Hey I'm back! Quick huh! Don't get too used to it, chapter four may take me a while. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

A gentle sprinkle of continuous rain coated the steaming rainforest quickly soaking its new inhabitants through to the bone. Neither complained, in fact they remained silent as the sun continued her journey across the sky. Even as night fell and they prepared a camp no word passed their lips.

They did communicate throughout the long journey. In fact the smaller of the two was forced to fight the laughter bubbling up inside several times during the day and that night he fixed a heated glare upon his mentor who merely shrugged his lips twisting upward in a smirk. Cossack was still smirking to himself when he lay with his back to his charge and let himself drift into a light sleep. The rather rude signal the boy had given him in retaliation had done nothing to douse his humor. Cub always made these trips worthwhile if only to have a little time alone with the boy.

Cub woke the next morning to the gentle pressure of his partner's hand on his shoulder. The sun was peeking through the lowest branches of the trees. Cub gave the light a pointed glare and rolled his eyes exaggeratedly at Cossack displaying his displeasure at not having been allowed to take a second watch. The man was like a mother hen.

"You have passed your test for this mission. You may speak now. Cub nodded but did not speak still quite peeved. Cossack placed his hand back on the boy's shoulder once they had removed all evidence of their night. "We shall finish today then you will tell me what is bothering you." The boy nodded and they continued through the sparse undergrowth not speaking now as the distance to their target decreased.

Two hours later they heard the sound of running water and within twenty minutes came upon a wide quick-flowing river. The rapids began another fifteen miles downriver but the current here was swift and strong, something they were counting on. Cossack held out his watch so Cub could read it as he assembled the rifle from the pieces in his pack. They were ten minutes ahead of their target, exactly as they had planned.

Michael Strofman was not a nice man by any means. He thrived off the drug sales made to children and more than one multi-zero ransom had been paid to one of his many anonymous bank accounts all over the world. In his work he had also made many powerful enemies. It was one of those enemies who had approached Scorpia with a couple million dollars and the request that Strofman be shot, specifically so he would die a slow painful death, and then dumped over a waterfall.

A strangely specific request but quite an easy one when the man's idiotic location and odd habits came into play. The middle of a rainforest was hardly a safe place to live considering all the cover surrounding foliage gave to enemies. This was not what was going to kill Michael Strofman today though. Like so many other powerful and well-protected men, habit was going to take his life.

Cub lowered himself to the ground and wormed his way into the thick bushes at the water's edge. Just a few more minutes now. At exactly ten o'clock every morning the target left his home and drifted down the river in a large flat boat that looked to be made as much for speed as its owner had.

The fat man provided a large ugly target through Cub's scope as he tracked the movement of the boat until it was directly across from him in the center of the river. The soft "phut" of the silencer was easily drowned out by the natural sounds of the forest, but the loud scream from the victim was not. Blood spilled from his abdomen staining the white deck magenta. Something slammed into the side for his console and the boat sped up as he clutched at the hole in his stomach. The wheel did not respond when he finally gave up stemming the flow of life from him and clutched at the sliver helm.

Blood made his fingers slippery and as he entered the rapids the boat bounced so sharply he was forced to abandon control in favor of tightening his arms around his wide middle. Black spots danced before his eyes as blood-loss began to catch up with him. Within one last fleeting attempt at remaining awake he caught sight of what seemed to be, to his oxygen-deprived mind, the end of the world. The silver water cascading over the cliff glittered maliciously red in the late morning sun for a brief moment before all returned to normal and the falls thundered on oblivious to the corpse at their feet.

Several hours later two blonde men emerged from the jungle on a well known hiking trail. They looked exhausted, sweaty and covered in mud and leaves. Apparently the hike hadn't gone well, but when the younger of the two glared up at his companion and announced "Never Again!" he was grinning widely. Those watching smiled fondly at the supposed father-son companionship, especially as the blue-eyed man ruffled the younger one's hair. They didn't notice the proud glint in Yassen's eye that made it so Aleks had to use all of his self control not to jump for joy. Not even Aleks noticed that the arm Yassen slung around his shoulders, in order to keep up the disguise of course, was quite a bit more possessive than fatherly.

"You did incredibly well Aleks." The elder man complimented him when they were back in the hotel room. Aleks nodded in response keeping his head bent close to the bag he was packing in order to hide his smile. Yassen was proud of him, or at least thought he wasn't a complete failure. "I am very proud of you." Aleks froze at those words a warm feeling rushing through him. He was so preoccupied with the pleasant tingle it left behind that his mentor's voice in his ear made him jump.

"Surely you don't have to be that close to the back to unpack it." Aleks shuddered at the cool breath across his ear before catching his thoughts. Blushing brightly he turned away from the elder assassin.

"Don't call me Shirley." He grumbled resolutely keeping his head turned away until the blush faded. A brief amused chuckled broke from Yassen. He ruffled the boy's hair affectionately letting the silky strands bush over his fingers.

"Is that the best you've got?"

"Yes." Aleks snapped still embarrassed, but not enough not immediately regret the hasty word. Thankfully Yassen just chuckled again.

"Too bad I expected better." Aleks rolled his eyes, the blush having faded enough for him to feel comfortable turning around.

"I won't win, why should I try?" Yassen nodded agreeing. Aleks muttered something about egotistical old men, earning himself a sharp smack on the head.

"Impertinent brat. Hurry up, we have a flight to catch to the next job." He smirked at the put-out look on Aleks' face. "Then we can go home." Aleks nodded happily and followed him out the door. The change in their appearances within the brief space of the doorway was disconcerting. One second there was a man and a boy who had quite obviously spent a lot of time together; the next the two looked like they barely had enough emotion to fill a coffee mug much less the hotel room as it had been a few moments ago.

They made it onto the plane easy enough. The twelve hour flight before them was a bit daunting, but Aleks could do it if necessary and Yassen could do it without a struggle. Luckily no one seemed to suspect them for Strofman's murder, so they could relax a little into the wide first-class seats.

An unidentifiable meal and a couple sappy movies later Aleks was yawning widely and almost, almost succeeding in covering them up. Finally Yassen got fed up and told him to sleep.

"I'll wake you if anything exciting happens." Giving him a skeptical look Aleks leaned back in his seat and within a few seconds was deep asleep.

Yassen was just finishing up an email a little while later when something thudded onto his shoulder. He tensed and turned his head tersely to the side expecting to see someone leaning towards him over Aleks. Nothing. Confused he glanced down, twisting his neck at an awkward position, only to be met with a face-full of blonde hair.

The Russian assassin breathed an annoyed sigh of relief. Jumpy was not something he was allowed to be. Careful: yes, overly cautious: maybe, jumpy: hell no! Being jumpy was one of the many things that could get you killed in this world.

Aleks shifted in his sleep his head sliding into the hollow between his neck and shoulder, fitting just a comfortably there now as it had almost fourteen years ago. Gently Yassen reached over and brushed a strand of hair out of his face marveling over how innocent Aleks looked as he slept.

For a long time the boy had kept up an apathetic façade in his presence no doubt trying to imitate his own, but even compared to the Aleks that had bantered with him in the hotel room Yassen liked this Aleks best. The one who looked like he didn't know every gun in the world, by sight and touch. The one who's hands could be calloused from football or skateboarding or any other thing teenage boys enjoyed, not from handling guns, knives, and other killing equipment daily.

Slowly, afraid of waking the teenager Yassen closed the laptop and slid it into his bag. Then hesitantly, as if afraid of rejection, he leaned his own head over the dirty-blonde one and let his eyes slip closed. He didn't notice when Aleks' eyelids fluttered upward for a minute and a small smile stretched his face.

Yassen had already woken and removed his head when Aleks woke the next time, but he could see feel the weight of the appendage against his own. The feeling was far from unpleasant.

At the rental company they were shown into a back room which led down to another garage which held at least thirty cars of… older makes. The newest ones were just a few years older than Aleks and it was one of these that caught his eye.

It certainly wasn't a muscle car, nor was it girly like the Bug and the Eclipse. From the body shape it was obviously built for speed. The thing looked like it was going a few hundred already and the engine wasn't even running.

"You like it Aleks?" Numbly he nodded still fascinated by the car. "We'll take it Yassen told the clerk who disappeared behind a counter and produced a thin key with a thick 'H' pressed into both sides.

"You two have fun now." The man called as they drove off. Yassen began explaining different parts of the car, how they worked, and what gadgets would come out of where when needed. They made it to the hotel and Aleks made to get out until Yassen's hand gently touched the back of his head.

"Yassen?"

"Listen Aleks I am going to need a lot of your help on his mission alright?" Confused Aleks turned back to his mentor. Yassen almost couldn't stand the sight of the wide brown eyes staring up at him. "Nothing, I just want to makes sure you're prepared." Long fingers caressed Aleks' locks. "Time to make you not look so much like John Rider's son." With that the man pulled him up out of the car and into the hotel.

Awwwwwww! Yassen love Alex! Just a brief note to all of you who put me on story alert (you know who you are) Why don't you all drop me a review huh? I'll know you were here either way.

That sounded a little creepy.

Anyway... Review :D

FA