Renegades (Renegades #1)
Marissa Meyer
For Jeffrey, the first hero I ever had
CAST OF CHARACTERS
THE RENEGADES: SKETCH’S TEAM
SKETCH — Adrian Everhart
Can bring his drawings and artwork to life MONARCH — Danna Bell
Transforms into a swarm of monarch butterflies RED ASSASSIN — Ruby Tucker
When wounded, her blood crystallizes into weaponry; signature weapon is a grappling hook formed from a bloodstone SMOKESCREEN — Oscar Silva
Summons smoke and vapor at will
THE ANARCHISTS
NIGHTMARE — Nova Artino
Never sleeps, and can put others to sleep with her touch THE DETONATOR — Ingrid Thompson Creates explosives from the air that can be detonated at will PHOBIA — True Name Unknown
Transforms his body and scythe into the embodiment of various fears THE PUPPETEER — Winston Pratt
Turns people into mindless puppets who do his bidding QUEEN BEE — Honey Harper
Exerts control over all bees, hornets, and wasps CYANIDE — Leroy Flinn
Generates acidic poisons through his skin
THE RENEGADE COUNCIL
CAPTAIN CHROMIUM — Hugh Everhart Has superstrength and is nearly invincible to physical attacks; can generate chromium weaponry THE DREAD WARDEN — Simon Westwood Can turn invisible TSUNAMI — Kasumi Hasegawa
Generates and manipulates water THUNDERBIRD — Tamaya Rae
Generates thunder and lightning; can fly BLACKLIGHT — Evander Wade
Creates and manipulates light and darkness
WE WERE ALL VILLAINS in the beginning.
For hundreds of years, prodigies were feared by the rest of the world. We became hunted. Tormented. Feared and oppressed. We were believed to be witches and demons, freaks and abominations. We were stoned and hanged and set afire while crowds gathered to watch with cruel eyes, proud to be ridding the world of one more pariah.
They were right to be afraid.
Hundreds of years. Who would have stood for it?
Ace Anarchy changed everything. He united the most powerful prodigies he could find and together they rebelled.
He started with the infrastructure. Government buildings torn from their foundations. Banks and stock exchanges turned to rubble. Bridges ripped from the sky. Entire freeways reduced to rocky wastelands. When the military sent jets, he plucked them from the air like moths. When they sent tanks, he crushed them like aluminum cans.
Then he went after the people who had failed him. Failed all of them.
Whole governments, gone. Law enforcement, disbanded. Those fancy bureaucrats who had bought their way into power and influence … all dead, and all in a matter of weeks.
The Anarchists cared little for what would come next once the old world crumbled. They cared only for change, and they got it. Soon, a number of villain gangs began to crawl out from society’s ashes, each hungry for their own slice of power, and it wasn’t long before Ace Anarchy’s influence spread across the globe. Prodigies banded together for the first time in history, some full of wrath and resentment, others desperate for acceptance that never came. They demanded fair treatment and human rights and protection under the law, and in some countries, the panicking governments hastened to cater to them.
But in other countries, the rebellions turned violent, and the violence dissolved into anarchy.
Chaos rose up to fill the void that civilized society had left behind. Trade and manufacturing ground to a halt. Civil wars erupted on every continent. Gatlon City was largely cut off from the world, and the fear and distrust that prevailed would go on to rule for twenty years.
They call it the Age of Anarchy.
Looking back now, people talk about the Anarchists and the other gangs like they were the worst part of those twenty years, but they weren’t. Sure, everyone was terrified of them, but they mostly left you alone as long as you paid up when it was your due and didn’t cause them any trouble.
But the people. The normal people. They were far worse. With no rule and no law, it became every man, woman, and child for themselves. There were no repercussions for crimes or violence—no one to run to if you were beaten or robbed. No police. No prisons. Not legitimate ones, anyway. Neighbors stole from neighbors. Stores were looted and supplies were hoarded, leaving children to starve in the gutters. It became the strong against the weak, and, as it turns out, the strong were usually jerks.
Humanity loses faith in times like that. With no one to look up to, no one to believe in, we all became rats scrounging in the sewers.
Maybe Ace really was a villain. Or maybe he was a visionary.
Maybe there’s not much of a difference.
Either way, the gangs ruled Gatlon City for twenty years, while crime and vice spread like sewage around a backed-up pipe. And the Age of Anarchy might have gone on for another twenty years. Fifty years. An eternity.
But then, seemingly overnight … hope.
Bright and sparkling hope, dressed up in capes and masks.
Beautiful and joyous hope, promising to solve all your problems, rain justice down upon your foes, and probably give a stern talking to a few jaywalkers along the way.
Warm and promising hope, encouraging the normal folks to stay inside where it was safe while they fixed everything. Don’t worry about helping yourselves. You’ve got enough on your plate, what with all the hiding and moping you’ve been doing lately. You take a day off. We’re superheroes. We’ve got this.
Hope called themselves the Renegades.
PROLOGUE