Really, Alex shouldn't have been surprised. Dead people were popping back into his life at an alarming rate. John looked indignant. "Someone tried to kill my little brother?"
Yassen reddened ever so slightly.
"Yeah, he was shot –" here Alex flicked a tiny glare at Yassen, but his father didn't notice – "And I thought he was dead for the better part of a year now."
He and Alexandra attacked the ice without further ado.
Ian's awaking was similar to the other two's – confused expression, slow movements. The first person he saw was Alexandra. "Alex?"
"No, Alex is here." She dragged her brother into Ian's peripheral vision. John chose this moment to intrude.
"Hey, Ian?" Ian's eyes widened.
"Oh God, I'm dead."
"No. No, you are not. Now get your lazy butt out of that icebox, let's dig whoever's left out and get the hell outta here because Scorpia's going to blow up the moon in less than six hours"
Ian's eyes got bigger and he scrambled out of the ice block. He spotted Yassen. Yassen cringed.
"Yassen Gregorovich is here!"
"Stating the obvious, as usual," intoned John drily. Ian ignored him.
"Here!" he gasped, his hand reaching instinctively towards where he'd usually have a gun.
"Ian, it's ok. Yassen's on our side," said Helen.
"Our side, my arse. He shot me!"
Alex winced.
John turned on his former apprentice. "You shot him?"
Yassen developed a sudden interest in his combat boots.
"I may have possibly been charged with assassinating him."
John looked ready to kill. "You know, if it had been anyone else, I'd have strung their guts across half the country by now."
"Hey, I didn't know he was your brother until after (AN: I don't know if this is strictly true, but just bear with me) and I was still with Scorpia then!" protested Yassen. Alex grinned at seeing the lethal ex-assassin acting like a guilty child. "I had no idea you were a double agent! Plus, I was getting paid," he added as an afterthought.
"Back to Scorpia blowing up the moon?" prompted Alexandra.
"And by the way, who are you?" asked Ian.
"Alexandra Rider. I'm Alex's artificial clone."
"And what's with the eyes and nails?"
"Oh, we were infused with cheetah DNA."
"Well, that clears things up."
I have a lot to talk about. Do you guys want me to bring Ash back? What should the reaction be if they do? I mean, he DID betray Alex's parents. Just to tell u, it is harder than it looks to incorporate huggy stuff into scenes like this. Anyhoo, I'm thinking about bringing Sabina in too. Maybe just a little bit at the end, but I want to bring her in somehow.