a prodigy anymore! You could…” His words dwindled off as Max shook his head.
“They tried that already,” he said. “It doesn’t work on me.”
“They tried to take away your powers?” Nova gasped. “Why? Because you’re a threat?”
Max laughed at her obvious disgust. “No, because I asked them to. After they had their first few successes on prodigies at Cragmoor and it didn’t, you know, turn them into big piles of radioactive sludge or anything, I asked them to use it on me. I wanted it to work. It’s not really that much fun to be a prodigy when you’re trapped in a place like this.” He gestured around at his glass prison.
“Oh,” said Nova. Her vehement anger on Max’s behalf faded. “I guess I can understand that.”
“Nova is concerned with prodigy rights,” explained Adrian. “She’s worried we’re going to start abusing the power of Agent N.”
“If I recall correctly,” said Nova, “you weren’t exactly convinced that it would be handled with the utmost responsibility either.”