Battle of the ULTRAs (7 page)

S
aint never liked being disappointed
.

He looked at the cells where the captured Resistance had been kept. They were supposed to be so secure, yet here they were, completely empty. In the distance, he saw a gaping hole in the wall of his tower. He could feel a breeze brushing through it and it made him feel sick.

“How on earth did something like this happen?”

He tried to keep his cool as he turned to look at Controlla. He’d never been one for losing his temper, especially not with his own. Losing his temper just lowered the morale of everybody working for him. He couldn’t have morale lowering. Not when they were so close to such a beautiful moment.

Controlla glared at the floor. He rubbed the back of his head. He was just a boy. Naive to the demands of the world he lived in. “Something… something just happened.”

“You’re supposed to get inside the minds of others, aren’t you?”

Controlla nodded. “I did. I got inside Kyle’s mind—”

“Then what happened?”

“I… I don’t know. Something I’ve never seen before. Like he reversed it. Bounced it back at me. Then it was too late.”

Saint gritted his teeth. He resisted the urge to lash out, as much as his powers tingled at his fingers.

He took a deep breath and walked further across the metal flooring.

On the ground up ahead, there were pieces of rubble. Small chunks of debris. “But you managed to stop one of them leaving, by the looks of things. Right?”

Again, Controlla lowered his head, breaking Saint’s gaze.

“The one who calls himself Stone. You stopped him. Right?”

“The—the ULTRAbots had him. Then something happened there too. He got away before they could finish him. But I swear I tried to help stop him. I swear I did everything I could.”

Saint scanned Controlla’s face. He didn’t really like him. He was one of the ULTRAs Nycto had brought along with him, insisting he could be an asset. Saint gave him the benefit of the doubt. Already he was starting to regret his generosity.

“What happened,” Controlla said, as the ULTRAbots worked on putting the tower wall back together. “If I could’ve stopped it, I would. But I gave it my everything. I swear.”

Saint put a hand on Controlla’s shoulder. Smiled. “Come with me. There’s something I’d like to show you.”

He led Controlla down the steps. Right down, toward the room where he kept the humans. The first batch of humans, almost ready for their big moment. The first test of just how powerful he actually was—of just how powerful
they
actually were.

He opened the door and held a hand out for Controlla to go first. They stepped into the room and looked around.

“I always find it so peaceful down here,” Saint said, his voice echoing. “So soothing, being here with all these sleeping souls.”

He walked up to the first human. A woman with dark brown hair and soft skin. He put a hand on her stomach.

“But it excites me, too. Because I realize now just how amazing it’ll be when they finally wake from their sleep in service of us. Come over here.”

Controlla looked hesitant. His eyes were wide.

Saint waved him over. “Please. Join me. I’d like you to see what we can do.”

After a few seconds of hesitation, Controlla walked over to Saint’s side. They stood together at the foot of the bed where the woman lay. Saint put his hands on the bottom of the bed, and Controlla joined him on the other side. Together, they pushed the woman through a door right ahead, into a darkened room.

It smelled so damp in this room. It really could do with redecorating. But it would be fine, for now. He hadn’t exactly built it with first-class accommodation in mind.

“Where are we going?”

Saint walked a little further. Then he stopped right in front of a blacked out window. “We’re right here.”

There was silence for a moment.

Then Saint whistled.

Behind the blacked out window, a blue light grew. It completely lit up the room, shone through the window, and its beam hovered over the body of the woman.

Controlla looked on in awe as the light beamed down onto the woman’s chest. Her body twitched. Her fingers shook. Something was happening.

“Imagine this process but magnified,” Saint said. “Imagine what we could do if we had more power like this. That is the goal. That is the endgame.”

The blue light intensified. For a moment, Saint looked into the eyes of the girl behind the glass. The girl who had these marvelous abilities.

And then the light disappeared and it was dark again.

Saint lifted his hand. Lit up the air.

The woman on the bed was still.

“What’s… what’s supposed to have happened?” Controlla asked.

He didn’t have to wait long for his answer.

The woman’s eyes opened.

She shot up and wrapped her hands around his neck.

He shook as he fought against her on the ground. Saint knew he was trying to use his powers, but he made sure they were repressed as the human woman—now under his total control—held him to the ground.

“This is the difference between your kind and my kind,” Saint said, as Controlla shouted out, screamed. “This is the difference between the first wave of ULTRAs, and ULTRAbots and humans totally under my control.”

“Please!” Controlla shouted, writhing on the floor. “Don’t do this!”

Saint smiled. He took a deep breath of the damp air and looked through the blackened glass. He knew she was in there somewhere. “Oh, it’s done, my child. It’s done. And this is just the beginning.”

Controlla cried out again.

Then, he went silent.

I
blasted
through the sky and away from the ULTRAbots.

It was dark. I wasn’t sure where we were exactly, just that we’d escaped Saint’s tower a while back. We’d had to shake off several ULTRAbots on our way, but we’d dealt with them. Of course we had. We were much stronger than them.

The rain lashed down. The waves beneath us were strong and tall. It was pitch black other than the unnatural light we created between us. There was me, Orion, Vortex, Stone, Roadrunner and Ember. We’d made our way out of Saint’s tower.

Well. Stone had almost fallen.

“Why’s it always me who gets the heroic near-death moments?” Stone shouted.

Vortex giggled. “Better that way than the
actual
death moments.”

Stone scratched at a missing chunk of rock on his arm. “Damn. Not so sure about that anymore.”

I heard the rest of the Resistance bickering, but I wasn’t really listening. I just stared back in the direction we’d come from, into the storm.

“So where to now we’ve got no home?” Ember asked.

“There’s bound to be some other uninhabited islands,” Vortex said. “Or we could just use Stone as an island.”

“I heard that.”

“I hoped you would.”

“Kyle?”

I looked to my right. Orion, Roadrunner, and Ember were hovering there beside me. Each of them looked concerned.

“What’s going on in your head, man?” Ember asked.

I looked back into the storm. “I just… Saint. He’s right there in his tower.”

Orion sighed. “We’ve discussed this.”

“We’ve proven we can fight what he throws at us.”

“We don’t know for sure he’s thrown everything at us,” Orion said.

“But just knowing he’s still in there, in that tower. We were so close. I was… I was so close. And I just ran away.”

“You
flew
away because if you hadn’t, you’d have died in there.”

“I wouldn’t have died.”

“We’re fighting a war,” Orion said. “And no wars were ever won by rash, haphazard decisions. We don’t go flying into a tower without knowing what we’re getting into. You saw what they had planned yourself with those humans. Who knows what other secrets they’ve got waiting inside?”

I looked down at the sea. I knew Orion had a point. “I just… I just can’t keep on running while the ULTRA responsible for my family’s death is still in there ruling—”

“Kid, he didn’t just kill your damned family,” Stone shouted.

“I meant… I meant
our
families.”

“No you didn’t,” Orion said.

His words surprised me. “Of course I did.”

“You didn’t, Kyle. And that’s where the problem lies. I don’t believe you are fighting this battle for us. I don’t believe you’re fighting this battle for anyone but yourself.”

“That’s rubbish.”

“Every decision you make, you make it in your own self-interest. You go rushing after Saint in the Battle for Manchester. You hold Stone under the water just because you think he’s possessed by someone close to Saint.”

“I’ve told you, I didn’t mean that.”

“And you’re going to rush into near-certain death, all because you’re so hell-bent and vengeful. Well, I’m sorry, Kyle, but we aren’t going to be by your side to do that. Not without a plan.”

I watched as Orion drifted away from me and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“Stone? Roadrunner? Ember? Vortex? Surely you aren’t gonna just give up too?”

There was sadness in Vortex’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said, drifting away with Orion. “But I’m with Orion. We can’t risk everything when we have no idea how to truly weaken the enemy we’re facing.”

“Ember? Roadrunner? You’re in this with me too, right?”

Ember shook his head and drifted back, so too did Roadrunner. “I’m sorry, man. There’s just been too much loss as it is. Can’t risk anyone else.”

I looked at Stone, totally defeated. I knew he wouldn’t be with me right away. “What happened,” I said. “Back at the waterfall. It was wrong. But I only did it because—”

“Come back to us when you actually give a damn about us, kid,” Stone said. “Get the hell over yourself. There’s a war to fight.”

He floated backward, joining Vortex, Ember, Roadrunner, and Orion.

I stared up at them, a knot in my stomach. I felt the divide between us. They thought I’d caused this rift, all because I was trying to take down Saint. “We need to be together. To fight this war. We can’t win alone.”

“And that’s what
you
need to remember,” Orion said. “Not us.
You
need to remember that.”

He hesitated. Stopped drifting away. For a moment, I was convinced he was going to stop and fly back down here, tell me he had my back. Or at least forgive me for whatever he thought I’d done wrong.

But then a flash of lightning filled the sky. Made me blink.

When I opened my eyes, Orion and the Resistance were gone.

I was all alone with the crashing waves and the rapid wind, the storm clouds getting thicker overhead.

I
looked
down at the island where everyone I cared about lived and I knew I should be far, far away from here.

It was night. It was always night when I came here. Even though I could turn invisible at the click of a finger, I still didn’t want to risk being spotted in the light of day. Or maybe I was worried about me seeing someone else. Maybe I was worried about what’d happen if I saw my dad walking around in the daylight, or Damon laughing and joking with Avi, or Ellicia’s beautiful face.

There was a lump in my throat as I looked down from the top of the tree at the village. It was calm, and most people were inside. On the silence of this island, it was hard to believe that the rest of the world had fallen. I knew nowhere was safe, especially not now Saint had some unsavory plans for humans. But I’d fight. I’d fight like hell to keep this place safe.

I hoped it wouldn’t have to come to that, though.

There was another reason I was here too. After the rest of the Resistance had left me behind following the escape of Saint’s tower, I’d thought about going back there. Fighting Saint myself. I was tough, and I could take on whatever he could throw at me.

But I knew if I did that, I’d probably fail. And if I failed, I was worried about what it might mean for the people I loved.

I looked down at the little building where Ellicia was living. I wanted to go in there and speak with her. I needed to tell her I was going to stop Saint. But I didn’t want to put her in any danger, and it felt like just by revealing myself to the people of this island, I’d be putting them in danger.

And there was Dad, too. I needed to speak to him. Dad used to be full of wisdom, even when he’d slipped into his depression. He’d been the one to talk me through my exams at school; given me loads of little mental tips and pieces of advice that’d got me through all kinds of dramas in my life.

I needed to know what to do. I needed to know how to go about all this.

I needed him to tell me to get revenge against Saint.

But something made me worry he wouldn’t tell me that at all.

Orion seemed insistent about his “no kill” thing. It was limiting us in the war. Sure, it was all fair and well in an idealistic world where all ULTRAs could peacefully co-exist, but the truth was, the likes of Nycto and Saint didn’t want peace. There was no room for them in this world. As long as they existed, the world was under threat.

Only by destroying them both could we ever dream of a normal world again.

Well. Not normal. The world would never be normal after all that’d happened.

But at least it could breathe again.

I hopped off the tree, steadied my fall with my powers, and walked over to the door of Dad’s house. I was just going to go in there and ask him, straight up, what he thought I should do. How I should go about this battle. I had to keep as much emotion out of it as possible. I had to be professional. I couldn’t stick around—I had to stay as detached as I could.

I stepped up to the door. Held my breath. My pulse raced in my throat.

And then I stepped right through the walls.

I saw Dad right away. He was lying on a little bed barely a foot off the ground. By his side, there was a small flashlight. He was holding something in his hands.

As I got closer, still invisible, I realized Dad was holding a photograph of me, him and Mom. It’d been taken just a few months before Mom’s death. One of the happier post-Glacies days. We’d started spending more time together, and we went on a trip up to Niagara Falls. We’d got soaked and had a blast. I’d even sneakily saved a kid from slipping into the water and stopped a boat from capsizing, all without anyone even noticing. But the highlight of the day was just sitting in a diner afterward, exhausted from the long day, and watching the sunset with Mom and Dad by my side. All of us smiling, joking, not talking about past memories, but creating new ones.

It was perfect.

I noticed then that Dad was crying.

I walked closer to him. Crouched down beside him. He still hadn’t noticed me, so strong was my invisibility.

He peered at the photograph, which shook in his hand. Tears streamed down his cheeks. His jaw shook.

“I miss you,” he whispered. “I miss you both so much.”

I felt a lump in my throat. My eyes started to sting. Poor Dad had lost everybody. He’d had everyone taken away from him. Usually when I thought about this, it made me feel angry. All the more determined to make Saint pay.

But right now, I just felt sadness.

I reached my hand out. Felt the warmth of Dad’s arm getting closer. I wanted to put a hand on it and reassure him. I wanted to hug him and tell him I was here for him, and that I wasn’t ever going away again.

I got within an inch of his arm when I heard a scream outside.

Dad lunged out of the bed. I fell back, almost losing my invisibility, as he raced toward the door.

I looked around as he opened the door. Outside, more screams.

A humming noise.

And a light in the sky.

“What is it?” Dad shouted.

I already knew what it was, but I didn’t want to admit it. I didn’t want to accept it.

“It’s the ULTRAbots,” someone shouted. “They’re here!”