Author's Note:
I hope this chapter makes up for chapter 9's suckiness… if that's even a word. I haven't really planned what's going to happen after Alex found out who the 'prisoners' were so consequently I now have to think… I don't like it very much. And if you're still reading after the last chapter than you very much and I hope this chapter makes up for it.
Disclaimer: Everything recognizable belongs to Anthony Horowitz.
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Chapter 10
Alex's POV
"Alex? Alex? Alex!" a voice woke me from my sleep.
"What?" I said a bit pissed off at being woken up at… oh yeah I forgot, I don't have a clock! "Alright who woke me up?" I said to no one in particular.
I could sense eyes on me and that's when I realized that it hadn't been any of them talking to me, it had been MI6, "Okay I'm not crazy… much," I mumbled.
"Alex, are you there?" I heard Mrs. Jones's voice inside my head.
"Hey Mrs. Jones," I said and heard scrambling in one of the cells, hmm I wonder who that could be.
"How's it goin' Cub?" Wolf's deep voice said next.
"Peachy, so is there any particular reason you've woken me from my beauty sleep?"
"We have something to tell you, but first can you tell us what has happened recently?"
"Sure," I sighed, "Let's see this morning they took me upstairs and I find out that my history teacher, Mr. Jenkins, works for Scorpia and wants to kill me. Turns out he's Niles brother, who woulda thunk it? Than I'm knocked me out and apparently kicked in the head and thrown on the floor. Now I'm back in my cell," I paused, "Oh and you'll never guess who's down here as well."
"And w-who would that be Alex?" Whoa, did Mrs. Jones just stutter? Never thought I'd live to see the day… kind of ironic considering my current predicament.
"Its like a freaking convention for people who are supposed to be dead down here is what its like," I heard a laugh from one of the neighboring cells, "And they appreciate my sense of humor, which is more than I can say for some people."
"Funny Cub," Wolf said.
"Who are they Alex?" Mr. Blunt's voice rang through my head.
"Oh hey Mr. Blunt! Long time no see… or er chat anyway."
"Alex," Mr. Blunt's harsh voice reprimanded me.
"Okay sheesh. So let's see, you already know about Jack, other than her there's my mum, dad and Uncle Ian. A woman and a guy who looks a little older than me that I don't know and…"
"They're there!" I heard a voice exclaim loudly in my ear.
I shook my head to clear away the ringing before continuing, "I'm not done, there's also…"
"Are they alright Alex?"
"Well they've been locked up for 15 years but I don't know how you would classify that so…"
"So there's John, Helen, Ian, Susannah and Alex?" Mr. Blunt asked.
"Erm sure, I don't know a Susannah and I'm Alex but okay whatever."
"He doesn't know yet," I heard a distant voice say.
"What don't I know?" I asked interestedly, "Oh yeah wait, I heard that guy call the other guy Alex Rider to."
"Try not to hurt yourself with all those big, descriptive words Cub," Wolf laughed.
"What do you know anyway Wolf? You're the one who teaches gym," I retorted.
"I do not teach gym!" Wolf replied indignantly, "I was watc…"
"Okay that's enough, we have more important things to deal with," Mr. Blunt reprimanded us and I snickered.
"Would you like me to continue now or not?" I asked.
"There's more?" Mrs. Jones said in a shocked voice.
"Yes."
"Well let's here it than," Mr. Blunt said impatiently.
"I think you'll know them Mrs. Jones, Greg, Paul and Lilly."
It was so quiet for a minute or so that I thought I had lost the connection with them, "Hello? You still there? Hell…" than there was an extraordinarily loud noise in the ear piece, sounded like someone had dropped something on the speaker or whatever they were using to communicate with me, "Holly shit!" I roared as I jumped halfway across the cell, "The things still attached to my friggin ear you know! Warn me before you decide to go all World War II on my ear!"
"Language Cub," Wolf told me in a voice that sounded like a poor imitation of a school teacher.
I snorted, "Coming from the man who has a mouth worse than a sailor. Is everything okay?"
"I think you just killed Mrs. Jones."
"How old are you supposed to be Wolf? Like 5?"
"Oh shut up Cub," Wolf said in a whiny type of voice.
"Oh very mature."
"Would you stop bickering for a second?" Mr. Blunt roared into my ear.
"I'm going to have a killer headache later if you people don't stop yelling!"
"A-are you serious?" Mrs. Jones said softly.
"Abso-fucking-lutely."
"So they're alive? They're not dead?" Mrs. Jones said in a strangled voice.
"Last I checked they were alive and kicking… well not kicking technically but…"
"Alex," Mr. Blunt sighed wearily, "Mrs. Jones and I need to discuss something briefly, I trust you two can talk civilly for a minute or two?"
"Hey Cub I have a question," Wolf said after a moment.
"Huh?"
"You're locked up by the deadliest terrorist organization in the world, this would get most people down and feeling a bit scared and yet here you are sounding all happy."
"Where's the question?"
"You haven't been cheeky or anything with the people from Scorpia have you?" I was silent and Wolf groaned, "Oh no you have!"
"Guilty as charged."
"Oh Cub," Wolf groaned, "It would save you so much grief if you could just keep your mouth shut!"
"Where's the fun in that?" I wondered.
"Being imprisoned isn't supposed to be fun!"
"I'm making the most of an unfortunate situation?" I guessed.
"No, you like driving people crazy," Wolf said matter-of-factly.
"Guilty as charged, again."
"You really sho… oh Blunt and Jones are back," Wolf informed me.
"When are you getting me out of here?" I whined, "I'm not having any fun here you know."
"Yes we know Alex," Mr. Blunt sighed tiredly, "We will get to that, is there anyone else down there with you?"
"Uh… nope that's it, well at least that I know of. Would you like me to ask them?"
"No that's quite all right Alex."
"Are they okay?" Mrs. Jones asked again.
This time I decided to spare her from the 'alive and kicking' thing I used before, "I think they'd like to be out of her but they're alive and as healthy as you can be when you're a prisoner for 15 odd years."
It sounded like she was crying, "Good, good…" she trailed off and sniffled.
"We'll talk to you later Alex, hang in there," Blunt told me.
"Yeah try to lay back on the sarcastic remarks," Wolf told me.
"Wait…" I tried.
"Tell Greg, Lilly and Paul I love them," Mrs. Jones said softly in my head, "And that I'll see them soon."
"Yeah okay but…" I heard the earpiece click off, "Damn," I hissed, they never told me how and when they were going to get me out! Well it's a good thing I have my own plan forming, leave it up to them and I'll never get out! MI6 my ass.
"Wa-was that Tulip?" I heard Greg say from one of the cells to my right.
"Mrs. Jones? Yep that was her," I answered as I leaned back against the cold metal bars of my own cell.
"Mom?" Paul asked.
"Yes son, that was your mom," Greg told Paul emotionally. Than to me he asked, "Wh-what did she… what did she say?"
"She said that she loves all of you and that she will see you soon," I relayed the information Mrs. Jones had given me.
"So they're going to get us out?"
"I would assume so."
"How? When?" I heard a young girl's voice ask excitedly, it was Lilly.
"I don't know!" I complained.
"Didn't you just talk to them? I heard you talking about it," a young man's voice said, it wasn't Paul's so I'm assuming that it was the boy they had called Alex Rider… dammit this was so confusing.
"They were supposed to tell me but they never did! They yelled in my ear and I told them my information but they never told what they were going to do!"
"Oh…" the voice said clearly disappointed.
"So… would somebody please tell me who is in what cell? People were just screaming into my head like banshees and my head hurts like hell and I'm not in the mood for identifying voices right now," I asked.
"I'll tell you," the second 'Alex Rider' said.
"Okay, thanks," I replied gratefully.
"Okay so next to you on your right are Uncle John and Aunt Helen, your mum and dad. Next to there is Greg, Lilly and Paul. In front of your cell is me, my mum and my dad and next to us on the left is Jack."
"Okay but who are you? And who is your mum and dad? And where is my Uncle Ian?"
"Right well I'm Alex Rider, my mum is…" he began.
"No shit there's two of me?" I asked incredulously.
Alex Rider II laughed slightly uncomfortably and said, "Yeah I guess but anyway my mum is…"
"How old are you?" I asked curiously.
"How old are you?" he retorted.
"14," I answered.
"Than I'm 17," hmm I guess I'm Alex Rider II than.
"How long have you been here?" I asked curiously.
"Since I was three," he answered slowly.
"Holly…"
I was interrupted by an indignant sounding Jack, "Alex I don't know what they teach you at the training camp of yours but I would appreciate it if you could please watch your language!"
"Sorry Jack. So you're a Rider huh? So we're related than… who are you're parents?" I asked interestedly even though I already had an idea.
"Ian and Susannah Rider."
"Holly…"
"Alex," Jack warned again.
"Molley, I was going to say holly molley. So your dad is my Uncle Ian?"
"Yes," he confirmed.
"So you're my cousin?"
"Yes," he said again.
"How come I've never heard of you before?"
"I… don't really know," he answered unsurely.
"Alex," my uncle's voice said, "Before you were born I had a wife and a son."
"Uh huh," well that much was obvious.
"My wife, or your aunt, is named Susannah."
"Hello Alex," a kind woman's voice said.
"Erm, hello," I said back.
"My son, as you already know, was named Alex. Susannah and Alex disappeared one day five months before you were born. Searches went on for a year but there was never any trace of them found. When you were born your parents named you after the son I had lost," Uncle Ian explained.
"Oh so that's why that man up there was going on and on about all that honor crap?"
"Indeed."
"So why didn't you ever tell me I was named after someone? Or that I had a cousin and an aunt?"
"I thought it would be best to keep it from you. If I had told you questions would have accompanied it I'm sure," Uncle Ian said, "You would have wanted know so many things that I was not in the position to tell you. I also didn't want to be forced to make up more lies to tell you…"
I cut him of indignantly, "All you did was lie to me!"
"I thought it would be for the best, that it would keep you out of trouble and that you would be saved from entering my line of work."
I snorted.
"Your parents and I agreed that we would tell you when you turned 18, when you were an adult and you were old enough to hopefully understand everything."
"Well look how bloody far that got me? If you had just thought to tell me we might not be here right now!" I exclaimed feeling all of my sarcastic remarks and jokes slip away. Truthfully they had been, in a sense, what was keeping me going for the weeks when I didn't know who they were, when I thought I was alone.
"We didn't think th…"
"Well that's for bloody well sure!" I yelled and my voice echoed and bounced around the dark room like a bouncy ball. I slumped back against the cells bars and sighed, "Sorry," I mumbled, "It's not your fault."
"You have every right to be angry at us Alex, we…" my dad began.
"No! I have no right to be angry at you! I just found out you were all still alive only a few hours ago and all I'm doing is yelling at you!"
"It's not your fault, you didn't know," mum tried to comfort me.
"Yes and I'm wondering," Uncle Ian started, "How did you get involved with MI6 in the first place?"
I laughed, "Now that I think about it it's kind of funny. Let's see, it was at your funeral… I guess they're going to have to take all off your headstones out of the ground seeing as your not actually dead after all… well anyway at your funeral this black Roles Royce pulls up. Three men got out of the car, it looked like two were body guards and the other was someone important. The bodyguards, if you will, were wearing black suits and sunglasses even though it wasn't sunny. A guy named Crawley comes up to me and tells me that the man was a Mr. Blunt, the head of 'The Royal & General Bank of London', where my uncle had worked. So Blunt comes up to me and introduces himself, he ignores some of my questions and than walks back to the car. I get a call a few days later that says Mr. Crawley wants to meet with me at the 'bank'. So I go, he gives some cheap knock of crap that was supposed to be coke and than leaves the room. I remembered passing your office on the way to Crawley's office so I went down the hall to try and go in but it was locked. So I went back to Crawley's office and climbed out the window…"
"You climbed out the window?" My mom asked incredulously.
"That I did, but I'm not done yet."
"There's more?"
"Of course," I replied cheerily, "So I jumped onto the flag pole…"
"That's 15 stories up! At least!" Uncle Ian exclaimed.
I shrugged, "Was it really? Oh well any way I get into your office and find a file entitled 'Stormbreaker', before I can open it however someone comes in and shoots me with a tranquilizer dart or something. I woke up in a big house and had lunch with Mr. Blunt and Mrs. Jones. They told me about you and that they wanted me to complete your last mission. They tricked me into agreeing and I was sent to the training camp from hell for two weeks before they sent me on the mission," I concluded, "Do you want to know the rest?"
"We already know. Scorpia showed us videos and stuff of you on all your missions," dad said.
"Oh," I said as understanding dawned on me.
"I've done some daring things in my day but I can't say I've ever jumped out of a 15th story window just to satisfy my curiosity," dad said aghast.
"What can I say?" I said sheepishly.
"So when did you first begin to suspect something was going on?" Uncle Ian asked.
"Well first when the policemen said you died in a car accident because you hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, you always wore a seatbelt. Then at your 'funeral' the vicar called you 'a patriotic man' and when the guards opened the door for Blunt one of their jackets fell open and I saw their gun. Then when we got back home your office was empty and I had seen a van pulling away. So…" I stretched out the small word and sighed before continuing, "Than I looked in the phonebook, found the name of company written on the side of the van. It turned out to be an auto junk yard so I went and found your car. I must say it was surprisingly intact for suffering a so called 'fatal collision', not even a dent on it. Than I saw the bullet holes and blood, and I almost got killed by one of those car crushing things. And that's about it."
There was a long, low whistle and than Uncle Ian said, "You are a great spy; most people would have missed over half of those things but you caught them."
"Yeah that's exactly what Blunt and Jones said when trying to get me to go on that first mission," I grinned.
"Yes they can do that."
No one spoke for a minute or so but this time it was a comfortable, companionable silence unlike the eerie, spooky silences that consumed the dungeon weeks before.
I laughed lightly, "Wow," I said softly.
"What?" mom asked me.
"Never thought I'd get to see you again or have a family. Now I have a mum, a dad, and uncle, an aunt, and a cousin! Granted I didn't know about two of them until about a ½ hour ago but still!"
"We never thought we get to see our son grown up or get to have a real conversation with him!" my mum gushed.
"Yeah son," my dad started, "Those funny baby sounds you used to make were cute and all but for those of us who don't speak baby it was a tad bit hard to understand."
I laughed and Jack said, "Well I guess we know where he got his sense of humor from."
"Yes," dad agreed, "He got my impeccable spying skills, my outrageously good looks and my wry sense of humor, ah all the good qualities."
I snickered, "Yep!"
"Oh no!" Uncle Ian groaned, "He's going to be another John Rider! Wasn't one enough?"
"I'm with you on that one Ian," my mom sided with Uncle Ian.
"Erm sorry to break up this family moment," Jack began hesitantly, "But how are we going to get out of here?"
"Good point," Greg agreed.
"I want to see mum!" Lilly whined in a little girl voice even though she was probably about 15 or so.
"We all do honey," Greg comforted her in a soothing voice.
"Well I was told that MI6 had a plan but they decided not to tell me… oh no instead I got an earful of loud noises," I complained again.
"Well if they have a plan it's only a matter of time before they come for us, right?" Alex Rider I asked.
"I suppose," I said unsurely, "But I have good news everybody!"
"And what would that be?" Dad asked me.
"Never fear Alex Riders here!" I exclaimed.
"Alex Rider has been here for 14 years," Alex Rider I said wryly.
"Okay fine than, never fear Alex Rider II is here!" I corrected myself. Everybody laughed and I continued, "I have a plan…"
"Oh really?" dad said.
"Uh huh," I said proudly.
"Well what is it?" mom asked anxiously.
Just than a bunch of guards marched down the stairs and we all slunk back against the back wall of our cells.
"Oh shut up!" One of the guards barked at us.
One plate of food and a bowl of water for each person in a cell were slid roughly under the bars.
"Enjoy!" one of the guards said in a sing-song type of voice.
"You miserable sons of bitches," another added. They all howled in laughter as they descended back up the stairs.
I crawled towards the plate of food and the water. There was a slice of bread, a piece of butter, a big pile of something mushy and slightly slimy that I'm hoping is mashed potatoes, 'fresh' water and a metal fork.
"So what was that plan of yours son?" Dad asked me after a few moments.
"Huh? Oh right, the plan," I said but kept my eyes on the food, "It won't work, it involved hangers, duct tape, an atomic bomb and six dozen ducks."
"That was your genius plan?" Uncle Ian laughed.
"That would never work," Greg scoffed but I took it in a playing around manner.
"I know, where would we possibly find duct tape around here?" I said.
Everyone laughed again and continued on small, quiet conversations. I, on the other hand, was still staring at my food and the wheels in my head were beginning to turn as I caught a sight of the butter and the fork.
"I've got it!" I exclaimed suddenly and all talking ceased as all eyes were focused on me, "I know how to get out!"
A/n: okay so it's really short but I know where I'm going with this story now! Yay me! Review!
