The Gathering: Quantum Prophecy 2 by Michael Carroll

doorway and yelled at them: “What
is
this? A mutual admiration society? Get in here!”
    Colin looked around; Renata was lying on her back on a bench, lifting weights. He couldn’t see how much she was lifting, but it looked like a lot. Butler Redmond was standing behindher, ready to catch the weights if necessary. Danny, Yvonne and Mina were taking turns using a springboard to leap over a vaulting horse. Colin was surprised to find that Cord’s daughters were also in the gym; they were wearing karate suits and sparring with each other. They looked like they knew what they were doing.
    “Razor, do your warm-ups. Colin, see that rope?” Cord asked.
    “I see it.”
    “Climb up it, using only your hands.”
    “OK.”
    Colin walked over to the rope suspended from the middle of the ceiling and began to climb, hand over hand, his legs swinging free. He quickly reached the top and looked down. The floor was five meters below. “No problem!” he shouted to Cord.
    “Now let go!”
    “What?”
    “Let go!”
    “Are you nuts?” Colin yelled. “My powers still aren’t completely reliable! Suppose they disappear when I’m halfway down?”
    “Yeah? And suppose your powers disappear when you’re in the middle of fighting some bad guys and, say, they knock you out and someone takes a photo of you without your mask?”
    Under his breath, Colin muttered, “You’re not such a nice guy now, are you?”
    “Let go! I want you to land on your toes, knees bent slightly.”
    Here goes
, Colin thought. He opened his hands, and the floor suddenly rushed up to meet him. He landed lightly on his feet and remained standing.
That wasn’t too bad!
    “That was terrible,” Cord said. “Now do it again. But this time, when you land, I want you to bounce, OK? The moment your toes touch the ground, somersault forward and land on your feet.”
    Again and again, Colin climbed the rope, allowed himself to drop and tried to somersault. It took him twelve attempts to master it.
    Cord seemed satisfied. “You’re getting better. That’ll do for today, but within a week I want you to be able to flip over as you’re falling and land on your hands.”
    “You’re kidding, right?”
    Cord didn’t respond to that. He called out, “Everyone? Stop what you’re doing and gather in the center of the room, please! Anyone who’s wearing sneakers, take them off!”
    When they had all gathered, Cord said, “We’re going to try some simple hand-to-hand combat. Alia?”
    The girl walked forward and stopped in front of him.
    “Block!” Cord said and swung his fist at his daughter’s head.
    She swung up her left arm and blocked the punch.
    “It’s a simple move,” Cord said. “Just sweep your arm up and knock your opponent’s hand aside. If they punch with their right, you block with your left, sweeping to the right. Why? Because that’ll move your opponent to their left, which means that they can’t then throw another jab with their left hand. But it also means that you can’t easily hit them with
your
right hand. Later, we’ll look at ways around that. Now pair off: Renata and Butler, Steph and Razor, Yvonne and Colin, Alia and Mina. Danny, you’re with me. Take turns punching and blocking. And don’t actually try to
hit
your opponent—we don’t want any casualties!”
    As he sparred with Yvonne, Colin kept glancing over at Danny; with only one arm, Danny was finding it tough.
    Sol’s not going any easier on him
, Colin thought.
You’d think that—
    Wham! Yvonne’s fist collided with Colin’s jaw, sending him staggering backward.
    “Oh my God! Are you OK?”
    Colin could see spots in front of his eyes. “Yeah, I’m all right. I think. My fault—I wasn’t paying attention.”
    They were interrupted by the arrival of Niall Cooper, who was wearing a karate suit that had been cut down to size.
    “I’m ready!” he announced cheerfully.
    Cord said, “Sorry, Niall. You’ll have to sit this one out.”
    “Aw! Just teach me