by Mark Walden
‘Otto, oh please God, no,’ Laura sobbed. ‘I’m sorry.’
Raven ran over with Shelby and Lucy in tow. She saw Laura kneeling next to Otto, his head in Wing’s lap, and a sense of utter helplessness overwhelmed her. She felt for a pulse. Finding nothing, she kept her finger pressed to his neck, willing him to be alive, and just as she was about to take her hand away she detected a tiny weak flutter under her fingertips.
She stood up, saw Francisco and his men running across the compound towards them and screamed, ‘MEDIC!’ as loudly as she could.
Raven watched as the medical team lifted Otto gently on to the stretcher and carried him away. He was alive, barely, but non-responsive. Wing, Laura, Shelby and Lucy followed just behind. The first of the two remaining Shrouds was going to take them back to H.I.V.E., and Raven had told the pilot that if he did not redline the engines all the way back, he would have her personally to answer to.
Francisco came and stood alongside her.
‘Cypher?’ he asked.
‘Dead,’ said Raven.
‘Jesus, what a mess!’ Francisco said with a sigh as he looked around the ruined compound.
‘How were our casualties?’ Raven asked.
‘Acceptable. The rest of the H.O.P.E. forces fled into the forest,’ Francisco said. ‘I know this place – most of them will never be seen again. They’ll last two or three days out there without supplies, if they’re lucky. I’ve had the facility rigged with demo charges. I’ll blow the whole place once we’re airborne.’
‘Good. Did you retrieve the servers from the medical lab?’ she asked. ‘The Professor will want to see what they were working on in there.’
‘Yes, they’re already loaded on board the Shroud,’ Francisco replied. ‘What did they do to Malpense?’
‘Violated him, Colonel,’ Raven said with a sigh. ‘They violated –’
Raven froze as she heard the unmistakable sound of a hammer being cocked behind her.
‘Turn around very, very slowly indeed,’ a voice behind her said, a voice that made her blood run cold. She and Francisco turned to see Trent standing ten metres away, his pistol levelled at them. His immaculately tailored suit was tattered and burnt and he had a wound in his gut that would be terminal if it was not treated soon.
‘You have no idea what you’ve done,’ Trent said, a look of pure hatred on his face. ‘You’ve ruined everything.’ He pulled his hand away from the bloody wound in his stomach. ‘I know I’m dying, but at least I’ll have the pleasure of sending you to hell ahead of me.’ He took a step towards Raven, his foot splashing into the black pool of Animus liquid that had poured out of Otto after he had been hit with the neural pulse. Raven saw a flicker of movement from the inky puddle, and then several tendrils shot upwards from the pool, piercing the skin of Trent’s leg and squirming upwards beneath the skin. He screamed in agony and Raven ran towards him, taking the opportunity to swat the pistol out of his hand and knock him to the ground. His high-pitched screams became a strangled gurgle as the black tendrils swarmed over and through him. After just a few seconds first his neck and then his face became a swarming mass of dark wriggling lines, like black worms burrowing under his skin.
‘Good God,’ Francisco said under his breath, drawing his pistol and raising it with the intention of finishing Trent off.
‘No,’ Raven said, pushing his gun down. ‘Let him suffer.’
Trent thrashed on the ground, clawing at his chest and face until finally he coughed up a mouthful of the black liquid with a strangled gurgling sound and lay still. Only then did Raven take the Colonel’s gun and fire it twice into Trent’s chest.
‘No more than you deserved,’ she said quietly, and handed the pistol back to Francisco. ‘Let’s get out of here, Colonel. I’ve had quite enough for one day.’
.
Chapter Twelve
Two weeks later
‘I’m glad to see that you’re finally awake,’ Nero said.
Darkdoom smiled. ‘I think I have slept long enough.’
‘I would hardly call a medically induced coma sleeping,’ Nero said, raising an eyebrow.
‘Did I miss much?’ Darkdoom asked.
‘You could say that.’ Nero summarised the recent events, watching his friend’s smile slowly disappear as he gave him all the important details.
Darkdoom sat silently for a minute or two, letting what Nero had told him sink in.
‘Has Otto woken up yet?’ he asked finally.
‘No,’ Nero replied with a frown. ‘Doctor Scott tells me that physically he has recovered well, but mentally . . . it’s too early to tell.’
‘And Overlord was destroyed – you’re certain of that?’ Darkdoom asked.
‘As certain as we can be. Once we were aware of the device that Overlord planted in Otto’s head at birth we were able to conduct detailed scans. Both Professor Pike and H.I.V.E.mind assure me that there is no activity within it that would suggest any residual trace of Overlord. Unfortunately there is only one real way to ensure that there is absolutely no chance of some remnant having been left behind, and that is not a course of action that I am prepared to take. We owe the boy too much.’
‘I agree,’ Darkdoom said, ‘but that does not mean we should let our guard down. You will have to keep an eye on him, Max.’
‘Don’t worry, I intend to,’ Nero said with a frown. ‘There is always the chance that he may not wake up at all.’
‘Brain damage?’ Darkdoom asked quietly.
‘Nothing that the medical team can detect, but with Otto’s unique neural architecture it is impossible to tell for sure.’
‘I see.’ Darkdoom paused for a moment and then looked Nero in the eye. ‘Max, there is something else that I need to talk to you about. I have decided to step down as head of the council.’
‘What?’ Nero asked incredulously. ‘Why now, of all times?’
‘I need time to recover physically from my injuries, but that is not the only reason. I have begun to doubt the decisions I have made as head of the council. I am a man of action not words and I believe my inexperience when playing the political game has led to more than a few of our recent problems. G.L.O.V.E. needs a strong leader now, and even when I am fully recovered I do not believe that I am the right man for the job.’
‘Yes, you’re right, G.L.O.V.E. needs a strong leader, which is why we need you back at the head of the table as soon as possible.’
‘No, Max,’ Darkdoom said with a wry smile, ‘G.L.O.V.E. does not need me. It needs you.’
‘No,’ Nero said firmly, ‘we have been through this before. My place is here at H.I.V.E., not heading the council. It is a job I neither deserve nor want.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ Darkdoom shook his head. ‘There is no one on the council better qualified for the job than you, and I’m afraid we are at a point where the issue of whether you want it or not is academic. G.L.O.V.E. is dangerously close to civil war – you only have to look at what Chavez tried to do to see that. Do you really think he was alone? He’s not clever enough to be dangerous, but there are others on the council who are. If you don’t do this now, we will tear ourself apart in a catastrophic power struggle. G.L.O.V.E. will be destroyed, and you and I both know that others are waiting out there to step into the void that would create, people who would have no interest in maintaining the delicate status quo that we have always worked so hard to keep alive.’
‘The Disciples,’ Nero said with a sigh. ‘We have no proof that they were involved in any of this.’
‘We know that they had access to Animus,’ Darkdoom pointed out, ‘and that they are determined to see G.L.O.V.E. destroyed. I find it hard to believe that Trent was not linked to them in some way.’
‘Even if that is true, what makes you think that the rest of the council would accept me as leader?’
‘Because Number One understood something that I have only just begun to truly grasp. You cannot rule G.L.O.V.E. through respect alone – there must also
be fear. The council do not fear me and I doubt they ever will. You, on the other hand . . .’
Nero frowned ‘I do not think I take much comfort in being compared to Number One.’
‘You know what I mean,’ Darkdoom said. ‘You have to do this, Max, because I have proven that I cannot.’
Nero was silent for a moment or two, pinching the bridge of his nose as he considered everything his friend had just said.
‘I will consider it,’ he finally said.
‘That is all I ask,’ Darkdoom said, ‘but don’t take too long to decide, Max. The longer we go without clear leadership, the more likely it is that someone else will do something stupid.’
‘I understand,’ Nero said, ‘but in the meantime there is someone outside who would very much like to see you.’ He went to the door and opened it. ‘You may come in. The patient is awake.’
Nigel walked into the room and his eyes went wide as he saw his father sitting up in bed smiling at him.
‘Dad!’ Nigel ran across the room and hugged Diabolus.
‘Hey, careful,’ Darkdoom said with a pained grin. ‘Recent gunshot wound. Not too hard.’
‘I thought I’d lost you again,’ Nigel said, not wanting to let go.
‘I know, I’m sorry,’ Darkdoom replied, ‘I really am.’
Nero left the room and smiled to himself. He knew of course that there was a reason why Diabolus didn’t want his old job back, but it was a reason that he would never admit to Nero. He’d just seen it with his own eyes.
‘You’re getting sentimental in your old age,’ Nero said to himself with a small frown. If he really was going to consider doing as Diabolus had asked and become the head of the council, sentimentality was something he could not afford.
The Professor touched the controls on the scanner and the robotic arm slowly pushed the red-hot probe into the black liquid in the small dish in the centre of the reinforced glass tank. There was no reaction – not that he had been expecting one.
‘Any progress?’ Nero asked, making the Professor jump.
‘Please don’t sneak up on me like that. I’m an old man,’ the Professor said with a sigh. ‘The Animus samples we were able to harvest from Otto are dead, completely inert, and there’s no trace of it in his system now. By all accounts he lost the majority of the fluid when Miss Brand hit him with the neural pulse. The rest he has . . . well . . . excreted in the normal way, like any other waste product.’
‘You’re sure it’s gone?’ Nero asked.
‘Quite sure. I had H.I.V.E.mind perform a series of extremely thorough scans. The Animus has a unique chemical signature – if there was any trace of it left in his body, we would have found it. It’s clearly how Trent was able to control Otto. It must have integrated fully with the device implanted in his brain. It essentially made him completely programmable, though I still don’t understand how, and judging by the files I’ve managed to retrieve from their servers neither did the H.O.P.E. scientists. It really is quite fascinating, more technologically advanced than anything I’ve ever seen to the point where I fear that it could not have been designed by a human.’
‘Overlord,’ Nero said quietly.
‘Yes, I’m afraid so. Overlord had none of the behavioural restraints that H.I.V.E.mind has so he was perfectly capable of designing something like this.’
‘To what end?’
‘I’m afraid I have no idea.’ The Professor scratched his head. ‘Animus infection would be quite lethal to a normal human being. We can only assume that Otto’s unique neurology made him resistant to it. Perhaps Overlord intended to use it as a weapon, but it would seem needlessly complex for that. Any number of readily available biological or chemical agents would have effects just as deadly and fast-acting.’
‘So there’s no way of knowing how or why Trent would have managed to get his hands on it,’ Nero said. ‘Or how he knew that the Animus would not simply kill Otto.’
‘No, and as we learnt from Raven’s report, he will not be telling us anything.’
‘Not without a seance,’ Nero said.
‘Indeed,’ the Professor agreed.
‘Very well, complete your tests and then destroy every last molecule of that filth,’ Nero said, gesturing at the sample within the tank.
‘It does warrant further study –’
‘Destroy it, Professor, all of it. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Of course. Absolutely.’ The Professor nodded.
Nero walked out of the lab lost in thought. He hated not knowing what purpose Overlord had created Animus for, especially given that they had no idea how much of the foul substance was still out there. It was just one more unanswered question to add to a list that was growing worryingly long.
Wing sat beside Otto’s bed as he had every night after his classes. The doctors had told him that they were not really sure why Otto was not waking up and they had no idea when or if he would. Wing had slowly come to terms with what had happened in Brazil; there was no way to take it back or change it. He just had to accept that he had been forced to break the vow he had made to his mother never to take a life. He had never for a moment imagined that the person he would kill would be his father, a man who until recently he had thought long dead. There was a part of him that was angry with Nero for keeping the truth about his father’s fate from him after he had first attacked the school, but another part of him knew that what he had done was right. All he really wanted to do now was to talk to his best friend about everything that had happened.
Wing picked up the book from the bed and began to read aloud. The doctors had told him that it might help Otto, and the fact of the matter was that it was something to do rather than just sit there brooding.
‘Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as Heaven and Earth, unending as the flow of rivers and streams; like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew; like the four seasons, they pass away to return once more.’
He looked up and gasped as he saw Otto was lying looking at him, his blue eyes wide open. Otto whispered something that Wing could not hear. Wing leaned closer and listened carefully.
‘Am I a horse?’ Wing said, looking at Otto in confusion, suddenly afraid that brain damage might have occurred. ‘No, I am not a horse. Why?’
‘Then why the long face?’ Otto croaked with a grin. Wing looked slightly puzzled for a moment and then he did something that he had not done since the day that Otto had first disappeared. He laughed out loud.
‘Otto!’ Laura shouted as she ran across the room and gave him a spine-snapping hug. ‘How are you feeling?’ She let him go, then grabbed both his shoulders and inspected his face carefully.
‘I’m fine,’ Otto said with a smile. Lucy, Shelby, Nigel and Franz all filed into the room.
‘How you doing, buddy?’ Shelby asked, ruffling his hair.
‘I keep telling everyone I’m fine,’ Otto said. ‘I’m really hungry though.’
‘I am thinking that I can be helping with that,’ Franz said as he poured an enormous assortment of packaged junk food from his backpack on to the bed.
‘He’s brought pretty much the same thing every day,’ Nigel said with a smile. ‘Said he needed it just in case you woke up.’
‘It could have been happening any day,’ Franz said with a wise nod.
‘They going to let you out of here soon?’ Lucy asked.
‘Yeah, they say they’ve got to run a couple of final tests, but that I should be free to go later today. I can’t wait, to be honest. I’m going crazy just lying here.’
‘Not take-over-the-world, death-to-all-humans crazy, I hope,’ Shelby said with a grin.
‘No, just good old-fashioned cabin fever, thankfully,’ Otto said, poking her in the ribs.
‘There is someone else who wished to see you,’ Wing said, handing Otto his Blackbox.
On the screen was a face that Otto had thought he would never see again.
‘Hello, old friend,’ Otto said.
‘Hello, Otto,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Would everyone please stop asking me that!’ Otto laughed.
‘I am sorry. Was my enquiry in some way inappropriate?’ H.I.V.E.mind asked. ‘I was led to believe that it was a normal question under these circumstances.’
‘It’s fine,’ Laura said. ‘He’s just being grumpy.’
‘I am not,’ Otto said with mock indignation. ‘I really am starving though. Chuck me a bag of crisps.’
He tore open the large packet and stuffed a handful of crisps into his mouth.
‘So,’ he said, ‘tell me everything that’s happened. My memory’s a blank between passing out on Airforce One and waking up here.’
He sat and munched his way through the rest of the bag of crisps as his friends told him all that had happened in the intervening time, interrupting each other to fill in the details. He stopped them a couple of times with questions, but for the most part he just sat and listened.
‘That’s quite some story,’ Otto said as they finished. ‘There is one thing that I don’t understand though: when Cypher gave Trent the coordinates for this place, how come all he saw was empty ocean?’
‘I was responsible for that,’ H.I.V.E.mind said. ‘I was inside the H.O.P.E. facility’s network at the time, and when I intercepted the request for a scan of those coordinates to be sent to the surveillance satellite, I simply altered the request slightly. Instead of an image of the island, the satellite took a photo of a location eight hundred kilometres to the west of here. I am sorry that it placed you in danger, Student Fanchu. My first priority was the protection of this facility. I hope you understand.’
‘Of course.’ Wing nodded. ‘I would have done the same thing if I could.’
‘Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,’ Nero said from the doorway. ‘I believe I gave you all permission to miss the first lesson of this morning to visit Mr Malpense. I do not recall saying anything about the second.’
Laura looked like she was going to object.