H. I. V. E.: Higher Institute of Villainous Education

by Mark Walden

  ‘Yes, there is a good reason, and it is something that you at least should be aware of. I am sponsoring the Malpense child personally.’

  Nero felt a sudden chill. Number One had never sponsored a student at the school before.

  ‘I see. Is there any particular reason why you have chosen to sponsor him? I mean, is there anything I should know that might help with his future education?’

  ‘My reasons are my own. I would have thought that you would know better than to question them by now, Maximilian.’ Number One’s voice seemed to harden for a second, and Nero felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle.

  ‘Of course, sir. I did not mean to question your decision, I’m sure that he will prove to be an excellent student.’ Nero struggled to suppress the anxious note in his voice.

  ‘As am I. I will expect regular reports on his progress.’

  ‘Of course, sir. Is there anything else?’

  ‘See that no harm comes to him, Nero. Doubtless he will suffer occasional injuries as part of his training, but no serious harm must befall him. I am holding you personally responsible for his safety.’

  ‘Very well, Number One. Is there anything else?’

  ‘No, that is all. Pass on my best wishes to your staff.’

  To remind them that he was always watching, Nero thought to himself.

  ‘I will, Number One.’

  ‘I shall speak to you again soon, Maximilian. Goodbye.’

  The video screen went dark. Nero sat back in his chair, trying to make sense of what Number One had just told him. He had never sponsored a child at the school before, so there was clearly something about Malpense that had changed his mind, and Nero had to find out what it was. In the meantime he would have to instruct Raven not only to keep an eye on the boy but also to make sure that nothing untoward happened to him. Her talents were not normally used to protect students, but he had little doubt that she would make the best and most discreet bodyguard for the boy. It would not do for the staff or students to become aware of the special treatment Malpense was receiving so she would have to remain as invisible as possible. Fortunately, as her past victims would attest, there were very few people who saw Raven until it was far too late to do anything about it.

  Nero pulled up Otto’s records on the computer on his desk and scanned the details again, looking for some piece of information that he had missed that might give him some clue as to Number One’s motivations for choosing the boy. There was nothing immediately obvious, other than the audacity of his last scheme, but Nero resolved to find out as much as he could about Otto Malpense. His own survival might depend upon it.

  .

  Chapter Nine

  The Tactical Education department was almost like a school within a school. As Otto made his way towards the cavern where their first lesson with Colonel Francisco was due to take place he saw classrooms, firing ranges, gyms, climbing walls, swimming pools and a host of other facilities that appeared to be unique to this department. He also noticed that there were many more henchman students in this area than he had seen before, the vast majority of whom seemed to have the same imposing build as Block and Tackle. Otto saw that Wing was constantly surveying their surroundings with a practised eye, as if expecting to be ambushed at any moment. Otto supposed that he too was looking out for any sign of their lunchtime sparring partners from the previous day.

  The atmosphere in this department was quite different to any other part of the school that the new Alpha students had seen so far. There was a feeling of barely suppressed aggression that seemed to pervade the entire area, and this was only made more intimidating by the openly hostile glares that they received from the blue-overalled thugs that surrounded them. It was with some relief that they finally arrived at the entrance to the correct cavern, the heavy steel doors rumbling apart to admit them.

  They walked through the door and on to a large metal platform that was suspended from the wall of a deep cavern, a pool of dark water filling its base far below. Hanging down from the roof of the cavern, level with the platform, was a bizarre arrangement of girders and concrete blocks, looking almost like a suspended assault course. Standing at the far side of the platform was the enormous black man in military uniform whom Otto had spotted on the teachers’ table at lunch the previous day. He was wearing the same military-style camouflage fatigues and heavy black boots polished to a high shine, and looked thoroughly formidable. Now that Otto could observe him more closely he could also see that what he had taken to be some kind of gauntlet that the man wore was in fact a fully articulated artificial metal hand, suggesting that handshakes should probably be avoided if one wanted to avoid an unscheduled trip to the infirmary. He looked like the sort of person who would happily rip the head off anyone who did not do exactly as he instructed. As the last of the Alphas passed through the doors he bellowed at the group.

  ‘Right! Listen up, you worthless bunch of maggots. I am Colonel Francisco, but that’s ‘‘sir’’ to you. You will obey my orders at all times immediately and without question. If any of you disobey my orders, I will personally see to it that the next few years are a living hell for you that’s a promise. I doubt that I’ll be able to do much with a bunch of no-good Alphas like you, but let’s see what you’ve got. Form up!’

  He pointed to the circles painted on the floor in front of him and each of the students hurriedly took up position on one of the marks.

  ‘Stand to attention, now! Feet together, eyes forward!’ Francisco screamed at them, and they hurriedly obeyed. ‘What a pitiful display of spineless specimens,’ the Colonel said, walking along the line of students. ‘This is the first stage of your Tactical Education programme. It is highly unlikely that any of you will display even the tiniest bit of natural ability for what I will be trying to teach you, but I will not tolerate quitters. You give your all or I will damn well take it from you. Do I make myself clear?’

  There were a few mumbles of agreement from the group, most of whom appeared to be in a state of mild shock.

  ‘I can’t hear you! When I ask you a question you will answer loud and clear. The first and last words I want to hear from each and every one of you is ‘‘sir’’.

  Is that clear?’ He glared at them, as if daring them to defy him.

  ‘Sir, yes sir!’ the group replied loudly in unison.

  ‘Good. I intend to start your training by familiarising you with one of the most basic and fundamental pieces of equipment that you will use during your time at H.I.V.E.’ He walked over to a rack of strange black objects and picked one up. It looked like an armoured gauntlet with a small handle at one end and a bulky assembly attached to one side with a silver arrowhead protruding from it.

  ‘This is a mark-four tactical grappler unit,’ the Colonel barked, slipping the device on to his arm. ‘You will all become familiar with every aspect of its operation and tactical use. It is not a complicated piece of equipment, so even you Alphas should be able to understand it.’

  Otto was beginning to get an idea where the hostility that the henchmen exhibited towards the Alpha students came from.

  ‘The primary trigger is located on the handle here.’ He pointed to the handgrip. ‘This will fire the grappling line, like so.’ He pointed the device straight up at the ceiling of the cavern and pressed the button. There was a small popping sound and a steel bolt, trailing a thin wire, shot from the barrel of the device and straight into the rock above. ‘The secondary switch is located under your thumb, and is used to reel the line in and out.’ There was a slight whining noise from the device and the Colonel was pulled several feet into the air, hanging suspended before them. After dangling there for a second he pushed the switch in the opposite direction and lowered himself on to the platform again.

  ‘Pull the trigger for a second time to release the grappler.’ As he pressed the button the bolt released from the ceiling above and, with another high-pitched whine, the line reeled back into the unit at lightning speed, the pointed bolt snap
ping into place.

  ‘Individually these devices can be used to scale vertical surfaces or to descend safely from elevated positions, but a pair of grapplers can be more useful.’ The Colonel walked back over to the rack and took a second grappler, snapping it on to his other arm. He stepped to the edge of the platform and fired a line towards the strange obstacles suspended from the roof. The bolt struck a concrete block and attached itself firmly.

  ‘Watch closely. You will all be expected to try this shortly.’ With that the Colonel stepped off the platform and swung out towards the centre of the cavern. As he reached the apex of his swing he released the line and started to drop, drawing gasps from a couple of the watching students. As he fell he fired the second grappler, the bolt fixing firmly to a distant block. He stopped falling, swinging now at great speed towards the other side of the cavern. He continued to swing from arm to arm, seeming to miss some of the obstacles by just a few centimetres, but always maintaining a constant speed. He moved with surprising grace and agility for a man of his size and had soon cleared the field of obstacles. When he approached the far side of the cavern he turned round and swung back again, switching from line to line just in time to avoid seemingly inevitable collisions. Finally he landed softly on the platform in front of the assembled students. He didn’t even appear to be out of breath. It had been an impressive display.

  ‘As you will have noticed, when used in this way a pair of grapplers can be used to transport you at high speed through an elevated environment. It will take considerable practice for you to achieve a basic level of competence with this equipment and with that in mind I want each of you to take a pair of grappler units and attempt to traverse the cavern to the platform on the opposite wall.’ The Colonel pointed across the cavern, indicating an identical platform that was partially obscured by the intervening obstacles. The students all looked suitably apprehensive at having to make the crossing, warily eyeing the drop to the dark water below.

  Franz raised his hand nervously.

  ‘Yes!’ the Colonel barked, making Franz jump.

  ‘This is seeming rather dangerous. What if we fall?’ Franz asked, glancing again at the water below.

  The Colonel stalked over to where Franz was standing and bent down towards him.

  ‘Do I look like someone that would place you in a dangerous situation?’ he growled, his nose inches from Franz’s.

  Franz looked like a rabbit caught in headlights. This was clearly a question for which there was no correct answer.

  ‘Um . . . yes.’ Franz chose the answer that seemed least likely to bring about his imminent demise.

  ‘Good, because that’s exactly what I am, and you just volunteered to go first, maggot,’ said the Colonel with an evil smile. Franz looked horrified, but clearly realised that there was little point arguing with the Colonel, and he walked over to the rack of grapplers with the look of a condemned man. The Colonel quickly chose a pair of grapplers for Franz and put them on his arms, pointing out to the others how they should be fastened properly.

  ‘Right, let’s see what you’ve got,’ the Colonel said, gesturing for Franz to take up a position at the edge of the platform. Franz stood there, looking down over the edge with an expression of terror.

  ‘I am hoping this water is deep,’ he muttered to himself, slowly raising his arm to point the grappler at a point on the ceiling some distance away. He pressed one of the buttons and the bolt shot through the air, fixing to the ceiling with a thunk. He looked down again and then over his shoulder at the Colonel.

  ‘I am thinking that I cannot do this,’ he said nervously, his face white.

  ‘Only one way to find out, maggot,’ the Colonel replied, and shoved Franz hard in the back, sending him falling forwards off the platform.

  ‘Aaaaarrrrrrgggghh!!’ Franz screamed as he swung out from the platform. He spun and twisted, looking for all the world like a fish hooked on the end of a line. While the Colonel’s demonstration had been a display of grace and agility, Franz’s first attempt was more like a drunken wrecking ball. In his panic Franz had not even tried to fire off a second line, and after a few seconds he was left dangling at the end of the vertical wire, spinning gently, his eyes firmly closed. The Colonel did not look happy.

  ‘Fire the second line, you useless sack of lard!!’ he bellowed at the stranded Franz. ‘Or you’ll be hanging there all day!’

  Franz raised his free arm obediently, one eye still closed, and fired the second grappler randomly at where he hoped the ceiling might be. The second bolt shot out, trailing its line, and secured itself to one of the concrete blocks dangling from the ceiling, leaving Franz hanging suspended from the two lines.

  ‘Now release the first line,’ the Colonel instructed. Franz did as he was told and swung out again, towards the middle of the cavern. This process continued for several minutes, and despite the Colonel’s barked instructions Franz only proceeded slowly towards the other platform, stopping and dangling between each swing. With his final swing Franz released the line prematurely and fell several feet on to the metal platform, landing in an undignified heap.

  ‘Right, who’s next?’ The Colonel slowly surveyed the group, choosing the next victim. ‘You’ll do,’ he snarled, pointing at Shelby. ‘Let’s see if you can do any better than our first volunteer.’

  ‘Sure, no problem,’ she replied. Shelby did not appear to be overly concerned at the prospect of trying to make it across the cavern. She calmly walked over to the rack, fastened a grappler on to each arm and approached the edge of the platform. She turned when she reached the drop-off and winked at the Colonel before swan-diving off the platform without even firing off her first line. The gathered group gave a collective gasp as Shelby disappeared. A split second later a line shot up from beneath the platform and she swung out towards the centre of the cavern like a rocket. She appeared totally relaxed – there was no hint of the panicked twisting that had made Franz’s attempt so painfully slow. Instead, Shelby appeared completely at home with the challenge, releasing one line moments before firing the other, using the speed gained in each short drop to make each successive swing faster and faster. She shot between the obstacles between the two platforms, seeming to miss collisions by just millimetres on several occasions, finally landing on the other side as lightly as a feather. It was hard to tell who was more astonished by this display, the students or the Colonel, whose mouth was hanging open in surprise.

  ‘Good . . . er . . . yes. That’s how it should be done. Yes, very good.’ The Colonel had clearly never seen anyone make their first crossing of the cavern quite like that before. Otto nudged Wing, raising a single eyebrow at him. It did not surprise Otto that there was more to Shelby than the grating personality she projected – he had already guessed that she was keeping something about her past secret. He just had to find out what that secret was.

  Over the course of the next half hour the rest of the class attempted the crossing. Several had obviously had their confidence boosted by Shelby’s display, but found that the exercise was rather more difficult than it looked. This led to more than one of the students making the rather humiliating, not to mention soggy, ascent of the ladder that led up from the water at the bottom of the cavern to the platform. Nigel was one of these unfortunate few after swinging face-first into one of the concrete blocks in the centre of the cavern. The crunching impact drew a sympathetic ‘Ooohh’ from the watching crowd. He now stood dripping on the platform, looking thoroughly miserable, sporting what promised to be an impressive bruise on his cheekbone.

  Otto was not terribly surprised when Wing crossed over quickly and efficiently, seeming quite at home with this deranged trapeze act. He didn’t look as comfortable as Shelby as he swung across the cavern, but nor did it appear to present him with any real problems. Otto was quite apprehensive about having to make the crossing himself, but once he started his first swing he found it surprisingly easy. He had never been the most physically active person, but as he swung through t
he air he found the whole process strangely instinctive. It was almost as if he could see his trajectory mapped out in the air ahead of him – this was, after all, just physics, he reminded himself, and he was little more than a glorified pendulum. He may have lacked some of the flair of Shelby or Wing, but he made it safely to the other side without joining the ranks of the unsuccessful students, who were now each standing in the middle of their own small puddles.

  The Colonel stood in front of the group, a look of mild disgust on his face.

  ‘With very few exceptions you have performed predictably terribly today. Hardly surprising for Alphas.’ He stalked along the line of students and stopped in front of Shelby, jabbing his finger at her. ‘What’s your name, maggot?’ he asked bluntly.

  ‘Shelby Trinity, sir,’ she replied.

  ‘You look like you’ve done this before, Trinity,’ he said, looking at her closely.

  ‘No, sir. Just beginner’s luck, sir,’ Shelby replied, a tiny smile flickering across her mouth for an instant.

  ‘If that’s true, you’re the luckiest beginner I’ve ever encountered. Your performance was acceptable. Keep it up.’

  Otto knew that this was something of an understatement. Her performance had been just as good as the Colonel’s, and this had apparently been her first attempt. The Colonel continued along the line, eventually stopping in front of Wing and Otto.

  ‘You two also showed a glimmer of natural ability. With practice you might actually be only slightly embarrassing to watch.’ Otto supposed that this might be as close as the Colonel got to a compliment. ‘Unlike the rest of you maggots, whose collective performance fell somewhere between abysmal and outright terrible. By the time I’m finished I expect each of you Alphas to make that crossing in the blink of an eye and bone-dry. Do I make myself clear?’ he growled.