security cells. Now the entire level was a prison, the base’s brig. His father still lived there, but in a cell. Novo was held in a huge pressurized glass chamber in Phantom’s former quarters.
The world was still trying to figure out how to react to the crimes of the Cloak Society. The footage Alex and his team put together and sent out had played over and over again on the news, which had helped people understand why the New Rangers suddenly disappeared, but had opened up an unending slew of questions. Until someone figured out what to do with the supervillains, they’d remain there, on the bottom floor of the place they had once called home. Photon served as their jailor and temporary overseer of the underground base. He’d taken Shade and Volt’s old apartment as his own and cut off all unauthorized access to the bottom level.
“Gage’s design for Volt’s cell was genius in its simplicity. I believe he said he was inspired by a room the Omegas had designed for Amp.”
“Yeah, except with acoustic tiles instead of rubber.”
“He hasn’t been any trouble.” Photon nodded his head toward another door. “Not like those two.”
Barrage’s old apartment had been reinforced with titanium plating. Now it was home to his children, Julie and Titan, until other arrangements could be made.
“How are his injuries?” Alex asked, gesturing toward the door. “Last time I looked in, he was still a little . . . gross.”
“Much better,” Photon said. “Have a look for yourself if you like.”
Alex lifted a hatch on the door and peered in through a rectangle of thick glass.
Titan sat on a couch, staring at a television. His skin was pale pink and smooth, and he had no eyebrows that Alex could see. The hair on his head grew unevenly in blond patches. When he noticed Alex, his face contorted. He was off the couch in an instant, hurtling toward him. When he got within a few yards of the door, he was jerked backward, tumbling over the couch and into the back wall.
“The magnetic field’s holding,” Alex said, looking at Photon.
“He won’t be getting anywhere close to the door unless I allow him to.”
When Alex turned back, Julie was standing in front of the small window. Her black hair was twisted out in several directions, her eyes and smile wild. She said nothing but dragged one clawed finger back and forth across the metal door. A screeching sound filled the air.
“That noise,” Titan yelled from somewhere at the back of the room. “I’m so sick of that stupid noise.”
“All right,” Alex said, letting the hatch slam shut. “I’m ready to go back up.”
“Back to your room, or to the first floor?” Photon asked as they stepped into the elevator.
“First floor. We’re all meeting in Gage’s workshop before we head out.”
After the battle with the New Rangers, Alex and his fellow Cloak defects were left in a strange position. As members of Cloak, they’d always had the High Council to direct them. In the days after Justice Tower, their goals had been clear, even when they didn’t know what action to take. Rescue the Rangers. Defeat Cloak. But no more. So while Lone Star, Lux, Bug, and the Junior Rangers moved into hotel rooms and regrouped, drawing up plans for a new headquarters, Alex, Mallory, Gage, and Misty went back to the underground base to help oversee everything that was happening in their former home.
City officials took in the Gammas. The remaining Unibands were arrested. Many of them claimed to have never been willing servants of Cloak—that Shade had turned them into mindless drones—but there was really no way to know for sure. Carla and her team in the city would be spending months just trying to figure out if it was even possible to put them all on trial—though they’d already begun proceedings against Misty’s mother, who police had captured as she attempted to flee town. Between that and trying to help out all the people Cloak had detained or flat-out kidnapped during their short reign, her office was overwhelmed. The Tutor was the only person whose processing had been easy. As someone with the power to never forget a single thing he’d read, he made a deal to go on record with an oral history of the Cloak Society. In return, he was promised that the rest of his life, though lived under constant scrutiny, would be spent somewhere comfortable and full of books.
Alex found Gage and Mallory in the first-floor workshop. The inventor’s arm was still in a cast, signed by all of his teammates from the battle in Victory Park. Misty had decorated the signatures. Alex’s sparkled with blue marker. Small yellow flowers surrounded Kyle’s. Lone Star’s shimmered with gold glitter.
“Your painting’s gone,” Alex said, nodding to the blank wall above Gage’s workstation.
“The Rembrandt?” Gage asked. “Technically it was my father’s, but yes. They took it out this morning. Apparently it actually belonged to a museum in Boston. I think half the Tutor’s library has already been claimed by various institutions and private collectors across the globe. We’ve accidentally created quite a stir in the art world.”
“Apparently being stolen by Cloak made them even bigger collector’s pieces,” Mallory said. “People are so weird.”
Alex looked around. “Do I need to go pull Misty away from the TV again?”
“That reminds me,” Gage said. “We’re not actually paying for that satellite feed right now. I should talk to Photon about getting us an account or something. I’m guessing it would be frowned upon if he found out we were stealing television.”
“She’s down there changing,” Mallory said. “We went shopping with the Junior Rangers this afternoon while you were going through stuff in the War Room.” She took a white box off one of Gage’s workbenches and held it out to him. “Here. This is for you.”
Alex looked a little confused but took the box and lifted the lid off with his thoughts. He dug through a few layers of tissue paper before pulling out a navy peacoat. On the right chest pocket was a small golden pin in the shape of a starburst.
“The Rangers had them made for us,” Mallory explained. “We all got one.” She pointed to a stool by Gage’s workstation, where two more coats had been tossed.
Alex smiled and slipped it on. It fit perfectly.
“I don’t suppose it’s bulletproof or has protective plating in it like the trench coats do,” he said.
“You can just enjoy the present, Alex.” Mallory shook her head. “You don’t have to go into battle wearing it.”
“I can always see about reinforcing them later, if you like,” Gage added.
Misty appeared beside Alex. She wore a dark sweater and jeans under her Ranger-supplied peacoat, with a giant purple-and-gray-plaid scarf tied around her neck. A shiny silver headband held her hair back. She looked up at Alex expectantly.
“You look really nice, Misty,” he said.
She seemed to be satisfied by this answer, and only then noticed that he had on his peacoat as well.
“Look!” she said, pointing at his gold starburst. “We’re twinsies!”
“Oh, good. Everyone’s here,” Photon said as the doors to Gage’s workshop slid open. “We should get going if we don’t want to be late.”
“It’s a pity there are so many of us,” Gage said, grabbing his new coat and tossing Mallory hers. “I’d like to ride in one of the Italian sports cars before they’re taken away.”
Photon raised an eyebrow.
“If you want, I can take you out in one tomorrow,” he offered. “We can have a little joyride to take a break from cataloging the armory. I admit that I’ve been wanting to get behind the wheel of a few of these machines while they’re still here.”
“YES!” Gage blurted out immediately. He composed himself a bit before adding, “I mean, if we have the time.”
“If all the cars are going, pretty soon Misty will be our only way of getting around again,” Alex said as he followed the others into the garage, which connected to the surface through a long underground tunnel.
“I am not your taxi,” Misty said. She let out an exaggerated sigh. “We’re going to have to have a
serious talk about misting privileges sometime soon.”
Tremendous crowds milled about the arts district north of Victory Park. They stopped at pop-up shops and sipped hot cider. Music played from speakers dotting every block. Chatter filled the air. After pulling into a reserved parking spot, Photon left to find Lone Star, and Alex’s group met up with Kirbie, Kyle, Amp, and Bug near the front of a stage. Everyone was wearing their new coats.
“They all fit!” Kirbie said.
“These are amazing,” Misty said.
“They’re great, right?” Kyle asked, looking down at the golden starburst over his heart.
“Definitely,” Alex agreed. He pointed to the canvas tote bag Kirbie had over her shoulder. “What’s in the bag?”
“It’s in case I want to get some souvenirs or something,” she said. “It’s a celebration, Alex.”
She nodded up to a banner at the top of the stage that read WINTER FEST.
“Didn’t the city just have a street fair last month?” Mallory asked. “A Fall Festival?”
“Yeah,” Kyle said, “But it turns out we kind of ruined it by showing up at the museum and picking a fight with Cloak.”
“Oh yeah. I guess we did.”
“Besides,” Amp said, “everyone wants to celebrate the return of the real Rangers of Justice.”
They chatted for a while. Gage bought the Junior Rangers popcorn as thanks for the coats, and Alex bought Misty popcorn because Gage hadn’t. Finally the music stopped, and the crowd burst into applause as the police commissioner took the stage.
“Good evening,” he said. “And welcome to Sterling City’s first Winter Fest.”
Everyone cheered.
“Now, I know I’m not the person all of you are here to see, but I want to take a moment to acknowledge something. You’ll notice that many of the people you’d usually see standing up here with me are absent. It is the utmost priority of the city government to flush out all remaining officials with ties to the Cloak Society. Many of them simply disappeared following Cloak’s defeat in Victory Park, but I assure you that those who remain will be discovered.”
There was a smattering of applause across the crowd.
“But you can read about that later. Without further ado, I’d like to hand things over to our special guests.”
The Rangers of Justice were an awe-inspiring sight as they climbed the side stairs onto the stage. A golden cape hung from Lone Star’s shoulders. Light glinted in his eyes and glowed around his palms as he waved to the crowd. Behind him, Photon grinned. Lux’s hair shone with an unnatural brightness, as if there was a strand of light for every hair on her head. Their powers were returning. Slowly, but returning nonetheless.
It took several minutes for the crowd’s excitement to die down enough for Lone Star to speak.
“Thank you, Commissioner, and good evening, citizens of Sterling City and beyond.” His voice was rich and low. “There are many changes in our future. Historians will look back at this period of time and judge us based on what we do or do not learn from the Cloak Society’s rise and fall. The very question of how the Rangers of Justice fit into this city—even this world—needs to be examined, and subjected to some sort of regulation.”
“You’re our protectors! Our superheroes!” someone shouted from the crowd. Others joined in, until Lone Star was thumping on the end of the microphone, trying to calm everyone down.
“We have been called those things many times,” Lone Star continued. “But it wasn’t me, or Lux, or even Photon who you have to thank for Cloak’s defeat.” He raised his palm, and a light spread out from it, falling on Alex and the others. The people around them stepped away, forming a circle around them. “These eight heroes are the reason any of us are here today. Even when I thought all hope was lost, they persevered. Where there was nothing but darkness, they believed in the light.”
Their golden pins shone. Alex was caught off guard by the sudden attention and tensed up. He’d never actually been in the spotlight before—had hardly ever been out in public without some ulterior motive. His eyes widened and mouth fell open a bit.
“Smile, Alex,” Kirbie said, pushing his shoulder. “You look terrified.”
The Junior Rangers all stood with perfect posture, their smiles wide and their chins up. Bug was beaming, but he looked down sheepishly. Gage was unfazed, and Misty grinned from ear to ear. She performed a small curtsy. Alex’s eyes met Mallory’s. The girl seemed hesitant, but after looking at each other for a moment, her lips curled up in a big smile.
“These are your true heroes,” Lone Star said from the stage. “These are the people who rescued us. And every day that we live from now on, we owe in part to them. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the future of Sterling City.”
In the crowd, someone started clapping, and then suddenly there was a roar of applause, followed by shouts and cheers. Alex looked up at Lone Star, who grinned back at him, applauding along with everyone else. He felt his cheeks burn as he smiled, and the sound of the crowd washed over him.
After the speech, Alex and the others were swarmed with well-wishers and reporters. Everyone wanted to know their names, their powers, where they’d come from, and what they were going to do next. All of them were quite overwhelmed, and with Lone Star’s blessing and a little help from Misty, they snuck away from the street festival and ended up on the steps of the Sterling City Library, catching their breath.
“I think I talked to more people tonight than in the rest of my life combined,” Alex said.
“You really didn’t do much talking.” Amp had a joking grin. “It was more ‘staring straight ahead and nodding.’ We’re really going to have to work on your public speaking skills.”
“Some of us weren’t trained to be TV-ready,” Mallory said. “But you’ve probably got a point.”
“We should get hair and makeup people!” Misty said.
“How’s life underground going?” Kirbie asked. “It’s weird not seeing you guys every waking moment.”
“It’s great to have my own room again.” Mallory turned to Misty. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Misty said. “You snore.”
“That’s totally a lie.”
“It’s nice to be back in my workshop,” Gage said.
“I have to admit, though, it’s a little . . .” Mallory struggled for the right word.
“Boring?” Amp suggested.
“Yeah. I guess.”
“All I wanted when we were trying to defeat Cloak was to be worry free,” Alex said. “But now that I’m not fighting for my life half the time, I feel kind of lazy. Or at least like my powers are getting rusty.”
“We should start training together again,” Amp said. “We’ve barely scratched the surface of how we can work together.”
“Too bad we’ve scared every wannabe villain out of town for now,” Kirbie said. “I could use a good fight.”
There was a moment of silence before Alex spoke again.
“Hey, Kyle. Have they made any progress trying to find Legion?”
Kyle shrugged.
“Not really. I mean, I hear the police have gotten a few tips and stuff, but they haven’t really turned up anything.” He paused for a beat, and his eyes grew a little wider. “But I could definitely look into it and see if anything stuck out to me.”
“We should probably follow up on any leads the police checked out,” Bug added. “In case we see something they missed.”
“It’s entirely possible they stumbled on some sort of Cloak safe house and didn’t even realize it,” Mallory said.
“But we know how Cloak operates,” Alex said, standing up. “We can track Legion down. We’ve done it before and we can definitely do it again.”
“And who knows what’s coming next?” Amp jumped to his feet. “Cloak probably accidentally inspired a whole new generation of supervillains. I mean, you said Shade mentioned that Cloak had people across the country, right? What if they band together? Even if they do
n’t have superpowers, they’d still be a huge threat.”
“Plus, there’s still the Guild of Daggers in New York,” Kirbie added with a grin.
“Tomorrow,” Kyle said. “No, tonight. I’ll start looking into it tonight.”
“If you come to the underground base, I can help you hack into any of the files the police won’t hand over to you,” Gage suggested.
“Gage,” Kyle said with a sigh, “that’s definitely not at all legal.”
“Yeah, but it’ll get Legion,” Misty said. “I mean, it’s not going to hurt anyone if we look at a couple of things online, right?”
“We’re going to have to have a really serious talk about superhero ethics,” Amp said, shaking his head.
“We’ll come over tomorrow,” Kyle said, ignoring Amp. “I wish we had some sort of shuttle set up between the hotel and the underground base.”
“I could look into the possibility of rerouting the transportation system that currently leads to the safe house through the Gloom—,” Gage started.
“NO!” half of them shouted in unison.
“It was just a thought,” Gage murmured with a smirk.
“We can just build a new base,” Misty said. “With giant rooms and closets, and a swimming pool, and Kyle could have a big garden, and—”
“Whoa, whoa.” Amp cut her off, glancing at his watch. “Let’s talk closets and pools tomorrow. Lone Star and the others are probably wondering where we are. We should get back.”
“Let’s walk,” Kyle said as he and the others got up.
“But it’s so far,” Misty said.
“It’s like, five blocks at most,” Mallory corrected her.
“Come on, Misty,” Bug said. “I’ll buy you a hot chocolate.”
The girl let out an exaggerated sigh.
“Okay, fine.”
They all started down the steps except for Kirbie, who grabbed Alex’s coat sleeve and held him back.
“Do you have a second?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said. “I’ve got nothing but time.”
She reached into her tote bag and pulled out a small package wrapped in brown paper.