Author: kcutie16
Title: Revolution
Summary: When Alex is hired to look after an international celebrity, he can't say he's looking forward to it. In his opinion, all celebrities are self-obsessed, two-faced, selfish people, and he doesn't really want to mix with that crowd. But when MI6 are involved, nobody has a choice. Alex is less than pleased with his new job, but are things as he expects them to be? Is Lia really the self-obsessed celebrity that he thinks she is, or is she different? Is she different, just like Alex?
Music: Hands Open - Snow Patrol
"It's hard to argue when you won't stop making sense"
9 hours later
"No way," breathed Lia, as the car stopped in front of a...bank? "You dragged me all the way to Liverpool Street to go to a bank? I don't even have an account here! And I'm not setting one up."
Alex sighed. "It isn't a bank."
"Um, I may not be totally smart, but I can read. And that there-" she jabbed at a plaque on the wall next to the bank. "-says that this is a bank."
"The bank is a cover," Alex explained. "This is HQ."
Lia almost scoffed, but stopped herself. The way Alex had said 'HQ' implied that he despised this place, and he probably didn't need her to remind him how stupid it sounded.
"Well, lead the way then," Lia said, and Alex walked in front of her to unlock the door. Not with a key. With a code. Usually Lia would have craned over his shoulder to see what the code was, but today she couldn't' be bothered. And she had a feeling she wouldn't want to be coming back to this place much anyway.
Alex pulled the door open, and went inside, with a brief look over his shoulder to make sure Lia was still there. She was.
"Where are we going?" Lia asked, as they walked to the elevator. "I mean, I know we're in a bank, but it's totally closed."
"I told you. It isn't a bank. But they'll explain all that to you when you get up there. Right now, I can't tell you anything. Sorry." Alex reached the lift, and punched the button.
Lia stopped next to him. "You don't sound all that sorry."
"There's just a million places I'd rather be, that's all," Alex sighed, wishing he were at home, with Jack. She'd probably been told that he was on another mission. He doubted she'd be very pleased. She'd always frowned upon the fact that Alex could be killed. But they'd reassured him this time, that there would be no danger.
Lia nodded. "Me too. I should be with my Mom, and having everyone congratulate me on a great first performance. Yet, I'm in a...HQ, with a guy who obviously dislikes me, for reasons that are beyond me, and I have no idea why."
"I don't completely dislike you," Alex said, a few seconds later. "I've just had a couple of bad experiences with rich celebrities. It puts you off for life."
Lia looked at the floor. "When is this elevator going to get here?"
Just then, the lift pinged, and the door slid open. Alex smiled, for the first time that night. "Does that answer your question?"
"I guess," Lia smiled, as she got into the lift. They stood, waiting for the lift to rise the seventeen floors to their destination. She stood thinking. Alex had quite a nice smile. When he actually did smile. He hadn't done much smiling that night. And he was cuter than most of the guys back in America. Not that she got to meet many of them.
"Here we are," Alex said, his face now resuming its serious expression. Lia wondered why. Would it kill him to smile longer than five seconds?
Lia followed him into a corridor. It was a long corridor, with doors spaced every five metres or so. Each door had a number and a name tag on it. She didn't recognise any of the names.
Alex had stopped outside a door, that said simply "Alan Blunt". He raised a hand, and knocked on it, beckoning for Lia to walk over to him. She did, just as the door was opened.
"Alex!" A dark-haired woman cried, but whether she was happy to see him, or mad at him, Lia couldn't tell.
"I had to bring her here. She has to be told what's happening. Because she got shot at tonight," Alex explained to the two adults in the room. The other one was a grey-haired man, who's mouth was pinched. He looked like he was sucking a lemon.
"She didn't get hit?" the man asked, not sounding very concerned at all.
Alex sighed. "I would have taken her to hospital if she'd been hit. She's fine, but she wants answers. And you're going to be the ones to give her them."
"He saved me," Lia piped up. "I was like, frozen, and there was fire. And I'm scared stiff of fire. But Alex swung across on a rope, and saved me. Literally. A second later, and I would have been blown to pieces. Like the amplifier was behind me."
A flicker of concern crossed Mrs Jones's face. This was bigger than she thought. Someone was definitely out to kill Lia, and they weren't amateurs.
"So can you tell me what's going on? Because I'd kinda like to know if someone wants to murder me," Lia said.
Alan Blunt had to think. She would have to sign the Official Secrets Act. She would have to act this whole time. Alex needed to stay with her, and she needed to keep up the undercover work. Should he tell her?
"Sit down," Mrs Jones offered, getting up, and gesturing to the two chairs facing Alan Blunt.
Lia did so, and took a deep breath. She had a feeling that what these people were about to tell her was going to change her life.
Alex reluctantly sat down, and waited for Blunt to begin. They had to tell her what was going on. Lia needed to know. She had a right to know. And as much as he disliked most celebrities, they still had rights.
"Lia Hartford," Alan Blunt began, and then stopped, like he was searching for the words to say. Alex was surprised. Blunt was almost never rendered speechless.
"That's me," Lia offered.
"Lia, you must never repeat this to anybody else. Nor can you repeat who we are, where we are, and what we told you. This whole meeting never happened. When you walk out of this building, Alex will accompany you. You will go back to your house, and you will act naturally. Is that clear?" Blunt said.
Lia nodded. "Crystal."
"You're in danger. Your father signed a contract, when he appointed your manager, that anything that happens to you, your father has to pay for. Regardless of anything. If you broke your arm, your manager would receive a certain amount of money. At first, Ethan Reynolds, your manager, saw no reason to enforce this contract. You were getting good publicity, your album and single sales were topping the charts. But then people began getting less interested. It was only your dedicated fans that bought your singles, went to your tours. New people began taking your place. Ethan wasn't happy about this, and so dug out the contract. There was another clause in the document, that said if you died, on stage, Ethan would have no blame put on him, and he would be paid for his loss. We're guessing that this is why he is hiring people to kill you," Blunt explained.
Lia smiled, as if she thought this was all a joke. "You are kidding."
"Would we kid about something like this?" Mrs Jones asked.
"I still have no idea who you are. And how can I believe you? Ethan has had my safety in mind ever since I started out," Lia argued.
Blunt merged his fingers together, and placed them in front of him on the desk. "This is the headquarters of MI6. The English version of the CIA, I guess you could say. And Ethan Reynolds did have your safety in mind, until you began losing money. He may seem charming, but inside he's a regular gold digger. He wants your money. If you aren't earning as much, he isn't interested. You're worth nothing to him whilst you are alive."
Lia didn't know what to think. These were professionals. They were MI6. These people probably knew more about her, than she knew about herself. But couldn't they be wrong? This whole thing seemed ludicrous.
"Lia, think about it. How did a person with a gun get into the auditorium? There were all sorts of security checks, and double checks. Your manager let them in. You almost died up there. How can you not believe us?" Mrs Jones persuaded her.
Lia knew they made sense. They were right. She might not have wanted to believe it, but they were. "What does Alex have to do with all this?"
Alex could sense the hurt in her voice. She had trusted her manager, and he had let her down. He could even see her eyes looking a bit more watery than they should. Maybe she was human after all.
"He's an agent. He's our youngest MI6 agent, and he has embarked on many missions for us, almost getting himself killed in the process," Mrs Jones explained.
"He's going to come with you. Pose as your friend, or boyfriend, or something like that, and he's going to protect you. As soon as we have enough proof, we can arrest your manager, and you can go on living a normal life. Or as normal as your life is," Blunt finished.
Lia sighed. "What am I going to say to my Mom? She'll never let him stay in our house."
"She has to," Mrs Jones said, as soon as the words had come out of Lia's mouth. "Night is the most vulnerable time for you. Alex has to be there."
There was silence in the room for a few minutes, but then Lia sighed. "Fine. Okay. Whatever."
"We'll arrange for a driver to take you back to your home. Try to persuade your mother to let Alex stay. If she still says no, then Alex will call us, and we'll arrange it. We'd rather not do that though," Blunt said.
Lia nodded. She didn't want to speak. Whatever she had been expecting, it wasn't this. It wasn't that she was being threatened with death, by one of her most trustworthy friends, if she could call him that.
"Update us Alex," Mrs Jones ordered.
"I will," Alex promised, and got up.
Lia stood up, shaking. "Goodbye."
Blunt just nodded, and watched the two teenagers leave the room, considerably more miserable than they had been when they entered.
"Is this wise?" Mrs Jones asked, as Alex and Lia disappeared from view.
Blunt got up and closed the door. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."
I'm going on holiday tomorrow morning, and there's no internet access there, so there'll be no updates for two weeks. But I'll be scribbling stuff down when I'm there, so hopefully there'll be another few chapters as soon as I come back.
I'm sorry they seemed out of character. I tried to make them more in character in this chapter, although I'm not sure I accomplished it.
And in the last chapter, there was a little mistake with the ages. They are both fourteen. When I wrote the first thing, I was having a weird moment, where I thought he was sixteen... ah well, I won't make that mistake again.
I'm glad I got some reviews though!
