The L.I.O.N. Trials
Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider.
A/N: Okay I realize that most of you hate me right now for what happened at the end of the last story, but fear not, I have a trick up my sleeve that most of you will like a lot. And it starts now.
Chapter 1:
"I'm here."
"I'll pull around to the front. I'm in the truck."
"Okay see you then."
She hung up the phone. The parting had been terrible, the plane ride grueling, and the past weeks tiring, but it was all worth it for the one that she loved. It was all worth it to sort out her past.
When Alex finally started to go to school again, he wasn't bothered by MI6, or anyone else for that matter. His old friends pretty much stayed close but not too close, and teachers ignored his obvious day dreaming. He wasn't asked to go to a counselor and Jack wasn't going to send him to a therapist. They all knew he needed to deal with this grief his way. MI6 had given him all of Max's things that they could, something they had to keep and other things were now just ash on the street. One gold earring out of a pair he had given her for her birthday, a few letters to Florida, and the picture that the two of them had ripped when they first met. He had tucked all of it away in a small box in his room.
For weeks Alex went through the motions of school and home life. He didn't think only acted. His weight dropped dramatically but he stayed fit. His grades stayed the same, and he was a normal boy for his age, like he was before MI6. As the grief subsided he gradually moved back emotionally into the outside world. He went out with friends a few times, he played soccer, and he even got a part time job in town. But he didn't start to date; he could barely be around girls let alone go out with one. Max was still weighting heavily in his mind. Then one day his cell rang. He looked and saw that it was Smithers calling him.
"Hello?" he asked into the phone.
"Alex, I need you to come to the Royal and General, I need to talk to you."
The man sounded excited, maybe he had made a cool new invention for Alex to try. A small twinge in his heart made Alex think of how Max would have enjoyed testing the equipment.
"Sure," he answered, with little heart in it, "I'll be right there."
He clicked off his phone then went to get his bike, it was a Saturday afternoon, so he was home from school.
The MI6 side of the Royal and General was filled with agents, they all looked like civilians or clerks. Alex went straight to the elevator and went to Smithers' level.
The big man was waiting for Alex in his usual seat. When he saw the teen he leaped, more like fell, out of his chair and went to him.
"So what is it?" asked Alex, faking interest.
"It's about Max."
The answer stunned his for a moment.
"What about her?" he asked.
"She's alive Alex, Max is alive."