AN- Here y'are, my lovelies! Well, I must say, it seems like not as many people are reviewing, which leads me to believe not as many people actually care too much for this story...? Well, anyway, this is for you guys who do! Because you're all so sweet with your reviews (I can see the end looming in sight) and I really do want to finish this story, here's for you!
Thank you to all who reviewed, and I hope you enjoy!
The door swung open.
Alex and K-Unit stared at the door.
No one was stood there.
It was empty.
"OK," Eagle said quietly, standing slowly, body tense and chains rattling around his wrists. "What's going on?"
"They don't come in," Alex didn't flinch as they turned to look at him. Too late, he remembered that he was meant to be out of it when he saw the wariness of the chance that their conversation had been overheard passing over their faces. "We're moving rooms."
"Right," Fox said slowly, also standing up, catching the gesture that Wolf made. Silently, Fox and Eagle passed through the door.
"Well?" Wolf hissed as Fox and Eagle didn't say anything, hovering quietly in the doorway.
"I don't get it," Eagle said faintly.
"Right, that's it-" Wolf stood up sharply and strode towards the doorway, shoving them bodily out of the way and peering critically out. There was a brief quiet pause before Wolf had spun around again and was barking out orders and demands.
Soon, Alex was on his feet (I'm on my feet. On my feet) and swaying unsteadily towards the door, trying to imagine the antidote rushing through his body to hasten his recovery.
He had to hasten his recovery.
Had to recover.
Recover from what?
Just recover.
"Wow," Snake breathed beside him.
Alex didn't want to look.
He knew what he'd see.
He'd been here before.
But still, his eyes vacantly took in the furnished walls and wealthy carpet, silken drapes and beds with satin covers and sheets, pillows upon pillows like flocked white birds and glass and gold-
-but no windows.
And a chain across the door.
Fox moved over to it, examined it-
-Alex looked away. He'd been here before. There was no escape from this room.
Not yet, anyway. Not yet. And still he hoped. Ridiculously, he still hoped.
He'd hoped Jack was alive- why could he not hope to escape from this room? The impossible was quickly becoming possible. Soon, he'd be able to fly.
"Cub, have you..." Snake looked awkward, unwilling to finish the question, his hand limply flying about the room in a way to try and reveal more than his mouth wanted to speak. "Been here before?" he finally and reluctantly finished.
"Yes," he said quietly and wished it to be a lie. "It'll be dinner soon," his eyes traced the shatterproof glass clock on the wall, remembering each movement of the hands, each tick that seemed to mimic the sound of his dripping blood as he tried vainly to smother it with shaking hands, cold hands and whispered promises of revenge and blood, blood and revenge. Not again. Please. Not again.
"Dinner," Snake repeated, guiding Alex over to the bed although he didn't want to rest. He didn't want to be here. If he was to be here, if this was fate, if it was fate and promises that couldn't be broken and life that was lived as the words of a book, then he wanted to be here alone. No one else deserved to be dragged here. No one else-
-he felt sick.
He couldn't do it. Not again .
Not again.
But you will do it, (?) whispered harshly. You have to. You don't have a choice.
Of course I'll do it, he answered back angrily. He had to do it. Deal with it, take it in, breathed and- deal.
"Cub," Wolf was speaking to him now, a heavy hand placed against his shoulder, forcing Alex to look up at him and his serious grey eyes. "I know you don't like thinking about it, and I'm sorry, but you've got the most intel in this situation. We need you to explain what this place is like, the people, our situation,"
"So we can escape?" Alex asked with a faint smile.
Wolf gazed at him seriously. "I didn't think you to be the defeatist type," he said slowly, eyebrows half furrowed, giving Alex a chance to retaliate with indignation or hurt.
Alex gave neither. "I'm not a defeatist," he said. "I haven't given up but things have changed since the last time I've been here. Things are...different. I'm not alone this time- you guys are here," he carried on even as Wolf tried to interrupt. His head was suddenly clear. It was worrying. "You're all here so that changes things. I don't know what's going to happen. Last time I was here-" he broke off, and breathed in once. Calm. "Last time I was here I didn't have anything or anyone. I didn't- didn't have anything to be used over me apart from a mention that something was being kept away-"
"How long are you going to keep omitting things?" Fox asked quietly.
Surprised, Alex looked up at Fox and the others who were watching him silently. "Sorry?" he asked.
Fox's hand moved up to point towards Alex's chest. "How long are you going to keep missing things out? Telling us half truths and half stories. I thought you trusted us,"
Alex's jaw clenched. This wasn't about trust. This was about secrets that made up his life and pain and hurt and memories that had to be left buried otherwise they'd rise from the dead and tear him to pieces. "It's none of your business," his voice was hoarse, tight- defensive.
Wolf made a slight laughing sound, tossing his hand around them. "I think it is. We're all trapped here now,"
"You don't need to know," he tried to clear his voice, erase the roughness and claws of pain from his voice. "You don't need to know. It's not going to change anything about being here." his voice was growing tighter.
"Don't you get it, Cub?" Fox hissed, suddenly losing patience. It was so unlike Fox that it left Alex startled and frozen as Fox crept towards him, fingers gripping his shoulders and shaking him. "We're in the enemy's lair. Absolutely everything matters here. You should know that!"
For a moment, caught in Fox's churning gaze and frustrated voice, Alex saw stirrings of panic underneath Fox's gaze and he realised.
Fox understood.
Fox knew about the BirdcagE. Had known about it before Alex had even made to tell him.
He knew how dangerous and unpredictable they were.
"We're going to find out one way or another," Fox said quietly, breaking into his thoughts, the hadns that had gripped his shoulders now sliding down to grip at his arms, pinning them to him in a tired sort of desperation. "Who's mouth would you prefer us to hear it out of?"
It didn't- "It doesn't matter," he murmured, firm, resolute ("I'll never tell you!" clumsily, he clutched at the wound in-) "I don't care,"
Fox hovered over him, and sadness swelled in his eyes. "You don't-"
Everyone's heads snapped to the door as the chains began to rattle and move.
"Is that-" Eagle began.
"Sh!" Wolf hissed, moving closer towards the door- a wary and dangerous soldier.
The door clicked open.
A man (I don't recognise him. I don't recognise him) stepped into the room, smiling, a gun held casually in his hand. His eyes wandered across the hostile occupants of the room and lingered on Alex. Opening his arms wide, his smile widened across his face and he bowed slightly, a slight bend at his waist. "Welcome, dear guests, your presence is required at the dining room. Dinner is served,"
K-Unit were eying the gun- obviously weighing their chances of attacking with chains around their wrists and a gun in their oppressor's hand. "What if we're not hungry?" Snake asked quietly, soft danger lurking behind his light words, shifting to stand slightly in front of Alex who sighed at their show of (pointless. He could look after himself) protectiveness.
The man's smile never faltered. "It's in your best interests to attend. Yours and-" he dragged out the word, a lazy hand twitching to point at Alex. "-your friend's."
Quickly, Alex stood up,
"Alex..." Wolf warned.
"Very good!" the man cheered, taking a step back and away from the door. "Now, I'm sure Alex here can remember the way to the dining room. I leave them in your care, Alex," and with that, he turned on his heel and disappeared down an empty corridor, leaving the door wide open.
K-Unit stared in bafflement at the open door and open invitation for Alex to lead them to the dining room.
For some reason, he found it sickly amusing how confused they were.
They weren't used to BirdcagE's games yet.
Hopefully, they never would have to be.
Alex ignored the eyes that swung onto him as he pushed himself away from the bed and made his way towards the door, feeling much better than he had before. He fixed his eyes in front of him and moved forward. "It's this way," he muttered, only needing to place one hand on the doorframe to steady himself as he moved out.
"We should check this place out," Eagle said quietly, as if Alex wouldn't hear.
He pressed down a small, smile, frowning over his emotions.
What was wrong with him? He hadn't felt to...so clear headed in so long! What was it that was making him feel so...feel so coherent? So able to think freely without yourfault!yourfault! Ringing in his ears?
It's because you're in your element here, Reason murmured softly into his ear.
You're home, (?) mocked.
Alex doggedly shook the thought of, slapping his palms over his cheeks gently, bidding the thoughts away. He jumped as a hand clapped him on the arm.
"Cub, we should check this place out," Fox said to him, his voice low, and eyes still wary, as if he was uncertain as to how to deal with him. As if- as if he expected him to break into a thousand and one pieces.
He wasn't going to though.
His head was clear.
His body was stuck together and firm.
If only he were alone.
Unbreakable.
Too breakable.
Too breakable to break.
"We'll have plenty of time for that," he said softly, shaking off the arm that still pressed against his own. He could see the dining room doors looming ever closer. Closer. Closer.
He hadn't expected to ever be back here again.
What lay beyond that door...
Fox caught him as he swayed on his feet. "Whoa there, Cub," he warned, his warm hands keeping him still as he passed a hand concernedly over his forehead. "You're alright, we're here,"
"It's the poison," he replied automatically.
"Right," Fox answered back sarcastically, though his face was still laced with worry. "The poison."
"The poison," Alex repeated. And then began moving towards the doors again.
One step at a time.
Closer.
Closer.
He stretched out one hand-
-felt the wood beneath his palm-
-breathed in-
-locked away his memories-
-and pushed.
The door opened before K-Unit could push him back.
A head turned in the vast expanse of velvet upon velvet and silk and silk and a stretching dark table with silver and candles and steam and food.
A mouth smiled at him.
A hand holding a glass beckoned him forward.
"Ah. Welcome back, my child."
He'd told himself that he would be strong.
He'd told himself that he would be confident and cool.
Rational and clear headed.
Dangerous and smooth.
Instead, he stayed stuck in the doorway, as if those chains around his wrists had expanded and slithered around his ankles as well, pinning him into place as he stared at the man say beckoning him towards him with an elegant wave of a glass.
He'd told himself.
But on the sight of seeing him...That cool face, spread with delicate lines of age and (cruel) wisdom, those heavy blue eyes, full silver head of hair and handsome jawline and mouth-
"Come on, Cub," Wolf muttered under his breath, a firm but pushing hand against his back. Firm but supportive. "We're all here. You're going to be fine," rough assurance.
We're all here.
How he wished they weren't.
An eyebrow arched. "I do hope you're not thinking of keeping me waiting for longer than I've already had to wait," the lips stretched into a more dangerous smile. "Come,"
Like a rusty clockwork doll, Alex moved forward stiffly, his eyes fixed on the man in front of him, words screaming in his ears screaming and screaming and shrieking and clawing-
-and how he desired to kill this man.
To kill him.
"Ah, Alex," he said softly, like a chiding parent, all gentle and downy. "Your hatred plays too obviously on your face."
His breaths were growing ragged, pace picking up. He'd use the butter knife. The bottle of wine. The candle. The plate. His hands. Anything as long as this man was-
A hand jerked him roughly down onto a seat.
The man raised an eyebrow in amusement, his glass touching against his lips.
An angry face blocked Alex's view of the man and there weer two heavy hands on his shoulders. "Calm down, do you hear me?"
Straining away from his hands, he tried desperately to see the man behind him until a harsh hand jerked his chin forward and forced him to look into two burning dark eyes. "I said calm down. Don't go rushing into things!"
The heat in his stomach pooled but settled.
Dark eyes examined him sharply and slowly, Wolf pulled back. "Good," he said, eyes narrowed. "Good."
"Do sit down, everybody. We have so much to talk about."
Everyone sat, slowly and carefully, noting the waiters who stood by the sides of the dining room, though all of them were holding guns on the silver platters they bore so regally.
Carefully, Alex settled back into his seat, willing himself to calm down and not look at him.
Him.
"What do you want with us?" Wolf asked roughly, sat beside Alex, blocking him from the man.
He eyed Wolf despairing from over the top of his glass . "Not now, not now," he reprimanded. "We should eat first. Alex, child. Come sit next to me. It's been so long since I've seen you,"
Alex glared at his tableware, Wolf stiffening beside him. "No," he said quietly.
The room went silent.
Alex stayed still as he heard the clink of a glass being settled down purposefully. "No?" a small laugh.
"No," he reaffirmed, fingers curling around the eating utensils and considering where he would push them. "I said," he made his voice louder, trying his best to keep the frantic quality out of his tone. "No."
All of a sudden, there was a sharp pain in the back of his head, shouting and hands hauling him up, guns clicking. Noise noise noise noise and the back of his legs bumped clumsily into his chair, knocking it over, a hand reached out for him but was torn away as he was dragged up, kicking and dizzy and then he was sat next to the man trying to clear his vision and-
"When I ask something of you, I expect to be obeyed," a voice hissed, hot and vicious into his ear.
Lights were spinning in his eyes as he gasped back: "Don't bet on it,"
And then there was a terrible snapping sound and his head whipped to the side, jaw stinging and nose suddenly wet with blood, a hand in his hair, pulling and savage secrets being whispered into his ear, blood dripping into his mouth, K-Unit shouting, guns pointing-
Make the words stop.
And suddenly, they did.
The hand released his hair and suddenly, there was quiet.
He breathed heavily through his mouth, wishing himself away from here, hands curling and clamping underneath the table.
"There now," he said almost brightly, his hand wrapped around the glinting stem of his wine glass once again. "Let us have dinner."
When Alex looked up dizzily, the throbbing from the back of his head receding, he took in the livid and boiling faces of K-Unit who sat with their fists clenched against the table, the waiters suddenly behind them with guns pressed to the backs of their heads.
The man raised his glass. "That's enough of that," he dismissed, nodding as the waiters placed their guns back onto their silver platters, nodded, and took a step back. "Now, please, enjoy dinner. I don't suppose Alex would have told you about me already." a soft smile pressed against his face and he tilted his glass up into the air delicately. "My name is Exodus Tristan. A pleasure to meet you."
Dazedly, Alex watched as his plate was filled with rich lamb and gravy, roasted vegetable and soft potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and stuffing and placed in front of him.
His hands felt cold around his knife and fork.
The food felt tasteless.
"So, my child, how have you been keeping?"
Alex noticed the little splashes of shock and surprise that passed over K-Unit's face's. They had expected dinner to be silent, dangerous and tense, hadn't they? They didn't know this man as well as Alex did.
"Fine," he said quietly, dragging a potato through the gravy violently. "You should know, anyway," he challenged, ignoring Wolf's stare that told him to be quiet and be careful.
Exodus let out a small laugh, teasing but cold. "You're very right, my child. I do know very well." the smile stretched, his hand reaching out to ruffle Alex's hair fondly. "You didn't really think I'd allow you out into the big wide world without any protection, would you?"
Alex's breath hitched, his fingers freezing around his knife and fork.
Protection?
"Your protection almost got me killed," he rasped out, (how could he? How could he-) a scowl twisting at his mouth as he glowered at the man sat so calmly beside him (not a dream. Not a hallucination). "What kind of protection is that?"
Eyes examined him coolly. "My child," his voice was suddenly low. "I had to make sure you remembered your place,"
("All I ask is for you to know your place,") "I know my place well enough," he hissed. "And it's not with you or MI6,"
A pause, the clinking of cutlery stopped.
"My," the man said softly, fingers pulling against the silken folds of the tablecloth. "How time manages to delete your lessons,"
Alex glared right back at him. He would not be quelled. He would not be silenced.
"Then I suppose," slow, taunting, mocking. "Your place is with K-Unit?"
He stiffened.
"With..." blue eyes wandered around the room as if looking for some stray butterfly of a thought before they settled back on Alex, smiling. "Jack?"
Roughness tore at his chest. "You give her back," he snarled. "You give her back."
"A trade," the man sighed, picking up his cutlery and continuing to eat. "I said a trade,"
"Where have you-"
"Eat your dinner, Alex,"
"Where have you-"
"I said-" Alex paused, hearing the amicable violence seeping into the man's voice. "-eat your dinner."
He stared.
He picked up his knife and fork again.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
x-x-x-x-x-x
"Wonderful dinner. Wonderful." Exodus put down his knife and fork with careful precision against his plate, curling his hands in front of him and smiling round the table as if he had just hosted the best dinner party known to men.
Five belligerent faces glowered back.
He raised an eyebrow. "My, my," he tutted, folding his napkin and pressing it against his mouth. "What unsociable dinner guests I have,"
"We're hardly guests," Eagle scoffed.
Exodus smiled at him, humouring him. "You're not much else, I'm afraid. Just...guests. The invited."
"You've got a funny way of inviting people," Fox taunted.
Exodus blinked at him, as if he'd just said something entirely confusing or spoken in an accent so thick that he hadn't understood what he had said, but was too polite to do anything but smile patronizingly back at him. "Your new acquaintances are rather funny, aren't they, my child? You should bring friends home more often,"
"Enough," Alex snapped, pressing his cutlery down into the table. "Jack. Where is she?" he asked dangerously. If he'd done something to her...
"That's not exactly how trades work." the man smiled, eyes tracing Alex's face. "I believe you have something of your deceased uncle's to give to me?"
"I believe you already have it?" he mimicked lightly.
The smile grew steely. "Do be careful, child," he said softly. "You know I don't like to see you in pain. Waiter!" he suddenly snapped, one hand stretched outwards. "Bring me the rucksack that was taken from my boy!"
The words made Alex feel ill. "I'm not-"
"So, has Alex spoken much about me?" Exodus leaned forward curiously, his hand swirling his recently topped up wine, the silver lights that bounced off of the glass looking oddly hypnotizing and mesmerising.
Wolf's eyes slid over to Alex who didn't want to look. Didn't want to remember that K-Unit (my new family) were caught up in this problem too. "Some," Wolf said evasively.
"But never enough," shaking his head with a sigh, Exodus turned his blue eyes onto Alex and frowned rebukingly. "You always have been one for secrets, haven't you, my child?"
They were treading into dangerous waters. "I just want Jack," he said slowly, trying to keep his voice steady. "No one needs to hear this,"
"But it seems you've forgotten," he murmured back, his fingers moving over to touch his back.
Alex jerked away from his touch.
His lips stretched into a smile and he hummed, pleased. "Not everything,"
"Leave him alone," Snake warned.
"Oh," Exodus said lightly. "I'm sure he's had enough of being alone, haven't you, Alex?"
Alex replied with stony silence.
"Tell me," Exodus asked suddenly, his voice like velvet and satin all folded and tied by a shivering rattle of string. "How much do you know about BirdcagE?"
Wolf's lips tightened against his face at the question. "You're the leader, aren't you?"
Exodus huffed out a heavy sigh, rapping his fingers against the table top. "The leader. The leader. It sounds rather dull, doesn't it? A little like a children's game. No, I'm more than the leader. I am the Beginning and the End."
"Which is the BirdcagE," Fox said slowly, his eyes trailing over to Alex who adamantly refused to meet his eyes. "The group,"
Again, Exodus' neat silver eyebrows arched into a look of both bemusement and scorn. "A group? No, no. The BirdcagE was never just a group."
K-Unit looked completely lost, lost and confused.
"The BirdcagE is so much more than that. So much more." for the first moment in a very long time, a hint of insanity entered the man's eyes.
Except it could never hope to be called insanity.
It was much too tidy, much too stable to be ever called insanity or madness.
It was pure question.
Pure nothing but everything.
It was chaos.
"It's a religion, a way of life, the air you breathe, the paths you walk. BirdcagE. I control it all. But mostly..." his hand snaked towards Alex and rested in his hair, fingers carding through the golden strands, Alex sitting still and blank faced. "...I control Alex. Isn't that right, my child?"
"No one controls me," he said back, voice tight and controlled, fingers still playing through his hair.
"If you still believe that," he scoffed, fingers tightening fractionally in his hair before resuming it's (soothing?) motion of running through the strands. "Then you were definitely not listening to anything I told you,"
"Give me back Jack,"
"A funny story, that one," he mused, completely ignoring his demand. "How I met your little friend,"
"I don't care," he spat. "Just give her back,"
"Child," he said softly. "You should know. This is a free house. There are no locked doors. You are free to venture wherever you want to venture,"
"The bag, sir," a waiter called, striding forwards with the straps dangling from his fingers like he was holding the Holy Grail.
"Ah, very good. Bring it over here,"
Alex stilled as anticipation rolled in his stomach, the hand leaving his head and sweat dampening his hands. The box full of everything. Full of all the papers that he couldn't work out and all of the things that Mrs Jones had told him not to let get into the wrong hands unless he wanted to cause the biggest danger the world had ever seen.
And there he was.
Dropping the gun into the murderer's hands.
"You did very well finding it before The Priest, my child," he said, unzipping the rucksack with loud noises that seemed to echo through his ears.
Alex didn't reply, all of his focus pinned on the way Exodus shuffled the box out of the bag and gave the now empty rucksack over to a waiter. Breath held as his fingers curled around the lid and he lifted it up, excitement and that not-mania rolling in his eyes, hands gripping the stacks of paper and lifting and reading.
Breathless.
Alex's hands curled under the table.
He didn't dare to-
"Is this a joke?"
Alex breathed. One sharp exhale.
What?
Furious. He looked furious. The fingers curled around the paper were bunching it together, screwing it up in incensed fists, his eyes smoldering, lips snarling.
"What?" Alex said faintly.
He couldn't help but jump as Exodus threw the paper's behind him and seemed to tower in his chair, his face thunderous and rolling with tides of anger and rage.
"I said," he snarled. "Is this a joke?"
Blankly, feeling the first stirrings of panic in his gut, Alex watched the paper flutter to the ground like torn up butterfly wings. "I don't-"
"These papers," he ripped some more up from the bottom of the box and shook them savagely. "Are a joke! This isn't Ian's work! This isn't what I asked for!"
"You said a box!" Alex could really feel the panic in him now. He felt like rising from his seat. That was their trade off! That was their trade off! "That's the box I found!" Hastily, seeing the growing rage in the man's eyes, he tried another route. "Mrs Jones gave them to me! She said-"
Exodus cut him off with a razor sharp, rasping hiss. "You foolish child." the papers were completely crumpled in his hands now. "You foolish child!"
"I gave you the box!"
"You gave it to an MI6 deputy before you gave it to me!" he roared.
"Hey-" Wolf tried to break in.
He went completely ignored. "Have I taught you nothing?! Did you really believe so naively that someone of MI6 would ever give it you back without some form of deception?"
(It wasn't true. She'd said-) His mouth was quickly drying. "She said it was-"
"Oh you, poor, poor, foolish child," his bellowing roar had finally dropped down to a soft pitch,pity and aggression playing in his eyes. "You really know nothing. She lied to you,"
Alex's throat worked, lost for words. "I-" he croaked.
"You were deceived." he paused, considering. "Again."
Alex felt like he'd been struck once again.
"Foolish, trusting, Alex." the savagery was returning to his voice. "The boy who's so sure he's not trusting anyone or letting anyone in. The boy who spent so long guarding the front door that he forgot to guard the windows."
Numb and numb, Alex sat, the words washing over him. He'd been lied to.
Again.
"The lies never end, Alex. They never end. And now this," he gestured in disgust at the box. "Is worthless. As is our arrangement,"
"I didn't mean to-" Alex tried weakly, still feeling detached and lost.
"You don't know," Exodus hissed. "The lies you've been told all your life. The lies."
"Stop it," Alex said. "Stop it." his voice was getting louder.
Exodus narrowed his eyes, sharp like broken glass, scorning."We'll have plenty of time for talking,"
"Jack-"
A barking laugh. "Oh, my child. You'll see Jack. But you'll never see your freedom."
"MI6 will know we're here," Fox tried for one last grab at escape
If the look Exodus shot Alex had been scorning, the one he shot Fox was positively scathing. "Of course they do. Which is exactly why you're here. Now, out of my sight!"
x-x-x-x-x-x
Alex sat with his knees pulled up to his chest. His back to K-Unit.
They watched him carefully.
He hadn't spoken a word since they'd gotten out of the dining room. Instead, he'd silently lead the way (which was slightly embarrassing and unnerving) back to their room and then sat on a bed and gazed silently out to the wall.
They were worried about him.
Everything about MI6 had been called into question.
Had they ever been told the truth?
"We need to escape from here," Snake said, keeping his voice low.
"Good luck with that,"
The new and sudden voice had them all on high alert.
Jack held up her hands, showing her shackled wrists grimly. "I've been here for months," pain splashed across her face before she wiped it away with forced joviality. "The door was open," Curiously, she looked over at Alex. "How is he?"
"I'm fine," Alex snapped.
Jack flinched and then scowled. "Don't get snappy with me, mister,"
"Leave me alone," he snarled, the venom in his voice when talking to Jack surprising. But suddenly, it seemed he realised who he was talking to and turnedaway from the wall, getting up wih smooth and desperate movements. "No, don't. I'm sorry," he snatched up her hands and gazed into her eyes in fright. "Don't go again, please?"
"I'm not going anywhere, I swear," Jack wrapped her arms around him, allowing him to bury his head into her shoulder, breathing her in, it seemed. "We're all together now,"
Alex's fingers curled into her back.
Jack looked fierce when she looked over Cub's head at K-Unit, her small arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders and back. "You should've kept him away from me," she hissed. "Now look where you are,"
Wolf snarled. "Away from you?" he hissed back, his voice quiet but sharp. "He could hardly function without you!"
"He would've learned to!" her voice broke before she hastily covered it. "He was learning to!"
"No one should have to unless there's no other choice!" Wolf shot back, just as piercing.
"There was no other choice!"
"How are you even alive?" Eagle blurted out, cutting into the argument.
They turned to stare at him.
Jack heaved in a breath, Alex stiffening in her arms, as if afraid she'd vanish- just like that. "You should never trust just what you see," she said quietly.
"You mean..." Alex was slowly looking up, his face a mask of confusion. It was no surprise. He'd just been told that not only had MI6 lied to him once again, but his own eyes had lied to him. "You weren't in the car?"
"I was in the car," she elaborated as a fuzzy look came into Alex's eyes. "I was in the car, but it wasn't mine that exploded. I managed to drive a little further away before I was stopped and dragged out by some SCORPIA guys," she curled her lip at the thought. "But then, I ended up here," listlessly, she waved a hand around the place. "At least they have nice food," she said weakly.
"SCORPIA?" Fox said slowly. "But...this is-"
"BirdcagE?" Jack supplied dryly. "Clever, aren't you?" she shot him a wavering grin, gently pushing away Cub's hand that had been clenching at some of her hair.
"Then...they are-"
"Were." Jack amended with Alex.
"-Were working with SCORPIA? BirdcagE and SCORPIA?" Fox was frowning, running a hand over his face. "But...why?"
Cub's face tightened.
K-Unit stared at him.
"You're keeping secrets again, aren't you?" Wolf asked quietly.
His face closed up even further.
"Leave him alone!" Jack snapped, clutching Cub to her protectively, as if her slight weight and height could deter the four military men from their questioning. "He's had enough trash thrown at him for today!"
"I don't know anything about that," Alex cut in roughly before anyone could retaliate. "But I know enough to know that it won't spell out anything good,"
"You mean you've work it out?" Fox shot back.
Alex snarled at him. "I mean I have an inkling,"
"Stop it!" Jack said sharply. "We can't be fighting now,"
"I know, I know!" Wolf dragged an irate hand down his face and sucked in a calming breath. He fixed Jack with a much more steady gaze. "I know,"
Jack nodded seriously, though her lips pulled into a reluctant smile. "As long as you know," she joked.
"We need to get out of here," Snake repeated a little louder, raising his eyebrows in question, his arms folded over his chest.
"Well, Cub escaped from here once, maybe you can tell us how you did it?" Eagle asked, eyeing Jack with no little amount of jealousy in his eyes, as if she had stolen something away from him. Which, in some essence, to Eagle, she must have.
If she caught the look on his face, she ignored it very well (though her arms did tighten fractionally around Cub).
"I escaped because they wanted me to find Ian's...box," he paused, and it was obvious from the dazedness in his eyes that the box was still a sore point for him.
"I don't understand," he muttered, speaking to himself, it was obvious through the softness and lostness of his voice. "Why would they do that? What was the point?"
"Perhaps, there was something in the box that they couldn't bear you seeing," a cold voice said.
The door swung open.
Everyone but Cub took a step back.
Exodus (where had he heard that name from before...?) stepped into the room with a scattering of too cheery guards dressed in immaculate suits, looking around at all of the furnishings and expensive quilting as if none of it belonged to him, and he was seeing it for the first time. Finally, his eyes settled onto Alex and he stretched one hand out. "Come to me," he ordered.
Fox looked quickly over to Cub to see how he would react.
Cub's hand hovered over his jaw, a bruise visible under his fluttering fingers. Warily, he stepped back, hesitated, took a step forward, and then hesitated again.
Exodus straightened.
Fox's eyes widened.
The man seemed to be exuding power. His eyes, dark and heavy blue locked onto Cub, his voice low and threatening. The arm stretched out seemed powerful enough to split rocks and seas.
Except he was just a man.
A man parading in...
…a God's clothing?
"The god's are playing with us," Eagle muttered, breathless, seemingly randomly beside him.
But that sparked another thought into Fox's head, a memory, in fact. It's because he's God.
Cub's words. Cub's words when he'd spoken, so quietly, so softly and so sadly. It's because he's God.
Uncomfortably, Fox glanced at Eagle. How could there be more to this then he'd thought.
Cub seemed oddly transfixed by the arm that was stretched out towards him, though. He began walking towards him, softly, like there were diamonds underneath his feet.
"Cub," Wolf called softly.
Alex paused, his foot hovering midair before he brought it down, softly, carefully and settled it against the ground and stilled. "You can't control me," his voice was weirdly unshakable.
Once again, Alex's statement was disregarded. "You can either come here, or I can have you dragged here. The results are all the same."
Some sort of hysteria (for some reason) crept into Alex's eyes at those decisive statements. "You can't keep me here. Not now. You can't,"
"And yet, here you are," Exodus said silkily, hand still outstretched. "Now, come."
Alex trembled, a muscle spasm of indecision. "No,"
Ice rushed into the man's gaze. "Take him," he snapped.
Fox snapped into action.
But the fight was noisy, chaotic and all in all useless. Against ten men with guns and them with their hands tied (literally and metaphorically), the fight was short lived and painful at best.
"Alex!" Jack shrieked as he was hoisted out of the room, oddly graceful in his capture, cold and silent as he was pulled away. The red haired lady whipped around to face Exodus, and Fox felt some stirring of respect for the way she trembled in her rage. "Where are you taking him?" she snapped, her face furious.
Exodus, though, looked completely unimpressed. "This is a free house," he said in boredom. "If you want to see where we're taking Alex, you're free to follow. All within the confines of your cage, of course,"
They wasted no time in rushing after Cub, charging down the hall towards his quickly disappearing figure and watching as he disappeared through a door. Putting on an extra spurt of speed, they too dived through the door-
-and skidded to a stop on sight of a huge glass wall in front of them.
A glass wall that Cub was behind.
"Cub!" Wolf bellowed, slamming his fists against the glass repeatedly whilst Fox and Eagle dragged their hands across the surface, cursing quietly but bitterly as they tried to find a way past the glass wall.
Suddenly, they caught sight of Exodus moving towards them from the other side of the glass, a smile, cruel but kindly smoothed across his face. "Dear me," he sighed, breath fogging up the glass like the spirit of snow. "It looks like your cage ends here, doesn't it?"
"If you dare touch him," Jack threatened, her voice cracking and splintering, eyes watery and fierce.
A dark expression flickered across his face before it smoothed out into a genial smile again. Gentle like sharpened knives. "What I choose to do is my concern, not yours. But this," he gestured towards the glass barricade. "Is the wall that cuts you off from Alex, isn't it? Such an easily shatter-able thing, I should think. And yet...so painful once you do," suddenly, he leaned into the glass, and his expression was terrifying.
Fox wondered whether that was the face Alex had nightmares about.
"I think it's time you found out just how little you truly know, yes?"
AN- Ta dah! From now on, I'm saying nothing about how I feel about my chapters O_o Heh heh! ANYWAYS! I can get another chapter out...NEXT WEEK! How's a Thursday sound to you? :D Show me how much you want it, my lovelies, and you might very well see a chapter there on Thursday!
These bribes don't come very often! Take it when you can!
PS. I hope I managed to reply to everyone...?