AN: As I can't reply any other way, thank you for you review Guest! It is much, much appreciated :)
"Evening medication Mr. Malpense." the nurse entered the room but there was no response from the boy on the bed, he was sitting on the bed looking at his Blackbox, the light from it illuminating his face he put the medicine on the side and gasped, the pages were flickering past so fast on the screen of the machine that he couldn't focus on them, and this boy was reading them, he went to get the doctor who came intrigued
"Gods above." the doctor gasped "Mr. Malpense." he called "Otto!" he laid a hand on the teenagers shoulder and the pages stopped flickering and a few seconds later he looked up
"Evening medication." Dr. Scott finally managed to get out from shocked lips, Otto took his medication an unhappy look on his face, he turned back to the doctor who was opening and closing his mouth trying to get words out
"Yes?" Otto asked
"Were you reading that?" he finally managed to get out
"Yes, I am trying to catch up on the information I have missed, I am almost there, then I just have to write around two hundred and sixty six essays as my friends keep so kindly reminding me." Otto added wryly
"OK, now I see why you are working." the nurse commented then left the room, followed by a still stunned doctor, Otto picked up his Blackbox and finished reading.
"And he is asleep, what a surprise." Shelby commented walking into Otto's hospital room then next afternoon followed by Wing and Laura, the latter went to the laptop and logged in, she laughed shocked
"No wonder he is asleep, he has been busy." she spun the laptop around to the others who gasped
"He has written twenty three essays!" Selby exclaimed waking Otto
"Twenty four, one is not saved yet." he told them rubbing his eyes Laura sat next to him after he moved across to give her space
"Oh, blood test." Laura ran a finger across the plaster on his arm Otto held out the other one
"Blood, plasma, lymphocyte, red blood cell, white blood cell, pH, vitamins, resistance check. And Animus." he added
"Fun times." Wing winced "I hate needles." he shuddered the three others blinked at him in shock then Otto burst out laughing, the two girls joined in while Wing sat there a confused looked on his face, they eventually stopped then Otto grinned widely as a doctor came in with a tray
"Wing, your favourite thing!" he teased as the doctor uncovered a syringe with a long needle, Otto held out his arm and watched Wing as he blanched and turned away from the needle, Shelby took his hand and squeezed it,
"Wing." Laura called and he looked up reflexively then his grip Shelby's hand tightened and she gasped in pain
"Sorry." he murmured glaring at Laura, she had called his name as he needle was going into Otto's arm
"Hey big man, all done, you can stop glaring at Laura now." Shelby teased he looked at her and grinned, he kissed her gently
"Sorry." he murmured, she kissed him again but a pillow was thrown at them
"Get a room!" Laura and Otto exclaimed in unison Wing stood and pulled Shelby with him
"If that is the attitude you are going to take then we will leave..." Shelby announced and turned to leave
"You can eat here if you want, Dr. Scott said they would let you." he told them Wing sighed
"I promised I would go over something with Nigel over dinner, and I do not have good experiences with hospital food." Wing replied sadly "But I will see you later." they left and Laura slouched against Otto he grinned as she kissed him gently, they broke off and heard applause at the door they looked up into the amused faces of Wing and Shelby
"Finally! It has only taken four years!" Shelby teased
"I thought you were going to dinner?" Laura asked not embarrassed, secretly she was glad it was out, both of them were. Not that they were ever going to tell Shelby that.
"Mr. Malpense, can I have a word with you?" Raven appeared from, quite literally thin air, and the three students dutifully left the room and the Russian sat by the bed, then got up and started pacing
"Something bothering you?" Otto asked in Russian
"Yes, I got the most peculiar e-mail a few weeks ago with a compilation- wait." she spun around to face Otto eyes flashing dangerously "Since when did you speak Russian." she demanded
"Since I read a book teaching me Russian." he replied
"It is good, I didn't notice, your accent is almost impeccable. What year was that?" she asked grudgingly accepting his accent
"Last year, just before the Russia trip, I learn it then perfected my accent while in Novosibirsk." Otto explained "The E-mail?" he prompted Raven resumed her pacing
"A compilation of photos, each in a pair, a computer disfigured one, then a whole one. You would have nothing to do with thirteen disciples suddenly appearing in my inbox would you?" she asked pointedly
"How are they?" he asked carefully
"...Inanimate." she summarised eventually. Otto nodded "Why the curiosity?" she asked, curious herself
"They had great fun with me at HOPE, never there in person, their disfigured faces on a screen telling minions my side what to do to me." he shuddered as a haunted tone entered his voice, Raven looked at him pity in her heart, it was too much to go through at such a young age, she glanced at the computer screen which was still on at the side
"Twenty four already, not bad. Did you get the one on 'Techniques to use in situations where you have no idea what you are up against'?" she asked a grin flashed across Otto's face
"Yes, it begins with; jump off a bridge onto a train going two centuries fast, then get herded towards the middle after cutting your way in, then get almost killed by black robotic spiders and... well you heard the debrief for that one." Raven hid a smile at the memory of the awful mission
"Yes, that did occur to me when I set it. I was only covering a lesson but it has always been a source of amusement seeing students faces when they hear you say the words; 'now for homework an essay' and equally seeing what situations people come up with." Raven sighed and stood as Otto's dinner came in on a tray "I should be going, I believe Miss. Brand is waiting outside." she left ad Laura waked in
"So what is on the menu today?" she asked as her meal was brought in and put next to Otto's
"Ravioli in a tomato sauce and a green salad and then ice cream with flakes and chocolate and strawberry sauce, and special for me blue, green red and white pills." Otto replied
"Oh, I should get in here more often." Laura stated amazed "What are the pills?" she asked starting to eat
"One to help me sleep, another to help rebuild my strength, one for vitamins, because apparently I am not eating enough, and then a painkiller." he replied eating a piece of ravioli.
"Fun, are you not really hungry after your long, long sleep?"
"No, as there is no one else in the hospital at the moment I am allowed any food I want, and as I ate little for lunch and just a drink for breakfast, they are worried." Otto replied
"What about yesterday?" Laura asked worried
"I ate nothing." he admitted finally "That is why I have this." he held up his hand to which an IV drip was in it, it had not been there yesterday
"Ouch." Laura summarised a grin flashed across Otto's face
"Scared of needles?" they both laughed
"OTTO! You is being better!" Franz exclaimed then hugged the white haired teenager hard
"Yes, Franz, better, but I cannot breathe." he gasped, the German let go immediately
"Sorry." he mumbled
"Welcome back Otto." Nigel added as they laughed as Franz brushed down Otto's jumpsuit
"You is being too thin, are you not eating?" Franz asked and Otto saw Laura raise an eyebrow
"Thirteen and a half weeks in a coma will do that to you." Otto replied wryly
"But I know you woke up nine days ago, surely you would have put the lost weight back on and why have you only just got out?"
"Tests, a lot of tests." Otto said flashing a grin a Wing, who grimaced
"I have seen more needles in this past week than I care to do in a lifetime." the Asian replied Otto's Blackbox beeped and he pulled it out and sighed, he pulled out a box of pills from his other pocket and shook five out.
"Druggie." Shelby teased but Laura just went to get him some water
"What are they for?" Nigel asked, intrigued
"Pain killers, 'strengthener' to build up my strength again, vitamins and one to help me stay awake." Otto replied indicating each pill as he went
"Two pain killers?" Nigel questioned "Are you in pain?" worry clouded his face
"Not with these." Otto replied tying to field the question,
"How are you on the catch up work?" Shelby asked, Otto shot a thankful glance her way, she had changed the topic effortlessly then he held up one finger and glanced at his computer screen
"Laura, could I have a hand please?" he asked then led the way to the printer
"You are done?!" she exclaimed and was shushed by the librarian with a glare
"Yes, they are just printing. But only the essays and half the assignments, I plan to do the work from this week tomorrow and then the Assignments, short thing compared to the essays, on Sunday and next week." he concluded Laura smiled and kissed him
"That brain of yours is... impressive." she decided Otto laughed quietly and kissed her again, the printer beeped to indicate it was done, Laura kissed him and turned to the printer and picked up half the pile that had printed, Otto grabbed the other half and a stapler, they returned to the desk Otto had been at all day as the four of them already there swore quietly
"Binary brain, been working hard have we?" Shelby teased shocked breathless Otto dumped the essays on the table and started to staple the two, three and four page essays together, the others grabbed staplers from other places in the library and helped
"How much more do you have to catch up on Otto?" Franz asked amazed, he had little work ethic himself
"I have Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and today to catch up on, and the smaller assignments." Franz whistled
"Does that include the nine thousand five hundred one from Ms. Leon and the thirteen thousand from Dr. Nero?" he asked as they all made a face, Dr. Nero had set the lovely longest essay yet in the lesson just gone
"That's this evenings work." Otto replied with a shrug
"Along with other... work." Wing replied glancing at Franz and Nigel, they didn't want anyone else knowing about the fact Otto was teaching them, solely because then they may want it as well, and Otto was too nice to say no.
They heard the doors open and whispers fill the library
"And this is the library." Ms. Gonzales the biotechnology teacher announced as she rounded the corner followed by a group of scared looking thirteen year olds the biotech teacher smiled at Nigel, he was he best student then her eyes widened a the pile of essays on the desk
"These are fourth year Alphas. And the pile of work you see on the table is thirteen weeks worth of essays in the fourth year. You will be brought up to this level slowly, and remember it is thirteen weeks. How many do you get weekly?" she asked Nigel who's eyes flicked nervously to the group of beginners
"We average nineteen ma'am." he replied and saw the students jaws drop and a few pale "But you need no worry, what stream are you?" Nigel asked quickly backtracking
"Political/Financial." Ms Gonzales replied, a relieved look passed over Nigel's face for a second, the new students probably hadn't even noticed it
"You will only get five a week in your first year, then seven, then ten, then thirteen, then sixteen, and in your last year twenty maximum. Be glad, the Technical stream starts off with six a week, and ends on twenty one a week." Nigel told them, their eyes widened
"Why does he have thirteen weeks of essays?" the question was whispered quietly from one to another Otto grinned as they all heard it, would the teacher answer it
"He was in a coma Miss Greene." Ms. Gonzales told the girl who had whispered it "Now, you should get into the proper attire." she herded them out the library
"You are good with them Nigel, 'you are quintessential alpha material'." Shelby quoted Raven from one of her many rants at the four of them and their 'juvenile behaviour'
"Raven seems much more fond of you now? Why is that Otto?" Wing asked, she must have talked to him during one of their sparring matches
"I spoke to her in Russian." Otto replied with a shrug "She did not realise at first, but said my accent was almost impeccable."
"Done!" Laura exclaimed triumphant as she stapled the last essay, "Now into groups for the teachers..." she trailed off and looked at the piles of essays around the work area and every single HIVE student at the table groaned
"Francisco." Shelby stated and started a pile
"Ms. Leon." Otto started a new pile as well
"Ms. Gonzales." Nigel sighed
"Mr. Rector." Wing added, the other teachers each got their own pile then bound each teachers work together. Each student took one teachers essays, some took two, and they left the library
"Thanks." Otto told them grateful when they dumped them all in his and Wing's cell
"I would say any time, but... I never want to hold a stapler again." Shelby groaned flexing her hand
"Anyone want a snack? Friday evening in the canteen they have all the left overs. Normally dessert." five out of the six brightened, Otto was not hungry
"I'll come with you." Otto agreed finally slipping his hand in Laura Franz sighed
"They are putting things in the water again." he muttered to Nigel who laughed
"Like you don't mind Anna having a crush on you." he teased
"Oh! Franz tell Auntie Shelby." Shelby exclaimed and Franz glared at Nigel
"Later." he sighed and sped up towards the canteen
"No, if you do that then all the transfiguring energy could go to the cat again, Ms. Leon may be even more stuck than before, with the direction couplings and a non-variable directional coupling will lead to all the energy going to the human not animal." Laura insisted
"With the non-directional coupling the chance of success is greatly magnified, if you go with what you are saying, Laura is correct, Ms. Leon may be even more stuck than before. It may be reversible." Otto agreed
"Oh, but don't listen to us, we are just fourth year Alpha students." Laura added glaring at the final year Technical students. The two of them were in a final year Technical class as opposed to Tactical education. Professor Pike was letting them argue it out. He had asked Otto to come along as he could not take part in Tactical education yet, but he had insisted Laura come as well, claiming she had designed most of it, the professor had agreed, and Ms. Leon had talked the colonel around
"Well, you are just agreeing with the person who designed this. Just because it is written down like that does not mean it is correct. You are just agreeing with the designer." a technical student scoffed he was the same one who had exclaimed 'But they're just fourth year Alpha students, how can they help!' when the two of them had entered the room, professor Pike was finding the entire scene highly amusing, he had been about to come to the Alpha's aid when he realised they were more than capable themselves
"Oh, I wonder why we are agreeing with the designer, Otto could you guess?" Laura asked mock confused, Otto bit back a smile
"No, I can't either." he replied then looked at the designs "Whoever did must have thought it through a lot, would you not agree James?" he asked the student who was always mean to them, the student agreed
"It was well thought out, and combined with the old designs, it is better, it looks more likely to work. Professor who did design it?" he asked glancing at his favourite teacher, who raised an eyebrow
"Why do you think I have fourth year alpha students in here?" he asked, every student in white jump suits gasped and looked at the two in black
"You!" James exclaimed incredulous
"I don't know what you are talking about, how could we, mere fourth year alpha students, design this?" Laura teased
"Why are you not in our stream?" another asked who was astounded someone outside their stream could do this, let alone two people two years younger than them
"Whatever they did to get into HIVE must not have been technical enough." James taunted causing Laura and Otto to laugh, the professor bit back a laugh
"They scored too highly on all the tests to be put in the technical stream, and technically Mr. Malpense could have been put in the Political/Financial stream with what he did as well." Otto raised an eyebrow
"I still cannot believe that was actually you." Laura sighed Otto grinned
"And back to the discussion." Professor Pike called "Mr. Malpense, can I have a word?" they walked to the side of the classroom and the other student stared at Laura still shocked she had designed this
"How many essays did you have to write when you woke up?" Laura heard the professor ask
"Two hundred and sixty six sir." Otto replied drawing the attention of the students to him who all gaped shocked
"How is it going? I only ask because I want you passing your exams, don't spend any more time on this than necessary. I don't want you failing due to extra curricular work."
"No sir, I am working my way through the essays, still have quite a few assignments to go though, I have not spent much time on this since I woke, as I could see little to change." Otto replied
"Two hundred and sixty six!" James gasped "Why?" he breathed
"Thirteen weeks and four days in a coma." Laura replied
"Oh." James replied "But still." he added in his defence
"We get roughly nineteen essays a week, and what do you get? Twenty maximum, the longest you have ever received was seven thousand five hundred and that was only as a punishment." Laura replied
"By the time we are your age we will be getting around, optimistically, twenty five a week." Otto added
"But only at three thousand words in your year. Surely." Stephanie, another student asked Otto and Laura laughed "What?" she demanded
"I long for the days of three thousand word essays. That was the beginning of second year when the teachers were in shockingly good moods." Otto explained
"What do you get now?" James asked, curiosity overpowering his dislike of the Alpha stream
"The worst that has been set by Professor Pike was seven thousand two hundred and fifty words minimum on the pros and cons of using a quadruple direction coupling over two double direction couplings." Laura sighed, every student looked at the professor
"You set different work for each stream, by the time each stream is leaving, the henchmen are doing three to four thousand word essays-"
"Three thousand!" Otto and Laura exclaimed shocked "Sorry." they added when the professor raised an eyebrow
"And the Technical and Political/Financial streams are doing roughly five thousand, but the Alpha stream are doing," he glanced at Otto and Laura "Sorry, ten thousand word essays, and that is just for me. My essays are usually less, but more practical." he explained horrified faces looked between the teacher and fourth years
"Don't worry, I fear ten thousand will be low by then." Otto told him
"But that means Villainy studies..." Laura groaned
"Think of Political corruption." Otto told her
"Funnily enough I really don't want to. We are already averaging ten thousand words in Political Corruption four times a week." Laura sighed
"And then a average of nine thousand in Villainy studies four. Thankfully the rest average out at seven thousand three times a week." Otto added
"Oh, you missed it!" Laura gasped an evil grin covering her face "Last week Ms. Leon said she is upping the essays early, 'as you are capable alpha stream students I will be giving you three a week at eight thousand words, then four next year at ten thousand, and five the year after at between twelve and fifteen thousand,' I forgot to tell you."
"What is the longest essay you have ever been given? You said averaging. What is the longest you have ever been given anywhere?" a student asked her eyes burning with curiosity, Laura thought about it, then her and Otto said the same thing at the same time
"Colonel Francisco."
"The longest we have ever got from him was three thousand." James stated cautiously
"He likes Technical stream more than Alpha. Last year we got a twelve thousand five hundred word essay on the safety of a wrist mounted grappler unit than a hand held one. It wasn't the longest, but it felt like it." Laura sighed, every technical student winced
"Professor, what will their finishing numbers be?" James asked an evil glint in his eye
"Fifteen thousand lowest average, thirty six a week." the professor admitted the entire room seemed to re evaluate the Alpha students
"I pity you." one student admitted "Imagine a thirteen week coma then!"
"Five hundred and four essays, along with all the assignments," Otto sighed doing the sum easily in his head "Next time turn off the life support." he muttered to himself
"So, enough about the implausibly large amount of homework every Alpha stream student receives are you all happy with the design?" the Professor asked, they all nodded
"When is it being built?" James asked
"Now, if that is OK?" Pike replied "You can all start it, I will continue, any help will be greatly appreciated." Otto grinned at Laura, they both loved building things.
AN: Here you go, forgive the techie scene, not my strong point. R&R please! :D