I am back! Much sooner than expected as well. Do not expect me to be this speedy in chapter writing all the time please!
Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favourited or followed this story. If you read the last chapter after the 22nd of December, you would have seen the question I added about K-Unit and Yassen. If you did not read the version with the question, it does not really matter.
I would still like to know, should I resurrect Yassen? Should K-Unit play a major role?
K-Unit will have a minor role anyway, and Ben Daniels/Fox will have a fairly major one.
Review Responses:
Alex Rider's Spygirl-Thank you! I tried to be original and I am glad the idea turned out well. I did read on Alex Rider Wiki that Tom had black hair and blue eyes. Unfortunately, he was described as short. Ah well, he had a growth spurt or something. Thank you so much! Please enjoy this chapter.
Reviewer-Thank you. Grammar has never been my strong point, but I do try. I apologise for any errors, feel free to point them out. I am glad that you enjoyed the pace, it may slow down a little bit this chapter. Thanks for the feedback! Enjoy the new chapter.
yashendra2797-Thank you for your support! Please enjoy this chapter.
Guest (The First One)-Thank you, this will become a fully fledged story. Enjoy the new chapter!
Guest (The Second One)- Thank you so much. Please enjoy this chapter.
Saelufu-Thank you! Enjoy the new chapter.
Only If- Thank you so much! The last person was Alex. Yassen might come it and K-Unit will play a minor role at least. Fox will have a fairly major role. Please enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 2- Curiosity Killed the Cat
John narrowed his eyes. He had checked his photo content on his phone, only to find the picture of the grave missing. It did not hinder his investigation as he remembered the basics. All it did was prove his suspicions that there was something strange about 'Alex Rider'.
It was a rainy Saturday afternoon. Sherlock was lazing around the flat and reading some complicated scientific book. John had been planning to take full advantage of his free-time and research the boy he had heard of last Sunday.
Then he had discovered that someone had tampered with his phone.
It did the opposite of the intended. Instead of deterring him from the case, it made him more determined to solve the mystery.
So, into being came John Watson's first solo case.
John was far from excited as he browsed the web for any mention of Alex Rider. He had found the obituary online and a list of people invited to the funeral. Surprisingly, there was no mention of Sherlock Holmes. The list consisted of:
Sabina Pleasure;
Edward Pleasure;
Elizabeth Pleasure;
Ben Daniels;
Tulip Jones;
Thomas Harris;
Jerry Harris.
A quick visit to Facebook told him that Sabina Pleasure was living in America with a husband and a little girl of two. She did mention that last Sunday had been the anniversary of Alex Rider's death. After a quick scroll through her posts he found that two weeks ago yesterday was the anniversary of Jack Starbright's demise.
Jack Starbright turned out to be Rider's guardian after his Uncle, Ian Rider, was killed in a car crash in 2000. Ian Rider had become Alex Rider's guardian after the death of his parents, John and Helen Rider, in a plane crash. He also found reference to Anthony Sean Howel, Alex Rider's godfather, caught in the crossfire between two gangs in 2000.
With the lack of living leads in that area, John moved onto Edward and Elizabeth Pleasure. All he found was that they were Alex Rider's legal guardians and had flown over to pick him up on the day of his death.
Next he checked Ben Daniels. The man was a former SAS member, known as Fox. John remembered Fox from his own time in the SAS. Last he heard was that the man had been 'binned', dishonourably discharged, from the SAS and was now working for a bank. John added Fox to his list of 'living leads'. He was beginning to wonder if Rider has attracted death or if he had just been one really unfortunate teenager.
When he searched for 'Tulip Jones' he was quite surprised at the lack of information. Only the basics were available. She worked for a bank, had a husband and two children, the elder a girl and the younger a boy.
Wait, she worked for a bank?
'Royal and General' was the name of the bank and John soon discovered that Fox and Ian Rider, before his demise, worked at the same bank. John resolved to research this bank and began to look for 'Thomas Harris'.
The results were a fifteen year old who went missing along with his older brother, Jerry Harris, after the death of his best friend, Alex Rider. Their bodies were found in the Thames two days later. Their mother then committed suicide and their father quickly died of alcohol poisoning.
The search for Jerry Harris turned up much the same as his brother's. The only difference being that he had lived in Venice for several years before returning to London for the funeral.
John, having exhausted the list of people, was prepared to start researching Royal and General. Then something caught his eye. A picture of Thomas Harris and the Brookland Comprehensive School football team was just below the web link.
He clicked it, and his breath caught in his throat.
It was not the black hair and blue eyes of Thomas Harris, so remarkably similar to that of Sherlock, which made John stare. It was not the familiar insane grin on Harris' face. It was not the devious sparkle in his eyes which John knew so well.
John saw none of that.
He had eyes only for the boy with blonde hair and carefree eyes next to Harris. The boy labelled 'Alex Rider' .The boy who was unmistakeable, the boy who was Cub.
Hysterical laughter bubbled to the surface as John thought of the boy. It could not be possible. The boy was supposed to be some rich brat, sent by his father for a lesson in respect. Cub was not supposed to be an orphan who had just lost his only relative.
John sat there in silence for a moment, not even noticing as Sherlock glanced in his direction with narrowed eyes. Sherlock's hands tightened on the book he was reading as he darkly glared at John's back. MI6 had not done a very good job with their cover-up; they had made this too easy.
Then Sherlock's eyes widened and he dropped his book with a 'thunk'. John had clicked on another link next to the picture and was scanning the article. In all of the two seconds it had taken Sherlock to read the article, Sherlock had realised something.
MI6 had not covered-up. They had laid an obvious trail of breadcrumbs and waited for a hungry pigeon to eat them up.
Sherlock swore under his breath. If John let anything slip, Sherlock was doomed. Sherlock quickly took off. He bounded towards his room, leaving an ignorant John in his wake.
Line Break
John frowned as he looked through the article. It said that Alex Rider (fifteen) had been killed, along with his guardian, in a car crash. The guardian was unnamed and John was confused. The Pleasures were Rider's legal guardians, were they not?
John knew that something was wrong. Someone had covered-up, but who? Who would be interested in a fifteen year old boy? No, he corrected himself, who with that amount of power would cover up for a fifteen year old boy?
John began to pull up all his SAS contacts, a plan on his mind. Emails went out to everyone off duty. He was planning a party.
A Party?
Wolf frowned in confusion. A party? Well, he shrugged, as long as he did not have to pay.
Eagle grinned with excitement. A party? Everyone in the SAS knew Eagle would be there even if you had not invited him. So it was best to just invite him in the first place. He rushed over to the phone and began hitting the buttons eagerly.
Snake stared at the email with disbelief. A party? Since when did SAS men arrange parties? Oh well, Snake sighed, it would be nice to see his fellow medics.
Stingray gingerly held the phone to his ear and then quickly pulled it away. The over-enthusiastic yells of Eagle could be heard from across the room. Stingray could not make out much. Email? A party? Oh, a party invitation sent by email! Stingray hastily hung up before running over to his computer.
Lyrebird raised an eyebrow as he scanned the email. A party? Well he had nothing better to do.
Caiman let a large grin spread over his face. A party? He yelled a quick thanks to Eagle before hanging up and calling his own Unit.
Owl glared at the phone. He worked as a night guard and was not keen to be woken up on his day off, especially since he had spent the entire morning awake. He answered the phone gruffly before beaming. A party? Parties were always worth interrupted sleep.
Hawk yelled through the phone in a futile attempt to get Eagle to slow down. His headache was slowly building and he finally resorted to just hanging up on the annoying soldier. He had a few minutes of peace before the phone started to ring again. Caiman was on the line. He quickly, under Caiman's slightly calmer guidance, discovered the existence of an invitation in his email. A party? He hated noise, crowds and drunks. So, Hawk accepted the invitation.
Dingo slumped in his chair. He had just returned from the surgery after a long a gruelling day of work. He heard the small 'ping' that his computer made when he received mail. After he finally dragged himself into the study and read the email, his face formed into a grin that stretched from ear to ear. A party? Dingo was most definitely there!
Bear growled into the phone as Caiman yelled unintelligible words into it. He just sighed and hung up before returning to checking his email. A party? Well he had to make sure Eagle and Caiman did not cause too much trouble.
Iguana watched the screen with disinterest. He really did not care which celebrity was dating which, or if they were in the middle of a massive, and over-exaggerated, breakup. He glanced at his email before letting a grin slide onto his face. A party? Iguana was not going to miss what could be his last chance to hang out with all his friends. He then glanced at his newest email and the colour drained from his face.
Hey Iguana!
You are the last to receive this email, so it's your job to drag Fox along!
From Eagle
Iguana sighed; this was going to take a while.
Fox sipped his coffee in a daze. He had never gotten over the death of his little brother. After Snakehead they had met occasionally around the office, soon they were close enough to be blood brothers. If the Pleasures had not adopted him, Fox would have been happy to take Alex in.
Fox glanced moodily at his email. A party? He was just not in the right mood. He knew that the other Units would try to drag him along; he was not sure who the job would fall to this time.
His computer made a small noise, so Fox glanced up.
Ben,
I need you to attend the party; the organiser is up to something. I am doing my best on this end, but I need someone on the inside.
TS
Fox smirked. He was one of the privileged few who knew the identity of Sherlock Holmes and if 'Sherlock' wanted him to do something, then it was important.
Fox was about to reply when his computer made the same noise.
Ben,
The Peppermint-Flower made a trail. The breadcrumbs showed that something was wrong. Cub distracted the organiser, but he might see me too.
TS
That was when Fox knew something was very wrong. Sherlock never used their code, which was not very good anyway, for anything unless it was vital and, from what Fox could see, the situation was volatile.
If '6 had left a trail of evidence Sherlock's cover would soon be gone. SCORPIA did not forgive or forget, even if they were hardly anything.
Alex had left him a number for emergencies and he was pretty sure this counted as one.
Sighing uneasily, Fox began to dial the unknown number.
Line Break
"John!" Sherlock called as he rushed past, satchel over his shoulder. "I'm going to get more milk!"
"We've run out again?" John exclaimed, looking up from his various acceptance letters.
Sherlock stopped before he reached the door. "Yes, we have. Oh, I heard a very interesting version of an old saying recently. I thought it might do some good here."
"What," John snorted. "Don't cry over spilt milk?"
Sherlock's eyes flicked over to the computer, a small, fake, smile on his face. "Curiosity killed the cougar."
Then Sherlock was gone. John had no chance to respond, yet he doubted he would have been able to. John knew Sherlock was trying to stop him from investigating, but if Sherlock was trying to spook him off the case it must be something big.
A small voice nagged at the back of his mind, "How did he know? How did he know?" It asked.
"The same way he always knows." He answered, but he could not shake the feeling. The feeling that told him he was digging his own grave.
"How did he know? How did he know you were SAS? How did he know you were Cougar?"
