Before I give you the first chapter I need to say this. If you haven't read Two Of A Kind, then I strongly recommend that you do otherwise nothing here will make even the slightest bit of sense. If not then you continue at your own peril...
Also thank you to everyone who reviewed the first fic of this story. The feedback was truly great and inspiring. :D
Now I think I've kept you dear reader's in suspense long enough. Trumpets please...
ENJOY!
(Don't forget to review at the end!)
Chapter 1
"Otto!"
Laura was stood against the far wall, her eyes wide, her legs shaking. Just moments ago she'd been sleeping peacefully. But that had all changed when the white haired boy had woken up.
It had been almost instantaneous. One moment she was dreaming. The next wide awake and looking at Otto, who's eyes were open, watching her. He'd glanced down at their hands locked together and jerked away, falling off of the other side of the bed. Wires and needles had ripped free from him, the oxygen mask, tumbling to the floor. Now he was brandishing the pole that had held the drip, like a weapon, eyes wild and breathing harsh.
"Otto?" Laura tried again, her hands raised in the universal sign of peace.
"Who are you?" He growled back, jabbing the pole in her direction. She frowned.
"You don't know?" The girl said in shock.
"Do you think I'd be asking if I knew who you were? Now answer my question!" He yelled.
"Laura. Laura Brand." She gabbled quickly.
"Where am I?" Otto asked, quieter than before. He'd lowered the pole slightly, looking lost.
"H.I.V.E. Remember? We've been here for three years. You, me, Shelby, Wing, Franz and Nigel." Laura said, disbelieving.
"No I don't! The last thing I remember is having a gun pointed at me and getting shot by some woman with a scar across her face!" Otto said, gritting his teeth. The girl moved forward slightly and he raised the pole again.
"Stay where you are!" He shouted. Laura froze, watching as he glanced behind him at the door. In that instant she reached into her pocket, pulling out her blackbox and flipping it open.
The boy spun around and looked at the device in her hand. She didn't wait to see what he did next. Instead she ran for the bathroom, opposite the bed and locked the door behind her.
"H.I.V.E. mind? Get Nero here now!" She said, screaming at the wire frame face of the artificial intelligence. Tears slid silently down her face as she leant against the wall, listening to the pole clatter to the floor outside.
Beeping. It was insistent and annoying. The sound penetrated the fog of sleep that enveloped Nero and he moaned softly, his eyes scrunching up. Reluctantly, he reached out to his bedside table and flicked the small blackbox that was there, open. Light flooded the dark room and it was some time before the man actually opened his eyes to look at the screen.
He was in a single bed, adorned with simple covers and a hard matress. The room he occupied was sparsley furnished with just the bed, the cabinet beside it, a rather insignificant desk complete with wooden chair and a tall ancient wardrobe.
Nero rubbed vigorously at his eyes and then squinted at the blackbox. H.I.V.E. mind's face peered back at him anxiously.
"What's wrong?" He croaked, sitting up, the covers sliding off of his bare chest.
"Laura is calling for you. She's currently in the hospital bay, more specifically the room Otto was occupying." The A.I. replied.
"Well is it important? Or can it wait until morning?" Nero muttered, taking a sip from a glass that had been perched on the bedside table. He drained it one and gulped. To tell you the truth he'd been dreading the rise of the sun. It meant that he'd have to deal with the mess that still needed sorting at H.I.V.E, following the attack only hours before, contact parents and relatives of those that had been killed, track down his brother and possibly face a confrontation. He was going to need all the sleep he could get.
"Well I don't know. She didn't say. Though she was screaming at me quite loudly." H.I.V.E. mind said, thoughtfully.
"Screaming? What did she say?" The man asked, pulling the covers away and standing up. He walked over to the chair and grabbed a robe, hurriedly shoving it on.
"Get Nero here now. That's what she said. No. That's what she screamed. Does it mean something?" H.I.V.E. mind asked, confused.
"Yes! Get me Raven. Tell her to meet me there. Something may have happened to Otto." Nero said firmly, snapping the blackbox closed. He reached for the door handle and then looked down at himself. Walking through the school in nothing but his boxers and a robe would raise questions. Especially if anyone saw him. That would be everyone in the Computer room, now the Surveillance room due to the destruction of the Communications room. And of course any guards on duty patrolling the halls. Not to mention those students who managed to slip so easily in and out of their accommodation blocks. He really should get that seen to.
Raven. He definitely didn't want her seeing him like this.
With that thought, he moved back to his wardrobe and pulled out a black t - shirt and pants, pulling them on hurriedly along with some shoes.
Otto ran down the dark passageway, his heart racing. The scream that had awoken him, still reverbrated around the inside of his skull. It was an animal sound, feral and wild. And also full of pain.
His sharp blue eyes picked out a T - shape junction ahead and he subconciously turned down the right hand side corridor, no idea where he was going.
The boy's mind replayed over his most recent memories. The gun pointing at him. The woman's smile as she shot him. Bright lights and explosions of every colour on a black backdrop. And then the girl asleep beside him on the chair.
Something was missing.
Otto stopped and looked back. No - one was following him. With a sigh he slid down against the wall and sat with his head on his knees. He hadn't realised but looking at himself now, he saw that he was dressed in a white t - shirt and white linen pants. Hospital garments.
Glancing at his wrist he figured that he definitely wasn't in a hospital. There was no tag there.
What had happened?
He'd been shot and then what?
Wait, what was it that the girl had said?
'We've been here for three years. You, me, Shelby, Wing, Franz and Nigel.'
Where was here? H.I.V.E.? What was that?
The questions spun around and around his mind like a tornado, the answers hidden somewhere within its depths.
"Otto? You're awake!"
His head snapped up and he stared, eyes wide at the woman standing there. She was exactly as he remembered her. The same scar. The same hard look and narrowed eyes. But also worry and concern. She was dressed in black combat fatigues, katanas sheathed across her back. He gulped.
"What's wrong?" The woman asked, frowning and she bent down on her haunches hand outstretched. He flinched and scrabbled away.
"Otto?" She said again, a hint of bewilderment in her voice.
He glanced down at her belt. Before he knew what he was doing, he lunged for the gun that hung there and pulled it free. The woman jerked back, standing up abruptly and he followed suit, weapon raised. His hand shook but he ignored it and licked his lips.
The woman looked shocked and then started laughing.
Otto's breath caught in his throat. He was pointing a gun at her and she was laughing like it was no more harmless than a toy.
"What are you laughing at?" He asked, confused. "I will use this you know!"
"I don't doubt it." She replied, smiling. "You must have been the reason I was called to the hospital bay. Come on give it back."
The woman held out her hand, waiting for him to hand it over. Instead he pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
Otto stood dumbfounded for a second and he saw her eyes narrow at the lost expression on his face. Then he dropped the gun and ran down the corridor, hoping to put as much distance between himself and her.
She caught the weapon before it hit the floor and fired once at his disappearing form. The sleeper charge hit him square in the back and he fell to the floor unconcious, his head cracking against the floor with a thud.
Raven sighed and walked over to him, checking his pulse. Then suddenly a strange feeling passed through her. Guilt. He'd just been electrocuted not long ago and here she was shooting him with a sleeper. Maybe she'd made things worse.
The woman shook her head. What was done was done. No point worrying about it. She bent down and picked him up in a fireman's lift, casually strolling off in the direction of the hospital bay.
Two things she was certain of:
1. Nero would be furious. And...
2. Electrocution, an impact with a sleeper pulse and a hit on the head with a stone floor were the key ingredients for a killer headache. Otto would be in no shape to try to attack her again. And if he did, well, bring it on.
Raven smiled to herself. She liked a challenge more than anything. And tonight's events told her that things were only just starting to get interesting. Even if she hadn't understood half of it.