Thanks for the review Lonnie!!! And thanks for reading this people!! I'm sorry if I update slow since I have a lot of homework and I have a solo/ensemble festival coming up!!!

I repeat the stuff about the fighting. Personally, I'm in Taekwondo and not karate so I'm sorry if the kicks mentioned in here are mainly Taekwondo kicks, not Karate kicks.

Getchsburg could not believe his eyes; he could hear the murmur and gasps of his captives. In front of him stood Alex Rider, covered from head to toe in soot; and he held a gun.

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Alex's hand shook slightly as he held the gun pointed directly at the largest of the three masked men. He kept one wary eye on the man, and used the other to survey the room. The boys had been herded into the far end of the room, kneeling with their hands behind their heads hostage-style. The coach had been bound to a chair.

"Well…if it isn't Alex Rider," spat the man that was in front of Alex.

Alex gave a start. How did the man know his name? Perhaps Yassen was wrong and the men were sent by Scorpia? From his left side, Tom caught Alex's eye. His friend was bloody and smiling apologetically. Had Tom told the men about him? Alex sighed. Tom wasn't known as a good secret keeper. Alex turned his attention back to the man, who was staring at him in a quiet, thoughtful way; very much like Yassen.

"Mark Getchsburg the name, kid. To my right are Vernard Helsinki, and Nikolai Vertroisky." Getchsburg gestured at the men on his sides and smirked at Alex. "We've been looking through your records boy, and it's really quite impressive. First it's the thing in Cornwall with Herod Sayle, that academy, Point Blank, that incident with the Americans in Cuba, and the little run-in you had with Damian Cray on Air Force One? Oh, and of course the most recent one in England…Invisible Sword, I believe?"

Alex said nothing, but scanned the room. He had to get everyone away from these three as soon as possible. One look at the men had told him that he was seriously outgunned and all three men were taller and wider than him. Getchsburg began to speak again:

"We also noticed, Little Alex, that there is quite a price tag on your head. " Getchsburg heaved a fake sigh. "Unfortunately, all three of us are out of money, and we decided that you would get us some. We'll take from the highest bidder whether they want you dead or alive so you'd better start praying, dear Alex, that they want you alive. "

Alex moved a bit to the left and balanced himself so that if need be, he could kick easily. His head was empty of plans.

"Would you like to know the highest bidders, Alex? I think it would interest you very much." Alex once again did not respond, so Getchsburg continued, "At third place Alex, is Scorpia. I do believe they want you dead, although they want to see your body as confirmation."

Alex ignored this. A plan was forming now in his mind, but he needed to place himself right. Once again, he moved to the left, stationing himself directly in front of Getchsburg, with the man Vertroisky to his right side, leaning against the window.

"The second-highest bidder goes under the name of 'Pharaoh'," Continued Getchsburg, "They seem to want you alive, little Alex."

Alex ignored this. Ready, one, two…

"…and the top bidder, Alex, is none other than your own MI6."

Alex stopped, not sure if he heard right. The MI6 did know about his trip, but lately they hadn't been bothering him and Alex was fine with that…but to bid for him online? Alex looked at Getchsburg, questioningly, but one look into the man's eyes told him that he had been tricked. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Vertroisky raise a gun…

Alex did a backspin kick just as Vertroisky fired. As Alex twisted his body and leaned back, he actually felt the bullet whiz by above him. Alex's heel slammed into Getchsburg's head, sending the German killer reeling backwards. Vertroisky stared and fired again, but missed.

Dropping his leg, Alex followed through with a lightening-fast double round kick to the man's stomach and a skip-hook kick to the head, but this time, Getchsburg seemed to expect it.

As Alex aimed the skip-hook kick to Getchsburg's head, the man reached up and grabbed Alex's leg, and swung the boy around, knocking him against the wall.

Alex hit the wall head-first, hard, and felt the breath knocked out of him. Someone grabbed him roughly and spun him around.

Getchsburg was there, pinning Alex against the wall by his shirt. The man's eyes were swollen, and his nose was bleeding badly. He looked plain infuriated to have been outsmarted by a teenage boy.

"You…" he growled, but that was all he was able to say. Recalling a move from red-belt form, Alex struck.

Alex crisscrossed his hands, and wrenched Getchsburg's hand from his shirt, grabbing the man's arms, and in one smooth move, grasped Getchsburg's head and brought the man's head down and his knee up. There was a sickening sound of breaking bones as the man's face collided with Alex's knee. Not yet finished, Alex pushed Getchsburg back, and punched in hard in the stomach with both hands; leaping back gracefully, Alex finished off by giving the man another punch in the groin.

Groaning, Getchsburg sank to the ground, on the brink of unconsciousness.

Suddenly remembering the other two men, Alex turned and drew his gun. He aimed at Vertroisky and fired. The man who had been staring with disbelief while his partner was being defeated by a child, went down with a cry as a bullet hit him in the shoulder. But that was not enough.

Trained to endure pain, Vertroisky moved his gun to his other hand, and fired at Alex again. Alex dodged the bullet and scrambled for cover behind on of the bunks.

Heart thudding, Alex realized that to stop the man, he would probably have to kill him…something he was hesitant to do. Frowning, Alex jumped out and aimed blindly, not knowing where the bullet would end up. Surprisingly, the bullet hit Vertroisky's other arm, and Vertroisky dropped to the floor with a small scream of agony.

Alex winced and looked towards the spot where Helsinki had been, ignoring the fight and carefully monitoring a lap top.

It was empty.

"Alex."

The voice came from behind him, and Alex whirled around to see Helsinki holding a long switchblade against the coach's neck.

"Drop your weapons Alex, and don't move."

Alex did as he was told. The coach looked at Alex, with a confused look. He opened his mouth to say something, but Helsinki coughed lightly and the coach closed his mouth again.

Alex's last weapon went down with a clatter.

"Very good. Now listen to me very carefully Alex…"