Alex's mind was reeling. Ash had been shot up and killed on Dragon Nine. Dragon Nine itself had nearly been rocked to pieces in the aftermath of the Royal Blue explosion. When he'd gathered his thoughts, Alex noticed Ben looking at him. "I want to know who he is, Alex. He's not nobody."
Alex sighed. "Ben, what good will it do?"
"Why are you so reluctant to tell me?"
The others watched this exchange with some bemusement.
Alex thought about it. Why was he so reluctant to tell Ben who Ash was? Was it the flow of apology that would come? No. It wasn't that. He realized he didn't know why.
"He was my godfather. Happy?" Ben's eyes widened.
"Alex, I'm –"
"Don't tell me you're sorry. He killed my parents. He was their best friend –"
Alex was interrupted by the cracking of ice.
"That's it," came Alexandra's voice. "He's through."
The rest of them rushed over to the side of the concrete box. Alexandra had dug through the top layer of ice and now she and Yassen were warming off the frost that remained with their hands. The man's eyes remained closed for a few seconds before fluttering open, the exact shade of brown Alex's eyes had been before cheetah DNA streaked them gold. The man looked at them all, confused, but when his eyes landed on Yassen his brows furrowed in recognition. "Yassen?"
Alex had never heard Yassen's voice tremble before. It did now.
"John."

Alex's father sat up, slowly, like he'd almost forgotten how to do it. "Where are we? Who are you?" the last question was directed at K unit, Ben and the twins. "John," Yassen said quietly. "You've been asleep for fourteen years."
"T-that's not possible."
"Mr. Rider," interrupted Ben, "What's the last thing you remember?"
"Who are you?"
"I'm with MI6. Agent Daniels, code 567899."
"We were at the Coda airport, me and Helen – Helen! Where is she?"
Alex gestured wordlessly at the woman's concrete case. John looked at him curiously. "And who are you?"
"That is a long story. Let's get her out of the ice first."
Digging Helen Rider out of the ice took another five minutes, in which Yassen explained some of the current situation to John. When her eyes finally fluttered open, Alex and Alexandra helped her sit up.
"John?" her eyes were unfocused. "And – you're that boy he used to work with." Her eyes had landed on Yassen. "But…how old are you now?"
Yassen flicked an annoyed look at John. He shrugged. "I showed her your picture. Anyway, tell us who the kids are and –"
"John," interrupted Helen. "What happened to Alex?"
Alex gave a sheepish grin. "Here."
The recently freed adults stared.
"You can't be!" cried Helen. "Alex is only three weeks old!"
"Yassen told me I was asleep for fourteen years, Helen," said John, squinting at the clock on Helen's box. "And by the looks of it, so were you."
Helen got unsteadily out of the concrete box and stood in front of Alex. He was taller than she was.
"But your eyes have gold in them."
"Oh yeah… I was genetically bonded with a cheetah by Scorpia… That's where we got Alexandra. She's my twin sister."
"I don't remember having twins, said Helen faintly.
"You wouldn't, you had no idea what was happening," said John. "I was watching and that was almost worse."
"I'm Alex's artificial clone," supplied Alexandra helpfully. "Anyway, let's just dig out whoever's still in the ice and go, since Scorpia are going to blow up the moon in five hours."
"They're going to blow up the moon?"
"What's Scorpia?"
"That's another long story," said Alex, leaning over the case he hadn't yet looked into.
"Oh my god it's Ian."