Renegades Stories

Chapter 2: Adrian

Adrian had been horrified when Hugh had asked him to go retrieve Nightmare. Or, as she was known as now, Nova Artino. Seeing her at the docks had been a shock for him. Last time he'd seen her, she'd been trying to kill him. Now, she was thin, pale, and haunted. Craggmoor did that to people.
He had seen her flinch when that man had grabbed her. He was surprised that she hadn't attacked him on the spot. In the car, she'd been quiet, looking out the window as they'd driven through Gatlon City. Adrian tried to imagine how she felt. After being locked up for ten years, she was now free. This was the first time she had seen her home in so long.

No. Adrian shook his head. He wouldn't feel sympathy for her. She had tried to kill him. She had been an Anarchist. She was just a kid, whispered a voice in the back of his head. Shut up, he responded.

Danna parked the car. She and Adrian got out, and he opened the door for Nova. Walking on either side of her, they started to walk towards the front of the building.

Suddenly, Nova froze. She was staring at someone in the back of the crowd. A tall man with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. He waved at her, smiling cruelly.

Nova started to scream. She stumbled backwards. She would've fallen if Adrian hadn't caught her.

"Shut up," he hissed.

Nova ignored him and continued screaming. Her blue eyes were wild with terror.

"We need to get her inside," Danna told Adrian, her eyes wide with panic.

He nodded, and together they escorted the former Anarchist into the building. He glanced back, looking for the man that had caused Nova this fit. But he was gone.

---

Inside, Adrian and Danna sat Nova down at a table. She had stopped screaming, but she was breathing hard, her eyes far away, like she was reliving a traumatic event from her past.

"Nova?" Adrian asked hesitantly.

"Nova, you're going to have to take deep breaths," Danna told her.

Nova put her head in her hands. "He should be dead," she whispered. "I saw him die."

She looked up at them, and he saw her eyes were wet with tears.

"Who's he? That man in the back of the crowd?" Danna asked, her voice calm.

Nova nodded. "H-he was the one w-who killed my family," she said quietly, her voice full of pain. "Ace shot him."

Adrian suddenly remembered the story she had told the council during her interrogation. About how a hit man had come and shot her parents, right in front of her. How he had shot her baby sister. How she had been there for hours. How she had tried to get herself to kill the man. And then her uncle, Ace Anarchy, came and saved her.

Ten years ago, when she was arrested, Hugh had told Nova what really happened that day. Ace had sent the hit man when her father, his brother, had stopped making weapons for him. Lady Indomitable, Adrian's mother, had been there, but Phobia had killed her.

When he'd been younger, Adrian had wondered what his life would be like if his mom had lived. If she'd saved the Artino's from their terrible fate. Would he and Nova have been friends? Something more than friends?

But that would never happen, because she was an Anarchist, and he was a Renegade.

"If you saw him die, then how can he still be alive?" Danna asked.

Nova shook her head. "I-I don't know."

They waited a few more minutes for her to calm down. All Adrian could think of was the hit man, and who he could really be.