A Chapter dedicated to SnarryAddict123, you got me back in the moment with lovely assassin Alex Rider.

It was dark, as usual. Alex had been in the dark so long he had become accustomed to using touch and sound to move around and to scavenge the food and water. He had gotten used to the chain on his ankle, to being silent and was thankful he was being ignored. Water pooled and leaked into his cell. He had started to eat rats and bugs as in the last week as no rations had appeared. They had forgotten about him or they would not waste a bullet on the excess baggage. He had tried to keep track of time but without any routine or even torture sessions to gage the days, time bled together. It had been over four weeks, but apart from that Alex had no idea. He needed one of the guards to slip up, for them to slip up they had to remember about him. If he stayed here, chained in the pit of despair he would die of starvation. Not a happy thought. He needed to escape, no he needed to kill each and every one of the fuckers here. They needed to burn. Alex pulled himself back into the present. Daydreams and fantasies would get you nowhere. He had to stay in the here and now. He had to stay alert. He had to get out of here.

The door opened. Alex lay still, his back facing the door , his arms protecting his head. Others, new prisoners were being placed in his cell. The new arrivals were silent except from the sounds of their breathing. They then began to talk in low tones. There were four of them. Alex could smell blood and stale body odour. They had already been to visit the interrogator. Alex had been tortured but only to try and get David to talk. David had been brave and his conditioning and legend held. They thought David was a Syrian spy. They thought Alex was a rent boy, but hey, David had been fucking him when they'd been captured. Alex had not wanted the distraction of sex, but David had tied him up to get him to comply. Alex had not fought back. They thought he was a russian fuck toy. There were plenty of Russian whores even here in the back end of Iraq.

Alex concentrated on the hushed conversation in patchy arabic. They were talking of him, the lump of rags in the corner. "Is he alive?" "Maybe?" "He's breathing, shallow and regular." "Do you reckon he's a POW?" "Maybe?"

Alex spoke in russian, keeping in legend "Hello? Are you friends? My name is Sasha. I think they have forgotten about me. Do you have any food? I'm hungry. So, hungry." Alex sounded lost in despair and broken. Come to think of it maybe he was. "It is always dark, here. Always."

A gruff, deep voice spoke in halting russian, "How long you been here, kid?"

"Since 3rd March, 2005."

"Its the 18th June, Sasha."

"Have you seen, Darius? He was captured with me. They split us up last month. He is tall, dark haired and is Syrian."

"No we have not seen Darius."

Alex could not help himself as a sob escaped his throat. He was finding it so had to keep emotional control. David was dead. Mossie and Ari had left them to die or they were dead also. There was no extraction or bargaining for Black Ops Assassination teams. He was on his own. Mind you Alex knew only David liked him, no David had been ordered to like him. He was a foreigner, an asset to use and nothing more. None of the team felt any loyalty to him.

"I want to go home."

The gruff voice agreed "We all want to go home."

The next day all five of them were pulled out of the hole that was classed as a cell. Alex shielded his eyes as two insurgents dragged his emaciated body into the compound yard. Alex lay on the yard floor his head lifted as someone pulled his hair to show off his bearded filthy face. Alex guessed he was about to die. The guard let go of him and his head dropped into the dirt. All the guards then concentrated on the four other prisoners. They had forgotten about him again and the guard nearest to him was a perfect target with knife and gun within reach. In a burst of adrenaline, Alex was on his feet, the nearest guard had his neck proken, The sub machine gun barked and all the other guards were down, Alex grabbed the knife and cut the bonds of the four others, when he recognised two of them. K-unit, Snake and Wolf.

Alex ordered in english, "Grab some guns. This will be our only chance of escape and I've had enough of their hospitality."

They drove into the desert in a Landcruiser that had seen better days, a minimum of supplies scavenged. They needed to put distance between them and the now burning compound. "Head either north-east for Bagdad or West for Damascus. They will expect us to go to either so maybe just south to Basra, longer but safer in the end" said Alex to no one in particular. Wolf was driving as Snake wrapped a blanket around the blond russian mystery who now spoke perfect english.

"Basra it is." Wolf wanted answers about the youngster. Typical that the russians used teen agents as well. A lump came to Wolf's throat as he thought about Cub. Enquiries by MI6 to Mossad had come up blank. Those bastards would neither confirm or deny they had bought Alex from that Scorpia scum, Yassen Gregorovich. "So are you FSB?"

"No, Mossad. Fucking bastards burned me and my handler David. We had to have been betrayed or given up. Our legends held. Those nutjobs had no idea they had two Search and Destroy agents in their hands."

"Fuck, you're an assassin." Wolf then turned and looked at the walking skeleton "Cub?", before turning to keep his eye on the dusty and rutted road.

"I was waiting for you to recognise me, Wolf. I'd be lying if I said I was glad to see you. I'm just glad to be alive and in one piece. How the hell did those nutters get the up on K-unit?"

"Long story." said Wolf

Snake then spoke for the first time, "Bad intel, fucking Yanks led us into a complete fuck up. Two other units died. We have however removed that entire cell of insurgents, so objective completed in the end."

"We are not out of the woods yet. Still in bandit country. Hell the Yanks are more likely to kill us than anyone else." stated a stoic and frankly depressing Wolf. Ever the realist, their troubles were not over yet.