A/N: I actually started this fic back in 2013, but never got around to finishing it. Then a few days ago, I found out that an Alex Rider TV series is in the works, and all my Ian Rider feelings came back with a vengeance, so I figured now might be a good time to dust this fic off and at least post what I already have written, to get back into the spirit of things.

With that said, please, read and enjoy!

"I don't buy it."

"We are at the man's funeral, Taylor, what do you mean you don't-"

"Ian Rider would never go down in something so mundane as a car shooting."

A man in a black suit and tie hissed and looked around quickly, dragging his companion, a woman in a black dress, further away from the main funeral proceedings.

"Taylor -"

"Oh, do stop worrying, Colin. You know I'm better than that."

Colin, a tall man with brown hair and grey eyes, shook his head, releasing Taylor. The woman smirked, tucking an errant blonde curl behind her ears. "Think about it. Closed casket. No flag. It's been what, two days, since the supposed incident? Agents usually have nearly a week delay for the autopsies and redactions."

Colin sighed. "Taylor, you're grasping at straws. I know how much you want Ian to be alive somehow -"

"Ian was one of us," Taylor hissed back, "He was one of the best. He was easily the most paranoid bugger I've ever met, and he outfitted his car with a rocket launcher. I've seen him sleep in Kevlar. You think something as simple as semi-automatic fire is going to take him out?"

"Ian Rider may have been a bogeyman on the Continent and the rest of the world, but he was still just a man."

Taylor crossed her arm and glared at her colleague. Colin sighed again. "Alright, fine. Who gains by faking Ian's death, and what do they gain?"

Taylor tilted her head over to a young boy, about fourteen years old, short for his age, but athletic. The boy glanced over in their direction, but then turned away as he was approached by a man in a grey suit.

"... Oh you've got to be joking."

Taylor turned and started walking. "The KGB started recruiting as young as nine."

Colin scowled. "FSB. That's a line even Blunt wouldn't cross. Especially not if Ian's actually still... Not with the things Ian knows."

Taylor rolled her eyes at the correction and glanced back at the man in the grey suit and the dark-haired woman beside him. "In the event of an Agent's death, their homes are stripped and wiped down."

Colin frowned, before his face blanked of emotion. "You don't think this is Blunt making a play to..."

"I don't know what I think," Taylor replied unhappily, "But I know Ian's not dead. We should start from there."

"We? There is no 'we' in this, Taylor -"

Taylor stared at her colleague.

"... Fine. I'll call Liz and Callum when they get back."

A/N: Thoughts? Comments? Concerns?

Thanks for reading!