The Ultimates (Watty Awards 2011)

Chapter 3

“The Spider Mech. A diminutive machine capable of long term reconnaissance on the user’s adversaries. In short, you’ve got a damn spy Harris.”

“Do you think it’s the Revolutionaries?”

James shook his head.

“Highly unlikely. To the world you’re just some ordinary guy. Why would the Revolutionaries spy on you? No, it would have to be someone that has knowledge of the Ultimates.”

“Do you think we’ve been infiltrated?”

“I don’t know for sure. It really could be anything.”

I walked over to the hologram. I asked James to research what I had taken a picture of earlier and he came up with something called the Spider Mech. There was a machine that showed a hologram of the Spider Mech. I was able to use my hands to examine parts of it. I took of the bottom of the spider hologram and saw a rectangular object in it. It didn’t look like a battery pack.

“What this?” I asked James. He walked over and looked at it.

“It’s a small C4 explosive. In the event that a person tries to destroy it, the C4 will automatically detonate.”

“So in other words, it’s a very good recon machine.”

“Yeah. It’s got one hell of a battery pack too.”

“Do you think you can make some for me? Before I go to Russia?”

“Six days? I’d be able to build it in much less. I could give it some improvements. Hopefully when I’m done with it won’t sound like the Mark one Ironman.”

Jams laughed and I was silent.

“Excuse me?” I said.

“What?”

“Mark what?”

“You know. The first Ironman model that Tony Stark made in captivity.”

I was silent. I had no idea what he was talking about.

“Why does everyone do that when I make an Ironman joke?” he said to himself.

“I have to go,” I said, already walking out the door. I was in the Ultimates conference building. I walked into the central area; that was where we actually had the conferences. It was silent. I couldn’t hear anything except for the sound of James mumbling to himself. I was previously in the laboratory. James was the scientist of the Ultimates and he was obsessed with comicbooks.

Torov walked into the room. His footsteps echoed loudly. He looked surprised when he saw me.

“Harris. I didn’t expect to see you here today,” Torov said.

“I came in because of something I saw earlier. I needed to speak with James,” I said, pulling my camera out of my pocket to show him the picture I took.

“What’s that?”

 “It’s a Spider Mech. Some son of a bitch is spying on me. Worse, there’s a good chance we’ve been infiltrated.”

“When did you see it?”

“About two hours ago.”

“And this is the first time you’ve seen it?”

“Yes.”

Torov grimaced. I knew he feared having the Ultimates infiltrated more than anybody. It’s possible for the computers to be hacked, or an attack on the conference building made or even the revelation of the Ultimates. He understood the extent of that the best. The revelation of the Ultimates might start wars and the death of us all.

“This is bad. Harris. Go home. I’ll check out what’s going on,” Torov said.

I walked out of the building and took out my phone. I dialled Andrew’s number.

“Hello?” Andrew said over the phone.

“Andy.”

“Yeah?”

“Meet me at my apartment. I need to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“I’ll have to show you.”

“Sure. Bye.”

“Bye.”

I checked all over the apartment. There was no sign of the Spider Mech. I opened the windows and checked. The Spider Mech wasn’t there either. I knew Andrew was wondering why I was doing all of this. I needed to be cautious. I threw him my camera and he looked at the picture that appeared on the screen.

“What the hell is this supposed to be?” Andrew asked.

“A Spider Mech. A recon machine. Andy, I’m being spied on.”

“Do you know who’s doing it?”

“I have no clue. I went to James earlier. He doesn’t know either. He says it’s probably not the Russians, or any of the Revolutionaries. Torov’s trying to find out who it is.”

“Well good. If someone’s spying on you then we’ll be able to use our intel to-”

“No. It’s someone who has knowledge of the Ultimates. But as far as we know no one from the outside knows about the Ultimates. So there are two possibilities: it could be an Ultimate or there are holes in our intel.”