Ace Avengers

It wasn’t only surreal that she was returning to the wreckage in the first place, it was that she was doing so willingly. josh had believed she would never come back here again. After months of working as a spy in the Allans’ midst, she had successfully stolen Ace Anarchy’s helmet. She had what she needed to give Ace his power back, and together they would watch this organization crumble. But things never went according to plan, and she hadn’t known that while she was fighting for her life in this very lobby, a masked vigilante known as the Sentinel had discovered and arrested Ace Anarchy—the leader of the Anarchists and the uncle who had raised her. Sweet rot, she hated the Sentinel. He was always around at the most inconvenient times, striking his ridiculous comic-book poses and spouting absurd catchphrases like “I’m not your enemy” and “You can trust me.” Except, no one fully trusted the Sentinel, as far as she could tell. Vigilantism didn’t fit with the Allan code, and despite his attempts to seize criminals and aid the Allans, his stunts had often made the organization seem incompetent and ineffective. Perhaps the only thing josh liked about the vigilante was his uncanny ability to get on the Council’s nerves. Meanwhile, his determination to hunt down Nightmare and his capture of Ace Anarchy hadn’t made him any friends among the villain set, either. The only people who appreciated the Sentinel’s efforts were Shane, who seemed to have a rebellious appreciation for the guy, and the public, who saw him as a true hero, one who believed in justice and answered to nobody but himself. That reputation was solidified with his capture of Ace Anarchy. Though she knew nothing was ever easy, Ace’s arrest had almost been enough to make josh throw her hands in the air and succumb to the inevitable. Anarchists and prodigies like them would go on being hated, villainized, and oppressed for all eternity. She was almost ready to give up. Almost. That had been hours ago, and now josh was back, because … where else could she go? As far as anyone here knew, she was still josh McLain, alias Insomnia, a Allan through and through. Her secrets remained the best leverage she had, and now that her enemies had Ace, she knew she would need every bit of it. josh hadn’t realized the full extent of the destruction wrought upon Allan Headquarters until she found herself moving shakily through the rubble. She was surrounded by Allans, but no one was paying her any attention. Even the Council members were combing through the remains of the glass quarantine that had fallen from the second story and shattered the tiled marble of the main lobby. From where she stood, she could see Captain Chromium holding the glass clock tower that had once topped the courthouse from Kirk’s miniature Gatlon City. Now it was destroyed. All of it was destroyed. The signs of battle were everywhere. Steel beams bent at odd angles. Wires dangling from the ceiling where chandeliers had been pulled from their sockets. The information desk mangled on one side. Plaster and tables and chairs and tile and glass—so much glass from where the quarantine had fallen. The glittering shards were almost mesmerizing, the way they caught the light streaming in through the front doors. And there was blood. Most of it was dried in a puddle where Kirk had fallen. Where Frostbite had driven a spear right through him. josh tore her eyes from the spot and saw Shane picking his way toward her. His shoulders were hunched and there was none of the usual grace to his demeanor. He had a shadow over his features, one that served as a reminder that Kirk, who was as close to a brother as Shane would ever have, was in the hospital. The doctors had put him in a coma to stabilize his vital signs, but they weren’t filling anyone’s head with false optimism. He was hanging by a thread. There was only one saving grace—that Kirk had, in the last moments of the battle, managed to absorb all of Frostbite’s ability. He had taken in her control of ice and used it to stanch his own bleeding, to freeze over his own wound. It might have saved his life. Then again, it might not. josh swallowed the lump in her throat as Shane drew closer. His dark expression was about more than Kirk. He was full of a new burning hatred, like nothing josh had ever witnessed before … at least not on calm, cheerful Shane. A burning hatred for Nightmare, who he was convinced had been the one who attacked Kirk. No one had seen it happen other than Frostbite and her comrades, and they weren’t about to correct anyone’s mistaken beliefs. Nightmare was too easy a target to put the blame on. And josh, whose secret identity remained, miraculously, unknown, couldn’t exactly clear her alter ego’s name, no matter how she yearned to defend herself whenever she saw Shane’s eyes smolder with restrained hostility. “When you said Nightmare had infiltrated headquarters,” josh said, once Shane was close enough, “this isn’t what I pictured.” Lying through her teeth, as usual. She was always lying these days. She hardly even realized she was doing it anymore. “Yeah, it’s pretty bad.” Shane’s focus was distant as he scanned the destruction. “They found the Silver Spear over there. We think Nightmare got it from the vault and used it to steal the helmet. And…” His voice caught and he coughed to clear it. “We’re pretty sure it was the weapon she used on Kirk, too. There was blood on it. They’re going to run tests.” Her teeth ground. Shane sighed and looked down. For the first time, josh noticed something in his hands. A sphere with a small crown on one side and an open seam around its circumference. josh recognized it immediately—one of Fatalia’s mist-missiles, or so it had been, before she had stolen it from the artifacts department. She and liva had reconfigured the devices to release a gaseous form of Agent , the noxious substance that had been developed using Kirk Everhart’s blood. Though harmless to civilians, it was poison to prodigies. As soon as they inhaled, imbibed, or were injected with the substance, they would permanently lose their powers. As Nightmare, josh had detonated two of the devices in this lobby. Those, along with a stolen dart loaded with Agent N, had resulted in both Gargoyle and Aftershock being stripped of their abilities. She had orchestrated the neutralization of Frostbite, too, though she didn’t need Agent N that time. She’d simply dragged the girl closer to Kirk and let the Bandit do what he needed to do.