have told me what you were planning! I know you Anarchists are all ‘every man for himself,’ but I would have thought spending so much time with the Renegades would have made you more of a team player.”
Nova opened her mouth to rebuke the idea that she could learn anything useful from the Renegades, but she stopped herself. In truth, Narcissa might have had a point. Exhaling, she asked instead, “Do you really think it won’t work?”
Narcissa screwed her lips to one side, pondering the question. “I mean, it probably will? But I guess it depends on what sort of … enchantment, or whatever, it has on it.” She shrugged. “Do we have any other options?”
Nova blew a lock of her bangs out of her face. “Not really, so let’s assume for now it’s going to work. I stashed the mirror here, in a pile of construction equipment.” She drew an X on the blueprint that showed the floor layout for the headquarters’ ground and mezzanine floors, including early plans for the laboratories near the quarantine. “Once you’re in, you’ll go down this corridor, then left through these doors, and the storerooms are on your right. I don’t know which storeroom, so you might have to check them all. And I also don’t know who they have on night duty these days, but you can bet they’ll be watching this floor closely, so you have to be quick once you’re in.”
Narcissa appeared thoroughly unimpressed. “And here I was hoping to get some quality reading time while I was there.”
Ignoring her, Nova added, “And don’t forget to bring the mirror with you in case you need a quick exit.”
“You can stop with the obvious. I’ve been doing this my whole life.”
“Fine.”
“What if the storerooms are locked?”
“They will be.” Nova reached for the pile of folders beside them and shuffled through until she emerged with a white ID card—the same she’d once nicked off an unconscious administrator outside the Renegade security room. “This should get you access.”
“Should?” Narcissa said dryly, pocketing the card. “What if it doesn’t?”
“How good are you at picking locks?”
Narcissa’s eyebrows rose in dismay.
“Kidding. If this doesn’t work, then just get out of there and come back here. We’ll switch to plan B.”
“What’s plan B?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“Comforting,” Narcissa deadpanned.
“You’re the one who got me out of jail. You wanted me to help with strategy, so that’s what I’m doing.”
“Yeah, but I figured we’d be plotting the ultimate downfall of the Renegades, something that would take months, maybe even years. I didn’t think we’d give ourselves less than a week to rescue the most infamous supervillain of all time.”
“I like to aim high.”
Narcissa laughed, but there wasn’t much humor in it.
“I’ll talk to Cyanide and check on how the decoy is coming. Be ready to move on this tonight—headquarters tends to be emptiest between three and four a.m.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be ready,” said Narcissa. “But look, I need to be honest with you. I think trying to stop the execution and rescue Ace Anarchy is a terrible idea and I know a lot of the Rejects think so, too. Maybe you can persuade some of them to join you in this crusade, but I won’t be one of them, and I’m not going to push anyone else into it, either.”
“What are you talking about? You just said—!” Nova pointed at the blueprint.
“Yeah, I’ll do this,” said Narcissa. “But not for you and not for Ace Anarchy. I’m doing it for all the prodigies who have been oppressed by the Renegades. This will be a huge blow to them and their dominance, and I’m all for that. This is what my grandfather would have wanted me to do. But I’m not going to the arena with you, and I don’t know how many of the others will go voluntarily, either. We’re doing this so we can live better lives, lives with peace and freedom. But people are going to die if you do this, and that’s not a risk we’re all willing to take. Not for Ace Anarchy, at least.”
Nova crossed her arms. “So much for teamwork. Don’t you realize how much Ace Anarchy has done for us? For all of us?”
“Yeah, I do realize what he did. But he also drove everyone into a war! And I know you care about him, but … I’m not sure I agree that we need him to take down the Renegades. We can do this without him. And if you and the