Max tore out of the building and down the street, Sampson at his heels, Deric and Rayena speeding on ahead. We need a place to hide, Max thought frantically. If Flamethrower or Frostbite had rushed upstairs at the same time Max and his team had started running, they could be only seconds behind them. And a head start wouldn't do anything if Max and his teammates were recognized.
"Go down the alleyways!" Max shouted. "Split up! Hide!" There was a skinny alley to his right. He turned down it, yanking Sampson along with him. He led Sampson down the length of the alleyway, then turned onto the next street toward a small bookstore. Hopefully the bookstore was insignificant enough that if Flamethrower or Frostbite happened to come this way, they'd pass by it without a second glance.
"Wish—we could—be face-changers, huh?" Sampson commented, panting as they slowed their pace to enter the store.
"That would be nice," Max agreed. He rarely wished for superpowers, feeling like he'd gotten to experience more than his fair share back before the Supernova, but changing his appearance at will would definitely come in handy in a situation like this. "Of course, I don't think they saw us; they just heard something. So even if they were to come in here, they wouldn't know you were one of the people they heard." But Flamethrower would still recognize me. He didn't say that part out loud.
They waited for a few minutes, eliciting a few curious looks from the single bookstore employee, but no questions. Max typed out a message on his communication band to Deric and Rayena: Yearbook and I are ok, you? A moment later, he received confirmation from both of them that they were sheltering in safe places and hadn't seen Flamethrower or Frostbite.
"Do you think it's safe to walk back to HQ by now?" Sampson asked. "Or should we call a transport van to come pick us up?"
Max wrinkled his nose at the idea of calling a transport van. The Council didn't even know his team was on this mission, and he didn't necessarily want to call attention to the fact that they'd gone out unauthorized and nearly gotten caught by the city's most dangerous villain. On the other hand, what they'd overheard was too important to not share, so the Council was going to find out anyway.
And on the chance that they did run into Flamethrower, Max's blow-dart pen and Sampson's ability to remember every face he'd seen since he became a prodigy wouldn't be much use in protecting them.
"I guess we could try to see if anyone's nearby," Max sighed.
They managed to get in touch with Limelight, whose team was conveniently stationed just a few blocks away and whose shift was almost over. Limelight's team picked up not just Max and Sampson, but also Deric and Rayena. "I didn't know you guys were a patrol unit," Limelight commented conversationally as he steered the van toward the center of town. "I guess they're mobilizing everybody to catch Flamethrower, huh?"
Max and his teammates exchanged glances but didn't say anything to confirm or deny their status as a patrol unit.
The closer they got to Headquarters, the more Max's stomach began tying itself in knots. He definitely wasn't looking forward to informing his dads that he and his team had just taken an unapproved excursion out to Flamethrower's actual lair, nearly getting caught by the villain himself. But there was more on his mind than just that. He hadn't seen or heard from Maggie since she'd left his house at some unearthly hour the night before last. Ordinarily, this wouldn't worry him, since she lived fairly far away and didn't have a phone. But with Flamethrower on the loose, he couldn't help feeling anxious. What if she'd run into the villain at some point during her long walk back into town? What if she ran into him right now? How long would he have to wait before finding out what was going on with her and if she was okay?
"Um," Max spoke up as they neared the road that led to August Pawn. "Could you please let me off here? I'll walk the rest of the way; I have somewhere I need to go first."
His teammates all gave him quizzical glances as the van slowed down. "Is this you trying to avoid having to tell your dads what we were up to?" asked Deric. "No offense, but I think you being MIA when we tell them will only make things a lot worse."
"I know," said Max with a grimace. It was essential to pass on the information about Flamethrower as soon as possible, and he knew Hugh and Simon would take the news about his role in the unauthorized mission better if he told them himself. Unfortunately, as soon as they found out, they'd probably double down on making sure he had no opportunities to explore town without a whole legion of personal bodyguards—meaning, if he wanted to try to find Maggie, it was now or never. "I'll deal with the consequences later. I have something really important to do right now."
Rayena's face was uneasy. "Max, no offense, but… I don't feel right about letting you go off on your own at a time like this. Even what we just did now, as a team—it could've turned out really bad."
Max scowled. Even though everyone on his team was at least a decade older than him, they'd always treated him as an equal—until now. "I can go off on my own if I want to," he said.
"What's this important thing you have to do, anyway?" Deric asked.
"Just an errand." His team didn't need to know about Maggie.
"What kind of errand?" Deric persisted.
"I have to check on Maggie and make sure she's okay." The words tumbled out of his mouth without his volition, and he glared suspiciously at Deric, who had probably just used his mind powers on him.
"Magpie?" Sampson asked. "Why wouldn't she be okay? She was just at HQ yesterday morning."
"Yesterday morning?" Max turned eagerly toward Sampson, his annoyance with Deric evaporating. That at least meant that she'd made it back to town safely after leaving his neighborhood.
Sampson nodded. "She had a younger boy with her, and they were looking for Nova. I told her Nova's team was on patrol duty, so I guess she went off in search of her. I don't know if she ended up finding her."
"Are you getting off here, or not?" Limelight asked. The van had been stopped on the side of the road for at least a minute as Max and his team had been talking. "I've been on patrol for the last ten and a half hours; I really want to get to HQ as soon as possible."
Max weighed his options, processing this new information about Maggie. His biggest concern had been her safety as she wandered alone through the night. Now that he knew that part had gone okay, he was a lot less inclined to walk down to the pawn shop to see if she was there—because although he knew it was a place she frequented, what were the odds that she'd happen to be there at the same time he showed up? And he didn't dare go to the theater, not when there was the chance that his presence there would put Maggie and her adopted family at risk.
Actually, if Maggie was still looking for Nova, there was a good chance she'd come to HQ again. He sighed. "Just take us back to HQ, I guess."
A golden spoon. A decorative jaguar. A filigree ring. The names of the items played over and over in Maggie's mind. The items that, when combined with the box, the bird, and Nova's bracelet, could give someone ultimate power over Ace Anarchy's helmet.
She hid in the women's restroom at the Rosewood Library—where she was spending the day in case Frostbite stopped by the theater wondering why she hadn't shown up for the Flamethrower meeting—reading David Artino's letter for the dozenth time. If either of you possesses four of those items at once, and puts on the helmet, it should give its allegiance to you and allow you the choice of what to do with its powers. She could see what August meant about how it might be only Nova who the items would work for, since it specifically said "either of you"—meaning Nova and her mom—instead of "anyone." But maybe David Artino had written it that way specifically in case the letter fell into the wrong hands. Maybe he wanted everyone else to think it was only his family members who could determine the fate of the helmet's powers.
At any rate, it seemed like it would at least be worth a shot to have as many of those items as she could find with her when she went down to retrieve the helmet. Maybe it wouldn't help, but it for sure wouldn't hurt. And once she realized for sure that they didn't help, she could do her best to destroy them so Nova couldn't use them.
The problem was, where was she supposed to find them? She was pretty sure David Artino had died during the first Battle for Gatlon, which had taken place before Maggie was two years old. That meant the items had been around for at least twelve years.
That was a long time for them to make their way around the city, or even out to other parts of the world.
This is stupid. It's hopeless to think I could find three specific items just by looking for them. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
But yet, she'd come across two of the six special items at August Pawn. Could some of the other pawn shops around town possess some of the other items, maybe?
The idea of trekking all over the city, visiting every single pawn shop in search for something she might not even find, sounded exhausting. It would be so much better if there was one collective place where she could look through hundreds of prodigy-created objects, staying in the same spot until she found what she was looking for…
Her thoughts came to a halt. There was such a place. She used to stand outside that place almost every day back when she was a Renegade, delivering new trinkets of varying value. Once, she'd been inside it.
The Renegades' Artifacts Warehouse.
She sucked in her breath. No. She wouldn't go back there. Couldn't go back there. Stepping foot in that lobby would bring back memories. Memories of someone she didn't want to think about.
She swallowed hard. Grow up, she thought disgustedly. You're about to become the world's next supervillain, and you can't handle walking into a place that reminds you of someone whose death you caused? Villains cause people's deaths all the time. Get used to it.
The thought, meant to be comforting, sent a shudder through her entire body. There she was, in the arena. Tossing Callum the helmet because she thought it would help stop the fighting. Phobia coming up with his scythe…
"No!" Maggie stood up, fists clenched, determination coursing through her body. She would not let her memories get the best of her. She had a job to do; she was going to do it. She'd walk to HQ, go up to the fourteenth floor, and ask whoever was on shift there if they could look up spoons, rings, and decorative jaguars. They wouldn't be suspicious, because they hadn't read the letter. They'd look up the items, bring out whichever ones she requested to borrow, and she'd be on her way.
And she would not think about Callum even one bit.