Alex's POV
'Come on, open!' I whispered, trying to pick the lock of the door I was currently kneeling in front of. I managed to open the door as he heard shouts from the guards behind him. I swore softly and ran through the door, round a corner and straight into a guard, who fell onto his companion. This would have been fortunate, and almost funny, had two sets of guards not been coming round both corners at that point. I was surrounded. I looked left and right as I searched a way out of the corridor. Nothing. I crouched lower and waited for one of the men to attack. What I didn't expect was for them to get out what appeared to be tranquilliser guns. Why tranquillisers? Was my first thought. The answer came almost immediately. Capture. I heard one say into an earpiece "We got another one boss. Now going to take him out" That surprised me. Another one? What were they talking about? Another what? Agent? In my confusion I didn't notice the guard behind me shoot his tranquilliser gun at me until it was too late. Then all I knew was black.
James' POV
The radio, attached to one of the guards walking past their cell, crackle and say "We got another one boss. Now going to take him out". Another one? James was confused. He looked round his cell... Kerry, Lauren and Rat. They were the only ones sent on this mission weren't they? Unless they'd sent some others in to try to get them out... Nah, that wouldn't work. They knew about CHERUB. That's how they got caught. How they knew, he had no idea. They mentioned something about working for … a scorpion? He looked at the others. They were just as confused as him. Kerry crawled over to him. "Would they send more CHERUBs in? I mean, they caught us...". Rat decided to interject. "No. They'd send in SAS or someone from MI6, wouldn't they? That'd be so cool! We'd get to meet a spy!".We all looked at him. "Really, Rat? I knew you were stupid, but..." Lauren said while rolling here eyes. Rat looked like he was going to pretend to be over -offended by all of this, but we were interrupted by a guard opening a cell, and throwing something – no someone in.
Alex's POV
I was awake when they threw me on the floor. I didn't want to 'wake up' too soon, it might make these people suspicious. I decided to wait about 10 minutes before moving. I listened in on their conversation.
'… he? He's not a CHERUB. Does MI5 have any other child agents?' one said. They sounded female. Alex hadn't got a good look at any of them. One bit stuck with him. Other child agents. Which meant... He realised the conversation had moved on while he was musing on how to kill Blunt.
"Who captured us anyway?" This person sounded slightly Australian.
"I think they said something about a scorpion?" Shit. This can't be good. I hoped he wasn't talking about SCORPIA.
"Hey, I think he's waking up now." I must have tensed when they mentioned scorpions. I never did like them after... well, everything. I rolled over.
"Where am I?" I asked the 4 children – two boys, two girls – sitting around the cell. The Australian sounding boy replied
"In a cell." I rolled my eyes.
"I got that much. Where is the cell? And don't say in a police station." I remembered the cover story MI6 had given me – a classic case of breaking and entering, with intent to steal. Well, it was true. Just I would steal all their computer information, instead of, say, the TV. Oh, and find out where they were keeping the MI5 agents they'd captured, then freeing them if possible. I was sitting against a wall by this point. Wait... Before I could finish that thought, the guy-who-wasn't-Australian , who looked related to one of the girls and was sitting next to the other, replied with
"Actually, I think it's in the basement of a house." He was the one that had mentioned scorpions earlier. I pretended to look confused.
"Why would you have a cell underneath your house? And why are we being held here? Isn't it illegal or something? Why are you lot here anyway?" I was about to continue questioning them, but someone walked into the cell. He was obviously the leader of whatever was going on here. I decided not to annoy him by sarcastic comments, because that'd probably give too much away about me, and I didn't want these kids to know anything about me. So I asked him question after question.
"Who are you? Why am I here? Why are these lot here? Where's here? Who do you work for? Who are these lot anyway?" I could see the head evil guy get more and more annoyed with each passing question, and the other kids just looked shocked. Eventually the evil guy snapped.
"SHUT! UP!" he yelled, and glared at me. Everyone else looked worried. I guess they hadn't met Dr Three. Or Wolf. His glare was much better than this guys.
"Right," the head evil guy said. "I am Nyoka." He motioned at me. "You. You will come with me. Let us find out what you know of CHERUB..." Two guards came in and grabbed me by the arms. "Hey! I can walk, you know." I said. The guards ignored me, and pulled him out of the cell. Nyoka gave the others a smug look. "Now you know why you shouldn't mess with SCORPIA." And with that, turned on his heel and walked out.
"Did I hear that right? You work for SCORPIA?" I asked as soon as Nyoka came out of the cell. He sneered.
"Of course." I was dragged behind him. This wasn't going to be fun. The only thing I had to rely on was the fact that I didn't really know what this CHERUB thing was. SCORPIA should know that. Or relish telling me all about it... But then again this was SCORPIA. They'd probably just torture me 'cause I'm Alex Rider. So you can imagine my surprise when they didn't tie me to the ceiling and get the knives, whips and hot irons out. They did handcuff me to a chair, in a room that looked suspiciously like the interrogation room from the TV show Castle. Nyoka strode round to the other side of the table.
"Right. Tell me all you know about CHERUB." he growled at me.
"Nothing. Are you sure you work for SCORPIA? I really wasn't expecting this... More something along the lines of whips, or knives." Nyoka visibly paled.
"Why would I do something like that?"
"Because you're supposed to be SCORPIA. Sabotage. Corruption. Intelligence. Assassination. That's what you do." I was having fun here. These men were so obviously not SCORPIA, I don't know why I even considered it. I mean, they hadn't gloated about catching me once. And there was only two guards outside the room. None inside! Still, it'll be a relief that I won't have to worry about ruining their plans again. For a third time. Hey, I wouldn't even have to worry about this group at all. SCORPIA would kill them all for even thinking of using their name. That, or recruit whoever's idea it was. I suppose I had to get out of here before that all happened though. They really don't like it when you ruin their plans and destroy most of the board. Repeatedly. I supposed I could find out about this CHERUB thing everyone seemed to be going on about. I realised that Nyoka - who even names their child that? - had been trying to (unsuccessfully) intimidate me for the past minute or so. I looked at him.
"How about this." I interrupted him mid-sentence "You tell me everything you know about CHERUB, and I'll fill in the gaps." He looked happy at this. Moron. I noticed a paper-clip on the table. Nyoka started telling me everything he knew, which admittedly wasn't a lot, but was more than me.
"During WWII, French civilians set up a resistance movement to fight against the German forces occupying their country. Many of their most useful operatives were children and teenagers. Some worked as scouts and messengers. Others befriended homesick German soldiers, gathering information that enabled the resistance to sabotage German military operations. A British spy named Charles Henderson...(Basically the What is CHERUB? from any of the books.)...adults never suspect that children are spying on them." I could agree with that bit. That's why MI6 used me. Nyoka was looking at me expectantly.
"Yeah, about that... I don't know what the hell CHERUB is. But thanks for the information anyway!" I said, plastering a massive grin on my face. He looked ready to punch me. In fact, that's what he tried to do. But, he'd left a paper-clip on the table. And chosen bog-standard handcuffs. Really easy to get out of, especially with only one hand restricted. I blocked, and kicked out at his head. I wasn't aiming for his temple, but that's where my foot connected. I quickly handcuffed him to the chair. I found a bunch of keys on him. I don't know how he captured some MI5 agents. Talking of MI5 agents... I worked my way back to the cell. I opened the door, and stood there smiling. "Come on then. Do you want to get out or not?" With that, I turned round and walked towards the exit.
On the way out they bombarded me with questions.
"How did you get out?"
"What did they want?"
"Where's the exit?"
"That's a bruise!" I turned to the Australian guy who said that.
"No shit, Sherlock."
"How did you get it? Did they punch you? Was it while you were fighting your way out?"
"Where is it?" I asked, because I hadn't noticed them hitting me in the middle of the fight.
"On your right cheek. Did you not notice it?" the last girl, who looked Chinese and hadn't spoken when I was there yet. I poked it. Ouch. I wondered when that had happened. Probably when I tripped into the table. Yeah.
"Hey. What's your name?" the Australian guy asked. "I'm Rat, that's James, his sister Lauren, and Kerry." He gestured at each in turn.
"I'm... Jack Starbright." I didn't want to give them my real name, as I had already decided to hide from MI6 at this CHERUB place. I just had to get in... though I think this whole escaping bit would sort it out. "But call me Alex. I prefer it." James gave me a funny look.
"Why? What do you have against Jack?"
"Nothing. Though legally I am Jacques Alexander Starbright."
"Ah." There was silence for a few moments.
"Do you actually know where you're going?" Rat finally asked.
I managed to get us all out of the house without any further incident. Surprisingly, no one had come out to help us after I sent out my distress call. Fortunately, we were in a normal-looking house, in the middle of London, which had a Ford Fiesta parked in front of it. There was only 5 of us, and someone had left it unlocked. I opened the door and told the others to get in.
"Is this legal?" Kerry asked.
"Is holding kids in a cell in your basement legal?" I retorted.
"Where do you want to go?" I asked them after we'd all managed to squeeze in.
"Can you drop us off outside Madame Tussauds?" Kerry asked.
"Sure."
The car journey was uneventful. I left the car outside the waxworks, and wandered over to the Royal and General Bank. I walked up to the main desk.
"I'm here to see Mr Blunt. Tell him it's Alex Rider."
"Go right up." the receptionist said, waving towards the lift.
"Ah, Alex. Was it successful?" Blunt asked monotonously as soon as I had entered Blunt's office. He was sitting at his desk as normal, with Mrs Jones standing to his left.
"Yes." I replied coldly. "I found out lots there. For example, did you know that MI5 have aN ENTIRE FLIPPING CHILDS DEPARTMENT. WILLING CHILD SPIES AND... You didn't know." I finished calmly. I could still see the shock on Blunts face.
"Can I guess my next mission then? You'll need to make a file up for a one Jacques Alexander Starbright, 14 and quite bright before dropping out of school. Homeless. Spent a few nights in cells for breaking and entering, suspected member of a gang known only as 6" Blunt actually almost smirked here. Shocking, I know. "And is an enemy of the Silver Scorpion gang. Got shot in the chest in the middle of a shoot out between the two gangs." Jones had walk out for the end of the gang part, and I could tell she was trying not to laugh. They must be ill. It wasn't that funny!
"Smithers has some gadgets for you, though none specialised for this mission." she said as she walked out. I recognised that as a dismissal. I walked out the door to the elevator and pressed the button for the basement."
"Smithers!" I called out. He was one of the few people I actually liked at MI6. And he liked me back.
"Alex! Heard about the new mission! Infiltrating MI5, eh? Now here we have your spot cream, re-filled of course. Here's a watch. Be careful now, as if you set it to 8.45, and hold down this button here, a laser will come out. Yes, like that. If you set it to 12 then it will send an emergency signal to us at MI6. This is your exploding bubble gum. And finally, these shoes have secret compartments with knives, lock picks and the heel on the left one holds a gun. The watch and both the shoes have tracking devices in them. You'll be living on the streets for a while, so here's a sleeping bag, water, stab and bullet proof. According to your file, you'll be sleeping in the alley down the side of the bank. You'll be glad to know, that for some reason people don't like sleeping down there. Good luck Alex!" I smiled at the pudgy man.
"Jones said there was nothing specialised." looking at the bag.
"It was going to be used on another mission, but I can't remember why it wasn't... Oh well, I'm sure it was nothing." I was now very suspicious of the sleeping bag.
"Oh! I almost forgot! You want this?" I said, getting a USB stick out of my pocket!
"Thanks! But.. this isn't the one I gave you..."
I just smiled and walked out.
I managed to get a lift back to Ian's house. I guess I really should call it mine, but it never felt like it, and it won't be till I'm 18. If I get to 18.
"Ja..." I called out before remembering what happened. God, I can't believe I forgot. I wanted to cry, but I had to pack for this mission. I shook my head violently, trying to dislodge the images. It didn't help. I found an old backpack, large enough to fit everything in. Most the room was taken up by the sleeping bag. I threw some clothes, Smithers gadgets and a photo of Jack, Ian Tom and I, and a photo of my parents. I tucked theses carefully into an inside pocket of the bag. With a sad look around the place I locked the front door, and went to be homeless. Fun!
James' POV
After Jack/Alex/whatever left us at Madame Tussauds, all hell broke lose. Zara was there. So were a load of CHERUBS. We had decided this would be the meet up point if anything went wrong.
"Hey, Zara! Over here!" Rat yelled. She looked over at us. The way she reacted was not one any of us were expecting. She ran over and hugged us.
"Are you all ok?" Once we had all nodded, she hit each of us round the back of the head.
"Ow! What was that for?" Rat exclaimed.
"Being caught." said a voice behind us. Ewart stood behind us. "Now, Kerry, you're the most sensible," Ewart ignored the protests from all of us, "What happened and did you get what you were looking for?"
"We were sneaking around when two guards came into the room. Lauren managed to hide the USB with everything on it before they shot us with tranquillizers. We woke up in a cell. The next day they threw this blonde guy in. They took him out and asked him some questions about CHERUB. He came back after locking the guards a room. We escaped. He hot wired a and drove us here. Lauren do you still have the information?"
"Yep!" Lauren replied brightly. "It's all here on this..." by this point she was frantically patting her pockets and looking on the floor. "I had it when we went in the car!"
"Didn't Jack help you out of the car?" Kerry asked. Lauren paled.
"Jack Starbright. The blonde guy. Wanted us to call him Alex, said it was his middle name or something." I supplied for Zara and Ewart, who were looking quite confused. "Said he worked for a repossession company or something... Said it wasn't entirely legal... That pikey! I bet he's got the USB with everything on."
"Well as long as you're all ok. Was there anything or anyone else you forgot to mention?"
"Yeah. The bad guys knew about us. They knew about CHERUB and thought Jack was one too. They asked him questions about CHERUB. Though I don't think it worked. He knocked out the guards and escaped."
Zara and Ewart shared a glance. "Did he mention family? Or where he lived?" Ewart asked.
"He said something about a bank...the General and Royal? Royal and General, that was it. He must live near there. Are you thinking about recruiting him?" replied Rat, in one breath.
"Yes."
Alex's POV
It took them three days to find me. THREE DAYS. They're supposed to be MI5! And I was trying to be as obvious as possible. I told the four kids where I lived... though they probably thought I meant a house or something nearby, not the alleyway next to it. Anyway, on the evening of the third day, I noticed two people near where I had been sleeping. I decided to surprise them. I hid in the shadows and quietly slipped into my sleeping bag. Neither of them noticed. Aren't they supposed to be MI5? At about midnight, one woke me up by saying "...must have scared him off. I told you we shouldn't have stood in the open like that."
"Lets come back tomorrow after dark, and see if he's here then." The first one looked down at me.
"Hey! The kid's in his bag!" he yelled.
"What?!" They both walked over to me. I was well and truly awake by this point. They came and grabbed me. Well, tried to anyway. I jumped out of the sleeping bag, and kicked one in the stomach. He doubled over and muttered a long string of swearwords. I turned around in time to see a fist flying straight for my face. I ducked, and pulled the arm forwards, forgetting we were in a narrow alleyway. He went head first into a wall, and collapsed straight in the path of the other agent, who had a syringe out, and was running at me. The agent with a syringe tripped over his partners unconscious form, and landed on me. The syringe went straight in my shoulder, and the agent depressed the plunger. I felt my awareness slipping away. The last thing I heard was "We got him... but he put up a helluva fight"
I woke up in the back of a car. From what I could tell, it was black. Why does the government insist on using black cars? Out of the windows, I could see the sun was rising, which meant I had been out for about 6 or 7 hours if I had my timings right. I felt the car slowing down. Before I could do anything, the two agents got out of the car. The one who I had knocked unconscious picked me up and slung me over his shoulder. I was right. It was black. I rolled my eyes at that. I looked around. I could see a fountain and a few buildings dotted around. I was carried past the fountain and into a large reception area. The receptionist took one glance at us, and said "Floor 6, Room 13". The two agents, with me still over their shoulder, walked into an empty lift. Nothing interesting happened until they finally put me down on the bed, and started to undress me.
"If you wanted to see me naked, you could have asked." I said loudly. They both jumped.
"Holy... you're awake?"
"No. I sleep talk. It confuses the hell out of people." They did look very confused.
"Look, kid." I glared at him for that. "Just wear these, ok? Then go downstairs." He handed me an orange shirt, green military-style trousers and a pair of black boots.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why can't I wear my own clothes?" I asked.
"Because."
"Because what?" The agent that was still there (the other had walked out before he tried to undress me) sighed deeply. I was annoying him, I could tell.
"I had orders to bring you here, undress you and leave you with these clothes. Will you let me do my job?"
"No." He actually growled at that. I tried not to laugh. Nowhere near as good as the sergeant at Brecon Beacons. "But I will get changed myself. If you would kindly leave...?" He looked indecisive at that. I opened the door and hoped he'd take the hint. He did.
I got changed quickly, and walked out the door. I walked over to the lift, deciding to go to the receptionist and ask her what to do. She looked up at the sound of the doors opening.
"You're up early" she stated with a frown on her face.
"What can I say? I've never liked being drugged into unconsciousness." All I got for that witticism was a very odd look.
"Follow me. Doctor McAfferty is waiting." I followed her down a short corridor, and waited impatiently as she knocked on a nondescript door. A Scottish voice called out enter, so I walked in. The office had full length windows, and a fireplace with two stuffed chair facing each other in front of it. There was a desk full of paperwork, with a person sitting in a tall backed chair.
"Hello Jacques" I visibly winced at that, remembering that "Jacques Alexander Starbright" really didn't like his name. "You're up early."
"Why does everyone say that?"
"No reason. I'm Doctor McAfferty, but everyone calls me Mac. Take a seat by the fire please." I walked to the chair facing the window.
"Now, do you know why you're here?" Mac asked.
"I was rudely awoken in the middle of the night, drugged and brought me to wherever here is. My guess is as good as anybodies."
"Yes, I heard about how your night went. You knocked out one MI5 agent, and bruised-"
"MI5? What does the government want with me?" I interjected. Mac raised an eyebrow, almost looking surprised that I picked up on the fact he said MI5.
"We want you to spy for us."
"Because adults would never guess children were spying on them?" I managed not to put any venom into my words, and keep a straight face when I said it. I wonder if I could get a career as an actor...
"Exactly." Mac stated, interrupting my musings. "We are called CHERUB."
"So it does exist! I just thought that guy was mad." Mac looked confused at this.
"I was caught breaking into a house, thrown into a cell, then asked questions about CHERUB. He sounded mad." I explained
"Anyway, we want you to become a CHERUB agent. You will have to pass some tests first, then survive basic training, but looking at your file, I think you'll do well."
"I have a file?"
"Yes. Everyone does."
"Cool. Can I do those tests now?"
The first test was martial arts. I was nervous, because it had been ages since I had been in a normal fight i.e. I wasn't going to die or be tortured if I lost. The adult who was showing me round, Zara, obviously thought I was nervous because I wasn't very good.
"Relax, you'll be fine." she told me. I took my place on one side of the mat, facing a wiry kid that had been introduced as Bruce. Bruce was quite a bit shorter than me, but had a black belt tied around his gi.
"Rules are as follows: first to submit five times loses. You can submit by tapping on the mat, or by saying 'I submit'. You can withdraw from the match, but that means losing. No eye gouging, or groin shots" Zara told them both. Damn. There went plan A.
"Start on my whistle." WHEEEEEP. Bruce immediately shot forwards trying to hit me in the face. I moved to the side and stuck my foot out. He tripped and fell face first. I grabbed his arm and twisted it up behind him. Bruce tapped out. I let him go, and he got up shakily. He looked almost... worried. I hoped I hadn't done anything that'd make them suspicious. The whistle blew This time, Bruce stayed very defensive. I watched him carefully, looking him in the eyes to see what he does next. His eyes flicked left, I leant right. I could see Zara over his shoulder. She looked surprised and amused at the same time. Bruce span, left leg aiming straight for my side. I caught it and lifted. He ended up on the floor again, but on his front this time. I held his leg and said "I'll break your knee if you don't withdraw" He paled at this, and called out in a shaky voice "I withdraw." Zara walked over.
"You beat Bruce." She sounded slightly stunned. I shrugged with one shoulder. I was just glad I didn't severely hurt him. Or use any of my SCORPIA training...
"What's the next test?"
I sat behind a desk, with an exam paper in front of me, and 45 minutes to complete it in. This had me nervous. I missed a bit... some... most of the last school year because of MI6. Fortunately, the questions weren't too hard. A mix of English, maths and languages. The instruction at the start of the language section said 'Answer in as many languages as possible'. I ran out of room after answering in English (well it is a language) French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese and Russian for each question and a couple in Hindi as well. The 45 minutes seemed to fly by, especially when you can't remember how to conjugate कपटवध करना properly.
There was a break for some food. There were loads of people in the cafeteria. What bugged me was how similar it looked to the lunch hut at Brecon Beacons. Apart from the teenage spies. And the food, it was even better than Jack could make... Goddamnit, I thought to myself, is everything going to remind me of her?
After a lunch of Spaghetti Bolognese and garlic bread, I was lead back to Mac's office. There was a chicken in a cage.
"Now, Jacques, I want you to kill this chicken" Mac said. Oh god.
"No."
"Why? You eat meat don't you?"
"Yes. But I'm still not killing the chicken."
"Why not?" I can't exactly tell him about the blood on my hands already...
"I don't want to."
"What happened if I was to pay you to kill it?" Now I was definitely not killing the chicken.
"What, and make me a chicken assassin?" Mac looked shocked at the comparison.
"I hadn't thought about it like that before..."
"I've told you, and I'm not changing my mind. I don't want to be a chicken assassin. I. Will. Not. Kill. The. Chicken."
"Fine." Mac wrote on a clipboard. "Time for the last test."
It was an assault course. Much easier than the one at the SAS camp, from what I could see. I greeted my two guides, Connor and Callum. They were identical twins. We climbed up the ladder together, then slid over a pole. There was a jump of about a metre. I jumped across without thinking about it. Up another ladder, along some more planks and to a jump of nearly a metre and a half. Even though it was 20 metres off the ground, it wasn't the worst I'd had to do. I jumped across to a balcony with a rail round the edge. I walked over to the gap, and saw a blue crash mat on the ground. I faced the twins.
"Is this the only way down?" They nodded. I looked back to check the mat was still there, and did a back-flip off the edge. What? I might as well impress them while I can. They certainly acted it.
"Bloody hell... How did you do that?"
"Can you teach me?"
"Did you spike our food?"
"How could he spike our food? What would he put in it anyway?"
"Hallucinogenics, duh. That'd explain what we just saw." Their conversation carried on like that for a few more minutes, until Zara came up to them.
"So, did he pass?"
"Pass? He did a flipping back-flip off the end platform!" Zara looked stunned, then turned to me wit an amused look on her face.
"I think it's time we offered you a place here at CHERUB."
Back in Mac's office, sitting in front of the desk this time, I found out how I did on each test.
"You did exceptionally well on each of the tests. First off, you beat Bruce in a fight. That hasn't happened for a while, even when he's fighting other CHERUBS. You did average on the English and maths part of the test, but aced the languages. Your comparison between killing the chicken and becoming an assassin put some doubts in my head, but you chose a decision, and stuck to it. And your performance on on the obstacle course... Did you really do a back-flip?" I nodded. Mac carried on "Well, I think it's safe to say, you are a perfect candidate for CHERUB. Would you like to join us?"
"Yes." Finally!
"Great! Now it's time for you to meet your handler. They will answer any questions you have."
I was lead to an office. I knocked on the door. "Come in." Someone called. I walked in. Sitting behind a desk, much smaller than Mac's, was Zara. "I see you've decided to join CHERUB. I think it was a good choice. Anyway, you can't stay as Jacques Starbright. You need to think of a new name." A perfect one came to me almost immediately.
"Can I be Alex Cub? They're a couple of old nicknames of mine." Zara smiled.
"That's perfect! Now do you have any questions?"
"What does a handler actually do?" To me the use of the word "handler" made us sound like animals...
"We look after you, make sure every is ok, give you missions, and if you misbehave, give you punishments."
"What's going to happen to my things?"
"They're in your room."
"Where's my room?"
"I'll get someone to show you after we're finished."
"What sort of missions do I get to go on?"
"After passing basic training, you'll go on simple missions, like befriend someone to get in their house and plant bugs or hope they slip up and give information away. We won't put you in potentially dangerous situations till you have at least a navy shirt. All missions are put through n ethics committee, and you get the chance to back out if you so wish." So no blackmail? Well, that'll be new. And an ethics committee! They'd have a field day if they got any of my missions. The missions sounded easy anyway. Befriend someone? Easier than infiltrating Herod Sayle's mansion!
"Basic training?"
"You spend 100 days working on survival, combat and language skills, though you may not need as much of the last two as the rest of the trainees. The next starts in a few days. You'll be taking it then. Be warned, this will be the worst 100 days of your life at CHERUB."
"What do the shirts mean?"
"The different colour shirts are like ranks. Orange is visitor, you need permission to talk to one. Red shirts are for those who are unable to take basic training, usually because of age. Light blue is for trainees, like you, who are taking basic training. Grey is for those who have passed. Navy is for those who have done well in a mission and black for those who have done outstandingly well in one mission, or well over a number. Anything else?"
"One last thing. Why CHERUB?"
"Ah. No one actually knows. Charles Henderson, the man who set this up, got shot by his wife before he could tell anyone, but after he printed all these letter heads. As it was the war, no one let the paper go to waste, and the name stuck. If you have any ideas, please tell." I thought they were supposed to be spies! It was obvious! I couldn't get the R, and the end only worked if it was the second group, but apart from that it worked. My thoughts were interrupted with a question from Zara.
"Do you want to see your room now?" I nodded.
"James can show you there. He should be outside." Recognising a dismissal, I walked out the door.
James was leaning against the wall. He smiled at me when I walked out the door. I smiled back.
"Hey Jack. Want to see your room? It's just down the hall from mine!" I grinned.
"I'm Alex Cub now." I informed him. "So this place actually exists! I was certain that man was just mad. I mean, who would use children as spies?"
"That's why we're so good. No one suspects us." That's what I was hoping too.
We had arrived at my room by this point. As James opened my door with a flourish, I could see the backpack that had all my gadgets in. As I walked in the room, I gasped in surprise. It was awesome. A massive TV, a double bed, draws and a telephone. There was a door leading into my own bathroom. On top of the draws were a timetable and some light blue tops. James saw this.
"You're in the next bout of training?" he asked.
"No, these tops mean I can go into outer space." Well, it wouldn't be the first time. James laughed at this.
"You'll need to wear one to tea, which starts in about 10 minutes. Wait till you hear the stories people have!"
15 minutes later, I was sitting at a table, having been introduced as 'Alex Cub, formerly know as Jack Starbright.' Everyone immediately noticed my light blue shirt. The 'horror' tales began. Things like being woken up at 4 in the morning by being sprayed with a fire hose, or running until you're sick. These didn't scare me much, as the SAS had many worse ways of waking you up, though I was thinking of ways to stop people seeing my bullet wound in the showers...
The next day, I had a medical test. I woke up at 6. Some habits die hard. I looked at the rest of the timetable. Martial arts before lunch, and then nothing after. They next day was as empty, and the day after had 'basic training - starts at 5.30'. I figured if I woke up about half four, then I would have time to get everything sorted.
The medical went as expected. The man there was shocked at the bullet wound (it's surprisingly fun to basically tell someone from MI5 you were shot by SCORPIA but not have them realise), but was impressed with everything else. I only needed a few booster jabs, as Ian had already made the doctor give me most of the available vaccines. When I was on the running machine, the only reason I stopped then was that the doctor told me to. I think he had gotten bored.
Martial Arts was interesting. The teacher asked me what I could do, so I told her. She didn't believe that I was a 2nd Dan in karate, nor anything else I told her, so challenged me to a fight, though it was karate only. It was actually the best fight I'd had in ages. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of sweeping her off her feet when she had worn herself out from attacking. I had attacked a few times, but only to prove I could do some of the more advanced stuff. She was suitably impressed.