Renegades

Nova returns to her temporary house, where she tries to convince Leroy and Honey that they need to hide; she doesn’t tell them about Ace’s helmet but instead drops off her bracelet and leaves. She runs into Ingrid in an alleyway, and Ingrid immediately asks if Nova has betrayed them to the Renegades yet. Ingrid then threatens to expose Nova’s real identity to the Renegades, unless the Anarchists work together to fake Nightmare and the Detonator’s deaths by staging a public fight between the two of them. Ingrid convinces Nova to think about it and “make the right decision” (476). Just then, Adrian approaches the nearby house. Ingrid teases Nova about Adrian; Nova retorts that he is Lady Indomitable’s son, and Ingrid’s response implies that she knows who killed Adrian’s mother, although she refuses to share who it is.

Nova rushes through the back door to make sure that the other Anarchists have left, then opens the door to an awkward, nervous Adrian. He explains that he was worried because she wasn’t answering her messages. She reluctantly lets him into the decrepit house and offers him food—of which there isn’t much. He notices Honey’s bees, and she quickly makes up a plausible story and is surprised when he believes it.