Mark Walden > Quotes

“We have nothing to fear but fear itself," Otto replied. "Oh, and a megalomaniacal headmaster, the world's deadliets assassin, giant mutated plant monsters, an international cartel of supervillains, and the security forces of every country on earth, but other than that...just fear.”
― Mark Walden, The Overlord Protocol

“Life at H.I.V.E. may have its attractions after all, Otto thought. Friends, as they say, may come and go, but high-powered laser weapons are forever.”
― Mark Walden, H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education

“Keep an eye on that boy... he has potential”
― Mark Walden, H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education

“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?”
― Mark Walden, H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education

“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?”
― Mark Walden, H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education

“Do we get a bedtime story?" Otto asked cheekily. "Oh yes, of course. I think we'll have one of my favorites; it's called 'The Little Boy and the Tranquilizer Gun." Raven smiled in a rather unsettling way.”
― Mark Walden, The Overlord Protocol

“I hope you don't snore," Otto said, laughing.
"Like a chainsaw, my friend, like a chainsaw," Wing replied, grinning.”
― Mark Walden, H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education

“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.”
― Mark Walden, Deadlock

“I'll have to remember that for the future. When in a life-or-death battle, be sure to club unconscious everyone on your side as early on in the fight as possible," Laura said, laughing.”
― Mark Walden, H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education

“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.”
― Mark Walden, H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education

“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?”
― Mark Walden, H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education

“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.”
― Mark Walden, H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education

“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.”
― Mark Walden, H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education

“So you have put yourself through all of this just so that you can cheat in an exam,’ Wing said with a slight smile. ‘An exam, I might add, that you would almost certainly have passed with flying colours anyway.’

‘Well, it’s the principle of the thing,’ Otto replied with a grin.

‘I am not sure that I approve,’ Wing said, raising an eyebrow. ‘Cheats never prosper.’

‘You know, sometimes I really think that you might not be cut out for this place,’ Otto said. ‘I take it then that you won’t be needing a copy?’

‘Well,’ Wing replied, ‘I perhaps wouldn’t go so far as to say that –”
― Mark Walden, Escape Velocity

“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.”
― Mark Walden, Deadlock

“Your explanation has been quite clear, thank you, Franz,’ Wing said, still frowning. ‘I just think that financial corruption on this scale may be a little more than I can get my head around.’

‘Poor old ninja boy,’ Shelby said, smiling. ‘Knows twenty-seven ways to take you down with just his pinky, but can’t actually count to twenty-seven.’

‘So this makes perfect sense to you, I suppose,’ Wing said, handing the sheet to Shelby.

‘Yeah, it’s easy,’ Shelby said, pointing out one area of the diagram. ‘See this piece here is just gobbledegook.’ Her finger moved to another area. ‘Whereas this section is premium-grade incomprehensible gibberish and this section,’ her finger moved again, ‘appears to be mostly in Greek.’

‘Am I to take it that you have not studied for the test tomorrow at all then?’ Wing asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘Nope,’ Shelby said with a grin. ‘There’s going to be some good old-fashioned last-minute cramming later though. Either that or I’m going to just sit near my best bud Franz here and he’s going to write out all the answers in nice, b-i-i-i-i-g, easily legible letters. Right, bud?’

‘This is being what I normally do,’ Franz said with a sigh, ‘isn’t it?”
― Mark Walden, Deadlock

“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.”
― Mark Walden, Escape Velocity

“Bang," Otto said as he simultaneously triggered the detonators in all of the helicopter's remaining missiles.”
― Mark Walden, Aftershock

“There’s more than one way to sneak into a place, you know,’ Otto said, pulling his Blackbox out of his pocket and passing it to Laura. Laura glanced at the display, her eyes widening in shock.

‘That’s impossible,’ she whispered, not taking her eyes off the screen.

‘Apparently not,’ Otto said with a sly grin. ‘Want a copy?’

‘That would be cheating,’ Laura replied, handing the Blackbox back to Otto. ‘Of course I want a copy.’

‘A copy of what?’ Shelby said impatiently, trying and failing to grab the PDA from Otto.

‘Next week’s exam,’ Otto said quietly. ‘But I’m sure you’ll just be able to sneak in and steal one, what with you being so stealthy . . .’

Shelby looked half annoyed and half impressed.

‘How much?’ she said with a smile.

‘Well, there are a couple of things in the Science and Technology centre that I might like to borrow for a while,’ Otto replied.

‘I am surrounded by people of low moral character,’ Wing sighed.”
― Mark Walden, Escape Velocity

“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.”
― Mark Walden, The Overlord Protocol

“He turned towards Otto. ‘It’s good to see you too, Mr Malpense. Staying out of trouble, I hope?’

‘Of course,’ Otto replied. ‘You know me, Professor.’

‘Indeed I do, Mr Malpense, indeed I do,’ the Professor replied, ‘which is why I’ve activated the school’s long-range defence grid. Just as a precaution you understand.”
― Mark Walden, Deadlock

“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.”
― Mark Walden, H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education

“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.”
― Mark Walden, Escape Velocity

“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.”
― Mark Walden, H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education

“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.”
― Mark Walden, Dreadnought

“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.”
― Mark Walden, Aftershock

“Was that a Raven joke?’ Otto asked. ‘I can never tell.’

‘Oh, you can always spot my jokes, Mr Malpense,’ Raven said with a cold smile. ‘They’re the ones where you die laughing.’

‘Point taken,’ Otto said with a slightly nervous smile.

‘She seems to be . . . dare I say it . . . in a good mood,’ Nigel said as Raven walked back towards the cockpit.

‘Kinda scary, isn’t it,’ Shelby said. ‘It’s a bit like a shark smiling.”
― Mark Walden, Aftershock

“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.”
― Mark Walden, Escape Velocity

“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.”
― Mark Walden, Deadlock

“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.”
― Mark Walden, Aftershock