Swinging his legs, Oscar surveyed the store, dimly lit by only a handful of the ceiling fluorescents two stories overhead and the display lighting that even now was making the nearby jewelry cases twinkle, including the one that had been smashed to pieces. “Do you think they have any vending machines around here?”

“What? Smokescreen is hungry?” said Ruby, feigning surprise as she wrapped her jewel-tipped wire around her wrist. She had used it to trip the burglars as they sprinted for the emergency exit, and Adrian could see a red line across her hand where the wire had nearly cut into her.

“Hey, I’m a growing superhero,” said Oscar. “I need sustenance.”

A whorl of butterflies cascaded from the upper balcony, where Danna had been checking to make sure the office safe hadn’t been tampered with. “All secure,” she said, her body re-forming beside Ruby. “And I didn’t see any vending machines, but there’s a burger joint two blocks away. We could head there when we’re done here.”

Oscar offered Danna a fist bump, which she enthusiastically returned.

“All right,” said Adrian, punching a code into his wristband. “Store is clear, suspects in custody, awaiting extraction and cleanup.”

He grabbed the briefcase of stolen goods and tossed it at Oscar, who unlatched it and started pawing through the assortment of jewelry, laying each piece out on the table so the store could later check it against their records to make sure nothing was missing. “Not a bad haul,” said Oscar, holding up a lavaliere necklace with a slender red gemstone dangling from its chain. “Hey, Red Assassin, I think the designers are starting to emulate you.”

She grinned and swung her bloodstone like a pendulum. “Aw. I’m a trendsetter! And it’s so pretty.”

“I guess.” Oscar held the necklace up to the light. “Not as pretty as you—yours.” Flushing, he hastily diverted his attention back into the briefcase. “Plus, yours is about a thousand time deadlier. Oh, wow, are these earrings?” He pulled out a set of matching chandelier earrings, each one almost as long as his hand. “These would be like … weight lifting for earlobes.”

Ruby’s cheeks pinkened at his slip. She looked like she wanted to say something, but Oscar seemed determined to move past the compliment that may or may not have been intentional, and so she wrapped her wire back around her wrist and turned to Adrian. “How is Max?”

“Good, I think,” said Adrian. “I really can’t thank you and your family enough for doing this.”

Ruby waved her hand. “I’d do anything for Max. And you should have seen how my brothers went ballistic when they heard that a quote-unquote real Renegade would soon be staying with them. Because evidently I don’t count.” Moving aside a stack of folded shirts, she lifted herself onto the table beside Oscar.

“They were very enthusiastic,” said Adrian. “It’ll be a big adjustment for Max, but good for him, too. He’s never had friends his own age before. I just wish—” He caught himself, clamping down on his thoughts before they could escape.

The others watched him, immediately uneasy.

“What?” encouraged Ruby.

“Nothing.” He cringed, hating the lie almost as much as he hated the truth. “I was going to say … I just wish I could tell Nova about it. I think she’d be really happy to see him free for a change.”

The team fell quiet for a long while, until Ruby’s small voice asked, “Have you talked to your dads about … about the execution? They’re not really going to … are they?”

Adrian scowled at the floor. “It seems they are. Unless she gives us something useful.”

“And she hasn’t confessed yet?” Ruby asked.

He shook his head.

“Are you going to go?” said Oscar. “To the … you know.”

Adrian peered over the frames of his glasses. “It’s not just an execution. It’s the public unveiling of Agent N. So, yeah. I think I’m pretty much expected to be there.”

“Yeah, but … people would understand if you decided not to,” said Ruby, and though she was trying to be gentle, this conversation was making Adrian’s stomach churn with every passing moment.

“Why?” he asked. “She didn’t betray me any more than she betrayed you guys, or everyone else for that matter.”

The others exchanged looks.

“I mean,” said Oscar, “she sort of did. She was, like, your girlfriend.”

Adrian’s jaw clenched. “I’m done talking about this.”

Danna’s palm settled on his forearm. He tensed, but didn’t pull away.

“I’m really sorry,” she said. “We all liked her, you know. It wasn’t just you. I can’t say that I fully trusted her, but I did like her. I’m just … I’m really sorry it was her.”

Adrian opened his mouth to reply, though he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. He was sorry, too? It wasn’t Danna’s fault? It didn’t really matter?

He cleared his throat, eager to change the subject. “Ruby, earlier you said you’d do anything for Max. Did you mean that?”

“Anything within reason,” she said with suspicion. “Why?”

Adrian squared his shoulders. “You know how I’ve been giving myself these tattoos so I can—”

He was interrupted by the sound of clapping—slow and methodical clapping that echoed through the department store.

Adrian spun around and spotted a shadowy figure stepping down from a platform of mannequins. The mannequins were wearing ripped jeans and sleek sequined tops, but the figure was dressed entirely in black.

Black boots and pants. Black belt and fingerless gloves.

Black hood.

And a silver mask over the bottom half of her face.

Adrian froze.

He felt his team tense around him. Ruby and Oscar were already off the table, wisps of smoke pooling at Oscar’s feet and Ruby’s wire pulled taut between her fingers.

“Your sentiments are so sweet,” said … said … Nightmare?

She stood a hundred paces away, the city lights from outside the window glinting off her metal face mask and the familiar weapons slung across her hips. The black hood overshadowed her face, making it impossible to see her eyes. Adrian blinked, resisting the urge to remove his glasses and clean their lenses.

“You all liked her,” Nightmare cooed. “You’re all so very sorry it was her.” She tsked a few times. “Well, I hate to be a nonconformist, but to be honest, I wasn’t all that sorry. Nova McLain deserves everything she got.”

Adrian’s mouth was so dry he didn’t think he could speak, even if he’d had something to say. Even if the only word resonating in his thoughts wasn’t, simply, Impossible.

Impossible. Impossible. Impossible.

It wasn’t Nova. That much was clear, not only because Nova was imprisoned on an island two miles off the coast, but also because the voice didn’t match. Now that he was standing right in front of Nightmare. Now that he could take a moment to compare what he’d only had vague memories of before, the difference was clear.

Still sardonic. Still dry.

But not Nova.

“My compliments on your impressive capture of those two lowlifes,” Nightmare said, and it took Adrian a moment to remember the unconscious burglars. “I doubt two non-prodigies were all that difficult to apprehend, but nevertheless, it’s nice to witness one of the rare occasions when the Renegades don’t show total incompetence.”

“Who are you?” said Danna, her voice cutting through the haze in Adrian’s thoughts, reminding him where they were, who they were. Renegades. Heroes.

Facing a villain.

The same villain. Always Nightmare. Again and again.

He began to wonder if maybe he was dreaming, but a quick squeeze over his newest tattoo, still sore to the touch, ensured that he was very much awake.

“You know who I am,” Nightmare drawled. Then she chuckled, settling a hand on the pouch at her hip from where Adrian had seen her pull those clever throwing stars in battles past. “Oh, wait, I suppose you don’t know who I am, because you think that girl is me. Thank you, by the way, for finally picking up on all those clues I’ve been leaving around. It took you long enough to solve the puzzle, but there we are again, back to your famed incompetence. I’ll admit, it was more difficult to frame her than I thought it would be, but that’s what I get for relying on the observation skills of a bunch of heroes. You guys really couldn’t be any more oblivious.”

“Quit the act,” said Danna, taking a step closer. Her body was taut, her hands squeezed into fists, and Adrian could tell she was preparing to swarm. “We know you’re not Nightmare. The real Nightmare is in prison, where she belongs.”

“Are you sure about that?” Nightmare said, drumming her fingers against the pouch.

Adrian swallowed, hating the confusion muddling his thoughts. Because no … no, suddenly, he wasn’t sure about anything.

“Nova McLain is Nightmare,” Danna said through her teeth. “So who are you?”

“Nova McLain is a Renegade,” Nightmare said, her tone dripping with disdain. “Insomnia,” she spat. “But she wasn’t a very good hero, was she? She deserves to be in prison, after she failed to save my grandfather. She deserves for the world to see her as a liar and a fraud. You superheroes are always promising to save people. But did she step in to save my grandfather when the Detonator shot him? No! She watched it happen.” Nightmare’s stance changed, from relaxed to livid, her hands clenching. “I’ll never regret what I’ve done to her. I needed a decoy and she was just too perfect an opportunity to pass up. Someone had to take the fall for me, when you guys wouldn’t get off my back after the parade incident.”

“You’re lying,” said Danna. With a growl, she transformed. The mass of butterflies soared toward Nightmare.