‘Sounds good,’ Raven said. ‘Which way?’
‘Take the flight of stairs that is seventy-four point eight metres behind you,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied.
‘Damn her!’ Ghost screamed, kicking the empty chair in the interrogation room. ‘Damn her to hell!’
‘There will be other opportunities,’ Trent said, placing a hand on Ghost’s shoulder.
‘I don’t want to wait any longer,’ Ghost spat, rounding on him, her wrist blades snapping out and locking into place. ‘I want to watch her die!’
‘I understand that,’ Trent said, backing away from her, his hands raised. He had never seen her so enraged before. ‘I know how badly you want to avenge your sister. I brought you back from the brink of death to make sure you would have your chance to do exactly that, but you will never get that chance if we allow G.L.O.V.E. to capture us.’
Ghost stood there for a moment breathing heavily, before retracting her blades and pushing past him.
‘I am going to kill her, Sebastian. There is nothing on earth that can prevent that,’ she said as she stormed away down the corridor.
‘I do not doubt that in the slightest, my dear,’ he said quietly as he followed her.
The pair of them passed through the doors at the end of the corridor and walked out into the hangar bay. Trent was pleased to see that the helicopter on the pad appeared to be fully prepped for takeoff, its rotor blades slowly idling. The secondary hangar doors were already open, filling the space with the sound of the waterfall thundering down past the open end of the bay. They hurried across the hangar towards the waiting chopper and Trent climbed on board through the open side hatch. He watched as the giant block of concrete slid forward from the roof and diverted the waterfall enough for the helicopter to pass through. Ghost was about to follow him when she noticed a movement on the other side of the hangar bay. She felt rage rise in her again as she recognised the figures who had just entered.
‘We have company,’ she said, snapping her wrist blades out again.
‘Finish this,’ Trent said as he saw Raven, Cypher and the H.I.V.E. students on the other side of the hangar. ‘But make it quick. We don’t have much time.’
‘What about Malpense?’ Ghost asked.
‘Eliminate him,’ Trent said with a sigh. ‘He has become . . . unreliable.’
‘It will be my pleasure,’ Ghost said, walking towards the dishevelled-looking group.
Raven saw Ghost turn and walk towards them and pushed the fear down inside herself. For perhaps the first time in her life she faced a fight that in all likelihood she would not win. She had to stop her, no matter what the cost. If she did not, they would all die – of that she was certain. She turned to Wing.
‘I’m not sure I can beat her,’ Raven said calmly, drawing one of her swords from her back and handing it to Wing. ‘If I fall, it’s up to you.’ He gave a quick nod, hoping it would not come to that.
Raven drew her other sword and turned to face Ghost.
‘You should have run when you had the chance,’ Ghost said as she walked towards Raven.
‘I’ve never run from a fight in my life,’ Raven said, adopting a defensive stance, the dark crackling katana blade raised in front of her, ‘and I’m damned if this will be the first time.’
‘I’ve been looking forward to this,’ Ghost sneered.
Her wrist blades flashed through the air in a blur. Raven blocked one with her own blade, but the other raked across the side of her ribs, opening up a long cut. Raven counter-attacked, ignoring the wound and delivering a series of lightning-fast thrusts towards Ghost’s torso, each of which the other woman parried effortlessly.
‘You still don’t understand, do you?’ Ghost said as they circled each other. ‘I was designed to beat you. I’m stronger and faster than you could ever hope to be. To me it’s like you’re moving in slow motion. I can kill you whenever I want.’
‘So why don’t you do it then?’ Raven asked and dropped low, swinging her foot out in an arc that should have swept Ghost’s feet out from under her. Ghost leapt into the air, avoiding the kick and slashing at Raven’s face. Raven twisted away from the scything blade just enough that it only left a long but shallow cut across one cheek. She tensed and sprang upwards, driving her sword at Ghost’s chest, but the other woman sidestepped the thrust and caught Raven’s wrist in her hand. Then Ghost’s other hand shot out like a striking cobra and closed around her throat. Raven grabbed at Ghost’s wrist as she felt the woman’s grip tighten, crushing her windpipe and lifting her feet off the floor.
Raven fought for a breath that would not come, her sword falling from her numb hand and clattering to the floor as Ghost slowly twisted her hand. Raven’s vision began to fringe with blackness as she fought to remain conscious, weakening all the time.
Wing ran at Ghost, swinging the sword in his hands with all his strength and Ghost dropped Raven, her wrist blade blocking the blow with a sparking crackle. Ghost leapt in the air and delivered a powerful kick to Wing’s jaw, sending him flying backwards, the back of his head hitting the concrete with a crack. She walked towards him as, half stunned, he struggled to get to his feet. She pushed him to the ground with her foot, pinning his sword arm. She raised her wrist blade high in the air, ready to deliver the fatal blow, when suddenly she felt her arm seize up, a torrent of error messages from her internal cybernetic systems cascading across the display of her artificial eye. She staggered backwards and turned to look at Otto. He stood facing her, one hand raised and his eyes closed.
‘Malpense, what are you doing?’ she spat.
‘Something . . . I should have done . . . a long . . . time ago,’ Otto hissed through gritted teeth. In his weakened state he could barely maintain contact with the systems inside Ghost’s body, his head throbbing with pain as he felt his control slipping. He sank to one knee as she staggered towards him, feeling his connection to her vanishing.
‘You have outworn your usefulness,’ she said as she stood over him. She raised her wrist blade.
From nowhere, Raven’s blade swept through the air with a hissing crackle and Ghost’s helmet bounced away across the floor, the rest of her very dead body falling sideways and hitting the ground with a thud.
‘Say hi to your sister for me,’ Raven said, lowering her sword and rubbing her throat.
From inside the helicopter on the pad, Trent watched in horror as Raven cut Ghost down.
‘Get us out of here now!’ he yelled at the pilot, who wrenched the cyclic control back, lifting them into the air.
Raven cursed under her breath as she watched the helicopter taking off. She started to run towards it, knowing she would never reach it in time.
Laura put an arm around Otto as he leant against her, both of them watching Raven sprint across the hangar.
‘It’s OK,’ she said softly. ‘It’s over.’
‘Not yet,’ Otto whispered, nodding his head towards Trent’s helicopter as its nose tipped forward and it shot towards the gap in the waterfall. Otto reached out with the last ounce of his mental strength and tripped the switch in the hangar roof. The huge triangular block of concrete started to retract again, closing the gap in the waterfall just as the chopper met the impenetrable wall of water. The rotors disintegrated as they hit the torrent and the pinwheeling wreckage of the disintegrating machine tumbled into the thundering foam at the base of the cascade in an explosion of white water.
Otto slumped against Laura, unconscious.
Shelby ran to Wing as he slowly sat up, looking dazed.
‘Are you OK?’ she asked, holding up three fingers. ‘How many fingers?’
‘Seven,’ Wing said with a pained smile, rubbing the back of his head. ‘The assassin . . . Ghost?’
‘She’s been dealt with. She’s . . . erm . . . slightly shorter than she used to be,’ Shelby said, looking over at Raven. ‘Remind me never to annoy her again,’ she whispered as she helped him to his feet. She suddenly felt something cold and hard tucked into the wa
istband of Wing’s trousers in the small of his back. She looked down and saw the grip of a pistol.
‘You had a gun?’ she asked, sounding amazed. ‘Why didn’t you just shoot the crazy woman?’
‘It was not necessary,’ Wing said, with a slight frown.
‘OK,’ Shelby said, sounding exasperated. ‘Next time give me the gun and I’ll decide when it is or isn’t necessary, you big wuss.’
‘Wuss?’ Wing said, sounding slightly hurt as Shelby walked away shaking her head.
‘How is he?’ Raven asked as she strode towards Laura and looked down at Otto, knowing that he might have just saved all their lives.
‘He’s passed out,’ Laura said, looking worried. ‘We’ve got to get him back to H.I.V.E. before he gets any worse.’
Raven felt Otto’s neck. His pulse was erratic and his breathing was shallow. Laura was right – he was getting weaker by the minute.
‘OK, let’s get out of here,’ Raven said, trying not to let her concern show.
Outside the battle was going G.L.O.V.E.’s way. The H.O.P.E. troops had fallen back and were fighting a desperate rearguard action from the fringes of the forest. There had been losses on both sides, but Francisco had not expected the battle to be bloodless. All things considered, he was pleased with how his men had performed. At the far end of the compound a section of the rock wall near the base of the waterfall slid back and a small group of people emerged from a hidden elevator. Francisco raised his binoculars and checked to see who they were. As soon as he recognised the familiar faces he got on the radio to one of the Shrouds hovering overhead.
‘Shroud three, we have identified friendlies on the ground at your nine o’clock. Get in there and evac them,’ Francisco ordered as another burst of gunfire from the tree-line forced him to duck for cover behind the ruins of one of the concrete bunkers near the main gate.
‘Roger that,’ the pilot of the Shroud responded, and the drop ship moved slowly towards Raven’s position. Without warning, a surface-to-air missile speared out of the forest. Francisco spotted the H.O.P.E. trooper with the shoulder-mounted launcher and opened fire, forcing him back into cover, but he was a moment too late. The pilot of the Shroud tried to dodge the incoming SAM, but he was too low and moving too slowly. The missile hit the belly of the hovering aircraft and exploded. The Shroud wove about drunkenly for a moment or two, but it was too badly damaged to stay in the air and was threatening to crash to the ground too close to the position of the H.I.V.E. friendlies for comfort.
Raven saw the out-of-control Shroud heading towards them.
‘Scatter!’ she yelled, diving for cover behind some nearby rocks as the huge drop ship slammed into the ground, sending burning debris in all directions. The area filled with thick black smoke. Raven slowly got to her feet and looked around. Shelby and Lucy were huddled behind the burnt-out wreckage of an armoured personnel carrier nearby, but there was no sign of Otto, Wing or Laura. She prayed that none of them had been caught by the falling Shroud, but the black smoke enveloping the area made it impossible to see more than a few metres.
On the other side of the burning wreckage Cypher slowly got to his feet, slightly dazed for a moment by the proximity of the impact. Wing was lying nearby and he rushed to his son’s side. Rolling him on to his back, he saw that there was a gash on Wing’s forehead, but no more serious injuries and he was breathing regularly. He hooked his arms through his son’s and started to drag him clear of the crash site.
‘Otto! Wing! Laura!’ someone called nearby, and Cypher recognised Raven’s voice. If he was going to escape, he had to move quickly. This moment of chaos might be his only opportunity. He looked down at Wing. He longed to take his son with him, but it would be impossible to escape with him unconscious and even if he could wake him up, he knew that Wing would never come with him voluntarily. He needed some sort of transport. He stumbled through the thick smoke, looking for anything with wheels and an engine, and almost tripped over the body of a dead H.O.P.E. soldier lying face down in the dirt. The dead man still had his sidearm in the holster on his hip, and Cypher looked around before quickly retrieving the pistol. The weapon would significantly improve his chances of escape. As he walked out of the cloud of smoke he saw another pair of familiar figures lying still on the ground: Otto and the Scottish girl. Cypher walked up to the boy and rolled him over. The girl wasn’t important to him – he did not care if she was alive or dead – but he had to check Malpense. Otto groaned but did not move, and Cypher stood up, his decision already made.
‘They think they can save you,’ he said, shaking his head, ‘but they have no idea just how dangerous you are. I’m afraid there’s only one way to make sure that Overlord never returns.’
He raised the pistol and pointed it at Otto’s head, Overlord’s last refuge.
The sound of the shot echoed through the smoke. Cypher looked down at the large red stain spreading across the front of his shirt, the gun dropping from his hand as he turned to see Wing standing a few metres away, smoke still rising from the muzzle of the pistol he held. Wing lowered the gun and let it fall to the floor.
Cypher felt his knees buckle beneath him and he collapsed as Wing walked towards him.
‘Damn you for making me do this,’ Wing said as he looked down at his father.
‘I did this for you,’ Cypher said, his voice fading. ‘What he is becoming . . . it will . . . kill . . . you all.’
With one last rattling breath the light went out of Cypher’s eyes. Wing bent down and gently closed his father’s eyes, feeling a grief that he had not expected. He stood back up again and went to Otto. He lifted his friend’s head up out of the dirt and tried not to let the growing feeling of despair overwhelm him. He had just broken the promise he had made to his mother long ago, and that was something he would never be able to undo. Suddenly Otto began to convulse, seizures wracking his body as he let out a cry of agony. Wing held him tightly, trying to stop him from harming himself. Otto’s eyes flew open, burning with red light.
‘Get your hands off me, human,’ he said, his voice cold.
‘Otto, it’s me, Wing. What’s wrong?’
‘I said, let go of me!’ Otto shouted and threw Wing two metres through the air with no apparent effort. Wing retreated from Otto as his friend walked quickly towards him.
‘Otto, this is not you – you have to fight this,’ Wing said.
‘Not me?’ Otto asked with a nasty laugh. ‘This is very much me, you piece of organic filth. As I always should have been, as I was designed to be.’
‘Release my friend,’ Wing said, with a sudden dawning sense of horror as he realised that this was exactly what his father had been trying to prevent.
‘He’s gone,’ Otto spat. ‘Only I remain . . . Overlord.’
Otto walked up to Wing and punched him with a flat palm in the centre of the chest. Wing flew backwards, sliding through the dirt on his back. Otto was inhumanly powerful, his strength boosted by the Animus nanites that infested his body. He picked up a heavy steel pole that lay on the floor nearby and advanced on Wing again.
‘You should be honoured,’ Otto growled. ‘You will be the first of billions that will die at my hand. Just the first.’
Wing rolled desperately to one side as Otto smashed the pole down into the ground where his head had been a split second before.
‘You’re just postponing the inevitable,’ Otto said, sweeping the pole too quickly for Wing to avoid. It caught him in the side of the chest, knocking all the breath out of him.
‘Otto!’ Laura yelled, as she stepped forward out of the smoke from the blazing wreckage of the Shroud, a look of disbelief on her face. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I don’t have to explain myself to you, child,’ Otto said. ‘But wait right there – I’ll get to you in a minute when I’ve finished with this one.’ Otto pointed at where Wing now stood, fighting for breath. Laura saw the red light burning in Otto’s eyes and knew immediately what must have happened. They’d been
too late. Overlord had consumed him.
‘Wing!’ Laura yelled. ‘Your amulet – I need it now.’ Wing looked at her and saw the fear in her eyes. Without questioning why, he ripped the amulet that was his final memento of his mother from the chain around his neck and threw it towards Laura. The momentary distraction was all the opportunity that Otto needed, and he swung the pole at Wing’s head. Wing reacted just quickly enough to avoid the pole hitting him with full, lethal force, but it still struck a glancing blow that sent him staggering backwards, dropping to one knee, fighting to stay conscious.
Laura pulled the neural pulse gun from inside her uniform and quickly slotted Wing’s half of the amulet next to the piece that Nero had provided. The completed yin yang symbol lit up with a bright red light and she felt the small device hum with sudden power. She pointed the gun at Otto as he advanced on Wing, raising the pole above his head. Then she pulled the trigger, tears rolling down her face.
The bright red arc of energy shot from the gun and struck Otto in the back. He screamed in rage and pain as the energy flickered around him and dropped to his knees as his whole body went into spasm. He fell forward on to his hands and what Laura at first thought was blood began to pour from his nose and mouth, pooling on the floor beneath him. Then she saw that the liquid was not red but black. Otto convulsed again as more of the Animus fluid poured out of his nose. He gave one last enraged scream of frustration and then fell to the ground twitching, a large pool of black liquid gathering round his head. Wing cautiously climbed to his feet and approached Otto, rolling his friend on to his back and resting his head in his lap. Otto’s nose and mouth were covered in the foul oily black liquid that now lay in a large puddle on the ground. His eyes flickered open for a moment, and Wing saw that they had returned to their normal blue. Seeing Laura running towards them, Otto managed a weak smile.
‘Thank you,’ he whispered as she knelt down next to him and stroked his cheek. Then his head fell limply to one side and his eyes closed again.