Chapter 75: Trials and Tribulations

Tom Card woke up in a dungeon. He ached all over. Leaning against the cell door was a very happy-looking SCORPIA operative. Wonderful. And here he thought he might get real medical care. The knife-waving lunatic smiled. "Hello, there."

Card said nothing. He knew better than that. "Well, you're a rude motherfucker."

The man stamped on his foot. Card bit back a scream. "Oh, good, a tough guy."

Card had a feeling that this was going to be distinctly unpleasant. "Xander already stole all of my files. What more do you want?"

The man approached in a predatory manner. "Oh, we don't need any more information from you. I just want you to hurt."

Card leaned back. "And why would that be?"

The man shrugged. "Fair enough. Do you know what kind of stress this assignment caused?! First, I get called into Winston fucking Yu's office. Then I get assigned two shitbirds as partners. Then I find out I'm joining the side of a civil war that's being spearheaded by a literal tween. And then I had to do a bunch of crap jobs. Then I got to do a shitty jungle trek that ended with me murdering said shitbird coworkers. I'm still trying to get the jungle worms out of my digestive system!"

Card just stared at the man that was practically frothing at the mouth. "And you decided to take your job frustrations out on me?"

The man grinned. "Now you're cooking with gas."

Card watched the man looming over him. "You know, I think Xander's fucking nuts, keeping you alive for some ickle trial."

Card snorted. "You haven't been playing politics for very long."

Card felt a sharp pain in his face as a hand cracked across his face. "You think SCORPIA doesn't have politics?"

Card smirked. "You don't have to manage your PR. We do. Hell, you don't even have a public-facing branch."

The man grinned ferally. "Touché."

The man came up and stroked his face. "You know, he's not going to be happy when he realizes the real reason I wanted to guard you."

Card swallowed. "Oh?"

The man's teeth almost looked like fangs in the low light. He was holding a syringe. "This is a poison. It will take a month to work. It's undetectable until it's too late for the antidote."

Card tried to struggle against the restraints, but it was fairly useless. "You know I can tell him. In the trial."

The man shook his head. "By the time they finish the tests, it'll still be too late. Besides, we're not stupid. We're not airing the trial live."

Card leaned back into his chair. He was probably beat for now. "And why are you doing this without an authorization?"

The man shrugged. He began stroking the Card's face again. "Just in case you do wiggle out of the death penalty and Xander's too soft to order your death. Frankly, he's still a little too nice for this stuff. But his subordinates aren't."

Card did his best not to yelp as he was slapped again. "Now, I think we'll see what Doctor Three has in his nice little textbook about stuff that doesn't leave marks."

The commercials had been running for some time before the trial. Alex could confess that he was wracked with nerves before each airing. But the propaganda team seemed to know what they were doing at this point. They had all seemed at least passable to him. Plus, it was important for people to know who was who at the trial. It was part trial and part public lip service, after all. The jurors' uniforms, along with the guards' and his own had been carefully designed. Alex personally thought they all looked cheesy as all hell and that his relatives were never going to let him live this down, but other than that he had mostly made his peace with it. He'd mostly been studying up international and war law. This was supposed to at least look official.

"...was a general in the recent war and a respected member of the army before."

Alex glanced at the screen as the announcement continued. The final juror. They had decided on twelve. Alex had wanted to do this in the style of a US trial, just to stick it to the senate and the CIA in general.

The trial began at dawn on a particularly warm day. Alex walked in wearing nearly solid white. He thought the outfits were way overdone but was not about to question his very frazzled publicity team. Antonio was conveniently not present. Alex had a sinking suspicion it had to do with the man's less than stellar past but was not about to comment. The place was guarded to the teeth, even though they had not released the location to the public. Or the actual time of the trial. Alex figured that the footage being edited for brevity wasn't too bad. Besides, there would be publicly available transcripts. He finished walking in and sat down in the chair. Alex was the last to enter. Something about making a statement. "We have gathered here today for the trial of one Thomas Card."

Alex paused for effect. There was silence in the courtroom. "No matter how heinous the crime, one should always try to bring the criminal to justice. The defense will go first, given the very public nature of most of the accused's crimes. We will then proceed with the presentation of swaths of evidence by the prosecution."

Alex found it in himself to meet Card's eyes. The man was glaring daggers across the courtroom. The defense lawyer rose and shuffled through his papers. "Given the nature of Mr. Card's citizenship, I want to move for extradition."

Alex had expected something like this. "The currently recognized government has no extradition treaty with the United States of America. Nor are we amused at the repeated and severe attempts to undermine our will and, by extension, the will of the people. Motion denied."

The lawyer sighed. Alex knew he had been background checked, but was still wearing kevlar under his robes. Alex realized he was kind of speaking as though he was the government, but pushed the thought to the back of his head. "We're going to move that the client should be clinically evaluated."

Alex was more amused than anything else at this point. The States could have at least sent Card a better lawyer. "He already has been. The medical and mental evaluations have been completed. We intend to use them in the prosecution."

The lawyer sighed. "I would like to object to my client's treatment in his arrest and custody."

Alex barely kept the smirk off his face. "You can object until you're blue in the face. The fact is, he has a history of escape attempts, coercion to homicide, and homicide. He is a dangerous man and was treated as such."

The lawyer shuffled through some more papers. Alex figured that this was going to take a good, long while. God, murder was already looking much more appealing. Sadly, they did need this for the country's long-term stability and faith in the justice system. Fenrir had been left behind. Alex resisted a groan. The throne-like chair was not exactly comfortable.

The result of the trial had surprised nobody. Alex had decided to carry out the execution himself. Lance had tried to talk him out of it, but Alex had a thing about not asking people to do for him what he refused to do himself. Justin was hovering like an overlarge bat. Darian was fretting. Belinda just looked at him and, probably sensing his refusal to give up, left him alone about it, Antonio was all for it, but Alex knew that he had some ulterior motives. Not to mention, his publicity team was already huffy about the rush job on the trial outfits. Alex had pointed out that they had maybe three major events this year. They hadn't been amused. Plus, his coronation was coming up. Alex was indifferent on the whole matter, but apparently whether or not he kneeled to be crowned or crowned himself was a big deal. Yeah, he knew it was all politics, but that didn't mean he liked politics. Alex carefully dressed in the uniform that had been created by the team. He ran his fingers down the gold buttons. The white and blue velvet and linen fabric with the stiff collar. At least there wasn't a damn hat. He slid the bow onto his back and the full quiver of arrows. The arrows were fletched with blue jay feathers. He walked out into the sun. The execution was to be held on the steps of the old church. It had been painted white for the occasion. A bow and arrow were "showier" and "less hard on the sound systems." Alex sighed as he drew an arrow. He hoped they weren't expecting a long speech. "You have been convicted and sentenced to death, Tom Card."

He nocked the arrow. "And it is time for your reign of terror to end."

Alex let the arrow fly straight into the man's neck. This is going straight through the neck and into the brain. There'll be very little blood. Alex resisted a shudder as he recalled Nile's words from his previous life. With any luck, the man behind Invisible Sword would be dead before it got to that point.

Justin was rather pleased with himself. He was getting offered a promotion in both his SCORPIA job and the regular one. Hopefully, Major Yu would allow him to take said promotion. The man was notoriously flippant about that sort of thing. Xander was being more than a bit helpful. It was kind of suspicious. Then again, it might be that he was just more helpful to people he worked with. Justin had heard that Brendan Chase and Doctor Three were more helpful. Though, Justin would be very, very hesitant to accept any help from them. Speaking of Xander, the blond little demon was practically bouncing towards him. "How's it going?"

Justin repressed a shudder. Sure, he'd quit glowing and his eyes had gone back to their usual brown instead of bright yellow-gold, but that didn't mean Justin could just wipe that image from his memory. Right, probably shouldn't keep the demon child with lightning powers waiting. Justin didn't care what they called 'genetic modification." Demon. "Uh, pretty good?"

Said demon was smiling. "Are you doing alright?"

Justin fidgeted. He figured the kid could easily blast a rather large hole in his chest. "Yeah, fine. Still no response from Major Yu."

Thankfully, he was not smited on the spot. Perhaps the demon-child was in a good mood. Or just less temperamental than some of the board. "He is the sort to keep you waiting until the last possible second, isn't he?"

Justin nodded along. Maybe he'd get lucky and his other boss and the current boss would murder each other and the board in a giant explosion. Unfortunately, nobody was that lucky. "Pretty much."

Justin froze as Xander lightly tapped his arm. Justin showed him the messages and prayed to every deity he knew. Xander's lips twitched. "You'll get both."

Justin made a whining noise. "How do you know that?"

Xander grinned. "He's pontificating. Besides, it's to his advantage that you take both. Not to mention, he gets a free double agent in a new large government with no publicly acknowledged allies. Probably good for bulk weapons sales, you know."

Justin resisted a groan. He had just planned to get through a career as a middling Malagasto assassin and then retire with a decent bank account. "Are you, um, going to cooperate?"

Xander shrugged. "As long as it benefits my interests. Besides, as far as the arms trade goes, SCORPIA does offer decent prices for no strings attached to guns. Especially in bulk orders."

Justin resisted a whimper. He had nearly failed the "economic of crime" section taught by Gordon Ross. He was going to die. He was going to die a horrible death. "Erm."

Xander seemed to understand that this was information overload. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do great."

Justin felt another stab of panic as the little gremlin left the room. Fuck.

Alex knew his next step was setting up the government. The first step was crowning a ruler. He had somehow missed the fact that Antonio had intended for him to be crowned. Alex had been under the impression that it would be Antonio. Nope. No such luck. At any rate, if he'd thought the publicity department was nuts before, then they were batshit now. Alex had caught a few of the screaming about the difference between yellow-gold and brown-gold. Personally, Alex could barely tell the difference between the colors, but he left the people to quibble about it. They were great at their jobs, so Alex supposed that there was some sort of system that was used in that department. Lance was hesitant to leave him alone for any length of time. "So, are you ready?"

Alex had gotten up extra early because the final design and makeup had not been decided upon. Alex rolled his eyes. "I am. Are they done bickering yet?"

Lance rolled his eyes. "You'll do fine. As long as you're not bare-ass naked, they'll love you."

Alex decided to intercede, given the fact that it was almost time to go. There was immediately a flock of people around him. Alex was handed a giant stack of papers. Alex flipped past the gold and white designs. There had been enough of that. The one that caught his eye was a simple dark blue design. "This one."

They all looked at him. "Are you sure?"

Alex shrugged. "There's been too much white and gold, lately. Plus, if there's that much real gold jewelry involved, it can send the wrong message. We want to avoid the corruption of the past, not become it."

They all nodded. Alex saw them finish off the outfit in front of him. Welp, time to go. He was escorted to the car that was waiting for him. The coronation was in a church. Justin was squirming. "I feel like I'm not supposed to be in the car."

Michael, who had taken over heading the kids' education, elbowed him. "Oh, shut up."

Justin hissed. "Fuck you."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Girls, girls, you're both pretty. Don't fight."

His guards were also in very specially picked uniforms. They settled for glaring at each other. Lance was grinning. Alex had a sneaking suspicion that the man enjoyed conflict of all kinds. He took a deep breath. "Are you alright?"

Alex wanted coffee and a break. "I could use some coffee. And an all-expenses-paid cruise to Hawaii."

Larry grinned. "Don't we all? You can have the coffee."

Alex huffed as he was handed a cup of coffee. Curse this child's body. If he was his actual mental age he could drink as much booze and coffee as he wanted and nobody would question anything. Michael spoke up. "Careful, your face might get stuck like that."

Alex sighed and rolled his eyes. The car rolled to a stop. "Showtime."

He stepped into the sunlight and onto the rose petals that had been thrown at his feet. Alex considered it a waste of good flowers, but it wasn't like he specialized in public relations. He swept up to the church doors. Antonio was at the right of the makeshift throne. It was a tall black leather chair. Alex liked plain things. "We are gathered here today to crown a king of our choosing."

Alex stopped at the foot of the throne and waited. They had decided against kneeling. Antonio had simply stated that it was time that South America once again had a leader that kneeled for no one. "Do you swear to uphold the principles of justice, truth, faith, perseverance, righteousness, and tolerance?"

Alex looked the man in the eyes. "I do."

Antonio paused. Alex knew he was beginning to sweat. "Do you swear to uphold the constitution, once and as it is voted upon?"

Alex was suddenly glad that his lines were not very complicated. "Do you swear to uphold the will of the people to the best of your knowledge?"

Alex hoped that nobody could see his nerves. It was supposed to be a solemn ceremony. "I do."

Antonio finished his final question. "Do you swear to protect and defend the country up to and including at the cost of your own life?"

Alex wondered why coronations resembled weddings so much but pushed the thought away. "I do."

Antonio concluded. "Then, I now pronounce you King Alexander the First of the Second Commonwealth of Grand Columbia."

Alex took the crown from the man's hands and placed it on his head. It was a simple circlet of iron. Alex had decided against a traditional crown. The money would be better invested in infrastructure. Plus, Alex wanted to avoid comparisons with the European monarchies. There was applause. And more rose petals were thrown. Someone had taken a brush to poor baby Fenrir, who was quietly trying to chew through the chain he was currently on for the ceremony. Alex walked over to his 'dog' and gave the fluff ball a few pets. Fenrir excitedly leaped up and placed his paws on his shoulders. Alex dodged the face lick and hugged his baby instead. He was sure the publicity people were going to have an aneurism about the dog hair. Alex stepped off to greet the crowd.

The setting up of the government was almost anticlimactic. Alex had already written the constitution, after all. As a Spanish extra-credit project. It would have been hilarious if it wasn't real. As it was, Alex was incredibly nervous. Sure, he had great approval ratings, but would they last? Lance was reading the constitution with a look of incredulity. Antonio had already looked it over. Alex had even detailed the eventual transition to democracy in the said constitution. "You wrote this?"

Alex folded his arms. "Yes. Keep in mind, I've had years and years of civics lessons."

Lance rubbed his eyes. "Seems pretty airtight to me."

Alex felt his lips twitch. "Your faith in me is astounding."

Lance rolled his eyes. "I'm not trusting a tween to write a constitution without triple checking everything."

Alex crossed his arms. "So little faith."

Lance grinned. "I'll call you when I want a giant wolf to adopt."

Alex pet Fenrir who had poofed up at the wolf comment. Lance flinched slightly. "Has Fenrir been anything but well behaved?"

Alex received glares from every single adult in the room except Antonio. Antonio was Alex's new favorite adult. Justin was inching towards Fenrir. The wolf flattened his ears. "Sooo."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Uh, huh. What did you do?"

Justin sighed. "There's a guy who wants to meet you."

Alex kept looking at Justin. "Does this man have a name?"

Justin fidgeted. "Major Winston Yu."

Alex wanted to sigh. "I see."

Justin started chewing his lower lip. "Are, uh, you going to do it?"

Alex decided to let him sweat on it. Everyone was giving him looks. Darian was giving him a "don't do it" look. Antonio looked pissed. Justin looked like he was about to pass out or cry. Lance was giving him encouraging looks and Allen just looked sour. "Fine."

The adults started arguing amongst themselves. "What is he going to wear?"

The poor stylist was not looking very happy. Alex felt his lips twitch. "I don't think it matters. Just pick something fancy and British. More emphasis on the British."

There were groans all around. "Also, there will be no British cheese served in my presence in our new empire."

The cook pinched her nose. "We will skip the cheese course since it appears to be a matter of diplomatic contention."

Poor Maria. Alex felt sorry for her. British fare had probably never been served in the household before. Lance sighed. "Should we poison him?"

Alex glared. "Sadly, no. We don't want another war. Even if he did vote to have my parents and I killed."

Justin interjected. "But the votes are supposed the be secret!"

Alex snorted. "And so is Yu's membership on the board. Secrets are my thing."

Justin was still looking rather faint. Poor man. Alex felt like his permanent posting to South America would be good for him. Lance coughed delicately. "Why don't we set it for about a week from now? Long enough to show him that we're not his employees, but short enough not to be rude."

There were grumblings all around. Joy.

Winston Yu was particularly eager for his next trade meeting. The details had been forwarded to him via Justin. There had been a delightful little contract sent along with his dinner invitation. Winston was a bit disappointed that it likely meant that there would not be a second round of dinners, but he could appreciate the efficiency. It had a few questionable clauses, but Winston could acknowledge that it was fairly close to the SCORPIA's standard for long-term weaponry contracts. Winston stepped into the room that he had been directed to. Alexander was seated at a medium-sized hardwood table. In-person, Alexander looked far younger than he appeared on the telly. "Good afternoon, Major."

What a lovely accent. "Indeed."

Winston sat down at the table. "They'll be serving the tea momentarily."

Winston perked up. "High tea?"

Alexander looked thoroughly entertained. "Indeed."

Winston watched as the tea service was brought in, along with a stack of papers and a quill set. "A quill?"

Alexander's gaze was amused. "I enjoy the dramatic effect."

Winston wistfully wondered why they couldn't have had more time together. They were going to get along so well, patricide and matricide aside. "Ah, where is Charles?"

Alexander's expression held a faint hint of a smirk. "You met him, then?"

The quill was inked. "I did. We had quite the chance encounter in a less...reputable part of a town I was visiting."

Alexander left the quill in place and took a bite of a sandwich. Cucumber and butter. Winston reached for the egg-and-cress. "He's running several hospitals at full capacity at the moment. War is a bloody business, after all."

Winston sighed. A shame. "You were saying about the contracts?"

Winston would have liked more small talk, but Alex had an empire to form. The early days of SCORPIA had been similarly busy. "Yes, section four, part twelve. The interest rate is a little low don't you think?"

Alexander arched a brow. "What would you consider acceptable?"

Winston considered it. "Nine."

Alexander snorted. "Highway robbery. Three."

Winston enjoyed haggling. "Seven."

Alexander narrowed his eyes. "Five point five."

Winston knew a final offer when he heard one. "Done."

Alex took the quill and edited the document, drying the ink with the traditional sand. It wasn't like he expected them to go back on their payments. "Section eight, part nine."

Alexander dutifully flipped to the part of the contract. Winston appreciated the fact that he wasn't having to turn the pages. His bone condition had worsened and he had some symptoms of early-onset arthritis. He decided he was going to have another egg-and-cress sandwich. They were delightful.

Alex was glad that that stupid meeting with Winston Yu was over. After their past antagonism, he had trouble sitting across the table from the man without giving in to his desire to throttle the man to death. At least Ash was dead. Darian and Lance were still trying to keep him from swearing and pacing. They were not being very successful. Fenrir was pacing right along with him and trying to imitate his grumbles. Darian looked more sympathetic than Lance. "Xanyyyy."

Alex huffed. "What?!"

Lance ran a hand through his hair. "You got through the meeting with the parent-murdering SCORPIA loon, now try to settle down."

Alex arched a brow. "SCORPIA loon is kind of redundant, isn't it?"

Lance grinned. "There's my boy."

Darian sighed. "I'm going to have to write to your grandfather about this, you realize."

Alex looked at his uncle. "I thought you were doing that already."

Darian scratched his neck. "Well, yeah, but this is separate report material."

Alex rolled his eyes. "What a shame, you get to do more paperwork."

Darian huffed. "Try not to give poor baby Justin a heart attack when you tell him Major Yu traded him for trade concessions."

Alex stifled a laugh. "Well, he's the one who signed the contract."

Darian rolled his eyes. "The contract that you bought."

Alex waved him off. "Details."

Lance coughed into his napkin. Alex turned on him. "Last I checked, you traded several professional favors to get me from Card, so I'd shut up if I were you."

Lance wisely kept his smart-ass comments to himself. Darian looked resigned. "I'm not sure how Patrick is going to take this."

Alex rolled his eyes. "You don't give a shit about how Patrick takes this, since you're not seeing him for a while and most of the next five years of your life are going to be here."

Darian paused. "Good point."

Lance grinned and ruffled Darian's hair. "See, even you can rebel!"

Darian gave the man a half-hearted glare. Lance grinned as Alex's other uncle stomped out of the room. "Man, I have got to convince him to do a three-way with me and Belinda."

Alex made a gagging motion. "No details if you do, please."

Lance laughed and walked out of Alex's room.

It was time to set up the more...secret parts of the government. "Darian, Justin, Lance, Allen. It's lunchtime."

Alex refrained from grinning as they all eagerly threw their pens down. Nobody liked paperwork. They all sat in one of the few non-tense minutes of silence. "I'm sure you're wondering why you're here."

Justin was looking visibly anxious again. Alex wondered if he was going to need anti-anxiety medication. "First off, announcements. Justin, good news. Major Yu agreed to trade your contract for a few trade concessions."

Justin choked on his fish. "Relax, you like me, right?"

Justin turned an alarming mix of flushed and pale. "Um, yes?"

Alex patted him on the arm. "Good. Try not to choke on the rest of your lunch."

Alex took a bite of the fish. It was wonderful. "Where was I?"

Lance glared. "Purpose of the lunch meeting."

Alex brightened. "Right. We're a new government! Which means we need an intelligence service."

There was dead silence. "I want you four to work together to run it."

All four adults exchanged glances. "Alright, how's this going to work."

Alex grinned. "Great question! I was thinking you head up counterintelligence with Justin over there. Allen gets intelligence with Darian. You'll be co-heads."

Lance's eye twitched in Justin's direction. Darian and Allen seemed to be having a staring contest. "Or you can organize yourselves as you see fit. No murdering each other."

Alex watched as arguments broke out across the table. This was going so well, too. Allen and Darian suddenly stood up. Alex stared in horror as they began a knife fight on the spot. Lance and Justin leaned into him. Lance was blatantly ogling both of them as they did their best to murder each other. "Aren't you dating Belinda?"

Lance grinned. "I'm hoping to convert her to my sexual deviant ways."

Justin choked on his food again. Alex carefully took another bite. "Goood luck with that."

Lance huffed. "I'll have you know, I'm persuasive when I want to be."

Justin was staring at the ongoing knife fight. Alex had to admit that Allen and Darian were pretty evenly matched. It was also kind of awesome to watch them fight. Alex could barely distinguish the knife strikes and both of them were blurs. They both dropped the knives and started punching each other. "Guys!"

They ignored Alex. Alex mentally sighed. It was Agent Rider who spoke next. "Knock it off."

They froze. "Thank you."

They both got up. Darian had a black eye and Allen's lip was split. "When I said work it out, I meant with words."

Lance stifled his laugh with a cough. "Sorry."

Darian and Allen were still glaring daggers at each other. "No, you're not, but I'm going to be upset if you do it again. If I wanted to see a fight to the death, I'd attend more family reunions."

Justin choked on his water this time. Alex was having fun desensitizing the man. "You all get a week to draw up a rough plan and some sort of standards for recruits and cooperation with the standing army."

Alex finished the last bites of his lunch and walked out. He was sure those four would be excellent picks.

Darian was finally sitting down to write his separate report to Patrick. He hoped the man deigned to reply to him.

Dear Father,

Alex has continued his campaign to create a government after the end of much of the war. I confess I did not believe him when he said it would all be over in nine months. As of yet, I see no reason to withdraw him, though he continues to play a very delicate game of alliances. He states clearly that he fully intends to attend his diplomatic program in Russia with Gen. Sarov. I am of two minds on this. On one hand, we might gain a trusty foothold in a, particularly treacherous government. On the other hand, Sarov likely did not rise from nothing and survive this long in the Russian political arena on pure luck. I'm worried about him, Dad. He's not sleeping well, even with the therapy sessions.

On a brighter note, he seems to at least like and trusts me a little bit. I got asked to be joint head of intelligence with his combat teacher, Allen. You know about her from my previous letters, I hope. Long live nepotism, I guess. Hopefully, I don't screw this up too badly. Marion must be frothing at the mouth from the internal news blackout, eh? Be careful that she doesn't challenge you for temporary leadership. She'd only have it for less than a decade, but she's not entirely stable or thinking in the long term.

On the slightly less fun side of things, Alex had a meeting with Winston Yu. He is now a confirmed member of the board, given that he negotiated officially in their stead without any kind of outside communication. Plus, he was able to sign a contract for a Malagasto trained operative under his command, again, without outside confirmation. Alex also mentioned he was a full board member, though I'm not sure how he knew or confirmed before the meeting. Perhaps that was the reason the contract was purchased in the first place? Then again, Alex could just be playing a game of "I'll give you a high-ranking spy who's going to be covertly handled by his partner." Espionage is headache-inducing. Full report and recording attached.

Your Loving Son,

Darian

My Dear Son,

I am glad to hear that Alex is achieving his goals. He writes to me so sparingly and war-torn areas change so quickly that I find myself...uneasy. You should know better than to underestimate a member of our illustrious family, even the young. Alex has proven to be able to juggle politics so far, however, I believe that Russia will be the true test of this. Sarov has already given Alex valuable opportunities if sources are to be believed. Balancing his role as the leader of a new state and Sarov's ward will be a challenge. As for his sleep, if insomnia persists, I doubt Sarov will let it go unattended.

I am glad that your relationship with your nephew is improving. We should never have allowed Ian Rider to sever our family ties in the first place. I have extreme doubts as to whether he should be permitted back into Ian's custodianship, though the episode with Sarov will give us time to consider the matter. You and Allen are a solid choice. You know how to run men and women through difficult times while maintaining morale. Allen has command history as well. I think your styles should balance nicely. Do try to work together. As for Marion, you would do better to not trash talk your sister in our letters. Not to worry, I can handle the scheming.

Winston Yu will likely not move very fast. He has a long history of slow corruption and subtle brainwashing. Plus, he knows his profitable trade deal will only last if he keeps Alex relatively happy. Not to mention, he'll likely want to examine Alex's mental stability from afar before attempting to muck around with him. As for Justin, more than likely, Alex thought he was doing both men a favor. Justin gets away time from a terrifying boss and Winston gets a built-in spy. The fact that he placed Lance as his partner is telling. Lance will likely mentor the man, while easily monitoring his actions and reports, given the vast experience and connections gap. For now, I would recommend following along with Alex's scheming.

Your Father,

Patrick

Yassen was not best pleased about the Alex Rider and Winston Yu meeting. It was the talk of SCORPIA, too. Two damned British drama queens making his life more difficult. They almost deserved each other.

-A

What the hell were you thinking?

-C

Alex grinned like a maniac. Yassen was so much fun. Plus, Yassen would have all the gossip from SCORPIA. Nile frequently complained about the fact that Yassen had more gossip.

-C

So, you heard about our little meeting, eh?

-A

Yassen glared into his phone. He mentally added several more years onto Alex's self-preservation training. He was a reckless little shit.

-A

Heard about it? NOBODY WILL SHUT UP ABOUT IT! THE ANALYSTS ARE GOING THROUGH YOUR TAPES!

-C

Alex knew that this was all to plan. Besides, Maddox could erase those files after a single text. Yassen was overreacting.

-C

Don't worry your pretty head about it! I have a plan! Besides, the arms deal was pretty sweet, not going to lie.

-A

Yassen glared at his phone, willing his brain cells to travel along with the cellular connection. Alas, that was not how it worked. This was why twelve-year-olds shouldn't be left alone in South America to stew in their warmongering idealistic idiocy.

-A

Did your plan include Doctor Three going over the tapes personally? Not to mention the rest of the executive board.

-C

Alex paused. He hadn't thought the board would be quite that interested. He was just running a little piwi empire in South America. Did it take up a third of a continent? Yes. But that wasn't the point.

-C

Didn't think the board would like me that much, lol.

-A

Yassen was tempted to throw the phone across the room. Alex, for all his ability to overthrow governments, was an idiot sometimes. He sighed. This would be remedied. Nile had better be planning that kidnapping.

-A

Alex, you are an idiot.

-C

Alex grinned at the phone, Yassen was a drama queen. Besides, he was having fun doing what he wanted for once.

-C

And, yet, you still want to adopt me. :)))

-A

Yassen read the text and shook his head. Little shit. He wasn't going to dignify that with the response, but that little smiley was annoying.

-A

You're a little shit, Alex.

-C

Alex snorted as he read Yassen's last text. He was the best little shit. Besides, Yassen should be more immune to his antics by now. Especially after serving the executive board for like two whole decades.

Antonio was establishing a good deal of the more legitimate side of the government. Taking over construction, imports, and various other industries had been an excellent move. He was both getting profit and genuinely improving society. Infrastructure was being rebuilt and built-in new areas. He wanted to create a more stable economy that wasn't primarily reliant on another power having a monopoly on specific products. Antonio was leafing through papers. "Industries to promote?"

Alex looked at him. "Honestly, it's a gamble either way. Oil attracts trouble and will eventually run out. Plus, the pollution. Solar power and the like are higher in the upfront costs. We would have to find good areas for solar and wind and a country willing to export to us."

Antonio sighed. "Poaching will be a problem for some time."

Alex rubbed his eyes. "I'm aware. The country is rebuilding, though. Try to create something a little better than what the Americans had."

Antonio looked at him. "That is the idea."

Alex tapped the table. "How's the education and water initiative going?"

Antonio flipped through his files. "Generally well-received. Most families want their children educated and having the freshwater delivered is considered a good bonus. Plus, we are paying less in hospitals for waterborne illnesses."

Alex sighed. "Is it sustaining itself?"

Antonio shrugged. "Considering that most of the war was technically privately funded, yes."

Alex blinked. "Shit, I forgot about people's accounts. How are we going to handle the money and people in power?"

Antonio gently patted Alex's head. "You can't remember everything. We'll figure it out. The main thing to establish is how much skimming is too much skimming. Do we trust the likes of Larson and Justin not to?"

Alex rubbed his eyes. "No more than five percent. And I'm going to be grumpy if it's five percent."

Antonio shrugged. "How are we keeping in contact?"

Alex shrugged. "Phones, email, or secure end-to-end military-grade encryption?"

Antonio arched a brow. "Yes."

Alex made a noise in the back of his throat. "Oh, well. Do we have computer people?"

Antonio gave him a look. "Alex, we have computer people. You need to learn the art of delegation."

Alex huffed. "Antonio-"

The former drug lord rolled his eyes. "You are not undercover anymore. Doing everything yourself is not an option."

Alex pouted. Antonio was reminded of the fact that he was thirteen at that moment. "Now, go see your friends."

Alex slunk out of the room. Antonio smiled slightly at his back. Hopefully, Alex would get to relax in the coming months in Russia. It was probably not good for him to be trying to run every aspect of an empire.

It was time for him to go to Russia. They had mostly worked out a system for the government meetings. Antonio had a time limit for all of them and filibustering was explicitly banned. There was a going-away party, but Alex wasn't exactly eager to leave. Lance slunk up to him. Alex had little warning as the man thumped his back. "Why are you moping in the corner?"

Alex arched a brow. "I'm going to miss you."

Lance grinned. "Don't worry, you'll eventually get sick of our ugly mugs on video chat."

Alex shook his head. "I doubt it, old man."

Lance shoved an entire piece of cake in his mouth. "Who are you calling old?"

Alex narrowed his eyes. "The cake hasn't been cut yet, has it?"

Lance grinned. "Nope."

Alex rolled his eyes but started laughing. "Never change."

Lance called out to his back as he headed towards the kids' table. "I don't plan on it."

Abigail and Kenneth were there. So were Eric and Madison. Alex sat down next to them as Davis passed out the cake. Abigail and Kenneth were looking nervous. Eric and Madison snuggled up to him. "You're leaving."

Alex nodded. "I signed up for a thing and I need to go."

Technically, he didn't sign himself up, but he doubted he was staying away from Russia. There were snacks and dinner and way too much sugar. Alex had even eaten like five crepes from the crepe bar that appeared halfway through. It was a nice afternoon, all in all. Lance approached him towards the end of the party. "You have to go to the airport now."

Fenrir let out a whine. "Alright."

The ride to the airport was silent. Lance was giving him sympathetic looks. As they arrived at the gate, Lance squeezed his shoulder. "If you need help, give me a ring. The President guaranteed your safety, but we all know what that means."

Alex got onto the plane rather reluctantly. He had about twenty-four hours to get to Russia in time for the greeting party.