The Last Hero (Book 1): Ultra Read Online Free Page B

old-fashioned methods of conflict that’d spanned since the beginning of time. It was still just a human and a weapon of some form or other.
    Until the discovery of the ULTRAs.
    Nobody knew exactly how the ULTRAs came about. Not publicly, anyway. Just that fifteen years ago, the United States government unveiled their very first creation. Some people said they were modified humans. Others said they were the products of genetic experiments. Nobody really minded as long as they protected the planet.
    The powers of the ULTRAs varied. Some had just the one—the ability to fly, or the ability to run at super-speed. Others had tricks of the mind, like the power of super-thought, and the ability to crack codes that not even the best computers could manage.
    There were rare ones, too. ULTRAs that had multiple abilities. Telekinesis. Teleportation.
    But they were very rare.
    In fact, there were only ever two.
    Saint and Orion.
    Of course, they weren’t called ULTRAs then. ULTRA by its definition means extremist, something that they were only regarded as four years after the introduction of Alpha.
    Originally? They were simply known as Heroes.
    And they were going to change the world.
    They did just that.
    Only not in the way the government planned.
    The first few Heroes went down without a hitch. There was a reduction in military spending because of them. Police presence was less required. People seemed safer on the streets. Those four years between Alpha’s introduction and the change from Heroes to ULTRAs were reportedly some of the most blissful in human existence.
    Then some of the Heroes decided they wanted more than just to gate-keep the planet.
    As with everything powerful, some of the power started getting to the Heroes’ heads. After a series of devastating scuffles within the ranks, one Hero rose to the top of the villainous food chain: Saint.
    Saint led three years of terror. He launched attacks on cities. He terrorized people for fun. His goal? Complete control of the planet. Complete superiority over humans.
    He wanted humans to fear him. And he wanted humans to serve him.
    He didn’t want Heroes to be the new gods. He wanted Heroes to be the new humans.
    The humans? They were just the cattle underneath.
    It didn’t help that he had multiple abilities. That he was the most powerful ULTRA in existence.
    With the Heroes becoming ULTRAs by definition, the tables turned. ULTRAs of all kinds were hunted down by government forces. Military spending was ramped right back up again to levels it’d never before reached. Curfews were in place. Humanity faced near certain extinction as more and more ULTRAs converted to Saint’s ways.
    All of them except Orion.
    Orion was different. He was powerful, just like Saint, which was remarkable in itself, leading many to assume he was a product of severe government experimentation. Instead of turning to the side of Saint, he fought for what he believed in. Even though the government demanded he back down, he kept on hunting Saint’s people, desperate to force them into oblivion.
    And he did. After three dark years, Orion succeeded. He defeated Saint.
    The only problem was, Saint triggered something just before Orion pounded into him. He triggered an ultimate power source within, something people were still trying to explain to this day. Pure Hero power.
    And that caused The Great Blast.
    The event that ended the Era of the ULTRAs.
    The explosion that killed one million New Yorkers.
    The explosion that ripped through my Staten Island neighborhood. That I, somehow, survived.
    That my sister, Cassie, died in.
    Where my father’s descent into depression began.
    Mom always wanted to move from Sherman Avenue. To get a fresh start. Our place was one of the lucky ones that stayed standing, despite everything.
    But Dad couldn’t move on. He’d never even cleared out Cassie’s room.
    To this day, I still hadn’t walked into that room. It gave me the creeps even thinking about it. Like