Thank you so far to everyone who's reviewed and put up with my inability to do consistent updates, though I feel like I'm on a roll. So this is what it feels like when I'm on break :D. It's official…school is now blamed for any and all delays in updates.

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Yassen wasn't sure what to do with this new development. He knew that there four men and six (seven now) children staying nearby. After he had run across the girls, he had followed their tracks back to the cabin the next day. He hadn't seen all of them that day, but he had heard one of the men telling the other that all six were inside and "Fox" and "Snake" were keeping an eye on them.

Since then, Yassen had kept an eye on the cabin. The soldiers (what else would they be, with codenames like that?) never ventured further than a mile from the cabin, which had puzzled Yassen at first until he realized that the two girls must not have said anything about him. He felt a small flash of gratitude for that. It had taken him a long time to locate the small hunting cabin and he was loathe to leave. For one thing, Feliks had gone through a lot of trouble to make sure that it was ready and for another, he'd gotten rather fond of the solitude. It was also incredibly difficult to find a spot that neither the government nor an illegal organization could find.

What the assassin hadn't realized was that even he needed human contact until he had stumbled across the teens and one of them had actually tried to engage in conversation. Which had led to him actually staking out their place of residence.

He hadn't actually learned very much about them in the weeks that had followed other than the fact the soldiers switched off and on who patrolled, they patrolled every other day and that the brown-haired girl who had tried talking with him liked to take the most walks. Another teen had arrived. Yassen knew who he was. His name was Wesley Bohr and he was very familiar with the Bohr family. He knew nothing about the other four children, though

Today was the day that he'd learned the most, though. And he wasn't sure how he felt about it. What had six teens done to garner the attention of SCORPIA? And how high of a priority were they? Did he need to leave? He made a mental note to get a hold of Feliks later and find out.

Feliks Johannes was a nineteen-year-old genius Lithuanian studying in Russia and the very reason Yassen was alive and free in the first place. When Yassen had been shot, he'd immediately started trying to calm his breathing. There exercises one could do to slow their heart and pulse down and Yassen was employing everything he'd ever learned. However, he knew there was a very real possibility that he would be dead within the next hour, if not sooner, prompting him to tell Alex about his father before he passed out.

When he awoke, he couldn't bring himself to be surprised to find himself in a hospital room guarded by Russian military. Five minutes after he had awoken, a man dressed in fine clothes walked in. He introduced himself as Ivan Mikhail, head of Russian intelligence. He had coldly informed Yassen that he would be interrogated within the next few days and then executed. It would be a swift process.

Two days had passed. Nothing happened. Another day had passed. Yassen felt himself growing anxious as four days went by and nothing happened. No one came to talk to him, the doctors said nothing and the military flat out ignored him, though hostility radiated from them.

Then, on day five, the alarms in the hospital had started going off. The soldier in charge of guarding Yassen had radioed down and a few minutes later, the entire group of soldiers ran down the hall. Yassen watched as patients were wheeled past his room before a young nurse entered the room. At once, Yassen could tell something was wrong. He was too young, too jumpy and his hands were shaking. But he calmed down once he started unhooking the machines and wheeled Yassen's bed down the corridor right past all the other patients, out a side door and into a waiting van.

And then the nurse had simply driven him away from the hospital. He didn't take him to SCORPIA operatives, like Yassen expected. Instead he had driven him out of Moscow and to a small house in the middle of nowhere, where he then introduced himself as he wheeled Yassen into a makeshift hospital in the backroom of a house.

It turned out that Yassen had saved Feliks life when he was younger and Feliks had been…stalking, for lack of a better word, Yassen since. Yassen, personally, had no recollection of doing so, but Feliks seemed adamant that it was him. Which is how he knew where to find Yassen when he wound up in the hospital. He'd been hacking government websites and successfully covering his tracks. And it also explained the why. He felt he owed Yassen a life debt. And Yassen knew exactly how binding those could be.

Yassen had tried to get rid of him, at first. He tried to leave, tried to get Feliks to leave, tried blackmailing him and even at one point, had pulled a gun on the teen. Feliks hadn't even blinked, pointing out that Yassen barely had the strength to hold the gun up, let alone fire without injuring himself further and then what? Feliks would be dead and Yassen would be left by himself and unable to care for himself. He also pointed out that if Yassen tried to leave, he could always find him again. He'd been keeping tabs on him since he was twelve. Which had earned Yassen's grudging respect, because the boy was still alive and had remained undetected for so long.

And for the first time since starting his solo career, Yassen found himself with a partner.

Feliks had informed him that SCORPIA knew Yassen was alive and that they wanted him dead. They hadn't been happy with the outcome of the Cray mission and he'd been labeled an embarrassment. Then he'd disappeared from the hospital and had been labeled a liability. Feliks had sheepishly apologized for that, but Yassen had pointed out he was dead either way and did he always apologize for saving someone's life?

Feliks managed to procure the cabin for Yassen. Yassen had spent the first few months recovering and then it became his hideaway while Feliks tried to erase any trail that Yassen had left behind.

Yassen headed back to his cabin quickly, determined to get in touch with Feliks and find out what was going on.

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Ben headed down the hall quickly, barely registering Wesley all but throwing himself in the bathroom to remove himself from the spy's path. He entered the living room. James and Marcus looked up as he entered. Ben didn't need to say anything. They were already standing, the question forming on their lips. Fox only shook his head tersely.

"Meeting. Now," he said shortly, heading for Jason's room. Jason and Luke were sitting on the floor. Jason was in the middle of explaining how to perform triage on someone when he looked up and saw the look on Ben's face.

"-Aaand I think we're done for today, Luke," Jason said, standing. "We'll pick up tomorrow." Luke nodded and headed for the door, frowning as he looked at the soldiers as he squeezed past them. James shut the door behind him.

"What is going on, Ben?" Wolf demanded, slipping into his leader voice. Ben was tense, his jaw set and his mouth in a hard line. He had slipped back into "soldier mode" where when one of his unit was hurt, the perpetrator had best run the other way. Gone was the spy, who looked at everything with cold efficiency. Gone was the civilian, who looked at everything with a sense of black and white, right and wrong, with no grey areas. In their place was the soldier, who looked after his unit, who looked after the men who fought and died with him. Who would do anything to protect them. The others all recognized it. They were all familiar with the feeling and expression. Fox was protecting one of his own.

"Were any of you aware that Cub is covered in scars?" He demanded. "And I don't mean scars that might've happened in an accident when he was younger. I mean like us."

"What do you mean?" Snake demanded, all business. "Describe them." Fox growled.

"He has at least two reaching from his back to his stomach. There are several up and down his back. There are some that look like they came from burns. There aren't any fresh ones, but that doesn't mean anything. My point is, where did he get them?"

"When we got their files, did they anything about any injuries?" Snake snarled. He was mad. Eagle was frowning, his brows drawn together in a scowl. Wolf looked ready to punch something. Fox was pacing, his fist clenching and unclenching. Snake stormed over to the bedside table and yanked open the drawer where they kept the files on the kids. He flipped through Cub's, growling when all he saw was the bare minimum and no mention of any previous injuries except for something about a broken arm when he was nine and fell out of a tree.

Wolf took the file and flipped through it, as well. He threw it against the wall in frustration before picking up the files and flipping through them as well, his scowl growing more and more intense with every word he read.

"These kids have more on them than Cub does. Look at James! He's in an abusive home and they've listed every single time his dad's smacked him around! And not a. Single. Word. On. Cub!"

"We need to talk to Cub," Snake said abruptly. "We need to find out where those injuries came from and if they're bothering him-"

"No," Eagle cut across them sharply. Everyone stopped and stared at him. "Cub's a private kid. And apparently a messed-up one. We go up to him and start demanding answers, he'll flip out faster than you can say 'yes, sir.' And you know that the others will back him up." Snake looked like he was calming down and taking what Eagle was saying seriously.

"Why would they do that?" Wolf demanded. "If they know he's injured-"

"It doesn't matter," Snake interrupted. "It's basic psychology. If a child is displaced and sent to a foster home, they'll ultimately reject the parents, but they may latch onto a sibling. Right now, in a sense, we're a foster home and the foster parents. They've rejected us, but have latched onto each other. If they feel that something is distressing one of the siblings, they'll do everything in their power to protect them, even if what they're doing is more harm than good. Eagle's right. We can't confront Cub about this."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Fox demanded. He was completely on Wolf's side with this one. He wanted answers, he wanted them now, and he didn't care how they got them.

"Next drop off, we ask for Cub's complete medical file," Snake said. "In the meantime, we do something that should've been done a long time." Wolf growled.

"If you say hug him, Snake, I swear that there won't be enough left of you for MI6 to find with their best forensics."

"No, that's what Eagle's for," Snake brushed off. "We do a basic physical. Just to determine if there are any injuries that need immediate addressing. It will also give us a chance to see if Cub's scars are bothering him at all."

They looked at each other before nodding. It was a plan and that's what they needed.

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Luke headed straight for his room and pushed the door open to see James sitting on his bed doing homework. Wes was sitting on his bed reading a book. Both boys looked up as he entered the room. Luke shut the door behind him and turned to James.

"Did you do something to make them mad?" He asked him. James frowned, racked his mind and shook his head.

"No," he answered. "Why?" Luke frowned.

"They're having a meeting in the back," he told him. "It looked serious. Do you know where Tom is?"

"He's in the kitchen," Wes supplied quietly. Both boys' snapped around to stare at him. Wes blushed and dropped his eyes back to his book.

"Thanks," Luke said slowly. He turned to leave. "I'll go get him."

"You want me to go get Alex?" James asked, setting his chemistry book aside and standing as well. Luke shook his head.

"No," he told him. "Go see if you can't spot the girls coming back. Something's up and they might know something about it. Alex is sleeping, so we'd best leave waking him up to Tom." James grimaced in understanding and left the room, heading for the front door. Luke headed for the kitchen in time to see Tom hop off the counter. Tom heard him come in and he turned to face him. He frowned when he saw Luke.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I don't know," Luke answered. "We need you to wake Alex up. The soldiers are having a meeting and it looked serious. You know anything about it?"

"Nope," Tom shook his head. "I'll go get Al." Luke nodded and headed to the front door just in time to see Jessie and Kae come in. James intercepted them quickly. He spoke quickly and quietly. Luke knew why. The front door was close to the soldiers' rooms and if they didn't want to let them know that they knew something was wrong, they needed to keep quiet. He watched as Kae and Jessie nodded. They pulled their shoes and socks off, throwing their coats over the top of the coat stand and heading back to the rooms. Luke and James followed. They were the last ones in and found Jessie and Kae sitting against the opposite wall, Tom and Alex having taken over one of the beds. Luke and James sat on the bed opposite them.

"Anyone know what put the soldiers in this mood?" Tom started off. Kae and Jessie fidgeted slightly, but nobody paid them much mind except for Alex, who zeroed in on them.

"Jess?" Alex asked quietly. He knew Jessie would break first and she apparently knew something. Really, his girlfriend was ridiculously easy to read sometimes. Actually, all the time, but that was beside the point. Jessie and Kae glanced at each other and then the rest of the room to see every eye focused on them. Kae sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Okay," she said. "We might have something. But I don't if that's what this is." Everyone waited for her to speak. "A few weeks ago, Jessie and I were out walking. We ran into this guy. He didn't give his name, he just said he was staying for a while and that he was staying in that hunter's cabin that the driver mentioned our first day here. He didn't say anything else, just left."

"Were you actually planning on telling anyone?" James asked, slightly peeved.

"Nope," Kae answered. "He's in hiding, too, so he's certainly not going to be telling anyone about us."

"Hang on," Tom said. "You said he didn't say anything." Kae shrugged.

"Tom, when you look at him, you can tell that he's different. I mean, he remind the both of us of, uh, what's-his-face…the operative back at camp. Only way better. Anyway, he said he was staying for a while and that he'd been there for a while. He sounded Ukrainian."

"Russian," Jessie corrected. "We talked about this, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. He sounded Russian," Kae corrected. Alex snorted inwardly. From what it sounded like, it seemed like there was a Russian assassin running around the middle of nowhere. He couldn't resist asking.

"Let me guess, he had blond hair, was pale and had blue eyes that looked like ice?"

"Yeah, he did," Kae said, surprised. "How'd you know?" Alex looked ready to choke. "Did you meet him, too?"

"Mate?" Tom asked. He reached over and gently poked Alex, who was staring at Jessie and Kae.

"You're absolutely certain he didn't give his name?" He demanded. Kae glowered.

"We're both certain he didn't give his name, Alex," Jessie cut in swiftly before Kae could say anything. "How do you know him?" Alex pulled his knees up to his chest and dropped his head between them. He stayed like that for a few minutes before he pulled his head back up.

"If we're talking about the same person," he said quietly. "We're talking about Yassen Gregorovich." Tom's eyes widened. Alex had mentioned him briefly after his first mission and after the mission with Air Force One, so Tom at least knew what Yassen was like. What no one was expecting was the clatter from the corner when Wes dropped his book. Everyone looked over at him.

"You know him?" Alex asked, surprised.

"Of him," Wesley whispered.

"How?" Alex demanded harshly. "Because he's supposed to be dead!" Alex's voice had gotten a little bit louder with each word until Tom put a firm hand on his shoulder. Alex bit his lip and quieted down. Wes was shaking, clenching his jeans so tightly his knuckles were turning white. He was staring at the opposite wall, his face a deathly pale color. Jessie stood and crouched next to him. She touched his shoulder gently and he jumped, carefully not looking at her.

"Wes?" She prodded softly. "It's okay." He focused wide eyes on her. "How do you know him?" Wes gulped audibly.

"My mom," he whispered.

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WHOOO! An actual backstory! I'm excited, can you tell?

Ha! Mine is an evil laugh! I will now leave you with a cliff-hanger that wasn't even supposed to be there! Mwuhahahaha!

Okay, voting time!

Is Yassen:

Wesley's father (because let's face, he's gotta have at least one kid running around somewhere),

The man who killed his mom

An unexpected friend of the family that actually tries to help but because everything seemed to go straight to hell in Wes's life when Yassen shows up, Wes associates him with him pretty much everything bad that happened in his life which is why he's so freaked out, or

Other (And if you vote this, you have to leave an idea for it.)

That's a hint for you to review! And there need to be at least five reviews with a vote before I'll post the next chapter.

Note: Just because I put option B there doesn't mean Wes's mom is dead unless the votes swing that way.

And on option C I'm stressing the 'unexpected' part. As in, it was extremely unexpected.

This will probably be the last chapter before Christmas, so for real this time: Merry Christmas! :D