lmao guess who's back on their bullshit (it's me.) I'm so sorry that I'm out here writing a new story when I never finished my old one but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ what can you do. I think that the reason I find it so hard to write my other story is that I started it like two years ago and just never really got my head in the game so I'm probably going to delete it. Whoops. But I'm going to try and keep this one short and maybe hopefully finish a story for the first time in my life. Anyways, I actually sort of have a plot so wish me luck. Also, I'm going to be dropping references to different fandoms that I'm into so if you can identify any of them drop a line in the comments and I'll send you lots of mental kudos.
Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider or Percy Jackson lmao
Alex was well practiced in the art of stealth, having trained on it knowingly and otherwise for more than seventeen years now. But none the less, the subtle sounds of his converse seemed to echo off the bleached white walls of the bank. The marble floor underneath magnified every scuff of his foot and the gentle click of his heel hitting the ground and seemed to bound off and made the hallway seem even larger than it was with its' high ceilings and too bright lights.
It was November and the weather outside was no happier than he was. If there had been windows in the corridor it would have shown the ever present grey of the sky already darkening despite only being slightly passed five in the afternoon. Alex counted the doors as he passed them, four-fourteen, four-thirteen, four-twelve, turn left at the potted plant that was hiding two different cameras, four-oh-nine, at four-oh-three he stopped and knocked three times loud and clear. Without pausing for permission he turned the handle and stepped through the doorway.
Alan Blunt sat statuesque behind his large wooden desk, his eyes were the only thing moving as he scanned the lines of text on the document in front of him. Tulip Jones stood just to his right, offering Alex the barest trace of a smile as she gestured for him to have a seat. Only as he did so did the MI6 director stir as he gently closed the document and met the boys eyes.
"Alex, you're looking..." Blunt hesitated as small talk clearly wasn't his strong suit. "well". Alex offered a nod in acknowledgment offering back no such pleasantries. "We've called you here to offer you a vacation of sorts. While this will still be classified as a mission, and you will be required to gather information, it should be a very simple one and a change of scenery will be good for you."
"A simple mission?" Alex frowned, remembering all the other times that he had been sent on seemingly 'simple' missions that wound up with him nearly being killed.
"Yes." Blunt pulled a photo out of the file that he had been previously reading and layed(?) it on the desk between them. A young man, around Alex's age smiled back in what was clearly a school picture. He had curly brown hair tucked under a beanie, and the beginnings of a scruffy goatee growing on his chin. He was wearing a tie-dye shirt with large print proclaiming 'Save The' something or other, the rest of the words had been cut off. "This is Grover Underwood, or at least that is the name he goes by. From what we know, he's not dangerous"
"Then who is he?"
"We don't know. He might no be dangerous, but he has a record of hanging out with people who are." Blunt reached into his folder again and pulled out a few more pictures, each one showing Grover with different teens, all were ranging in age from the youngest looking to be no more than seven or eight to what seemed to be more recent phots where the teens were closer to Alex's age.
"He also has a record of being seen with people right before they disappear for weeks, months or even years. Most of them reappear but there have been several incidents regarding these people." He put one photo on top of the others, showing a slightly younger Grover with three teens, it was slightly blurry looking as if it had been captured using an old cell phone or maybe a CCTV camera.
"This is Annabeth Chace, Luke Castellan, and Thalia Grace. All were first spotted with Grover ten years ago. Annabeth had run away from her home in Virginia and was seen often in New York and has only recently returned to her family, Luke was also seen in and around New York City, and Thalia disappeared shortly after this photo was taken and hasn't been seen since." He moved another picture on top "Here are Nico and Bianca di Angelo, they were living in a boarding school up until three years ago when Grover showed up and it's the same story. Nico has been seen around New York but there is no sign of Bianca.
"And finally, Percy Jackson. I'm sure you've heard of the boy." Alex vaguely remembered the name from a big news story that circled for months five or so years ago where a kid had gone missing and tracked his way across the continental United States and ended in some sort of big fight. Alex couldn't remember the details but he knew the kid was bad news so he nodded. "Before the incident from five years ago, he had been a troubled teen with only one friend. Grover Underwood."
"Okay, I see what you're getting at, but what does this mean and what can I do about it?"
"We don't know what it means is the problem. But we do know that Grover has recently resurfaced in a small Highschool in upstate New York just like he does before every disappearance. We want you to go and befriend him. Gather information and see if you can meet up with him outside of school. If possible, we would like you to try and meet with Percy Jackson as well and see if you can make sense of any of these disappearances and try to keep it from happening again. I think it goes without saying though that you need to avoid drawing attention to yourself"
Alex nodded. While it wasn't necessarily ideal seeing as the winter holidays would soon be starting and he had been looking forward to catching a movie with Tom next weekend and going ice skating with some of his friends from school, it still sounded much better than his other missions. He was crossing his fingers that a few weeks would go by without anything suspicious and they'd just send him home and he wou;d've had a nice trip to New York and finally get to see the city that Jack had raved so much about.
"There is no time to waste" Blunt said as he gathered all the papers back into the file and passed it across the desk to Alex. "Underwood is unpredictable sometimes he stays at schools for weeks, sometimes months, we don't know so we need you to head down to Smithers and your plane leaves in seven hours. That should give you enough time to pack."
Alex gave a mock salute as he headed towards the door only to be stopped by a feminine voice
"Oh, and Alex" he turned around "be careful".
"I always am." And with that, he shut the door and turned to make his way back down the hallway.
Smithers greeted Alex like he always did, with a wide smile, a cheesy nickname and a basket full of biscuits.
"Alright, Alex ol' chap, I heard we were on a bit of a time crunch today so I'm going to keep this short and sweet". Smithers reached behind his desk and pulled out a black backpack "This is a backpack"
"Clearly"
"It's basically a normal backpack but it does have a fake bottom that you can access with a key from this key ring" he gave a key ring a little jingle to emphasize his point "besides that, it's also slash resistant, fire resistant, and the fake bottom will hold up to extreme pressure"
"Just in case I need to keep something safe at the bottom of the sea, right" Smithers gave a wink and moved on to the next object. An iPhone. Alex took a moment to turn in over in his hands. He never got why Americans were so obsessed with them, he had seen first hand how easily they could break as Jack had dropped hers on the counter once and shattered the screen. He could almost recal the impressive amounts of swear words she had managed to fit in in between breaths.
"This iPhone comes with fantastic audio and microphone capabilities. You'll be able to pick up and record whispered conversations from ten meters away as well as listen to them live if you have the ear buds in. You'll also be able to take fantastic pictures, really, the camera quality is next level. We have a line that goes directly to an office downstains pre-programmed into the phone under 'Aunt May' just send her a text and we'll be able to securely read it, I also have my number in there as well, just speed dial seven, ol' bean! I also included some pre downloaded films in case you get bored on the flight" He reached and picked up the keychain
"this is the last thing I can give you for this mission, since it's so low risk" on the key ring were three silver keys, nearly identical to each other. He sandwiched one between his thick fingers, pulling it close to his face to examine it before nodding, satisfied "So this key will open up the compartment in your backpack," he sandwiched the next one and Alex crossed his fingers that he was going to say that this one was the key to his brand new car but instead Smithers smiled and said "This one goes to the majority of the doors in the school" he tossed the key ring to Alex, and the teen picked it up by the third key, noticing a small bump near the head, he pulled it close to his face to get a closer look
"And this one?"
"That one is electrified, should give anyone who wants to attack you a nice little jolt if need be" Alex quickly set the key ring down. "Well, I'm afraid that's all the help I can offer for this round, but hopefully this should be easy and done with" Smithers offered Alex another smile and a biscuit. And passed him all the gadgets for the upcoming trip. "I've got lots to do now, but don't be a stranger. Make sure you visit the Empire State Building, I heard its very nice this time of year" and with those parting words, Alex was ushered out the door and quickly made his way back to his empty house to pack.
The plane ride was very much like every other one that he's been on: long, boring, and full of turbulence. The airline that he flew offered no in flight movies, or at least none that he was interested in so within the first hour he took to his phone, hoping to find the movies that Smithers had promised. Just as he had said, there were several to choose from, that was if he had an inkling for James Bond, Mission Impossible or some sort of Greek documentary. As it was, Alex chose the first in the Mission Impossible series and dozed off to Matt Damon.
He was awoken several times throughout the course of the flight, not only by flight attendants offering him way more soda than he could possibly drink and rough turbulence, but also once by a way too life like dream.
He was standing in a room with a comfortable looking couch to one side and large bay windows on the other. The windows looked out over a glowing green field and there were several cabins in the background shaped in a U formation. Inside the room there were pictures littering the walls, all of smiling children and teenagers, most of them wearing orange t shirts with print too small for him to read. All their faces were blurred as if he couldn't focus correctly on any single one of them. Sitting on the couch was Grover Underwood. He appeared to be arguing with a bearded man in a wheelchair.
"C'mon, Chiron, I think I've already found who it is. Can't I just bring him in already?" The man in the wheelchair shook his head.
"The time isn't right yet, you must wait a little bit longer, have patience and things will work out." Grover gave a nervous laugh.
"I can smell the — though, I think they're also getting closer" Alex frowned as his mind felt like it was being overcome with static. He didn't know what Grover could smell but whatever it was seemed to make him pretty anxious.
"Don't worry, we have people in the school already who are able and willing to help if things go wrong, just a few more days, Grover. Trust me."
And Grover nodded, and stood up "Alright, Chiron, you know best." He gave the man in the wheelchair a nervous smile and left. As soon as he was gone, Chiron turned his wheelchair around and seemed to focus on Alex.
"Hello" he said in calm voice, Alex looked behind him but there was no one there and when he opened his mouth to answer, no words would come out. "That's okay, I know you can't speak but you also don't need to worry. Things are going to get a little bit confusing in the next couple days and there isn't much that i can tell you right now. The — won't allow it and it is also best for your safety the less you know about — and —-" He frowned and tilted his head as if listening to something and gave a short nod "Alright, it's time for you to wake up, but I expect we'll be seeing each other again soon, Alex Rider"
And with that, Alex jerked awake, making the flight attendant jump as well spilling an open can of coke down Alex's shirt.
"I'm so sorry, sir" she looked wide eyed and panicked, grabbing napkins and passing them to Alex.
"It's no problem, it was my fault" he said dazed, still a little distracted from his dream. Regardless, she rushed to the front of the plane and came back a few minutes later with a 'World's Best Co-Pilot' promotional t-shirt for him to wear. Not necessarily his style but better than the sticky mess that he was currently wearing.
Alex hated first days, didn't matter which type, first day back after break, first day back after being gone on a mission, first day at a school on a different continent while still dealing with jetlag was currently winning out as his least favorite though. Checking into the office by himselfhe receivied a schedule and a helpful guide by the name of Michael. Michael was a small guy with thick glasses, a bright red hoodie, and an eager grin. He brought Alex to all of his classes, despite only sharing gym and biology with him, and taught him the ins and outs of the school which Alex only listened to with half an ear as he kept a careful look out for Grover. Not coincidentally Alex shared almost every single one of his classes with the boy, save for math.
Practically every one of his teachers introduced him as the new kid, and asked him to share a little bit about himself in which he gave the exact same answer every time.
"Hi, my name is Jeremy, I just moved to New York from Sherwood, Ohio and I really enjoy video games" in his best impersonation of a Midwest accent. And every time he was greeted with the bored eyes of his classmates, except for Grover, who kept a close eye on him as well as a pair of well musceled teens who Michael pointed out as JD and Rick.
As the bell for lunch rang, Alex couldn't help but feel super relieved. For some reason he also seemed to have all classes with either JD or Rick and during a couple of exceptionally bad periods, he had both. The pair of them sat behind Alex in every single one of his classes and had already started the tell tale signs of bullying. Excited whispering and throwing balls of paper and full pencils at the back of his head as he tried to take fake notes. But as soon as the bell rang both of them were quick out of their chairs and making their way towards the cafeteria before the ringing had even stopped. Alex packed up his materials slowly, keeping an eye on Grover who had a pair of crutches and seemed to be moving slower than the rest of his classmates. Alex was about to stand up and follow the other kid out of the classroom when Grover turned around and smiled at him.
"Hi, you're Jeremy, right?" Alex nodded and took the hand that was extended, shaking it, the other boy's grip was surprisingly firm "I'm Grover, I noticed those dicks were already giving you problems, wanna sit with me and my friends at lunch?" Alex smiled, taken aback at the immediate friendliness that the other teen gave out.
"Yeah, I'd like that a lot."
Okay so it's only like 20:30 here but I'm a real tired guy so I'm gonna cut it off there for now. It gets dark here at like 17:00 so it makes me tired much earlier. Also I know Blunt was probably way off with characterization but cut me some slack please. Anyways pretty please let me know what mistakes I've made. Also just let me know what you think in general please