alliances, so we might actually be able to make some change in this city.” She hesitated, and for her momentary zeal, started to look a little sheepish. “The Anarchists were in the book, too. Not just the Detonator, but Cyanide and Queen Bee, too. Even you were mentioned once, Nightmare. Given the circumstances, I think Grandpa would have wanted us to work together. The Renegades made it hard, almost impossible, for anyone who had been given the stigma of villain to go on with a normal life, and my grandfather suffered for that. We’ve all suffered. He would have liked to see things change. But it’s impossible to make a change when no one will give us a job or lease us an apartment or even see us as normal citizens of this city. When the simple fact that we are prodigies who aren’t Renegades automatically makes us suspect.”
“Makes us suspect, and makes us a target,” said the man with the fungi. “Did you know only fifteen percent of the crimes in this city are committed by prodigies? But the Renegades put eighty percent of their task force on hunting down prodigy offenders, and all but ignore the rest. If they really cared about justice and protecting the weak, you’d think they’d give a bit more effort to the actual problem.”
“In their eyes, we are the only real problem,” said Narcissa. “We take the blame for everything that goes wrong in this city. All so the Renegades can go on pretending to be big and honorable. ‘Look, we caught another prodigy, one who robbed a convenience store six years ago! Don’t you feel safe now?’ It’s prejudice, every bit as much as the people who used to stone us for being demons.”
“And now they’ve got this Agent N stuff,” boomed a gruff voice. Nova jumped, but couldn’t tell where it had come from.
“That’s Megaphone,” said Narcissa, gesturing toward a group of prodigies that were clustered together, including a man with a grizzly black beard who could not have been more than three feet tall.
“Small body,” he said at her surprise, “big voice.”
And it was big. Though he wasn’t yelling, his voice echoed like a sonic boom through the enclosed space.
“You know about Agent N,” said Nova.
“It’s been all over the news,” said a girl with slitted eyes and a line of reflective scales running down the back of her bald head. “Those three Renegades who lost their powers in a fight against Nightmare. We thought it was something you Anarchists had created—a new weapon to take down the Renegades—but Cyanide told us the truth.”
Nova planted her hands on her hips. “They’ve been developing Agent N for years, intending to use it against prodigies who don’t fall in line with their code. Any Renegade who thinks you’re misusing your powers will be authorized to neutralize you on sight.”
“Let’s not fool ourselves,” said Millie. “They won’t need any new reasons to neutralize almost every person in this room. More than half of us had allegiances to various gangs during the Age of Anarchy, and as Narcissa said so succinctly—it hasn’t been easy to cast ourselves in a new light these last ten years. Our past transgressions will be plenty of evidence for the Renegades that we are a threat to society. I half expect them to make a game of it—hunting down their enemies from the Age of Anarchy and getting rid of us, one by one.”
Nova didn’t respond. She didn’t think that was the intention of the Council, but she knew it’s what Frostbite and her team would have done once they had access to the serum. There would be others like them, more than willing to abuse this power. Regardless of the Council’s intentions, Nova didn’t trust them to defend the rights of prodigies who had once been gang members, or those who still had to fight and steal in order to make their way in an unforgiving world.
Her chest felt hollow as she met the gazes of those around her. She felt a heavy sympathy for this crowd of misfits, who could never be superheroes, but who didn’t deserve to be called villains, either. What chance had they been given to live the lives they wanted? Under the Renegades’ rule, they were still guilty. Still oppressed. Still a threat to be exterminated at the slightest misstep.
She could see their exhaustion, though it was coupled with resilience. They had survived until now, but they were done with simply surviving. They