"We've been having trouble sir with Rider. It seems that no matter how much we psychologically alter him, we can't change a couple of his traits."
"Such as what."
"Such as his need to be a- ah, how can I put it- hero. We've tried putting him in certain situations, hostage, team, and never could he leave anyone behind. It seems he is of Rider blood through and through."
"That is most unfortunate."
"Yes we thought so too."
"Unless..."
"Unless what?"
"Unless we use it to our advantage."

23 year old Falcon woke up to the smell of fresh welsh mud after hours of rain last night. He got up and changed into his training clothes then went to wake up his unit leader: Cheetah.
"Ughhnmmm" came the reply.
"You're awake, good, you have fresh mud to look forward to."
His team leader buried his head into his pillow muttering a few choice of swear words.
Seemingly satisfied with his work, falcon went to wake up the other two members: hawk and leopard. Hawk was the technician and communicator , easy to wake up, and leopard the medic, who slept like a rock.
Falcon shook Hawk until he heard an audible groan then decided that the most effective method was to drag leopard out of the bed, out of the hut and into the welsh mud.

10 minutes later, 1 angry SAS soldier, two exasperated and 1 grinning left their S-unit hut and made their way to breakfast.
"What I don't understand" cheetah said speaking to falcon, "is how you always wake up on time. No alarm or anything, you just wake up?"
"Haven't you already asked me that question?"
"Yh. But you never answer properly?"
"I always answer properly: I don't know."
Cheetah hit the back of falcon's head and heard an indignant cry.
"What I don't understand is why you feel the need to drag me out into the middle pits of hell just to wake me up." Leopard growled.
"Well if you woke easily," Falcon countered, "there would be no need for hell."
Leopard muttered something unflattering under his breath.
"What was that?" Falcon asked.
"I said-"
"Anyway" said Cheetah, "today we have shooting first thing, then running, both sprint on the course and long run. Then swimming, and finally a medic lecture in the evening."
Everybody groaned at the mention of the lecture.
"The medic lectures are interesting you know" defended Leopard.
"No they're not" grumbled Hawk. "Just because you're a medic freak, doesn't mean everyone else is"
They entered the canteen together, got there food and sat at their assigned table.
"You know Falcon, we were wondering what your name was?"
It was a running joke in their unit. They all knew each other's name apart from falcon's, and have given up on trying to find out. But it had become a habit, they kept asking, maybe having the tiniest hope that one day they would find out.
Apparently today wasn't the day.
"It's falcon." Falcon said, grinning.
He was saved from having to answer anymore questions by sudden commotion to their right.
They quickly got up to see what was going on, less they miss any important gossip.
"What's going on?" Cheetah asked bear from L-unit.
"Tiger was just speaking to the sergeant. Apparently K-unit are back from their latest mission."
That explained the commotion. Not only did a unit come back from a mission, but a well known, well respected, famous unit had come back.
"No way!" Leopard exclaimed. "Do you think they would share with us any details, maybe answer some of our questions."
"We are here to train" Hawk scolded, "not fangirl about other units."
Leopard stuck his tongue out and everybody sniggered.
"It's not like they even know us" Hawk muttered under his breath.
"That's not all" Tiger said, "apparently they are going to be our instructors for a month or two starting from after tomorrow."
"No way" leopard almost squealed. "No way-"
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK THIS IS?" Shouted the sergeant, cutting off all sentences. "A BINGO CLUB? GET OUT OF HERE AND GO TO YOUR TRAINING!"
It would be accurate enough to say that every soldier ran out of the canteen.

Shooting was first for s-unit and it was common knowledge that Falcon was they best shot in his unit. Actually it was common knowledge that falcon was the best full stop. His natural skill was unnatural. But they knew that ever since falcon was young, about the age of 6, he decided that he wanted to be a soldier, so dedicated the rest of his life to achieving his dream. And apparently, his uncle strongly supported him, so was able to arrange things like martial arts clubs, and shooting lessons.
Though that explained the physical skill, it didn't explain some other stuff. Other stuff which nobody ever asked about or ever mentioned.
Shooting went by in a breeze, only Leopard and Cheetah arguing about who ranked second place.
The sprint on the course was a draw between falcon and cheetah, and on the long run it was a draw between Falcon and Leopard, who had run the marathon every year since he was 16.
"What" Hawk would always pant, "I don't understand, is why Falcon is so good at everything?"
And Falcon would always, always, grin at him in that unnerving way of his, as if Hawk's bare existence was amusing to him.
He would shrug his shoulders and say 'I've been practicing since I was six.'
And that would be the end.
Maybe the others took this as a suitable explanation, or maybe they had the natural instinct to realise that if they pushed for more answers, the result will be undesirable.
Lastly they had swimming, and with that, came one of the biggest shocks. The first time they had ever seen Falcon swim, there were gasps of horror, they were unable to peel their eyes away from his upper body.
But they had asked, still ignorant enough to not know what those lines across his torso were, what the mark above his heart was.
And they had asked.
Asked because falcon didn't even seem the slightest embarrassment or having the need to hide.
"What?" Leopard had asked, who at the time was already pursuing his medical career, "what happened to you?"
Falcon had looked down at himself, as if just remembering his scars, and shrugged his shoulders. Shrugged his shoulders like it was nothing.
"When I was 14, I was at home alone and I accidentally left the cooker on, there was a fire and smoke. When I smelt it, I remember, I came running down the stairs tripped, fell. The stairs were metal. And the fire got to me before the fire brigade."
They had all winced at the story. Winced because had known before hand of his quest for SAS, and that must have been a major set back.
That evening, they had questioned him.
Why he was home alone?
His dad had been on a business trip and his mum had been out shopping.
Why was there nobody to look after him?
He didn't need a babysitter.
He had frustratedly told them that he would appreciate it if they stopped interrogating him, and they had complied.

Swimming, Falcon had come first, Cheetah second, Hawk third, and finally Leopard.

Lunch passed as always, men grumbling about the lack of edible food, and staring at the mush on their plates.

It was lunch the day after, that an interesting conversation was brought up.

S-unit had sat next to L-unit, a very rare occurrence because of the hatred between the two unit leaders, but there had been nowhere else to sit when L-unit had entered late.
To ease the tension between them, Bear had stroked up a conversation with Leopard.
"K-unit are arriving today right?"
"Yes" Leopard answered.
"I don't mean to sound offensive, but I have a question and you seem to know about a lot of things."
Leopard's eyes danced with mischief. "I may know more than others. Ask away"
"I've heard rumours around, is it true that there was a kid who came to the camp about a decade ago, and he stayed with k-unit?"
Suddenly the tension rose, and it had nothing to do with the feud.
Unknown to all, Jaguar had tensed the most.
"Are you" Leopard said slowly, "asking about Alex Rider?"
And just like that, the entire hall had become silent, eyes turned to the speaker of the tabooed name.
"I may be" Bear answered in the same tone.
"There has been no exact dates given, but Alex Rider is said to have come to Brecon Beacons around the time of k-unit. I have no knowledge regarding whether or not he was put with them, that can only be confirmed by a person who was there at the time."
Shark from a nearby table asked the next question, "would one of our current instructors know?"
All eyes turned to him.
"It is a high probability" Leopard answered.
"Which instructor do we approach?" Asked Panther.
"We could ask an instructor young enough to have been a recruit at the time," Rhino answered, "or old enough to have been an instructor."
"Then comes the question of who would actually answer" Bear pointed out.
"The old instructors look at us like we are something ugly found at the bottom of their feet. We have a better chance with the younger instructors." Hawk said.
"Sergeant Smith?" Antelope suggested.
"Everyone in agreement?" Leopard asked.
And just like that, a conversation between two soldiers had become a mission across the recruits.

Coincidentally, by the magic of the devil, Instructor Smith walked through the doors.
To avoid suspicion. The other soldiers swiftly brought back their pointless conversation.
It had been subconsciously decided, that Leopard would be the one to ask.
So he stood up and made his way to the instructor.
"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt you,"
The instructor turned around with irritated eyes.
Damn this was already going bad.
"Make it quick."
Leopard took in a deep breath before he asked, "were k-unit the unit who trained with Alex Rider?"
He felt the whole hall hold its breath, but he only focused on the sergeant, suddenly wondering if he would be binned for his daring.
He saw a flash of anger mixed with something else-was that guilt, sweep across his face before it was scolded back to blank.
It took a few moments before the instructor replied with an affirmative nod before he left the hall, forgetting whatever he came in for.
"Well soldiers, there is your answer." Leopard declared. "The unit training us from tomorrow is the same unit that trained with Alex Rider for 10 days."
And for some reason, even though k-unit was already known as one of the best units, this fact increased their credibility. For they had actually trained with the world's best spy.

Wolf sighed as his feet hit the fresh Welsh mud, it was good to be back.
After passing selection, coming back for recap training had almost been enjoyable.
And now they were back, for the final aspect of their training.
"I feel almost nostalgic" Snake said absentmindedly.
"Yh" eagle replied, "it seems like just yesterday, we were recruits, fighting for our spots to be SAS."
"Now look at us" Fox said, "we are coming back to become instructors, same as the Devils who trained us."
Eagle looked towards Wolf, "I feel sorry for the recruits already."
Wolf glared at him, but didn't indulge the pitiful insult. "We better not keep the sergeant waiting" was all he said.

The sergeant watched the soldiers enter with something akin to pride, showing on his face. It only turned into a scowl when Eagle entered.
"At ease soldiers." He said still scowling in Eagle's direction.
Who knew the sergeant was one to hold a grudge?
"You have now reached the end of your training, where you teach the next batch of maggots to become one of the British elite. It is a victory in itself that you have reached this stage, but now you must take the final leap.
You will be in charge of 16 recruits, split into four units, S, L, D, and J. The number would most likely dwindle down to 8 by the end of their training, and I expect you to make sure that they are up to standards. You have the rest of today to plan, and tomorrow you begin. Any questions."
"Yes sir" Eagle said smirking, and the Sergeant scowled. Wolf, not so subtly, stepped on Eagle's foot, to tell him to shut up.
Obviously he didn't listen.
"Can we still be binned?" Eagle asked
The sergeant glared at him, while all his teammates let out an exasperated sigh.
"Well can we?"
"You can't" the sergeant growled, "but I can make an exception in your case."
"Come on sir, you can't still be holding a grudge against me. It's been years since I last done anything."
"You dyed my hair pink!" the sergeant exclaimed, before holding the bridge of his nose to regain his composure.
"Go," he sighed, "you are dismissed, and if i ever hear another word come out of your mouth, then I'll personally ship you off to the landfill site."
K-unit left the hut one by one, with Eagle last, who was grinning.

The sergeant collapsed in his chair, and rubbed his forehead. How Eagle managed to get through the SAS training without getting binned was beyond him. And now he had to deal with new recruits and Eagle.
God help him.

Outside, Eagle was being subjected to a scolding by his unit leader, while the other two members were smirking from behind.
"Do you have to get on the sergeants last nerves?" he was shouting. "You are SAS, act like it. If we become the first unit to be binned during the final aspect of training, then God help you for the hell I'm going to put you through."
"All I did was ask a question" Eagle defended weakly.
Wolf didn't even dignify that with a response. He just glared and walked away.