Sorry for the, err, wait. I know, that's an understatement, but I truly am sorry! I have French exams week… so I had to study a lot. A lot is also an understatement here. Gah! I just realized that I haven't finished my math… I need to get to the library for volunteer work…what else…? I don't know, other than the fact that I should just HURRY UP AND WRITE THIS STORY!!!

I was serious when I said I wouldn't update if you didn't review.

I just received an email saying that my disclaimers were too boring. They said that "[they would like to see a more creative approach to doing the disclaimer, without using dialogue." So here goes! (Copylefted, by the way. You can only use it with my permission…)

Disclaimer: Have you ever heard of the word "lawyer" before, used in the same sentence as the terms "court" and "sue the pants off you?" Yeah? Well, see here, I'm really trying to avoid that right now. (That's why I don't own Alex Rider. Anthony's team of lawyers would take it to court and he'd sue the pants off me.)


"W-what?" It was all that Alex managed to get out. Quite impressive compared to K-Unit's incredulous expressions, except for one smug face…

"Wolf! Did you…?" Fox turned towards the bulky man, face still smothered in shock, with a tint of fury hidden inside. K-Unit were so close, they were like brothers, or cousins, in Wolf and Eagle's case. But they always shared important details with one another, no matter how dangerous it was. The rest of K-Unit had their heads turned away in ignorance and as an act of betrayal.

"Yes," he muttered and looked away, ashamed.

"You lying no-good piece of shit!" cried Snake. In his anger, his hand had accidentally knocked over a small clay figurine that fell to the ground with a dull thunk. He didn't bother to pick it up. His face didn't hold a single trace of the shock it had held a few moments before; he was seething.

Alex, meanwhile, was confused. Hooves? Hooves? How could I not have seen this before? Alex thought back to when he had come to this class to wait for Tom. He distinctly remembered seeing the teacher walk with a strange limp, and she always wore large bottomed boots, long pants, and thick socks, even in the summertime.

She didn't mind as he shuffled warily to get a better look. In fact, she beckoned him closer with a finger as she reached out one hand to touch the leathery hide of his wings. No words were exchanged, though they knew perfectly what the other wanted to do. It was like a trade. Alex wanted to see the hooves, and Mrs. Freeman wanted to see the wings.

Alex squatted down awkwardly, letting his large wings fan out as he bent over to examine the teacher's hooves. They were shaped like those of a horse's, and had a rough, dark surface. Fur covered the top part of the hoof, and slowly spread up the legs, becoming less and less dense, coming to a stop at the calves.

He was just about to touch them when he suddenly jerked back.

The contact to his skin was freezing. A growl rippled through his chest as he bared his teeth, animal-like fury coursing through him. His wings were splayed outwards to their fullest, knocking over a couple of stools in the process. Mrs. Freeman backed away, frightened half to death as Alex prepared to lunge towards her…

"Cub, no!"

Alex's head whipped around, only to come face to face with Wolf, now carrying a tranquilizer in his hand as he scrabbled to inject the contents into Alex's arm. Alex whimpered, survival instincts taking over, and curled himself up into a ball and wrapping his wings around him as tightly as possible. He tried to knock the hypodermic needle out of Wolf's hands.

Too late. The fluid was now in his body.

"It's okay, Cub. It's gonna be all right. Just relax… No one's trying to hurt you right now…" he heard faintly from Fox. He started to feel cold, like someone had opened the door. His breathing became heavier and heavier as he began to feel light-headed. His eyelids drooped, but he fought to stay awake. He struggled, but it was in vain.

"He should be out for about seven minutes…small dose…" he heard snippets, until he stopped hearing anything all together, and succumbed to the darkness.


Alex woke up, only to find that he couldn't see anything. It was just pitch black. He reached out with his hands and felt something slide lightly past his fingers.

"Ben?" he called out uncertainly. He was sitting against a hard surface, a jacket draped loosely over him. He heard some footsteps and whispers, but otherwise it was silent.

He heard someone shuffle towards him.

"I'm here. Don't worry, Alex." He seemed wary of him.

Alex's hands scrabbled around his eyes, only to find a blindfold wound tightly around his head. He tried to take it off, but Snake hurried over and grabbed his hand to prevent them from letting him see.

"Why did you blindfold me?" shouted Alex angrily. He stood up unsteadily and staggered forward. Fox tried to help him, but he brushed him off. "Why did you do that?" he repeated.

"Cub, there were safety precautions that –" started Wolf.

"Whatsafety precautions?"

"We don't want you to potentially hurt someone. We'll probably have to put you in one of the storage closets and lock you in there. That way we can avoid Scorpia, students, teachers, and any other faculty members that might snoop around. You'll be fine in a closet. We'll be guarding it."

Alex was beyond listening. Once the first sentence flew out of Wolf's mouth, Alex felt deeply offended and hurt, not to mention angry. MI6 was pushing him around again, and he couldn't take it anymore.

"Oh, so that's it? What am I, some sort of wild animal that deserves to be locked up in a cage? A savage beast that might hurt somebody? Let me set you straight and say that I most certainly am not an animal, and I do not appreciate the fact that you are going to treat me like one!"

Silence descended like a plague. Alex was breathing heavily, his sudden outburst had left his mind reeling, along with others. He heard the steady clip-clop of hooves as Mrs. Freeman walked across the tile floor. They came to a stop next to him and he felt a gently hand touch his shoulder.

"I'm disgusted by you lot. You call yourselves men, and yet you act less human than me or Alex." And with that, she strode off to some other part of the spacious room to retrieve the small figure that Snake had knocked down.


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