Renegades

“The Ace Anarchy impersonator took the brunt of the attack, but he never dropped character—shaking his fist and calling the children at the front of the crowd stinking rascals and little nightmares, before he finally ducked down into the hollow building and pulled the top back over himself, setting up the surprise for the next street of onlookers.”

This passage highlights the cartoonish way in which the Renegades of Gatlon City propagandize their conflicts, transforming the genuinely dangerous foe of Ace Anarchy into a scorned, harmless villain for the sake of cheap entertainment. With such overblown displays, the Renegades consistently try to reassure the public that no harmful Anarchist foes remain to threaten them, and this politically motivated masquerade only worsens the tension.

“Captain Chromium and the Dread Warden were practically the world’s favorite sweethearts. The tabloids were forever going on about whether or not they were planning to adopt another child, or if they were going to retire from the Council and move to the tropics, or if a dark, hidden secret from the past was threatening to tear them apart.”

In addition to illustrating the celebrity culture that surrounds the Renegades, this passage also reveals that Gatlon City is largely free from social issues like anti-gay bias. The people love and respect Chromium and the Warden as their leaders and as a married couple. In some ways, this aspect of the author’s world-building adds a paradoxically utopian element to the recovering dystopian world of Gatlon. Most importantly, the fact of their marriage is presented without comment, making it clear that in this world, diversity is the norm and needs no additional clarification.

“Back when the Renegades had first formed, they didn’t have to play by any rules—there were no rules to play by. They were more like vigilantes than law enforcers, and they certainly weren’t lawmakers. They did what needed to be done in order to make the world a better, safer place. Even if that meant blackmailing someone for information, or infiltrating a hideout because they thought there was something suspicious going on—with or without hard evidence.”

This passage begins to compare the Renegades to a police force and to emphasize the more ambiguous aspects of their vigilante origins, acknowledging that even at the beginning of their organization, the Renegades rationalized corrupt actions in the name of justice. While Adrian idealizes this past and sees it as a simpler approach, the author uses this passage to imply that the Renegades are not the heroes to the Anarchist “villains.