I'd just like to say before you read this chapter that the cliff-hanger is ALMIGHTY, and I hope to annoy my readers with this cliff-hanger as much as possible. I accept no responsibility for the suicides that may occur at the end of this chapter.

The war begins

Alex crashed into the rear windscreen of the car and it cracked upon impact, sending a web of lines across the glass. The bin of which Alex had so recently being standing in broke free, rolled down another road and crashed into an oncoming car; the lid was still there, scraping along the tarmac. A gunshot echoed throughout the street and a small hole was ripped in the roof of the car, only inches away from Alex's face. Another gun shot, the hole appeared on the other side his head. This was way too dangerous to continue, Alex thought, he looked back, the bin lid was too far away to jump onto, and there was heavy traffic ahead. And even if he could jump to the bin-lid, there was nothing else he could do, he might as well brave his chances on the car. He crawled along the roof until he reached the front of the car, he heard a car door open and a hand emerged on the roof… holding a gun. The weapon that the man was holding fired wildly, Alex fell forward and covered his head, desperately trying to protect himself from the bullets. He kicked out and his bare-foot hit the gun, he saw the man withdraw his hand and Alex lifted his head up, looking forward. He bought his fist back and used his other hand to shield his face, and with amazing strength he smashed through the windscreen. He felt his knuckles come into contact with a nose and he pulled his hand back up, it was splattered with blood. He immediately felt the car spin out of control and he watched in horror as the car span towards the side of a bridge they were crossing. They slammed into the bridge barrier of the bridge and Alex could do nothing as he toppled over the side…

The assassin stumbled out of the car his face was covered in blood; his dizziness caused him to fall around in the street for a few seconds before he finally got to his feet properly. He reached into his belt and pulled out a colt .45 pistol and then calmly walked to the side of the bridge. He leaned over the side; the boy was hanging onto a bin-lid, which was attached to the car with some sort of rope. The assassin grinned, "Hey, Alex!" he called over the side, "you lose!" He aimed the gun at Alex and his smile widened.

Alex looked up, the man was shouting and hollering at him and leaning over the side of the bridge, he had a gun aimed at where he hung and he felt powerless. Any second now, the man would squeeze the trigger; the bullet would probably kill him before he could even fall to his death, at least it would be quick and painless. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth; everyone has to go sometime, he thought glumly. A bullet exploded out of a gun, Alex expected to fall, or at least to feel pain of some sort, maybe the man had missed? He felt something pass by his head and he opened his eyes, he watched as the assassin tumbled down and there was a loud crash and a splat as he hit the rocks below. Alex looked up, a smoking gun was poking out over the side of the bridge, a head peered over… it was Alan Blunt. He felt relief sweep over him and he felt a tug as the head of MI6 began to pull him up the side. He collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily, but glad to be alive.

"Great work Alex…" Blunt commended him, looking into his eyes.

If I stab him now, I could finish everything…stop Scorpia, save my friends…

"Alex, are you ok?"

Or how about if I grab his neck, could I break if without anyone noticing? How would I get out of the car?

"Alex?"

If only I had a gun…

"I suppose you want to kill me, right?" Alan Blunt said, he leaned back in the leather seats and grinned at Alex's face.

"How… how do you know that?"

"I saw the man from Scorpia who visited you in your hospital room, he's actually one of the most superior members of the organisation, so we don't know why he was the one sent to visit you. We're still working on that, but our intelligence is limited" He took a deep breath before continuing, "and we found my photo under the television set."

"Oh…" Alex looked to the floor.

"Our limousine driver saw you make that rather dangerous jump to another rooftop and we watched from a street corner as you tied your… vehicle to the assassins car."

"And here we are…" He muttered to no one in particular.

"Here we are…" Blunt repeated.

"So… what now?" Alex asked, yet again to no one in particular.

"Well, Scorpia are pissed, extremely pissed, so we took Sabina and her family back to head-quarters to protect them, now, we know Scorpia are currently staging an operation to… kill you. We're going to let them try…"

"WHAT?!" Alex cried.

"They want to kill you, and me for a matter of fact. And are most probably on their way to brutally murder us now." With these words, Alan Blunt tapped on the window that separated them from the driver's compartment. This must have been some sort of sign, because the limousine pulled over and Alan rolled down the window. Alex and Blunt watched as two large vans accelerated around the corner a few blocks up the road. The drivers were rough looking individuals, and were wearing bullet-proof vests for some reason or other. Alan leaned over and rolled down the window on the other side of the car. Another van, but this time with 'Special Forces' written on the side barrelled around the corner. The cavalry had arrived.

"Here we go…" Alan pulled a gun from under his jacket and pulled back the hammer and a bullet flicked out and fell to the floor. He opened a briefcase, which sat at his side and rummaged through it for a second, he pulled out another gun, he loaded it and handed it to Alex. "Ready?" He asked politely, there was absolutely no fear in his voice, which was what Alex expected.

"Ready…" He muttered, taking the gun.