“You know, I’m glad we had this meeting,” Frostbite continued. “You are a perfect reminder of everything it is we Renegades are fighting against.”
He glared up at her, though he knew his hatred couldn’t be seen through the visor. “I think you’re confused.”
“No, you’re confused,” she spat. “With your vigilante act, your claim to fight for justice. But there’s a reason you’re not a Renegade, and everyone knows it. If you really cared about the people of this world, if you really wanted to help the weak and the innocent, then you would have joined us a long time ago. But no—you think you can go it on your own. There’s a lot more glory that way, isn’t there? The fame, the publicity … You talk a good game, but we both know you’re in it for your own agenda. And here’s the problem with prodigies who go around flaunting their own agendas.” She crouched in front of Adrian, her gaze piercing the shield of his helmet. “It starts to give other prodigies all sorts of ideas. They start to think—who needs to become a Renegade? I can be more without them. Pretty soon, they’re more concerned with their own reputation than helping people. They don’t care about protecting the innocent. They don’t care about stopping crime. They’re above all that. And before you know it … there’s another villain in the world that we have to deal with.” She stood up again and aimed the barrel of the gun at Adrian’s face. He narrowed his eyes, though he knew an Agent N dart wouldn’t make it through his helmet. “Either you’re a Renegade, or you’re a villain. And yeah, we might bend the rules from time to time. We might even ignore the code completely when we can see a better way of doing things—a way that really will make this world a better place. But to go around pretending that you can be against us, and still be a hero?” She shook her head. “That just can’t be tolerated.”
A shadow fell over Adrian. Gargoyle reached down and grasped the sides of his helmet, preparing to pull it off.
With a roar, Adrian bent his arm and fired a beam into Stingray’s tail. He gasped and jerked back, releasing his hold around Adrian’s throat enough that Adrian could slam his helmet back into Gargoyle’s stomach. Gargoyle grunted from the impact, his grip loosening. Adrian jumped to his feet and spun around, aiming a punch at the side of Gargoyle’s head. His cheek morphed moments before impact, and the clang of metal on stone reverberated through Adrian’s bones. He drew back and lifted his leg, instead, planting the bottom of his foot flat against Gargoyle’s chest and shoving him to the ground.
Adrian barely kept from falling again as Aftershock rumbled toward him. All around, the towers of shipping containers trembled and swayed, threatening to collapse on top of their entire group.
Adrian sprinted away from Aftershock. He was preparing to vault up to the top of one of the container stacks when a wall of icy spears shot upward from the ground, angled toward him. Adrian yelped. He couldn’t stop in time. He tripped and fell, smashing three of the spears beneath his weight.
A fourth pinioned up between the armored plates that protected his side and abdomen. The sharp point punctured him just beneath the ribs, and Adrian cried out, as much from surprise as the pain. Grunting, he wrapped both hands around the ice and levered himself off it.
He stumbled, panting. He was sweating and bleeding inside the suit, drops of it tracing the length of his spine, soaking through his shirt.
“So the suit isn’t invincible,” said Aftershock, lumbering closer to him. “That’s good to know.” He lifted his knee, prepared to send another earthquake ricocheting toward Adrian.
Bracing himself, Adrian gathered up his energy and launched upward. He landed on a stack of containers, four crates high. Clenching his fist, he started to prepare another concussive beam.
“Let Mack deal with him,” Frostbite yelled. “Gargoyle, we have a job to finish.”
Adrian climbed to his feet and aimed his glowing arm toward the group below. “Like I said, I’ll be finishing the job for you. Consider Hawthorn my prisoner now.”
Aftershock snarled and made to slam his foot down again, when Frostbite held up a hand, halting him. “Hold on. I think he should see this.”
Stingray snickered, though the sound was tired. He hadn’t fully recovered from the concussive beam yet. “Yeah, he should know what Agent N can do … because he’ll be next.”
But Frostbite shook her head. She was peering up at Adrian, her expression calculating. “No … I’ve changed my mind. We’re not going to neutralize Hawthorn. That would be a waste of resources, given that we found her this way.”
Adrian frowned. “What are you—”
“Aftershock, bring him down. Gargoyle … kill her.”
“What?” Adrian barked. He swiveled his arm toward Gargoyle, then heard the rumble of earth below. The stack shook beneath him and he fired, but the bolt of energy went wide, striking a crate behind them.
Adrian yelped and grabbed the edge of the container to keep from sliding off as it lurched to one side.
The metronome could barely be heard over the grating of clay and dirt, the splintering of buried rock.
He spotted Gargoyle and his eyes widened. In horror. In disbelief.
“No!” he yelled, as Gargoyle wrapped both hands around Hawthorn’s head. She started to scream. “You can’t—”
In one merciless motion, Gargoyle crushed her skull between his palms, silencing her.
The air left Adrian. White spots shimmered at the edges of his vision.
“Don’t be sad, Sentinel,” Frostbite yelled up toward him. “No one is going to miss her … just like no one will miss you.”
The earthquake reached a crescendo. The precarious stack under his feet began to topple.
Adrian forced himself to get up, urged on by adrenaline and rage. He ran. Down the full length of the container, leaping from it seconds before it collapsed under his feet. He landed hard on the roof of Hawthorn’s laboratory and kept running, racing from stack to stack. The whole world was trembling now. The shipyard was a shamble of falling containers, groaning metal, shuddering earth. Every time Adrian landed on a new stack, it immediately began to sway and buck beneath his feet.
He kept going, pounding his legs as hard and fast as he could force them to go, and as the last stack of crates began to fall, he sprang upward, stretching.
He barely caught the hook of one of the enormous cranes. His momentum swung him forward, over the docks of the port. Letting go, he rolled in the air and crashed down inside a fenced graveyard for rusted tractors. He ducked behind a large forklift and hunkered low, gulping for breath, his heart racing.
He could no longer hear the ticking of the metronome.
He could no longer hear Frostbite or her allies.
He didn’t move for a long time, waiting to see whether Aftershock would continue his pursuit. His skin was hot and sticky from sweat. Every muscle was shaking.
And every time he shut his eyes, he saw Gargoyle’s stone hands wrapped around Hawthorn’s head, and heard Frostbite’s ominous words.
Just like no one will miss you.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THE VITALITY CHARM.
Nova had not been able to stop thinking about it since she had seen Adrian inside the quarantine, at least when she wasn’t ranting about her failure to obtain the helmet. Max’s ability to absorb other superpowers had not affected Adrian, and it was all because of a pendant on a necklace.