Disclaimer: I don't own any characters blah blah blah owned by Anthony Horowitz blah blah blah don't sue me.
Summary: Some rules are meant to be followed. Others were made to be broken. John decided the rule of not writing about his ordeals was one of the latter. Years later, Alex finds a notebook in the attic and decides he needs to know what it means. His decision changes a lot.
Slight AU (Alternative Universe), characters acting slightly OOC (Out Of Character).
(A.N: Sorry about not posting a chapter for this fic last week. Work got a bit hectic, and this chapter stretched longer than anticipated. However, I did manage to post a revision to one of the chapters for my collection of one-shots.
Also, spoiler alert for Russian Roulette ahead)
'Cause you're a Natural
Chapter 6
Well.
That was… interesting.
Either his father could have had a promising career as a fiction writer…
Or, more worryingly, he had been lied to for most of his life.
Whatever the case, it seemed his father (or a fictionalised version of his father) had worked for a government agency and had his reputation ruined to be recruited by a criminal group (which was only ever referred to as "S"). The following entries described a bar fight, being contacted by a woman - J - who was on the "Board" (Alex couldn't believe that a criminal organisation could be extensive enough to require a Board, like a large company), and his successful recruitment.
The following few entries were about his father's training, received on an island - M - and his satisfaction at passing (reading between the lines, he got the impression that there wasn't an option to redo the training if his father had failed the first time). There were vague descriptions of a few "assignments", and Alex had to take a break to deal with the fact that his father may have been a mercenary or an assassin - there were too many details in the diary for it to be a work of fiction.
After his father "proved his competency" (he tried not to think about how many people died before "S" was satisfied), he was told to follow someone on their graduating assignment. "Y" failed (he feared for their life) but managed to talk themselves into getting a second chance, under the proviso that they became his father's student.
His father didn't believe in following the Data Protection Directive (1), as the next entry seemed like his father was repeating something he'd read. "Y" was born in Estrov (he couldn't find it anywhere on the atlas, so he presumed it was a town or village), saw it bombed after a factory nearby, which had been making a modified version of anthrax, exploded, how Y managed to get to Moscow (he took a closer view at Russia on the atlas, but still couldn't find Estrov) and joined a criminal gang. Y's first attempt at burglary resulted in being enslaved by "V" for three years; only escaping with an agent was sent by "S" to kill "V" (Alex cheered). However, Y had to dig the agent's grave after "V" survived the assassination attempt (he muttered some words that would have gotten him a stern talking to by Jack if she had been there to hear them).
According to his father, Y could be lethal if they could overcome their unwillingness to kill. His father was deliberately vague about Y's gender, so he wasn't going to make any presumptions. Though he had been conflicted about training Y to be another weapon "S" could use versus keeping his cover (Really? Alex was disgusted at how Y had been thought of; like they weren't human; like they didn't have likes, dislikes, ideas or opinions of their own. He didn't like how… callous his father was), he ultimately decided to train and try to discourage Y.
The following entry showed that his father's gruesome method - asking Y to stab someone to death - seemed to do the trick, but he was starting to hate how inhuman his father appeared. His heart sank when he read his father's comments in the next entry, mentioning seeing a news report about "V"'s house being broken into, resulting in "V" and his son being shot to death. His father's diary (and Alex reading it) agreed that Y was top of the list of possible candidates.
Putting the diary to the side, he rubbed at his eyes and exhaled. While delighted "V" had gotten what was coming to him, he was also saddened that Y had probably killed him. He had been getting the sense Y was reluctant to kill, but something seemed to have changed their minds (potentially something with his father). Alex picked the diary up, noticing there was only one more entry (dated a week after the previous one).
His father had received a wooden box with a metal buckle clasp keeping it shut. Inside, there had been a business card and a phone with one text from an unsaved number. His father didn't mention who he thought sent the package, and, presuming it was the same box he had found in the attic, Alex replaced the notebook into the box, deciding to check out the phone first.
(A.N: Another (slight) cliffhanger, but hopefully, I made up for it with the longer chapter.
(1) Earlier version of GDPR
Also, I got laid off from work since it was only a summer job. Therefore, the chapters should *crosses fingers* be longer. I also get more sleep, which is a bonus - I've been surviving on around 6 hours on weekdays, so *shrugs* bed, here I come! *grins*)