by Blake, Matt
And then it turned out that all animals hated him.
Seriously, all animals. Birds would fly at him when he approached their nests. Dogs would bark at him, desperate to escape their driveways to deal with what they saw as a threat. Even flies bumped into him, like they knew exactly what he was and were trying to ward him away.
His parents didn’t take him seriously, of course. They said it just probably meant he wasn’t an animal person. But that was the thing—he was an animal person. He wanted nothing more than to cuddle up to a dog, to stroke a cat, to feed a little lamb some milk. To walk through a field of cows and not be chased.
But to this day, he found himself carrying the remarkable ability to turn even the most unintelligent creature against him.
It never struck him that it might be some kind of ability.
Not until he met X.
Now, aged seventeen, he stood in a dark cavern in the middle of the Scottish Highlands. He’d come here because X asked him to come here if he wanted to be a part of something. Just like he’d asked so many people already.
And Paul did want to be a part of something. He’d spent his whole life trying to be a part of something, trying to chase up his desires, only to deter people and animals away from him.
When X came to him three months ago, he told Paul what he was capable of. That he had a rare manipulative ability to shift the attitudes of the people and the animals around him. By default, because of his misunderstanding, he turned those attitudes against him.
But X had helped him hone it. Helped him focus his attentions.
And now, well. Let’s just say he had a few too many cats crawling around his house.
He saw X at the back of the cavern, standing completely still. He was shaded, covered up, like he always was. Inside this icy cavern, biting cold, there were others, too. Lots of others. And as terrified as Paul was about being here with people like this, he couldn’t deny that he was with his own kind.
He was an ULTRA.
So too were these people.
“We don’t have long to wait,” X said, his voice disguised by some kind of gadget. “In two days’ time, the ULTRAbots will defeat what they believe to be the final ULTRA. Only they don’t know about us. They can’t know about us. I’ve made sure of that.”
Paul knew what X referred to. The mark he’d given them, branded onto the backs of their necks. He claimed it carried a trace of his power, and he was very powerful. That mark acted as an on-off switch. A way of hiding in plain sight from the ULTRAbots that roamed the skies.
A switch that came in very handy, but would be unnecessary soon when the world was theirs.
“You all come from different places. From different backgrounds. Some of us have spent our entire lives with these abilities, fearful of what they mean. Others spend the last few years of their lives in prisons, which I helped you break out of. But we are all united in one way: humanity has robbed us of a normal existence. They have stamped on us. Trodden on us. And now they use our powers to create those ULTRAbots? To stand against us with our own abilities? Do they really believe they are stronger than us? How arrogant is the human spirit?”
Paul heard a few claps around the cavern. A few cheers. He felt himself clapping, too. X always spoke with such purpose. Such meaning. Such truth.
“This world isn’t humanity’s. Humanity had its time. Sure, they get their little short-term victories. They get their moments of peace. Their moments of calm. But they always just assume that things will get better. That things will get back to normal again. We’re going to use that naivety, and we’re going to take everything away from them.”
More applause. More cheers.
“This world is ours for the taking. The governments don’t know it, but the moment the ULTRAbots think they destroy that last ULTRA, we strike. We show them what we’re capable of. What we’ve spent the last few months training to do. We show them that nothing can match our strength. Nothing.”
X looked right at Paul then. And he felt his cheeks flushing. Paul knew what he wanted him to do. He could manipulate humans and he could manipulate animals, so he could manipulate ULTRAbots, right?
They’d tested it out. Tested it on one they’d captured. It was hard. The hardest thing they’d tried in their entire lives.
But right now, in this cavern, an ULTRAbot stood with them.
An ULTRAbot Paul manipulated. Trained to switch off recognizing them as ULTRAs.
They were hiding in plain sight, and they were going to use Paul’s powers to turn the ULTRAbots against themselves.
“There is something else, though,” X said. “Something… more personal. An ULTRA. An ULTRA I’m very keen on capturing for myself. An ULTRA who has evaded us so far. A dirty ULTRA who sides with the humans. An ULTRA you might’ve thought was dead, but I assure you, is very much alive. Glacies.”
A hushed silence filled the cavern. Paul heard water dripping from the rocks above. Felt his teeth rattling against one another in the cold.
“I want Glacies for myself. But first, I want to take everything away from Glacies, just as he thinks he is winning. I’ve thought long and hard about this. I could’ve acted months ago, but I wanted to wait for the right moment. I wanted him to feel like his life was perfect, then to feel like he was strong again, and then I wanted to destroy everything he stands for. I wanted to wait for the right moment. And the right moment is now.”
X hovered above the ULTRAs below. His dark shadow filled the cavern with even more darkness.
“You may know him as Glacies. But I know him by his first name.”
X threw down a load of photographs. Poured them down onto the ULTRAs, hands reaching up, catching the photographs.
There was a mumbling around the cavern. Some whispers. Some questioning. A lot of disbelief.
Paul looked into a photograph and saw a young boy on there. Dark hair. Probably around the same age as Paul. Skinny. Smiling.
“The boy in the middle of the photograph is Glacies,” X said.
The gasps filled the cavern. Paul stared into the eyes of the boy on the photograph, silent.
“And if we do not stop Glacies, we will not achieve our goals. We will not take the world for ourselves.”
Paul heard more applause then. Then, stomping on the ground. Cheering. “Death to Glacies, death to Glacies!”
All this time, X hovered over the ULTRAs, shrouded in darkness. Watching. Waiting.
“Glacies’ real name is Kyle Peters. He lives on Staten Island. And we’re going to tear his world apart. Starting now.”
32
I reached out for Orion’s hand and an enormous explosion rippled through the room.
I thought at first that something had gone wrong. The explosion had been so loud, so violent, that I worried that maybe there’d been a fault in the teleportation. Maybe the combination of mine and Orion’s powers had created something terrible and killed all the other ULTRAs in that room with me—the last of the Resistance.
When I opened my eyes, I saw I wasn’t in a room at all anymore.
I was at the side of a hill. It was dark still, so I figured I must be over in the west somewhere where the sun still hadn’t risen. Down the bottom of the hill, there was metal fencing with barbed wire wrapped around the top of it.
And at the other side of the fencing, there was a compound.
“This is it,” Roadrunner whispered.
Her voice made me jump. She’d shot over by my side quicker than I’d even been able to take in my surroundings. I looked around and saw the rest of the ULTRAs here with me, perched in the grass, waiting to launch their attack.
“So are we going with plan A or can I get smashing some skulls yet?” Stone asked.
Orion sat at the front of the group. He was breathing heavily, like the teleportation had taken it out of him. He cleared his throat, then looked up. “We go with Plan A. Are you ready?”
Stone grumbled. “Rather not take a shit loada bullets to the body. But I g
uess I’m made of the strongest damned stone in the world.”
“Good luck, Stone,” Orion said. A few of the other ULTRAs patted him on the back as he stepped up towards the fencing. He looked at me and he didn’t raise his hand to shake it or anything. Just stared at me, a look of cynicism about him.
“Don’t screw up, kid. You got a helluva lotta people counting on you.”
“No pressure,” I joked.
Nobody laughed.
“Where is she, anyway?” Stone asked.
“Me?” Roadrunner appeared at his side, slightly out of breath, her hair in her face. “I was just scouting the area. Looks to me like the first ULTRAbots have left already. Which means the ones who’ve just finished their shift should be inside right now.”
Stone stared at her with a frown. “You figured all that out, right then?”
“I told you. I’m super speedy.”
“You’re super something.”
Roadrunner shook hands with all of us. Exchanged a few hugs. When she reached me, she hesitated, then opened her arms.
“Ignore this bunch,” she said, as she wrapped her arms around me. “They’re just salty they aren’t as powerful as you.”
“Good luck,” I said.
She stepped away, went to Stone’s side. “Hope we get a chance to get to know each other a little better, Glacies.” She grabbed Stone’s hand.
“Me too—”
I hadn’t even finished when I felt the kickback of Roadrunner’s power, dragging Stone along with her inside the compound.
We waited for a few seconds. Waited for some kind of news. Some kind of signal that they were inside, and that the plan was starting.
“When will we know?” I asked.
Orion raised a hand. Held it there.
A blast of gunfire ripped through the total silence of the desert.
“Now,” he said.
I did what we’d planned to do, my hands and body shaking with adrenaline. I grabbed Orion’s hand, and then we all linked hands again, getting ready to shift ourselves inside the compound. In theory, Stone would attract all the attention his way. He’d trigger the ULTRA booby traps that were set up. Hold off a few of the weakened ULTRAbots while Roadrunner distracted them some more.
All the while, we’d go inside, destroy the power source and leave.
Simple as that.
“See you on the other side,” Aqua muttered, as the rest of us linked hands.
“I hope so.”
I closed my eyes. Held my breath. Focused my anger.
Then I heard that mini explosion again, and me, Orion, and the rest of the ULTRAs appeared behind the fences.
Being inside the fences brought a whole new meaning and a whole new reality to what we were doing. I felt vulnerable, all of a sudden. The gunshots were near. Somewhere close, I could hear Stone smashing things up, pieces of rock chipping away from his body.
“Bring it on, assholes!” he shouted, before smashing something else. “Bring it on!”
I felt a hand grab mine. Aqua. “Come on,” she whispered.
I wanted to activate my camo, but I knew it was worthless anyway against the ULTRAbots and the booby traps, plus it took a lot of energy. Energy I didn’t have to waste.
So I crouched down. All of us crouched down, wormed our way closer to the compound.
When we reached the edge of the container we stood behind, I peeked around. Stone was stomping around, taking the heavy artillery from loads of flying drones. But those drones kept on falling down every now and then, as Roadrunner played whack-a-mole with them.
“I can bring them down—”
“We don’t have time,” Orion said. “We have to get inside. The ULTRAbots left less than ten minutes ago. They’ll know we’re here soon.”
I wanted to help Stone and Roadrunner. Even though they were doing a hell of a good job handling the situation, I couldn’t help worrying about them.
I saw the entrance to the compound up ahead. There were cameras, electricity wired fences. We kept on hopping through the traps, hand in hand. Getting closer and closer to the compound entrance as Stone and Roadrunner continued their distracting mission.
“Just one more jump,” Orion said. “Just one more, and then we’re—”
He stopped speaking right away. Threw me back, and everyone else.
“Shit,” Slice said. “What on earth was that all about?”
Orion raised a finger. Pressed it to his lips. And then he pointed at the compound entrance.
When I looked over at it, my body solidified.
Fifteen ULTRAbots stood by the door. They looked wobbly. Weak. But they still had that ever-present pissed-off look about them.
They were the ones supposed to be recharging.
They were looking right in the direction of the container.
I kept still. Completely still. So too did everyone else. I hoped they wouldn’t see us. Prayed they wouldn’t see us. Sure, they were weakened, but I wanted Plan A to work. I didn’t want to fight them. I wanted to get inside that compound and get this done with. If I used any abilities right now while they were looking right at me, then I’d be putting everyone else in danger.
The first of the ULTRAbots took a step closer to the container.
“Bring it on, suckers!” I heard Stone scream, laughing as it sounded like even heavier artillery fired into him.
The oncoming ULTRAbots stopped their approach to the container.
Lifted their heads.
Then, they raised up and flew in Stone and Roadrunner’s direction.
I let go of my breath. So too did Orion and everyone else.
“Got a clear path,” Orion said. “One way in. We walk right in there. We can’t use our abilities because we’ll be incinerated upon entrance.”
“Great,” Aqua said. “Just wander in like we’re going for coffee.”
“Exactly. Are you ready?”
I saw the entrance up ahead. Listened to the chaos that was unfolding between Stone and the ULTRAbots. I heard metal snapping. Heard bombs exploding. If we weren’t quick, the recharged ULTRAbots would be on our tails. We didn’t have long at all. We had to do this.
“Let’s go,” I said.
The walk to the compound entrance was the longest most painful thing I’d ever had to do. But the closer we got, the more hopeful I grew. This hadn’t been so bad. Not bad at all. The plan had gone perfectly. We hadn’t lost anybody. All we needed to do now was get inside and destroy the power source. Tip the scales in our favor.
We reached the entrance and stared down the long, dark corridor.
“Al-right!” Slice shouted, clapping his rattly metal hands together. “That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”
I went to take a step inside the compound when I heard something behind.
I turned around. Looked up into the sky. There was a low drone growing. Building. Heading closer toward us.
“What is that?” Aqua asked.
I didn’t answer. But as I looked at the little figures moving closer—loads of them—I felt dread building up inside. Because I knew what they were. I knew exactly what they were.
“Are they…” Slice started. And then his face went completely red. “Shit. Oh shitting shit.”
We all stood by the entrance to the compound and stared up into the sky.
An army of ULTRAbots—freshly charged ULTRAbots—headed in our direction.
33
I looked up at the army of ULTRAbots and, not for the first time since getting here, I got the feeling we weren’t going to make it out of this one alive.
There were lots of them. Hundreds, all drifting in our direction. They gave off a humming sound as they moved towards us, like angry bees, only if we weren’t careful, it was them that were going to be doing the swatting away, not us.
I felt my body shivering. Beside me, Orion, Slice, Aqua, Ember and Vortex all stood, silent and waiting. I could tell they were afraid too, as they stared up into the face of the oncoming enemy
.
“I thought they were supposed to be far away from here by now,” Ember said.
Orion shook his head as the ULTRAbots got closer. “Something must’ve happened. Something must’ve gone wrong.”
“Then what do we do?” Slice asked.
Orion looked up at the ULTRAbots. Then he looked around at the rest of us. Looked at me, directly into my eyes.
“We do what we came here to do,” he said.
He crouched a little. I saw a blue force field growing from his hands, just like I’d seen so many times when I’d watched Orion on the television as a child.
“We fight,” he said.
He jumped up towards the ULTRAbots. I saw him smash his fist into the face of one of them, and then move onto another, all of them engaged in a mad battle now to throw the first punch. He looked strong, but like this action was taking a lot out of him; like he wasn’t running at max.
“Well,” Aqua said, beams of water spraying from her hands. “No point standing down here.”
She joined Orion in his counter-attack. Then Slice did, too, as did Ember, all of them up there in the sky, all of them engaged in this ruthless dance to the death.
“Well?” Vortex asked, a little grin on her spooky face in spite of the circumstances. “Aren’t you gonna join us?”
She stuck her tongue between her yellowing teeth. It might’ve been the light or the angle I saw it, but I swore it was black.
And then she turned to face the ULTRAbots.
Her eyes rolled back into her skull. Her neck snapped right back. She let out a scream that sent shivers through my body.
In the sky, I saw ULTRAbots changing direction. Flying into one another. Becoming caught in whatever nightmarish trance Vortex was subjecting them to.
I didn’t know what ULTRAbots dreamed about. But whatever Vortex was doing, it seemed to be working a treat.
I stood and watched the battle unfold. In the distance, I could still hear Stone and Roadrunner taking fire from the drones and the smaller group of uncharged ULTRAbots. I was scared. I was afraid.