An.
Sorry to leave you all in suspense, it's been a rather busy week full of birthdays and NCEA exam results (which is NZ school qualifications ), yeah I failed year 11 but Jean didn't. I would like to say I only failed because I missed a lot of school due to illness.
Anyways, just need to let you guys know that the amount of updates will be even less frequent after the 30th because that's when the school year starts.
Let's just start chapter six, shall we?
Disclaimer: Alex Rider does not belong to me.
"Elephant in the room" is an English metaphorical idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. The idiomatic expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss.
It is based on the idea that an elephant in a room would be impossible to overlook; thus, people in the room who pretend the elephant is not there have chosen to avoid dealing with the looming big issue.
Chapter Six
Elephant in the Room
For the second time that morning, John found that he had to let Faust do the talking.
His mind could not process the situation that he had found himself in but standing right in front of him, with barely any height difference, was his eldest son; it was as if his own thoughts had summoned him.
In all honesty, John was expecting to be decked.
Maybe that's why he is keeping his arms folded.
John found himself examining Alex again, drinking in every detail. There were bags under his eyes which were probably due to school. His face was covered in pale scars, barely visible. His accent was clearly British, but there was something else in his voice, John guessed that he was bilingual, probably travelled a lot at a young age, giving him a strange lilt to his words.
Something was really bothering him though.
Alex stood with a confidence that you just didn't see with teenagers. It wasn't cocky; it was more like he was ready to accept any challenge life threw at him, that no matter what he was in control. Also despite the fact he just came face to face to his apparently deceased father, he stood there completely at ease, smirking, his eyes gave away no emotion.
Years as a teenager are some of the most angsty and emotional years in someone's life, yet Alex was completely closed off, he showed nothing.
This really disturbed him.
Faust cleared his throat.
"Mister Pleasure, we would like to ask you some questions".
...Line Break...
Despite the current circumstances, Alex couldn't help to feel strangely giddy at seeing his father in the flesh, or at least that was one of the many feelings flowing through him.
Years from now, Alex knew he still wouldn't be able to describe how he felt.
Resentment, irritation, anger, happiness.
God just pick one.
Alex could see by his father's face that John knew who he was.
How was he supposed to explain to Tom that his plan to go unnoticed hadn't even lasted an hour.
Detective Faust cleared his throat.
"Mister Pleasure, we would like to ask you some questions".
"Rider" Alex found himself correcting, in the corner of his eye he could see John give a small smile which vanished as quickly as it had showed.
Alex decided to accept that as a challenge to see who would cave first and fully acknowledge the other.
Faust frowned.
"Your records say Pleasure"
So they had been through his records, dually noted.
"That's for legal reasons, my surname is Rider"
Faust somewhat scoffed at him and poorly tried to hide it.
"Alright" His voice was laced with impatience. "Mister Rider".
Alex smirked and held out a hand.
"Please call me Alex, I hate formalities"
John coughed, Alex look him in the face to see he was actually covering a laugh.
Faust shook Alex's hand.
"Charming"
Alex let himself smile at the pompous little man.
"I do try"
Faust clearing was becoming annoyed with him. All well, never mind. For Alex respect was a mutual thing. Faust clearly thought little of him, Alex noticed this before the man had said anything; he did not respect Alex so Alex wouldn't show him any.
Removing the scowl from his face, Faust motion to John.
"This is my partner, Detective Chase Evans"
"I guessed as much" Alex muttered.
John held out his hand, Alex took it and shook it hard, not so accidently crushing his fingers.
"Nice to finally meet you".
John nodded, but a flash of guilt quickly crossed his face, which funnily enough made Alex feel guilty for making him feel guilty. In turn also making Alex angry at himself.
John let go of Alex's hand and subtlety flexed his hand a little.
"So, do you guys mind walking and talking, I have to go to class"
"Well actually..."
John cut off Faust with a sharp look that Alex felt familiar with. He had probably given Tom that look multiple times but John's held more hostility. Alex figured he wasn't the only one that didn't like the little man.
"Of course not, lead the way"
John had an American accent Alex noticed, probably faked, possibly not.
Alex nodded and headed down the east corridor towards the science wing, the two detectives keeping pace with him.
"So why did you want to talk with me anyways?"
"We figured you would be the best person to talk to after your little performance in the assembly"
Alex could've sworn he heard amusement in John's voice and the man gave him a somewhat appraising look.
"What, so because I have issues with authority, I'm the best person to talk to?"
John smirked a little.
"Naturally, obviously you're not intimidated by our presence"
Alex returned the smirk; he could feel that Faust was studying the both of them intently.
"Honestly, that's because you're not intimidating in the slightest. Especially Short Stuff over there" Alex stuck his thumb out towards Faust.
John chuckled while Faust gave an outraged cry.
"You need to show some respect!"
Alex shot him a sharp look, Faust looked dumbfounded by it. Alex didn't dwell on it, completely oblivious that it was the same look he had received from John moments before.
"Respect is earned Detective, not demanded"
"So is there any specific reason you wanted to stay in school Alex?" John seemed eager to change the subject.
Alex thought on how to answer this.
"I'm not going to let some pathetic organisation stop me from going to school"
Alex did his best to ignore John's curious look.
Faust again looked affronted.
"Listen child, Phoenix isn't some pathetic organisation. They are all trained killers who would shoot without hesitation; this isn't some Saturday kid's program"
Alex snarled and turned to face him, both men suddenly stopped.
"Don't you think I know that! I'm not an idiot...or a child; if you stopped treating me like one I might actually respect you a little bit"
Alex was fully aware of the coldness of his tone.
Faust was staring at him, wide eyed, Alex refused to look John in the face, he was actually afraid of what he might see there.
"Call me a child again and I might have to break something and yes, they are pathetic, targeting a school, what worth do they have here."
Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Well, I'm sorry gentlemen that I can't be of more help, but I'll be sure to get back to you if anything comes up that I believe to be relevant"
Alex turned to walk away.
"Wait" John placed a hand on Alex's shoulder, Alex moved back a little to remove it.
John pulled out a card and handed it to him. Alex examined it; it had a cell and home phone number on it.
"Contact me, if you find anything of relevance"
Alex nodded.
"Yeah okay" He pocketed the card, it wasn't as if he could say 'Nah it's okay, Yassen gave me your numbers last week'
This time Alex did walk away, trying not to run and trying not to look back.
He entered his science room, muttering an apology to the teacher and took the seat next to Ellie, who was staring at him.
"Are you okay?" She whispered.
"Fine"
Ellie scowled.
"No your no..."
"I'm fine Ellie" Alex knew he shouldn't take his wave of emotions out on Ellie, but right now he needed a victim.
Ellie glared at him.
"You have a very negative aura today, did you know that Alex".
That was Ellie's version of an insult, Alex felt himself sigh, feeling suddenly drained.
It was going to be a long day.
...Line Break...
John was resting in a stunned silence.
Faust was glaring at him not that he really cared. He had finally had a conversation with Alex, who at first seemed to be a confident, pleasant, young man then when Faust had confronted him on his comment about Phoenix, it was like they had flicked a switch.
Alex changed into something that John was quite wary of.
Cold and calculating, the very air around him seemed to become menacing. He looked at Faust like he was the ignorant child. Not that John argued with the fact.
But there was suddenly something about Alex that John feared.
The realisation that Alex could potentially be quite deadly if pushed and should never be underestimated greatly disturbed him.
What had happened to his son? What could've made him into something to be feared?
The possibilities disturbed John even further.
"What was that back there!" Faust growled.
John didn't even flinch or turn to look at him.
"What part?" He said, deadpanned.
Faust scoffed at him, a habit of his, John realised.
"You know what, that child should have never been allowed to disrespect me, while we're working together, you should've put him in his place!"
This time John did turn around to look at him.
"He's not a child, you can see that by looking at him and you shouldn't have allowed yourself to come across as someone who can be disrespected"
Faust growled at him again, he was about to say something when he was interrupted by a small female voice behind them.
"Excuse me"
They both turned to see a young student, judging by her demeanour she was probably a freshman. Her glance kept switching between them, she was obviously quite intimidated which John found amusing considering Alex's previous comment.
"Yes?" You could still hear the irritation in Faust's voice. The poor girl looked like she wanted to shrink.
John shot him a glare, and then gave the girl a kind smile.
"What is it?"
She looked at the classroom door that Alex had just entered, then looked back at John.
"Umm, well I think you should know something, about the boy you were just talking to"
Faust suddenly looked interested, John however felt a little ill.
He nodded at her.
"Go ahead"
"Umm, on Friday, during lunch a man came to see him; he led Alex away when he saw me staring like they didn't want to be seen or overheard. And he looked kinda shady, always sticking to the shadows"
Faust was beaming, like he finally had a reason not to trust Alex.
"Did you get to see what he looked like? Did they seem to know each other well? Did you talk to Alex about it?"
She blushed, hiding behind her hair.
"No, he's a junior, I can't exactly go up and talk to him"
John highly doubted that was the reason.
"I didn't really see the man's face but he was tall, not quite as tall as you" nodding in John's direction.
"But he was taller than Alex, umm blonde I think but his hair was short so I couldn't really tell from the shadows. He looked, I don't know, Eastern European maybe. He moved weirdly like he wasn't walking, kinda floating"
"Floating?"
Faust asked, incredulously.
John looked at him.
"She means that he was very light footed"
The girl nodded then continued.
"They seemed to know each other well, though Alex seemed a little nervous around him at first like he didn't really trust him, but he must of 'cause he walked off with him"
John digested this, the man sounded familiar but he couldn't place why.
"Do you know where they headed? There might be security footage"
Again the girl nodded.
"They went to the carpark" she pointed in the general direction, which would've been helpful, if they hadn't been inside.
"Behind the school fields. He came back apparently fifteen minutes late to class, claiming it was a family friend, biological family not his adoptive family"
This raised a question that John wasn't sure he wanted to be answered.
Where was his baby brother? Why did Alex need to be adopted?
Faust, however looked a little confused.
"He's adopted? I guess that makes sense about the surname thing, I just thought maybe there had been a split"
John ignored him.
"Well thanks for that, is there anything else?"
She shook her head.
"No not really, I just thought you should know"
She shuffled her feet slightly.
"I need to get back to class I was only suppose to be taking a bathroom break"
She turned and jogged down the corridor, disappearing from sight.
"I wonder why Alex failed to mention this?"
Faust spoke, seemingly pleased.
It wasn't really a question, Faust's tone said as much, more of a cocky statement like he was glad to have some 'dirt' against him.
"Maybe he didn't consider it relevant?"
Faust smiled but it wasn't kind.
"Relevant to who? Maybe he didn't want us to know because he has something to hide"
The ill feeling inside John grew.
"Really? Your first suspect is a sixteen year old?"
Faust looked him straight in the face.
"Why not Chase? After all who would suspect a teenager doing somebody's dirty work? We should go look at some footage"
"That we should"
John already knew that this was going to be a long day.
An.
There you go, first meeting done, hope it was up to standard.
Just to let you know that the elephant in the roomwas the fact that John and Alex knew who each other were but weren't going to mention it. Just in case you didn't pick up on that.
We have a question though, it's completely irrelevant to the story but we want your thoughts.
In Scorpia Rising, Alex got the part in Grease as a T-Bird in Brooklands and in Cairo Collage he got a small part in Blood Brothers, he also makes a comment that no matter where in the world he is, people are trying to make him sing.
So here' s the question, he can obviously act but how many of you think that Alex can sing like sing well?
All well give us your thoughts, like we said it is completely irrelevant, it's not like we are going to make him break out in song and dance (chuckles at mental image) just curious.
Reviews and I'll give you a bunny.
()_()
=( . . )=
c( )
Bunny (Fanfiction why do you insist on decapitating my bunny)
-Jean & Diana
