Disclaimer: sigh, still not mine…but I'm in the midst of scheming right now. You better watch out Anthony Horowitz 'cause he'll be mine sooner or later!

I'm terribly sorry for the long wait guys, although technically 1 month isn't the end of the world, but I've been soooooo busy. Volleyball, school-work, absent make-up work, violin/viola, and a baby brother all add up to quite a lot of busy-ness and no time to work on my beloved story, sob!!! I would just like to say thanks for not totally hating me for not updating for like forever, but no I did not forget you and no I did not abandon you!

I appreciate the eight reviews, I would have liked a few more, but I guess I'm pretty satisfied and I'm really glad that you like my last chapter. I must warn you though, my brain is fried right now, I mean OMG I just finished the ISATs and a book report, that should give you a little hint of my age, so this chapter isn't really gonna be my best installment, nor is it gonna be the funniest, but it's an update.

I also know that my punctuation is not the best, but please, gimme a break, I'm working on it!

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They dropped K-Unit about two miles away from the house. On the way back Alex started celebrating, "That was totally awesome, did you see Wolf's face?"

Yassen had to smile at that, "Yes Alex, I did." Then he became serious again, "Now, you will need to help me clean up the mess."

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Picking up plastic wrap covered in honey, syrup, feathers, cooking oil and occasional splatterings of pie was NOT a fun job and Alex was getting bored of it. "So," he voiced his thoughts out loud, hoping Yassen would get the hint, "What should we do next?"

Yassen gave him a questioning look, "You tell me what to do and I find a way to execute the plan, not the other way around."

Alex scowled, Yassen could get under his skin like nobody else, "Well, I didn't realize that I was the only one with brains around here!"

Yassen's eyes flashed for a second, but that was enough to send a shiver up Alex's spine. Even though he knew that Yassen wouldn't kill him, Alex wondered how much of a chance there was of Yassen seriously hurting him.

"Are you saying that thinking of ways to put your…nearly improbable plans into action doesn't take brains?!" Yassen squinted his eyes at Alex, demanding an answer.

"Yeah, you're supposed to come up with clever stuff all the time," Alex shrugged.

Yassen was getting fed up and he seriously needed some sleep. "Clever stuff…yes, but all the time…no."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "You're the best assassin in the world and you don't do clever stuff ALL THE TIME?"

Yassen sighed, looking Alex straight in the eye, he continued calmly, "Alex, you may not have noticed, but I'm getting old, a bit too old for my line of work." When Alex, looked at him as if he were a lunatic, he elaborated, "I don't really work for anyone anymore, I work for myself. I feel that it is time for me to take it easy for a while."

Alex snorted, "YOU? Take it easy? Gimme a break!"

Yassen stared back at him with his face blank, "Alex…wh…" he paused, "Whatever you may think of me, I am still human."

Alex was genuinely surprised at this, was Yassen offended? "Sorry…I…" he tried to continue, but Yassen cut him off.

"I don't expect you to understand," There was an odd glint in his eye when he said this, but it quickly morphed into annoyance, "Don't just stand there! Get back to work, this was your idea, so you will help clean up the mess you made!"

Grumbling, Alex continued to roll the plastic wrap, with Yassen doing the exact same thing. "Sure thing, boss!"

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After about 15 minutes, K-Unit woke up in total agony. They were covered from head to toe in cooking oil, honey, syrup, feathers and their faces had received a generous gift from extremely inviting crème pies!

"WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Wolf stuttered upon regaining consciousness.

"Huh?" Eagle muttered, also waking up groggily. Then, upon noticing what they were covered in, he moaned, "Ewwwww, gross!"

Fox was thinking hard and his teammates' complaining wasn't really helping. "Oh, get a hold of yourself man, its just child's play."

Snake shook his head to clear his mind, "Are these feathers at least decontaminated? And this is child's play? I'd like to see what he could do seriously then!"

"OH GODS! Where are we?" Fox swiveled his head around quickly, trying in vain to discover a landmark of some kind.

Wolf was so angry, you could literally see his face turning beet red under the layer of…stuff, "If this was Cub's idea of a joke, I will enjoy torturing him when he gets back!" He smirked, "Oooh yeah, I'm gonna make him pay."

Fox, who had spent the most time with him, felt differently, "Do you think that he had a motive behind the plot, like…to get us back from how we treated him at the SAS?"

"Nonsense!" Muttered Eagle, "Why would he do such a thi…oh…we were jerks towards him weren't we?"

Snake seemed to side with Fox, "I guess we kinda were."

Wolf, of course, was not concerned about that, "We need to find a stream to wash this stuff off, then, we report back to HQ."

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The foyer was finally cleaned and Yassen was quite content with the job well done. Now, he decided, was a good time to get some sleep, but there were more important matters to attend to. After all, his record for staying awake was 79 full hours and this was about what, 35?

He led Alex into another room that was further inside the house, it just happened to be the security room. After tapping away at the keyboard for a few moments, four red dots appeared on the screen he was sitting in front of. "Alex, why don't we pay a visit to K-Unit's lovely vehicles?"

Alex raised an eyebrow at how quickly Yassen managed to locate the motorcycles, "Sure, I would also like to call MI6. Where is K-Unit, by the way?"

Yassen quickly responded by typing away furiously at the keyboard, "Heading in the wrong direction…naturally. It appears they are heading towards a stream, I guess they want to look presentable when they report their failure back to MI6."

"Is there a way for us to guide them back here without being noticed?" Alex asked, not wanting his "bodyguards" to get lost.

"I'm sure they have equipment," Yassen scowled, "But if need be, tell MI6 to send a search party or something."

Alex grimaced, search parties, riiiight. "Sure…their search parties are always successful at locating their men quickly and efficiently!" He said sarcastically while rolling his eyes.

Yassen turned around to look at him, "Alright, I'll tell them that if they don't come, I'll kill them in cold-blood." He was looking Alex straight in the eyes, and it was unnerving how calmly he said it.

"You wouldn't d…well, argh, what am I saying, it was your job!" Alex threw his hands up in the air thoroughly agitated with Yassen; he always had to be so right! "Fine, but don't actually do it," Alex warned cautiously, with most people, that would've been a joke, but with Yassen, you could never be too careful.

"Of course," He turned back to the computer, "First, let me put this place on lockdown."

Alex was puzzled, "Why?"

"Alex, if we tell MI6 to come here to pick up agents, they're bound to stumble upon this place." Yassen's mind was racing, remembering everything he knew about MI6, "Anyways, I think Jones even knows where I live, so we better get moving soon."

"Fine," Alex shrugged, "I don't really care, as long as K-Unit suffers as much as possible!"

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Stepping into the stream felt like heaven to the four members of K-Unit. After half an hour of being drenched in muck, washing it off was a real luxury. "Alright boys, lets move it!" Wolf yelled, trying to sound professional despite his injured pride. He was beaten by a boy and humiliated in front of his men for god's sake…but then again, he was working with a dangerous assassin who, surprisingly, hadn't hurt him yet. "Compasses out…lets head…um…southwest for now."

"Hey Wolf," Fox inquired, "You remember what Mrs. Jones said about Cossack forcing Cub to go with him right?"

Wolf nodded, already predicting where the question was headed.

"Well," Fox paused, not sure if he should continue, "Do you think that he forced him?"

Wolf considered the question carefully, weighing the consequences of each answer with precision and just down right common sense. After some silent debating, he answered, "No," he said, "I do not think that Yassen forced him. It's obvious that the two are very close…or at least it appears to be. Personally, I think that either Alex has turned "bad" or Yassen, by some miracle, has turned "good"."

Eagle was confused, "Why would you think that? If you ask me, they just seem to get along really well."

"I guess that could be it, but I have a question." Snake responded, all the while trudging along using the tiny compass that was in his pocket as a guide, "How do they know each other?"

"Didn't you listen to Mrs. Jones you idiot?" Fox smirked, "They met during the Stormbreaker case!"

"No, that's not what I meant." Snake reasoned, "You don't just run off with someone when you know they could kill you after meeting him for a short time! Remember when he said Yassen is the last link to my past, my parents, I actually feel a connection to him? And what was that business about his dad being an assassin?"

Fox looked thoughtful, "You're right, what did Yassen have to do with Alex's dad?"

"We better find out," Eagle said urgently, "Who knows that they could be planning next!"

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So, did you like it? Did you hate it? Sorry there was no action, I'll try to update soon! Please review and no flames.