by Mark Walden
‘Wing! No, we don’t know anything about these people, they could be –’
If Wing was paying any attention to Otto he showed no sign of it. Instead he took another couple of steps towards the helicopter, his long black hair whipped around by the downdraft from the rotors.
Cypher handed the rifle to someone else inside the helicopter and stepped down on to the roof. Wing stepped towards him.
‘Not one step closer, Fanchu.’ Cypher raised a large pistol and pointed it straight at Wing’s chest. ‘I’m quite aware of what you’re capable of.’
‘I’m not afraid of you,’ Wing replied, and took a single step towards Cypher.
‘Well, you should be,’ Cypher replied and shot Wing in the chest.
Wing’s eyes widened, his mouth falling open, one hand moving involuntarily to the wound. As he pulled his hand away it was covered in blood, and he dropped to his knees, desperately trying to take a few ragged breaths before falling forward on to the concrete.
‘Noooooo!!!’ Otto screamed and leapt forward, his usual cold logic suddenly replaced by fury. He felt hands clamp down on his shoulders like vices as two of the ninjas who had chased them to the roof pushed him back to his knees.
‘You four,’ Cypher gestured to the remaining ninjas, ‘load the body on to the transport.’
He walked over to where the two other ninjas were pinning Otto down on his knees. All that Otto could see as Cypher looked down at him was the reflection of his own furious face, tears running down his cheeks.
‘And you, Mr Malpense,’ Cypher said quietly, ‘I have no use for you.’ He looked up at the two assassins who held Otto in place.
‘Kill him.’
Raven ran out on to the roof just in time to see Cypher shoot Wing. She gasped as the tall Asian boy collapsed to the ground, feeling the rage rising inside her as she sprinted silently across the roof towards the helicopter and Cypher. She had no idea why he would suddenly choose to attack them this directly. He could not hope to get away with this without G.L.O.V.E. knowing that he’d gone rogue. This was a direct attack, in the open – he was either insane or had no fear of the consequences that his actions would inevitably have. She wasn’t sure which frightened her more.
She moved silently from shadow to shadow, using the cooling vents and air-conditioning plants that were dotted around the roof for cover. She had made her way to within ten metres of Otto when she heard Cypher speak.
‘Kill him.’
Raven did not stop to think. As she popped up from behind the vent that was concealing her she let a shuriken fly. It whistled past Cypher’s neck, just scratching him, and embedded itself in the metal skin of the helicopter.
The distraction this caused gave Raven the time she needed to close the distance between herself and Otto. The twin katanas slid from their scabbards on her back and she launched a withering assault on the two assassins, forcing them to release their hold on Otto in order to defend themselves.
Cypher, meanwhile, sprinted back towards the helicopter. The ninjas had loaded Wing’s body on board and were now climbing on. He leapt up into the fuselage as the sounds of the furious battle between Raven and his two assassins echoed from behind him.
‘Get us out of here. We’ve got what we came for,’ he barked at the pilot, who did not need to be told twice. He wrenched at the controls and the helicopter leapt into the air with a roar.
Raven could do nothing to stop the helicopter taking off – it was all she could do to hold her own against the two ninjas left on the roof and keep Otto alive. They had attacked relentlessly since she’d intervened to prevent Otto’s execution and despite her unparalleled physical condition she was starting to tire. Her attackers, though, never seemed to slow down, but just kept advancing remorselessly, driving her back.
‘Stay back, Otto,’ she said, keeping herself between the boy and the assassins.
Raven knew that she had to finish this as quickly as possible. The local authorities would already be on their way and she had to get word back to Nero of what had happened. She took a long, deep breath, trying to find her focus as the assassins advanced towards her again, side by side, their movements perfectly synchronised.
Raven leapt.
She sailed over their heads, her swords swivelling in her hands to point backwards as she flew through the air. She landed, dropped to one knee and, with her eyes closed, thrust the twin blades backwards with every ounce of her remaining strength.
Otto watched in astonishment as the two blades erupted from the black silk that covered the ninjas’ chests. Both of the assassins twitched a couple of times before they collapsed to their knees. Raven opened her eyes and pulled the swords forward again, yanking them free of the two bodies, which then slowly fell to the floor and lay still. Raven looked at the blades in surprise. They were spotless – there wasn’t a drop of blood on either of them.
‘What the –’ she said, but was cut short by an insistent beeping noise that had suddenly started to come from the two bodies. She’d heard that sound before. She instantly surveyed their surroundings – no immediate cover and no time to run, anyway.
Otto had no idea what was happening as Raven sprinted towards him and leapt forward, hitting him and pushing them both over the edge of the roof and into thin air, fifty storeys up.
Then the world exploded.
Cypher looked down as the helicopter climbed into the air. The entire top three storeys of the safe-house building had been consumed by the explosion; there was no way that anyone down there could have survived. He glanced at the body lying on the floor of the helicopter and felt a sense of satisfaction. They had achieved their objective, they had everything they needed, and it was just an additional bonus that Nero’s pet assassin was now out of the picture as well. He had recognised the other boy from the report that Nero had given on the recent fiasco that had taken place at H.I.V.E. and, while it was regrettable that the boy had been caught up in events, he had no reason to suppose that the world would mourn the passing of Otto Malpense.
‘Destination, sir?’ the co-pilot asked as they continued to gain altitude.
‘Set course for the Forge. Phase one of the operation is complete – radio ahead and give the order to commence preparation and load-out for phase two,’ Cypher replied.
If Nero thought he was having a bad day now, what was going to happen next would doubtless put it all into perspective.
.
Chapter Eight
Otto felt as if a giant hand had picked him up and thrown him off the roof of the building. Raven clung on to him with a grip like iron as they tumbled towards the ground, burning debris from the upper floors cascading past all around them.
Raven knew that she only had one shot. She stretched out one arm and there was the distinctive sound of the high-pressure discharge of a grappler bolt. The line snaked away from them through the air before the bolt hit the side of a building on the other side of the street. She had no idea if the grappler would be able to hold them both falling at this speed, but it was the only chance they had.
The line snapped taut and Raven let out an involuntary cry as her arm took the full weight of both her and Otto, her grip on the boy slipping slightly with the shock. They swung inwards now towards the mirrored-glass frontage of the building opposite the safe house. The reel of the grappler screeched and smoked in protest at the enormous overload that it was enduring. Raven knew that they were travelling too fast – if they hit toughened glass at this speed it would kill them just as surely as if they had hit the ground. Raven braced herself for the inevitable impact as they swung, but at the final second she saw that the enormous explosion on the other side of the street had partially shattered the glass of the windows. She twisted desperately, swivelling her back towards the glass, shielding Otto.
The impact knocked the wind from her completely, but the window smashed into a million pieces as they hit. Raven released the grappler line and she and Otto were thrown across the office in which they
had landed, sliding to an undignified halt amongst the scattered office equipment and furniture.
Raven sat up. Her shoulder felt as if it was on fire, and she ached all over from her fight with the ninjas, but she was in one piece. She looked urgently around the room. It was deserted – it was still too early in the morning for any workers to have arrived.
‘Malpense!’ she shouted. He was nowhere to be seen.
There was a groan from behind her and she turned to see Otto sliding out from underneath a fallen cubicle divider.
‘Are you OK?’ Raven asked, moving over to him and checking him for any obvious injuries. He seemed to be unharmed but it was not just his physical state that she was worried about.
‘Yeah, I think so,’ Otto replied, his ears still ringing from the explosion. He felt as if he was going to be covered in bruises, but he was alive at least. That was more than he could say for his best friend. The memory of the look of horrified surprise on Wing’s face as the bullet struck him cut through the fuzz of shock that seemed to fill Otto’s head. The sound of screaming and countless sirens drifted through the broken window as bits of burning paper and debris continued to flutter past outside.
‘We have to get out of here,’ Raven said firmly. ‘I know that it’s difficult, but we have to keep going a little longer. We have to get to safety and report what just happened.’
Otto nodded. Raven pulled Otto to his feet and held him by both shoulders, looking him straight in the eyes.
‘I promise that I’ll make Cypher pay for what he’s done, but to do that we have to get away from here right now. I need you to focus, Otto.’
Otto didn’t feel like he had enough strength to take another step, but he knew that Raven was right. He felt a cold, hard ball forming in the pit of his stomach. He would not stop now, not until he had avenged Wing.
‘Let’s go,’ Otto said. He may not know anything about who Cypher was or why he’d done this, but he did know one thing . . . he was going to pay.
‘Anything?’ Nero asked impatiently as the communications officer worked frantically at the console.
‘Still. Nothing, sir. I can’t raise the safe house or any of the agents, they’ve just gone dark.’ The technician shook his head as he spoke.
H.I.V.E.’s communications and surveillance department was abuzz with activity. Ever since Laura had presented the decrypted message to Nero, there had been desperate efforts to establish what exactly was going on in Tokyo, but so far they had met with little success.
‘Sir,’ a voice was raised from the other side of the room, ‘I think I have something. I’ve piggybacked us on to the feed from a Chinese surveillance satellite – the angle’s not great and there’s a five-minute lag on real-time, but it’s the best coverage we’re going to get.’
‘Putting it on the main screen,’ the technician continued as the huge central display that was mounted on the wall flickered into life.
At first there was nothing unusual about the imagery; it appeared to be just a normal feed from a satellite camera that was trained on the G.L.O.V.E. safe-house building, but it quickly became clear that there was something very wrong.
‘There,’ the Contessa said, pointing at the screen as three tiny figures burst on to the roof from the stairwell and ran towards the far side of the building. ‘Freeze and enhance.’
The grainy picture froze as H.I.V.E.mind worked silently to enhance the quality of the image. As the pixellation was reduced, the identities of the three people on the roof became clear.
‘That’s Malpense, Fanchu and Agent Zero,’ the Contessa continued, scanning the pictures for any further clue as to what had happened, ‘but who are they?’
The three tiny figures that had run on to the roof were now being pursued by half a dozen people, who were pouring out of the stairwell. Again the team worked to enhance the quality of the images, but there was little that could be made out of these black-clad figures other than the fact that they were clearly pursuing the two boys and the agent. Nero’s frown deepened.
‘Picking up a lot of chatter on the Tokyo emergency services bands,’ another technician reported, staring into the middle distance as he focused on the stream of excited Japanese voices that filled his earphones. ‘There’s some kind of disturbance in Shinjuku, something to do with an explosion.’
On the main screen Nero watched with a sense of mounting horror as a helicopter popped into view over the side of the building. There was no audio to drown out the gasps that came from around the room as Agent Zero folded to the ground – they all knew an execution when they saw one. Nero was filled with a sense of helplessness; this was the past, there was nothing that he could do about it now but watch, and the role of passive observer did not suit him well.
‘Oh no,’ the Contessa said as a figure stepped down from the helicopter that had just landed on the roof.
Nero’s eyes narrowed, and he felt white hot anger rising inside him. He did not need image enhancement to recognise this man.
‘Cypher,’ Nero spat. ‘I should have known.’
Nero and the Contessa watched, appalled, as the events of just five minutes before played out on the screen in front of them. They watched as Fanchu approached Cypher and Malpense was pinned down by two of the mysterious figures that had pursued them on to the roof.
They saw Cypher raise a pistol; there was a tiny flash and Fanchu crumpled to the ground.
‘No!’ Nero shouted. Cypher had just executed one of his students in cold blood. It was a declaration of war, plain and simple, and the audacity of an attack like this in broad daylight meant that Cypher wanted everyone to know it.
‘Look, there,’ the Contessa said suddenly, pointing out another figure that was scurrying to cover behind one of the numerous vents and machine plants that dotted the roof. Nero immediately recognised this new arrival. There was only one person on earth who moved quite like that: Raven.
They watched as Raven launched her attack. Cypher was running back to the helicopter as she attacked the two men restraining Malpense and for the first time Nero felt a sense of hope. A couple of the technicians yelled their approval as they watched Raven neatly dispose of the two assassins, but, as they fell, something strange happened. Raven ran towards Malpense, threw herself at him and knocked them both flying towards the edge of the roof. Then the picture whited out. At first it looked like they’d lost the feed to the satellite, but as the picture faded back in it became immediately apparent that the incredibly sensitive cameras of the orbital spy platform had been overwhelmed by the intensity of the massive explosion that engulfed the entire roof.
The safe house was gone. Cypher’s helicopter climbed into the air out of the frame and vanished, leaving nothing but a scene of total devastation. There was no way that anyone could have survived.
Nero suddenly felt very old. In the space of two minutes he had watched a trusted G.L.O.V.E. operative, two of his best students and Raven all die at the hands of one man. Nero could not begin to guess what might have driven Cypher to carry out an attack like this. Whatever his twisted motivation, it was enough to mean that he did not fear the inevitable reprisals from G.L.O.V.E. that such an act would bring.
‘Get me Number One,’ Nero said to the communications technician. Cypher was about to learn what it meant to cross Maximilian Nero.
Otto clung on to Raven for dear life as she pushed the screaming motorbike to go faster and faster, weaving through the snarled-up traffic of downtown Tokyo. He tried closing his eyes to make the journey less hair-raising, but every time he did the blackness was filled with the startled expression on Wing’s face as Cypher’s bullet struck him. Otto decided that the cars shooting past only inches away were less disturbing.
Slowly the flow of traffic decreased as they continued their breakneck journey east through the city. Otto had no idea from where Raven had acquired the bike but he suspected that its previous owner had little idea that they had ‘borrowed’ it. Raven had simply vanished into the crowd w
hen they had left the building in which they’d made their less than graceful landing, having ordered him to stay put. She’d roared up to the kerb on the big silver bike a couple of minutes later, jammed the only crash helmet on his head and told him to hang on. From then till now he doubted that their speed had dropped into double digits more than a couple of times.
They seemed to be heading into the docks. The skyscrapers and shops that had been lining the streets were replaced by towering columns of shipping containers, and enormous cranes looming ominously overhead. Raven shot through a checkpoint that led into a fenced-off area of the port, and a security guard gesticulated wildly at them as they weaved through the automated barrier he controlled. Raven gunned the engine and sent the bike roaring between the rows of neatly stacked containers, turning this way and that, tracing an impossible-to-follow path through the steel maze.
After a minute or two they neared a row of dilapidated-looking warehouse buildings and Raven finally slowed the bike down. She steered towards a loading ramp that led up to a heavy steel shutter. Pulling a small box from a pouch on her belt, she pressed a button. The shutter rolled upwards and Raven gunned the engine again, sending the bike flying up the ramp and into the darkness within. As soon as they were inside, Raven brought the bike to a screeching halt, the back wheel sliding round and leaving a neat semi-circle of molten black rubber on the dusty floor. She pointed the control at the shutter again and it quickly rolled back down into place. Raven cut the engine, the sudden silence filled only with the gentle ticks and creaks of the rapidly cooling engine.
Raven climbed off the bike and Otto pulled off his crash helmet.
‘OK, we’re safe, for now,’ Raven said, pulling her Blackbox from her belt. The device was dead, as it had been since the moment the attack on the safe house had started. ‘We need to report back to H.I.V.E. We have to let them know that we’re still active,’ she continued, walking away towards one of the separately enclosed offices that lined the far wall. The warehouse looked like it had been abandoned for years. A patina of dust covered everything and what few containers lay scattered around the place had not been disturbed for a long time.