Zero Hour

by Mark Walden

  ‘I have no idea,’ Nero replied with a tired sigh, ‘but the American government don’t know what they’re dealing with. From their perspective it’s simply a terrorist cell led by a rogue general. There is, unfortunately, an additional complication. Overlord has demanded that the Americans hand over certain individuals to him in exchange for the hostages he is holding. Fortunately they have no idea who the people in question are, but it is a list that you will be quite familiar with.’

  Nero hit a key and the pictures that Overlord had sent to the White House appeared on the display on the wall behind him.

  ‘The ruling council,’ Raven said quietly. The men and women on the screen were the elite group responsible for the running of G.L.O.V.E.’s operations throughout the world.

  ‘So what do we do now?’ she asked.

  ‘We have to retrieve the council before they are captured,’ Nero replied. ‘The members of the council may be unknown to the Americans at present but it will not take long to track them down now that they have names and faces. We cannot afford to take the chance that they might fall into the hands of Overlord or any of the global intelligence agencies.’

  ‘Where shall I take them?’ Raven asked.

  ‘Bring them here,’ Nero replied. ‘At the moment I cannot think of anywhere that would be more secure. Don’t tell any of them where they are being taken though. The fact that Overlord knows the identities of everyone on the council suggests that we may already have a traitor in our midst. I cannot afford to take the chance that whoever it is might alert Overlord of our intentions and allow him to track them here. You’re the only person I can rely on to make sure that you are not followed back here or tracked in any way.’

  ‘Some of them are not going to be happy about this,’ Raven said with a slight frown.

  ‘I trust that you will be able to impress upon them the seriousness of the situation,’ Nero replied.

  ‘Of course,’ Raven said with a slight smile. ‘Polite requests are my speciality.’

  Otto sat on the platform in the grappler training cavern, his legs dangling over the edge, lost in thought.

  ‘I’m not interrupting anything, am I?’ Lucy asked as she walked up behind him. ‘Because if this is a private brooding session, I’ll just leave you to it.’

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in. I’ve just got a lot on my mind at the moment,’ Otto said with a sigh as Lucy sat down beside him.

  ‘Anything you want to talk about?’ she asked.

  ‘Not really,’ Otto replied. ‘I’m not sure anyone would understand any way.’

  ‘Try me,’ Lucy said with a smile.

  ‘It’s just . . .’ He paused for a moment. ‘It’s just that sometimes I feel like I’m always going to be a pawn in someone else’s game. Ever since you guys rescued me from Brazil I can’t stop thinking about the fact that I wasn’t born like everyone else – I was designed, created to be a vessel for Overlord. I never had a family, anyone who actually cared about my existence – just people who built me for a specific purpose. It’s left me feeling . . . I don’t know . . . separate from everything somehow, I guess.’

  ‘We’re not that different, you know,’ Lucy replied. ‘I sometimes feel like I’ve spent my whole life being told that one day I’ll be important, that my abilities will have an effect on the world. I never really believed any of it – I just felt like I was going to end up being used by somebody. That’s what always seems to happen to the women in my family. This ability we have, the voice – it makes us into weapons for other people to wield.’

  ‘The Contessa made her own decisions in the end,’ Otto said, looking at her.

  ‘But not before she’d spent most of her life being manipulated by the people around her,’ Lucy replied. ‘And in the end, when she finally fought back and made a stand, it cost her her life.’

  ‘She saved the school,’ Otto said, ‘and ultimately that’s what people will remember. All I seem to have done is put the people I care about in danger.’

  ‘We’re your friends – we don’t care about any of that.’

  ‘I do,’ Otto replied. ‘I know that we’re supposed to be learning how to control the world, how to mislead others and spread corruption, but what if that’s all our lives are ever going to be? What if I turn into the sort of person who created me? Maybe all I’ll ever do is hurt the people I care about. What kind of a life is that?’

  ‘You won’t turn out like that,’ Lucy said, looking Otto in the eye, ‘not if you don’t want to. That’s what my mother was always trying to teach me. I didn’t really understand at the time, but she was trying to make sure that I didn’t end up like so many of the Sinistre women before me.’

  ‘Do you miss her – your mother?’ Otto asked.

  ‘Of course,’ Lucy said. ‘She taught me that we’re all free to choose our own path, even when other people want to manipulate us or steer us in different directions. She knew what it was like to grow up being told that you’ve got some kind of grand destiny, but she had the strength to make her own decisions. That was all she wanted for me – the freedom to choose what I would become. I don’t know if she would approve of my life now, but what I do know is that the fact that we’re being taught how to manipulate and deceive doesn’t mean that’s the only path we can take. There was one thing she used to say to me all the time. There always has to be a choice.’

  ‘I guess you’re right,’ Otto said. ‘I’m sorry for making you listen to me moan – I was so used to being alone before I came to H.I.V.E. that now I don’t want to lose what I’ve found. You guys are the nearest thing to a family that I’ve ever had and I don’t want any of you to get hurt because of that. I just can’t help but wonder sometimes if you’d all be better off without me.’

  ‘How can you be the smartest guy I know and still be so dumb?’ Lucy said, staring at him for a couple of seconds before leaning forward and kissing him. Suddenly all of Otto’s concerns were forgotten. All that mattered for that one instant was the feeling of her lips on his. ‘People care about you more than you realise,’ she said as she pulled away from him and stood up.

  ‘You can close your mouth now, you know,’ she said, smiling at his startled expression as she turned and walked away.

  g

  Chapter Three

  Overlord sat in the chair as the medic slowly passed the portable scanner over his body. He felt himself growing impatient as the man completed the scan and studied the results on the laptop that the device was hooked up to.

  ‘Well?’ he snapped at the frightened medic.

  ‘The process of cellular decay is becoming more rapid,’ the man replied. ‘At current rates you will need to find a new host in less than forty-eight hours.’

  He had been in this body for less than twelve hours and already it was starting to weaken as the Animus fluid poisoned his cells. He was able to slow the corruption’s progress but he could not stop it.

  ‘Why is it getting faster?’ Overlord demanded.

  ‘We’re not sure, sir,’ the medic replied. ‘The notes that we retrieved from Doctor Creed’s laboratory in Brazil suggest that the only time any host has suffered no ill effects from prolonged exposure to Animus was when it was introduced into the Malpense boy’s system.’

  ‘Are you any closer to perfecting a variant of the second-generation fluid that would be able to support my consciousness?’

  ‘I’m afraid not,’ the medic said nervously. ‘While it is no longer toxic to humans it does not have a techno-organic matrix that would support something with the complexity of an artificial intelligence.’

  ‘A what?’ Overlord growled.

  ‘I mean an improved intelligence, sir,’ the medic said, correcting himself quickly. ‘The second-generation fluid may allow you to insert programming into human behaviour but it cannot support you – it lacks the required sophistication.’

  Overlord felt a familiar frustration. Ever since he had been forced out of the Malpense boy he had been hopping
from body to body with increasing frequency. He loathed the sensation of being trapped inside these infirm, rapidly decaying shells but, for now at least, he had no alternative. It would not matter, he reminded himself, if everything went according to plan over the next few hours. He got up from the chair, already feeling the rapidly decaying muscles of his current body straining to lift him upright.

  ‘Find me a new host, Doctor,’ he said as he walked out of the room. ‘Preferably someone younger.’

  He headed out of the medical bay and walked down the corridor outside, following the signs on the wall towards the correct area. Entering the laboratory, he found Furan looking into the clean room beyond the glass at one end.

  ‘I trust everything with Tabula Rasa is proceeding on schedule,’ Overlord said as he looked down into the room where men in white overalls were working quickly but carefully on a large silver cylinder.

  ‘Yes, the nanites were surprisingly easy to integrate with the new generation of Animus. The fact that they were originally designed to repair armour gives them an amazing capacity for self-replication. They should be perfectly suited to our needs,’ Furan said with a satisfied smile.

  The radio clipped to his belt beeped and he thumbed the receive button.

  ‘This is Furan – go ahead.’

  ‘We’ve received the target coordinates,’ the voice on the other end of the radio said. ‘The assault teams are en route.’

  ‘Very good. Keep me updated with their ETA,’ Furan replied.

  ‘Our operative is performing exactly as we expected,’ Overlord said, still looking at the activity beyond the glass.

  ‘Yes, and when the time comes they will make sure that H.I.V.E. is defenceless,’ Furan replied.

  ‘Excellent,’ Overlord said, smiling. ‘Nero will never know what hit him.’

  Nero stood in H.I.V.E.’s crater landing bay as the huge reinforced shutters overhead slid apart. There was a strange shimmer in the air as the sound of jet turbines filled the bay and the hovering Shroud dropship uncloaked a few metres above the landing pad. It came to rest with a solid thud and a few seconds later the ramp at the rear of the craft dropped down. Raven walked down it, followed by a group of men and women who between them made up the most powerful secret organisation on the planet – the ruling council of G.L.O.V.E.

  ‘I trust there were no difficulties in gathering our guests,’ Nero said as Raven approached.

  ‘No, everything went smoothly,’ she reported as the group she had been escorting followed her across the hangar bay. ‘I scanned them all for any form of transmitter or tracking device and the Shroud was cloaked for the entire return journey. There’s no way that anyone could have followed us. Needless to say, some of them are rather unhappy about being dragged halfway around the planet.’

  ‘I trust you made it clear to them that this was not an invitation they could refuse?’ Nero replied.

  ‘Yes,’ Raven said with a slight smile, ‘though I think my unscheduled arrival made a couple of them rather nervous.’

  ‘I can’t imagine why,’ Nero replied. ‘When we are finished here, check in with Chief Lewis,’ he added in a low voice as the members of the council approached. ‘Make sure that our guests’ quarters are adequately . . . secure.’ He still did not know which of them he could completely trust and until he was certain of their loyalty he had to treat them all with a healthy dose of suspicion. He turned towards the men and women gathered on the landing pad and smiled.

  ‘Welcome to H.I.V.E., ladies and gentlemen. I am sorry to have forced you all to make such a long journey but I felt that it was a necessary inconvenience.’

  ‘How could we refuse such a polite invitation? Especially when it was delivered in such a compelling way,’ said Joseph Wright, the head of G.L.O.V.E.’s British operations, smiling at Raven.

  ‘Are you planning to tell us at any point what this is all about?’ Lin Feng, G.L.O.V.E.’s representative in China, said angrily. Nero already had reason to doubt Feng’s loyalty – he had been one of the most outspoken opponents of Nero’s appointment as head of the council when Diabolus Darkdoom had stood down. If there was a traitor among the men and women gathered before him Lin Feng would be at the top of the list of potential suspects.

  ‘Of course,’ Nero replied. ‘I owe you all an explanation. It is, however, something that I would rather we discussed behind closed doors.’ He gestured towards the doors leading out of the hangar bay. ‘If you come with me, the sooner we get started the better. I fear that time may be running out.’

  Otto walked across the atrium of the accommodation block, feeling strangely refreshed after his first decent night’s sleep in some time. He wasn’t sure whether it had been H.I.V.E.mind’s reassurance that there was no remnant of Overlord lurking inside him or his somewhat surprising encounter with Lucy, but the fact remained that he felt better than he had in weeks.

  ‘It is nice to see you smiling, my friend,’ Wing remarked, closing the book he was reading as Otto collapsed on to the sofa beside him.

  ‘Yeah, well, for the first time in weeks I didn’t have any bad dreams last night,’ Otto replied with a contented smile. ‘I’d almost forgotten what it was like, to be honest.’

  ‘I had hoped that was the case,’ Wing said. ‘You certainly seemed to sleep more soundly.’

  ‘I suppose I haven’t been the easiest room mate to live with recently – sorry about that,’ Otto replied.

  ‘No apology is necessary,’ Wing said. ‘I am just glad that you are feeling better.’

  ‘Morning, guys,’ Lucy said as she walked towards them. ‘Have either of you got the notes from the code hacking lesson yesterday? I need a bit of help with the quantum encryption workarounds.’

  ‘Um,’ Otto replied, ‘yeah . . . well, um . . . I think I’ve got them somewhere if you need them.’

  ‘Great. I enjoyed our talk last night. We’ll have to do it again sometime.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Otto replied with a sheepish grin. ‘I think I’d like that.’

  ‘Right. I’m going to go and get some breakfast – I’ll come and grab them off you later,’ Lucy said, smiling to herself as she walked away.

  ‘Are you feeling OK?’ Wing asked Otto. ‘I only ask because you appear to have turned quite red.’

  ‘I’m fine,’ Otto insisted. ‘It’s just that . . . well, if I tell you something you have to promise not to tell anyone.’

  ‘Of course,’ Wing replied, looking slightly worried. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Last night me and Lucy were having a chat and, to cut a long story short, we ended up sort of . . . well, kissing.’

  ‘Lucy and Otto are being kissing?’ Franz said suddenly from behind them.

  ‘Oh God,’ Otto muttered, tipping his head back and staring at the ceiling. ‘When did you turn into a ninja?’

  ‘Hello, Franz,’ Wing said. ‘We didn’t see you there.’

  ‘I am not wanting to be intruding,’ Franz explained. ‘I was just going to be asking about the assignment for the Technical Studies class. I am not meaning to hear the talk of the kissing.’

  ‘Well, just keep it to yourself, OK?’ Otto said with a sigh. ‘I mean it, Franz. You mustn’t tell anyone.’

  ‘My lips are being sealed,’ Franz assured him in a conspiratorial whisper. ‘Unlike yours, eh?’ He nudged Otto in the ribs and gave him a wink.

  ‘Hey, guys,’ Shelby said as she walked across the atrium towards them. ‘You going to get some breakfast?’

  ‘No, we are just being talking about something – something not secret,’ Franz said slightly uncomfortably.

  ‘I don’t believe this,’ Otto murmured under his breath. ‘I’m going to get something to eat. Are you guys coming?’

  Wing gave a quick nod and stood up.

  ‘Nah, I think I’m just going to stay here and have a little talk with Franz,’ Shelby announced, raising an eyebrow as Otto’s face turned an appealing shade of pink.

  ‘No, no, I must be going to breakfast,’ Fr
anz said, getting halfway up from his seat before Shelby pushed him back down.

  ‘We’ll catch up with you,’ she said with an innocent smile.

  ‘Great. See you later,’ Otto replied, giving Franz a quick look that was designed to convey the shortness of his life expectancy if he told Shelby what he’d overheard.

  ‘I suspect it may have been easier just to make an announcement over the public address system,’ Wing said as he and Otto walked towards the exit.

  ‘I’m doomed, aren’t I?’ Otto said with a resigned sigh.

  ‘Yes,’ Wing replied, losing the battle to stop the grin from spreading across his face. ‘I’m rather afraid you are.’

  ‘He gave our identities to the Americans?’ Lin Feng said angrily.

  ‘I’m afraid so,’ Nero replied, ‘hence my decision to bring you all here. It was the safest option.’

  ‘But, surely he knows where H.I.V.E. is? Number One knew so he must know,’ said Luca Venturi, head of G.L.O.V.E.’s Southern European district. ‘What makes you think he won’t just attack the school?’

  ‘Number One may once have known the location of H.I.V.E.,’ Nero said calmly, ‘but that does not necessarily mean that Overlord does. Professor Pike and H.I.V.E.mind believe that he may well have lost all of his memories of his time as Number One when he transferred the seed of his consciousness to Otto Malpense. H.I.V.E.mind certainly lost his memories of the time prior to his own transfer to the device implanted inside the boy and only regained them when he was transferred back to his central processing hub here. The fact that Overlord has not attacked the school in the past months seems to lend credence to that theory.’

  ‘I hope you’re right.’ The speaker was Felicia Diaz, successor to Carlos Chavez, the recently deceased head of South American operations. ‘If you’re not, you’ve just rounded us all up for him.’

  ‘The single biggest threat to your collective liberty at the moment is being tracked down by the intelligence services of America or one of their allies,’ Nero continued. ‘The simple fact of the matter is that H.I.V.E. is the one place on earth where we can be confident that will not happen. I suspect that the Americans would have little hesitation in turning you over to Overlord in exchange for the hostages he has already taken – something I am sure you would all rather avoid.’