*Hides behind laptop* Hey guys, I'm alive! So it's been a while since I last updated this story and I'm sorry for such the delay, but here it is! I assure you I have actually been on and off working on this story the whole time; I just never got it right! This is the first time I've got it close to right and I am hoping that this chapter won't disappoint anybody. It's probably about a third of the length of every other chapter, but think how much longer it may have taken me to write if I'd continued!

This chapter is quite important for the story, and I don't want to say anymore so that I don't ruin it… enjoy and please review!

Disclaimer: Characters do not belong to me, and all uses of technical or military stuff is completely made up and not accurate.

Chapter 10

Previously in 'Caught in the Fading Lights' …

The cover from the trees was fast approaching, the free run quickly coming to an end; he had to do something, and he would have to do it now. "Wolf, I have to go back!" he exclaimed, slowing.

The SAS leader near-halted in his step, as did his unit. "Are you crazy? Cub, they know we've gone and haven't got long. Hurry the hell up!" he grabbed Alex's arm as he said this and started running again. The others preferred to be silent than to intervene. At least, whilst Alex was allowing himself to be pulled along.

Alex yanked away from the unit leader and started for the other direction, but both Wolf and Eagle grabbed him simultaneously, both dragging him along. Alex struggled and tried to turn but Fox pushed him and Eagle and Wolf ran faster, half carrying the teen (who was far lighter than he should have been) in their attempts to keep him from returning to their hell. "I have to go back for Jack! She deserves a proper funeral and I can't bury her body if it's in there!" he shouted furiously. Wolf froze in his steps, his surprised unit stopping around him, concerned.

"Wolf, we have to keep moving!" Snake hissed, "They'll be here in moments and I bet you they'll have a hell of a lot more manpower than we do, gun power too. Then we'll be back in there and dead before you know it!"

"He's right Wolf," Fox agreed, before turning to Alex: "Alex she's dead. But she would not want you do die just because she's not around anymore. You know that."

Everyone watched in a stony silence, waiting for Alex to react. Exhausted to the point of fatigue and running on adrenaline that had began to fade whilst they stood waiting, the background faded around them. It was wrong and it was more than strange; soldiers and spies were known to keep their heads in these situations…

Maybe they were broken toys now.

Whatever now, it didn't really matter, the time had come where they had to make a decision. It was the end.

"It's a shame, Alex, that your escape failed so miserably."

Alex's breath hitched in his throat. The voice, poison; ice in his ears. He knew the patronizing tone and he knew hate was all that voice really deserved. He turned to face the speaker; barely noting that Wolf and Eagle had lost their grip. They too, had frozen.

"You put on quite a good show," he continued, "though I'm disappointed it was this easy to surround you. Really, this is Britain's best? Ha. You should be ashamed that you're so damn weak."

He stood behind a brute or two, peeking round like a child. But no child could be him, because he was so bitter and hateful and twisted. No child could ever be so hated. No child would be so fearful that he had his dozens of guard, complete with guns, ready to fire on captives.

"I'm not weak Ash." He ground out. "I'm stronger than you'll ever be, and you won't ever capture me again. We're not going down with out a fight, and I'm never going to be at your power again. I'd rather die."

Ash walked out to stand in front of the brute, a crazed look in his eye.

"So be it."

…Now…

Everything ended in less than 5 minutes.

Hatred and anger, at Ash, at captivity, of the torture and the death that the man had pushed upon them, burned within the 5. Newfound strength had surged through veins, adrenaline pumping them forward and their muscles, oh how they'd ached to be used. Despite the lack of use, despite the torture and the pain inflicted; it had all led to this. If they had ever had any chance of escape, it would have all come down to this. To the final stand. And that it had.

K-unit had shared a look. One of complete understanding; if they were going to go down, then it was going to be fighting to the last breath.

The jumbled assortment of memories fuelled their minds before becoming insignificant, flattened facts of the past. Having surveyed the group of soldiers and their capabilities, Alex found that (when considering K-units various injuries) the fight was almost even. But they had the disadvantage. The spy could just about fire a gun but his other hand was useless thanks to the break, making him practically useless himself. Not that the guards, or Ash at this point were too much of a threat- no body had shot yet.

No body moved at first. This was, after all, a stand off before it would become bloody; a power struggle between two opposing sides. Ash's mouth was set in a firm, hard straight line and he'd simply stared at them.

"Maim, don't kill them. We want them alive." He ordered, stepping back.

And the next two minutes flashed by. Alex was by far the most damaged of the unit, so he could only self-defend. But Fox, whose injuries left him rendered almost as inert as Alex, too could not fight.

It was a hard fight, and they damned nearly lost. Multiple times Wolf found himself beneath whoever he was fighting, imagining the gun coming down to smash his skull, but every time he got back up, kept fighting and pushed on. Because he needed to. Wanted too.

Alex had never actually been trained with a gun by MI6 or the SAS. Not before Scorpia; Malogosto Island had changed that for him. Turned him into a killing machine, not just a teenage spy. It was then that it became who he was: changed every atom of his being to something that could just kill and walk away. It was his biggest regret.

Most of the time. This was one, rare, rare occasion.

He may not have had the use of one of his arms, but that didn't mean Rider wasn't brilliant; ruthless and skilled like no other, not just of his age but also of his profession. Using the strength and speed of his charging opponent to flip the man down himself, he then proceeded to take his gun and shoot. Once in the head: no point on wasting ammunition. He managed to kill 2 more of them before the gun ran out of ammo; clearly, the late owner had forgotten to reload before the fight. Stupid.

There was nothing more to it. It was basic human survival.

Just for a moment, Alex paused to allow his shoulders to sag and his eyes cloud with the pain that was fighting to burn him alive. The dull throb of his arm reminded him of its break, but he knew if he let himself slip any further from the barrier protecting him, it would be so painful that it might literally kill him. But that moment almost cost him his life.

A goon swung their gun round the back of his head, sending him barrelling down hard for the ground; hard enough that the breath was knocked out of him. The man was the worst of human kind, and he smiled as he placed a foot on Alex's ribs and dug his heel in, the gun pointing for his chest the only.

It was a cloudy day but Alex saw the gleam of glee in his eyes, causing a knot to form in his own stomach. Suddenly, from nowhere Fox came up behind the man just as he cocked his pistol, a gun in hand. But he did not fire it, instead, with his good arm, swinging wholeheartedly the metal item into the back of the mans skull.

He wouldn't have survived that. No one could've.

Alex pulled himself up cautiously, eyes darting in every direction and heart racing fast. Eagle had just put a man to the floor and Wolf was on fire, 3 men in the midst of fighting with him, long since run out of ammo. Despite his injuries, like the rest of his unit he was ignoring them. Later, they would pay for that, with pain but with the reward of their lives.

In fact, it was Wolf that triggered the events that led to the end. He was heading straight for Ash, and the two guards that were initially guarding the man broke rank to get Wolf. Ash had been left without protection, gun hanging at his side and the only thing in his hand a blade that not much could be done with. Or so they thought.

The last 3 of the guards had pinned down Wolf, but not one member of K-unit was close enough to get to their unit leader in time, for Ash was approaching the prone Wolf, blade gleaming even brighter than the eye of a murderer. But all Wolf did was shout "SNAKE!" at the top of his lungs.

Ash didn't even get a chance to see what was coming for him. Didn't see the medic with a pistol cocked, perfectly aimed for his vulnerable skull. Snake's green eyes were cold, but not the void of his old friends'. Yet Ash did not see any of it, maybe he was a coward; maybe he did not want to face the inevitable, because everyone knew Snake would not miss. It only took a second, maybe two, for the Scots man to pull the trigger, and that was it.

Ash was dead.

Alex imagined the lifeless orbs, that had been trained on him as soon as Wolf had screamed Snake's name, would have rolled into the skull as the body crumpled. It was a perfect shot; he didn't really even know what had hit him.

The small, angry and hateful part of Alex, deep inside him, wished that it had not been this way. Jack had suffered for innocence – because of him – and had suffered so much, God, Ash deserved-

He couldn't do it to himself. Couldn't let himself think, because the body was still there, warm, and the horrible things he could do. Well, he shouldn't. A grave feeling of fear settled on his chest; how much better was he, really, to be thinking like that: to allow those dark thoughts to flicker through his mind like a blooming flame.

"Alex?"

Alex jumped, turning to look at Fox. It was then he realised that he was standing beside Ash's body, a puddle of blood oozing round his shoes. Ash's? No, he realised, someone had shot the remaining 3 guards. The teen hadn't heard the gunshots.

"It's finished." He stated numbly, eyes returning to the lifeless ones of a man that had taken so much from him.

"Yeah," Fox agreed, "It's over Alex. He's dead."