Rogue (6 page)

‘Now, class, as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted, there are three distinct layers to the alarm systems on a modern bank vault . . .’

‘You may have detention, but at least you don’t have to worry about hairballs,’ Shelby whispered to Laura with a grin.

Ms Leon stopped talking and looked straight at Shelby. ‘It is very good of you to show such solidarity with your friends, Miss Trinity,’ she said, ‘even going so far as to want to share their detention. Admirable. Stupid . . . but admirable. Anyway, as I was saying . . .’

Shelby winced. It was not the first time that she had forgotten that Ms Leon’s hearing was considerably more acute than a human’s. Nor would it be the first time that she and Laura shared a detention. Admittedly the previous occasion had involved the swimming pool, the senior boys’ water polo team and and an electric eel, but at least that had been worth it.

‘The first layer is a human one,’ Ms Leon continued, ‘usually taking the form of button-operated silent alarms. In some ways this meeeww miiaoow, mew mew . . . roooow?’

There were a couple of nervous giggles around the room as Ms Leon tipped her head to one side with the closest thing to a look of confusion on her face that a cat could manage.

‘Mew?’ she miaowed tentatively.

Laura noticed that the large blue gem in the centre of the collar that Ms Leon always wore was not illuminated. Normally when she spoke it was via the vocal synthesiser implanted in that collar, but now the crystal was dark. Laura raised her hand in the air and Ms Leon looked towards her and gave a small nod.

‘Should I go and get the Professor, Miss?’ Laura asked. Miss Leon gave another, more emphatic, nod and Laura hurried out of the classroom and back towards the central computer core. As she ran down the corridor she noticed that this part of the school was suddenly so cold that she could see her breath forming small white clouds.

The Professor looked up as she ran into the core. ‘Ah, Laura, there’s just been another processor load spike,’ he said with a frown.

‘Aye, I know, Professor. It’s caused a wee problem,’ Laura said. She quickly recounted what had just happened in the Stealth and Evasion lesson.

‘I should imagine Ms Leon is not terribly happy,’ the Professor said, looking slightly nervous. Ms Leon had never forgiven him for leaving her trapped in her new body, and the fact that he had thus far failed to find a way to reverse the process only made matters worse. In truth the Stealth and Evasion teacher had found unexpected advantages to her feline state, but she didn’t intend to let the professor know that.

‘I think that’s probably safe to say,’ Laura said as the Professor put down the display he’d been studying.

The pair of them hurried out of the core and back towards the Stealth and Evasion training area.

‘I see that the environmental controls are malfunctioning too,’ the Professor said as they hurried down the corridor. If anything it was even colder now than it had been just a minute before; a fine glittering layer of frost was just starting to form on the rock walls.

It became warmer again as they approached Ms Leon’s classroom, and they entered to find her prowling back and forth in an agitated way on the desk at the front of the room. As she saw the Professor her eyes narrowed.

‘Miaaaow! Mew meewww rooow,’ she growled as they approached.

‘I’m afraid we’re experiencing some slight systems problems,’ the Professor said as he examined the gem on her collar. ‘They appear to have interfered with the wireless connection between your vocal synthesiser and the network.’

‘Meeew miiaaaoow . . . you doddering old fool,’ Miss Leon said, her eyes widening as the blue crystal flared back to life and her normal voice returned.

‘Well . . . yes . . . erm . . . everything seems to be working again now,’ the Professor said with an embarrassed smile.

‘Is this likely to happen again, Professor?’ Ms Leon asked quietly.

‘It’s . . . erm . . . hard to say,’ the Professor said uncomfortably.

Ms Leon raised a paw, a single curved claw sliding out from its sheath and pointing at him. The Professor swallowed nervously.

The cat spoke. ‘You had better hope it does not.’

Darkdoom looked up as Nero and Raven entered his office. Outside, night was just starting to fall over the Sydney skyline.

‘Thank you for waiting,’ Diabolus said, gesturing at the two seats facing his desk. The other members of the ruling council had left an hour ago. He needed to talk to these two alone.

‘We cannot allow this to stand,’ Nero said as he sat down. ‘Trent has declared war.’

‘We cannot stop what we cannot find,’ Darkdoom said with a sigh. ‘Until we know where he is hiding, we can only sit and wait for him to make his next move. How close are you to tracking him down, Natalya?’

‘Honestly, I am not sure,’ Raven replied. ‘Until we have analysed the data on Khan’s computer, it is impossible to say.’

‘Do you want my people to look at it?’ Darkdoom asked.

‘I would rather have Professor Pike do it,’ said Nero. ‘Under the circumstances, we cannot afford to take any chances that the data might be damaged during retrieval.’

‘Of course,’ Darkdoom agreed. ‘There’s something else I need to discuss with you though. You both know how much we owe Otto. He has done as much as anyone to ensure the survival of both H.I.V.E. and G.L.O.V.E. over the past couple of years, but that cannot be a reason to ignore the danger that he has now come to represent.’

‘I do not believe he has turned against us voluntarily,’ Nero said, frowning. ‘Trent must have done something to him, broken him somehow.’

‘I’m sure you’re right,’ Darkdoom replied, ‘but that does not change the fact that he is now being used as a weapon against us. I want you both to know that I have not taken this decision lightly.’

Nero recognised the look in his friend’s eyes and he did not like what it meant.

‘I cannot ignore the feelings of the rest of the council in this matter,’ Darkdoom continued. ‘I’m afraid I have no alternative but to issue a capture or kill order.’

‘You can’t do that,’ Nero said quickly. ‘You know as well as I do what that will mean to the other members of the council. You might as well issue a termination warrant.’

‘You saw what happened earlier, Max,’ Darkdoom snapped back. ‘If I don’t act decisively now, there are those on the council who will simply see it as a sign of weakness. Do you really want someone like Chavez at the head of G.L.O.V.E.? You know he is just waiting for his chance to move against me.’

‘Give us more time,’ Raven said angrily. ‘That’s all we need.’

‘I cannot, Natalya,’ Darkdoom replied, sounding frustrated. ‘What do you think will happen if another member of the council is assassinated? Chaos. There is a very real chance that it would mean the end of our organisation. G.L.O.V.E. was founded on the principle that we were safer acting together than individually, but if Trent is allowed to pick us off one by one, this organisation will implode. Without G.L.O.V.E., Trent will be completely unopposed and the world will become a global police state or something far worse. I will not allow that to happen.’

‘We can stop him, Diabolus,’ Nero said. ‘There has to be another way.’

‘I wish there was, old friend,’ Diabolus said quietly. ‘I truly do.’

‘At least give me a head start,’ Raven said. ‘Twenty-four hours to analyse the data on the computer I retrieved. That’s all I need.’

‘I’m afraid it’s too late for that, Natalya,’ Darkdoom said with a sigh. ‘I gave the order ten minutes ago.’

‘You did what?’ Nero snapped, suddenly furious.

‘Otto’s too dangerous, Max. You know that.’

‘Try telling that to your son when you have to explain to him how you ordered the execution of one of his friends!’ Nero shouted. ‘If this is what being a member of this organisation has come to mean, then it may very well be something that I, for one, no longer want to be a part of.’

‘Choose your next words very carefully, Max,’ Darkdoom said slowly.

‘How dare you threaten me?’ Nero said angrily, standing up. ‘Do I really need to tell you who you’re starting to sound like?’

Suddenly the room was plunged into darkness, the only illumination coming from the lights of the city outside Darkdoom’s office window.

‘What the hell?’ Darkdoom said, stabbing quickly at the communications console on his desk, but it too was dead.

A sudden tiny flicker caught Raven’s eye, the briefest flash of bright red light flaring on the glass behind Darkdoom. She acted without hesitation, diving across Darkdoom’s desk and knocking him to one side as the window pane behind him exploded. Diabolus grunted as the bullet struck him just below the shoulder blade, exiting through the front of his chest and spraying Raven’s face with a fine mist of blood.

‘Sniper!’ Raven yelled at Nero. ‘Get down!’

Nero dived for cover just as another bullet tore into the seat behind him. Raven hooked her arms under Darkdoom’s shoulders and he gave a low moan of pain as she crawled towards the door, struggling to drag his limp body.

‘Get out of here!’ Raven yelled as a bullet struck the wall half a metre above her head.

‘Not without you,’ Nero said.

He crawled across the floor towards her and helped her drag Darkdoom the last few metres to the door. As Nero reached up and turned the door handle, another shot hit the door frame centimetres from his hand. Together he and Raven helped to haul Darkdoom out through the door just as a security guard came running down the corridor outside.

‘Darkdoom’s been hit,’ Nero yelled as the man in body armour approached.

‘We’ve lost the security system building-wide,’ the guard reported. ‘It just shut down. No warning.’

Nero had a horrible feeling that he knew what might have caused that to happen. ‘We have to get out of here NOW!’ he snapped. ‘Natalya, take point. You –’ he jabbed a finger at the guard – ‘help me with him.’

The guard helped Nero lift Darkdoom groaning to his feet, one of the injured man’s arms over each of their shoulders.

‘We need to get to the roof,’ Raven said, looking down the corridor.

‘The hangar bay is locked down,’ the guard replied. ‘The only way out is at ground level.’

The corridor was suddenly filled with a blood-red glow as the emergency lighting kicked in.

‘No, that’s where they want us,’ Raven said quickly. ‘We have to get to the Shroud.’

‘I just told you, it’s sealed tight,’ the guard said, looking confused. ‘We can’t get in.’

‘I’ll find a way,’ said Raven, drawing the crackling purple blades from the twin sheaths on her back. ‘Where are the stairs?’

‘That way,’ the guard said, pointing down the corridor.

They set off, Raven in the lead, Nero and the guard behind, carrying Darkdoom between them.

As they passed the elevators the guard noticed that the call buttons beside the doors were illuminated.

‘We can take the elevator,’ the guard said. ‘It’d be quicker.’

‘Trust me,’ Raven said, shaking her head slightly, ‘not a good idea.’

Otto walked into the security control centre on the ground floor of the building flanked by two men in full body armour and carrying assault rifles. Their chests displayed an image of an angel flying upwards with a sword held aloft in its outstretched hand. The symbol of H.O.P.E..