Thanks for the reviews all you lovely people! Here's another installment for you guys! :D
ENJOY! (Don't forget to review!)
Chapter 4
"Who's Rick? And who's H.I.V.E. mind?" Otto muttered, as he stumbled down the corridor. He had one arm slung over Wing's shoulder and the taller boy was half carrying him along. The two girls followed alongside, Laura occasionally stopping him from falling over on top of her. To anyone walking past them, he would've seemed drunk.
"Erm... Well. H.I.V.E. mind is an arificial intelligence." The red head explained, watching his reaction.
"So in three years... the world suddenly got the technology to create artifical life?" He asked with a frown.
"Pretty much." Shelby said, nodding. "And Rick is..." Laura stood on her foot and she abruptly cut off.
"Ow! What did you do that for?" The girl asked, eyes wide and limping slightly. Her friend shrugged but quickly slid a finger across her throat as Otto looked away. A signal to stop the conversation and change the topic. Shelby nodded showing that she'd understood and looked down at the ground, biting a nail.
"Hey! I've just realised I don't know the date!" Otto suddenly said, glancing round at them all.
"Really?" Wing said, a little dubious.
Everyone turned to look at him and his girlfriend clipped the boy lightly on the back of the head.
"Of course he doesn't! He's lost his memory! Anyhow... I think it's the twenty - ninth of August, twenty eleven." Shelby said with smile.
"That makes me sixteen. Yesterday." Otto said in a small voice. He pulled his arm away and stood up properly, his drunken facade gone. The boy's friends stopped and he took a couple of steps forward before he realised.
"Where am I? Be honest. And who the heck are you guys? Not your names but actually who are you? You say you know me, so how did we meet? You haven't even answered my earlier question. Who's Rick? Actually. You know what? First of all, you can tell me how I lost my memories." He said, arms folded. A guard walked past in his orange jumpsuit, momentarily looking at the small group and assessing whether they were a threat or not. Then he walked on by without a backward glance.
"I don't know what to say Otto. You were electrocuted and somehow that fried your brain. That was yesterday. On your birthday. And Rick. He's your twin brother. As for me. I'm from Scotland and I hacked into a military base to use their technology. That's why I'm here." Laura began, biting her lip.
"Yeah and I'm here because I'm the famous Wraith who stole jewellery. And I thought no - one knew. I was wrong. H.I.V.E. knew." Shelby continued, watching his reaction.
"I'm just here because of my skills as a fighter." Wing said, shrugging.
"And you're here because of Overlord and because of the stunt you pulled with the Prime Minister. We all met here, in this school. And we haven't left except for... I guess you can call them trips. The first year we tried to escape and it failed. Yes that means we were brought here against our will. That same year we were attacked by a giant carnivorous plant. You managed to stop it with your quick thinking." Laura explained, tears slowly coming to her eyes. She gulped when she noticed Otto was looking down at the ground, fists clenched at his sides.
"Then Wing almost died..." Shelby said, oblivious. A nudge from the red head shut her up and she glanced at Wing, eyebrow raised in a question.
"I asked for the truth...I thought that I could trust you guys..." The boy began, looking at them, eyes like daggers.
"That was the truth..." Laura said, eyes wide. "Look..." She walked forward, intending to touch his arm but he jerked away.
"Just leave me alone!" He shouted. And with that he ran down the corridor and round a corner.
The red head stood fixed to the spot, unable to move but Wing was ready and he ran after him. His legs were longer and he was faster. There was no way Otto would be able to outrun him.
Shelby looked at Laura and the fear on her face and quickly pulled her into a hug. The other girl burst into tears, crying for the boy she loved and whom she'd lost.
Raven stepped into the hangar bay and walked down the short flight of stairs to the landing pad below. A shroud was standing stationary there, its back door open and technicians scurrying to and from it, packing crates of equipment. She ignored them and made her way over to Nero, who was sitting down in a chair, watching the preparations.
"Are you all set to go?" He asked, as she approached.
"Of course. I'm always ready. What do you think that I should expect?" The assassin replied.
"No idea. The satelites stop working over that area of land. Something to do with the magnetic field around the Earth, Professor Pike tells me. There could be anything waiting for you. I'm sorry. We're throwing out into the middle of nowhere with no plan." Nero explained, a slight smile on his face.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. No - one's taken me down so far. And I doubt anyone will." She said confidently.
"Don't say that. The future isn't set in stone." He said, standing up to face her. The shroud was ready and technicians were getting out of the way as the pilot started up her engines. "Be careful. I... H.I.V.E. doesn't want anything bad happening to you."
"I'm always careful, Nero. That's what's kept me alive all these years." Raven replied with a smile. Then she turned and walked towards the awaiting aircraft, without a backward glance.
The man glanced at his watch and suddenly he felt a slight pressure against his cheek. He looked up to see Natalya turning red, and he could feel his own temperature rising.
"Just in case I don't get back." She quickly mumbled and this time she turned and ran for the shroud, disappearing into the its confines.
Nero lifted a hand to his face where she'd kissed him and gazed after the aircraft as it rose into the air. It dipped forward slightly and then flew out of the hangar and into the blue sky beyond.
The man looked back down to see several technicians watching him and his confused expression. He quickly cleared his throat and his face hardened. Then he realised his hand was still on his cheek. He dropped it and gave the men a nod before leaving the cavern.
The heavy metal door swung open and in walked Alexander in his immmaculate white suit. He was followed by two guards as always, one of which carried a bucket but this time there was also a third person. He wore a lab coat and carried a small scanning device that looked like a blackbox but bigger.
Rick was still chained upright. His hair hung thick and dirty over his face and his arms had gone pale. He'd lost feeling in them long ago and couldn't even flex his fingers. Veins stood out prominently on his skin and his back was a mess.
He looked up into the man's eyes as they entered and growled, his features contorted like that of a wild animal. This was the second time that they'd visited and he dreaded to think why.
"Nice to see you too." Alex responded, with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. He nodded at the guard with the bucket who then lifted the container and splashed cold water onto the boy.
He gasped, jerking back in shock and then had to grit his teeth from the pain of his wounds. For a moment he could see Laura's face in a mask of fear and then the room came back into focus.
"Now. I'm guessing that you would like to know why we're here. Well we just want to do a little examination of you, if that's alright." The man gestured to the doctor or scientist and he stepped forward, bringing his machine over Rick's head and then tapping away at the screen. Alex smiled at him.
"Done. You can go back to whatever you were doing now." He said and then walked out, the other man following him. Rick frowned. What had that been about?
The guards didn't leave. Instead one of them came forward and undid the lock on the chains. The boy immediately fell to his knees and toppled over onto his side, causing him to scream out in pain. His shoulder jarred from the impact but he didn't feel a thing. Then the guard left and the other dropped an apple and a water bottle onto the floor by his head. The door swung shut behind them.
Rick tried to force his arms to move but they wouldn't. The blood had drained from them. He hurriedly tucked them under him hoping to warm them up. Then he gazed longingly at the water bottle. He wouldn't be able to drink until his arms could move. And that he feared might never happen.
But then he began to feel sharp pin pricks all the way up his arms and shoulders. The boy sighed in relief. They weren't completely dead then.
Suddenly the world spun and he was lying on his front in a passageway in H.I.V.E, someone pressing down on him. He looked back and found that it was Wing. But when he tried to talk to him, the scene blurred so that it looked like the asian boy was there in the cell with him. And then even he faded away to leave Rick alone and in pain, with no way out and no hope.