AN: Thanks again to all of you who read my story, and decided to do... all of that stuff that I've mentioned before. *is too lazy to name everything* Special thanks to oneBulletForYou who corrected my German error in the last sentence! Anyway, onward to the story!
Disclaimer: I'm running out of ''witty'' things to say... erm... I'm not Anthony Horowitz, and therefore do not own Alex Rider or any of these characters. There.
However, Wolf was the only one of the four to voice this thought.
"Who the hell are you?" He demanded in a voice that brooked no defiance.
"I'm a teenaged spy," Alex replied, resisting the urge to say I'm Cub, dumbarse. "Have you already forgotten? I'm hurt that you find me so uninteresting..."
Eagle, Snake, and Panther all turned interested eyes towards Wolf. Alex smirked, his mission quite obviously complete.
Wolf looked... more like a deer than his formidable codename. Caught in the headlights, that is.
"Did you know about Cub's job?" Eagle asked, much like a predator zeroing in on prey. Wolf cringed, clearly hearing this as much as Alex.
"Erm... yes?" Wolf said, in a near-nervous tone. The room seemed to explode.
"Really? Where did you meet him? Was it on a mission?" Came Eagle's overexcited response.
"What kind of injuries did he have?" Was Snake.
And the response of Panther: "Wait. He's a spy?"
This, or course, rang out above the others. And, once again, all attention was on Alex.
Well, damn, he thought, that backfired a little bit...
"Mmhm," Alex said, slinking over to Panther and swinging an arm around his neck, before leaning down to his ear to whisper, "You may be in SAS, but I doubt you can keep up with me."
Panther, swiftly turning the color of the tomato once he realized the implications of that statement, was closed lipped for the rest of the time the conversation went on.
K-Unit spent the rest of their time pestering Panther about what it was Alex has said, and so when Alex said he was going to take a shower, they only spared him a single glance.
Alex thought, once more, Mission complete.
He then walked all the way over to where the showering block was, and stepped inside. Just his luck. There was a full unit of new recruits getting ready to take a shower.
Too bad, Alex thought, I need a shower. Then, shrugging, he began to strip. The recruits eyed him with varying interest, interest in what such a young person was doing there. *cough cough*
Once Alex had taken off his shirt, however, interest quickly turned to horror. They had never quite seen someone with such a battered back as Alex.
He had burns across his shoulders and upper back, obvious knife wounds circling the bottom of his ribcage, three huge claw marks straight down the middle of his back, and countless other scars that told a story no one cared to voice.
Of course, Alex never turned around so they could see his front. That would have started up more questions than he would ever answer. And he couldn't handle that right now. So, instead, he entered a spray of lukewarm water, which served to faintly obscure him from view of the others. After being doused in cold water for such long periods of time that he thought he would die just of the cold, the water there didn't bother him as much. He wished he could have warm water, but didn't overly dislike the lukewarm variety. Better some warmth than none, after all.
He rapidly scrubbed the grime, the variety that seems to accumulate on all long car rides, out of his long blond locks. He was lost in thought, so when someone touched his shoulder, he whipped around, on auto-pilot. He assumed a ready-stance, and relaxed only slightly when he saw that it was only a recruit.
Then, he saw the man's wide-eyed gaze, directed at his front. Oh, shit, he thought, this was so not good.
He looked into the man's eyes, letting emotion into his own. The man, seeing the pleading inside Alex's usually emotionless eyes, nodded before going back to chatter with the others.
Alex sighed in relief. The man's silhouette blocked the others' view from him, and so none of them had seen. And so, the luck of the devil has continued its streak. He finished up his shower, not wanting a repeat of the earlier interaction.
He then jogged back to his hut, letting the cool air filter through his hair and dry it off. Lost in thought once again, he only distantly noticed the peculiar atmosphere in the unit.
Snake, addressing him, said "As unit medic I need to give you a full inspection."
Alex, carefully regarding his sentence, turning it over in his head, measuring the pros and cons, finally replied with, "You can inspect my back. Nothing else." Snake, also thinking for a few moments, nodded.
"Better that than nothing at all."
Alex, still wondering what exactly had compelled him to say that, took off his shirt. The sharp intakes of breath did nothing towards making him feel reassured about the solidity of his agreement.
Snake was the first to recover. He was, after all, the medic, and was more accustomed to these things. That is not to say he was prepared for this mass of scars, just that he saw more injuries than the rest of the unit. Still, he was shocked to say the least.
"What the hell, Cub?" He exclaimed.
Alex pulled his shirt back on. "There," He said, "You've examined it. I'm going to bed."
With that, Alex curled up into a ball on his bed, blanket pulled all the way over his head. His breathing soon steadied and slowed.
After sitting for a long while, just staring at the lump on the uncomfortable mattress, everyone finally moved.
"Oh my God," Snake mumbled, sitting down on his bed, head in hands, the picture of abject misery. He couldn't believe that. No one here looked like that on any part of their body. That was just messed up.
Wolf, on the other hand, was stuck somewhere between total numbness and total rage. How could anyone do this to a child? He had joined the SAS to keep others from getting hurt, so this was a large blow to him, especially the despicable part that had bullied Cub so much in Brecon Beacons the last time. He had thought the whole situation at the school was a one time thing...
Eagle's upbeat demeanor was finally extinguished. What was this world coming to, when such a thing could happen? Who did this to him? Stumbling upon anger, Eagle was soon boiling.
Panther was in a word, confused. His mind refused to accept that there might be people in the world who would do this, and people who would send someone into a situation that would bring that. He voiced something that the others hadn't even thought of, "Hey, how old IS Cub anyway?"
"Well," Eagle started, since the other two were definitely not going to answer, "He was probably sixteen when he got here the first time, so eighteen, maybe? He doesn't look any older than twenty..."
"Wrong," a voice came from Cub's bed, and everyone startled, they had thought he was asleep. "I'm sixteen right now." The implications of that statement hit them almost instantly. That meant Cub was... fourteen the first time? That couldn't possibly be right, could it? How could anyone, much less a government agency, send a fucking fourteen year old into the world of espionage and death? Not that sixteen was much better, but they had thought that sixteen would be the bare minimum... fourteen was just... horrible.
Then, something else hit them. How had Cub gotten into that world in the first place?
"Erm... Not to be rude or anything, but why did your parents allow you to become an agent?" Eagle said, quietly.
"Easy," Alex replied, after a few moments, "They died when I was about a year old." Again that night, everyone cringed. That must have been a low blow, hearing K-Unit speaking about his parents in such derogatory terms, when they were in fact dead.
"Guardian?" Snake tried.
"Dead, dead, and dead," Alex replied, referring to Ian, Jack, and the Pleasures, respectively. "Now that that's over with," Alex addressed a completely silent room, "I really am tired. I'm going to bed."
And with that, chapter four is complete! Hope you liked it, and please review!