Author's note

Thanks for all the GREAT reviews! Now this chapter is where everything starts happening and soon there is going to be LOTS of action for all you action lovers out there. I have one thing to say: everybody should look at RiderAlex profile, it made me very happy! Enjoy and Review!

Disclaimer: Everything recognizable belongs to Anthony Horowitz.

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Chapter 11

After my declaration it was completely silent. There was no sound of people moving in their cells or the scratching of utensils on plates or the chewing of food. I was just silent.

After a moment of this uncomfortable silence Uncle Ian asked me, "And what does it involve this time?"

I glanced back down at the butter and the fork before replying simply, "Butter and a fork."

More silence…

Someone laughed uncomfortably before joking, "What are you going to do? Smear the butter on the floor to trip the guards and steal the keys to their car?"

"Yeah," I heard Lily's light, girlish voice say next, "Or maybe you could stab the guards with the fork! Or poke their eyeballs out!"

Laughter… I don't care if they're my fucking family, the family that I thought was dead, the family that I just found. I don't care! All I'm trying to do if get them safe and what do they do? They laugh at me.

I glared out into the large, dimly lighted room and said in a hollow voice, "Go ahead, laugh."

After a few moments the laughing eventually slowed and I heard my mum, who was still chuckling slightly say, "Oh Alex we're not laughing at you, were laughing…"

"At my plan, you're laughing at the plan that could save all of your lives," I interrupted her.

"Alex…" dad started.

"You know what? Fine. Don't take me seriously, it's not like I'm not used to it by now. But hey, that's not my problem; I'll save myself, and everyone else… well you can just wait for MI6."

"Alex we didn't mean anything bad about it," mum tried to say comfortingly. "But maybe," she started hesitantly, "Maybe it would be better to wait for MI6. After all, they will have a foolproof plan."

"Like I said, you can wait for them," I repeated. "I don't plan on waiting anymore though," I added.

Dad sighed before saying, "What was your plan Alex?"

"My plan was nothing, my plan is something," I said. "But I do not feel inclined to share it anymore."

I retreated to the back of my cell dragging the cheap plastic plate across the concrete floor with me. I leaned my back against the cold metal bars but kept my legs bent upwards at the knees. I picked up the hand that I still had that scrap of cloth tied around. I carefully untied it and silently hissed in pain as the cloth separated itself from the freshly closed wound. It was probably infected but there wasn't a whole hell of a lot I could do about that at the moment. The cloth was covered with dark red stains from my blood. I picked up the slimy, greasy piece of butter between my fingers and wrapped it up in the cloth. I hid it in one of the crevices of the rotting wooden bench. I stepped back to make sure it wasn't visible in the dim light.

Once I was satisfied I turned my attention back to my plate of 'appetizing' food. I quickly stomached as much of it as possible, if I want to escape I have to keep myself strong.

Then I pick up the fork and turned it around in my hands. I was pretty sure that this would serve its necessary purpose, but I pushed myself up off the ground and went to the cell door just to make sure. I craned a hand out through the narrow space between the bars and let my fingers find the key hole that I knew was there somewhere.

"Aha!" I murmured when my fingers felt the indentation in the metal. I traced my fingers over it and over it and over it until I had the pattern memorized. I sat down by the door and once again picked up the fork. It was too big of course to work but I could fix that. I planned on fixing that.

I traced my fingers over the four tines on the fork. Hmm… I would start by removing the two outer tines and than go from there. It would be a bit difficult, granted my hand still hurt but I'd live through it. I just had to make sure the guards didn't notice the fork was missing.

Well that won't be too hard! I'm personally shocked that Scorpia's guards are so unobservant. There cocky, too cocky for their own good. They think they know everything that's going on. They think I can't find away out. They think they're going to put an end to Alex Rider. But in all truthfulness… they know nothing.

I've escaped from tons of situations that the average person would say was impossible to escape from. I've never given up hope or my will to live when the average person would have surrendered to their captors and cracked at the first sign of torture.

That is not me, I don't give up. I'm not weak, I'm strong. I'll show everyone not to underestimate Alex Rider.

After all the things I've gotten out of why can't I get out of this? Why can't I escape from this?

I heard someone coming so I quickly hid the fork in a dark corner of the cell. The footsteps stopped at the entrance to my cell, what do they want now?

The guard jammed a key into the lock and opened the door slowly. The creaks from the door echoed around the room. I guess I'll need more butter than I originally thought…

I was pushed roughly into a room, different from the last one, it was smaller. There was a chair in the center of the room, several guards and a… video camera that was trained on me as I was shoved across the room.

"Alex," the man said smirking evilly at me, "Do you know what time it is?"

Erm okay… "Uh no I don't actually…"

If anything his grin grew wider, "Its 1:30 p.m…"

!#$&

Nobodies POV

Brookland Prep, same day, Mr. Jenkins's history class, 12:57

"So," Mr. Jenkins said as his cold eyes surveyed the seats filled with students. His eyes fell on the one empty chair in the middle of the room and a flash of something crossed through his eyes, triumph. He looked like he had won a game and received a very special prize. "So," he said again, "Mr. Rider is still not back yet." It was a statement, not a question.

The class was silent and everyone looked down at their desk or fiddled with their pens or pencils or folded the corners of their papers.

No one had seen or heard anything from Alex since that day when the three men in black had come and taken him. At first some thought it was a joke, maybe April fools had come early this year?

But it seemed a bit extreme for a prank. After all, someone had been shot! That was real enough everyone grudgingly admitted. They hadn't seen Mr. Mackovic since that day either.

Eventually everyone had turned to Alex's friends, Blake, Riley, Ben, Ty, Ky, Dylan and Tom. They said they didn't know about it and turned to Tom instead, pestering him to tell them if it was true. Eventually Tom confirmed that it was indeed true and not a prank.

After they thought about it they realized how much sense it made and how well everything fit now that they had the last piece of the puzzle. It explained the injuries, the frequent absences, even the gun that had been found in his book bag. They finally connected it to all of the events that had happened whenever Alex went missing. It explained why he often looked older than he actually was why his eyes had changed from boyish, young and naïve to hard, cold, older and looking like they had seen things that they were not meant to see, things he would never forget.

They were astonished and marveled at their friend's bravery, that he had given his life up so that someone else could live.

Mr. Mackovic… was he involved with this to? Was he even a certified teacher? He obviously knew Alex and Alex knew him and they seemed close, just like brothers. Just like the man had said, "I knew you wouldn't be able to watch us kill your adopted big brother in front of you…" or something of the nature.

Finally, they were scared. Scared for their friend. Scared that they would never get to see him again, alive. Scared that they'd never talk to him again or hear him laugh or play rugby or go bike riding together or play pranks on some of the younger students in the middle school. Scared that the next time they saw him it would be at his funeral and he would be in the cold, hard casket, but if what they had said about what they were going to do to Alex was true than it probably wouldn't be an open casket.

Mr. Jenkins 'tutted' as he clicked the button that said 'absent' next to the name Alexander Rider on his computer screen.

"Today," he said loudly so that his voice echoed around the room, "We are going to be discussing the terrorist organization Scorpia."

There were several gasps from around the room.

"Um Mr. Jenkins, is…" Tom began.

"Excuse me Mr. Harris," Mr. Jenkins interrupted him, "Did I give you permission to speak?" Tom slowly and awkwardly raised his right arm above his head. "Yes Mr. Harris?" Mr. Jenkins asked in a voice that was filled with forced pleasantness.

"Is… is Scorpia even part of the curriculum?" Tom asked.

"Technically speaking no it is not," Mr. Jenkins replied sounding tired. "But this is my classroom and seeing as we just finished our last unit I don't see how one day will hurt. Is there something wrong with that Mr. Harris?"

"Uh no sir," Tom responded.

"But Mr. Jenkins," Blake's voice said next, "I don't think…"

"I don't recall asking you what you think Miss Anderson. If anyone has a problem with my class than you can leave and tell it to the principal, now," he said pointing to the door. When no one moved he continued, "As I was saying, today we are going to be talking about Scorpia. Can anyone tell me what or who Scorpia is?"

The class was silent and all hands stayed firmly atop the desks. "No one can tell me who Scorpia is?" Mr. Jenkins asked the room, "I know you've all heard of it," his eyes circled the room and fell on Tom who was fidgeting in his seat, "Mr. Harris, why don't you tell us what Scorpia is," Mr. Jenkins commanded.

"Uh…" Tom began uncertainly. "Scorpia is the most feared and deadly terrorist organization in the world…"

"Very good Mr. Harris that is correct. Can anyone tell me anything else about Scorpia?"

Again no one moved but than Tom determinedly raised his hand straight above his head.

"Mr. Harris?" Mr. Jenkins called on Tom.

"I know something about Scorpia," Tom said with his eyes blazing.

"Very well," Mr. Jenkins said warily, "Go ahead, tell us what you know."

"Scorpia's headquarters or at least one of their stations is located in Venice, at a place called the Widow's Palace," Tom said projecting his voice to make sure everyone in the room heard him. It was completely silent and all eyes turned to him as he opened his mouth to continue.

"How do you know this?" Mr. Jenkins asked incredulously, his face turning white with shock.

"I was there, I saw it! Over the summer when I was in Venice with Alex! There was a huge party there one night and everyone was dressed in costume. I helped Alex sneak in!"

The class gave a collective gasp.

Mr. Jenkins thundered, "That is quite enough from you Mr. Harris!"

Tom, however, just continued like Mr. Jenkins hadn't even said anything, "I know what they do to you there! They found Alex and locked him up in a cell under the Grand Canal that flooded when the tide rose! He got out through the grates in the bottom of the cell and had to swim through the canal!"

"Mr. Harris!" Mr. Jenkins thundered again, "I said that is ENOUGH!"

The class fell silent and Tom glared at Mr. Jenkins.

"How could you have possibly found out about that party? How did you find where we were?" he asked dumbfounded.

"I didn't, Alex did. I…" Tom stopped and stared at Mr. Jenkins, "Wait, we? You just said 'How did you find out where we were?'"

"I…" Mr. Jenkins said franticly searching his head for a suitable excuse, "I said they were," he said. Well that was creative… not.

"No, you said 'we'," Tom persisted.

"I said 'they' Mr. Harris. I meant that it is simply amazing that you, a teenage boy, found out where Scorpia is located when some of the best in the business haven't even been able to find it."

Tom's mouth dropped open after a moment as everything put themselves together in his head, "You wor…" he began.

"Amazing Mr. Harris, simply amazing. I have to say you've made your history teachers day," Mr. Jenkins said to Tom with a heavy emphasis on 'history teacher'.

"It was yo…" Tom tried again.

"Does anyone else have something to share about Scorpia?" Mr. Jenkins addressed the rest of the class, purposefully ignoring Tom.

Blake tentatively raised her hand, "Yes Miss Anderson?"

"Um did Sc-Scorpia have anything to do with that big balloon thing that in the news at the end of the summer?"

"Yes it did! Very good Miss Anderson. No one really knows what that had been about but we know it was something Scorpia was doing… or planning on doing rather," he tried to say lightly though inside he was seething like he did every time someone brought up that subject. "In fact I have the newspaper picture of it," Mr. Jenkins said rummaging around on his desk before pulling up a sheet of paper. "I'll pass it around for you all to see," he said as he handed it to a student in the front of the class.

As the picture was passed down the rows Mr. Jenkins gave his little speech, "Scorpia is the name of the world's most feared and deadly terrorist organization. The 'S' stands for sabotage, the 'CORP' is for corruption, 'I' stands for intelligence and the 'A' stands for assassination. Scorpia was formed in the early eighties at the end of the Cold War. Since than the organization has flourished, Scorpia is all over the world. It has brought down two governments and arranged for a third to be elected unfairly. Scorpia has destroyed dozens of businesses, corrupted politicians and civil servants, engineered several major ecological disasters, and they kill anyone who gets in there way…"

By this time the picture had reached Tom. He recognized it immediately as the picture he had shoved in Alex's face as the first time he saw him on his return from Venice… just five days before the shot that nearly claimed his best friend's life.

He thought about yelling out to the class again as he found the small, dark figure hanging from one of the ropes. He knew it was Alex. But he kept his mouth shut and turned around to face Ben, Ky and Ty.

"Guys," he whispered and gestured for them to lean closer to him. They all obliged with a wary glance to Mr. Jenkins who was still talking. Tom jammed his finger against the shape that was Alex, "Its Alex!" he whispered.

Ky snatched the picture out of Tom's hands and stared at it before Ty took it from his twin. Once they had all seen it they looked up in shock. Tom glanced across the room and saw Blake, Dylan and Riley watching them questioningly. Riley raised her eyebrows questioningly. Tom gestured to the picture and mouthed the word, "Alex." They looked confused for a second but than comprehension dawned on them and they nodded back to Tom.

"Mr. Harris," Mr. Jenkins said, "Is there a problem?"

Tom swallowed hard, "No sir."

"If you have seen the picture than please pass it on," Mr. Jenkins reprimanded.

"Yes sir." Tom passed the picture back to the girl sitting in front of him.

"As I was saying Scorpia is…" Mr. Jenkins began but never got the chance to continue because the loud speaker system crackled to life.

"Attention teachers and students, we are having a very important impromptu assembly. Would everyone please make their way to the auditorium quickly and silently at this time. Everyone is required to attend. Thank you very much."

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Email sent to Alan Blunt and Mrs. Jones

To: Mr. Alan Blunt and Mrs. Tulip Jones

From: SCORPIA

Subject: IMPORTANT

Time sent: 1:00 p.m, Tuesday January 24, 2006

Dear Mr. Alan Blunt and Mrs. Tulip Jones,

It is with great regret that I must inform you that I am about to tell you some troubling news. Before I begin I must inform you that what you do or do not say or do in the next 30 minutes could end up bringing terror to your land.

If you want Mr. Alex Rider to live to see the next hour than you will follow our commands. Go to Brookland Prep, we understand that this was Mr. Alex Rider's school. You will have the whole school, grades nine through twelve, assemble into the auditorium where you will proceed to hook your laptop up so that the whole school may have a clear view of its screen. You will show every student, teacher and administrator in the building what we will be sending you.

You must be assembled and all set up by 1:30 p.m, Tuesday January 24, 2006.

1:30 on the dot we will send a video to your laptop. The video will be live and we request that it is viewed by all.

If you fail to comply with our demands than it will be Mr. Alex Rider who pays the price for you. We have someone watching you and will know if you are not there at the allotted time or if you should happen to turn off the video before it is completed.

Yes the video will be showing Mr. Alex Rider. You cannot save him. You cannot protect him. You can only watch. We hope that by this action, you will understand that we are to be taken seriously and that you will therefore act quickly on the mater you have already been informed of.

You have half an hour to complete our demands. The countdown has already begun.

Yours faithfully,

SCORPIA

A/n: I know it's really short, I was going to write more but it's getting late and I still haven't done my math homework yet. If I get a lot of reviews I'll update tomorrow or Friday! Review!