calm. You’re bound to experience some slight discomfort, maybe a bit of queasiness, but in just a few moments you’ll be back to normal. Completely, utterly normal.”
“Agent N,” said Adrian. “The stingers have Agent N on them.”
Oscar cursed and squished a bumblebee beneath the butt of his cane, even though Adrian was pretty sure it was already dead.
“The syringes must have had a decoy,” said Adrian. “The Anarchists switched it out somehow.”
“Adrian,” said Danna. “Your powers?”
He shook his head. “My tattoo should protect me. But something tells me this isn’t the worst of it. Come on, I need to find a place to transform.”
“We’re coming with you,” she said.
He slipped from the row, preparing to dash up the stairs to the back of the arena, but he was stopped by a voice, meek and trembling.
“Guys?”
He turned back. Danna and Oscar paused, too, all of them staring at Ruby.
Her face was pale, her eyes watering and round. In her right palm, she held a dead bumblebee.
In her left was the red stone that always hung from the wire at her wrist.
Adrian’s heart sank. “Ruby … no…”
They all watched as the stone began to melt, dissolving into a sticky, bloody mess over her fingers, dripping down to the concrete floor below.
Ruby swallowed and tried to put on a brave face, despite her shock. “My brothers,” she whispered, “are going to be so disappointed.”
* * *
Nova was halfway across the first lighting truss when she realized what was happening. She gripped the edges of the cold steel, peering down at the audience as their cries went from bewildered to horrified.
She pressed a hand to her earpiece, hoping that maybe she was wrong. Maybe she was misinterpreting the situation, unable to see clearly from so far away.
“What is going on down there?”
Honey’s voice crackled. “Can’t you tell? We’re finally winning.”
Nova’s hands felt clammy, but she was perched too precariously to wipe them off. Her jaw throbbed behind the mask. “Tell me that’s not Agent N … It was supposed to be Leroy’s poison! You were just supposed to paralyze them for a few minutes!”
“Stay calm, Nightmare,” said Leroy. “We need you to stay focused on your prerogative.”
“How am I supposed to stay focused when you change the plan in the middle of it?” She realized that she was practically yelling but knew that no one would hear her above the chaos below. She found herself scanning the stands for signs of Adrian and the others, but the seats were too crowded, too jumbled with identical Renegade uniforms.
“It was my idea,” said Honey, sounding very proud of this fact. “Why would we leave our enemies momentarily paralyzed when we could neutralize them forever? It’s nothing they wouldn’t have done to us.”
“But that’s not what we agreed on!”
“Because you wouldn’t have agreed!” Honey snapped back. “Because you’ve gone too soft for these superheroes. But they deserve what they’re getting, and you know it!”
Nova strangled the steel bars. How many bees had Honey unleashed? How many Renegades would no longer be prodigies?
And why did this fill her with fury when, not long ago, she would have been delighted by it? Would have even encouraged the plan herself?
“They were supposed to be paralyzed,” she repeated. “Do you know how much more difficult you just made this for me?”
“You’re resourceful. You’ll figure it out,” said Honey. “I did what was best for the Anarchists, what’s best for us. No more playing both sides, Nightmare. It’s time to choose whose side you’re really on.”
Nova flinched. Below, Renegades were spilling onto the field. Most of the bees had already been killed, and it was impossible to tell how many superheroes had been stung. Half? More?
While the Council barked orders, trying to whisk away the civilian journalists into the sublevels for safety, while simultaneously setting up a defensive perimeter, a second wave of bees surged in through the air vents. This time Honey didn’t bother with the disguise of the paper cranes. The swarm fanned out, hundreds of tiny black specks from Nova’s perspective, diving into the crowd.
Amid the chaos, Nova’s focus landed on Ace. He stood almost serenely in front of the platform, his wrists and legs still shackled.
She felt the weight of the backpack pressing down on her.
Though anger continued to surge through her veins, she tucked her chin and kept moving.
* * *
Adrian cursed when he saw a fresh swarm of bees flooding the arena. Captain Chromium’s voice boomed through the speakers, urging Renegades to protect the members of