Ad Hominem (1- directed against a person rather than against his or her arguments.

2- based on or appealing to emotion rather than reason)

Summary – The Vice-President ofthe United Statesvanishes on British soil and who better to blame than Britain? Alex must find the Vice-President before WWIIIerupts – with help from someone he believed dead

Warnings – Mild violence in later chapters and mild coarse language

A/N- Okay, this is my first fanfic and I welcome every ones comments on my spelling, grammar and plot. I need to know what I do wrong so I can fix it (hopefully lol). The characters may be OOC, but that's only because I'm not a very good writer, as you'll discover if you can actually be bothered reading anymore. Anyway… Please review so that I know what I can do better!

Thanks,

Jezza.


As he flicked the ball from his foot to his chest and back again, Alex lost himself in the normality of the football training session and relaxed with his friends in the afternoon sun. He had been back at school for almost two weeks now and had finally gotten though enough of his catch-up-work to play football again. His coach had let him back into the team without question, as Alex had miraculously managed to sat fit through his bouts of 'sickness'.

However, not everything was quite as easy to get back into order.

Jack had been incredibly worried about Alex and the emotional toll of the work from MI6, but she was finally ready to get back into the normal stream of life and leave the past behind. Alan Blunt had told Alex that he would not be called into work unless extenuating circumstances presented themselves, which Alex had translated as 'only if another mad man decides he wants to take over or destroy the world and MI6 has iron-clad proof'. Or that's what he hoped it meant anyway.

Alex had been back at school for two weeks after working steadily through his extra work throughout the Christmas break. That was four weeks without a call from MI6 and Alex was actually beginning to believe them for once. More than anything, he was glad they hadn't called during his time with Sabina when she had come over from America for Christmas. They had spent a lot of time together, going to movies and cafes and just relaxing at Alex's house. She had gone home two days before her term was meant to start again America, after extracting an explicit promise from Alex that he would visit her the next chance he got.

Alex smiled to himself as he and his team started a game of football which Alex was only paying half a mind to.

He really liked Sabina, and she had made it perfectly clear over her visit that she had feelings for him too. He couldn't wait for them to meet up again.

"RIDER!" His coach's angry voice echoed across the park. "Pay attention!"

Alex came out of his disjointed thoughts abruptly as the ball went sailing past his head and he immediately spun around to chase it. He caught up with it quickly and kicked it back, chasing after it with a renewed passion. Just a few minutes later he had completely lost himself in the game.


Alex had just finished getting changed when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Without thinking about it he got it out and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Alex? This is Mrs Jones" the silky yet professional voice on the other end said crisply. "I'm afraid there's been an emergency. We need to pick you up straight away."

Alex wearily noted to himself that he could always refuse the assignment later if he had to, and he should probably see what the so called 'emergency' was before outright rejecting it. After all they had agreed to only call him in 'extenuating circumstances' – not that he trusted their judgement of that particular situation.

"I can find my way over to the bank my self, Mrs Jones," Alex replied, allowing the annoyance to slip into his voice.

"Not this time, I'm afraid, Alex." There was a pause before Mrs Jones began talking again and Alex could hear shouting on the other end of the line, though it was muffles and disjointed, so Alex was unable to make out the words.

"We need to take you to COBRA again, Alex. I'm afraid that there is a rather large emergency and your services could be an invaluable tool against the threat."

'COBRA?' Alex thought. He groaned audibly and made a quick decision.

"I need to talk to Jack but I can be ready and at home in ten minutes."

"Thank you." She seemed to hesitate for a moment. "I'm sorry, Alex. We wouldn't have called you unless it was important"

Alex sighed, "I know, Mrs Jones, I know." And with that he hung up. Now all he had to do was get home and try to talk Jack into it.


He barely had enough time to tell Jack where he was going, so there was no room for argument from her. Alex decided that this, at least, was a blessing as he ran from the house again at the sound of a car horn blaring from the front of the house.

"YOU'RE GOING WHERE?!" she yelled from the front porch. "Alex?" The way she said it, her voice hopeless and full of concern and worry, more than anything else, made him stop and turn around to try to comfort her.

"Jack, you know I don't want to go, but this is really important. I promise that I will only go if there really is no other option but we don't even know what this is yet. It could be nothing, so don't worry. I'll call you as soon as I know what's going to happen, okay?" Alex was unable to meet her gaze and simply turned around, jumping into the car before she could protest. Slowly, the car pulled away from the house, leaving Jack gazing wistfully after it.


A/N - Okay, I know that it's short and badly written... and basically a load of c--, but I have a plot set out and it's the only part of this I like so far, but please review. I want to know what others think so I know if it's worth writing this.

Thanks for reading everyone!
Jezza.