by Mark Walden
The Shroud descended towards the skyline of New York City as the first light of dawn began to spread across the city. Nero glanced at the fuel readouts. He’d had no choice but to engage the Shroud’s thermoptic camouflage system as they flew into one of the most densely populated areas on Earth, but that meant the tiny amount of fuel remaining was disappearing at an alarming rate. He steered towards the coordinates of Raven’s safe house, hoping quietly to himself that he could find somewhere discreet enough to land nearby. He flew low over the warehouse buildings and industrial units that were dotted close to the river. The fact that it was so early in the morning meant there were fewer people and cars on the streets, but there were still enough witnesses around to make an uncloaked landing impossible. This was, after all, the city that never sleeps, Nero thought to himself.
The Shroud was now more or less on top of the correct coordinates and Nero spotted what looked like a viable spot to land in the middle of a loading area behind an abandoned warehouse. He dropped the Shroud gently on to the asphalt with barely a bump – only the faintest whisper of engine noise and a rush of wind from the engines’ downwash gave away the fact that they were there at all. Nero breathed a sigh of relief and climbed out of the pilot’s seat, hurrying down the ladder that led below.
‘We must move quickly,’ he instructed as Raven ushered the students towards the loading ramp that was slowly descending at the rear of the compartment. Nero watched Raven and the others move away from the Shroud and then climbed quickly back up to the flight deck and punched a series of commands into the autopilot. He checked the instructions just once before hurrying back down the ladder to join the others as the loading ramp closed behind him, and with a rush of wind and an almost inaudible whine the Shroud lifted off again. With luck, if the fuel held out, it would crash into the sea offshore in a few minutes’ time. They could not afford to leave it uncloaked when the fuel ran out. A military-grade aircraft of unknown design being found in the middle of New York would draw far too much unwanted attention, even if its passengers and crew were long gone.
‘Are you OK to walk?’ Nero asked Raven.
‘Fine. Let’s go,’ Raven said, pushing herself away from the wall she had been leaning against. Nero and the others followed as she made her way to the gate leading out of the loading area, only limping slightly. She gestured for them all to stay put while she checked the pavement on the other side of the gate. There were a couple of people walking down the road and the odd car trundling past. Raven ducked back inside.
‘The safe house is not far, about a block east of here,’ she said quietly, ‘but we are not the most inconspicuous group.’ Raven gestured at the students’ black uniform jumpsuits. ‘So we need to move quickly and attract as little attention to ourselves as possible.’
Without any further delay she stepped through the gate and the others followed. They moved quickly along the street, drawing a couple of curious looks from passers-by but no more than that. Soon they arrived at a flight of stairs that led down from the pavement to an old, battered wooden door in the basement of the building above. Raven limped down the steps and pulled a single loose brick from the wall beside the doorway. Behind it was a small numeric keypad into which she punched a short series of digits. With a mechanical clunk the door swung open.
As Otto passed through he noticed that the old wooden door was actually a heavy armour-plated panel that was merely dressed with an old wooden façade on the outside. Raven hit a switch near the door and fluorescent lights flickered on, revealing a large open room that was lined with equipment lockers and other items draped with dust sheets. Judging by the stale smell of the air, the room had been empty for quite some time.
‘Make yourselves at home,’ Raven said, gesturing at the room around them. ‘Just don’t touch anything till I’ve disabled the booby traps.’
The students all stopped moving and looked nervously around the room.
‘Oh, don’t worry,’ Raven said with a grim smile. ‘They’re non-lethal . . . mostly.’
Otto and the others stood still while Raven and Nero moved around the room, pulling the dust covers off the equipment that surrounded them.
‘Booby traps?’ Nero whispered once they were on the other side of the room, raising a single eyebrow.
‘Of course not,’ Raven said, smiling. ‘Worked though, didn’t it?’ She nodded over her shoulder to where the group of slightly nervous-looking Alphas were all standing very still.
Nero and Raven finished uncovering the equipment and brought four chairs that had been positioned at the workstations over to the pair of camp beds that sat against the wall in one corner. Nero beckoned his students over and gestured for them to sit.
‘Not very comfortable, I’m afraid,’ Nero said as the Alphas sat down on the chairs and beds, ‘but hopefully we won’t be here for long.’
‘Doctor Nero,’ Laura said nervously, ‘can you tell us what happened on board the Dreadnought?’
‘Something very unfortunate,’ Nero said with a sigh, ‘but rest assured that we intend to rectify the situation as soon as possible.’
‘What happened to my dad?’ Nigel asked quietly.
‘He was captured,’ Nero said, placing a hand on Nigel’s shoulder, ‘but we will get him back. Our first priority, though, is returning you all safely to H.I.V.E.’
‘Isn’t there anything we can do to help?’ Otto asked quickly.
‘While I appreciate your enthusiasm, Mr Malpense, and I do of course respect your unique talents, this is a job for more experienced operatives,’ Nero replied carefully.
‘With respect, Doctor Nero,’ Wing said calmly, ‘is this not exactly the type of experience that we might require in the future?’
Nero smiled, despite himself. ‘I think this particular group has more than adequate familiarity with life-threatening situations, Mr Fanchu,’ he replied.
Nero could not help but feel a twinge of pride as he looked at the determined young faces that stared back at him. They would all make admirable G.L.O.V.E. operatives in the future, but they were not yet well trained enough to take on the sort of mission that Nero was anticipating would be necessary to retrieve Darkdoom and eliminate Drake and his allies.
‘Besides,’ Nero said with a crooked smile, ‘you all have an appointment to keep in the Arctic, I believe.’
There were a couple of groans as Nero turned and walked back over to where Raven was tapping away at a keyboard. The only upside to the events of earlier that day had been that they seemed likely to get them out of the Arctic survival course.
‘Why won’t they let us help?’ Nigel whispered, frowning as Nero walked away.
‘We have handled this kind of thing before,’ Shelby said, looking indignant.
‘Erm . . . not all of us,’ Lucy said with a nervous smile. ‘Wouldn’t we be better off leaving this to the specialists?’
‘I am agreeing,’ Franz said quietly. ‘I am thinking that I do not like being shot at very much.’
‘You wouldn’t say that if it was your dad!’ Nigel snapped at Franz.
‘Guys!’ Otto said quickly. ‘Come on, we’re all friends here. Nigel, I know you’re worried but perhaps Lucy and Franz are right. We may all think we know what we’re doing, but G.L.O.V.E. must have people better trained for this sort of thing than us. We might be able to get on board the Dreadnought, sure, but armed hostage retrieval, that’s another matter. Besides, do you really think your dad would want you putting your life at risk again to save his?’
‘I suppose not,’ Nigel said quietly, ‘but I hate just sitting around like this when God knows what could be happening to him.’
Franz put his hand on Nigel’s shoulder. ‘They’ll get him back,’ he said, ‘don’t be worrying.’
‘Easier said than done,’ Nigel sighed, staring sadly at the floor.
‘Any problems?’ Raven asked as Nero walked over to her.
‘I suspect the only problem we’re going to have is ensuring they don’t
stage an assault on Drake’s location themselves,’ Nero replied, glancing over at the students.
‘Speaking of which,’ Raven said, pulling up a satellite overview map on the screen in front of her, ‘this is the last known location of the Dreadnought.’ She pointed at an area of the map. ‘My bet is that they’ll bring her down somewhere. They know we’ll be searching for them and while it can be hidden from most observers, we know exactly what we’re looking for.’
‘We can track the storm,’ Nero said, looking more closely at the satellite imagery.
‘Exactly,’ Raven replied. ‘This is two hours ago.’ She pulled up another image on the screen. ‘You can see the Dreadnought’s storm cloak here, but then an hour ago it disappeared.’
‘They switched to thermoptic camouflage,’ Nero said, frustration clear in his voice.
‘It would appear so,’ Raven replied. ‘But they can’t keep the cloak up indefinitely – it would place too much strain on their power core keeping something that big cloaked permanently. That’s probably why they have the storm generator, so they can conceal her without the massive power drain.’
‘So they need somewhere to hide,’ Nero said, ‘but where? The Dreadnought is designed to stay airborne indefinitely. It’s not able to just land wherever it chooses.’
‘No, there has to be a maintenance facility somewhere,’ Raven continued, ‘a kind of dry dock, somewhere that repairs could be made if necessary. Probably the same facility it was constructed at.’
‘Which is where?’ Nero asked.
‘That, as they say, is the million-dollar question,’ Raven replied. ‘All data on the Dreadnought, including all details of its construction, have been erased from G.L.O.V.E.’s central database.’
‘Drake’s doing, no doubt,’ Nero said.
‘No doubt,’ Raven replied. ‘But that doesn’t mean there is no record anywhere. Drake Industries may have built the thing in secret but it would be hard, if not impossible, to keep all records of a project on that scale completely buried.’
‘So we have to get their records,’ Nero said quietly. ‘Can they be accessed remotely?’
‘Unlikely, but their head office is here in New York,’ Raven replied. ‘If we can get into their servers we may be able to find out where the Dreadnought was built and, therefore, where, in all likelihood, it is being hidden.’
‘We need to put together an infiltration team,’ Nero said quickly. ‘We have to get that location as quickly as possible.’
‘Shall I contact the ruling council?’ Raven asked.
Nero was silent for a moment, running through all the different scenarios in his head.
‘No,’ he said after a few seconds. ‘Putting together a G.L.O.V.E. team will take too long and I’m still not sure that everyone on the council can be trusted. Besides which, I fear that Diabolus’s current life expectancy could be measured in hours rather than days.’
‘That’s if he’s even still alive,’ Raven whispered.
‘We have to work on the assumption that he is, for now at least,’ Nero replied quietly, glancing over at Nigel, who sat in silence as his friends chatted quietly among themselves. ‘We need to do this now and, while I wish there was another way, we do have everyone we need to get inside Drake’s network right here. Whether we like it or not.’
‘Otto,’ Raven whispered.
‘Exactly,’ Nero replied quietly.
‘I’ll try and get the schematics of the Drake Industries building, see if I can find a way to get Malpense and myself into it undetected,’ Raven said, turning back towards the workstation.
‘No, you need to rest,’ Nero said quietly. ‘That wound in your leg may not be too bad, but you’re still not in a fit state for that. I’ll take him myself and we won’t be needing any building schematics because we’re going to walk straight through the front door. If Jason Drake thinks he can force me to go crawling through sewers or ventilation ducts then he has another think coming. Anyway, someone has to stay here and keep an eye on the rest of our charges.’ Nero gestured to the students sat at the other end of the room.
‘Are you sure?’ Raven asked, looking worried.
‘Of course,’ Nero replied. ‘I may concentrate on running H.I.V.E. these days but I haven’t completely lost my edge, you know.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of suggesting you had,’ Raven said with a slight smile. ‘You might want to take Fanchu with you as well, though. You’ll need someone to watch your back.’
‘Very well,’ Nero replied. ‘I’ll have to find some less conspicuous clothing for them. I assume you have some pocket money lying around here somewhere?’
Raven limped over to a safe that was mounted on the wall and punched a combination into the digital keypad. The lock disengaged with a thunk and Raven opened it to reveal large piles of money in each of the world’s most significant currencies. She picked up a stack of US dollars and tossed them to Nero.
‘Don’t spend it all at once.’
‘You’re too kind,’ Nero said, tucking the money inside his jacket. ‘I shouldn’t be long. While I’m gone, try and contact H.I.V.E. See how long it would take them to get a Shroud here to pick us up. Only tell them we’re in New York though – don’t give them our precise location. Better to err on the side of caution at this point.’
‘Understood,’ Raven replied. ‘I’ll put together some equipment for you.’
Nero nodded and headed out of the door and on to the street.
The rattlesnake slithered under the nearest rock as the desert floor began to shake. With a rumble a crack appeared in the scorched wasteland and slowly began to widen. Before long a giant rectangular hole in the desert had opened and after a couple more seconds it was illuminated by an array of landing lights. Clouds of dust were kicked up as a strange wind seemed to materialise from nowhere, accompanied by a low throbbing roar.
The cloaked Dreadnought descended into the cavernous underground hangar as huge supporting arms slid out from the walls and connected to hard-points on the massive vessel’s hull. The hangar doors slowly rumbled closed again and with a sharp electrical crackle the thermoptic cloaking field disengaged. Large robotic arms swung out and began to attach umbilical cables and hoses to the Dreadnought as a gantry extended and connected to the external hatchway on the bridge. The hatch hissed open and Jason Drake stepped out on to the narrow walkway. A tall, heavily muscled man with closely shaved grey hair and a star-shaped pattern of scars that surrounded his blind right eye offered his hand to Drake.
‘Congratulations,’ the man said with a grim smile, ‘and welcome home.’ He had a thick Ukrainian accent.
‘Thank you, Pietor,’ Drake replied, ‘though it is your men that should really be congratulated. Their performance was exemplary.’
‘I would expect nothing less,’ Furan said. ‘I only employ the best and the punishments for failure are terminal. Such penalties and large sums of money tend to act as good motivators. The carrot and the stick, as they say. You have Darkdoom?’
‘Yes, he’s in the Dreadnought’s brig. I’ve ordered a security team to transfer him to the holding cells until we’re ready for phase two.’
‘I was not sure you would take him alive,’ Furan remarked as they made their way down the walkway.
‘Nor was I,’ Drake said, ‘but the fact that we did just emphasises his weakness. You or I would never have let ourselves be captured like that. The man has no spine. Nero though is quite another matter. We have to find him before he can warn the rest of G.L.O.V.E. what’s going on.’
‘It’s too late for them to stop us now,’ Furan replied. ‘We have everything we need. There’s nothing Nero can do.’
‘Don’t underestimate,’ Drake warned him, frowning. ‘That’s the mistake Number One made and it cost him his life. Do we have anything from Overwatch yet?’
‘No, they engaged their cloak en route to New York. They’re scanning the area but it will take time. The rest of the Disciples are keen to know of our progr
ess. They have requested that you report in.’
‘Very well, I will contact them shortly,’ Drake replied as a man wearing a desert camouflage uniform came running up the walkway towards them. He saluted Furan and Drake smartly.
‘Sir, Overwatch has something,’ the man said quickly. ‘I think we’ve found them.’
‘We can have two Shrouds with you in about ten hours. I wish it could be sooner but you’re a long way from home,’ Colonel Francisco said as Chief Monroe, the head of H.I.V.E. security, joined him at the screen. They stood in H.I.V.E.’s security control centre, which was now bustling with frantic activity as the department worked to put together a retrieval team for Nero, Raven and the others. Monroe had given Francisco his best men. It would leave H.I.V.E. lightly defended until they returned, but it was a chance they would have to take.
‘The teams are on their way to the hangar now,’ the Chief said. ‘They’ll be ready for wheels-up in three minutes.’
‘You’d be better off contacting G.L.O.V.E. command and getting a pick-up from a local team,’ Francisco said, frowning. ‘They could be with you much more quickly.’
‘No,’ Raven said, her face filling the screen on the console in front of them. ‘Nero wants to keep this in-house. He’s not sure who we can trust at the moment and if we use a G.L.O.V.E. team we can’t be sure that they’ll be the only ones who are given our location.’
‘We don’t have your precise location yet,’ Monroe said, looking unhappy.
‘I know, Chief. It’s not that we can’t trust you or the Colonel, but the later we leave giving you that information the less likely it is to end up in the wrong hands,’ Raven replied. ‘I’ll transmit the pick-up coordinates to you when the Shroud is fifteen kilometres out. That way, even if the transmission is intercepted, it will be too late for anyone to move on our location.’
‘Understood. Where’s Nero?’ Francisco asked.
‘Would you believe me if I told you he’d gone shopping?’ Raven asked with a smile.
‘I don’t want to know,’ Francisco said, shaking his head. ‘I’ll contact you on this channel when we’re within range of your position.’