A/N: Happy Monday, everyone! As always, I adore your thoughts, comments, and criticism even if I am utterly terrible at responding. (I will reply some day, I swear...)

O

Grumbling furiously to himself, Alex stepped carefully between the dense pines, grateful that Yassen had insisted on Alex's coat being the drabbest shade of green he could find in the giant department store they'd last stopped at. It didn't blend perfectly with the surrounding foliage, but as the sun began carving downwards in the distant sky and bathing the mountains in warmer light, it wouldn't matter. His trainers, on the other hand, had nearly abandoned his feet altogether. The soft dirt of the forest was quite a bit muddier than the paths and, in places, seemed to aspire to quicksand. Alex struggled to make headway, feeling his pulse spike with each minute that passed.

Finally, he came up on their closest neighbor's property- an angular glass and steel construction set a little higher on the slopes of the mountainside than their cabin. Completely empty, as far as Alex could tell, which was hardly a surprise since it's windows had remained dark the entire time they'd been staring here. Navigating the terrain aside, it was the perfect vantage point.

Thick copses of trees prevented Alex from seeing into their cabin's backyard or into the tall, wide windows that made up the wall beside the deck, but that couldn't stop Mr. Smithers. Swirling the trackpad with practiced ease, he studied the cabin. From this distance, it was hard to get an exact read. Thermal imaging had limits, but Smithers had found some way to merge it with some kind of x-ray function. Four men casually patrolled the property- two in the front and two in the back. The interior of the house had lots of human shaped heat signatures, none of which seemed to stand or shift like Yassen.

Their sedan was clearly parked in the car port, though. Unless Yassen had escaped on foot...

Alex gnawed on his lip, uselessly flitting between settings. There was nothing for it. He had to get closer if he wanted a better look.

Mentally marking the position of the guards, he tucked his iPod back into his pocket to ensure he had his hands free. Took a deep breath. Anxiety hovered on the edges of his thoughts, coloring them with frantic energy. He'd tucked the dart gun into his jacket, but didn't know how many rounds were left since he didn't want to waste time searching for ammo. Yassen could already be hurt. He'd ended up taking a short cut through town to make up for lost time.

Julius erupted into laughter.

Alex sighed. "Doesn't the crusher want a turn or something?"

Clinging to the edges of the trees, he slowly made his way down to the edge of the property line. Every twig to snap and branch that rustled over the sound of Julius' deranged giggles sent a fresh wave of adrenaline dancing across his nerves. Deep, boxed breaths carried the heavy scent of pine and earth. Alex moved as quietly as he could while he approached. It was separated only by a wire and wood fence that had somehow managed to withstand the dense evergreens around it.

Julius leaned against the trunk of a tall blue spruce. "This way."

Alex ignored him, climbing onto a fallen log. The fence wasn't much higher than Alex was tall, and the wire running along the top wasn't even barbed. Probably designed to keep falling branches from damaging the wood. It was a simple matter to haul himself up and to ease beneath the metal thread over to the other side.

And found himself dragged up into a choke hold.

Damn it. Alex gasped, suddenly unable to drag in air. Julius had distracted him, covered up the sound of the approaching guard. Perhaps he'd had an absence seizure while the guard walked right up to him. Or perhaps they'd seen him watching them at the neighbor's house. Perhaps they had infrared gear too.

It didn't matter: Alex knew what to do.

Dropping his chin, he yanked the man's gripping elbow down before pivoting sharply with all his might to walk open the hold. The guard grunted in pain. Freedom. There was nowhere to run but smack back into the fence, so that was out. Alex lashed out immediately, aiming directly for the kidneys. With the man being so much larger than him it was pointless to try and take control with an arm twist.

His fist met reinforced kevlar and he stumbled backwards, wrist smarting.

Fuck, that hurt. The two drivers hadn't had body armor.

Damn it.

"Rider's in three." The man- some tan guy in his mid twenties- released his short range radio and lunged again.

Alex danced back, stumbling on a root. Rolling into the fall, he used the chance to rip his dart gun free of his jacket and spring back to his feet. The guard was well trained, unfortunately. Tackling Alex to the ground, he quickly pinned his chest, reaching for the gun.

Wind knocked out of him, Alex rammed his free hand against the side of the man's head, flailing to keep the gun out of reach. Drawing it forward to aim it would essentially be the same as giving it to the man. Twisting sharply, Alex managed to knock the man off balance and half slide out from under him.

"You little-" the man snarled.

Alex spotted a flash of white out of the corner of his eye. Desperately, he called, "Purdy!"

The cat darted forward into view, yowling uneasily in response.

It wasn't much, but it was enough. The guard twisted to look at the sudden intruder and Alex rammed his handgun into his neck. Choking, the man's eyes welled up in pain and he gagged, weight shifting as he tried to pin Alex with his body weight even as his hands flew to protect his throat. Not exactly incompetent then. Alex used the man's momentum alongside his own, turning the motion into a roll and ending up on top. No time to line up a shot. He slammed the handle against the side of the man's head until he went limp.

Alex dragged himself to his feet, panting. "Go home," he told Purdy between breaths, breaking into an exhausted jog. "We'll chat later."

She yowled again and bolted into the undergrowth.

He twisted to look back the way he came as he ran. Should he risk going back for the other man's weapons? Obviously they wanted to take him hostage, but that didn't mean he could afford to be an easy target. He still had his handgun and the dart gun, but he still wasn't sure how many guards he'd find himself up against. Support would be here soon, but-

Alex ran headfirst into the second guard.

O

Yassen refused to give any sort of reaction.

Dr. Steiner seemed unbothered. Consulting a smartphone he pulled from his jacket pocket, he absently tapped the screen and nodded to a guard. "Many who commit suicide even wanted to leave, to escape the stress of employment or to start over with a blank slate. Retire in the tropics, I believe, was the most popular fantasy. Others, like you, simply found themselves in impossible situations they couldn't escape. Regardless of motivations, most don't survive their adjustment phase."

"And yet I live. Your point?"

"Come now, Yassen. I'm not being deliberately obtuse. Your resilience is impressive, but time has a way of eroding that. I'm not saying you were planning on killing yourself, especially not given your own personal convictions on the matter, but it wasn't long before something in you broke. Boredom and unhappiness have brought down lesser men. Prison might as well be a sensory deprivation tank for all the damage it can do psychologically. Fortunately for you, an unexpected gift fell from the sky."

"I believe it was a helicopter."

Dr. Steiner scoffed lightly. "Ah, yes. I see Alex's sarcasm has rubbed off on you. I'd be curious to see how he's changed in response to your time together, but that's rather beside the point. His arrival in prison must have felt like a miracle; I can't even imagine your relief. Thank God for this addled child. Thank God for his bizarre problems. Thank God for the distraction."

Yassen stared at him, feeling ice spread through his chest. "Of course. Alex is to blame for everything. Surely I have become overly attached. That was quite the unnecessary build up to a point you could have made immediately, doctor."

"Not remotely! You see, my point is just the opposite. Your attachment to him isn't genuine by any stretch of the imagination, Yassen. It is simply a placeholder for purpose. More importantly, it was the key to your survival." Steiner waved a hand at the fireplace. "At best, Alex is simply a vessel. A tool to help you focus on a goal- any goal, really- and to push away your own anxieties. The rest is window dressing."

Yassen took a slow, steady pull. Exhaled a plume of smoke through his nose. It was almost meditative. "And this is Scorpia's official opinion on the matter of my defection?"

Dr. Steiner folded his hands together and settled back into his chair. "It is mine. I have heard all of my colleagues' concerns, but some are too worried about the details. Take the issue of Alex being Hunter's orphan, for example. That's not a factor of attachment in my opinion, but of relevance. An excuse for you to step in and involve yourself. I doubt you'd have considered him an option otherwise. You hardly have any interest in the woes of random teenagers." He nodded to one of the guards and leaned forward. "At any rate, I have full board support to manage your reintegration back into the organization. To answer one of your earlier questions, yes, our offer of forgiveness is still on the table. This "build up", as you've called it, is the reason why it remains."

Yassen waved a dismissive hand. "I see. So let's say you're spot on for the sake of argument. What if I'm still not interested in whatever you and Dr. Three are trying to accomplish?"

Dr. Steiner gave him a patient smile. Behind him, through the windows, three dim forms came into view. Yassen's stomach clenched. Two guards dragged a cuffed Alex up the short flight of stairs onto the deck. "I would not be remotely surprised, Yassen. Transitions are notoriously difficult. Alex has been the means to your survival more than Scorpia has, at least in your recent memory. I don't fault you for prioritizing him. It's human nature."

Alex was yanked unceremoniously through the sliding glass door and into the kitchen. Apart from his mussed hair, split lip, and muddied clothes, he appeared more or less intact. The operative who'd been guarding that entrance searched him quickly as the other two held the boy still, slapping his handgun and cellphone onto the island before glancing back for instructions. At Dr. Steiner's approving nod, they pulled him forward into the living room.

So much for buying time.

"What do you want?" Yassen asked Steiner, voice crisp and clear.

Dr. Steiner spread his hands. "I think you know. You haven't been disarmed. Would I really be guilty of such an oversight?"

Yassen almost wanted to laugh as the remaining operatives trained their guns on him. All this time, he'd struggled to ignore the spread of bitter dread creeping through him. Steiner hadn't been exactly right about a lot of things, but he'd been close enough for his words to feel like bullets whipping past in the dark. Missing the mark, but only just so. It was hard to admit, but he didn't have to like the truth in order to acknowledge it: he'd been rattled. Shaken. Yet through all that, in the end, everything boiled down to his very first instinct months ago. It was funny.

The instant he'd seen the note in prison, he knew they'd want him to execute Alex himself.

Yassen didn't so much as blink. "Didn't you just spend-" he glanced at the clock hanging above the entertainment center. "-forty minutes trying to convince me that my mental and emotional deficiencies have forced me to reject your offer? You must have considered the odds that I won't be interested in shooting him for your forgiveness."

"Oh, this isn't about forgiveness. It's not even about loyalty." Dr. Steiner clasped his hands loosely on his knees and leaned forward, pointedly glancing at the seven men training their weapons on the ex-assassin. "It's about survival. We both know you are capable of that. I told you he was the key. Go on. Free yourself. You can make it fast for him, if that helps."

Yassen stared at Dr. Steiner impassively, knowing that if he took so much as a single look at Alex's face he'd compromise his ability to think rationally. Too many weapons were trained on him at once. Two guards ertr positioned on the second level's landing, which overlooked the living room and provided a clear shot at both of them. Were it only one or two men, he could feasibly dodge or disarm them in time to prevent retaliation. So spread out within such a small space, Yassen was guaranteed to catch a bullet without his own set of kevlar armor to protect him. Chaos or confusion would be his next best bet, but there was little he could do to ensure that Alex wasn't hit in the crossfire. Steiner certainly wouldn't undervalue such a move and would probably do it himself. He didn't even have enough bullets in his clip to shoot everyone in the room, so even if he were to find a strategic moment when everyone else had their guns lowered, he would have to prioritize escape anyway. Alex was on the other side of the room, opposite of the car, so he'd have to find a way to collect him and-

"I know what you're thinking, Yassen." Dr. Steiner's voice was a study in gentle firmness. "But it won't work. He's the reason you wound up in prison in the first place. His life is the cost to undo the damage that it caused. The only way back is the way you came."