Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider. I unfortunately do own this (not that great) piece of work...

Legend: MI6

Agent Liam Johnson, otherwise known as "lowly desk agent" to his superiors, was a young, impressionable man. He had just graduated out of Cambridge two years ago and was now working at a bank that no one would look at twice. It was fine to Liam, as well as his superiors, who didn't actually work at the bank.

No, Agent Liam Johnson was a spy. A low ranking one, that was for sure, but he was an MI6 agent. He worked on Liverpool Street at the Royal and General Bank.

He had worked there for a month when he first heard about the legend of Alex Rider.

His partner, Agent Lori Fulton, was the gossipy type. She was the first person to tell him in hushed tones.

"You know Sarah? Over there by the plant. She told me something really interesting at lunch today."

"What?"

"Apparently, there's a conspiracy – not a real one, if you get what I mean – going on around here."

"And that is…?"

"So about five years ago, the former head, Blunt or something, hired a teenager as a spy!"

"A teenager?"

"Yeah. Blunt thought that the guy would be a perfect spy because no one was expecting a teenager to be working with MI6. He thought that the teenager would be killed later or something so there wasn't any risk, but it turns out that the teenager could handle himself pretty well."

"So?"

"It's rumored that he had a hundred percent success rate, and he's been captured plenty of times too. Tortured. I heard that besides the head and the deputy head, he's the highest ranking agent."

"And…?"

"No one has ever seen him – like ever. Sarah reckons that it's just a story to make us try to work harder."

"Is that why it's a conspiracy?"

"No. It's because MI6 hired a minor, dumbass!"

"Well… what's his name, then?"

"Rider. Agent Alex Rider."

"Do you think he's real?"

"Well, here's the thing. You know that wall in the back with all those pictures of 'honorable bank employees'? There's two men there: Ian Rider and John Rider. I think Alex Rider is related to them."

"What's the point of this?"

"It's interesting! This kid – man – is a total mystery!"

"So?"

"Come on, Liam. Sarah can tell you all the stories. I bet you'll be amazed."

LEGEND*MI6

Alex Rider, age nineteen, was an official employee at the Royal and General Bank. He had been official for almost two years.

To the heads of MI6, he was their highest ranking, successful agent, but to everyone else, he assumed the identity of a desk agent: Agent Liam Johnson, a twenty-four year old, who had worked there for two years, but hadn't been very successful with his work. He was often missing for days at a time. He was sure no one knew why, but if his superiors were curious, they would be redirected to "Section Q" and the inventive Mr. Smithers.

He had first gotten the idea of going undercover from Mr. Smithers, who had created Alex his very own fat suit for a mission. Remembering the sniper who had shot him on the front steps of the bank, Alex decided not to take any more chances with his safety. And so Liam Johnson was born.

No one particularly liked Liam, though Alex couldn't tell why. It might be because Liam seemed to do nothing but sit around and play games on his computer. It wasn't true, though. Alex worked diligently all day, doing his enormous amount of paperwork and building up the firewalls on the computers.

Ring ring!

Alex was pulled out of his thoughts when the phone on his desk rang. No one called him except for the head of MI6, Mrs. Jones, who was polite enough to help him maintain his cover. However, he had a feeling it wasn't for him, it was more for the benefit of Mrs. Jones.

"Yes?" Alex asked into the receiver.

"Agent," Mrs. Jones said, clearly around a peppermint, "report to my office."

Click.

She hung up before Alex could reply. The woman regularly annoyed him. Alex stood, the fat suit's stomach wobbling out in front of him.

"Where are you going?"

Lori Fulton was his field agent partner. He wasn't sure why, but every field agent had a desk agent partner, except for him. Alex Rider.

"Someone needs help with their computer," Alex lied smoothly, waddling away from the cluster of desks.

"Should I come with?" Lori called.

Alex inwardly rolled his eyes, turning to face her, "I can handle getting there myself," he said, just as one of the desk agents tried to trip him.

He inwardly sighed at the motion. It seemed that bullies never changed, no matter how old.

He quickly reached the lift, jabbing the 'up' arrow with his thick thumb. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone inside.

Alex waddled out of the lift a minute later, making his way towards Mrs. Jones' office. He'd been there countless times over the past few years. It was almost like his second home. Not a friendly one, he had to admit, but it was familiar and almost comforting in a sense.

"Mrs. Jones,"Alex greeted, not bothering to knock.

"Alex," the woman motioned to the chair. She refused to call him "Liam" whenever they were alone.

Alex grinned, "Do you mind if I…?" He gestured to the fat suit.

It always made the woman uncomfortable. Alex made a point to take off the fat suit every time he went into her office.

"Please," Mrs. Jones sighed, looking away.

A moment later, nineteen year old Alex Rider emerged, smirking as he set the skin of Liam Johnson aside.

"What do you need?" Alex asked, plopping down on one of the chairs in front of Mrs. Jones, "Better make it quick – I have a weapons seminar to get to soon. Which reminds me: why do desk agents have to train in the shooting range? It's not like we're going to actually be able to use those skills."

Mrs. Jones ignored his last two questions, as Alex had been expecting. Instead, she fixed him with a scrutinizing stare.

"What?' Alex questioned, running a hand through his messy hair.

The head of MI6 shook her head, looking away, "I was wondering if you could take over the weapons seminar," it was clearly not a request.

"As Liam?" Alex questioned, confused. It was well-known that Liam wasn't very knowledgeable on things like that.

"No," Mrs. Jones said, "As yourself."

Alex cocked an eyebrow, "I thought we agreed that Alex Rider was only known to the higher ups?"

"That may be," Mrs. Jones sucked on her peppermint before promptly changing the topic, "Did you know that Mr. Fornell is retiring next month?"

Alex blinked at the abrupt topic change, "Yes," he said slowly, "You mentioned it once before. Have you found a replacement?"

Fornell was the deputy head of MI6. He was a grizzled, old man that had accepted the job four years ago. As he had told Alex, he hadn't expected to hold the job for a long time. It was only a favor for Mrs. Jones until she could find a better suited agent to take up the job.

"As a matter of fact," Mrs. Jones nodded slightly with her head, "yes, I have."

Alex leaned forward, waiting for more, but when none came he cleared his throat, "Who?"

Mrs. Jones' lips turned a fraction of an inch upwards. It surprised Alex, though he tried not to show it. The woman never showed so much expression. The last time she had shown a small smile was when he completed his fiftieth mission.

"You."

Alex thought he'd heard wrong, "Pardon?"

"I've been waiting," Mrs. Jones explained, "for you to grow into your responsibilities. Fornell has agreed that you're the best choice, despite your age. You're the only one I trust as deputy head."

Alex blinked owlishly.

"Which is why you're going to the weapons seminar to teach. You're going to confirm that Alex Rider is a real person – yes, I know all about that little rumor."

"And what about Liam?" Alex had gotten over his shock pretty quickly, "People are going to notice that he's missing… or that he will be missing."

Mrs. Jones made a motion that looked like shrugging without actually moving her shoulders, "Lie, tell the truth, I don't care. Just get the job done."

Alex nodded before standing, "Fine by me."

He strolled out the door casually, thinking. He didn't have to explain anything about Liam. Maybe the others would think he had been fired.

His mind flashed back to those who had tried to trip him up that morning. If anything, bullies were something that Alex hated. He'd hated them in his youth, and he still hated them now.

"Alex?"

Alex paused, halfway down the corridor already. He turned to find Mrs. Jones in her doorway, holding out his fat suit in between two fingers. Her face was emotionless, but he could see hints of disgust on her face.

"You forgot Liam."

LEGEND*MI6

MI6 had several rooms dedicated to classes and seminars on the second floor. Alex was waiting patiently in one of those, sitting off to the side with some of the senior agents. He was familiar with all of them. Alex had worked with all of them at least once before.

"Congratulations, son," one man, Agent Black, grinned at Alex, giving him a perfect view of his chipped teeth, "I heard you got promoted."

"News travels fast," Alex said wryly, smirking back at the man.

Black snorted, "You're in a house full of spies, son," he laughed. "After all, it's not every day a new deputy head of MI6 is appointed."

"Deputy head?" Another senior agent leaned forward, "About time, then!"

Alex gave her an odd look, "What do you mean?"

"Jones has been waiting for the perfect time to ask you all year," the woman said seriously, "She said that you wanted to parade around as – what did you call him? Liam?"

Alex rolled his eyes.

"Hush," Black hissed at the two, "Caldwell is up."

When Mrs. Jones had asked for Alex to take over the weapons seminar, she had failed to mention that the senior agents (only the six of them) would be lecturing too. Each of the senior agents had a certain category to talk about.

Alex was going last with his lecture about handguns and his little surprise at the end. He knew it was immature, but he couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces.

His eyes ran over the crowd. It mostly consisted of low ranking agents, such as Liam. He spotted Lori, his partner, in the crowd, looking around anxiously. No doubt she was looking around for him.

Alex inwardly groaned, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. He listened half-heartedly to his friends – no, that wasn't the right word – comrades talking animatedly about their weapons.

Black prodded him after what seemed like hours, "You're up, kiddo."

Alex blinked before standing up and stretching. He could feel the entire room's gazes on him as he slowly strolled to the front of the room, his hands in his pockets. The perfect image of nonchalance.

"Bonjour!" He greeted with fake enthusiasm, "I'm here to talk to you about handguns..."

He spent the next thirty-eight minutes rambling on about handguns. To be honest, Alex was nearly bored by his own voice.

"Any questions?" he closed the lecture.

The other agents had gotten quite a few questions, but Alex felt that every single agent's hand was up.

"Er – you there," he pointed at a guy in the first row.

"How old are you?" the man asked quickly. Alex identified the man as the same guy who had tried to trip him this morning, "...sir?"

The emphasis on the sir let Alex know that the man was mocking him. He wondered why MI6 had hired the man in the first place. It was crucial to have a "team" attitude especially because spies needed to rely on one another.

Alex sighed, "Any questions not on my personal life?"

Hesitantly, the majority of the hands went down.

Alex answered the remaining questions accordingly, which took another twenty minutes. He hated it.

Thankfully, as deputy head of MI6 (soon), Alex wouldn't need to do Mrs. Jones anymore "favors".

"Now, the director has asked me to pass along a message," Alex paused. "I'm sure many of you have heard of the legend of Alex Rider, is that correct?"

There were a few awkward nods and murmurs of agreement.

"Some of you may have heard that the current deputy head of MI6 is retiring next month, correct?"

He received the same response.

"And I'm very sure that all of you know who Agent Liam Johnson is, correct?"

A few looks were exchanged. They were shifty.

"I am Senior Agent Alex Rider," Alex announced, "and I am also Agent Liam Johnson."

Murmurs broke out within the audience.

"I will also be the deputy head in a months time," Alex fixed a pointed glare at the man who had tried to trip him. He was satisfied when the man gulped and shrunk back.

"Don't expect to hear from me again," Alex called teasingly, striding off, past the senior agents who were smirking and into the hallway.

A moment later, Black pushed his way out of the room, a video camera in his hands, "I got the whole thing on tape," he grinned toothily and leaned in to whisper loudly, "don't forget to burn the evidence when you're done, sonny!"

A/N: Alright, I'm not sure if this was good. I wrote this purely because I was really, really frustrated with my academic work (I'm accelerating a math course). I'm so frustrated that I don't even want to go back and edit this… Yeah, it's bad…

And I'm still annoyed. URGH.

Okay, don't forget to leave a review on the way out! I think I'm going to sleep off the frustration…

-Alice x