Mark Walden Quotes

Otto said, raising an eyebrow. 'You know it's almost like people don't want me interfering with their highly advanced experimental weapon systems these days.'

'How very inconsiderate of them,' Raven said.

Good night's sleep?' she enquired, still smiling.

'For Wing, certainly,' Otto replied, 'though possibly not anyone within a hundred yards of him. If whales snore, that's what it sounds like.'

Wing smiled guiltily. 'I did warn you.'

'It's a sign of a good healthy set of lungs, at least that's what my dad always used to tell me,' Laura said, chuckling, 'though I think there were a few nights where my mum was not far from taking a kitchen knife and checking to see if his were as healthy as he claimed, if you know what I mean.'

Otto nodded in agreement. 'I wonder if you snore after you get hit with a sleeper?'

'Don't even think about it,' Wing replied.

One minute I was at home reading in bed and the next thing I knew I was waking up on board a helicopter with some crazy Russian woman.'

'Oh don't worry, we're familiar with the crazy Russian woman,' Otto laughed. 'One piece of advice though: I wouldn't call her that to her face.'

'Not if you're a fan of the whole not eating through a straw thing anyway,' Shelby said, grinning.

'I do not believe that Raven would ever assault a student without good reason,' Wing said with a frown.

'I know. I was just, you know, exaggerating, because . . . funny . . . never mind,' Shelby said with a sigh. Otto tried very hard not to laugh.

I don't really want to have to review the safety procedures for your department yet again, Professor. Especially when you've been doing so well with the departmental fatalities.'

'Only three this year!' the Professor said, smiling happily before noticing the look on Nero's face. 'Which is, of course, three too many.

Otto suspected that Franz would have been quite prepared to go to lunch naked if that was what was necessary and, despite his best efforts, a mental image of this formed that Otto feared might haunt him for ever.

Wing looked at him with concern. 'Are you all right, Otto? You've gone quite pale. Is the Contessa trying to manipulate you again?'

In Otto's mind's eye a naked Franz was pouring baked beans straight from the tin into his mouth.

'No, Wing, it's much worse than that . . .

Indeed,' Wing said with a nod, 'though I am not sure that it is a positive thing that what qualifies as a good day at H.I.V.E. is one where no one was either killed or permanently maimed.

I think the Stealth and Evasion lesson was the strangest,' Lucy said. 'Not so much the lesson as the teacher actually. I mean . . . Ms Leon. She's . . . well . . .'

'A cat?' Otto offered with a cheery smile.

'Yeah . . . yeah, that's really the only way of putting it,' Lucy said, sounding slightly bewildered.

'Don't worry, you get used to it,' Shelby said. 'Besides, it's only when the giant mutated flesh-eating plants and android ninjas are around that things really get weird.'

Lucy started to laugh but stopped when she saw the expression on the other students' faces.

'That was a joke, right?' Lucy asked.

Bang, Otto said as he simultaneously triggered the detonators in all of the helicopter's remaining missiles.

Accurate enough to make the shots you need to make, Franz?' Otto asked.

'Yes, they are being very nice,' Franz said, nodding happily. 'Do not worry, my lack of accuracy on the range was due to the compensating for increased muzzle velocity.'

'Right,' Otto said, not bothering to point out that if they had been keeping a tally his shots would have outscored all the rest of them put together.

I always say that it's not really been a good day if you haven't caused a major diplomatic incident by lunchtime,' Otto said with a grin.

Well,' Shelby said with a crooked smile, 'look at it this way. If you're a member of the Disciples right now, you have Otto tracking you down and Raven coming after you when he does.'

'Actually,' Wing said, 'when you put it like that, I almost . . . almost . . . feel sorry for them.

Well,' Otto gave a sly smile, 'I just happened to come across this keycard last night, and it looked like it might come in handy.'

'That keycard was secured in the vault, Mr Malpense,' Ms Leon said sharply, 'a vault that is supposed to be impregnable, I might add.'

'Someone must have left the door open,' Otto replied, a look of false innocence on his face. 'That's the only explanation I can think of.

The fact of the matter is that within a couple of weeks all of this will seem quite normal. That's when you know you've really got a problem. But I've found a solution, something that can make all of the weirdness worth putting up with, something I call . . . senior boys' water polo practice. Every Wednesday night – bring refreshments.

Her keyboard. "There," she said eventually. "Bringing up real-time scan." The display changed to a zoomed-in view of the Animus penetration around the object, as several of the tendrils of the black fluid crept toward it. Creed's eyes widened as just a moment later he saw the Animus shrink away from the object. It was impossible to say whether it had been driven back or had recoiled voluntarily, but the reason was at least clear why this tiny part of Malpense's brain had remained free of Animus. Unfortunately, it left them no closer to understanding what the object was. That would require an invasive,

H.I.V.E. will not tolerate unauthorized violence between students, especially students that have only been here for a matter of hours."
"I was just introducing myself," Otto replied innocently. "I'm afraid I appear to have inadvertently offended them somehow.

If you must know where I was this morning,' Shelby said, 'Professor Pike never misses breakfast and I was just taking advantage of that fact to . . . erm . . . visit his office.' She produced a sheet of folded paper from the pocket of her black uniform jumpsuit. 'I know his memory's probably not that great these days, but he really shouldn't just write his master server access passwords down like that.'

'And he just left that lying around, did he?' Wing asked with a slight frown.

'Yeah, just lying around . . . in his safe,' Shelby said with a mischievous smile, 'but if you're going to rely on such basic security you're really asking for this kind of thing to happen.

Keep an eye on that boy... he has potential

Well, at least we were getting the good night's sleep,' Franz said, cheerfully.

'I'd hardly call being knocked unconscious with sedative gas a good night's sleep,' Nigel said, frowning.

You!' the first guard yelled. 'Hands on your head, don't move.'

Wing slowly put his hands on his head, showing no hint of emotion.

'What the hell?' the other guard said. 'He's just a kid.' He pulled a pair of handcuffs from his belt and slowly moved behind Wing and grasped one of his wrists. In one fluid motion, Wing grabbed the guard's own wrist with his free hand and twisted hard. There was a sickening crunch, the guard howling in pain as Wing stepped backwards, too close for the man to bring his gun to bear. He pulled the guard's wounded arm further over his own shoulder, dragging the man closer, and jerked his head backwards, his skull connecting with the man's nose with a crunch. Wing rotated around the guard, pressing the wounded arm up into the small of the man's back and ducking behind him, giving the other guard no clean shot without hitting his associate. He pushed hard, sending the stunned guard staggering towards his partner, and delivered a sharp kick to the base of his spine. The wounded guard's momentum sent him careering into the other man, yowling with pain and confusion.

Wing took two short steps and in a blur of movement pulled the handcuffs from the wounded man's belt and snapped them closed around both his broken wrist and the wrist of the unwounded guard's gun hand.

Wing pressed his fingers into the pressure point behind the wounded guard's ear and he collapsed, instantly unconscious, pulling the other guard do

What?' Otto said as he finished soldering one of the contact points on the device in front of him. 'It's not like we're being trained to follow the rules here. If anything, I think Nero should reward us for our determination and initiative.'

'Can you fit "determination and initiative" on a headstone?' Laura asked as she leant in to examine Otto's handiwork.

So you see, you have nothing to be afraid of.
Oh no, thought Otto, just squads of hired goons wandering around with experimental energy weapons. Nothing to be afraid of at all.

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to your new home.' He gestured to the stone walls of the cavern that surrounded them. 'Your lives as you once knew them are over,' he continued. 'You have been selected, all of you, the worst, the most cunning, the most mischievous minds from around the world . . . selected to become part of an institution like no other. You have all exhibited certain unique abilities, abilities that set you apart from the mediocrity of the teeming masses and which mark you out as the leaders of tomorrow. Here, in this place, you will be furnished with the knowledge and experience to best exploit your own natural abilities, to hone your craft to a cutting edge.'

He paused and slowly surveyed the pale, wide-eyed faces before him.

'Each of you has within you a rare quality, a gift if you will, a special talent for the supremely villainous. Society would have us believe that this is an undesirable characteristic, something that should be subdued, controlled, destroyed. But not here . . . no, here we want to see you blossom into all that you can be, to see your innate wickedness flourish, to make you the very worst that you can be.'

He stepped out from behind the lectern and walked to the edge of the raised platform. As he loomed over them he seemed to grow taller and some of those at the front of the group edged backwards nervously.

'For today all of you have the unique honour and privilege of becoming the newest students

Wing watched her leave and turned to Otto. 'My father once told me that only the foolish man pulls on the tiger's tail as it dangles from the tree.' It was the first time that Otto had seen him smile.

Otto grinned at Wing. 'True, but how else do you find out if it's a tiger at all?

So what have you done this time, Malpense?'

Otto smiled as he heard the familiar soft Scottish accent of Laura Brand behind him. He turned to face her and returned her wry, lopsided smile.

'What on earth could you possibly mean?' he replied with a look of wounded innocence.

'Well, a full-school assembly usually means that something has gone really horribly wrong and I find it hard to believe that you're not involved if that's the case,' she grinned. 'So, come on, spill it.

Darkdoom? Darkdoom did this?" Nero was visibly surprised. He placed a hand on his forehead, rubbing his temples. "Oh, why is it always the bald ones?

Perhaps they never left the island when construction was complete," Otto replied.
Wing raised an eyebrow. "A true job for life."
"Or a life for a job," Otto countered. He wouldn't be at all surprised, given the emphasis on total secrecy, if H.I.V.E. offered an "aggressive" retirement package for lower-level employees. Here, being fired was probably a term that was taken a little too literally.

That's it,' Shelby said as they ran along behind Raven. 'From now on no one's dead until I read the autopsy report.'

'Such a report could be faked,' Wing observed.

'Hey, only people who haven't come back from the grave get to have an opinion,' Shelby said quickly. 'So that counts you out, zombie boy.'

'Strictly speaking I am not a zombie since I did not actually die,' Wing said. As usual it was impossible to tell if he was joking or not.

I hope you are all having a nice sleep?' Franz ventured as he and Nigel sat down.

'Yes, fine thanks. You?' Laura replied.

'Ja, I am being able to sleep, despite my great hunger.' Franz gave them a serious look, obviously keen to stress the great hardship he was enduring. 'Have any of you seen a snack machine?'

Nigel sighed. 'Franz, we're going to breakfast in ten minutes, what do you need a snack machine for?'

'To be building up my energy levels for a long day of lessons, of course.' Franz gave Nigel a slap on the back that, judging by Nigel's pained expression, was a little overenthusiastic. 'And you will be needing building up too, my friend. Do not worry, Franz will turn you into a real man.' Otto noted the slightly frightened look on Nigel's face and guessed that he was less than keen to be the first person to try the Argentblum Diet.

'Anyway, why have vending machines when none of us have any money?' Otto asked. The apparent lack of any form of currency on H.I.V.E. was something that Otto had actually given a lot of thought. He had finally reached the conclusion that if money truly was the root of all evil it might just be adding fuel to the fire to introduce the concept to H.I.V.E.

'Ja, I have been thinking this too but I am hoping that the machines will be free of charge. That would be seeming sensible, ja?'

Otto doubted very much that the words 'free snack food vending machines' and 'sensible

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.'

'And the selfless spirit of teamwork continues to burn brightly at H.I.V.E.,' Otto said. 'You know, it's actually quite moving.'

'Hey,' Shelby said, 'it's not my fault you're the slowest zebra.

I'm sure that there must have been times when you have read books or watched films and found yourself secretly wishing for the villain to win. Why? Isn't that against the rules by which our society lives? Why should you feel this way? It's simple, really; the villain is the true hero of these tales, not the well-intentioned moron who somehow foils their diabolical scheme. The villain get's all the best lines, has the best costumes, has unlimited power and wealth- why on earth would anyone not want to be the villain?

We'd better get a move on,' Shelby said, quickly doing up the fastenings on her own suit. 'Francisco said that the Professor has some cool new toys for us.'

'I believe he actually said assault weapons,' Wing said.

'Right,' Shelby said. 'New toys!'

'You know, I do worry about you sometimes,' Wing said, shaking his head.

'What can I say? I'm a twenty-first-century girl. Who wants flowers and chocolates, when you can have body armour and bullets?' Shelby said, giving Wing a quick peck on the cheek as she walked out of the room.

'Is it right that I should occasionally be slightly frightened of my girlfriend?' Wing asked as he watched her leave.

'As I understand it, that's perfectly normal,' Otto replied with a grin.

Missing you already,' Otto said as Shelby hurried after Laura. 'Or it might just be stomach cramps, it's hard to tell, to be honest.

OK, no problem,' Shelby said confidently.

'I can assure you that it will be a problem, young lady,' Nathaniel said with a frown. 'That locking system is a third generation, pre-shared key system with passive intrusion detection.'

'Like I said,' Shelby said, smiling, 'no problem.

Yeah, I think that Raven woman must not have been too pleased when I tasered her,' Penny replied with a lopsided grin.

'You are tasering Raven!' Franz said slightly too loudly as he sat down on the sofa. 'This is not being a clever thing to do.'

'That's one way of putting it,' Nigel said as he sat down next to Franz. 'Glad to see that you still have all your limbs at least.'

'I doubt that Raven would have resorted to dismemberment except under circumstances of extreme provocation,' Wing said with a slight frown.

'I was jok - Never mind,' Nigel said, rolling his eyes.