It was just a normal day at Brecon Beacons. The sun was shining, the obstacle was already shiny with mud and K Unit along with all the other units were trudging back from their daily morning 10k run.
Alex, or Cub, had managed to stay towards the middle of the group despite feeling terribly at a disadvantage. He had grown since his last time at Camp Hell.
He was tall and lean, nearing 6'2 with all the right muscle packed onto his slight frame. His hair had been cut short, it had gotten in the way too often it seemed and made him very recognizable with the unavoidable target on his back.
Wolf and the others had barely been able to recognize him when he showed up once again at the request of Mr. Blunt.
There hadn't been much change in the treatment he had been receiving, not from K Unit of course, they treated him as an equal after he had proven himself time and time again, it was the other men who spat at him and called him names and went out of their way to deliberately sabotage him.
Not that Alex couldn't handle it of course, he had been through so many missions and terrorist organizations that he was able to dismiss most of the taunting with a cocky smirk and his usual death glare.
He was sure that he had intimidated half the barracks with that glare and had gained the reputation of being arrogant and disrespectful.
On this particular day Alex was excited for Ben was coming to visit.
Ben, otherwise known as Fox was one of his dearest friends whom he had met initially on his primary visit to Brecon Beacons but had encountered again on several of his missions.
They both worked for MI6 and had often been paired together.
They were heading to breakfast, if you could even call it breakfast...but it was food nonetheless. The cafeteria was one of the worst places for Alex. The taunting was intensified by the grouped men who enjoyed calling Alex to attention with the intentions of publicly challenging and humiliating him.
Alex, from the beginning, had decided not the engage, knowing that it would only make them hate him more.
K Unit was unsure what to do about the relentless barrages on Alex and did their best to make Alex feel somewhat welcome even though they were still a bit unsure about him.
They were still tense around him, and one would say were slightly intimidated by his mysterious recruitment and presence.
Within the first few days of Alex's return he had outperformed them in martial arts, languages, shooting and stealth tactics.
This was all thanks to his training from SCORPIA but they didn't have to know that. The only thing he struggled with was keeping up with them in the physical tasks, they had been doing this for a long time and had grown strong and endured throughout the months.
They were also bigger, stronger and more muscular than he was.
Alex was still younger than them and took immense pleasure in watching their expressions as he outdid them in all the aforementioned tasks.
His methods of doing things was slightly unfamiliar to them, since he was trained predominantly as an assassin and they baffled even the Sergeants.
The cafeteria was a large building with rows of long tables, which was currently filled with the sounds of chatter and cutlery.
As they trudged into the room they saw Ben, to their surprise, sitting by himself at one of the empty tables.
Alex could feel the usual feeling of several pairs of eyes on him and did his best to look self assured as his devil-may-care smirk arrayed over his hard features once again.
Ben, with his short cut brown hair and bright blue eyes looking the same as the last time Alex had seen him, somewhere in Monte Carlo and looked to be in good health, he noticed with relief.
Alex had never gotten over the time when he had caused Ben to be shot and had apologized profusely afterwards.
"Ben Daniels" said Alex as he plopped down next to his friend after getting his food. Ben who hadn't noticed their arrival, so immersed in food, jumped and turned to stare at Alex in bewilderment.
"Alex!? What are you doing here?" he asked incredulously.
The rest of K unit was staring at them in confusion. They glanced at each other, how did Cub know Ben?
Alex and Ben embraced tightly much to the surprise of the entire cafeteria who were watching them like hawks.
"Blunt sent me" replied Alex in annoyance, rolling his eyes.
Ben grinned, "it sure is good to see you old chap."
As if suddenly realizing the rest of K Unit he exchanged handshakes and sooner than later they were all chatting away, catching up with each other, mainly Alex and Ben while K Unit watched their conversation like a tennis match.
"Oy laddie"
The shout echoed through the cafeteria and Alex closed his eyes in silent resignation.
There was sudden silence throughout the room and Alex saw Ben glance curiously to the source of the shout.
There was the screeching of chairs as several men, Alex's most constant torturers, laughed among themselves and poked fun at Alex so that all the men could hear.
Alex went back to eating his food and saw Ben glance at Wolf concernedly and open his mouth to say something .
"Don't ask." he said abruptly, his mouth frowning and his eyes hardening. Ben shut his mouth and then opened it again.
"What is this?"
"Its for me." replied Alex unconcernedly. "They enjoy taunting me and humiliating me publicly to make them feel better about themselves." He said matter-a-factly.
Ben opened his mouth to protest, anger coming over his features, his jaw tightening.
"That's not right Alex" he said firmly. He looked over at his old team members. "You guys didn't stop this?"
Wolf, Snake and Eagle didn't answer just stared at their food abashedly. Alex sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Ben, it's really alright, just some harmless teasing" he reassured his friend.
From behind him a man walked over to Alex's row of tables.
It was Lion, possibly the worst of Alex's tormentors and was a big man with big sneer to match his big ugly personality.
He proceeded to loudly shame Alex when the sudden screeching of a single chair broke through the barrage of insults.
Ben had stood up sharply, his chair shooting backwards, rage contorted on his face.
Alex watched in a sort of scared fascination as Ben marched his way over to Lion.
The entire room was watching now, not a single face was turned away from the drama unfolding in front of their eyes.
Alex decided to stand up also, his eyes suddenly turning concerned for Ben whom he didn't want to get in trouble on his account once again.
Lion had stopped and stared bemusedly at Ben.
Ben, who was slightly shorter and smaller than Lion stopped inches from the other man, staring into his eyes and in a sudden motion yanked on the man's shirt so that they were exactly face to face.
Lion's face was not amused anymore and he stared into Ben's eyes with a hint of fear and misplaced confidence.
"How dare you" hissed Ben with deadly calm. "How dare you disrespect one of your country's best soldiers."
Lion opened his mouth to protest but Ben didn't give him the chance,
"Alex-Cub is more honorable, more loyal, more courageous, and more experienced than you will ever be. He had faced countless obstacles, growing up with no parents, several murdered guardians and having completed more dangerous missions than you could ever dream of."
Ben's voice was growing steadily louder and more passionate as his rant went on and Alex closed his eyes gently.
Ben was revealing all of his secrets, he could sense eyes on his once again but more in awe and respect and he fought the urge to run and escape out of the cafeteria.
"YOU are just some petty, sour, arrogant douchebag who decided to publicly humiliate one of the people that cause you to sleep safe at night. A BOY who completed loads of successful missions when he was just FOURTEEN. I have never been so SHOCKED by one's stupidity as I am right now. You should be ashamed. All of you."
Ben loosened his grip and glanced around the cafeteria, surveying the faces in anger.
"How DARE you insult him, he has been into space, fought with sharks, defeated SCORPIA…"
"BEN!" Alex shouted, slightly hysterical at Ben's relentless storytelling, stories that weren't supposed to be known.
Ben seemed to come to his senses and straightened up, brushing Lion away from him, still looking peeved.
"Do we have an understanding?" he asked Lion, his voice returning to deathly calm once again.
Lion didn't respond but stared wide-eyed back at Ben, his eyes flitting over to Alex in confusion.
"I said DO WE HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING?" Ben bellowed at the man.
"Yeah, fine, whatever" said Lion, bristling.
"Well alright then." With that, Ben turned and began to make his back to K Unit and Alex.
"Sodding wanker." said Lion under his breath, just loud enough that Ben and Alex could hear.
Ben stopped in his tracks, his body similar to that of a crouched tiger, ready to spring.
Alex watched the emotions play across Ben's face: anger, rage, shock and then decisiveness.
He grinned to himself as he imagined what Lion would have to pay for awakening Ben's wrath. Ben didn't disappoint and in a sudden whirl of motion, swung around at struck Lion straight across the face in a deadly right hook.
Lion went down like a sack of very heavy potatoes and Ben didn't even shake off his hand as he turned away from his victim and walked back towards them.
Lion lay unconscious on the floor, his buddies scurrying over to him and shaking him behind Ben's stone cold back.
Alex sat down with Ben and stared at him, a slight grin on his face.
Ben continued eating as if nothing had happened but after a few minutes looked up at Alex and grinned abruptly.
"I have to say that that was bloody well taken care of." deadpanned Ben, his boyish face humorous and amused.
"I'd have to say I agree with you." agreed Alex and suddenly they both dissolved into laughter.
Wolf, Eagle and Snake gazed at them in amused bewilderment and slight awe.
Alex's smile faded slightly at all the questions he would have to answer but for now Ben standing up for him was enough.
He felt this odd feeling in his chest that his brain recognized as affection, but it was so unfamiliar that it felt out of place inside him.
"Nice right hook Foxy" said Eagle.
"You were fourteen?" asked Wolf incredulously.
Alex rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, that's classified."
He looked at Ben pointedly. Ben had the grace to look ashamed but his face softened.
"They won't be bothering you anymore." said Ben.
"Yeah, you can be sure of that." said Wolf.
Alex frowned at the pair of them but then nodded.
Several hours later, when Sergeant Collins opened the report on injuries concerning Lion and an attack from Fox, he read the contents carefully, examining specially Ben's account of the events.
As his eyes skimmed the letters a grin came to his face and he laughed.