Limbo
Scorpia had all of Nile's money. Frankly, they had run Nile's life like a well-oiled machine for the past ten years. And it was just all…in limbo. He could go back to Scorpia, take the licks…or he could just start over.
Alex's house was quiet. He wasn't being watched all the time. Nile felt the newly formed scars on his chest. The skin was still pink and new and delicate. He would admit that being left behind a literal dumpster ate at him.
"Nile?"
Alex was at the door. Nile watched him. "Yes?"
Alex slunk towards him. Nile felt him sit on the bed. "Are you doing alright?"
Nile rubbed his chest. He was suddenly aware of the fact he had been standing in his underwear staring at a wall. "For now."
Alex winced slightly. He had disappeared rather suddenly a few weeks ago. Nile wasn't stupid. At least the redheaded lady named wasn't about to let him starve, even if she grumbled about Alex adopting human disasters under her breath. "Dinner's ready."
Nile wasn't sure why Alex followed the redheaded chick's rules. Then again, it was probably none of his business. Maybe Alex just liked being bossed around in his personal life or something. "Alright, I'll be down in a few minutes."
Alex slunk back out of his room. Nile opened a drawer in his room and winced. It still felt weird to wear Ian's clothes. The man was dead. This was weird. Still, he grabbed pants and a long-sleeved button-down. Did the man own anything besides dress pants and white button-downs?! Nile refused to wear Ian's watches. That was a line that even he wouldn't cross. He went down the stairs for a very awkward dinner. And he thought that the board meetings were bad.
Nile returned upstairs after dinner. Alex had given him an apologetic look after the scorching glares he had received through the whole thing. It was still better than dinner at Rothman's house. At least there was less risk of poisoning at dinner. Still, it left him with questions.
What did he want to do? It wasn't like he had resources outside Scorpia. They had taken care of everything for him. Nile cursed himself for that. He did have a few connections that didn't know he was Scorpia. That said, they were fairly low-level.
That meant Nile would have to take much lower-paying jobs. He would need to start managing his finances. At least there had been mandatory budgeting classes.
Or he could…go back. The board would likely not be merciful. Not only had he failed a major assignment and let Rothman get killed, but he had also violated protocol. You were supposed to call for extraction the second you woke up.
Nile could have, but it would have gotten Alex killed. There were not a lot of morals he had, but Nile figured that getting Alex murdered after he had been forgiven and rescued from behind a dumpster was rather…off.
That said, the fact that he had just been left behind like trash also rankled him. Couldn't they have at least sent someone to check for survivors? Hadn't he been a good second-in-command? His chest still ached from the burns and his ribs were slowly healing.
Nile wasn't quite sure what he wanted, but he did kind of need the money either way. He let out a sigh. At the very least, he still had a week or two before he could do anything too physical.
Nile still had no idea what he was going to do. At least Alex wasn't going to be too pushy. Then again, Alex could be kidnapped, blackmailed, and shot mid-mission any time of the week and Nile would be in deep shit. This was going to be a long night.
"Alex?"
The kid perked up upon seeing him in the living room. Nile almost felt bad, but this seemed like the sort of thing a spy would know. "Yeah?"
Nile rolled his eyes. He could wait. Then again, patience wasn't one of his virtues. "Pause the game. This is serious."
Alex paused the game. That was one of the other things Nile liked about him. A board member would have yelled at him for asking for their precious undivided attention. "Yes?"
The brown eyes widened slightly. Nile felt his scars itch. For a second, he felt the heat of the flames return. "Do you know where the local mercenary bar is?"
Alex looked at him. Nile felt like he should blush or something. Then again, he had no shame. "The sketchy one or the semi-legitimate one?"
Nile raised a single eyebrow. Alex pinked slightly and ran a hand through his hair. "Erm, anyways, you'll want the Porker's Pull and ask for Markov. He, uh, might like-like you if you know what I because-"
Nile raised a hand to cut Alex off before he could run his mouth further. He was going to have to look into this man's eyes and take assignments from him with a straight face. Nile was not even going to ask him how he knew that. In fact, he was going to forget Markov was attracted to men entirely. "Thank you for the advice. Now, uh, does this pub come with directions or weird British directions?"
Alex scowled at him. Nile choked back a laugh at his indignant expression. "THAT'S THE NORMAL WAY TO GIVE DIRECTIONS!"
Nile just looked at him blankly. Alex grumbled under his breath. "Just google it, you bum."
Nile threw a pillow at him. Alex dodged it. "Niiiiiiiillllllllle."
Nile let out a sigh. Alex looked at him. "The words just float off the screen."
Alex let out a sigh. Nile gave him the puppy eyes. The boy gently placed his controller on the TV stand. "Okay, the first directions you're getting are directions to the nearest NHS clinic so you can get your bloody vision checked."
Nile let out a huff. This was annoying. "I'm dyslexic, you little shit. My eyesight is twenty-twenty."
Alex gave him an innocent look. "Are you sure? I mean you might have hit your-EEEP!"
Nile smirked as the pillow landed dead center in Alex's face. "NILE!"
He tried not to cackle. You know what? There was no real rush.
Fin
Based on a prompt by Zyzyax (see story summary). This is the 257th work in the Winds of Change 2022 Alex Rider Prompt event, where a new prompt (plus a short 1-3K work) is posted every day. For more details, see the AO3 collection. We have an index of all the prompts used in this event so far and going forwards - join the discord to get access to the online index (and to take part in our events, chat about everything and anything, and meet a load of awesome people!