Supernova

Supernova

By Melissa Meyer

Read in 9th grade

Book 3 in series

Book 1! Renegades

Book 2! Archenemies

This is the third and final book in the Renegades series. Nova (Nightmare) returns to Renegade headquarters in her uniform the day after she destroyed it as an Anarchist, escaping with Ace Anarchy’s helmet only to find that the Renegades captured him. Adrian is furious because he thinks that Nightmare hurt Max, who is in critical condition, when it was really Frostbite, who accidentally stabbed him instead of Nightmare. He also finds it suspicious that she wasn’t affected by Max’s power.

    After the nights’ events, the Council has decided to include Ace Anarchy’s neutralization and execution as part of the public reveal for Agent N. To make matters worse, Gennisa Clark and her team, who were neutralized by Nightmare, are mad at the Council, renouncing their development and use of Agent N.

    Later that day, Adrian holds a team meeting at his house. Danna is there is butterfly form because the Anarchists still have one of her butterflies trapped. Nova is tense the entire time as Adrian goes through all the evidence. When Danna lands on her as if pointing an accusatory finger, she comes up with a feeble lie. All the evidence connects to the artifacts vault, and since she works there, she should be able to figure out who the Renegade infiltrator is. All the while, there is the more pressing problem of how she will get Ace out of a basically impenetrable prison. There isn’t much time because the Renegades are so close to finding her identity. Someone left a mysterious message in her house. They want Ace’s helmet. “48 HOURS. OR EVERYONE WILL KNOW.”

    At the hospital, Adrian enters the hospital secretly to talk to Max. He is still in coma, though the doctors say he is improving well and are optimistic. He hides when his dad comes in and talks about how Max might have died if the Sentinel hadn’t rushed him to the hospital. He says that although the Sentinel’s rule breaking must be stopped, he is grateful for Max’s life.

    Nova is back in the artifacts room when Callum sneaks up on her. She ran into him the previous night as Nightmare when she stole Ace Anarchy’s helmet. She knows that she suspects him, and tells him about Adrian’s meeting to try to throw him off. But he isn’t fooled. She leaves him and goes upstairs to retrieve the fake of Ace’s helmet with a note she forged. With it, she goes to the Anarchists’ old home, in Blackmire Station, to drop it off. There she runs into Adrian, who is looking for clues as to who Nightmare might be. He has found the old tunnel that leads to Ace Anarchy, the one the Anarchists used to talk to him. He says he nearly found it the last time he was here, but didn’t use it.

    Later, Adrian receives news that Max is okay. And that he’ll eventually be going back to the quarantine. Adrian knows that Max is dangerous to have out in the open, but he hates that a 10-year-old kid has to be by himself. He also learns that Nightmare tried to help Max, not stab him. Max tells him that Frostbite was the one who accidentally stabbed him, and that Nightmare tried to help him, which made no sense.

    At her house, Nova is hatching a plan to get Ace out of prison when Narcissa Cronin, the dead Librarian’s daughter, shows up. Her father was killed during an operation by Nova’s Renegade team when the Detonator blew a bomb. And she wants Ace Anarchy’s helmet, or she’ll tell the Renegades that Nova is Nightmare. They face off, Narcissa eventually melting away through a mirror (her ability), but not before freeing Monarch. Panicking, Nova and the Anarchists get ready to blow up their home and leave.

    Meanwhile, Danna has reformed and called everyone to Ruby’s house. She’s out for a few minutes, but then she wakes up. Then she drops the news. “Nova is Nightmare.” Nova is frantically packing and leaving when she realizes she left the Vitality Charm behind. Leroy’s bomb will destroy everything it touches, and she has thirty seconds to get it. She does, but she can’t get away. Phobia takes the charm as Adrian shows up, and she rushes him out of the house. Then she is arrested.

    Adrian is in a state of despair over all the signs he hadn’t noticed because he was too love stricken. All the coincidences, the fact that she helped Max, and yet he still found it so hard to believe she was Nightmare. Nova has arrived at Cragmoor Penitentiary and realized just how high security it is, and gives up hope. She would be neutralized, then killed at the public announcement of Agent N.

    At the hospital, Adrian tells Max that he’s going to be moved back, to his quarantine, and that he doesn’t want that. Then, he has an idea. He smuggles Max out of the hospital (since Max can turn invisible), then bounces across the rooftops to Ruby’s house, where he can live with her brothers because they are non-prodigies. Nova, meanwhile, is eating lunch at her new max-security prison when Ace walks - or rather, crawls - in, shackled, looking horrible. It’s almost comical how the guards have their guns trained on him as if he could do damage.

    Adrian and his team go out on patrol duty. They’ve just finished up when Nightmare shows up. But how? She’s in prison! Nightmare claims that Nova isn’t Nightmare. It is Narcissa Cronin, and she tells them that even though Nova deserves what she got because she let her grandfather die, it isn’t fair to kill her. With that, she steps through a mirror and leaves. Adrian is totally shocked, but he wants to believe what he heard. Nova is innocent. And right before she left, Nightmare showed them Ace Anarchy’s mask, proving it. All the evidence against her was just circumstantial. When Nova is released, she can’t believe it. What could possibly have changed their minds? And the fact that Narcissa pretended to be her is even more far fetched, but she doesn’t question her luck.

    When she shows back up at the squad, people seem happy, guilty, or indifferent to her reappearance. Captain Chromium makes a personal apology, and she heads down to the artifacts room. She looks for her bracelet which is missing, so she tracks down Magpie and gets it back. Adrian talks to Max, telling him how Nightmare stole his Rebel Z comics, which could potentially implicate him for being the Sentinel. Max also doesn’t believe that Nova is innocent because of the simple fact that she helped him. It doesn’t add up.

    Nova returns to the Anarchists’ new home in a basement with other prodigies who are against the Renegades and tells Narcissa her plan. She has placed a mirror inside headquarters so that she can get in and steal the Renegades’ entire supply of Agent N. She also investigates into the mysterious energy she felt with her bracelet, finding that it is made of the same material as Ace Anarchy’s helmet. She remembers that her father told her he was making it to right all the wrongs he had done. Maybe it’s a weapon to kill the invincible Captain Chromium.

    At the public reveal of Agent N, everything goes wrong. Nova sneaks into the arena and takes out all the light operators. Then Honey sends her bees in with Agent N on their stingers, and a large percentage of the Renegades are neutralized. Meanwhile, Adrian goes into Sentinel mode and sneaks up on Nightmare. They face off, and Adrian gets knocked out. Nova makes her way to Ace, but then gets caught up in a fight with Genissa Clark. While she is distracted, Magpie takes the helmet and gives it to Wonder Boy, who uses it to show everyone hope, a second chance, where they can all work together - then Phobia kills him. “One cannot be awed who has no soul.” Ace Anarchy gets the helmet and the battle turns. He tears the arena apart deflects every attack. Even the Sentinel can’t beat him. Then he reveals himself. It’s Adrian. Ace sends every attack toward him and Simon (the Dread Warden was neutralized), but none get through his impenetrable wall, a new tattoo he made for himself. Nova manages to get him to calm down, and the villains leave.

    The Anarchists return to the old cathedral, which Ace rebuilds, while the Renegades regroup and call for reinforcements from international syndicates. It will take everything for the last push. They have one Agent N dart from Genissa left because the Anarchists stole the entire supply. It’s neutralize Ace or else. Meanwhile, Nova has qualms about killing all the Renegades. She tries to change Ace’s views, but to no avail. Ace builds a massive wall of wreckage around the cathedral, blocking the Renegade advance for a while.

    Adrian, however, remembers the secret passageway in. When he gets there, he sees Nova and thinks she’s a hostage. But, sadly, it turns out she is Nightmare. Adrian and his team are captured and imprisoned as the Renegade advance begins. Queen Bee starts cutting out Adrian’s tattoos so he can’t use them to escape. After they are done, Nova asks her about Phobia’s origins. In one of Adrian’s Rebel Z comics, there is a character exactly like him, and she thinks it’s possible Adrian brought him to life. And the timeline fits exactly. Adrian refuses to believe it, saying all his creations fade away within a few months. Then, he is taken to the bell tower, and Captain Chromium is let into the cathedral for a little test. Ace dares him to drink Agent N in return for Adrian’s life. His invincibility holds, but Adrian is shot anyway. Or, more accurately, shot at and missed because the Captain threw his pike at Nova.

    While the Captain tries to get up, Nova tries again to shoot Adrian. But she can’t bring herself to do it, and when Honey tries to do it for her, she kills her. Adrian and Nova get out of the tower, determined to stop Ace. Meanwhile, he and the Captain are fighting. The Captain can’t get to Ace, but Ace can’t kill him either. Adrian and Nova track down Oscar and Danna, who are being tormented by Phobia. He lives on teh fuel of Adrian’s fears, and he does the only thing he can. He uses Agent N to neutralize himself and kill Phobia.

    Nova sneaks up on Ace while Adrian tries to get the pike back to his father. There, she learns the truth of what happened the night her family was killed. The Renegades had sent someone. You see, her father had created the helmet to amplify Ace’s powers, but when he grew too powerful, he told the Renegades and created the bracelet as a new weapon. The Renegades sent Lady Indomitable, Adrian’s mother, to protect them, but Phobia killed her while Ace’s assassin killed her family. Nova can’t believe it, and won’t give Ace the star on her bracelet. But he takes it by force, and it changes him. He can control everything. He takes out the Captain in an instant, and even Max can’t get near him. He tears the whole City out by its foundations. But Nova gets him with Agent N, and the city starts to fall. Quickly, they get the helmet and bracelet to Max, just in time to save the city. But the devices amplify his powers. He sucks in every last superpower in the world.

Then, in a massive supernova, he releases everything. Everyone has a superpower. Except Max, because he gave it up to save everyone.