Archenemies (Renegades #2)(8)
“Nova,” he stammered, hurrying back up the hill and stepping over the guardrail. “Er—Insomnia. Hi.”
Her frown deepened. She had changed out of her uniform into drawstring pants and a healer-issued tank top. Adrian could see the edges of bandages wrapping around her right shoulder.
“Where have you been? Ruby’s worried sick,” she said, strolling across the street. Her eyes scoured his uniform. “Why are you all wet?”
“Adrian?”
He cringed and faced the two Council members as they reached the end of the bridge. They appeared as surprised to see him as Nova had, though more curious than suspicious.
So far.
“Hey, everyone,” he said. He forced a smile, but then wiped it away, urging himself to stop aiming for nonchalant. Nothing about this was nonchalant. He licked his lips, which still tasted like sludgy river water, and gestured toward the bridge. “Find anything?”
“Great skies, Adrian,” said the Dread Warden. “Oscar alerted us about your disappearance more than half an hour ago. One minute you’re telling your team that you’re going after a prodigy criminal, and then—nothing! We didn’t know if Hawthorn had attacked you, or … or…” He paused, his expression wavering between worried and angry. “What were you doing all this time? Why aren’t you responding to your messages?”
“Um. I was”—Adrian glanced at the river, sunlight glinting off its surface—“searching for the Sentinel.” He ran a hand over his hair. “I was on one of the side streets when I saw Hawthorn throw him in the water. So I went down to the shore and have been waiting to see if he would surface.” He didn’t have to fake his chagrin. “I wasn’t expecting you to start combing the water so soon, hence…” He gestured at his uniform, which was still clinging uncomfortable and cold to his skin. “And, uh … messages?” He tapped at his wristband. “Oh, wow, seven missed messages? That’s weird. I didn’t hear them come through. But you know, my band has been acting up lately. I’ll have to get the folks in tech to check into that.” He dared to peek at Nova. Her eyes were still narrowed in suspicion.
“Yeah,” she said slowly. “You should look into that.” Her expression cleared as she turned to the Council members. “The cleanup crew is here, along with Magpie.” Her tone carried a definite sourness when she mentioned Maggie’s alias. Though Adrian had a lot of sympathy for the kid, he knew Nova had never quite forgiven her for trying to steal her bracelet. He glanced at her wrist, searching for the clasp he’d once redrawn on her skin, but it was hidden beneath the sleeve of her uniform. “She wasn’t sure where you wanted her to get started.”
“I’ll talk to her,” said Tsunami. “Should I have Smokescreen brief the cleanup crew, or”—she inspected Adrian—“is the team leader prepared to do that?”
Grateful for the opportunity to move on from this conversation, Adrian was about to say that he would love nothing more than to point out all the locations in this neighborhood where windows had been broken, walls had been destroyed, and bullets had been fired, but the Dread Warden responded first. “Have them talk to Smokescreen. Adrian needs to head to the medical tent and be checked for injuries.”
“And let the others know you’re okay,” said Nova, “before Ruby assembles her own search party.”
They followed Nova into a connecting side street, and Adrian spotted two ambulances emblazoned with the Renegade R and a handful of transport vehicles. The media was arriving, too, but they were being held back behind a banner of yellow security tape.
Down the street, he saw the cleanup crew awaiting instructions. Adrian was glad to see Magpie among the crew. It would be good for her to apply her powers to something more productive than pickpocketing. The kid had potential, he knew, even if her personality was as prickly as Hawthorn’s extra limbs.
As if she could hear his thoughts, Magpie spotted Adrian across the street and her bored expression turned sour. He waved jovially and she turned his back on him.
A white tent had been erected in front of a small electronics repair store. Oscar, Ruby, and Danna were each on a stretcher, being attended by the healers who had arrived on the scene. One of the healers was pulling encrusted jewels from Ruby’s thigh with a pair of heavy-duty pliers. Ruby flinched each time a new one was pulled, the wound immediately covered with thick gauze to stanch the bleeding and keep new bloodstones from sprouting.
Danna was lying flat on her stomach. The back of her uniform, from her neck to her hips, had been cut open, allowing a healer to access the wounds crisscrossing her flesh. Her back looked like it had been mauled by grizzly bear. Adrian suspected that Hawthorn’s barbs were to blame. At least the healer working on her appeared to be practiced in flesh wounds, and even from a distance Adrian could see the cuts slowly knitting together in the top layers of her skin.
“Adrian!” Ruby shouted, startling the healer who was trying to extract the final bloodstone from her leg. Ruby yelped in pain as the gem dislodged. She scowled at the healer, who scowled back. Ruby grabbed a roll of bandaging and began wrapping the wound herself. “What happened?” she asked, returning her attention to Adrian and Nova. “Where were you?”
Adrian opened his mouth, prepared to give his explanation again and hoping it would become more believable with repetition, when the healer held up his hand, still gripping the pliers. “There will be time for reunions later. We need to get all of you back to headquarters for follow-up treatment.”