Sarah came out into the main area furious at Alex. "You cannot attack an agent of the NSA or CIA without a good, valid reason," she screamed at him. Alex just looked back at her with a bored expression on his face. "He did nothing to you," she continued, "You have some nerve! You think that just because you're MI6's special little toy that you can do whatever you want? We wanted to ask you a few simple questions and you freak out and attack Casey—"
Alex cut her off. "Jenny," he said coldly. Sarah froze. Chuck stared wide-eyed at him while Casey looked at the boy in amazement. Sarah kept opening and closing her mouth, trying to collect herself. Alex held up his hand to stop her or the others from saying anything. "Would you like me asking questions about your past Jenny? You don't seem so happy with that name. Or Alex Coburn," Alex Rider now turned to face Casey, who flinched, "care to tell me about your time in the Black Ops?" Casey stared stonily at the child. "See?" Alex said, "You don't feel up to sharing. Therefore, don't make me talk to you about it." Alex sent them a death glare and with those words, Alex turned his back to the other three agents, put in his iPod and blasted the music; Chuck, Casey, and Sarah were able to hear it. The gesture was a clear dismissal, teenager-style.
Sarah stormed out of the room, followed by Chuck and Casey. Alex ignored them leaving, but a hint of a smile played at his features.
[][][][][][][][]
"That…that…kid…" Sarah spluttered. Chuck was shocked; Sarah had never looked this flustered before. He looked over at Casey and saw that the man seemed ready to kill somebody. Chuck gulped. This could get ugly fast.
"Guys," Chuck said into the unnerving silence, "calm down. It's just a kid, a teenager. They're supposed to have attitude. You can't just—"
"Whatever he is, he is not a kid," Casey told Chuck, "he knows more about us than you do! We need to get information out of him. We need to learn if he's dangerous or not."
"I'm going to go with a 'yes' on that one," Chuck remarked. Casey shot him a deadly look and Chuck wisely shut up.
"Information about him isn't going to come easy," Casey stated. "This kid is well guarded; we might be able to pay for information, but the hard part will be finding someone that will talk."
"Actually," Sarah slowly began, "I know an agent that was on Drevin's Island. It had something to do with the man himself and Project Ark Angel, which I think was a British project. Maybe we can find out if he knows anything about Alex. Maybe he met him there."
"Name?" Casey grunted.
"Ed Shulsky."
[][][][][][][][][]
Alex swore. In multiple languages. He was once again listening to the agents' conversation and, unlike last time, he was not happy. Yesterday he had been careless. He had brought up his past when talking with Beckman because his anger clouded his judgment. And now Ed Shulsky, the man who had was sent him into space, was going to talk to Chuck, Sarah, and Casey about him. Alex swore again, cursing his luck. This day couldn't get any worse, and it wasn't even noon.
A ringtone filled the silence. Alex looked over and saw a cell phone on the table. The caller ID read "Ellie". Chuck came into the room a few second later and picked up his mobile. Casey and Sarah walked slowly into the room, both glaring at Alex, who was currently listening to "Highway to Hell" by ACDC. He made sure to blare it from his headphones, smirking at how appropriate it was.
"…of course Ellie," Chuck was saying, "Yeah, I got it, 6:30. Alright El, love you too. See you then." Chuck hung up the phone and turned to the three of them with a serious expression on his face. Alex paused the song, took out his headphones, and looked at Chuck.
"What is it Bartowski?" Casey asked annoyed. "Just tell us already."
"Ellie has invited everyone over for dinner tonight," Chuck announced, "She wants to meet Casey's nephew."
Alex felt like punching something. Or someone. Preferably Blunt. It was always his fault. But unfortunately, Blunt was currently in England making someone else's life a living hell, and Alex was stuck in Burbank, California, so that probably wasn't going to happen. Alex could always hope, though. Crap. At least the news of how much worse he day was about to get affected the others as well; Sarah was grimacing and Casey looked ready to strangle someone.
"Well," Sarah said bravely, the first to break the silence, "we should get our stories and explanations in order. We will also need to fabricate your past a bit."
"Great idea," Chuck spoke quickly, trying to cover the tension and awkwardness. He moved and sat across the table from Alex. Sarah sat next to Chuck. The only seat remaining for Casey was next to Alex. The two of them ignored each other and stared straight ahead.
"Any ideas…" Chuck awkwardly began, but trailed off.
"I already formed a cover, remember?" Alex asked them. "I'm Casey's nephew, my mother and he don't get along, she called in a favor, I got sent here. She's going to Alaska to write about polar bears and I didn't want to go. I already told bits of this story to Jeff and Lester yesterday, and I spoke to Devon Woobcomb—"
"Captain Awesome?" Chuck interrupted, Sarah nodded in confirmation.
"Er…Captain Awesome?" Alex questioned, slightly confused.
"Yeah," Chuck explained, "he says awesome to everything and, he's…well awesome." Seeing Alex's face, Chuck added, "Don't worry, you'll understand after tonight."
"Alright," Alex slowly said.
"Anyway, you cover sound good," Sarah told him after a moment of deliberation. "What is your mother's name? And what about your father?"
"Susan and Peter," Alex replied.
"Ellie will probably want to hear about your life," Chuck told Alex, "so I hope you can provide her with plenty of stories. She enjoys getting to know people," he warned. Sarah frowned and nodded at this statement.
"Don't worry," Alex said nonchalantly, "I'm a good lair. I'm sure I can make something decent up."
"Don't get to cocky kid," Casey sternly told him, and Alex knew his actions earlier had not been forgotten. "These two are civilians and—"
"I know Uncle John," Alex cut him off, sounding like a whiney and exasperated teenager.
"You and I need to act like an uncle and nephew the whole night," Casey went on, ignoring him, "So start acting like my nephew."
Alex rolled his eyes and replied, "And you better act like a believable uncle." Casey turned at glared coldly at him. Alex was unperturbed.
Chuck looked at his watch, "Casey, we got to get back to work!" Casey sighed and followed Chuck back upstairs. Before he went up, he turned back to face Alex.
"Expect us back later and be prepared for an assessment of your fighting capabilities." Alex gave a half-hearted nod, showing he had heard him. Sarah kissed Chuck good-bye and watched as he left. She turned back to Alex once the two men had vanished up the stairs.
"I've got a call to make," she told him, "Excuse me." Alex shrugged his shoulders and nodded, giving off a vibe that he couldn't care less. She left and Alex's eyes narrowed. He once again put on "Listen to the Music" in order to hear what Sarah and Ed Shulsky said about him. Alex mentally prepared himself for the worst.
"Hello?" he heard Sarah say.
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