Flying High
Alex stared in shock at the pop singer in his living room that was beaming at him. "I heard about the little incident in the boat." Alex's gaze immediately went to the kitchen knives. Cray put an arm on his shoulder. "No, it's not like that. I admire you."
Alex flushed. Nobody had ever said that to him before. "Wait, why?"
Cray beamed. "No need to be modest. We're kindred souls, you see. It takes dedication to drop a boat on a police station. It was beautiful. It was a statement for all to hear! You're anti-drugs and you won't stand for the corruption they bring."
Alex shrugged. "He was selling to my school. Ruined one of my friends' lives."
Cray nodded. "How awful. You never expect the rot to touch those closest to you."
Alex paused. "So, er, why are you here?"
Cray continued. Jack was eyeing them oddly. "I wanted to offer you a job."
Alex squinted. "Does it pay?"
Cray looked offended. "Yes! I don't use slave labor!"
To be fair, Cray's factories were supposed to be pretty nice to work at. "What about school?"
Cray shrugged. "Honestly, it's cheaper for me to hire a teacher to teach you on the go."
Alex paused. That sounded way nicer than what Alan Blunt was offering. Plus, the man had read him the riot act after the boat incident. It was nice to be appreciated. "And I would be doing what? More stuff like the boat?"
Cray beamed. "Absolutely!"
Alex sat down and grabbed his mug of tea. "What are your end goals here?"
It would be nice to have an end in sight. MI6 didn't seem to have any permanent goals with him in mind. "I'm trying to eliminate drug use across the world!"
Alex paused and thought about it. It sounded nice. Almost too good to be true. "You know…that doesn't sound so bad."
Cray beamed. "Excellent!"
Jack was still looking very suspicious. "Can Jack come?"
Cray shrugged. "Sure! I hear kids need stability."
Jack gave the man a look. "If you hurt Alex, I will end you."
Cray blinked. He looked a little stunned to have been threatened like that. Eventually, he cleared his throat. "Naturally."
The men in the corners lightened up. Alex guessed some sort of signal had been given. "So, does this job have a contract?"
Cray nodded and pulled one out. Alex handed it to Jack to read. "You were going to be a lawyer, right?"
Jack glared over the piece of paper. "You're the worst."
Alex grinned. Jack was a saint. "You love me anyway."
Jack rolled her eyes. She read through the entire contract. Cray seemed perfectly at ease. "This is a very generous contract by most ways of measuring."
Jack would know, considering that she was the only one of the two of them who'd had a real job. Alex didn't count MI6. They didn't pay him, after all. Alex signed the contract without more fanfare.
After a whirlwind of lawyers, paperwork, and phone calls. Cray was his new official guardian. Alex felt like it was an improvement on the bank. His house in Chelsea wasn't sold, but Alex wasn't sure whether he would keep it that way. Cray had left it up to him. It was unlikely that he'd be able to return to England anytime soon. Alex did have an emotional attachment to the house. Jack had simply looked at him wide-eyed. Cray had them flying on his private jet. No customs, no immigration. Zilch. Alex had a sinking suspicion that if he'd tried to flee the country Blunt would have stopped him. Cray was offering him his third pot of tea. "Come in, sit down."
Alex sat down. "What is your plan, anyway?"
Cray smiled. "We're going to get rid of a lot of the supplies of the drug trade in one fell swoop."
Alex paused. "How?"
Cray pulled out a map. And a pointer. Alex was tempted to buy the man a laser pointer. "As you can see, the opium poppies are mainly grown here, here, and here. Now, what we're going to do is burn the fields all in one go."
Alex frowned. "There's not enough people here for that."
Cray barked a laugh. "Don't worry, you'll see."
Alex was now very suspicious. Cray pulled out a flash drive and began his slideshow. "Unbeknownst to all but a select few, I've been trying to develop a contact in the NSA. This will allow me to…"
The presentation went on for a good hour and ended with Cray nuking three continents. Welp, time to try some of that persuasion Ian harped on about. Fuck. He knew this was too good to be true. He should have stuck with Blunt and his nonexistent salary. Alex frowned. "Why do you need nukes? For one, you're permanently rendering a lot of land uninhabitable. Plus, it's less expensive to just buy regular missiles on the black market. Then, you could do a charity outreach to help, um, rebuild the communities and then make sure there are no villages built totally around drugs, right? You could probably get great tax write-offs, too."
Billionaires liked tax breaks, right? There was a pause. Cray seemed to be considering. "You know, you have great points. Plus, one of my lead physicists was grumbling about us bombing three continents into oblivion and poisoning the air and water."
Alex continued. He seemed to be making progress. He hoped he was making progress. "Besides, you'd need more than just NSA-dude. You need people to talk about flight codes and clearance phrases. They have guarded against people stealing Air Force One. Plus, I imagine the place is guarded and has silent alarms and, like, snipers."
Cray nodded along. The man paused in his pacing. "Dealing with traitors is disagreeable, too."
Alex dearly hoped that wasn't a dig at him. Then again, he technically hadn't betrayed MI6 or the United Kingdom. He had a sinking suspicion that Blunt could make whatever charges he wanted to stick. Alex leaned back into the couch. He was sweating. Cray was silent for a long time. Alex began to nervously eat biscuits and tea. After nearly fifteen minutes of silence, the man finally spoke. "I need to make some phone calls. I'm sorry to cut our evening short."
Alex shrugged. Ian had missed a bunch of his things. At least he got to see the outrageously famous and busy man daily. He was pretending that it didn't hurt. Jack seemed to be slowly warming up to the man. "It's okay, I'm used to it."
Cray looked pained. Maybe he'd experienced something familiar. "Please call me Damien. And this will not be a habit!"
Alex grinned. It seemed weird to be this happy. "I'll try, Big D."
Cray started laughing as he shut the door. "Oh, don't burn down any non-drug cartel buildings, you little miscreant."
The man was still laughing as he shut the door. Alex nearly passed out from relief. There was still time. Was he desperate enough to call MI6? Not yet. There was time. His relief fled as he laid eyes upon Yassen.
Yassen grabbed Alex by the throat. "What are you doing here?"
Alex stared. "Uh, Cray adopted me after I dumped a drug boat on a police center. What are you doing here?"
Yassen felt his eyes narrow. A sense of horror began to build in his chest. "You were the one that changed his mind, weren't you?"
Alex nodded. The boy had the sense not to yell. "He was going to nuke three continents into oblivion. The arable land lost alone would have been-"
Yassen cut him off by tightening his grip. "Why let him adopt you? I thought you were with Blunt?"
Alex began gasping for air. Right. Children could not be choked as long as adults. "Uh, Blunt never paid me. Also, I never wanted a career in '6 in the first place."
Yassen glared. "Why should I believe you?"
Alex huffed. "Do you really think I'd take Jack on a mission?"
That made Yassen drop him. Strangely enough, he believed Alex. It did sound like just the sort of hare-brained plot he would get caught up in. Plus, his file clearly stated that Starbright was a weakness. Yassen doubted he would deliberately endanger her. "No. I do not."
Alex was glaring and rubbing his throat. "So, er, now that we've established that I'm not in your way-"
Yassen glared. "I have a meeting. After that meeting, I will visit you. We will talk."
Alex nodded and scurried off. Yassen sighed. He wondered whether or not Alex would go for Plan A. Kill Cray. Let Alex inherit. Employ security for a nice, cushy life and a profitable long-term venture for Scorpia. Yassen might even throw himself in the deal. He would need a head of security and financial advisor. Yassen allowed himself to fantasize about having a sane boss for thirty seconds more as he walked towards Cray's door. He turned his focus back on Cray as he knocked on the door.
Written for Prompt #93 by Zyzyax. This is the 21st work in the Winds of Change 2022 Alex Rider Prompt event, where a new prompt (plus a short 1-3K work) is posted every day. For more details, see the AO3 collection :) Want to discuss? Leave a comment beneath, or join the discord (Link on AO3 Fics or just PM me, lol).
