Jack Starbright was alone in the Rider house, something she was used to after seven years there. At least, she thought she was alone. The Scorpia agent sneaking through the house would have said something different.
A few seconds later, the agent stood in the doorway of the kitchen - where Jack was making lunch - preparing his gun to make the shot. Finally, the redhead noticed the shadow across the floor. Finally, the agent had his gun at the ready. Jack turned. A bullet ripped through the tense air so quickly that Miss Starbright could not comprehend what happened before she was nothing more than a corpse on the floor.
Hours later, at 3 pm, the final school bell rang at Brookland Comprehensive. Alex and Tom left their seats and picked up their school bags from underneath their table, talking quietly as they left their science classroom.
Their conversation consisted of many things, but mostly it was about MI6 and Tom's parents.
"Honestly, I think they've gotten worse towards each other since they haven't been talking to each other. I mean, how does that even happen?" Tom complained. "They've gotten proper creative, they have. They're even passing salt through their lawyers!"
Alex patted the boy on the back. "Sounds rough." he consoled. "But you get to have pizza night with me and Jack on Saturday." Little did they know that no one was having dinner with Jack on Saturday, or any other day.
They had just arrived at the school bike shed, where the green bike Tom owned sat. He hopped on and the pair began their journey home. Tom rode quickly, so Alex decided to jog next to him, knowing he could be called into the field at any time and therefore had to keep his fitness up.
After ten minutes, they split up, Tom going left towards his house and Alex continuing straight on towards his. As Tom left, Alex slowed his jog into a walk for the final five minutes home.
As the blonde boy walked, he thought about Ben Daniels and wondered if the man had recovered from his shot wound yet. Well, he probably hadn't fully, it had only been a month, after all. He wondered if he'd get to see the man again, it had been rather interesting working with him. An unusual partnership, but they got the job done, and - in Alex's opinion - they did it rather well. And about it being an unusual partnership, any partnership with a 15-year-old boy most likely counts as 'unusual'.
As Alex reached the driveway of the Rider-Starbright house, he pulled out his keys and noticed that Jack's car was still in the drive. He thought it was rather odd, usually, Jack had left for her job at the lawyers by this time of day. But it was when he opened the door and didn't see Jack rushing around and trying to get ready that he knew something was off. He shouted her name. No answer. He peered into the living room. Nothing. It was when he entered the kitchen that he found out why she didn't answer, because lying on the floor was a body, blood pooling around its head, blending it with the red hair Alex used to braid as a young boy.
The boy froze in shock, dropping his keys. The sound of them hitting the floor is what got him back into action. He ran over. Tears filled the chocolate brown eyes that Jack always said were handsome. Snot ran down the face Jack always said was perfect. Sadness and anger filled the heart Jack always said was kind.
Alex knelt, checking the lady's pulse, despite knowing it was futile. The cold temperature of her skin and the lack of movement beneath his fingers confirmed what he already knew. His best friend- no, his sister- was dead. He should've known this would happen, that Jack wasn't safe. However, deep down he knew that he did know that something would happen and it was his selfishness that kept her close by.
Hands shaking with a mix of grief and rage, he picked up his phone, dialing the one number he swore he would never voluntarily call. The Royal and General bank.
"Hello! This is the Royal and General bank! How can I help you?" A cheery reception said on the other side of the phone.
"I need to speak to Mrs. Jones." He just didn't have the energy to deal with Blunt's bullshit today.
"I'm sorry." The receptionist responded, not sounding very sorry. "There is no one by that name here."
"Enough with your bullcrap! I know she's there."
Judging by her reply, Alex's tone had probably scared her, but at that moment he couldn't care less.
"Let me just put you through." She squeaked.
"Alex." Came the infuriatingly calm greeting from Mrs. Jones. "Is there something you need?"
The blonde boy cut to the chase, not wanting to deal with Jones' insincere pleasantries. "Jack is dead." He said, voice cracking on the last word, tears once again streaming down his pale cheeks.
"What happened?" Jones said, now concerned - not for his sake, of course.
"Well, I wouldn't bloody know, would I? I've been at school all damn day!"
"Ah, yes." She cleared her throat. "Of course. I'm assuming this is the work of Scorpia?"
"So am I."
"We'll send a car to get you immediately. Your house is not safe enough and I believe we have much to discuss."
"Like your apparently very safe security scheme." He growled out, furious at their lack of care.
"Um… yes. You can bring that up to Mr. Blunt if you wish."
"Oh, believe me. I've got a lot of stuff to 'bring up' to Blunt."
"Yes… Well, your car will be there soon." She quickly cut off the awkward conversation, hanging up the phone. Alex shoved it back into his pocket and went to wait outside. He sat down on the pavement, knees drawn up, tear-streaked face leaning against them.
He stayed in that position until his ride pulled up, and the driver got out. The man who was driving walked over to him, sitting down next to him, a sympathetic look on his handsome features. It was Ben Daniels, or Fox, depending on who you were talking to.
"Hey, kiddo." He said, pulling the younger in for a hug. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Ben stood and held his hand out, helping Alex to his feet and beginning their journey to the headquarters of MI6 special operations.
On their travels, Alex leaned his head against the window, watching the scenery fly by. The leaves on the trees all seemed so green, like there was a brightness and beauty to the world, before his uncle's death, Alex may have agreed. Now, brightness and beauty were nothing more than a fictional concept, something from a story, perhaps about love or adventure. Alex knew the reality of the world, however, the cruelty and betrayal that came with espionage had tainted his view of a world that the boy had once thought was the best place a person could be; a place of hope and wonder had now been morphed into a place of horror and despair.
As Alex tried to wrap his head around how he had been so blind to the reality of the world all those years, Ben's thoughts were on how that innocence should never have been lost. Not so soon. Not so young. Ben cursed his employers, he cursed Alan Blunt, he cursed Tulip Jones, he cursed the Sergeant, and K-unit, and the SAS soldiers that stood by and watched. But most of all, he cursed himself. He was supposed to be able to find out the truth and to know all. How hadn't he seen the suffering of the young boy placed in their unit all those months ago? Deep down, he knew he had seen it, he had chosen to ignore it to gain favour in his team. He should've said or done something, anything that would've helped this young one. He should've spoken up on the abuse and hardship that this boy was facing or come up with some clever plan to get the child, because that's what Alex had been, out of this terrible situation. Ben knew he would have thought of something, because that's what he was about, right? He was a sly Fox, making clever plans and tricks to get through his training and missions. Always coming up with loopholes. But always for the benefit of his team. And, no matter how much they had hated it. The elusive Cub was part of their team. He was a member of K-unit and whining about it had done nothing for him or them.
They were both pulled out of their heads as Ben pulled into a parking space. They both stepped out of the inconspicuous black car, Alex cautiously looking around at the rooftops, searching for a sniper before catching up to Ben and walking with him to the entrance of the 'bank'.
They stepped through the automatic doors, crafted with glass, and walked to the lift, Ben pressing the button to call it down and Alex standing a few feet behind him. Thankfully, when it arrived at their floor, it was empty. Ben calmly stepped in and Alex followed, muscles tensed at the possibility of being trapped if there was an attack. In the few seconds it took for the elevator to reach the floor of Alan Blunt's office, the boy stood tense and still as the man fidgeted restlessly. They both let out a quiet sigh of release when the doors in front of them opened again.
They both walked side by side towards the office in which their higher-ups sat waiting. "Agent Daniels." Mrs Jones acknowledged, to which Ben responded with a polite nod.
"Mrs Jones." He left them to get on with their meeting, going back to the stack of paperwork in his office.
"Agent Rider." Blunt finally looked up from the stack of papers he had been looking through.
"I'm not your agent."
"Very well, Mr Rider. As you know, legally you cannot live without a guardian."
"Legally?" Alex hissed. "What about this whole situation is legal?!"
"Well it would be morally incorrect to leave you alone." Mrs Jones interjected.
Alex just raised an eyebrow. "Whatever," he said. "Who's going to look after me then."
Now if you are an agent of MI6, a few seconds after this you probably heard a shriek of 'WHAT?!' echo through the halls of your headquarters.
That would've been the response of the young Rider to Alan Blunt saying, "We have decided that we will give temporary guardianship to K-unit of the SAS."