The Last Hero (Book 1): Ultra (20 page)

“
M
an
, you slept through
this
shit? How the hell does anyone sleep through
this
shit?”

I sat on Damon’s sofa. Avi was beside me holding on to his new iPad Pro, how he’d afforded it I had no idea. I was completely stuffed after what must’ve been my fiftieth pizza of the week. Yeah, my appetite had grown since I’d taken down Nycto. Saving the world had a funny effect like that.

I watched the video of the events unfold. Some genius video editor had compiled all the known footage of the battle, edited it together like a movie. In truth, I felt a bit conscious when I saw myself on that screen. Like someone would notice it was me. Figure it out.

But… nah. To the world around me, I was still just Kyle Peters. Still just the weak-ass who fake-shat himself at school. Still just the idiot who slept through the greatest ULTRA showdown since the last Era of the ULTRAs.

“And that punch, man.” Damon smacked a fist into his palm. “Ugh! That
slug!
”

I watched the final moments of the known footage. The moment where I got all charged up, as too did Nycto. I saw myself fly at him, then the pair of us just disappear for the final time into thin air. The incident that occurred right before the freak eruption of Krakatoa. The most devastating eruption of all time.

Only, everyone had survived it.

Some genius blocked the lava flow, redirected it. A miracle, people of nearby islands said. An impossibility.

Some people said it was God’s work. I felt a little arrogant taking credit for that, so I was just happy they’d made it out alive.

Nycto, however…

“Dude, gotta worry about that Glacies, though,” Avi said.

“Why?” I asked. I was pretty smug that people were referring to Glacies by his name. I figured I’d shouted it before I rammed myself into Nycto. For the first time in my life, I had a cool nickname that didn’t involve my lankiness, my general crappiness, or fake-shitting myself. “He seemed to do a pretty good job of sorting Nycto out. It’s been three weeks since we last heard anything.”

Avi nodded, chomping down on popcorn. “That’s what I mean. He seemed a straight up guy. Someone who wanted to do good by us. Damn. He mighta been a hero.”

He mighta been a hero indeed.

“Whaddya reckon actually happened?” Avi asked. “When those two disappeared. Where’d they go?”

I didn’t like to think too much about those final moments. I hadn’t enjoyed throwing Nycto into the lava pit, freezing it over. It was made even worse by the fact that his mask slipped away at the last moment, and I saw Daniel’s fearful eyes staring up at me, just like he used to when he was trodden on and bullied back at school.

But I’d done what I had to do. I’d dealt with the greatest threat to humanity since the Era of the ULTRAs. It wasn’t nice. It wasn’t pretty. But it was the right thing to do. The only thing to do.

“I mean, you reckon they’re dead?” Avi asked.

I shrugged. Stuffed my hand in the popcorn box and crunched some. “Wherever they are, I like to think Glacies won. ’Cause we haven’t heard from Nycto in ages. That’s gotta mean something.”

Avi dragged the popcorn back. The three of us sat there, watching the footage unfold. “Yeah, that’s somethin’ alright.”

The weirdest, most unexpected development in all this was the way Glacies was being talked about. Social media were going mad with stories of the people who’d been saved. Even the president, in his speech, thanked Glacies for dealing with the Nycto threat, but urged him, if he was alive, to hand himself in for the good of all mankind. Of course, I wouldn’t be doing that. Not at all.

But I was going to make sure I was ready in case I ever needed to use my powers again.

“So, there’s a new Mission Impossible movie on,” Avi said.

“Another?” Damon said. “Damn. Don’t they ever give up on those movies?”

“Hey,’ Avi said, raising his hands. “Don’t knock Ethan Hunt, man. Do not knock Ethan Hunt.”

Damon and Avi play-fought for popcorn, and I just sat there smiling. I could go watching Mission Impossible. I could do normal things. The things a sixteen-year-old guy was supposed to do. I could finish school, go back to being teased again. Why? Because I’d stepped up when I needed to. Because I’d believed in myself, just like the Figure in Black told me to.

“If you can believe yourself, truly believe in yourself, you can achieve the one thing you’ve been gifted these abilities for.”

I saw right now that he was absolutely right.

Wherever he was, whoever he was, I owed it all to him.

“Come on,” I said. “I hear Ethan fights his way out of a shark’s mouth in the opening scene this time. And he actually did it, y’know? Stuffed himself into a real live shark mouth and fought his way out of it.”

“The shark okay?” Avi asked.

“Would you be okay if Ethan Hunt punched his way outta your mouth?”

A look of concern. “Fair point.”

“Nah, the shark’s cool. It understands.”

“All in the name of art,” Damon said.

“All in the name of art.”

We left Avi’s place and walked down the sun-soaked street. The air smelled like street food again, like it did before the Nycto panic. People traveled over on the boat from Manhattan, tourists, all looking happy about their lives, all living in something like normality all over again. Because it was. Things were normal again. And sure, something big and bad would probably come along again one day. But right now? Things were good. And that was all that mattered.

“Kyle?”

I heard the voice from behind me.

When I turned around, all my confidence, all my fearlessness, drifted away.

Ellicia was standing there. She was on her own, a strawberry milkshake in hand.

I thought about just waving back and pretending I hadn’t seen her. The nervy old Kyle inside told me that’d be the right thing to do, even though Damon was jabbing at me to go talk to her, and Avi was chatting about how she was a “fine broad”, whatever that meant.

But I fought through my nervousness and walked toward her.

“Hey,” I said, scratching the back of my neck.

“Hey,” she said back. She looked at the sidewalk. “How you doing?”

“Yeah, I’m good. You?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking back up at me. Her eyes glistened in the sunlight.

“Well, that’s good. We’re both good. Good thing we’re both good.”

She sniggered. I wasn’t sure how idiot I sounded on a scale of one to idiot, but I wagered I was right up there in idiot territory.

“You guys off somewhere?”

“Oh,” I said, looking back at my mates. Damon waved. Avi stood in his “cool” pose, hands on his hips, obviously eager to impress. “Yeah, we’re just heading to see the new Mission Impossible.”

“I hear Ethan Hunt punches his way out of a—”

“Real shark,” I echoed.

We both smiled. Then both looked at the sidewalk. And by the looks of things, we both blushed.

“Anyway,” I said. “I’d better…”

“Yeah,” Ellicia said. “Enjoy.”

“I’ll try. Thanks.”

I turned around and walked after my friends. But as I walked away, I felt that same sense of disappointment I’d always felt when I didn’t say what I truly wanted to with Ellicia. When I didn’t just say how I really felt, what I really wanted.

I was a dork. There was no way I was getting anywhere with her.

She didn’t really like me. It was all in my head.

I might as well just…

I stopped. Took a deep breath of the fresh summer air.

I turned around. Fought past the voices, the monsters in my mind, and looked back at Ellicia as she walked away, milkshake in hand.

“Hey!”

Ellicia stopped. She turned around.

“Say you, erm. You like the Ethan Hunt movies?” God, man. Just say it. Just ask the damned girl!

“I can’t stand them,” Ellicia said, a smile on her face.

“Oh,” I said. “Well… It’s just—”

“But I’d love to spend some time with you, yeah.”

She walked towards me. As she did, I felt tingling in my fingers, all over my body. If I didn’t keep my cool, I’d end up hopping thirty feet in the air right now.

I tried to control my beaming smile as Ellicia joined me, and as we caught up Damon and Avi.

I felt her fingers brush against mine as we approached the cinema. And as we walked together, hand in hand, I felt like everything in my life was complete.

I felt like everything in my life was perfect.

“If you can believe yourself, truly believe in yourself, you can achieve the one thing you’ve been gifted these abilities for.”

He’d been right. The Figure in Black had been right. Whoever he was, he’d been right.

I looked up into the sky and muttered “Thank you,” under my breath.

“What?” Ellicia asked.

I smiled at her. Squeezed her hand, feeling its warmth. “Nothing.”

The pair of us walked together towards the cinema. Together, towards the new Ethan Hunt movie.

“If you can believe yourself, truly believe in yourself, you can achieve…”

Mostly true.

Although I’d still not figured out how the hell I was supposed to start a conversation with the girl of my damned dreams, yet.

H
e watched
the boy walk into the cinema, the girl’s hand around his.

He felt a little mad about that. After all, he’d warned him. He had to shed the idea of being Kyle Peters if he wanted to make it in this world. The boy couldn’t lead a double life. He knew—he’d tried leading a double life, and it was no way to live. It wasn’t fair. It only led to pain. Destruction.

But as he perched atop the building opposite, he saw the smile on Kyle’s face, and he couldn’t intervene. He just couldn’t. The kid had been through a lot. And he’d done good. He’d not only survived, but he’d conquered. He’d proven he had the mental strength to defeat his physical strength. He’d proven he was more than just an ULTRA—he was a Hero.

But as he watched Kyle smile, he couldn’t help but pity him. Walking around like this was all over. Well, it wasn’t over. It was never over.

He’d find that out very soon.

“Watching him again?”

He turned around. Angel was standing there, hands on her hips. Her bleached white hair hung down onto her shoulders. She never looked a day older every damned time Vesper saw her.

“You should be careful flapping your wings in public,” he said.

“Ever the charmer, Vesper. What’s up with this kid, anyway?”

Vesper looked down at the entrance to the cinema. Watched Kyle step inside. “He did well. Defeating Nycto.”

“Hell, he did more than well. He risked everything using his powers. Way more than any of us managed.”

“We have a reason to fear using our powers,” Vesper said. “And Glacies will discover that too. In time.”

“Let’s just hope he doesn’t find out the hard way.”

A lump swelled in Vesper’s throat. “Let’s.”

He stared over at the cinema and then looked beyond it. Looked at this city. This perfect city.

“There will come a time when we have to rise again,” Vesper said. “For real.”

“You feel the storm approaching, too?”

“Stronger than ever.”

“And when it does?”

Vesper looked back down at the cinema. “We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

Memories flooded his mind. Memories of the past eight years. Of everything that had happened. The silent battles. Battles with the government. Battles with… others.

“Two new ones in the space of a few weeks,” Angel said. “Extra-powerful ones, too.”

Vesper waited a few seconds. She didn’t continue. “And?”

“Don’t you think it seems, well… weird?”

“Not particularly.”

“But doesn’t it make you wonder? Just a little?”

Vesper didn’t want to answer Angel just yet. There’d be a time. There’d be a place. But right now… right now it wasn’t so important.

“Want me to go have a chat with our new friend?” Angel asked. “I could show him what I can do. Sure to be a date-killer.”

Vesper half-smiled. “Not now. Let the boy have his fun. He’ll need it if he’s to be ready for what’s coming.”

Angel whistled. “Wow. Vesper showing patience with a newbie. Never thought I’d see the day.”

Vesper sighed. “Me neither.”

“What is it with this kid then? Really? I sense… something different.”

Vesper swallowed a lump in his throat. He had flashes back to the day. The day everything changed. The day he’d made the most difficult decision of his life.

“Nothing,” Vesper said, adjusting his bowler hat. He felt stifling hot in all this black gear. But there was nothing he could do about that. He had a disguise to keep. “Guess I’m just softening in my old age.”

Angel slapped Vesper across his arm with her talons. “Chin up, sport. Now’s not the time to be gettin’ soppy. Anyway. Gotta shoot. Things to do. Life to live.”

“Yeah. Later.”

As Angel disappeared off the roof of the building, Vesper stood there a little longer, staring out at the New York skyline over the Hudson River, then back down to the streets, then to the cinema below.

He was glad he still had his mask on. Because he definitely didn’t want Angel to see that he was crying. Not that she could see him anyway. Nobody could.

If she’d seen him, she’d have seen the truth.

But nobody could know the truth.

Nobody could know he was Orion.

Nobody could know that he’d survived the Great Blast.

And nobody could know the truth about Kyle Peters.

His biological son.

T
he second book
in The Last Hero series, Rise of the ULTRAs, is now available to pre-order right
HERE
.

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