A/n: OK, no-one grill me as this is my first Alex Rider fanfic. I just finished reading the six books and thought that Alex was so alone. He needs some company. And thus, East meets West was born. If it turns out to be a hit, the sequels North meets South and Four points united may be published.
This chapter is dedicated to...Deadly Monkey with a Flame. I loved their story and seriously recommend reading.
Chapter 1: MI6 no more!
Alex's POV
Walking down to Liverpool Street Station, Alex reflected. The last time he had been here, he found himself the target of a sniper paid by Scorpia. And what had MI6 done? Packed him off to do yet another mission, while still recovering! He just wished he could find someway of at least getting a rest for more than a couple of weeks. Here they were, calling him in again. He shouldn't have bothered coming, he could have stayed at home.
Inside the Royal & General Bank, Mrs Jones was reading a report when William buzzed her.
'Mr Blunt wants you up in his office, and Alex Rider is just downstairs.'
'Thanks William. I'll expect to be some time.'
She set off to the top floor where her superior worked and didn't bother knocking as she walked in. Alan, was of course, already aware she was coming. She had barely sat down for five seconds when somebody knocked, and Alex Rider slouched in. He appeared to be very disgruntled about something. Mrs Jones could probably guess what.
He flung himself into a chair and spoke two words with suppressed anger.
'Now what?' Obviously annoyed.
Alan didn't speak for a while, then passed Alex a sheet of paper. On it was a report that had come in from the Asia. They had been complaining about the sharp upswing a certain triad group had been doing. No less than 7 buildings had been attacked in the last month and around 18 people killed, with many more injured in some way, which they all took credit for. Jade snake. The most lethal and deadly triad group in all of Asia. They had methods even worse then that of Scorpia and were twice as dangerous.
Alex, took a quick glance at the sheet before putting it back down.
'No.'
Alan looked up in surprise.
'What do you mean "no"? You have barely even looked at the report.'
'I mean "no" as in, no I don't want to go, no I've had enough of this and no you can't make me.'
Alex had certainly been annoyed at us. I decided it was my turn to try.
'Alex. What you must understand is that, it is important to get a spy in Asia. Particularly China. You've heard of Triad groups? You must remember the Big Circle after dealing with Sarov and Skeleton Key. Well the point is this. We need to send you in, possibly as a exchange student. The school is one that has many children as family of the Triads. The one we are most worried about is the group, "Jade Snake", they are known for methods of death and destruction well in Asia. You are to infiltrate the school, Redstone Academy, and make friends with such people. We have their files for you to study. Now the only problem we have found is language. You speak Japanese but the main languages there are Madarin and Catoneese. You will have to learn either or, chose by the people in the files.
'You see the problem is, these kids are being trained by their parents to become Triad members. Our greatest concern is at Redstone Academy. You will go under the name of Luke Wickins, an English exchange student from Exmouth. The rest of your identity is in the files. You're plane leaves in two days. Now, why don't you visit Smithers?'
Alex couldn't believe it. He had somehow, during Mrs Jones' talk, ended up giving his consent. But hey! He gets more gadgets!
Now in Smithers' office, he saw that he was out, but had left a backpack of gadgets on the desk with a note:
Alex,
Sorry i'm not here, problems in the basement with some other things.
List of how to use gadgets are inside bag. Uniform included.
Smithers.
P.S. This letter will self-destruct in 10 seconds after being picked up by bare hands. Better have read it quickly!
No sooner had Alex finished, than it began smoking. By the time he left the room, there was nothing.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a tall man was just getting out of a limosuine. He was very important in the Black Market Trade. After all, he was a Triad member. The limo had pulled up outside a fancy club. But it was only a cover. Underneath was a flourishing factory in crack. But he never even managed to get to the door.
Several shots rang out in the night and many people screamed as he suddenly jerked back, before collasping into a pile. A final shot rang out. But this one had a note attached to it. There was no need to read it. Simply because an insignia was on it. A jade snake, but it was cut in three pieces. It was surrounded by black. Everyone knew that sign. If the snake had been whole, on a red background, then it would have been Jade snake's work. But that one meant something else.
Midnight Death had struck again.
Up on one of the many building blocks, a figure intirely cloaked in black quickly dismantled their long-range sniper gun. They had again, done three strikes, before their note. One is done around the legs. One at the heart, or the person was wearing a bulletproof vest, the wrist or elbow, before doing one right between the eyes. It was a move that they had carried out many times before. It was a lethal, and effective method they had discovered, though many gangs had been quick to pick up on this. They sometimes addopted this manner too.
But that person didn't care. They knew they had to be off this rooftop in less than 30 seconds. Getting the gun away took 20. Now to get off. They took a running jump, and leapt off the rooftop. Just as the door behind banged open.
About 50 feet from the ground, they reached out, and grabbed part of the fire escape near to them. They could now easily jump from here, and land without breaking nothing whatsoever, or creating hardly any sound.
This time, they landed on a motorbike. The motorbike they had used to get here. The gun had been fixed so it could fit in with the bike, and not look out of place. With that, they kick-started the engine.
And Midnight Death rode off into the night.
So, my first Alex Rider. Please tell me what you think. Am I being totally rubbish, or do I have some talent here?
This time, I have a little task. If you can properly be able to guess even close to who Midnight Death is, you will have Chapter 2 dedicated to you. Or if you are first to review. Or if I just feel like it.
Oh yeah, the chapter isn't ending here, I just did that cause I wanted to.
Two days later, saw Alex Rider, sitting in first class, winging his way to China. He had been studying his new identity, and had to admit, he liked the sound of this person.
Luke Wickins was fourteen, with an older brother who worked as a club bouncer, and a little sister who was still in Junior School. His mum worked as a secretary while his dad was a business man, currently in L.A.
He was one of those boys, where he's the fit looking boys, but no one dares asks him out.(If you don't know what I mean, then I can't help you.)
He was going on this trip as an educational one, to compare the ways there, to the ones at home. Apparently, some others were already there. He would pretend he had been in hospital when they left so hadn't been with them.
He was currently on his new PDA. It was expected in China, and was modified to be like his Nintendo DS. The PDA's pen contained tranquillisers, while the batteries were bombs, fingerprint sensitive to his use only. If he was to go on phonebook, there would be an area called England. In there, was a fake identity in which MI6 were hiding under. But if he press the name three times in rapid succession, it would send out a signal, meaning "pull me out". The games were like his old Nintendo. (My mind is blank on what they are again. I don't mean as in the ones in the movie. If I rememer correctly, there different. Please tell me.)
His uniform had also been modified. The belt had an clip-on buckle with a 50 foot nylon wire wrapped behind it. The blazer that had to go on top was now fireproof complete with gas mask, his trousers likewise(apart from the gas mask).
But his favourite was the shoes. They had three modes. His trainers were the same. He had the normal mode. Then the soles became suction pads. Then he had rollerblades. The best thing about those were, the blades never wore down. Mind you, when a button on the underneath was pressed(so well hidden, you wouldn't have found it unless you knew where to look), it became a mini ripsaw.
Although he had had only two days to learn a new identity, several students he decided to target, and their langauges on top of that, he felt confident he could do well.
He put away the PDA and turned back to the files. His eye had been caught by a certain girl. But there didn't seem to be much information on her. She had been marked as a Triad child. Her father had been an important member of the Jade snake. But he had been assinated by something later revealed as Midnight Death.
She hadn't shown any signs of being a member, but was recently put on exclusion for a week, as she had set fire to the Computers Block. This had caused a large explosion, over £60,000 of equipment had been destroyed. Because this was her first major crime in school, it was lessened, and the fact their was no-one in was in there, or that they were going to scrap it and start over anyway. She just did it for them. But it was still a crime. No photo had been given to the file. In its place it said no photo could be found of her. But it didn't matter, as a description was given by the headmaster. He had been let in on it, as it was vital to recieve as much information. He had been checked of course.
The girl's name was given how the head called his students: T. Xialung.
Anything can happen. He's on his way to China. What happens next?
See you on the other side.
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