AN: Hey guys! Hope you all like this next chapter! Please enjoy and let me know what you think of it!
Thanks go out to my amazing beta, Crowlows19.
Disclaimer: Alex Rider isn't owned by me quite yet.
Alex was dragged to the school hall by an insistent Tom.
"Would you hurry up, already? As I've said repeatedly, I want good seats. You never know, this speaker might be a woman – a pretty woman."
"Do you think of anything besides girls, Tom?" Alex asked, pulling his wrist back.
"Of course I do, Alex. I think of food and sports." Tom gave Alex an injured look.
The blond rolled his eyes. "Wonderful Tom. You have the mental capacity of a baby. Congratulations. Well, we're here." Alex gestured to the hall. "And look, exactly two people are here. You'd better hurry." The blond's voice dripped sarcasm.
Tom rolled his eyes. "Shut it. I've already defended myself. And besides, there are more than two people here."
Alex sighed. "Let's just go in."
The two teenagers quickly took seats among the few people who had already walked back from break.
They had to wait for a few minutes but the bulk of the school soon joined them in the hall and the assembly commenced.
It took the normal route, beginning with a hymn and announcements before the principal, Mr. Bray, finally touched on the main reason for the assembly.
Alex had, up to this point, not paid much attention but when Bray started talking, he gave the man his full attention.
Tom had told him what had happened, but it was possible that the principal had more information on the subject.
"I'm sure all of you remember what happened two weeks ago. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt in the attack against our school and the authorities have managed to isolate which of our students are in danger. With that said, will Grade 10 please stay behind. The rest of you are dismissed."
No casualties. That was an unexpected bonus. He'd assumed that the security guards, at least, would have been either seriously injured or dead.
Tom was smiling at him.
Alex gave his friend a questioning look. "What's with the grin?"
"It's not you."
"What?"
"It's not you." The small teen repeated. "You heard Bray. He said students. That means more than one. It's probably Hughes and Jackson. They're the ones with the rich parents."
Alex sighed and gave his friend a half-smile. Tom wasn't usually so gullible. He must've been low on sleep.
"Tom. Really? You said that the grade was held at gunpoint. A bit drastic for a couple of rich kids, right? Neither Hughes nor Jackson have the type of skill that necessitates that type of action. No one in our grade would normally be expected to have that type of skill, let alone be able to use it while scared stiff for their lives. No, this has something to do with me."
Tom rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Alex, the government does have better things to do than make your life miserable."
"I wouldn't bet on that. Blunt seems to find it very satisfying. And keep your voice down. Our classmates may be at least two rows away from us but that doesn't mean that they're deaf. Someone'll hear you soon enough if you keep shouting like that."
Tom waved this warning away but he did lower his voice slightly.
"Alex… What did we say about overinflated senses of importance?"
"That they're bad." The blond looked at his friend. "I'm being serious–"
Alex was interrupted by the arrival of their guest.
A very familiar guest.
"Who is it?" Tom asked.
"How am I supposed to know? This has nothing to do with me, remember?"
The blond smirked. He loved taunting Tom. The spiky-haired teen always got so frustrated.
"Alex! I know you know who it is. Now tell me!" Tom glared at him.
"You could just wait for the guy to introduce himself. It'll happen in five seconds."
"No! I want you to tell me! And don't lie!"
"Admit that I'm right first."
"Fine. In this one rare instance Alex Rider was right."
Alex smiled. "Thank you. Now, his name is –"
"Silence, Grade 10." Henry Bray interrupted the many conversations that had broken out in the few minutes of waiting.
Tom scowled.
"Alex."
The blond smiled angelically and put a finger to his lips.
"You planned that." The dark-haired teen muttered.
Alex said nothing, carefully keeping a smile off his face. Tom would most likely explode if he saw it.
Bray had been waiting for silence but now he began to speak again.
"This is the government official who will be speaking with you. His name is Mr. Crawley."
He stepped up to the podium and spoke into the microphone.
"We believe that the events of two weeks previously were meant as a threat against one or more of the students here right now. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to isolate the intended target of this threat. That said, we do have an idea of the most likely target and we will be removing the high-risk students and putting them into protective custody. Please keep in mind that being a high-risk student does not necessarily mean that you are the target or vice versa so we advise you all to take precautionary measures."
He stepped back from the podium and allowed the headmaster to take his place, handing him a sheet of paper.
Bray cleared his throat, tapped the microphone and finally began:
"The following students, stay behind. The rest of you, go back to your lessons."
He cleared his throat again, adjusting his glasses.
"Regina Towers,
James Hale,
Nicole Thompson,
Tom Harris-"
Tom jumped next to Alex, his eyes wide.
"Why, me?"
"Probably because you're a friend of mine. Sorry."
Tom scoffed. "Don't be an idiot. You've gotten me out of this place. I could kiss you. I might just have to, actually." He leaned towards the blond.
Alex pulled back. "Don't. Really, I'm good. There's no need."
Tom pouted.
Bray had almost gotten to the end of his list.
"Adrian Craven and finally –"he broke off, blinking at the piece of paper.
"Alex Rider." He sounded surprised.
"Well, that's it. The rest of you, back to lessons and remember to be careful."
The headmaster left and the majority of the grade followed him.
Alex sighed. He'd known that he would be part of this but hearing his name called out had been disappointing nonetheless.
He stood to go over to Crawley but stopped when he noticed the lack of movement behind him.
Tom was looking at him concernedly.
"What?" he asked.
"Do you have a breathing disorder?" the dark-haired boy enquired gravely.
Alex blinked.
"No, Tom, I don't."
"Then why, exactly, have you been huffing like a winded hippo all day?" Tom raised an eyebrow.
Alex narrowed his eyes. "I have not been huffing. I may have sighed a few times but that, I think, is perfectly understandable what with the deplorable state of my life right now."
"Ungrateful."
"What?" Alex stared at the shorter boy. Ungrateful? What was there in his life to be grateful for? He looked down at his friend, ready to let Tom have it and then groaned.
Alex recognized that look on his friend's face. Tom only looked like that when he was very pissed about animal mistreatment. Sadly, it seemed that he'd branched out into Alex Mistreatment, the new very popular sport played by Intelligence Agencies and bad guys the world over.
"Leave it, Tom," he hissed into the other boy's ear.
The boy glared at him mutinously and opened his mouth.
He reached into his pocket and tossed his wallet to the floor on the other side of Tom.
"MI6 will eat you for dinner. They'll ruin your life and the lives of your family and, for good measure, they'll make me miserable. I'll talk to you about this somewhere private and safe but for now, leave it." he hissed into the other boy's ear as he leaned over him to grab the wallet back.
Tom nodded jerkily, his face pale.
"Good, now let's go. Most of the others are already at the front." He gestured towards the small knot of people around Jonathan Crawley, then commenced dragging the other towards them.
Crawley had just begun to speak.
"Your will all be given fifteen minutes to contact your parents or guardians and have them put together the essentials for you. Please ensure that you do not have any type of communication devices included. Your bags will be picked up and delivered to you. Please also remember to hand over anything with an internet connection or phone signal. All of these will be given back to you but it is essential that you hand them over as it is possible for you to be tracked with such devices on you."
Crawley walked to the door and let in ten armed guards.
Alex looked them over quickly.
All of them were well-built and armed heavily, both with concealed and visible weapons. They were all dressed in black and they reminded Alex of robots. It could be troublesome if they had to think on their feet but as long as their orders were clear enough, there should be no problems…
Ten guards for ten students.
It made sense – each kid would have their own personal shield were anything to happen.
He retreated to an isolated part of the hall before pulling out his mobile. Jack was not going to be impressed and it wouldn't help things if a nosy teenager heard her yelling about MI6's manipulation.
"Hello." The American's voice was cheery.
"Hey, Jack."
"Alex!" Her voice was immediately filled with worry. "What happened? Where are you?
Are you okay?"
He smiled softly. Typical Jack. Ask multiple questions at once, don't give him a chance to
answer and then work herself up into a panic when she didn't hear him reply.
"I'm fine, Jack. I –"
She cut him off. "What did you do this time?" His housekeeper's voice was longsuffering.
"Nothing. I promise." His voice was innocence personified.
"Oh, really?" The red-head sounded unconvinced.
"Yes, really. Don't you trust me, Jackie?"
"No, Al, I don't. And if nothing happened, why are you calling me?"
"We're going on a bit of an impromptu field trip and I need you to get some stuff together for me."
"Oh," Jack sounded understandably surprised. After all, it wasn't often that news from Alex was good these days. Alex sighed. He was going to have to burst her bubble soon.
"How long will you be gone for? Do you need me to pack for you and drop a bag off? Where are you guys going anyway?"
"Weeell," Alex dragged the word out.
Jack's voice sharpened. "Well, what, Alex?"
"I'm sorry, Jack." His voice was filled with regret.
She sighed. "It's not your fault, Alex. But what did you mean by 'we'?"
"It's a long story, Jack. Cliff's Notes – I'll need you to pack for me for two weeks. Brookland was targeted and chances are high that I'm the target. I'll be put into protective custody with –" He paused to do a head count. "Nine other students. I probably won't be in any danger, it's just a preventative measure."
"Are you lying to me, Alex?"
"No, Jack. You know about as much as I do. I'm supposed to hand in my mobile. And, I'm kinda nervous about what'll be happening…"
"Are you with people?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, so I'm gonna have to guess what you need, aren't I?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Okay, clothes, toiletries etc. Um, extra phone and pocket knife. Anything else?"
"There's a black box in my bedroom that should have what you're looking for."
"Got it. Do you have to take these damn things?"
"Better safe than sorry."
"I suppose. Do you want your laptop?"
"That'd be great. Just stick it in the bag."
"Putting everything important in a backpack and all the rest in a duffel bag."
"Jack, you're perfect. Thanks. Hold thumbs that I'll see you soon."
"Be careful and don't get shot again, do you hear me, young man?"
"Yes, ma'am. Bye, Jack."
"Bye, Alex."
The blond looked around, noticing that he was the only one besides Tom who was still busy on the phone. He blushed lightly. Oops. Maybe he should've cut Jack off… Nah, being stared at by a bunch of rich teenagers was nowhere near as painful as the consequences for irritating a red-head who had the power to blackmail you.
He glared and everyone suddenly seemed to be looking for the world's secrets on their shoes.
"Alex, stop scaring the teenagers. You know I like to do it too."
Alex rolled his eyes. "You don't scare people, Tom. You make them pity you for your lack of intellect."
Tom pouted. "You don't mean that."
"Yes, Tom, I do. And, once again, you're distracting me and causing us to be left behind. Come on, before the big bad guards decide to shepherd us with their machine guns."
They re-joined the rest of the group just outside the school's gates.
There were five cars waiting outside.
Each car, save one, was filled with two students, occupying the rear seats and two guards for the front seats.
It was towards the last car that Alex walked. It was identical to the others, one of the, unmarked, black Rolls Royce models that MI6 seemed to prefer. Alex simply thanked God that it wasn't a limousine the likes of which he'd travelled in when he'd met Joe Byrne for the first time.
He turned to look at one of the bodyguards they'd been supplied with.
"How long will we be driving for, do you think?"
The man shrugged. "No idea. We've got a pre-programmed GPS route and we're not gonna be taking you all the way besides."
Alex nodded. "Okay. Thank you anyway."
If they were bothering with switching drivers, it'd probably only be after an hour or more which meant that he might as well take a nap. It was better than listening to Tom chattering away for over an hour at any rate.
AN: Once again, let me know what you think. Also, if anyone reads Harry Potter fanfiction, come check out the Yahoo! Group I've put up. We're still extremely new but I hope to have a very nice Group up and running ASAP.
Also, if you're reading Understanding, next chapter's with my beta.
TC.