Chapter 78: Treaties and Tests

Alex had known that midterms were going to happen eventually, but they were still evil, no matter where you went to school. Though he was a pretty good student when not fighting wars or being yoinked by MI6, that didn't stop him from having a headache at the end of nine hours of testing. Alex glared at a wall after his seventh midterm. Dima sat down next to him. "Look on the bright side. The physical education test isn't written."

Alex's eye twitched. Dima looked moderately frightened. "Diiiima."

Dima flicked him. "You're grump now."

Alex huffed. "I want about eight cups of coffee and my dog, not running six miles and doing acrobatics under a time limit."

Dima poked him with a pencil. "Fenrir would liven up that class, wouldn't he?"

Alex was in a very sarcastic mood. "Yes, Dima, let's somehow sneak my giant eighty-kilogram dog into the school. We will definitely not be caught or spotted at all."

Dima made a huffing noise and pouted. It was moments like these that Alex remembered that Dima was thirteen and he was not. Alex was reading one of the science books that was supplemental reading for Doctor Three and Jet's classes. "Why are you reading that? It's a break. During midterms."

Alex put the book down and floofed Dima's hair. "Because it's interesting."

Dima picked the book up and cracked it open. "So interesting I get through about three lines before I need a nap."

Alex glanced around and then bopped Dima on the head with the book. "Bad Dima!"

Dima grinned. "I know some nice, awesome fiction books you might like."

Alex sighed. He rarely read anything outside of electronic stuff for fun anymore. "Why not?"

Dima grinned and then whipped out Alex's propaganda series. Translated in Russian. "I've already read that one."

Dima looked delighted. "Then we can talk about the red vampires!"

Alex wondered why the universe hated him sometimes. Sure, he knew the book was popular, but talking about the comics as though he hadn't written them was difficult. It was made even worse because he was speaking in Russian. Dima continued in the same vein right up until the bell sounded for the end of their break. Alex hastily packed his school bag. It was going to be a long run and he didn't want any added laps because of tardiness. Dima practically had to run to keep up with him. "Alex, save it for the physical education test!"

Alex stifled a laugh. Dima reminded him of Tom sometimes. A slightly more studious and less explosion-oriented Tom. "It's called a warm-up, Dima."

Dima gave him a look that suggested that he was batshit crazy. They got to the changing rooms just in time and began changing into their exercise uniforms.

Justin was one of the lucky three candidates sent to negotiate the treaty. Antonio was, thankfully, in charge. Belinda had also come along. Major Yu was particularly curious as to what terms the country was offered and why. Most likely, this was going to be an intelligence run. Antonio had a fairly reasonably first draft in his hands. Justin was sure that the thing had been sent to the Russian delegation in advance as well. They were met with the usual delegate rooms and the negotiation room was nice. Justin was fairly certain that meant they weren't being slighted. Plus, the delegation was relatively punctual. It was being kept quiet from the press for now, since negotiations falling through would be a bad look for both of them. The President and his entire cabinet were in the room. Just great. All the more opportunities to fuck up royally. "Welcome, welcome. I'm sure you're very eager to get started."

Justin made the appropriate greetings and sat down. The Countess's teachings had gotten him this far, he supposed. They had even helpfully placed seating cards for all of them. Antonio had brought a minimum of staff. Nobody mentioned the staff amount. They all seemed very eager to get cracking on the treaty. Antonio spoke up. "Let us get started with the number of embassies you wanted. Five is a bit excessive, isn't it? We aren't the size of the continental United States."

The discussions began. Justin was furiously scribbling notes. Why would Antonio care about the embassies? Countries paid for their own. That was the rule. Why did this thing have to be in Russian? It was Justin's fifth language, for fuck's sake. Where was Yassen when you needed him? Oh, well, at least he got sent on this trip without finagling. And the magical lightning shooting demon known as Alex Rider was not around to raise his general anxiety level. Sure, Major Yu didn't know about it, but that added to the stress. They then started arguing over tariffs and land rights. Wonderful. This was shaping up to be an exciting trip. They might even get through this without anyone falling asleep. Had he mentioned that he was bad at this stuff? Justin wasn't even sure what half of this crap meant outside the treaty it was written on. That probably wasn't great. He had been made to leave his listening devices at home. Something, something, we're a nation, not a crime syndicate, don't insult our hosts, blah, blah blah. Justin sat back and prepared for a long, boring time.

Mandy was upset that she had been banned from seeing Alex outside of school until all midterms were over. They were both doing great in their classes. It wasn't fair! Unfortunately, both families were dead serious about the midterms and studying the whole weekend during them. The tests had been scheduled for each class separately so that nobody had overlapping tests. That way, there was no ability to cheat on the test by taking it later. "Hello, Mandy. How's the last-minute cramming going?"

Mandy closed her binder of literature essays. The comments had been fairly helpful in what the teacher might be looking for on the test, but she was still anxious about it. Her family back home would probably be sorely disappointed if her grades dipped. "Not too bad, but I'm getting sick of looking at these and our textbooks."

Alex took a bite of his food. Mandy knew that he packed his lunch, due to him and Sarov being health nuts. Mandy had opted for the school lunch, mostly because she liked sleeping past eight and didn't want to bug her host family about it. They were nice enough, but Mandy was trying to be a good guest. "Naturally."

Mandy decided it was time to update Alex on the others. "Everyone back home is doing fine. Ian and Crawley are looking into family therapists, according to Tom. Jack is still around. Gillian is doing good. James wants a postcard and a souvenir. Karen and Richard just graduated. Adrian's college is going well. Nigel says hi. Everyone says thanks for the pets."

Alex grinned at the reminder of the animals that he'd liberated from the Black Ops site. "I'm glad they're in a better home now."

Mandy rolled her eyes. "There's the Alex I know and love."

Alex sat back in his lunch chair. "Ah, you know me, Mandy. Hard on the outside and soft on the inside."

Mandy finished her lunch. "How do you justify hunting, even though you're pretty big on animal rights?"

Alex folded up his lunch container. "Simple. When I hunt animals, I give them a quick death. Plus, I don't hunt for sport. If I kill an animal, I do it quickly and I eat the meat afterward. I make sure to use every part of the animals that I kill. Wasting the animal's meat would be disrespectful."

Mandy tilted her head. "And so would prolonging their suffering?"

Alex nodded. "Exactly. I'm not a sadist, but Fenrir and I do use the entire animal between us."

Mandy sighed. There was that at least. "What if the animal is endangered?"

Alex was sliding books into a neat stack. "Then I don't hunt or kill it unless my life is in danger or it has rabies. Rabid animals are a danger to both their species and humans."

Mandy figured that sounded fair enough. The bell rang for the end of their lunch break. Back to the grind it was.

The negotiations were dragging on. Neither Sarov nor Victor wanted to be arguing for years of minutia. Sarov met him in the back rooms. "Alex is done with his midterms."

Victor arched a brow. "And here I thought you wanted to give him a childhood."

Sarov let out a heavy sigh. Victor was one of the blunter people in private. "I do, but I also realize that he did several irrevocable things that have resulted in him having responsibilities. The idea here is to not let him shirk them, but also alleviate some of the unnecessary stress."

Victor nodded. "True. We do not want him going insane."

Sarov paused. This was going to be complicated. Hopefully, the delegation had the good sense to bring appropriate royal outfits for him. It wasn't like they didn't know his size and Larson was politically aware enough that he knew how this might go. "I do not think he will, but I would rather not have him living on edge for the next few decades. Not to mention, he was an active participant in a war and espionage at the ages of twelve and thirteen."

Victor was tapping against the counter. Sarov knew that it was a habit of his. Plus, it was annoying. "Do you think he'll break the stalemate, though?"

Sarov inclined his head. "I do."

Victor sighed. "I hear that you purged several of your contacts."

Sarov nodded. "I have. Once Alex came into my life, I realized that some of them were attempting to steer me in a rather dangerous direction. I hadn't noticed before, likely due to the isolation. Plus, as Alex pointed out, sometimes you need to work in the system for the information you need."

Victor made a mental note to investigate the files of the individuals. "What were you thinking they were going to try?"

Sarov knew he looked grave as he answered the man. "Nothing good. And they were hinting at weapons-grade uranium."

Sarov knew that it was now a Victor problem. For all the proclamations of retirement, the man still had a lot of influence on the Russian State Security Forces. They might be under a new name, but much of the staff and policy remained unchanged. "You know that will have to be investigated."

Sarov felt a grim sort of satisfaction. Perhaps Victor would have less time to meddle with him and Alex. He had been telling the truth, however, he did have ulterior motives. An investigation of that magnitude would hold Victor's attention directly. The man didn't need to know that he had the entire chain of contacts eliminated. Plus, if Victor hadn't caught that, it was his problem. "I was aware. Besides, I want it to be nice and thorough. We still haven't recovered all of the missing devices, now have we?"

Sarov occasionally enjoyed remarking on Victor's failure to contain SCORPIA's uranium-thieving habits. That had been partially his fault, anyway. "You know we haven't. It is not like we can afford to disappear the amount of money required to repurchase them on the black market."

Sarov decided to rub it in a little bit. "Perhaps we can add a clause to the treaty."

Victor grumbled. "It would be virtually unenforceable."

Sarov sighed. "It's the principle of the thing."

Alex had known that he was going to get dragged into this the second he got the letter from Victor. Now it was time for boring stuff again. School was at least marginally better than quibbling over boundary lines for embassies. Alex had gotten a helpful briefing packet from one of the staff. He figured that they could compromise on a few things, but there were several issues with the demands. River property was expensive and he didn't want it to be a dumping ground that would stress the sewage systems. Depth requirements of several stories for the embassy territories? Did they think he was stupid? They could outsource their dodgy shit somewhere else, thank you. Also, the river would flood the crap out of the basements unless they changed the flow of said rivers, which is probably why they wanted those water rights, incidentally. Alex loved politics, he did. Lance had spent hours on the phone with him and Antonio trying to work stuff out that would be acceptable to everyone. The issues went on and on. He was now eyeing his uniform with no small amount of trepidation. This would be the first time in months that he dressed as the king. The crown was in a small box on his pillow. The clothes were way too fancy. At least the layer touching his skin was warm enough for the temperature in the negotiation rooms. "Are you ready yet?"

Sarov was wearing his dress uniform once again. "Almost. Time for the shoes and crown."

Alex was glad that the clothes were at least comfortable to wear. The boots were lined as well. "How cold are these rooms?"

Sarov looked amused. "We are using the less modern part of the building and it is winter in Russia, Alex. Plus, the boilers sometimes malfunction."

Well, that was reassuring. Not. At least Alex knew that he couldn't freeze to death or lose body parts from hypothermia since the ritual he had done for his lightning abilities. It would merely be unpleasant for him. Alex placed the circlet on his head. Sarov offered his hand to Alex. "Shall we?"

Alex took the hand that Sarov proffered. "We shall."

Sarov started talking to him as the car started moving. They had about an hour until they got to the place where the talks were taking place. "I assume your staff briefed you on the issues."

Alex nodded. "Thoroughly. I have a few ideas we're still working on that might work."

Sarov looked at him expectantly. "Oh?"

Alex grinned. The General could be just as impatient as him. "You'll have to wait and see. Don't worry, I had some real adults throw in their two cents."

Sarov said some very unflattering things about Alex under his breath. Alex was lightly cuffed. "Brat."

Alex grinned. "Oh, but you like me anyway."

The drive continued in a companionable silence.

There was an immediate silence as Alex and Sarov stepped into the room. Justin watched with hooded lids as Alex stepped in. The kid had no hint of the glowy lightning powers. Then again, Justin had been fairly convinced he was normal before the electric shock incident. Justin noticed that he was wearing the crown. Personally, Justin would have gone far more elaborate, but apparently, the metal had historical significance. He leaned back as the statements were about to begin. Justin sat up with a jolt when Alex started talking about the embassies almost right away. Shit. Major Yu wanted the details on those. His hand was cramping already. "...and the water rights will be limited. We don't want to render the river either dead or undrinkable without a bunch of chlorine…"

Justin just barely kept his shock from showing. That was interesting. Apparently, Alex was going to allow the embassies, but only if they were the most modern and minimally pollutive environments. Justin decided it was time to helpfully email Major Ivanov several ways to turn bodies into fertilizer. That had been the one and only time Jet and Gordon had collaborated on a research project. To be fair, the book had plenty of ways to do it. Ivanov turned his gaze on Justin, who gave an almost imperceptible shrug. Justin figured that Russia could probably afford the spare cash for the solar panels themselves and sell it to the public as 'modern architecture.' There were also plenty of opportunities for good press and showing off non-weapon technological abilities, now that he thought about it. Plus, if the alliance lasted, they'd save money in the long term. Judging from the feel of the room, they were going for it. Justin tuned back in for more embassy issues. Bleeding fuck this was going to take forever. They hadn't even gotten to tariffs, taxes, and property rights for foreign citizens. Plus, there were still visa conditions and a multitude of other issues. Justin felt his hand beginning to get cold in addition to being sore from the notes. This was so much fun. Justin wondered why he'd wanted to stick around for this nonsense. Then again, most of the defense positions were anonymous for security reasons. Sure, most people had a good idea of who was in charge of what, but there had never been any kind of official announcement.

The treaty was finalized. Much to the relief of all the participants. Alex was included in said participants. Even though the official copy would be signed and immediately stored somewhere secure, they were still going to all sign a prop copy as well. Alex loved the press, he did. Not. Alex had every word of every version of the treaty burned into his memory, so he ignored the ceremonial reading of the treaty. Select portions would be read to the public as well. There were also pre-prepared statements and answers to questions that had been pre-approved by both press offices. Absolutely nobody wanted anything to go wrong. Alex wasn't exactly the type to hold grudges over minor public gaffes, but nobody seemed to know that or care. He supposed Justin's general reactions to him didn't help. If one of Winston Yu's people practically ran screaming from the room whenever he so much as looked at him, then what did that say about Alex. He decided it was time to fuck with Justin, just a little bit. "Good evening."

The man jumped and nearly spilled his drink all over both of them. "Evening, sir."

Alex leaned into the table. "Enjoying the refreshments?"

Justin's voice came out as a squeak. "Yes, sir."

Alex gently patted him on the arm. "You should probably have some more of that nice champagne if you're going to be this jumpy."

Justin seemed to freeze in horror. Alex decided not to raise the poor man's blood pressure anymore. "Er-"

Alex made an arm gesture that cut him off. "Have a good evening, Justin."

Alex watched as Justin eyed one of the vodka bottles on display with a look of intense longing and then wilted slightly. Poor Justin. Someone should probably get Belinda on it. The President wandered over to him. "You have such interesting ministers."

Alex's initial retort would probably have been interpreted as cutting. He decided on a blander response. "I'm glad you enjoy their company."

The man seemed satisfied with whatever silent assessment that he had been doing and ambled off with a small farewell. Alex's biggest surprise had been how well Antonio and Sarov got along. Most of the Ministers had been deterred from flirting by Belinda's wedding and engagement rings. Alex was sad that they'd decided to do it without him, but he figured it was coming and that they probably didn't want to interrupt his time in Russia. Alex cut in Belinda's conversation. "Congratulations on the wedding, Doctor Mordant."

The man who had been talking to her seemed startled. "Thank you, Alex. I'll try not to steal Lance away too often."

Alex gave her a faint smile. "I'll send your gift in the mail."

Belinda seemed very happy with that. "Thank you, Alex."

Alex made a mental note to send a gift to Justin while he was at it. Maybe one of the pelts from his hunting? They were soft and could be made into something nice. Plus, it would be a good chance for Justin to start making his own decisions. Whether you wanted a nice set of gloves or a hat was a fairly harmless one. Alex milled about some more before deciding to look for Sarov. The man was fairly easy to spot, given that he was in a very shiny uniform.

The signing and broad strokes of the treaty were well-publicized. There would, naturally, be an enormous celebration afterward. Sarov was already irritated at the press and they were only an hour in. The General was carefully watching Alex. The boy was holding up well, though Sarov felt the entire affair had escalated far too quickly to needing Alex's authority for his liking. Then again, the compromises that Alex had come up with were unconventional. He didn't think that the others were displeased, merely surprised. Alex was standing almost entirely still aside the President while he read the passages that they had selected. Sarov had made sure his gear was warm enough because someone had the brilliant idea to have this conference outside in the Russian winter. While the capital was warmer than Saint Petersburg, that wasn't saying much. Thankfully, they were on the final three passages before the questions began. Sarov felt a little bad that Boris and Alex would be bearing the brunt of the ravening horde of vultures. Boris was a seasoned politician, but Alex was still a child. The crown could attach to the hood, but Alex had pointed out that it looked ridiculous and most of them had agreed. Ah, here came the onslaught. "What brought this alliance on?"

Boris took that one. Alex and he had decided that trading off would be the best approach. "We assisted the Second Commonwealth of Grand Columbia in achieving their independence from the United States of America, who held them under a reign of terror managed by state-sponsored cartels, though they will likely deny this claim. After the government rebuilt itself, we decided to extend our hand in alliance, demonstrating our commitment to equality and justice."

Boris might be a drunk, but he gave excellent speeches while sober. "Why were the embassies a point of contention?"

Alex stepped forward. "The Second Commonwealth of Grand Columbia is dedicated to avoiding environmental damage and promoting the same with our allies, especially in our own country. Once the ministers realized this, an agreement was able to be reached."

The next question was flung out. "Will this affect our homeland?"

Well, they were certainly aggressive today. "Certainly. Citizens will notice changes in the prices of several goods. The travel restrictions will be lifted, given that the conflict is over and there is now a visa process."

The questions went on for several hours past the designated time. The schedule had a significant time cushion, given that the treaty was a bit of a huge deal, but they almost ran past dinner time. It would not be noticeable to the press or general population, but Alex looked about ready to drop by the time that they were disentangled enough to head back to their cars. Alex was in the car. Sarov decided that it was time to be merciful. It would be rather rude of Alex to not show up, though they had time to get dressed and the like. "Would you like some caffeine?"

Alex perked up and took the proffered pills. "Thank you."

Sarov lightly prodded him. "Try to avoid mixing with too much alcohol and drink plenty of water with these." There was a pause. "And don't get used to relying on these. You should be resting regularly enough to only need them three times a year."

Sarov lightly stroked Alex's hair as the child drooped against him.

The party was even more stunning than the one at Victor's house. Then again, it was an official state party that was funded by said state. Alex imagined that the Russians would want to show off a bit. The ballroom was enormous. The entire room was bathed in a warm gold tone that came from the floor and walls. The chandeliers glittered overhead. Alex was glad that he had not been expected to scare up a date. Sure, Mandy would probably agree to go with him, but there was already gossip. Whatever Sarov had given him had to be a fairly high dose of caffeine because he felt mostly alert. Sarov was, of course, single. Alex had tried very hard not to laugh at the man's eye twitch as he was introduced to a lot of eligible women. Though Alex occasionally wondered if Sarov was gay or something, he knew it was none of his business. It was a fairly relaxed party since there was nobody around to film it after the first two hours. Alex figured that an empty room was easier to photograph the features of. Sarov shot him a look that said he would be tanning his hide if he didn't behave as Alex got dragged over to meet the girls at the party. Alex knew he probably looked visibly exasperated because Dima made a beeline for him the second he spotted him. Dima managed to extract him from meeting every single girl in the room. Good Dima. Alex made a mental note to put him on the Christmas list. It wasn't bribery if they didn't know he was using positive reinforcement, right? Dima pulled him towards the dessert table and proceeded to load an entire plate with desserts. Alex managed to stifle his amusement, but it was a close thing. "Don't you think that's a bit much?"

Dima managed to shove three pastries into his mouth. "No. Besides, I never get to have these at home."

Victor was glaring daggers at Dime from across the room. Dima made eye contact as he finished the entire plate. "Are you sure you're not going to be ill?"

Dima rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I do this at all the winter parties. It's my Christmas gift to myself."

Alex held back his retort as Dima went for an entire plate of cream puffs. Alex made sure to vanish into thin air as Victor stalked over to prevent Dima from eating dessert plate number three. "...going to end up looking like a cream puff."

He managed to turn his snort into a cough. This was going to be a long night as it was, even without the awkward family drama moments.

Alex shot up in bed and swore violently in several languages. Sarov watched in amusement. "Don't worry, I signed a note excusing you from school."

Alex sank back into the covers with an expression of pure relief. "Thank you."

Sarov lightly ruffled his hair. "Don't think I'm going to let you slack off."

Alex put his pillows over his face and groaned. Sarov enjoyed the reactions he got. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Sarov left the room so that Alex could get dressed. At least most of the politics for this visit would be over before Christmas. He was having to turn invitations for the two of them down now. It was only now that he realized how isolated he had been just a year before. Alex walked down the stairs in casual clothes. "We do not have any social engagements until this Friday. Be thankful that you are in school."

Alex did not look very relieved. Sarov didn't blame him. The expectations of the upper echelons of Russian society were exhausting. "At least midterms are over."

Sarov watched as Alex inhaled their brunch at what would have been an alarming speed to anyone not used to teenage boys. "People would think I didn't feed you if they saw you at breakfast."

Alex glared at him, but much of the effect was lost as he managed to eat a fruit tart in one bite. Sarov was going to leave that alone since it was after an eighteen-hour day of political bullshit and they weren't in front of staff or guests. "I'm hungry."

Sarov refrained from commenting on the ravening horde. Alex managed to eat enough breakfast for about three people before he was finished. "Today will be a light day, I think. I do not want you to get sick."

Sarov watched Alex relax slightly. Fenrir was giving them both begging looks. Sarov threw the dog a few sausages, which were all swallowed whole. Fenrir switched to sending his looks at Alex. Sarov watched as the dog licked Alex's entire forearm. Alex jumped and dropped the bacon he was holding. The bacon disappeared down Fenrir's gullet. "Fenrir!"

The dog did a victory walk around the dining room. The thick fluffy tail waved through the air. Alex started laughing. Sarov gently stroked the dog whenever Fenrir walked by. Fenrir was a good dog.

The man known as Lance Larson was relieved to see his wife and newest junior partner return unharmed. The junior partner could go either way, to be honest, but he was glad to see his wife. Belinda was as lovely as ever. He embraced her as she got out of the car. "Welcome back."

Belinda's arms encircled his neck. Justin was awkwardly looking away and Antonio had gotten back sooner than they. Lance took his wife's hand and led her into the building. As they got to their housing, Justin awkwardly lingered in the hall. As much as Lance wanted the reunion sex to happen sooner, there were things they should probably talk about first. "Is, uh, the meeting still on?"

Lance rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately, yes."

Justin sat down on the couch and looked uncomfortable as Belinda sat down next to him, with no space in between them. Belinda's frame pressed up against his side. "So, uh, what are we talking about?"

Lance rolled his eyes. "Alex, of course. Did he look alright?"

Justin rolled his eyes. "Alex seems to be doing alright. He was feeling well enough to fuck with me, at any rate."

Lance sighed. "The overgrown fluffy rat?"

Justin snorted. "Apparently, Sarov likes the wolf. Even feeds him if Alex isn't feeling well."

Lance shook his head. "I knew he was an insane fucker. How were the rest of the politicians?"

Justin decided to continue. "Most of them weren't a complete pain in the ass. A lot of them were fairly malleable in terms of treaty items. I think the main goal here was free or close to free trade. Plus those embassies."

Lance shrugged. "As expected. Do you think they're going to be a problem?"

Justin sighed. Lance knew that he was pushing it, but this was what he called on-the-job training. "I think the worst-case scenarios are illegal black ops stuff and mining or resource issues. I doubt they'll try to overthrow the government, because we're officially and unofficially sympathetic to them, not to mention starting a bunch of joint science and trade operations."

Lance shrugged. "Pretty much as expected, then."

Justin seemed to relax a little bit. "So, what does dear ol' Winston Yu want to know?"

Justin flinched at the mention of his not-so-former boss. "He mostly wanted the blueprints for the embassies and the land and water rights criteria."

Lance made a mental note to have their science division do something about the amount of trash people wanted to export them. Countries were, sadly, not above illegal dumping and neither was SCORPIA. "That's not so bad. Stabby bastard wants to be able to down the embassies and figure out a way around our anti-pollution laws."

Justin seemed to be twitching again. "Well-"

Lance cut him off. "Well, shut up. We both know that I'm right."

Justin quieted down. "Anything to add, Belinda?"

Belinda sighed. "The language barrier was a bit more significant than I realized, but Alex seems alright. He congratulated us on our marriage and I arranged for a copy of his school results…"

Joe Byrne saw Alex on television making treaties with the Russians just fine. It wasn't something he particularly liked, but it was understandable given the circumstances. He was more concerned about the SCORPIA agent hanging around the negotiations. The man currently went by Justin. Joe couldn't figure out how he'd gotten the job, though his partners had mysteriously died in one of the last assaults in the war. That was probably it. He took a sip of coffee as he watched the televised treaty signing again. It looked fairly standard on the surface, aside from the fact that the treaty was being signed by a teenage monarch. Alex himself looked like he was doing well. Joe couldn't see any bruises or any signs of mistreatment. In fact, he mostly just looked moderately bored or irritated. One of the analysts walked in. "Rider again, sir?"

Joe sighed. "I can't help but feel like I pushed him into this."

The man paused. "He made the choices that led up to this. Not to mention, there have been teenage murderers since the dawn of time."

Joe took another drink of coffee. "True, but it was us who chose to support the regime he toppled, us who did the child assassin academies he's infiltrating and eliminating, and us who took the easy way out by letting Ian Rider have his custody, no matter how many complaints came his way."

The man sighed. "I think everyone did the best we could with the information we had on hand."

Joe placed his garbage coffee down as the man left. That sounded like a crock of shit to Joe. Surely they could do better than child assassins. Not that there were many of the schools left for them. Whoever Alex had convinced to lead the assaults on the academies was doing a great job. No footage. No dead children. No facilities or research data stored there were left behind. All the adult staff brutally murdered and smoking craters in the ground. Joe wondered if Alex was going to stop there or keep going on to the other agencies. He wondered if he even wanted Alex to stop going after the academies. It was just one of those nights. Joe had already decided to let the senators who were exposed do what they were going to do. He wasn't going to take them out, but he wasn't going to assist in their legal defenses either. Those were the rules after all. If you got caught, it was your head in the guillotine.

Ian Rider got progress reports on Alex, given that he was still technically Alex's guardian. He had no doubts that several other people had gotten their grubby mitts on copies. He flipped through to the midterm scores with some feelings of trepidation. Alex's Russian was pretty good, but Ian hadn't assessed him for over a year. It hit Ian like a ton of bricks. He hadn't seen Alex in over a year in real life. Ian dropped the papers on his desk. That got Crawley's attention. "Doing paperwork for once, Ian?"

Ian stared at the wall, his mind numb. "Ian?"

Ian knew he was too frozen to answer at the moment, even though Crawley was probably worried about him. His partner slowly walked towards him. Ian felt a hand on his shoulder and resisted the instinct to break the wrist it belonged to. Instead, he put a hand on top of Crawley's. John slowly stepped behind him and pulled him in for a hug. Ian began feeling slightly less frozen. "Ian?"

Ian leaned into the touch. John was nice and warm. "What's wrong?"

Ian let out a noise that sounded like a slightly strangled whimper of pain. Crawley's other arm was around him. He glanced at the paper on his desk. "Alex?"

Ian nodded. John's face was against his neck. "Oh, Ian. You'll see him again, don't worry."

Ian leaned into the man and sighed. John was rubbing his back. Ian heard panicked gasps for breath and it took him a few seconds to realize that it was him. John gently rubbed the nape of his neck. "John. I just. Miss him."

John ran his hands through Ian's hair. Ian felt himself slowly calming down. "I know, Ian. Try to sit down."

Ian sat in his office chair. John's hands went to his scalp. Head scratches were nice and soothing. "Can you check the report card?"

John lightly picked up the letter. The paper was stiff and had an embossed logo on it. Ian watched as he opened the papers and carefully read from start to finish. Crawley was here. Ian had never been gladder to have him in his life. The man finished the short summary and placed the report down. "Well, the good news is that he's doing well. He's even capping out some of the native students. They aren't comparing him to the other exchange students, but that's most likely because he's younger than the majority of them."

Ian sighed. "Is there bad news?"

Crawley stiffened slightly. "Well, he made friends with Dimitry Ivanov."

Ian knew that he made a hissing noise. John patted him on the arm. "You never know, Dimitry might turn out to be a sweet, gentle soul who wouldn't harm a fly."

Ian gave Crawley a flat look. "I thought Jones hired you for your truth-telling abilities."

John sighed. "I like to try to keep some hope, okay?"

Ian grinned. "Ah, c'mon, John, we're not that bad!"

Crawley opened his mouth and a bickering match began in earnest.

- Amanda

Want to meet for lunch?

- Brendan

Mandy had gotten a text from the enigmatic Brendan Chase. The man wanted to meet up with her. Mandy knew that her host family would likely not approve of a lunch with a grown man by herself. Perhaps Alex would go with her?

- Brendan

Sure. I'll need to bring an escort because of morality clauses. Try to pick a weekend time or something.

- Amanda

Brendan Chase had decided that it was time for an early Christmas trip to Russia. Fine, fine, he had ulterior motives, but who didn't? In any case, Amanda would need an answer soon. Perhaps her charming little host family might be willing to have everyone over.

- Amanda

Sure thing, darlin'. Bring as many escorts as you want, I know how to handle them. ;) Don't worry your pretty little head, you have school! I'll make some arrangements.

- Brendan

Mandy shook her head. Brendan was weird like that sometimes. Then again, it wasn't like he wasn't intimately familiar with the exchange program, given that he'd rigged it for Alex. He seemed kind of...scandalous if Mandy was being honest.

- Brendan

Not that kind of escort, you scoundrel!

- Amanda

Brendan laughed at that text. That was what she got for not being more specific. Besides, most of his employees were no fun to mess with. Nile wandered over to him. "Arranging more deaths of your colleagues?"

Brendan huffed. He probably deserved that, considering the Yassen/Nile rivalry and the fact that he had used Yassen instead of Nile. "Sadly, no. We're going to Russia."

Nile perked up. "Russia? Why?"

Brendan sighed. "I have some people to visit for Christmas."

Nile smirked. "Let me guess, Alex and your girlfriend?"

Chase yelped like he'd been stabbed. "She's not my girlfriend!"

Nile made a noise that indicated that he didn't believe Brendan in the slightest. "Sure, whatever you say, boss. Should I call logistics?"

Chase waved him off. "Hell, no. This is going to be off the books. And for Christ's sake, she's seventeen."

Nile shrugged. "The age of consent in Britain is sixteen."

Chase whacked Nile upside the head. "I don't even want to know why you know that."

Nile slinked into the chair opposite to him. "Rothman."

Chase made a mental note to get drunk off his ass tonight. "I said I didn't want to know."

Nile grabbed some M&Ms out of the bowl he kept on his desk. Steiner claimed that it made you more approachable or some shit. The only effect it seemed to have was him getting judgmental looks when he ordered several pounds of the things from logistics every week. "If I have to suffer, so do you."

Nile then crunched more M&Ms. Chase laughed. "You're learning."

Nile sighed. "Are we kidnapping baby Alex?"

Chase drummed his fingers. "Not until after he finishes with Russia, dear."

Nile was still a little impatient about these things. "Fiiiine. I should probably tell you that Yassen gets his turn first."

Chase had no problems with that. "Sounds great."

Nile looked slightly sulking. "I was hoping you would overrule him."

Chase arched a brow at the man. "Overrule the sulky menace? Never. Besides, I think it'll be a good lesson in patience for you, Nile."

Nile pouted. "I hate you!"

Chase laughed as he left the room. "It's 'I hate you, sir!' Nile."

The man's screech of outrage was music to his ears as he slammed the door to Chase's office.