The Last Hero (Book 1): Ultra (10 page)

D
aniel Septer hovered
over his house and felt the power of anger within.

The night sky was jet black. There was a chill in the air, but it didn’t matter to Daniel. He could feel warmth with the click of his fingers. The only thing that mattered to Daniel was the power he felt inside. The fury he felt inside.

The strength he’d been missing out on all his life, all of it swirling around inside.

He looked out over Manhattan Island. He saw all the lights, heard all the voices as if he was walking through the streets. Tourists. Businessmen. Taxi drivers. All going about their lives like everything was okay. All living their perfect little existences without a worry in the world. Making love to one another. Filth. Vermin. That’s what they were. That’s what they always would be.

All because of the way they’d trodden him down like he was nothing his entire life.

He tasted bitterness in his mouth as the memories of watching what happened to his stepdad, Garth, circled his mind. He’d thought about that a lot lately. Thought about the look on Garth’s face as he hit himself with his own fist, again and again. Thought about the fear and confusion in his mom’s eyes.

But that was the thing. Garth was gone now. Garth wasn’t hurting anyone else, ever again.

Daniel had made sure of that.

For the first time in his life, he’d been the one to put a bully in their place.

He felt the anger tingling at his hot skin as he kept on hovering above his house. Mom was inside. He hadn’t meant to lock her away in the basement, but she was just so eager to call the police about what happened to Garth. So keen to report it. He couldn’t have that. Not at all.

Eventually, she’d come round. She’d see sense.

Right now, she was right where she needed to be.

Nobody would hear her scream.

He loved her so much.

He could hear people below, on the streets, but he knew it didn’t matter. He was invisible. Nobody could see him. He’d been invisible in another sense for years already. Nobody paid any attention to him. Nobody took him seriously. And when he did attract attention, it was always the wrong kind.

Not again. Not anymore. Not after he finished.

He thought about all the kids that had trodden him down. Thought of the school bullies and their normal lives. Thought about the teachers, the moms and dads, all of them living their worry-free existences. They were ungrateful, that’s what it was. When the ULTRAs were around, the world had a purpose again. A godless world had a vision of a God-filled future.

And humans had just taken that away again, infested the world, spread their venom further.

Really, the Era of the ULTRAs should’ve been a lesson. A lesson to appreciate life. To be kind to others. But the problem with humans was their memories. They were short term. One day, they could be in the midst of a terror attack, the next day they’d be out in a public place again like everything was okay, like nothing had happened.

Humans thought they were the gods. They thought they could defeat anyone. Anything.

But they couldn’t. Because people like Daniel Septer were the gods.

People like Daniel Septer were going to rule this world.

People were going to fall to their knees for the ULTRAs once more.

Daniel looked over at Staten Island High School and he felt the anger tingling inside. The times he’d been punched. The times he’d had his money, clothes, everything stolen. The times he’d been given poor grades. He was going to make them pay. He was going to show them what it felt like to feel worthless. Powerless.

He was going to make them understand, and he was going to enjoy it.

And nobody was going to stop him.

Because nobody was powerful enough to stop him.

He looked down at his iPad. On it, he saw clips of Saint. He saw his silver armor, shining like a knight. He saw the chaos he’d caused—the explosions in Tokyo, the fires of Berlin. He saw Saint swooping through the city of London, smashing every banker building in his wake. He saw the London Eye fall, the people inside it slip into the Thames.

And Daniel didn’t feel the disgust that most people felt about Saint. After all, Saint wasn’t the villain. It wasn’t as simple as that; as black and white as that. Saint just wanted the world to be a better place. He wanted to free the world from the bully governments. He wanted to lead humanity into a new era—an era where the ULTRAs were the governments, the gods, and the people below served. Sure, he wanted people to fear him. What was any good leader if their people didn’t fear him? That explained the explosions. That justified the killings.

But more than anything, Saint just wanted an end to the old ways. The narrow-minded human ways that had gripped the world like a disease for decades. Capitalism. Materialism. Mass population.

Saint wanted to rescue people from themselves.

Daniel didn’t want that.

Well, he wanted a part of that. He wanted the power. The control of a god. He wanted people to fear him.

But he didn’t want people to be saved.

He wanted people to burn.

And they would. They would. That day was coming. It was approaching. Fast.

Daniel dropped onto his house roof and lowered his invisibility. He looked out at the city, then back at Staten Island.

He would master his powers. The powers that he had been blessed with for a reason.

And when he did, he would tread everyone down.

The more he killed, the stronger he would feel. The more he destroyed, the more he would be feared.

Finally, he was standing up to the things that had made his life hell.

People.

He pulled down his dark silver metal mask, which he’d forced someone just outside the city to weld in a very comprehensive way, and to a very tight schedule. Just like Saint’s. He made himself re-appear from invisibility, just for a moment, and scanned his body. That armor. That silver metal armor. Again, welded by the best the city had to offer. He’d thanked the person who did it in his own special way.

Again, just like Saint’s.

No. Better than Saint’s. Stronger than Saint’s.

He took a deep breath from under that mask. Felt the power it gave him. The confidence it instilled in him.

He was starting a legacy of his own.

A new Era of the ULTRAs.

Daniel Septer was dead. Nycto was born.

He opened up the flyer to his school party.

He felt the anger at all the excitement around it, all the positivity around it. All the joy of people who’d punished him. People who’d treated him like hell.

The flyer started to burn in his hands.

He let it drop to the ground below.

And then he disappeared into the night.

Soon, the people who had made him suffer would feel pain themselves.

Soon.

He hoped Kyle Peters would be there to see the fireworks.

I
looked
in the mirror at myself and wanted to puke.

It was Friday night. Which meant one thing: party night. A matter of days ago, I honestly hadn’t thought much of this night. I think I planned on staying at home, getting takeaway pizza, playing video games or watching Netflix or both.

But here I was, staring at myself in a mirror… Suited and booted.

My suit was all black. It was a pretty tight fit, which probably wasn’t good news seeing as I was a five foot six rake as it was. I’d bought the suit with my own savings, though. Not in an actual suit shop, like Damon recommended—I wasn’t fully out of the realms of total recluse just yet. I’d gone online and bought one that I thought would fit me.

Yeah. There wasn’t a lot of time to send it back now. And it’d cost a lot of money.

But if it meant looking moderately good rather than… Well, not attending the party at all, then that’s all that mattered.

’Cause Ellicia was going, and I had someone to impress.

I heard pots and pans downstairs. The sound of the television in the living room. The knowledge that my parents were just in other rooms while I was dressed ready for a party they didn’t even know was on, let alone that I was attending it, made my stomach turn. I’d have to be quiet when I left. I’d have to make sure I got out without them seeing me. Maybe I could use my ULTRA powers to…

No. No using my ULTRA powers. There were a time and a place for my ULTRA powers, and that time and place was no time and no place. It was too risky. Too dangerous. I’d used them too publicly as it was.

No, I needed to work on my own problems. I needed to start being more confident in myself, not falling back on my powers to do the job.

And that started tonight.

That started with the party.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Part of me just wanted to take off my suit and hide in bed. I felt my heart racing every time I pictured myself in a hall filled with people I detested. What the hell was I doing? Why in God’s hell was I attending this thing?

And then I saw Ellicia’s Facebook posts and felt a different sort of tingling.

She was with a couple of friends at one of their places before the party. They were all dressed up, but my jaw dropped when I saw Ellicia. She was wearing a light blue dress. Her dark hair was curly and hung down on her shoulders. She wasn’t plastered with makeup—she had a little something around her eyes—how was I supposed to know what it was? But she looked better for it. She still looked herself. Like the Ellicia I knew and… Damn, the Ellicia I loved.

She looked beautiful.

I opened up Messenger and tapped on her name, unable to shake myself from the moment.

On my way soon
, I typed.

I hovered a thumb over it. If I sent this, there’d be no going back. If I sent this, I—

My thumb shook so hard that I accidentally tapped on the Send button.

And I realized I’d caught a wink-faced emoji before sending, too.

Dammit. No going back now. No going back.

Almost instantly after sending it, the message marked as read. And then Ellicia started typing. I could hardly contain my excitement and my fear. I couldn’t believe this was actually happening—that I’d be as lucky as I was right now.

She sent back a single :).

When I looked back up at the mirror, I saw something poking against my ultra-tight black pants.

Damn. Yeah. I’d… I’d have to keep
that
in check if I wanted to avoid being laughed at tonight. That’d be a start.

I brushed back my hair a little, no idea whether it was making me look better or worse than before. I took in a sharp breath through my nose. Smiled. “You can do this, Kyle. You can freaking do this.”

When I turned around, I saw Mom and Dad standing outside my bedroom door.

My immediate worry was, naturally, about my receding semi, which I hoped they hadn’t noticed. But then another fear started to build. The wide look in both of their eyes. The twitching of Mom’s eyelids. That pale look on Dad’s face, a look of surprise, of questioning. They weren’t supposed to see me like this. They weren’t supposed to know about tonight. I didn’t want to explain to them I was going—I just wanted to go, I just wanted to—

“Kyle?” Mom said.

I knew right then there was no getting away, no escaping. My cheeks flushed. My knees started to shake. “I… I can explain. Just a last minute thing. Just—I woulda told you but—”

“You look amazing, son.”

Mom wrapped her arms around me and held me tight. Her warmth radiated through my body as she stroked my back.

“I’m so proud of you, Kyle. So proud.”

I wasn’t sure how to feel as I stood there, my mom holding me, telling me how proud of me she was. And Dad was still just standing by the door, staring over at me like he’d seen a ghost. I wondered why he was looking at me that way. What it meant.

But then something even stranger happened.

Dad walked over.

He put a hand on my shoulder. He didn’t look me in the eyes. He just put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it.

“That’s my boy,” he said. I could hear the shakiness in his voice. “My boy.”

I felt a lump in my throat. Tears building in my eyes. I felt the pride of my parents—the pride at me stepping out of my comfort zone, of doing something I was terrified of doing.

I was going to the party. I didn’t
want
to go to the party, but I was doing it. And I didn’t need superpowers to do that. I just needed my own powers. My own strength.

I let go of Mom, patted Dad back on the shoulder, and told them I wouldn’t be too late.

“Don’t you worry about being late,” Mom said. “You have a special night. Then tell us all about it, okay?”

I wiped my eyes and nodded at Mom. I couldn’t explain the emotion. Sadness. Happiness. A bit of both. “I will,” I said. “I will.”

“Goodbye, Son,” Dad said.

“Goodbye, Dad.”

He looked me in the eyes, just for the briefest of moments, and I couldn’t quite figure out what that look was. Pride. That’s what it felt like. For the first time in my life since Cassie died, my dad was proud of me.

I turned around before the tears had a chance to flow and disappeared out of my bedroom door, out of my house.

I didn’t need any superpowers.

I just needed myself.

If only I knew what was ahead of me that evening.

T
wenty minutes
at the party and I hated it already.

I looked around at all these people I’d spent years of my school life growing up with. Very few of them I actually liked, and very few of them actually liked me. They were all suited, all looking trim and strong and muscular, all smiling at girls and looking like they were having the time of their lives.

I wished I could feel that way. And as I squeezed past these droves of people, the music thumping from the dance floor up ahead, I became increasingly aware of my own image. I thought I looked pretty sharp in my suit before I left. But now, seeing all these other people tailored and crafted to perfection? Now I wasn’t sure.

My mouth was dry. I nodded at a few people that were vaguely familiar—people from my year who I never really spoke to. At least they weren’t teasing me, pulling a practical joke on me. That made a change. I figured it had something to do with the events lately. The soccer game, the incident on the field with Mike Beacon.

Damn. I started to wonder if I was bordering on
cool
.

Just a shame I was finishing school for summer break soon. Ah well. Hopefully, the good word would follow me into next year.

The air was thick with the smell of aftershave. I didn’t bother with aftershave, and in all honesty, I was glad I’d made that call now. It was smelly as hell as it was, no way anyone was gonna be able to tell I wasn’t wearing any.

I searched around for my friends. Damon told me he was by the bar, which sounded way cooler before you saw it: the “bar” was just a little single-file line where a woman barely older than us handed out plastic cups of Coca-Cola. Not quite the bars you saw on movies. Which, in a way, I was kinda relieved about.

I squinted over at the dance floor, dared myself to look. Where the hell was Damon? He was supposed to be here. So too were some of our other mates—or rather, Damon’s mates from classes—Paul, Chris, Sam. I got that awful feeling that maybe I’d been stood up. Maybe this was all some kind of prank from Damon to get me to go to the party. I’d made the bold call of turning up alone in the first place, without a grand photo entry.

Ah well. At least I knew Ellicia was here.

My stomach turned when I thought about Ellicia. I thought back to her message. She’d said she was here with a little smiley. What was I supposed to do now? Message her again and ask where she was at? Wander up to her looking all cool asking if she wanted a non-alcoholic drink? I didn’t know. I was clueless. How was I supposed to know how to go about these things?

I decided to grab myself a Coke. It’d kill a bit of time, at least. I got in the awfully polite line and waited there, wishing there was a way I could hydrate myself using my ULTRA abilities without having to wait here dying of thirst.

I was close to reaching the front of the line when I felt someone push me.

“Keep moving. Don’t make a scene.”

I was tempted to use the strength I knew I had inside me—physically, at least—to stand my ground. But I figured now wasn’t the time to make a show of things.

I let myself get pushed away from the queue, past the bar, and into a little darkened corner out of sight of the majority of the party.

When I turned around, I saw Mike Beacon standing right up to my face.

He didn’t look happy.

I thought about what I could say to try and diffuse the situation. I really thought he’d have learned to leave me alone by now. I started to raise my shaky hands. Half-smiled. “Mike, if this is about—”

Mike pushed me back against the wall. Trapped me between his arms.

“The hell do you think you’re doing showing your face here?”

I wet my lips, then realized in hindsight how ridiculous that’d make me look. “It’s the party. I can be here if I want to be. Kinda.” Almost tough. Almost assertive. Almost.

Mike’s eyes were bloodshot. His jaw was shaking at the sides. “You’ve got some nerve.”

“What happened. The other day. It was… it was an accident, Mike. But I’m glad to see your asthma’s not stopped you—”

Mike pushed me back. Only this time, he did it harder. So hard that the back of my head cracked against the wall, sent a fuzzy sensation splitting through my skull.

“About that, Peters. You’d better watch your step after what happened. You’d better watch it real closely. Not step outta line.”

I chanced a cocky return that I knew I’d earned. “I’d say it’s you who might wanna watch out. I roasted you with that football.”

I knew I’d made a mistake the moment the words left my lips.

Mike pushed me back again. Only this time, instinctively, I stopped myself before my head could crack against the wall.

I saw Mike’s smile twitch a little. Just a little. But there was a weird look in his eyes. Shit. Had he seen me resist hitting the wall? Had he seen me using my abilities, just for that split second?

No. I was being stupid. I was being paranoid. I was—

“Funny thing happened when I got to the hospital,” Mike said. “My peak flow. Way of measuring asthma, y’know. It was fine. Better than ever, in fact. Docs said they couldn’t understand how I’d had an asthma attack when my symptoms were pretty much non-existent.”

I felt my mouth growing even drier. He knew. He knew something was off.

“I dunno what happened out there,” Mike said, tightening his grip on my wrists, leaning close to my ear. “But I’d say you might wanna watch yourself, squirt. Because if you step outta line one more time, I’ll make sure everyone knows about our little secret. Everyone.”

When he pulled away from me and looked me in the eyes, I knew.

I knew that Mike Beacon—my enemy, my nemesis—was aware that I had abilities.

ULTRA abilities.

And he was going to use them against me.

I watched Mike walk away, smile on his face, and the world around me slipped back into the focus. The booming music. The smiles. The choking perfume and the heat from the people I’d never liked, who’d never liked me.

Mike was dangerous. I had to talk to him. I had to make sure he didn’t tell anyone. Damn, he could be telling someone right now.

I rushed in the direction I’d seen Mike go. I pushed past people, knocked drinks over. I felt a few shoves in my back, heard a few moans aimed at me, but they didn’t matter.

Mike was the only thing that mattered right now.

Finding him and stopping him from telling anyone what he knew was the only thing that…

My thoughts froze when I saw Ellicia in the middle of the dance floor.

She looked gorgeous. Like a 3D version of that photo she’d uploaded to Facebook beforehand. Because that’s exactly what she was, dumbass.

I wanted to go up to her. I wanted to walk across the dance floor and tell her I was here. Hold her hands. Dance with her.

But I knew that wouldn’t happen. Not anymore.

Because she was dancing with someone else.

Another guy.

She was looking into his eyes with a sparkling look to her own. Not shifting her vision from him. Laughing at his jokes.

I felt the tingling burning up the back of my neck. I wanted to end the music. I wanted to bring the roof off this place, end the fun. I wanted to destroy it.

And then I heard a voice in my head. A voice telling me not to be ridiculous. Destroy this place? That was scary. That was an abuse of power.

That was the very evil that the ULTRAs were renowned for.

I looked at the girl in the middle of the dance floor—the only reason I’d come to this stupid event, the only reason I’d psyched myself up, got dressed up like this for.

I looked at her in the arms of another guy.

She looked at me. I swear she looked at me, just for a split second.

But it was too late.

By that point, I was already leaving.

Before I did any damage that I knew I was capable of.

That I knew had been building up under the surface for years.