Chapter 67: Lectures and Letters

TRIGGER WARNING : MC HAS A (MILD) PANIC ATTACK.

Fenrir immediately licked his face as his alarm rang. "Dog, I swear to god."

Fenrir's eyes met his once more. "It's a good job you're so fucking cute."

Fenrir gave a happy little yip. "Did you like our five-hour wood trek?"

Fenrir weaved himself in between Alex and his desk. "I'll take that as a yes."

Alex rubbed his eyes and groaned. Yassen and Ian might live on four hours of sleep per night, but he needed more. Alex went for his secret stash of caffeine pills. This was going to be fun. At least nobody monitored his water intake. SCORPIA was creepy like that. If you took too much caffeine, you could get dehydrated. Alex grabbed his water bottle. Fenrir huffed and opened the door. "Am I running five whole minutes late, dog?"

It was Lance who walked up and answered. "Yes."

Alex glared at the man. "You sure know how to ruin a guy's morning, Lance."

Larry gaped. "I ruined your morning?! Bitch, you ran away and left some lame-ass note about a religious thing! I was up the whole night worrying about you, you little shit!"

Alex rolled his eyes. "I was actually performing a religious rite in the woods."

Lance glared. "Did you forget you have a SCORPIA assassin after you?! Not to mention, you didn't tell anyone where you were going beforehand! For all we knew, that note could have been faked! You could have died! You could have been kidnapped! Did you forget that we share the woods with a junta?!"

Alex blinked, "Crime cartels and juntas are two very different things."

Lance continued shouting at him. "DON'T GET PEDANTIC ON ME! WE'RE FOCUSING ON THE FACT THAT YOUR IDIOCY IS GOING TO GET YOU KILLED!"

Alex sighed. He had had worse screamed at him. "We're missing breakfast."

Lance seemed unmoved. "STUFF THE BREAKFAST! We're going over new safety guidelines and rules for today."

Alex blinked at the sudden tone change. "So, are you still angry?"

Lance glared at him. "No. ANGRY DOESN'T BEGIN TO COVER IT!"

Alex sighed. "What's the big deal? I ran away from home all the time and Ian was only pissed for five hours tops."

That did it. "THAT'S BECAUSE YOUR UNCLE IS A DERANGED SOCIOPATH! THE REST OF US ADULTS ACTUALLY MORE THAN DISTANTLY CARE ABOUT YOUR WELLBEING!"

Alex was glad he'd taken caffeine because he had a feeling that this would be a long, boring day full of new rules and punishments.

Thankfully, at least one of them had common sense. Belinda seemed to have gotten the message that Lance wasn't going to be reasonable and had brought them both food. Alex had never seen someone down food and continue a lecture so fast in his life. He was just a little bit confused as to why all the adults had lost their shit. Ian had never minded if he went missing for hours on end with a note unless it was a new country. And Jack never minded if he left a note (as long as it wasn't for more than a day). Boo. Hiss. These people were so overprotective. "I still see nothing wrong here. I wasn't even gone for a whole day. Nobody ever freaked out before, as long as I was back in time."

Four sets of adult eyes looked at Alex. It was Michael who answered. "Just...follow the new rules, Xander."

Alex shrugged. "I can do that."

Lance was curling his fingers open and closed as though choking an unseen person. Ms. Davis looked near tears. Lance looked like he was about to have a stroke. Belinda looked faintly amused and Michael just looked strained. Larry pinched his nose. "That'll do for now."

Alex blinked. Oh, thank god. "What did you guys tell Card?"

Larry blinked. "We told him we were creating a new rule set regarding your unique situation."

Alex shrugged. "Not bad."

Lance gave him the evil eye. "I'm not covering for you again unless it's important."

Alex glared. "My religion is important!"

Lance sniped back. "What were you even doing in the woods?"

Alex glared. "I was honoring my ancestors."

Lance's eyes narrowed. "You can honor your ancestors by staying the fuck alive!"

Belinda stamped on Larry's foot. "He means you can do your religious worship outside the compound with an adult present."

Alex blinked. "I brought Fenrir. He tears the throat off of anyone that attacks me."

Lance replied sarcastically. "Oh, that makes me feel so much better. You brought your possibly homicidal dog. It even looks like a bloodthirsty wolf! Did you ever consider that your dog might eat you?"

Alex was offended. "Fenrir would never!"

Larry glared at him. "Hasn't he already eaten people?"

Alex scoffed. "That's not important."

Belinda was rolling her eyes behind Larry's back. "Moving on. Don't pull this bullshit again."

Alex sighed. "Alright."

They all got up and stretched. The chairs scraped the ground. Alex blinked slowly. "I'd recommend you do your homework and get some sleep."

Alex stretched. "It's done, but thank you. I'm going to nap before dinner, though."

He left the adults to their stretching and groaning. Alex had some hours of sleep to catch up on.

Larry sat back. "We're not leaving this meeting, right?"

Ms. Davis gave him a baleful look. "No."

Lance shrugged. "Just checking, you know."

Belinda pulled out her papers. "He's unsuitable for deep cover."

Lance raised a brow at the woman. "I know."

The blonde arched a brow. "Oh?"

Lance shrugged. "If he's getting attached to me, he's got a problem."

Ms. Davis glanced at him. "I'm sure you make a lovely father figure."

Larry sighed. "I don't. Don't mistake this for me being a nice man. I'm not. I just don't think we should be doing this."

Ms. Davis huffed. "I'm concerned about him."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Who isn't? Hell, even Card got concerned about his welfare."

Ms. Davis pursed her lips. "Oh?"

Larry huffed. "Don't get sour just because you didn't want to see what was going on."

Davis turned white. "Don't tell me how to react to other people's deaths."

Belinda cut in. "Calm down both of you. The last thing we need is a four-way war."

The two sat down. "So, who do you think will go for the plan?"

Ms. Davis frowned. "Allen won't."

Lance frowned. "Pity, she's one of the better fighters."

Lance glanced at Davis. "The other Davis?"

She sighed. "No. Miller and Johnson might."

Lance glanced at Belinda. "Smith and Perez?"

Belinda arched a brow. "Smith will, Perez is less certain."

Lance shrugged. "So, about an even split. What about their replacements?"

Davis shook her head. "The first four years are when people are most loyal, statistically speaking."

Belinda frowned. "And then there's Card himself."

Lance tapped his fingers against the table. "He has four contemporaries he trained personally."

Ms. Davis frowned. "What about the children?"

Lance shrugged. "I'm all for saving the lot, except creepy and creepier."

Davis glared at him. "Lance."

The man rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. Xany will want to save them anyway. I won't shed a tear if they die in the crossfire, though."

He had three adults glaring at him. "What? They're creepy little fucks."

Davis retorted. "So are you."

Lance pinched his nose. "I'm telling you right now, they're gonna betray us."

Belinda rolled her eyes. "Moving on. I think we all know what we need to do."

The adults left the room in silence.

Alex woke up in time for dinner, but barely. It felt oddly ironic to him that he was missing the least amount of school in either of his entire lives. It was CIA assassin school for mildly sociopathic children, but still. Alex felt like it counted as a school. He learned stuff. It was half normal people school and half not, but he was still learning. Alex stretched and got up. He wasn't worried about Home Economics. It was a nice, if easy, class. Antidotes was going to be interesting. He had done his homework, but the class always gave him a headache. Card's class was interesting, but Alex felt awkward due to the whole betraying Card thing. Larry usually stuck to knives, flight theory, disguises, or sessions with Belinda for their evening lessons. Alex walked towards dinner. Kenneth, Abigail, Madison, and Eric were in their usual spots. It was kind of funny that the seats still functioned as a normal lunchroom. Yermalov would have their heads for forming habits. Alex felt his lips twitch as he remembered the savage man. Of course, training under him was god-awful. Madison perked up. "What's so funny?"

Alex shrugged. "It would take too long to explain."

The girl cuddled up to him. Alex patted her head with one hand and ate with the other. Madison cuddled into his side a bit more. "Something up today?"

Madison blinked. "The teachers had a meeting."

Alex blinked. "Don't they do that every day?"

Madison huffed. "Kenneth is getting sent on assignment."

Alex looked at the older man. "Really?"

He looked impassive. "Yep."

There was an awkward silence with the news blaring in the background for the rest of dinner. Home Economics was conducted with a sort of awkward silence. In Antidotes class, they all quietly worked on their in-class projects. Alex grabbed Kenneth's hand suddenly. "Good luck, I think."

The man's mouth twisted into a wry smile. "Thanks."

Abigail snapped one of the stirring rods. Alex arched a brow. "Doing alright?"

Abigail just gave him a look. "No."

Alex blinked as he gathered up the broken rod. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

Abigail did not look very reassured. Alex glanced at Kenneth. "Come to my room after. I have something for you."

Kenneth blinked. "Okay."

The two older students exchanged a glance. "Is Lance going to be okay with that?"

Alex rolled his eyes as they began to pack up for Card's class. "Lance can suck a dick if he's not."

Alex walked off as the two older students exchanged a glance behind his back.

Alex had not wasted his few alone hours in his room. Aside from writing to Jet online and doing his online Spanish propaganda comic, he had been building a small number of devices. The online reviews of said comic had been about as raunchy as the comic. There was a knock on the front door. Alex sighed and pulled out a tracker dot. He was going to give Kenneth his phone number. And the dot. Alex walked up and opened the door. Lance gave him a "what the fuck" look. Alex ignored him. "Come in."

Lance squawked. "What?!"

Alex ignored him. "We're going to my room. Homework question."

Lance grunted. "Homework question, my ass."

Alex dragged Kenneth to his room and shut and locked the door. "Two things."

Kenneth looked at him. Alex handed him what looked like a quarter. "Tracking dot."

Alex pulled out a note with a scribbled down a phone number. "Phone number. It's mine."

Kenneth blinked. "What? Why? How?"

Alex sighed. "My phone connected to that number will always work."

Kenneth stared. "That doesn't answer the rest of my questions."

Alex shrugged. "I don't want to see you without backup. Card has a shady amount of deaths with students around your age."

Kenneth's expression tightened. Alex wondered if he was about to be punched. "Thank you, Xander."

Alex sighed with relief as the man left. This was the best he could do. It sucked. Kenneth was younger than he was mentally. Alex closed his eyes and inhaled as Lance barged in. "I want an explanation."

Xander opened his eyes. "I decided to give him another way home."

Lance shrugged. "Nice of you."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Are you fucking jealous?"

Lance scowled. "No."

Alex sat on his bed. "Take it as a compliment that I don't think you need extra help."

The man huffed, but let it go. Alex knew Lance was jealous. The man wished him goodnight before leaving. Well, at least he didn't go Ian levels of psycho.

Alex woke up from a fifth nightmarish memory from that night. Man, his ancestors were pieces of shit. Alex wondered why Grim thought he would ever use human sacrifices. Apparently, animals weren't good enough for that stuff. Alex rubbed his eyes. He was going to look at his letters now. There was one from Sarov. Alex recognized his writing. It felt thicker than normal. The general was normally not the type to write essays. Alex blinked as he saw yet another letter from Brendan Chase. Jesus, dude, take a fucking hint. Alex recognized the next one as Nile's handwriting. Why the fuck were Nile and Chase sending him separate letters now? Weren't they supposed to be joined at the hip? Patrick had also sent him one. Strange, but okay. Alex realized that answering letters in a bad mood at three in the morning may or may not be the best idea. Alex decided to use his remaining good mood points on Sarov and tore open the letter. As it turned out, it wasn't a letter at all. Alex blinked as a drive fell out of the envelope. Okay, what the fuck?! Alex felt like it was fairly unlikely that Sarov would give him a virus, and plugged it into his computer. It booted up and Alex saw Cyrillic letters.

Password?

Alex frowned. What would Sarov use as a password? It wasn't as though he was sentimental enough to use birthdays. Alex blinked. Death days? Alex wondered whether he would use his son's death day or the day the Soviet Union was officially gone. He took a deep breath. Sarov loved his son, but he loved his country slightly more. It was only a year before he would start dreaming up his plot to find uranium and blow up the world. Alex closed his eyes. He typed in the day the Soviet Union collapsed. It worked. Alex let out a sigh of relief. More Russian. He was suddenly glad that he'd taught himself to be almost fluent. He squinted. Near fluent. Alex was guessing at the meaning on the screen. Alex clicked on the...storage?...option. Goddamn it. There was a folder. Alex clicked on it. There were suddenly hundreds of files on the screen. Alex felt his jaw drop open. Had Sarov just given him almost a thousand files from Russian Intelligence? Wasn't that treason? Alex glanced at the note. It took a lot of convincing to be able to send you this. Use it well. He shoved the remaining letters into a desk drawer and sat up.

"Lance, get in here."

Alex decided not to question why the man was still up. "This better be important."

Alex forked over his laptop. "Please tell me someone gave you this and you did not just hack the Russians."

Alex sighed. "Someone gave me this."

Lance took a glance at some of the files. "Someone high up in Russia-intelligence-land likes you."

Alex glared. "No, really, kid, this is game-changing."

Lance sighed. "Why would they allow this?"

Lance gave him a 'don't be stupid'. "Dude, you're acting against the CIA. If you destroy Card's foothold, they have an in. Two, we just embarrassed them with a covert operation in Afghanistan. They're playing defensive by quietly backing you while you tear up the area. Also, if you succeed, they now have a local kingpin and decent operatives who owe them one large fucking favor."

Larry typed a few things into the computer. "Damn, even my contacts aren't this good."

Lance blinked. "No. No, he didn't."

Lance continued typing. "Wow, he sent you a nice piece of software on this thing."

Alex looked at the man. "If you select the other option, in the beginning, it starts a forced download of all the files on a computer."

Alex blinked. "So, if I took this into Card's office, would it-"

Lance cut him off. "Yes."

Lance inhaled. "So, we're going to have to play this carefully."

Alex sighed and buried his head into Lance's shoulder. "I know, I know, I like stabby, stabby explosions, too."

Lance gently stroked his hair. Alex let out a groan into the man's shoulder. "Don't worry, we've only got a few more months of this bullshit."

Lance rubbed circles on Alex's back. "You should sleep, Kid."

Alex glared at him half-heartedly. "But-"

Lance glared him down. "In the morning."

Alex sighed. Lance grinned. "So, am I winning."

Alex punched him. "Ow."

Lance tucked him in. "See you in the morning for extra knife practice."

Alex grumbled. "I hate you."

Lance snorted. "Means I'm doing my job, ya little shit."

Alex huffed. Fenrir climbed into bed next to him and opened a single golden eye in Lance's direction. "Night."

The door shut behind Lance. "Fuckin' A, Kid."

Alex felt his lips twitch into a smile as he rolled over and went back to sleep.

Alex found himself waking up early. It was sunrise. He closed his eyes and inhaled. It was time to do the other letters to reply to Sarov. Alex wasn't sure how to reply to something like that. Thank you. In the end, it was all he could write. Alex was sure Sarov would understand. He rubbed his eyes. Alex decided he was done with Nile and Chase's shit.

Dear Nile,

Keep your, admittedly clean and well-manicured, hands out of my operation. I don't need you coming here and fucking shit up. If I do need that, you'll be the fourth person I call.

Please Fuck Off,

Alex

Nile gaped at the letter he received in the mail. Fucking rude little shit. Nile began to laugh. Oh, man. Alex was wild, rude, insubordinate. He hoped that Chase didn't order him to murder "Pierre". It would be unfortunate. Though, he was pretty sure that Alex would have no issue procuring a body and evidence. Hell, Nile would help him, but still. Ug, it wasn't like Alex had seriously threatened him, so he was going to keep pushing for a meeting. Nile was ninety percent sure that Alex could set either the CIA or his psychotic grandfather on him if he wanted him gone. I mean, look what happened to Razim and those Grimauldi dudes. Alex needed to learn to be nicer to people he liked. Look, Nile knew the kid had issues and was passive-aggressive and stabby, but still. C'mon. Then again, Mr. Chase had gotten the politer version of the letter. Nile supposed that it was a plus that the letter had no swears. It was still horribly rude, though. Why Alex was fucking around in middle-grade cartel land when he could be doing SCORPIA work was beyond him. No backup? Shady allies? Non-board politics? It sounded like hell to him.

Dear Mr. Chase,

As I stated before, I'm on a long-term assignment in South America. Fortunately, your Nile didn't stick his nose in my operation. I might have had to cut it off. Since you seem so desperate to know what I'm doing, I'll give you a few hints. One, the area might be experiencing some...stability difficulties in the near future. Two, you might think of keeping out. War is expensive. My assignment should end before the New Year, but even I do not know how long I shall be.

I would ask that you not write to me. My situation is currently precarious as it is. If anyone besides myself were to receive your letters, the consequences would most likely be rather...severe. I like breathing. I wish to continue to do so. I mean this in the nicest way possible, but please go away. I would rather not deal with adding a fifth side to this egregious mess.

Not Faithfully Yours,

Alec Pierre

Brendan Chase gaped at the letter he just received. Pierre was such a fucker sometimes. What kind of half-assed hints were those? This was worse than ASIS! "Might experience stability issues". He was going to choke that little shit. "Please go away". Fuck no! Oh, come on. What was adding a side number five to your little war anyway? He was a spy, for god's sake. Chase huffed. Then again, keeping all the lies straight would probably be a little difficult. He began to pace. Pierre was probably under a lot of stress. Chase wouldn't have taken him for a deep cover operative. Had whoever he worked for finally made their last mistake that would see Pierre going over to their side? Chase blinked. What did they know about the man? Chase thought about the letters. The way they had been crafted. They weren't the careful manipulation he would expect from a deep-cover operative. This felt more like a trapped man who had stumbled into SCORPIA and was privately warring with himself. Chase wondered what the intelligence services had on him. The man didn't seem to be there willingly. Chase wasn't even sure he was working for the French, either. South America (that area, at least) was strictly a joint CIA and cartel zone. Who was the third side? Who was the fourth? Why would SCORPIA be the fifth side? Chase sighed loudly. It was regrettable that they hadn't bothered getting into that area because the take-over would be more bloody than profitable. The system had no outward signs of being unstable unless you counted that one mass poisoning incident that Jet would not shut up about. Yes, Jet, two whole people in the world care about your stupid plants. They're both in South America. Perhaps you should go visit them and leave the rest of us out of your botany projects. It was fortunate for Jet that she was virtually irreplaceable. Chase doubted that even the old geezer would take the job.

Patrick received Alex's letter with some amount of anticipation. The child wasn't exactly prompt at responding. Then again, he blamed Ian for that. He doubted that Ian ever replied to any missives, paperwork, or anything else remotely on time. Patrick made a point of opening the letters and reading them by himself. Marion had, in essence, her claws trimmed. Patrick held her and Ian responsible for this mess. It was Ian who had failed to raise Alex correctly and Marion's clumsy handle of the situation had not helped in the slightest. Patrick hoped Belinda was actually in Alex's corner. He had decided to continue paying her. Considering Alex had dragged her into the little shitshow in South America, Patrick had figured it was the least he could do. Levi had not given him any guarantees, after all, who knew with Zeljan Kurst in the mix but had stated that he would at least try to shield Alex somewhat. There was a knock at his door. To his surprise, it was his errant son, rather than his daughter. "Darian. How can I help you?"

The man blinked. Patrick found himself staring into his former wife's eyes. "It's a letter from Alex, isn't it?"

Patrick could never really bear to look at Darian for that long. The man reminded him so much of the wife he'd lost. "Yes. He seems to be doing as well as can be expected."

Darian slowly blinked. "Oh, good. I thought with all the drama last time it was going to be bad."

Patrick realized it was the longest utterance he'd ever heard from his son in years. He felt a stab of guilt. Darian hadn't been the same after the ordeal with his wife and the army. Not that Patrick blamed him. It was bad that he hadn't noticed it. "That remains to be seen."

Darian shifted slightly. "Is there something else?"

Patrick suppressed a hiss as he looked the man in the eyes. His chest ached. "No, no, well, the kids are pretty worried about him, y'know."

Patrick figured "the kids" were a euphemism for Darian's feelings. "We are all, Darian. Alex has his psychiatrist and at least two staunch allies. I wouldn't give up hope just yet."

Darian fidgeted. "What about the whole SCORPIA angle?"

Patrick huffed. "I have fought in two World Wars, several others, and developed a fighting style to combat SCORPIA and her operatives while heading Mossad for over a decade. I'm not about to let Alex lose his life without a fight."

Darian looked at him and shuddered. "Right."

Patrick glared at him. "You'll get your copy tomorrow." Darian seemed to deflate a little more. "Goodnight, Son."

The man straightened. "Night, Dad."

Patrick watched him leave.

Alex woke up to a fairly standard day. Well, standard for CIA assassin school for children. Lance was perched on his usual desk. It was almost too normal. It had taken them a few weeks to get the files memorized. Alex was too afraid to copy the disk or else he would have, if only for security purposes. He had no idea what it was rigged up to do if you tried to make copies. Plus, he didn't want to get Sarov in trouble by making so many copies they went everywhere. Lance had insisted on powering through his theoretical flight lessons. Alex was fairly certain that nobody was going to give him lessons until he at least looked old enough to be in the pilot seat. In the morning, however, it was languages. Alex felt his headache beginning to form as Lance gave him an impromptu exam. Arabic was a rough language to try to learn, but it was kind of interesting. Alex just hoped the dialects weren't as bad as Chinese. It was already bad enough trying to understand some of the accents. Lance pranced off and left him with Ms. Davis. "How are you doing, Xander?"

Alex rubbed his eyes. "Pretty okay."

They both knew it was the calm before the storm. "Don't rub your eyes, you'll get sick like that."

Alex quit but arched a brow at her. "Isn't that beside the point?"

Ms. Davis glared. "No, you need to keep up your health."

Alex blinked. "You know, I haven't had a single ounce of crap food since I've gotten here."

Ms. Davis smirked. "Like we'd feed you the garbage they serve at a fast food joint."

Alex did his best not to gape. "Why is everyone I meet in this field a health nut?"

Ms. Davis smirked. "Because running on terrible food gives you acid reflux. Also, just exercising isn't enough. The cholesterol will still kill you, even if you don't look fat."

Alex sighed. "These poor kids have probably never even tasted a Coca-Cola."

Ms. Davis arched her brow. "You say kids like you aren't one."

Alex shrugged. "I dunno, I've always looked after myself, you know. They seem pretty young to me."

Ms. Davis sighed. "We need to get on with our Chinese lesson, but you should talk to Dr. Mordant about that."

Alex sighed and they continued with the Chinese lesson.

Antonio was surprised to receive a message on his phone. Almost ready for phase two. That was fast. Then again, Alejandro was very intelligent. It was one of the reasons Antonio had pulled him for this little plan. Phase two involved transporting the information out of the CIA while wreaking havoc from within. It was also the riskiest part of the plan. For both of them. Alex would be risking everything. If they were discovered, the entire takeover would turn bloody fast. In the meantime, Antonio had been moving pieces of his empire into more legitimate businesses. He was trying to set himself up to be in a decent position for when they became the government. Getting rid of the other cartels who dipped into the food supply was proving difficult. Alex's comic was, oddly enough, successful. Then again, it wasn't exactly subtle and contained a good deal of crude humor. "Dad! Dad!"

Antonio blinked. "Yes, Miguel?"

Miguel was practically bouncing. In his hands was Alex's transgressive comic in all its' blood-red glory. Antonio felt a jolt. "It was being sold with the other banned comics in the back of the store! Isn't it great?!"

Antonio blinked and then felt a small smile appear. "Sounds fun, Miguel. Don't get caught outside after dark, yes?"

Miguel huffed. "I'm almost an adult now, Dad."

Antonio smiled softly. Oh, to be a teen again. "Still, I worry."

Miguel huffed. Antonio sighed. "Run along now, Miguel."

Miguel glared and crossed his arms. "Where is Alejandro? What is he doing?"

Antonio paused. How did one explain to their son that they'd sent another child off to war and espionage? It had kept him up at night. Wondering. Worrying. Feeling the guilt eat at him every night because he'd broken one of his core morals. "He is helping me ensure your future and the future of all of our empire."

Miguel frowned. "That's what you said last time."

Antonio sighed. "Miguel, sometimes...knowing things will put you and another person in danger."

Miguel looked at him. "You're saying that telling me will put him in danger and me?! What did you send him to do?!"

Antonio sighed. "Yes. I cannot tell you, but you should be able to ask him yourself once he gets back."

Miguel glared and then slammed the door on his way out. If he gets back. There it was again. The guilt. He hoped that one day Alex would forgive him, once he realized exactly what Antonio had done when he'd allowed Alex to go quietly into enemy territory. Perhaps then he would be able to forgive himself.

Alex inhaled when he got up the next morning. It was time to start preparing for their next move. Step one. They needed to get the information from Card's computer and the rest of the drive to Antonio, so the man could do his half of the preparations. It would be the first actual act of betrayal that Alex performed in the base. He wondered how his father and Ian could stand this. Alex inhaled, trying desperately to slow his breathing. Lance barged in. Alex was losing control of his breathing fast. Alex felt a weight on his back and twisted, nearly stabbing Lance, who now had him restrained. "Easy, kid, easy."

Alex was pulled into a hug. His breath came in short gasps. Lance was being surprisingly nice. Alex felt himself shuddering. Lance rubbed slow soothing circles on his back. "Take it easy, kid."

Alex couldn't say how long he was there for, but it felt like quite a while. Eventually, his breathing began to slow. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Alex felt a jolt of panic as his vision began to swim and inhaled sharply. "I'm going to take that as a no."

The man's arms tightened around him. Larry gently ran his hands through Alex's hair. "It's okay, it's going to be alright."

Lance held him. Alex inhaled. "I'm sorry I-"

Lance was still holding. "It's okay. You're under a lot of stress."

Alex shuddered. "I'm late for class!"

Lance grabbed him. "You ain't goin' today."

Alex glared at the man. "What?"

Lance crossed his arms. "Sit down before you pass out."

Alex huffed and sat at his desk. "Oh, don't be like that. You're not going anywhere after your little panic attack."

Alex inhaled. "I have to-"

Lance cut him off. "Go back to bed."

Alex blinked. "There's no point in arguing, is there?"

Larry smiled at him full of teeth. "None."

Alex sighed and went back to his bed. "Fiiine."

Fenrir immediately jumped back up. "See, even the dog says you should stay."

Alex huffed. "Treacherous little shit."

Lance snorted. "That dog is bigger than you are."

Alex shrugged. "Fenrir is a proper dog."

Lance laughed. "True, true. None of that pansy poodle shit."

Lance sat down in his desk chair and cracked open the disguise chest. "They gave you a whole disguise kit?!"

Alex blinked. "I think so?"

Lance huffed. "Do you know how much this thing costs?"

Alex shook his head. "Uh, no."

Lance huffed. "This is blatant favoritism."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "You mean, the fact that you take me on little trips isn't?"

Larry grumbled. "That's different. Card is supposed to be impartial."

Alex heard his stomach rumble. "Right. I'm getting us breakfast."

Alex blinked. "Are you sure-"

Lance cut him off with a raised brow. "Yes. If you're good, I might even let you watch whatever James Bond film you like best. And have popcorn."

Alex was quiet until he heard the front door shut. "Bloody hypocrite."

Fenrir snuggled up to him.

Larry inhaled after he closed the front door. Neither Lance nor Larry was his original name, but it was the name he lived by. He was hopeful about Xander's future. Well, their future. Micheal was almost grown and Lance could tell that the man was going to leave soon. All he'd ever wanted was a hunting companion. Preferably male. Lance had not had a great experience with any female partners that he'd had. They'd usually died gruesomely. It wasn't entirely their fault, but it was enough to turn a guy off from female partners forever. He walked towards the kitchen to get Alex and him some food and was greeted by a waiting Card. "What's up?"

Lance sighed. "I think we're putting too much pressure on him. He had a bit of a panic attack today."

Card blinked. "How bad?"

Lance sighed and pulled a more serious face. "Mild. But still. It doesn't really bode well for the future, does it?"

Card frowned. "Keep him at it for now. If this happens again, we'll need to talk about class loads. Do you think he enjoys the physical stuff or mental stuff more?"

Lance considered it. "Physical. He had a daily workout even before he got here. And a mild soccer phase."

Card looked at him. "Well, it's not like he isn't ahead in academics. If I'm being honest, he could probably test out of home economics and earth science. We could also knock him down to one language. I hesitate to do it, though. Some of the other teachers are already complaining that his curriculum looks like favoritism."

Lance huffed. "Who? I can take care of them."

Card fixed him with a look. "Please don't, teachers for this school are stunningly hard to find."

Lance huffed. "They can suck my dick. Xander works way harder than the rest of these fucking slackers."

Card seemed amused. "You like him."

Lance arched a brow. "So do you."

Card sighed. "I'm not supposed to have favorites."

Larry grinned. "The part of your brain that decides to like and not like people isn't logical. Good thing too, 'cause I'd be screwed."

Card snorted. "Fair enough, Lance."

Larry grinned. "Hey, you got my new name down."

His boss cuffed him and walked off. Lance continued towards the kitchen. He was going to demand enough food to feed like five people, but cooking was these people's jobs.

Alex was feeling suspicious. Loathe as he was to admit it, he did feel better after the nap. Lance was seated at the table. "Brunch."

Alex blinked. "Are we feeding half the school?"

Lance arched a brow. "I didn't know what you liked so I got everything."

Alex tentatively eyed the waffles. This felt like a trap. He half expected Ian to appear out of thin air and lecture him about the evils of carbs as he took a plate of waffles. Lance simply ignored his unhealthy food choices as he slathered it in syrup, sprinkles, and chocolate syrup. "Feeling better?"

Alex shrugged. "A bit."

Alex took a delicious bite of diabetes. Lance looked thoroughly amused. "You might want to have some protein after that or you'll get a sugar crash."

Alex decided he was going to ignore his diet and grabbed some bacon and fried eggs. Lance just shrugged it off. "What? No lecture?"

Larry raised an eyebrow. "One, it's an off day. Two, the only time you lecture a kid under, like, fifteen on healthy eating instead of just providing it with occasional unhealthy shit is when you want to sign them up for an eating disorder."

Alex blinked. "Really?"

Lance waved it off. "Yeah. At least, that's what Belinda and the mandatory childcare and child psychology books I had to read for this say."

Alex snorted at Lance's pouty expression. "Poor you, having to do extra reading."

Larry huffed. "Yeah, yeah. It was awful. I like doing things, you know."

Alex chuckled and went for seconds. "I noticed."

Lance grinned. "So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day? Sleep?"

Alex rolled his eyes. "I took my nap. I want my movie and popcorn."

Lance chuckled. "Then we'll get it for you."

Alex was still feeling mildly suspicious but got distracted when Fenrir let out a yip. "You're shameless, dog."

Lance was now clearly suppressing laughter. Alex glared at the man before feeding the dog a few pork sausages. "Well, I know who really has you wrapped around their paw."

Alex grinned. "You know you like my dog."

Lance shrugged. "Eh, true."

Fenrir followed Alex as he went to brush his teeth and get dressed. Lance was sitting on the couch with Belinda and Micheal. "So, we need to talk about your little episode today."

Alex groaned.

To his surprise, the movie did happen after their little therapy session and dinner. Call him paranoid, but Alex was always highly skeptical of events promised to him by the male figures in his life. Between Ian, Yassen, Nile, and those last few years with Doctor Three - especially after he was fairly certain Three had ordered his execution, Alex was willing to admit he might have trust issues when it came to male figures in his life. Well, admit in his head. Not to real people so much. So, when he was seated next to Lance, Alex was initially suspicious. There was even popcorn. The movie started. Alex eventually found himself wedged between his dog and Lance. It was kind of nice. Kind of unnerving, but kind of nice. Alex had to keep reminding himself that Lance was an assassin. The movie closed at around his usual bedtime. Alex was kind of surprised at the fact that the day was relaxing. Even with his last vacation with Tom, well, there were adults involved and adults always fucked shit up. Except maybe just this once. Fenrir was all sleepy. "That thing is massive."

It was Michael who spoke up. "Yeah, I kind of got him as a very small puppy."

Fenrir poofed up as he woke up. "What is it?"

Fenrir began to pace. Alex sighed. "Walk?"

Fenrir let out a yip. Alex groaned. "Alright, alright."

Alex sighed and began to grab Fenrir's leash.

Surprisingly, Lance let him walk Fenrir by himself. Alex broke into a solid run after letting Fenrir off the leash. Fenrir let out a howl and charged into the woods full tilt. Alex began to run. Fenrir's barks echoed around him as he ran after the dog. Alex ran into a clearing just in time to watch Fenrir tear the throat out of the last of a SCORPIA combat squad in front of a terrified Nile. Fenrir growled. "Down."

The wolf's yellow eyes fixed on him. "Down."

The wolf sat down near one of the corpses and eyed it. Alex looked at his pet. "You already had dinner."

Fenrir huffed and slumped sulkily, but left the body alone. Nile was shaking. Nile swallowed and looked like he was about to be sick. "I told you not to come here."

Nile was breathing fast and fell to his knees. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry!"

Alex was mortified as the man began to cry. "They were my first combat squad."

Alex awkwardly patted the man on the back as he began sobbing. "Aren't there six men in a combat squad?"

Thankfully, Nile was too grief-stricken to question his knowledge. Nile gasped for breath. "They were killed a few weeks ago on assignment."

Alex gently laid his hand on the man's shoulder. "I'm sorry about this."

Nile continued sobbing. "I knew I shouldn't have come. And 's'not the wolf's fault. It was bred for hunting SCORPIA agents through the woods."

Nile seemed to be calming down. Alex wondered if he should step away now. He wasn't exactly great at comforting people he wasn't emotionally close with. Nile glanced at him. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Alex sighed. "First of all, I'd call your probably micromanaging boss. You should probably tell him that you got attacked by uh...rogue CIA agents?"

Nile chuckled weakly. "I don't know. It was kind of stupid that I got attached, I guess."

Alex shrugged. "It happens, you know."

Nile squinted at him. "It's easier after you lose the first couple of people."

Nile flinched slightly. "I'm sorry."

Alex felt his mouth twist bitterly. "You had nothing to do with the decision or their deaths, so it's not that I want an apology."

Nile let out a shaky laugh. "Never stopped anyone from blaming me before."

Alex offered him a hand up. Nile took it. "Alex."

Alex decided not to correct Nile in his delicate mental state. "Nile."

Nile flinched slightly. "Can...can I have a hug?"

The soft vulnerable expression made Alex realize that he was mentally older than Nile at this point. Alex gently hugged the man. They both tactfully avoided mentioning that they flinched slightly from each other's touch. After a small amount of time, they broke apart. Nile coughed awkwardly. "So, so...um, I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention this to anyone else."

Alex shrugged. "With your reputation, I doubt they'd believe me."

Nile sighed. "Can I - I'm going to leave now."

Alex looked at Nile. "I'll see you around."

Nile vanished into the brush. Alex got back in a fairly subdued mood. He decided to quickly go to bed. It was going to be an unpleasant night of bad dreams.

Alex woke up next to a very familiar primordial. "I don't want to talk to you right now."

Grim blinked. Alex noticed his form was much more human than usual. He looked almost human, aside from the inhuman beauty and goldish tint to his skin. The eyes were unnaturally green. "Too bad."

Alex just looked at Grim. "Why?"

Grim sighed. "Fenrir is near sentient, but not actually. He's a hellhound. He can sense people with less than pure intentions and tear them to pieces. Fenrir will follow direct commands."

Alex sighed. "Why the combat squad and not Card?"

Grim sighed. "Well, they were planning a little accident for you behind Nile's back. Something, something, jealousy, I think."

Alex huffed. Grim sighed. "People from SCORPIA are human, short stack. Even the executive board."

Alex glared. "Really? You're going to tell me that after what I went through last time?! I ended up under Three's control! He controlled what I wore, what I ate, where I slept!"

Grim held up a hand. "Honestly, it was kind of sweet the way you two loved each other."

Alex stared. "That wasn't love! That was a toxic gruesome parody of a familial relationship!"

Grim rolled his eyes. "You brought him all of your mutual enemies practically gift-wrapped."

Alex huffed. "I was rude and insufferable."

Grim snorted. "Because you wanted him to hate you. Don't think he didn't see through your little act. Besides, to a man like Three, actions speak far louder than words."

Alex sighed. "Still, though. He had me executed in the end."

Grim looked at him. "Yes, the horror. He had you shot and bleed out in your family's arms."

Alex blinked. "It...was a mercy kill. But why?"

Grim got up and began pacing. "In his eyes, yes. You know how you were seeing and hearing things towards the end whenever you were stressed."

Alex scowled. "I had PTSD! It happens."

Grim sighed. "That may be, but you also had something a little more exotic. Schizophrenia."

Alex gaped. "What?"

Grim continued to pace. "He took brain scans of you three times to confirm you had it. After that, he decided to kill you in the nicest way possible before your mind disconnected from reality entirely."

Alex glared. "That still doesn't prove anything."

Alex didn't want to believe it. "No, but you might be interested in knowing about his actions afterward."

Alex stood up. "Why, what did he do?"

Grim's expression was gentle. "He laid a bouquet of black tulips on your coffin at the funeral and then had Tulip Jones and Joe Byrne's brains shot out over it as decoration."

Alex blinked. "Why, though?"

Grim sighed. "He held them responsible for this. Your branch of Schizophrenia was partially stress-induced. The combined stresses from your first year at MI6 effectively sealed your fate."

Alex stared at the man. "Controlling my clothes and stuff?"

Grim sighed. "He knew about the issues in your family and was trying to desperately scrape your mind back together with the stability."

Alex sighed. "I just - Why didn't he tell me?"

Grim sighed. "It might have stressed you out."

Alex put his face in his hands. "I-"

Grim shook his head. "Just think about it."

I don't want to, was the thought he had before he was thrown into yet another dream about his relatives. Alex supposed that the injections in this universe took care of any such nonsense. Just his luck.

Author's Note: Hello there, RavenousOmega1, it's been a while since I responded to reader comments. I love it, you cheeky shit! Honestly, both Alex and I have lost track of the Death Count.