Promise
He was running down the hallway as if his life depended on it. It was really closer to sprinting, with harsh gasps escaping his dry and cracked lips. He was wearing a white shirt, stained with brown, pink and red marks. It should have been cleaned a long time ago. In his hand, held in the same way as a dagger, was a thin, sturdy knife. Its blade was flecked with something that looked oddly like blood. Chances were it was.
Alex knew he did not look well. If he had had anyone, a guardian or a parent, to care for him at the moment they would have put him to bed a long time ago and promptly called the doctor. The doctor would have recommended hospital and the hospital would likely have made him stay. The stay would have been extended.
As it were though, Alex had no such person to look after him at the moment. The situation he was in wouldn't have allowed it regardless. He wished that he could blame MI6 for this. Indirectly they were to blame, they had introduced him to this world after all, but they hadn't forced him to go on all of the missions. Alex could honestly admit that he had taken things into his own hands on occasion, such as the mess with Scorpia. He didn't have to involve himself with them. No, that was purely his choice.
If only though. If only he hadn't… But that was in the past.
This had somehow become his mess.
It was his fault that she was here.
Only his fault.
"Alex?" a broken voice croaked. It hurt to listen to it.
"Hush, Jack," Alex said. "Relax. I'll find a way out of this mess."
"I know," his housekeeper whispered. "I trust you."
Alex winced.
Every action you take will have a reaction.
Everything you do has its own consequences.
Some of the consequences are good and some are bad.
No one can truly predict the consequences. There are just too many variables.
Some believe that they should have known the future. Some even go as far as to put all the blame on themselves. It's not rational. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Sometimes you believe that everything is clear as the day when it's not. Humans are fallible. They always hope they aren't, but they are. That's the truth.
Right now Alex couldn't afford to think of that. Time was running out and he had to catch up before it was too late.
He looked down on the cold body on the floor. He didn't know if the person was dead or not. He didn't want to look at the wet knife. He might hurl if he did so.
"Alex?"
He moved back to the door and peered down at Jack.
"We need to leave." He held a hand out for Jack to take; she ignored it to look down.
"Go, Alex. I can't make it."
"What? Jack…"
"Look at my leg. It's bloody useless. I can't walk on it."
He looked down at it.
Most of the doors here had electronic locks. And he had seen the cameras. There had to be a control room somewhere. If he could find it he could find a way out. He knew he was underground and there had to be a way out, even if it was hidden.
However, Alex had no idea what lay above him. He didn't know how many enemies he would have to fight or evade to escape. And with Jack as she was... There was no way for both of them to get out without help.
Alex continued to quickly walk down the hallways, to conserve energy, quietly checking the doors to see if there was a way in or out.
It seemed useless.
At least it did so until a guard walked around the corner. They were both surprised. Alex swore at his own lack of attention. He didn't want to blame it on his injuries; they were insignificant compared to Jack's.
The guards head met the butt end of Alex' knife and collapsed.
Back onto the thoughts of the electronic locks Alex knelt down and searched for a card to open them. He found one in the right-hand pocket of the guard's jacket and pocketed it as he stood up.
He used the card to open what seemed like dozens of rooms, but in reality was probably only five, before he found one that wasn't empty.
It wasn't just her leg though. The leg was useless, bloodied and broken as it was. With time it might heal, but now… There was no way she was going to be able to walk on it, let alone stand. His eyes moved over her body, taking in the torture she had endured.
Bruises on her face, arms, legs… Cuts littering her skin from her throat to her knees. Her left leg looked almost mangled. He deduced from her broken breathing that something had to be wrong around her chest. Broken ribs? Was there any place left untouched?
This was all because of him.
He could only blame himself.
He and his curiosity.
He took a quick look into the room. It looked like it was the control and, apparently, lunch room for the guards. At the moment there were two of them sitting there, happily munching away on some sandwiches, the smell of them reminding Alex' stomach of the fact that it was hungry and that it wanted to be fed soon.
Alex ignored that.
He noticed another thing; phones. He could call for help. He could get Jack out of here. But first he needed to deal with the guards.
The two guards looked lazy and he couldn't see any weapons in the room. They hadn't even noticed him entering. Granted, the electronic system made sound of the door opening practically nonexistent. His hand tightened around the knife. If he showed no mercy and just went for it he could win, even in his condition.
And he did.
The guards were briefly surprised before they started to scramble backwards, blindly reaching for something to defend themselves with.
The closest one got the dull end at the end of the blade into the side of his head. He fell heavily onto the floor. Alex took advantage of the other's momentary distraction to slash against his face. The guard raised his arm to defend himself. His arm got sliced instead; blood started flowing down his arm as they both watched in silence for a moment. Alex quickly got into motion again and knocked the guard out, ignoring the voice in his head that was telling him to save the man's life.
It would have taken time he didn't have and Jack would always be more important.
Alex looked around, making certain that he was safe, before reaching for one of the phones. He stood motionlessly for a moment, not quite knowing what to dial. And he didn't know what to say either. Jack was hurt, but he didn't know where they were.
He tried to find an answer by taking in the room in more detail. There were logo's on some of the objects in the room and when he bent down to look more closely at the closest guard he noticed the same logo on his shirt; 'ParaMount' .
Well, he did know how to call the police.
He made sure to state his name clearly, twice. MI6 had to be looking for him. Alex wanted them here. Someone would have to clean up.
After he made sure that the police actually did know where he was, he left the room.
He did not even glance at the men on the floor.
Alex had to get back to Jack.
He tried to ignore the hint of blood still flowing freely from a wound in her side.
"I'll come back for you."
He turned to leave.
He sat there with her head in his lap, idly stroking her hair while listening. He tried to ignore the mostly dried blood staining her skin or how she didn't move. Her chest was still rising slowly and he thought she was losing awareness.
Up above there were sounds of heavy fighting, gunshots and explosions. He just wished they would hurry it up.
"Alex?"
He could hardly hear it; so weak was her voice.
"I'm…" She didn't finish.
"Can you hear them? They're coming. It's going to be alright."
"Do you promise?"
He tried to ignore the need to break down and just cry. He had a job to do.
"Come back to me in one piece, Alex?"
"I will." For her sake.
"Promise?"
"Promise."