The sun rose above the trees surrounding the clearing, it shone down reflecting off the calm, huge lake. Gentle ripples spread out from its mid-point growing slightly bigger before absorbing back into the mirror-like water. Alex sat at the edge of the lake with his head resting on his knees and eyes focused hard on the view in front of him.

0500 hours into the day (5:00am), was the current time as Alex rocked back and forward desperate to shove away the unforgotten memories that forever, no matter how hard he'd try, would remain flowing in and out of his mind.

*0300 hours (3:00am) - 2 hours before current moment*
*Location = Cabin-11*

Loud snoring, 4. Intakes, 5. Outtakes, 5. Breathing, 5. Constant noise.

Slow untimed rhythms that fell at different times with different heights of noise.

Walrus, laying on his front, hands by his side, legs straight and his head was turned to the side so he could breath, was the loudest and seemed to be in the deepest sleep imaginable, with a light trickle of drool escaping his mouth and plopping down onto his pillow to join a wet patch. Wolf actually sounded like he was howling and could only be woken if someone touched him or the snoring stopped, he was curled up in a ball. Snake was in a heavy dream state and made barely a sound apart from a whistling noise that was pissing Alex off. Eagle made a light sound that could barely be heard over the snoring, howling and whistling that his teammates produced, he had one arm dangling off the bed as well as one leg shoved out of the covers. Alex was wide awake, he didn't want to fall asleep and end up in a dooming nightmare to which he will just wake up anyway.

He slipped out, closing the door as he went and headed light footed towards the tree line. In the direction of the lake. He brushed past the trees and came to the clearing around the lake.

Alex walked closer to it and sat down, this is where he remained until 5:00am

*Back to current time (0501 hours or, in other words, 5:01am)*

He got up and walked back to camp, Alex's posture fallen a slight bit but was normally upright. He slowly opened the cabin door and slipped in. Eagle was awake but the rest were asleep.

"Hey Jaguar." a slurred voice talked

"Eagle." Alex nodded. "how'd you sleep?"

"Meh, you?"

"Same as you. And why are you being kind to me... isn't it normally, grrr noise, cubbiwubbykinns or double o' nothing?"

"I want a new start, be kind to you and respect you," Eagle started, "And if what MI6 says is true that your their best agent then you have a good chance at beating us in training."

Alex tilted his head and sat down on his rock hard bed "You really mean that last part?"

"A bit, no not at all. I will beat you in shooting." Eagle smirked.

"Oh really, challenge accepted." they leant across to shake hands.

A low groan was made from the other side of the room coming from snake, who sat bolt upright a moment later "Are we late?" he asked in surprise.

"Nah, it's only 0509 hours, we have till 0630 to eat. From there we have half the day to have 'bonding time' with Jaguar."

"Call me Jag, it's easier." Alex suggested and got nods in return.

"So we are not late for once?" Snake asked again.

"Luckily..." Eagle sighed.

A couple of minutes later of nonsense chatting, there was a stop to the snoring and ever so grumpily two men rolled off their beds and got changed.

"Mornin'" Walrus mumbled.

"Good morning peeps!" Eagle energised.

Wolf finished changing and slumped onto his bed, head rolling to look out of the window "I wouldn't say good as it's raining out."

"Does he have to be so optimistic," Alex's voice came in heavy sarcasm.

"Wait!" Wolf jumped up "Are we late!"

"Nope." The 'p' was emphasized a lot by Eagle.

Alex got the feeling, the feeling that put him on edge. He glanced about and realised Snake was staring at him. "What?" He asked.

"We need to do medical check."

"No we don't." he edged backwards. The rest of the unit stopped to watch

"Yes we do and before lessons." Snake went on.

Alex shrugged "So we have till noon."

"You need to do a full medical check." Snake continued, "It's quick. But we will do it after breakfast."

"We are not doing a medical check." The teen pushed on.

"Jaguar, you have to." Eagle put in and before he got a response he spoke again "Come on I'm hungry."

Wolf muttered as he closed the door behind his unit "can't believe they're calling him Jaguar." but no one heard him except Alex.

Along the way they saw other soldiers join their route on their way to the mess hall, it was muddy but so far no one had slipped over and Alex had succeeded in not getting mud up past his heavy boots that he had sworn would blister his feet.

The walk was silent and no one talked but Eagle looked desperate to talk so he burst out, "We have a new instructor who arrived the day before Jag and is yet to teach us, he is said to be the best of the best. Ex-soldier and Ex-spy I can't wait to meet him. Apparently he knows instinctive shooting and is going to teach some of us it." Alex shied away.

"Of course it's about the shooting." Walrus droned.

"And, he knows loads about medical." Eagle went on

"Really?" Snake sounded excited, well as excited as a SAS soldier could get.

"And tonnes of languages." he directed at walrus. Alex got interested.

"And has learned from the best at combat."

So this instructor knows a lot then? Alex thought

Wolf looked at Eagle with a flicker of annoyance but also surprise "And you know this?"

"Yeah, I heard the sergeant talking."

They entered the mess hall to see about 4 other units, A, C, D and R, were already sitting down. K-Unit joined the line for food along with F-unit. Each soldier making note of every person walking in and out of the door. They glanced at Alex but never made a move to say anything as these units were the war veterans and had gone through a lot, therefore respected anyone else at camp right now seeing as the more newer recruits were off in either Iraq or doing some other thing. For example, S-Unit were training in Australia and due to arrive in a few days time. S-Unit were also war veterans.

K-Unit got their burnt toast and soggy beans and sat down on the longest table in the mess hall joining D-unit on it.

"Hey, Lion, Tiger, Bear and Dog." Snake said.

"Hello, who's this?" Lion asked, he was D-Unit's leader. Tall, and well-built.

Eagle spoke proudly "That's Jaguar, said to be MI6's best agent."

"He looks like Cub." Dog said

"I am cub." Alex said. "My new name is Jaguar."

"Really, your Cub?" Lion questioned and got a nod "Wow."

"So, Dorothy unit-" Alex began.

"Wha-what?"

Alex confirmed what he said "Dorothy unit."

"Why is it Dorothy unit?" Wolf asked his youngest member.

"Lions and Tigers and Bears. Oh and that's Toto the dog." Alex smirked.

They burst out laughing "I never thought of that!"

*After breakfast (0623)*
*Location: Cabin-11*

"Jaguar..." Snake dragged on the name.

"Mmhmm."

Eagle sang the word "Medical."

"No" he whined.

"Top off."

"No."

"Off."

"No."

Snake sighed "The more you disagree the more worried i get about you."

Alex avoided eye contact "That's a change, you care now but never used to."

"Look, cu-jaguar we sorry about last time." Snake and Eagle pleaded.

"What happened last time?" Walrus asked.

"They bullied me and tried to get me binned, by the way, I couldn't get binned because I was training for a mission." Alex explained. "But no matter what they did, I still saved Wolf from getting binned."

"How?" Eagle questioned.

Wolf's eyes widened "No Jaguar."

Alex nodded at Wolf with a smile "Two ways or was it three."

"JAGUAR!" Wolf shouted.

"Huh, can't hear you... oh yes so one time was when I didn't tell the sergeant that Wolf pushed me into the tripwire in the killing house." Wolf's face went red "Then I stole matches off the sergeant so they could have a fire, but they didn't allow me to sit next to the fire. I got hypothermia but none of them cared."

"Jag, we're sorry." Eagle's head downcast.

"Then the last time I saved Wolf from being binned was-"

"JAGUAR!"

"Is that a fly in my ear. Anyway-" Alex began, he ignored his unit leader who was now a tomato "When we were parachuting, I wasn't because MI6 didn't want me to break a leg before the mission, Wolf was last out and he wouldn't jump. And didn't ever jump."

"JAG-" Wolf began marching across the room but got held back by Walrus.

"Continue..."

"I knew that if he stayed on board any longer he would get binned." Wolf's mouth was covered by a hand but there was muffled shouting "So I kicked him out of the plane."

"JAG!" Eagle laughed.

A few moments later Sergeant burst into the room and everyone stood to attention "Everything alright in here, there was shouting."

"Sir, yes sir." the chanted and the sergeant left.

"Jaguar, medical check." Snake stated

"No."

"Secure him." the medic said

"No no no don't." Alex backed away, as soon as a hand landed on his shoulder he flinched harshly and had to force himself not to wince or fight back. Another firm hand landed on his other shoulder and he flinched again and winced. They brought him into the middle of the room where Snake had placed a chair.

"Shirt off, we need to do a medical check."

"I'm not taking my shirt off, and your not my type." Alex smirked.

Snake sighed, "Take his shirt off."

"Plea-" Alex began but it was too late as he heard the gasps.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!" Wolf demanded. There was silence.

"Jaguar, these are torture marks." Snake exclaimed and more silence followed. "Turn around."

He did so and they saw scars littering his back, knife wounds, bullet wounds, burns, whip marks, branding marks and more.

"Is that a scorpia mark." Walrus pointed to the engraved scorpion on Alex's back and watched his flinch at the word.

"What happened to you..." Alex turned back around and Snake almost screamed.

"IS THAT A SNIPER WOUND ON YOUR HEART!" he must of not seen it before.

"Y-yes."

"WHAT!" Eagle looked followed by Walrus and Wolf who responded in the same way.

The sergeant walked back in "What is going on here?" He demanded and no one stood to attention "Soldiers?" no reply. He brushed through the crowd and got to Alex and gasped.

"Cub, why didn't you tell me... your like my son. The son I lost. Why didn't you tell me?" The sergeant asked, K-Unit took in every word to asked a question later.

"Sorry..."

"Why are you saying sorry, I'm sorry this happened to you... I'm going to kill MI6."

"I'm sorry, sorry." Alex looked up with a scared face.

"Why are you sorry."

"Sorry, sorry." he started shaking and flinching harshly and wincing.

"It's ok Alex, It's fine." the sergeant whispered, Eagle's mouth dropped "Alex it's ok." he tried again but got only more flinching "Alexander Johnathan Rider! It's ok and you are safe." Alex stopped and looked up. Eagle was just standing there like he was going to faint.

"It's Alex Rider," and he fainted.

"Alex... Rider." Wolf rolled under his tongue. "Oh." And he fainted.

"Why have they fainted?" Walrus asked the sergeant whilst Snake dropped as well.

"I shouldn't have mentioned his name."

"Wait, no... it can't be the Alex Rider." And dropped unconscious too."

"You know, you really shouldn't mention my name." Alex looked at the sergeant.

"Well, you have free day off training then." The sergeant said "Alex, if you ever need me. I'm here."

*Author's Note*

I know it has been a long while since I posted but I hope this is ok.

I need animal name suggestions for the units F, A, C and R so that's 16 animal names not including Wolf, Snake, Eagle, Walrus, Dog, Lion, Tiger, Bear, Panther and Jaguar.
You will get a shout out if you do so.

I also need names for 3 more instructors (including the sergeants) and you will also get a shout out if you do this.

Another thing, if anyone wants to suggest what happens in this story, alongside my plot, will get a massive shout out on all my FanFic accounts and other websites/apps like this one.

I hope you have an amazing day,
-helping you lot