So, i know it's been, like, fourteen hours since i last uploaded the first part, but i have nothing to do and a lot of ideas for this story so i'm going ahead and publishing the thing right now.
Another thing i have to point out is that the computer changes H.I.V. to H.I.V. for some reason. just saying
Otto's eyes snapped open and he sat up quickly, slamming heads with Laura as he bolted upright.
"Honestly!" the striking redhead exclaimed, reeling away. Guiltily, Otto looked around. He was in the accommodation block, with Nigel, Franz, Wing, Shelby and Laura all standing around him. The lights were dimmed. "What is it with people and hitting me today?"
"Sorry, Laura," Otto said, blinking as the last of the headache began to fade. "What happened? Did I get hit by a sleeper?"
"We were being the spies," Franz said nervously. "And then you just passed out. I was thinking it would not be a good place to do that."
The events of the last few hours all came rushing back to Otto. "Dekker!" he said. "She's planning something." Noticing the large purple bruise that covered much of Laura's forehead, he asked her what happened.
"Franz is what happened," Laura answered dryly. She explained how they had disappeared into the wall, how Laura, Wing and Shelby had gone to save them, how Laura had opened the secret door only to have Franz charge at her and knock her into the wall. Only when she was done did Otto speak up.
"So… you were tracking me on my Blackbox?"
Shelby burst out laughing, Laura's face turned crimson and even Wing cracked a tiny smile. "That was my conclusion as well, Otto," Shelby assured him.
Otto tried to pretend it was nothing. "I was trying to connect with the computers that Dekker was using," he said thoughtfully.
"And then you collapsed," Nigel, who hadn't said anything yet, commented. "It was like you got punched in the head."
"It was some sort of electromagnetic pulse," Otto replied. "As soon as I tried to interface with the machines it knocked me out."
"So whomever we're dealing with—"
"Dekker."
"Knows about your ability and doesn't want you to be looking through their personal information," Wing finished. Otto looked thoughtful.
"The only person who knew how to do that was—" he stopped abruptly.
"Overlord," Shelby finished. "Who was completely destroyed and consumed by nanites, I might add."
A quick, pained look flashed across Otto's face as the vivid memory of Lucy Dexter popped into his head, but he blocked it out.
"That may be so," Wing countered. "But how many times have we thought Overlord dead, only for him to re-appear again?"
"Three or four," Otto said absent-mindedly. His mind was still trying to work out what chief Dekker was up to, what was in that silver case. Leave it to me to get caught up in this, Otto thought with a smirk. He did seem to be cursed with the ability to not only find trouble but to get caught up in the middle of it. Every scheme that H.I.V.E had faced over the years had involved him in some way.
That was mostly because he was Overlord's clone, built to hold the homicidal A.I and let him interface with other machines. Knowing that he hadn't been born, but made, still gave Otto a weird feeling, like he didn't belong.
"Penny for them," Laura said, noting the lost look on Otto's face, something he had been doing a lot lately.
"Nothing," he said, forcing a smile. "Just… wondering how it always is that we seem to attract trouble."
"Aye, it does seem to just appear around us," Laura agreed. Shelby, hearing their conversation, scoffed loudly.
"Us?" She asked incredulously. "Don't you mean bullet-magnet-Malpense?"
"Hey," Otto said, feigning being hurt. "That's not fair. It's not always bullets."
"Oh, you're right," Laura giggled. "The flesh-eating nanites and crazed assassins are so much better." She grabbed a spluttering Otto by the hand. "Come on, Malpense. I have something I want to show you in the computer lab."
"What do you think about this?" Otto asked tiredly, rubbing his eyes and laying back in his bed.
"I think it is another instance where you have managed to drag us into trouble," Wing smiled. "But I must admit, I am interested to learn what Chief Dekker is doing."
"She never liked us much," Otto nodded. He ran a hang through his messy white hair.
"So what were you and Laura working on?" Wing asked as he climbed into bed.
"Not much," Otto said doggedly. "Just a little project for fun. Noticing the little grin on Wing's face, he sighed. "Not you as well! It's bad enough I cant even talk to her without Shelby staring at me the whole time."
"I am sorry, my friend," Wing said, doing hi best not to smirk. "If you were to ask her out, that might solve your problem though."
Otto didn't answer, just mentally turned off the light and rolled over in his bed. Besides the faint but consistent blue power lights coming off of their computers the room was dark, which was fine by Otto.
Could he ask out Laura? She was pretty, no doubt, but they had been friends for so long. He didn't want to do anything to ruin that.
On the other hand, when he thought of her striking green eyes or the way she laughed whenever he did something stupid he could feel his insides clench. No one, besides Lucy, had made him feel like that.
Eventually, despite the thoughts racing around his head and Wing's chainsaw snoring, he fell asleep, waking up the next morning to his insistently bleeping Blackbox. He groggily rolled out of bed, showered and got dressed, before heading down for breakfast and sitting at their usual table, where Shelby and Laura were already there. Shelby had a wide grin on her face and Laura's face was somewhere between embarrassed and mad.
"Shh!" she said as Otto slid into the seat opposite from them, Wing right behind him. The Albino raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"Nothing," Laura said hurriedly. Otto smirked but didn't say anything. "What are we going to do about… you know what?"
"I was thinking today after school we'd go back to the place," Otto whispered back. "And then we could send our project in and see what it can find."
"I must admit, I am dying to know what this project is," Wing said curiously.
"Knowing these two, it could be anything from an attack drone fitted with nuclear warheads to a mosquito that collects video feed," Shelby grunted.
"Sadly, it's neither," Laura said, sharing a grin with Otto. "But thanks to mister low-morale here, it does have laser cannons though."
"Sweet!" Shelby laughed. "Laser cannons are always a good thing."
"I agree," Otto nodded. "That's why we have them."
A tap on his shoulder distracted him from the conversation. He spun around and went stiff as he recognized chief Dekker standing there, her hand hovering around her sleeper pistol.
"Hello, Mister Malpense," she said with a frightening smile. "I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."
Well? did you like it? i know not much happened but that's going to change soon, dont worry.
