Chapter 1
Two months. That's how long his last mission had taken. Two freakin months. 'It'll be easy' they said 'quick and easy' they said. But then again, that shouldn't be a surprise, he's Alex Rider and none of his missions were ever anything other than practically suicidal.
If all had gone to plan then he'd probably have managed to get back to his house in Chelsea within a week. But things never go to plan. Infiltrating yet another terrorist organisation had been surprisingly simple for Alex, he'd had plenty of practice after all, but what he didn't count on was there being a mole in MI6. Someone in the organisation had been bribed and had subsequently shared every detail they had about the teens mission.
This, of course, led to Alex being captured and held for weeks in an attempt to retrieve as much information as possible and, even though he sent out a distress signal, it quickly became clear he had no backup. Long story short, Alex managed to overpower his guards and do what he does best, blow up the terrorist building with the biggest explosion possible. Mission success. But, as usual, not without its scars.
After two months of almost non-existent sleep, Alex enters his house in Chelsea and glances around quickly for threats and makes his way upstairs. He doesn't stop until he reaches his room, face planting on the bed and falling into unconsciousness almost immediately.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
After what seems like mere minutes there's a sharp, loud knock on the front door.
Alex is woken and is instantly on high alert, sitting up straight and wincing at the pull of his stitches. A quick glance at the clock puts him in an even worse mood. 4AM. Two hours. Two freakin hours of sleep. Alex was pretty certain he was going to murder whoever was on the other side of that door.
'Better be important' he grumbled to himself as he retrieves one of a number of guns hidden around the house and silently makes his way downstairs.
Taking a deep breath, he readies himself and puts on his 'spy mask'. Cold indifference. Unreadable. Mentally counting to 3, he pulled the door open, keeping the gun at the ready but out of view in case of any unwelcome visitors. Though to be honest, those kinds of visitors don't usually knock.
The faces which greeted him on the other side of the door made him wish he'd never gotten out of bed. He could have just pretended to be out, why didn't he think of that earlier? It would have been better than this.
K-unit. The one and only. Wolf, snake, eagle and even the 4th SAS member, turned spy, Fox (or Ben as Alex had come to know him by last time they had met). The whole bloody zoo had arrived and was standing at his doorstep. Perfect.
"There better be a good reason for this" Alex glares, dropping the gun back down to his side and maintaining his mask with ease even with the numerous questions flying round his head. None of them looked surprised that it was him but he could see the undeniable flicker of concern that crossed their faces as they looked him over and saw the bruises littering his face and the careful way in which he held himself. Wolf instinctually stood a little straighter when he saw the firearm in the spy's hand
"God cub, you look like crap" was the genius response eagle shot back as he barged into the house with a somewhat forced grin on his face. The others took this as their cue to awkwardly make their way into the house too and Alex couldn't muster up the strength to stop them. And at this moment in time, when his whole body is battered and bruised and littered with future scars, he just wanted to sleep away his pain.
With a roll of his eyes the teen spy pushed the door shut and stalked past the gathering in the hallway, trying to hide his new limp and the favouring of his left side as much as he could, not wanting to show any weakness, especially not in front of his current audience. He made his way straight to the kitchen. Coffee. He was going to need coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.
