Sparring with Mute was extremely difficult.

It should be easy. We were both puny weeds on the outside, sure, and he was even a bit taller than me, but I had hyper-muscle-density, for God’s sake.

I threw another right jab, but he sidestepped out of the way of it again. He looked like he was just walking around the blue training mat at random, but he moved in exactly the right way to avoid all of my attacks.

The problem was that he could read my mind so he always knew what I was about to do next.

I twisted my body and followed up with a left hook, aimed at his head. But Mute just ducked underneath it, then delivered a flurry of gentle punches to my stomach, before springing back again, out of my reach.

We stood for a moment a few paces apart, surveying each other in our gym tracksuits across the floor of the training mat.

I was panting. Panting! I gritted my teeth. Desperately trying to hit someone who could see your every move as you thought it was quite hard work, it turned out.

Of course, it wasn’t like he could hurt me either. We were evenly matched, but for completely different reasons. He didn’t even put much force into his punches, as he would just injure his hands if he did. It was like he was only hitting me to make a point.

{Come on, Weakling!} he called out in my mind with an annoying grin. {Hit me if you can!}

“I’m glad that our friendship has grown strong enough over the last few months that you think you can bait me like an annoying little kid,” I said aloud. Maybe choosing the nickname I had been bullied with at school as my Miracle Force codename hadn’t been the best idea.

{No, it’s good—it’s ironic, remember?} said Mute.

{Argh, I keep forgetting you can read my thoughts!}

“Keep focused, boys,” said Commander Abram from the side of the mats. Normally our sparring sessions were overseen by Sensei Wong, but occasionally Abram oversaw us for a personal training session. When he did, often it was because he had some special lesson to teach us or because he wanted to initiate us in to some cool new aspect of Miracle Force. But he hadn’t done that today. Yet.

“Don’t give up now, Weakling,” Abram went on. “See if you can find a way to land a blow on Mute.”

Normally it didn’t matter that I couldn’t hit Mute, but today Abram wanted me to do it. The pressure was on.

Ok, think, Weakling… The trouble was that whatever I thought of, Mute would be aware of it too. He was allowed to read minds during combat—or at least he didn’t seem to have any qualms about doing so. He can see my thoughts as I think them…but what if I move so fast that he doesn’t have time to react?

I ran at Mute all of a sudden, trying to catch him off guard. But he either saw me coming or heard me think to move at the same time I did, because he hopped away so that the sideways karate kick I launched at him didn’t connect.

I followed up with another rapid series of blows, but Mute bobbed, weaved and stepped out of the way of every single one. A telekinetic backflip, and he landed a few paces away from me again, leaving us back where we had been, only I was a little more out of breath.

“Rrrr,” I growled, clenching my jaw. It was like he knew what I was going to do before I even did. He was making me look like a moron in front of Abram.

How do you beat someone who can see your thoughts? I thought.

{I don’t know,} said Mute in my mind. {But I’ll tell you how not to beat them: like that!}

{If you can read my thoughts before I act…I’ll just act without thinking!}

Mute grinned. {Ha! You can try!}

I remembered something Colonel Steadman had said in one of our previous training sessions. When you’re in the heat of battle, there’s no time to think about what to do next. There’s no time for thought, only action. You act on instinct. You need to be ready for that moment.

I slowed my breathing, focused on it. In. Out. I allowed the rise and fall of my lungs to fill the whole of my mind. Whenever another thought, about how much Mute was annoying me or how embarrassed I felt in front of Captain Abram, popped into my head, I just gently brought my attention back to my breathing.

Mute’s grin dropped. {Hey, what are you doing?} he said in my mind.

No thought, only action.

{What?!}

I ran at Mute before I became aware I was doing it. I stayed focused on my breathing, letting my body act for itself.

I threw a punch at his torso and he dodged out of the way of it, but only just, this time. I threw another.

In. Out. In. Out.

Punch. Kick. Kick. Punch!

I caught Mute a blow to his stomach with my right fist.

“Oof!” The air escaping from his mouth made a noise, even if he was a mute.

He lifted into the air and came down on the mat on his back ten metres away with a plop. He immediately scrunched his face up and rolled around clutching at his stomach.

{Ow!} came his voice in my mind. {Ok, ok, mercy! You got me! I guess I deserved it… How did you do that?}

Someone was clapping.

I turned to face Abram.

“Well done, Weakling!” he said. “Perseverance in the face of opposition always pays off. You must have quietened your mind to the extent that Mute couldn’t read it any more to see your attacks coming. No mean feat. Are you alright, Mute?”

Mute was wobbling onto his feet now, still with one hand on his stomach. {Weakling packs a mean punch, sir, but I’ll live.}

I hadn’t hit him too hard. I wouldn’t do that to him.

Mute wobbled back over to me and we shook hands. This time we both grinned.

{I’ll get you next time,} he said in my mind, I think so that only I could hear.

{That’s what you think,} I said.

“Good,” said Abram. “Well done boys, I’m very impressed with you both. You’ve both come a long way since the last time I sat in on your combat training. But that’s enough sparring practice for now. I came down here to take your workout session today personally, because there’s something that’s arrived that I want to show both of you. With me.”

Ah, here we go, I thought.

He beckoned for us to follow and walked over to a big silver box with metal clasps that stood a little way away from the mats, near the exercise bikes. I hadn’t noticed it until now, but that wasn’t unusual. Our huge ‘workout room’ was full of all sorts of weird and wonderful equipment for training superheroes.

“Now, boys.” Abram knelt by the box and began to lecture us. “I should let you know, we’ve recently had some tips about potential metahuman sightings in some parts of the world to which it would be…impractical to transport you via the traditional methods. What’s more, if certain scenarios present themselves we may not find ourselves with the luxury of having lots of time on our hands…that is to say, we may find ourselves presented with circumstances that mean we need to drop you into places quite quickly. As such, I give you…” He opened the box and lifted out its contents. “…your para-harness.”

From Abram’s hands drooped a collection of woven straps and metal clips all bundled together in a tangled mess. Although, if I looked carefully, there was a pattern to the mess: There seemed to be four red straps and four blue, like they were designed for two different sets of arms and legs. Only, instead of being separate, they were all linked together.

Mute and I looked at each other.

“No way,” I said.

“Yes way,” said Abram. “Come and get into it.”

We obeyed, and set about putting our hands into the various straps and attaching the clips as Abram directed us. The red loops were for Mute, the blue ones for me. At one point we knocked heads with each other and laughed (Mute laughed inside my head, anyway. Still getting used to that.)

When we had finished we were both left standing in the harness facing the same way, with me strapped onto the front of Mute.

{Sir, what is this for?} asked Mute.

I had an idea. I was surprised he hadn’t worked it out yet.

“The para-harness is designed to enable you to help Weakling to fly, so that you can jump out of flying vehicles together and land in places by yourselves.”

Oh God, not flying, I thought. My worst fear had been confirmed. I had hated flying for as long as I could remember, ever since Mom and I had taken a return flight to Israel when I was little and experienced bad turbulence on the way back.

{Don’t worry, it won’t be so bad,} said Mute. {I can pilot us smoothly.}

{I hope you’re right…} I thought back, trying to conceal my fear from Abram.

“Why don’t you test it out?” said Abram.

My heart hit its next beat completely out of time. “A-already?” I blurted. “I mean…Already, sir? Don’t you think it’s a little soon? You want us to jump out of a plane together already?”

Abram lifted one bushy eyebrow at me. “A helicopter, actually,” he said. “Not immediately. But you’ll get there soon. For now, see if you can fly together in here. I want you take off and fly to the four main corners of the workout room.”

“{Yes sir,}” Mute and I both chanted like trained dogs.

{You ready, Weakling?} Mute said in my mind. I felt him crouching down in the harness strapped behind me, and bent my own legs to oblige him.

{…ok,} I thought back. {Abram can’t hear what we’re saying to each other inside our heads, can he?}

{No, I haven’t got him linked in right now.}

{Good. Ok, but go slowly. I hate flying.}

{Alright, I’ll try. But you’ve really got nothing to worry about. Jump on ‘three’. One…two…three!}

I pushed off from the floor and behind me Mute did too.

“Wuuurrwww!” I couldn’t help myself from saying out loud as we lifted off the ground like we would have normally, but then kept on going up into the air.

My breakfast rose in my gullet. I’m gonna puke!

{Don’t!} said Mute. {Or at least if you do, try not to get it on me!}

I tightened my diaphragm and managed to hold on to my breakfast. As we moved up towards the ceiling of the workout room I looked down at Abram. He was smiling, but his smile was slightly strained at the corners.

Ok, snap out of it, Weakling. Mute flew us over the elaborate workout equipment to the first corner of the ceiling that we needed to touch. I needed to succeed with Miracle Force. I had a lot riding on this. My future job. My way to take care of my Mom. My college place. My way to impress Ali. Don’t mess this up.

{Will you stop thinking so loudly?} Mute said. {I’m trying to concentrate!}

“Argh!” I cried out as Mute slammed into the workout room’s concrete wall. It didn’t hurt but I was still surprised by it, and I left a vaguely Weakling-shaped impression in it when we came away. “What was that for?”

{Sorry!} said Mute. {I’m not used to flying with extra…weight… have to concentrate harder!}

{I’m not that heavy!}

{I know, I know, it’s just a bit awkward flying with someone else strapped on to you!}

{How do you think I feel?}

{Just touch the corner! Abram’s watching!}

I did what Mute suggested and touched the corner where two walls and the ceiling of the workout room met.

It took Mute a couple of attempts to turn us around, and when we wobbled a bit as he took us off again I had to shut my eyes for a moment or risk losing my breakfast again. I guessed it was easier for Mute to direct us when we were already in motion, but stopping and changing direction was much more difficult.

I stole another look at Abram as we flew past him again. He had his head in one hand, like he had had to cover his eyes from shame at us.

Mute wobbled again and my stomach sent up some more messages of distress.

Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts.

{Willyou shut up?} said Mute. {Try not to think any thoughts at all! Why don’t you do that weird breathing trick again?}

That’s a good idea. I let Mute steer us, and focused on my breathing again. In. Out. In. Out. Soon I wasn’t even saying ‘In. Out.’ in my mind.

Mute flew us over to the other corners of the ceiling and I reached out and touched them one by one. He was still quite wobbly whenever we stopped and started again, but I let my breathing fill my mind, and I wondered if he might have been getting less wobbly…

When we had touched the last ceiling-corner, Mute flew us back over towards Abram.

At least he didn’t have his head in his hands any more.

“Well done, boys,” he said as we approached him. “I think you might be getting the hang of this. I knew you would. Now, Mute, if you would just hover in place for a moment, there’s something else that I want to show you.”

{Yes, sir,} said Mute, I assume to both of us.

Mute brought us to a halt, but still in mid-air, so that we hung suspended a few metres above Abram. We were tilted slightly forwards at an angle so that we could see him. My arms and legs hung limply at my sides, as they had the whole time Mute had been flying me around, and all of a sudden I became very self-conscious of them. I must look like some sort of idiot rag doll. What should I do with my hands?

I tensed my hands into fists and held them up slightly in front of me, in what I hoped was an assertive and alert posture.

Mute wobbled again immediately and we dropped about a metre in the air before he regained control and we levelled out again.

{Hey!} he said. {Don’t do that! You shifted your weight!}

{Whoops, sorry,} I thought back. I had waved my hands around frantically when we had dropped, but now I had them back in fists in front of me.

“What are you doing, Weakling?” Abram asked puzzledly.

“Oh…er…sorry, sir. I was just trying to adopt a more…alert…posture?”

That forced smile returned. “Well, don’t. Not if Mute needs you to be limp when he’s carrying you.”

“Oh, ok.” I let my arms go limp again.

{Argh!} said Mute.

Thankfully we levelled out a bit quicker this time. We were just a couple of metres above Abram now.

Abram sighed very quietly, but he still kept his smile. “Anyway, boys. There’s another feature of your para-harness you need to learn how to use. Weakling, if you look on the right side, somewhere there should be a yellow cord. What I want you to do is—”

“Wuuurrrhhhh!”

Without warning, I fell away from Mute and straight onto Abram.

I hit him chest-first, like I was belly-flopping onto him. He just had enough time to put up his hands to protect himself, but I crashed into those, knocking him to the floor and landing on top of him.

I scrambled around, scuffing Abram’s smart suit, and managed to get off of him, then helped him to his feet.

“Not yet, you silly child!” Abram said. His face had turned red.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit. “I’m sorry, sir, I’m so sorry! I saw the cord and I thought you wanted me to pull it straight away!”

{Hahahahaha,} came the sound of Mute laughing in my mind. I hoped that I was the only one he could hear it. For his sake.

Abram accepted my helping hand up and brushed himself off. “Yes, well I didn’twant you to pull it just then, did I, Weakling?” He sighed again, much more loudly this time, but then he seemed to master his irritation and his face returned to its familiar olive colour. “What I was going to ask you to do was to fly above a target on the mats and practice releasing yourself in order to hit a fixed point. Weakling, you really must listen to the whole of my instructions before you—"

Bleep bleep.

Abram’s phone, from inside his jacket. Saved by the bell.

“Excuse me a moment, boys,” he said as he looked at it. “I need to take this.” He walked over to another side of the workout room.

Mute had landed next to me. He was wearing that stupid grin again.

{Stop looking at me like that,} I thought, rubbing my arm.

{That was priceless,} Mute said.

{I didn’t know it was going to do that, did I?}

{Well you could have guessed!}

{I thought it might have opened a parachute, or something!}

{Haha! What would be the point of that? You’re invincible, and I can fly anyway!}

{Hey, don’t make fun, Mute. I’ve got a lot riding on this Miracle Force thing.}

{So do I.}

{You’ve got two parents who care about you--even if they are divorced like mine--with way more money. And a trust fund. If this doesn’t work out, you’ve got plenty to go back to. I don’t. Miracle Force is my ticket to taking care of my Mom, and a college place, and job security. And getting a girlfriend,} I added, because Mute could read my thoughts anyway.

{Ok, ok.} Mute held up his hands. {Sorry, Weakling. I wouldn’t worry about it, though. Abram’s very forgiving. We’ve only been at this a few months. He understands. It’s not like we’re about to be going out on any missions soon, or anything. Oops—here he comes.}

Abram was walking back towards us, tucking his phone back into his jacket pocket.

“Boys, that was the UN head office. There’s been a confirmed new metahuman sighting. I’m going to need to take you to go to pick her up. This is earlier in your training than I would have liked, but there’s nothing I can do about that. It’s a good thing I showed you the harness today.”

“Why, sir?” I asked, curiosity overtaking even my sheepishness at my recent blunder. “Where is this new metahuman?”

“In Iran. We’ll have to fly you in, just like you’ve practiced today. Get ready to leave at once.”

Mute and I looked at each other.

I gulped.