How Much I Know - a Renegades | Marissa Meyer fan fiction

Chapter 19

Mara almost choked when she saw Nightmare leave with the Renegades. And Kahless had told her not to share Nightmare's identity. And Kahless was whispering about her being "Nova." Well, obviously.

"What is it to you?" she asked harshly. She was in a stressful mood from the second Nightmare took the field, especially when Kahless told her not to tell anyone.

"My mother died trying to protect her family. Ace Anarchy showed me mercy. And her eyes when she took in my mother's body... I couldn't hurt her."

Mara's mouth hung open. "What are you saying?"

"I couldn't kill her. Not when my mother died for her."

"Come again?" Mara said, not having any idea what Kahless was going on about.

"When I was three," she started slowly, eyes still focused on the candidates, "my mother heard a commotion from across the hall of our apartment building. She went to investigate and she got shot." Kahless wiped her eyes. "It turns out Nova was the one person in that apartment that didn't get killed immediately. She put the attacker to sleep with her touch. She took his gun and tried to shoot the man, but could bring herself to. A while later, Alec Artino - Ace Anarchy - came to see her family but found only Nova alive. He carried her away. He noticed me, crying over my mother's corpse, but didn't mention anything. He didn't kill me. To this day, I don't know why."

Mara could tell that Kahless wouldn't say more. She, instead of pushing the older girl, took Kahless's hand in hers and held it there, comforting. Kahless didn't pull away.

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"Anything interesting?" Max wondered as Kahless and Mara neared him.

Mara said, "Um, well there was this one girl..."

Kahless shushed her and leaned closer to the glass. "Nova McLain is Nightmare. And she's now in Adrian's patrol team."

Max froze from where he was fiddling with his Gatlon City model. He stared at Kahless unbelievingly. "That's... important." Mara noticed that he didn't ask 'Are you sure?' like most people would. He must have gotten to know Kahless enough that he didn't doubt her.

"I know. I need to talk to her. She's who my mother died trying to protect. I couldn't live with hurting her, no matter her Anarchist status."

"Anarchist?" Max said quickly.

"Yes. Ace Anarchy took her in after her parents' deaths. It would only follow that she is an Anarchist. I mean, the Puppeteer threw her ropes, after all."

"Yeah, that would make sense," he agreed.

"I need to talk to her. See you later. Oh, and Mara? If you want to go in the quarantine, go ahead. Or you can go with me. Whichever you prefer."

"I'll come with you," she said, after sending Max a quick smile.

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They met Nova while she was at home. Kahless found this by using the security footage and a bit of calculation.

Kahless knocked on the door.

The door opened to reveal Nova. "Hello," she said.

"Could we come in?" Kahless asked.

"Um, it's a bit messy in here but sure." Mara was sure Kahless's question was a bit questionable, and any normal person would slam their door in the questioner's face. But, she reminded herself, this was Nightmare. She could take care of herself.

When they sat down, Kahless got right to the point. "Take off your communicator band."

"Why?" she said, looking suspicious.