carried a lot of guilt over the superpowers he’d stolen in his short lifetime, and he knew no amount of justifying it would make the kid feel any better. It wasn’t his fault, he couldn’t have helped it, and besides—he’d stopped Ace Anarchy, which was worth a lot more than a few powers stolen from time to time.
As if reading his thoughts, Max added, “I’ve been having nightmares about Ace Anarchy.” He picked up one of the action figures, a muscled, gray-clad man in a cape and helmet that might have been loosely modeled after the infamous villain. “I keep dreaming that he comes after me, but this time, instead of him getting weaker when he gets close to me, it’s the opposite. I get weaker, while he gets stronger and stronger.”
“Just dreams,” said Adrian. Reaching forward, he plucked the doll from Max’s hand and held it up. “I met Ace Anarchy, remember? He doesn’t look anything like this. He’s not that scary anymore, just a frail, cranky old man. And, in a few days—”
“He’ll be dead,” Max murmured.
Adrian tossed the figure into the middle of the battle. It landed facedown in the carpet.
Defeated.
Max stared at it a long moment, then picked it up and set it back into the line of combatants. “So,” he said, his tone more upbeat, though Adrian sensed some strain. “What are you going to do about the missing comics?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe it’s time I come clean, though. Tell everyone the truth.”
Max turned to him, surprised. “Really?”
“I don’t know. I don’t feel like I’m ready, but it also makes me sick to my stomach to think of Nightmare holding this secret over me. Whatever she’s planning, if I outed myself first, it would take away her ammunition. And besides, with everyone so focused on Ace Anarchy and the Agent N publicity and Genissa Clark’s threats and now the ongoing search for Nightmare and the rest of the Anarchists … maybe the whole Sentinel thing won’t seem like such a big deal? It could kind of blow over, you know?”
Max’s cheeks twitched with a stifled laugh. “Sure. The vigilante who’s been embarrassing the Renegades for months and defying the Code Authority every few minutes turns out to be none other than Adrian Everhart himself.” He nodded sagely. “That will hardly cause a stir.”
“Thanks for the encouragement.”
Max’s crooked grin returned, for real this time. “On the bright side … at least no one thinks your girlfriend happens to be one of the world’s most wanted villains anymore.”
Adrian’s pulse skipped to hear Max referring to Nova as his girlfriend. Coming from someone else made it sound so … official. “True,” he said. “That does make things easier.”
Thinking of Nova made him even more determined to fix whatever he had ruined when he hadn’t believed in her innocence. The way she’d kissed him on the pier seemed to suggest that she’d already forgiven him, but he didn’t want to take any chances. He never wanted to lose her again.
His thoughts were interrupted by a tiny, shrill screech. Adrian started, but Max, used to the noise, lifted his palm and examined Turbo. “About time you woke up, little dude. Are you hungry?”
The velociraptor unhinged its jaws in what might have been a yawn, then untucked its back legs. It took a few awkward attempts to climb to its feet. Max sighed. “Yeah, you don’t feel so great. I know. I’m sorry.”
Turbo stood, watching Max with its black eyes. It made another sound—this one a pathetic mewl—and slowly reached forward one little claw, stretching the tiny needle-like talon forward until it barely tapped the end of Max’s nose.
Then, like watching a wind-up toy as it finally wound down, the little dinosaur grew still.
Neither Max nor Adrian spoke for a long time. Adrian wanted to say something to comfort Max as he stared at the creature, now as motionless as one of the plastic figurines, but he didn’t know what to say.
Finally, Max let out a long, slow exhale. “I’m glad you made him. He was a fierce little dude.”
“Yes, he was.”
A small, impish smile sparked over Max’s face. He set the dinosaur, frozen in its final stance, in the middle of the battlefield. “And he is going to make one hell of a supervillain.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“I DON’T KNOW if I can travel through a magic mirror.”
Nova considered Narcissa with disbelief. “That might have been good information to have yesterday.”
Narcissa shot her an exasperated look of her own. “Well, maybe you should