The Ultimates (Watty Awards 2011)

Chapter 1

“I think we should send bombers.”

“Violent, as usual, Seth,” I said.

Seth always preferred to use a more violent approach to handling matters. I, however, was a “peace lover” as he called me; it meant I liked solving things with as little bloodshed as possible. I knew he considered me weak; he probably expected me shake with terror at the enemies’, or even his, presence. But I wasn’t like that. I had killed my fair share of people in order to protect the world. I was completely unafraid of anything. I knew I had to be, if I was to be an Ultimate.

“Seth, I wish it could be that simple. But Moscow’s expecting a war. They probably have anti-aircraft missiles everywhere,” Torov said. Torov was a Russian but surprisingly he led the whole secret war against Russia. My guess was that he was tired of Ferschi’s dictatorship. He probably hated how he treated the people of Russia and wanted to stop it. The mission was really to take out Ferschi; we didn’t want to start a war.

On top of that, Russia wasn’t our only problem. Portugal, Russia and Italy had all made an alliance. They called themselves “The Revolutionaries.” They wanted all countries to serve them; to start a sort of colonial system. They also wanted to reintroduce slavery but this time it wouldn’t only be Africans but it would be people from all countries that weren’t them. All of this was unbeknownst to everyone in those three countries because of the fear that the population would object. They thought that they would thank them later on after seeing the results. Another fear was of spreading the news to other countries. We also wanted to prevent that because if that happened World War 3 would surely break out. According to the intelligence gathered, they conducted secret operations to weaken defences such as military sabotage and propaganda.

“So what do we do? Send in the military?” Andrew asked. Andrew was from Ohio like me.

“I don’t know. It seems like they’ve got one hell of an army up there,” Ashley said. Ashley was Andrew’s girlfriend and a very good ultimate.

“Andy, they’ll kick our asses,” Torov said, pointing to a chart showing the map of Russia on a screen ahead of us. He was leading the operation so he was the only one standing. He did that so he could show us points on the chart where things were happening. The deeper the red, the better defended a place was. Moscow was one of the deepest reds I had ever seen.

“I can go in. I’ll do what the Revolutionaries are doing to the other countries. I can go in dressed as a soldier and secretly take them down from the inside.” I said.

Everyone was silent. They were shocked. Seth looked especially frightened. Not even he would take on such a dangerous mission. The only person that didn’t look shocked was Torov.

“Sure, Harris. That’s really brave. I’m pretty sure none of these guys would ever try something like that. And they’re all trained better than any soldier,” Torov said.

“Shit man. All by yourself?” Seth said.

“Yeah. He’s got a point. Take Andy, I’m sure he’d love the adventure,”

“While no truer words have ever been said, I don’t want to steal Arckine’s thunder,” Andy said.

“No, I want you to come. It’ll probably get lonely up there in Russia by myself.”

“It’s authorized then. You’ll both go in a week’s time. I’ll get a plane to Russia,” Torov said.

“I guess the meeting’s adjourned,” Ashley said.

“Yeah the meetings adjourned. See you guys in a week,” Torov said.

We all piled out noisily going through the front doors.

“Russia’s gonna be one hell of a time,” Andy said to me as we went through the doors. His eyes shone with excitement.

“Yeah, it is. Can’t wait,” I responded and I didn’t know if my eyes shone the same way as his.