And in this chapter, as someone so eloquently put it, Bear becomes "So dead". So very, very dead. OR, why not to piss off four members of Britain's most elite armed force.

Oh, and, I've given up dedicating chapters to Von. I dedicate this story to her. Because, srsly, she's done almost as much as I have for it. Honestly.

Another serious vote of thanks goes out to 'the Maelstrom', who pointed out a load of mistakes I made with the SAS stuff - apologies if this is just as bad, I did try. It'll start next time I have internet connection, I promise, with the accuracy stuff! But, I'm just trying to get this up before I go back to my for the next 7 weeks.

And, on with the story...

DISCLAIMER: It was looking promising; and then, again, not so much...not mine.


"So, Nicholas." He emphasised Bear's real name. "Anything you want to share with me?"

Bear looked at him for a couple of seconds, then shrugged. "Nope." He said, quietly. "Why would there be?"

"The whole 'innocence' thing would be a bit more convincing if you stepped away from Cub." Eagle drawled from the doorway. Bear shrugged again, but did what was suggested. "Yeah, just like that." Eagle raised an eyebrow. "But, y'know, we already saw you do it, so, actually, still not convinced by the innocent act you've got going on here."

Wolf glared at the bigger man, and said, very, very quietly, "For the moment, I'm only going to ask you this once. Did you have anything to do with Cub getting beaten up?"

Bear shook his head. "No." he said, flatly. "Why would I?"

"You look like the sort of petty small-time bastard who'd do that sort of thing." Eagle said, pleasantly. "I mean, I was all for giving you the benefit of the doubt, but suddenly, I'm all out of my stock of goodwill."

"I didn't have anything to do with it, did I, Cub?"

Alex looked at the floor, determined not to meet anyone's eyes. "Umm…"

"Alex?" Wolf asked, almost gently. It had to be the first time that Wolf had ever spoken to him like that – as a parent figure, or at the least an adult who was taking care of him, rather than simply as an older companion. Alex couldn't say that he wasn't grateful that the man treated him as… well, if not as an equal, then at least not as a child; even now, he wasn't being stiflingly over-protective. But that didn't make it any easier to confess; in fact, it made it far, far harder. He didn't want Wolf to feel he had to protect him, as he was certain any confession would make the man feel. He knew from experience how hard it was to win this man's respect, and if he lost it, as he was sure he would, he didn't want to have to face living with someone who regarded him with contempt. So it was with a fair degree of reluctance that Alex dragged his eyes away from the floor pattern, and glanced up at him, before letting his eyes fall to the floor again.

"Yeah?" He almost whispered it.

"Did he have anything to do with it?"

"I've already said I didn't, don't you trust me?" Bear said, quickly.

"No further than I could throw you." Eagle said, with a wicked grin.

"Did it sound like I was asking you?" Wolf cut across, very quietly. "Cub?"

"I don't think it's a good idea to ask Alex here." Snake dropped in, diffidently. "I mean, he's here; if he did do, Alex is bound to feel threatened."

Wolf looked at him, consideringly, then nodded, slowly. "Yeah, you're right." He agreed. There was a quick, unspoken conference as to who was going to go with Alex, and finally Eagle looked at Alex with a sigh.

"Looks like I picked the short straw." He said, theatrically, "So I'll be your councillor for today."

Alex nodded, too tense to even attempt a smile at the man's gesture towards humour. Wolf moved, so that Alex could get to the door without having to get any nearer to Bear, placing himself between them and glaring at the taller man, daring him to try something. Bear didn't.

As Alex followed Eagle out, he heard Wolf's voice, saying, without any particular emphasis, "You know, if it turns out you did do something to him, you're going to wish you'd never been born."

"Didn't know that you were that fond of him." He caught Bear's answer. He didn't hear Wolf's reply, but he overheard Snake's, as the man was standing in the doorway, and far closer to Alex.

"And even if that wasn't the case, we're not fond of bullies."

At that, Alex's lips twisted wryly. Coming from a member of the group who'd spent a large part of their waking hours making his life hell when they first met, it was certainly ironic.

Eagle, who had been heading for the sitting room, apparently remembered that Gloria was in the sitting room, and, reasoning that it was probably not a good idea to talk about this in front of her, paused and looked around for somewhere to go.

"There's always my room." Alex suggested, a little reluctantly, and Eagle gave him a quick grin.

"Well, I think it's going to be either there or the bathroom, so it depends how up close and personal you want to be…"

"My room it is, then." Alex muttered, leading the way.


In his room, Eagle leant against the desk, while Alex hovered uncertainly next to his bed, hugely thankful that he always kept his room so tidy, and that he hadn't personalised the room in any way; if he had, he probably would never even have suggested going in there. Alex was nothing if not extremely private, and although he was starting to like Eagle, having someone he didn't really know in his personal area made him feel on-edge; and given the reason that they were there, he hadn't exactly been feeling comfortable to start with.

It was Eagle who broke the silence. Clearing his throat, he began, awkwardly, "So, Cub…did he do it?"

Alex looked at him for a few seconds, in silence, outwardly, totally calm, but thinking furiously on the inside. Any hesitation to answer was almost as good as an admission, but to deny it outright would insult their intelligence, as it was more than obvious that there was something going on; and he didn't want to tell Eagle the truth without knowing what the repercussions would be. On the other hand, he couldn't ask what the repercussions would be, because that was practically as good as an admission as well. After all, if Bear had done it, and Alex hadn't said, there had to have been a reason, a piece of logic Alex knew all the SAS men would grasp instantly; and if he asked about the consequences, Eagle would know why Alex had been keeping quiet, and, obviously, that he'd had something to keep quiet about. But now he'd hesitated, so Eagle already knew that something was going on. Desperately, he cast around for something to say… and came up blank. There was simply no 'safe' answer to the question he'd been put.

"Cub?" Eagle prompted, after a minute or so of silence.

Alex jumped a little, then relaxed, and said, absently, "Alex. We're not in training any more. Call me Alex."

"OK." He paused for a second or two. "You'd better start calling me Neal, then. Alex."

Alex actually made eye contact with him this time. "I suppose a surname would be pushing it, right?"

Eagle – Neal – laughed out loud. "Actually, my surname's Smith, so I'm good with handing it out." Miniscule pause. "What's yours?"

"Rider." Alex told him, with a small smile.

"Alex Rider." Neal gave him a quick lopsided grin. "I'll be sure to remember it."

"You won't be the only one." Alex muttered.

There was another rather awkward pause. Finally, Eagle said, very quietly, and with a startling degree of compassion, "Cub – Alex – you do know that if Bear did do anything… no one would be blaming you. You wouldn't suffer because of it."

It was an opening of sorts, Alex thought with a small sigh, and a better one than he'd expected to get. "OK…" he said, slowly, "But what would happen to him? Y'know, if he had done it? Hypothetically?"

Eagle stared at him. "If he did that," he gestured vaguely at Alex's face, "To you, why the hell are you worried about what's going to happen to him?"

"It's not so much him." Alex muttered. "But, it'd be a problem for the rest of you, right?"

The tall man regarded him in silence for a few moments, before a smile slid across his face. Slowly, he began to chuckle, shaking his head in amused disbelief. "This guy beat the shit out of you, and you didn't tell us because you thought it might inconvenience us? Jesus, Cub."

Alex flushed, but pressed for answers regardless. "What would happen to him? If he had done it, I mean."

"I think that part's a given, don't you?" Eagle replied, absently. "Well, he'd be out of the SAS – or suspended at the very least – pending an investigation. If he's found guilty…" he paused. "Actually, you know what? I'm not really sure." His voice took on a thoughtful quality. "I mean, we don't really get told about this. I do know that a crime of violence – even just a suspicion of one, really – is enough to get you out. The government isn't too keen on handing out their top weapons to people who are possibly gonna go on a mad killing rampage with them."

"And yet, they still employ you." Alex offered, with a half-hearted smile.

Eagle grinned at him. "I think I preferred the quiet, polite Cub." He paused, obviously on the brink of saying something, then said, slowly, "Look, I don't want to push, but… did Bear…I mean, I need to hear from you…"

Alex interrupted him, quickly. "If he had done, and if he did get chucked out… how much trouble would it cause for you?"

Eagle frowned, slightly, "Look, Cub, it doesn't matter how much trouble it's going to be; if he did this to you, I don't want to work with him anyway, no matter what. He's dangerous."

"But…"

Eagle sighed. "OK. Well, most of us – in fact, all of us, except Fox – are on therapy of some sort – we weren't as badly wounded as James, but… enough to need a bit of PT." he paused, bit his lip, and shrugged. "Anyway, we're just doing a lot of post-assignment stuff right now. We're not on active duty, so all that will happen is we need to find a replacement for James, maybe even just wait until he's recovered enough. To be honest, it's no trouble at all – to us. To Bear, if he did this, definitely; but I can't say that I care too much." He frowned again, but this time it wasn't directed at Alex. "Quite frankly, you think we want to go on a mission with him? He doesn't exactly exude trustworthiness, does he?"

Alex gave him a weak grin. "I guess." He thought about it for a long, long moment, then said, slowly. "OK. Um…" he paused, and gave Eagle a sideways glance. "This is really awkward, you know that?" Eagle gave him a sympathetic half-grin.

"Yeah, I bet. Look, why don't I just take it as a given that he did beat you up?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."

"S'OK." He hovered over what he wanted to say next, then took a deep breath, and said, quietly. "You know, Wolf's gonna kill him. He might have to fight Snake to get there first – hell, I might try and get a few kicks at the bastard, if there's enough left of him – but James is going to go mad."

Alex shifted, uncomfortably. "You don't know me that well… and, I mean, I know it's not a good thing…"

Eagle stared at him. "'Not a good thing'?" he quoted, incredulously. "Cub, it's fuckin' illegal! It's bloody child abuse!"

"Oh. Well, even so…"

"OK, now that, see, that?" he gestured at Alex again. "That makes me angry. Why aren't you angry? You don't seem to think there's anything wrong! Bear beating you up is illegal, more than that, it's… it's wrong. I-I… I don't know how to get that through to you." He ended, sighing. "Let's just go and get this done, shall we? D'you want to stay here till it's over?"

Alex shook his head, quickly. "No. I, er… I'm not going to hide here…"

"S'not hiding." Eagle protested, weakly, but didn't bother to press the point. "Let's go."

Alex followed him reluctantly, not wanting to be left behind, as it were, but not truly wanting to go. He hovered in the doorway, as Wolf looked over at him and Eagle; his eyes rested on Alex for a moment, then he gave Eagle a hard, questioning look. Eagle just nodded.

Wolf looked at Bear, his mouth tightening with anger, eyes darkening. "So, you didn't do anything?"

Bear shrugged, would-be nonchalantly, but Alex, who was used to judging people's moods from their actions, could see the tenseness in his shoulders, and had noted the way his hands had clenched into fists instinctively after Eagle's grim nod. His hands were hanging loosely by his sides at the moment, but he was far from relaxed, despite his apparently casual manner. As Alex watched, he wiped the palms of his hands on his trousers, affecting disinterest, but the damp marks left on his trousers from his sweaty palms belied his manner.

"You didn't do anything at all?" Wolf pressed, and Bear stepped to one side, little more than a shifting of weight, but it appeared that he wasn't the only one who was fully on edge, as Wolf mirrored his actions almost immediately, and Snake and Eagle took a step towards him.

"We did say." Snake said, his Scottish accent suddenly far more pronounced, his voice hard with anger. "We said that if you'd done it, we'd make sure you regretted it."

Bear gave a sudden harsh laugh. "Over him?" he gestured at Alex, and smiled, nastily, "You've known him, what? Three days? If that?"

"We trained with him." Wolf told him, tightly. "And we're loyal to our team."

That was apparently a mistake. "So what about me?" Bear said, sweetly poisonous. "I'm part of your team."

"Really? And you've acted like it, how, exactly?" Eagle asked, lazily.

The large man's smile was feral. "Exactly as he has." He pointed out, jerking his head towards Alex. Alex frowned, sure he should feel something at the declaration, and unable to do so. While what he was saying might be true – in terms of what they'd done for the team – but the difference was, Bear was supposed to be a real member of it, rather than just an honorary one, and, in actual fact, given that Alex had trained with them, and had occasionally helped them out over the course of their training, Wolf especially, he was a far 'realer' member of their group than Bear was, or ever would be. It certainly didn't help that the man hadn't waited to gain their trust before he violated it.

Wolf bared his teeth at him. "He's a child." He hissed, and Bear gave a barking laugh, short and harsh.

"You were keen enough to point out that he didn't need to be treated like one before." He pointed out, a soft, vicious edge to his voice. "Surely he shouldn't be being treated like one now?" He looked at Alex. "I thought you were supposed to be able to stick up for yourself?" he raised an eyebrow, mockingly, and Alex shrugged. He was fed up of being scared of this man; he'd met, fought, and survived people far scarier than Bear. And he was done being manipulated by threats, when he was 'off-duty', as it were.

"We've already worked out who wins a fight between us." He said, coolly. "And losing's a little painful."

"Coward." Bear flung at him.

"Coming from the man who beats up fourteen year olds?" Alex laughed, a laugh as cold and harsh as Bear's had been, devoid of any humour. "Yeah, I can see why I'm the coward." He took one step towards Bear, and stopped, looking him up and down, slowly and insultingly. "Read my file, talk to my employers, and then tell me I'm a coward." He paused, and gave the big man a lopsided, deliberately infuriating little smile. "What have you done, that makes you so brave, anyway?"

Bear growled, and lunged at Alex, who sidestepped him, and he went crashing into Eagle, who reacted purely on instinct, flipping the bigger man before he had the time to adjust to his new position, and thus gain the advantage from being on top – but Bear managed to throw him off, and he hit the floor with a painful-sounding 'thud'.

Bear tried once more to get at Alex, and found his way blocked by Snake, who didn't bother trying any heroics; he just gave him a mock-regretful sigh as he kneed him in the balls. Bear went white and doubled up, so Snake broke his nose, repeating his previous move, and shoving his knee the other man's face. While Bear was distracted, swearing weakly, Wolf took advantage of it, and grabbed his arm in a half-nelson. Bear was forced upright with a half-suppressed growl of pain.

"Who's a coward now?" Alex's guardian asked, grimly. "Easy to be brave when you've got the advantage, isn't it?"

Eagle, who had long since recovered from his 'fall', stepped forward, and said, quietly, and, for once, without a trace of humour in his voice. "If you think for one moment, that we're not going to tell anyone about this, you're very, very wrong. If we're lucky, you'll get court-martialled; at the very least, you'll be chucked out of the SAS, and I'm certainly not going to be sorry to see you go."

Snake looked at Wolf. "What are we supposed to do with him now?" he asked, reasonably.

Wolf shrugged.

It turned out to be a bad move – Bear took full advantage of the momentary distraction, and made one final lunge at Alex. He didn't manage to grab him, which appeared to be what he'd intended, but one of his fists did find the boy's face, and Alex gasped in pain as it clipped his already-bruised eye. Acting purely on instinct, he lashed out, half-blind, and heard Bear grunt as his foot connected with his shin.

"You bloody brat…" he began, but decided against shouting at him, making to grab him instead, missing as Alex ducked, and obviously deciding to cut his losses. He didn't bother trying to get hold of Alex again, but made a break for it, giving the boy a rough shove as he passed. Alex stumbled backwards, and hit the door frame. Eagle and Snake followed him – Wolf stayed behind, watching Alex silently, with a serious expression, as the blond boy caught his breath.

"Don't you want to check that he's not trashing your flat?" Alex asked, quietly, once he was sure his voice wouldn't waver, careful not to make eye contact. He wasn't scared any longer, but it had been harder than he'd expected, admitting to it, and then accepting their protection, such as it was.

"If he is, I'm sure Neal and David can deal with it." He offered him a small smile, to show he was joking, but it didn't last long, and he looked at Alex seriously for a few moments more. It was the most serious Alex had ever seen him look, when they weren't arguing with each other. "I wish you'd told me." He shrugged. "I mean, I know I'm not a 'real' guardian, or whatever, but… I wish you'd told me. Why didn't you? Apart from," he swallowed, "Just not trusting me."

Alex shifted, feeling awful. He hadn't thought Wolf would care that he hadn't told him – he'd just thought that the man had wanted to know for curiosity's sake. "I…" he began, and broke off. He couldn't think of any way to say it that didn't make it sound utterly ridiculous.

"He was worried about the 'problems' it would cause us." Eagle said lightly, from the doorway. "Bear's gone, by the way. Ran out the door, tail between his legs. Well, if you count screaming obscenities at us as having his tail between his legs, he did. He sort of smashed a lamp bulb on his way out, though. Oh, and Dave's arguing with that girlfriend of yours, Nora, or Flora, or whatever."

"Gloria?" Wolf rolled his eyes at his friend, but didn't seem too annoyed. "I'll go talk to her."

Alex and Eagle watched from the door frame, at a safe distance in companionable silence, as Wolf attempted to deflect his girlfriend's rage.

"Three quarters of an hour, I've been sat in there waiting!" she hissed at him, poking him in the chest with a rather long-nailed finger. "I expected at least some courtesy, but with all of your friends around, I suppose it was too much to expect some basic manners from you, wasn't it?!" her voice had risen to a shriek by now. "Or is it too much normally?" She didn't wait for a reply, before yelling at him. "You can call me when you want to apologise!"

She flounced out the still-open door, leaving the three men and boy staring after her in silence… which was, Alex reflected, probably exactly what she wanted.

After staring at the open door for a few seconds, someone appeared on the landing. He grinned at seeing the men staring through the open door, cocked an eyebrow, and said, wryly,

"That desperate to see me, huh?" He paused, then looked back down the stairwell, with a frown. "You know, coming up, I met this complete bitch on the stairs. Banged into me, nearly sent me flying…" he rubbed his side, "And that handbag hurt. She just looked me, hisses, 'men!', and walks off. Not an apology in sight! You'd think I'd done it deliberately."

Eagle, Snake and Alex exchanged glances, then tried to hide their smirks. Wolf, apparently, didn't get who Fox were talking about, and just nodded. "We've got some stuff to tell you." He said, gravely. Fox nodded. "D'you want to have a drink? And shut the door, I think we've had enough unwelcome guests." He looked at Alex. "How long till lunch?"

Unfortunately, Fox had followed his gaze, and was squinting at Alex. "Either you've got something all over your face, or…" he trailed off. Alex looked back at Wolf.

"Explanations?" he asked, in a long-suffering voice.

Wolf nodded back at him. "Explanations." He shrugged. "You'll get through it. But – who long till lunch?"

Alex started; in all the 'excitement', he'd forgotten about lunch. "Oh, shit." He whispered, and ran for the kitchen.

There wasn't any smoke coming from the oven, exactly, but there was no way there'd be enough of the burnt joint left to feed five people – as Alex reluctantly explained. Fox hadn't overtly reacted to the sight of Alex's bruised face, but Alex had noticed the way the man's face tightened a little when he looked at him.

Eagle shrugged, and slung an arm over Alex's shoulder. "So, no Sunday lunch. Who cares? I get that at my mum's, anyway. Who fancies a takeaway?"


It was a couple of hours later when Fox brought up Alex's bruised face again. They were sat in Wolf's living room, with the various cartons of Indian food on the coffee table, and plates balanced on their laps; Alex had cleared up the mess made by the various things he'd been cooking when everything had spun out of control, but it had been an almost unanimous vote not to eat at the table, so they'd ended up in the sitting room.

"Look, I don't mean to intrude, or anything," Fox looked a little wary, but still curious. "But… what happened to your face?"

Alex swallowed his mouthful, and sighed. "Bear happened." He said, shortly, and grabbed a piece of naan bread. Fox frowned.

"What d'you mean, Bear…"

"Bear beat him up." Wolf said, his voice a little tense. "But, we've dealt with that. We'll report it on Monday. Or, I'll report it. My desk-job's perfect for doing exciting things like reports." Alex watched as a small spasm of guilt passed across his face, and his guardian glanced at him. "Not that it's not important, or anything, Cub, but… y'know, it's not always exciting, right?"

Alex gave him a quick smile. "Nah, it's OK. I understand."

The black look hadn't left Fox's face. "So – when did you find out about this?" he asked, quietly.

"Today." Eagle said, reaching across him to get the pilau rice. "I mean, I'm assuming Cub knew when it happened, on Friday, but… well, he didn't tell anyone."

Fox's eyes slid back to Alex. "Why not?"

Alex mumbled something, and Eagle, who seemed to have taken it onto himself to be the official translator for him, said, casually, "Oh, he didn't want to bother us. Thought it would cause us 'trouble'." He looked over at Alex, with a grin. "Nice enough kid, our Cub, but not always the most rational of thinkers."

Alex threw a piece of naan at him. Wolf raised an eyebrow at Eagle, as he made to retaliate. "Look, Neal, Cub can get away with it, he's fourteen. You doing it? That's just sad."

"Hey, Jamie." Snake said, softly. "I've just been wondering, for a while now…. How d'you find out Bear's real name?"

Wolf shrugged. "I've got a desk job, remember? And a bit of clearance. I just – took advantage of that." His eyes flicked to Alex, and back again as he added, off-handedly, "I didn't trust him."

"Fair enough." Fox grinned. "We shoulda learnt by now that you're a pretty good judge of character."

"Yeah. Until it comes to Cub. You really misjudged that one, mate." Eagle said, sweetly. Wolf threw his cushion at him. "What, it's childish when I do it, but you can get away with it?"

"My house." Wolf smiled at him, kindly. "I'm allowed."

"I am so gonna kill you." Eagle said, with a wicked smirk. He picked up the cushion and weighed it in one hand. "Ready?"

James yawned theatrically. "I've always preferred the surprise attack, personally – but then, I guess you always were lousy at stealth exercises, weren't…" Eagle chucked the cushion at him.

Alex could tell that his guardian was inches away from declaring a full-out pillow fight, and stood up, quickly. "You might want to clear the food away, before you take that any further." He said, dryly, starting to put the lids back on the containers. Picking a couple up, he headed for the kitchen.

Back in the sitting room there were a few moments of silence. Snake, who was following Alex's example, paused in the doorway, and said, wryly,

"It's pretty sad, when, out of a group of four grown men and a teenager, the teenager is the voice of reason."

Eagle grinned.


After the pillow fight – which had involved every pillow in the sitting room, including seat cushions, and which Snake and Alex had watched from the door, in mild horror and amusement, while three fully trained elite soldiers gleefully bashed hell out of each other with fluffy cushions – the group was, once again, sat on the sofas, in various states of sleepiness.

"Hey, James." Eagle said, with a lazy smile. "What'd you mean, saying I was lousy at stealth exercises?"

Wolf shrugged. "Nothin'." There was a pause. "You've got a whole load better." Eagle didn't catch the wicked grin that went with the words.

He sat up. "OK, now I'm really worried. Am I actually bad at stealth manoeuvring?"

"No. But I had you going for a couple of seconds there, right?"

"I'd chuck a cushion at you, but something tells me we've already done that one."

"Many, many times." Snake said, with a long-suffering sigh.

"D'you remember that time in Afghanistan, when some guy threw his pillow at you, Neal, and you told him that if he ever did anything like that again, you'd kill him?" Fox asked, innocently.

Neal flushed a little. "I was having a really bad day, OK?"

"Mate, you were having a really bad week. Swear to god, you were practically PMS-ing."

"Yeah, well, at least I don't chuck grenades around like they're bouncy balls, or something." Eagle retorted, only half-serious.

"At least he doesn't scream when they go off!" Snake teased him.

"That was just the once, and it surprised me!"

"What, and you decided to scream? Like a little girl?" he prodded, grinning. "Nine, maybe ten. I'm seeing, pigtails, frilly dress."

"Bastard." Eagle replied, without heat.

"Actually, d'you remember the guy you actually did kill that one ti…?" Fox began, but Wolf frowned at him, looking pointedly at Alex. Unfortunately, Alex caught the glance.

"What?" he asked, "It's not like I've never killed people before." There was a stunned silence.

"Um…" Eagle began, slowly. "Cub…"

"Actually, you know what?" Alex said, quickly, standing up, registering the change of atmosphere almost immediately. "I'm, er… I'm going to go to bed, now. Y'know, I've got school tomorrow, so, um, I'd better get going. Really. So, er… I'll see you, OK?"

"You can't leave it like that." Fox said, commandingly. "Siddown."

Alex obeyed.

"Firstly – what d'you actually do, for Special Ops? I mean, yeah, you got dumped in our group during training, but that's the most we got told. We know you work for MI6," he was ticking points off on his fingers, "And that you've been on three missions so far. But – what sort of missions?"

Alex looked at him, blankly. "…There're different sorts of assignments?"

Fox looked a little taken aback. "Well – yeah. I mean, there must be, right? Information gathering, semi-friendly, all that. Y'know, and there's internal stuff, because – well, MI5, y'know? But… I don't know. I wouldn't have thought they were supposed to send you on killing stuff, but I guess you must have, since you say that you've killed people."

"They didn't give me a gun, if that's what you mean." Alex said, cautiously.

"Excellent!" Eagle grinned. "Creative murder. That makes the best stories."

Wolf glared at him. "It's not murder if it's in the line of duty, Neal. Remember?"

Unbelievably, Eagle blushed. "Oh. Yeah. Sorry, Cub."

"No, that's OK." Alex said, with a small, slightly reluctant smile.

"So – what DO you do?" Snake asked, quickly, to change the subject.

He glanced at Wolf. "I work for MI6. I'm a sort of spy, I guess."

"We already knew that." Fox said, impatiently. "What's your rank? You've got to have one, right? I mean, they have ranks, don't they?" he paused, then said with a grin, "You know, I know nothing about MI6. Do they have ranks?"

Alex shrugged. "I guess. I-I'm a bit too young to know all that, I think. They don't really tell me much about the organisation. It's not part of the stuff I'm required to know."

"Right." Wolf was frowning. "What do you mean, you're not required to know? You need to know as much as you can about the people you work for."

Alex wavered between telling the truth about his unique situation within MI6 – which amounted to being exploited by them, rather than working for them, and meant that he was neither inside their organisation, nor outside it – and just caving, for just a few seconds. Then he shrugged again. "Yeah, I guess."

Wolf's frown deepened. "So – what sort of stuff have you done?"

"Nothing much." He passed it off. "Look, I'm tired, and I've got school tomorrow. Can I go to bed?"

"Aw, c'mon, Cub, we haven't had our bedtime story yet." Eagle's smile was distinctively mischievous. "What have you done for MI6?" He paused, "No, wait, scrap that, how many people have you killed?"

Alex was silent for a few seconds, counting it up in his head. "Umm… my first mission, the people who actually died…four. I think."

"Four?"

He bit his lip, nervously, shifting a little in his seat. "Um… yeah?"

"And what about the people who didn't die?"

"Well, the Prime Minister…"

"I'm sorry, come again?" Fox stared at him. "The Prime Minister?! He knows you're a spy?"

"Yeah." Alex told him, rather reluctantly. "I think so."

"You think so? What does that mean?"

"Nothing." He could tell they were getting irritated, but he didn't know how much he was allowed to tell them. "I mean, I've met him. He knows I'm a spy."

"Oh, well, so long as he knows, I guess it must be alright." Eagle said, with heavy sarcasm.

"Well, quite." Snake murmured. "So, four people died because of you on the first mission – how?"

Alex flushed. Thinking about the people he'd killed was a subject he tried to avoid thinking about, and he was regretting having ever mentioned it, but he hadn't wanted them to feel like they had to avoid certain subjects because of him. "Um…" he swallowed, reflexively. "Well, one person…" he thought of Nadia Vole's broken body, her yellow-painted lips in that endless scream, and the deadly jellyfish twined around her, with an irrepressible shudder. "It's… complicated." He finished, lamely.

"So, explain." Eagle said, seriously.

Alex flicked him a slightly nervous glance. "I-I… got caught. And they weren't happy."

"'They'?"

"I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you who they were." Alex said, awkwardly. "I'm sorry."

"Just tell us what happened." Fox said, impatiently. "You don't have to mention any names if you don't want to."

"OK. Well, I was sent to… investigate them. So, I did, but I got caught. This one woman, she came to the place where they were keeping me, and said she'd help me escape… but…" he flushed. "It's stupid."

"What's stupid?"

"Th-the man I'd been sent to investigate had – he kept a Portuguese Man O'War in a tank in his office."

"Strange pet." Wolf observed, quietly.

"Yeah, I thought that." Alex said, with a small smile. "And – this woman who said she'd help me was kind of lying, and I ended up in the tank with the jellyfish."

"And how did this end up with her dying?" Fox asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'd been given this cream, which eroded metal. I put that on the girders holding the glass together; the water broke her legs, and the jellyfish landed on top of her." His voice was dead. Wolf made an abortive gesture to touch him, looking rather awkward.

"I'm sorry, Alex." He said, softly.

"It's OK." He said, with a short-lived, regretful half-smile. "I… you get used to it, you know?" he took a deep breath. "Two of the others were chasing me, in jeeps. They – I – they crashed, because of something I did."

"Why didn't they catch you?" Fox asked, intently.

Alex frowned, and shrugged. "I guess, I was driving faster than they were." There were a couple of raised eyebrows, but nothing was said. Shutting his eyes briefly, he went on. "I – managed to get onto this plane. When I parachuted out of it…"

"You parachuted?" Wolf stared at him. "How…?"

"I did the training with you, just not the jump." Alex pointed out. "It's not too hard to work out how to do it."

"But how did you parachuting out of the plane end up with someone dying? Unless you hit them when you landed, or something…" Eagle said, with a small frown of his own.

"I'd been given…" he thought of how best to describe it. "It was – well, I guess it was a smoke bomb of sorts, except it sort of wasn't. He flew at me, and I set it off. He crashed. I expect he died."

"Where were you parachuting?"

"London."

Snake had a thoughtful expression on his face. "A couple of months ago?" Alex nodded, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He had a horrible feeling he knew where this was going. "When Herod Sayle was doing that ceremony to give away all those free laptops in the Science Museum?"

"Yeah."

"You hit the roof of the Science Museum, right?" his expression had changed to one of amusement.

"Something like that." He muttered.

"So – you're the person who shot the Prime Minister."

Alex shrugged, uncomfortably. Four pairs of eyes stared at him, questioningly, a faint hint of insuperable determination to know hidden at the back. "Well… yeah."

Fox sat back. "Right. Well, I guess you got your revenge then, for him knowing that you're a spy, and all. Saves me the job, I suppose."

Eagle wasn't so easily shaken off. "That was just your first mission, right? So, how many have you been on?"

"Five, I think. Though, two of them might not count."

"Why not?"

"I really don't think I'm allowed to tell you." Alex said, apologetically.

"Cub, I'm your guardian." Wolf said, stretching, a grin on his face. "Of course you're allowed to tell me."

"Plus, you're part of our team." Fox added.

"Yeah, for ten days on a training exercise, which you spent making clear how much you didn't want me there." Alex pointed out, sarcastically. "Sure, that makes me part of this."

"Oh, no, we got told that you were still a member." Fox contradicted him, triumphantly. "When you got appendicitis. Someone comes up to us and goes, 'oh, by the way, the fifth member of your team's got appendicitis'. Took us a couple of minutes to work out who the hell they were talking about, but James here figured it out quick enough."

Alex thought for a couple of seconds, confused. "Appendi… Oh. Yeah, of course. Sorry. Appendicitis."

Eagle raised an eyebrow. "How stupid d'you think we are?"

"What do you mean?" Alex asked, with a weak smile.

"I mean, d'you really think that we didn't catch that? What did you really have? SARS? Bird flu? What?"

"I wasn't sick."

"So… what was it, then?"

He sighed, defeated. "I got shot."

There was no stunned silence this time. Everyone seemed to have a question to be answered.

"Who shot you?"

"Why didn't they tell us?"

"Who shot you?"

"Where did you get shot?"

"Why didn't they tell us?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Wolf asked, last. "What if something had happened to you?! I could have really hurt you, since I didn't know that someone had shot you!"

Alex flushed. "I didn't think it really mattered."

"'Didn't think it mattered'!?" Wolf half-yelled. "You're going to be living with me for the next six months, and you didn't think that maybe it was important that I know that you'd been shot?!" Snake put a calming, restraining hand on his arm. He frowned at his friend, but took a deep breath, and shut his eyes. When he opened them, he said, pseudo-calmly. "OK. Where were you shot?"

"The bullet just missed my heart." Alex whispered. "It nicked my pulmonary artery. The surgeons did a Gortex graft, and repaired my left lung, which had collapsed."

"And this happened all of a month ago?"

"Yes."

"Well, doesn't it hurt?"

"I've got medication for the pain." He said, in a very quiet voice.

"What about PT, is that all finished now? You don't have any more check ups, or anything?" Snake asked, rather more gently than Wolf.

He shrugged. "I don't think so. I mean, they haven't told me, if I have. Normally, I just get a phone call saying that they want to see me, but I don't know whether they've been told I'm not at my house any more. I guess MI6 would have told them if I needed more."

"Yeah, of course." Snake nodded, giving him a small, reassuring smile.

Wolf, beside him, had gone very still. "Wait." His voice was tense, worried. "What about when Bear beat you up? Did that, y'know – damage anything?"

Alex frowned. He honestly hadn't thought about that. "I… don't think so."

"And you didn't think that it was important to get it checked? Y'know, since you might possibly, y'know, die?"

Alex bit his lip. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I just – I didn't remember it, OK? I forgot."

"You forgot. You just forgot that you got shot in the chest." Wolf repeated, incredulously.

"It doesn't hurt, OK?!"

"It doesn't hurt!? You nearly got shot! In the heart! Do you honestly expect me to believe that that doesn't hurt?!"

Alex frowned, thinking about it. "I… I guess it hurts… but not so much that I notice it. It's not very painful, really."

"How much pain are you used to!?" Snake said, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Some." He shifted uncomfortably. "My uncle said pain was something to be worked through, not given in to."

"Wow." Eagle sat back, raising an eyebrow. "He sounds like a laugh-a-minute sort of guy."

"He was alright." Alex excused the man. "He just – he never really wanted kids around, you know? If he had, he'd have married. As it was, I guess he kind of got stuck with me, what with MI6 just dumping me on him."

There was an uncomfortable pause; Alex bit his lip. Finally, Eagle sat forward again, and said, almost-casually.

"So… if you live with your uncle, where is he know?"

Alex swallowed. They'd never been that close, but it still hurt to say it, or even think about it sometimes. "He… he died. Nearly a year ago now."

Snake kicked his friend. "Tactless bastard, aren't you?"

Eagle shrugged him off. "And – who do you live with now?"

Alex frowned, confused as to where this was leading. "Umm… Jack. She's in America right now, with her dad. He's got cancer."

"So – if your uncle died, and you're living with a woman now… have you had The Talk?" he grinned, faintly evil.

Alex stared at him in mute horror.


So? Do tell.

Lol, ami. xxx