Alex woke with an uncomfortable crick in his neck.
There was a bright orange light against his eyelids, like someone was shining a flashlight in his face. Opening his eyes, he saw that he'd fallen asleep in his sitting position on the couch.
At some point, Eagle had crashed next to him, his head on Alex's knee. Wolf had also fallen asleep, across from Alex in the arm chair. Wolf's hand was precariously close to a cold mug of coffee left on the floor.
Snake had disappeared at some point in the night, presumably to his room.
As for Fox, Alex could hear him humming the Loony Toons theme in the kitchen.
Alex blew out his cheeks and carefully extracted himself from under Eagles head. Skillfully, he evaded Wolf and his haphazardly placed furniture.
He walked silently into the kitchen, padding across the tile floor and taking a seat on the bar stool at the end of the island. He rolled his head forward, there was a small click as he managed to release some of the tension in his neck before looking up again.
Fox was standing with his back to him at the stove. Alex could smell the eggs and bacon cooking.
"That smells good," he commented.
Fox banged his pan against the stove before wiping around to look at Alex, nearly losing the bacon in the process.
"How many times do I have to ask you not to do that?"
"At least once more? You're gonna set the eggs on fire," Alex laughed.
Fox turned, removing the second pan containing eggs from the burner and continuing to cook the meat. Fox was actively pouting now, which made Alex's smile widen.
"I hate you," Fox stated.
"I know."
"Like, 100% of the time."
"I know."
Eagle woke next, complaining loudly of aches and pains. He shut up quickly when Fox slapped a plate of bacon on the table in front of him.
Eagle quickly scooped some up and shoved it in his mouth. He attempted to speak around the bacon; possibly, he was commenting on how 'this is great', though it was equally as likely that he was asking Fox about his weight.
Before Eagle could embarrass himself further, Snake entered the kitchen. He was looking a little rumpled, still in the same clothes as the night before, but he still looked infinitely more awake than any of them.
Snake smiled, greeted them, then tossed a stack of letters and envelopes at the head of the table where Alex sat.
Quite a few correspondents had piled up in the few days Alex had been away. He sighed and began leafing through them, sorting them into two stacks.
K unit were seated around the island, eating breakfast. Eagle had just spilled his orange juice for the third time this morning and Alex had moved his stool to the far wall, bringing his stack of letters with him.
K unit never opened any of the mail that came when Alex was away, just in case there was a sensitive government secret; they didn't even bring in the newspaper. Better safe than sorry.
There was quite a healthy stack that had built up over the last few days, most of it addressed to Mr. Alex Rider or A. Rider.
Some were addressed to Alex's pseudonyms, which made it very difficult for K unit to determine if they'd got the wrong mail or not. Another reason that they didn't touch the mail.
There was, however, one letter not addressed to Alex, this one was labeled to Aaron San Luca SAS, Iason J. Clark SAS, Landon P. Taylor SAS, Benjamin W. Daniels SAS.
Alex pulled it out of the bottom of the pile with a mild look of surprise on his face. Most people outside of family wouldn't know that K unit was living here - and family wouldn't bother with letter's, they'd just call. The envelope was crisp, with perfectly printed mailing information on one side. It had an official stamp sealing it shut. The emblem was stamped in pompadour blue coloured wax. It depicted a winged sword with a ribbon flowing across it. The motto Who Dares Win printed on it in hollowed letters.
Alex looked at his unit, observing the last few moments before chaos struck. The calm before the storm. The pan before falling into the fire. He took a deep breath.
"For you," he stated, dangling the letter from two fingers whilst leaning back on his stool.
The four men at the island examined each other. Snake slowly scooted his chair back, out of the way. Wolf opened his mouth to convey a command, but it was too late. Fox picked up his last bacon strip and tossed it across the island with incredible accuracy, smacking Eagle square in the face. He jumped to his feet, reaching for the envelope in Alex's hand.
Eagle, however, recovered quickly. Wiping his sleeve across his grease streaked face, he dove past Fox, shoving him into the sink, which had an automatic sensor and turned on in the process, soaking Fox's sleeve.
Eagle snatched the letter from Fox. He then proceeded to quickly dance into the living room, holding the letter above his head, singing his victory.
The victory was short lived, however. Fox gave chase after him, knocking over two bar stools, and Eagles juice for a fourth time that morning.
By the time Alex, Wolf and Snake got there, Fox had Eagle pinned to the floor. He was literally spread eagle on the carpet, and he didn't look happy about mimicking his name sake.
Fox sat on Eagles back, smirking down at the letter in his hand as low moans of pain and despair escaped from his defeated teammate under him.
Fox cleared his throat with three sharp coughs. He toar the letter open using his thumb nail.
K unit,
As of March 28th, veteran unit refresher courses will be held at Brecon Beacons training park facility.
This course is mandatory. Failure to attend, unless otherwise stated, will result in the termination of your SAS license.
All senior units from your year will be asked to take this course. This course includes classes in shooting and gun care, updated classes on health care and terrorism, a psych eval and multiple fitness exams. These are all compulsory.
Your unit has also been selected to run 3 weeks of this years SAS recruits training.
More information upon arrival.
Signed, Sergeant Mathias Sanders.
P.S. It has been noted that Alexander J. Rider MI6/SAS has rejoined K Unit. He will be required to attend all above stated courses as well.
No exceptions.
Fox read all this aloud in his best Sergeant voice. Upon finishing, he turned to his unit and sighed.
"To hell and back, and back again."
Next: Alex and K unit return to their old haunts
