The Last Hero (Book 2): Rise of the Ultras Page 10

  I ran down the street, debris falling beside me as more bolts of electricity and fire blasted past me. I dodged fallen people. Ran past falling buildings. I kept hold of Ellicia’s hand all the time. But I didn’t stop looking up, staring at the sky, trying to figure out what was going on and what I could do about it.

  I saw something else happen then. One of the ULTRAs—a guy dressed in green who I’d seen attack that crowd of people just before—charging up a green ball of energy in his hands. He was free. There were no ULTRAbots around to stop him.

  I felt my anger kicking in. The urge to go up there and fight him. To stop him.

  And then someone blasted into the side of him.

  I thought at first that it was an ULTRAbot, and I considered going up there and taking them both down—or at least away from here—while I had the chance.

  And then, as I ran, I realized it wasn’t an ULTRAbot at all.

  It was Angel. The woman who I’d seen in the Pazza Notte restrooms. She was with some other ULTRAs too, all of whom were fighting with both the ULTRAs attacking the people and the ULTRAbots.

  There was a war going on above me, and I was right here on the ground.

  “Down here,” Ellicia said. She started to pull me down the side of an alleyway.

  I didn’t go though. I couldn’t. I knew as much as I wanted to live my life as a normal seventeen-year-old, I had a duty to protect not only people but the other ULTRAs, like Angel. I’d already let them down by allowing the ULTRAbots to take the ULTRA called Spark away. I couldn’t fail them anymore. There was a time for sitting by and there was a time for acting. Right now was a time for acting.

  “Run,” I said, putting my hands on Ellicia’s arms. “Seriously, just run down this alleyway and get someplace safe. I’ll be back.”

  I ran away from Ellicia.

  “Kyle! What the—what the hell are you doing?”

  I stopped at the alleyway opening. I felt so guilty for what I was doing—turning my back on Ellicia. But I had to do this. I had a duty. I had something to do. “I’ll be back for you. I promise.”

  “But—”

  I ran around the side of the alleyway and then I focused all my attention on teleporting myself back home.

  I landed in my bedroom. The sudden change to silence was deafening. Downstairs, I could hear the television breaking the news of the events. I could hear the explosions in the distance, too, muffled over here on Staten Island.

  I had no time to waste.

  I walked over to the cabinet where I kept my Glacies gear. I opened it up, stared down at it. I’d felt so sure about what I was doing just earlier. I’d felt certain that I had to put this gear on and I had to protect people.

  But now I was back home, I just wanted to stay here. I just wanted to stay and let everything blow over…

  No. There was a war going on. I had to do something. Even if I couldn’t risk giving up my identity as Glacies, I had to do something.

  I put on my black hoodie, my gray tracksuit bottoms, and a white skeleton Halloween mask I’d worn earlier in the year.

  I caught a glance of myself in the mirror. Yes, I looked ridiculous. But I didn’t look like Glacies or Kyle Peters.

  That’s exactly what I needed right now.

  I teleported myself back to the scene of the chaos. There was an even stronger smell of smoke in the air right now. The screams were high-pitched and deafening. I heard approaching sirens and saw flashing blue lights.

  I stood around the corner of an alleyway. Checked to see I was clear.

  Then I looked up at the sky.

  Focused my attention on the ULTRAbots.

  I saw one of them flying towards the ULTRA called Angel. Pulling back its hand and getting ready to attack.

  I lifted my hand.

  Fired a spark of ice at it.

  I knocked it off its course, and Angel went in with a massive punch, taking it out of the sky.

  I turned to another of the ULTRAs. This time, there were two ULTRAs in a fight. A guy in black covered in blades, and the guy I’d seen fire the green bolts down on earth earlier. The guy in green looked to be stronger, winning.

  I focused my energy and attention on him, and I fired.

  He slipped. His grip on the ULTRA with the blades loosened.

  The ULTRA with the blades broke free, and then he gained his ground—or air.

  I shot at another few ULTRAbots and ULTRAs. And the more I fired, the more confident I was that I didn’t have to become Glacies. I didn’t have to make a show of myself to help fight. I could still be Kyle Peters. I could aid this war from the sidelines. I could…

  Out of nowhere, I heard rattling. Like the blades of a helicopter.

  The sky darkened. The screams diminished. The fighting ULTRAs stopped and looked around.

  I held my breath. Stared up at the sky. Waited.

  Then, out of nowhere, I saw them.

  At first, I thought they must be some kind of migrating bird, there were that many of them.

  But then as they got closer, flying through the sky, I realized they weren’t birds at all.

  They were ULTRAbots.

  Lots of ULTRAbots.

  And they were closing in on all of the ULTRAs.

  I saw the panic in the eyes of the ULTRAs then, both sides. Saw some of them finishing their scraps, some of them disappearing.

  One of the ULTRAs held her ground.

  Held her ground and faced up to the oncoming ULTRAbots.

  Angel.

  “Come on!” I heard her shout, goading the ULTRAbots towards her. “Bring it on!”

  I wanted to go up there and help her. She couldn’t fight these ULTRAbots alone. I could freeze them. Or I could teleport her away.

  But I wasn’t dressed as Glacies. I’d be giving up another identity. I’d be—

  My thoughts stopped.

  The ULTRAbots swarmed around Angel.

  I heard shouts. I saw blasts. A few ULTRAbots fell out of the sky. But so many of them swirled around Angel, getting thicker and thicker in number, like bees around a nest.

  I watched and waited for Angel to emerge from those ULTRAbots. She seemed strong. She could do this. She could fight this.

  But the seconds rolled on. The seconds became minutes. The minutes became…

  The ULTRAbots hovered aside.

  Someone dropped out of the sky. Hurtled towards the ground.

  Slammed into the road.

  The ULTRAbots watched for a few seconds. Looked around to check everything was resolved.

  And then, as people gathered around the fallen combatant, the ULTRAbots disappeared.

  I couldn’t move, though.

  I couldn’t disappear.

  Because Angel was lying in the road.

  Completely still.

  21

  I lay in bed and felt sick with guilt.

  I stared up at my ceiling as darkness filled my bedroom. Another shower of snow had arrived outside, the analysts now suggesting that a storm was coming after all. I listened to the silence inside my house, outside, on the streets, everywhere.

  I couldn’t close my eyes. If I closed them, I saw what happened earlier that day.

  Angel hovering in the sky, waiting for the ULTRAbots to approach.

  The ULTRAbots surrounding her. Swarming her.

  Angel falling to the ground below.

  And me?

  I was just in a damned alleyway too afraid to do a thing to help her.

  I tasted sick. My body was cold all over, even though I was completely wrapped in my quilt. I’d checked in on Ellicia, and she was okay. Shook up, and had a lot of questions for me, but okay. I felt bad for leaving her, but she’d made it. I would never have forgiven myself if I’d not only failed the ULTRAs, but failed her too.

  I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to close my eyes, but I didn’t want to be awake any longer. I just wanted this to stop, all of it. Four days had passed since war had been declared on the ULTRAs. Four days,
which meant three days before his deadline arrived. The media were talking about a victory. Of ULTRAs being surrounded, taken into protective custody. Public opinion was way in favor of the ULTRAbots. There was even talk of employing them full-time to aid the police.

  And to stop any remaining ULTRA that might be walking this earth, of course.

  I wanted to reveal myself. Believe me, I was torn. I wanted to get back to being Glacies and get fighting. Avenge the loss of Spark, of Angel.

  But I didn’t want to kill those bad ULTRAs that’d attacked the humans. I didn’t want to get tangled into a war that I didn’t truly understand.

  And I especially didn’t want to cross the ULTRAbots…

  I didn’t want any part in any of this.

  I closed my eyes, but they were burning so bad with images of the day that I opened them again.

  When I looked up, there was someone standing at the foot of my bed.

  It took me a moment to see who it was. The very same person who’d stood there about six months ago and galvanized me into action. The Figure in Black. The one Angel called Vesper.

  He stood at the bottom of my bed and stared right at me.

  “What—”

  Vesper pulled back his fist and cracked it across my jaw.

  Hard.

  I tasted blood in my mouth, but he swung at my face again. I didn’t want to fight, but I didn’t have a choice. I shifted myself across the room, dodged his punches, trying to keep quiet so I didn’t wake Mom or Dad.

  Vesper turned, fast. “It’s your fault. All of this, it’s your fault.”

  “Stop this—”

  He hit me again. This time, in the chest. I crashed back against my other wardrobe—the one I hadn’t wrecked—so hard that I was certain Mom and Dad had to have heard the racket.

  I winced. My ribs wracked with pain. I shuffled up, eager to get to my feet.

  Vesper walked across the floor, right towards me. He looked like he was getting ready for another punch.

  “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” I said.

  “You didn’t mean it?” Vesper said. He picked me up. Lifted me by the throat with immense strength. “You watched it happen. Two of my people, trying to help you, and you watched it happen.”

  I struggled for breath. Gasped. I didn’t want to use my powers right now. I felt naked using Glacies’ abilities when I wasn’t wearing the outfit, even if there was no one else around.

  “You… you made me do this,” I said.

  “Do what?”

  I head butted Vesper. Sent him flying back against my bed.

  I flew at him them. Felt anger and pain and grief and everything.

  My hands went cold. Super cold.

  I held them above Vesper.

  “You made me do—”

  Another crack across the face. Only this time, a deafening sound ripped through my skull. A sound much like the one when I was teleporting.

  When I opened my eyes, I realized that’s exactly what’d happened.

  I was in a dark container. Some kind of metal compartment. I could smell the saltiness of water in the air, so I figured I was by the harbor somewhere.

  I stood up. My face killed, and felt swollen. I’d heal it when I got back. Vesper was in my home. He was in my home, he was dangerous, and he was going to hurt my family.

  I felt something hit my back them. Something knocked me to the ground.

  I spun around and saw Vesper crouching over me.

  He put his hand around my neck. Lifted his fist. I tried to hold it back. Tried to shift away, but I was too weak, and he was too strong. He was like a reversed magnet resisting all the force I was trying to push into him. Whoever he was, he was strong as hell.

  “P… please…” I gasped, gasping for air. I felt everything around getting blurry. Heard sounds that I knew weren’t really there. Rustling. Breezes. “I… I didn’t mean…”

  Vesper let go.

  He kept his fist raised, blood trickling from my nose into my mouth now.

  “She died,” he said, with a shaky voice. “Angel died. You could’ve saved her.”

  He turned around then. Walked away, towards the back of the container. It was the first time I’d heard him speak with any kind of emotion. Up to now, I was convinced he was something other than human.

  I stood up. Focused an immediate burst of energy on taking some of the swelling from my face. One of my teeth felt loose. I’d deal with that in time. Maybe I’d look tough and cool if I walked around a tooth less.

  “She was a good person,” Vesper said, not facing me. That fragility was still in his voice. “I’d known her ever since she was a little girl. She was… she was strong. But nobody is strong alone. Not against the ULTRAbots.”

  I swallowed a bloody lump in my throat. “I’m sorry. I was just…”

  “Scared, I know. Scared of giving up your life. Scared of accepting your responsibilities.”

  “I’m just a kid.”

  “We’re all just kids in this world. All of us. None of us ask for our responsibilities. None of us ask to be burdened with power. But you have a gift, Kyle. You have a very powerful gift. You have a gift that makes you significantly more powerful than any other ULTRA on this planet. And if you do not use that gift…”

  He didn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t need to.

  “You need to choose a path,” Vesper said. “Right here. Right now. You need to choose which road you want to take. You cannot take both. Taking both roads is impossible. I’m sorry you have to hear that, but it’s true.”

  Adrenaline raced through my bloodstream. I still wasn’t sure how exactly to react to this. “How am I supposed to make a choice when I don’t even know who the hell’s fighting who? When I don’t know what’s good and what’s bad? When I don’t even know who the hell you are?”

  There was a pause, then. A pause, as Vesper looked me in my eyes from behind that black mask. I wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but something about it made it feel like forever. Made it feel familiar.

  Then, Vesper broke the silence.

  “There’s a good reason why I can’t reveal who I am.”

  “Then give me the reason. Make it even. Go on. I’m standing here. You know who I am. It’s only fair.”

  More silence from Vesper. For the first time, I started to wonder if I had him in a corner. If the power was with me, after all.

  “Go on!” I shouted. “Tell me. Tell me who the hell you are. Tell me why you were in my room. Why you know who I am. Why you think you’re so damned powerful and mighty.”

  Vesper was still for another few seconds.

  Then he reached for his head. Took off his bowler hat.

  Underneath, I saw dark black hair.

  “I’ll tell you who I am. I’ll tell you exactly who I am. Maybe then, you’ll understand.”

  “Good,” I said, as Vesper threw aside his coat. “’Cause if you don’t, I’ll… I’ll…”

  I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t say a word.

  I could only stare at the man in front of me.

  My mind raced with all kinds of thoughts and theories. I wondered if this was some kind of dream. It had to be. This couldn’t be real. It wasn’t possible.

  But it was.

  “Why… why are you wearing Orion’s costume?”

  Vesper rubbed his palms together. He looked me in the eye. “Because, Kyle Peters, I am Orion.”

  22

  “You… you can’t be Orion. You just can’t be.”

  I wasn’t sure what I said. I had no idea what words left my lips. I just stood there and stared at the man opposite me. The man dressed from head to toe in black. The man wearing the very same outfit I’d seen in the sky that day over eight years ago, planets and stars embossed onto its chest.

  The guy that had crashed into Saint—sparked the Great Blast.

  Vesper was Orion.

  “I understand it’s difficult. To accept.”

  I shook my head. My skin ting
led. A bitter taste filled my mouth. “No. No, you can’t be Orion. Orion’s dead.”

  “Just like Glacies is dead?” Orion said. He walked closer towards me, his footsteps echoing against the bottom of the metal container. “Just like Glacies disappeared into apparent oblivion when he took down Nycto.”

  “That’s different.”

  “How is it different?”

  “I saw you… I saw you explode.”

  Orion looked me in my eyes. At least I thought he did—I couldn’t tell because his face was covered completely with a black mask, not to mention the light being so dim inside this container. To think of it, he did look just like I remembered Orion. The Orion from the TV reports. The Orion I’d seen in the sky fighting Saint, protecting the planet. A little chubbier now, maybe. The suit didn’t fit quite as snugly.

  But it was him.

  It was definitely him.

  I watched Orion walk in front of me. I felt twitchy, as blood trickled down my blocked nostrils. I didn’t know what to say to him. I was in awe of him, in truth. Here was the man who saved the world. Who sacrificed himself, and so many others, to protect humanity.

  “What… what are you doing?” I asked. It was all I could manage.

  “After The Great Blast, I knew I couldn’t carry on like I used to. I was detested. I was hated. I was blamed for the deaths of a million New Yorkers, even though I played no part in the explosion.”

  “It was both of you. It was the power of both of you crashing—”

  “That’s what they have you believe,” Orion said, walking from side to side, heavy footsteps echoing against the hangar. “But they would do, wouldn’t they? They want humans to hate ULTRAs, remember. They want humans to hate us so much that they’ll say anything to destroy us, no matter what. Kyle, I did not play any part in The Great Blast. I would not have made the move I made if I knew the destruction it was going to cause. I am still not entirely sure what happened, even to this day.”

  I was silent for a few seconds. Orion sounded genuine. And, weirdly, I believed him.