It started out as a nice morning. Sun was shining, MI6 hadn't contacted for several days. Alex had managed to catch up on a lot of work by then. He left the house and met up with Tom by the entrance to the school.
"Still here I see. Must be a new record, has the medical world discovered what's wrong with you?" One of the teachers said to him as he passed the doors.
"Not yet sir." Alex replied and added under his breath, "and won't ever."
Entering his first class of the day, he felt uneasy. Out the window, a sleek black car passed the school and Alex was on full alert. Tom had noticed and leaned over.
"What's the matter?"
"I'm not sure, but I think things are going to go downhill." replied Alex.
"Well, you are the superspy." Tom said while he pulled out his crumpled homework and handed to the teacher, several days late.
Alex glanced around the room and hissed angrily at Tom, "why don't you announce it to the whole class while you are at it."
Tom stood up.
"I have an announcement to make, Alex here is a spy who secretly works for MI6 and is sent on several high risk missions every few weeks!"
A couple of heads turned then looked back to the front. Tom glanced at Alex and shrugged.
"Mr Harris, will you please sit down and remain quiet at once!" the teacher shouted. "Now, please turn your textbooks to page twenty-three."
Suddenly, sounds of an explosion tore through the quiet classroom and the foundations shook. The class erupted into panic. In the confusion, Alex pulled out his phone that was issued to him by Smithers and got to the ground. One of his classmates saw him and shouted at him,
"What do you think you are doing!"
Two armed figures wearing masks burst into the classroom. Alex cursed under his breath. Quickly dialling the emergency number, he was immediately connected directly to MI6.
One of the men pointed his weapon at the teacher.
"No one move!" the other shouted. "We will shoot if you resist!"
On the other end in Blunt's office, Tulip Jones and Alan Blunt were listening to the call that Alex Rider made. Jones pressed a hidden button on Alan's desk and suddenly, the office changed. A platform started rising around the table they were at until a step was created. The "window" had changed from the display of London to a 3D blueprint of Brookland. On the desk, holographic displays popped up and quickly rattled off information and one wall slid open to reveal a large TV displaying all the operatives worldwide. Jones quickly typed in the coordinates and tapped the screen. A surrounded the location and yellow lights flashed. Meanwhile in a hidden location, several terrorism response units were deployed.
Meanwhile, the situation declined in the classroom.
"We are apart of Scorpia, you may have heard of us," the armed man continued.
One incredibly stupid student stood up and yelled, "What do you think you are doing here!"
The other man shot the teacher through the forehead and the classroom fell silent while the gunshot echoed. Several students suddenly started sobbing. Hysteria threatened to sweep through the class.
"That was for not doing what you were told to do, to answer your question, we are here for a certain individual." the man walked in front of the desk. "Alex Rider, would you kindly step to the front please."
The class erupted into whispers. Tom looked worriedly at Alex who sent a reassuring smile. He dropped the phone discretely and walked slowly to the front.
"Now Alex, will you tell your friends here what you've been up to over the last few months?"
Alex remained quiet as the gun was pointed at him.
"In that case, I'll tell your friends. Alex Rider is a highly dangerous criminal. He's killed many people. He's trained with Scorpia, isn't that right?"
Alex turned to the class, "Yes. However, I left them as well and haven't been on their side for a very long time."
Glares and confused looks were thrown at Alex.
"We'll let your friends decide that, won't we. Now, Alex here has caused many headaches in Scorpia's operations..."
He rattled off the numerous people killed by Alex. Meanwhile, Alex looked at the clock. Support would arrive soon.
On the other side of the city, several black vehicles raced toward the school. Two vehicles were hit by an explosive planted on the road and chaos erupted as civillians and military were injured. In the office, Jones turned to Blunt.
"Seems like this operation is far more difficult than anticipated, Scorpia have planned this well."
Blunt looked calm as usual, not giving away any sign of emotions. "Send in bomb disposal teams, I want the roads cleared. Send in air support. We'll parachute people in."
Jones quickly typed that in and green lights confirmed the instructions were sent. Flashing on the screen, ETA: 35 minutes.
Back in the classroom, things were getting more tense. The monolog had finished and Alex was stalling for time. Hostage 101, keep the enemy talking, less likely to kill you.
"So, what are you here for now?"
"We want to kill you but a bullet through the head is a little kind, isn't it?" The man walked behind Alex. "Now, step outside this class, we're leaving."
Alex did as he was told and started walking towards the door, turned the handle and paused for a moment.
"Where are we going?"
The man impatiently said, "To our secret base in the city."
The moment the doors closed on the leaving party, the rest of the class erupted into shouting and talking.
"Alex, MI6?-"
"Must be lies-"
Tom quickly picked up the phone that Alex had dropped.
"Hello?" Tom spoke.
Jones voice was heard over the speakers as the class quietened.
"Hello-" A beep was heard in the background. "You must be Tom. Or so our voice recognition says."
"Yes, what are you going to do about Alex?"
"We've got a small army incoming, we're tracking them right now using the local CCTV. Now stay there in the class until we arrive."
Alan Blunt was NOT having a good day. The operation was turning into a crisis.
"Call the SAS, I want all squads out."
On one of the screens, the news was on with the headline, BREAKING NEWS: Scorpia attacks Brookland Comprehensive school.
"How did the news get hold of that so quickly?"
Jones quickly replied, "Scorpia, they've released this to the media, helps boost their reputation."
"In that case, I want the SAS flown in and dropped as soon as possible. Police are to set a perimeter around the school, two blocks, no one is allowed to enter of leave."
Meanwhile in the back of a white transit van, Alex was discreetly trying to track where he was heading to. Central London it seemed, with the noise of traffic increasing and the general direction of motion. Suddenly, the van stopped and Alex was dragged out into the bright sunshine into a tall building. Unceremoniously. More people appeared and took him into a room deep underground. He was thrown into a dark room that used to be some sort of cellar. Water dripped from a nearby pipe. Aside from that, all Alex could see was the rough wooden floorboards and the stone walls. Nothing that could be useful to get him out.
Suddenly, the door banged open and a man with a scar across his face walked in. The man started speaking.
"Alex Rider, we've been expecting you."
Alex couldn't resist saying, "Watching too many James Bond movies?"
The man kicked him in the ribs, knocking all air out of him.
"My name is Doctor Parris, I'm the head of the Scorpia's branch in Europe. I've am well adept in the arts of torture, slowly killing over a few days and you, Alex are my next victim."
"Oh, how brave of you!"
Parris threw a look of annoyance at him. "Well, might as well get started, how does electricity sound to you?"
Alex frowned, "How... original."
"Oh, it is, bring in the machine!" he shouted through the door.
It opened to reveal two armed men dragging in a pod on wheels. Alex was then picked up and thrown into the pod, jarring his shoulder badly. While Alex rubbed his shoulder, the Doctor moved and attached electrodes to him. The pod sealed shut and Alex could hear nothing from the outside as he watched the Doctor fiddle with the controls. Pain was what he registered a second later as electricity poured into him, slowly increasing over time until he blacked out. Still the electricity poured into him.
Meanwhile, unknown to Alex, several SAS units surrounded the building that CCTV had shown Alex being dragged into. Snipers appeared on the other high skyscrapers while several units barged in, demolishing the door and doing a scan of the building. It was deserted. No one was there, all that was left on the table was a Scorpia logo.
Jones looked annoyed and turned to Blunt.
"We may be getting a false feed."
A flicker of emotion appeared for an instant. "I want him traced, every department, every spy, we must find this Scorpia branch in London."
Jones nodded.
"We've got to Brooklands and the children are in a safe area. We're yet to send out OSA papers. But that'll need to wait a little longer."
Blunt copied Jones and nodded.
Couple of days later...
All hopes of finding Alex diminished into the single digits.
Jack sat at the dinner table, despondent.
Tom hadn't been seen by any of his friends in that time.
Jones had thrown herself in paperwork.
Blunt carried on as if nothing had happened.
Alex had passed out several times during that time.
But then, a breakthrough was discovered. An employer at a property company had noticed something odd about the sale of a building in central London. It was flagged up and through the networks of MI6, the information eventually led to the arrest of the owner. The owner had confessed that he never actually used the building and that he rented it for several million pounds a year. He never checked the building since it was rented. Within a few minutes, the building was surrounded and Alan Blunt had specifically asked the K unit to lead the operation. A gunfight ensued. Shots were fired, many injured, but eventually, the building was breached. All the rooms were searched. Top to bottom. Alex was found in a damp cellar, half dead by Wolf, while Doctor Parris had escaped. Poison was injected into Alex and Doctors at St. Dominic's had estimated his chances of living as 30%. The rest of the K unit was present in the waiting room along with Jones, Jack and Tom. The air was tense and conversation was short. The doctor came through the swing door.
"Well, frankly, he's lucky to be alive. Poisoning, electrocution, multiple stab wounds, signs of water torture, the list goes on. He's pulled through the surgery, it's a waiting game now."
The occupants of the room were all shocked and concern filled their faces.
Jones stood up. "I'll be off to report this to the boss."
Then Tom stood up and asked, "When can we see him?"
"Well, he's too severely injured to risk visitors, I'll let you see him through the glass window to the room."
The remaining people stood and walked down the corridor and stood outside the room. A gasp was heard from Jack as they saw Alex, looking pale and dead, wrapped in bandages.
"I'll leave you now, I have more patients to see."
With that, the doctor left them, each lost in thought.
Several days later, Alex had woken up and was receiving visitors. Tom had visited with a promise to update him on what was going on in Brooklands. Jones had come in to apologise about MI6's late arrival. Jack and the K unit seemed to have stuck around, with one always seemingly with him. Alex was pleased, if not curious why the K unit cared so much.
Wolf had made an apology for being such an "ass", his own words, during his time at the camp. Ben had come to see him too. The replacement for Ben, leopard, was kind towards Alex. Slowly, the atmosphere had changed to a much more light hearted one. Injured or not, Alex was determined to get on with his school work. Brookland's had changed forever with the death of the teacher and refused to allow Alex back. MI6 generously granted a tutor to home school Alex and Jack had frowned at that. More time for them to drag him on missions.
But in the meantime, Alex healed and after a week, he was released on strict orders not to do anything too taxing. As he exited the hospital, it was something he never wanted to experience again. The road to recovery was well and truly gaining momentum.