Sorry when I posted what I thought was this chapter last night it was 2am and I obviously made a mistake. However, I don't think thats reason to call me 'dum' (I assume you meant dumb). Whoever you were, you know who you are. That's totally uncalled for. Just don't.

Ok the response was really good! I got 22 alerts, 9 faves and 21 reviews (as of now). So let's aim for 22 reviews (yeah? Maybe? :D) This probably isn't going to answer any of the questions raised in the last chapter, but I am trying to make this as realistic as possible. Which reminds me, yeah Fox shooting the 'would-be-robber' was a bit sudden and uncalled for. But…er…. Yeah I have no excuse for that. P.S. Alex and K-Unit are grown men i.e. they swear, just warning you.

"Ben you know this kid?" Eagle asked. Fox looked at the boy lying on the ground struggling to get his breath back.

"Yeah, or at least, I did,"

Fox looked down at Alex Rider. What the hell had happened? Ben knew the kid hadn't been happy the last time he'd seen him but, this? The kid moved slightly on the floor. Suddenly Ben realised that he'd shot Alex twice, but there was no blood anywhere.

"How are you not bleeding?" he asked. The boy rolled his eyes.

"It's calling Kevlar, but it still hurts like a bitch,"

"What do you mean? You're not wearing body armour,"

"My jacket's bulletproof, to an extent," Ben raised his eyebrows, he'd heard about some stuff like that but it was expensive. Really expensive. Where had the kid gotten the money? Just as he was about to ask Alex cut him off.

"Why the fuck did you shoot me anyway?" Ben shifted uncomfortably under Alex's gaze.

"I…you had a gun, which reminds me," Ben said bending down to take the gun he had seen on Alex's hip away. After checking the safety was on he threw across the floor behind him. While Fox was watching the kid, Eagle had moved Wolf to the kitchen and got him an ice pack. Wolf was still seriously pissed off. Eagle gave him the phone.

"You should call David, I'm not quite sure what to do about your nose," Wolf sighed and nodded.

"Bring the kid in here. I want to know how Ben knows him," He said typing in Dave's number.

Eagle walked back out into the hallway and said a few whispered words to Ben, keeping a wary eye on the kid. Ben nodded and Eagle returned to Wolf.

"Get up," Ben barked. Xander got up slowly cradling his sore arm against his chest. The other arm slowly went behind his back and grabbed the knife he had there. As he stood to his feet he stumbled forward slightly. As he had hoped Ben's first thought was still to see if he was alright. He let down his guard for just long enough for Xander to slash out with the knife at Ben's arm. The older man let out a cry of pain and dropped the gun. Xander watched him carefully.

"I'll be leaving now," he said with a smile. Not if I can help it. Ben thought as he kicked out catching the kid in the side. Xander span around and immediately went on the offensive. Ben only just managed to get his arms up in time to protect his head from Alex's punches. Somehow when Ben threw a punch just to try and get Alex to back off, he hit him in the temple. Xander felt the hit connect and it hurt, a lot. He tried to kick out at Ben again but he could feel himself drifting into unconscious and something that felt suspiciously like blood was trickling down the side of his face. He lashed out once more with his fist but saw Ben dodge it easily as he collapsed into darkness. Ben held a hand against the cut on his arm as he watched Alex collapsed. He didn't like hurting the kid, but something told him that if he hadn't stopped him Alex would've caused some serious damage. Eagle stood near the door, he had hesitated to get involved because there was so little room in the hallway.

"Jake, help me pick him up," Eagle stepped forward and picked up the kid's legs and him and Ben carried Alex to the kitchen.

"Yeah, hurts like hell…. No…. Yes…. Okay, see you then," Wolf hung up and glanced at Eagle and Fox carrying in the kid.

"What happened?"

"The kid pulled a knife on Ben," Eagle asked as they lay Alex on the rug. Fox immediately pulled off Alex's jacket and tossed it to Wolf.

"That's bulletproof. I don't know where he got the money for it and besides that stuff is rare. Even Special Ops don't use it commonly," Eagle had found the second knife strapped to the kid's ankle he handed it to Fox and finished checking for other weapons. Satisfied he stood up.

"The kid,"

"Alex," Ben said sharply. Eagle held up his hands.

"Ok ok, Alex has another gun strapped to his leg, but unless he gets undressed he can't get it," Eagle paused and looking at Alex's shoulder carefully. He crouched down and pushed his t-shirt sleeve up revealed a tattoo of a scorpion across the kid's shoulder and the letters 'J.R.' above it.

"Ben… Was the Alex you knew the type to get tattoos?" Fox frowned and shook his head.

"I doubt it. Let me see," he knelt down next to Eagle and looked at the tattoo. Fox was speechless.

"I…he…," Eagle looked at him, concerned.

"What is it? Does it mean something?"

"Scorpia," Fox got up and rubbed a hand over his face. "This isn't good," Wolf stood up from the table.

"As in Scorpia the terrorist organisation? As in that Scorpia? Ben how the hell do you know a kid involved with Scorpia?" Ben glared at him.

"When I knew him he was working for MI6. You knew him too Wolf, you idiot," Ben snapped. Wolf just stared at him.

"What? I never knew a-," Wolf looked sick. "Oh god…. Cub?" He said staring at the unconscious youth, Fox just nodded. After a few moments of awkward silence Eagle spoke up.

"Hey guys I think he starting to come around," Fox looked to Wolf.

"What should we do?"

"Grab a chair, tie his hands," Eagle obviously didn't look happy but followed Wolf's orders anyway.

Xander vaguely felt himself being moved, but everything was still too dark. Slowly the black began to fade, memories quickly came back to him.

Wolf was the target.

But Ben and Eagle had been there as well.

He tried to bring a hand to his face to rub his eyes.

His hands were tied.

He'd been caught.

Xander didn't think Ben had recognised him but his recall was still a bit dodgy, better to play the pissed off Scorpia agent for now. He blinked a few times, allowing his eyes to adjust to the light. He flexed his wrists again against the bonds and then looked up at the three men standing around him. Well, two actually, Wolf was sitting at the table opposite him, glaring past the ice pack pressed to his face. Xander coughed a couple of times before beginning.

"Look guys, I'm sorry but I just don't swing that way. And besides bondage?" Xander sighed. "You know it just doesn't do it for me," He flashed a cocky smile. He saw Wolf clench his jaw in barely concealed anger. Throwing the icepack down the unit leader stood up and walked around the table.

"Cut the crap Cub we know it's you," he snarled. Ok then Ben had recognised him. He smiled again.

"Still expect me to be shit scared of you Wolf?" Xander laughed. "I'm not some stupid fourteen-year old anymore,"

"Yet you got caught," Wolf shot back. Xander tried to shrug.

"I hesitated and I didn't expect anyone else to be here. Remind me to kill that informant," he said casually. K-unit were taken aback, they were soldiers and had seen some pretty heavy stuff. But a nineteen year old talking about offing someone as if he didn't care? They glanced at each other and the message was clear.

What had happened?

Over 100km away a phone called was made. The man making it was using a disposable phone that would be destroyed immediately after. The number being called wasn't real the call would be re-directed through over a dozen other lines and four countries before it was connected.

"What?" the woman on the other end of the line had no time for greetings or small talk.

"We haven't heard from X,"

"We knew that was a chance,"

"What do we do?"

"Order 42," there was a click as the woman hung up. The man sighed and snapped the phone in half. Order 42 it was.

Ok I'm not really happy about this chapter. One because it was really hard for me to write, Two it's really short. I have a good feeling about the next chapter though. By the way the measure in the last paragraph is totally made up. I live in Australia so I have no idea where 100km would get you in Europe. For me it's about the distance to a really good surfing spot on our south coast. *shrug* I can't be bothered going on google earth right now.