Renegades Revealed

First Encounter

Sorry for not updating. I'm on holidays. Also school so ya.

Adrian's POV

"Nova. Nova! Earth to Nova!"

I waved my hand in front of Nova's face and she turned her attention back to me.

"What are you looking at that got you so spooked?" asked Dana, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Oh n...n...nothing," Nova stuttered, ducking her head.

Normally I would have believed her but Nova never stuttered. Ever. And she never broke eye contact unless she was ashamed.

"What's up?" I inquired, following her gaze.

Oh. She was staring at the new team in the corner. As I looked around, I realized that Dana was too.

"Let's go say hi," she said, striding determinedly towards them.

"What? No, we shouldn't..."

Nova's protests died off as Oscar and Ruby followed Dana over to the new team. I shot Nova an apologetic look and followed them as well.

"Hello," said Dana when we reached the new team. "I'm Monarch."

A girl stepped forwards out of the group and a gasp rose from Nova, who I hadn't realized had come up behind me. The girl had long brown hair with two dyed streaks - one blue one white - down the left side. She wore a black bodysuit and a ragged grey cloak. Most of her face, from eyebrow to halfway down her nose, was covered with a strip of white cloth. How did she see anything?

"Well, hello Dana," she said, tilting her head. "I'm Shadow."

Dana frowned.

"How do you know my name?" she asked, instantly suspicious.

Nova started tugging on my arm.

"Adrian, we need to leave," she muttered to me. "Now!"

Shadow turned her head in our direction.

"Ah, the famous Sketch. Adrian Everheart. Son of Lady Indomitable and adopted son of the Dread Warden and Captain Chromium. And...Insomnia, was it? Sorry SN, I'm used to calling you by name."

"SN?" everyone repeated, staring at Nova.

I did too. Her head was hung and she was shuffling her feet.

"Hello Shadow," she mumbled, lifting her head.

"Wait, you two know each other?" asked Ruby, her head whipping back and forth between the new team and Nova. "I am so confused."

"Yeah, we've known SN for a while. How has she not..." Shadow trailed off, looking at each of us in turn.

Or, at least, as close as she can come to looking. She still wore the strip of white cloth around her eyes.

"Oh, right, I get it," said another girl on the team, fiddling with her white-blonde hair. "Ah, sorry SN."

Nova gives them a tight smile.

"No worries."

The girl with the white-blonde hair sticks out a hand.

"I'm Frosty," she says.

Oscar shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you," he said politely. "And the rest of you are?"

"This is Thorn, Ghost, Nighthawk, Wraith, Virus, Grey, Ace, Zero, Heart, Stone, Smoke, Mirrors, Twilight, Crackle, Scream, Life and Death," said Shadow, pointing to each girl in turn.

Only then did I realize that they're all girls. Apparently the others did too.

"Wait, so you're a team of all girls?" asked Ruby.

"Yes," replied Shadow, folding her arms. "And?"

"And...well, I didn't even know that you were allowed to have seventeen people on a team, let alone have them all girls," said Ruby, copying Shadow's position and crossing her arms.

"Oh, well, the Council made an...exception of sorts for our team. Are abilities are a little...wild."

"Okay then. How did you guys get into the top ten teams already?" asked Dana, cutting straight to the chase. "Last I heard, it was really hard to get a spot in the top ten."

"Well, Frostbite's team is in the top ten, so it can't be that hard," said Shadow, examining her nails.

Or, again, at least trying to. Why was she wearing the blindfold?

"Hey Shadow, not to be rude, but you might want to explain the blindfold," said Nova, noticing my staring.

"Oh, right, yeah. Basically when we're out on patrol and we find something and are ordered to engage, I get really bored. I can see where I'm going, what I'm doing, and it makes everything so easy. So I shook things up a bit. Turns out, it doesn't have the slightest effect. Everything is still boringly easy. But then the blindfold grew on me, so I'm just going with it now. Technically it's a part of my costume."

"Wait, how come you guys get costumes?" I inquired.

Normally only the Council were aloud to wear costumes.

"Like I said, the Council made an exception for us. Well, see you around."

And with that Shadow turned on her heels and strode out of the room. Her team followed. As i watched their retreating forms, I had the sinking feeling that this new team would bring nothing but trouble.