Broaching Brooklands
Doctor Three had decided that it was time for him to do a bit of poking around. Operation Stormbreaker had failed. Overall, he was not all that disappointed about it but they had very good reason to suspect that both MI6's and Yassen's reports on the matter would be inaccurate. It never hurt to do your own reconnaissance. Plus, they needed to get a feel for the environment
that Alex grew up in. Schools were meant to be influential on a child's development and there was a shortage of operatives who could be trusted with this sort of thing. "Are you here for the school tour?"
His thoughts were interrupted by a short brunette boy. The boy chewed his lip while waiting for an answer. He was practically vibrating out of his shoes. "Yes, thank you. I already checked in with the office. You can call me Dr. Feng."
The kid looked visibly relieved as he moved towards Three. He opened his mouth and practically bounced towards him. "I'm Tom! Okay, so I'm going to guess you know where the office is since you already checked in. Next, we can go to the cafeteria…"
Three watched as the boy talked, and talked, and talked. He didn't have all that much interest in the school art projects, since Rider was supposed to be in soccer and theater. They slowly meandered down the hall as Tom gave his opinions on the various electives offered at Brooklands Comprehensive. They arrived at the cafeteria after about twenty minutes of the tour. Doctor Three wondered if they were going to take the full hour for this tour. "So, any questions so far?"
Doctor Three looked at the boy who seemed to have finally paused to take a breath. He considered the question. "How often does the football team practice?"
Tom beamed at him. The sports team seemed to be his favorite topic. Or perhaps it was just that he had somebody to finally listen to his rambles. "We usually practice every day except Sunday for like two hours. There's a practice schedule online if you want to check it out. They changed the uniform and it's really ugly, so…"
He tuned out some of Tom's more in-depth complaints and facts about the team. Hearing about the politics that went into who got voted in as captain was surprisingly intricate for a bunch of teens. Three held up a hand and Tom paused in his speech. "When did they catch your ADHD? I'm interested in the mental health-"
He was interrupted. Doctor Three mentally sighed. "What ADHD?!"
Three closed his eyes and inhaled. Well, it wasn't the child's fault, then. He was going to poison the teachers if he got the chance. "I'm afraid that you seem to be demonstrating a few of the key symptoms. Please forgive me."
Tom chewed his lower lip and thought about it for a few minutes. Doctor Three inched towards the wall so that they would not be stopped in the middle of the hallway. "No worries, Doctor. Anyway, we should probably go on with the tour."
Doctor Three mentally sighed as the boy, Tom, went back to rambling about his school at full blast. He didn't necessarily mind the information overload. The school, so far, was disappointingly average. The doctor hadn't known quite what to expect when he signed himself up for this little charade but this was just so very average. Good lord, had Ian Rider sent John's son to this school?! No wonder the poor boy was prone to fits of murder, mayhem, and pyromania. No, Yassen, your report fooled absolutely no one. Four dead people, a destroyed fish tank, a blown-up helicopter, and a shot client and Prime Minister were NOT a normal outcome. Though, to be fair, that was probably not all that unusual for Yassen. "Tell me more about the theater class."
Tom grinned. Doctor Three was pretty sure he was scoring points with the child. It was difficult to tell sometimes. "We put on a production about every year or semester and then we switch after the holidays. My favorite was Romeo and Juliet, mostly because my best friend played Juliet and I was Romeo."
Doctor Three covered up his laugh with a cough. He could imagine that Tom would enjoy the excuse to kiss his more-than-obvious crush in the form of his best friend. "Ah, I see. How about your production cast? Are the make-up and costuming up to par?"
Tom grinned and shook his head. Doctor Three wondered about that reaction. "Oh, our best one with the makeup is about to graduate, which sucks. The sports tend to suck up most of the school money and, well, one of our sets was made out of cardboard…"
Doctor Three listened to the story of the great cardboard castle with not all that much interest. He was pretty sure there were several health and safety violations in there. Yes, perhaps a few anonymous reports needed to be filed. He glanced at his tour guide again. It looked like he would be filing two welfare reports with social services and not just Alex Rider's. After all, if he had court summons, he wouldn't be on missions, now would he? Tom did not look like he was doing particularly well. His skin was tinged with a certain hue that Three knew from experience was the beginning of scurvy. Less than adequate nutrition. Tom was staring at him and chewing his lower lip. "Pardon, did you ask a question?"
Tom let out a theatrical sigh. Well, it seemed that his electives were a good fit for him. "Uh, what's your kid's name?"
Three said the first name that came to mind. He gave Tom an amused look. "Dale."
If it sounded suspiciously like his second-in-command's name, nobody needed to know. Besides, he had raised the man anyway. It was as close to reproducing as he would get. "That's a nice name. Uh, did you have any questions?"
Three looked at the boy in front of him and pulled out his phone. Tom twitched slightly. "I'm afraid they want your last name for the review survey, Tom."
Tom let out a sigh. Doctor Three counted himself fortunate that the boy couldn't tell the difference between a survey and an online anonymous complaint form to child services. "Harris."
Three typed in it perhaps slightly too eagerly. He glanced up from the phone. "Thank you, Tom, I'll be sure to leave you a nice review. The tour was very informative."
The child sensed his dismissal in Three's tone and ran off into the crowd of children leaving their classes. Ah, time to leave and fill out more paperwork. Joy.
Fin
Written for Prompt #304 by Zyzyax. This is the 63rd 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). Want to take part in our Alex Rider anniversary celebrations in September? Join the WoC discord to take part in a fanfic event!