Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider.
Summary:
"Halloween-themed! After moving in with the Pleasures, Alex finds himself craving action again. The adrenaline flow. The fear. Everything. So, on the night of Halloween, he drops a call on Joe Byrne, dons a white mask and black cape, and becomes the mysterious do-gooder the American people had assigned his accidental good deeds to before."
Part One:
The first time, it had happened completely by accident. Not the event itself (Alex had practically been asking for it with the route he had taken), but the dropped blossom. Heading home from the flower shop, after picking up the two-dozen roses he had ordered for his sister, Sabina ("White as snow, Alex. They have to be white. as. snow. Got it?" "Yes, mother." "Oh, shut up."), Alex had gotten impatient. Sabina's birthday party had been only ten minutes away. So, being the fearless spy he was, the teen had taken a short-cut.
Through a dark alley.
That had happened to had been right next to a bar.
Not the best idea, was it?
With his luck, he just had to come across two drunkards harassing an honest woman who had, supposedly, taken the alley as a short-cut as well.
Just his f(*bleep*)ing luck.
Unfortunate or not, Alex had helped the woman anyways. After all, he still had strong morals. Those hadn't washed away along with his innocence, emotions, and childhood. Sticking close to the shadows, he had lashed out venomously at the two men. Not lethal blows, mind you, but excruciating ones. As expected, both collapsed, leaving the woman trembling and horribly disoriented. Alex couldn't stand the sight. So, as a parting gift, he threw a single white rose onto the ground before her and rushed off hurriedly.
The party, of course, had been a blast.
But the next day, the news had had some... suspicious headlines.
" Bank-Owner's Wife Saved By Mysterious Man"
" White-Rose Phantom Deals Justice on the Streets"
" Woman Saved By Unknown Man, White Rose the Only Traces"
Of-freaking-course. It was bloody typical of his luck to have the woman he saved be as important as a bank-owner's bloody wife! Of course he had made the news.
As soon as Sabina saw the TV screen, she threw him a suspicious look.
"Alex, that bouquet you got me yesterday only had 23 roses, didn't it?"
"Why do you ask?"
PAGE BREAK
Part Two:
The second time... well... neither the event or the rose had been accidental. After he had seen the headlines that one morning, Alex had, on a whim, started taking a white rose along with him on his outings, just in case he ran into another "incident" (as he had fondly taken to calling them).
The second time, he had spotted a shady-looking man walking briskly along the side-walk, eyes averting any contact. He couldn't have helped noticing that the man had been constantly rubbing his hands together, or that there was maybe the tiniest hint of blood on his... gloves. It had been too hot for gloves.
Alex had put two and two together and gotten, unlike most officials, the right answer.
Two squared.
The man had obviously been rubbing his hands together out of guilt. It was common among amateur murderers. The gloves had been to hide blood, possibly. And the avoidance of eye-contact. The man had obviously felt, perhaps unconsciously, that revealing his eyes to someone would also be revealing his secret.
Theory? The man had stabbed someone out of anger and run away out of guilt.
Curious ("Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back." He kept repeating to himself), Alex had followed him to the roof of an abandoned building, where the man had shed his gloves and proven the boy's theory correct.
The man's hands had been splattered in red, coppery blood.
And so, just to help the police along, Alex had delivered a spinning kick to the man's temple, knocking him out cold for probably the next few hours. Then, again on a whim, he had left his white rose and a sticky-note with an explanation.
" If there were any murders, this is your man."
And just to enhance the character of this "mysterious identity" the public had pinned on him, the boy had pulled out his pistol ("Only for your protection, Alex. Only for your protection." Smithers had explained to him.) and fired three resounding shots. That should have gotten the authorities' attentions.
Sure enough, the next day, he made the news. Again.
" White Rose Phantom Strikes Again!"
" Mysterious Do-Gooder Catches Murderer"
" Phantom Hero: This Time, A Note!"
To his great delight, people had started to make speculations as to what this "phantom" looked like. One depiction had showed, with over-dramatic moonlit lighting, a caped man with a white mask, gently holding an ivory rose whose petals were dancing across the night.
Sabina had just given him a questioning look.
"You look nothing like that."
"Agreed."
PAGE BREAK
Part Three:
And so, with the background out of the way, we can start the actual story.
It was Halloween. It was Halloween and he, Alex Rider, teenage-spy extraordinaire, was staying home.
It wasn't that he didn't like trick-or-treating, or, god forbid, was afraid. Not at all. Mostly, it was because like how drunkards couldn't hold their alcohol, he couldn't hold his sweets. Every year, every single bloody year, he would eat all his candy in one night. And then, for the next two days, he'd have a sugar crash equivalent to a hangover of epic proportions.
He had long ago decided it wasn't worth it anymore.
So, yes, Alex Rider was staying home for Halloween.
"Are you sure you don't want to go?" Mrs. Pleasure asked tentatively. This was Halloween, where kids would go out and have fun all night. Why didn't he want to join them?
"Yes, Mrs. Pleasure."
Sabina pouted in her princess costume.
"You're no fun, Alex." She whined. "All the other kids are going. Why not you?"
The boy smiled sadly.
"I'm just not feeling it."
So, after several more exchanged "Are you sure?"s, the Pleasures finally left, leaving the house in blessed silence.
~x-X-x~
Alex turned on the TV and, oddly for a teenager, tuned in on the news channel. The hubbub of his "White Rose Phantom" activity had long ago died down, leaving the lime-light to normal things like taxes and government affairs (He had yawned. Loudly).
Therefore, the spy soon got very bored and very desperate for something. Something to pump his blood. To thrum a trill of fear through his heart. He needed something to replace the mass amounts of sugar he usually had at this time of year.
Yes, Alex desperately needed adrenaline. But, how would he get it? Soon, in his action-starved mind, a plan formulated. Yes, yes... It would work. It was sudden, but it would work to appease his hunger for the rush. The boy quickly dialed a number on the phone.
"Joe? Yeah, send somebody to protect my house. The local police station is going to get a very pleasant surprise next morning."
Swinging his closet doors open, Alex scanned the costume he had slapped together before deciding against going out on Halloween. Oh, it would still serve its purpose, dressing him as he went out. But this. This was way more productive than free candy.
And that is how, on Halloween day, while other kids ran along, toting their little candy bags, the "White Rose Phantom", fully-garbed in his black cape and white mask, had his busiest justice-spree yet.