Chapter Two, Apologies and Non-involvement

Well, I have to say you guys all rock!!! I was amazed by the positive feedback I received and as a thank-you to anyone who's ever read and/or reviewed my writing!!! I have a rough idea for a plot, but it's still forming in my mind, so my apologies if there's a bit of a lull between chappies. This isn't going to be a hugely long story either, I just don't have the time for that, not if you want me to be update Kill or be Killed as well!!! Anyway, that's enough from me, enjoy…


Alex nearly broke the paramedic's nose when the man tried to move him to a stretcher. Then again, he'd just woken from being shot to find a stranger crouching over him with what looked like a needle in one hand. That was always going to get a bad reaction.

Alex gave a gasp as his eyes flew open to reveal the unfortunate man. Disoriented and scared, Alex lashed out with his uninjured arm, smashing it across the paramedic's face. The man gave howl and collapsed, clutching his nose which was now spurting blood.

Panting and wild eyed, Alex looked around him. Slowly he registered the police and the paramedics and more importantly, his arm.

Alex gave a moan as the pain washed over him. It wasn't like the sniper wound which hadn't hurt him until after surgery; this was agonising. Alex was dimly aware that he was lying in a pool of his own blood and he started to panic.

Alex tried to sit up, but the paramedic was back again and with the help of his partner, a burly looking woman in her thirties. They deposited a stretcher next to Alex and tried to lift him onto it.

Too panicked to register the fact that they were trying to help, Alex tried weakly to fight them off. His arm was on fire, but he ignored it, thrashing and trying to get free of the paramedics. The woman leaned over him.

"Relax, relax, we're trying to help…Relax!" She grunted, trying to clam him and keep him from hurting himself at the same time.

One of the police officers came over to help.

"It's alright lad, just try to relax now…"

Alex registered the police officer's uniform and stopped trying to fight off the paramedics. Obviously relieved, the two of them quickly worked at getting Alex onto the stretcher. He gave a howl of pain whenever his arm was jostled.

"Can't you give him anything for the pain?" The police officer asked, sounding both angry and concerned. The paramedics shook their heads quickly.

"We're worried he'll go into shock," The woman explained whilst her partner pushed Alex towards the ambulance, "He's lost a lot of blood and giving him anything might be pushing it. He'll have to wait until he's at the hospital and has been properly looked at before he can have any drugs."

The police officer didn't look happy, but he was smart enough to realize that the paramedics knew what they were doing.

"Do we know what happened here yet?" The woman asked suddenly, packing everything up, getting ready to get back in the ambulance.

The police officer shrugged.

"Robbery homicide, the kid interrupted things and the thieves obviously got nervous. The shopkeeper took a bullet directly between the eyes and it looks like one of the thieves tried to do the same to the kid."

The paramedic paused in the middle of packing her equipment up.

"Tried?" She repeated quizzically, "What do you mean tried?"

The police officer looked awkward now.

"Well, seems the other thief pulled the kid out of the way."

The paramedic raised a brow.

"How do you know that? Do you have one of them in custody?"

The police officer shook his head.

"No, there's a security camera above the counter, we saw everything that happened. Unfortunately the camera's an older model, no sound attached."

The paramedic made a face and shrugged.

"Even so, shouldn't be too hard to find the thieves then, easy case right?"

The police officer wasn't paying a lot of attention anymore though, there was a growing crowd outside the store and the other officers were having trouble moving them on.

The paramedic didn't wait for a reply, she quickly joined her partner in the ambulance and the vehicle took off into the street, lights and sirens screaming.

The police officer watched the ambulance go, discontent quickly springing to life in his belly. It may be an easy case, but it was a bizarre one.

He hadn't mentioned how the kid had barely reacted to having a gun pointed at him or how the kid and one of the thieves had obviously had words. And the way that one of the thieves, a man who obviously had no problem killing innocent people had gone to the time and effort to try and save a child's life from his bastard of a partner.

The whole thing was peculiar, and the police officer had a bad feeling that these oddities were somehow crucial to the case. He'd have to talk to the kid, he decided. Little did he know that 'the kid' probably wouldn't want to talk to him.


Alex wasn't exactly sure what happened at the hospital, it all sort of passed by in a painful, confusing blur. He remembered that a man loomed over him at one point and has said that they were calling Jack. He also had a vague memory of a nurse telling him that the paramedic who he'd hit was fine. Alex didn't remember asking, but people told him later on that he had. Apparently he'd said a lot of things once they'd finally gotten around to dosing him up on pain killing drugs. Once he'd been brought around properly, he found out that at one point, he'd cried out for Jack.

It didn't embarrass him, but he knew then that he and Jack needed to talk.

Jack didn't come bursting into his room like he'd half expected. Instead, she came in looking pale and very scared. She was uncertain if she was welcome, he could tell that just from looking at her face. He felt terrible, he'd put her through more then he'd realized.

"Hi Alex," Jack said quietly, "How are you going?"

Alex grimaced and tried to shrug. That was an idea quickly regretted when his arm (which had been stitched up), screamed in protest. He gave a small yelp of pain.

Jack cringed when he yelped and made to turn away.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No!" Alex burst out, "No, stay!"

Jack hesitated, biting her bottom lip.

"Y-you're sure?" She stammered, looking wretched.

Alex felt a wave of self-disgust.

"Yes, I'm sure," He said, as warmly as he could, "I want to talk to you actually."

A wary sort of hope spread like sunshine over Jack's face. She came and sat next to Alex's bed. Alex took a deep breath and dived right in.

"Jack, I just want to say I'm so sorry for all the absolute shit I've put you through in the last few weeks. I was in a bad way, but that was no excuse for me to treat you like that." Alex hesitated, not quite able to remember the next thing he was going to say.

To his horror, Jack was blinking back tears.

"Oh shit," Alex said, appalled, "Oh shit Jack, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry! Shit shit sh-"

"You're such an idiot!" Jack cut in, looking quite scary for a moment. Alex fell silent.

"You're an idiot," Jack said again, sniffing and smiling weakly, "I'm crying because I'm happy! I was so scared for you; it's so good to see you the way you used to be."

Alex breathed out in relief.

"At the risk of sounding completely clichéd, it's good to be back." He said, giving a half smile, "I'm sorry you had to see me the way I was."

Jack waved the apology aside, suddenly looking worried again.

"How's your arm, is it really sore?" She fretted, "The doctors said there shouldn't be any lasting damage, the bullet only just got you."

Alex wrinkled his nose, glancing at the bandages that covered the wound.

"It hurts, a lot," he admitted, "I'm just lucky that that guy pulled me out of the way…"

He trailed off, noticing Jack's expression.

"Alex," she said warily, "I know you probably don't want to discuss it, but there's a police officer who says he needs to ask a few questions about what happened…"

Alex sighed, he was really tired and didn't want to spend hours answering questions, but he knew it would be better just to get this over and done with.

"Okay," he said, trying to sound upbeat, "Send him in."

Jack nodded and walked over to the door. She opened it and Alex saw the same police officer that had helped him in the store.

"Hello," the police officer said, obviously a little awkward, "I'm detective Schaffer, you probably don't remember but I was at-"

"-At the shop?" Alex finished for him, "Yeah I remember, I should probably thank you."

Detective Schaffer shrugged.

"No need, but if you feel like repaying me…"

Alex smiled wryly; this man was smarter then what he'd thought.

"You want to ask me about what happened?"

Detective Schaffer inclined his head, shrewd grey eyes appraising him.

"Yes, you're very intuitive." The man's voice was calm and somehow, Alex got the impression that this man was both well educated and very sharp.

"Not really," Alex shrugged, "It's pretty obvious. What can I do for you?"

Schaffer smiled and sat in one of the other chairs in the room.

"I'll be quick, I know you're probably quite tired and want to have some time with Ms. Starbright."

Alex felt the first stirrings of unease. He wasn't sure why though.

"Okay…"

Schaffer dove right in.

"Alright Alex, on the security footage, I noticed that you didn't seem scared by the way you were held at gunpoint. That seems like an atypical reaction, especially considering your age, don't you think?"

Alex idly wondered how the man would react if he told him the truth.

'Well sir, I've had so many guns pointed at me in my life that's it practically run of the mill these days…'

Somehow he didn't think it would go over well. So, he decided on a slightly altered version of the truth.

"Well, I can't really explain my behaviour," Alex said, trying to sound bewildered, "I guess that I was just so scared that my mind sort of froze."

Schaffer's eyes narrowed.

"I've been told that you have hobbies such as karate, mountain climbing and rifle shooting. You hardly seem like the sort of person who'd be prone to such a reaction. There's also an incident with a crane that rather strengthens that belief…"

Alex mentally cursed.

'I thought MI6 took care of that…How the hell did he find out about that?'

As if reading his mind, Schaffer looked perplexed.

"That was a hard to find piece of information I might add," The detective said, "I wonder why that was?"

Alex met the man's gaze evenly.

"I have no idea." He answered flatly, "Perhaps you'd like to ask some more questions?"

Schaffer looked annoyed, but decided that was a good idea.

"Well, since you're not sure on that point… It's also clear from the footage that you and one of the thieves exchanged words, what did you talk about?"

Alex decided that the truth would do him some good here.

"He wanted to know why I didn't look afraid…I think he was older then the other bloke, he was in charge anyway."

Schaffer looked interested at that.

"Can you remember anything about the two thieves at all?"

Alex seriously thought about it. He'd just remembered the way that one of the thieves had known his name and he was desperately curious as to why that was.

"I couldn't see their faces really, they wore balaclavas…" Alex said slowly.

Schaffer nodded.

"Yes, but do you remember if they said anything that might lead to a specific identity. Did they have accents; did they seem to know the shop's layout?"

Alex was starting to remember details that hadn't registered before.

"They spoke with London accents and swore, but they didn't seem quite right." He replied.

"Like they were putting them on?" Schaffer asked excitedly. Alex nodded slowly.

"Yes… Thinking back, I think that maybe the younger guy seemed like he had a foreign accent that he was trying to hide beneath the fake London one."

Schaffer made notes of all this.

"What sort of accent?"

Alex was straining his memory, but he couldn't be sure.

"Not English or Irish, that's all I know."

Schaffer looked disappointed by the sudden drought in information.

"Anything else? Anything at all?" He pushed, tapping his pen against his notepad for emphasis.

Alex shook his head, resisting the urge to yawn. He was exhausted and even just talking to this man was tiring.

Schaffer scowled and Alex felt a stab of dislike for the man.

"Well, you obviously did your best," the detective said mockingly, "I'll leave you to…recover…"

Alex smiled blandly.

"Alright, it was nice talking to you Detective."

Schaffer spared him a borderline dirty look before leaving the room.

As soon as the room's door had swung shut, Jack rounded on Alex.

"You spoke with one of them?!" She demanded incredulously, "Alex, what the hell's going on here? What'd he really say?"

Alex grimaced; he hadn't realized that it had been that obvious he hadn't told the whole truth.

"I don't know what's going on," He answered honestly, "He saved my life though, the younger guy wanted to kill me so there'd be no witnesses."

Jack shook her head.

"You can't think that necessarily makes him a good guy though!"

Alex held his hands up to ward off the rest of her argument.

"I know that!" He said defensively, "But I think that it's strange, I want to know why he did it."

Jack didn't look happy about it.

"Look, he did the right thing, but promise me you won't do anything stupid like go looking for him?"

Alex smiled faintly.

"I think that's a promise I can happily make, I'm tired of doing stupid things."

Jack studied him for a moment longer before nodding, obviously satisfied.

"Look, you should get some rest. The doctor said that he wants you here overnight, but he honestly doesn't think you need to stay much longer. I'll be back to discharge you tomorrow, alright? I have to talk to the police and the school…"

Alex nodded silently, feeling bad for all the trouble he was giving her. Then, he did something that he probably didn't do enough; he gave Jack a quick hug.

"Sorry." He said again. Then, he switched the bedside lamp off and closed his eyes. He was asleep quickly.


The younger thief's name was Donati Francesco and he annoyed the hell out of the older thief. Well, the older man anyway, they weren't really thieves.

They were in an apartment close to the Albert Embankment. It was a small place that was cheaply furnished and although it was not visibly dirty, it had an air of being unclean anyway. At present, it also had an air of danger. The two men were arguing.

"You're going to fail if you don't stop fucking up." The older man said flatly, not looking up from his laptop.

They'd removed their balaclavas and each had donned an outfit of their own preferences. The younger man had shaggy black hair and dark eyes. He glared at his partner, lip curled.

"At the risk of sounding childish, I'd say that my 'fucking up' is actually your fault." He snarled, accent undoubtedly Mediterranean.

His partner raised a brow and looked over at him.

"You're perfectly correct, that does sound childish." He said dismissively, "But never the less, I'm curious as to how you came to that conclusion?"

Donati looked annoyed.

"It was simple; we go in, dispose of any witnesses and then get out, hopefully a few Euros heavier. Once we're out of trouble, you report back on what a great job I did. Instead, you had to interrupt things when that brat appeared. What was with that?"

The older man surveyed his partner coolly, managing to pack an unbelievable amount of disdain into a simple look.

"Firstly, it was never meant to be amount money, it was meant to be a test. Secondly, you can forget any report that shows my approval of your actions, but I thought that you did a dismal job, at best. Thirdly…"

Donati glared.

"Thirdly?"

The older man smiled humourlessly.

"Thirdly, the 'brat' is none of your concern."

Donati snorted.

"Rat's ass! You made him my concern when you didn't kill him and then stopped me from doing what should have been done."

The young man's partner glared at him, eyes like two pieces of ice.

"In hardly need to remind you that I never kill children and if you are going to learn from me, the same will go for you."

Donati calmed a little and studied his partner. Then, he smiled. It was an ugly gesture, more of a cruel leer then a display of humour.

"I wish I could have seen you during Invisible Sword, you must have been way pissed!" The man laughed. It was apparent from the sadistic tone in his voice that the slaughter of thousands of children didn't bother him. The man was probably just depressed that the operation had failed.

"Even if it had have been any of my concern, I wouldn't have done anything," The other man replied quietly, "It was an Executive Board project; I would have had to be either foolhardy or suicidal to try and dissuade them."

Donati looked disappointed by his partner's lack of reaction. He enjoyed getting a rise out of people. It was that foolish hobby that had gotten him the large, knotted scar that stretched from his left cheekbone and over his nose. It turned out that taunting a drunken South African who was two feet taller then you was a bad idea. Who knew?

"Whatever." The man snorted, flicking on the television abruptly. He promptly turned to a re-run of East-Enders and tuned his partner out.

The other man turned back to his laptop, disgusted with the sorry excuse for an operative he was supposed to be training. He'd let Scorpia know the man was unfit to be an agent. They'd probably give him the green light to kill him and then they'd start over. Perfect.

The man refocused on what he was doing. The open window displayed an internet search engine for finding people's addresses in London. It wasn't perfect, more and more people were making their details private, but the man figured it was worth a try.

First Name:

Last Name:

The man paused, watching the blinking cursor against the olive green box. Getting involved wouldn't be a good idea. No, he'd just observe, that was all. No need to engage himself in anything, just watching would be fine. It couldn't hurt. Much.

He quickly typed in the details, fingers flying gracefully over the keys.

First Name: ALEX

Last Name: RIDER


Well, what'd you think? Personally, I though the ending to this chappie wasn't too bad. Anyway, some Q's...

1) Do we want much MI6 involvement, or should they be left out as much as possible and concentrate on Alex?

2) Should Alex break his promise to Jack and become obsessed with finding out more about the 'thief', or should he run into the thief again inadvertently?

3) Should Alex still suffer lingering affects of his depression-type-thing? Or should the near death experience more or less provide in instant 'cure'?

Anyway, love you all, R 'n' R!