Jack was alone, haven seen Alex off to school earlier. She busying herself with some cleaning she had put off from yesterday. It has been a while since Alex had been on a mission and she was glad. It had always saddened her to see Alex's eyes after each mission. Alex was becoming happier now that he had at least a semblance of a normal teen's life even though the past would never completely leave him.
Being so caught up in her thoughts, Jack did not hear the car pull up on the street, black as night.
She went about her usual routine, unaware that there was danger right outside her. A man dressed in black got out of the car, walking calmly and confidently as if he owned the place.
Two days earlier, at the routine board meeting, the Scorpia executives were discussing the usual, terrorism and general fear across the world. The meeting took place in a typical corporate office room complete with the coffee machine and paper shredder; at least that's what it looked like to a normal person. No, the ceiling to floor glass windows were all bullet proof. There were secret exits in the room that were hidden by bookcases (surprisingly cliché) and some in the ceiling as well, when opened, a metal step ladder would drop down, paving a way for the executives to escape. In the center of the room was a long glass topped table for nine people. One seat was empty, Julia Rothman, who died in a hot air balloon crash sometime that week. The Executives were discussing on a candidate that would replace her.
"While we are on that topic, what should we do about Alex Rider?" said Dr. Three looking particularly sick at just saying the name. "We can't allow him to just walk away from this without avenging Rothman."
"Yes we cannot. I suggest a sniper, placed right outside MI6's HQ. Oh the look on their paces when he dies at their door step." said Zeljian Kurst, with a slight smile on his face. Now you might be wondering, what's wrong with home smiling? Well the thing is Scorpia executives only laugh when they have something particularly evil planned. But he's smiling because he absolutely adores murder.
"I admit, that I find that slightly barbaric. Wouldn't it be better if we made him regret what happened? Regret crossing Scorpia?" said Major Yu.
They debated on that for a few minutes until finally they agreed on Major Yu's decision. After that, they went on to the other usual topics of terrorism and instilling general fear across the world. They had to do something big to regain their lost reputation after their failed attempt at invisible sword.*
A few hours later the seven men left the building.
PRESENT DAY
The assassin was dressed in black. The sky was clouded and grey, signalling that it was going to rain sometime that day. The man walked up slowly towards the house. He could hear a lady humming as she went about her housework. His face was covered by a black cloth, only his eyes were revealed. He had a mission to do. His pace was slow but confident. We walked to the side of the house. His goal was to get to the back of the house. There, there was a door through which he could enter.
Silent as a snake, but not a rattle snake mind you, he reached the back. He made for the French window and making sure there were no hidden triggers for traps, he entered.
Jack was humming while doing her house work. Suddenly she felt a chill run down her back, a sense of foreboding (sp?). She glanced behind her, certain that she saw a shadow move, not her shadow, but someone else's.
Shaking the feeling of eeriness from her, she turned back, only to feel something cold against her back. A gun.
After Ian's death, Alex had been on several missions, extremely dangerous missions. She had become acquainted with hearing about guns and other such weapons. But to feel one against her head was a totally different matter.
"What do you want?" said Jack shakily, most people would have probably asked 'who are you?' but again, Jack knew about Alex's world, so she put the pieces together and knew that he was an assassin.
"Nothing of your concern." The coldest voice that Jack had ever heard sent shivers down her spine. "The only thing that you need to know is that you are doing to die."
Jack held her breath, waiting for the inevitable. Two shots, that's what she heard. 'Wait, two?!' and then a thud.
Alex was in school, when the call came from the office. The school secretary, Mrs. Bedforshire, called him from his class, saying that it was about his guardian, Jack. His eyes instantly turned cold and a flame of anger burned in them.
"Hello?" said Alex once he reached the office and picked up the receiver.
"There's been an incident with Ms. Starbright. We're sending a car for you right now. Watch your steps. We've been breached." said an unidentifiable voice, which could almost be compared to a robot. With that, he hung up.
Alex almost dropped the receiver then and there. But remembering who was watching he regained his control.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Bedforshire, but I've forgotten that I have a doctor's appointment today."
"Yes of course, Alex." said Mrs. Bedforshire with a smile. "With all the illnesses you had its best if you went to see a doctor regularly. Try not to get sick too often though Alex."
"I'll try." said Alex with a smaller smile.
Not even an entire minute later, Alex was inside a white** car, on his way to the bank.
*No, I'm not going to tell you what their next big plan was, you'll just need to read and find out! :P (or it could because I don't know what it is yet either xD Well, we could find out about it together! (I find it more fun that way, don't you?)
**Black cars are bit clichéd don't you think? I mean, after all the movies, I think the bad guys would know to look for them and would easily spot them. So after all those movies all the intelligence agencies had to change their car colour to white. That annoyed them a bit….ok a lot.
A/n: Well that's the first chapter of the Revised Hell on Earth. I hope you enjoyed it! :D