A/N: *sneaks in and glances around guiltily* Yeah, I'm sorry. It's been a while... I meant to update every Friday, but obviously I'm not as good at deadlines as I thought. Ah well, here's your next chapter. I hope you like it. We're now definitely on the downhill towards the end. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: Some people say that we don't really own anything – that ownership is a mass delusion. They're wrong. Anthony Horowitz definitely own Alex Rider, which means that I don't. I'm just playing.
***
By Saturday, Alex was sick of exams. He had done multiple exams in every subject. Especially the languages. But tonight it was Saturday night, and he was going to the cinema with Matt, Mike and Chris. Andy couldn't go, unfortunately. His parents had insisted on doing something 'as a family'. He had been complaining about it ever since he found out.
In fact, he had better get going. It was already seven fifteen and he was supposed to be meeting them soon.
"I'm going to the cinema!" he called to Aikema, as he left.
"Back by eleven!" Aikema called back and Alex nodded as he ducked out of the door.
***
"Alex!" called Matt when he entered the brightly lit lobby.
Alex grinned and crossed to the three boys waiting for him. There were some other people there too, he noticed as he got closer. Vaguely, he recognised Henry, one of the boys who had been there at the first football match and there were several girls at the back of the group.
"Hey, you remember Henry, don't you?" said Mike as he walked over. Alex nodded
"Hi, nice to see you again," he said, receiving a warm smile in return.
"And this is Grace - she's dating Matt - and her friends, Ellie and Jess."
"Hi," greeted Alex, smiling at them.
Ellie blushed slightly and smiled at him. Alex cocked an eyebrow at her. She was pretty, in a conventional sort of way. Shoulder length blond hair, straightened he guessed, brown eyes and a cute nose. And a smile that made his stomach twist.
He looked away quickly, hoping he wasn't blushing, and came face to face with Jess.
Of all the luck. She went to his school, the year below him, he thought. Alex only knew who she was because Tom fancied her best mate.
"Rider," she said coldly.
"You two know each other?" asked Chris mildly, taken aback by the icy venom in her tone.
"Not really, we've never even spoken," said Alex, as the exact same time as Jess spoke.
"He goes to my school."
Matt raised an eyebrow. "Right, got it. We'll sit you two at opposite ends of the group ok? Now let's go get the tickets."
***
The room was dark and the film was making Alex cringe. It starred an obnoxious American as a teenage spy who had to go and uncover a plot in a music academy. It had spy camp, for Christ's sake!
He sighed and slowly became aware of the girl sitting next to him. True to his word, Matt had jokingly forced Alex and Jess into seats as far away from each other as possible which meant that the girl leaning in towards him was Ellie.
Alex swallowed nervously. Should he put his arm around her? Would she want him to? Would she think he was being too forward? He flicked his eyes towards her. She was looking at the film, but her hand was just touching his. Did that mean she wanted him to?
Gods, this was complicated. Give him a madman to take down any day. Cautiously, he put his hand over hers and she flashed him that dazzling smile.
Alex breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently he had made the right move.
The film passed and somehow Alex managed to progress to having his arm around Ellie without having a nervous breakdown. Alex was disgusted to see that the spy got the girl. Like that didn't just scream unprofessional.
The lights came back up and Alex dropped his arm as Ellie stood up. He grabbed her jacket and bag and passed them to her, receiving a smile in thanks.
Just let him get through this without completely embarrassing himself and he'd be happy.
"Look, I'm sorry, guys," said Grace. "I have to get back. Mum and Dad will kill me if I miss curfew again."
"You're going on your own?" asked Matt, frowning.
"No, Ellie is coming over tonight, aren't you, girl?"
"If I'm still welcome," said Ellie, "You promised you'd show me that new dress you got, remember?"
"Still," said Alex. "Just two of you? Pretty dangerous, isn't it?"
"Look," said Matt. Why don't me and Alex walk you home? That way you'll definitely get there and we don't have to stay here and pretend like we're not going crazy with worry."
"Stop exaggerating," said Grace, giving her boyfriend a thwack on the arm. "We'll be fine."
"Please, babe?" he said, pouting.
Alex thought he looked ridiculous, but Grace caved in anyway.
"Oh, fine. Come on then."
Alex and Matt grinned in triumph and followed the girls out of the lobby.
"Wait!" called a voice.
It was Jess.
"What do you want?" sighed Alex.
She ignored him and turned to Ellie. "You're seriously going to go with Rider?" she asked incredulously. "He's a freak!"
"Says who?" retorted Matt angrily.
"Says the entirety of our school!"
"Because of course the school grape vine is the source of all knowledge," said Alex, angrily and sarcastically. "You don't even know me!"
"Look," said Grace. "If Matt trusts him, that's good enough for me. He's hardly going to kill us, is he?"
"Just hanging around with him can be dangerous," said Jess, "His entire family is dead. They shot his guardian."
Alex suddenly felt overwhelming anger coursing through his veins.
"I really don't think it's your place to tell us that," said Matt quietly. "I think you should butt out and mind your own business."
"Thanks," murmured Alex as the group turned and left the cinema.
"No problem, mate. Sorry to hear about your guardian."
Alex smiled, "Thanks, but she's not dead. Her visa ran out and she had to move back to America."
"So, where do you live now?" asked Ellie, curiously.
"Erm... friend of my Uncles... they used to work together."
"Wow, you have just managed to tell us everything while telling us absolutely nothing," commented Grace.
Alex grinned. "He's called Aikema. He's... a good cook... he erm... well, what do you want to know?"
"Age?"
"Err, around forty?"
"Jesus, you really do know like nothing about him, do you?" said Matt, rolling his eyes. "You know you're absolutely hopeless, don't you?"
"Hey!" protested Alex, shoving into Matt. Matt laughed and shoved him back. Alex stumbled slightly and supported himself by grabbing the wall.
He straightened up cautiously. Something was wrong. His neck was prickling and after the assassination incident he had learnt to trust it.
Matt took a bemused step towards him. "Alex? You ok, mate?"
Alex suddenly became aware of how alone they were, of how quiet the street was.
"How far are we from your house?" he asked Grace.
"Couple of blocks," said Grace with a shrug. "Why?"
"You need to get there as fast as you can. Run."
"What? Why?" said Ellie, alarmed.
"Something's wrong," said Alex, his eyes flicking around. "Just trust me, ok?"
"We're not going anywhere until you explain what you mean," said Matt, firmly, but Alex wasn't listening. He was completely stiff, eyes gazing unseeing at the dark street, every particle of his being focused on that unreliable sixth sense.
"Duck," he said, before throwing himself to the ground.
He landed painfully on the concrete, and a bullet slammed into the concrete, not an inch from his hand. Had he been standing, it would have gone right through his head.
Grace screamed, and Alex realised that none of them had hit the floor.
"Run!" he roared, leaping to his feet and leading the way down the street.
This time, they didn't question him. They ran, as fast as they could, their feet pounding into the tarmac.
Another bullet whizzed past his ear and Alex rolled on reflex, regaining his feet and carrying on running without a break in his movement.
"What the hell is going on?" screamed Grace.
"Just run!" yelled Alex. "Where's your house?"
"There!" screamed Grace, pointing to a house at the end.
They sprinted to the door and Alex pushed them through. There was a mini parked in the driveway.
"Can I borrow this?" he asked, crossing to the door.
He didn't wait for an answer, simply sliding into the driving seat and hot wiring the engine.
"Can you even drive?!" screamed Grace.
"Trust me!" he called over his shoulder as he sped out of the driveway.
***
Aikema looked up as Alex burst through the doorway.
"They're coming," he said and Aikema leapt up from the sofa. He crossed quickly to the cupboard and pulled out a gun from the otherwise empty shelf. He crossed to the phone and dialled a number.
"Mr Blunt? This is Agent Aikema. Scorpia are on their way here. Please send back up." There was a pause. "Thank you, sir."
He hung up. "Go and get anything that might help ok?" he said.
"Give me a gun!" said Alex.
"Would you really be able to shoot them?" asked Aikema seriously. Alex bit his lip. "I didn't think so," said Aikema, understandingly. "Go and get whatever offensive gadgets you can."
Alex nodded and took off.
He returned to the living room at the same time the door was kicked open.
Aikema stopped the first round of attackers with bullets, but soon they were overwhelmed, and Alex found himself fighting, hand to hand with an opponent. Aikema was still firing off shots whenever he could, but in such close quarters, the enemy would have more likelihood of hitting an ally than their target and so were avoiding the deadly ranged weapons
He felled his opponent with a blow to the temple and turned, just in time to see Aikema fall to the ground, the silvery hilt of a knife protruding from his stomach.
"NO!" yelled Alex, dashing to the fallen agent's side. "No," he whispered. This man had opened his home to him, helped him learn everything he would need to escape from MI6. He couldn't die. Alex couldn't have another death on his conscience. He heard a footstep behind him and remembered the Scorpia agents surrounding him.
Unconsciously, he reached out a hand for the gun. His fingers closed around the handle. It felt... right.
He rose to his feet and fired.
Once. Twice. Three times. Four times.
And four bodies hit the floor, each with a bullet wound over their heart.
Alex turned to the fifth and final agent. With a flash of recognition, he recognised Walker. They had trained together on Malagasto.
He raised the gun and fired. One bullet, straight through the middle of his forehead. No doubts. No regrets.
Walker's body collapsed. The flat was empty apart from Alex, and the bodies of the dead. Alex let the gun fall from his hand, tumbling to the ground. It landed with a clatter.
His ears heard a sound and he turned.
"Aikema!" he gasped, stumbling to his teacher's side.
"A-Alex," stammered Aikema. "Forgive me..."
"There's nothing to forgive," said Alex. "You're going to be fine. Fine. Help is on its way. They'll be here soon. You'll be fine."
"No... I'm dying. I can feel it," whispered Aikema. "Please... forgive me, Alex. For everything... I just... I wanted to make you strong. To make you a survivor... to make up for what I did to you..." Alex frowned, confused, and Aikema raised a hand and brushed it over Alex's t-shirt, directly over where his bullet wound was.
"No..." whispered Alex, disbelievingly.
"Yes... I worked for Scorpia. I was sent to kill you. But it was wrong. I knew it was wrong." Aikema paused and drew in a deep, gurgling breath. When he spoke, his voice was even quieter. "I-I didn't want to kill you... you reminded me... you reminded me of my son. But... I had to... you know the stakes when you work for th- them... I was so... grateful... when... I missed... I had done my job and you... weren't dead. But... they killed them anyway. My wife... my beautiful son. He was your age... so beautiful, so brave... and they murdered him. As they would have had me murder you..."
Aikema's monologue gave way to a deep, hacking cough and blood frothed out of his mouth. Tearfully, caringly, Alex wiped away the blood that trickled down his chin.
"Just hold on..." he whispered. "They'll be here soon. They'll heal you."
"No, it's too late... for me," gasped Aikema. "Just tell me that you forgive me... for what I did to you... I joined MI6 the next day... Everything... I have done... since then... has been to repay my debt to you... my pupil... Please, forgive me..."
Alex wiped tears from his cheeks. "I forgive you, Sensei... I forgive you for everything."
Aikema sighed and relaxed.
"No!" said Alex, desperately. "No! Hold on, Sensei. You can't die! They're –they're coming! Hold on!"
But it was too late. With a final sigh, Aikema's head fell back, his eyes glassy.
"No..." whispered Alex, tears pouring unabashedly down his cheeks. After a moment, he rose to his feet and raced to the door, uncaring of his bloody appearance.
***
A/N: So, what did you think? Slightly nervous as I'm not very good at action and I think it might be a bit melodramatic. I'll update next Wednesday, assuming my fiancé doesn't decide to hack into my account again and block me out. (It took me ages to get him to tell me the password and then I had to change the email back and think up a new password. It seems that it is far too easy for my nearest and dearest to access my things. Grr.)
Anyways, Review!