(Warning for swearing, violence and semi nudity.)

And then the Heavens Open, but Not for You

As expected, his first couple of days at the camp were not exactly the happiest of times, but he survived without anything particularly unexpected happening. The other soldiers either stared at him out of the corner of their eyes and glanced away when he looked at them, or glared openly at him. It was apparent to Alex that the latter were friends of Osprey. His strength and perchance for violence, along with some sort of strange charisma all but Alex seemed to see in him, had led to the other man having quite a lot of his fellow soldiers looking up to him as a sort of unofficial leader. Their respect for Osprey didn't stop the constant taunts and teasing that K-Unit had to endure thanks to their young new unit member. They were the same kind of repetitive jokes that Alex had heard back at Brecon Beacons, so they didn't effect him all that much. They certainly ruffled Osprey's feathers though. He seemed to grow to hate Alex even more with every passing hour.

So far his anger had merely manifested itself in snide remarks and the odd boot stuck out to try and trip Cub up, two things that he could cope with, and on the second account, easily avoid with an accuracy and grace that surprised even himself, though he knew the reason behind his newly found increased flexibility and decreased reaction time.

Alex had stuck to the silent promise he had made himself, and watched his consumption of the tablets carefully. He took the liquid medicine three times a day without fail, saying when asked that it was to keep an old chest infection at bay. Alex monitored himself constantly to make sure he took the tablets only when he felt he really needed them, but before he became a danger to those around him, and not just before or during an exercise if he could help it (though some went on for several hours, forcing him to take a tablet or two anyway).

However, on his third day he came dangerously close to revealing his secret, when Osprey decided to act on Tiger's request.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

Alex walked around the corner of a building on the edge of the camp, looking down at the ground. He was minding his own business, deep in thought as he tried to work out how long it had been since he had taken his last Parabiteamol.

Then something hit the side of the head..

The force of the blow sent him crashing into the wall behind him, and then onto the ground below. The immediate flair of pain from his head was terrible, but it was the unexpected pain in his mouth that caught his attention. Head throbbing and hands clamped tight over his lips, Alex glared up in confusion at the figure of Osprey standing above him.

'Bastard!' The oath was muffled behind his hands, but still audible to Osprey. He reacted by giving Alex a cursory kick in the ribs.

'Oh come off it, I didn't even hit your mouth!' he said derisively, rolling his eyes at the teenager on the ground in front of him.

Alex scrambled to his feet and took a step back from the older man,trying to get out of range. Taking a risk, he moved his hands from his mouth long enough to spit blood down onto the ground beside him, then raised them again. He needed to, to hide the sharpened teeth that had burst through his gums when Osprey punched him. There was no way he could explain them to Osprey if he saw, and no way he could allow him to see in the first place.

Alex was Angry. Angry at himself for not seeing the blow coming, at MI6 for letting this happen, at the vampire who had bitten him, at the vampire blood flowing through his veins and at Osprey for having just punched him.

His irises darkened as his anger grew, and the red flecks brightened.

Luckily for Alex, Osprey didn't notice.

Keeping his eyes on Osprey, Alex reached into the pocket he kept his tablets and popped out two of them. He swallowed them down, being careful not to let Osprey glimpse his teeth. As he did so Osprey took a couple steps towards him. Alex took a couple of steps backwards.

'What the fuck is up with you, Cub?' He growled, confused and angered by his odd behaviour.

Incensed, Alex shot back, 'What the 'fuck' is up with me? You're the one who punched me! I wasn't even doing anything, you just came up and punched me!'

Ignoring Alex, the taller man peered down malevolently at him. 'And what the hell's up with your mouth?'

Spitting blood out again, Alex sneered, 'What do you think?'

He pulled away as Osprey made to slam him against the wall. He should have been able to avoid the attack, but the tablets were already taking effect. With a grimace of pain Alex's back and head came into contact with hard brick.

Just as Alex was wondering if the world really might be conspiring to give him brain damage on top of everything else, he found Osprey glaring at him at uncomfortably close quarters. He had his forearm across Alex's chest, pining the boy to the wall with his superior weight.

'Look kid, I don't know why you're here, and I don't care. But either you start playing by my rules or you get the fuck out of here, you get me?'

Alex glared right back at him, the strange colour gone from his eyes but not the anger. It perforated every syllable as he hissed through teeth that were mercifully already back to normal;

'Look, I don't want to be here, Okay? But I can't leave. I don't know what your problem is, but just leave me alone and there wont be any trouble.'

It was hard to breathe with the soldier leaning on his ribcage, and even harder to talk.

'Trouble?' Osprey laughed. 'There's going to be trouble. Lots of trouble. Because you see kid, I really don't like you. And things I don't like tend to get hurt.'

'That has to be the shittiest veiled threat I've ever heard.'

Osprey wasn't sure what 'veiled threat' meant but knew he was being insulted. He'd hurt the boy for that. He drew back his free hand and delivered a short, sharp punch to Alex's stomach.

Alex let out an involuntary gasp. He crumpled to his knees as the soldier released him, his eyes fixed dazedly on the army regulation boots in front of him.

Fingers scrapped across his scalp and balled into a fist, yanking at his hair. Alex hissed in pain as Osprey used his handhold to drag the boy's head back until he could see his face.

'Look at you,' the man sneered, 'look at you, you're nothing, kid. You're just a smarmy little brat who doesn't know his place. I want you to remember this kid; I'm better than you. I'm bigger. I'm faster. I'm stronger. I belong here. You don't.'

With each point he made, he yanked Alex by the hair again, making the boy wince each time.

'Remember that and this might not have to happen again.'

With that, Osprey let go of the boy and stepped away. Alex collapsed forward on to his hands and knees. His arms shook beneath him, though he wasn't sure if it was from adrenaline, anger or pain.

Before he could drag himself back up onto his feet, Osprey kicked him one last time, knocking him down onto his side. Alex stayed curled up on the ground, waiting for the pain to fade as Osprey walk away without another word.

'That bastard that fucking fucking fucking bastard! I'm gonna kill him. Gonna kill him. Gonna kill him.' Alex muttered to himself once Osprey was out of earshot. He ached all over. The sharpest pain was in his ribs and scalp. He didn't think Osprey had broken any of his bones, but if he found patches of hair missing he wouldn't be surprised. Slowly, the pain dulled until Alex could stop swearing to distract himself from it all. His head, stomach, side and back still aching, he carefully dragged himself back onto his hands and knees.

He just couldn't believe that bastard. Sure, he hadn't expected to end up his best friend or anything, but what sort of person beats up a fifteen year old boy just because he doesn't like him being there?

If Osprey tried anything like that again, Alex didn't know what he would do. He couldn't fight back. He'd wanted to just now, of course he'd wanted to. But even after taking the tablets, he'd still wanted to bite Osprey. He'd been so close, so vulnerable, even though he would never have guessed it. The taste of blood had already been in Alex's mouth from where his fangs had burst through his gums...

Osprey was sure to hurt him again, what if Alex had no medicine with him the next time? What if he bit him? It would be the death of Alex. And perhaps Osprey, though perhaps he'd deserve it.

So. What could he do? What about telling someone? His mind baulked at the idea. Alex had been taught by Ian to solve his problems by himself. But still, if it stopped Osprey... Alex considered his options. Another Unit member? But he didn't know any of them well enough to know how they would react. What if they didn't believe him? What if they were actually on Osprey's side? That would be disastrous. To go whining to one of Osprey's friends would make him look weak and childish. And they might beat him up too. Would Wolf do that? Would Wolf hurt him too? He had done in the past, when they first met at Brecon Beacons, though he hadn't actually beaten him up like Osprey had.

What would Eagle say? Nothing probably, he rarely did. What help would that be? Tiger? He would be on Osprey's side for sure. Anyway, even if one of them were on his side, it would just lead to the Unit becoming divided and dysfunctional. That wouldn't be good for any of them.

So who else? The Sergeant? He was the only one here who appeared to be in a position of power over Osprey. Hah. Not a chance. It was clear that he resented Alex's presence here almost as much as Osprey did. He wouldn't be any help. He would most likely pretend not to believe him or just order him to toughen up and deal with it himself.

Feeling angry, angry at the world and everything in it, Alex forced himself to stand up. His head swam and his vision blurred momentarily, making him feel as though he was going to throw up.

'God, that hurts,' Alex muttered, putting a hand to the back of his head. He could feel a raised bump that was likely to hang around for quite a while. Now that he'd straightened up, his back ached a lot as
well.

'That damn bastard.'

Since he knew that by not taking any more medication he would get better quicker, Alex decided to not take any more until all the pain and most likely, bruising, had completely gone away. Screw the consequences.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

As Cub dragged himself to his feet and started to walk away, Tiger ducked ducked out of sight. Hiding behind one of the outer buildings, his eyes gleamed and he smiled smugly to himself. He had seen the entire thing. And the kid was right, Osprey really had been a bastard. Perfect. He couldn't stop himself from grinning as he gleefully ran the events of the last few minutes back through his mind. Osprey had done just as he has asked, roughing the boy up a bit, making him feel targeted, alone, vulnerable. Tiger admired that fighting spirit he had seen in Cub, answering back, not cowering away. That meant he wouldn't be too easy a conquest. But he hadn't fought back aggressively either, which might make him easier to take advantage of in other situations.

He wondered why Cub had clutched at his mouth though; Osprey hadn't punched him there. Maybe he was putting it on? The thought disappointed Tiger. He didn't want to get involved with a liar or a drama queen. But wait, he had spat out blood, hadn't he? That meant his mouth must have been bleeding in some way or other. Most likely he had bitten his tongue hard when he'd been hit.

Tiger was tempted to go after Cub straight away .He was eager to give the impression that he cared. He wanted to ask the boy what had happened, to offer support and become a false ally for him against Osprey.

No, it was too soon. Cub would most likely reject his help, making future approaches harder. But he knew he would have to act fairly soon, before the kid gave in and asked to be sent home. He was only fifteen after all. He couldn't survive here for long.

Then again, he wasn't a normal fifteen year old, was he?

From what Tiger had seen of him over the last couple of days, he seemed much more solemn, independent and uncomplaining than any teenager other teenager would be in this sort of situation. SAS training was for the big boys, the special, the elite, but Cub seemed to be coping well. Yet, he never acted cocky or full of himself. He tended to avoid the other soldier's banter and antics warily and hadn't fought back against Osprey just now. That kid was weird, a walking enigma. But really quite an intriguing one, in Tiger's eyes. He would enjoy getting the boy to admit all his petty little secrets one by one. By the time Tiger was bored of him, there wouldn't be a fact about him he didn't know. Which would be very helpful for future blackmail.

The SAS soldier had a feeling he was going to have a lot of fun with poor little Cub.

…~*AR-OBTS*~…

The water might have been lukewarm but Alex didn't care. A shower was a shower and he was just happy to be able to be getting clean again after training.

In order to escape from Osprey and to keep his scars hidden away from curious eyes and questions, Alex had disappeared off to grab a clean uniform from K-Units bunk and then ran off to have a shower the second they had been dismissed from the exercise. This had allowed him to get in first and nab one of the old singular showers at the back of the shower block. Most of the space was taken up by one big communal showering area, but around the back there were three broken down old individual showers, separated from each other by thin walls. The temperature of the water was even more temperamental back there, but Alex was happy to pay the price for privacy.

It was a complete coincidence that Alex shifted his gaze from the cracked roof tiles above his head and down to the ground just as someone scooped up his clothes from where he'd left them, just outside the cubicle door. He wouldn't have noticed this either, if it hadn't been for the corner of his towel poking through under the door. As they went to grab it, Alex saw the movement, and without thinking, leant down and snatched it
under the gap. Alex stared at the large, scruffy blue towel in his hands for a second before the situation resolved itself into something that made sense.

He'd left his clothes piled neatly just outside the shower door, as there was no room inside. Someone had evidently noticed this and decided it would be a funny idea to steal them. Yeah. Real hilarious.

Jaw clenched in anger, Alex turned the shower off with a vicious action, not wanting the towel to get any wetter.

Quickly he wrapped it around himself and tucked under his arms to keep it in place and to cover up most of his scars.

The ones on his arms and shoulders he couldn't keep hidden though. Tiger had enquired earlier that day about the various scratches and scars on his arms. Alex had put them down to an adventurous childhood.

This was the first time his shoulders and the top of his back had been visible though. Alex hoped he would be able to retrieve his clothes before anyone got too much of a look at him. He didn't want anyone to see the blotchy red burn scars from his final encounter with Desmond McCain,*** or the other scars now visible, such as the line on his left shoulder where a bullet had slipped him and the long gash on his back were the razor bladed boomerang of the real Feathered Serpents game had sliced into him.

As he rounded the corner into the main showering area he came face to face with Osprey. Alex's eyes narrowed. No prizes for guessing who had orchestrated the prank, though he knew Osprey wouldn't have been the one to do it himself. It would have been one of his friends instead. Alex could see several of them were standing a little way behind their unofficial leader. Where as Osprey was fully dressed and obviously hadn't had a shower yet, many of the other soldiers were just starting the process of stripping off their dirty uniforms.

Alex felt immediately uncomfortable as one by one they all turned to look at him standing there, dripping wet in just a towel.

'What are you doing, Cub?' Osprey asked, arms folded, smirking down at him. His tone of voice and stance made it obvious that he knew exactly what he was doing and wasn't at all bothered that Alex knew it was his fault someone had stolen his clothes.

Anger flared up inside him, making Alex want to punch him right in his smug face. But he knew that that was exactly what Osprey wanted him to do, start a fight so that he could finish it.

Alex noticed that behind Osprey, one of the shower head were on with no nobody standing under it. With a sinking feeling, Alex took a step sideways so that he could see the floor below the shower. And just as expected, there were his missing clothes. Everything was clearly soaking wet.

With a resigned sigh that hid his bubbling anger, Alex made to go retrieve his clothes. As he did so, Osprey stepped in his way and pushed him back with a hand to the chest. Alex took a small step backwards away from the contact, giving Osprey a dirty look. Briefly their eyes locked, Alex's brown ones with their strange reddish brown flecks, to Osprey's hazel coloured ones.

For all his showing off, it was the SAS soldier who broke the eye contact first. His gaze flicked away from Alex, before settling on the towel the teenager was wearing.

'So. Think you're some kind of girl do you?'

Nonplussed at the unexpected question, Alex replied, 'No. Well, I wasn't last time I looked,' as he gestured to his flat chest. He wasn't sure why Osprey had just asked him that, but distrusted the smile on the other man's face.

'Then why,' he asked with the self satisfied smugness of a men revealing he had all four aces at the gambling table, 'are you wearing a towel round your chest?' Mocking laughs and lewd comments followed his question as others noticed what Osprey meant.

Flicking damp hair out of his eyes with a quick movement of his head, Alex shrugged and replied lightly, 'warmer this way.'

There. An answer for them. But not an honest one, nor one that Osprey's supporters or any of the other soldiers present would accept. Alex had to admit it hadn't been his best lie, but still, the taunts about how pathetic he were aggrevating.

Surreptitiously he glanced around, looking for any sort of ally. He spotted Wolf rolling his eyes and saying something to a soldier Alex didn't know. He had a feeling he wouldn't be getting any aid from that corner. Wolf might not hate him any more, but he clearly expect Alex to cope with little things like this by himself.

Not that it felt little to Alex right at that moment. He hated Osprey, he really did. He thought for a second about just turning around and walking away. But though he couldn't retaliate, he couldn't stand the thought of actively backing off and giving in to his bullying.

In the eyes of those around him, there was no reason for him not to expose his chest. He was male after all, despite some of the mocking speculation he could hear. They wanted him to conform to their norms. Well, he could never do that completely, he was too much of an anomaly here, but they would want him to act as close to normal as possible.

Though he hid it as best as he could, Alex was angry. So angry. It was an emotion that seemed to rise up in him all too quickly these days.

'Why you so keen to see me topless?' he asked Osprey flippantly. Wolf whistles, sounds of appreciations at his pluckiness and more jeers followed.

Even Osprey laughed, though mirthlessly.

'Hah. I'm not bent, you little git. Just want to know what you're so keen to hide. Really sure your not a girl?'

The anger that had been building up and up inside him lead to him finally snapping. Not that anyone else present realised, as he shrugged and untucked the towel from under his left armt. As his chest, stomach and back became exposed, he concentrated on tucking in the towel firmly at his waist so he didn't have to watch those around him as they noticed at first a couple of marks, and then went on to spot all the burns, old scratches, scars, and above all, the spidery white mark over his chest and the similar one under his left arm where the bullet had left his body.

As soldiers are not exactly known for their tact and subtly, several whistled at the sight or called out remarks such as, 'Your boyfriend must be fucking mental!', 'Yeah, Cub the masochist!', 'Were you dropped on your head as well?' and 'Got scars anywhere else we should know about?'

Despite wanting to ignore everybody, Alex couldn't help his eyes flicking over to where Wolf was sitting, and then to where Tiger was standing.

Wolf looked shocked. That didn't surprise Alex; he was the only one who really had any idea about what sort of situations Alex tended to end up. He knew Wolf was seeing the toll of a dangerous life had had on him already. He was probably wondering how many other assignments like the Point Blanc Alex had ended up doing to get so many injuries.

Though Tiger had heard the Point Blanc story from Wolf , he had no idea of the extent to which Alex had risked his life in the past or why he had done so. His face appeared strangely blank to Alex, who had no idea of the mental turmoil raging within Tiger's mind at that moment.

He was in shock. How the hell had Cub ended up looking like that? Had he been in some sort of gang war? He didn't seem like the type, too intelligent and not aggressive enough... And those burn marks. Had someone actively set fire to the kid? If not, what? What had happened to the kid for him to have...was that a bullet wound? Had Cub been shot in the chest? No...why on earth would Cub have been shot? It was impossible...right? Hadn't Wolf mentioned something about MI6? Could they have something to do with all this? Surely not, he was only fifteen, what would they want with a fifteen year old?

He was more convinced then ever now that he would find out everything about Cub, especially why he had so many injuries... Rather than putting him off, seeing him like that made Tiger even more desperate then ever to posses Cub. Seeing all those scars made him want to trace his fingers across every imperfection, explore where else he might have scars... How fragile might Cub's mind be, considering that he must have been through a hell of a lot of shit to have ended up so scarred at such a young age? He seemed pretty sound of mind, but surely he couldn't be? Well he certainly wouldn't be once Tiger was done fucking with his mind. Not that he would stop there...

Finally, after what seemed like an age, Osprey moved aside without another word. Alex went over, turned the shower head off and pick up his sopping wet clothes. He was under no illusions, as he squeezed the water out out of his top, that Osprey would be shocked into leaving him alone now. Why should an apparently rough background stop Osprey hating him? The smirk on his face hadn't faltered a bit the whole time and Alex knew he would be getting threats and pain from Osprey, not hugs and sympathy.

Wanting to escape from staring eyes, Alex headed towards the exit, wondering what to do next. Walk to the bunk, bare footed in his towel to get some dry clothes? That seemed like the only option.

Before he had chance to do so, a soldier who Alex vaguely recognised opened the door and entered. Alex racked his brains for a second, trying to remember his name. He was from the unit Alex had helped out by getting a flag for them on his first evening there...

Lion! That was his name, Lion.

He stopped in front of Alex and held something out to him, a dry pair of trousers, trainers and a top he recognised as his own. It wasn't the uniform he needed, but Alex felt grateful all the same. At least he would have something proper to wear while he made his way over to K-Unit's cabin on the other side of the camp.

When Alex went to thank Lion, he shrugged him off, saying that it was Eagle who had gone and the clothes out of his locker for him. When he had bumped into Lion just outside the building, he'd asked him to pass them along.

Alex was still thankful though. Lion could have hidden them, dumped them on the floor or put them under a shower as well, but instead he'd made sure Alex got them. And Eagle had gone to all the trouble of fetching them for him? It seemed as though there might just be a couple of people here he could trust, even if it appeared Eagle didn't want anyone to see him helping Cub.

*Reading fanfics, I often notice that when Alex's scars arre mentioned, mos tpeople seem to forget about the burns he suffered during Crocodile Tears, so I promised myself I would remind people about them, and then AH went and mentioned them in SR.I was like, 'How dare you! You stole that idea from me!
Oh...wait...'

As you can see, certain things have been set in motion and the plot should reach its climax soon . And a...unusual new revelation.

By the way, does anyone get the triple meaning behind the chapter title?