Aftershock (2 page)

‘Your bed and locker are at the far end,’ Furan said. ‘Your uniform is on the bed. Get changed and return to the combat training area.’

He closed the door behind her as Natalya walked the length of the dormitory. At the far end she found a uniform identical to the ones she had seen the other trainees wearing. She quickly slipped out of her tattered street clothes and pulled on the new uniform before heading down to the training area. There she found Pietor Furan standing in front of a group of children who all seemed to be about the same age as her. Some of them glanced at her with curiosity as she approached.

‘Eyes forward,’ Furan barked. ‘The next hour will be spent in full-contact sparring. You will swap partners every five minutes. Any sign of hesitation or mercy for your opponent will be punished. Begin!’

The children all divided into pairs in silence as Natalya watched. A boy approached her and gave a small nod of the head before dropping into a fighting stance. Natalya barely had time to react before he launched a punishing volley of lightning fast punches and kicks, knocking her to the ground. He offered her his hand and pulled her up from the ground.

‘Dimitri,’ he whispered as he helped her to her feet.

‘Natalya,’ she whispered back. ‘What is this place?’

‘They call it the Glasshouse,’ Dimitri said, glancing nervously towards Furan who was watching the trainees on the other side of the area. ‘Attack me, quickly.’

Natalya threw a couple of weak punches at Dimitri which he blocked with fluid ease.

‘What was that?’ Furan snapped angrily as he marched towards them. ‘Hit him!’

Natalya threw another punch, which again Dimitri blocked.

‘I said hit him, not peck at him like a raven pecking at a corpse,’ Furan said. ‘Again!’

Natalya attacked Dimitri again, trying harder to make any of the blows count. Still she could not get through his defences.

‘Still it is peck, peck, peck,’ Furan yelled.

‘I’m trying!’ Natalya turned and yelled angrily at him.

Furan backhanded her hard across the face, knocking her to her knees. She tasted blood in her mouth.

‘How dare you raise your voice to me,’ he said, standing over her. ‘No matter. In time you will learn some respect, my little raven, that much I can promise you.’

Natalya collapsed on to her bed exhausted. The first day of training had been brutal and relentless. Her muscles were sore and she knew that beneath her uniform she had to be covered in bruises.

‘Sorry about earlier,’ Dimitri said as he approached her bunk. ‘If I’d let you hit me, Furan would have beaten the snot out of me.’

‘I would love to talk but I’m afraid it makes my face hurt,’ Natalya said with a pained smile.

‘Don’t worry,’ Dimitri replied, ‘it gets easier. Well, maybe not easier so much as you notice the pain less.’

‘Is he always like that?’ Natalya asked.

‘Who? Furan?’ Dimitri asked. ‘Yes, I’m afraid so. You don’t want to get on the wrong side of him, trust me. He’s not the really scary one though. That’s his sister, Anastasia. She’s the one who makes my blood run cold.’

‘Yes, we’ve met,’ Natalya replied. ‘And I know what you mean. So how do I get out of here?’

‘What?’ Dimitri asked with a frown.

‘I don’t know about you but I’m not planning on staying,’ Natalya replied. ‘So how do I get out of here?’

‘Shhh,’ Dimitri whispered, sitting next to her on the bunk, ‘talk like that will get you killed. It’s not like we don’t all think about it but, if they find out you’ve been talking about it, you’ll end up in the hole or worse.’

‘So it’s impossible,’ Natalya said.

‘I didn’t say that,’ Dimitri replied with a wink, ‘you just have to be careful who you talk to about it.’

‘Dimitri, Dimitri!’ Another boy shouted, running down the dormitory towards them. ‘Have you heard, there’s a new girl here, she was brought in by Fur . . . oh, hello.’ The boy blushed as he saw Natalya.

‘And this idiot is my friend, Tolya,’ Dimitri said with a lopsided smile.

‘Hi, I’m the new girl,’ Natalya said.

‘Nice to meet you,’ Tolya replied. ‘Sorry, I didn’t realise you were going to be in our dormitory.’

‘Yes, this is my bed and if you guys don’t mind I’m afraid I’m going to have to use it right now. I’m exhausted,’ Natalya said.

‘Of course,’ Dimitri said with a smile. ‘See you later, Natalya.’

Natalya gave a small wave as she rolled over in her bunk, not even bothering to put on the pyjamas that were in her locker. Within seconds she was asleep. As she slept, Natalya dreamt she was in a snow-covered field, watching Anastasia and Pietor Furan standing over her corpse and laughing as a raven fed on it. Anastasia Furan stopped laughing, turned towards Natalya and spoke.

‘Peck, peck, peck, little Raven, peck, peck, peck.’

chapter two

now

The main hall at H.I.V.E. fell silent as Dr Nero walked across the stage to the lectern. Standing in neatly ordered rows on the polished black granite floor in front of him were the third year students of H.I.V.E. They had come from all four corners of the globe but were united by one thing. They were the children who had demonstrated a gift for the nefarious or some talent for villainy, something uniquely special that had attracted the attention of H.I.V.E., the Higher Institute of Villainous Education. They were all being trained in the art and science of villainy, being prepared, upon graduation, to take their place within the organisation known as G.L.O.V.E. The Global League of Villainous Enterprise was the most powerful clandestine group of international mega-villains that the world had ever known. The head of its ruling council, and also the headmaster of H.I.V.E., was Maximilian Nero, the very man who now stood in front of this particular group of students. He wore an immaculately tailored black suit with a white shirt and at his neck was a blood red cravat. Only the wide streaks of silver running through the jet black hair at each temple would have given an observer any hint as to his age.

‘Good morning, students,’ he said. ‘I know that you are all busy studying for the forthcoming exams but I have gathered you here today to make a couple of important announcements. Firstly, we will soon be welcoming some new arrivals to the school. Most will be joining the lower years but a few will be joining you. These students will be unfamiliar with H.I.V.E. and will doubtless require some assistance adjusting to their new home. I know it’s unusual for us to take new students into the higher years of the school like this but I will still expect you to ensure that your new classmates are given a warm welcome.’

There was a brief murmur of discussion as Nero paused and scanned the crowd.

‘Secondly,’ Nero continued, as the students fell silent once more, ‘I wanted to inform you that the groupings will shortly be announced for the field assessment exercise or to use the more lurid nickname it seems to have attracted . . . the Hunt. For many years this exercise has been an important part of the training for every student at H.I.V.E. and I have no doubt that some of the older students will have taken great pleasure in informing you about what it entails. For those of you who do not know, the Hunt is an assessment of both your wits and your physical fitness. You will be taken to an undisclosed wilderness location and given a one hour head start before elite G.L.O.V.E. forces, led by Raven, are sent after you. Beyond that there are no rules, you must simply evade capture for as long as you possibly can. In all the years that we have been running the Hunt no one has evaded the trackers for more than twenty-four hours. That is a record I would be delighted to see beaten by somebody in this room. You have one week before the Hunt begins – further details will be sent to your Blackboxes shortly. If you have any questions please direct them to H.I.V.E.mind. Please remember that this is merely the first stage of your examinations and, while I understand that the Hunt has a certain notoriety in the school, I do not want you to focus exclusively upon it. Additional time is being allowed within your existing timetables for extra revision periods and I urge you to take full advantage of the opportunity for extra study. I will expect you all to excel in your examinations, failure will have . . . consequences. Dismissed.’

Nero turned and walked off the stage as the students dispersed to their first lessons of the day amidst a buzz of excited chatter. Raven was waiting for him at the side of the stage. As usual, she was wearing a black bodysuit that was covered in pockets and pouches filled with various items of lethal equipment. Sheathed across her back, attached to her tactical harness, were the twin crossed katanas that rarely left her side. She was widely regarded as the world’s deadliest assassin but, more importantly to Nero, she was also his most trusted ally.

‘Natalya,’ Nero said with a smile as he approached, ‘is everything set for our trip to London?’

‘Yes, but do I really have to wear that outfit?’ Raven asked with a frown.

‘You can hardly attend the opera dressed as you are, my dear,’ Nero said.

‘I suppose. Did Wright tell you what it is that he wants to discuss?’

‘No, but I can make an educated guess,’ Nero said with a slight sigh. ‘I know this meeting may be pointless but Joseph served G.L.O.V.E. loyally for many years. I should at least hear what he has to say. I owe him that much.’

‘It could be a trap,’ Raven said.

‘Which is why I’m bringing you along,’ Nero said with a smile. ‘Besides, I haven’t seen
Don Giovanni
in years.’

‘As if we don’t have enough to worry about with the exams,’ Otto said with a sigh as he walked along the corridor leading to the Villainy Studies department with Wing and Shelby. ‘Now we have to go and play hide and seek with Raven in some godforsaken corner of the planet as well.’

‘I think it might actually be quite fun,’ Shelby said happily, ‘and I don’t know why you’re getting so worried about the exams, computer brain. Can’t you just, I don’t know, download the entire library or something?’

Otto did, in fact, have something of an unfair advantage over his friends when it came to studying. He had, after all, been genetically engineered from birth to act as a physical host to an insane artificial intelligence. Thankfully, since the final destruction of Overlord several months earlier, he no longer had to worry about that horrific possibility but he still carried the hardware around inside his skull that would have made it possible. The organic super computer implanted in the centre of his brain made him capable of near instantaneous comprehension and perfect recall. It was something which he had always taken for granted and he sometimes forgot that his friends probably still found it slightly odd.

‘I’d happily swap all the suffering that this thing in my head has caused for having to do a bit of revision, believe me,’ Otto said with a sad smile.

‘We all know that, my friend,’ Wing said, putting his hand on Otto’s shoulder. ‘None of what happened with Overlord was your fault.’ Their final encounter with the psychotic artificial intelligence had cost the life of their friend and fellow Alpha student, Lucy Dexter, a loss which they all still felt acutely. ‘I must admit though that I too, like Shelby, find the prospect of this Hunt intriguing.’

‘Yeah, well, it’s all well and good for you wannabe ninjas,’ Otto said with a smile. ‘Some of us actually don’t find the idea of being chased through the wilderness by Raven and a bunch of G.L.O.V.E. goons particularly exciting.’

‘That’s OK, you can act as a diversion,’ Shelby grinned. ‘The ten minutes that it takes Raven to catch you will be ten minutes she’s not searching for me. I want that twenty-four hour record and every little helps.’