The Last Hero (Book 2): Rise of the Ultras Read online

  She walked up to me, then. She wrapped her arms around me, hugged me. And I felt like I was hugging her for the first time. I felt the warmth of her body. The softness of her hair. I still didn’t ever feel totally comfortable, totally confident. But I was just happy to have her back.

  But similarly, I was more sad—more determined than ever—that I had to hide to keep my life as Kyle Peters intact.

  I thought about Vesper’s words. About what he’d said about giving up my life as Kyle Peters to take on my ULTRA responsibilities.

  “See you tomorrow?” Ellicia asked.

  I snapped out of my thoughts. Looked back at Ellicia and smiled.

  “Tomorrow.”

  She nodded at me and walked away.

  I took in a deep breath and headed into Geography.

  Maybe things could get better. Maybe this was a sign that things were finally working out.

  Maybe.

  18

  Mr. Parsons stood in the labs and stared at the body on the table in front of him.

  Deep down here, underground, there was no sense of time, no sense of weather. It could be the middle of the day or it could be the middle of the night. He didn’t know. Time was irrelevant anyway, especially when an army of ULTRAbots were out in the world hunting down the ULTRAs.

  What mattered was he had one of them, right here. One of them he recognized. Not one of the ones who’d escaped Area 64.

  Which meant there was something else going on.

  He listened to the low hum of the fans whirring above. The lights were bright, flickering. He liked to be in rooms like this with the ULTRAs while they were strapped down and limited, of course. The knowledge that so much power rested in this room; power that had been repressed. There was something about it that made Mr. Parsons feel like a conqueror, like a hero.

  But he wasn’t a hero. He was just a normal man. A figurehead of the human resistance against the ULTRAs.

  A beast tamer.

  Or something like that.

  The door behind him clicked open. He looked around and saw Idris leaning around the door, dressed in his white lab coat. He looked concerned.

  “Sir? You um… You probably shouldn’t be in here. Not so soon after we caught him.”

  Mr. Parsons turned around and looked at the ULTRA lying on the metal table. He recognized the blue outfit. The wispy hair. The boyish good looks. Spark. Definitely Spark. He thought this one was long gone. He remembered him from when he was younger, when they were both younger, at the tail end of the previous Era of the ULTRAs. He never thought he’d see Spark live to see this day. He thought he’d have disappeared long ago.

  Never mind. He kind of liked the underdog.

  “I’ll be fine, Idris,” Mr. Parsons said, keeping his focus on Spark. “Just a moment alone. Please.”

  He looked back around at Idris and saw his lips opening, getting ready to protest.

  But then he just smiled. Nodded. “Of course, sir. I’ll give you five minutes.”

  He turned around and left Mr. Parsons alone with Spark.

  Mr. Parsons absorbed the stillness of the room for another few seconds. And then he stepped around the side of the metal slab where Spark rested. He walked slowly, heard his footsteps tapping against the floor. He could feel Spark’s energy as he walked closer to him, and it excited him. It excited him like coming into contact with an ULTRA always did.

  “I know you can hear me,” he said.

  Spark’s eyes opened up the second Mr. Parsons spoke. He looked up. Looked right into his eyes. And Mr. Parsons saw the transferral of understanding. He saw Spark struggle at first. And then he saw him adjust to his surroundings, accept where he was.

  Then, groggy-eyed, Spark looked Mr. Parsons right in his eyes. “The Devil,” he said.

  Mr. Parsons smiled at him. He stayed still, right by his bedside. “That’s not exactly the nicest way to say hello, is it?”

  Spark’s chest moved rapidly. Mr. Parsons smiled as he watched him struggle to spark up his electricity. As he tensed his fists and tried to transport himself far away from this room. A breeze hit Mr. Parsons’ face. The floor shook, just a little.

  But that was fine. That was normal. That was to be expected.

  “It’s been so long, Spark. In fact, I don’t recall ever capturing you. I thought you’d have gone by now. Thought you’d either have disappeared—the wise choice—or just… Well, I thought your powers must’ve gotten the better of you. Kind of spirited to see you lying here. Pinned down. Alive.”

  “You let me go. You’re not gonna get away with this. We’re gonna stop you.”

  Mr. Parsons held his smile and kept on looking down at Spark. “I’m guilty about having to do this. I really am. But I have a responsibility to the world to do it. You know I do. A responsibility to humanity—”

  “You’re full of shit.”

  “You know, we were working on the ULTRAbots for years here in government. Trying to find a way to truly harness the power of something as strong as the ULTRAs—stronger even—but without the repercussions of their actions. Without the potential for disaster. Anyway, we finally found a way, after much trial and error. I came along and gave the team an extra… well, spark.”

  Spark breathed heavily, tensing. Sweat rolled down his forehead. Mr. Parsons felt his fear like it was tangible.

  And he loved it.

  “So now here we are. I have your kind, both those who disastrously escaped Area 64. And others, like you. So now I need to ask you a question. A serious question. And you are going to answer. And even if you don’t, I’m going to destroy all your kind. I’ll make you watch your kind fall, I’ll take everything away from you. And then I’ll bring it all back and do it over and over again.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “Trust me,” Mr. Parsons said, the first speck of anger creeping into his voice. “Don’t ever tell me what I can’t do. Not anymore. I’m here, am I not?”

  There was silence between them. And Mr. Parsons saw a pale-faced understanding covering Spark’s face. An awareness that this was it. He didn’t have a choice, not anymore.

  “So you tell me the truth. Who is your leader?”

  Spark’s eyes connected with Mr. Parsons’ again. This time, he looked unsure more than anything. Conflicted.

  “I don’t enjoy doing this. I understand you are just ULTRAs, and there is nothing you can do about being ULTRAs. But I have a responsibility to humanity to keep people safe. And with aberrations like you around, how can I ever hope to do that?”

  “Screw you. Screw you.”

  Spark spat right in Mr. Parsons’ face.

  Mr. Parsons didn’t react. He just wiped Spark’s spit away. Rubbed it against his blazer jacket. “There are other ways, you know. Other methods. Did you ever wonder what happened to Kal?”

  Mr. Parsons saw the tears building in Spark’s eyes. “Don’t. Don’t.”

  “We kept him alive for most of our experiments. And he put up a fight, bless his soul. Just a pity he was worthless in the end. That the research we did on him came to nothing. Waste of life. But, ah well. He played a part in the creation of the ULTRAbots.”

  “No!” Spark shouted.

  The ground shook again. Mr. Parsons felt that outburst of compressed energy rattle the walls.

  He leaned in towards Spark. Leaned in close. “Then you tell me. You answer my question, or I will make your life and the lives of everyone you care about hell.”

  “You can’t—”

  “Your mother, Alice. She’s a nice lady, isn’t she? Does she know you’re still alive? She still lives at the same place. Hell’s Kitchen. Cute little flat. But you already know that, right? Because you hover outside her window once a week.”

  Spark’s tears were in full flow now. Mr. Parsons knew he’d taken him by surprise. “Please,” he begged.

  “Tell me who your leader is. Tell me now, and we’ll end this stupidity. Nobody has to get hurt.”

  Spark closed his eye
s. In that split second, Mr. Parsons saw his spirit breaking. His resolve. “You won’t hurt her? You promise?”

  Mr. Parsons nodded. “I promise.”

  Spark sniveled. He wasn’t a hero. He was just a weakling with some powers. Just like the rest of the ULTRAs. Take their powers away and what were they, really? Just losers. Failures.

  Mr. Parsons’ phone bleeped, breaking the moment. He lifted it out of his pocket, sighing. He knew what that sound meant. Another ULTRAbot transmission identifying an ULTRA. Another name to add to the list of captured, or defeated, ULTRAs.

  But when he looked at his screen, when he saw the snow and the figure dressed in dark black looking right into the camera—the eyes of the ULTRAbot—he felt a twinge of fear and excitement, deep inside.

  “Glacies,” Spark said.

  Mr. Parsons looked up from his screen. “What?”

  “Glacies,” Spark sniveled. “He’s—he’s alive. And he’s our leader.”

  Mr. Parsons wouldn’t have believed Spark if he’d told him that moments earlier.

  But he couldn’t deny what was on his screen.

  Glacies was alive.

  Glacies was still standing.

  And he was the one leading the resistance.

  He put his phone back in his pocket. Walked over to Spark’s bedside. Rested a hand on his chest. “Thank you, Spark. Thank you ever so much. I’ll keep an eye on Alice. Make sure she doesn’t take the bad news too… well, badly.”

  Spark’s face was normal for a few seconds.

  But then it started to turn purple.

  His skin grew cold.

  His breathing went rapid, increasing but getting shorter and shorter as he struggled for life.

  “Go to sleep now, Spark. Your duty is over. You’ll awaken much better. Much more recovered. Much more… Heroic.”

  He saw Spark trying to fight as the life drifted from his face.

  He saw the color leave his cheeks. Felt the energy in his body crumbling as he tried to fight back.

  And then, he felt nothing.

  19

  I sat opposite Ellicia in Benny’s Shakes and just like when I sat opposite her for the very first time, I didn’t have a clue what the hell to say.

  It was a nice day outside. The winter sun peeked in through the window. The streets were lined with snow, but not so deep that you had to trudge through it. Again, the snowstorm that analysts predicted to hit New York hadn’t quite been as strong as they expected. Which worked for me. I had enough storms to worry about right now to have snow on my mind too.

  The milkshake place had the smell of somewhere new. A crispness to the floors as you walked on them. There were quite a few people inside, as the sounds of milk frothing and glasses chinking together, as well as laughter, filled the room. It was nice. Somewhere I could imagine visiting a lot with Ellicia.

  Because Ellicia was staying in New York. And I was staying as Kyle Peters.

  “You like it?” Ellicia asked.

  I sipped back my Oreo milkshake. Truth be told, it didn’t taste much like Oreos, but I liked it anyway. And it didn’t matter. The main reason I was here was Ellicia. The main reason I was anywhere was Ellicia.

  “It’s fine,” I said.

  “Just fine?”

  “Well, the milk to Oreo ratio is a little off.”

  Ellicia rolled her eyes in a way that always made my heart melt. She leaned back, sucked on the straw of her chocolate and raspberry shake. “Trust you to bring ratios into milkshake. Nerd.”

  I caught the playfulness in her voice. It made everything feel okay all over again.

  I looked into Ellicia’s eyes. There were so many things I wanted to say, but I didn’t know where to even start. I was worried. Course I was worried. ULTRAs like me were being hunted down all around the world. I had to keep as low a profile as possible.

  But looking into Ellicia’s eyes made everything seem okay.

  “So yeah. I’m staying here for now. So you’re gonna be stuck with me a little longer than you thought.”

  I tutted. “Huh. That’s a shame. Thought my evil ploy to hire your dad over in Arizona was going so well.”

  Ellicia grinned, then kicked me under the table. “Yeah, right. If I’d really left, you’d probably figure out a way to fly to see me.”

  I almost choked on my milkshake. Then I realized she was still just joking.

  “Anyway,” Ellicia said, twirling her hair. “Are you…”

  I didn’t hear her next word.

  Something smashed over at the other side of the building.

  I flinched up out of my seat. My attention sharpened, honing in on where I’d heard that smash.

  At the other side of the milkshake bar, a woman in an apron was covered in milkshake.

  “Kyle?” Ellicia said.

  I turned around. Saw she was looking at me strangely. And so too were so many other people. I wondered if they were looking at me because they knew. They knew I was an ULTRA. They knew what I was capable of… No. No, they were looking at me ’cause of how I’d reacted. I’d jumped out of my seat at a glass hitting the floor. That’s all it was.

  I sat back down. My hands were shaking.

  “What’s up?” Ellicia asked. She was looking at me in a way I knew I’d struggle to escape.

  “Nothing,” I said.

  “No way. You’re acting… well, you’re acting creepy. And you’ve been acting creepy for days now. What’s up?”

  I looked across the table at Ellicia and I wanted to tell her. I wanted to open up to her about everything. She’d never been a fan of the ULTRAs, mainly because she saw them through the same lens as the rest of the world. But I had a feeling that if I told her, I could win her over. I could make her understand that I wasn’t a monster. Being an ULTRA was… well, it was just who I was.

  But I couldn’t. I couldn’t tell anyone I was an ULTRA. It didn’t only put me in more danger—it put the people who knew the truth in danger, too.

  And I wasn’t putting Ellicia in danger any time soon.

  “I’ll be straight with you,” I said, trying to regather my composure. Around the counter, people were still looking at me, whispering to one another. “All this ULTRAbot stuff. It just… it just scares me.”

  Ellicia nodded and sighed. “Yeah. Damon mentioned you weirded out when you saw the ULTRAbots the other day.”

  “You and Damon have been talking about me?”

  “Course we have,” Ellicia said. “He’s your best friend. And I’m your… We’ve been worried about you, Kyle. Especially after how you were after the attack at the party last summer.”

  I knew what Ellicia was referring to. The way I’d pushed everyone away after Nycto’s attack on the school party. Really, that wasn’t the reason I gave up and started moping. The real reason was that Nycto had hovered over Krakatoa and told me he knew who I was. And if I did anything to try and stop his reign, he’d not only expose my identity, but he’d destroy everyone I’d ever cared about.

  I still felt the pain of those threats right now. The pain that hung around my neck everywhere I went as Kyle Peters, in everything I did as Kyle Peters.

  “Anyway,” Ellicia said, opening up her purse and searching for some more cash. “I wondered if you wanted to, like, get back together, maybe?”

  I frowned. But it was more out of surprise than anything. “Get back together?”

  “Well, yeah. Like, together-together. As we were. Remember?”

  I sipped on my not-so-Oreo milkshake and let myself relax and smile. “I didn’t even think we’d split up.”

  She blushed a little. Then I saw her smile back. I knew everything was okay again. I knew that all was going to be fine. Ellicia wanted to stay with me. She was letting me off the hook for the way I’d acted like an asshole at school the other day. And as much as I knew it was dangerous to be attached to someone right now, the thought of being with Ellicia outweighed all that by a million.

  “Another milkshake?” Ellicia asked
, standing.

  I nodded. “Another—”

  I didn’t finish.

  An explosion ripped through the street outside.

  20

  I didn’t want to go outside. I didn’t want to see what the source of the explosion was, or what was going on. ’Cause deep down, I knew. I knew damned well what it was, and what it was to do with.

  But I didn’t have a choice.

  Everyone rushed out of Benny’s and ran onto the street. Some of them screamed, fled their way home. Others stepped back inside the second they saw what was happening.

  Across the street, a building smoked. Just minutes ago, I’d looked outside the window and seen it full of life.

  Now, it was an empty shell. A burning mess.

  And in the sky above, something was happening.

  Something was unfolding above New York. Something terrifying.

  “Come on, Kyle,” Ellicia said, grabbing my hand. “We need to get back.”

  I wanted to move with Ellicia. I wanted to run. But all I could do was stare up at the sky.

  There were ULTRAs flying around. ULTRAs and ULTRAbots. Both of them were engaged in battle, firing flames and ice at one another, shooting through the sky, ramming each other into buildings, into the ground.

  I saw more debris fall beside me. Up the road, I saw a crowd of screaming people running away as this battle commenced. My kind. The ULTRAs. They were staging a battle against the ULTRAbots. They needed my help. They needed my…

  Then, I saw something that froze my body to the very core.

  A blast ripped through the crowd of fleeing people in the distance.

  But it wasn’t a blast that came from the hands of an ULTRAbot.

  It was from an ULTRA.

  I knew then what was happening, and it made me totally cold.

  It wasn’t the ULTRAbots causing the chaos here. They were just trying to stop something else.

  They were trying to stop the ULTRAs attacking people. Innocent people.

  “Come on!”

  I ran a little with Ellicia, but I had no real sense of what I was doing or where I was going. I felt lost. Lost and confused. The ULTRAs. Why were they attacking people? What was any of this all about? Were the government right all along? Were ULTRAs the bad guys, and the ULTRAbots just the ones trying to do their jobs?