This is my first fan-fic. Please be kind. I own none of this.
A silent house.
The phone ringing.
A command to come to 'The Bank'.
Same as always and he had gradually come to accept it as a part of his life. He knew that it was impossible for him to stop. Impossible for him to forget what he knew. Impossible for him to not know and believe that he may be the very reason that the earth was still turning the next day because he had stopped another mad-man from blowing it to smithereens.
In the end, he couldn't regret it. Not if it meant that the people he cared most about would be safe. And, after all, wasn't that the only reason he kept at it? To know that his loved ones would be safe from the horrors of the world for as long as possible. Alex Rider knew it was worth it and, even as he went to receive orders to place his life in the line of fire, he couldn't regret the fact that he had never wanted this, had been forced into this. But he kept going on, and in the end, when the world was still turning, that was all that really mattered.