This opening chapter is just a teaser for a fanfic that I will probably never write, because I'm not very good at storylines or characterisation. Expect major spoilers for both Snakehead and Evil Star. Both Alex Rider and the Power of Five are owned by Anthony Horowitz.

The voice came from the middle of the wreckage. Matt looked past the dead body of the police captain and saw Fabian painfully trying to ease himself into a sitting position. He was very pale. It was impossible to say how much blood he had lost, but most of his suit was crimson.

"I was trying to tell you," Fabian said. It was as if he was talking to a young child. The words came out very slowly. "You were wrong from the start," he went on. "The swan…" He gulped for breath. "They controlled it from here to start with. But when it came in range Salamanda took over."

"Where is he?" Matt demanded.

"At the place of Qolqa. He has a mobile laboratory. He's in control. Look…"

Miraculously, the plasma screen with the stars hadn't been damaged. The black dots were still there. And the single dot was still moving. It had travelled almost halfway across the screen. Soon it would be at the bottom. The digital clock showed 22:24:00. Ninety-six minutes until midnight.

"I'm sorry," Fabian told them. "But I told you. It was always true. You could never–"

Suddenly, Fabian stopped mid-sentence. In fact, everything stopped. Time had completely frozen. Matt blinked. Strangely, he hadn't stopped, and he now saw something very odd happening. Starting from a point about a foot above Fabian's head, ethereal blue tendrils were swirling down towards the dying man. As Matt watched, the tendrils surrounded Fabian completely, grew blindingly bright for an instant, and then vanished. Matt immediately realised that something was wrong. The man on the floor in front of him now still had a bullet wound, but he was a complete stranger, and the wound was rapidly and inexplicably fading.

- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ -

He had almost come to the end of his strength. His shoulders slumped and for a moment Alex thought he had gone. Blood was all around him now. A steady flow trickled from his mouth.

Major Yu was enjoying himself. "Why don't you tell him the rest, Ash?" he crowed.

"No!" Ash straightened his head. "Please…"

"I already know," Alex said. He turned to Ash one last time. He could hardly bear to look at him. "You killed my parents, didn't you? The bomb on the aeroplane. You put it there."

Ash couldn't answer. His hand tightened on his chest. He had only seconds left.

"We had to test him," Major Yu explained. "When he came over to us, we had to make sure he was telling us the truth. After all, we had just been tricked by one British intelligence agent – your father. So we set him a very simple task, one that would prove to us with no doubt that he was ready to switch sides."

"I didn't want to…" It wasn't Ash's voice. It was just a whisper.

"He didn't want to, but he did. For the money. He put the bomb on the plane and he detonated it with his own hand. Rather more successful than his mission in Mdina. And the start of a long association with us."

"Al–"

Suddenly, Ash stopped halfway through saying Alex's name. In fact, everything stopped. Time had completely frozen. Alex blinked. Strangely, he hadn't stopped, and he now saw something very odd happening. Starting from a point about a foot above Ash's head, ethereal green tendrils were swirling down towards the dying man. As Alex watched, the tendrils surrounded Ash completely, grew blindingly bright for an instant, and then vanished. Alex immediately realised that something was wrong. The man on the floor in front of him now still had a bullet wound, but he was a complete stranger, and the wound was rapidly and inexplicably fading.

- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ -

At the exact same instant, in two alternate universes, time started moving again. And, at the exact same instant, two boys, each completely unaware of the other's existence, opened their mouths and said the exact same three words…

"What the hell!?"

This teaser was entirely inspired by the similarities in how Ash and Fabian die, i.e. they're both traitors, and both die in a control room from being shot. The fact that their wound fades after the switch is sort of inspired by the second visit to Port Royal in Kingdom Hearts II, where Sora, Donald and Goofy are immune to the Grim Reaper's curse because they are from off-world, hence Ash and Fabian's wounds fade because they are in different universes. Yeah, it's contrived, but it is naturally necessary in order for there to be a story.

The cookie goes to... Madcatta, who correctly deduced that it was based on the main colour of the respective books' covers. The competition was for the first person to correctly identify in a review the reason why Fabian has blue tendrils and Ash has green tendrils.

I'd also like to say a great big "thank you" to those of you who have added this teaser to your alert list already! Despite being fairly confident that I will never manage to turn this into a full fanfic, I really hope that my confidence is misplaced. I'd love to write it!