CHAPTER 7:

"Right, this is an excellent opportunity to review our fake profiles," said Dawn as she held out her profile and started examining it while drinking some coffee.

Alex grabbed his folder and started examining it, he thought his curls were annoying because they kept blocking his vision. He pushed them away and read.

NAME: FELIX ROCHESTER

SCHOOL: TRENTON HIGH

PLACE LIVING IN: SAN FRANCISCO

PLACE FROM: ENGLAND

RELATIONS: DAMON AND PAMELA ROCHESTER, PARENTS, BOTH 41. FLANELLA 'NELLY' ROCHESTER, LITTLE SISTER WHO IS 7 YEARS OLD. BEST FRIENDS WITH BAILEY MELLOW (Agent Dawn)

LIKES: BOOKS, STUDYING, SOCCER, ASTRONOMY, SUPPORTING GOOD CAUSES LIKE CHARITY, GADGETS AND CARD GAMES, PREFERABLY POKEMON.

PERSONALITY: YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SHY, NOT TALKING MUCH, BUT ALSO CLEVER AND VERY GOOD WITH GADGETS. YOU ARE ALSO NEAT AND PREFER EVERYTHING CLEAN AND SAFE. YOUR ATHLETIC ABILITIES ARE PRETTY GOOD SINCE YOU LIKE SOCCER AND YOU HAVE A GOOD HEART, SUPPORTING GOOD CAUSES LIKE BREAST CANCER AND CHARITY.

"Not bad," admitted Alex as he finished his folder and put it down in the table in front of him, Dawn shrugged.

"They try to ease it up for you sometimes," she said while playing with her pen, but not clicking it twice, NOT clicking it twice at the same time.

"Well, do you want to do something? We'll be sitting here for about 10 hours," Alex said, maybe he wouldn't actually. The private plane was well fit, with a fully stocked snack bar, cooler, and fridge. It had a games room where you could play cards, ping-pong, ice-hockey, chess and so on. There were small TV's in front of you to watch or to play videogames. There were also books.

"Oh, I'll be pretty entertained, I'LL be doing some research on Atlantis mind you," Dawn said grabbing a huge book that was called: ATLANTIS THROUGH AGES, "and you should too."

Alex shrugged and played some of Assassin's Creed and then he suddenly remembered the 2 agents he first worked with, Glen Carver and Belinda Troy.

"Hey, Dawn...did you by chance meet some agents called Glen Carver and Belinda Troy?"

"Sure," said Dawn flipping, she was already on page 20. "Liked Troy, she was strict, and went with the rules. Very good agents. Glen Carver...he was nice but TOO flamboyant for my taste. Both of them...dead, what a shame. I suppose you worked with them on Mission Skeleton Key?"

"Yeah," said Alex. He was a bit annoyed that Dawn had already read HIS profile and knew so much about him already while Alex barely knew her.

"Hey, do you want to do 20 questions? To get to know each other, it only seems fair since you saw my profile," he said.

Dawn shrugged exasperately. "FINE, but make it 10."

Alex felt his curiosity would be payed off soon. "Yeah, but ANY question?"

Dawn thought about it. "FINE RIDER, I don't see why you're so excited."

"Right, do you want to start?"

"I guess," said Dawn still reading, she was on page 30 and the book had 500, "how much do you love Sabina? It's obvious Rider."

"I don't-" Alex was about to finish his sentence before he stopped to think about it. Well, he wasn't Sabina's boyfriend but...he did love her. A bit, a really tiny bit, he liked her smile, her laugh that rung like bells, and just how good-hearted she was. Always willing to help.

"I do love her," he admitted, "but I don't love her like those dramatic soap opera actors."

She nodded while smirking, "Your turn then."

"Who's Nick?"

She sighed, like it was painful to breathe and like the air was suddenly thicker, and then she coldly turned to Alex.

"He was my partner, my best friend and the best teacher you could ever have in sword fighting. And he was the bravest and most noble person you could have ever met in this dirty world."

Alex silently knew what she meant, Nick was dead. The usage of the words 'could' and 'was' were key words to know this. Alex nodded sadly.

"He sounds like a really good friend...I-I'm sorry," he said.

"There's nothing you should be sorry of," she trailed off thinking about her question, she was on page 50. "What is your favorite place in the world?"

Alex thought. Obviously it had to be in England somewhere, it could be the house where he and J-Alex's heart stopped. Jack. Oh he missed her so much, Jack being alive was such a good thought but...Jack going to the dark side? It seemed so hard.

"My old house," said Alex, "back in England before I moved to San Francisco. The one I was in with my uncle and my housekeeper Jack."

She nodded and Alex felt she needed some rest from the previous question so he asked:

"What is your favorite book?"

She shrugged. "I have many, too many I've lost count but I suppose my top choice would be The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown."

"It's a good book."

"It is."

Alex thought Dawn wanted to seek revenge on him so she asked innocently:

"How much does your housekeeper-Jack-mean to you?"

Alex sighed but the answer came naturally, "A lot, she took care of me since I was small and well, we shared some good moments. Jack, my uncle and I...she was so loyal, I never expected her to be-to be evil. She has a good heart."

"My apologies," she said, "let's just hope it doesn't weaken the mission."

Alex felt Dawn's personality come through him like a dagger, she was a cold and frank person. Not caring about herself and not afraid to say the truth. And that was good sometimes but sometimes harsh.

The questions went on until Dawn was on page 220 (she was a very fast reader, Alex had to admit) and Alex felt his curiosity had been quenched.

Then, at 6 p.m. they had dinner, which was pretty nice since they were in first class, Alex decided to enjoy himself a bit like a normal teenager since well, he wasn't going to enjoy for long.

They played ping-pong as Dawn called it, it had always been table tennis to Alex. But the name made sense, as they played he could hear the sounds:

PING!

PONG!

PING!

PONG!

Even though Dawn was pretty good at it, Alex was better and with the practice he had with Paul Drevin (AN: READ SKELETON KEY) he was now a pro.

Then they played ice-hockey which Dawn crushed him at and then they resumed their former tasks, Alex slept and Dawn resumed reading her book.

At midnight, Dawn prodded him repeatedly not caring if it hurt.

"Rider, Rider, Rider...we have currently arrived."

"Oh," said Alex immediately jumping up. He was pretty eager to be back home, where he wanted to be and belonged. Even up here and at midnight, he could smell the sweet air.

England.

They landed in a private airport where they hopped down and grabbed their belongings. In the airport, there were celebrities, famous athetes and famous authors singing books. Cameras clicked everywhere and they managed to squeeze themselves out of it before anybody tried to interview them.

Of course, the airport didn't know they were agents so they did have to do some procedures.

"Hello," said a man, he had a perfect British accent and Alex finally felt he belonged, since back in the States, he had always been special with his accent that stood out.

"Hello," said Dawn and Alex at the same time.

"I believe you both are...Ms. Mellow and Mr. Rochester?"

"Yes sir, I'm Bailey Mellow and this is my friend, Felix," said Dawn for him, she sounded like a normal teenager, and it was forced.

"Oh, so what is your purpose on this trip to England?" asked the man and Alex started talking.

"We are here to visit my parents for awhile since we will be going to Germany after to do some research for a project. A very important project and we thought that the constant process of changing planes would be quite tedious."

The man smiled, "So you are British, huh? And this lady must be American."

"Yes sir," said Alex.

The man stamped their fake passports, "Have a nice rest in England and a nice day."

"To you too," nodded Dawn before they grabbed their passports and left the airport to a shiny grey car that looked quite common around England. Well, MI6 was taking precautions.

After driving all over England they landed in a dump, a smelly dump full of flies. Alex felt like he wanted to choke but the driver simply showed them a open trash can.

"Get in."

Dawn didn't doubt him, she jumped into the trash can and Alex didn't see her anymore, he jumped in after her and then he landed in a clear silver floor. A blonde receptionist smiled at them.

"Hello Alex Rider, and Agent Dawn, welcome to the new MI6 Headquarters, the Head Mrs. Jones is currently waiting for you."

"I hope we aren't late," said Dawn walking towards the elevator. Her face was rock hard and serious with no feeling whipped into it.

Blunt would have been proud.

Alex followed her in and soon they were 15 floors underground which was sort of a change and then, after the 15 guards and 30 cameras analyzed their every step of the way, they entered Mrs. Jones' office.

Of course she was the same woman, she sat there her eyes cold and serious chewing some peppermints. She nodded at them. A man in his 30's with slick black hair and black glasses that looked like wanted to rip your guts out stood next to her.

"Hello Alex, welcome back and it is a pleasure to see you again Agent Dawn," said Mrs. Jones.

"Hello Mrs. Jones," she said and then she grinned at the man. "Hey Cottonball, didn't know you worked for MI6 now?"

The man smiled at her revealing a wide smile with a few broken teeth and ruffled her hair, "Good to see ya again kiddo."

He had no British accent so that only meant he was an American...but who was he? Alex felt LOST. He looked at Mrs. Jones who said:

"I am sorry Alex, you've been absent for a year at MI6 and you probably haven't met the new deputy head of MI6, Darwin Mithrall."

Mr. Mithrall shook his hand, he had a deep voice and he smelled like coffee, "Good to meet you Alex, I have heard many things about you and I am very impressed."

"Thank you," he said. "Quite some Headquarters Mrs. Jones, nobody would suspect it."

"Exactly," she said. "The CIA gave us the idea, we had to admit it was unpleasant at first but it turned out all right at the end."

"Well, how do you feel being back in England?" asked Mrs. Jones and Alex shrugged.

"I feel good, I guess."

"I hoped so, anyways, you both know your missions, and you checked your profiles?"

"Yes Mrs. Jones, we are well prepared though Alex and I would have appreciated if we had more time to...get to know each other," said Dawn coldly but calmly.

"Of course we're apologize but we have to admit, the information was suddenly needed quite soon since we discovered they're going to start their plans."

They nodded.

"So...tomorrow you will go to Albritch Gurten. Now we will provide you more information about him. He owns an institute with 15 libraries, and several other advanced resources. Mostly it's for college students to study, research or to make projects...but several high schools have been sending kids to learn there. He also tutors people."

"So it's sort of like a hotel and a library for students?" asked Alex.

"Yes, students live there and they can become more advanced in their studies, projects or etc. It's the Institute by the way."

"98.7 % of the students going there and out have become great educators, talkers and people," said Mr. Mithrall.

"So this is your cover, both of you have been assigned a very special final project for Ancient Civilizations and you chose to study Atlantis. The teacher called Mr. Blunt has allowed you both 2-3 weeks to make an essay about Atlantis, a presentation and a full scale model of it."

"Mr. Blunt?" said Alex and Mrs. Jones nodded.

"The same one...we needed somebody that was trusted."

"Mr. Gurten here is a specialist in Ancient civilizations, ESPECIALLY Atlantis which he will be glad to show you. And if you treat him very well then he would be obliged to show you some secrets which we hope can help you on your mission," said Mrs. Jones.

"AFTER," said Mithrall, "the mission, you will be transported back here, the essay is actually going to be to us and it has to be formal. With all the information, then we will make some little changes and tell you your second part."

"It doesn't seem very difficult," said Dawn.

"Oh it will be difficult, other than the work you'll be forced to do, you might want to spy around for any of the Black Pride's agents. They have more than 40 million of them now so you always have to be careful. ALSO, we are suspecting that Albritch Gurten IS part of the Black Pride," said Mrs. Jones.

They were silent.

"We would like you to confirm our thoughts, for now, that is all, I wish you both good luck in this mission."

"Thank you Mrs. Jones," Alex said miserably and Dawn said coldly.

"But Alex, you will find an old friend of yours 3 doors in front and 4 right," said Mrs. Jones smiling, "he'll help you a lot."

Alex smiled back, thanked her and went out, he already knew who the person was as he and Dawn entered his office.

Smithers was the same guy, fat as always, and around his usual big clumps of mess, prototypes and plans. He waved at Alex as he came in and smiled at Dawn.

"HELLO BOY! LONG TIME NO SEE!"

"Yeah," smiled Alex, "good to see you too Smithers."

Smithers looked at Dawn, "I suppose Gryffins made your gadgets already?"

"Yes sir," said Dawn, "would you like to see them?"

"Wouldn't be too bad, want to see what my nephew has been doing these days," he said as Dawn got the gadgets out of her bag and was starting to explain.

"Gryffins is your nephew?" asked Dawn, she looked quite amused.

"Yes, and a wretched human devil...he's a troublemaker but a genius like me, it runs in my family. HE BURNED MY HOUSE THE FIRST TIME HE CAME AND HE WAS 7!"

Dawn allowed a weak smile, and Smithers nodded in approval.

"Excellent gadgets but tell my nephew that mine are BETTER. Alex, I will give you 4 gadgets...high school student looking for research...let me see."

"First," Smithers said, "here's a bracelet."

Alex examined it, it was those I LOVE BOOBIES bracelets, this was one was white and looked like just any ordinary bracelet for breast cancer.

"How does it work Smithers?" asked Alex.

"See, you click this heart here from the I 3 Boobies sentence 4 times and at the fifth time press it against something, it either electrifies the person/thing or burns it up. BUT let go the moment the bracelet touches something to electrify or YOU'LL get electrifed too. It's reusable too."

"Nice," said Alex making the bracelet dangle from his wrist.

"Now, the second object," Smithers grab a red cap with the words CHELSEA on it. "This cap allows you to know where danger is, people or traps. It'll vibrate roughly in your scalp in that direction. Nobody will see it. When it vibrates softly, it means that help, or an agent has been spotted."

Alex put on the cap and saw that it was fit perfectly on his head, as if it were designed especially for him. "Always saving my life Smithers."

"Right," said Smithers, "so you're supposed to make a scale-model of Atlantis? You'll need glue, to paste the stuff on, huh? Well, Alex remember that zit-cream I sent you in your first mission? Ah...it seems it was only yesterday."

"I remember," said Alex, "it cuts through metal."

"And this glue," said Smithers smiling, "does precisely that BUT now, you can BURN through metal, things or give somebody a nasty third degree burn."

"Neat, but Smithers, don't you have something that can actually attack?" asked Alex.

Smithers winked at Alex and Dawn. "Mrs. Jones didn't want anything TOO violent, but they don't know about this little secret, do they?"

And then, he handed Alex something.

A teddy bear.

Alex held the teddy bear in his hand while Dawn kept serious, simply staring at the teddy bear, her eyebrows raised.

"This little teddy bear is Nelly's," smiled Smithers, "so that you can remember her. His name is Mr. Cuddles."

"Mr. Cuddles?" smirked Alex.

"Yes, Mr. Cuddles is also highly explosive so...don't plan on hugging him TOO tight, you activate a bomb that can explode at least 3 floors of a building when you hug him too tight or turn his head twice and you throw the teddy bear. It'll give you 10 seconds to run and then BOOM! Plus, when you click the nose, it'll brighten up and then, if you drop it anywhere, it will be a camera and sound recorder to record any conversations while you're gone."

"Wow, Mr. Cuddles is the awesomest teddy bear ever," said Alex joking, though it was pretty cool. "I wished I had these kinds of toys when I was small."

Smithers laughed and waved to him as they left.

They went back to Mrs. Jones' office, where she told them that they would have a free practice or rest day today and that tomorrow at 7 they would be transported to the Albritch Gurten Institute. She also gave them so keys for an apartment near the MI6 Headquarters for the day.

As Alex put his gadgets carefully inside his luggage for tomorrow at Mrs. Jones' office, like Dawn did, he put on his bracelet...it was reusable after all.

"Hey," he said to Dawn, "it's only 3 in the morning, what do you want to do? We've got a whole day before us."

She shrugged, "I finished my book about Atlantis, maybe you should too."

Alex thought about how thick the book was. "Er...no thanks, is this your first time in England?"

"Nope," said Dawn, "this is my 6th time actually."

"Oh," said Alex, he wondered what she had been doing here. "So what should we do other than reading?"

Dawn shrugged, "I don't know, I guess we could do some more practice and you could show me around, I never had the proper opportunity to be shown around London, only Cambridge, since Nick's Gran and Gramps were from there."

Dawn sounded really calm even though she talked about Nick.

"That sounds cool," said Alex. The truth was that he wanted to go to Tom's house, though he doubted that he would recognize him...and with a girl, he didn't want Tom to think too much.

"Good, that's what we will do this afternoon, this morning we will practice and in the afternoon you'll show me around," said Dawn yawned, jingling her keys, "but for NOW, I'll go to sleep, so sod off for now and leave me alone. My sleep is precious."