"How do we look?" Duncan stood in front of the door to exit the theater, his black-and-white striped hair obscured by a baseball cap, sunglasses shading his eyes. His beard, which he'd been growing out for several months, completely covered what could be seen of his face, and the slight silver highlights Zoridel had applied to it easily helped age him up a few years. Backpack and "dad clothes" on, he stood with one hand on the handle to a wagon, in which sat a large metal trunk, decorated with bold reds and blues and the words "Happy Supernova Day!" painted across it in childish lettering. Chester stood next to him, also sporting a baseball cap and backpack, looking for all the world like an innocent kid about to enjoy a day out with his dad.
Maggie looked them over appraisingly before giving an approving nod. "That'll do. Get out there and stink things up."
The two boys left, and the rest of the gang continued with their preparations. Maggie kept an eye on the clock, and exactly twenty-two minutes later, she sent Yasmin out, garbed in a winter coat that had plenty of pockets, and gloves that obscured her bladed fingers. The temperature was fairly mild for November, but still, it was November, so the winter getup hopefully wouldn't attract attention.
Eminya left on her bicycle a few minutes later, towing a toddler ride-along stuffed with supplies. As Kevin had slipped out early in the morning to set up his control room at the top of the Gatlon Hotel, this left only Zoridel and Maggie.
"So, today's the day you'll be crowning yourself Villain Supreme," Zoridel commented with a wry smile. "How does it feel?"
Maggie returned a snarky smirk. "How do you think it feels? I'm about to get everything I've ever wanted. It feels great."
Zoridel's expression indicated that she wasn't quite convinced. "Everything you ever wanted? You mean that ever since you were a small child, you always aspired to be the next Ace Anarchy?"
Maggie scowled. "Look, no one ever said you had to help us. You chose to join, thereby swearing loyalty to the Gatlon City Villains. I'm your boss. I don't need my subordinates questioning me."
Zoridel held up her hands in mock surrender. "I know. I'm not questioning you. I'm just… asking questions."
"Which isn't the same thing at all," Maggie deadpanned.
"It's really not. Questioning would imply that I doubt your plan, or you as a leader, or something like that. Asking questions is just… asking questions. The answers are for you, not for me."
Maggie was still puzzling over this when Zoridel opened the door and stepped out into the sunlight. "Gotta go play my part. Good luck. See you when we're all the city's most hated and feared individuals."
Maggie frowned after her, hating the uncanny knack the girl had for playing with her mind. Hated and feared. The next Ace Anarchy. Zoridel knew that wasn't exactly Maggie's intention. She knew the point of all this was to show that "lesser superpowers" could still rule over the more "desirable" ones when combined with the right amount of brainpower and skill. Why was she using words that would put a negative light on everything the gang was doing, when she supposedly was on their side?
She shook her head. After all this time, she still wasn't fully convinced that Zoridel was on their side, but she didn't have time to worry about that right now. She hurried to her makeshift bedroom and opened the drawer where her David Artino items were stored. Her gang members were all getting into place; it was time for her to do her part.
"Has it started yet?" Jade craned his neck out over the street, which had been sectioned off by caution tape to ensure that nobody would get in the way of the parade. He squinted in the direction of HQ, where the floats were to start out. "I don't see anything… oh, wait, I think I do! That's the first float, isn't it?"
Max and Sterling clamored to look as well. Max thought he could see something moving… yes, he definitely did. The parade had started!
"Guys, when Ruby's float passes, I'm going to throw plants at her," Jade said with a grin. "Flowers and vines and maybe even some fruits and vegetables. She'll be so surprised, but once she realizes it's me, she'll love it."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Max cautioned him, an uneasy feeling in his stomach.
"What, it's not like he's fruit-ing some random person on a float," Sterling defended his brother. "It's our sister! And her whole team knows us."
"Yeah, but…" Max shut his mouth. The Council had directed him not to tell anyone about the conversation he'd overheard between Frostbite and Flamethrower, aside from Adrian's team and a few other field units. It wasn't that the Council didn't trust the other Renegades, but if information was spread around freely, there was no telling who it might leak out to. "I don't know. Maybe we should just let the parade be the parade?"
The first float was drawing nearer now, and he could hear music emanating from it. The closer it came, the better he could make out the three figures perched on top of it. One was Sonata, the prodigy who could play any instrument in the world with an exceptional level of talent, even if she'd never heard of the instrument. Last year, she'd had a float of her own, on which had ridden forty-two separate instruments for her to take turns playing. This year, it looked like the instruments had been brought down to maybe a dozen or so, to make room for String—the prodigy whose invisible guitar could lull anyone to sleep if he played the right lullaby—and Garden Grace, who only had to sing to a plant to make it double in size. As the platform passed by, Jade tossed a daisy up at Grace, who blushed and sang a few sweet lines about spring, causing the daisy to visibly reach up and stretch its face to the sun.
"Looks like Max isn't the only one who's got a girlfriend," Sterling snickered. "Speaking of Maggie, where is she? I thought you said you'd invited her to meet us here."
"I did." Max craned his neck to try to spot her in the crowd, but it was a hopeless effort. They hadn't arranged a meetup spot, and people were scattered all over the town. Maggie could be anywhere.
The next float passed—one on which Fishbowl proudly displayed his fully see-through, full-of-water torso. Then came Smudge, demonstrating how he could press his hand to any document and change the words on the page. People clapped politely, but it was evident that they were getting antsy for the more sensational talents. Personally, Max thought some of these "opening act" talents were underrated—the implications of someone being able to change the words on any written page were rather frightening.
The parade had gotten longer each year since the Supernova, so it took a good thirty or thirty-five floats before Max started feeling anxious. He knew his family's floats would be coming soon. The Council and the most celebrated teams usually made their debut somewhere in the middle of the parade, to be followed by the In Memoriam section and then the Next Generation Heroes, in which children under ten were encouraged to jump in and show off whatever they could do.
And then there they were. Adrian, Nova, Ruby, Oscar, Danna, and Narcissa, standing and waving and smiling out at the crowds. Danna transfigured herself into a swarm of large, orange-and-black butterflies, and then back again, to tumultuous applause. Oscar shot out some impressive smoke signals, while Ruby swung her grappling hook around and around. Adrian drew a few small Renegades pins, which he tossed down to a group of children standing a short distance away from Max and his friends. Narcissa beamed herself from one end of the float to the other, walking between the two mirrors that had been set up for that purpose. And Nova stood straight and tall and resolute, her expression one of defiance, as if warning Frostbite or Flamethrower or anybody else who wanted to come and attack them that they'd better watch out.
Max held his breath as they passed by, barely noticing when Jade threw a large chunk of greenery at Ruby, who deftly flung it back at him with the assistance of her grappling hook. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous right now—the parade wound through a large portion of the town; if an attack was going to happen, it wasn't necessarily going to happen right where he was standing. Besides, although Maggie's observations about Frostbite having reasons for wanting to harm Nova rang true, Frostbite had only mentioned wanting to dispose of the Council. Still, he breathed a sigh of relief as his brother's float continued on, untouched.
But the danger wasn't over yet. The Council's float drifted by next, every bit as lavish and regal as always. Captain Chromium and the Dread Warden stood together at the front, Simon flickering in and out of view as Hugh lifted his chromium pike in a triumphant gesture. The sight of it made Max think about the helmet, buried underground somewhere in the ruins of the old cathedral. When he'd told the Council what he'd heard Frostbite say, they'd all seemed much more worried about her threat to "dispose of" them than her plans to find the helmet. Was that because they believed that nobody could find the helmet? They had believed that before, and they had turned out to be wrong.
The applause and cheering around Max grew louder as the Council's float drifted by, with Thunderbird spreading her wings and sending a huge lightning bolt to electrify the enormous wave Tsunami had crafted, but other than that, things remained uneventful.
See? Max told his anxious mind. Everything is fine. Nobody would dare try to attack a parade that's attended by literally thousands of superheroes, each with a unique talent. That would be pure stupidity!
"Come on," Sterling urged, starting to walk in the same direction the floats were traveling. "Let's watch as they pass the bay. I wanna see if Tsunami does anything cool with the water over there."
Max and Jade followed him, weaving through the crowds, around buildings and down alleyways until they reached the prime viewing spot. The float that was currently passing the overlook to the bay was toting a family with five young children that they had already seen, meaning that they had been successful in beating the Council there.
"Dude, this is gonna be epic," Jade commented. "Remember last year, when she made that huge wave that curled around and sort of looked like a copy of Renegade Tower?"
They waited in eager anticipation as the next few floats drove by, and finally Adrian and Nova's float came into view again. Max tamped down the anxiety that was starting to build up again. It was fine. Everyone was going to be fine.
"It's the Council!" someone yelled shrilly from the other side of the road. Max glanced over to see a young woman around Nova's age grasping a phone in one hand as she climbed up onto the slick meal railing built to keep people from falling into the bay. He winced, hoping she wouldn't be so overzealous to get a picture that she would forget basic safety practices. But as the Council drew closer, the girl climbed higher onto the railing until she was standing on the very top portion, body swaying back and forth as she struggled to balance herself, both hands now gripping the phone and pointing it in the direction of the Council's float.
"Sterling! Go catch that girl!" Max shouted, knowing his friend's super speed would give him a chance of reaching her before she toppled over.
Sterling glanced up, startled by Max's sudden shout. He turned his head in the direction where Max was pointing, but before he had a chance to do anything more, he was hit smack in the face by something orange that immediately burst upon contact. A… water balloon?
A scream sounded from the other side of the road. Max could only look on in horror as the girl standing on top of the railing lost her balance and plummeted into the bay.
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For readers who are also Lunar Chronicles fans: I recently released a song called "PREPARE FOR THE IMPACT", which was inspired by the Lunar Chronicles. It's available on streaming platforms, as well as YouTube (OfficialKelseyGallant), where you can enjoy some awesome fanart in the lyric video! My artist name is Kelsey Gallant, same as on here.