Chapter 17: Story Time

"You wanted to see us?" Alex asked innocently of Mr. Byrne after entering the man's office.

"What? Oh, yes. Come in. Sit down," Mr. Byrne replied, gesturing once more to the two chairs opposite his desk.

After Ben and Alex had each sat down, Mr. Byrne continued.

"Alex. Ed told you what I want to know. Care to explain?"

"Not especially," Alex replied while staring intently at a bug on the wall.

Ben leaned over to Alex and wacked him on the back of the head. "Just tell him what happened. He has a right to know. You're lucky you got away with it the first time. I'm surprised he even helped you the first time without a proper explanation. Now tell the man. You owe him."

"Since when did you become my mother?" Alex sarcastically asked.

"Since the day you moved in, got rid of your self-preservation, and started doing crazy suicidal stunts on missions!"

"I wasn't half as bad as that."

Ben just snorted in reply. "That's what you think. You didn't get through one single mission without doing something like that."

"That's not true! What about that one with the Russian Mafia?"

"I wasn't there, and you're most likely lying about that one. Since when does the Russian Mafia ever NOT do anything crazy and dangerous?"

"Hey! I have proof that I didn't do anything crazy!"

"And that would be?"

"I didn't have to go to hospital for any reason at all!"

Ben just gave him a look, "Yea, but you stumbled into the flat at 2 AM and passed out from your injuries. You're very lucky you could convince me to not bring you to the hospital and instead just call Snake."

"Either way, I didn't go to the hospital. And I do look out for myself…"

"Right after you finish the mission," Ben added. "Now am I going to have to lock you in a room with Eagle for three days straight, or are you going to start talking?"

Alex glared at Ben for a full minute before responding. "Fine. In Cairo you asked me 'what did Razim do to you?'. I'm guessing you are looking for the answer to that question?"

"Yes. If I remember correctly, you responded with something about Razim being obsessed with pain or something along those lines? And then later you disappeared for a while and my men found you in the desert by the remains of…was it a car?"

"Yea," Alex said, looking slightly dejected. "They kidnapped me and Jack. Then, Jack managed to escape. Except it was a planned escape. Razim was doing some sort of experiment to make a measurement of pain. He figured he had enough data on physical pain and wanted some data on emotional pain. Anyways Jack escaped…" At this point in time Alex's voice trailed off and Alex sat lost in thought for a minute.

Neither man said anything, knowing that Alex needed a minute.

Alex took a deep breath and continued. Both men were startled at how inhuman and mechanic the boy's voice was and how impassive his face was. The only hint of any emotion was in Alex's eyes. "Jack escaped-kind of. They made me watch this all on a TV while tied up to a chair. They allowed her to steal one of the cars and everything. She drove off into the desert…and…and…they blew up the car." Alex's eyes had dropped down towards the floor. "She didn't do anything. She didn't deserve this. She was innocent, and they just blew her up. No big deal. Simple push of the button. They just ended her life. Did you know she couldn't cook? I actually caught her one time burning water-though I suspect there was something else in the pot. She didn't deserve this. She could be married right now and have kids of her own. But no."

Alex finished and there was a moment's silence.

"I'm sorry Alex," Mr. Byrne said softly, sympathizing with the teen.

"Me too," Alex sighed. "Anyways, anything else you would like to know?"

"No. I've just been worried about you. You didn't see yourself that day. The guard brought you into the room, and your face was so blank-so devoid of emotion. I'll admit it, I was scared. The only human emotion showing was your eyes that just screamed 'hurt', 'anguish', and 'pain'."

"MI6 has turned me into a weapon. After I came back from that mission, I could see it in their faces that they knew. They knew that they were the cause. They knew they had created a lethal weapon-a killing machine. And they were scared." Alex laughed humorlessly. "That's the first time I've ever seen them scared. And I see it in their faces every time I go in there."

"Alex- I'm truly sorry that you ever got mixed up in this business. You should've never been used by MI6. I agree that you're an amazing spy and are very useful, but that didn't give Blunt the right to do to you what he did. I'm sorry about your guardian," Mr. Byrne said in a soft voice.

"Yea, me too. But feeling sorry isn't going to bring her back. Sometimes, we just have to move on in life and forget about the past," Alex replied.

"Thanks for your hospitality, Mr. Byrne, but Alex and I need to be getting to the airport about now if we want to catch our flight to Australia," Ben interrupted.

"Of course. I'll send Shulsky to drive you to the airport. If we get anything out of the prisoners, I'll contact you in some way. It was great seeing you alive, Alex. Nice to meet you Ben. Do me a favor. Look out for Alex. One of these days his luck isn't quite going to hold out."

"Hey! I can look out for myself!" Alex protested. But it fell on deaf ears as both men gave him a look and continued as though he never said anything.

"Of course I will, Mr. Byrne. Come on, Alex. And don't forget to re-dye your hair in the airport bathroom."

"Do I look like an idiot, Ben?"

"I don't think I want to comment on that. I wish to keep all of my limbs intact. After all, only you can get yourself mixed into the messes you do. No one else on the planet has that skill. Good-bye Mr. Byrne."

Ben and Alex stood up and walked out of the office. They were about to walk down the hall when Mr. Byrne called out, "If either of you guys ever need anything, you know how to contact me."

Alex turned around with warmth in his eyes, "Thanks."

Ben put his arm around Alex and the two of them headed outside to where Ed was waiting with a car to drive them to the airport. Once the pair was situated in the back seat, Ed started driving. The trio was silent until they reached the airport.

"Bye Alex, Ben. I'm really glad you're not actually dead," Ed started. "If you ever need anything, well, I'd be glad to help."

"Thanks, Ed. And thanks for your help with the Ark Angel mission-even if you did almost get me killed by sending me to space. And make sure Lewinsky knows that there's no hard feelings for what he did," Alex replied.

After a few last final greetings were exchanged, Alex and Ben entered the airport and proceeded through security.

When their flight finally started boarding, Alex and Ben were one of the first ones on. They took their seats and waited for takeoff.

Ben was the first out of the two to speak, "Whew! So much for our relaxing time in Miami. At least we'll have a couple of days at a hotel before we see any action. After all, we do need to figure out the best way to get into this organization."

"And I'll be glad for those days. I mean, Miami is nice and all, but it's nothing compared to Australia. And this time I'll actually be entering the country legally and the normal way."

"Did you just say the word 'normal'? Nothing that has anything to do with you is ever normal, Will." A/N: If you've forgotten, Will is Alex's alias for the mission

"Ok, that might be true, but I'm sure that everything will be normal as we make our way out of the airport in Australia. The rest of the time? No. But I mean, what could happen in an airport in Australia?"