Free Battle of the ULTRAs by Matt Blake Page A

him, insisting he could be an asset. Saint gave him the benefit of the doubt. Already he was starting to regret his generosity.
    “What happened,” Controlla said, as the ULTRAbots worked on putting the tower wall back together. “If I could’ve stopped it, I would. But I gave it my everything. I swear.”
    Saint put a hand on Controlla’s shoulder. Smiled. “Come with me. There’s something I’d like to show you.”
    He led Controlla down the steps. Right down, toward the room where he kept the humans. The first batch of humans, almost ready for their big moment. The first test of just how powerful he actually was—of just how powerful they actually were.
    He opened the door and held a hand out for Controlla to go first. They stepped into the room and looked around.
    “I always find it so peaceful down here,” Saint said, his voice echoing. “So soothing, being here with all these sleeping souls.”
    He walked up to the first human. A woman with dark brown hair and soft skin. He put a hand on her stomach.
    “But it excites me, too. Because I realize now just how amazing it’ll be when they finally wake from their sleep in service of us. Come over here.”
    Controlla looked hesitant. His eyes were wide.
    Saint waved him over. “Please. Join me. I’d like you to see what we can do.”
    After a few seconds of hesitation, Controlla walked over to Saint’s side. They stood together at the foot of the bed where the woman lay. Saint put his hands on the bottom of the bed, and Controlla joined him on the other side. Together, they pushed the woman through a door right ahead, into a darkened room.
    It smelled so damp in this room. It really could do with redecorating. But it would be fine, for now. He hadn’t exactly built it with first-class accommodation in mind.
    “Where are we going?”
    Saint walked a little further. Then he stopped right in front of a blacked out window. “We’re right here.”
    There was silence for a moment.
    Then Saint whistled.
    Behind the blacked out window, a blue light grew. It completely lit up the room, shone through the window, and its beam hovered over the body of the woman.
    Controlla looked on in awe as the light beamed down onto the woman’s chest. Her body twitched. Her fingers shook. Something was happening.
    “Imagine this process but magnified,” Saint said. “Imagine what we could do if we had more power like this. That is the goal. That is the endgame.”
    The blue light intensified. For a moment, Saint looked into the eyes of the girl behind the glass. The girl who had these marvelous abilities.
    And then the light disappeared and it was dark again.
    Saint lifted his hand. Lit up the air.
    The woman on the bed was still.
    “What’s… what’s supposed to have happened?” Controlla asked.
    He didn’t have to wait long for his answer.
    The woman’s eyes opened.
    She shot up and wrapped her hands around his neck.
    He shook as he fought against her on the ground. Saint knew he was trying to use his powers, but he made sure they were repressed as the human woman—now under his total control—held him to the ground.
    “This is the difference between your kind and my kind,” Saint said, as Controlla shouted out, screamed. “This is the difference between the first wave of ULTRAs, and ULTRAbots and humans totally under my control.”
    “Please!” Controlla shouted, writhing on the floor. “Don’t do this!”
    Saint smiled. He took a deep breath of the damp air and looked through the blackened glass. He knew she was in there somewhere. “Oh, it’s done, my child. It’s done. And this is just the beginning.”
    Controlla cried out again.
    Then, he went silent.

19
    I blasted through the sky and away from the ULTRAbots.
    It was dark. I wasn’t sure where we were exactly, just that we’d escaped Saint’s tower a while back. We’d had to shake off several ULTRAbots on our way, but we’d dealt with them. Of course we had. We were much stronger than