Alex stared for a second, the gears in his mind working overtime to make sense of it. They couldn't mean what he thought they meant. It was impossible! His chest began to feel tight, and he pressed his lips together. Laughter began to bubble up, pushing against his lips until they opened and he fell into a fit of hysteria.

"You've got to be kidding me," he gasped out, tears stinging the sides of his eyes. "Of all the things you could have pulled, you chose this!"

Even Blunt seemed taken aback by his reaction. He had been expecting anything but. "Alex, I promise you, this is no joke," said Blunt.

"You promise? You promise? What do any of your promises mean?" asked Alex vehemently. The last of the laughter had left his body, and he was deadly serious. "Everything you've ever told me was a lie. Why should I believe you now?"

Mrs. Jones made some sort of choking noise, which Alex took for her choking on the peppermint. He didn't care. His eyes were locked on Blunt's, as if Alex could kill him with only a stare. But alas, that was too much to ask for, as Blunt stayed very much alive.

"You're alive," Blunt said simply. "If we had never, not once, told you the truth, I predict you'd be dead by now. And honestly, Alex, how would we ever come up with something as insane as this?"

Alex sat back into the hard chair, his mind too preoccupied to notice how uncomfortable it was. Fourteen. Forever. Alex was struck by another thought. What about eighteen?

"But…I'll never reach eighteen. You'll own me forever!"

Blunt smirked, the emotion incongruous on the normally expressionless face. "Yes, it appears so."

Alex began to shake. His whole life. Owned. It was bad enough to be in employment until eighteen, let alone the rest of Blunt's life and who knows how long for the next heads life. "Forever! You can't do this to me! I'm only fourteen!" Alex jumped from his chair and picked it up, reaching back and flinging it at them. Even Blunt's eyes widened fractionally as he ducked under the chair, which chaired through the wall and became stuck.

"Alex, control yourself!" said Jones sharply. But Alex could not. His body shook more and his fists began to clench.

Fortunately, Jones spotted the danger and immediately had the fuming Alex escorted from the building by two burly guards, who forced him not so gently into the car that would drive him home. The driver was the same soft, slightly pudgy looking man from before. Alex wondered if there was a reason that the man had been assigned as his personal escort, but at the very moment, it didn't matter all that much to him. He sat pressed against the seat, his arms crossed and face set in a childish pout. At that moment, he looked so much like a normal teenager that the driver wondered why he was driving the boy from the MI6 HQ. Due to his distracted thoughts, the car sailed right on by the house, and it was about ten minutes before either driver or passenger noticed the change of course. It was Alex who was the first to notice.

"Where are we going?" He asked dryly.

"Your home, where else?" the driver replied. He took a second to look around, and his face took on a red flush. "Oh, oops." He swung the car into what Alex was sure was an illegal U-turn and sped back down the road, well above the speed limit. It took another seven minutes to reach the house, and Alex got out without a word. The driver tipped his hat to Alex before pulling away from the curb and leaving Alex alone once more.

Alex walked up to the door, opened it, and entered, calling out, "Jack, I'm home!" Almost immediately, it hit him. A lamp lay broken by his a feet. A hole gaped in the wall, suspiciously the size and shape of a bullet. Alex froze, his mind mulling over things, before he remembered. "Jack!" It didn't matter that his feet were frozen. It didn't matter he couldn't think. All that mattered was finding Jack. And there she was. In the kitchen. On the floor. A hole through her forehead. A shocked expression on her face.

Alex took a few staggering steps before falling to her side. Jack. Jack. Why? His last comfort. His chest exploded into fiery pain, and he barely even realized what it was. His heart was shattering. Shattering into a million pieces. "Jack!" he wailed, unnoticed tears streaming down his face. No. No, it couldn't be true! Jack couldn't be dead, couldn't leave him all alone! He bent over, hugging her bloody body to his chest, not aware of anything, his breathing, the open door swinging in the breeze, the sirens wailing outside his door. Just him and Jack. Why?

Hands pulled him from Jack, and he cried out louder, pushing against them, pushing towards Jack. "Don't take her from me!" he screamed, his voice an unearthly high pitch. Another pair of hands grabbed onto him and started pulling him towards the door, but Alex struggled on. All he could see were the people, poking, prodding, pulling at Jack's dead body. Jack. "Don't touch her!" he yelled at them, his voice breaking off for another round of sobs. They ignored him, and began to clear away the body, searching the house for evidence.

It was the last thing he saw before he felt the needle prick him, and the last thing he thought was, Why her? Why me? And now I'm alone. Alone.

And then the world went black.

Reviews for the author? I'm sorry it took so long. Major writers block and not enough time. But good news is I've got the plot worked out! Besides, this was 3 pages, pretty good for me since I focus quality over quantity…Please review!