Why The Devil Kills

The infirmary staff didn't ask questions. They just took the four emaciated and terrified SAS men inside and started treating them.

Nico felt it was partially his fault. His expression was purely murderous, and everyone around him knew that talking to him was a terrible, terrible idea.

Even the Sargent thought very carefully about his words when he saw the boy walking over the rise headed toward him. Wolf and K-Unit went dead still.

"Devil," Sanders said quietly when Nico was in hearing range. "You've been missing half the morning and last night. Where's Cub?"

Nico felt his insides layer with ice. The ground cracked at his feet and his eyes flooded blood red. Wind started blowing through his hair even though it was supposed to be a fine day.

"Cub is somewhere they're going to wish he wasn't," Nico replied, his voice so filled with killing intent that the men around him were sure the words were going to strangle them.

"You… might need to explain, Devil," the Sargent said. Nico looked at him.

"We went to do the exchange. You have four half-dead men in the infirmary, by the way, who need a rather large shot of something to calm them down. Valium, maybe."

Jaguar pursed his lips.

"Devil, if anyone needs Valium, it's you," he said. Nico's head snapped to him and the SAS man stood stiffly. "You look… I'm trying to think of a better word than fucking scary."

Nico didn't crack a smile.

"You did the exchange," the Sargent prompted. "Against orders," he added. Nico jerked his head in assent.

"Yes, and Dr Three was waiting. We got J-Unit. But they got Alex. I didn't know he wasn't with me until I was half-way here."

Sargent Sanders rubbed his head.

"How do you not notice your team-mate's missing?" he sighed. Nico clenched his fists and Wolf silently directed his Unit to a safe distance away.

"I only came for something of Alex's, sir," Nico said tightly. "I'm going right now to get him back. Send the camp into Red Alert and keep everyone here."

He started to head away, his fingers closing around the pocket of his army pants. Sanders stupidly shot out his arm and grabbed the son of Hades. Nico went still.

"You're not going anywhere, Devil. I can't lose two out of two of my best soldiers in one day. Just tell me where Alex is being held and I'll send the whole camp there to get him."

Nico shook his head slowly.

"No. I can do it myself. No one here needs to get hurt because of me."

"Dammit kid!" Sanders yelled. "Either I sic the whole camp on you to keep you here and let Cub escape on his own, or you tell me where this place is so we can get him out!"

Nico shoved the hand off his shoulder and spun around, walking away towards K-Unit. His eyes were burning red.

"You can try," he replied. Then he started running down the hill, where K-Unit was waiting. As he reached them, Eagle and Snake gestured him over. Nico obeyed, for once, and stopped in front of them. They were all quiet for a second before Wolf patted his shoulder.

"If you two don't come back I'm having serious words with your father," the leader threatened. "So I can kill you again for dying on us."

Nico felt oddly warmed by that. Wolf wasn't a sentimental person at best, and at worst he was just a raging ball of fiery anger, but Nico and Cub had changed him for the better. He'd be a good Dad someday.

Eagle, Snake and Jaguar pushed forward and forcibly wrapped their arms around Nico in a hug. The son of Hades squished himself as small as he could to endure it. Dammit they were making it hard to leave.

When the awkward hug ended, Jaguar held something out to him before slipping it in his front pockets. Nico looked at the SAS man. Jaguar shrugged.

"'S a little thing Eagle and I made," he said. "For fun. Supposed to be something for good luck."

Nico felt his lips quirk. Those two dorks. Eagle then bounced up and ruffled his hair.

"Make a big explosion," he said cheerily. Behind him, Snake rolled his eyes.

"And if you come back and I find untreated wounds, the Sarge will be the least of your worries," the medic said. Nico looked over his shoulder at the mention of Sargent Sanders to see the very man stalking down the hill at him. Touching the two things in his front pockets, Nico broke away.

"Catch you later," he said quietly. Then he ducked behind the men, stood in Wolf's shadow, and whisked himself away into the darkness.

Standing in the same spot he and Alex had been found, Nico stared at the building before him. There were lights on, poking holes in the darkness beyond the compound. It was almost midday now. The best time for a solo invasion. Nico suddenly knew how Percy had felt back on the banks of the River Styx, faced with a mass of enemies and anger to burn. Of course, Nico wasn't Percy, nor was he invincible, but he was a lot more than squishy and fragile mortals could be. He was so filled with rage and hatred he could feel it bubbling up around him like lava.

"Getting Alex is the most important thing," he whispered to himself. "But that doesn't mean you're off the hook, Dr Three."

He would turn this whole compound into a smoking crater of nothing more than ash. And they would think of him in fear until they drew their last breath. The Devil who razed Scorpia.

Nico pulled Alex Rider's iPod out of his pocket.

Alex imagined that things couldn't get that much worse. Of course they could, but he seriously hoped they wouldn't.

The teen spy weakly wriggled his arms around to get some feeling back in them. There were tight shackles around his wrists connected to thick chains that were bolted into the opposite walls, keeping Alex suspended between them. His feet ached from the cold floor and there were more iron grips around his ankles. He'd never hurt so much before in his life. Dr Three wasn't the world's expert on torture for nothing, and if J-Unit was anything to go by, Alex should have been expecting it.

His head was pounding with pain and he watched as more blood dripped from his forehead onto the small, forming a puddle before him. His arms felt like they were on fire, and he didn't even need to look over to know they were badly scratched up. The feeling had left his legs a little while ago from standing/slumping awkwardly for so long, but he could feel the dull throbbing of all the wounds.

Alex breathed in raggedly and coughed, feeling the flow of blood from the corner of his mouth quicken. His chest burst in pain and he winced to himself.

But at least Nico and J-Unit were safe.

Alex didn't care that the other boy had been through two wars and fought thousands of monsters and survived hell – the actual Hell, not Breacon –, he was beyond glad Nico wasn't here being hurt. Except the teenage spy knew it was only a matter of time before Devil turned up again, this round probably filled to the tips with the imminent destruction of the entire compound.

The door to his cell slid open with a tiny grating noise and Alex slowly lifted his head to see who was visiting him.

Well, he should have expected who, really.

"Alex!" a far too enthusiastic Dr Three called as he walked in. "You look wonderful, my boy."

Alex felt his legs give a painful throb as the feeling began crawling back into them.

"Yeah," he muttered, "I bet I do."

Three, accompanied by four guards, one who was gingerly handling something long and metal, stepped up to Alex and danced a finger across his brow, dabbling purposefully on the cut there. Alex felt his face sting from the contact.

"You'll be glad to know that you won't be dying very soon," the Chinese man said happily. "Though you might wish you were. Ah, well, se la vie, Alex. You, little superspy, must have known that when you anger people on the wrong side of moralism, you get…" Three reached out for the guard holding onto the long metal thing and took it, bringing it around for Alex to see. "Badly burned."

Alex didn't even get to draw a breath before the electric-charged hot poker slammed into his side. His skin sizzled and the little energy he had left drained away as pain fuzzed his mind. He slumped forward, falling unconscious, letting the chains and wall support him and ignoring the biting of the manacles as he dove forward into pain-induced sleep.

His eyes only managed to register the shape of the poker head before he blinked out. It was a scorpion, with the inlay of a '3' over the top.

Nico felt terror spike his mind as he searched for Alex's soul in the compound. Someone was very close to death in there. He zeroed in on the suffering soul and bile rose in his throat as he realised it was the very person he was searching for. He'd barely been there a day and already Alex was near dead.

Nico drew his sword and melted into the shadows, intending to send one Dr Three to meet his father.

I'm sorry I didn't update sooner, I had term exams and then life and yeah. It'll be sooner next time as it's almost holidays. See you then!

Jasmine Out!