Sorry about the delay - I have had mountains of work to get through recently. It 's a bit of a filler chapter, but it should set up the next one nicely. Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Hello, Old Friend

Alex woke in an unfamiliar bed. It looked like he was in a hospital of some sort, but as to why he was here, Alex had no clue. The last thing that he remembered was starting to fight Wolf in the physical combat assessment - but what had happened next? Suddenly Alex felt cold. Wolf hadn't beaten him, had he? As soon as the thought entered his mind, Alex froze, before realising that something was not quite right with him and his thought processes ever since he had woken up. There was no way that Wolf would ever be able to overpower him - in fact, only a select few could boast of ever being able to do that, an even smaller group of which that were not dead yet. The key word being yet.

Then realisation struck the spy. He must have been drugged! Alex immediately started to reconsider his situation, because whenever he had awoken from a drugged sleep before, it had always been because someone had caught up with him. In a bad way.

Could it be the work of Scorpia? Alex wasn't sure. He still had yet to work out what had happened in the combat assessment that had landed him here - the scenario of Wolf winning the fight firmly ruled out of the list of possibilities. Instead of waiting for something to happen, be it bad or good, Alex decided to take matters into his own hands, and try to ascertain where he was. There was no way at he would lose the element of surprise whilst there was still a chance that the situation was hostile. If Scorpia had found him... Alex decided to deal with that problem if it came.

Looking around him for any clues or hints that it would be a bad idea to get up, the spy determined that it should be safe. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, and attempted to stand.

Before having to sit down again straight afterwards.

This drug that they had given him - whoever 'they' were - made Alex feel very dizzy and light-headed as soon as he tried to stay vertical. But the teenager was determined, and forced himself to get up. He had dealt with worse before, and a mere (massive) headache was not going to stop him.

Swaying slightly, Alex made his way over to the only door in the room and opened it to a crack. No one was in sight. Good. It just made his job easier. Alex crept out into the corridor silently, his dizziness forced to the back of his mind by more pressing concerns.

The spy could see natural light coming from the glass door at the end of the passage, which he presumed was the exit, but strangely enough, he hadn't seen one living being as he made his break for freedom. It was very odd, and therefore Alex was inclined to believe that he was still at the SAS camp, because if Scorpia or another 'friend' had caught up with him, it was guaranteed that there would be much more security. He wouldn't dismiss the idea completely, but it was looking less and less likely now.

By if he was still in the SAS camp, how did he get into this building? And why was he here? Alex felt like he was missing a vital part of a jigsaw puzzle, that when completed, would allow him to see what had happened, because at the moment he didn't have a clue.

Alex reached the door, and peered cautiously out of the glass, first checking to see where he was, and secondly, to check that no one had seen him so far. What he could see confirmed his suspicions about where he was. Alex recognised the cabins that housed the SAS units, and he could vaguely see the men training in the distance. So he was definitely a the SAS camp, which relaxed the spy slightly, as it was much less likely here that there was any massive danger for him to worry about.

Hoping that nobody would miss him, or that he wasn't causing himself any trouble later on, Alex slipped out of the building and quietly made his way over to the woods, his sanctuary. It would allow him some time to think, and to try to sort out the gap in his memory, so he could figure out why he had been drugged in the SAS camp itself of all places. Alex had never heard of it happening before - at least, not in a situation remotely similar to his.

Before he knew it, Alex sub-consciousness had led him to the same tree as last time. He was just about to start climbing, when he heard the sounds of people coming in his direction. Alex listened closer, and to his horror, now distinguished the voices of children. And in this SAS camp, the sounds of youth only meant one thing.

Brookland.

Tom was exhausted. He didn't know how Alex did it.

After the sergeant had left with Alex earlier that day, L-unit had quickly taken charge. Cabins were assigned - one for the girls, and one for the boys - and Tom did notice that there wasn't a spare bed in the boy's cabin for Alex. He hoped that his friend wasn't in trouble already.

But then came the real torture. L-unit had taken them on a five kilometre jog, that felt like it had taken hours of running to finish. Tom thought of himself as quite fit and healthy, and so it had come as a shock when his misconceptions were found to be just that, false. By the end of the third kilometre, Tom was ready to give up his beloved PlayStation to be able to have a rest. But he knew that whining to the SAS men would only incur more punishment - Alex's tales had told him that much at least, though he had thought that his friend had exaggerated when he had told of the exercises that he had to do when he came here the first time.

Unfortunately, some of the 'Brookies,' as they were now called, didn't have Alex's tales to guide them. And if the looks on L-unit's faces were anything to go by, Tom had reckoned that they were in for much worse once their 'light jog' had finished. And he had been right.

For every complaint that had been uttered, L-unit had made them do five sit-ups, even though they all looked at the point of exhaustion from the run. He himself had been near to collapsing, but had thankfully managed to pull through, as the taunting from the SAS men would have been very annoying if he had fainted, if not downright unpleasant.

Then, finally, the Brookies had been allowed to rest. For ten minutes. Tom had thought that it was a joke when one of the SAS men had told them that their rest was over, and from seeing some of the others' faces, they couldn't either. Some 'adventure holiday' this was turning out to be. L-unit had already made it clear that they hated the intruders in their camp, but it wasn't like the Brookies could do anything about it. They were literally stuck here for the entire month. Huge whoop.

After the teenagers had completed the swimming, and the press ups, they were told to go back to their cabins before dinner. L-unit had looked particularly gleeful when they reminded the group of the large amounts of homework they were me at to complete over the duration of the trip, whilst in their current utter state of exhaustion. Tom knew that he would never get any done, as he was way too tired to even try simple sums like 2+2 at the moment, let alone essays on two stupid poems that didn't make sense on their own, the confusion even worse when they had to compare them. It was completely ridiculous. So Tom planned to spend the spare time sleeping or dozing to try to replenish some energy, which would be a far better use of his time than pointless homework.

The teenagers were walking back to their respective cabins, when Tom saw something in the corner of his eye. Squinting, as he tried to see through the thick foliage, Tom thought he saw a figure that resembled Alex's somewhat, observing the group from a distance. Making an excuse to the others, Tom decided to go and investigate, as he really wanted to speak to his best friend and find out what had happened to him after he had left the rest of the group. It was too secret to ask L-unit about it in front of the rest of the Brookies. It might be sensitive information, and Tom was not sure that even L-unit would have the clearance to know about Alex. Tom knew that he definitely didn't, but who cared about levels of security between best friends, when it was obvious that Alex needed someone to relieve his bad experiences with, as there was literally no one else that he could turn to with his secrets. Everyone deserved someone else to confide in.

Tom made his way through the trees to the spot where he had saw the figure. It was spooky, because now that he was there, he could see no one. Not even a broken twig on the ground to indicate that someone had been there previously - Tom felt slightly silly checking e the ground, but it was what they did in the spy films, so it must work. Tom had just about convinced himself that he had dreamed this person up (his exhaustion must have been causing him to hallucinate) when he heard a low whistle from above.

Tom looked up at the tree.

"Hello, old friend." A small smile could be seen.

"Alex?" Tom whispered. His friend looked very different. The teenager above him was dressed in standard army uniform, and it struck Tom how normal it looked on Alex compared to his usual school uniform. It also made his friend look much older, and more serious - it would be easy to believe that Alex was 24, maybe even older. Tom felt very odd at this realisation.

"Yep, it's definitely me, unless my evil clone has risen from the grave." Alex knew better than to joke about these things, as he knew that his nightmares would be horrific tonight consequently, but the look on Tom's face had been worth it.

"Evil clone." Tom repeated slowly. "You are joking, aren't you?" And the problem was that Tom was never sure. One could never be quite certain if the hardened spy inside his friend wasn't mocking you with an inside joke at your expense, that he alone knew the punch line to, or if he was deadly serious and you were missing a vital clue.

"No, Tom." Came the sombre reply. So Alex wasn't joking? Did he actually have an evil clone six feet under?

"I won't ask." Tom said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Thanks." Alex was glad. There was no way that he would voluntarily remember anything more about Ju - Him without remembering other things that should be locked up in the deep recesses of his mind forever.

"So where have you been?" Tom asked.

"Hmm... Starting from when I left with the sergeant?"

"Yes please."

With a sigh, Alex recounted his day so far. "Went with the sergeant. Got assigned to K-unit again. Ran off from K-unit when Wolf attacked me and I half-retaliated. Came back to be assessed. Ran the assault course. Got applauded by quite a few SAS men for my time. Fought Wolf in my physical combat test. Woke up in some infirmary -"

"Wait." Tom stopped his friend. "How did you get from the combat test to the infirmary?"

"Not a clue." Alex relied chirpily, before laughing at Tom's confused face. It felt good to laugh again. Alex had been the happiest he had been in a long time this day, and that was even with the less cheerful aspects. It said a lot about his quality of life overall.

"Okay, but who won the fight between you and Wolf? At least tell me that." Tom persisted.

"I don't know." And that was the truth. Alex could remember the start of the fight, but he had no recollection of getting knocked out, drugged, or even finishing the assessment one way or another. It was a slight worry for the spy.

But Alex decided to continue with his account. "So I woke up in some infirmary, before sneaking out here, the woods. Then I hear some noisy children coming in my direction, and realise that it would be you lot -"

Alex was stopped again. "It's the Brookies." Tom interrupted, and now it was Alex's turn to look confused, before Tom decided to enlighten him. "It's what L-units call us, amongst other less complimentary names, and it stuck."

"Right... Anyway, I heard the 'Brookies' -" Tom could hear the quote marks clearly, "- coming my way and I decided to observe, but then you saw me, and here we are."

"Busy day." Tom stated.

"Yeah."

"..."

"Look Alex," Tom started. "Do you want to come to our cabin later? The boys are alright, and it might do you some good to get away from your unit and Wolf for a bit. And, you might make some new friends."

Alex grimaced at the last comment. It was true that Tom was pretty much his only friend, but still... "I'm not sure."

"Please. It would be fun, and you don't have to tell them anything. You used to be their football captain, remember?"

And now all Alex had was Tom to discuss the latest sporting matches - when the spy actually managed to see them that is. It would be nice, and it might work, to have some company once in a while. What was the harm in trying?

"I'll give it a go." Alex consented.

Tom grinned. "Fantastic. See you at seven after dinner in cabin 13."

And there the teenagers parted.