Author's Note: Heyo, all out there. So, even if no one has read this yet, or has and doesn't like it or whatever, here's the second chapter. Um, so I noticed a few typos in chapter one, and I seriously apologize for that. I sometimes don't hit the shift button hard enough, resulting in names and such not capitalized. My friends also say I type weird, so, um, yeah. Anwho's, I'd like to mention now that I'm Canadian. So if I get anything wrong pertaining to either the States or England, sorry, and I beg you to please tell me, and I'll fix it. Anywho's, on with the chapter.
Disclaimer: I hoped today to not wake up in my own bed, but to be a bestselling author. If you can't tell, my wish didn't come true. The original works and all respective copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Chapter Two
I woke up, not knowing where I was. I mean, I know I was at Valencia's, but I was not in Fang and Iggy's room, where I had fallen asleep. Instead, I was in a big, queen-sized bed. I mumbled something that even I didn't understand, and rolled out of the bed. It was then that I noticed I was in clean clothes. Clean clothes that didn't belong to me. I frowned, wondering how whoever had changed my clothes had done it without waking me up. I must've really needed the sleep.
So, clad in an old baggy t-shirt that fell to my thighs and a pair of pajama shorts that didn't even stick out from under the t-shirt, I meandered my butt down to the kitchen, where I saw everyone else was awake, fully dressed, and having lunch.
Wait. Lunch. Not breakfast, but lunch. "How long did I sleep?" I asked, rubbing my forehead and looking outside, and then at the clock. It was almost fifteen hundred- three o'clock. It was almost three o'clock. I had gone to bed around one in the morning. That meant I had slept for about fourteen hours.
"I told you that you needed the sleep." Angel said, just the slightest bit smug. I just nodded and grinned.
"Ah, but you say it as though I had denied it, when in fact, you of all people should know that I didn't." I replied, smirking at her. I had her there, and she knew it. "Angel, you can try, but you can't beat me at the mental chess game. Sorry." I added grinning at her. I had flashed her just a funny memory from one time when I was captive. She broke out in laughter, like I figured she would.
"He made you play life or death chess?" She asked between deep gasps from laughing too hard.
I rolled my eyes. "Yup. He did. And guess what? I won. Only 'cause I used to have a friend who was a chess fanatic and she told me all the tricks. Well, more like forced me to memorize them, but hey, it saved my pinky finger, right?" I said, waggling my little finger on my left hand in the air.
The others just watched us in semi-fascination, and like we were complete freaks, seeing as they had no clue what the hell we were talking about. I sat down beside her, and in one of the two empty chairs available. Valencia was busy doing something in the kitchen, but I couldn't see what. It smelled fantastic though, and seemed to have Max on edge. I shrugged it off though, seeing many egg salad sandwiches, and other little sandwiches on a platter in the middle of the dining table. I grabbed a little disposable plate a grabbed a couple egg salad, and a couple ones that had roast beef lunch meat on them. I ate them pretty fast. Sleeping fourteen hours apparently makes you hungry. Try it some time. Maybe you'll see what I mean.
Valencia came into the dining room, and smiled at me. "Glad to see you're up." She said. She placed a plate on the table. It had freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Max reached out and grabbed one, smiling. I guessed this is what she was all excited for. I looked to Angel and raised my eyebrow in question. She knew of my strict SAS diet, and I was wondering whether I should have a cookie or not, even though the Sergeant would call it junk. She nodded in approval, and I grabbed one.
After eating it, I frowned. Max looked at me. "Is there something wrong Alex?" She asked.
I shook my head. "No, nothing's wrong, Max. Except for the fact that I haven't had a cookie that good in a long time, let alone a cookie. Darn SAS food hardly tastes that good. Nor are we really allowed to eat much junk or whatever when we're on breaks, and such. We gotta stay in shape and healthy, right?" I replied, asking the rhetorical question. I frowned again, and grabbed another cookie. "What the Sergeant doesn't know won't hurt him. Just if you ever meet him, don't rat me out. I'd probably get kitchen duty or something, which is never fun."
In the background, coming from the kitchen I was sure, I heard a radio. I had noticed it earlier, but now it really caught my attention as The Call by Regina Spektor started to play. I love that song, and I started to sing along quietly. Iggy, who was sitting next to me so he was the only one who could hear me singing, faced me, mouth agape.
"Sing louder, damn it." He commanded. "You're really good." I felt the breath whoosh out of my chest. The song ended, and then a song I knew by Dave Matthews Band came on. I sang along to that, still fairly quiet, but loud enough for everyone to hear. The instrumental came on, and I frowned. Everyone was watching me so interested.
"I am no hero, oh that's for sure. But I do know one thing, is where you are, is where I belong. I do know where you go, is where I wanna be. Where are you going? Where do you go? And where are you going? Where, do you go?" I sang, taking a deep breath as the song finished. Nudge and Ella started freaking out.
"Holy crap, Alex! You are good! Sheesh, why didn't you say so yesterday? Why didn't you show us yesterday?" Nudge exclaimed, leaning forward in her chair. Ella was nodding along with Nudge's questions, but was leaving the talking up to Nudge.
"Um, I didn't know I could sing?" I replied, phrasing it as a question. I hadn't sung since middle school, before my uncle died. My friend's had told me I had a great singing voice, but I guess I had never really thought of it as much more than that. I had really been more of a football girl. Or soccer. Depends on where you are for what you call it, right? Of course, with missing so much school to go on missions I had actually lost my spot on the football team, was failing all of my courses, and I was probably go to get held back a year or two. Blunt knew this too; I had had a huge freak out at him when he called me in for this mission. I really hoped he had some plan up his gray suit sleeve to solve the whole schooling issue, something that didn't involve K-Unit, and Brecons Beacons. I seriously wondered what Tom, my childhood, and best friend would think when I just disappeared. He knew about my secret life. Heck, he had even met K-Unit, even though Blunt didn't know, which really surprised me. Or he did know, and was just letting me have this one thing. But I doubted that. Blunt was a by-the-book person, and if he wasn't, then Tulip Jones was. But she did hold more sympathy for me, so if she knew, then maybe she just didn't tell Blunt. Somehow, I doubted that too. I resolved to investigate it once I got home.
I stood briefly to grab my backpack. We luckily hadn't forgotten it at the vet clinic. I rifled through it, pulling out files first, tossing them onto the table, and then pulling out my laptop from Smithers. It was a brand new hot pink Dell Inspiron, in his attempt to 'girlify' my gadgets and such. It had Windows 7, IE8, and all the latest computer stuff. And whatever Smithers had added to it. Which was extremely likely that he had taken it apart and put back together. I opened Internet Explorer and navigated to . I had constant satellite Internet, completely secure and completely untraceable, courtesy of MI6.
I checked my mail ignoring the few junks letters, and an email from Tom. There was an e-mail marked urgent from K-Unit. I frowned and opened it.
'Cub, we're coming to find you. Something has come up, and MI6 is sending us to help you. We should be in the city you're in by Thursday. Meet us at the mall, at the Starbuck's Café. One of us will be obvious, while the others will be hiding. I'm seriously hoping you get this, Al. Ben.'
I looked up to Valencia. "It's Thursday, isn't it?" I asked. I reached down to my pack and closed the top. Then I flipped it upside down and pulled out a change of clothes. Looking back up, she nodded. I closed the laptop without even shutting it down first. "Then we need to get to the mall. Something has come up. You guys can tag along if you want, but it is at your own risk. And while I'm changing, don't touch the laptop. It's calibrated to my fingerprints only, and if anyone else tries to use it, then it will blow up."
I ran up the stairs two at a time, and found the bathroom. I quickly changed, used to being rushed, and under pressure. I frowned at my shoulder length blondish hair that was a mess. I ran my fingers through it and pulled it up into a ponytail with the hair elastic on my wrist. It was still a bit messy, but it would have to do. I was now wearing a pair of denim short shorts, and a cherry red spaghetti strap camisole. It was typical clothing for a teen, and her luckily tanned, sporty body helped fit the part of a tanned, sporty, typical teenage girl. I put the borrowed pajamas in the hamper, and bounced back downstairs.
I didn't even look at Fang, or Gazzy, or Nudge and Ella. "Quit gaping. I had a role to play on this mission." I picked up my bag again, and opened the top. I first pulled out a pair of designer sunglasses, which I put on my head. Then I pulled out a cream from Smithers. I opened the top, and dabbed it onto all the bruises and cuts that were visible, and the scar from the bullet wound I had gotten from SCORPIA a couple years back. Suddenly, my skin was flawless and perfectly tanned. I put the cream back in the bag, and pulled out a pair of sandals. They looked designer and all that, but really, they provided all the support, and wear as a good pair of sneakers. Which meant I could run and fight, and do whatever, while keeping up my façade.
I sat and slipped on the shoes, before standing and turning to Valencia. I slipped my sunglasses over my eyes, and grinned. "Okay, let's go get this thing done. Now, I did promise to stay a week, and I stick to my promises. So, I'll keep my stuff here." I said. I dug around in my bag for a second and pulled out a wad of money, and a couple cards, which I promptly stuffed into my back pocket. "Except I'm taking these with me. Just in case." I added.
Ella squealed. "Oh. My. God. You look so good, Alex!" She said, following Nudge and Valencia out the door. Once more, we all clambered into the van. Except Valencia, who held the driver's door open, and motioned to it. "Would you like to drive this time?" She asked, raising an eyebrow, and grinning.
I nodded, and caught the keys she tossed at me. She went around to the passenger seat as I went to the driver's seat. I sat, closed the door and buckled my seat belt. I adjusted the seat and steering wheel to where it was comfortable for me, and started the van. "Okay, so mall with a Starbucks. Where are we going?" I asked as I reversed out of the drive and started down the street. I kept it all legal speed limit and such, stopping at lights, and signs, while Valencia directed me to the correct mall, with a little help from Ella.
I parked the van, and grinned. "Considering I've never driven a van before, I think I did it fairly well." I climbed out, and pushed my sunglasses back up onto the top of my head.
Gazzy and Iggy nodded. "You did better than Max." Gazzy said, dodging out of Max's reach as she went to smack him.
"I have to agree with that." Fang added, and he gave Max a hug from behind.
We entered the mall on the second floor, right near the Starbucks. Valencia encouraged Ella, Nudge and Angel and Gazzy to go explore the mall while we got this done and over with. Sure, they knew about my life, but we still kept them as detached as possible.
I walked into the Starbucks, and asked for the cold drink with the least amount of calories and paid when I got it. Acting as any teen would, I turned around, then called out to Ben when I spotted him.
"Benny! Never thought I'd see you here! Come, sit with me and my friends!" I exclaimed. Valencia, Max, Fang and Iggy were sitting at a table that was actually outside of the actually café. They had pulled a couple tables together to accommodate the group. I sat next to Iggy, who was next to Valencia. Max and Fang were across from them, and Ben was across from me, next to Fang. Wolf and Snake came over, and Wolf sat on my right with Snake on his right at the head of the table. Eagle sat on Ben's left, and looked me up and down.
"Really, Cub, you clean up good!" Eagle exclaimed quietly, which was surprising for him. Really, I couldn't wait for him to meet Nudge. Yeah, sure they were really different, but they did have one thing in common. They both talked about completely irrelevant subjects to the current situation on hand.
"Took you long enough to get here. We've been here since nine. We had to switch around whoever was in the store." Wolf grumbled. He was obviously very annoyed, and I could understand why.
I nodded. "I slept fairly late." I replied, and Iggy snickered. I elbowed him and continued. "I didn't get the email until about half and hour ago." I took a long sip of my drink. I could taste the caffeine so much, and I loved it. I definitely needed it.
Nudge and Ella bounced over, desperate to show Valencia something. I smiled at Nudge's inquiring looks, and mouthed 'later' before she could open her mouth. Ella received some money from Valencia that she was told to split with the others, and they ran off to the others, waving it in the air and yelling about how they succeeded.
A group of teenage girls walked by, and giggled about K-Unit. And then one of them saw me, and frowned. I could easily tell she was looking at my sunglasses.
"Hey, are those the new Christian Dior sunglasses(1)?" She asked, putting on hand on her hip, and pointing with her other hand. Surprisingly, I had next to no clue about what the hell she was talking about, so I nodded.
"Yeah, I totally got them shipped in from Europe." I replied, acting the best I could. Max chipped in and reached across Fang, and touched my elbow.
"And they cost you a fortune. I still call you crazy for that." She said, nodding to the girls, who nodded back, and then walked away, giggling and looking back once or twice.
"Well, that was different." Snake stated, shrugging a bit, and nudging Wolf hard enough that he nudged me. Wolf glared at him and I turned to Max.
"Now, if you perfected Wolf's glare, then I might be a teensy bit scared." I said, motioning to his angry face with my thumb. She nodded her agreement.
"I, from this day forward, vow to try my beast in A) perfecting Wolf's glare, and B) never to piss off Wolf." She promised, holding up her right hand. We stared at each other, and then we both laughed.
"Right. Cause that'll never happen. Trust me Max, someday, somehow, you'll piss off Wolf. When that happens, I have one bit of advice. Run." I replied, grinning at her. "Ow!" I exclaimed as wolf smacked me upside the head. I wasn't lying either. It did hurt; he hit me hard.
"Let's get down to business, then. Al, we've got big news. It could be good or bad, depending on how you look at it." Ben said. He paused while Snake pulled up an empty chair beside him, before continuing. "Long story short, we've got a new K-unit member. 'Course, it's just our luck to get stuck with another MI6 agent, though he's been an agent for an even shorter time than you. You might recognize him though."
A graceful form sat himself next to Snake. He last time I had seen him was when he had been dying from being shot. He told me some things that maybe he shouldn't have. Things that got me in huge trouble. That trouble led to me being shot right on MI6's front steps. I stood up and slammed my hands down on the table with enough force to make my drink 'jump' a bit off the table. I was full force angry, and even Wolf moved away an inch.
"You're supposed to be dead." I stated. I turned to Ben, glaring so much that he flinch when I turned my gaze to him. "What the bloody hell is going on?" I growled, demanding an explanation.
He took a deep breath before replying. "We can't really explain that here. We'd need a secure location." He said, waving his arm around as if to motion to all the people. "We could go back to our hotel-"
"No." I said. I turned to Valencia, raising my eyebrow in question. She knew what I wanted, and she nodded in reply. "Gimme the keys to your car, or whatever." I said to Ben, holding out my hand.
"We rented a van, and Wolf has them." He replied shortly.
Before I even looked at Wolf, he had put the keys in my hand. I pulled out Valencia's keys, and tossed them to her. "I'll follow you."
This was where Eagle pushed back his chair and stood up. "You're going to drive? We're all going to die! I've seen you on a four-wheeler Cub! You're a crazy driver!" He exclaimed, looking at the other members of K-Unit.
I tossed my license at Eagle, and he caught it. "There's my proof that I'm a safe driver on the road, Eagle. You can't deny it." I caught it when he flicked it back. "But for those comments, I think I might just take the roads out of town, and we'll go for a little detour." I added, smirking at him. He was visibly frightened, and who could blame him? I had constantly bumped him around when we were on the four-wheelers.
Valencia motioned for Angel, Ella, Nudge and Gazzy to come over, and she nodded at me. "We'll meet by the exit gate." I nodded to that, and she ushered the other out to her van.
I grabbed my drink and finished off the last half of it it a few gulps, and held up my hand when snake was about to comment on the health issues of chugging drinks. I only knew he would because he lectured me every time I ate too fast, or chugged my drinks, or whatever. "Lead the way to the van. Lecture me later." I said.
We reached the van, which was painted a typical black with tinted windows. I shook my head and climbed in, pulling down my sunglasses as I turned it on. I manipulated the parking lot, and honked at Valencia when I was there. I followed her back to the house, but I parked out by the curb instead of in her driveway.
"We're trading that in really soon. It sticks out too much." I said as I climbed out. I walked up to the house and intercepted Angel before she could go hide and 'listen' in on the argument that was sure to ensue. "I want you, Nudge, Gazzy, and Ella to not be here when this goes down. I'll give you and the others the play-by-play after, okay?"
Max backed me up, and helped convince them to go to the park that was nearby. We smiled and sighed at each other. Now I could deal with this without scaring Angel with my thoughts or anything, which was the real reason why we wanted them to go.
I followed Valencia and Max in, closely followed by K-Unit and the new 'member'. I still couldn't believe it, but I also didn't want to believe it. Here was a man I had seen shot before me, for refusing to shoot me. I sat at the dining table and took a deep breath while dropping my head into my hands. I wanted explanations before we even continued with why K-Unit was here.
Ben sat beside me and put his arm around my shoulders. "It's perfectly fine, Al." He said, trying to comfort me.
I actually laughed, and patted his arm. "I don't need comforting, Fox. I need answers." I said, smiling at him. Wolf opened his mouth, and I shook my head. "Not from you."
"But from me, right Alex?" Yassen said, sitting, thankfully, on the other side of the table. I didn't want to be near him really. I mean, come on, he was supposed to be dead. I saw him die on Air Force one for refusing to kill me. I nodded, and crossed my arms across my chest, leaning back in my chair. K-unit was on my left, Fox and Snake sitting, the rest standing, while Max and Fang were sitting next to me on my right, Iggy was leaning against the wall, and Valencia was standing behind me and Max, assuming the protective motherly role that fit her so well.
"Well, there was medical help everywhere around the plane as they saw it was going to crash. Help arrived and stabilized me, and when MI6 showed up, they took me into custody, and took you to St. Dominic's. After about a year in custody, Blunt and I had a talk. I could either go to jail for the rest of my life, or I could work for him. Since then, this is my first mission." He gave me the short version, and I knew that there was more to it than that.
Fox spoke up. "I've been told to report back to Blunt how well you two work together." He told me, and I grimaced. I knew exactly what Blunt wanted.
"So, that's his game then? Well, isn't that too damn bad for him. You tell Blunt that I say no way that is happening." I muttered, though everyone could still hear what I had said.
"Cub, he's good. Why don't you want to work with him?" Eagle asked.
"Yeah, he's actually really a jack of all trades." Snake added in.
I shook my head again, feeling little blonde strands fall across my face. I swept them away. "It isn't that I don't want to work with him. Okay, well, it's partially that, but only because I don't really trust you. A lot of shit has hit the fan between us." I paused while he nodded in agreement. "Blunt promised me this would be my last mission until I was eighteen, and then I could make the final choice. Join MI6, or live a normal life. But even then, he knows what I'll say. It's just I hate being used the way he is using me. I don't get a choice in any of this. I never do. You guys know he blackmails me into every mission I go on, right? If I don't go on a mission, then he'll deport Jack, and just put me in an orphanage where they'll have no problem with sending me off on another mission."
I stopped my rant, and realized what I had been saying. I just spilled my guts and all the gushy emotions in my heart and soul to K-Unit, and Yassen. Not to forget the fact that Max, Fang, Iggy and Valencia were there. I felt my face flush just the slightest, and dropped my forehead to the table, which only resulted in a semi-loud bang, and my forehead hurting. "Someone shoot me now please." I muttered. It was so quiet in the room that I just knew everyone heard me.
Valencia rubbed my back, and Max squeezed my shoulder. "Good thing we sent Angel and the others away for a bit." Max said. I nodded, my head still on the table. I had been so close to being free. Just one more mission, and then I could be a reckless teenager for two years before going back. But no, of course I can't live a normal life. Blunt just wouldn't have it. He was damn lucky he wasn't telling me this personally. I would've had his head for this, this, betrayal. Because in essence, that's what it was. I had been once more played for a fool, and tricked into having to work with MI6. Only now, it was worse. I'd have to work with Yassen Gregorovich. The person who shot my uncle and got me thrown into this world before I was damn well ready.
"Well, there's more to it than just that, Al." Fox said, pulling something out of his bag and placing it on the table. Glancing up, I saw that it was a fairly thick file. A few more papers and what looked like a passport were placed beside the file. I already knew the file was mine; only because it had doodles all over it from when I'd have to sit in Blunt's office for hours on end. I was quite happy when he was annoyed by it, and Mrs. Jones convinced him to keep it like that. She had said something like I had shown great artistic ability, and that I should at least get this one thing.
I reached for the other documents. Two of them were forms, filled out, and the other was a passport. One form was for the immediate deportation of Jack Starbright. It was dated for about a week before. Blunt had double-crossed me. I knew it was just a copy of the original, but I ripped up the form anyways, before looking at the next. It was a signed adoption form, and I felt my blood boil. Blunt's signature was on one line; sharp, precise, and very clear. The one next to that was loopy yet small, and notably harder to make out. For consistencies sake, I ripped that one in half as well, placing it on top of the remains of the first form.
Flipping open the passport, I started shaking my head right away. "Not happening. Like, ever. Not in this life, or the next." I said, tossing the little, fairly inoffensive book onto the table. It was the information inside that I refused, though I knew it was futile.
Pushing away from the table, I flipped on the radio, figuring it's help me calm down a bit. Not finding a good station, I switched it over to CD, and put in the first interesting looking mixed CD. I searched through the song finding a familiar one before sitting back down.
"I remember the days when we talked for hours. And we were young; we thought we had superpowers. We kissed the sky, expanded our minds, thought we could fly. We were dreamers, and we'd never die," I sung quietly, waiting for K-Unit to say something.
Yassen pushed the passport back towards me. "You don't have a choice, Alex. Nor do I. The only difference is that I accept that, while you don't."
"And just what is your point? You get to keep your last name. I've lost the last person who I considered family. I'm being used, again. I now I have to lose my last name, which, despite others who carried it, I still consider a part of me. On top of all that, I'd have to work with you." I replied, grimacing at the end. Picturing the signature on the adoption form, I could tell what it said; Yassen Gregorovich.
"Would now be a good time to mention that you also have to be trained by me?"
Author's Note: (1)- I'm such a tom boy, I had to research for a pair of designer sunglasses. Is that bad?
Anyhoos, there's chapter two up. I'd like some feedback if you actually read this far. Not much to say here, I suppose. See you all later!
