Disclaimer: I do not own the Alex Rider Books or its characters or Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. But, I DO own Laura, Laser Quest 3000 and a decaying marshmallow.

A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers. Together, you submitted 8 reviews and 7 of you said what you had for lunch. That means you have earned yourselves 1950 words minimum. Seeing as I am so lovely, I have decided to wipe your debt clean and allow you to start fresh. This means, from now on any reviews you submit will get you 200 words each and if you answer my question correctly you will get 25-50 more words. I think this is only fair seeing as I add on about 200 extra words anyway, just 'cause I love you.

I am sorry for the long wait, but some emotional issues have made it very hard for me to get anything done. I hope that my writing will pick up a bit and improve. Don't forget to point out any mistakes (nicely) so I can get better. Again, you must review for words, but I will add on anyway!

RG

xox

Chapter 15: Looks and Lasers

Alex watched the Ute turn around the corner from the window. He was slowly regretting leaving Laura to go by herself – she probably isn't used to the scissors – but he wasn't sure what he could do. He had a quick shower and threw on a white shirt and his new jeans. His old pair were a bit short, but this pair was the perfect length. He waited around in the lounge room until Eagle got off the phone.

"You ready?" Eagle asked, combing his hair in front of a mirror.

"Yep," Alex answered. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," Eagle answered, throwing the comb down and turning to face the teenager. "I just have to go get Wolf."

Eagle disappeared into the hallway and Alex sat by himself for a few minutes. Just when he thought the silence was going to eat him, Eagle and Wolf joined him in the lounge room. They silently walked out of the room and down to the garage. They all climbed into the Beast and Alex noticed a soft hum coming from the boot.

"Err, Eagle?"

"Mmm?" Eagle grunted, starting up the engine.

"There is something humming in the boot."

Eagle shrugged. "Probably just your imagination, Cub."

"Okay.'

Alex was fairly sure that he wasn't imagining it. The sound of the humming was soon drowned out by the engine making a loud, vibrating boom as it spun out of the garage. Eagle turned the speakers on and a heavy rock song beat out. Alex assumed it was just for show, seeing as Eagle looked the type to show-off.

Eagle parked the car in a reserved parking spot a few minutes later.

"God, Eagle!" Wolf said, jokingly. "It's reserved, you idiot!"

"Yes, I know that."

"Are you the boss?" Wolf asked, reading the little sign on the wall.

"I am now!"

Alex and Wolf shook their heads and the three slid out. Eagle led them out of the underground parking lot and through a few alleys.

"Where exactly are we going?" Alex asked Wolf as Eagle walked ahead.

"No idea," Wolf answered, frowning as Eagle tripped over a lady's handbag a few metres in front.

"I thought you knew!" Alex exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "You know Eagle won't be able to find it by himself."

"I know." Wolf grinned. "I like seeing him struggle."

The two followed Eagle around until he stopped. Alex could swear they were just where they had been ten minutes ago, but Eagle didn't seem to realise he had been walking in circles. Alex hated thinking about what Eagle could lead his men into out on the field. The three guys walked down a set of stairs and into a very suss looking room. It smelt of cigarette smoke and play-dough. Alex was a little more concerned about the play-dough than the smoke, come to think of it.

"What is this place?" Alex asked, trying not to breathe through his nose.

"Welcome to the funnest place in the world!" Eagle smiled, holding his arms up as if it was some kind of famous artwork.

"It looks like a dump to me," Wolf muttered so only Alex could hear.

Alex chuckled and watched Eagle wiggle his nose, just noticing the smell himself.

"Come on, through here," Eagle announced, opening a door Alex hadn't yet noticed.

They walked through and stepped down into a completely different room. It was incredibly large, and it was very hard to see the other walls. The room was filled with different passageways and tunnels. Over to the only free wall, near the door, was a large cupboard and sitting by it was a equally large man. Alex was too busy inhaling the considerably cleaner air to pay much attention.

"Jackson, my man!" the stranger boomed, shaking Eagles hand.

"Hey, Kenny. This is Cub and Wolf."

"Cub?" The man turned to face Alex and furrowed his brow. "No relation to Whale?"

Alex didn't know what to say to that.

"Nope!" Wolf said, coming to the rescue. "Whale was shot out in the field and is paralysed on the left side."

"Ouch! Ah well, come right this way."

Kenny opened the cupboard and pulled out three boxes. He handed one to each of them. Eagle opened his straight away, but Wolf and Alex were a little more precautious. When Alex finally opened his, he found a laser gun and a kind of protective vest.

"What the...?" Wolf muttered, holding his up.

"Welcome to Laser Quest 3000! Please enjoy your stay and make the most of it!" Kenny recited, as if he had many times before.

"Laser Quest?" Alex's face broke into a grin. "Awesome!"

"I thought you might like it, Cub," Eagle said, strapping the vest on.

"This'll be great!" Wolf yelled, practicing holding his gun.

Alex slowly figured out how to put his vest on properly and joined Eagle and Wolf who were playing with theirs too. Very quickly, more people showed up, also putting their vests on and waiting around.

"We are going to win!" Eagle hissed at Wolf and Alex.

"Win what?" Wolf frowned.

"Well, we all get into groups of three or four. By the looks of things, these people can't beat three qualified army recruits."

Alex looked over his shoulder at the crowd. Most of them were either around his age, or adults. None of them seemed able to take on the three of them. Alex grinned to himself the whole time they were all being sorted by Kenny. They were teamed up with a girl who looked like she would rather not be there at all. She had very light blonde hair with sky blue tips and was inspecting her nails the whole time.

"Hi, I'm Alex. Who are you?" Alex asked, trying to break the ice.

She looked up at him and turned up her nose. "Dana. Now shoo!"

Eagle and Wolf snickered behind his back. Alex just shrugged. He looked around at all the other groups. There was a group of lanky-looking boys – one who he assumed would be the girl's brother – and three or four groups of two adults and two podgy kids. He felt they were in with a very, very, good chance.

"Okay, folks!" shouted Kenny, beckoning everybody over to him. "I'm just going to explain the rules..."

Kenny went through all the things you could and can't do. Apparently, the vests were triggered by the lasers, and anybody who was tagged, was immediately out. There was to be no fighting, no violence, no cheating, and everybody had to tag at least one person. If you tagged two, you gave your team a 30 second life. Kenny later explained that if you were tagged, and you had a 30 second life, you had 30 seconds to get that person out, or you were out for good. Everybody nodded and the teams were told where to start.

"I'm excited!" Eagle whispered as they climbed right to the back of the room.

Wolf raised his eyebrows. "I can tell by the way you are bouncing up and down."

Alex stared at Eagle, and noticed he was quite jumpy. "Calm down, we don't want any accidents," he snickered, getting a rather rude hand gesture in response.

"And begin!" Kenny's voice boomed over the loud speaker.

Alex noticed it was rather dark where they were and he could just make out the outline of his surroundings. Wolf started whispering the plan. The girl wasn't listening very well.

"Okay, so we're gonna creep out and stay low. Let's stick together, okay?"

Alex and Eagle nodded, slowly crawling toward a gap in one of the small walls. They stayed very still and listened closely. It sounded like somebody was running their way. Alex pulled himself closer to the wall and peeked out through a gap. He could see an outline of one of the boys. He adjusted his laser to a sort of sniper position and shot. He got the kid right in the chest.

"Number 4 of team Macho is out!" Kenny's voice said.

"What team are we, by the way?" Wolf asked Eagle, patting Alex on the back for his effort.

"Miss Prissy here," Eagle said, giving Dana a glare. "Named us the Butterflies."

Alex shuddered and Wolf made gagging motions. Dana looked up from her nails for a second just to frown. The three boys moved out a little more but Dana didn't seem to notice – she had moved onto her hair. Eagle smiled and beckoned Alex and Wolf to follow him, moving around a corner. They were as careful as possible, trying to climb up a level without Dana noticing. But, they did manage it. Soon, the three team members were crawling across the floor at top speed.

"Is that somebody?" Eagle hissed as they passed the halfway point.

"Yes!" Wolf hissed back.

They wordlessly agreed that Eagle should shoot the figure, knowing that he was the only one that hadn't shot anybody. So far, Alex was on three, Wolf on four and Eagle...now on one. Alex did the math in his head, and there were only two people apart from their group who hadn't been shot, according to Kenny's voiceover.

"Wolf!" Alex hissed. "There is somebody over there."

Wolf followed Alex's eye line and saw a shadow near one of the exits. He was just about to shoot it, when the boy turned and aimed right for Alex. Wolf and Eagle commando rolled out of the way as Kenny announced he had four minutes to get the guy out or be eliminated.

Wolf and Eagle pushed him in the direction that the boy just ran off. Alex quickly followed him, trying to think of the best way to shoot him down. Alex followed the boy around and around, loosing him a few times. Just as Alex though he had disappeared, he heard some heavy breathing. Alex ducked down low and listened. The breathing was coming from his left. Alex slowly pulled himself along on his stomach, through a narrow tunnel.

"Number 3 of team Macho is out! Only Number 2 of team Russel is left, along with Numbers 1 and 3 of team Butterfly," Kenny said.

Alex swore under his breath, realising Eagle was out. His spy instincts kicked in and Alex was suddenly very aware of the space to his right. He turned the gun around, shooting into a little gap he had found by his side. The boy tumbled out and ran off.

"Number 5 of team Russel is out – team Butterfly wins!" Kenny cheered and Alex grinned.

He found his way back to the entry and met up with the rest of his team, minus Dana who was complaining to her Mum about her chipped nail. They all put the guns and vests back, neatly stacking the boxes. Eagle, Wolf and Alex high-fived as Kenny approached.

"Congratulations, boys. Here is your prize." The large man handed each of the team members a wrapped box. "I'm not sure what is in them seeing as the girls' prizes and the boys' were mixed. Oh, and your team got a high score. Number 56 on the top 100 list. Congratulations."

Eagle and Wolf ripped into theirs but Alex just slipped his prize into his jacket pocket.

"Ooh! I got a set of iPod headphones," said Wolf. "Shame I don't own an iPod."

"Aren't you opening your prize?" Eagle asked, opening his new DVD. "Hmm...Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest..."

"Nah, I'm giving mine to Laura, seeing as she couldn't be here."

"Aww...isn't that lovely!" Wolf cooed, punching him on the shoulder.

Alex stuck his tongue out and the three men headed back toward the entry, blocking their noses as they passed through the smoky foyer. Once they were outside, the light half blinded them forcing Alex to nearly walk into a garbage bin. They safely made it back to the Beast and all piled in, exhausted from all the crawling and running. Since he was tired, Alex forgot to listen for the humming from the boot and it was forgotten.

"What do you think Laura will look like when we get back?" Wolf asked thoughtfully over the heavy music.

"I hope Jasmine wasn't too eccentric when telling the hairdresser what to do. I'd hate for her to look bad, the poor kid," Eagle replied, honking at a man who had just walked in front of the car.

"I hope..." Alex muttered, imagining Laura with blue hair.

"Ah well, we'll just have to find out."

Chapter Word Count (not including notes): 2091

A/N: So, how was it? Who wants to know what Laura looks like? That will be coming up next chapter, along with something to do with bridges and lounges. Ooh...I wonder what it is...

Okay, the question for this chapter is as follows: 'What is your all time favouritest song in the whole wide world?'

My answer is: 'Are you ready?' by Random.

Answering is worth 50 words, again. Thanks for reading, guys. Don't forget to review!

RG

xox