Just an idea I had. Continue…? Oh, and I'm not British, so I apologize for any mistakes.

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize is not mine.

The teenaged girl brushed her dark hair out of her eyes and sighed. Hefting the sniper in her hands, she took aim. Standing on the porch for no good reason. Idiot. And then she caught sight of his eyes. Wait. He's supposed to be 14? Wow. Life's been hard for him…

But she couldn't seem to take aim with the gun and shoot him. You have to do it! Otherwise they'll kill you! You need to shoot…I won't. I'll turn them in to the CIA or MI6. I…I can't do this anymore.

She hesitated, and lowered the sniper for a second. No. they're watching me. I'd better shoot…

The girl took aim and fired.

--

Alex's head whipped around as the bullet smashed into the red brick of his home. What the hell was that!? Then he traced the bullet's path with his eyes towards where the girl had been. Alex's eyes narrowed and he went in to call a cab. MI6 was going to know about this.

Meanwhile…

Kristen dashed down the stairs and paused to catch her breath. The sniper was securely in her purse. When she walked out of the posh apartments, nodding to the clerk as she went, Kristen was just another teenager; aged 15.

Kristen waved her hand and a taxi pulled up, and she requested she go downtown. I know they'd kill me; I'm going to MI6 headquarters and I didn't kill Rider. Shit.

"Oh yes and Mr…?"

"Call me Charlie," the cab driver said gruffly.

"We better get going fast."

"Whatever you say."

He dropped her off about ten minutes later in front of the 'Bank'.

"That'll be 7 pounds miss," the cab driver said, holding out his hand.

Kristen shuffled in her purse, careful to avoid the sniper as she pulled out ten pounds.

"Keep the change," she said, and walked into the building.

Minutes later, Alex Rider paid for the ride and entered the building. The clerk recognized him and nodded and he was let through. After he rose through the elevator to the seventh floor, someone ran into him. Mrs. Jones.

"Alex what brings you here?" she asked cautiously, surveying him.

"Someone just tried to kill me," he answered.

At once Mrs. Jones was alarmed. "Do you know who it was? Why?"

"I have no clue-"

A man in a dark suit interrupted.

"So sorry to interrupt, but Tulip, Alex, there's someone I feel you should meet."

"Who?" Alex asked, flicking his eyes behind the dark suited man.

Alan Blunt smiled grimly. "You'll see."

The three of them walked briskly along and stopped in front of Blunt's office. He took out a key and opened it, shooing them inside. Seated in front of a handsome desk, Kristen turned around and smiled.

Alex mentally gasped.

"It was you!"

She smiled. "Me."

"Yes! It was! I saw you walk out of the building across the street! You nearly killed me!"

Kristen's eyes narrowed. "If I really wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have missed the first time. If I'd really wanted to kill you, I'd have shot again. But I didn't."

"Alex, Kristen here was under blackmail by the Chinese triads. Not blackmail. If she didn't do as she said, they'd shoot her. She has been…very useful to the triads…she has-"

"Spied on Russia, staked out a Taiwanese factory, planted a bomb in Vietnam…" Kristen interrupted.

"She's around your age Alex," Alan Blunt addressed him.

Mrs. Jones finally reacted. "Why was she sent to kill Alex!? Why is she here now?! Who is she working for?!"

Blunt grimaced. "The triads still have a grudge against Alex for humiliating their men. Or so Kristen tells me. She was sent here to kill Alex…only she decided not to. She's being watched Tulip. Born ABC in America, with an American passport, has family in Taiwan…she was visiting China when they found her. Decided she'd be useful, and with an American passport she can go almost anywhere in the world."

"Unfortunately…" Kristen muttered.

"So why didn't she go to the CIA? Or the Taiwanese secret agency?" Alex interrupted.

"Because she was stuck in China. The triads had hold of her and sent her to do some jobs."

"Then why didn't she try and escape then?" Mrs. Jones asked.

Kristen sighed. "You might be determined to hate me; but I only tried to escape here because Great Britain is possibly the United States' most powerful and trusting ally. If I could get this far, I could guarantee a safe way back to the US."

Mr. Blunt coughed slightly.

"Yes?" Mrs. Jones snapped at him.

"I think…we could use Kristen to get into China again. With Alex."

"What!?" Alex yelped.

Kristen gave him a look. "Thanks," she muttered dryly.

"Well we need to watch the Triads, and Kristen would be perfect for that; she's Chinese."

"I didn't fulfill my mission. They'll just kill me!" Kristen's eyes were now boring holes in Blunts'. He coughed again.

"Well, we'll stage a death. Have the local newspapers say a boy has died from poisoning, and I think one did die, right around here, of drug abuse. We can put a photo of Alex in the paper; the triad man is bound to read it."

"If you think it'll work," Kristen seemed doubtful. "I have nothing to lose anyways."

"Alex?" Mrs. Jones asked.

"Why do I have to go then!? I'm not Chinese or anything! And they'd recognize me a mile away!"
"Alex…" Mr. Blunt pulled him outside.

"Yeah?"

"We need you to go you know, as a backup person; if she's killed or betrays us. We need information on the triads." He led Alex back inside.

"And if you two go together...I don't know. It's more natural than a child and an adult. And I know, you'll say you two look nothing like each other. You'll just sit next to each other on the plane; pretend you don't know each other. Oh…but you'll be living in an MI6 controlled hotel. At least the top floor. All the staff is our men; you'll be safe. And you'll have adjourning rooms."

"Fine." Alex muttered.

"I assure you, the CIA will hear of this Kristen," Blunt tried to assure her.

"As long as they believe us…we won't be killed."

--

The two of them were standing in front of Smithers, impatiently waiting for him to continue.

"Alex, this truly is good fun! And now you have another 14 year old with you! A girl! This has been very interesting, very interesting indeed. Thinking up these inventions! There's no better fun. Anyways, you have the expanding gum you have used before, a cell phone with the drugged dart, hit 9 three times, I guarantee you'll make use of it; the Triads are a nasty piece of work. You also have an exploding watch; click reset three times and get out of where ever you are in ten seconds. Oh, you also have an I-pod. Whatever you young people call it these days. It'll allow you to eavesdrop, very useful. That's all for you Alex. Now, Ms. Chang…A lipstick."

Kristen threw him a surprised look. "I don't use make up."

"Ah, but this lipstick…don't touch it. It's acid; it'll burn through anything. Swivel the product up, and use it to smear on anything. It'll eat right through."

"What color did you make it?" she asked sarcastically.

"Pink. And another, a mirror compact."

"Why do you think I'd carry around make up?"

"Because, that's what 14 year old girls think about. Anyways, this is a scanner. There's actual make up powder in here, so it'll look convincing. You pop out the mirror, like so," he demonstrated, "And it has a mini computer screen. Press this blue button and pass it over the object; it'll sense anything electronic."

She raised an eyebrow. "And this won't be detected by security? Both airports and the Triads?"

"It won't. Now, you also have earrings and a bracelet. I gather you have pierced ears?"

"Yes."

"Good. These are explodable earrings. Take them out and take off the backing, if you don't put it on within ten seconds it'll blow up. You have two of those."

"Are they tacky?" she asked, giving him a measured look.

"Sterling silver. They won't be noticeable. The bracelet is part of the set, it's a tracking device. You would press the middle jewel, fake by the way, three times and MI6 will have a tracking of you. If you are captured, this will be taken away from you so hit the right jewel. You also will have a pen, flashlight in there. If you pass the light over anything it'll be save onto a memory device and sent into MI6 headquarters."

"Now," his gaze bored into Alex's eyes, "You will not be separated while investigating, unless Kristen is reporting for the Triads. And that's all."

--

In time for the evening newspaper, MI6 sent out a man, acting as a newsboy. He had copies of the fake newspaper, toting Alex's death. MI6 had procured the Triad man's position, and sent Wolf acting the newsboy. He walked casually by an alleyway, then glanced up as though something had caught his eye. A Chinese man of about 32 stepped forward.

"Oh, 'ello mista. Wus jus' sellin' the evenin' news, wouldja like one? Only a pound," Wolf dropped into a street voice.

The man spoke in a cultured, accented voice. "Thank you," Wolf fumbled for the paper while the man fished for a bank note.

Wolf dropped the paper in the man's hand and was preparing to walk away when the man called out.

"Wait, this death…"

Wolf nodded solemnly. "Yep. One of ours. I knews him. Rather….odd in the head. Died. Just over there," he pointed wildly with his finger. "Dunno how. Poisons wut' the guv'nor and them be sayin'."

The man looked pleased. "Thank you."

"And you."

Wolf walked away, but as soon as he was out of ear shot he dashed away into MI6 HQ.

"Mission complete."

Yes, another completely random idea. Should this be a oneshot…or a story?