by Matt Blake
“There’s more news,” Panther said. He looked at the floor now. “From the Resistance. Kyle… Kyle and Daniel know. About Orion.”
That news sparked a joy inside Saint that completely overshadowed any nerves he’d had before. Kyle and Daniel finally knew the true identity of Orion. That was perfect. It meant that Daniel had seen the memory cache he’d left lying around, waiting for him to look at. Memory caches were powerful things, something only the greatest ULTRAs—like himself—could create.
It also meant they knew the truth about their sister.
Well. Not the whole truth.
“Very good,” Saint said. “Then you know what you have to do.”
Panther looked at Saint for a few seconds like he wasn’t totally certain. “Are you sure?”
“Take as many ULTRAbots as possible to New York. Get them ready to fight.”
“What about the ULTRAs?”
“Kyle and Daniel must live until they make it here. The rest… rounding them up would be preferable. But as long as we have Kyle and Daniel, do not worry about killing them. There’s no use for them in the long term. Except one. He could come in handy.”
Saint didn’t have to name the ULTRA he referred to for Panther to understand.
He put a hand on Panther’s shoulder. “We’re very close to something beautiful. I’m thrilled you’ve chosen to stick around to see the fireworks.”
Panther nodded. “I’m completely in service to you.”
“And you’ve been truly excellent.”
One moment, Panther had light in his eyes.
The next, the life drifted from his body completely.
He hit the ground. Saint stood over him, then lifted him through the door into that dark corridor where she was waiting. He made sure the power stayed inside Panther’s body. It was important he kept that. After all, it was the very food that helped her control the minds of the humans.
He stood outside the glass window. Held up Panther’s body. “Your next meal, my lady.”
Nothing but darkness behind the window. No movement whatsoever.
Then, a blue light.
It drifted out of the room. Swooped inside Panther’s body. It hovered over it for a few seconds, pulling something away.
And then the light beamed out of this corridor and Saint knew somewhere in the hangar where the humans rested, one—or more—awoke.
He looked into the eyes of the girl behind the glass as she harvested more of the ULTRA powers. Soon, he wouldn’t need to feed her at all. Soon, her brother would be beside her, similarly mind washed, and the joint connection of their powers would be enough to brainwash every single human on this planet, whether they were in this tower or living on the ground.
He smiled at the girl. Her hair still looked as shiny as the day he’d pulled her from that coffin and trapped her. Her eyes were still as beautiful as when he’d woken her up to another life. A life in service to him.
Soon, Cassie and Kyle would have their family reunion.
33
I looked down at New York and felt sadness fill my body.
New York was the city I knew better than any other. I’d grown up there, on Staten Island. I’d taken so many trips to Manhattan, and even though I’d never been a big fan of crowds, I was always amazed by the buzz of people. It always reminded me just how alive the world really was.
New York had never looked deader than it did right now.
Smoke plumed up from the wrecked skyscrapers. Abandoned yellow cabs lined the streets. Horses still pulled carriages ran around the overgrown Central Park, free from the monotony of tourist rides. The billboards of Times Square were completely vacant.
However, it wasn’t totally empty. There were movements down in the shadows. I knew what those movements were. We all knew what those movements were.
The ULTRAbots. The ones we were going to fight to take New York back.
“So how exactly do we take a city that doesn’t have much left to take?” Ember asked.
I swallowed a lump in my throat. Looked down at the ULTRAbot below me. “Like this.”
I slammed my hands together and crashed down into the ULTRAbot. I made sure it was definitely an ULTRAbot and not a brainwashed human—as much as I realized I was going to have to fight some of them, I still didn’t like the idea of attacking humans so much.
Then I punched it in the face and knocked its electronic head off.
The second I took down the first ULTRAbot, more of them appeared around me like bees protecting their nest.
“Now’s the time to think about fighting!” I called.
Above, the Resistance swooped down and blasted at the ULTRAbots.
I fought back against them, one by one. I fired ice into the face of one. Another one grabbed my leg, twisted it to the point of breaking, so I teleported behind it and fried its mechanics with one of its colleague’s bullets.
I saw Stone punching the life out of another of the ULTRAbots. I saw Vortex, Ember, Orion, and Roadrunner all fighting their own ULTRAbots, and the rest of the Resistance fighting their battle, too.
By my side, I saw Daniel. He charged up the flames in his hands and slammed the balls of energy right into the faces of two ULTRAbots, knocking them out of the sky in a flash. If I had any doubts about which side he was on, I knew the truth now.
I started growing wary when I saw the skies were still empty.
“Aren’t the others supposed to be heading our way about now?” Ember asked.
“Just keep the faith,” I said, as I fired a few more shots of ice at some oncoming ULTRAbots. “Just—”
A strong fist slammed across my face. I felt the powers drift from my body and fell down toward the ground. I knew what’d happened. I’d been hit by one of those paralyzing ULTRAbot bullets. It was lucky I’d put my defenses up at the last second, or I was confident I wouldn’t have a face right now.
But I was falling. That wasn’t good news for anyone.
I flew into the ground. A crater formed around me. I twisted onto my back and gritted my teeth.
Above, I saw an ULTRAbot holding a gun to my head.
I tried to activate my powers but I was weak. The paralyzing blast had taken it out of me. The rest of the ULTRAs above me were all in battle.
I spat out some blood and held my breath as I waited for the bullet.
The gun charged up.
Then a hole blasted in the ULTRAbot’s chest.
I jumped out of the way before the ULTRAbot’s bullet could hit me. When I looked past the ULTRAbot, I realized what’d happened.
Daniel was hovering behind it. Two orange spheres of energy rested in his hands. He watched the ULTRAbot fall to its knees and he smiled.
I nodded. “Thanks.”
“Was that Kyle Peters, the great Glacies, just thanking me right then?”
“Alright, alright. Don’t rub it in.”
“Man, allow me my moment.”
“You kind of owed me after I kept you alive at the bottom of Krakatoa.”
Daniel tutted. “I’d hardly say this makes us even.”
Right as he spoke, I heard a humming sound rip through the sky. New York went dark in an instant. I knew why it had to be.
Saint.
But when I focused above, I couldn’t see Saint.
I could, however, see masses of ULTRAbots. More than I’d ever seen in my life.
All of them were hurtling down to New York.
“This is it,” Daniel said. “We have to get out of here now. We won’t get a better chance.”
I looked at Orion, Ember, Roadrunner, Vortex and Stone. I looked at the rest of the Resistance fighting alongside them. “But there’s too many of them—”
“They chose to fight for you, brother. They chose this path. But we can’t be here. Not if we want to save everyone. Okay?”
I watched the ULTRAbots get closer and I knew Daniel was right. Sure, I wanted to go up there and get my revenge against Saint. But another part of me wanted to l
ook Saint in the eye when I got that revenge. Another part of me wanted to be here for this battle.
“Then let’s go,” I said. “Now.”
I started to elevate toward the sky when I heard a blast erupt through the middle of the street.
I looked across and saw a mass of ULTRAbots all around Stone. They held on to him. Dragged him into the sky. More of the ULTRAbot army hurried down, attacked Orion, Ember, Vortex, Roadrunner, the rest of the Resistance. There were way too many to deal with.
“Now, Kyle,” Daniel said. “We have to go now!”
I looked at Daniel. Then I looked back at Stone.
The ULTRAbots were all around him.
His punches were weakening.
He was disappearing…
34
I watched the ULTRAbots surround Stone.
“Kyle!” Daniel shouted. “We need to get to Saint’s tower right this second!”
I heard Daniel’s voice and knew time was running out. All around me, the assault of the ULTRAbots was getting stronger. There were so many of them, more than I’d ever seen in one place. They fought around the burned-out skyscrapers in the New York skyline; the Resistance battled them atop the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller, over Central Park. The air was warm from the heat of explosions.
And in front of me, a group of the ULTRAbots swarmed Stone.
“There’s no time,” Daniel shouted, dodging the attack of three oncoming ULTRAbots, which fired down at him. “We—we have to move. Right now.”
Daniel was right. I knew that much. But I couldn’t just let the Resistance fall. These ULTRAs had given up everything to back my plan. The least I could do was fight for them. “We can’t go,” I said.
Daniel narrowed his eyes. “What?”
I charged up the ice in my hands, tensing my fists. “I can’t let the Resistance just fall.”
“We knew there’d be casualties. We all agreed there’d be casualties.”
I turned around and looked back at the ULTRAbots swarming Stone. “I’m through with casualties.”
I fired a blast of ice right into the surrounding crowd.
Just before the ice hit them, I felt time slow down. I saw my ice slipping between the ULTRAbots, worming its way in front of them. Then, when I was sure there was an icy wall between the ULTRAbots and Stone, I dragged my hands out.
The ULTRAbots flew away from Stone like there’d been an explosion in the middle of them. Time sped up again, and they blasted far away, through the sky, some of them right across the city.
In the middle of where they’d surrounded, I saw Stone.
He was still. Rocks crumbled down from his broken body. His eyes were closed, and he was dropping down to the ground below.
“Stone!”
I hovered over to him, blasting aside a few ULTRAbots in the process.
“Kyle, there’s no time—”
“Then you go!” I shouted.
Daniel’s eyes were wide. For the first time in a long time, I thought he actually looked concerned. “I can’t take Saint’s tower myself.”
“Then you wait for me. You help us fight. Then we go.”
“That wasn’t the plan. The plan was to turn Saint’s ULTRAbots against him.”
“I don’t see Saint anywhere,” I said. “He’s—he’s sent his heavy artillery, but he isn’t here.”
More concern on Daniel’s face. “I’m sure he’s here somewhere.”
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t look like it. So I’m not just going to leave my people here to die.”
I grabbed Stone and hovered in the air. He was heavy in my arms, almost twice my width, but I kept hold of him there in the sky.
“Stone, please,” I said. “You… you and I haven’t always seen eye to eye. But we can’t lose you. We need you. You’re strong.”
“Um, Kyle,” Daniel said.
I ignored him. Kept my focus on Stone. I put my hand on his stony chest, which crumbled to the touch. “You’ve fought this much. You can keep on fighting. You’re one of the strongest ULTRAs I’ve ever met. Don’t give up now. Please.”
“Kyle, seriously.”
I was about to see what Daniel wanted when Stone opened his eyes and spluttered up dust.
“Whoah,” I said, patting his chest, unable to shake the smile from my face. “That’s it. That’s just it. Cough it right up.”
“Bastard,” he muttered. “B—bastard.”
“That’s right. ‘Bastard.’ You get it all off your chest.”
I held on to Stone as the city collapsed around me. I was finally about to see what Daniel wanted when something caught my eye.
Over in the distance, I saw Saint’s cloud.
I felt my fists tense. The urge to face him, head on, was stronger than ever. I knew it wasn’t the plan, but I’d always liked the idea of taking him down personally while we were head to head. Turning his ULTRAbots against him to do the dirty work? It didn’t have the same oomph to it.
But then again, I knew what the plan was. I could hear the sounds of battle and see the explosions all around me as the Resistance and the ULTRAbots came head to head. I had to stick to the plan. I had to hold off fighting Saint right now because that wasn’t the plan.
Maybe now I knew Saint was here, the initial plan would work.
But I wasn’t going anywhere while I knew the ULTRAbots still had the odds stacked in their favor.
I hovered away from Stone, who’d regained his composure. I looked up at the swathes of ULTRAbots covering the sky above me. There was no sign of Daniel. I wasn’t sure what to make of that. Really, I couldn’t blame him. I just hoped he was back here when the time was right.
“Kyle. You not supposed to be outta here?” Ember flew to my side. Soon after, Vortex and Orion joined him.
I looked up at the ULTRAbots flying down at us. I tightened my grip and felt the ice sprouting from my fists. “Not until I know you’re safe.”
“But you have a job to do. You have to take down—”
Ember didn’t finish speaking.
Well, he might’ve. But I didn’t hear him.
A burst of energy blasted into my chest. A splitting pain cracked through my skull. I fell down rapidly into the buildings below. All of them fell down toward me.
I twisted around, the taste of blood thick in my mouth. There was a hole in my chest. I had to heal it or I’d die. I had to hurry, or I’d…
I was about to focus on healing myself when an ULTRAbot pulled aside the building and flew at me.
Behind it, another twenty, thirty, forty, all of them pointing their guns, all getting ready to blast me from the face of existence.
35
When you’re lying on the ground under a bunch of falling skyscrapers with a hole in your chest, you know you’re pretty much screwed.
Oh, and when a bunch of ULTRAbots are closing in on you, giving you zero chance to heal the gaping wound that’s on the verge of killing you? Yeah. You’re very goddamned screwed.
I looked up at the mass of ULTRAbots above. They all had their guns primed and pointed them at me, ready to fire. Usually when I was in this kind of situation, I’d find a way to use my powers to blast them out of my line of sight. But the pain in my chest was too strong. I was getting weaker by the second. I had to focus on healing myself, or I’d die.
The problem with focusing on healing myself? It might just kill me anyway.
I looked down at my chest. The bitter taste of blood was on my lips. I could hear the droning sounds of battle above and hoped my ULTRAs were okay. I hoped wherever they were, the Resistance was giving the ULTRAbots all they had.
The ULTRAbots hovered lower toward me. I was surprised they hadn’t shot me by now, in truth. It seemed weird. They had a golden opportunity to deal with me, put me down, and they were letting the seconds tick by.
And every second that ticked by, I used it as a bonus. I focused on my chest. Healed the broken tissue. Shit, if I’d taken a blast a little further to the left, my hea
rt would’ve been ripped apart.
Could even I bounce back from something like that?
I certainly didn’t want to take my chances.
The healing process was agonizing. I bit my lip and tasted even more blood. I winced every time a small piece of tissue was healed, as the muscle regenerated, as my skin healed over. Even I was surprised by the sheer strength of my powers when I was in as dire a situation as this.
Still, the ULTRAbots weren’t firing.
I felt myself getting weaker the more of my powers I put into healing. I wondered if this was one of those moments Orion spoke about. The ones that took so much strength that it completely wounded an ULTRA. If it did, then I’d never take down Saint. I’d never be able to lead the ULTRAs again. I’d be totally lost.
But then the skin on my chest healed over.
The ULTRAbots hovered above me.
I looked up at them, into their staring eyes.
“What?” I shouted, stumbling to my feet. “What are you waiting for?”
They held their guns. I thought I saw something in their eyes, then. A glimmer of confusion, like they were caught in two minds about what to do. They were trained to hunt down ULTRAs, so that concerned me.
If they weren’t hunting me down, then who was giving that order?
“What are you waiting for?”
I listened to my voice echo around the crater. Rubble tumbled down as my voice bounced against it. Up above, I saw a glimmer of light where the city of New York stayed engaged in battle.
Then the ULTRAbots’ stares focused.
They lifted their guns higher. Tensed on the trigger.
I closed my eyes.
I heard a blast above. It cracked through the rubble and sent more debris falling down in my direction.
It was a blast of orange energy that slammed into the backs of half of the ULTRAbots, disabling them in an instant.
I stood. Flew up at the ULTRAbot nearest to me. I crashed into its chest, knocked it back up toward the ceiling of rubble. It pressed back against me, squeezed my hands. And as I tried to take it down, ice spreading across my hands, I saw that look of confusion once more. The ULTRAbot was caught in two minds about what it wanted to do. Why?
