DIRE : BORN (The Dire Saga Book 1) Read Online Free
Author: Andrew Seiple
through, looking for the best angle on the crumbled building that I'd awakened within.
On the upside, the traffic thinned out as I got closer to my destination. Though I wasn't the only one out on the streets tonight, most gave me a wide berth when they looked at my face. Well, more specifically, the mask over it. Some didn't pay attention to me at all, watching the building burn, and muttering about something called White You Kay.
I couldn't help but notice signs of urban decay as I went... broken windows, bars over doors, crumbling stone on buildings that I instinctively knew were quite old. This was not a good neighborhood. It was evident in the clothes of those outdoors in the cold, barely a step up from my fellow refugees on the beach. Not that I was one to talk, or especially care. I blended in here, more so than I might in a more monitored place. Here, I might have more time to find my feet.
As I turned the final corner to get an unobstructed view of the ruins, I stopped cold. Something, some vehicle hovered above it. Shaped like a plane with no visible engines, it was about as long as a city bus, and three times as wide. A rough triangle with wings, wide at the back and tapered toward the front. A long strip of shining glass ran around the front of it, extending halfway down the body on either side. Lights flared from the undercarriage, illuminating the wreckage below... and the figures moving over it.
When I looked at the wreckage, a series of gray words floated into view.
LAIR DESIGNATION: CRADLE
DESTROYED, COMPROMISED. RECOMMEND RELOCATION.
The figures examining the remains wore costumes and masks. One man with a blue jacket, white pants, and a white mask with goggles built into it. The back of his head was visible from my angle, showing black, short-cropped hair. He had a decent build, not too muscular but definitely in shape. He seemed to be waving something over various parts of the rubble, walking along it at odd angles that indicated that gravity was no major issue to him. At one point the rubble shifted and he hopped to another chunk, as the original crumbled.
My mask chimed as I studied him, and green letters floated to the surface in my vision, letters that I knew only existed within my sight.
“DOC” QUANTUM
LEADER OF TOMORROW FORCE
POWERS: GENIUS SCIENTIST, KNOWN GADGETEER
I shifted to study the woman hovering in midair, watched as she gestured, and the falling rubble slowed and shifted directions. Instead of falling into the street, it piled itself neatly along the curb. She was blonde, long-haired, and wore a silver visor with a blue glow. Her blue bodysuit was skintight, but she had a white jacket over it, perhaps in deference to the cold. I noted that her figure was far more generous than mine and shrugged. Those things had to be murder on her back. Again, letters floated into my sight.
KINETICA
MEMBER OF TOMORROW FORCE
POWERS: KINETIC CONTROL, ABSORPTION, ASSORTED GADGETS
Tomorrow Force. Heroes, then? Seemed to fit the picture. Probably looking for answers, much as I was. I kept a safe distance. It helped that the light was bad here, and the other people on the street were focused on watching the costumed pair sift and poke through the rubble. Something bulged up from below, shifting the debris. Enormous fists, each as big as my head, pushed up through the wreckage. They were attached to equally massive metal arms that gleamed in the light, as a silver-and-blue armored form heaved itself up and raised a face to the sky. The mask over the face shone white with glowing blue eyes, and a grille for a mouth. It looked over to Doc Quantum, and from half a block away I heard his voice rumble.
“No good, Doc. There was a tunnel below but it's caved in now. Damn little left behind.”
And words floated up for him, too.
SIEGEBREAKER
MEMBER OF TOMORROW FORCE
POWERS: CYBORG, STRENGTH, ARMOR, SELF-REPAIR ROUTINES
Doc Quantum's head moved, he seemed to be
On the upside, the traffic thinned out as I got closer to my destination. Though I wasn't the only one out on the streets tonight, most gave me a wide berth when they looked at my face. Well, more specifically, the mask over it. Some didn't pay attention to me at all, watching the building burn, and muttering about something called White You Kay.
I couldn't help but notice signs of urban decay as I went... broken windows, bars over doors, crumbling stone on buildings that I instinctively knew were quite old. This was not a good neighborhood. It was evident in the clothes of those outdoors in the cold, barely a step up from my fellow refugees on the beach. Not that I was one to talk, or especially care. I blended in here, more so than I might in a more monitored place. Here, I might have more time to find my feet.
As I turned the final corner to get an unobstructed view of the ruins, I stopped cold. Something, some vehicle hovered above it. Shaped like a plane with no visible engines, it was about as long as a city bus, and three times as wide. A rough triangle with wings, wide at the back and tapered toward the front. A long strip of shining glass ran around the front of it, extending halfway down the body on either side. Lights flared from the undercarriage, illuminating the wreckage below... and the figures moving over it.
When I looked at the wreckage, a series of gray words floated into view.
LAIR DESIGNATION: CRADLE
DESTROYED, COMPROMISED. RECOMMEND RELOCATION.
The figures examining the remains wore costumes and masks. One man with a blue jacket, white pants, and a white mask with goggles built into it. The back of his head was visible from my angle, showing black, short-cropped hair. He had a decent build, not too muscular but definitely in shape. He seemed to be waving something over various parts of the rubble, walking along it at odd angles that indicated that gravity was no major issue to him. At one point the rubble shifted and he hopped to another chunk, as the original crumbled.
My mask chimed as I studied him, and green letters floated to the surface in my vision, letters that I knew only existed within my sight.
“DOC” QUANTUM
LEADER OF TOMORROW FORCE
POWERS: GENIUS SCIENTIST, KNOWN GADGETEER
I shifted to study the woman hovering in midair, watched as she gestured, and the falling rubble slowed and shifted directions. Instead of falling into the street, it piled itself neatly along the curb. She was blonde, long-haired, and wore a silver visor with a blue glow. Her blue bodysuit was skintight, but she had a white jacket over it, perhaps in deference to the cold. I noted that her figure was far more generous than mine and shrugged. Those things had to be murder on her back. Again, letters floated into my sight.
KINETICA
MEMBER OF TOMORROW FORCE
POWERS: KINETIC CONTROL, ABSORPTION, ASSORTED GADGETS
Tomorrow Force. Heroes, then? Seemed to fit the picture. Probably looking for answers, much as I was. I kept a safe distance. It helped that the light was bad here, and the other people on the street were focused on watching the costumed pair sift and poke through the rubble. Something bulged up from below, shifting the debris. Enormous fists, each as big as my head, pushed up through the wreckage. They were attached to equally massive metal arms that gleamed in the light, as a silver-and-blue armored form heaved itself up and raised a face to the sky. The mask over the face shone white with glowing blue eyes, and a grille for a mouth. It looked over to Doc Quantum, and from half a block away I heard his voice rumble.
“No good, Doc. There was a tunnel below but it's caved in now. Damn little left behind.”
And words floated up for him, too.
SIEGEBREAKER
MEMBER OF TOMORROW FORCE
POWERS: CYBORG, STRENGTH, ARMOR, SELF-REPAIR ROUTINES
Doc Quantum's head moved, he seemed to be
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