A/N: Nah… I don't own Alex Rider. GASP.

02

Alex spent most of his time in the Royal and General Bank, in the room right beside Mrs. Jones' room. It was nearly a carbon copy of the head's office, but Alex had brought a poster of his favorite football team and plastered it to a grey wall.

He resided in the room every day after school and every Saturday, working on paperwork.

He eyed the stack of papers on his folder and groaned loudly, placing his head on top of the mess on his desk. He swore he heard laughter from the other room, though it was impossible. His room was soundproof.

Alex was glad when his phone began to ring. He reached for it, "Rider."

"I need to speak to you," Mrs. Jones' voice made him want to groan more.

"You couldn't walk the extra five steps from your office to mine?" He questioned, only to be met with the dial tone. He rolled his eyes and gladly left his paperwork.

He didn't bother to knock on Mrs. Jones' door.

"Good afternoon, Alex." She greeted, already sucking on a peppermint.

Alex sat down moodily, "What's good about it? Paperwork?"

Mrs. Jones ignored his last statement. Instead, she handed the teen a thin folder. Alex raised his eyebrows and opened it, curiously reading the contents. His face abruptly went blank.

"Agent Taylor contacted us at approximately 1530 hours."

Alex checked his watch, "That was half an hour ago!"

Mrs. Jones inclined her head solemnly and handed him another sheet of paper, "This is what he sent us. We've tried to get into contact with him again, but it seems his position has been compromised."

Alex stared down at the paper. In messy handwriting, three things were scrawled on the page: Warn AR.

"We have reason to believe that he is still alive," Mrs. Jones pursed her lips, "And I'll be sending an extraction team for Agent Taylor. I expect you'll take charge?"

"Am I going to miss more school?"

"Unfortunately."

Alex thought back to the comically shocked Mr. Bray. He wasn't looking forward to facing him again, "Fine. I'll need a SAS team."

Mrs. Jones looked faintly relieved, "They're on their way."

OPERATION*ZETA

Alex was in a cell. It was like an animal's cage. The sides and top were barred. The bottom was steel, feeling cool against his bare feet. He was in a larger room. People were standing around his cage, laughing and pointing, saying things that Alex couldn't hear.

With a jolt, Alex realized that he recognized the people around him. But where from?

His breathing grew ragged as liquid flames seemed to burn in his stomach. Guilt. He felt so guilty.

A woman approached him, grinning viciously, "Alex Friend… Or should I say, 'Rider'."

Though it wasn't particularly funny, the people behind her laughed.

Alex didn't want to look at her face, but somehow his head lifted to stare directly at the woman. She had twisted features that didn't seem quite human. Feral, even. She had huge muscles that could rival any of his SAS 'buddies'.

"You're dead." Alex croaked, backing away from the muscular woman.

More laughter.

"No, Alex," Mrs. Stellenbosch's face split into a huge grin, "You're dead and we'll finally get our revenge…"

Alex fell down to his knees as the cage began shaking, "Stop it!"

Another figure made its way to Mrs. Stellenbosch's side. It was a woman. Her fiery hair was what told Alex who she was. Her voice was what made his blood run cold, "Enough. I say we get started now."

"Agreed." Another person called out.

Alex stared at Jack, his mouth partially open. He felt hot as suddenly fear began to paralyze his body, "Jack! Jack, I didn't mean to! I didn't want you to get hurt!"

Jack grinned at him, almost playfully, like how she used to smile when they played hide and seek, "It's too late, Alex. You have to do better than that."

Alex was begging with her now, "How? I don't know how!"

Jack nodded to someone to the side, but Alex didn't take his eyes off of her. She turned another blazing smile on him, "Burn well, and I'll forgive you."

Alex felt dread settle in the pit of his stomach, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Jack pointed to something on the outside of his cage, "burn well, like I had to burn."

The temperature around him shot up as he noticed the flames licking around his cage. He was sweating profusely now, his feet burning from the hot metal. The flames grew higher and higher until he could barely see Jack's face.

"Jack…" Alex gasped, the smoke climbing into his nose and mouth. His eyes were watering.

Pain. All over him.

Laughter above the dull roaring of the flames.

He bit back a scream as the skin on his feet sizzled and the hair on his head caught fire, "JACK!"

"What the hell, kid? Wake up!"

Alex was wrenched out of his dream by a rough hand shaking his shoulder. In momentary panic, he karate chopped the hand on him, struggling to get up, only to find himself strapped down.

"You son of a b-"

"Language!" Someone interrupted the first man's dulcet tones.

Alex shook himself out of his trance. He was on a helicopter, on his way to the compound where Agent Taylor was being held.

"You okay, Cub?"

Alex glanced over at Snake, who looked back at him sympathetically. He managed to grimace back to the red-head, "Yeah. Fine, thanks."

Beside him, Wolf grumbled under his breath, shooting Alex a glare. Whatever kind of friendship Alex had thought they'd formed, had evidently disappeared.

Alex breathed out a shaky breath, before steeling himself, "How much longer?"

"Ten minutes, oh mighty commander." Wolf growled at him. Alex blinked back, mildly surprised. Was this what he was angry about?

Alex sighed and leaned back into his seat, closing his eyes again. He could feel his left hand trembling against his right.

"What's the plan?"

Alex opened his eyes to find the newest member of K-Unit staring at him, a pitying look in his eyes. He had found out that the soldier's code name was Rock, short for Rocky Mountain Horse, the poor sod.

"We're going into the compound, killing anyone in the way, and rescuing Agent Taylor. He has sensitive information."

Eagle, who had been quiet all this time, raised one eyebrow, "Why aren't we taking some of them as prisoners?

Alex gave him a look, "Most of the Zeta agents are low level body guards. No one will know anything."

Eagle looked miffed.

"Three minutes." Rock informed them.

"We're landing in a nearby field," Alex nodded, "We'll trek the eight kilometers to the compound-"

"Nearby?" Eagle questioned, looking understandably irritated.

"-and once we get Agent Taylor, we can call the pilot to pick us up." Alex continued, "Make sure your mics are all working-"

"We've done this before, Cub." Wolf was giving him the evil eye, "No need to talk to us like that."

Alex glared at the Hispanic man.

Snake, sensing the tension, coughed and pointed to the door, "We've landed."

Alex gave the man another piercing look before climbing out.

It was dark outside, but they thankfully had night vision goggles. The blades of the helicopter were slowly coming to a halt as the other soldiers climbed out after him, stretching tiredly.

"Let's finish this in two hours. I'd like to get back to school tomorrow." Alex was making a wild wish, but he didn't care.

The four soldiers nodded, hefting their guns.

"Lead the way."

Surprisingly, it was Wolf who spoke, his gruff voice low.

Alex nodded in confirmation, slipping out the handy tracker device Smithers had given him. He began to make his way towards the thick forest.

The group trailed behind him, muttering to each other. Alex was well aware of the tension that had formed and it seemed that Snake was pushing Wolf to resolve it.

Alex's lips twitched as he swatted a branch away from his face. If they walked a bit faster, they could probably reach the compound in less than an hour.

Half an hour into the trek, Wolf caught up with Alex. He looked eerie in the green light of the night vision goggles.

Wolf attempted to smile, but it only made him look scarier, "Look, kid."

Alex bit back a protest. He was not a kid.

"Sorry for being a bit of an arse."

"A bit?" Alex asked, ducking below a half fallen branch.

Wolf had the decency to look and sound embarrassed, "It's just that we just got home from Afghanistan and some MI6 bastard decides they need us."

Alex paused, turning to look at the man, "You're horrible at apologizing."

He didn't need night vision goggles to know that Wolf was glaring at him, "I'm trying!"

"Word of advice," Alex turned away, a grin at his lips, "When you're apologizing, don't call the other person a bastard."

OPERATION*ZETA

It took them a little over an hour and a half to get to the compound, due to the wild foliage of the forest.

"I see it." Wolf's voice crackled in Alex's ear.

Alex shot the man, who was crouching beside him, a look, "We all see it, Wolf."

"What's our course of action?" Eagle intervened before the two could begin squabbling again.

Alex's eyes swept thoughtfully across the dark compound. It was completely silent, save for the rustling of the wind and the quiet chirps of insects. He couldn't see anyone.

He handed Eagle the tracking device and pulled out his cell phone.

"Cub! This isn't the time to act like a teenager. Your friends can wait." Wolf tried to snatch the phone out of Alex's hands.

Alex dodged, turning on the phone and flicking to an app called "Infrared". He pointed it towards the compound's rooftop, "You're being especially idiotic. What happened in the last three years?"

"He got shot a bunch of times." Eagle supplied unhelpfully.

Alex turned off his phone and slipped it into his pocket, "There's no one on the roof and the walls seemed to be made of some thick material. I can't pick up any heat signals from the inside."

"So we're going in blind?" Snake's grip had tightened on his gun.

"Yeah," Alex didn't take his eyes off of the compound.

"Security cameras?" Rock asked.

"Disabled," the spy grinned, "Smithers is a genius."

"Smithers?"

Alex shook his head, "Never mind. Wolf and Snake, you guys take the East Wing's side door. Rock and Eagle, the West. I'll take this one."

Wolf was the first to protest, "No way. We never leave a man by himself. We'll go together. Snake, Rock, and Eagle will go to the West entrance."

"We'll cover more ground if we split up!" Alex hissed, glaring at the four SAS soldiers, who were all nodding.

"Like it or not, Cub," Snake's Scottish lilt was light, "you're part of our team. And we protect our team."

Alex gave an annoyed huff, "Fine. You three get to the West entrance. We'll wait for your signal."

The three men nodded and moved off. Wolf and Alex only had to wait a few minutes before Rock's voice filtered over the intercom, "Ready."

"Come on." Alex motioned at the door. Together, the two stood on either side of the door. Alex raised his wrist and spoke into the mic, "Operation Taylor is a go, go, go!"

Wolf shot the lock on the door and burst in.

Alex followed the trigger happy soldier, holding his gun in one hand, and the tracker in the other, "Dammit!"

"What?" Wolf snapped back at him, making his way down the narrow hall. Naked bulbs hung from the low ceiling dangerously.

"We don't have a blueprint of the building," Alex shoved the tracker into his pocket. He could hear it clatter against his phone, "We can't use the tracker."

"Great." Wolf growled, stopping. A moment later, Alex knew why. There were two ways, left and right.

"Right," Alex decided, "You go right. I'll go left."

Wolf turned back to glare at him, "What part of 'team' do you not get? We don't split up."

"We have comms for a reason!" Alex shot back, "If you need help, don't hesitate to scream."

He slipped past the bulkier man, into the left corridor. The walls seemed to grow narrower as Alex made his way further down the tunnel. The air grew colder.

"Wolf to Cub. Dead end on this side."

Alex raised the mic to his face, "It looks like this part of the hallway is going down or something. I haven't encountered anyone yet."

A pause. Then, Rock's voice spoke, "It's clear here. No one here… well, no one living."

Alex froze momentarily, hearing footsteps behind him. He relaxed as Wolf's familiar shape appeared, "Have you seen Agent Taylor?"

There was another pause before Rock replied, "Negative. He must be in your side."

Alex beckoned for Wolf to follow him, "There haven't been any rooms or guards. This doesn't feel right…"

Wolf grunted from behind him, "Whatever, kid. Just keep moving."

They walked for a few minutes in silence before Alex felt the ground beneath him level off. The air now was definitely colder. Wolf spoke into his mic, "Where are you guys?"

Both Alex and Wolf were met by silent comms.

"Well shit." Wolf spat quietly.

"It's probably because we're too far down. The signal isn't transmitting."

Alex felt the hot glare on his back, "I know, brat."

He scoffed a little. Wolf continued on his rant, "You know, Cub, I'm sick and tired of you acting so haughty, like you're better than the rest of us! What makes you better than the SAS, huh? What makes MI6 so sp-"

"Shut up!" Alex hissed, nudging Wolf in the gut.

"Don't tell me to shu-"

"Stuff it! I hear someth-"

Pop pop!

Alex was too slow to react to the familiar sound of gunfire. He grunted in pain as two bullets careened into his gut. He fell back, swearing in Spanish.

"Fuck!" Was Wolf's intelligent reply, "Cub!"

Alex grabbed the gun that had fallen out of his hand and returned a bullet that didn't miss the other man's head, "I'm fine!"

He silently made a note to thank Smithers when he got back to headquarters. He was wearing a specially designed Kelevar vest. Alex had probably escaped with a couple bruises.

"This is going to be difficult," he grumbled under his breath. It was an understatement. The corridor seemed to have grown narrower. The walls were at a distance so that Wolf could just barely squeeze in.

Alex stopped by the dead body. He snatched a pair of keys off of the man before gingerly stepping over him, "He has to be down here somewhere."

Wolf grunted in agreement, "Let me go first."

Alex threw a look at him, "As if you could even get past me."

It was true. The walls seemed even closer now, just brushing Wolf's muscular frame.

Alex continued on, his gun out in front of him.

"It's strange," Wolf muttered from behind him, "We've only seen one guard this whole time. No one else. Where is everyone?"

Alex froze, catching sight of something that he hadn't noticed before, "Shit."

On the ceiling, running right past the lightbulbs, were wires, painted over with grey. He knew all too well what the meant.

"Wolf," he sounded surprisingly calm, "Get out and make sure the rest of the unit made it out okay."

Behind him, Wolf snorted, "Not likely, brat. What's wrong?"

Alex contemplated on whether to tell him. He bit his lip and started to move forward, "Nothing is wrong. Just do it. That's an order."

Wolf was silent for a moment. Alex breathed a sigh of relief as the soldier turned around and began to make his way out of the compound and back to safety.

Alex hurried down the hallway, now confident that no one other guard would ambush him. The compound, after all, was rigged with explosives. Agent Taylor was probably at the heart of it.

The hallway slanted dangerously upwards and began to open out. He found himself letting a breath out that he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Alex was in a dark, circular room. He could see a dark lump at the far end of the room, "Taylor?"

"Don't come any closer," the lump moaned, voice cracked and fragmented, "There's a pressure sensor that'll set off the bomb."

"Where?" Alex demanded, freezing on the spot.

Taylor lifted his head so that Alex could see his bruised, bloody face, "Any closer and you'll set it off."

Alex gritted his teeth, "Are you bound?"

The man nodded, lifting his hands to show Alex the course rope tightened around his wrists. Alex pulled out his pocket knife and tossed it to the man.

"The pressure sensor," Taylor began to furiously saw off the rope around his ankles, "sets off a timer. We get three minutes."

"Better hurry up, then." Alex commented, watching the spy rise to his feet unsteadily.

Taylor offered him a bloody grin, "Ready?"

Alex eyed the injured man, "You're the one that doesn't look ready."

The spy laughed and jolted forward. Alex's eyes flickered to the other end of the room, where a countdown in red began to tick down.

"Come on!"

Alex waited for the man to come closer before slipping into slanted hallway, "Hurry!"

He could hear Taylor's quiet rasps behind him as he pounded down the narrow hallway. He glanced back to see the other man lagging behind, "Taylor, we've got to hurry. We can treat you as soon as we get to the helicopter."

Taylor, his hair nearly as bloody as his face, coughed miserably before nodding and pulling himself forward. Alex grabbed onto the man's wrist and began to pull him forward.

"How long do we have?" Taylor rasped.

Alex tugged the man forward, "A minute and thirty seconds at the most."

They continued in labored silence until Alex sensed that the hallway was opening up. He gently maneuvered Taylor so that he had an arm draped around Alex. He put most of his weight on the younger teen, limping heavily.

"Thirty seconds." The man growled seemingly to himself, "We've got to hurry."

Alex nearly cried in relief when he saw the first turn that he and Wolf had encountered. He began to pull the injured spy faster.

Twenty seconds.

They were nearly at the door. Alex nearly left the man behind, but he forced himself to wait. They were at the door.

Alex reached for the handle. He pulled, trying to get it open, but it seemed to be stuck.

"Shit!"

Fifteen seconds.

Alex furiously struggled with the door for a few precious seconds, to no avail. He wasn't ready to die. Not yet. He wasn't ready to face Jack.

Ten seconds.

"Wolf!" Alex shouted at the door, "Snake! Eagle! Rock! Anyone?"

Nine seconds.

Alex's breath caught in his throat. How could he have been so stupid? He lifted the mic to his face, "Cub to K-Unit. The compound is about to blow. The door is jammed."

Eight seconds.

Alex tried to tug the door open again, but it was firmly shut. How was that even possible?

Seven seconds.

"You moron." Came Wolf's angry voice, "I'm beating you senseless once you get out. I'm coming."

Six.

Alex sagged against the wall, defeated, "There's no point in coming now."

Five.

"Like hell there is." Wolf snapped back.

Four.

A grinding, grating sound made Alex's head spin as he stared at the door. It seemed to be slowly inching open from an outside force. Wolf's face peered around the door.

Three.

His face was a perfect picture of fury. He snagged Taylor out first, Alex following.

Two.

"Don't just stop!" Alex hissed, pushing Wolf and Taylor forward, "We have to get into the forest now!"

One.

All Alex could think of was how painfully he was going to die. He was either going to burn into a crisp or the pieces of the building were going to impale him. He sprinted forward, faster than he had ever gone before, dimly recognizing that Wolf and Taylor were doing the same.

He felt the force of the blast on his back and he leaped forward, rolling on the grass and into the foliage of the forest.

Beside him, Wolf and Taylor stumbled to the ground, their backs sizzling and their faces mildly burned.

Alex lay on the cold ground, panting, "Mission accomplished?"

Taylor bit out a laugh, "Yeah. Mission accomplished."


A/N: I think I realized why I like writing one-shots a lot better than writing stories. I have commitment issues. This is horrible...

Do you know why Alex totally forgot about his comms system? GUESS! Haha, because I forgot about his comms system. So awkward...

I actually didn't like this chapter too much... the ending is blehh... I rewrote it a bunch of times and honestly, I wasn't looking forward to rewriting it again.

Thank you for your reviews! I want to hug each and every one of you! And then drink tea. I like tea.

Random thought of the day: Why do we have "Sweet 16"'s? I think I'm going to have a "Saucy 16" or maybe a "Salty 16". Then maybe a "Spicy 17" and an "Egglicious 18." HM...

Thanks again for your support! Don't forget to leave another review! I haven't written the next chapter yet, so if you have any cliche plots that you want to see in this story, go ahead and leave it in the reviews!

-Alice (Hugs, kisses, and a teddy bear)