"Please señor, have mercy! I have a wife and a newborn child, they will not be able to cope without me! Please! I beg you have m-m-mercy!" A crying man, now on his knees, begged and begged hoping for miracle. Though deep down he knew that there would be no miracle and that he was as good as dead. That didn't stop him from denying it though. That did not stop him from begging and pleading for his life, his wife's life and his child's life.

The man who he was begging to could not care less. He had killed many men, women and children before and he was no different. The fool was actually blind enough to believe that he would spare his life. He deserved to die. What sort of a man betrays his country for money, not even a relatively large amount. No, he definitely deserved to die, there was no doubt about it, but first, he would humiliate the traitor. Make an example to those who would dare defy him.

He smirked, revealing a tooth made out of solid gold, not that he needed it, it was just to show how rich he was. His position in government and his position in society. There were people around the world who prayed each night that they would never see that tooth, for they knew that the day they did would be their last.

"Do you work for Scorpia?" he asked

-silence-

"ANSWER ME!" the man demanded as he kicked the 'traitor' continuously until he finally answered.

"YES YES YES!" he screamed, trying to stop señor from kicking him.

"though not any more, no,never again señor!" the man cried.

"kill him" the man said with a disgusting smirk on his face.

"Of course Mr Martinez" The guard said as he dragged the man, kicking and screaming, into an empty room and a single shot was fired, And silence fell.

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'government parties are so dry' thought a young man, around 19 years old, sitting alone by the bar sipping a Bloody Mary and minding his own business. He had gotten a personal invite from the Prime Minister himself. To most people that would seem like privilege but Alex Rider had seen the man so many times, in so many different circumstances that he was getting quite sick of him but he thought it rude not to accept. Many people had attempted to make conversation with him...without success. He was here because he has to be not because he wanted to be.

"Alex! I can't tell you how glad I am that you made it!" Alex clicked back to reality and stood up, offering his hand to the prime minister. The man had a jolly, though professional smile.

"wouldn't have missed it for the world, sir" Alex said flashing a charming smile.

David Hasting-Bass, was said to be one of the best prime ministers England had ever had. Though he was highly reliant on MI6 to sort out militant conflicts and more often than not chose not to be involved in military operations which, to be honest, was fine with MI6 and MI5. After 20 minutes of small talk with Mr Hasting-Bass Alex walked off to another deserted corner waiting for the night to end. He ordered another Bloody Mary and kept an eye on everyone, checking for snipers on the upper Galleries and bombs in disguise and that's when he saw her. A stunning girl no older than 19 years old. She had dark brown hair and dark, muddy green eyes and was wearing a dress which was a dark shade red, almost maroon, and without knowing it he realized that he was staring at her, but instead of looking stunned and offended she smiled at him and walked over.

"Oh! I'm so sorry for staring, I didn't mean to be discourteous" Alex said, blushing.

"Don't apologize, I became fascinated with you the moment you walked through the door" Alex's head shot up to see her grinning cheekily

"Ugh, these parties are so dull! I mean I just spent half an hour talking to a 50 year old man bald, fat man about the current economical situation in Britain. Like I would care!" She said sounding genuinely bored

Alex laughed.

"You do realize that the 50 year old bald, fat man is our Defense Secretary"

The girl froze and then laughed "that's 5 politicians I've insulted then!" she said Alex laughed with her. She had a perfect Chelsea/Kensington accent but he could see that she was not originally from Britain and he sensed a bit of...Amercan...Spanish, no, Russian! "so were you born in Russia?" he asked She was impressed, no one had been able to twig that she was not a British native. "Yes, mum was Russian, dad was Italian. Grandparents were Scottish and irish, moved to England at the age of 9, became a medic in the British army. I was probably the worst they ever had though!" she joked Alex and the girl chatted away the entire night without realising it and before they knew it it was time to leave. "We can...go to my place...if that's alright with you" he whispered in her ear, she smiled and they both headed to his car. So...WDYT? Please review!