H.I.V.E. (short for Higher Institute of Villainous Education) is a series of young adult novels by Mark Walden.

Overview H.I.V.E., the Higher Institute of Villainous Education, is a top-secret school inside an active volcano. The school, part of G.L.O.V.E. (the Global League of Villainous Enterprises), was built to train children to become criminal masterminds. Only children who have exhibited a villainous skill are accepted at the school, which has four streams: Alpha, Henchman, Technical, and Political/Financial. Each stream has a color, which is visible on the uniforms: Alpha is black, Henchman is blue, Technical is white, and Political/Financial is grey.

Otto Malpense is a thirteen-year-old criminal genius selected to join H.I.V.E. In the first book, Otto discovers that all is not as it seems and sets out to solve the mystery behind the school and its organization. Otto and his friends Wing, Shelby, and Laura try to defy headmaster Maximilian Nero and escape H.I.V.E. alive, an unprecedented feat.

Books Higher Institute of Villainous Education (2006) The Overlord Protocol (2007) Escape Velocity (2008) Interception Point/Spook's Tale (2009 World Book Day special) Dreadnought (2009) Rogue (2010) Zero Hour (2010) Aftershock (2011) Deadlock (2013) Bloodline (2021)

Reception H.I.V.E. has received mostly-favorable reviews. Jack Heath, author of Money Run, said that "if you can suspend your disbelief far enough, you will find it a rewarding read ... The dialogue is witty, the plot twists deft, and the setting inventive, with plenty of knowing nods to the comic books and Bond films which pioneered the super villain tropes." The first book received a score of 4/5 on ABC, where it was described as having "adventure, sacrifice, mystery, surprises and evil doings."

Plots

Higher Institute of Villainous Education After realising that government funding which keeps the orphanage from closing is being cut, Otto Malpense creates a remotely-controlled device that can hack a teleprompter and cause it to hypnotize whoever looks into it. Malpense created the device to embarrass the Prime Minister during a speech. After achieving his objective, he is ambushed and stunned by Raven (an assassin who works for H.I.V.E) and awakens to find himself in a helicopter across from a stranger. The stranger is Wing Fanchu, and they quickly become friends. When the helicopter lands, Otto is informed that he will spend the next six years at H.I.V.E. Dr. Nero, H.I.V.E's headmaster, is interested to know that it took more than two shots from Sleepers (knock-out weapons designed to replace tranquilizer darts) to capture Wingenough to send a normal boy into a weeks-long coma. He expresses his concerns to Raven and asks her to monitor Wing and Otto.

Otto's skills have identified him as an Alpha: a future leader. He has no intention of staying in this new prison, but becomes friends with others who have been brought to H.I.V.E., including Laura Brand, Shelby Trinity, Nigel Darkdoom, and Franz Argentblum. Otto teams up with Wing, Laura, and Shelby to hatch an escape plan. They travel through the hidden parts of the school, but as they nearly reach their freedom Dr. Nero reveals that they have been on an impossible mission. Nigel stirs up trouble when an enormous, flesh-eating plant (named Violet) he has accidentally bred escapes from the hydroponics lab. Everyone (including the students) jumps into action to successfully save the school, but Dr. Nero and many others are injured. Otto and Wing have a small window of opportunity to leave the school forever, but at the last second they decide to stay. Number One, Dr. Nero's boss and leader of G.L.O.V.E., has plans for Otto Malpense.

The Overlord Protocol When Wing learns about his father's death, he selects Otto (supervised by Raven) to accompany him to the funeral. Before they can go, the trio is attacked by mysterious assassins. Wing appears to be shot by Cypher, a member of G.L.O.V.E. who wants to seize power and close H.I.V.E. Otto and Raven barely escape and hide in one of Raven's numerous safe houses, awaiting instructions from Dr. Nero. Raven tries to discover what Cypher is up to, with Otto at her side. They discover that the entities they battled at the original safe house are robots engineered for combat. Cypher attacks H.I.V.E., threatening to kill the students to get what he wants. Wing is found alive, shot by a tranquilizer disguised as a bullet, and joins his friends to save the school. They win the battle; Cypher is wounded, and Nero insists that he appear dead to everyone but himself and the doctor who treated him. Otto and his friends learn that Cypher is Wing's father, which explains his kidnapping of Wing. During Dr. Nero's interrogation, Cypher says that his motive for attacking the school was the Renaissance Initiative project. The initiative seeks to recreate Overlord, homicidal AI that wants to kill everything on the planet. Cypher believed that with the Overlord Protocola device allowing him to hack everything on the planetand H.I.V.E. as hostage, he could attack the Renaissance Initiative (which is led by Number One). Otto and his friends are glad to be out of danger and home for good, excited that the H.I.V.E. mind's personality is restored.

Escape Velocity Nero is kidnapped by H.O.P.E,, the Hostile Operative Prosecution Executive (a new anti-terrorist organisation), and the Contessa becomes headmistress of H.I.V.E. with an elite guard known as the Phalanx. Otto, Wing, Laura, Shelby and Raven escape from the school after being extracted by Raven, and join forces with Diabolus Darkdoom, Nigel's supposedly-traitorous, dead father, who takes charge from a massive submarine known as the Megalodon. Overlord, inside Number One's body, is behind the plot. Otto is Number One's clone, designed as a host body for Overlord. They assault H.O.P.E to rescue Nero, but are captured and sent into space to Number One's hideout. Otto narrowly escapes being taken over by Number One/Overlord, and must delete H.I.V.E.mind. H.I.V.E. is under attack by executioners known as the Reapers, the teachers are shut out of H.I.V.E.'s systems, and the Contessa sacrifices herself to save the school by igniting a pool of jet fuel.

Dreadnought The arrival of new student Lucy Dexter confuses the students, but they quickly befriend her. On their way to a training mission, they visit the Dreadnought (a new mobile command center for G.L.O.V.E.) The mission is cancelled when the Dreadnought is attacked by a rogue G.L.O.V.E. member. Nero, Raven and the students narrowly escape, but Diabolus Darkdoom is left behind and enemy agents are sent after them. They discover that Lucy is actually the Contessa's granddaughter and can control people with her voice. They try to rescue Diabolus and foil a plan to use American weaponry, controlled by Air Force One, to erupt a supervolcano and destroy civilization. They rescue Diabolus, but Otto must stay behind on the out-of-control Air Force One to disarm the weapon. He passes out after the plane crashes, leaving him in the custody of the U.S. government. Trent talks to the president, and injects Otto with Animus Fluid.

Rogue Otto has been infected by Animus, an organic supercomputer which can be programmed by H.O.P.E. to make him do their bidding. With Ghost, a superhuman assassin, he attacks members of G.L.O.V.E. Raven is on a mission to find Sebastian Trent, first going to a facility where there might be information. She threatens Khan, who begins to unlock his computer. As he is entering his password, he is killed by a remotely-controlled microexplosive device in his skull. She takes his laptop, and Nero picks her up for the G.L.O.V.E. council meeting. At the meeting of the remaining G.L.O.V.E. members, who are waiting for Darkdoom to fail, Darkdoom is pressured to make a decision and issues a capture-or-kill order for Otto. During a private meeting with Nero, Raven sees a sniper (Ghost) and barely saves Darkdoom from assassination. While Darkdoom is in the H.I.V.E. medical center, Professor Pike and Laura Brand try to fix the school's technical problems. Raven hacks Khan's laptop with Professor Pike's help, and finds a picture of a seed. After consulting the biotechnology teacher, she learns that the seed is most commonly found in the Amazon. Wing (who wants to find Otto) stows away with her on the Shroud, but they are captured by H.O.P.E. Amidst chaos at H.I.V.E., Nero brings in another expert on artificial intelligence (the newly-freed Cypher) to help investigate. They believe it is Overlord, but it is H.I.V.E.mind rebuilding himself. Organic supercomputers repair themselves as seed programs and, when they reach the self-awareness stage, they can exert control. Raven's original purpose for going to the Amazon was to seek help from an old friend, who betrays her. Carlos Chavez, the ruler of Brazil, had pinpointed Raven's arrival. Chavez had enlisted a commander, Rafael, but Raven and Wing defeat Rafael's men and Raven cuts Rafael's throat. After the mission's failure, Chavez (defying Nero's wishes) posts a priority-one notice on GLOVE.net for Operation Raven: to kill Raven. Lin Feng had supported Chavez's assassination attempt on Raven to prevent Nero from gaining power because Lin Feng knew that Chavez was too unruly to control the council, and Lin Feng would eventually take over G.L.O.V.E.

Cypher takes advantage of his freedom to look for Wing at H.O.P.E.'s base, accompanied by Laura, Shelby, and Lucy as hostages he took when he escaped. The girls escape from him and free Raven; when Otto begins to resist Animus (when he was told to kill Wing), Wing escapes to join them. Otto distracts Ghost; Raven beheads Ghost, but Cypher finds the group and tries to kill Otto to protect the world from Overlord. Cypher is shot dead by Wing and Otto is nearly taken over by Overlord, but Laura uses the neural pulse device to eject Overlord and Animus from his system (nearly killing Otto). Sebastian Trent attacks them, but is taken over by Animus and killed by Raven. The students return to H.I.V.E., where Otto recovers and tells Nero that Animus tried to destroy organic material; with the Overlord (not H.I.V.E.mind, as Otto had hoped) seed growing in him, they fused to become extremely powerful. Every time Otto tried to hold them back, he weakened.

Because Darkdoom believes that his old idea of ruling with respect was not good enough and his injuries need more time to recover, he suggested that Nero take over G.L.O.V.E. and add the fear that Number One had. During their virtual meeting, with only nine members (including Nero) remaining, G.L.O.V.E. was in peril. Nero proposes himself as the leader, but Lin Feng opposes him. With no other ally (because Raven killed Chavez), Lin Feng angrily leaves the council. He is part of The Disciples, and talks to Pietor Furan about what happened. Furan orders Lin Feng to apologize to Nero and regain his seat in G.L.O.V.E. Furan then tells Dr. Creed (whom he saved from the rainforest) to perform an autopsy on Trent, who has been dead for two weeks. It is believed that the Animus would be inert, but it emerges and consumes Dr. Creed; the Overlord-Animus combination survives in the doctor.

Zero Hour Overlord has developed the power to move from body to body if the host has been exposed to Animus. Lucy and Otto share a moment, which makes Shelby laugh and Laura jealous. New machines have been developed, and their first exposure to the public evokes terror as Overlord takes control of the facility (an Advanced Weapons facility in Colorado). Raven is exposed to Animus, and is controlled by Overlord. When Raven, Furan and a team try to capture Otto and his friends, they board Darkdoom's Megalodon ship. H.I.V.Emind is transferred to Otto's mind, since Raven shut off H.I.V.Emind from the rest of the school.