Page 146 of Archenemies

Swallowing, the man reached for a call button.

Adrian crouched down, holding Max away from his body so he could inspect him. He tried to ignore the boy’s frost-covered clothes and the splatter of blood that had dried on the side of his face. It was the pallor of his skin that terrified him most, and the way Adrian could barely see his chest moving, until he couldn’t see it moving at all.

“What’s taking so long?” he screamed, just as a set of double doorsburst open and a man and a woman in nursing scrubs appeared, pushing a gurney between them. Another woman followed, pulling latex gloves onto her hands. Her focus landed on Max, devoid of emotion as she took in the blood and ice.

“Let’s get him on the table,” she said. “Gently.”

Adrian ignored the nurses who seemed to want to take Max from him, and carried Max to the gurney himself, settling his body onto it as carefully as he could. It felt like handing over his heart.

The female nurse put a palm on the chest of Adrian’s suit, ignoring the smears of blood on the armor. Her gaze dipped to the redS. It had been anRwhen he had first designed the suit, but he’d changed it after Hawthorn had thrown him into the river. There was no longer any point in pretending that the Sentinel was a Renegade. “I’m sorry, but you can’t come back—”

The other nurse gasped. Something crashed. The doctor collapsed against the gurney, her breaths heavy as she pressed a gloved hand against her chest.

Adrian cursed and pushed the nurse away. “Not a prodigy!” he yelled. Grabbing the doctor, he pulled her back from the stretcher, dragging her to the opposite side of the waiting area before anyone could think to stop him. “It can’t be a prodigy healer. He needs a doctor—aregulardoctor!”

The male nurse stood over Max’s unconscious body, stunned. They were all speechless—the nurses, the receptionists, the waiting patients and their families—all gawking at Adrian as if he’d lost his mind.

“Not a prodigy?” the nurse finally stammered. “What do you mean, you don’t want a prodigy healer?”

“Just do it!” Panic rattled inside his skull until he could barely see, barely think, barely breathe. “Don’t you have any civilian doctors?”

“Not in the ER!” the receptionist shouted back, as if such a request was the definition of inconceivable.

“Then get one from somewhere else!” Adrian shouted back. “Hurry!”

The weakened doctor was escorted away. Hot, furious tears blurred Adrian’s vision.Hurry, hurry, what was taking them so long—

His thoughts stilled. A realization struck him like a bullet.

Theycoulduse a prodigy doctor… if that doctor was immune. If Adrian had the Vitality Charm.

But he’d given it to Simon. It was at home, or Simon still had it, and though Adrian’s thoughts spun with desperation, he couldn’t fathom how he could find it and bring it back here in time to make any difference.

A new physician in a white coat burst through the doors, harried and breathless at having been called to the ER, which was clearly the domain of prodigy healers only.

The doctor approached the stretcher and began shouting orders. A second later, Max was being whisked away, back into the sterile yellow corridors of the hospital. Adrian could no longer detect his breathing at all.

“Save him,” he yelled after them, pleading. “Please. Whatever you have to do. Just save him.”

Maybe it was his tone, or maybe it was the sight of Max’s blood. Either way, the doctor’s frenzied expression gave way to something almost kind. Then he turned his back and the doors swung shut, rattling back and forth a few times before falling still.

Adrian spun toward the receptionist. He noticed for the first time how everyone in the room had moved away from him, crowding against the walls.

“Look,” he said, “that kid is a Renegade, and a ward of Captain Chromium and the Dread Warden. Theyhaveto save him.”

The receptionist inhaled deeply. “We are professionals, sir. They will do everything they can.”

Shoulders drooping, Adrian stepped away. All his strength left him at once and he slumped onto a nearby bench. It groaned beneath the weight of the suit.

Adrian knew he was being watched. Everyone in the waiting room was staring at him, trying to decide if they should be scared, or if they should alert the Renegades… if they hadn’t already.

He didn’t much care what they decided about him or who came to arrest him. He collapsed over his knees, gripping the sides of his helmet in both hands. The suit felt like a wall around him, separating him from the world. He had built this sanctuary for himself, and now he was alone with his thoughts, and his fears, and the jumbled, chaotic memories of all that had happened.

He was shaking, and his mind returned to anger, because it was the easiest emotion to embrace at the moment. Anger at himself, for not being faster. Anger at Nightmare for daring to attack a kid.Just a kid.Anger at the hospital for not being prepared, for taking too long to get a doctor to help. Even more anger at himself for not having the medallion with him so that first healer could have done something.

His thoughts spun to Nova, and how she believed that society was too reliant on prodigies. People expected a Renegade to be around to help them whenever they needed it. To solve all their problems for them.

Maybe she was right. Maybe they depended too much on superheroes. And what if that dependence cost Max his life?

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