So... been a LONG time since this has been updated... oops! If any of you can actually remember this story - congrats! :P Thanks for all the support so far!
I'm not going to promise to update more regularly from now on, as I'm a really busy person, and can only write when the need takes me.
The majority of this chapter had been written a while back, but since then I've decided to do slightly shorter chapters (~2k), so figured I would post this, then start a new, fresh chapter and hope inspiration takes me!
Disclaimer: If I owned AR, he would be gay - I mean, he is anyway, but he'd be more honest with himself and others about it.
Chapter Five - Plans and Plumbing
The men were bound, and forced into the cupboard in the cabin in a crumpled heap, displacing several jackets from their hangers. Once that was completed Alex looked to Mrs. Jones. This was the first time he had been in a real combat situation with her – when they're on the same side, at least – and for once she was able to give him orders on the situation at hand.
She gave him what, to any civilian, would pass as a indifferent stare, but Alex could easily pick out the stress lines stretched tightly around her mouth and barely heard the sound of the mint in her mouth being ground by her tightly clenched teeth. Her breathing was also strictly controlled, a common way of attempting to keep control when in situations people aren't comfortable with.
"Do whatever you need to Alex," she stated, giving him the order he wanted to take the mission into his own hands once again.
Sneaking quietly to the almost closed door, he placed a hand on it to keep it in place as he glanced at the area he could see outside the cabin.
People were moving everywhere. There were several dead bodies across the camp, lying in pools of blood and Alex watched as one man lay gasping for breath for several seconds before a second bullet silenced him. He heard a small, sharp intake of breath from Mrs. Jones at the gun shot, the last having been several minutes before.
The rest of the soldiers were being led back into the mess hall, their hands clasped behind their heads as the intruders followed closely behind carrying automatic rifles aimed into the SAS men's backs'.
Alex pulled back after several more moments observing, as most of the soldiers had already been escorted in and soon the invaders would once again search the camp for anyone still hidden.
As if to prove his point a stern looking man with brown hair cut short in a militaristic style, a tight white top and a pair of khaki combats walked out of the mess hall and started barking out orders.
Immediately Alex was away from the door, leaving it in it's place, and paced straight back to Mrs. Jones.
The window was unlocked, as always when he entered the office, and he quickly pushed Mrs. Jones through, thanking the sergeant that his office was backing into the forest. Giving a quick look around the office, he swiftly slid out the open window and placed it gently back in it's frame before taking the older woman's wrist and pulling her into the forest with him. They needed to think up a plan of attack before any of the captured soldiers started getting killed.
Ferret glanced around at the armed men surrounding the mess hall in tightly formed ranks. He could immediately pick out several people who weren't present in the hall. Pitbull was missing, but Ferret was almost certain that he wouldn't be seeing the man again, he had a habit of getting rash at inconvenient times and they had all seen the few bodies in the camp as they were herded like sheep into the mess. Chipmunk was missing as well, though Ferret wasn't sure if that was good or bad. The man would most certainly make things worse for them if he were present, but being missing… well, that wasn't good either.
And, most obviously, Cub, or Cougar as he was meant to be known, was absent. As was the woman he had been meeting with. Keeping his head bowed, Ferret failed to contain the grin that covered his face. He knew that the kid was good, hopefully he was going to prove it and get himself the hell out of there. No matter how good he was, these odds were impossible at best. If he was smart, he would stay away.
Alex only allowed himself to continue five minutes into the forest. He needed to be close enough to hear what was going on in the camp – if the bullets started flying, there would be no choice but to creep back in and take people out from strategic positions.
But for now all he had to work with was what he had witnessed from the door to the sergeant's office. He had stripped the two men of their weapons, receiving only the two guns and several army knifes, not that he had expected more after their obvious amateur approach to the entire situation. The knives had, at least, been covered and the sheathes quickly slid into his belt. Taking stock of the ammo in each weapon, he looked up sharply as Mrs. Jones flicked the safety off the handgun that had appeared from her handbag.
She cast Alex a wicked smile, extremely out of her usual style, "I wasn't always a paper pusher Alex, gotta be prepared."
He gave her a brief nod before turning back to his own preparations and planning. He would need to go back to his cabin for supplies, but first he needed to decided what he would do.
He took a seat at the base of a tree and immediately started speaking his thoughts aloud, trying to find some solution to the problem.
"The mess hall is a long rectangle, approx 20 by 30 meters with a kitchen attached to the southern end, 10 by 10 approx. The dining area has high windows, possible for sniper positions. Obvious though, and if a sniper was to start taking them out, the SAS would be taken out in retaliation. A distraction would work. From the kitchen? A fire? No. that would take too long, and the burning smell would be obvious. But with a kitchen there's the possibility of a fire, so there's fire detectors. And sprinklers! Now think, where's the water supply for the mess hall? There's a system of pipes out back, though it's risky to pick one, there's not enough for if the wrong one is picked… and then someone needs to get inside to activate the fire detectors and set the sprinklers off… but I'll deal with that later. First we need-"
He cut off as the sound of feet entered the forest near them.
Shooting a look at Mrs Jones as he backed himself up against the tree, standing properly with his gun ready, she nodded back, pressed against a tree five meters away.
The man running was panting, his breath loud through the silent forest and the path he was running along would lead him several feet away from Alex's hiding position, within tackling distance as he passed.
Taking a steadying breath, Alex focused on the breathing and footfall, waiting. He leapt a split second after the man passed, knocking him on his front on the forest floor and pressing the butt of his gun against the man's neck.
"Identify yourself."
"It - It's me! Heron! Don't shoot me!"
Alex pulled the gun back slightly, recognising the voice and hair. "Roll over"
The man did without a complaint, allowing Alex to confirm he was in fact Heron.
"Get up."
The man pulled himself to his feet with a huff, finally taking note of who had him pinned to the floor.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Double o' Nuffin! Playing with guns now!"
"This isn't the time, H-"
"Get outta here brat, run back home to daddy. I don't need you telling me-"
"Stand down soldier!" Mrs Jones barked sharply, causing the man to turn sharply to face her, having not noticed her presence until then.
"And who are you, woman! Don't give me orders like you're better than me! I'm in my last week here, not some bloody secretary!"
He gasped in pain as his feet were knocked from underneath him, forcing him into a kneel and the gun pressed back against his neck.
"Apologise."
"What the bloody hell brat? What do you-"
Alex ignored him, pressing the gun more forcefully into the tense skin, "Apologise!"
Mrs Jones took several steps forward, placing her hand on Alex's forearm in a soothing manner.
"Stand down Alex."
There was no change for several seconds before he reluctantly lowered the weapon to his side.
Mrs Jones turned back to Heron, a stern frown on her face.
"Stand up soldier!"
Heron stood leisurely, making a show of massaging his shoulder from where his arms had been pulled behind his back.
Turning to face Mrs Jones his head whipped sideways as she backhanded him.
"Don't speak to your superiors like that again, soldier." She firmly ordered.
"You trying to say that kid is higher than me?" he asked mockingly.
"I wasn't talking about him, but you're right. I am the second in charge of MI6, and Alex here is our best agent. So when he gives you an order, you damn well follow it!"
For the first time in several weeks, Heron was speechless, staring from Alex to Mrs Jones waiting for one of them to crack and grin and announce that he 'fell for it'. However neither obliged and he finally managed to close his jaw.
"What're you doing standing around here then if you're some super-spy! Call in re-enforcements or something!"
Alex didn't even bother to glance at him, walking away in the direction Heron had come from.
"Re-enforcements would take too long. We've got to take care of Scorpia with what we've got," Mrs Jones explained as Alex wandered back.
"No-one was following."
"I'm not some rookie, brat!" Heron declared, heatedly but neither of the two MI6 members paid him any mind, Alex already squatting to the ground with a stick in hand sketching rushed diagrams into the soil.
"We're about here, not too far from the West entrance to the camp, the other main entrance being South. From what I can surmise, Scorpia came from the East, through the forest, with ease. The camp is being held here, in the mess hall" he jabbed his stick at the largest square on his drawing, to the North East of the camp. "We don't know how long they've got before the body count starts rising again so we need to act fast. I need to get to my bunk then to behind the kitchens, here" he points again, "without being noticed, can you run distraction?" He looked to Mrs Jones, wondering if the second in command would be willing to risk her life against Scorpia.
She nodded, determined, cocking her gun, "My presence alone should keep their attention for roughly 3 minutes before they refocus on the rest of the camp. I'll lay false trails for you: you're already on your way to Shanghai. I had been talking to the sergeant about your progress and would be returning to Beacon Manor for the night."
Alex nodded in acceptance before looking at the last member of the trio. "Heron, what are you good at?"
The somewhat lanky man stared at him distastefully before complying, "Firearms mainly, I suppose stealth as well."
Alex frowned at the forest floor, going through his plan mentally once more. He glanced back at the man, biting his lip anxiously before asking: "You any good with plumbing?"
Soooo... any feedback would be great (even if it's just 'OMG! You updated!') - particularly as I'm just coming back to this fic after so long.