Hiya! I'm back and better than ever! So... let's find out what is happening to Alex today! Lalalala! And, again, I DISCLAIM Alex Rider and all other characters!

Happy reading! ;)

The shrill of the alarm clock cut into Alex's thoughts. He was exhausted. Damn, I had only about two hours of sleep last night, and now I have to go to SAS training camp. Wonderful, he thought sarcastically to himself. As he tried to drag his body out of bed, he groaned. He was wet from sweat and both mentally and physically tired. He didn't want to think about the nightmare he'd had that night, but his mind wouldn't let him.

It was cold. It was damp. It was dark. Alex Rider was huddling in a grimy cell. He didn't know where he was, who had done this, or where Jack was. Then Alex saw himself walk through the door. It took a few seconds to register in his numbed brain that it was Julius Grief. Grief stepped out of the shadows, wearing a crazed expression. Blood was pouring out of a hole in his head.

"You did this..." He croaked at Alex before falling to the ground, lifeless.

Then Alex walked out of the cell, and the world exploded in front of him. He saw Jack, burnt and twisted, lying on the ground. He fell to his knees, despair taking over, and then a silver scorpion prepared to sink its tail into his ankle as he knelt there, paralysed, unable to move...

Alex gasped. He had to get those horrible images out of his mind... He decided to take a shower. All of his stuff was packed. He would be leaving for the Beacons at 8:00am. It was now 7:10.

He scrambled out of the shower and dried himself, pulling on some clothes; it was 7:20 and he wanted to have some time to say a proper goodbye to Jack... He wouldn't be seeing her for 3 weeks! Nor would he be able to call her. Frankly, Alex was... Worried. SCORPIA would stop at nothing to get to him and they already knew that Jack was his weak spot.

Alex was wearing a faded rolling stones T-shirt and some scuffed up jeans- SAS camp wasn't exactly fashion central- and he remembered a time when he had worn that T-shirt before... When he had seen Yassen when he was in the South of France with Sab. Sabina... He'd have to give her a call sometime... No matter how many girls were falling at his 'hot and dangerous' feet, he was still loyal to her.

As he made his way down the stairs, rucksack in hand, he heard shouting. First Jack's angry voice, with its typical American loudness,

"Hey! Who are you? You can't just come barging in here!" A man's voice responded, calm and quiet. Alex couldn't quite make out the words, so he shrugged to himself and bounded down the stairs to investigate.

Then he saw Fox, otherwise known as:

"Ben!" Cried Alex, now happy and relieved. Ben was pretty cool, not all grey like Alan Blunt and everyone else who skulked around in the bank. Ben actually knows what words such as 'funny' and 'laugh' mean, thought Alex with a certain degree of sarcasm. Jack looked slightly bemused, but Ben grinned widely,

"Hey Alex! You ready to go to camp and kick Wolf's butt?" Alex laughed at the MI6 agent's greeting.

"Sure! But I haven't even had breakfast yet..." Alex glanced at the clock, which now said 7:25. "..And I'm not meant to be leaving for 35 minutes!"

"Uh... Sure, sure, I didn't mean right now... I, uh, just wanted to come by a bit early 'cuz I couldn't wait to see my old... uh... K-Unit-mate?" Before Alex could reply, Jack cut in,

"Alex. Sit down, because, One: Your bacon roll is getting cold, and Two: You know this guy?"

"Ok, Jack... One: I love bacon rolls, thanks. And this one's great!" Commented Alex as he took a bite. Then he mumbled through his mouthful, "Yeah. He's the guy I was telling you about. You know, the one who killed Ash?"

"What, that guy who was your Godfather?" Ben paled slightly on hearing this.

"I-I- I killed your Godfather?" Alex snorted.

"Some Godfather he was. Blew up my parents when I was one and turned me into Major Yu." Now fuming, Alex mauled his bacon roll on the next bite.

"Uh... Okay..."

"Look, Ben, you did me a favour," Alex reassured the man.

Everyone stood there shifting in very awkward silence.

PG BREAK

Tom was walking into school and making his way to his locker. Eyeing the armed guards swarming round the school, he wondered if Alex was at Brecon Beacons yet. Brecon Beacons! Thought Tom hysterically, Oh my God, Alex is gonna be so so cool and he gonna be awesome and and and... Yes! Yes yes yes! Tom was soon yanked off his train of thought when he felt a fist connect with his arm.

"Hey!" The small boy shouted indignantly. A kid called...Brian White? towered over him. A kid who was strong and muscular. A kid who was the hierarchy in the social circle. A kid who was Ryan's best friend.

"Where's Alex?" Grunted Brian in a threatening tone.

"Oh, uh, he got a week's suspension," gabbled Tom, "and he got sent to SAS camp early. You know, so he wouldn't be wasting his time?"

"You mean not taking drugs?"

"Alex doesn't take drugs!" Roared Tom, "Don't you understand anything, you idiot? It's the simplest concept known to man: Alex's uncle die. Alex get sad. Alex's immune system weaken with sadness. Alex get sick. Alex stay off school," Tom explained, while doing a terrific impression of an early caveman. Some of the other kids were laughing at Brian's expense. Brian went red.

"Well, your friend Alex had better watch out when I see him next. He beat Ryan up pretty bad. I just gotta honour my friend." Tom snorted.

"Can you hear yourself? You sound like some sort of cheesy action movie! And Ryan only got a little stomach punch. If he's really that feeble, I'm surprised he's a bully. I bet it's only 'cuz you're his friend," Tom retorted, and turned on his heel.

"Hey!" Shouted Brian, "Come back!"

But Tom Harris was already walking away.

PG BREAK

Alex hugged Jack for maybe the hundredth time.

"I'll see you, Alex."

"You too, Jack."

Then Alex was walking out the door with Ben, Jack clunking behind on her crutches to wave goodbye. Ben opened the door.

"Bye, Jack! Love you!"

"Love you too, Alex!"

Alex immediately blushed when he saw three figures standing outside, one of them having raised a hand to knock, which was now frozen in midair, and his face held some traces of surprise. Alex recognised the man.

"Crawley."

"Oh, uh... Sup Alex!" Greeted Crawley, in a very obviously failed attempt to sound young and cool. He really isn't that good a spy, thought Alex.

"Alright. When you're done making a fool of yourself, you can tell me what you're here for," replied Alex, glancing at the other two agents. Another man and a woman. Crawley dropped his hand.

"Well, uh, we're here as bodyguards!" Explained the sheepish man rapidly, lifting up his jacket so that only Alex could see the vast selection of guns and knives hidden underneath.

"Good," said the teen coldly," No slacking on the job," he said as he pushed past a bewildered Crawley, Ben bringing up the rear.

PG BREAK

10 minutes later, Alex Rider was once again sitting in a grey room in a grey chair, facing a grey man.

"Why am I here?" Alex asked in a demanding voice, "and not on my way to Brecon Beacons?" Blunt stayed annoyingly silent for a while, then spoke,

"We wanted to brief you on Yassen Gregorovich." Alex froze, earning himself an anxious glance from Fox. Blunt continued, "We sent agents in to clear up, and there are many snipers in close proximity to the school, should SCORPIA storm it. As further reinforcement, there are armed guards placed throughout your school. Luckily your classmates are not suspecting you in any way." At Alex's curious expression, he explained, "Our guards listen into the pupils conversations."

"You what ?" Spluttered Alex. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Even for Blunt...This was low. Listening into people talking about their private lives, boyfriends. People chatting about inside jokes. Secretly gossiping. Mentioning things to their friends they wanted no-one else to know about. Alex also had to work to fight back a blush. Blunt had probably heard about the 'druggie' situation, and found out that he had a fanclub. Damn.

"Standard information retrieval. And," Suggested Blunt in a very un-Blunt-like manner, "You might want to ask Katy Reilly out on a date. Or perhaps your whole fanclub."

If Alex had been holding a machete at that very moment, he would not have hesitated for even a millisecond to use it on Blunt. Instead he settled on the most vicious glare he could possibly muster and aimed. At that second in time, Alex Rider wished that looks really could kill. But then there would be too many mass-murderers... Urgh.

Ben made a dreadfully unwise decision. He snickered, then visibly wilted away as Alex quickly swung round to train his glare on his next unfortunate victim.

"Hey, Cub, it's not my fault I have a sense of humour!" Whined the former SAS agent in mock-hurt. Alex snorted but decided to spare him.

"Now if we may get more to the point, Blunt,"snarled the indignant teenager.

"Of course," said the man curtly, "We have developed a photo of you and Yassen-" Blunt was cut off by Mrs. Jones hurrying into the room,

"Mr. Blunt," she blurted, rather frantically, to Alex's surprise, "We have a double code red!" Blunt went rigid and quickly slid a photo across the desk towards Alex,

"Take this." And with that, he hurried out of the room with as much composure as he could possibly muster.

Alex and Ben were left sitting shocked in the empty room. Alex picked up the photo. It showed him and Yassen standing happily together in what seemed to be a sunny Spanish plaza. Alex stared at it for a while and was broken out of his observations by Ben's voice echoing round the room,

"Well, what you waiting for, Alex? Let's go."

"Sure," replied the teen, "You go. Just give me a second."

"Okay..." Mumbled the confused man, walking out the door.

As soon as Ben was gone, Alex leapt into action. First he carefully placed the forged photo in his rucksack, then turned back to Blunt's desk. On it lay a file labelled: Alexander .J. Rider. There was also a shiny disk which Alex assumed to be a DVD, also with his name on it. Quickly glancing round warily to make sure no-one was watching him, Alex quickly picked up his bulky file and the DVD, then stuffed them both down to the depths of his rucksack.

PG BREAK