“
K
yle
? Are you okay?”
I heard Vortex’s words, but I didn’t
hear
them, not really. My mind and attention were too focused on what I’d seen behind that door; what Nycto had shown me.
The rows and rows of humans, all stacked up, all ready to be brainwashed.
And the most selfish thing of all? When I saw those humans, it wasn’t just any old face I saw on them. It was Damon’s. Ellicia’s. Dad’s.
All people I loved, about to be taken away and turned into something else entirely.
Vortex touched my arm. I flinched.
“You’ve barely said a word since you got back here looking like you’ve seen one of my visions or something.”
“Trust me,” I said. “This was worse.”
Vortex didn’t look too pleased that anything could be worse than one of the visions she created.
“I saw people,” I said. “Lots of people. People from the world below all stacked up and ready to be turned.”
“Turned into what?” Orion asked.
I didn’t even want to say the words. “Into autonomous beings.”
I told the group about what I’d seen down there. About what Nycto had told me. Saint’s next stage of the plan was to use humans. To make the most of them, treating them like natural resources.
“It fits in with Saint’s MO,” Orion said. “He never wanted to destroy humanity. It’s never been his goal. To him, control is a much more attractive option.”
“I just don’t get how he can do this,” Ember said.
“Huh?”
“I don’t get how he can just wipe the minds of people. I mean, that’s gotta take some man and woman power, right?”
“Maybe so,” Orion said. “But Saint created the ULTRAbots. He managed to intercept the US government and turn it against itself. He’s a very, very clever individual, to his credit. It’s just a shame his heart is in the wrong place.”
“Heart,” Stone spat. “Bastard ain’t got no heart.”
I caught Orion glancing at me then. Weirdly, he still had that bowler hat and black mask of his on, which he wore at all times. It was as if it was welded to his face. There were rumors that it was part of a failed shielding experiment in the early days of his career, and that he was unable to remove it. But it did make me wonder.
“Did he show you what he was using to wipe their minds?” Ember asked.
I tried to remember what I’d seen down in that awful room. “No. He just… he said they had something. Or someone.”
“Did he say who they were?” Orion interrupted.
I was surprised by how quick he snapped. He was usually so collected. It was weird to hear him breaking that now. “No. Why?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. I just…”
“Is there something you’re not telling us?”
Orion looked around at the rest of the cell. He must’ve realized everyone was looking at him. “I don’t know. All I know is that Saint is very powerful. More powerful than ever before. And with the mind-controller in his wake, I guess… perhaps he’s found a way to channel his powers to wipe the human mind. I’m not sure. I’m really not sure.”
The rest of the ULTRAs looked away from Orion. I kept looking at him. I wasn’t convinced he was being completely honest.
“Whatever the case,” I said, “we can’t sit around in here because Saint doesn’t have good plans for us.”
“So what do you suggest we do?” Vortex asked.
I looked around the cell. I felt that energy, strong, fighting against me. “When I was in my cuffs, I tried to use my powers, but obviously the electromagnetism soaked them up and stopped them.”
“Tell us something we don’t know,” Stone said.
“But there was a moment,” I said. “A split second moment where I felt like I was free of them. If we could just somehow focus on that moment… really hone in on it, using our powers together, I think I can get us out of this place. But we’ll need to all be in it. And we’ll need to all be prepared.”
“Prepared for what?” Stone asked.
I swallowed a lump in my throat. “For it not to go to plan.”
I heard sighs around the cell. The uncertainty and frustration were paramount. And I could get it. I wanted to be anywhere but here right now. I wanted to be fighting Saint, taking him down, making him pay. But I knew right now my priority was getting out of here, and getting my fellow ULTRAs out of here. Then, we could fight back.
“Grab my hands,” I said.
I felt Vortex’s fingers slip into mine. Then I felt Orion take my other hand. We stood in a circle, the energy between us strong but not strong enough to fight the electromagnetism. Not right now.
But we could work up to it. We could fight.
“So what exactly we supposed to do?” Stone asked. “Stand around like some kind of wacky séance and hope for the best?”
“Just… just focus on that resistance in the air. Just focus on it. And when you feel that moment of total power, you throw all your anger and pain and love into it. We do that together.”
“And how do we know we’re all gonna feel it at the same time?” Roadrunner asked.
I had to be honest. “We don’t. But we just have to try. Okay?”
Roadrunner sighed then nodded. “Let’s go.”
I focused on the things that angered me the most. I tried to bring love into it too, but all I saw was Saint. All I saw was his destruction. The pain and the chaos he’d caused.
And as I focused on that pain inside, I felt the magnetic resistance getting stronger. I felt my muscles tightening. My brain felt hot, like it was boiling.
“Not sure I can do this!” Stone shouted.
“Hold on!”
I gripped Vortex’s and Orion’s hands harder. I could feel that moment coming. The moment where we could embrace our powers. We were going to do this. We were going to get out of here. We were—
A crack.
A smash of light above.
The cell filled with darkness.
We all fell down and hit the ground. Vortex gasped, as did the others. Orion held his back, wincing.
“It’s too tough,” Ember said. “We’ll never do it.”
“We can if we try. We were close. We just have to give it another shot. We just have to—”
“Go on then. Give it another shot. But just see how far it gets you.”
The Scottish accent sounded familiar—like I’d heard it before recently.
When I looked at the cell door where the voice came from, I knew exactly why.
Controlla was standing there.
And he was lifting his hands and getting ready to control.
I
felt
Controlla’s powers wrap around me right away.
The cell around me disintegrated from my consciousness. I knew Orion, Ember, Roadrunner, Vortex and Stone were there, but they seemed far away. I could hear voices. Voices of those I loved crying out for me to help. I could see Ellicia somewhere in the distance, clouded in the fog. I wanted to get to her and help her, but I couldn’t move a muscle.
“You know what the problem with trying to escape this place is?” Controlla asked. He walked toward me, his footsteps heavy. He seemed to be growing in height with every single step. His powers were similar to Vortex’s, only much stronger, and much more persuasive. That was a terrifying thought.
I tried to speak back to Controlla but couldn’t move my lips.
“Every time you try to use your powers, we get a signal. And every time we get a signal, we get excited. Because you know what it means when we get a signal?”
Controlla stood right opposite me now. His face was in flames. His grin was wide and beaming.
“It means we get to put you through hell.”
I felt a searing pain in my chest and the whole cell around me vanished.
I was on the street. It was snowing. I knew what day it was because I could see the fight in the sky just above.
Just ahead, I saw Cassie running to me, fear in her eyes.
I wanted to tell her to turn around. To go over there and stop her. But I wasn’t in control. Saint and Orion were too caught up in battle. There was no stopping them, and there was no stopping Cassie.
But I fought anyway. I fought and with all my strength, I managed to lift my heavy foot. I resisted the electromagnetic grip and lifted my other foot, and before I knew it, I was running.
It wracked my body with agony, but I powered nearer to Cassie. I wasn’t watching her die again.
She looked at me and shouted something. I couldn’t hear what anymore, her words were so drowned out by the chaos above, and by the crackling static sound in my skull.
“It’s okay,” I shouted, as I got within inches of her, closer than I’d ever got in any of my dreams. “I’ve got you.”
I went to grab her hands.
Her hands disintegrated on contact.
I stood there, then, stunned. I watched as Cassie’s body crumbled away before me, fell to dust.
“No.”
And then, behind her, I saw Mom. She was crying, while her fingers also fell to dust.
“No!”
I felt the pain of my own scream echo all around. I knew this was a nightmare that Controlla was putting me through. I had no idea what I was doing with my physical body, and I figured that was how he worked. He manipulated the mind with nightmares like this and got people to do dirty deeds.
I could have my hands around Stone’s neck.
I could be beating Ember.
I could be…
Another flash. This time, it was so vivid, so rich. It felt like I had control of this, though. Like it was a part of my consciousness, not Controlla’s.
The underwater memory. Only it was much stronger than I’d ever had it.
There was someone else beside me, to the right.
And then there was someone else to the left, too.
I felt their fingertips touch mine, and in that instant, total power between us. Total bond.
I felt the figure above me lift me out the water.
I focused on that memory with everything I had. I could feel Controlla’s grip weakening. But I just had to see what was in the memory. I had to know the truth. I had the feeling it was important. I’d always suspected it was one of my life’s biggest secrets, and still I didn’t totally get it.
A muffled voice I didn’t recognize as the figure lifted me from the water.
As I turned and saw a boy beside me.
And then I heard another cry to my right, and I turned to look and—
A blast cracked through the memory.
I was back in the cell again. Controlla was lying on his back on the other side of the cell door.
The cell door was open.
All around me, my friends were still. They stared at me, wide-eyed.
“What the hell did you just do?” Stone asked.
I looked at my hands. I could still feel the fingertips from my memory. “I don’t…”
I heard Controlla start to groan as he came back round.
I knew what I had to do.
“Get out of here.”
I flew out of the cell. Landed on Controlla’s chest. I lifted my fist and I punched him, right in his face.
He fought back. Tried to grip my neck. I felt him trying to worm his way into my mind, but every time he got close, I embraced all my anger and hit him again, and again.
After a while of hitting him, I didn’t see Controlla underneath me at all. I saw Saint. I saw all the pain he’d caused, and I knew I couldn’t just back away from this level of anger, not anymore.
“Kyle!”
I heard the muffled cry of my voice as I squeezed my telekinetic grip tighter around Controlla’s neck.
“You don’t have to do this!”
“Do it,” Controlla spat. “Prove who you really are.
What
you really are.”
I dug my teeth into my bottom lip.
Took in a deep breath of the clammy, metallic air.
And then I swung a power-charged fist down into Controlla’s face.
Hard.
I
slammed
my fist into Controlla’s face.
At least I intended to.
My fist stopped just centimeters from his nose. Something was stopping me hitting him.
It took me a few seconds to see that it was Orion using his powers to stop me.
“We need to go, Kyle,” Orion said.
I tightened my fist and tried to push even harder. I was too in the zone to leave. I wanted to punish Saint for everything he’d done, and that meant punishing the people close to Saint. “I can’t just go.”
“Remember our rules,” Orion said, sternly, keeping a steady focus on containing my powers. “We do not kill our own. No matter what.”
I looked down into Controlla’s eyes and for a split second, I saw the normal person underneath. He was just a kid like me. Someone who’d discovered he had abilities. He’d chosen to use them in a shitty way and for a bad cause, sure. But he was just another ULTRA.
“We’ll come for you,” Controlla said. “And everyone you care about. If there’s anyone left alive.”
My sympathy disappeared in an instant. I pushed through Orion’s resistance and got closer to Controlla’s face. My hand was covered in ice right now. Some of it was spraying out, bouncing off a shield Orion was doing all he could to keep in place.
“Kyle, stop this. Remember who you are.”
“Do it,” Controlla said. “And see who you
really
are.”
“I want to,” I gasped. I kept on pressing downwards. “You’ve no idea how much I want to.”
“Then show me.”
Controlla smiled.
He lifted his head closer to the blast of ice powering toward his forehead.
Then I heard blasts to my left.
I looked across. There were six ULTRAbots hovering in the air.
And they were firing at the Resistance and me.
“Come on, Kyle!”
I looked down at Controlla as the ULTRAbots closed in. All around, an alarm sounded, so loud that it covered the sounds of the ULTRAbots’ blasts.
“Finish me while you’ve got the chance.”
To my right, I saw Orion, Roadrunner, Ember, Stone and Vortex running away from the cell.
“I’ve not finished with you yet,” I said.
I fired two blasts of ice around Controlla’s wrists, tying him to the floor.
Then I stood up and ran after the Resistance.
The blasts of the ULTRAbots’ guns fired all around us. More of them swarmed up from the massive opening in the middle of the tower. And above, I saw them descending closer to us.
“Did anyone think to check where the exit is in this place?” Stone shouted.
I looked all around. We were on a level we couldn’t get off. “Grab my hand.”
“Oh, not this again,” Stone said.
“Just do it.”
We all linked hands as the ULTRAbots approached. I held my breath. Closed my eyes. Focused everything on teleporting out of here.
A crushing pain cracked through my head.
I fell down, and so too did the rest of the Resistance.
“Well that worked a treat!” Stone shouted.
“There must be some kind of block on the walls of this place stopping us leaving,” Vortex said.
“So what the hell are we supposed to do?”
I looked back at the oncoming ULTRAbots. “I have an idea.”
“What? Stand there gawping at the things that’re gonna kill us?”
“Vortex. You can control the ULTRAbots, right?”
She shook her head. “I… I can get into the head of
an
ULTRAbot—”
“Then you get in its head and you work on controlling it.”
“I can’t control anything, Kyle. It’s not my power.”
“If Controlla can do it then so can you.”
“That’s not necessarily true,” Orion said.
“So what the hell else are we supposed to do?”
We all stood our ground and looked at the crowd of ULTRAbots facing us.
“We fight,” Orion said.
I watched the ULTRAs around me jump up into the blasts of the ULTRAbots’ guns. Ember shot flames at three of them, disintegrating them on impact. Vortex had two of them gripping their helmets, crashing into one another in the confusion. Stone was hopping from one to the other, smashing heads left right and center, Roadrunner helping dizzy them in confusion.
Orion was drifting around, dodging their bullets, moving just as smoothly as I knew he could all this time.
I stood there and looked up at this fight. I looked up above at the tower. I could go up there. I could take down Saint. I could end all this, right here, right now.
Then I saw a massive blast from an ULTRAbot gun hurtling toward me.
I was too late to dodge it. It hit me in the chest. I flew back and crashed into the wall of the tower. When I hit, I felt a little singe of pain as the electromagnetic force bit me. But there was something else, too. The ULTRAbots’ ammo. It had made a little hole in the wall.
I hovered there then. Waved my arms to get the ULTRAbots’ attention. There was an absolute swarm of them now.
“Hey!” I shouted, my chest still painful. “Over here!”
The ULTRAbots all hovered up and surrounded me.
Lifted their guns.
Fired.
I dodged their bullets, one by one. I felt the pain of the wall’s resistance against me. But I could feel the wall weakening. I could sense our way out opening up.
I saw a huge bullet of energy right in front of my face.
I ducked down. For a moment, I was convinced that was it. I’d had it.
Then there was a massive, electronic blast right behind me.
I felt fresh air. I looked around and saw there was an opening. The wall was crumbling away.
“Get out of here!” I cried.
I watched Ember battle his way to the opening and fired ice at the ULTRAbots as Vortex, Roadrunner, and Orion fought their way out, too.
“Stone, quick!”
The ULTRAbots were all around Stone. All surrounding him. I tried to fire at them, take them down, but more and more of them just kept on spawning around him.
“We’ve gotta go,” Ember said.
I watched as the ULTRAbots closed in on Stone. As he punched them back as hard as he could.
“Kyle,” Orion said. “We’ve got to go.”
The ULTRAbots surrounded Stone.
His punches got weaker.
Then, he stopped punching them away altogether.