Chapter Four
Hey guys! I finally finished Chapter Four! And yes, it's not going to be half a year before the next update again. After Chapter Three, I had already started thinking about Chapter Four. There were a couple of projects that needed to be completed before I could actually start on it, but here's the chapter you guys wanted. And true to my promise, there's our ever loving Sergeant, and everyone's beloved K-unit.
Also, I would like to say thank you to all my reviewers. Thanks for the support! I would also like to say a big thank you to my lovely reviewer, anon, for kindly pointing out to me a mistake that I had made in writing chapter three. I suppose I can attribute my characterisation mistake to the fact that I haven't really touched this story in half a year. Hopefully, I've reverted back to the Alex that is appropriate for this story (meaning suicidal Alex).
I hope you guys enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider.
Chapter Four
"I should be leaving for Beacons now," Alex said, interrupting her thoughts. Mrs Jones nodded wordlessly. And with that, Alex left, leaving a silent, guilty woman to grieve for Alex' s lost soul.
Please, don't try to hurt yourself this time.
The driver was a retired agent, probably about forty years old. He still looked quite young, and was thus chosen for this job. He knew that he could have his pick of jobs around the world- he still maintained his intellect and physical fitness- but he was already world-weary and decided that most employers, if they knew about his former occupation, would definitely not choose him. They might even fear him; he would be a formidable force to be reckoned with at meetings, and he might even invite his enemies to the company. That was why he chose to stay behind in SO and do mundane things. Not that ferrying spies around was mundane, of course. He loved a juicy story or two now and then, from a spy who can't keep his mouth shut. If he didn't like the guy, then straight to Jones' office he goes, telling him about a certain spy who might 'endanger their operations with his blabbering mouth', while for those spies that he liked, he wouldn't tell. Well, it might be considered as withholding information from the superiors, but he figured that it wasn't included in his job scope anyway.
Yet, there was this one spy whom he could not decide whether to like or to shy away from. His name was Alex Rider.
He had seen his fair share of strange things, from villains who come up with the most absurd plans for world domination to his fellow spies dancing from cubicle to cubicle during Christmas, but surely a teenager's presence in a MI6 high-security vehicle, with the purpose of going to Brecon Beacons as a spy, no less, was the craziest thing he had ever come across. Sure, he had heard the rumours, but rumours weren't meant to be true, were they? However, it was this teenager's behaviour, in his unshakable opinion, that really took the cake. He had a certain aura around him, something that warned others not to get too close. He was a handsome boy, but his cold eyes would scare the girls even before they got a chance to talk to him. They seemed to see right through you- a quality that only experienced agents at SO had- and it was pretty unnerving. Especially when it was him who had to drive for hours on end with Alex Rider.
Right now, the teenager was calmly staring at the driver's seat, and seemed content just to look at the seat. What was so special about the seat? Was there a bomb strapped to the seat? A sonic resonator, perhaps? Or maybe it was just a spider. Then again, pests usually didn't command such intense scrutiny.
"Mr Rider?" he asked tentatively, almost afraid of his answer.
Surprisingly, Alex replied with utmost respect, "Yes, Mr Henderson?"
He laughed. "You don't have to call me Mr Henderson. Wallace is fine."
"Then Alex is fine too."
"You don't look fine," he said, glancing back to look at him.
Alex said nothing, and continued to look out of the window. Wallace sighed, his opportunity to make small talk lost. This world wasn't for young people like Alex Rider, but somehow he got sucked into it. He barely restrained himself from banging on his fist on the steering wheel, cursing the superiors to the deepest pits of hell. He had a nephew about Alex's age, and he definitely did not want him to follow his footsteps. Not after what he had been through. Alex looked so broken. His eyes were bottomless pools of misery and defeat. He tried not to stare at them for more than a few seconds. A cold chill would run up his spine when he looked into them. He had never known or seen such lifelessness.
Wallace shook his head firmly, lips pressed into a thin line. He was going to bring Alex to Beacons, safe and sound, and pray that he would be alright.
"Here we are, Alex," Wallace smiled. They had passed through security just fine, and since the soldiers on guard duty could not see through the tinted windows, Alex's age and identity still remained a secret. For now.
Alex responded with a curt nod. "Thank you," he replied, and got out of the car. He opened the boot, grabbed his bag and walked away. Wallace grimaced as he heard some of the soldiers pumping and running around, training. He had left that all behind already. Sneaking one last look at Alex, he drove away, trying to hide the guilt for bringing him to such a place. If it helped him to stay alive, then he would make sure that Alex stayed there.
Meanwhile, Alex briskly made his way to the Sergeant's hut, located at a rather strategic spot, a secluded corner of the camp that would take at least fifteen minutes to reach if he ran. He set his bag down and checked his watch- ten minutes till reporting time. He frowned for a few seconds before putting his emotionless mask back on, hoisted his heavy bag onto his shoulder, and ran.
Ten minutes later found Alex knocking on the Sergeant's door. He wasn't panting, although his heart rate was faster by a bit. He shook his head as all the physical training the Sergeant would make him do flooded his mind. Two years ago, he would have cursed Blunt and Jones and all things with the remotest link to SO, but now, it was just another thing that he would 'go with the flow' with.
The Sergeant barked out a gruff 'Come in!', and Alex silently turned the doorknob. He closed the door gently behind him, and stood at attention. The Sergeant seemed quite impressed that he still remembered, but then narrowed his eyes again. He was startled when he looked at Alex. He had definitely grown taller, and much fitter, too. He looked properly groomed (he wouldn't for long), but there was a strange air around him. Cool, calm and dangerous. What really changed about him was his eyes. They were staring straight ahead, all foggy with no spark at all. He frowned, and momentarily even felt afraid of him, but he dismissed all further thoughts of the boy and resumed his angry persona. He had even rehearsed a long tirade to regurgitate to him- and he wasn't going to back down just because of someone's eyeballs. He started pacing.
"I don't know why you're here, and I would say that I didn't care, but I am very curious as to what the hell SO is thinking, sending you back here. Do you have any idea what you do to our reputation?"
Alex was still standing as straight as a rod, unblinking.
"Well?" The Sergeant barked.
"No sir."
"No sir! No sir!" The Sergeant repeated, livid, face flushed.
"Yes sir."
That lead to another round of harsh criticism, full of degrading terms that Alex was desensitised to. He found the insults thrown his way rather creative, but he had heard it all from his past missions.
After the Sergeant had finished spitting probably about a gallon of saliva, he calmed down and settled for a glare in Alex's direction. Alex mildly wondered what he did to deserve this. His first time here was definitely better than now- at least the Sergeant did not feel the need to call him such imaginative names. Something must have happened.
"Cub, you'll be assigned to K-unit again. I don't really care how loving your relationship with them is, as long as I don't find your dead body," the Sergeant sneered.
"Yes sir," came the robotic answer. The Sergeant paused, possibly trying to find some fault with that answer, but found none, and carried on.
"You better remember this: I have zero tolerance for misbehaviour in all forms. I will not have a discipline problem in my camp, you hear me?"
"Yes sir."
"Good. Find out your schedule from your unit," he commanded, sneering when he said the last word, "Dismissed."
Cub saluted, and left the Sergeant's hut. He tugged at his shoulder straps and trudged to K-unit's hut.
Suicidal teenager or not, he was definitely dreading their reunion.
"Hey, Wolfie poofie, when is Cub coming?" Eagle shrieked, prancing to Wolf's bed. Wolf was cleaning out his gun, a HKMP5, the favourite assault rifle of the British SAS. Wolf glared at his unit's resident jokester (and joke).
"I don't know, and I don't care."
"But you've got to! He's Cub, our baby Cub-" Eagle whined, and received a pillow to the face from Snake.
"Shut up, will you?" Snake growled, cuddling up in a ball with his blanket and wriggling around, trying to make himself comfortable. His nose was buried in a medical book. "I'm trying to read."
Cheetah, their replacement for Fox who apparently got 'binned', nodded in agreement. He was a man of few words. "I'm more of a man of action," he had told them when they first met, and promptly proved it when he socked Eagle because he was getting too annoyed with his prancing on his first day. Wolf, Snake and Cheetah quickly became fast friends.
There was silence as Eagle attempted to figure out if Cheetah was going to punch him again, like all those other times when he refused to shut up. When Cheetah's form did not move from his bunk, he resumed his chirping about the 'much anticipated arrival of our baby Cubby'. That soon resulted in an all-out pillow fight, Snake and Cheetah against Eagle. (Wolf figured he was too manly for a pillow fight, though he was itching to join).
Finally, Snake gave in, for if there was one thing that K-unit learnt about Eagle, it was that Eagle was very resilient. Too resilient. He checked his watch. "Cub should be arriving soon."
Wolf snorted. "You make him sound like he's a VIP. Arriving, huh?"
"Well, what synonym does Your Royal Highness propose to substitute this offending word that puts your subject in such high regard?" Eagle questioned, a dopey smile on his face. Snake's jaw hit the ground.
"Since when did you possess such vocabulary?"
Eagle looked miffed. "Well, I-" he began, but was promptly interrupted by the sound of the door opening. The door always creaked, and soon they found themselves staring at the figure at the doorway.
"Cub," Wolf growled.
"Cubby!" Eagle squealed, bounding towards him, arms outstretched. Alex found his eyes widening, and quickly moved out of the way, causing Eagle to run straight into the door. Snake burst out laughing, while Cheetah shook his head slowly, looking exasperated. Even Wolf had a flicker of amusement in his eyes, before they turned cold again, and glared at Alex.
"Same rules," he grunted. He couldn't be bothered to repeat himself. Alex nodded. Just like the old days. He briefly wondered why Wolf did not ask more questions about his return to Beacons, but guessed that the Sergeant forbade them to ask. So being the Goody-Two-Shoes that he was, he shut up. Eagle, however, was a different story altogether. He wondered why Eagle was suddenly so hyper and bouncy, for the lack of a better word. He chattered non-stop, pummelling his ears with inquisitive questions that he ignored. He definitely wasn't this talkative when he was here the first time. Alex surveyed the room. There was a new member in here- he guessed he was Cheetah. Jones had mentioned him before. He sized the new member up. The first thing he noticed was that Cheetah was very tall. The tallest man in the unit, actually. He had brown hair and blue eyes, with fair skin, an angular face and a well-toned body. He had not spoken a word yet, but was calmly observing Alex. He guessed Cheetah was the silent type.
When Eagle paused to catch his breath, Snake took this as a cue to welcome Alex back into the unit- if you call poking and prodding Alex as 'welcoming'.
"Take your shirt off," he commanded.
"I just don't swing that way." Alex swiftly replied. He was broken, but he still had that Rider wit and sarcasm that never seemed to go away. It just wasn't used that much now that his mind was occupied with other thoughts. Like suicide, for example.
Snake rolled his eyes as the rest of the unit smirked. "I don't either. You need a physical evaluation."
Alex found his heart racing when he said that. What would they say if they saw all his scars? He forced himself to calm down.
"You can't do it here. You need equipment, my medical records, and other stuff," Alex trailed off, gesturing. He racked his brain, trying to find other excuses, but came up with nothing.
"I can do the basic things without those," Snake replied, narrowing his eyes. "You're hiding something."
The spy in Alex kicked in. "What makes you think that?"
"People who don't want to have a physical usually ask these sort of questions. And the common reason for this is because they have something to hide." No shit, Sherlock.
"I don't have anything to hide."
"Then take the shirt off."
"I feel unsafe when it's you giving me the physical, in front of them." Alex had to abandon all suicidal thoughts now. It was quite ironic that a suicidal teenager refused to get killed by his unit's medic. He wanted to die without people knowing about his past. It was just a way to keep things hidden. He hated the drama that he knew would come later.
"I don't care."
"I do. You weren't exactly friendly the first time I came here, the rest of your unit included. What makes you think I trust you?" Alex shot back. He was getting rather desperate now. Snake bit his lip. All medics had this drilled into their heads: Whatever you do to another person, you need their trust.
"Well..."
"This settles it. I'm going to have to go through tests anyway, to see how fit I am. The doctors in the infirmary should be able to conduct a physical evaluation for me. At I least I trust them."
Wolf resisted the urge to punch the living daylights out of him, although he had a point. They had been complete bastards to him the first time he came here. And Alex had saved his career by kicking him out of that plane when he didn't have the guts to.
"You two cut it out," he said finally, studying Alex. Alex looked every bit like a pouty teenager, and it nearly riled him up. Nearly.
"But-"
Wolf shook his head. "It's up to him to decide what he wants to do with the evaluation. As long as he doesn't get us binned, I don't really care."
"Aw, Wolfie-poo, going soft, are we?" Eagle cooed.
"Not on you," was his reply, and that was followed by a fist in the nose. A very hardfist.
While Eagle was putting on a great show of pain in front of the unit, Alex was unpacking his things. He deliberated on putting a photograph of Jack beside his bed. He glanced around, and saw that all of his unit members had similar photographs. Wolf had his whole gigantic family smiling at him; Snake had a wife; Eagle was surrounded with children (his nieces and nephews, probably), and the new guy had a picture of his parents. He glanced sadly at a smiling Jack, and put it beside his bed as well.
Eagle stopped his show, and ran to the photo.
"Ooooh, a pretty American!" he shouted with glee. Wolf, Snake and Cheetah rushed to look too. Alex raised an eyebrow. Since when were they so interested in photographs of other people's family?
"She's too old for him," Snake said, giving Eagle a whack on the head. Ah, this was the reason. Wolf studied the picture. "Who is she?"
Alex looked away. Should he tell, or should he not? Why not tell them a little truth? It was not really related to MI6. Yet, he did not trust them either. So, he settled for: "A friend."
"There has got to be more!" Eagle cried, gesturing to the picture. "People don't put pictures of friends beside their beds! You must have thousands of friends! Why her?" Snake raised an eyebrow, signalling him to continue.
"I...don't want to talk about it."
"What about your rich parents?" Wolf sneered. Alex froze. It was a good question. He had never seen his parents before; Ian never had any photos of them.
"I...don't know," was his forlorn answer. Silence ensued. "What do you mean...you don't know?" Snake asked gently, fearing the worst.
"I don't have any pictures of them."
"Why-" Wolf began, but Snake cut him off.
"They're dead, aren't they?"
Oooh, Snake figured it out! Alex oh Alex, it seems that you have revealed for more that what you liked! Has Alex warmed up to K-unit already? And where does Fox fit in the picture?
I hope you liked the story so far, and don't forget to review!
Love,
Syd