Page 142 of Archenemies

Nova held one of her own inventions in her hand. A blow-dart gun… disguised as an innocent fountain pen.

Aftershock chuckled. “You gonna compose a love letter for me?”

“A eulogy, maybe.”

Lifting the pen to her mouth, she blew. The dart struck him in the chest, square over the heart, just where Frostbite had driven the dart intoher.Aftershock looked down, horrified, as the green liquid was driven into his flesh.

“Rest in peace, Aftershock,” she said with an exaggerated sigh. “His abilities might have been a seven on the Richter scale… but his personality was barely a two.”

Not waiting to see his reaction, Nova took off running again, her feet sliding and tripping over the mess of glass and plaster.

She was nearly to the base of the steps that had once led to the quarantine when one of the great steel beams that had been loosened in the destruction swung downward and smashed against her side. The blow sent her flying into a wall and Nova collapsed, her head ringing. She opened her bleary eyes and saw the helmet lying a few feet away. Though her vision was blurred and her bones were still vibrating from the collision with the beam, she forced herself to push off the wall. Her fingers stretched for the helmet.

It was swept away from her and sent volleying through the air. Nova screamed and lurched for it, but too late.

Max cried out in sudden pain and the helmet dropped, landing amid the remains of the shattered quarantine. Max reappeared and collapsed to his knees not far away from it. His body was covered in nicks and cuts, his pajamas shredded. Nova’s insides clenched as she watched him pull a glass shard from the sole of his bare foot.

He tossed the bloodied shard away with a hiss, then held out his hand again. The helmet completed its journey, soaring into his waiting arms.

He flashed into nothingness again. This time, the helmet disappeared too.

Nova gawked at the place where he had stood, shocked to realize that Max was the one who had sent the steel beam into her. And now he had taken the helmet.

He wasn’t trying to get away. He was trying tofighther.

But invisibility wasn’t infallible in a room filled with debris, and soon she could detect Max’s path as he moved toward the nearest emergency exit. He was trying to be careful, but in his haste Nova spotted the shift of rubble, the disturbed glass in the chaos, smears of blood on the tile.

Pushing herself off the wall, she ran for him. She had no need to be careful, and upon her approach, he started to move faster. Shecould even hear him panting now, his panic rising as she closed in on him.

She dived, her hands curled into the air.

They found fabric and gripped tight.

Max cried out and flickered back into view as they both tumbled into the destruction. Again, the helmet was sent flying.

Leaving Max sprawled across the ground, Nova pushed herself up and leaped forward. She landed on top of the helmet and curled her body around it, securing it tight against her body before Max could use his telekinesis to snatch it out from under her again.

“No!” Max yelled. A small café table hurtled at Nova’s head and she blocked it with her elbow, but the jolt shoved her hard into the ground.

Nova lay there, momentarily stunned, out of breath, covered in sweat. The helmet was pressed into her stomach. Her head was spinning from exhaustion and pain.

But the exit was close.

She was so close.

She would not fail when she wasthis close.

She dug deep into what reserves of strength were left and pushed herself to one knee, then the other. She stood, fighting against the wobble of her legs.

She had taken a single step when an arm wrapped around her throat, drawing her against a solid chest.

“I’m going to kill you,” Trevor hissed in her ear. “For what you did to me, I am going tokillyou.”

“Get in line,” spat Frostbite. She was standing in the doorway to the nearest exit, blocking Nova’s chance of escape. Captain Chromium’s pike was in her hand, covered in a thick layer of glistening white frost.

Nova, unwilling to release the helmet clutched in both arms,leaned into Trevor’s body, letting him support her as her knees threatened to give out.

“Sorry,” she said, her voice slurred more than she would have liked. “But no one’s killing me today.”

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