Battle of the ULTRAs

by Matt Blake

  I heard more explosions around me. More balls of energy hit the ULTRAbots. More of them fell down. And above, I saw the rubble falling. The sky appearing. Only it wasn’t as full of ULTRAbots anymore. Many of them had fallen.

  I went to punch my fist into a final ULTRAbot when a massive rock hit my side.

  It knocked me down. I felt myself flying below and prepared for it to crush my head.

  Only I stopped.

  So too did the rock.

  I looked around. Tried to figure out what’d happened.

  It was only when I looked above that I realized Daniel was the one keeping me hovering.

  He moved the rock away from me. Then he moved the ULTRAbots below it. His eyes were bright, and his body was shaking.

  Then he threw the rock down at the ULTRAbots, crushing them in an instant.

  His eyes became normal. “Okay. So now we’re even?”

  I flew up toward him. Together, we looked across the city of New York. The ULTRAbots were lowering in number. Saint was nowhere to be seen.

  “So that’s Plan A down the crapper,” Daniel said.

  I looked down at my chest. It was completely healed over. And it dawned on me that maybe I really was a lot stronger than I thought. I knew I was strong… but the way I’d actually healed myself when I was in such immediate danger. It made me understand I could use that power and strength even more.

  “We don’t need Plan A,” I said, not anymore.

  I flew up into the gray sky. A few ULTRAbots still hovered around, but enough for the Resistance to deal with.

  “Where you going?”

  I turned around. “We’re going to Saint’s tower. We’re going to face him directly. Then we’re going to stop all this mess once and for all.”

  36

  When I saw Saint’s tower in the distance, I couldn’t help the knotting sensation in my stomach.

  There was a dark cloud all around, the kind that followed Saint wherever he went. Below, the waves were strong and rapid. If any normal person swam in there, they’d be lost to the sea in an instant. The smell of saltwater was strong in the air, its taste covering my lips. I could hear the gradual hum of something in the distance; the sound of life, as Saint’s human brainwashing program powered on. My chest still stung from the blast I’d taken through it not long ago, but I was fine. It still amazed me that I’d survived that blast. Again, it made me realize I was probably stronger than I’d first thought.

  “So what’s the plan, Einstein?”

  I looked to my right. Daniel hovered beside me. He was dressed up to his neck in his Nycto gear, but his mask wasn’t in place. Truth be told, I’d still been skeptical about him even when we’d stood together and waited for the ULTRAbots to attack New York. But after he’d helped me fight out of the rubble of the fallen skyscrapers, and after he’d carried on with my new plan to attack Saint’s tower head on, my faith in him was growing. My lust for vengeance was falling. I saw the truth clearer than ever before. I needed to protect humanity and ULTRAs from Saint because Saint was evil. Sure, I wanted to get my own revenge on Saint for what he’d done to the people I loved, for those he’d taken away from me. But there was more to it than that. Taking Saint down was a goal in itself. It didn’t need to have my own lust for vengeance behind it.

  But still, it’d be an absolute treat if I could be the one to put a stop to his era of chaos.

  “We can both turn invisible, right?”

  “Well, yeah,” Daniel said. “But if you think that’s gonna get us past Saint’s ULTRAbots, you’re very wrong.”

  “It might not get us past the ULTRAbots, but I’ve… I don’t know about you, but I’ve felt something more recently. A stronger power than I thought I had growing inside me.”

  “Sounds like a crackpot theory to me.”

  “Just… Just hear me out. When we were locked in Saint’s cells... when the ULTRA called Controlla came to get into my head... I found a way to reverse his powers and turn them against him. It made me wonder if I could do more than I’d been giving myself credit for.”

  “You give yourself enough credit as it is. You’d be insufferable if you gave yourself anymore.”

  I ignored Daniel. “And back when you helped me from the ULTRAbots in New York. I had a hole in my chest. I should’ve died. Hell, I know I can heal myself, but even I shouldn’t have been able to bounce back from that.”

  “So what you’re saying is… No. I really don’t know what you’re saying.”

  “I’m starting to think that the more danger we’re in, the more powerful our powers become. When I put you at the bottom of Krakatoa—”

  “Cheers for the reminder.”

  “Just listen, please. When I buried you there, I put every single damned effort into making sure you’d stay at the bottom of that volcano.”

  “Thanks for that.”

  “I tried, but you must’ve wanted to get out more than anything else.”

  “Surviving is always a wise priority when you’ve got a flood of lava heading toward you, sure.”

  “So you found it in yourself to fight. And sure, it weakened you for a while. It took the energy out of you. But you did it. I’m starting to think maybe we could use that strength to get inside, get past Saint’s ULTRAbots and take him down, head on.”

  Daniel shook his head. “Even if it did work, there’s no getting past the barriers Saint has in place. They repress our powers. There’s definitely no teleporting inside his office and being done with it.”

  “I’m not sure that’s totally true,” I said.

  Daniel hovered in front of me. He looked right into my eyes. “I’m still not really sure what you’re actually suggesting here.”

  I looked down at the waves below. Watched them bash against each other.

  “Kyle?”

  “If I go in there. If I… If I throw everything I have into getting in there, alone. I might fail. If I do, I want you to go in there and… I want you to go in there and be the one to take Saint down.”

  I looked into Daniel’s eyes. Something shifted in them. I saw him looking at me with his defenses totally down. “You want me to take Saint down?”

  “I might not make it, like I said. And if I do make it and destroy the defenses in the process, my powers are definitely not going to be what they were beforehand. I might not be strong enough. So I need you to be ready. To do what you have to do.”

  Daniel wiped his face. It looked like he was rubbing a tear from his eye.

  “You’re my brother,” I said. “Sure, we’re not exactly best friends, but we’re family. And if there’s a chance… Just the smallest chance our sister is still in Saint’s hands, then we owe it to each other to find her. Not just that, but we owe it to the world to stop him.”

  Daniel looked at the waves below. “You’ve really put the past behind you, haven’t you?”

  I took a deep breath of the sea air, then I nodded. “I’ve learned that I can’t go hating everyone who’s done wrong against me. Sometimes to defeat those you really need to defeat, you need to let go of your own vengeance and focus on forgiveness.”

  Daniel paused for a second. Then, “Nice speech. So what’s the—”

  Daniel didn’t finish speaking.

  A blast of energy smacked into his side.

  He went flying toward the sea.

  Up above, a group of ULTRAbots dropped their invisibility and watched him fall down to the water.

  Their guns were turned on me.

  37

  I flew down to Daniel as he fell into the ravenous sea.

  Lightning struck above. Torrential rain flew down. The waves grew stronger and stronger. I knew the ULTRAbots weren’t far behind me. I could see their bullets blasting past me, firing into the water. Again, that struck me as weird. I was trying to dodge their attacks of course, but my attention was more on stopping Daniel from falling into the sea. He’d taken a bad hit. He was clearly unconscious. I needed him by my side if I was going to carry out
my plan of taking down Saint.

  But again, why weren’t the ULTRAbots’ bullets making contact with me? Why weren’t they shooting right at me?

  I swooped over to the right and picked up my pace toward the water, keen to divert the ULTRAbots’ attention from Daniel’s falling body. As the water approached, I saw that flashback clearly in my head.

  My biological father, Orion, dunking me under the water.

  Daniel by one side. My sister, Cassie, at the other side.

  The combined abilities of Orion and Saint coming together to make us what we were.

  Two generations of the most powerful ULTRAs that ever lived.

  I felt the water hit my face and I held my breath. I swam around to where I knew Daniel was going to fall. I had no doubt he could look after himself, but I couldn't bear to lose him. He was unconscious so he was in danger. I couldn't just let him fall.

  As I swam around the powerful waves, I got an idea. I knew it was wrong, but it was tempting. Daniel Septer was still Nycto. As much as he was my brother, the rest of the Resistance had a point. When Saint was out of the way, what was stopping him just making another power grab? Did I really need him by my side to take down Saint at all?

  Or did I have my golden opportunity to finally get rid of him right here?

  I quickly banished that thought from my head when the water splashed.

  The ULTRAbots were swimming through the sea, powering toward me.

  I moved quicker to where I figured Daniel was about to fall. I’d lost him. He was falling fast, but I’d hit the water quicker than him for a reason. I squinted up as the ULTRAbots got closer. I was putting a lot of attention on holding my breath down here so my powers wouldn’t be as…

  No. Wait. That wasn’t true.

  I would be as strong.

  I’d seen for myself just how strong I could be.

  I steadied myself and turned to the ULTRAbots.

  I lifted my hands and felt the energy and the power coursing through my system as I looked the ULTRAbots in the eye. They still had that uncertainty to their demeanor, like they were split on what to do, which I still couldn’t understand.

  Still, I wasn’t going to stick around to find out why.

  I blasted my hands together and opened up a massive wormhole in the middle of the water. Through it, I could see the desert, somewhere in the Middle East. I watched the ULTRAbots flood down through that wormhole like they were being flushed down a toilet and felt my energy getting stronger, my powers getting stronger.

  I was Kyle Peters. I was Glacies.

  I could do this.

  I could…

  Shit.

  Oh shit.

  I saw another figure fall down that wormhole and into the desert just as I closed it.

  Daniel.

  Dammit!

  I tried to open up another wormhole in the exact same place, but my powers weren’t strong enough. I needed air. I felt like I was getting weaker. Above, I heard more ULTRAbots splash into the water. I could deal with them, sure. But I wasn’t totally confident I could hold them off forever.

  I tried to open that wormhole again as my oxygen levels dropped and my muscles weakened. In the place of urgency to save Daniel, I felt that vengeance creeping in again. That destructive vengeance which always had a funny way of paralyzing me.

  Saint had done this.

  This was Saint’s fault.

  I was going to make Saint pay for…

  No!

  I ripped open a wormhole right in front of me. It was the biggest one I’d ever seen, a mass of land and a tunnel of air right in the middle of the water.

  It was the desert where Daniel and the ULTRAbots had fallen into.

  I let the water carry me out of that wormhole then when I was through, I closed it.

  I splashed to the ground below. It must’ve been the first water this land had seen in a long time. To my left, I saw a man holding a camel with an empty vial of water. He was covered in the seawater, and his jaw was agape.

  “This is seawater,” I said, holding my hand over it to rip the salt away from as much as I could, purifying it in an instant. “It might still have a salty tang but it should be good for now.”

  The man didn’t say a word back to me. He just looked on, dumbstruck.

  I turned ahead to where I’d seen Daniel fall. There was no sign of him.

  I thought about going back through that wormhole and dealing with Saint myself. I knew what I was capable of now. I knew how strong I was.

  But Daniel was my brother. He’d turned his allegiances to help me. I couldn’t just walk away.

  I took a deep breath of the scorching desert air and walked through the sand.

  I was finding Daniel Septer. I was saving Nycto’s life.

  If only I’d known then how things were going to turn out.

  38

  An hour searching the desert and still no sign of Daniel Septer.

  The air was humid and scorching. As much as I was resistant to the intensity of the weather, even I was struggling to breathe right now. The sand stretched on for miles. There were no sounds here, nothing but total silence. My mouth was dry, my lips chapped. I had no idea where the ULTRAbots had taken Daniel to.

  I stopped and put my hands on my knees. I’d been using my powers to fly around this place and try and track Daniel down for a while. But it was useless. There was no sign of him. Plus, using those powers seemed to be taking it out of me more than anything.

  I licked my dry lips. I could teleport anywhere and go grab some water, I knew that. But I’d made it this far in my search for Daniel as it was. I wasn’t giving up.

  A voice in my head asked me why I was doing this. Daniel Septer was still Nycto. He might be my brother, but he’d done some terrible things. He’d hurt Ellicia. He’d threatened my family. Besides, I was strong enough to take Saint down alone.

  But another voice—a stronger voice—answered. Yes, Daniel Septer was Nycto, and it didn’t matter if he was family or not, he’d still done some terrible things. But then again, Daniel was forced into a harsher upbringing than me. I’d had my sister. I’d had a loving family all around me. Sure, there were a few bullies I had to deal with, but nothing I couldn’t handle with the help of my friends.

  Daniel didn’t have that support around him. He was bullied badly. His family life wasn’t great at home, as far as I knew. He had a reason to be angry. Maybe if I’d been in his shoes, I’d have turned out the same way.

  The truth was, Daniel was strong. He could help me take down Saint.

  And he deserved answers about our sister. I wasn’t going to let her fate be a loose end to him.

  I was lost in my thoughts when I saw movement in the distance.

  I activated my invisibility immediately, then realized if they were ULTRAbots it wouldn’t make the blindest bit of difference. I fell to my stomach. Dragged myself forward, right to the top of the sand dune.

  Daniel was crouching in the middle of the ULTRAbots. He looked… well. Worryingly relaxed.

  The ULTRAbots around him just stood there, not budging.

  Weird. It reminded me of the ones that’d tried to fire at me not long ago. They’d shot toward me, but they’d missed. Was something going wrong with them? Or worse—did Saint want us both alive for other reasons?

  When I saw the ULTRAbots turn around and lift their guns, I knew I didn’t have much more time to speculate.

  I ducked their shots. I bolted over to the other side of them with my super-speed, knocking one of their mechanical heads from their shoulders.

  I leaped into the air above them and blasted a step of ice into the sky. The ULTRAbots fired at it, distracted by it.

  Then I crashed down and stood in the middle of them.

  Daniel was on his feet now. His eyes were wide. He looked alarmed.

  “Well?” I said, tensing my fists so ice covered them.

  Daniel looked at me for a second.

  Then he tensed his fists and joined
me in the fight back.

  I slammed into the chest of an ULTRAbot opposite me. It pushed back with clear strength, dodged my punched, blocked my blasts of ice.

  I teleported behind it when it swung at me and wrapped my arm around its neck.

  I squeezed tight, feeling the ice creep up my wrist and into my forearm. The ULTRAbot kept on struggling. I saw the ice shifting from my arm to its face, covering it.

  Then it elbowed me in the stomach and knocked me back onto the sand.

  It walked over to me. Daniel was occupied with ULTRAbots of his own. It lifted its gun. Held the trigger.

  I gritted my teeth.

  Clapped my hands.

  Above, a wormhole opened up. It lifted the ULTRAbot away, as well as those surrounding Daniel.

  They tried to fire back. They tried to struggle free. But they were being lifted away, and there wasn’t anything they could do about it.

  When they’d disappeared through the wormhole, I clapped my hands and loosened my grip on my powers.

  “You okay?” Daniel asked.

  “Am I okay? Are you okay?”

  Daniel raised his hands. “Hey. I’m just asking.”

  “Well I’m fine. Now I’ve got you, I’m fine.”

  “I guess this really does make us even. In a way.”

  I nodded. “I guess it does.”

  I stood up and grabbed Daniel’s arm.

  “What—”

  I blasted us away from this desert.

  When I opened my eyes, we were back in the middle of the ocean, the torrential rain still lashing down, waves crashing below.

  “I think I preferred the desert,” Daniel said.

  “Yeah, well, beggars can’t be choosers.”

  “What is that?”

  “What is what?”

  “That saying. I’ve never heard that before.”

  “You’ve never heard ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ before?”