A/N: Happy Memorial Day everyone. Thank you for all of the reviews, I really appreciate everyone who left one. I am also very happy to thank my fantabulous beta Nyxlestia. If you haven't read her stories you should immediately do so (preferably after reviewing this one). Bienviendos!
Veracity
The Mess Hall was the loudest building in Brecon Beacons, between the intermittent laughter and the loud clang of silverware scraping against the plastic trays, the room was always full of commotion. However, when Alex pushed open the door an unnatural silence fell over the room, directing every eye to the young boy as he silently grabbed a tray and got his morning mush. The young assassin turned to survey the room, hunting for an empty table; none were in sight, so he resigned himself to sitting with the slightly less intimidating K-Unit.
The men had left an open space for him but ignored his presence as they went through an idle discussion of the day's activities. The tension of the group was palpable and the awkward silences were punctuated by the men stuffing the bland paste into their mouths in a desperate attempt to prevent any awkward conversation from coming up. Alex picked at the food, watching with inner amusement at the Unit's antics until he grew bored and moved to dump his tray.
"Where do you think you're going, Cub?" Snake questioned softly, his hand locked on the boy's forearm. Alex silently lifted his tray in responsive. The unit medic gave him a disapproving look at the mostly full tray but released him none the less. Alex could feel the eyes of his unit on him as he crossed the room to the trash cans and dumped the remainder of his mush into it with a dull 'plop' As he spun to return to his seat, though, he found his way blocked by a large, imposing man whose unit stood strategically around the two, blocking them from sight.
"So you're the Scorpia shit." The man sneered, giving him a once over "You weren't good enough for the SAS back when you were here so you wimped out and went to Scorpia. I can't believe they'd take a weak fucker like you." Alex broke his silence for the first time, unable to resist the opportunity to anger the SAS man
"And I can't believe the SAS would take someone as stupid and useless as you." He returned, voice barely able to be heard over the roar of the cafeteria.
"What did you say, bastard?!" the man demanded
Alex forced himself to resist the urge to make a comment about the man's intelligence but returned "I said 'I can't believe the SAS would take someone as stupid and useless as you.'"
"Why you little piece of shit!" the man growled as he lunged for the boy but Alex quickly took a side step to the left and crouched down, swiping the man's feet from under him. The man toppled and grabbed the nearest thing to steady himself, the trashcan. As he landed on the floor the heap of trash and left over mush spilled over him but before Alex could truly take in the scene a hand grabbed him roughly by the arm and drug him through the crowd.
Fox let out an exasperated sigh as they made it through the door "Cub," he sighed, releasing the boy "As much as I think Eel deserved that you don't have many friends here." He ran a hand through his hair "Look, what I'm trying to say is don't go making enemies for yourself not only does it make your time harder here but it makes ours harder too." the man finished, fixing him with a stare, Alex only nodded, knowing that it would be just another lie to add to his life.
Veracity
The shooting range was full when the two arrived, it seemed that the other units had gotten word that Alex would be shooting this morning and had all found some excuse to come out for the show, even a few of the Sergeants were there, staring impassively across the field.
The Sergeant of the range saw him approach and threw him a gun; Alex looked it over, carefully assessing it for any flaws, before turning back to the man.
"Reassemble it." He ordered glaring at Alex as he started his timer.
He fluidly obeyed the order and as the last piece clicked into place the man stopped the timer and gave a respectful nod down at him. Skill, apparently, was appreciated even in the SAS. "1:37."
Alex frowned lightly that was better than his time with Yassen, perhaps things were easier without the watchful eyes of his mentor assessing his every move. The Sergeant extended to him a box of rubber cartridges. He stared impassively up at the man at the insult shooting at SAS men at a gun range sounded stupid even with his desperate desire to escape.
He took the only open booth left, one that was planted squarely in the middle of the firing range. He laid down and carefully loaded it before taking aim and rattling off a few shots. Exhilaration ran through him with the sound of each shot, reminding him of the exhausting lessons he had with Yassen at the Malogosto range. He instinctively continued to shoot, fluidly reloading whenever his ammo ran out. He was dismayed to find his bullet supply exhausted and was forced to wait for the targets to be brought back in. When the last shots were fired he heard the Sergeant's cry to ceasefire and gently ticked the safety on. The squeaky system of wires was pulled back in and Alex frowned slightly at the missing center of the target that would not have satisfied Yassen's standards he vowed to work on his shooting when he returned.
He felt a presence behind him and turned to see the Sergeant staring at his target. "Looks like you've won this round, Cub. You've still got three more to go." he growled, unwilling to let a Scorpia defect beat his best trained shooters. Alex repressed a smirk at the blatant challenge.
Veracity
Wolf set off in a jog from the shooting range, he and the rest of K-Unit were supposed to be at the obstacle course but, much like the rest of the camp, they had gone to watch Cub shoot a round against some of the best shots in the camp and he had not disappointed. Cub had grown since the last time Wolf had seen him. After the mission at the school Wolf had grown to respect the young boy serving his nation but it was quickly destroyed when he had turned to Scorpia. To think he had respected the kid. The question remained though, why had the boy left MI6, why had he turned on his country, and most of all why Scorpia? Why not just leave MI6 if he was so tired of spying?
It was Eagle who pulled him from his reverie "Who knew that little double-o-nothing would be such a good shot?"
"Who knew that 'little double-o-nothing' would turn to Scorpia?" Snake snapped back.
Wolf would find out the answer to his questions. K Unit deserved to know just why Cub had gone AWOL.
Veracity
Three rounds later found Cub putting his gun obediently back, a small smirk tugging at his lips as he saw the sharpshooter of the camp at the receiving end of one of the Sergeant's infamous tirades. He turned as he heard footsteps
"Cub?" a man queried, he was unfamiliar to Alex who nodded in response. "I'm Stag from F-Unit. We're taking you to your next exercise." The boy nodded and walked calmly away from the gun case allowing Stag to fall into step beside him, the other three men walked behind them. A tension filled the air and Alex could feel the glares on his back. They were heading toward the obstacle course, a hated memory for Alex. All of a sudden Stag came to a halt and Alex instinctively searched the area for any danger. Stag turned and looked apologetically over at his teammates. "I gotta stop by the admin station really quick. Do you mind?" the men shook their heads.
"Hey, I need to grab something in there too!" one of the other men said, following after the leader, leaving Alex with the two strange men.
Alex leaned against the side of the building and stared blankly into space, hoping to avoid the glares focused on him through sheer will power. After a few minutes of strained silence one of the men spoke "Hey Crow, would you mind staying here with the kid for a minute?" he queried gesturing toward the latrine. Crow shook his head and waited until the man was out of sight before turning to the boy.
"Scorpia, eh?" the man spat, eyes narrowing further.
Alex smirked at the possibility of provoking yet another SAS man he nodded smugly.
Without forewarning the man struck out landing a glancing blow on Alex's stomach as he spun out of the way. The man lunged again and Alex caught his fist, twisting it behind the soldier's back but he quickly broke free, and threw a punch following up with a kick. The kick made its mark and sent the boy into the wall with a grunt. Cub sat there for a minute letting the man think he was down for the count. Crow leered over him but Alex quickly struck out with his own kick, bringing the man to the ground beside him.
"Should have expected that from cowardly shit like you." The man hissed
"And attacking a 16-year-old for no reason isn't cowardly?" He spat in return, springing into a fighting stance. The man leapt at him, reigning blows down. Alex blocked as many as possible but he did not have the anger fueling him. He heard a door slam somewhere in the distance.
"No," Crow sneered mid punch " Hiding behind Scorpia is, though." He aimed a particularly vicious kick at Alex's head. He ducked straight into an uppercut to his side. He slid sideways and let the blow glance off his ribs. A dull throb promised a bruise on them tomorrow but he had no time to dwell on that as the man lashed out with yet another fist before he was suddenly pulled back by rough hands. Alex remained his stance for a few more seconds until his mind caught up, the threat was gone. He stood up straight and locked eyes with Stag over the head of Crow.
"Take him to the barracks to cool down then report back to the shooting range." He ordered and the other members of F-Unit obeyed. "Come on." he ordered to Alex, jerking his head in the general direction of the obstacle course. Silence reigned for a few minutes before the older man spoke. "I don't hold you completely responsible for that." Stag sighed and ran a hand through his dusty blond hair. "Crow has…issues…with Scorpia, much like all of us, but…his case is…different. Just…stay away from him. I don't want him hurt because he thinks of you as a punching bag for his problems. Got that?" He fixed Alex with a dark stare.
The boy nodded, knowing that his word was not the one that mattered in this instance.
Veracity
"Cub!" a voice barked as they neared the course. "You're late! Where the fuck were you?!" Sergeant demanded. Stag made no move to stand up for him and Alex said nothing either. "Why don't you just go for a little walk until you can think up a good reason why you were late!" the man barked, spittle flying into Alex's face at the words. "I think a nice run up Pen-y-Fan will loosen your lips, Rider! Now get out of my sight! You better be back here in 30 minutes or I'll make you run this course so many times your arse will be permanently implanted in the mud!"
Veracity
Alex ran steadily up the mountain trail his eyes focused on the crest of the hill which was only meters away. He let his lips twitch in triumph as he looked down at his watch. It had been ten minutes, he would be back early. As he approached the summit he felt the hair on his neck stand up. He stopped and immediately sunk into a fighting stance, painfully aware of the injuries he had sustained from Crow. He cast a wary glance around the woods, looking for any inconsistencies. He spotted a thicket up ahead and slowly moved towards it, ready to move at a moment's notice.
"Alex," the boy immediately dropped his stance. He knew that voice. An unfamiliar face moved from the trees and he was once more on guard until he saw the cold blue eyes.
"I'm disappointed in you." The man said and Alex flinched. He had known it was coming but the reality of it hurt more than he could imagine. A silence stretched as the man let it sink in. "But the board has found a way to correct your failure." Alex cringed once more. "Scorpia has long needed a spy in the SAS. You will be gathering information that will allow the spy we send to infiltrate smoothly. Is that clear?" Alex nodded. "I will return in a few days for your first report."
"How will I find you?" Alex queried.
"Do not worry, Alex, I will find you." The man replied and pulled a small bag from his pocket and handed it to the boy. Alex surveyed the three, white pills that lay inside one part of his mind screamed at him to find out what they were but that side was quickly silenced. He had already disappointed Yassen how could he presume to question a decision that he made? "Take one of these every other day," the man ordered "You will thank me for it later." Alex nodded and obediently took one of the small white pills from the bag and swallowed it. Yassen nodded his approval "Good, now go back to your unit and do not disappoint me again." With that Alex turned and sprinted out of the thicket. He was determined to never again give his mentor a reason to be disappointed.
Veracity
A crisp knock sounded on the door "Come in." the Major bade, finishing the final sentence on the report before standing to greet the men standing before him, returning their salutes. "What do you have to report C Unit?"
The leader stepped from the men and handed a thick manila folder to the man. "We have been trailing Cub as you ordered, sir." The man nodded "There were several instances where our target engaged in altercations with SAS personnel,"
"Was he the instigator of these assaults, Elk?" The man interrupted
"No sir, while he did make some aggressive moves towards SAS personnel they were all done after being assaulted either physically or verbally by the instigator."
The Major nodded as he slowly flipped through the folder, noting the pictures and thorough documentation of each incident. "Was the tracking system fully functional?"
"Yes, sir." Elk replied.
"Good," the man said absently "Did you have anything else to report?"
"Major Grigsby, there was an incident on Pen-y-Fan."
The man snapped out of his daze "What was it, Corporal?"
"When our target reached the summit he was accosted by a man who he obviously was acquainted with. We could not get within hearing distance of the two or we might have blown our cover, however Bull was able to pick out a few key words during the exchange; those are noted in the report. The man also handed the boy a bag of pills during the meeting which the boy took with no protest. We believe that the man was associated with Scorpia and was sent to provide information to our Target."
"Who is watching Rider now?"
"E Unit, sir." Elk replied.
"Good, you are dismissed, C Unit. Good work."
"Thank you sir"he snapping a quick salute before filing from the room with the rest of his unit.
As the door shut the Major picked up the phone. "I want surveillance on Rider doubled and I want Pen-y-Fan wired so much that a bird can't fucking fart on that mountain without us knowing about it. Is that clear?" There was a note of affirmation on the other end of the phone. "Good. Now put me in touch with MI6 I want to know everything there is to know about Rider, not just whatever shit they feel like telling us." He ordered gruffly, it was about time that the truth about Cub came out. There were too many blanks where that boy was concerned for his tastes. "Mr. Blunt? This Major Grigsby from Brecon Beacons, we have some information on Mr. Rider that you might find interesting, perhaps a trade is in order…."
Veracity
I hope you enjoyed it. I would appreciate any reviews as a return Memorial Day present. Thank you! Don't forget to go look at Nyxlestia's stories if you haven't already!