As soon as they'd reached the car Alex began informing Yassen about the Anthrax and it's intended use in more detail. It was hard not to miss the rising tension in his mentor's body language. He instantly began trying trying to determine what was causing the normally calm man to stress. The older male was a mystery; one he knew to trust implicitly, yet he was starting to understand his mentor was just like him at his worst. Unreadable.
"Yassen?"
"Were you exposed?"
"No."
"Are you certain?" He growled, protectively, Alex realized.
"I was translating for them. Paperwork. I'm alright." He slowed his speech as he met the man's heated gaze. "Why didn't you tell me about them? Him?" The former assassin snapped his eyes back onto the road ahead.
"You're good at your job." He laughed bitterly although it sounded more like a bark- his hackles were well and truly up. Yassen had to admit it was rather impressive to have only had one day inside and manage to discover so much and the destroy half of the compound. That was their curse. "I had to bury my friend when I was a child because of what my Father was forced to create. I will not be burying you Alex…" He tailed off, not at all concerned that he'd be misheard, finding the calmness and clarity he needed. The deep breathe before the shot. "We'll get Hawk and go."
Alex acknowledged the subject change and the unfamiliar warmth and security he felt in the admission by shifting his own gaze to the scenery they were passing by. It was a rare fondness that enabled someone to let others glimpse something you never wanted to see yourself; it was even rarer for people like them to volunteer it. To this day he refused to talk about Her. Both of them had reached the point of no return a long time ago. "Back to England." He agreed a little wistfully.
They both let the quiet drag on between them, comfortable in what was said, and more importantly, what wasn't. As the miles, minutes and memories corroded away, Alex took advantage of the little down time and privacy he had left. He closed his eyes, letting his brain shut off and take all the rest it could get, he had a feeling there wouldn't be another opportunity for quite a while. "They won't win Yasha. I won't let them."
The quiet hum of the car stopped as the engine was cut off. Surprisingly, almost shockingly so, Alex was still dozing in the seat beside him. As much as the kid deserved a break and as amusing as it was to see the biggest thorn in SCORPIA's backside appear so innocent, they had work to do.
"Hey,"
"Good. If you get in touch with Wolf and let him know where we need to be; I'll go through the motions with our MI6 liaison and see if he'll met me halfway or not." There was no yawn or slight stretch of stiff muscles to indicate his return to consciousness as a Alex snapped out the orders and undid his seatbelt. "Make sure they don't leave without Ben."
"Are we going to bring in the other soldiers as well?"
"Gaggle and Flock? I think that base is already covered. Those events usually attract high security and with one of the attendees being murdered within the same month would ensure that the Special Forces as well as MI5 will be there. They only play fast and loose in the shadows. PR is everything and I don't think our leave finished when it did out of coincidence."
The wheels touched down as if the runway were glass; seamlessly sliding onto its surface with a gentleness that would not see any scratches left on it. The majority of passengers were unconcerned about the slight delay brought on by turbulence early on in the journey. One in particular kept a close eye on his watch, the youth next to him looked grim, but ignored his own in favor of glaring meaningfully at the man to his left who had been convincingly faking dozing the entire flight. Much to his convenience and the other's chagrin.
Ian was understandably stressed. At least he considered himself to be. To be honest he had no clue what part set him off, the fact they weren't at all perturbed and that they, no, he had sprung a half-cocked plan on him that would solely rely on luck probably had a small part to play. They were currently en-route towards a destination he counted on being untouchable so his day was pretty well rocked, but it seemed to be only half of his problem. Cub hadn't spoken since they left Russia. His nephew had shut down once he passed on his orders. Granted he hadn't taken them well… Yelled as he was reminded who got the information. Yelled when he was told of the plan. Yelled when he was made aware that a child was perfectly capable of doing his job for him. Again.
As a former soldier he was horrified that his pride had gotten in the way like that, but the deadpan mask made the hit feel a little more justified.
"Al! Over here," All three men recognized Fox's voice beckoning them towards the arrivals gate. Without hesitation the older man threw his arms around his charge and held him tight for a brief instant before loosening his hold to akin to a guiding grasp on the blonde's shoulders as he greeted Hunter and finally Hawk. "The others are waiting in the car."
"Car?" Alex shot back, it was quite a party trick to get seven guys in a sedan.
"Mini van." Ben winced as the rest snickered, Yassen included.
The teenager smirked, shaking his head sadly. "Eagle?"
"Eagle."
They retreated to the rental car park where a very stoic Wolf growled his pleasantries to his unit members before taking the condemning step into a very discrete vehicle. After hundreds of sleek black sedans or luxury sports vehicles; the green VW Camper was a novelty. And having to watch an Assassin, two spies, and a unit of Spec. Opps clamber into a Hippie Van as a mission vehicle… Alex on barely managed to restrain himself from any form of amusement because a Wolf was very capable of killing with looks alone at this instant.
"Alright Cub, I need information." Wolf commanded, turning to face them all from the front passenger seat, his expression was entirely business. "What is the plan here?" Every pair of eyes –save Snake's, who was driving- fell on their youngest member expectantly.
Drawing a deep breath to gather himself and his thoughts that Alex knew needed to be accurate and concise. He had approximately 10 minutes, half of that really as he subtracted the time it would take to see through any blanks the others might raise.
"SASHA is essentially a highly organized, mercenary, terrorism cell. Headed by Pieter Timur, he runs most of the operations through his lieutenants. This one is being handled by him personally and as far as I have been able to determine, there is no clear motive. His experimental weaponized anthrax strain has been developed without any largely available cure. They intend to kill. We have one window to grab the stuff and let the company fall on it's own sword. If we can prevent the attack, their reputation will flail on it's own. They've invested everything in this.
Wolf I need you to get whatever security going on there to lockdown and evacuate. Snake, Eagle and Hawk will be with you. Do I need to explain the importance of keeping it low key?" They all remained silent, they knew the stakes were high.
"Hawk, run whatever contacts you can once the security are playing ball. When we have the Anthrax in our possession we need to get dispose of it ASAP.
Cossack, Fox, I'll need your help. We're going break in and ambush their operatives as they install the devices. We're against the clock so we have to divide and conquer; Fox you have the two locations at the back, Cossack you have these two up near the ducts on the roof and I'll take the remaining three on the main floor. Remember they've had a lot of time planning this, they will most likely use one device to defend the other. We need to get to each one before they're armed. K-Unit?"
Wolf glanced across at Snake then back to Eagle, they weren't happy, but they were in agreement. "No problem Cub, no heroics though. If it goes balls up…"
"Understood Sir," Alex smiled impishly, well aware that his unit leader was more than likely employing the Queen's English in his name now. "Hawk?"
The spy stared at the lot of them incredulously. There was crazy and then there was this. "Just to get this straight… You three are planning on walking straight into Buckingham. Defuse seven Anthrax bombs, that no one else has even heard about, and get past however many operatives that will try to kill you; which does include your own side. As individuals. You're going to let them," He directed his dark glare specifically to Wolf before turning it onto his nephew, continuing to list off facts. "And you say you're all just soldiers?"
AN: yeah, sorry for the wait guys but here it is, one of the longest yet. As always many thanks for the support you guys are awesome. Please leave your thoughts below... I want to know what you guys think Ian's reaction will be:)
