Opps, I realised I forgot to put a disclaimer on my prologue so this one will be for the prologue and this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider or any characters from the books.
Sixteen.
That's how old he is.
The world's deadliest weapon against criminals.
Unbelievable, right?
If someone told you that the world's best spy is sixteen, you'll probably say 'Suuuure' and laugh and say something about them being on drugs.
In two years of Alex Rider's life, he's lost everything worth losing. The day his uncle died, was the day his life started to change in an unbelievable way.
The first thing he learnt was that the pain of losing someone you love made you appreciate those around you. He started to appreciate Jack more, he thanked her for staying with him when a normal housekeeper would have just picked up their bags and left.
Then he learnt that curiosity may not have killed the cat, but it did have a big part its demise. After all, if he hadn't gone looking for his uncle's car and then jumping out of the banks window, MI6 wouldn't have been able to see how good he was, and he wouldn't have been forced upon the road that he knew would lead to his death.
Sometimes he'd wonder. What if he hadn't gone to satisfy his curiosity? Would MI6 set up a trap to test him? Or would they have left him alone? At the most inconvenient of times, these types of questions would pop up in his mind.
Like that time in Australia when he was locked up in a cage with the world's deadliest snake: The Fierce Snake. Or the other time in Poland when he was nearly run over by a train because the crazy guy who wanted to destroy the world thought it would be funny to tie him to the train tracks.
At this moment he is chained up somewhere in Norway and is about to be tortured to death, and the thing that's his greatest problem isn't even about getting out.
No, his biggest problem right now is: Would he be doing this if Yassen never killed his uncle? Would he be as good as he is today? Would he have been better because he got more time to prepare? Or is the reason that he's so good was because he started young?
These questions were racing through his head while the handsome man in front of him kept whipping.
Most people think that the best torturers would be ugly and scary looking. Oh, how wrong they were. The lovely young man in front of him looks like a angel, perfect hair, perfect face and perfect body.
And Alex thought he is perfect at whipping too. It's been god knows how long and he still isn't tired!
He had stopped trying to stop the moans of pain long ago. He's been here for nine days now and he must admit, he was ready to get out. These men were desperate for the info he had on MI6. Over the nine days, he only got six hours of rest every twenty-four hours, and he was pretty sure that was just to make sure he didn't die.
There were doctors who would treat him after every round so that he could last longer. The woman in charge was either really smart or just overly cautious because there were fifty guards posted down the hallway. Alex was unfortunate enough to have to fight them on his third day when he was trying to escape.
For god's sake! The man must have arms made of steel! It's been at least five hours since he started and he hasn't broken his pace once!
Alex was pretty sure he would either die of pain or blood loss pretty soon. Just as he thought of this he heard gunfire.
There are two reasons for gunfire, the first one being that his enemy's enemy is here whom are his allies or the second being his enemy's enemy is here whom are also his enemies.
Alex was hoping it was the former and not the latter.
A week later Alex woke up on his bed in St. Dominic's, he swore they reserved a room just for him since he visited them so much. He knew nearly all the nurses names and three doctors who took turns patching him up and five others who were backups.
Not even a minute after he woke up, Mrs. Jones walked into his room.
"Alex, you did a great job on that mission."
No 'Hello, how are you' or even a 'Good morning' no, they got straight to the point.
"We were able to locate the nuclear bomb with the info that you sent us and although it was unfortunate that you got captured, you were still able to save the world."
Mrs. Jones gave him a rare smile. After his tenth mission, Mrs. Jones started being more welcoming and friendly towards him. It was probably because he decided to join MI6, but rumors were going around MI6 saying that the heads were training him to take over. Of course it's only a rumor, but rumors in MI6 tend to always be more accurate than others.
Alex wasn't sure if he wanted to be the head of special ops but he was sure that he had a hell of a long time to consider since he was only sixteen and MI6 probably wanted to use him for at least another 20 years. After all, he is their best field agent.
"Thank you Mrs. Jones but can we please discuss whatever it is that you came to discuss because I'm still fairly tired."
Alex knew that Mrs. Jones didn't just come to congratulate him on a job well done. And although he wasn't actually that tired since he slept for nearly a whole week, he was pretty sure he would be exhausted if he had to hold a pleasant conversation about the weather with Mrs. Jones.
Although they got along fine, they still didn't trust each other completely. Alex still had to play around with his words when talking with the heads of special ops. Just like how they play with their words, which just makes it more tiring for Alex because he has to try and decipher their real meanings while hiding his.
Both parties didn't know when they will stop this ridicules habit but they were sure that it wouldn't stop today.
Mrs. Jones stuck another peppermint into her mouth which Alex knew as a habit of hers when she got nervous.
This hiked up his curiosity. After sending him on missions that she knew he knew was suicidal, you'd think there wasn't much left to say that might make her nervous. What could be worse than sending him on missions they both knew he had a near zero chance of surviving?
A week later and Alex would be wishing that she never came to visit and say those six little words.
"You're going back to Brecon Beacons."
Mrs. Jones watched his face carefully to see if she could figure out how he was feeling, but Alex was a professional. He kept his face carefully blank and emptied all emotions out of his eyes. Blank. His whole body said nothing. Even his posture was a posture of one that gave nothing away.
Well, she didn't have to wait long to find out a bit of what he was feeling.
"WHAT?"
It was a very, very loud bit that was probably overtaking all other emotions.
Yep, Alex Rider was angry.
"Alex, please listen-"
"Excuse me but did you just say that I'm going back to Brecon Beacons?"
Ah, here comes the calm façade. Might have fooled everyone on Earth but Mrs. Jones knew that he was boiling with anger and that he heard perfectly well what she said. He just didn't want to believe it.
Alex has already lost everything that's important to him and now he was being sent to hell on Earth. He was pretty sure that it was Blunt's idea but he knew Mrs. Jones agreed and thought it would be good for him.
Alex had always possessed the skill to think of the pros and cons of a decision and right at this moment he wished that the drugs could cover up this skill, because the pros outweighed the cons, but then again, the con that was bugging him was that it was a hell hole. So naturally, he didn't want to go back.
But he either had the skill to think clearly with drugs in his body or the drugs they gave him were too weak to have that effect. He was pretty sure it was the latter since he could feel quite a bit of pain. Blunt and Jones were always afraid of him becoming addicted since he came in here needing them every couple of months.
"When your doctor says you are ready to leave, you will be sent back to Brecon Beacons because Mr. Blunt and I believe it will be in your best interest to touch up your skills. We thought it was inappropriate to have you live by yourself and since you are homeschooled we thought you wouldn't miss much. There are a lot more things to gain out of this experience Alex and we thought it would help keep you in shape for your next mission."
Mrs. Jones didn't really want to tell him the second piece of news that she was sure he would not take well to, so she decided to leave that for later when he was deemed able to discharge.
Alex knew that he had already lost this battle but he thought that he should put up a fight just to get the point across that he very much hated this arrangement. Since he joined MI6 he stopped fighting them and just took whatever mission they gave him, and since being an agent allowed you to carry weapons concealed, he didn't have much to fight them on.
"I do well with the teacher you assigned me and I've always kept fit in between missions. Plus, I doubt the SAS have much to teach me that I do not already know."
Alex presented all the facts to show that he did not need to go train with the SAS but he left out an important part that he knew Mrs. Jones would bring up.
"Yes Alex, but it would be safer for you with the SAS. Did you forget the bomb Black Dice planted in your house or the sniper sent by Capricorn that could have killed you if we didn't have a helicopter leaving the bank that just happened to go above your neighbourhood and spot the sniper."
Alex cursed in the eleven languages that he spoke fluently in his head and closed his eyes as a sign of acceptance.
Mrs. Jones nodded her head and left, leaving behind a very annoyed Alex who for once wished he could stay in the hospital forever.
Did you like it? What do you think of it? I hope it wasn't too plain or boring.
Please review
Ally
