Falling from Grace
"Nile!" she snapped. "Get after him!" Nile froze.
He still had shards of glass in his arms. This was almost surreal. He was being ordered to murder a child. Realistically, he knew Scorpia trafficked millions of children daily. That said, he was somewhat attached to Alex.
Nile had just begun to like him. He didn't even blame the kid for caving to MI6. Nile was an adult and terrified of Alan Blunt. He could only imagine what it was like to be his child slave blackmail victim with three easy targets in the man's territory.
"Now!" she screamed.
Nile ran forward towards Alex. The child had already begun ascending the balloon. He knew he didn't have much of a choice with Rothman watching his every move.
Nile knew that she knew that he had a fear of heights. What Julia Rothman didn't know was that he had actually done the therapy to rid himself of the phobia. He would never admit it, but coming second in his class because of the phobia had gotten to him and his ego.
Nile began to slowly ascend the balloon. He had to at least look like he was trying.
Nile chucked a sword at Alex. Alex deftly deflected the sword into the fuel tank.
Nile felt his lips twitch. He peeled them back into what he hoped was a convincing snarl.
Nile looked down and felt his world wobble. Right. Heights. Climbing. Yay. He decided to give Alex a few more seconds by putting his sword between his teeth. He was no expert, but he hoped his slow but steady pace in ascending the balloon was convincing for the height-phobic but trying look he was going for. He needed to have a convincing excuse for the board when this inevitably failed and Alex 'accidentally' escaped.
Nile decided it was time to drop a few hints. He adjusted his expression and continued to ascend slowly. Would anyone believe that he had trouble killing a fourteen-year-old boy?
Nile jumped and nearly fell as a jet of fire hit him. He resisted a yelp as the fire crisped his skin. He panted as the waves of heat spread through his arm and torso.
Nile nearly let go of the rope. He gritted his teeth. He felt like his molars might crack. A glance at his arm told him he had third-degree burns. A few tears gathered in the corners of his eyes as he panted from the pain. The glass shard began to dig into the fresh burns, scraping his nerves raw.
Nile wanted to scream. Instead, he slowly continued his ascent. He saw a glint of metal in the corner of his eye. The rope vibrated slightly as he reached for the next rung of the rope ladder.
Nile yelped as the rope suddenly went slack. He clung to the one side of the rope ladder that was still attached for dear life.
Nile panted a bit. The adrenaline began to set his heart to pounding. He gasped for breath as the panic began to fog his mind over. Shit. Shit. Shit.
Nile reached for the top of the rope and the other side began vibrating. He gasped as the rope gave way in his hands.
Nile was left holding the rope with no tension. The panic flowed through him. He felt himself beginning to fall through the air. The burns seared his arms and chest as he gasped for breath. He felt his heart begin to pound as his breath continued to quicken. His hands itched from the rope climbing.
Nile would guess he had rope burns in addition to being mildly charred. He bit back a hysterical laugh as he continued falling. This must have been how Yassen felt.
Crunch!
Nile felt himself slam into the building. His ribs cracked under the strain. He saw stars. It felt like his lungs were suffocating him from the inside out. His ribs burned even more than the burns on his chest and arms.
Nile let out a whimper. His back was probably damaged. At least, he was in danger of it being so.
Nile heard the gunshots below him and was tempted to sob. He needed to move. He didn't want to die.
Nile let himself just lay there and panic for an indeterminate amount of time. His chest and arms continued to burn as he inhaled and exhaled. With broken ribs, even breathing hurt.
Nile heard them clearing the floor below him with more gunfire. He couldn't say who was winning. Hell, he wasn't sure who was even alive. He began to slowly pick himself up. Every inch of sitting up burned with the fire of a thousand suns.
Nile wondered if he had died and if this was his punishment for all the people he had killed for money. He began to slowly drag himself away from the center of the roof. The pain shot through him with every movement.
Nile knew from experience that moving any faster was going to cause him to pass out from the pain. He just needed to make it to the dumpster.
Nile slowly dragged himself to the edge of the roof. He began to go towards the ladder. The first few rungs of the ladder were bad. The next few felt like the time he had a lion chew on one of his legs. The last few rungs had him seeing stars.
Nile bit back screams of agony. He dropped himself to the ground. His ribs were jostled.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Nile's screams were drowned out by the gunfire. He slunk behind the dumpster next to the building and let out a groan of agony. He leaned against the wall and tried not to inhale too deeply. The garbage fucking stank. The sickly-sweet stench of garbage filled his nostrils.
Nile's vision began to blur as he gasped too hard. His ribs burned. Maybe this was how he died. Behind a dumpster. Lovely. His vision swam.
Nile stared up at the sky. He wondered if he was hallucinating when Alex appeared and knelt down next to him. A gentle hand was laid on his shoulder. The stars exploded in his vision and he passed out.
Fin
Based on a prompt by Zyzyax (see story summary). This is the 251st 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!