At least her body was no longer throbbing from the wasp stings, she realized, pressing a hand over her shirt where the Vitality Charm was tucked away.

Things could be worse.

“Nova?” said Adrian. His expression was worried. “What is Ace planning? What is all this for?”

“He wants to destroy the Renegades, especially the Council, so we can take control of the city. He sees the Renegades as tyrants who are oppressing prodigies everywhere and … and he keeps saying that we’re going to be gods.”

Adrian made a sound of derision. “And he calls my dad arrogant.”

A sudden crash shook the tower. Nova yelped, sure that the aftermath of the explosion was about to bring the bell tower toppling around them. Then she glanced across the expanse of the cathedral’s roof and her heart launched into her throat.

Captain Chromium was on top of the southern turret, gripping the tall pinnacle with one hand while spinning his enormous chain overhead with the other. Ace levitated above the roof’s peak, using his powers to peel off stone gargoyles from the architecture and lob them at his enemy. The Captain was attempting to strike Ace with the chain while blocking the constant assault.

Nova shuddered. Not from seeing the two in a battle, but because Ace was cackling as he tore into the clay tiles that lined the roof.

“My masterpiece, so recently rebuilt, and so easily destroyed once again!” said Ace, sounding more gleeful than distraught. “All that matters now is that you Renegades are buried in its rubble. It will be a fitting end, after what you did to me ten years ago!”

“Nova,” said Adrian, “we have to stop him. You know that, right?”

Her mouth ran dry.

It was impossible. Them? Stop Ace Anarchy?

And yet, she knew he was right.

No more heroes.

No more villains.

Inhaling a shaky breath, she met his gaze and nodded. “I know.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

A STARTLED CRY drew Adrian’s attention across the cathedral spires. His dad was falling, tumbling down the steep incline of the cathedral’s roof. He caught himself on a flying buttress and dangled for a moment, before swinging himself back up. With a grunt, he tore an openmouthed gargoyle from the structure and heaved it at Ace’s head. It was easily deflected. Ace didn’t even flinch. But in the same moment, the Captain lashed out with the chain, striking Ace in the chest. The villain was blown backward, his back crashing against the inside of his makeshift dome.

“Ace can’t control your dad’s weapons, can he?” asked Nova.

Adrian shook his head. “He never could. They aren’t made of normal metal.”

“Yeah, I know. Your family is kind of scary.”

Adrian gawked at her. “My family?”

She dared to let a hint of a smile show through. Adrian hesitated, and then started to laugh. A long, tired, gasping laugh. “I’m going to turn into the Sentinel now,” he said, reaching for his sternum. “You sure you can get down okay?”

Nova smirked. “Don’t you know who you’re talking to?”

She started to dig through a pouch on her belt, when the noise of splintering wood and screeching metal shook the tower. The two gigantic bells in the center of the belfry were being pulled from their timber framework.

Adrian tugged on the zipper at his sternum, and within seconds, the armor had engulfed him. He scooped up Cyanide’s unconscious body, hefting it over his shoulder again, as a series of steel bolts pried free and dropped into the depths of the disemboweled tower.

He leaped from the beam, barely managing to grab hold of the bell adjacent to Nova’s. It shifted from his weight, the clapper banging against its sides. He held tight to the crossbar, his other hand securing Cyanide’s dead weight, and looked back in time to see the center bells angling upward, pulling unnaturally against their restraints. The wood gave out with a thundering crack, and the bells soared straight for the side wall. Adrian tightened his hold as the bells burst through the stone exterior of the belfry with a ringing cacophony. Stones and mortar exploded outward, raining down on the rooftop, as the bells hurtled through the open air, heading for the Captain.

His dad braced himself on top of the buttress. He ducked, letting the first bell sail over his head and smash into the dome, then reached up with both hands and grabbed the rim of the second bell. The clapper inside gonged against the bronze shell. Using the bell’s own momentum, he spun in a circle and threw it at Ace.

Ace dodged. The bell missed him by inches and crashed into the barrier. A jettison of debris trickled down to the wasteland.

Adrian was still holding Cyanide, still watching the bells, when the tower began to groan.

It had taken as much destruction as it could.

He looked at Nova—but she was no longer silhouetted in the next window frame.

“Nova?” he yelled, searching the inside of the tower, but there was no sign of her. “Nova!”

The roof above him gave out. The tall spire fell forward, tumbling past the demolished windows, pulling apart joists and beams. The off-kilter weight of it started a chain reaction that pulled at the weakened walls. Stones crumbled into the void. Ornate moldings broke free and disappeared into the chasm below.

Adrian was still searching frantically for Nova when the sill he was perched on tipped, and he was falling.

Please oh please let her not be doing something reckless right now, he thought, watching the fast approach of the cathedral rooftop and trying to determine a safe place to jump to. He adjusted his hold on the unconscious villain, muttering to no one in particular, “Hold on…”

They crashed into the roof and it caved from the force. Chunks from the tower hailed around them, beating against Adrian’s suit, and he did his best to shield Cyanide from the deluge.

He tried to twist his body to get his legs beneath them so he could use the springs to absorb the shock of the fall, but there wasn’t time. They crashed onto a stone floor inside the cathedral, landing with a jolt that ricocheted through his body. The rest of the falling tower tore through the weakened roof, smashing into the church’s northern wall. It exploded outward, scattering across the wasteland. The remaining bells landed with such force they cratered the floor and fractured stones.

Adrian lay amid the rubble, every inch of him aching.

“Nova,” he groaned. He checked to make sure Cyanide was okay, before stumbling to his feet. He could barely see for the cloud of dust surrounding him. “Nova!”

“I’m … fine,” came a weak reply. Heart soaring, Adrian stampeded through the debris in the direction of her voice.

He was a few feet away when a bell that had landed upside down rolled off the broken stone wall it had crashed into, striking the floor with a clang.

“Ow,” Nova groaned.

Adrian froze. He stooped to look closer, and there she was. Her body tucked inside the bronze bell, her arms and legs braced against its curved sides.

“Nova,” he whispered, sweeping forward and helping her climb free. He pulled her against his chest, though the embrace wasn’t quite the same now that he was wearing his armor.

“Your suit gave me the idea,” she said, her voice muffled against his breastplate.

“Genius,” he replied. “Are you hurt?” After a moment’s consideration, he amended, “Badly hurt?”

Nova groaned, but followed it with, “Not really. Leroy?”

“He’s alive. We should find a place to put him before the whole place caves in.”

Nova pulled away and shook some of the debris out of her hood, while Adrian scoured the dust from his helmet’s visor. They scanned the wreckage. The collapsing bell tower had torn a hole through this part of the cathedral, demolishing nearly the entire northeastern corner.

Adrian’s body stayed tense, waiting for the next catastrophe to strike. But there was only the ongoing trickle of dust and clattering debris.

“We can put Leroy inside one of the bells,” suggested Nova. “I think he’ll fit, and it will be as safe a place as any.”

Cyanide did fit inside the bell, though he would probably have a terrible crick in his neck when he came to.

“So,” said Adrian, watching as Nova grabbed a few vials off Cyanide’s bandolier and shoved them into a pouch on her belt. “How do we stop Ace?”

A frown flitted over her face. It took him a second to remember that she couldn’t see his face behind the visor. He pressed a button on the side of his helmet, retracting the face shield. “Sorry.”

She shook her head. “I’m not sure Ace can be stopped, not while he has the helmet. Unless we can find a way to neutralize him.”

“Is there any more Agent N?”

She considered this. “Do you still have my pen? I have one blow dart with Agent N in the chamber.”

“Yes, I have it. If we can get you to the roof, do you think you can get close enough to use it?”

“Maybe,” said Nova, “but if he figures out what we’re trying to do … he’ll snap that dart like a twig.”

“If anyone can do this, it’s you.”

She shot him a wry look.

“What about Oscar and Danna?” he asked. “Where are they?”

“They were locked up in the treasury when this all started. Come on.” She led him up a short set of steps and down a curved corridor, through a chapel that was only slightly less dreary than the one he’d been kept in earlier.

Then Nova froze, staring into the room attached to the chapel. It had once had doors of stained glass enclosing it, but the glass had been shattered. The room beyond was barren and tidy compared with the destruction wrought on the rest of the cathedral. And it was empty.

“They were here,” said Nova, her boots crunching over broken glass.

Adrian noticed frayed ropes tossed across the ground. “They must have found a way to escape.”

Nova seemed unconvinced. “Maybe.”

They shared a look, laced with a question.

Find Oscar and Danna … or try to stop Ace Anarchy?