A/N: Aggggh... Happy Monday? I nearly forgot to post, but it's technically still Monday, so I think I'm in the clear. :)

Ben scribbled frantically on his notepad, locked safely in the small toilet of their flat. Three in the morning loomed over him like an exhausting spectre; a night of running, scouring the streets, and ultimately sweating bullets at the local precinct getting Snake and Eagle released. Those two were now busy sulking into their cold takeout menus, their little spat with the women having earned them both a couple of scratches and a ride in the local police car. Fortunately, while they'd been taken into custody for causing a disturbance and behaving suspiciously, they'd texted Ben an update as they hadn't technically been placed under arrest- only taken in for a statement and translation services. Of course, Ben and Wolf had to wait to be freed from the men's restroom by a peevish set of metro maintenance men with an electric saw, but as soon as they'd slipped out of that one, they were able to go to the local station and sort out the misunderstanding. The police themselves were more annoyed by the incident than anything else, so after a stern warning to behave themselves during their vacation, they were free to go.

By that point, Alex and the assassin had almost certainly made it back to their flat to have god knew what conversation. This was an utter nightmare.

Smithers response was swift. Has anyone submitted a status report?

No. I'm lead. It's my job to phone in the report and I have no idea how to go about it. Ben hesitated. Technically, we were never supposed to approach them so aggressively, at least not until we'd observed their comings and goings for the week but. Well. I have my own suspicions.

Yes, I'm afraid you may be onto something about being sacrificial lambs. Smithers text paused as the man himself seemed to hesitate. And approaching them like this tonight doesn't seem to have done you any favors. Are you certain it was them in that tank?

I saw them climb out, but I didn't document it. Ben scrubbed an anxious hand through his hair, hunched over on the closed lid of the toilet as he was. I didn't record anything tonight. Perhaps I should have, but I didn't want MI6 realizing we might know they wanted Gregorovitch to kill us. I wanted our conversation off the record, if at all possible. I didn't think he'd attack us with a bloody tank!

In retrospect, I think that was very wise of you to avoid documentation, my good fellow. Did any of your team mates?

We've been equipped with those button cameras. Based off your tech, I think. Not terribly long lasting or good footage before the batteries run out, but yeah. Most of the guys activated theirs at some point or another, but the data is stored locally and has to be downloaded from the actual device. Since I'm in charge of reports, I collected the buttons and wiped the footage without downloading it to my laptop. It's probably being monitored.

Good. There's still hope that we can sort this mess out.

Ben scowled at the screen. G tried to kill us. What is left to sort?

You can't be sure of that. I will look into it. For now, keep a lid on tonight's events as they relate specifically to Alex and Yassen. Not just for Alex's sake, but yours. If MI6 has any reason to think you've ignored or altered the mission's parameters, you will be under a lot more scrutiny than either of us can afford at the moment. Hopefully, if there is another team in Moscow, they are either still getting established and don't have you under observation yet since your orders were not to approach yet, or they somehow didn't get enough conclusive evidence to make much of a difference either way. Color me an optimist, but I'd say our odds are quite good.

How would I approach the reports then if we've possibly been observed? They'll know I've lied or left parts out.

There is always that risk. Offer a narrative that fits for the most part. Don't mention the tank, certainly. As far as you are concerned, those might as well have been teenage joyriders and it certainly had nothing to do with you. You simply wanted to familiarize your team with the parts of the city you suspected Alex and Yassen might frequent after arriving in your flat. After that, you got locked in a men's room and harassed by a few ladies of the night. Harmless pranks by the SVR, perhaps, to let you know that you'd been discovered, if tolerated.

He let out a soft sigh, rubbing the exhaustion gathering in the corner of his eyes. So we just pretend nothing happened between us and them? After he tried to kill us?

For all of our sakes, yes. Standby for further information, but in the meantime, get some sleep.

Wait. Ben stared at the screen, a little lost suddenly. Now that he actually went to pose the question, he didn't realize he hadn't properly phrased it. My team. I trust them. I think they want to do good by Alex, but I haven't told them about our contact. I don't want to put their heads on the chopping block alongside ours, but I can't keep leaving them in the dark. A mission lead who kills reports won't look good if we're caught and they deserve more than… Ben furrowed his brows. Being left in the dark, trying to cover for me without understanding why.

So you'd like my advice on how to loop them in without burdening them with real culpability?

I suppose so, yes.

I would recommend you tell them your suspicions about MI6 and their apparent willingness to sacrifice you lot. That will explain much of your reluctance to communicate honestly with your employers. You've already expressed your concern for Alex's wellbeing, which you say they match so they will likely not question you on several other decisions you might make in the near future. However, the truth is that at some point, that will not be enough to explain your behavior to them satisfactorily. You will have to make a choice: let them involve themselves and potentially face the consequences or risk everything we have done together by letting them leave with compromising information. There is no other way around it, though when that day comes, should you choose to involve them, I trust that I will remain your 'anonymous contact'.

Of course. Someone has to keep looking out for Alex should we get caught.

Indeed. Fortunately, Gregorovitch's goals align with ours more than you know. He will ensure that Alex survives, if nothing else.

Ben's brain screeched to a halt. How do you know what his goals are? Have you been in contact with him directly?

His eyes lasered in on the cryptic response. It seemed to take an eternity for the gadget master to find the words. Perhaps he was simply preoccupied with something else. The man seemed to juggle many things.

I cannot speak for him. I can, however, say with a reasonable deal of confidence, that he will prioritize Alex's needs over his own and that he will do everything in his power to ensure that Alex is never again used as an operative by anyone. "Is more invested in me being normal than I am" is how Alex once phrased it, if I recall correctly. Do not misunderstand me: your fears that he may eliminate you as a possible threat are valid. Your fears that he will harm Alex, however, are not.

So you are telling me to trust him, while also telling me that he will happily murder me at the drop of a hat.

Smithers response seemed inappropriately cheery. Such is the nature of encountering a man of his profession, I suppose, my dear chap. An odd and untrusting fellow, but he is certainly doing us some favors by looking after the boy to make up for the rest, wouldn't you say? At any rate, I will see what I can do. Get some rest, Daniels.

Wolf studied Ben as he walked into the room, eyes tight. The man's special sunglasses had been flicked down, which he was using to subtly glance around the small, mostly bare apartment. Wolf didn't bother commenting on it- with Ben's revelation earlier that night that he suspected that MI6 was here to document their murders as best they could, it made sense that their flat might contain surveillance unknown to them.

Of course, giving him a pair of sunglasses to spot such a thing would raise some red flags about what they'd actually been sent here to do. It wasn't a stretch to think Jones wanted to avoid questions from them. Hence the need for a second team. Wolf suspected his hunch was correct when after a good minute or two, Ben flicked his sunglasses up on top of his head and considered his team mates.

"We need to talk," the SAS-soldier-turned-spook said heavily.

Eagle and Snake stopped grumbling to each other in low voices and turned to look at him.

"What did MI6 say?" Snake asked. "Did we get any footage they can use?"

Ben's lips tightened. "That's what we need to discuss. Wolf?"

"I haven't said anything," the man responded, already guessing where his mind was going. "Thought they should hear from you."

Crossing his arms, Ben nodded slowly. "Fair enough, thanks. Right. So I've got some suspicions and I think it's pretty important we all get on the same page as to how we're going to regard MI6."

Eagle's eyes narrowed. "That doesn't sound ominous or anything. Look, we all know they're going to try to screw the kid over. We all understand that."

Ben shook his head. "Not just the kid. Us." He hesitated. "It's odd, isn't it? That we're soldiers and we've been sent here anyway, without cover identities. We've all noticed. We've all brought it up. This looks like a hostile action against the two of them, if barely legal, so why do it all if there's little chance we'd succeed in persuading Alex? We certainly didn't give them any reason to hope he'd trust us based off of his actions in Kingman. I have no real proof, just suspicions that get stronger with every passing hour here."

"Oh, just spit it out, Ben," Eagle said, leaning back in his seat. Exhausted. "You've got an idea. What shitty thing are your bosses doing this time?"

Ben set his jaw. "I think they want to goad Gregorovitch into killing us so another team can document it and prove he's a dangerous criminal. I think we failed in Kingman and now we're expendable as a familiar, yet obviously threatening force. Gregorovitch might not have seen our faces in Arizona, but Alex clearly trusts him more than us and can be counted on to relay the information. We look like we're here to kidnap the kid and cause trouble. Gregorovitch has a history of preemptively eliminating problems. It fits."

Eagle shook his head slowly. "That doesn't make sense. Why set us up to do reconnaissance?"

"Bare bones reconnaissance," Ben corrected him. "None of you have the training for this kind of thing anyway. Isn't that strange that they didn't even crank you through a two hour training session on urban methods before we left, rather than relying on just a ten minute presentation on using the button cams? You'd think they'd at least make us watch training videos on the flight over."

"Body cams," Snake said slowly. "Not even real proper surveillance cameras. I thought they just wanted close ups of us interacting with Alex to document bruises or something. To keep it subtle."

"Or to get a close up of us getting shot," Wolf added heavily. It made too much sense. "Or stabbed. Or whatever this guy's MO is."

"Shooting, mostly," Ben supplied. "Though he's adaptable. Stabbing. Snapping necks. Bit of an opportunist."

Eagle glared. "Thank you, I am so reassured knowing that. What a load off my mind. Whatever's convenient, is how I'll die."

Ben shook his head. "I'm sorry. I can't let you be reassured by anything right now. You deserve to know the danger."

"This is why you pushed to approach him as soon as you realized he knew we were here," Snake said slowly, glancing at Wolf for confirmation. "Because Gregorovitch might act quickly."

Ben nodded. "I thought, well, even if it was a long shot, at least we'd have a chance to prove we weren't threats. To try and make a point of full transparency to avoid getting murdered on day one."

"What does this mean for us?" Snake asked suddenly. He met Ben's eyes steadily. "If we're here to die, rather than bring the kid back into the fold, what does this mean for us going forward?"

Ben tilted his head. "It means we follow the mission, just very cautiously. Tonight… will have happened differently in my report. No tank. Just getting locked in the bathroom and the prostitute brawl-"

"It's not a brawl if you don't hit back," Snake muttered, rubbing the welt's where one of the women's nails had raked across his jaw. Eagle rubbed the side of his neck, sporting his own bruises.

"-which we'll heavily imply that we suspect were the SVR being assholes. Letting us know that we've been made. That we're watched."

"That might help. If we're too watched to be useful, we might get recalled," Wolf mused.

"Doubt it. There's still a chance the assassin might come after us still, or that the SVR might try to disappear us themselves. Both could still work in MI6's favor if they catch it on camera," Ben pointed out. "No. We'll likely be left to the original mission here while they wait for them to kill us. Unless we actually find evidence that Alex is being horribly abused, but I doubt Gregorovitch would be so obvious."

A moody silence fell over the room. Wolf was hardly surprised. He'd already churned over the core problem of MI6 leaving them exposed and vulnerable in the hopes they'd be murdered in a legally actionable way. Snake and Eagle had maybe five minutes since the bombshell had been dropped. It was a lot to consider.

Well, that and the idea that Ben wasn't telling them everything, but what else was new?

"Why leave out the tank from our reports?" Wolf asked eventually, giving Ben a steady, inscrutable look.

A bolt of harsh energy erupted in the spy's chest. Shit. He'd half hoped his team wouldn't notice that little detail, but of course they would. Luckily, he'd taken a moment to get his ducks in a row before coming out.

Ben pressed his lips together, careful to betray nothing but the expected tension of the moment. "Because the more I think about it, the more I think it was really Alex that was driving."

Snake raised an eyebrow. "You think he wants us dead that badly? Really, Ben."

Ben shook his head gently and shrugged. "Admittedly, us showing up in Moscow is an unpleasant surprise. There's no reason for him to think it's a good thing since he's here voluntarily. Besides, I've studied Gregorovitch a lot. Every file I could find. It makes even less sense for him to attack us like that. He's opportunistic, but he's very, very discreet. It's why he climbed to the top of the food chain at Scorpia and why it's so hard to tie him to any crimes now. He wouldn't plow into a children's museum or try to run us over in public. Alex is... a lot less subtle."

Wolf snorted. "I'll say."

Snake tilted his head. "But Gregorovitch was with him in the tank. We saw them both climb out."

Ben spread his hands. "We don't know their relationship. Maybe they tried to hide in it and Alex did something stupid. We don't know what kind of stress he's been under. Maybe he was hallucinating. Maybe he was high. Maybe he's really just that angry with us. I doubt Gregorovitch would have intervened for our sakes, but he might have stopped Alex from committing any major crimes where they would be caught quickly. It probably just took him a while to get him to stop. He doesn't seem to have complete authority over the kid. Remember our phone call in Kingman?"

Eagle snorted and mimicked the flat, exhausted voice they'd all committed to memory. "Stop talking, Alex. Give me back the phone, Alex."

"Exactly. He might be keeping the brat alive for whatever reason, but he's not exactly effective at managing his behavior. We're lucky he stopped him at all, if that's what he did." Ben shook his head and gestured vaguely. "Anyway, my point is that if we report the tank incident, this could easily blow back on Alex. MI6 wouldn't be the worst of it. What do you think the Russians are going to do to the kid if he hurts their case like that? It's one thing if he loses in court because the judges don't think he was a spy, but another if Alex- pardon my phrasing- tanks the case himself. His testimony would be worthless if his character is subject to enough doubt, which makes him a problematic waste to keep around for the SVR. Expensive. Embarrassing."

Wolf pinched the bridge of his nose. "Shit. You're right. They might punish him somehow for it. Maybe even kill him if the case disappears altogether."

Eagle's lips twisted. "Though we are relying on the idea that a second team didn't capture evidence of the tank chasing you two at all. Did you see anyone else?"

Wolf shook his head with a shrug. "No, but I didn't have much of a chance to check before we were being chased by a bloody tank. If we weren't supposed to approach them for another few days, that might mean the other team isn't in position yet. I'm not sure how this spy shit works, but if this were the SAS I'd assume they needed time to pull more qualified people from other missions. Either way, I agree that mentioning the tank will only hurt Alex. If there's a chance that no one else knows, I think we should keep our mouths shut."

"And if they already know and ask why we didn't report it?"

"Play dumb, I guess," Snake sighed. "We're not trained for this, you know, and the mission is vague."

"Not that that'll keep us from being chewed out if we're caught, Ben especially, but you're right. We're not qualified for this. That's kind of the point of us, I suppose." Wolf grimaced. "So where does that leave us? We just play good little soldiers and go along with our suicide mission and hope that we don't get murdered? If Ben's guess is right, the fucking kid we're trying to save might even be the one to do it."

"We'll need to be careful, but yes." Ben nodded, careful to conceal his relief. They'd bought it. "Hopefully, whatever mood that got him into the tank to chase us was just a passing thing and we get a chance to make a better second impression. Make it clear we mean no harm. Pose no real threat. We have no choice at any rate. We'll just have to play this by ear and try to keep all of our movements above board outside of this apartment." He took a deep breath. "So that leads us back to tonight. Wolf and Eagle- you are on first shift while Snake and I sleep. We'll change out in four hours for second watch."