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Chapter Seven

‘Ground floor,’ the soft mechanical voice said as the doors of the elevator slid open. Raven stepped out into the lobby of the safe-house building and slowly looked around. Malpense and Fanchu would be leaving for the funeral in just a few minutes and she was performing her final sweep of the perimeter before the agents brought the two boys down. In the centre of the lobby the door guard sat with his back to her, the flickering array of monitors mounted on the desk in front of him showing different views from all over the building. She walked up to the desk.

‘Everything clear, Agent Seven?’ she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. At her touch the agent slumped forwards on to the desk, his head striking the hard wooden surface with a thud. As Raven reached for his neck to check for a pulse that she already knew was not there, the views displayed on the monitors in front of her began to blink out one by one. Something was systematically shutting down the building’s security systems – somebody was inside the building.

‘Come in, Agent Zero,’ Raven barked into her communicator. There was no response but the soft hissing of static. Communications jammed too – whoever was here was clearly a professional.

Raven turned on the spot and ran back towards the elevator carriages at the rear of the lobby. She stabbed at the call button and was frustrated but not surprised that suddenly neither of the carriages were working. She glanced at the digital display below the call button and saw that both of the lifts had been deactivated. Whoever was doing this had obviously waited for her to come down to the lobby before setting their plan in motion. Raven was now separated from the students and agents upstairs by forty storeys of stairs. She could hardly have planned it better herself. She ran towards the stairwell; it looked as if she was going to have to do this the hard way.

Up in the penthouse, Otto looked at himself in the mirror. Both he and Wing had found identical immaculately tailored dark suits hanging in the wardrobe that morning and Otto had to admit that he was finding wearing one rather odd. He knew that there was no way they were going to a funeral in their H.I.V.E. uniform jumpsuits, but he had not been prepared for how odd it would feel to wear something different after all this time. The suit had fitted perfectly, of course, but Otto could not shake the feeling that it was the person who did not fit the suit, rather than the other way around.

Otto smiled at Wing as he walked into the room, and chuckled to himself.

‘You know, we almost look like normal civilised members of society,’ Otto said, brushing a piece of lint off his lapel.

‘I never thought I would say this,’ Wing said, running his finger under his collar, ‘but can I have my uniform back, please?’

Otto laughed. He was pleased to see that even on a day like this his friend could still make a joke. He’d been worried about Wing ever since he’d been given the news of his father’s death, but it finally seemed that he was starting to feel better. Otto hoped that the funeral might at last give some resolution to this whole situation for Wing, that he might be able to move on.

‘Everything ready out there?’ Otto asked, giving his tie a final adjustment.

‘It looks like it. Raven has just left so I suspect we will be following shortly. Agent Zero asked me to remind you to bring your Blackbox, by the way.’ Wing tossed the black PDA to Otto, who popped it obediently into his inside pocket. He knew that the box was packed with tracking devices but under the circumstances he’d rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

Wing turned and headed back out the door. Otto followed him into the entrance hall, where Agents One and Zero were waiting for them.

‘Good morning, gentlemen,’ Agent Zero said with a smile. ‘We’ll be leaving very shortly. We’re just waiting for Raven to complete the final perimeter checks, and then we’ll be on our way.’

‘It’s been five minutes,’ Agent One said, looking at his watch and frowning slightly. ‘I’m going to give her a call.’

Agent One walked over to a panel mounted on the wall and thumbed a button.

‘This is Agent One to Raven. Come in, Raven.’

There was no reply, just hissing static.

‘Repeat, this is Agent One. Come in, Raven . . . come in.’ Still there was no reply, and a worried glance shot between the two agents.

‘Pull up the security feeds,’ Agent Zero instructed, looking again at his watch.

Agent One continued to press buttons on the panel but the lack of anything on the display indicated that the system was not responding.

‘This isn’t good,’ Agent Zero said, genuine concern in his voice.

Suddenly a klaxon started to sound and a red light began to blink above the main door to the safe house.

‘Damn it,’ Agent One spat, reaching inside his jacket and pulling out a large handgun, ‘we’ve been breached. Get them to the roof! I’ll keep trying to raise Raven.’

Agent Zero nodded and gestured for the two boys to follow him along the hall. There was a crash from behind them and the main door shook in its frame.

‘That was a breaching charge,’ Agent One shouted. ‘Get them clear NOW!’

There was another bang, even louder than the first, and the main door flew open in a cloud of thick smoke. At first, it was impossible to make out anything but dark shapes advancing through the ruined doorway, but as the smoke cleared their mysterious assailants emerged. Their sinuous forms, clad entirely in black silk advanced slowly, silently and relentlessly down the hall. The material they wore seemed to absorb the light, leaving black holes in the air. Not an inch of skin was visible anywhere – even their eyes were concealed behind black glass strips.

‘Ninjas,’ Agent One laughed. ‘I eat ninjas for breakfast.’

He raised his gun and fired. The initial two rounds hit the first ninja in the chest and the third in the centre of the forehead. Each round should have killed the black-clad assassin but he didn’t even slow down, just continued advancing towards Agent One.

The smile rapidly faded from Agent One’s face as he fired again into the advancing figure. The bullets didn’t even cause the ninja to break his step.

‘The roof! NOW!’ Agent One yelled as he reached back inside his jacket. His hand re-emerged holding a small white tube.

‘Come on,’ Agent Zero barked, and leapt up the stairs at the end of the hall two at a time. Otto and Wing ran after him – whoever these attackers were they were not going to be easy to stop.

Behind them Agent One pressed the stud on the white tube he was holding and tossed it down the hallway. There was a high-pitched whine and then a bright yellow explosion that filled the corridor. Agent One was thrown off his feet, landing at the bottom of the stairs to the roof. He shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears and looked back down the smoke-filled corridor. G.L.O.V.E. anti-personnel grenades didn’t leave much to chance – he could not see any movement but in the gloom it was hard to make out anything. He raised his gun again and advanced slowly down the smoky corridor. Without any warning a black-gloved hand shot out of the smoke and clamped around Agent One’s windpipe. He let out an astonished gurgle and instinctively fired several rounds from his pistol at whoever was attacking him, but the grip did not even loosen. The hand suddenly twisted, its grip still like iron, and there was a sickening crunch. Agent One’s head lolled to one side, his eyes unblinking, and finally the hand released its grip. The agent’s body crumpled to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

As Raven ran into the stairwell, the unmistakeable sound of multiple breaching charges being detonated echoed down from far overhead. Raven shed the long dark coat she had been wearing and unclipped her grappler from its holster on her thigh. She snapped the launcher on to her wrist and pointed it straight up the middle of the stairwell, a laser beam shooting upwards and reporting the range to the top of the building. Raven fired the grappler straight up; there was just enough line to reach the top floor but she had no idea if the bolt’s velocity would be sufficient to reach that far. There was a second’s delay but then the bolt struck home, lodging firmly in the ceiling at the top of the stairs. Raven muttered a quick thank you to whoever had designed the device and hit the button that reeled the line in. She shot up the centre of the stairwell like a bullet, the metal guard rails of the steps around her just inches away as she whistled past them. As she reached the top her ascent slowed until she was level with the final landing. She swung her legs over the guard rail and released the grappler bolt from the ceiling, dropping silently to the floor.

There was the sound of gunfire from the other side of the door that led out of the stairwell. Raven reached instinctively for the twin katanas on her back and spat a quiet curse in Russian as she realised that her weapons were inside the safe house. She had left them behind because there was no way to conceal them beneath the coat she had been wearing, a decision that she had a feeling she was going to regret. She reached down to her belt and unclipped one of the multiple shuriken that were mounted there. She may not have had her swords, but that didn’t mean that she was defenceless.

Raven kicked the stairwell door open and rolled into the corridor leading to the safe-house entrance. The corridor was filled with smoke and debris from the breaching charges but was otherwise empty. Suddenly she heard voices shouting from inside the safe house.

‘The roof, NOW!’ It was Agent One, he was still alive and it sounded as if they were heading for the roof and the escape lines. She ran down the corridor and through the shattered remains of the main entrance to the apartment. She was just in time to see one of the assailants snap Agent One’s neck like a dry twig and his limp body crumpling to the ground.

‘No!’ she shouted, throwing the shuriken at the ninja who had just murdered her colleague. The assassin moved unbelievably quickly, snatching the shuriken from the air and throwing it straight back at Raven. She twisted her body instinctively as the lethal throwing star whistled past her throat and carved a deep cut in her shoulder. Raven was caught off balance for a moment and the ninja took the opportunity to launch himself at her, a flurry of kicks and punches forcing her back towards the door. The remaining half dozen assailants scampered down the corridor, silently following Agent Zero and the two boys up the stairs towards the roof.

Raven was barely holding her own. The ninja’s blows were precise and lightning-quick; it was all that she could do just to block the strikes that were meant to kill. Not only that, but whoever this assassin was he was wearing some kind of body armour under his uniform – it was like hitting a brick wall. She landed a couple of quick blows on her attacker and dived sideways through the door into the dining area. The assassin followed her into the room, his movements silent and neat, his head turning to survey the room. The two of them circled each other, each waiting for the right moment to strike. It was a long time since someone had matched Raven like this in a straight fight. She needed an edge.

Raven dived over the counter into the kitchen area and in a single flowing movement grabbed the heaviest blade she could see from the knife block. Her attacker saw what was coming and ducked to one side as the knife whistled past his head and struck one of the windows that lined one side of the room, sending a spiderweb of cracks shooting across the hardened glass.

Raven didn’t give the ninja time to recover; she vaulted back over the counter and launched a kick at his masked face, but he caught her foot and threw her across the room like a rag doll. She slammed into the wall, the wind knocked from her. As Raven struggled to regain her breath, she realised that there was something very wrong. Bad enough that this assassin appeared to be just as fast as her, but he had just thrown her across the room like a toy without even appearing to exert himself. She had to end this, and quickly.

Raven knew that just subduing her attacker was not going to be enough, and as she got back up, she braced herself for another attack, knowing what she had to do. The ninja moved quickly and gracefully towards her and Raven moved forward herself, meeting him in the middle of the room. The assassin launched a vicious kick at Raven’s head that she only just managed to block – she could feel herself slowing down, the relentless pace of the fight taking its toll. Another violent punch connected with Raven’s side and she felt a rib crack; gasping in pain, she fell to one knee. The assassin could clearly sense that victory was near; he stepped slowly towards Raven’s huddled form, raising a single fist for the hammer blow that would end the fight once and for all. Raven moved in a blur, all of her remaining strength put into the single upwards punch aimed directly at her attacker’s heart. The blow struck home and Raven knew the fight was over. The ninja staggered backwards a couple of steps – clutching at his chest, he would be dead in seconds.

But then he stopped, straightened up and advanced on Raven again. For the first time in a long time Raven felt the uncomfortable prickling of panic at the base of her skull. That strike would have killed any man alive and yet this assassin seemed to have shaken it off in just a couple of seconds. How was she going to beat him?

Raven threw a quick punch at the assassin’s forehead, but he twisted away, meaning that she struck no more than a glancing blow. Before she could react the ninja struck like a snake, twisting Raven off balance and wrapping his forearm around her neck, locking her in a stranglehold. Raven’s training took over and she tensed her neck muscles just in time to prevent her windpipe from being crushed, but try as she might she could not break the hold the assassin had on her. She fought to stop the pressure that was building on her throat, but it was no good – he was too strong. Blackness fringed Raven’s field of vision as her brain was slowly starved of oxygen. She thought of the agent and the two boys being chased to the roof by the remaining assassins, she thought of how she was going to fail them. She looked out at the Tokyo skyline as she began to pass out, wondering if the view through the window was the last thing she’d ever see. The view through the window . . . the cracked window.

Raven didn’t hesitate for a moment. She drew on every iota of strength that was left in her body and threw the assassin over her shoulder. It was a simple enough judo throw, but the man attacking her was heavy in all his armour, despite his slight frame, and the move used that weight against him. The ninja sailed over Raven’s head, caught hopelessly off-guard by the speed and suddenness of the move, and smashed through the huge picture window, tumbling in the void. They were fifty storeys up and there was no way but straight down. As he fell he did not make a single sound.

Through the shattered window, from far below, Raven could hear car horns and screams. If that didn’t draw the attention of the authorities then she didn’t know what would. She hurried from the dining area and across the corridor into her own room. Lying there on the bed were the dual katanas that she could very much have used just a few minutes earlier.

‘Come on, girls,’ Raven said as she picked up the twin scabbards and strapped them to her back, ‘we’ve got work to do.’

Otto and Wing raced up the stairwell towards the roof, three steps at a time. Agent Zero was still ahead of them, shouting at them to keep moving as they approached the top. Just a couple of flights of stairs behind them the half dozen ninjas who had followed them into the stairwell continued their relentless, silent pursuit.

As they reached the door at the top of the stairs Agent Zero pulled a tiny remote control from his pocket and thumbed a button. The door responded by quickly sliding aside and letting them out on to the roof. They sprinted out into the daylight and Agent Zero pointed to a metal box on the opposite edge of the roof.

‘Those are the escape lines. If we can make it there we’re home and dry,’ he said, his breath short from their headlong flight up the stairs. He turned back towards the doorway and thumbed the remote again. The door started to slide shut, but just as it was about to shut completely a black-gloved hand shot into the narrowing gap between the door and the frame, holding it open. Otto could hear the motors driving the door squealing in protest as the gap was forced open until suddenly there was a terminal-sounding grinding noise from the door and the motors gave up the fight. The ninja easily pushed the door fully open and he and his companions spilled out of the stairwell and on to the roof.

Agent Zero and the two boys tore across the roof towards the escape lines; there was no way back now and they were in no condition to go toe-to-toe with these super-human assailants. They were only ten metres from the metal box that housed their apparent means of escape when there was a sudden roaring noise and a large black helicopter soared up and over the edge of the roof, dropping into a hover directly above the escape lines. The large side door of the helicopter slid open and a man wearing a smooth black glass mask and a long black coat leant out, sighting the boys down the long barrel of a rifle with a powerful telescopic sight mounted on its back.

‘Stay where you are,’ an amplified voice ordered from the hovering chopper. ‘Surrender yourselves now and there will be no need for any further unpleasantness.’

Agent Zero turned to look behind them. The ninjas were now only twenty metres away, halfway between them and the stairwell. They were trapped.

‘What are you doing, Cypher?’ Agent Zero yelled. ‘This is a G.L.O.V.E. safe house! Are you insane? This is an act of war!’

‘No, Agent Zero, this is an act of war,’ Cypher replied and squeezed the trigger. The round hit Agent Zero squarely in the chest, killing him instantly.

‘Now, place your hands on your heads and kneel down, unless you want to join the agent in the afterlife,’ Cypher continued.

‘Do as he says,’ Otto whispered to Wing. He hated the idea of surrender but it was their only option. At least if they were alive there was a chance that they could work out a way to escape later.

‘I would rather die fighting,’ Wing said, taking a step towards the helicopter as it slowly dropped down on to the roof.

‘Wing! No, we don’t know anything about these people, they could be –’

If Wing was paying any attention to Otto he showed no sign of it. Instead he took another couple of steps towards the helicopter, his long black hair whipped around by the downdraft from the rotors.

Cypher handed the rifle to someone else inside the helicopter and stepped down on to the roof. Wing stepped towards him.

‘Not one step closer, Fanchu.’ Cypher raised a large pistol and pointed it straight at Wing’s chest. ‘I’m quite aware of what you’re capable of.’

‘I’m not afraid of you,’ Wing replied, and took a single step towards Cypher.

‘Well, you should be,’ Cypher replied and shot Wing in the chest.

Wing’s eyes widened, his mouth falling open, one hand moving involuntarily to the wound. As he pulled his hand away it was covered in blood, and he dropped to his knees, desperately trying to take a few ragged breaths before falling forward on to the concrete.

‘Noooooo!!!’ Otto screamed and leapt forward, his usual cold logic suddenly replaced by fury. He felt hands clamp down on his shoulders like vices as two of the ninjas who had chased them to the roof pushed him back to his knees.

‘You four,’ Cypher gestured to the remaining ninjas, ‘load the body on to the transport.’

He walked over to where the two other ninjas were pinning Otto down on his knees. All that Otto could see as Cypher looked down at him was the reflection of his own furious face, tears running down his cheeks.

‘And you, Mr Malpense,’ Cypher said quietly, ‘I have no use for you.’ He looked up at the two assassins who held Otto in place.

‘Kill him.’

Raven ran out on to the roof just in time to see Cypher shoot Wing. She gasped as the tall Asian boy collapsed to the ground, feeling the rage rising inside her as she sprinted silently across the roof towards the helicopter and Cypher. She had no idea why he would suddenly choose to attack them this directly. He could not hope to get away with this without G.L.O.V.E. knowing that he’d gone rogue. This was a direct attack, in the open – he was either insane or had no fear of the consequences that his actions would inevitably have. She wasn’t sure which frightened her more.

She moved silently from shadow to shadow, using the cooling vents and air-conditioning plants that were dotted around the roof for cover. She had made her way to within ten metres of Otto when she heard Cypher speak.

‘Kill him.’

Raven did not stop to think. As she popped up from behind the vent that was concealing her she let a shuriken fly. It whistled past Cypher’s neck, just scratching him, and embedded itself in the metal skin of the helicopter.

The distraction this caused gave Raven the time she needed to close the distance between herself and Otto. The twin katanas slid from their scabbards on her back and she launched a withering assault on the two assassins, forcing them to release their hold on Otto in order to defend themselves.

Cypher, meanwhile, sprinted back towards the helicopter. The ninjas had loaded Wing’s body on board and were now climbing on. He leapt up into the fuselage as the sounds of the furious battle between Raven and his two assassins echoed from behind him.

‘Get us out of here. We’ve got what we came for,’ he barked at the pilot, who did not need to be told twice. He wrenched at the controls and the helicopter leapt into the air with a roar.

Raven could do nothing to stop the helicopter taking off – it was all she could do to hold her own against the two ninjas left on the roof and keep Otto alive. They had attacked relentlessly since she’d intervened to prevent Otto’s execution and despite her unparalleled physical condition she was starting to tire. Her attackers, though, never seemed to slow down, but just kept advancing remorselessly, driving her back.

‘Stay back, Otto,’ she said, keeping herself between the boy and the assassins.

Raven knew that she had to finish this as quickly as possible. The local authorities would already be on their way and she had to get word back to Nero of what had happened. She took a long, deep breath, trying to find her focus as the assassins advanced towards her again, side by side, their movements perfectly synchronised.

Raven leapt.

She sailed over their heads, her swords swivelling in her hands to point backwards as she flew through the air. She landed, dropped to one knee and, with her eyes closed, thrust the twin blades backwards with every ounce of her remaining strength.

Otto watched in astonishment as the two blades erupted from the black silk that covered the ninjas’ chests. Both of the assassins twitched a couple of times before they collapsed to their knees. Raven opened her eyes and pulled the swords forward again, yanking them free of the two bodies, which then slowly fell to the floor and lay still. Raven looked at the blades in surprise. They were spotless – there wasn’t a drop of blood on either of them.

‘What the –’ she said, but was cut short by an insistent beeping noise that had suddenly started to come from the two bodies. She’d heard that sound before. She instantly surveyed their surroundings – no immediate cover and no time to run, anyway.

Otto had no idea what was happening as Raven sprinted towards him and leapt forward, hitting him and pushing them both over the edge of the roof and into thin air, fifty storeys up.

Then the world exploded.

Cypher looked down as the helicopter climbed into the air. The entire top three storeys of the safe-house building had been consumed by the explosion; there was no way that anyone down there could have survived. He glanced at the body lying on the floor of the helicopter and felt a sense of satisfaction. They had achieved their objective, they had everything they needed, and it was just an additional bonus that Nero’s pet assassin was now out of the picture as well. He had recognised the other boy from the report that Nero had given on the recent fiasco that had taken place at H.I.V.E. and, while it was regrettable that the boy had been caught up in events, he had no reason to suppose that the world would mourn the passing of Otto Malpense.

‘Destination, sir?’ the co-pilot asked as they continued to gain altitude.

‘Set course for the Forge. Phase one of the operation is complete – radio ahead and give the order to commence preparation and load-out for phase two,’ Cypher replied.

If Nero thought he was having a bad day now, what was going to happen next would doubtless put it all into perspective.