Alex, for once in his life, disregarded a direct order from Jack- he got out of bed. After his last mission, Alex had come home with a bullet hole almost clean through his left hand, whip marks all across his back and a few scattered stab wounds, not to mention the regular bruises and scratches here and there.
Jack had ordered Alex to stay in bed, and that had been that, until now. It was seven AM sharp on Sunday morning, the fiery American wouldn't be getting up for another two hours, and some asshole was pounding on the door.
Alex hadn't slept all night, anyway, so he figured, why not? Might as well have some company. Without a thought as to his own appearance or the fact that he was clad in only white and baby blue striped flannel pajama pants and the - now tainted pink by his blood – bandages, Alex hobbled his way down the stairwell cautiously and glared at the front door.
The pounding had stopped, but Alex could hear a voice shouting, so he peaked out the front window to see who his guest was. His guests, as it happened to be. Alex rolled his eyes and trotted back to the door, unlocking the deadbolt and chain and whipping it open. He was greeted with a man's back, but the teen knew what his face looked like. He'd only seen the man's glare ten thousand times over the course of two weeks in hell; Wolf.
K-Unit's leader was turned around yelling at Eagle and Snake, along with a new face, who seemed to be the only man out of the four to realize the door had been opened. Clearing his throat, he said, "Hey there, Kiddo. Are your parents home?" A too-cheery smile was spread over his face, and when Alex rolled his eyes, it dropped and was replaced with a slight glare and snarl.
Before Wolf could turn around to take control of the situation, he was pulled into the house by his jacket and shoved behind the teen. Before shutting the door fully, Alex peeked out at the three confused faces. "Snake, Eagle, good to see you guys again," the two named soldiers traded confused looks, not yet connecting the teen in front of them to the Cub they knew back at Brecon Beacons.
Alex turned to the third, unnamed soldier and said, "I don't know why you're here instead of Ben- sorry, Fox- but for your information, Kiddo, my parents are dead." He returned the man's now shocked face with a sardonic grin of his own- the teen was running on no sleep and didn't feel like playing nice right now.
Not bothering with Snake or Eagle, who had now figured it out, Alex slammed the door on the three men and turned to face a surprisingly patient Wolf. "Cub." It was a statement and a half-cocked greeting, so Alex squared his shoulders, breathed deeply once, and returned the sentiment. "Wolf."
The two looked each other up and down for a few, excruciatingly awkward moments, before Wolf backed down and stuck his hand out, as if to shake the teen's hand. Alex smirked, brushed the hand off and wandered into the kitchen, calling over his shoulder, "Let your dogs in before they piss all over my porch, yeh?"
Hearing the Hispanic man mutter something foul and choosing to ignore it in favour of preparing himself a mug of hot tea, Alex briefly wondered why his old unit was here. He sighed, hearing his front door slam shut; he supposed he would learn soon enough.
As K-Unit began to file into the kitchen and nab seats around the table, Alex pointedly ignored the SAS men while continuing to make his tea. The conversation between the men slowly died down and by the time the teen had placed the mug down from his first sip, things had gotten weird for both parties. Alex turned around in time to catch Snake sliding out of his seat, but the look the medic received quickly convinced him to sit back down.
"So..." the unnamed Soldier drawled out, meeting Alex's eyes from across the room. Before the man could go any further, Alex decided he had had enough. "Yes, my parents are actually dead. Now, spill. Why is my old unit suddenly on my doorstep?" The last past was directed at Wolf, but Eagle spoke up before the team leader.
"Cub...Has Blunt not contacted you yet?"
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Before the teen could answer the question, his mobile he received from Smithers began to vibrate on the counter where it had been charging. Alex, without looking away from the four men, grabbed it, flipped it open and pressed it to his ear. The clipped voice of Mrs. Jones greeted Alex before the teen said a word, but Alex cut the woman off before she could get into her usual round of questions.
"Save it, Mrs. Jones. Let's get to the chase. Why are there four SAS men sitting at my kitchen table?" Hearing the barely noticeable, seething anger bubbling in Alex's voice, Mrs. Jones decided to humor him. "They're there because a threat has been made against you. The Leos sent out a-" Alex cut her off again, having heard enough.
"Wonderful. Protection detail." The dead sarcasm dripping from the teen's voice cut through the silence like a knife. "Next question: Where's Daniels and who the hell is the newbie?" Alex smirked again as he watched the fresh soldier visibly flinch and squirm at being so openly disregarded.
"Alex, manners, please. Agent Daniels is currently on his own assignment, but will be joining you five tomorrow, when he gets back. As for the new soldier, his codename is Cat, and you will-" for a third time, Alex cut his superior off with a sharp clearing of his throat.
"I won't do a bloody thing. Tell Blunt I said the usual." With that, the teen snapped the silver phone shut and threw it back down on the counter, grabbing his tea and taking a long pull before addressing the curious looks of his old unit.
"So, Kitten, is it?" A feral grin hid itself behind the once again raised mug, and Cat's sputtered indignation coupled with his embarrassed blush only served to make Alex's amusement grow. Wolf cleared his own throat. "I'd appreciate it if you'd stop antagonizing the newest member of my unit, Cub." Wolf's comment seemed to make Alex even more amused, if his girlish giggling was anything to go by.
"I'm sorry, Wolf, but if you're going to use my codename, then it's going to be our unit. Now, maybe if you were to use my real name, James, maybe we could work something out." The Hispanic man stared, awestruck at the teen, running over the fact that the kid knew his name but the knowledge didn't run his way. Eagle broke the momentary tension with a snort, punching Snake lightly in the arm while the Scottish man tried to hold in his own laughter.
"I'm sorry, Wolf, but your face...Man, that was priceless!" Cat joined in with the peel of laughter as Wolf leaned back with his arms folded across his chest, agitated. Alex waited for the laughter to die down before speaking up again. "I don't know why you two are laughing, Adam(S), Oliver(E), because I know your names, too."
Snake and Eagle stopped laughing, caught off guard by being called out respectively. Cat was the only one laughing now. Studying the last man, Alex came to a sudden conclusion. "Cat. You're named after something...Something normal in everyday use, but odd for a name. Right?" Cat's laughter edged near nervousness before he quieted himself.
"Y-yeah, how did you know?" The teen polished off his tea, set the mug in the sink, and wandered around the table to Cat's side. "I didn't, but now I do. What does it start with, an 'H' or an 'M'?" No, too easy. But close. "K?" The look on Cat's face gave Alex all he needed to know.
He casually placed his bad hand on Cat's right shoulder, moving to lean over his left while the Soldier was staring at the bloodied bandage. Pulling a simple playing card halfway out of the man's breast pocket while twitching his fingers to keep Cat looking in that direction, Alex smirked and gently slid it back in.
Cat was none the wiser, reaching his own hand up to finger the teen's damaged hand. Snatching his limb away before it was touched, Alex danced away to stand near Wolf. "Your name is Kard. Spelled with a 'K'. Right, Cat?" The smirk turned into a lopsided grin as he leaned on Wolf's chair, the soldier grinning evilly at his flustered unit mate.
"How did – I mean – How do you – I..." Now it was Alex's turn to laugh. Cat decided to try and regain some dignity, so he manned up and spoke up. "Fine! Okay, Mr. Hot Shot. What's your name, since you seem to know all of ours? It's only fair, isn't it?"
The teen froze up, all traces of laughter gone from his face. "You have to work for that." The statement was final, monotonous and left no room for argument. It threw just about everyone off kilter, so Snake chose a new topic. "So, Cub, what – ah...What got you so banged up?" The medic eyed Alex's bandaged torso and hand, eyes flying up to meet calculating honey-suckle brown ones.
Bringing his bullet riddled hand up to his face, Alex winced slightly as he peeled the bloody bandage away. There was a collective gasp as the hole was revealed, Snake nearly tipping his seat back getting up to go to Alex's side. "Jesus, Kid, who the hell did you piss off enough to get shot clean through the hand?" Eagle leaned back in his seat, trying to see around the medic who was now testing Alex's ability to move his hand and fingers.
"Don't be too concerned. Damn baby probably left the safety lock off and shot himself," Cat muttered from where he sat, shooting the teen a challenging glance. 'Oh, well if he wants to play that game,' Alex thought, a wry smile overcoming the slightly pained expression.
Shaking Snake off, Alex began to unwrap his bandages fully. "Eagle, that's classified information. But I can tell you, Kard, that I have never shot myself. Well, never unintentionally, anyway." He added the last part with a cynical chuckle, watching the men's faces as the bloody bandages began to fall away.
"Holy shit, Cub. What happened to you?" The question was quiet as gentle fingers probed at a particularly upset group of stitches on his stomach, Alex wincing as Snake began to turn him around. The deafening silence that followed the action was heavy and hard to think through.
Alex, staring at the wall, began to get angry. Over what, he didn't know, but as soon as Snake dropped his arm and let the teen move away, he reached up into the cupboard and grabbed his pain medication, and swallowed two dry even though he didn't need them.
Turning back around to face the soldiers, Alex gave them an expectant look and shrugged off his bubbling feelings. Cat and Eagle looked stricken, Wolf was looking in the complete opposite direction, and Snake looked like he was going to be sick. That, or punch a wall.
Not knowing why he was beginning to smile, Alex bent down to to gather up the bloodied bandages and threw them into the rubbish bin. The smile turned into a sharp hiss of silent pain, though, when a few stitches pulled uncomfortably tight. As he turned back around, Snake was reaching into the cabinet and grabbing a few things. Putting two rolls of fresh bandages down on the counter and holding Alex's painkillers up to read the label, a troubled look crossed over his features.
Before Alex could ask the Scottish man what was wrong, the mobile Wolf had been carrying began to ring. Digging it out of his pocket and flipping it open on speaker, Wolf greeted whoever it was with a quick, "Go." Just as Crowley's voice began to crackle out of the small unit, Alex became dizzy and slumped back against the counter.
Through tunneled hearing, the teen picked up a few distressed words the MI6 agent spoke. "Get your...of the house...switched the medications...to go, now...stop for anything. Go!" Snake and Eagle were suddenly at Alex's elbows, Snake helping the younger man gather Alex into his arms gently.
Wolf was shouting out orders, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, and Alex watched in confusion as Snake took the time to dump the medication down the sink and grab the bandages off the counter before running out after Eagle and himself.
Cat was there, holding the door open, and as Eagle dashed out across the lawn and into the waiting Jeep, Alex had a fleeting thought. "Jack. Jack is still in the house." But Wolf was already pulling away from the curb and Eagle had Alex situated in his lap so he wasn't going anywhere. And as Snake took his hand to wrap it again, the teen twisted around to watch the rapidly disappearing house.
He watched helplessly as the door was flung open, a mop of curly red hair whipping out to look around, and then, it happened. A small explosion rocked the Jeep, and the telephone pole in front of the house fell onto the roof. Alex, with hysteria in his laughter, tried to tell Wolf to turn around, but a larger explosion went off a few seconds later and the whole Chelsea house went up in flames.
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The hysterical laughter cut off into a scream of helpless pain, bitter tears being ripped from his eyes as the Jeep sped on. Eagle clapped his large hand over Alex's mouth as Snake let go of his now bandaged limb, and the kid began to curl in on himself. Eagle could still feel the vocal vibrations against his palm, but he couldn't hear the actual scream, so the soldier stripped himself of his jacket and draped it around Alex's shaking frame.
The teen let loose a hellish sob as the warm fabric hit his shoulders, and he shifted in Eagle's lap to face away from his old home. He caught Cat's eyes, as the man was twisted around in the passenger seat, and they both stared silently at each other.
The tears slowly trekked down Alex's face as he opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a soft whimper. Cat's mouth set into a hard, angry line, so Alex turned to look at Snake. He didn't know what he was looking for, but it seemed as if the medic had a slight idea. Snake motioned to Eagle and Alex felt two strong arms wrap around his shaking body.
Looking up questioningly at the soldier, the teen realized that his old unit mate also had unshed tears in his eyes. Giving Alex a heartbreaking smile, Eagle ruffled his dirty blonde locks and gently pushed the teen's head into his chest. Setting his chin on top of Alex's head, Eagle began the whispered mantra of, "It's going to be okay, Cub, it's alright."
Resting his head comfortably and locating Eagle's heartbeat, Alex began to drift into a blacked out sleep he could only call passing out. Even in his sleep, though, the tears kept falling, and as Snake looked over, wondering more than once what was going on in the teen's head.
Wolf had a steel grip on the steering wheel, heading towards their location, and only Cat seemed to have a grip on the reality. The soldier knew the kid wasn't thinking of anything. There wasn't anything to think about now. Alex's eyes had been dull and pained, and Cat knew from experience what was going to come next.
An emotional lock down that no one was going to like.