Broken Read Online Free PDF

here. Manhattan used to be all skyscrapers, y’know, and Queens looked like this."
    "How do you know?"
    "Used to be a superhero," she said, turning her back on him and walking west.
    * * *
    "So we go down to Hampton Station and get on the rail, and head south to Wilmington. From there we can take ground trans to Delmarva Spaceport," Michael said, trying to keep up with her. "Okay?"
    "Then?" Her cheery mood had disappeared as fast as it had come. Now she glowered and hid her face in her thicket of silver hair.
    "Then we can get on a liner bound for Valen. Uh. One way or another."
    "No plan," she said disgustedly.
     “It's all we have,” he said.
     “Black Bands hang out at the station,” she said. “Government runs the trains. If they want him, they can take him then.”
     Michael couldn't think of anything to say to that. She was right, of course. Another flash of devastating lucidity. Maybe she was less crazy than she seemed? Broken took one more step, glanced up—
    —and  pulled Michael into a doorway, flattening him as far into its recess as she could.
    "What?"
    " Saw him ," she said, a mixture of elation and fear in her voice.
    * * *
    Broken had been getting bored with this game. Michael Whatshisname didn’t know what he was doing, and she didn’t like babies much. Ian stank, and he cried all the time. She wanted to get away.
    Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a hauntingly familiar shadow pass overhead.
    * * *
    Silverwyng and Sky Ranger flew high above the city.
    "Did you know Manhattan used to be all skyscrapers?" he said. "Now it’s just four-story apartments and condominiums. Queens was the low-rise part of town."
    "Isn’t that where the Tower is?"
    "Yes. Queens is filled with tall buildings, now. It was where we rebuilt after the Last War." He was so confident, he sounded like he’d been there himself.
    He chuckled quietlyf. "Progress is grand, isn’t it? Nothing ever stays the same in this city."
    Silverwyng actually found it a little depressing, but smiled at him anyway. Then, a horrifying jolt struck her.
    For a split second, she lost power and plummeted towards earth. Sky Ranger stared, open-mouthed, as she dropped through the sky…
    * * *
    Sky Ranger , Michael thought desperately. It had to be.
    "He’s looking for us," she whispered. "He’s looking for me."
    "For you?" Michael snorted. "Not likely. He wants the baby."
"He has babies. He doesn’t need mine." She snatched Ian out of Michael’s arms and squeezed him so tight he cried out in confusion.
    Michael sucked in his breath. They said Sky Ranger could hear even the smallest sounds from far away. Broken froze, eyes wide.
    But the whoosh of air and the swirl of the hero’s cape never came. When they dared to sneak out again, he had gone. Broken stared off to the east, where the distant spire of Union Tower peeked above the nearby buildings.
    "That was stupid," Michael snarled. "He could have come. He could have taken him then."
    "He’s not one of them," Broken said. "He’s no Black Band."
    "Yes, he is !" Michael hissed. "How could you have missed that? He campaigned for Peltan last year, don’t you remember?"
    She shook her head stubbornly.
    * * *
    She fell, but did not scream. Sky Ranger receded. She reached a hand out to him. He could fly so fast, surely she would be saved.
    He didn’t move.
    Suddenly, she felt whatever it was that kept her aloft return, and she powered back to where he was. Belatedly, he sped toward her. "Are you all right? You scared me."
    "Oh," said Silverwyng. "I’m fine. Sorry."
    He wouldn’t look her in the eye. They both knew.
    * * *
    "He’s good," Broken insisted. "I knew him."
    * * *
    Patrols combed the streets, endlessly searching—word of a double murder spread quickly. Police regulars and Black Bands guarded all the subway stations. A gauntlet lay between them and Hampton Station in Manhattan.
    They’d spent most of the rest of the fleeting daylight hours running from one safe place to the