A/N: Italics are words spoken in another language.
Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider.
"Fox!" Alex exclaimed.
The black-haired man with a slightly boyish face and Liverpudlian accent grinned at him while carrying a duffel bag. "Cub! Heard you're going to Germany for a little vacation."
"Are you the agent Mrs. Jones is sending in with me?" Fox nodded and Alex breathed a sigh of relief. He had been afraid that he would be stuck with someone like John Crawley, the dull head of personnel for MI6 with a face that you forgot even while looking at it. Or worse, some arrogant and condescending agent who had no idea who he was or what he could do. Fox was someone he could work with though. Alex had met the man at Brecon Beacons when he had been assigned to K-unit during his brief stint of training with the SAS. There were four men in the unit and each were given a codename - Wolf, Fox, Eagle, and Snake. He was Cub. While Fox had generally ignored Alex during training, they had worked well together later in northern Australia after Fox had been seconded to MI6. He had even learned that Fox's real name was Ben Daniels. During the mission, Ben had been concerned about his inclusion because of his age and inexperience but had treated him as an equal when it came down to it. "Any idea why we're going to Germany in particular?"
"It's the closest safehouse that we know is in a relatively secure area. The other safehouses we have close to England are in countries with known MI6 agents undercover," Ben explained as they made their way to the elevator. "Anyways, looks like we'll be spending some time together again. Two weeks."
"How's your bullet wound, Ben?" Alex asked. The man had been shot in the stomach when he had insisted on going in alone to clear the room for Alex the last time they had met. "I heard you were in a hospital in Darwin."
"I've healed without any complications but I've still got a scar. This better not end the same way as last time," Ben joked.
"No guarantees," Alex said dryly. "I do have two criminal organizations after me."
"Well, we're going into Germany as two brothers on vacation so that should help our chances. My identity for this will be Luke Parker, an average car salesman. You will be Thomas Parker, a secondary school student and my younger brother." Ben paused. "We leave in an hour so I hope you have most of your stuff with you already. Do you need to pack anything?" Alex shook his head and gestured at the duffel bag he had brought with him when he left the United States. He hadn't had time to unpack anything since he arrived in England and he had already put the stuff Smithers had given him into the duffel bag. "Alright, let's use Smithers' shampoo to dye our hair and then we can head over to Heathrow."
Three hours later, they landed in Schönefeld airport, exchanged their British pound for the euro, and boarded an express train to the Mitte district, Berlin's city centre. When they got off at their stop, there was a cool evening breeze, many buskers performing, and people enjoying their dinner on the outdoor restaurant patios as they made their way to their safehouse - a small flat on one of the backstreets. The flat was as lacking in personality as any intelligence agency's offices. It was all ordinary furniture and gray walls with the occasional abstract painting. After checking for bugs with Smithers' iPhone and searching the flat thoroughly, they found a pantry full of canned food, a freezer of frozen meals, some extra sets of clothes of various sizes, a fully stocked first aid kit, and several hidden weapons. Ben took a Sig Sauer P226 and some extra rounds for it before putting them in his hip holster. Alex tried to take one as well but Ben shook his head and stopped him.
"Sorry, Alex. Heads' orders. You're not to have any weapons," Ben said apologetically. Alex clenched his jaw in frustration but nodded. Even though he had expected this, it didn't make it any easier. He wanted to be able to defend himself if anything went wrong. At least he had the tranquilizer darts, Alex thought.
They placed the weapons back in their original spots and turned towards the frozen meals. By unspoken agreement, the two had decided to stay in for the night since it had been a long day for both of them. They would have to make do with the preserved food provided. Ben studied Alex as they ate. He could see the haunted look in Alex's eyes that hadn't been as prominent the last time they had met and couldn't help wondering what had happened to cause it.
Finally, Alex became too annoyed of having Ben stare at him. As he was curious about his former unit mate's status, he asked as a distraction, "Are you still with the SAS?"
Ben blinked, startled at the sudden question. "No, I switched over to MI6 after working with you last time," he admitted. "Even though I got shot, that oil rig in the Timor Sea was quite an adventure. If you weren't out of the field, I'd be hoping for the heads to let us work together again."
Outwardly, Alex ignored the man's sentiments. As it was a testament to his skill and character, he was pleased that someone wanted to work with him again. Especially when that someone had previously thought nothing of him. It was hard to find someone in this field who treated him like an equal as Ben had. But Alex didn't know how he felt about going back into that life. Obviously, he didn't enjoy the situations he often found himself in when he was on missions. Even today, he had refused to go back into the field. He wasn't an agent or a soldier. Although, after the last two months with the Pleasures, neither could he deny that he didn't belong with civilians anymore. But it was late and he didn't want to think about this right now so he asked, "Is K-unit still together?"
Ben grinned. "Yeah, we all made it through selection. Surprising, since there's a 90% fail rate. Afterwards, we all had separate missions but it was decided after a few months that we would continue being a unit since we worked so well together. Until I left that is. I still get together with them from time to time and they've got a new member in the unit. They sometimes wonder what happened to you after you left training." Alex frowned at this. He didn't want K-unit to know about the extent of his missions. A lot of them were personal to some degree. Ben seemed to know what he was thinking because he said, "I haven't told them anything of course. Not that I know much myself."
"What exactly do you know?" Alex asked curiously. He was going to be spending quite a bit of time with the man so he might as well figure out what the perceptions of him were.
"Only that you sometimes helped out MI6 and have an impressive 100% success rate. No details though. After that, I was told that you were out of the field and moved to America. Except now, you're back for protection from Scorpia and the triads."
Alex had unconsciously tensed up sometime during Ben's reply but relaxed and nodded by the end of it. "That's all you need to know. I don't know how much I'm allowed to say and I would rather not go into detail about some things."
Ben gave him an understanding smile and said, "Fair enough. I'll probably ask some questions and you can choose whether to answer them. Same goes for me if you want to ask questions about myself." With that matter settled, the two retired to their rooms for the night so they could sleep off the exhaustion of the past day.
With the exception of Alex speaking in German whenever he could - a habit left over from when his uncle, Ian, had taken him traveling and insisted that they speak in the language of whatever place they were visiting - Ben and Alex acted as the tourists on vacation that they were supposed to be over the next two weeks. Waking up at 6 every morning, they started with the east side of the city and slowly worked their way across to the west, cycling everywhere they went. A lot of the places they visited, such as the East Side Gallery and Berlin Wall Memorial, gave insight into the events of World War II and Alex found it educational like most other people who visited these places. However, unlike most people, he realized he could identify with some of the things the victims and soldiers of the war experienced. Things like constantly fearing the sound or feel of a gunshot when he's been discovered, the determination to get out alive from an impossible situation, and a true understanding of the horrors that the human race is capable of committing. Even after visiting the Topography of Terror, he could still empathize with the soldiers because he knew what it was like to cause death and suffering in the line of duty, just as he knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of it. Of course, he also knew that the soldiers had acted with a different mindset than Alex had so he also felt anger towards them at the same time. It was an understanding that he hadn't had when Ian had taken him to Germany on holidays as a young child.
Interspersed between their visits to historical sites of war, they did some other sightseeing and outdoor activities to enjoy the relatively good weather they were having. It was refreshing to admire the Socialist architecture on Karl-Marx-Allee, see the landmarks of the city on Unter den Linden Boulevard among the linden trees, view the rest of the city from the top of the Berlin Victory Column, walk through the flea markets, and hike through Grunewalde Forest. Alex had even gone surfing in the Spree and taken a few lessons in sailing from a local surfer he met. Ben had given him an odd look when he wore a wetsuit for these to hide the scars on his body but Alex ignored the man's silent question. During these lighthearted excursions, Ben and Alex learned more about each other. So far, Alex had gathered that Ben came from a family of four with one younger sister, Sophia, but he hadn't seen them in awhile because of missions. One of his most recent missions had been partnered with K-unit in Iran. A diplomat's daughter had been kidnapped and they were to rescue her. In return, Alex told Ben that he had started working for MI6 after his uncle died and the number of missions he had been on. There were questions they asked each other about missions but Alex had kept almost all of those details to himself even though Ben had been as open about his missions as he could without breaking the Official Secrets Act. Other than their backgrounds, they discovered more about each other's habits and personalities. Like how Ben needed his coffee in the morning before he returned to his normal, easygoing self. Or how Alex had a dry and sarcastic sense of humour that had the potential to offend the people around him. Also, both of them could be very competitive people, which they realized the extent of when they went to the obstacle course in the Jungfernheide High Rope Forest Garden. Running the course reminded them of, but had nothing on, the training at Brecon Beacons so they finished it in record time. The staff and patrons alike had stared at them with slack jaws.
In addition to the tourist activities they were doing, Alex had taken up learning Russian every morning for two hours after breakfast from a World War II veteran they had run into while they were at the East Side Gallery, one of the first places they had visited. He had seen the man in his peripheral vision, staring at him confusedly and muttering to himself in Russian, so he had asked if he could help the man. The Russian was surprised and had declined the offer but introduced himself as Vadim Ivanov, a veteran visiting the gallery as a daily reminder to himself of the war. Curious as always, Alex asked what he had been muttering before. Vadim had given him a sad smile at the time and said that he recognized a fellow soldier when he saw one even if they were too young for it - it was in the eyes. After that, the old veteran had offered Alex a listening ear if he ever needed one and Russian lessons since he seemed interested. Without quite knowing why, Alex had immediately accepted the Russian lessons and they began the next morning.
It was after one of these Russian lessons, during the second week of their stay, that a glint of gold caught Alex's attention on his way back to the safehouse. On another day, Alex may have dismissed it but the weather had turned wet and gloomy in the last two days so the gold stood out more than it should have. Across the busy street in an abandoned alleyway, he could see three teenage boys. Two of them had darker skin and looked ragged from long travels - one had a gold tooth and the other had a pockmarked face. He decided to call them Gold Tooth and Pox. They passed the gold package to the last teen who was in a school uniform. Money was exchanged and the schoolboy left. As soon as Alex had seen the gold package, he knew it was the drug that Blunt had wanted him to investigate - monosuncane. Intrigued, Alex followed the two teens at a distance as they made their way towards one of the less savory parts of the city. The two ragged teens had begun talking as soon as their customer was out of earshot so Alex took out the iPhone that Smithers had given him and turned it upside down, plugging in his earphones and tapping on the iTunes app. He had already missed what Pox said but managed to catch the end of Gold Tooth's reply.
" - recibir el envío de esta noche en el Spree," Gold Tooth growled.
"Pero… quiero regresar al México, a la casa mía," Pox complained.
Gold Tooth glared at his companion. "Si hablas una palabra más, te estrangularé mientras duermes." With that, Pox promptly shut up and the rest of the walk was spent in silence. Finally, they reached a small, dingy motel. As the two teens were going in, a drunk man passed out near them and a flailing arm had hit Pox on his back. Pox swore and turned around to beat up the drunkard but Gold Tooth took Pox's shoulders and shoved him through the motel doors. For a moment, Gold Tooth looked back across the street and narrowed his eyes but quickly followed Pox inside.
As Alex walked back to the safehouse, he thought about what he had just seen and heard. As much as he hated drugs, this was none of his business so he decided that he would just pass along the information to MI6. Walking through the front door of the safehouse, he was met with Ben's tense posture.
"You were supposed to be back half an hour ago. Where were you?" Ben questioned while crossing his arms.
"I ran into a drug deal that Blunt had wanted me to look into instead of being on vacation here," Alex replied sheepishly.
"…You're on vacation. How do you manage to just run into a drug deal you were supposed to investigate?" Ben said disbelievingly.
Alex shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I overheard them talking and there's a shipment coming in tonight on the Spree."
Ben shook his head in mild amusement and disbelief while walking away. "Alright, you little trouble magnet. I'll notify the heads about it." Alex smiled to himself. Most people wouldn't have believed him enough to take any action. They would've argued and dismissed him. Ten minutes later, Ben came back to find Alex drinking some water in the kitchen. "Jones wants us back in England. Says she's sending someone to look into it and doesn't want you anywhere near potential danger. Our flight is in two hours." Alex nodded and they started packing up.
An hour later, they were making their way back to Schönefeld airport. It was as they were boarding the express train that Alex felt a prickling sensation on the back of his neck. It was still raining so Alex had put up his hood on the bulletproof windbreaker that Smithers had given him. He knew he was protected enough with it but he still threw himself down on the ground while calling out to Ben.
"Get down!" Most of the people around them were confused and slow to react but Ben had followed Alex's example even though he didn't know the reason behind the order. A moment later, Ben cried out in pain as the bullet that had just missed them, ricocheted off the train, and grazed his arm. Alex pulled Ben into the train as the door was closing and pulled out a shirt from his duffel bag to use as a makeshift bandage. The last thing Alex saw at the station before the train pulled away was a couple of agents taking down the lone Chinese gunman, the same person that the CIA were supposed to have in custody from the park bombing.
A/N: Sorry if the descriptions of Berlin are wrong or the Spanish has incorrect grammar! The Spanish conversation translated to English is:
" - receive tonight's shipment on the Spree."
"But… I want to return to Mexico, to my house."
"If you say another word, I'll strangle you in your sleep."
