Chapter 1 The Return of a Spy

East London, England
Alex Rider longed to be normal. He always wanted to be a normal teenager who cannot fear getting killed, cannot know the secret agencies that deal with thousands of different secret mission and not fear being asked to change an identity and be sent to other countries. But that was him... that was his life; that was his identity. This all started when his uncle died. Alex Rider always thought that his uncle was a banker. But after his death, it was found out that he worked in a bank building, alright but only in the bank building physically. The bank wasn't a bank already from the second floor... it was a secret organization, it was MI6. He had been sent to seven life-threatening missions. His guardian, the only person he could trust, was killed in front of his very own eyes in his latest mission. Nonetheless, MI6 had agreed to leave him alone and no longer use him for any mission. So, for now, he was just a normal teenager. But Alex knows he was a wanted man, he knows that many terrorist organization wants to have him dead, he knows that every second he has to be careful or he would end up like his guardian.

It was good to be back where he belongs or used to belong. Alex's 'family' of Sabrina and her parents had allowed him to come back to England. They would join him in a month's time as Sabrina has an exam to take.

"Don't get yourself into trouble."Sabrina's mom had said.

It was a weekend, completely calm, normal and peaceful. Alex was riding on his bike which he rented; he was cutting through the back lane. It was a short cut back to his hotel.

Standing at the top of a building was a man. The man was in his late 40s if you get a chance to talk to him, you would realize he had a Chinese accent. In front of him was a sniper. He was all set, now he all he had to do is wait for his subject to pass by.

Now Alex was at the narrow back lane, a turn and he would be back at his hotel. But seems like that was not the case, just as he slowed down a bullet shot whizzed pass him at thunder-like speed. The sniper's aiming was good but so was Alex's reflex. The bullet barely missed his head as Alex surged forward. Alex pedaled faster. He was thinking of the things he could do now: 1. Return to the hotel (but his killer could enter by force), 2. go to a crowded place but he could still be shot, 3. seek help. Alex knew he had to seek help. He quickly u-turned and that was when he heard the sound of a motorbike. Alex pedaled with all his might, knowing it was his only chance of survival. Deep in his mind Alex knew someone wanted him dead and urgently wanted him to be of non-existence. A gunshot rang out this time round it missed badly. Another gunshot whizzed pass him. They were on the main road now. Alex knew that he could not seek help now. The killer was daring and seeking help from the police was impossible. Alex knows that he would die before that. A thought struck Alex: since they want me dead, I would pretend to die.

As an ex-spy, Alex had experience in this. He cycled quickly towards the park where it was brimming with people, but still the motorbike followed. Not far away from Alex, there stood a large pond. Alex knew he would have to gamble now. He cycled quickly towards it while his killer gave chase. A third gunshot came out Alex hoped it would miss by a little. And it did. Alex carried on with his plan. He hurriedly pretended to be shot at his back and pretended to be thrown into the deep pond. Alex gave a dramatic jump for that cause and splash he was inside the pond. The killer seemed convinced of Alex's 'death' and quickly drove away before anyone at the park caught him. Alex stayed underwater for a few more moments before quickly swimming underwater to the other side of the pond. Without stopping Alex made a dash towards the back lane and staggered his way to where the Royal & General Bank is located. Now, if you were someone who was being chased by a gunman or anyone for that matter, your first choice of hiding probably wouldn't be a bank. However, this was no ordinary bank. In fact, it wasn't really a bank at all. Rather, this was the headquarters of the British intelligence agency "MI6". Normally, Alex would never come to this place. He never wanted to be a spy but MI6 had a way of blackmailing him into doing it. He prayed they wouldn't do it again.

Upon entering Alex rushed to the reception and hurriedly said, "Tell Mrs Jones to come down now! Say it is Alex."

In less than 30 seconds, Mrs Jones was down. She was the current head of MI6 after Alan Blunt stepped down from his post a year ago.

"Alex," Mrs. Jones said, Alex able to smell the peppermint on her breath as he approached, "What a surprise! Why are you here, I thought you were at somewhere far?"

"They are chasing after me. They think that I am dead now." Alex said.

Mrs Jones looked at Alex skeptically. Then, she beckoned Alex to follow her.

When the duo finally reached the office, she said, "Tell me what happened."

Alex told her in full of the whole incident.

"They will soon send someone to check if your body is there and the police would be there too. And if they don't find any corpse of yours, they will sent people to kill your friend too…you have to be extra careful." Mrs Jones said

"Can you do something to help me? After all I helped you people so many times." Alex pleaded. He really wanted to return to normal.

"I have a mission available here. It is this UWCSEA case. A very simple case to find two young boys. It is located in Singapore so you can be there while I settle your problem here. If you want me to settle your problem, you must not be in this country."Mrs Jones said.

"You very sure my problem would be settled?"Alex asked, "And will I be back within a month?"

"Yes and you will be back within a month I guess. You have to decide quickly before someone tries to find your body. The mission has no danger at all. It is simply just finding two young brothers of a rich Fowl family." Mrs Jones said

"Okay"

Mrs Jones took out her cell phone and dialed for someone.

"I have already arranged for the police to pretend to collect a body. The identity of the 'dead person' would be hushed and I believe that whoever who wants to kill you would presumably link it up that you are not announced dead as you are an ex-spy. The news too, I expect, will report a body found and they will report it cannot be stated who was killed as it is a matter of national security, I hope they would forget this matter in the mean time. Hopefully later I can find out who they are and what organization they belong to and try to get rid of them."Mrs Jones said after calling someone, "Now let me brief you on the mission, your identity for this mission will be Alex Smithers and you would be sent to UWCSEA in Singapore to find two young brothers of age 5 years old. They are already sent for elementary school despite their age but are now kidnapped. Their father Mr Fowl wants them back quickly or he would do something to embarrass our country and our MI6 reputation. In fact I think he had already asked all secret services to help find his two sons so we had better be fast. You would be sent to the High School level and your 'parents' would be abroad and you would have to stay in boarding. Some other documents can be found in here. You should take the next plane in an hour's time. Before that, visit Smithers."

x x x x

The room where Alex expected to see a fat guy but instead there sat a thin guy.

"No point wearing the fat suit now, right?" Smithers said to Alex, "Long time no see buddy, although I wasn't expecting you. Anyway I heard you are going to Singapore. It's a nice place to visit but the security's going to be very tight so I have decided to give you some of my latest edition of weapons- One, ID Tracker. This is a camera which takes a picture of the person and then it hacks to the world database and tracks down the person's identity. Two, is the zappy pen. The ink is a strong acid which melts anything it comes into contact with, the handle of the pen is razor sharp and I believe can cut the lock of any door. I don't think there would be any danger but buddy, you would never know, I decided to give you this robot keychain. To set off the weapon, pull the hat off the robot and twist the head twice. Press the weapon of your choice: Green is the toxic gas; Red is the blinding flash, purple releases a flame and black explodes. If you need to hook yourself to one place and move down the building, just pull the chain and hook it to somewhere. It should be able to hold up to ten people without breaking and can extend to about ten floors high. If you have any problems, just write to me. Whatever you write or draw or doodle on this piece of paper would immediately be sent to us. Well that's about it. I wish you the best of luck my friend. Hope you wouldn't need those weapons."

Alex smiled, "Thanks Smithers." Alex saluted Smithers playfully before leaving the room.

He was then escorted to a car and was on his way to the airport."

THIS CHAPTER IS TO ROUGHLY DESCRIBE THE START OF THIS STORY AND HOW DID ALEX GET INTO THIS CASE. THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL TOUCH ON ARTEMIS FOWL PLEASE REVIEW. REVIEWS ARE THE ONLY THING WHICH ENCOURAGES ME TO WRITE AND THEREFORE I WILL ONLY CONTINUE AFTER THE SECOND REVIEW. IF YOU ARE FREE AND LOVE PERCY JACKSON AND I AM NUMBER 4 PLS ALSO READ MY OTHER FANFIC WHICH IS CALLED THE QUEST: 2012. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR SPENDING TIME TO READ THIS CHAPTER.