of Renegades had not survived the battle at the arena.
“Good,” said Oscar, a little wistful. “Because I really want to see Ruby again after this.”
Adrian completely understood. He really wanted to see Nova again after this, too. There were far too many things left unsaid.
They waited in silence for what felt like an eternity but was probably only a few minutes. Finally Danna returned, or two of her butterflies did, dancing briefly around their heads before fluttering back through the passageway.
With his marker in one hand and the flashlight in the other, Adrian followed.
The catacombs were exactly as they had left them after the fight against Ace Anarchy. Bones and skulls littered the stone floor, making it nearly impossible to walk without disturbing the silence. Marble statues lay in pieces, sarcophagi were overturned, giant cracks ran through the church’s thick foundation.
They made their way, as stealthily as they could, through the catacomb’s chambers and up the narrow stone staircase. Before, this stairway had opened out onto the wasteland, surrounded by nothing but ruins and destruction. But now, as Adrian neared the uppermost landing, there was no light filtering down from an open sky. Only more shadows, and their footsteps echoing off thick stone walls.
Adrian’s breath caught as they stepped out into a small circular chamber. A second staircase continued upward, but two doorways opened on either side, each one flanked by statues of hooded figures. He had known from secondhand reports that Ace had rebuilt the cathedral, but he’d been picturing a jumbled structure. Broken stone and timbers barely held together with old mortar and rusted nails. He had expected something flimsy and precarious, ready to collapse at the slightest blow.
But the chamber around them seemed as ancient and solid as if it had stood there undisturbed for hundreds of years. The thick stone walls perfectly fitted together, with no sign that they’d recently been strewn across the wasteland. It was as if the Battle for Gatlon had never happened.
He cast an uncomfortable look at Oscar. The fact that Oscar hadn’t said anything was proof enough of his own surprise. In fact, the cathedral was as silent as the tombs below. Adrian knew the silence wouldn’t last. Soon, Captain Chromium and every Renegade who could still fight, including those who had arrived from outside syndicates, would attack the wasteland barrier with all the force they had. Adrian hoped this would create enough of a diversion and lead most, if not all, of the villains outside the cathedral while he, Oscar, and Danna attempted to find and neutralize Ace Anarchy.
But finding him might be a problem.
A few of Danna’s butterflies flitted toward the nave, the vast, central area of the church, so Adrian crept after her, listening for any signs of the villains.
As he paced beneath a gigantic stained-glass window that stretched all the way to the vaulted ceiling, Adrian was astounded to think that all this had been mere rubble before. How was a single prodigy capable of this, in such a short amount of time?
He moved toward the central aisle, set with wooden pews and iron candelabras and vast stone pillars on either side.
His gaze traveled down the long, wide aisle.
He froze.
There—at the far end of the nave, what felt like a mile away, dwarfed by the vast ceilings and monumental windows—stood Ace Anarchy. Waiting for them, his helmet glinting in the light of a hundred candles lit along the sides of the choir.
He was not alone. More than a dozen villains were at his sides.
And, a few steps in front of the altar, stood Nova.
Adrian’s blood ran cold. When had the villains found her? How long had she been a prisoner here, a hostage?
His vision sparked red, and before he knew what he was doing, Adrian was charging down the aisle. His right forearm began to glow. A ball of fire swirled around his left fist.
Danna screamed. “Sketch—no!”
Seconds later, a monarch butterfly danced in front of his face. Adrian batted it away.
The cyclone of wings appeared in front of him, then Danna herself, hands upheld. “Adrian, stop!”
Something hit the ground at Danna’s feet. Green vapor burst from the capsule. This, more than Danna’s plea, made Adrian skid to a halt. Danna gasped and swarmed again, her butterflies swirling upward. They were halfway to the vaulted ceilings when they began to converge.
Adrian stared, horrified, as the cloud of gold-and-black wings re-formed. Then they were Danna, and she was falling, forty feet from the ground. Her scream ricocheted through the