Number three!

Same disclaimers apply.

After a quick tour involving knocking out a H.I.V.E. guard, a corridor brawl, and stray mutated plants attacking them, the group of thirty-five arrived at the Quartermaster.

"Too bad Big Blue isn't here." Tammy whispered sadly. The other three girls were about to nod in agreement, when someone suddenly spoke up in front of them.

"Good day Alpha intake, and welcome to the Quartermaster." A synthesized voice greeted. The Fantabulous Four squealed like the fan girls they were, luckily hiding their obvious excitement among the surprised gasps of the other kids. Otto smiled warmly, before turning to the group and introducing his friend.

"Everyone, that was HIVEmind, H.I.V.E.'s very own artificial intelligence." He said, grinning. At those words, the doors to the Quartermaster slid open, revealing a round, pristine room paneled with several white slabs on the walls. A thin, pen-like structure stood in the middle of the room, which Otto instructed the group to circle.

A thin blue light beamed from the structure, forming a three dimensional, blue head. The group of Alphas watched, as the kind face of HIVEmind appeared right in front of their eyes.

"He's alive!" Andy exclaimed quietly, squealing under her breath. The others, though also confused, were equally as happy as their friend. Maybe it was because they'd only read as far as Dreadnought when they were taken to H.I.V.E., but the Fantabulous Four never really guessed Big Blue would actually be around.

"Once again, good day to all of you." HIVEmind greeted. The Alpha students were in awe of the floating blue head in front of them, the Japanese boy especially. Before Otto could say anything, Kaede spoke up.

"You're a fully functional artificial intlelligence?" he asked curiously. HIVEmind nodded.

"How long have you been active?" the boy asked. The Fantabulous Four snorted at the unexpected Laura-ness of the boy.

HIVEmind paused for a few seconds, before replying, "Five hundred ninety-three weeks, five days, ninety-four minutes and seven seconds ago." (1)

"April 17, 2000. Essentially." Otto added. Kaede's eyes bugged out in awe. Their teacher laughed, before turning to the rest of the crowd.

"Now, everyone, please do not move for the next few seconds, as HIVEmind will scan you for your sizes."

There was a near-unison of "huh?"s when a thin blue light passed through the room like a camera flash. There was some general surprise, after HIVEmind said, "Scanning complete." Many of the white panels on the walls opened up, to reveal small dressing rooms complete with mirrors and bins.

"Everyone, please take your own dressing rooms. HIVEmind will provide you your uniforms in there." Otto said, gesturing everyone away. There was a short bustle as everyone found their own changing rooms and as the doors slid closed.

Andy sighed. As a full set of clothing swooshed in front of her, there were instructions on a mini screen to take all her clothes off. As she changed out of her pajamas into the jumpsuit she critically examined how it looked on her body. Besides the unusual feeling of it on her skin, it looked rather nice on her.

"So this is what a jumpsuit feels like." She muttered, pressing down the creases on her shoulders. Once she finished up, Andy exited the cubicle, looking for her friends in the crowd. She found them, all examining their uniforms.

"Does this make me look fat?" Mel asked, and before they answered, they broke into laughter.

"No Mel, it doesn't." Tammy finally said. They turned to Otto, who seemed to be busy speaking with Wing Fanchu.

"Oi. Check it." Said Nick, pointing to the two.

"Wing is still a delicious muscled hunk of sexy man." Andy mumbled. Nick shot her a look.

"So's Otto."

"Wing's sexier."

"No, Otto is."

"Wing."

"Otto."

"Wing."

"Otto."

"Wing."

"Ott—"

"Alright, all of you." Otto said, calling their attention. "We'll continue touring the school, before we head on over to lunch."

Nick and Andy were still bickering under their breaths as they followed Otto out of the Quartermaster to see the rest of the school.

Nero sighed contentedly, as he recorded the high numbers of the new H.I.V.E. students for the year. The latest presentation for the new Alpha stream had gone successfully, unlike the other time, when one of the Neanderthals handling the flamethrowers accidentally pointed the flames at the sword fighters and had set them on fire. That had been terrible.

There was always a number of students who stood out from the others; ones who reacted differently. There were four of them this time. Nero pulled up the recording of the students, and observed a group of girls who barely flinched when their display started. They only observed and laughed as though they were watching friends dance on a stage.

'How I love the technological advances in this school.' He thought to himself as he easily pulled up their names. Andrea Aquino ('She was the one who blew the kiss in the crater hangar.' Nero thought, amused), Melanie Danao, Tamara Palmiano, and Nicolette Salazar.

"Oh." Nero said aloud. "Salazar."

Nero grinned, before putting away their files and watching the video again. They had a quick look of astonishment, before smiling all together. They focused their attention to something off-screen, which, when he checked, turned out to be Shelby and Wing. Nero chuckled, realizing that those four had been sent to the girls' school to "go undercover" as teachers.

When Nero pulled the other videos, he noticed that the Andrea girl was mouthing his entire speech. Not only that, but the Melanie girl had nudged them, and pointed something out behind him.

Nero's eyebrows furrowed. He knew very well that Raven wouldn't be found if she didn't want to be. This introduction was not a top priority thing, so she would have relaxed her security. Still, she wouldn't have been found if she wasn't sought out.

Unless they'd seen something else behind him, Nero couldn't figure out why or how they'd seen or known.

Unless…

"Oh." Nero said again. "Oh."

He finally understood them. How they reacted. How they knew.

Nero needed to call an old friend.

Nero pulled up another name, dialed in a number in an untraceable phone, and waited for the man on the other side to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hello Mark, it's Max." he said, sounding amused. Nero pulled up the pictures of the four girls again. "I think we have a few of your fans in our school."

(1) Yes, I calculated that. No, I didn't use the website where you could do that in seconds. Of course not. I would never go to Easy Surf. Noooo.

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