Hi I'm Moonbeam! This is my first fanfic but I'd prefer you to read it as you would any fic and review critically, because otherwise I'll never improve! Thanks (P.S. I'm very fond of Ottra, so expect this shipping!)
Thanks so much to my ever patient Beta, DiamondNinja914: you caught the errors that would have gone over my head, and introduced me to the ins and outs of Fanfiction, and to pidge, fo being lovely and amazing and…if you know her, you know what I mean!
Exeunt, pursued by a bear
Doctor Nero waited impatiently for the familiar logo to appear on the screen. He always dreaded these meetings; it always meant something had gone awry or that the council leader had some queries about the way he ran the school. Anyway, he had important school matters to attend to.
Eventually, the logo grew on the monitor, and Doctor Nero automatically reached to straighten his tie, but he checked himself. 'This is not about impressing her, Nero,' he muttered to himself.
"Excuse me Doctor? What was that about impressing someone?" a voice said with a touch of amusement. Nero did not jump in his seat: he was a professional, and had been in this game for far too long, but it was safe to say that he did widen his eyes slightly before replying smoothly,
"I was just speaking to Professor Pike about his latest conquest, a female HIVEmind he's developing. He's desperate to make a good first impression."
Behind the glass, Doctor Nero could just make out the form of Professor Pike frantically denying this lie to the other sniggering occupants of the waiting room. He was sure the Professor would eventually live it down. The silhouette on his screen nodded knowingly and continued,
"I presume that you have received communications bearing the summons of a visit to C.O.U.R.T.?" Doctor Nero grimaced inside; it was the lowlight of his year. "Except," the voice continued, raising Nero's interest, "it will not just be you and a few of your teaching staff attending. I would like your Alpha stream to attend also. I believe it will improve relations between us."
It took all of Nero's considerable willpower not to lose his composure as he asked quickly, "The entire Alpha stream? For how long? And, if I could seek the pardon of your Ladyship, why?" He could almost see in his mind's eye the woman smiling infuriatingly as she replied,
"Enough of the questions, dear Max. All will be revealed upon your arrival. My jury will send you the coordinates of the meeting place accordingly. Good evening." The screen went white, a stark contrast to the black logo. It was seldom seen for Max Nero to lose his temper, but he did now. Luckily, the Professor had the presence of mind to blacken the glass before the occupants of his waiting room could see their headmasters' outburst of rage.
Doctor Nero hurled his letter opener towards the now blank screen, but just as it seemed it would pierce the expensive equipment, a black-gloved hand reached out from the shadows, plucked it out of the air and set it down. The dark figure of Raven stepped out from the hidden alcove.
"From your reaction, it seems you did not get the news you were expecting," she said in a calm, measured voice. Nero collected himself and sat down at his desk.
"I would say that The Honorable Ms Justice Black has dropped yet another bombshell on H.I.V.E." He sighed and ran his hand through his now thinning hair. Raven thought for a moment that the Doctor looked immeasurably old, but a second later the frail old man she had seen vanished, replaced by a purposeful and dangerous aura.
"She will not beat me this time Natalya," Doctor Nero muttered, pacing the room. "I don't know what she's up to, but I'll make sure that nothing goes wrong."
An almost fanatical gleam had entered his eyes. Raven's calculating assassin's mind was suddenly permeated by an almost compassionate thought. Could Max be overstretching himself this time, trying to spar with one of the most influential superpowers in the world? She mentally shook her head, dislodging the treacherous thought and any other thoughts she might have concerning the personal well being of Doctor Nero. He must never know.
A quiet knock at the door distracted Nero from his planning. Raven disappeared without a whisper, as the door slowly opened to reveal the cautious face of Professor Pike. Evidently he was still checking for any deadly flying projectiles before entering; always wise when you work with a very influential supervillain. Seeing no immediate danger, Pike stepped aside and let two students into the room. Both wore the black jumpsuit of the Alphas, and were regular visitors to the headmaster's office. Doctor Nero sighed.
"What have you done now, Malpense? And Ms. Brand, I expected more from you; I thought you were clever enough to dissuade Mr. Malpense from some of his more outlandish plans?" The white head was raised in an obstinate pose, as was the red head, although perhaps with a little less of the insolence that Otto Malpense was sending out. Laura Brand spoke first.
"It may seem cliché, Doctor Nero, but we really didn't mean to set Technology Lab 11 on fire." Otto's face twitched into a semblance of a smirk, then returned to its impassive mask.
Doctor Nero sighed again wearily. "Miss Brand, it was not the setting of the fire that is the problem, it's the fact that we just can't put it out. We are only just managing to contain it."
Otto smirked again, but this time he wasn't quick enough to conceal it. "I'm glad you think this is a source of hilarity Mr. Malpense," Raven said smoothly, materializing behind him. This sudden appearance of Raven, even though he had known her for a while, made Otto sober.
"I believe that Laura and I could have solved this slight hitch if we had had time to study it," he said, shooting a glare at Professor Pike. "Instead, we were packed off to solitary confinement and then dragged here." Doctor Nero looked to the Professor for confirmation. The Professor nodded; it had been the right thing to do. They couldn't risk any pupil's life on an experiment: no one wanted a Violet situation happening again.
"I believed that a chemical fire such as that could not be put out, Doctor Nero," said the Professor.
Otto raised an eyebrow and smoothly said, "That would have been the correct reaction Professor, had it been a chemical fire."
"It's a sophisticated hologram, sir," said Laura apologetically. "It's something we've been working on outside of lessons. Otto wanted to test it."
"Did he now?" Nero remarked drily.
Otto closed his eyes. His frustration at this total overreaction faded into gold light and the sensation of gliding faster and faster towards the solution of this annoying problem: he had bigger fish to fry. As he connected to his prototype's interface and shut it down, his agile mind flicked to the latest development in life at H.I.V.E. What could C.O.U.R.T. stand for? What were the motives and- his thought pattern was cut off by a pinch from Laura. She wiggled her eyebrows meaningfully in Nero's direction which Otto found quite cute actually but he shouldn't think that, because she might not like him that way and—
"Otto." The headmaster was staring appraisingly at him. "The Professor has just informed me that the fire or fire hologram has been put out. I believe we have you to thank for that. You both may go but I expect to see you both in detention each and every day after school this week. You are dismissed."
Otto and Laura walked out in total silence. Otto shot a sideways glance at her: was she blanking him? As they rounded the corner, she pushed him against the wall. Otto could tell she was annoyed, as it took quite a lot of effort to get Laura so annoyed that she would sink to physical violence; she was much more into carefully architected technological revenge that would last longer than physical attack.
"What were you playing at?" Laura demanded.
"What? I didn't do anything!" hissed Otto.
"Aye, you did! Why did you leave me on my own to deal with Doctor Nero and scarier-than-hell ninja lady? You know her better than me, you could have helped dig us out of detention, but no you went off into Ottoland. What, tell me, was more important than being in the headmasters office?" Laura said heatedly, her face turning almost as red as her hair.
"Actually, funny you should mention that." Otto pushed her hand off his shoulder and rubbed the skin, "I heard Nero talking to someone about the Alpha stream visiting something called C.O.U.R.T.; it might be worth digging into." He saw something flicker in Laura's eyes, a spark of interest swiftly replaced with a blank stare.
"I might look into it," she said with a sniff, before turning her back and stalking off down the corridor, calling over her shoulder, "but now I think it's most important that we get to class. We're halfway through Stealth and Evasion already, and I think Ms Leon would be extremely angry if we didn't get there in time for her lecture on 'How I Singlehandedly beat the CIA'." Otto sighed. He couldn't win.
So? What did you think?
Grammar, spelling, good points, bad ones, questions….
I'm open to all but you know what the magic word is…
Review! (please :D)