"I really would not do that if I was you." a cool, articulated voice said from the shadows, the thirteen guards that were in the room spun around weapons drawn, their leader stepped forward
"Show yourself," he commanded
"Americans, always so predictable, so cliqued." the voice sighed, the leader raised his weapon and lay his finger on the trigger
"I said show yourself." he hissed, a tutting came from the shadows
"And why would I want to do that?" the voice teased
"So I can see you when I shoot you, you will die no matter what." the leader stated,
"Oh, I really doubt that." the voice came again, the leader was now nervous, every guard was looking towards the shadows, "I suspect it will be you dying." as one every weapon in the room slid out of the holster and was aimed at the shadows
"Do tell where is your back up?" the leader taunted
"No, I do believe the question is, where is yours?" the voice from the shadows was cold and emotionless
"Group two, report." the leader commanded into his walkie talkie, there was static "Groups sound off." he tried, there was static
"Group two sir, Group three, four, five, six." the voice from the shadows mimicked the responses "Oh no. All gone!" the voice was mocking
"What did you do to them?" the leader demanded
"They're still alive. Which is more than I can say for the teachers you took out. A seven to three ratio, knock out gas and the element of surprise. For teachers, carers and children. Wow. You really pulled out all the stops Albert." the leaders gun twitched as his hand convulsed
"How do you know my name." the leader demanded a slight waver to his voice, a chilling laugh came from the shadows
"Albert Rupert Milestone. Age thirty two, unmarried, never had a relationship, friends suspect he is gay, but would never dare ask him. Attended the local state school, Roseville high. Born in Boston, St. Mary's to a Louise-"
"Stop!" the man shrieked provoking a laugh from the shadows again "What do you want? Who are you?" he asked unable to stop the tremor in his voice
"I want you to let these good people go, and for you to stop trying to kill my friends, kidnap my friends and trying to take over the world, because many have tried before and... well, you may be visiting them soon." the leader visibly paled
"Malpense." he gasped
"Oh don't sound so surprised, you did come do all this to lure me here and kidnap me after all." the voice was now amused "Or was it to lure me here and kill me, I forget." Otto Malpense took a step out of the shadows and Albert raised his gun higher and put his finger on the trigger
"Safety is on." Otto stated, the man's eyes flicked down to check and seconds later he was on the floor unconscious and the gun was in Otto's hands, he looked at the guards with a smile all of their weapons were aimed at him
"Gone on, fire. I dare you." he stated, they all took his word for it, every single gun clicked uselessly
"These suits almost make it too easy." a female American voice said from thin air causing every single person in the room, barr Otto, to jump
"Raven said much the same just before we were captured and almost blown up Shel, please don't say that again." another voice replied, also from thin air, they both laughed, Otto also laughed, but not just at the comment, but at the faces of the guards. Three figures materialised quite literally from thin air
"So Otto, what was that you were saying about Americans?" Shelby asked having recently become visible
"Oh just that they are really annoying, repetitive can never take no for an answer and very cliqued... the usual I normally say to you." he replied, the guards took one look at the four of them, only children, and ran
"I really wouldn't..." Laura started then sighed "They never learn. We actually do have back up."
"Hello boys." a female voice with a slight Russian accent sounded from the corridor, then a few thumps were heard and a woman appeared at the door, a long scar ran down the side of her face,
"Set them free and then we can go." she stated the five of them set about freeing the hostages, they were no one of importance, just children, all orphans and their carers.
"You have to stop wanting to go after them." Raven told the four of them when they were back on the Shroud
"I cant help it. They are orphans, I have a weak spot for orphans, beside we all know what happens when we don't go." Otto added, the four students shuddered and a shadow crossed over Ravens face. They had not gone the first time and the organisation had blown up the orphanage they were planning to take hostage until Otto came
"Every time we have gone we have gathered more intel, we know who they are, soon enough we will know where they will strike and how to destroy them, it is a GLOVE operation, well one of the disbanded council leaders operations, they want to get Otto to get to Nero, and you don't have to come with us all the time." Laura replied, she had grown less scared of the assassin over the past few months and just a little fear but also had a mountain of respect for her, and a lot of awe, Raven sighed
"I know, we do not want that happening again, we know more I agree, but still not enough, we need their Leader, not just the lower down ones. We are filling a facility with the caught ones fast." the assassin stood "And Miss Brand, yes I do need to come with you, the one time I don't you will run or something will happen, as it it you four, I guess it will explosively." she added with a wry smile then headed to the cockpit
"How far to HIVE?" Shelby asked, Otto connected to the flight computers effortlessly and found the ETA, he groaned
"We are picking up seven others on the way, that exercise in the Alps and Altai." Otto sighed the three others groaned "Thirteen hours." he finally admitted. Even Wing looked unhappy, it was not obvious but Otto had known him long enough to notice the signs. Shelby groaned then lay along the seats with her head in Wing's lap then shut her eyes
"Nothing else to do." she mumbled Wing smiled
"I for one am inclined to agree." he commented and also shut his eyes
"Five... Four... Three... Two... One..." Otto whispered "And he is asleep." he sighed Laura looked at him shocked and Shelby's eyes flew open
"No way." she stated Otto grinned
"I know. And yes way." he smiled "It could not be faster with a tranquillizer dart." Shelby sighed, then shut her eyes again
"Cute couple." Laura teased
"I would not have guessed it in years though." Otto whispered Laura stood and gestured for him to follow suit he did and she led him to a far corner of the Shroud
"Now we will not wake them." she said settling on the floor
"I could rip a chainsaw to life and I would not wake Wing." Otto replied drily Laura laughed
"Well you do not want to see Shelby after too little sleep." she replied Otto laughed as well
"No, I do not believe I do." he agreed
"I will be back in a second." Raven stood and descended the steps to the cabin hold, she smiled slightly when she saw Wing and Shelby on the seats and quickly found Otto and Laura, further away, Laura's head was on Otto's shoulder, his head on hers and his arm was around her, she smiled wider, they were not a couple. Yet.
It had always amused her to see who ended up in a relationship with whom, Wing and Shelby had shocked her, not that she had shown it, Wing had always been so reserved. Otto and Laura had surprised her, when she had sussed their feelings, even though they were not admitting it to each other, but she saw now, they would make a good couple. She found a blanket in one of the under the seat storage spaces and gently laid it over them, and did the same for the other pair
"How long?" she asked the pilot poking her head in the hatch
"Three hours until pick up one, I am fine you can rest." he added Raven nodded and descended again. She pulled a pillow and blanket out of a storage box and sat on the seat, she let exhaustion consume her and she was asleep
Laura woke to the sound of the engines powering down, she was surprised to find Otto's arm around her, and her head on his shoulder, she glanced up at him and saw he was awake
"Morning," he murmured, she bit down a laugh at his hair
"Morning." she replied then bit her lip, then pulled out her Blackbox and took a photo of Otto, his very bemused face and the white hair sticking up at all angles, he laughed when he saw it then fruitlessly tried to smooth it down, Laura eventually stopped laughing and helped
"Looks like we got company in the night." Otto whispered looking at wing and Shelby on the ground near them, Shelby was resting her head on Wings chest and his arm was around her, Otto grabbed his Blackbox and took a photo of them
"Blackmail." he mouthed to Laura who had to bite back another laugh
"Where are we?" Laura asked Otto connected to the planes systems and sighed again
"About to make pick up two. We are still three hours away from HIVE. But that does mean they have been asleep for basically ten hours." he added looking at the couple on the floor near them
"Aye, but is that all they were doing?" she asked a grin spreading across her face
"Laura Brand! What could you be implying!" Otto gasped pretending to be shocked a smile spreading across his face
"Who else is here?" she asked distracting him
"Four final year alphas, I believe we are about to pick up three of our year, Franz, Nigel and Ruby." Laura nodded
"We can ask what happened." she stated as the shroud landed, the ramp lowered and three people in black jumpsuits ran on the three of them collapsed into the remaining chairs and shut their eyes, by the time the shroud was in the air they were all fast asleep
"You can go sit with the pilot if you want." Raven told them appearing from behind some crates "Or sleep, just don't wake anyone. Asleep no harm can be done." she added the two of them stood and saw Raven climbed into the cockpit, she was followed by the two alpha stream students eager to be in the cockpit when allowed and it was not crashing. Raven watched the two of them strap themselves in and examine all the buttons, the pilot started talking to them, she blocked it out and with one last glance at the biggest trouble maker at HIVE, she shut her eyes.
"How did it go Natalya?" Nero asked to a seemingly empty room, a shadow detached itself from the corner of the room
"According to plan. Those four make a team unlike one I have seen before. They work together like..." For once Raven was lost for words
"A family?" Nero supplied Raven shrugged
"I would not know." she replied "But I guess so. Its as if they do not need to communicate, they look out for the other and know when to do something, with all the teams I have supervised or fought, none have been quite that good." she sighed "What is going to become of them?" she asked no one in particular
"I do not know, but whatever it is, let us pray that they are on our side." Raven laughed unamused at Nero's comment
"Yes, I hold no such beliefs, but yes. Pray."
"Any leads?" he asked, the assassin gracefully sat in the chair on the opposite side of the headmasters desk
"Still the lower down leaders, but it is giving the four of them a lot of practice, I know we cannot send anyone else yet... I wish there was another way to avoid putting them in danger." Raven admitted
"I concur, yet we saw that the same thing happens when we send others as when we send none at all, I will not have the blood of innocent orphaned children on my hands." Nero replied
"Me neither." raven sighed "When do you think we will have enough to find their leader, we know it it HOPE, the four of them do not know yet, they should, but we need to find their base of operations. Otto has gathered all he can from any technology he have but it is not enough. We need their leader, and if the disciples are involved," Raven paused "I shudder to think of the lengths they would go through to get Malpense and infected again."
"They will have to go through a lot to get him from us, and then infected, if he is alive he can fight it. And we have the antidote." Nero told her
"He should carry some, if he does not already." Raven stated
"Go give him some, if he does not already have some, if he does give him extra." Nero told her the assassin turned to leave but was called back
"They can know about the Animus, but not that Artemis is looking for Malpense. He must not know yet."
"Yes sir." she nodded and left the room
Wing surveyed the darkened room, he moved silently towards the noise he had heard, but there was no one there, he heard shots fired and sprinted in that direction, again there was no one there, they had been at it for four hours, no one had died, Wing, Otto, Shelby and Laura were still alive.
"LIGHTS!" a deep voice yelled the lights flickered on, the four alpha students eyes adjusted to the darkness they lined up in front of Colonel Francisco, he looked grudgingly impressed
"That was an improvement," the four students knew that that was gong to be the best compliment they were going to get from the colonel
"Tomorrow you will be against the entire year of Alphas." he strode away and the four of them groaned
"We are going to die." Laura summarised Wing laughed and took Shelby's hand and led her towards the changing rooms Otto and Shelby following close behind
"We should work as a team." Wing stated when they were dressed he opened the door to their next class and found the entire year staring at the four of them with evil grins on their faces
"We have to work as a team." Shelby corrected the other three agreed readily. This would be fun.