The Devil's Friends

Alex was woken by Wolf's cursing as he hopped around trying to get his boot on. The teenage spy grabbed the edge of his blankets and pulled them over his head, groaning.

"Wolf," he whined, "shut upppp!"

Wolf turned around and Alex saw him approach through the thin threads of his blanket. Wolf put a hand on the cover and pulled it away.

"Kid," he said, "you gotta get up."

It was four days after the whole Devil-summoning-his-parents-ghosts, and Alex still could barely get over it. K-Unit had become an even closer-knit group now, and since the Green Jacket's had left, all of Brecon could finally show how they felt about the two prodigal soldiers without being seriously beaten up in exercises.

"Why?" Alex asked, propping himself up on one elbow and looking at the alarm clock. "It's only five Wolf, dammit."

Wolf shook his head and knelt to tie his boot.

"There's a problem. Sarg wouldn't say what exactly, but it's not good. The others left a few minutes ago. Devil said not to wake you up until absolutely necessary."

Alex huffed and slid out of bed. Nico might be a demigod with out-of-this-world powers, but he was such a Mum sometimes.

The teen spy got dressed and followed Wolf out, who'd been waiting for him at the door. They walked away from K-Unit cabin and started up the hill, where Alex could see a gathering of SAS men lined up next to the assault course. He and Wolf snuck in next to Eagle and Snake. Alex gave Devil a stern look for letting him sleep in. Devil stuck his tongue out.

Sargent Daniel Sanders walked out of his office.

"Attention!" he barked, and everyone saluted. "At ease." The men dropped his hands to their sides. Sanders started pacing.

"We're in the middle of a Red Alert," he said, and the men went rigid.

"An organisation thought to have been brought down seems to have one more bite left in it. In fact, someone here today is responsible for their downfall."

He spared Alex a look, and the boy's face paled. No. Not them.

"Scorpia," the Sargent said. Alex felt his legs wobble underneath him and Devil gave him a look as the teen put his hands on his friends shoulder to stay upright.

"Their remaining member, Dr Three, has abducted J-Unit, and are demanding an exchange."

Alex knew what was coming the moment the Sargent finished speaking. Daniel Sanders looked right at him.

"Their deal is they'll give us Raccoon, Banshee, Otter and Harpy if we hand over Cub and Devil."

Alex felt cold. He knew why they wanted him, but what did they need Devil for? Alex shook his head and stepped forward, his legs still feeling soft and jelly-like.

"I'd like to go, sir," he said loudly. "Those are good men who can't be lost and have families. Did Scorpia leave any details on the exchange?"

Alex was suddenly shoved backwards and another person took his place.

"Don't be stupid," they hissed to him before facing the Sargent.

"If you'd be so kind sir," Devil said, "I can retrieve these men by myself without putting Cub or J-Unit in danger. We can't lose a whole Unit and the star soldier after all. I volunteer to go with whatever this organisation is. Scorpia."

Alex jumped forward and shoved Devil.

"No way!" he yelled. "They're problem is with me. I'm not letting my best mate get killed over my mistakes."

Devil looked at the teen soldier.

"You know more than anyone here Cub, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"I won't - "

"Enough!"

They both looked, startled, at the Sargent, who was baring down on them.

"Neither of you are going!" he seethed. "Like you said, they're good men. They can handle themselves."

Wolf walked in, followed by Snake.

"Sir, if I may," the medic interrupted. He laid a hand on Devil's shoulder. "Devil can get J-Unit successfully. I've seen him to impossible things with my own eyes. You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but this kid is one of a kind." He ruffled the boys black hair while Wolf leaned on Alex.

"And Cub's just as good," the leader added. "Three wouldn't know what hit him if these two invaded. They could take us all on by themselves and I'm willing to bet a whole month of dish-duty they'd win." Wolf grunted, his cheeks turning ruddy as he realised he'd just said that out loud and in front of everyone at Brecon Beacons.

Sargent Daniels glared.

"I don't care if they could've stopped Hitler, Wolf," he growled, "these boys are not going anywhere!"

Devil scowled at the ground and Alex fumed silently. Innocent men were in danger because of him. He wouldn't stand for it.

"Meeting dismissed!"

After the day of shooting exercises and one-on-one fighting and assault course running, K-Unit returned to their cabin late. Wolf opened the door and let Snake, Eagle and Jaguar in, followed by Nico and Cub. The son of Hades was feeling slightly sick. Percy's hero complex seemed to have rubbed off on him and he couldn't sit by and let four men suffer because of him and Alex. His friend was obviously feeling the same way, so Nico grabbed the blond and dragged him towards the corner of the room while the others got out their pack of cards.

"We have to do something," Nico hissed, and Alex nodded wildly.

"Yeah!" he replied. "I can't just- it's my fault they're stuck with Three. I took down Scorpia when I was fourteen and they hate my guts!"

Nico frowned. "Why do they want me though?"

"I don't know," Alex sighed. "But it can't be good for me or for you."

Nico hated to admit this, but he needed advice. He was going to anyway, but he needed to make sure this was right. Also, on a more depressing note, if he didn't come back, he wanted his fellow demigods to know where he was. He never did get around to IMing Hazel, and it'd been a long time. They were probably thinking he'd died or something. Nico chuckled bitterly at the thought. He might just die.

"Alex, look, I'm just going to go outside and call my… other family, I guess. Could you…"

He was about to ask if Alex could think up an excuse for Nico, but then he had a slightly better idea.

"Do you want to come?"

Alex looked stunned.

"You- you want me to come with you to talk to your family?" he clarified, and Nico nodded, a small smile on his face.

"Yeah, sure, I met yours. It's only fair."

Alex grinned to wide his face hurt.

"Sure, dude," he replied, skipping around Nico and jumping on the son of Hades' back. Nico grunted at the weight of the other teen and stepped heavily over to his bag, fishing around for what he knew was in there.

After a few seconds, he drew out a small five-by-five centimetre cube made entirely of glass and mirrors. Then he grabbed another little device and slipped them in his pocket. He could feel Alex's curious gaze on his neck but he ignored them in favour of melting into the shadows and teleporting the two outside without K-Unit noticing.

Nico set up the Iris Message about a hundred meters from the cabin so they wouldn't be overheard. He crouched behind a tree in the training forest and placed the glass cube on the ground along with the small, circular device. He hit a switch on it and light exploded from the opening, shining against the mirror and glass cube, creating a rainbow. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Okaaay," he said, "how's this going to help?"

Nico gave him a look.

"Watch."

Then he put his hands in his jacket and took out a drachma.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow," he hummed, "show me Percy Jackson at Camp Half-Blood."

Then he threw the drachma at the rainbow. It disappeared and Alex made a noise as an image started appearing.

Percy was in the training area, the sun beating down on his tanned skin. He was shirtless, making Nico go a bit red, and wielding Riptide with deadly force. Dummies fell left, right and centre. Nico started to speak.

"Percy!" he called. The boy in the image jumped a foot in surprise before his eyes went wide and he saw the IM.

"Nico!?" he yelled, and Alex felt his jaw drop slightly. Nico looked a little sheepish.

"Yeah, hi."

Percy stared for a moment before trying to strangle the mist.

"Where the Hades have you been, di Angleo!" he shouted. "It's been months! You could have been dead for all we knew! Hazel's going out of her mind, you twit! And who in the name of Poseidon is that?"

Percy pointed at Alex, and Nico smacked his face.

"I've been doing things for my father, I'm in England, I'm fine, and this is Alex Rider," he rattled off. Percy relaxed a little bit before looking off the screen of mist and yelling at someone.

"Jason, Leo, Hazel! Get over here, it's Nico!"

Alex was so overwhelmed with all the kids now in the mist-call-y-thing. Percy was there, crowded by more teens whose names he thought were Leo, Hazel, Frank, Jason, Annabeth, Piper, Thalia and Reyna. They all looked tough and strong, but different somehow. Nico had been talking to them for a few minutes about how no, he was not dead, yes, he was fine, and – Alex had laughed at this – no, English people did not walk with their noses in the air. He thought the elfish boy had asked that.

"Anyway guys, um, this is Alex," Nico said, and Alex stepped forward, smiling charmingly at the group. They looked suspiciously back at him before Percy started talking.

"So you're Nico's friend?" he asked, and Alex nodded.

"Yeah. Nico got involved with the CIA and then MI6 and they sent him to the training camp in Wales. You already know this though."

Percy eyed him for a moment.

"Dude, if I could, I'd hug you," he finally said. "Nico doesn't make friends." Nico rolled his eyes and went a bit red. "And if you know who he is I love you for sticking with him."

The pretty, dark-skinned girl nodded.

"Yes, thank you Alex," she said. "My brother needs people like you."

"Alright, alright, stop with the pity-party," Nico groaned, before looking at Percy again.

"But I did really need to talk to you guys about something," he said. Percy motioned for him to continue. Nico rubbed his face.

"Alex took down this big criminal organisation when he was fourteen," he started, "and now they've kidnapped J-Unit, a group we train with, and are demanding an exchange: J-Unit for me and Alex. The guy who's heading it up, Dr Three, is supposedly the world's leading expert on torture and hates Alex to the core of his existence."

Nico held up his hand as they started arguing with him.

"No, I've already decided I'm going to do the exchange and nothing you can say will change that but," he gave Percy a look, "I just want some advice. You gave me the stupid hero complex, Jackson, you're going to help me deal with it."

Percy sighed, defeated. Jason closed his eyes and hugged the pretty Cherokee girl next to him while the dark-skinned girl who was Nico's sister leaned into the big, burly Asian boy, looking distressed.

"I suppose, you've got the shadow-travelling, Nico," Percy started. "You could just slip in an get them but - "

"But then the camp will most likely be put in more danger," Alex finished. "An exchange is imminent, Percy." He looked at the green-eyed boy. "I think the best we can do is go by ourselves and stay together, then Nico can get us out as soon as possible, right?"

Percy nodded.

"Right," he said. "And try put this Dr Three fella out of action for a while, or there'll be trouble."

Nico and Alex nodded and Nico raised a hand in farewell. He looked over the group of teens.

"Guys, if I don't come back, I hate you a lot less than I hate other people," he said quietly, before swiping through the image. Alex only caught a panicked look on Percy's face and the beginnings of a distraught scream from the dark-skinned girl before the connection shut off.

Nico turned to Alex, and the teenage spy decided to ignore the twinkling of formed tears in his friend's eyes. Nico wouldn't want his sympathy.

"Well," the demigod said, subtly wiping at his eyes, "let's get going then."

He put an arm around Alex and picked up the IM material before plunging into the shadow of the nearest tree. The two boys disappeared.

No one noticed until K-Unit reported in the next morning saying they had gone.

I am so sorry! A month and a day! Depending on where you are. I was just so unmotivated but then I got motivated again so here we are! I WILL be on time next chapter!

See you next time!

Jasmine Out!