Chapter Twelve
Author's Note:
Just one big P.o.V. for this chappie. Have fun!
The Shroud glided over the lake, flanked by two more.
Inside, Diabolus Darkdoom checked his equipment, tightened his boots, and gave a last appraising look over his companions. Raven was also checking her equipment and the rest of his team stood ready to go.
Ready to die.
For G.L.O.V.E.
For his family.
For him.
The pilot turned to give Diabolus a nod and in turn Diabolus gave a nod to his troops. He grabbed a commlink. "Shroud 2 will make its way to the southern shore. Shroud 3 to the east and Shroud 1 to the last known location of the H.I.V.E. students."
Of my son.
He paused and the visors of his companions' helmets reflected back his face to him. Raven looked at him coolly. A hint of resentment at not being on point?
"Thermal scanners will be issued to each operative in order to ensure we retrieve the students. Be silent, be wary and other than retrieving students, do not make your presence felt. The batteries in the suits are weak so use them sparingly. Raven's team on the ground will meet up with Shroud 1 and then the Shroud will scan the area and be in the air."
Diabolus watched in silence as the ground rushed up to meet the Shroud on the right. With a jolt, they landed on the snow, the hatch and the back whirring open. The disciplined squad filed out and ran for the woods.
The other Shroud veered to the left, leaving the centre Shroud on its own.
He watched Raven out of the corner of his eye. They had met up with her some 30km south of the lake. Reception had completely gone so in order to communicate with G.L.O.V.E., she had had to leave the reserve.
The ruling council had voted unanimously to give Diabolus the lead.
Still too young, they said. Flawed plan from the outset, they said.
Didn't go to H.I.V.E. is what they really meant.
Diabolus was all for change (when it suited him) but this was excessive. The (new) ruling council had all gone to G.L.O.V.E. and was a healthy mix of most of the streams. Precedence had (obviously) been given to the Alpha stream but there were a few advisors for science and politics. Influence and effect of schemes and so on. Though why there were not one but two former Henchmen he could not fathom (really? Two? It's not as if they were streamed by intelligence…).
He knew his wife would be disappointed in their peers. Raven had (almost from the beginning) been a firm favourite of hers and together were a formidable bridge team. Absolutely formidable.
All this precedence for H.I.V.E. graduates would be all good and well in thirty of forty years from now, when the H.I.V.E./diamonds in the rough ratio would be comfortably favouring the graduates. But now all this seemed to do was incite the average G.L.O.V.E. employee, one who worked their way through life and then catching the eye of G.L.O.V.E. after a notable success. They viewed H.I.V.E. grads as unfairly favoured, spoilt and soft.
Cooperation as a result within G.L.O.V.E. was becoming increasingly difficult. Diabolus knew he was lucky, years on the G.L.O.V.E. dinner party circuit granting him invaluable contacts. Not to mention the family links from his own and the in-laws.
This growing rift left Raven and others as unfortunate casualties. She was lucky, of course. Only her pride seemed wounded. There would be worse.
"Sir, we're almost here," said the pilot. Diabolus gave him a nod and flexed his right hand. Old wounds never go away completely.
He gave the troops a nod and grabbed a handhold as the Shroud landed. And rather gracefully at that. He'd had worse.
The hatch opened and the operatives at the back filed out. Diabolus smiled at Raven. "Ladies first."
She rolled her eyes and fell into step with him as they walked out onto the crisp white snow. Raven's team had been waiting for them and nodded at his own then falling into line, facing their leaders.
"Right!" he said, clasping his hands as the Shroud disappeared from sight. "We have enough present that if we find tracks, groups of three will be sent off. Raven, seven others and myself will head for the last known location of the students. You all know what to do."
The group headed into the forest, finding tracks within five minutes. An owl hooted from above.
One man squatted down with Raven and Diabolus to examine them. A former big game hunter, this man specialised in hunting down primates. "'Bout six hours or so old, sir."
Diabolus nodded at three operatives and the main group continued on. Up past a narrow creek, they found their second. With brown stained snow in a bush. "Dehydration, sir. Them kids have been out here for a while."
After two hours, only the skeleton crew of Raven, his own seven subordinates from home and himself remained. The last set of tracks had droplets of blood following them.
He turned to Raven at his side. "What do you think of their chances?"
She took a quick look at those behind them. "At the moment, not so good. It's colder than forecast, looks like bears and other carnivores have been hunting and the students have had little experience of these conditions."
Her only reply was a raised eyebrow.
You know who I meant.
The assassin paused to yank her boot from a snowdrift, trying to hide a smile. "Malpense and some of the others have had some experience of running and hiding. Nigel and Argentblum mostly stayed in the rear."
Diabolus fought to keep his face clear. One did not show weakness in front of his subordinates.
Inside he was panicking.
He was not a man to double-guess himself. Yet he seemed to doing that constantly recently. About his son, his parenting (or lack of), his marriage, his brothers, his former best friend –
"We're here, sir."
The cave from which the radio signal had come from was empty. But naturally he had expected that. There was a smear of blood on a rock and –
A ring.
His family crest.
His son had been here.
One of the operatives came to give a report. "Sir, we've searched the caves. The only way out is through the entrance. The area to the north is steep and with little cover. Thermal imaging showed no trace, sans the odd animal. The west is the lake and the south is where we came from."
Diabolus considered the woman's words. The chance for survival seemed to be getting lower and lower…
"And the east, Dupont?" Raven had finished looking over the back wall of the cave, searching for more passages.
The woman hesitated, her French accent becoming more pronounced.
"A ravine, sir and ma'am, and the others 'eard 'owls."
Her commander seemed to regretfully sigh. "Pity that they still have to search it." He nodded at the group outside the cave and four headed with the Frenchwoman into the thickening mist.
"I don't like this mist," said Raven. "It will be even more difficult to search this place."
Her companion nodded in agreement. "Mist was thicker back in the day for my Hunt."
She looked over in interest. "Really? Where were you?"
The remaining three operatives began rubbing their hands together following an icy-cold gust of wind.
"South-east Asia. High summer meant constant humidity and blankets of hot steam from the volcanoes." He did a stretch to loosen the knots in his leg. "At least we assumed they were volcanoes. Didn't exactly want to check."
Raven gave a non-plussed shrug. "And your time before capture…?"
At this, the bald-headed man smirked widely. "Twenty-four hours, three minutes and forty-seven seconds. The students have yet to beat my record."
The Russian quickly hid her surprise and mirrored his expression. "When students hear of that record, most die a little inside. Others like to pretend they can beat it. Their hopes die eventually."
Diabolus gave a chuckle and surveyed what he could through the mist. A cold gust of wind revealed the ice-locked waters of the lake. This time of year was dangerous, with the ice growing more precariously thin.
He looked at his commlink, worried at the amount of time with no contact from the group in the ravine. He nodded at Raven and she followed him towards the two remaining men. The group made their way into the mist, watching everything and saying nothing.
A piercing howl to the south sent a shiver down Diabolus' spine.
The group's boots crunched softly in the snow, all the heads moving slowly to survey the landscape. A tree loomed out of the growing darkness, tall and snow-laden. The foursome jumped (in Diabolus and Raven's case, not so noticeably) when a clump of snow fell of the tree.
Behind another tree they saw a boot.
They all froze, Raven withdrawing her Sleeper.
A dark shadow fell towards them and Raven used her impressive zapping skills to zap it (didn't make much difference because it was unconscious anyway). Diabolus realised a second too late that the real danger was from behind –
He was thrown back when an unknown assailant tackled him and attempted to stab him in the eye. They grappled in the snow, each trying to overcome the other. He twisted the attackers arm back unnaturally and kneed the assailant in a sensitive place.
As the attacker writhed in agony, Diabolus calmly stood up and pointed his gun at the figure. He turned off the safety switch.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Raven helping a figure to their feet. Another one was leaning against a tree trunk, catching their breath. Both figures were smaller and less built than his own operatives.
Wait a minute…
Diabolus turned back to his assailant, who suddenly looked rather familiar…
The boy on the ground turned to glare at him.
Diabolus turned back on the safety switch and smirked.
"Well, I never thought I'd see the day. That a student of Doctor Maximillian Nero would degrade themselves like this.
"I didn't think you would ink so low to be mauled by a permanent marker, Wing."
He chuckled as Raven gave him a pained look. He could almost hear the that-was-so-punny retort that she was so clearly dying to keep silent.
Still chuckling, Diabolus extended a hand to the Alpha, pulling him to his feet. His thank-you was a vicious glare.
Nigel's peers were clearly too young to pass the passive-aggressive attitude towards their superiors stage yet.
That would soon change. More of his own subordinates stumbled into the light, also wearing vicious glares (albeit hiding them better than the teenager).
Shelby Trinity and a Hispanic girl were standing by Raven's side, with the Hispanic girl rubbing her hands together in an effort to keep warm. The American looked relieved to have been found and was shivering next to Raven, telling her about the others.
"We split up when Nancy and I fell into the water. The others went on. Wait – No, I don't know where the others are – They went on ahead. – I mean, I – we were so cold and I just haven't felt warm for so long."
The girl seemed slightly tearful and smiled gratefully at her boyfriend when he slid an arm around her shaking shoulders. Ah, young love in all its idealistic glory. Where just a touch could make everything better.
Diabolus had discarded such ideals long ago.
"Regardless," smiling gently at the students, "we need to move on. As soon as we make contact with a Shroud we'll have you whisked away."
Fanchu looked at him stubbornly. "I'm not leaving without Otto and the others. And I know you aren't either…sir."
Cheek. Or loyalty.
The gentle smile changed to a condescending I-know-what's-best-for-you frown. "Unfortunately for that noble notion, you all will more than likely get hypothermia if you stay here too long. You fell in a river and are half starved for God's Sake."
Fanchu looked ready to argue but a G.L.O.V.E. employee interrupted. Dupont was slightly worse for wear from her scuffle with Wing and had a congealing cut on her forehead. "Sir, you have to see this."
She thrust a commlink into his hands.
Diabolus frowned. "This is a Drake Industries communicator. It's from a disused line."
Trinity sniffed. "Are you sure, sir?"
The G.L.O.V.E. commander raised an eyebrow, affronted. "Yes, of course I'm sure. I now own the Industry and discontinued this model myself. Where did you find it, Dupont?"
She looked anxious. "Behind the tree, sir."
Raven and Diabolus shared a worried look and turned to glare at the students.
The Hispanic girl, Nancy, smirked.
A smirk of victory.
Far too late, all the G.L.O.V.E. employees reached for their guns only to be stopped suddenly.
By a red dot appearing on their leader's forehead.
Valentin Obolensky walked out of the mist, clapping mockingly.
"I thought you would be more challenging to capture than that, old friend."
Author's note:
C'est fini : )
Not entirely, of course, but there aren't that many chapters left. I promise I will finish this fanfic before the end of the summer but I have exams (fun times! Not.) and a language course to deal with before I can touch the computer again.
…You know the drill by now…
Bonne Nuit (I'm in a French mood. Hopefully I didn't spell that wrong…)
Cairdiuil Paiste