AN- DID I SURPRISE YOU? Well, be surprised! Ha! A huge thanks to ALL of your reviews! They all mattered! And thanks to Bastet'syoungestkitten for her help with the blindness part. Thank you very much!
Alex did not like to think about when he had lost his sight.
Much less talk about it.
"Well, that was a pleasant discussion." Alex stood up, knowing that Mrs Jones was probably not able to look at him (she never had been able to spend much time around him after-) and Mr Blunt probably was, that expressionless expression slipped onto his face like a mask. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd much rather go somewhere, and, you know, talk about things I'd much rather like to hear. Good day to-"
"Sit back down, Alex," Mr Blunt ordered.
Alex rolled his useless eyes but sat down accordingly, making sure to sigh a bit in exasperation before he did. "What?"
"Alan, you can't possibly think to use Alex as an Agent now," Mrs Jones hissed, recovering from her guilty lapse of silence. From the sound of faint shuffling of material, it sounded as if she had taken another step towards Mr Blunt. "There are certain requirements-"
"One of which is being 18 years of age without parental consent. These are mere disturbances, Mrs Jones. Alex is far beyond what any requirement may try to do." his voice was dismissive, already bored of the conversation.
"Look," Alex interrupted again, holding one hand up and twitching his brows higher, eyes latching onto where he could hear Mr Blunt's voice coming from. "I didn't come hear to be talked about. So, please. What do you want?"
Slight pause, rustling of paper, exhalation of breath."A mission, Alex,"
"Alan," tightly reigned in anger stretched the word out to an almost strangled quality.
"Tulip." Alex shifted back at the sudden sharp voice. "This was the reason that I did not allow you to attend this meeting. Although you are a very trusted deputy, I will not allow you to undermine my authority. I have worked this Department for years now- and quite frankly, Mrs Jones, if you continue to attempt to tell me what to do, I shall make sure that there are devastating consequences. Do I make myself clear?"
Again, a pause filled with only soft breathing and the sound of the wind talking to the window. "Yes, sir. I apologise." Mrs Jones' voice was soft, and Alex could imagine her head dipped, that familiar blank look sliding onto her face.
"Should've brought some popcorn," Alex murmured near under his breath.
"Returning to the matter at hand," Mr Blunt ignored Alex's quip and seemed to turn back to face him, Alex could feel his eyes boring into his own, and shifted his own brown eyes accordingly. "We have a mission for you." he paused, and Alex leaped in to fill it.
"For me?" he asked, voice suspicious. "What's that meant to mean?" after so long with working with Mr Blunt, he had developed the ability to be able to see meanings in every single one of his words. Not being able to see his expression made it easier somewhat, too. People let a lot go with tiny inflictions in their tone of voice, or the simple usage of certain words.
"Yes. It's been waiting for you for quite a while, actually. If you would, Mrs Jones,"
The woman didn't say anything for a few moments, and Alex waited expectantly, when she did speak, it wasn't what he was hoping to hear. "Mr Blunt, forgive me please, but I must satiate my curiosity."
(curiosity killed the cat, Rider)
Taptaptaptap, Alex's ears twitched towards the sound of fingers drumming against a desk, and he mentally pictured Mr Blunt's faintly exasperated face. "By all means, Mrs Jones."
Frowning, Alex turned back to Mrs Jones, the smell of peppermint suddenly stronger as Alex listened to her muffled footsteps move closer to him.
"Hello, Alex,"
"Hello..." he said warily, glancing over to where he knew Mr Blunt would be.
Alex flickered his eyes back to her when he sensed some sort of hesitation. The sound of crumpling fabric and the soft hitch of breath warned him of her hands reaching out for his.
Very subtly, he moved them out of the way and gave a wan smile. "Please, Mrs Jones, I'm sure you can ask me what you want just as you are,"
Another hitch in breath (strangled, a little pained) before the breathing went back to normal and Alex felt displaced air wash softly across him as she sat down in front of him. "Tell me, Alex. Why do you seem so...willing to do this mission?" (sound of an opening mouth. Dabbing lips with a tongue?) "You were given a way out when..." she didn't bother to finish the sentence, and for that, Alex was glad. "You have no reason to do the missions anymore, Alex. Less, perhaps after- just answer me that, Alex. Why do you insist on doing them?"
He blinked at her and lifted a hand to rub at his eyes, noting the sound that gave away her tiny flinch.
Why did he do it, then?
The reason was simple, really.
"Because I can."
"Excuse me?"
Sighing once again, (seriously, he really needed to stop doing that) he dragged one hand through his hair and flopped further back into his chair, eyes staying pinned on where he knew her to be, his hunch proved right at the sound of her surprised murmur as they managed to pin what he believed to be her eyes. "I was always a spy before because I didn't have a chance to say no. But now...I can choose. And I'm saying that I'm not about to let blindness get in the way of anything I do. I can do it- and I don't need my sight to be able to do so."
The drumming of fingers had stopped.
"So...an act of stubbornness?"
Alex bristled at the comment and glared at the woman. "No. It's what I do. I'm a spy now whether I like it or not. There's no going back now- losing my sight just proved it." Alex didn't say how the idea of giving into his loss of sight, how having to live an ordinary life without his sight terrified him. He didn't say how it was necessary to prove the sympathetic airs of people wrong. To prove them that he hadn't lost his worth as a spy. And, most importantly, he definitely didn't say how he needed the rush, the adrenalin, the noise and the purpose now. How he couldn't bare to live in silence. The noise was part of him now. He thrived on it.
And going on a mission was just a way to get that drug like substance back into his system.
Not even going blind would take that away from him.
OK.
Well, that wasn't the main reason. The main reason was revenge. Revenge. And the only way to get revenge on the people who- the only way to get revenge was through MI6. And Mr Blunt knew that. So, the whole blackmail thing? It was still there. But more silent; and something that Alex was starving for.
So he didn't bother to mention it.
"Very well," Mrs Jones didn't sound like she believed what she was saying and Alex listened as she moved away from him and slipped back to stand by Mr Blunt.
"If that is all, I would like to continue with the mission briefing," Mr Blunt drawled, boredom evident in his voice.
"Fire away," Alex muttered, leaning back into the chair and resisting the common urge to close his eyes that had plagued him ever since losing his sight.
"This has been an...ongoing mission of which we had ready for you before you lost your sight. As such, it is necessary that you are the one to take the mission." Alex hummed a vague reply back and waited for the man to continue. "Tell me, Alex. Have you ever wanted to see the upcoming movie Losing Vanessa?"
Alex raised one eyebrow as he thought. Vaguely, he could remember hearing the girls in his school squealing about it in a corner and in the cafeteria for what seemed a long while back (and seeing them, too. Colours and all). But he had never personally held the desire to watched it. Oddly enough, having to constantly fight for your life didn't allow time to sit down and watch movies.
Won't ever get the chance to watch it anyway anymore.
Shaking the thought off, Alex shook his head in negative. "Nope. Heard of it, though,"
"Very good," Mrs Jones replied a little vaguely, still not happy with the way things were going, Alex supposed. He clenched his jaw and sat up straighter. Well, she was just going to have to deal with it, then. "Perhaps you've heard of the two main actors in it? Elizabeth or Beth Melgroves and Milo Summers?"
Alex snorted outwardly. He had definitely he heard of them. "Yeah, the girls at school won't shut up about him and the boys seem hung up on the Elizabeth girl," he paused momentarily, wondering why he sounded so detached from his own school mates before carrying on irately, tiring of being asked about things that he'd never be able to see anyway. "Why are you asking me this, anyway? Does it really matter what movies I like to watch?"
"Alex," Mr Blunt said, the faintest tinge of amusement seeping into his voice. "It matters very much. I'd like to formally introduce you to your new persona, Milo Summers,"
Alex blinked.
And then blinked again. "Excuse me?" he asked incredulously.
Mrs Jones took over then, her voice attracting his attention. "Milo Summers has never really existed, Alex," Alex's eyes began to widen; he could see where this was going. "Milo Summers is you Alex. He has been you ever since the first time you walked into MI6's office,"
"What?" he asked faintly, barely aware of the question coming from his mouth.
"Indeed," Mr Blunt commented, tapping something onto his desk. "Milo Summers has been an identity we forged for you quite some time ago- the mission has been...held on standby somewhat with the other busy issues going on, but we have withheld placing you on the scene so to speak-" Alex cringed at Blunt's attempt at humour. "-for much too long now. We cannot afford to wait any longer,"
"Wait, what-" Alex held up his hands, gesturing for them to slow down. "What do you mean this has been an identity you've forged for what- a year and a bit?" confused, he stared at them. "Why?"
Clearing his throat, Mr Blunt made to explain. "It was a simple matter of getting photographs of you and enhancing them to place into gossip magazines and columns. The uprising star- Milo Summers. And of course, staging interviews was a simple matter of introducing you to the public- making Milo become more real. As to matters of why-" he raised his voice as Alex attempted to interrupt. "-it is because of the problem that is currently in the entertainment business at this moment in time." Alex heard the man suck in a heavy breath. "The girl who you are to be co-starring with- Beth Melgroves- well, her father is an extremely wealthy man, the manager of the entertainment company that you will be infiltrating- Melgroves Media.
"Recently, it has come to our attention that money from her father- Richard Melgroves has been slipping into an unauthorised account of which we know is used frequently by the larger criminal organisations."
Larger criminal organisations...Alex's heart began to beat faster, and he held the armrests of his chair tighter. No. He wouldn't jump to conclusions. He would listen to what Mr Blunt had to say.
"It is under our belief that for quite sometime Mr Melgrove is part of one of the various groups included in this account. Recently, we have been informed that his money has started going towards a slightly more dangerous and unexpected group, though. The group of which you know to be the past disbanded SCORPIA.
"Recently, we have found out through...various means that the organisation has once again been taken over. This time by a slightly more...extravagant character- a man called Pierre Thierry. Thierry is slightly more forthcoming with the way in which he handles the newly revived organisation, and has made it a clear goal to get SCORPIA into the position of high esteem that it once was in before.
"We have reasons to believe that SCORPIA is trying to sink it's way into the media- an extremely powerful and influential position that we cannot allow them to have. Imagine the repercussions of allowing SCORPIA to have control over the media- it would be a truly devastating thing to allow to happen.
"We need you to get close to Beth Melgroves and attempt to- under your alias- get into contact with Richard Melgroves to find out what he's up to- try and find his favour as much as possible. It should be relatively simple. Stick to your disguise, make a friend and meet her father- and then relay the information straight back to us."
Alex had sat silently through Mr Blunt's talk, his face not giving anything away. He found that it was easier to control his facial expressions now that he was concentrating more on what was around him rather than what he himself was doing. But he couldn't help the slightly wild grin that almost twitched onto his face at the mention of SCORPIA.
SCORPIA, who had destroyed everything in his life before the moment he could even touch it. Had taken it away from him even when it had been right there in his hands.
SCORPIA. "They always did like flashy things, didn't they?" he muttered, barely able to keep the anticipated strain from his voice.
"It's not going to be an easy mission," Mrs Jones warned, although Alex was certain that Mr Blunt was glaring at her. "When we created your new identity, you were able to see. Now, you can't and this fact cannot be allowed to be made known to anyone other than us and yourself."
Alex's eyebrows raised. "Why not just," he flapped a vague hand. "You know...say that this Milo had some sort of accident and now he's blind? Easy." he nodded shortly, deeming it done.
"It's not quite as easy as that, Alex," Mrs Jones retorted. She seemed to have made it a goal to torment him over his personal choice to do the mission. Typical. When he- out of his own volition- decided to actually do a mission out of his own means, they decided to try and put him off. Could he never catch a break? "You are being hired to act in this movie by a multi-billion earning director. He did not hire a blind teenager to act his leading male part- as horrible as it sounds. He hired a seeing teenager. That's what he's paying for. If he finds out that he's paying for someone who hasn't got everything that he's spending money on, he'd quickly cast you aside. The entertainment business is harsh, Alex,"
Snorting, Alex cupped his hands behind his head and half closed his eyes- the picture of casualness. "So," he drawled. "Just act in front of dozens of people, learn a script I can't even read and try and trick everyone into believing that I'm not blind." he bit out the word as if even allowing it to reside in his mouth was sickening. "Easy." his voice was flat.
"Which is why we are giving you back-up." Mr Blunt replied, voice dull and toneless. Alex's eyebrow shot up. Blunt? Giving him back-up? What on earth was the world coming to? "Of which, of course, will be posing as your own personal group of bodyguards."
"Who are they going to be?" Alex asked slowly, uncertain as to whether he'd want to live in a room with a bunch of strangers who he'd never seen before and would never be able to see. Uncomfortably, his heartbeat sped up a rate though he didn't let it show on his face.
"We have decided to give you the liberty of choosing this time," Mr Blunts voice seemed to show that he knew exactly what Alex's worries were and derived some small pleasure at knowing the fact. "But we have chosen the person to act as your manager during the period in which you'll be on your mission." the familiar sound of creaking leather, a soft click and then: "Call in Agent Daniels,"
Alex couldn't help the sudden smile on his face as he turned around when he heard the door open. "Ben!" he beamed, listening as the footsteps came closer to him.
"Hello, Alex," came the warm voice in reply and Alex's smile widened, rolling in the luxury of being able to draw up a mental image of Ben in his mind. To be able to see him because he could remember what the man who had worked with him looked like.
"Agent Daniels will be acting as your manager in this mission, Alex," Mr Blunt's voice drew Alex's attention away from Ben and he forced himself to focus on the man who still sat in the chair. "Here are your files. I expect you to read and memorize them well. It is of vital importance that you don't prove faulty on any of the facts contained within this folder. From now on, Alex, Daniels, you will be under constant surveillence from the media and from the public. You must always remain wary of just who is watching you. Breaking your cover would result in the downfall of the entire mission and," Alex, as he reached out for the folder felt Blunts eyes on him as the mans voice dropped a notch. "terrible consequences on each of you personally,"
Alex busied himself with opening the file instead of focussing on the sudden rush of dread that rushed through his body.
"Alex, Daniels; in ten minutes time you will be conducting interviews into who will be acting as your bodyguards for the mission. I have decided to only invite units from the SAS and SOD as their mission is not that of a spy's, but rather to assist the spies in their work and to be able to act quick in a situation with the tact of a soldier."
Alex nodded and could feel Ben nodding beside him.
Suddenly, Alex felt a whole lot braver about this mission.
"Remember what we discussed, Alex. Do not blow either cover," Mrs Jones said, cold voice catching him off guard.
Ah.
His shoulders sank slightly, a little deflated, his sightless eyes dropping to the carpet, suddenly feeling not that strong.
But I can do it. I have to do it, he thought, fists clenched in determination. "I won't," he said boldly, blind eyes blazing as they fixed themselves onto Mrs Jones.
"Don't fail, Alex,"
Alex licked at his dry lips, eyes flickering over to Mr Blutn who had spoken. He knew what those words meant. They meant don't fail him or himself. "I won't." he repeated, a little quieter now. And he wouldn't. There was no way that he would fail. Not now. Not ever.
"Come on then, Alex. Time to meet your bodyguard hopefuls." a gentle hand on his back made him flinch minutely but he quickly turned it into a movement from his stifled laughter.
"Sure...hopeful. I'm sure they are," he scoffed, allowing Ben to lead him out of the office.
He couldn't see him, but Alex could imagine the man grinning at him as he clapped him on the back. And this time, Alex didn't flinch because he expected it. "Well, this is the most interesting sounding mission I've had in a long time."
"Yeah?" Alex raised his eyebrows inquisitively as Ben pressed the button on the lift, figuring the older man knew where to go as he hadn't been told anything. "What've you been doing so far, then?"
"Desk work," he moaned, stepping into the lift as it came, Alex hastily following. "What about you? Any more crazy stunts?"
Alex forced a laugh. "Depends what you mean by 'crazy stunts'," he answered evasively, glancing at the man stood beside him.
A little silence made Alex shift uncomfortably.
He hated silences.
"Um, Ben?" he asked hesitantly.
"Are you OK, Alex?" the man broke in suddenly, voice a mix of concern and curiosity.
His heart began thudding, and inwardly he cursed over and over again. Had he blown it before he even got out of MI6 headquarters? He couldn't have! He- he needed this mission! "What do you mean? I'm fine," he frowned a little, covering his internal panic with a face any poker player would've killed for.
Another clouded pause. "Yes. Sorry, you just look a little...vacant. I don't know. Sorry,"
Vacant? What's that meant to mean? "Vacant?" he attempted to prompt. If he was to ever get this whole I'm-blind-but-trying-to-trick-you-into-believing-I 'm-not thing down, he would have to start finding out just what he needed to work on.
"No, don't worry about it. It's just me," the mans voice was airy but Alex still caught the tiny hint of confusion behind it. His mouth went dry. He couldn't allow Ben to work this out.
"I'm just really tired," he seemed to cave in, rubbing a hand across his eyes. "I've just been...on a mission not too long ago. Sorry if I'm not all that responsive. It was pretty hard," he said quietly. Not a lie, but not one that he wanted to expand on.
Ben seemed to realise this, and his voice audibly softened. "Not at all, Alex. It's not easy going on missions," especially when you're only fifteen years old.
The attachment hadn't been placed alongside the spoken words, but Alex heard it all the same. He opened his mouth to try and say something but the familiar swish alerted him to the elevator doors to having opened.
"Come on, Alex,"
Quickly, Alex followed Ben, sniffing lightly at the cool and unknown air. He didn't know this place. Warily, he followed the sound of Ben's footsteps, careful to keep exactly behind him less there were things he was avoiding.
If Ben noticed his odd decision of walking behind him, he didn't say anything, and soon there was the sound of a door opening and Alex was inside another room, following Ben again to where he sat down.
Tapping the chair lightly with his leg to make sure he didn't do anything embarrassing like completely miss and fall flat out on his rear end, he sat down on the chair and pulled in closer to the table that was in front of him. "So," he began, his voice echoing oddly around the room. "What's this going to be like?"
Ben chuckled, and Alex didn't move as Ben tapped at the folder that Alex had placed on his desk. "Maybe you should read this to find out, it'd be easier to read it than to have me try to explain everything to you."
Alex's heart sank as his eyes fell onto the paper that (he knew was right there. White and clean with black print. Black print like he used to read. Used to read and see) he wouldn't be able to read. "Ah, yeah. Sure." Leaning on one hand, Alex drew a fumbling hand across the text, frowning at it as if he was reading it.
"Having trouble there?" Ben asked softly.
Alex jumped. "Huh? Wha- no! Of course not!" he laughed, waving a hand at him.
Alex could feel Ben smirking. "Oh, sorry. I just didn't know the first page was that difficult to read."
The first page? Blankly, he stared at him.
The first page.
His face flared red and he muttered something before quickly flipping to the next page, attempting to ignore Ben's outright laughter. Of course, he scowled angrily to himself in his head. The front page of all mission briefings is only the Agents name and the name of the mission.
"Alright, alright," he grumbled as Ben's laughter showed no sign of stopping, trying to quench his own (childish) hurt.
A creak of the door made Alex look up sharply, and a soft voice called out to them. "Agent Daniels and Agent-" the voice did a double take before quickly smoothing itself out. Alex rolled his eyes, knowing that the woman would've looked at him and been shocked into momentary speechlessness. "-Rider. The first group is here to be interviewed,"
"Fabulous," Ben's grin was evident through the brightness of his voice. "Well then! Send them in!"
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Rubbing at his eyes, Alex stifled a groan.
If he had to sit through one more interview... Teeth gritting, he clenched at his pen with barely restrained violence, imagining all of the destruction he could cause with it.
"When they said an Agent, I didn't expect a barely-out-of-nappies kid!" an obnoxious voice called from beyond the desk he and Ben were sat behind.
"Well," Alex said, voice seemingly friendly. "Just because you only got out of nappies when you hit 18, it doesn't mean that the rest of us hold your weak bladder and bowel problems,"
The man spluttered amidst the sound of Ben's snort of laughter and his units joint muffled laughter and complaint.
"Next!" Alex yelled.
When group number 14 had left, Ben leaned over to him and murmured. "I quite liked number 7." his voice rang with mirth.
Blankly, Alex stared at the man. "Go on. Try and leave me in a room with group number 7. I dare you. It'll be like a miniature Hunger Games. Except the odds will all be in my favour,"
Ben chuckled at that, but didn't say anything else as the next group came in.
Alex only stopped listening to their interview after one of them spluttered about his youth. Blanking them out and leaving Ben to attempt to reason with them, Alex focussed on trying to figure out what he was going to do. They needed the right people to be his bodyguards. They would, after all, all be staying together and would need to build up a strong bond of trust if they were to get through the mission with as few slip ups as possible. Chewing on his pen, gazing out into the distance (or maybe not, as one of the soldiers barked at him to stop staring), Alex just knew that there was no way that he wanted to work with a bunch of soldiers whom he couldn't see and whose facial expressions would be utterly lost on him.
They needed to find a group who could-
"Alex."
Irately, he turned towards Ben, frustrated at having been broken out of his train of thought. "Yes?"
"Woo. Easy, Tiger." Ben seemed to consider his words. "Rider. Easy, Rider. Hey, that sounds-"
"I get it," Alex muttered, and then louder. "What?"
"The next group is ready,"
"Huh?" he looked around fruitlessly, confused. "What happened to the other group?"
"I threw them out."
"Oh. Right. Yeah, I knew that,"
"Of course you did. The next group, then,"
"OK," he said impatiently, tapping his pen down on the desk.
"I just want you to know," Ben's slightly wary tone immediately put Alex on edge, his eyes flickering around, wishing he could see. "I picked this team personally."
"Yeah?" Alex forced casualness. "That's OK," pointedly, he gestured towards the door, asking to call them in.
Ben ignored his gesture and pressed on, voice oddly pleading and urgent all in one. "Just because I picked them, it doesn't mean that you have to. But- just- just give them a chance, yeah?"
Alex arched one elegant eyebrow. "Ben," he said plainly, voice dry. "I've sat through 15 of these interviews. If you've recommended one, that's a blessing in itself. Next!" he shouted.
A frown began to slip onto Alex's face when there came no reply, and his mouth began opening to call again when he heard voices.
"That was us!"
"What?"
"We've just been called!"
"Seriously?! Quick! How does my hair look?"
"Shut up! Just get in there!"
Alex's mouth had gradually begun to drop at the sound of the muffled voices, and now it hung wide open, he turned to gape wide eyed at Ben who he could only guess shrugged and gave him a joint mischevious and bashful look in return.
The door burst open and the chattering filled the room until one voice broke through the noise.
"It's Fox!" and then, a surprised sort of pause. "No way! It's Cub!"
Recovering from his shock, Alex smiled slowly. "Hello, K-Unit,"
Oh, this was grand. Absolutely grand.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"So, what? You're an Agent?" Eagle's voice was oddly loud as he spoke to Alex, coming to flop into one of the chairs in front of their desk.
"Yeah, well," Alex's voice was quickly cut off by the familiar growl of Wolf.
"I told you something fishy was going on!"
"Yeah, yeah," came the dismissive voice of Snake. "But, Cub? What's going on? You're Agent Rider?"
Alex grinned, leaning back into his chair. "You guessed it!" his grin split wider as they all burst into a frenzy of noisy question after question.
"Nice to meet you, Raccoon, my name's Ben Daniels, or Fox as my old unit like to still call me," Alex turned at the sound of the voice even over all of this noise.
"Yeah, you too," a slight rattle and Alex assumed Ben had leaned over his desk to shake hands with Raccoon.
Raccoon.
I wonder what he looks like, a wistful voice whispered.
Shut up! He snapped mentally, shoving the lily threaded voice away (even though it wrenched at his heart and made his eyes feel all funny. Like- like they were filling with-). "So," Alex spoke loudly to be heard over the cacophony of questions. "I take it you all know what you're being interviewed for?"
Wolf's less than polite response made Alex wince and Ben snapped at him to shut it. From then on, things just went off track again.
"You shut it!" came the not-so-snarky comeback.
"Oh, that's great. Really wounded me there, Wolf,"
"Need some first aid, Fox?" Snake joined in.
"Yeah. Seriously. That comeback just hurt so much. Ouch. I think you just tore a hole in my heart."
"Oh be quiet," Wolf snarled, but his voice held some grudging humour to it.
"Where've you been, you guys, anyway? Why didn't you tell us that you knew Cub, Fox?" Eagle just wasn't giving up on his line of questioning.
"Something called the Official Secrets Act, Eagle," Ben replied, voice amused.
"Uh, can someone maybe, I don't know...fill me in?"
"Oh, sorry, newbie," Fox seemed to be smiling.
"I'm not a newbie!" came the irate voice.
"Sorry." he didn't sound very sorry.
"...It's OK."
"Newbie." Eagle whispered.
A sound of a slap and muffled laughter signified a high-five.
"Oh, ha ha ha. Aren't you hilarious?"
"Come on, guys. Just tell him what's going on."
"This is Fox and Cub. They used to be members of K-Unit."
Alex allowed the voices to wash over him. Noisy, loud, full of bursts of laughter and whenever there was a silence, it was always full of something.
Alex closed his eyes and breathed in softly, barely able to keep the satisfied smile off of his face.
Noise. They were so noisy.
And that was perfect.
He opened his eyes.
"You're hired,"
The voices stopped.
Ben coughed a little. "That's great, Alex, but don't you think you should-"
"Nope." he answered cheerily. "You're hired." ignoring Ben's attempts at getting him to think over his decision more, he turned and beamed at them (and he could remember their faces too. He wouldn't have to live with a bunch of faceless strangers except for Raccoon!). "Congratulations!"
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
It would be a direct lie to say that Alex Rider hadn't changed.
As Ben stood watching Alex have his disguise applied, he couldn't help but wonder over that fact, blocking out the loud voices of K-Unit who stood next to him, arguing over something mindless, no doubt. Alex had changed- and he couldn't tell whether or not it was bad or not.
"He's different, isn't he?"
Ben glanced towards Snake who leaned against the wall next to him, eyes fixed on Alex who was scowling at the woman who was attempting to style his hair, rubbing some liquid over it to turn it an ash blond.
He flickered his eyes back. "Yeah," Ben answered quietly, head thumping back into the wall. "I don't know though...he just seems more..." he struggled for the right word.
"Lively?" Snake supplied.
Nodding gratefully, Ben crumpled his brow. "Yes. That's it. He's been much more chatty. Last time he was always so quiet. Reserved. But now he seems the exact opposite. I can't get him to stop talking," a small smile graced his lips- one that showed that he didn't mind. The smile fell a little as he continued to speak, still thinking. "He seems almost completely changed- and I can't quite decide whether the change is natural or not. I sometimes get the feeling that he's almost forcing himself." he finished quietly, turning to look at Snake to gauge his reaction.
Snake also looked at Ben. " I know what you mean. Did you see the way he was chatting with Eagle on the way here? I never thought I'd see Alex be able to near beat Eagle in levels of volume," he mused. His look sobered soon after. "Tell me, how much do you know about Alex being an-" he cringed visibly. "-Agent?"
Uncomfortably, Ben shrugged. "Not too much," he admitted, hesitating. "I...worked with him on one occasion, but that's it. He's very- how should I say it?- unusual. When I was working with him, I could just tell that it wasn't his first mission." he smiled ruefully. "I can't tell you much, but I knew that much. He seems to have had some tough goings on in his life."
Snake shook his head slowly, foot tapping at the floor, displeasure clear on his face. "It's not right," he muttered a little angrily. "Using a kid for that type of work. It's terrible. How could anyone even think of doing that?"
"But you're still taking the mission?" Ben probed, his eyes examining Snake's own.
The man snorted and crossed his arms. "Of course we are," he scoffed, cringing as Eagle received a wallop from Wolf and Raccoon. "We can hardly allow a kid that we know go into danger without offering our assistance," he glared up at Fox, but it held warmth that was not lost on Fox. "Besides," he continued quietly. "We're all teammates here. We're not going to leave any of you to fight alone,"
Ben couldn't restrain his burst of a grin and his blue eyes crinkled. "Snake, I always knew-"
"Don't!"
They turned around sharply at the sudden voice, Wolf's, Eagle's and Raccoon's voices lapsing into silence as they also turned to see what was going on.
Alex stood up, his chair clattered behind him, one hand over his eyes, the other clawing in front of him at the pale faced woman who had backed into her trolley of products. She stood frozen, fear evident on her face. Swallowing visibly, she weakly showed the vial that was in her hand, trying to explain in a squeaking and trembling voice. "It's only a colour changer for your eyes, Alex," she managed to take a step forward. "You just need a few drops in your-"
"Don't!" Alex's voice was louder this time, a sharp edge of hysteria creeping into his tone. "Don't touch my eyes!" his hand was still cupped protectively over them, and he took another staggering step backwards.
For some reason, a wave of guilt seemed to flood over the womans face. "I- it's important-" her plea was cut off by Alex's ragged voice.
"Give it here. I'll do it."
She shrank back from him. "I-I-"
"Give it here," he punctuated in a hiss, hand never moving from his eyes.
Hands trembling, she handed the vial over and Alex snatched it from her, turning away from them all as he tipped his head back and dropped the contents into his eyes. When he finished, he spun around and near threw the vial at the woman, face contorted into a snarl, fear tinging the edges of the expression as she juggled clumsily with it.
"I'm done," his voice was flat, but lined with something else that Ben couldn't identify. The teen turned his head to him. "Do you need to have your disguise put on?"
Ben laughed, though it was tense. "I've already had mine done," he gestured to his recently died brown hair and darker shade of blue eyes as well as his darker skin.
Alex paused a little and his expression drooped for some reason. "Oh yeah." he murmured. "I forgot." then he seemed to stare off into the distance.
"Alex?" Eagle asked slowly after the silence pulled on and Alex still had yet to move.
The voice seemed to snap the teen out of whatever reverie he was in because the next moment, he had spun on his heel and was stalking away from them. "I need to go and see Smithers. I'll meet you all in the reception area," he called over his shoulder, disappearing round a corner.
"What was that about?" Snake murmured, voice incredulous as he stared at where Alex had just been a moment ago,"
"No idea," Ben muttered, glancing at the woman who had done Alex's disguise. She looked distraught, and when she caught Ben's eyes, her eyes widened and she muttered something about needing to clear up and scampered off before he could ask.
Raccoon spoke up a little anxiously, the mans grey eyes flickering onto Ben. "Is he always like that?"
Ben shook his head slowly. "No...not as far as I know."
Wolf's face was sombre. "This whole thing is weird, anyway." he stated in a matter-of-fact voice, crossing his arms across his chest and giving them all a powerful glower. "And Cub's never been a straightforward kid, too."
Nodding slowly, they allowed that thought to settle them momentarily, though Ben could not shake the odd feeling that this was something bigger than what was going on...
Shaking his head and resolving to figure it out later, Ben followed his teammates out of the room.
He'd find an answer to it eventually.
He always did.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Calming down his recently erratic breathing, Alex pressed both of his palms into his eyes and breathed in steadily through his nostrils and out through his mouth.
Calm down. He needed to calm down.
Sucking in a shuddering breath, Alex slid his eyes from off of his eyes and straightened up.
That was a stupid mistake to make. Freaking out like that. Berating himself as he resumed walking again, he curled hi slip in distaste at the memory of his actions. It was stupid. He should've known that she was moving in to attempt to touch his eyes (my eyes). He shouldn't have reacted so violently. Now he'd just made a show of himself and gotten K-Unit to watch him more closely.
Well, he'd just have to do something about that.
Reaching the door he'd been aiming for, he felt comfort slide through him.
Something ordinary.
Something that never changed.
Smithers.
Knocking on the door, barely able to contain his impatience and excitement, he waited for the familiar call of come in, my dear boy! to sound cheerily from behind the door.
Nothing happened.
Frowning, making to knock again, he stopped as he heard movement coming closer towards the door and took a wary step back as the door opened.
"Ah! Alex! Please do come in, my dear boy!" the familiar voice sounded slightly strained as it spoke and Alex felt disappointment well in him.
"I could've found my own way in," he said stiffly as Smithers gently took his arm to lead him in.
"Ah, I'm afraid you most likely wouldn't," his voice was apologetic as he shut the door behind him. "You see, I'm working on a new project and it's taking up rather a lot of room. Careful here, my boy,"
Fighting down a scowl, Alex lifted up his foot over where Smithers indicated with a tap to his leg, choosing to reply to Smithers more interesting statement "A new project? Can I see it?" he said thoughtlessly, excitement colouring the words in bright shades.
Tense silence conjured into the air.
Alex's lips turned down, and he tried to force them up into a lighthearted laugh. It came out sounding more like a pained sob and he quickly stopped.
The silence layered itself more.
"Wrong choice of words," he muttered.
"Quite." Smithers' voice held the same strangled quality to it that Mrs Jones' had had.
Fingers curling into fists, the teenager felt his mouth dropping again, eyebrows turning. Alex suddenly didn't want to be in here that much anymore. "What've you got for me today, then?" he asked as neutrally as possible as they stopped in front of which Alex could only guess to be Smithers' table.
The man sucked in a heavy breath.
Alex just knew the man was gazing sorrowfully at him.
"I don't need it," he snapped, rearing back from the emotion of which he didn't need. "I don't need your pity," his voice was a near snarl.
Smithers' soft voice contrasted with Alex's sharp voice. "It's not pity, my dear boy. I'm just so truly sorry," he sounded utterly miserable. "I didn't mean for you to have to-"
"No one meant it." Alex choked out. He didn't want to think about such bruised and screeching things. He wanted to- he wanted things to go back to normal! "Just- just tell me. What've you got for me?" he forced his voice back to its normal pitch.
Alex's eyes followed the sound of rattling and when Smithers spoke again, his voice was quiet. "I suppose we should start with this piece,"
Alex forced himself to listen to Smithers talk rather than the hissy voice that whispered it's not the same as before. It's never going to be the same as before.
"This is to go on your recently pierced tragus on your ear."
"What does it do?" Alex asked curiously as Smithers attached it to the inner part of his ear.
"It's a feed of information. See it as a transmitter," Smithers voice gradually became a little more lively as he began talking about the things that he had made his living. "The colour changing eye drops that you placed in your eyes contained tiny feeds that link to this earring- making it an all in one device. Now, whenever you look at a form of text, the earring in your ear will read whatever your eyes are looking at right to you. And, just in case your director doesn't want you wearing the earring on set, I've got this-" he passed it to Alex who held it gently in his hands. "-which is simply a casing that cas be slipped into your ear. It does the same thing." Gently, he took the piece off of Alex, placed it in a box and then handed it back.
Grinning, excited at the new technology, he tapped at the table. "Anything else?"
He chuckled and Alex listened as he seemed to rout around in his desk for a while. "Ah! Here we have it!" Smithers called triumphantly. "This, my dear boy, is simply exquisite! This piece of technology allows you to measure the distance of rooms and the like as well as projectory and targets. I hear you have quite the fine aim, my boy. Well, this allows you to be able to determine the distance of objects and people as well as obstacles that are in your way. With this, you should find it very much easier to maneuver yourself through rooms- it'll help you get a stronger bearing of your area, at least." he slid the object into around the inside of Alex's ear. "Clear, too. No one will notice a thing,"
"Thanks, Smithers!" Alex beamed, pulling back.
"No problem, Alex. I'm sorry I haven't got anything else for you at the moment, but some things hopefully should arrive later on during you mission,"
Alex nodded and prepared to leave when he hesitated.
Maybe it was dumb-
Perhaps it was too hopeful, but...
"Hey, Smithers," he turned around again and almost meekly raised a hand up to the ear where his earring was, a rosy emotion of shy hope peeking subduedly out from behind his shoulder. "Do you think- think that you'd be able to- able to make something to help me..." he raised a softly slow hand up to his eyes, voice dropping to an embarrassed murmur. "Help me see again?"
Quiet.
Alex felt the peach hope slide away from him and he angrily cursed his stupidity for even daring to hope (though the thought had been nice).
"I'm sorry, my dear boy," Smithers sounded so pained, voice hoarse and tight with the feeling that Alex felt even worse for asking.
He shrugged, pretending that he didn't feel that heaviness in his chest at Smithers answer of negative. "No," he tried to laugh, taking a few steps back. "Pretend- pretend I never asked, yeah?"
"Alex..."
But Alex had turned before Smithers could reply and hastily made his way to the door, tripping over a cable as he went and near slamming into the door.
Smithers stood up in worry. "Are you-"
"I'm fine," he barked, hands dragging over the surface of the door, attempting to find the handle. "Just- just where's your doorhan-" his hand landed on it. Composing himself, breathing in once, Alex turned, nodded at Smithers and left, the large man only able to gaze at the door with pain drenching his pale blue eyes.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Striding away from the door, Alex made his way to the reception area but not before pausing and pressing his fingers into his head and screwing his eyes shut.
That was his last slip-up.
No more.
His last one.
From now on, he was not blind. He could see just as well as everybody else. OK? He could. He had to do this.
Feeling a little more confident, he removed his hands and opened his eyes.
A chasm of blackness stared coldly back.
For a moment, his resolve wavered and he stumbled into a wall.
No. That wasn't how it was going to go.
He pushed himself up and glared forward, challenging the Nothingness that stared back.
It was OK, though. He could do it.
He grinned, a feral taunt to his own blindness.
Mission, start.
"Bring it on."
AN- *gasps and flops back, exhausted* I DID IT! YES! OK, there you are, my dears.
Guys, I have to say this- THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING! I WAS being serious when I said that it was the only thing that would motivate me to try and get some more out. I know it was a wait, and I'm sorry, but I needed to focus on other things. I do want to finish The Price of a Collar too, so, yeah. But this story is so much fun to write to! This Alex, if you noticed is nothing like my other Alex, so, yeah.
Now- REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW !and I'll try and make a goal of posting again say...next week? Ha! MAKE ME WANT TO GIVE IT TO YOU! *thunder cracks and I disappear only to appear behind you, whispering freakily in your ear:* reeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvvvviiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeewwww www...