A/N: Sorry this one is a little bit shorter than usual; I thought that was a good place to end it. Hopefully the next update will be longer.
"Excuse me?" Snake demanded. He spoke quietly, but the outrage was still evident in his voice nonetheless. Eagle simply stared at Fox, speechless.
Fox sighed. He knew this wasn't going to be easy. "I know guys, I'm pissed about it too," he said in a placating tone, "but it's already done and there's nothing we can do to change that."
"But why?" Eagle found his voice. "Why stick him with Wolf for protection and then send him out in the field? It doesn't make any sense!"
"It's because they don't care about him," Snake's voice was full of disdain; no one needed to ask who "they" were. "He's just a means to an end to them; that's the only reason they wanted to protect him in the first place, he's a valuable asset."
"He's fourteen!" Eagle cried.
"Fifteen," Fox corrected automatically.
"Fourteen or fifteen, it's still way too young!" Eagle snapped.
"Don't you think I know that?" Fox growled, already on edge with worry about Alex.
"Well, you work for the heartless bastards!"
"What's that got to do with anything? You think I approve of – !"
"Oi! Knock it off, the pair of you!" Snake barked.
Eagle and Fox shuffled guiltily under the medic's angry gaze as he chastised them, "I hate it just as much as you do, but snarling at each other won't do any good; what's done is done, so belt up and deal with it like adults instead of children!"
"Sorry, Ben." Eagle muttered.
"It's okay, I'm sorry too."
Snake nodded, satisfied that harmony had been restored, if not peace. Turning to Fox, he asked, "Have you been to see Chris, yet?"
Fox shook his head, looking, if possible, even more uneasy than he had earlier. "No; I don't know what to say to him. Besides, I doubt he'd welcome my company."
"Well we can't just leave him on his own to worry." Snake said decisively.
"What? You want to us to go round so we call worry together or something?" Eagle asked sarcastically.
"If that makes him feel better, than yes." Snake snapped.
So that was how the three men found themselves climbing up the communal stairs to the front door of Wolf's flat. For a moment they all shifted, none of them wanting to be the one to knock on the door. Then Snake scowled and reached out to do it himself. When his knuckles made contact with the dark blue door, however, it simply swung open before he could bang on it.
The three friends shared a worried glance, hands automatically reaching for weapons to defend themselves. Slowly, Snake pushed the door open all the way and lead the way up the stairs quietly, Fox and Eagle following behind.
When all three of them were standing in the hallway, Snake looked around before calling out, "Chris? You here, mate?"
"In here!" Wolf's voice responded from the kitchen.
The three men, relief etch over their respective faces, strode towards the kitchen, dropping their hands from their guns as they went. Snake was the first to reach the doorway, Eagle walking into his back when his teammate stopped short in shock. Fox was quicker off the mark and so managed not to collide with anyone, but instead was left jumping up and down at the back, trying to see what had caused his friend to seize up like that.
"Chris," Snake said gently, slipping into the kitchen with Fox and Eagle right behind him, "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Wolf demanded.
The SAS men was on his hands and knees on the tiled floor of his small kitchen, a red bucket besides him and a yellow sponge in his hand that he was vigorously scrubbing all over the floor. The entire kitchen had been torn to pieces; the contents of all the cupboards was scattered on the counter and several cleaning products were within arm's reach on the floor.
"Why are you cleaning?" Fox asked, "The flat's immaculate."
"Yeah, that's because I just cleaned it, moron," Wolf snarled. As Fox had predicted, he wasn't exactly thrilled to see his former teammate.
"But . . . you never clean," Eagle said, staring at their Unit Leader in shock. "Well, unless it's your gun."
"I know, I usually can't be bothered with it, but cleaning helps me think, so I can figure out when he's coming back, besides, it's always good to come back to a nice clean place after a dangerous missions; besides, what if he's hurt? If the flats dirty, he could get infection and then he'd have to got to the hospital and then it could get even worse and it'd be my fault, again – "
"Chris!" Snake said, cutting his friend of mid-ramble, his eyes wide as he stared at the man in alarm, his facial expression mirrored by the other two men besides him.
"WHAT?" He shouted. As he did so, he hit the tile he was trying to clean so hard it snapped in half. Briefly, he looked down at the broken pieces, then abruptly threw down the sponge and launched himself to his feet. The three visitors quickly scrambled to get out of his way as he charged past to rifle loudly in the cabinet behind them, tossing things over his shoulder, muttering to himself.
"What are you looking for?" Eagle questioned hesitantly.
"Glue," Wolf replied shortly, swinging around rapidly once he found aforementioned glue.
"Chris," Fox jumped forward and grabbed the muscular man's arm as he tried to get down on his knees again and hauled him back up, "We need to talk about this."
"Talk about what?" Wolf growled, glaring at the spy who held his arm tightly.
"This isn't helping."
"Flat's don't clean themselves, you know."
"That's not what I mean and you know it! A second ago you said "It'd be my fault, again", didn't you?"
"Yeah, so?" Wolf snarled, trying to free his elbow from Fox's grip.
"It's not your fault."
"Don't be so stupid, of course it is!" Wolf shouted, finally succeeding in wrenching his limb loose. He glanced down at the cracked tile then threw the tube of glue across the room so it hit the opposite wall and fell down onto the cooker.
Fox glanced over his shoulder and jerked his head at Snake and Eagle, silently telling them to go. They both hesitated then, after sharing a glance, simultaneously stepped back out the doorway into the hall, deciding to let Fox handle it. After all, Fox was closer to Wolf than they were, ever if they were all friends.
Turning back to face his angry friend, Fox went to put a hand on his shoulder, and then pulled his arm back, thinking that might not be the best idea. Wolf wasn't a touchy-feely guy and right now it looked like doing the slightest thing wrong could set him off.
Sighing inaudible, Fox jumped right into it, "Why do you think it's your fault?"
"Because it just is!" Wolf snapped, turning around to unleash his worst glare on Fox. The men simply leant back and raised an eyebrow inquisitively. The gesture was so like Alex's that Wolf felt his heart drop into his stomach like a stone and all the fight drained out of him.
Swallowing hard, he propped himself up against the counter and, his head bowed to look at the floor, said, "It is my fault, Ben. It was my job to look after him and I blew it."
"You didn't blow it," Fox began soothingly.
"Yes I did!" Wolf interrupted angrily. "Ben, he was with me for two days before he was attacked and almost kidnapped – was I there to stop it? No I was not. And then your lot," there was just the slightest hint of accusation in Wolf's tone that Fox heard and ignored, "drag him off to freakin' America on some mission that could get him killed and did I stop them? No!"
"Chris, what could you possibly have done?" Fox said gently, now putting his hand on his friends shoulder for comfort. "The first time was a mistake, no one knew that was going to happen. And about the mission – what could you have done? Taken on the government? Once they decided to send him there, he was gone. End of story and nothing you could or would have done would have made the slightest difference."
Wolf just shook his head doggedly, his friends reassurances failing to calm him down, "He's fifteen, Ben. He's just a kid – he shouldn't be doing this, it's not right. God, what if he gets himself killed – "
"He won't," Fox said firmly, decisively. "He won't. You've read his file; you've seen him in action yourself, at Brecon Beacons and in France. He's an amazing, resourceful kid with more courage than most full grown men. He'll survive, Chris. He'll come back. You know he will."
Wolf made a small noise that was somewhere between a growl and a sob. "God, I hope so, Ben," he whispered.
XXXXX
Alex held his hand over his mouth and nose to muffle his breathing as above his head, the guards heavy footsteps ran back and forth over the metal casing over his head. The metal was twisted in a criss-cross pattern; if any of the men looked down, below their feet, they would see him, hidden in the shadows though he was.
When the footsteps faded, he risked moving again, propping one hand against the cold wall to help guide his way along the rank sewer. At one point his foot slipped on something in the filthy water that went up to his knees and he had to bite his lip to stop from making a sound. His pursuers may have gone, but that didn't mean that they didn't have reinforcements lurking around, waiting for him.
He had to get out of there, fast. The right side of his torso was burning, slippery with his blood dripping down from the laceration one of the boss's minions had given him with a hunting knife. He'd managed to use Agent Mason's jacket as a makeshift bandage to help the blood clot and stop infection, but the wound was wide (though thankfully not deep) and his escape route was filthy.
As he thought about him, Alex felt a small twinge of regret for Agent Mason; he hadn't been exactly friendly, but he was civil enough and good at his job and whatever he was, he certainly didn't deserve to be killed. Not like that.
Alex shut his eyes briefly as he leaned against the sewer wall to catch his breath. He didn't want to think about it, it was too gruesome. He'd worry about Agent Mason's death later, when he more certain that he wasn't about to face his own.
"THERE HE IS!"
Which apparently wasn't going to be now.
A/N: As always, I apologise for any and all mistakes that may or may not be in this (I fixed one that I spotted just as I was about to post this, so I'm sure there will be more lurking around).