Built for Espionage: Chapter Seventeen

MI6 unfortunately detained K-unit, Alex and Sasha Makedonsky, just as quickly admitting Ben, Alex and Sasha into St. Dominic's Hospital. Though Wolf was also briefly with them, only to get checked and bandaged before being escorted with Snake and Eagle to the main office of Alan Blunt. Or at least, it had formerly been the office of Alan Blunt.

Instead Wolf, Snake and Eagle walking into an office where a single older woman sat, beside her walking the woman through a folder was Ms Jones. But no Blunt.

'Ms Jones?' inquired Snake, the man having finally decided to address the confusing situation before them. As much as their most recent 'mission' hadn't quite been approved of nor funded by MI6, they had still been re-claimed by MI6 and the SAS. And that still meant they were expected to debrief with an acting human resources manager- or often as MI6 did, whoever they felt like throwing you to.

'Yes K-unit good to see you made it, I'll let Ms Matthews do the demounting' Ms Jones pointed to four images in the folders before taking a few steps away from the desk until she was standing by the walk. Ms Matthews invited the three K-unit soldiers to sit before she began.

'Now then, I'm Myra Matthews, I'm MI6's human resources manager- and currently the temporary head of MI6 right now. As far as I've been told by Ms Jones, two of your former-teammates and active MI6 agents are still in the St. Dominic's as well as the man you all decided to hunt down and capture. Give me a rough game-play of what happened in the last two weeks' Ms Matthews had a firm voice, but her expression and tone of voice had the men instantly preferring her over a debriefing/demounting with Blunt.

Wolf gave an informing document of their last two weeks, from being assigned Cub's case to the safe house, kidnapping of both Alex and Fox, and further they mission to get their teammates back. Ms Matthews only interrupted once.

'You three alone took the Makedonsky house?'

'Yes'

'Very well'

It had been decided as soon as Yassen had escorted Alex and Wolf to the car that Yassen wouldn't be included, that the assassin would disappear and MI6 could continue to believe the man dead. And so, their retelling of their mission had no mention of the assassin at all.

Wolf wasn't sure if he was protecting the assassin or if he was protecting his team, he'd always insist it had been to protect K-unit though. And when Eagle, Fox and Snake had heard of Alex, Yassen and Wolf's plan, they of course went along.

When Alex pealed opened his eyes only to find himself in an oddly quiet and dark room, it all too quickly brought back memories of the dark cell that had held he and Ben. Instantly he was on high alert, he remembered escaping, Yassen and Wolf at his side as they took down Sasha. It didn't make sense for him to have returned here, unless he had been recaptured.

Only as he regained his breath and actually looked around the room did he notice a few clear differences between his cell and this room. This room was clearly in a hospital, a cheaply small tv hanging from a wall, a swing-around curtain that could be used to close off his area of the two-person room. And that was another thing, there was someone else in the room- their bed maybe a metre from his own bed. Another patient.

Alex's hand shifted under the soft knitted blanket over him, it brushed a small remote and he recognised its function as he brought it out from under the blankets. It was his bed's controls as well as a nurse call button, something he wanted to press. He knew he was more than likely at St. Dominic's Hospital, but there was still the reassurance it would provide to find out if he was really here or if he was somewhere else.

He placed the remote on his bedside table and pushed back his covers, a mild pain exploded at his side from his movements that left him frozen before he cautiously lifted the light blue cotton shirt he had been changed into. There crossing around his chest and stomach were a layer of bandages, he felt a lumped patch over where he was certain was his brand and barely spared a glance at the athletic medical tape over his bullet wound before letting his shirt drop again.

'How're you feeling Cub?' A soft and whispered voice spoke from the door into his room, Alex was thankful that he'd already dropped his shirt and looked up to see Snake walking into the room, casting a cautious glance at the other person who Alex assumed was still asleep.

'A little pain honestly, nothing unbearable though' He gave out a quiet cough as his voice was shaky and made it difficult to talk, just based on that he'd been here at least over ten hours. Snake made it to his bed and was taking a seat in a shitty plastic chair beside his bed before he spoke again.

'Yeah, the doctors were worried that the pain meds may have been contributing to a medically induced coma if they keep them at the levels, Ms Jones suggested that they lower them before something went wrong'

'Has Jones been here?' Snake chuckled at his question, Alex wondered why before he realised that he was talking to the medic of K-unit, the man was far more concerned about his most recent hospital stay than who his visitors were.

'Of course, you focus on that, yeah Ms Jones came by- she actually brought you a 'Get Well Soon' balloon' at Snake's directed point Alex looked over to the corner of his room and spotted the floating balloon, the enthusiastic message written in bubble font and with bright colours. Alex instantly hated it and felt even more embarrassed that it was in his area of the room- there was no mistaking it was for him.

'Hell no is that staying in here, when you leave take it with you' He eagerly advised Snake, the man only raising an eyebrow at his words.

'Want me to drop it into some kids room?' Snake posed, getting up from his chair and walking over to the balloon, grabbing the string before walking back over to Alex's bed and sitting down with it still in hand. The bright balloon casually floated above their heads as they continued.

'No, pop it and throw it in the bin, Blunt probably bugged it' Snake looked surprised before sympathetic, Alex nearly felt like glaring at the man before he realised it wasn't a pity sympathy, it was something else.

'What is it?' He asked, moving to sit up further rather than lay down as he had been when he'd first woken up.

'A few things, I- we all found out about your guardian, I'm sorry she was taken from you- especially when you needed her' The well meaning words strangely didn't anger Alex, it wasn't just someone saying sorry for you loss or a cop-out that he'd gotten when Ian died. No Snake's words were realistically sympathetic and the man seemed to understand that Alex actually needed her here and wasn't poking fun of the fact.

'Thanks Snake, I actually nearly forgot about it when Sasha had me, didn't even remember till he threatened to hurt Ben and admitted to killing her that it all came back' He didn't meet Snake's eyes, he knew the man would be searching him for further clues to understand Alex, but that wasn't what he wanted right now. Snake's sympathy was more than enough, he motioned for Snake to continue his earlier words.

'Cub, Blunt's not in charge anymore. It happened while you were captured and we didn't even know until this afternoon, but apparently a group of rather-powered people have been trying to get rid of him for a while. They finally managed to get him kicked out of office about four days ago- thanks to you' Snake's hopeful, thankful eyes reached Alex and the abused teen spy couldn't help his own hopeful tone as he spoke.

'Really? Blunt's actually gone? Is it permanent? Who's taken over?' Snake's soft chuckle sounded in the room again, it strangely made Alex relax further.

'He's gone for certain; he probably won't be able to get much of any job for a long time- he's never coming back to MI6. And her name is Myra Matthews, she's nice- pretty firm and straight forward, but she's only a temp until they can get someone suited for the job.' Alex's next question was bubbling in his mind, he didn't want to sound selfish- but it MI6 was under new management, maybe he could get out, he gave a sigh and met Snake's eyes.

'What about me?'

It was two in the morning before Alex found someone else coming to visit him, Snake had left not an hour ago and Alex was nearly concerned as to why he couldn't get back to sleep. However, as his new guest came into the room, silent and without even Alex noticing- he was kinda glad he hadn't missed this.

'Little Alex' The voice was as strong and tone-flat as Alex remembered. He rolled over to his side, turning to face the assassin before he spoke again.

'Hey Yassen' he mumbled, shifting his body just a bit more to advice cause any strain on his brand. The assassin's lips twitched in what Alex was sure was annoyance, how he'd gone from on-edge to casual and chill around an assassin even he didn't know, but he was certain it miffed the man.

'I believe you did nearly everything I told you not to do.' Really, the man was taking this approach. Alex wondered if Yassen understood what it meant to be a teenager- or even a kid, they often did the exact opposite of what you tell them to do. He restrained himself from laughing at the words before he answered Yassen.

'Did you really think I'd listen' He quipped, a grin making its way onto his lips and he saw as Yassen's formerly tense shoulders relaxed the tiniest bit, enough for him to just make it out.

'I'd hoped you wouldn't put yourself in amateur danger'

'Proved you wrong didn't I' He didn't hold back his quiet laugh this time, Yassen could be the international assassin, wanted and feared as much as he wanted, but it wouldn't work against Alex- especially not when he was tired and recovering from his most recent kidnapping.

'No one bothered me this much when I was dead' Alex felt the man wanted to directly blame him for his death, but instead Alex caught the split-second smile that graced the assassin's face. This man before him now, he was the one his dad had become friends with, not the cold and heartless assassin- but the relaxed and strangely reassuring assassin.

'If you stick around you can watch me raise more hell?' He suggested, already knowing that the assassin would be out of the country by tomorrow night at latest. However, Alex couldn't stop the strange comparison between who he imagined had been his dad and his dad's friend, he was sure he wasn't placing Yassen 'International Assassin' as his father figure, but the man easily fit the weird distant uncle position. Maybe he should tell him that.

'Will you be continuing your work for MI6 little Alex' Subject change, and Alex was once again focused on the wrong part of Yassen's question.

'Why do you call me little Alex' Yassen raised an eyebrow at his question, clearly wondering if Alex was avoiding his own question or this was just a question Alex needed answered.

'You're fourteen Alex, that is a child and you are therefore a child, you are little' Alex raised an eyebrow this time, something about that answer seemed like a cop-out.

'I hope to one day meet Alex, not little you, but older you, when you have left this life behind and live a normal life as your father wold have wanted' Alex didn't show his shock at the honestly of Yassen's words, the man really was his weird distant uncle.

'MI6 have a new director; she doesn't want me working for them- at least not unless I'm of age and willing. I'm just Alex again' Yassen hummed at his answer before catching Alex's eyes again.

'And what of your new guardian?' Alex felt like he'd been punched in the stomach, which right now would be especially pain-inducing. Because he hadn't thought of a new guardian, but Yassen was right. His parents were dead, Ian was dead and now so was Jack. He didn't have any relatives alive, and no one he could even imagine asking. Tom's parents were out of the picture, even though he'd known them since he was a toddler.

'Alex it's okay, if they can't fine you a guardian you know the guys and I are more than happy to help' Alex and Yassen turned to spy Ben who was adjusting his bed and turning to face them, a compassionate expression on his face. Yassen didn't look surprised by Ben's sudden voice, but Alex hadn't known the MI6 agent had been the very patient who he was sharing a room with.

'Ben are you okay?' He asked, disregarding the suggestion from Ben- it seemed to good to be true if he got to live with someone he knew and now trusted, he imagined MI6 would throw him into the arms of any legal adult. But then again maybe there was hope, MI6 was under new management after all.

'Fine Cub, don't worry about me. But I was being serious, it's not like we haven't had to live with a kid before- Eagle was a pain, but we still keep him around' It was a very serious matter, one that Ben knew was scaring Alex, and the man was already verbally supporting him. God Ben would be an overprotective parent if he was ever one. Alex choose to give a soft laugh at the poke to Eagle and smile in appreciation to Fox.

'I should be going, little Alex- do stay out of my world for just a bit longer will you' Yassen had since they'd met always been warning Alex of the world of espionage, and now that MI6 wasn't blackmailing him into a life of being a spy, maybe just maybe he wouldn't ever go back into that world.

But then again, his father, uncle, godfather and who knows else had thrived in that world, maybe he was built for espionage.

Author's Note: So that's the ending of the official story, but I do have four epilogues written that will each take place after this chapter. Epilogue one takes place a year after chapter seventeen (this chapter – the ending), then epilogue two takes place eight months after chapter seventeen (this chapter – the ending) the four are kinda in reverse order but I'll try to make it clear that it's not eg, eight months after epilogue one, but actually four months before epilogue one. Don't worry too much, it's not like the order is super important, the epilogues are more or less just glimpses into Alex's life after this.