Jacob stared in disbelief as Rose walked dejected off the field. She shot him a look as she exited as if to ask what to do next. Several more prodigies entered the field, ready and confident. Only one of them stayed on with a team. Then they called for him, Jacob Sessions, Radian. He thought the name was clever, since he could see all the math and angles. He often saw them more in degrees and calculations, but the name was still quite humorous. He walked out onto the field, chromium plated frisbee in hand. Hugh recognized him and smiled. They had only just met, but Jacob felt a connection with the captain. Hugh was sitting in his seat and pointing to him while talking to The Dread Warden, who was sitting next to him. He scanned the tables and saw Genissa, who was unconscious, and recognized Cat at a table with Adrian's team. She whispered something into Adrian's ear and he smiled, clearly expecting quite a show. He asked Sketch to draw something that could fly. He drew a simple bird and it sprang to life. Jacob eyed the bird as it soared into the air. He hurled his disk, only for it to miss the bird by a few inches. The crowd let out a collective sigh, but then he held up his hand and the disk came to the apex of its arch. It began speeding downward and smashed the bird, which had continued on its course, in two as it returned to exactly where he had walked moments before. He caught the disc with ease as it slowed to a stop just next to him. Hugh gave an approving nod, and turned to the others. Moments later he was an approved Renegade, with three teams asking for him to join, one of which was Mal's team. Unfortunately, Adrian didn't seem to be interested in another teammate. Cat asked him something else , and he nodded.

"We challenge!" Adrian said, "I don't believe that with just the abilities you have shown us that you really are worthy of being a Renegade." At this the girl sitting next to him gave a miniscule flinch. That must have been Nova. That would be the one he would challenge. "Now pick your opponent, Radian." Jacob pointed straight towards Insomnia, and the crowd let out a collective ooh. They remembered the last time someone did this sort of thing. It had been when Nova herself had challenged The Gargoyle.

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Cat watched as Nova stood and approached Jacob. This was all part of their plan. She knew what Jacob would do next. He would ask about her uncle, tell her what happened to her parents was tragic, and finally he would tell her not to go easy on her, even though she would. It turned out that she had a power that none of the Renegades knew about. She noticed that Jacob delivered the words well, and a look of fear spread across Nova's face. Then, she thought she could see hear what he said next, thanks to her powers.

"Oh, you shouldn't worry. I won't tell anyone your little secret, Nova Artino. Should I call you... Nightmare?" Nova lunged forward in a hand to hand combat spree, clearly trying to incapacitate him. As the two traded blows, Cat continued to listen in to their conversation.

"How... do you... know... all that?" Nova said between kicks. Jacob seemed about to answer when he let down his guard to do so. She planted a kick to his jaw, and he fell to the ground. He looked defeated, then suddenly he turned to get in the final word.

"Now what would your uncle Ace say about this?" That moment of conflict within her was all he needed. He pulled the chromium disk from underneath himself and slammed it into her leg, crumpling her. She cried out in pain, and he quickly apologized. That made her laugh actually.

"Now what do you mean?" She said through her held breath due to the pain in her leg, "Congratulations, Renegade. You get to have a long talk with the girl that never sleeps later." She walked back to the table and sat down, a scowl on her face.

"You let him win, didn't you?" Adrian asked, "I saw that moment of hesitation. You never hesitate." She stayed silent and said nothing, but watched as he went to join the team led by Kate, the same one that had recruited Mal. Cat leaned back and listened to music in her earbuds as the trials concluded.

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Mal walked through the doors of Renegades headquarters the next day and was greeted by the magnificent lobby. Jacob and Cat entered right behind her, and they were greeted by both Kate and Adrian's team. Adrian and Oscar welcomed Cat while Ruby and Danna stood back. Nova wasn't in sight, but Mal knew they would be having a conversation fairly soon about her identity. Both Jacob and her had read this book, so they knew Nova's secret. Then again, they also knew Adrian's. They had given Cat more details about her teammates, both powers and back story, when they arrived at the address that was on their papers as their home. It turned out the very door they walked out to enter this world was their home for a while. They made sure that it was clear they didn't want to expose Nova. Mal greeted her own team with Jacob. They had been introduced to last night at the trials, but didn't know too much about them. Their captain Kate called herself a steel mason. She had the power to manipulate steel just like Mal's powers affected water. They had only two other teammates, Karen and Tony. She wasn't sure what kind of power Karen had, but she had seen Tony last night seem to vanish one moment then reappear the next with a bucket of popcorn. Mal assumed that he must have some sort of movement powers, whether it was teleportation or super speed. He confirmed her suspicion when he zipped across the room to shake Jacob's hand.

Kate and Karen showed her around while Tony practically dragged Jacob on his tour. Mal wondered how things were going for Cat, when suddenly both of her guides fell over asleep as Nova stepped into the room behind them.

"Handy trick. They were telling me stuff I already knew," she said sarcastically.

"Alright, how do you know who I am, and who else knows?" She said with force. Mal knew that while she had been hoping to not tell anyone their story, she knew it was the only way to explain that they weren't a threat to Nova. She told her about how they had arrived, how they knew about her mission, and how they didn't want to break the story. They wouldn't reveal her, so long as she didn't reveal them. Nova understood their plight, but they also mentioned that they knew more than even she knew about many things. They knew Adrian's secret too, a detail they decided to leave out. Mal and Jacob both knew that they would need to confront him as well if they were going to keep Cat safe as long as she was on their team. Nova slipped from the room as the others slowly began opening their eyes. They stood and shook their heads. Mal bent and acted as though they had just passed out without reason. Kate brushed it off and just continued with the grand tour. They showed her all the more simple stuff first, and finally they came to the training room. Here they happened to meet up with Tony and Jacob once again. Mal looked around and remembered the description from Renegades. Something wasn't right about the room. There were too many units practicing at the shooting range, firing away at targets with dart guns. Mal was about to ask when Jacob whispered in her ear.

"It's the Agent N shooting range. Many of them want to be as good with a gun as they can. Many Renegades didn't know how to use a gun well until Agent N's creation," he informed her. She shut her mouth to keep herself from asking her question anyway. She had only recently read the second book in the series and had forgotten that many of the Renegades weren't good without their powers. Nova was about the only exception, as she could easily operate without her abilities. She stood in the middle of the training room and let her mind wander. She wondered what Rose was getting up to, if Cat was getting the same tour from Nova, Ruby, and Danna, or if Jacob had already memorized the layout of the entire base. Mostly though, she wondered what Rose was up to, since she wasn't a Renegade.

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Rose was getting herself in trouble apparently. She had decided to figure out what their goal was on her own. Mal had told her that the Anarchists had originally based themselves in subway cars that had been shut down, so that was the first place she searched. She had found her way around the city well enough, and the city was fairly walkable, so she reached the subway in no time at all. It turned out that they had managed to bunk themselves only blocks away from it. When she arrived she found nothing but a sign telling her not to enter. Rose knew that was a sign the Anarchists couldn't be there. She knew that their next base of operations had been Nova's home, so she checked it on the one piece of tech they had found in the lobby of their apartments. It was a small watch, similar to a smartwatch, but it only had a messenger and maps app. She soon discovered that the watch was linked in to the city's systems, so she knew the exact address of Nova McLain. She walked at a brisk pace, noting how the closer she got to the home, the worse the condition of the houses around her got.

Finally, she stood in front of the home that was registered to a Mr. McLain. She felt as if nobody would notice her, so she walked up the small sidewalk leading to the door of the home. She opened the door and shut it with only the quietest of clicks. She walked casually in and glanced into the kitchen where a middle aged gentleman with horrible scars across his face sat looking at a newspaper. She couldn't identify him, but then a younger boy walked in and started talking with him. They discussed what his position with the team would be, but the man told him there was no placement other than leader and member. She was sure that the man was an Anarchist, and the boy seemed to be trying to join them. From behind her, she heard a crisp and commanding voice call for the man, evidently named Leroy. He stood, told the boy the conversation was over, and told the woman, Queeny he called her, that he was coming. The boy stood and looked directly at Rose, holding eye contact with her for a moment, then walked away. He had faced away from her until now, but she could now see that he had a horrible scar across his eyes and nose, as if the skin had been burned away and replaced.

She felt as though she was getting nowhere, but suddenly then one name she recognized came up. "Phobia, can you get up here? We might have a serious problem," Leroy called down the stairs. Suddenly a shadow stirred in the corner and began to move. A figure of pure shadow rose from it, a black cloak swung around it, and he held a scythe in his hand. Rose thought that this figure reminded her of a stereotypical reaper from cartoons and movies. He was about to float up the stairs when he stopped. He turned and he too looked straight at her.

"Just because I can't see you, doesn't mean I can't smell your fear, little Renegade," a voice growled from underneath the hood as he advanced on her. She turned in the entry where she stood and reached to opened the door, and found that the handle burned her hand when she touched it.. She turned to see what might be the cause of the heat, and the young boy was standing behind Phobia. She figured there was no hiding it now, she powered down and stared into the hood of the dark figure, unsure what fate she was about it meet.