The Gathering: Quantum Prophecy 2
Read The Gathering: Quantum Prophecy 2 Online
Authors: Michael Carroll
G
ONE
A voice screamed through Paragon’s headset. “Somebody help me! I can’t fly! I’m falling!”
Paragon looked around quickly, then spotted Energy far above, tumbling down through the air.
He angled toward her and surged through the air. “Spread your arms and legs out!” he yelled. “Try to slow your descent!”
Can’t slam right into her! Got to match her speed!
He arched high into the air, above Energy’s position, then flipped over and dived headfirst for the ground. He could see the ground rapidly approaching, and put on another burst of speed.
I’m not going to make it! No time to be subtle about this!
“Grab the line!” he shouted.
Paragon aimed his suit’s grappling gun and fired. Energy spun about and grabbed hold of the thin cable as it shot past her.
Paragon set his jetpack to hover, then reeled in the cable, slowing Energy’s descent.
She’s still going to hit the ground, but she’ll live.
Energy landed feetfirst, tumbled once, then collapsed. Paragon dropped down next to her. “Are you OK?”
“No. I…I don’t know what happened! It was like everything was just turned off! My power…It’s gone!”
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QUANTUM PROPHECY
THE
GATHERING
MICHAEL CARROLL
02
PUFFIN BOOKS
PUFFIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
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Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3
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Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books, London.
First American Edition published by Philomel Books,
a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2008
Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2009
Copyright © Michael Carroll, 2006
All rights reserved
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE PHILOMEL EDITION AS FOLLOWS:
Carroll, Michael Owen, 1966–
The gathering/Michael Carroll.—1st American ed. p. cm.—(Quantum prophecy)
Summary: Years after the supposed disappearance of the world’s superhumans, the secret identities of three newly endowed superheroes are mysteriously leaked to the press, and the teenagers must take refuge at a hidden military installation that houses and trains other new superhumans.
[1. Heroes—Fiction. 2. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 3. Science fiction.]
I. Title. PZ7.C23497Gat 2008 [Fic]—dc22 2007023692
Puffin Books ISBN: 978-1-101-65751-5
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that
it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise
circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover
other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume
any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
For Bliz & Murt
Quantum Prophecy: The Reckoning
TEN YEARS EARLIER…
The large-caliber bullets slammed into Paragon’s armored chest and knocked him to the ground. He scrambled forward, took hold of Quantum’s arm and dragged him back to the shelter of the fallen tree.
“You hit?” Paragon asked.
No answer. Quantum was barely conscious, his eyes rolling, but otherwise he appeared uninjured.
Paragon checked his friend’s pulse. It was strong but erratic. “Come on, man! You’ve got to stay awake!”
A voice came over his communicator. It was Josh Dalton, a member of The High Command. “We’ve got Dioxin,” Josh said. “Energy was right—the girl was able to stop him. We’ve handed him over to the marines.”
Titan’s voice said, “Are you nuts? What could the marines do to stop Dioxin? The man’s a walking acid factory!”
“True, but he’s not bulletproof. They could shoot him in the head.”
“Enough chatter!” Paragon said. “Josh, get back here ASAP. We need to take out that tank!”
Titan yelled, “We can’t make a dent in it, Paragon!
You’re
the mechanical genius; any ideas on how we can stop it?”
“Find a weak spot,” Paragon replied.
“We’ve tried. Can’t find one.”
“Then we’re going to have to
make
a weak spot! Someone cover me—I’m going in!” Paragon activated his jetpack and soared toward Ragnarök’s battle-tank, zooming low over the ground.
Ahead, close to the hundred-meter-long machine, Paragon could see the arcs of lightning issuing from Energy’s floating body. The gun turrets on the battle-tank were firing at her, but somehow Energy remained unharmed.
Then Paragon noticed a pale blue blur zipping through the air around Energy: before the bullets could reach her, Titan was stopping them. Possibly even
catching
them.
Another volley of gunfire from the tank ripped into Paragon’s chest plate, knocking him off balance. He zoomed up, out of the line of fire, and activated his communicator. “All right, people…This is what we’re going to do. We need to tear a hole in that tank’s armor and get Titan inside. Energy? I’m going to take out its main cannon—you just keep me covered and Titan will cover you!”
Paragon zoomed toward the battle-tank, its heavy gun turrets swinging in his direction. Missiles and plasma bolts streaked toward him, vaporized by Energy’s powerful bolts of lightning.
He dodged left, then right, as the tank’s twin flamethrowers scorched the air around him, then tucked his feet up just as he crested the rear of the tank’s hull, the toes of his boots brushing the roof of a small jetlike pod.
There! That’s the one! Fires in twenty-second bursts, then a gap of eight seconds before firing again.
He pulled his last grenade from his belt and sat down on the roof of the tank next to the powerful turret. This close, few of the tank’s weapons could target him without hitting each other.
The cannon let loose with another deafening volley and
Paragon counted down:
Three. Two. One.
The firing stopped. He rushed around the cannon toward the barrel, its heat blistering his skin even through his armor. He activated the grenade, dropped it down the barrel, then hit his jetpack’s afterburners, pulling himself away from the tank as fast as possible.
Energy allowed herself a quick glance at the battle-tank as its cannon exploded, then refocused her concentration.
All around her, she could feel the energy from the tank’s plasma bolts, the heat radiating from its engines, the light from the midday sun, even the kinetic energy from the tank’s weapons. She concentrated, channeling that energy into herself, converting it, letting it stream back out of her in the form of lightning aimed at the ragged tear in the hull where the cannon had been.
“Come on!” she muttered through clenched teeth.
“Burn!”
She sensed a sudden shift in the ambient energy levels around her. “I’m almost through!” she shouted to Titan. “It’s starting to melt!”
Energy allowed herself to float closer to the tank. From here, she could feel the heat radiating from the white-hot metal—she absorbed that heat and converted it back into lightning.
“You did it!” Titan shouted. “Get to safety!
Now
!”
“No, you need someone to cover you!”
Then she felt Titan’s strong hands gripping her arms, throwing her straight up into the air.
Still soaring, Energy spun about, watched as Titan rocketed toward the battle-tank and crashed his way through the weakened hull.
Seconds later, everything went cold.
• • •
A voice screamed through Paragon’s headset. “Somebody help me! I can’t fly! I’m falling!”
Paragon looked around quickly, then spotted Energy far above, tumbling down through the air.
He angled toward her and surged through the air. “Spread your arms and legs out!” he yelled. “Try to slow your descent!”
Can’t slam right into her! Got to match her speed!
He arched high into the air, above Energy’s position, then flipped over and dived headfirst for the ground. He could see the ground rapidly approaching, and put on another burst of speed.
I’m not going to make it! No time to be subtle about this!
“Grab the line!” he shouted.
Paragon aimed his suit’s grappling gun and fired. Energy spun about and grabbed hold of the thin cable as it shot past her.
Paragon set his jetpack to hover, then reeled in the cable, slowing Energy’s descent.
She’s still going to hit the ground, but she’ll live.
Energy landed feetfirst, tumbled once, then collapsed. Paragon dropped down next to her. “Are you OK?”
“No. I…I don’t know what happened! It was like everything was just turned off! My power…It’s gone!”
“Oh God,” Paragon muttered. He activated his communicator. “Situation report!”
Silence.
“Max? Apex? Titan?”
Energy took hold of Paragon’s arm and pulled herself to her feet. “Titan’s inside the tank. You’ve got to go after him, Paragon!”
Paragon nodded, then pointed toward the west. “I left Quantum over that way. Find him!”
At least the firing has stopped
, Paragon thought as he ran toward the battle-tank, ignoring the stream of Ragnarök’s men who were now fleeing from it, some of them carrying or dragging unconscious comrades.
The machine was still lumbering forward, its enormous wheels gouging deep tracks in the dry ground.
When he was twenty meters from the tank, Paragon flew the remaining distance, straight through the ragged hole where the cannon had been.
He landed in a large room, the walls lined with pipes and tubes. In the middle of the room were the remains of a complicated-looking piece of machinery, now mostly in pieces. At its center was a large metal ball.
Never seen anything like that before
, Paragon thought. The engineer in him wanted to know what the machine was, but right now he had more important things to worry about.
As he scouted the room he heard a faint buzzing from a computer set into one wall. One glance at the readout was all he needed. “Aw
hell
!” He activated his communicator. “Anyone who can hear me! Get out of the area ASAP! In three minutes this thing is going to self-destruct!”
Dioxin felt sick. He swayed, almost fell.
The three U.S. marines guarding him backed away. “Don’t trust him!” one of them shouted. “Down on the ground!” he roared at Dioxin. “Now!”