The Last Hero (Book 2): Rise of the Ultras (12 page)

I
stood completely still
as the footsteps echoed around the top of the metal container.

Orion was still, too. We listened to those growing footsteps that had landed above us. My heart began to beat faster, racing with all the options, all the possibilities. Why would somebody be on the roof of the container? And what if it wasn’t a
somebody
at all? What if it was a
something
?

“What do we—”

“Ssh,” Orion said. And I did, straight away. Because unlike anyone else in my life right now, I felt myself fully trusting Orion. I felt myself believing in the power of this guy because I knew he was stronger than me. His powers might’ve diminished, sure, but he was the original fighter. The ULTRA who’d kept on battling for the good of humanity, even when humanity turned against him.

I had to put my faith in him right now. I had to believe in him. I didn’t have a choice.

The pair of us looked up at where we figured the footsteps were. They moved backward and forward, over towards Orion, then towards me, then back towards Orion again. I held my breath like it’d make any difference. There was a groggy taste in my mouth, brought on by a lack of sleep. But I didn’t feel tired. Not anymore. Exhausted with everything, sure, but not tired.

The footsteps stopped right above me.

And then there were no more sounds.

I kept my focus on the roof of the container. Waited for the footsteps to move again. But they didn’t, not at all.

I looked over at Orion to see how he was reacting, what he was doing.

He was staring above, just like me. Waiting for whoever was up there to make the next move.

“I need to check it out,” I said.

I wasn’t sure where the words came from. Some place deep down that’d been niggling at me for a long time. But right now, stood here, I realized that I was going to have to start using my abilities more freely if I ever hoped to be safe. I couldn’t turn my back on my responsibilities as an ULTRA anymore. It was scary, sure. Terrifying, even.

But I was Glacies. Not in his costume right now, but deep down underneath, that’s who I was. That’s who I had to be. Kyle Peters and Glacies, they were one and the same.

I had to start making a change.

I held my breath and started to shift myself out of the container, above it, so I could see what was going on.

A hand landed on my arm. Snapped me out of my trance.

It was Orion.

“Don’t,” he mouthed quietly. He pointed up. “If it’s an ULTRAbot, they know. They know when you use your abilities. They hear it louder than a whisper.”

I gulped. Looked back up at the container roof. Even though there were no more sounds, I couldn’t escape the feeling that there was someone still up there, watching, waiting to make a move.

“Then what do we do?” I asked.

Orion didn’t respond. Just kept his focus on the roof.

I wanted to go along with him. Believe me; I didn’t want to shoot out of this container without a costume and start flaunting my abilities.

But I had a job to do.

I had to make sure the pair of us were safe.

“Sorry,” I said.

“Kyle, wait…”

I shifted outside of the container before Orion could stop me. When I was outside, I saw I wasn’t in a harbor, as I thought. I was right at the top of a scrap heap. Sitting atop a mound of trash in a tight squeeze of a container. Hell, I wasn’t by the sea. Least I knew now why it smelled so bad of fish, though.

I looked back at the container I’d just disappeared from. Hovered alongside it, keeping myself camouflaged, even though I knew that didn’t do much good with the ULTRAbots.

I held my breath as I rose up beside it. As I waited to go face to face with my assailant.

There was nobody on the roof of the container.

Nothing on the roof of the container.

I looked around at the rest of the scrap heap. Worn old sofas. Smashed-up cars. Massive containers spewing out trash of all kinds. Rats crawling around everywhere. In the corner of my eye, I swore I saw movement. People watching. People waiting.

I shook my head and teleported myself back inside the container.

“They’ve gone,” I said, upon appearing. “Whoever was there has…”

My mind froze.

Orion was standing opposite me. But he wasn’t the only one.

An ULTRAbot, male with buzzcut hair, stood right behind him.

He was wearing some kind of dry suit.

Powering up a bolt of electricity in its hand.

Getting ready to fire.

I
saw
the ULTRAbot standing behind Orion, getting ready to attack.

I wanted to shout. I wanted to tell him to watch out. To turn around. Someone was getting ready to attack him; I needed to let him know. And what could I do? I wasn’t in my Glacies gear. I couldn’t expose myself as an ULTRA. If I gave away my identity and my abilities to an ULTRAbot, then who knew what they’d do to my family, to the people I cared about?

That voice in my head was loud and strong as the ULTRAbot’s electric grew bigger, as I saw Orion start to turn as if in slow motion.

But there was another voice.

A louder voice.

A voice telling me that I had a duty. I had a responsibility.

And to hell with standing aside and watching someone else fall all because I was too afraid to give up my life as Kyle Peters.

I lunged towards the ULTRAbot at full force.

I slammed into it. Knocked it back against the wall of the container. I tried to shift us away, far away, but the ULTRAbot swung a heavy left hook into my cheek, knocking me back.

I flew through the roof of the container. Looked down and saw the ULTRAbot crouching down, then jumping up into the sky with me.

I dodged its first punch. Ducked just before it could make contact, that burning electricity so close to singeing my face.

I punched it back, right between its legs, as hard as I could. And then I bolted towards its head and fired ice into its eyes.

Electricity sparked from its eyes, and I fell back down towards the piles of rubble, the pain from the water conducting the electricity sending me off balance. I landed on the ground, right by a group of rats.

I was just adjusting my vision when I saw the ULTRAbot was right above me again.

It pulled its fist, which simmered with electricity, back.

And then it rammed it into my stomach. Hard.

I felt the shockwaves of pain. I felt like rolling over, like giving up. I wondered where Orion was. Surely his powers weren’t so limited that he couldn’t help me out here.

But then I saw the truth. I saw the reality of my situation.

I had to save myself. I was capable of saving myself.

The ULTRAbot went in hard with another punch. This time, I managed to roll myself away and disappear before it could punch me again.

I appeared above it. Grabbed its arm. Pulled the ULTRAbot back into the air with all my strength. I tried to teleport the pair of us again, tried to get us away, but every time I tried, the ULTRAbot just pulled out another move, hit me again, knocked me off balance.

Sparks ignited from its hand. It went to throw them at me; then I spat back at its face. I saw it sizzle, heard it yelp. Wait. That wasn’t like an ULTRAbot. In fact, it wasn’t even wearing the typical ULTRAbot gear, but more of a drysuit. That was… weird.

We traded punches in the sky, right above the scrapyard below. It was like a dance, only I’d never been any good at dancing, and in my former life I hadn’t been much good at fighting either.

I felt myself gaining ground. Felt my punches getting harder. Felt my abilities strengthening.

I felt the anger welling inside.

I could do this. I could beat this. I could…

It was at that moment that I realized something.

This ULTRAbot. It wasn’t an ULTRAbot at all. It wasn’t looking at me with that same dead-eyed glare that the ULTRAbots did. It wasn’t emotionless, reaction-less. It didn’t even have that emblem on its outfit, which I should’ve noticed earlier.

This was an ULTRA.

An ULTRA was trying to kill me.

I felt the punch then. Felt the hard crack that knocked me off balance, out of the sky. I tried to hover. Tried to teleport myself. But my head was spinning too much. I was falling. Falling to the ground below. I was going to break my neck. I was going to slip into unconsciousness and never heal myself. I was going to—

I grabbed the ULTRA’s leg.

Bit down onto my lip.

Teleported us to the first place I could think of.

The edge of the Staten Island harbor.

I held him down over the edge of the harbor. He tried to use his electricity again, tried to fire it at me, but I saw now that I was too strong for him. I had him pinned down.

“Who are you?” I barked.

The ULTRA smiled, blood between his teeth. “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”

He started laughing.

I felt my stomach turn. Tasted a sickly combination of blood and phlegm. The ULTRA was laughing at me. He was laughing at me because I really didn’t know what it was he was talking about. I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into. That terrified me.

But I wasn’t going to listen to his laughing any longer.

“Neither do you,” I said.

I went to push him over the edge, into the water.

“Wait!”

The loud voice came from behind. I turned around, still holding the ULTRA down.

Orion walked across the harbor towards me. He was limping a little, and sounded out of breath. I had no idea how he’d followed me, but then again he was
Orion
so of course he’d found me.

“Don’t do this,” Orion gasped. “We do not kill our own. No matter what, we do not kill our own.”

“He tried to kill
me
!”

“And he’ll have succeeded if you kill him. He’ll have turned you into something else. Something you do not want to be. Something you can never take back. Ever.”

I looked around at the ULTRA, who was still laughing as he lay there. I knew what’d happen the moment I pushed him into that water. I’d seen how he’d flinched when I’d spat at him, the water sparking a severe reaction to the electricity. If I took his dry suit off and threw him into this water, I suspected it’d spell the end for him.

“You have no idea!” the ULTRA said, hysterical. “You have no idea what a mistake you’re making.” His laughter rolled on.

“Please,” Orion said. “Do not do this. Do not go down this road.”

I held my breath. Felt sweat trickling down my head. I wanted to end this ULTRA. I wanted to finish him, for he’d seen my face, and for that reason alone, he was a threat.

I pushed him back. Walked away.

“Good,” Orion said, looking at me, as the ULTRA continued to laugh and roll around the ground.

Orion turned to the ULTRA.

“Now let’s put you somewhere you won’t come back from.”

In the blink of an eye, Orion disappeared.

A blink later, he returned.

He stood there, a little steam rising from his body. He gasped. Put his hands on his knees. I could tell the teleportation that he’d used so seamlessly had taken a lot out of him. So much that he was coughing and spitting onto the ground.

“Where did you take him?” I asked.

Orion looked up. Walked over to me. Put a hand on my shoulder.

“Like I said. Somewhere he won’t come back from.”

The pair of us walked away from the darkened harbor as the sounds of the water rippled against the concrete walls.

S
omewhere far
, far away, he kept on rolling around, kept on laughing.

“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into!” he cried. “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into!”

M
r. Parsons stared
out of the window of his fifty-first story office.

He liked it up here. He liked coming here and looking out at the horizon first thing in the morning, watching the sunrise. Of course, in winter, it wasn’t quite as spectacular; looking over the towns and cities and seeing a dim light behind the clouds. But there was something about it that he loved. Something about the way those clouds, just patches of water in the sky, could suffocate the impact and force of something as strong as the sun. The very thing keeping our solar system going. A pure miracle of nature.

He watched the sun rise and the snow fall. It was only going to snow heavier as time progressed.

He liked the snow, too.

“Sir? We’ve got an update for you, as requested.”

He heard the sound of his intercom. Wow, seven a.m. already. He’d stayed here last night, just staring out into the darkness. Sleep was for the weak, as the old cliche went. The older he got, the more he knew that was true.

The things you could do while the world was sleeping.

The plans you could make.

The drama that could unfold.

He turned around from the window and walked towards his door. The marble floor squeaked under his black shoes. The walls were covered with all kinds of abstract art, something which stimulated him whenever he walked past. The underfloor heating was hot enough to seep through the soles of his shoes and warm his feet. The room was rich with the smell of almonds, a freshness to the air matching the crispness outside.

He liked his office a lot. So much so that he spent the majority of his time here. Especially since unleashing the ULTRAbots on the world last week. Wow. He couldn’t believe five days had passed already. Two days left to keep up his end of the promise. To capture or destroy every living ULTRA.

If only humanity knew the next stage of the plan.

He stopped at the door and adjusted his belt, making sure he looked himself.

And then he cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and opened up.

Idris stood at the door. Now Idris had always been someone Mr. Parsons could trust. But recently, Mr. Parsons saw Idris looking at him funnily. Like he didn’t recognize him. Like something had… changed.

He’d deal with that, in due course.

“What’ve you got for me?” Mr. Parsons asked.

Idris scooted across the floor. He was dressed in a white lab coat. His hair was thin and straggly. He looked and smelled like he needed a good wash. Just his mere presence was enough to taint Mr. Parsons’ office space with something off. Something sour. “A list of all known ULTRAs in our custody, all known ULTRAs still evading our custody, and all known ULTRAs deceased.”

He placed the three documents down on the glass table in front of them.

Mr. Parsons looked at the documents. The list of ULTRAs in their custody and ULTRAs deceased were longer than the list of ULTRAs still evading custody. But the evasion list was still pages long. Still way too long to be keeping to a promise like the one he’d made.

Idris spoke as if he could read Mr. Parsons’ mind. “We aren’t going to do it in two days. It’s impossible. There’s still hundreds of them. Thousands, even. And sure, we’ve got a lot of ULTRAbots. More in production and released by the day. But they’re fighting back. They’re hiding well. There aren’t going to be enough.”

Mr. Parsons considered Idris’ words. He walked away from the documents, back over to his window. He looked out at the rising sun. It was burning through the cloud like a light in a forest. The snow was falling heavier.

“Sir,” Idris said, appearing at Mr. Parsons’ side. All these years working alongside Mr. Parsons and still he called him “sir.” “With the greatest of respect, I can’t help but notice you’re acting rather…”

Mr. Parsons turned to Idris. Smiled.

Idris looked down at the floor.

“Rather what?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Rather what, Idris?”

Idris chanced a look back up at Mr. Parsons, who smiled back at him. “I don’t know. You just seem like you’re going through a lot. I just wanted to make sure everything’s good, that’s all. Especially with Kelly. I don’t want you to mess things up with her. She’s much better for you than your wife’s ever been.”

Mr. Parsons’ smile twitched. This was something he wasn’t expecting, and something he wasn’t sure how to deal with.

“Kelly and I are fine,” he said. He put a hand on Idris’ shoulder. He felt his muscles tighten right underneath his grip, saw a glimpse of the horror on his face. “Now go on. I’m sure you’ve got work to do.”

Idris shuffled away from Mr. Parsons’ hand. Then he backed away from the room, towards the door. He picked up the documents with his shaky grip and started to walk away.

Mr. Parsons looked back outside the window, back at the sunrise. He liked this time. He liked to watch—

“Mr. Parsons,” Idris said.

Mr. Parsons’ smile twitched once more. He looked back around. “Yes, Idris?”

Idris looked at him with wide eyes. With a pale face. A way he’d never looked at him before. “When you say things are good. Between you and Kelly. What do you mean by that?”

Mr. Parsons considered his response. Waited a few seconds. “It means what it sounds like. Is there a problem?”

Idris visibly swallowed a lump. He shook his head, then took a few more steps towards the door. “It’s just… it’s just Kelly doesn’t exist. I made her up just now. That’s all.”

Mr. Parsons didn’t even attempt to hold his smile then.

It dropped completely.

Judging by the transition to fear on Idris’ face, he saw it too.

The pair of them stood in total silence. The only sound was the clicking of the old antique grandfather clock that Mr. Parsons had bought years ago at auction. It was strange, standing here, both of them
knowing
but neither of them
saying
. Like a performance in itself.

“On your way, Idris,” Mr. Parsons said. “We’ll speak again soon, I’m sure.”

Idris’ face shook. Sweat trickled down his forehead. “Yes. Yes, we… I suppose we will.”

He turned to the door.

Started to walk away.

And as Mr. Parsons stood there, back to the window, listening to Idris’ footsteps fading away, he figured it was a shame things had to come to such a bitter end.

He looked across the room. Looked at the collection of ULTRA memorabilia erected in his office. Rares. Originals.

He looked at his favourite object of all.

Smiled.

Outside the office, Idris’ footsteps suddenly stopped.

Something heavy hit the floor.

A struggle. A few gasps.

Then, total silence.