One Cannot be Brave... (A Renegades Fanfic)

Part 1 - One Cannot Be Brave...

Adrian Everhart sat at his desk, staring at his monitor. Despite his victory over Ace Anarchy, with the help of Ruby, Oscar, and technically Danna, his mind was still consumed by the images that flashed through his mind.

First, there was Max. Lying on the floor in a crumpled heap, ice growing from his torn flesh to stop the bleeding. The bleeding Nightmare had caused when she stabbed him with the silver spear. He hated her, and he would hunt her down and kill her for what she had done to Max, what she tried to do to Hugh, and even just for those words that she had said, so long ago.

“One cannot be brave who has no fear.”

It was a simple proverb, but still, even now the words from her sadistic lips, hidden behind that cursed masked, echoed through his head. The monitor in front of him showed a single image. A note, found at the crime scene, and on it scribbled the same message.

Secondly, his encounter with Phobia had revealed a truth he couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized before.

“I have tasted fear like yours before.” The message had been so clear, the image so sharp. It wasn’t just his imagination. Phobia had murdered his mother, just to prove his powers. So many others, too. Adrian wasn’t sure who he hated more, Phobia or Nightmare. The one who took his mother from him, letting her fall to her death, screaming as she plummeted. The one who might have taken his brother, and came within a centimeter of taking away his adopted father. He felt as though the tattoo of a crackling flame on his chest was heating up, itching to melt both of them to piles of ash, then burn that.

He finally pressed the power button on the bottom of his monitor and leaned back in his chair. It wasn’t until his head bumped into something soft yet unyielding that he realized he wasn’t alone.

“Still looking into Nightmare? You should sleep,” Nova Mclain told him, letting her hands falls to his shoulders. He still winced at the touch, not used to her being so willing to make physical contact. She had always seemed so reluctant about that sort of thing, at least until that one night when he managed to… nevermind. He glanced up at her face, and said nothing. Sweet rot, she could take his breath away.

“I guess you are right about sleep,” Adrian conceded, “But I wasn’t actually looking into Nightmare directly.” This much was true, and though he didn’t want to worry Nova with his breakthrough in his mother’s murder, he found himself spilling his guts anyway. He reached back to the monitor and clicked it on.

“I was actually looking into my mother’s murder again. There was a new development.”

“New development?” Nova asked, her hands moving back to her side. She pulled over an adjacent chair and sat down next to him.

“When the Ruby, Oscar, and I all found Ace, we ran into Phobia first. Nova, I think he killed my mom.” Adrian let his statement sink in for a second. Nova definitely seemed relatively unsurprised as always. It was only thinking about the shadowy, cloaked Anarchist that he remembered something. Something important.

“One cannot be brave…” Adrian trailed off. He was suddenly on his feet. “We need to go to my house. It might have what I need to see to check something. Adrian stood and looked past Nova’s stern face, and out into the dark night. It was pretty hard not to look at her, he admitted to himself.

“Alright,” she finally agreed, “I’ll go with you.” Adrian glanced at her, questioning the choice.

“You should go home, get some- nevermind,” Adrian said, realizing his mistake. “Are you sure you want to come over at a time like this? My dads are probably home.” Nova’s face reddened at this, but she still firmly nodded.