Chapter 3:

Alex awoke with a mental groan. After all, when one awakes from unconsciousness one can assume that enemies are nearby and it would do no good to alert them that one is awake because of a careless groan.

He felt the rumbling of the car beneath him and the softness of the seat informed him that he was lying on the backseat. His wrists were tied in front of him-rookie mistake. But strangely enough, it felt like his head was lying on someone's lap. Does that mean that there weren't enough seats for the guy? But if that's the case, then why am I lying on the seat and not the floor or trunk?

Curiosity taking over common sense, Alex opened his and looked up at the face of man on whom he was laying. X-Ray? What's going on? Why was I unconscious in the back seat of a car with X-Ray and….Sparks? But if the two of them are here, then where are Scooter, Texas, and Be-OH. Right.

Alex groaned, "Why'd you guys have to knock me out?"

The lap under Alex gave a sudden jolt upwards, "Oh! Alex! You're awake!"

"No really? What was your first clue? Maybe the fact that I'm talking? Or better yet that my eyes are open?"

"Alex," Sparks interrupted in a serious tone. "Are you going to stay in the vehicle, or are you going to try to leave and get yourself killed by going after Ben with no plan and no information whatsoever?"

Alex sighed, "I'm sorry. It was really dumb of me to endanger you guys like that. I'll try not to let it happen again. It's just….yea."

"So would that be a staying in the vehicle?" X-Ray questioned.

"Yea. I'll stay. Where are we?"

"Good. X-Ray, untie Alex."

"And why exactly am I tied up?"

"X-Ray thought it would be a good idea just in case you woke up and tried to go after your dad. The ropes would slow you down enough so he could hopefully notice in time and grab/restrain you from leaving. There's no need for them if you're finally thinking straight."

X-Ray got the final knot untied and Alex sat up, the rope falling to the floor of the car.

"So where did you say we were?" Alex questioned, hoping to get an answer this time.

"About a half hour away from Trento. Get your seatbelt on. You shouldn't be in a moving vehicle without it on," Sparks answered/commanded.

Alex raised an eyebrow, "And if that is the case, then why haven't I been wearing one for the first part of the journey?"

"We didn't want you too near any of the doors. This way you couldn't just use one hand to unlock it and the other to open the door and dive out before we noticed. X-Ray could grab you before you made it to the door."

"Maybe you guys aren't as hopeless as I thought. I mean, still not the best idea for keeping me in the car, but better than what most would come up with. Good job."

"Get your seatbelt on, kid."

Alex rolled his eyes, but did as asked. After five minutes, he realized that X-Ray was staring at him.

"What do you want?"

In answer X-Ray just shook his head.

"He's making sure you're not faking it and aren't about to jump out," Sparks answered.

"And why would I jump out of a moving vehicle? Do you think I'm stupid? That would hurt!"

"Somehow, kid, I think you do it for fun on the weekends. And something tells me that the pain from hitting the street is something that you wouldn't care about and would just brush off as nothing."

Alex opened his mouth to protest, but X-Ray beat him to it, "And yes, Ben informed us of your strong lack of self-preservation."

Alex's mouth closed once more and he silently stared out the window.

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Ben awoke with a mental groan. After all, when one awakes from unconsciousness one can assume that enemies are nearby and it would do no good to alert them that one is awake because of a careless groan.

He remained perfectly still for several minutes before his curiosity getting the better of him and opening his eyes to look around. After all, it's not like he heard any movement or anyone.

He was in a cell. Something he should've guessed. Scooter and Texas were lying on the floor, just as haphazardly as Ben had been before he woke up. Wait. Scooter and Texas? What were they doing here? And if they were here, then where were Sparks, X-Ray, and Al-OH. Right. The Italian Mafia had showed up. Shot Scooter in the leg. Knocked me out with a tranquillizer dart. Texas must've been knocked out too. But why had Scooter been shot with a bullet and me with a dart?

It dawned on Ben that he was probably the important prisoner here and that they would risk killing or seriously injuring him. Which didn't bode well for the two Australians. Which meant it was time to pull an Alex and sacrifice himself to get them out of here. Alex did it often enough.

The other two awoke with a groan, snapping Ben out of his thoughts.

"Morning sleeping beauties."

"Ben?"

"Yea. And Texas is right next to you," Ben replied.

"Good. Then shut up."

"Awww. Does someone have a headache?" Texas asked, slowly sitting up.

"YES!...And my leg hurts," Scooter replied following Texas' lead.

"I don't doubt that. They shot you after all," Ben replied.

Realization dawned on Scooter and he started checking out his leg. After all, he was the medic of the group.

"Why do you think they cleaned and bandaged it?" Scooter questioned.

"So that you wouldn't die," a voice coming from the cell door answered.

Three heads whirled around to see who was speaking. A man stood there watching them through the bars of the door.

"Why would you care?" Scooter asked hesitantly.

"We don't."

"But-"

"We need this one," the man gestured vaguely towards Ben, "to give us some information and two hostages are better than one."

"Who are you?" Texas questioned, curious as to who would think in terms of hostages and information and what Ben could know that the man wanted.

"Don't you know? Didn't your young companion inform you of who was following you? We are the Italian Mafia. Remember that as you scream in pain and we haunt your dreams."

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It was dinner time when Wolf got the call. The ringtone shattered through the air in the mess hall, instantly silencing the soldiers. Cell phones were for emergency only. K-Unit was one of the few units that actually carried them around during the day, seeing how they were MI6's favorite unit to use and they were often called away to help clean up some mess an agent had made or rescue someone. Or to be informed when Cub or Fox were in the hospital….again.

Conversations stopped. Forks froze halfway to their mouths. They all knew the Jaguar (Cub) and Fox had left on a mission a week ago. Now Wolf was getting a phone call. Everyone immediately assumed the worst.

C-Unit and the rest of K-Unit held their breaths.

"Hello?"

….

"About what?"

….

"Are they ok?"

….

"What do you mean you don't know."

….

"So what went wrong?"

….

"HE WHAT?"

….

"The CIA? What have they got to do with anything?"

….

"Well, where did they go?"

….

"Why don't you just call them and find out?"

….

"Get rid of him, then!"

….

"So what do you want us to do?"

….

"So we're just supposed to sit here and do nothing? NO WAY! You can't just abandon them like that!"

….

"ALL THE MORE REASON TO FIND THEM!"

….

"Of course not."

….

"Well, we'll be here. Inform us of any changes."

….

"Well, you might want to just this once. I might know a few too many things and have a few too many connections in certain places….which would not bode well for you if I happened to-"

….

"See? I knew we could get over this misunderstanding."

….

Wolf cut the call and his face grew weary.

"Wolf? What's wrong?" Snake dared to venture.

"It was MI6. Calling about Cub and Fox."

"Cub?" That was Beaver from G-Unit. "But didn't he die two years ago?"

"Jag and Cub are the same person," Heron, leader of C-Unit answered.

"WHAT?"

"Yea. Now what's up with the two of them. Don't tell me they've landed in the hospital AGAIN," Snake questioned.

"Well, it seems that they were sent on a mission in Australia to go undercover in some new terrorist group that's got all of the intelligence agencies worried."

"Another one?" Eagle sighed.

"Yes, now shut up. There was a slight mishap, though, when Cub ran into the group in Miami, where their layover flight was. He got away and the CIA arrested the terrorist guys, but one of them got away and no one realized. And then the guy got back, reported, and went digging into Cub's life. And promptly found out who he was and that he's actually alive."

Snake, Eagle, and Tiger's faces went pale. "You don't mean…"

"Yup. So the whole freaking world knows that Alex Rider is alive and every freaking enemy that he ever had, and didn't destroy, is now out for revenge. And of course, this new terrorist group wants him all the more…probably to brainwash him or erase his memories like everyone else. After all, he could be the ultimate killing machine if he ever chose."

"So what happened? Are they ok?" Coyote asked with a troubled and worried expression on his face.

"No one knows."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO ONE KNOWS?" Snake asked, the tension getting the normally calm medic into a frenzy.

"Let me continue and I'll tell you. Fox and Cub made it to Australia but were picked up by their SAS before making it to their rental car. Remember the terrorists that the CIA picked up in Miami? Well, one of them talked and there's a mole inside of MI6 broadcasting Cub and Fox's mission to the rest of the world. Luckily the mole didn't know who they were, just that two high ranking agents were being sent to infiltrate the terrorist organization."

"So MI6 has a mole? That really can't be good…" Tiger muttered.

"No, it really isn't. So anyways, MI6 got informed that the CIA was forcing Fox and Cub to abort the mission and that an Australian SAS unit would escort the pair back to England. Of course, the mole caught wind of this and so everyone and his brother were waiting at the airport for Fox and Cub."

"And let me guess…they got caught? And now nobody knows where they are because nobody knows anything about this new group?" Eagle questioned.

"Thankfully, no. Cub, Fox and the four Aussies were chased through the airport but managed to hop onboard a random flight and get out of the country. They landed in Slovenia and no one knows where they've gone. There's footage of them entering a train headed to Italy, but after that there's nothing. No trace. And only the heads can look for them because anyone else could be the mole leaking information."

"Well, no trace is a good thing, right?" Tiger questioned. "I mean, no news is good news, right?"

"Normally yes. But not now. Everyone and their cousin knows that Alex Rider is alive, right? So everyone's looking for him. And most groups know that Fox has some connection to Alex Rider, so they'll be on the lookout for him too. At this point in time, no news means that someone's gotten ahold of them."

"But we have to remember that this IS Cub we're talking about. The kid's a freaking ninja."

Wolf nodded, agreeing with Snake before dropping the bombshell, "Yea, but the area where Cub and Fox supposedly entered Italy? Well the Italian Mafia were suddenly quite active on the same day. And now they've seemed to retreat once more to their hidden bases. And the Italian Mafia holds a strong grudge against Alex Rider. If they've gotten hold of him, there's a good chance Cub is either dead or currently being tortured to death."

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"So what do you want to know?" Ben asked, hoping for a question different from what he knew they were going to ask.

He was currently tied to a chair in a concrete room that had just a few too many blood stains for his liking.

Likewise, Texas and Scooter were also tied to chairs, just more in the center of the room while Ben was off to the side.

"Tell us where Alex Rider is and we'll let your friends go."

Ben's stomach dropped. So everyone knew. "Truthfully?"

"Yes. We want the truth and only the truth. Think of this like court. You tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. In exchange, they get a lot less pain and get to live."

"In that case, truthfully I have no clue whatsoever."

The man smiled, "Wrong answer. Though I can't say I wasn't hoping for it." The man grabbed a knife off of a side table that held plenty of items that would cause a lot of pain.

And so the torture begins….