Hey there, I'm C.R. Richardson your author for this fic.

I want to start by saying a big thank you to all the people who have read this story and put it onto story alert! You guys are all amazing, I hope I'm not letting you down as the story continues.

Life has been very busy and stressful at the moment with school work. It seems like all the teachers got together and decided to make all my internals due in at the same time! But I really wanted to get this chapter written so I can see where it is going and how they are going to get there (that's right, I put my schooling career on the line for you guys).

So, this chapter is all about the briefing of the new mission and I guess more about Alex and Sabinas relationship. This chapter is a little short which I apologise for, but there was really not much else I wanted to add into this chapter as the next one will be Sabina's training and I decided that should have its own chapter.

Once again, I apologise for any spelling mistakes that may have been missed by myself. I still don't have a beta for this, (I have to look for one!) and so I'm kind of doing my own editing :/

Reviews let me know your opinion on the story; whether you like it or not. So please do review, even if it is one word, it is still helpful!

Now off I go to work on my internals...

Thanks again for taking the time to read this,

C.R. Richardson xx

(Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider, I'm just a fan, who saw the books leading in another direction and wrote it down.)

The receptionist glanced up as the blonde teenager stauntered into the room. She eyed him suspeciously, but soon recognised him as Alex Rider, a spy for MI6. She nodded in acknowledgment at him, and Alex headed straight for the elevator.

"He's on his way." She spoke to Alan Blunts personal assistant some floors above her.

Mrs Jones had called him yesterday and asked for him to come in. So after school he had gotten on the train and made his way over, still in uniform.

Alex stepped off the elevator after the short ride up and made his way to Mr Blunts office. He knocked on the door twice before opening it and hesitantly pushing his head through the door.

"Alex, come in." Mr Blunt said, a few pairs of eyes turned around and looked at him accusingly. Alex stepped in closing the door behind him. He could feel their eyes judging him, and wished he had taken a little more time to straighten out his uniform. "Sue, Jacob, I want you to meet Alex, he will be joining you on this mission." Mr Blunt continued. "Alex this is Sue and Jacob who will be your partners."

At the mention of 'partners' the two adults cringed slightly. "Pleasure." Sue said coldly, standing up to shake his hand.

"Um, hi." Alex was caught of guard, he hadn't been expecting to see other spys today. He shook Jacob's hand too, though Jacob didn't say anything to him.

"Please, sit." Mr Blunt gestured to a seat opposite him. Two of which were already occupied by Sue and Jacob, that left two spares.

Mrs Jones hovered at the back of the room, to add her opinion when needed. She felt her blackberry vibrate in her hand and she glanced at the message her assitant had sent her 'Sabina is downstairs'.

Sabina had entered the building looking frazzled. She was wearing an old pair of shorts with a baggy t-shirt on top and a pair of worn out trainers. Her hair was tied back in a messy bun and sweat clung to the nape of her neck. She had slung her bag over one shoulder after leaving the gym and quickly made her way to MI6.

She had contemplated whether or not to go to the gym before her meeting. But her nerves were near bursting point by the end of the day, so she decided to go and release her adrenaline doing physical exercise. Thirty minutes sprinting on the treadmill had done the trick, but she hadn't had enough time to change, she was already late as it was.

"Hi, I'm Sabina Pleasure." She told the receptionist at the big counter. "I'm here to see Mrs Jones?"

"I'll let her know you're here." She said with a smile. "If you'd like to take a seat?" She gestured to a row of seats of to the side.

Already Sabina felt competely under dressed. The professional bun that receptionist wore made Sabina feel dirty and smelly. Regreting not taking a shower and getting changed, Sabina did as she was told and took a seat.

She didn't have to wait long, Mrs Jones stepped out of the elevator wearing yet another skirt suit. "Sabina, there you are." She flashed a forced smile at the teenager. "Why don't you come upstairs where we can brief you."

Sabina just nodded nervously and followed her to the elevators. The long mirrors only made her feel more self conscious about what she was wearing.

Alex hadn't even noticed when Mrs Jones had left the room, nor did he notice when she re-entered. He had been listening intently to what Mr Blunt had been telling him about Sue and Jacob. It was the usual; "30 years old, been a spy for 10 years, helped on countless successful missions, etc, etc..."

"Sabina." Mr Blunt said looking over the heads of the three people in front of him.

At her name Alex whipped his head around. He saw her standing in the door way, her hands fidgiting as she pulled at the edges of her t-shirt. What is she doing here? Alex thought. She isn't supposed to be here.

"Sabina?" His mouth opened into a wide 'O' as he gaped at her.

"Hi," She said quietly, glancing around the room, trying not to make eye contact with Alex.

"Sit down." Mr Blunt commanded, annoyed that she was late.

Sabina obeyed and quickly walked to the only free seat. Alex was still gaping at her as she sat next to him. When she finally looked at her he mouthed out "what are you doing here?" to which she responded "later".

Mr Blunt cleared his throat before starting. "Viktor Titov, a Russian millionaire, 56 years old. Was born into his fortune. His wife died a three years ago. He has one daughter, Aleksandra, who is 28 years old. Five months ago he bought a small island in the Pacific..."

Alex stared blankly at the file in front of him. Pages of background information blended together as his mind wandered to Sabina and what she was doing here. He glanced at her and saw her reading the notes and listening to what Mr Blunt was saying.

"Wait, who is the source that says there is a nuclear bomb?" Sabina interrupted the boss.

He didn't look very happy with her, although he was constantly wearing a frown so his face didn't change much. "Aleksandra Titov is our source."

"Well that's unreliable." She scoffed. "She's his daughter."

Mr Blunt didn't like being secound guessed in front of people. "She can be trusted." Was all he said in response to her.

Sabina noticed that he was angry and so she backed off, cowering back into her seat and immersing herself in the countless leafs that were tucked under the flaps of a brown manila folder.

After handing out fake passports, Mr Blunt dismissed the four spies. Sue and Jacob didn't stick around very long. As soon as they were allowed to, they left. Sabina turned towards Mr Blunt.

"What are you going to tell my parents? I mean we're going away for a week. I can't just tell my Mum I'm at a sleepover."

"We have all of that sorted, don't worry." Mrs Jones answered for him. "We'll also be requiring you to come in for some basic training tomorrow." She added.

"What time?"

"7am, is that ok?"

"I have school..."

"School isn't going to help you in the field." She stated bluntly.

"7 it is." Sabina turned her back and busied herself with her bag. When she turned back around she was surprised to see Alex still lingering by the door.

Taking a deep breath she put her shoulders back and walked past Alex without even a secound glance.

He followed her out, closing the door behind them. He rushed into the elevator before the door closed before he spoke. "What are you doing here?" He asked, pushing the 'G' button to take them to the ground floor.

Sabina shrugged nonchantly, and inspected her passport. "How did they get my picture?" She asked, cringing as she saw the picture they had choosen. It was her school photo from last year, at the time she had thought she looked good, but now she stared horrified at her face that was untouched with make up and unstyled hair.

"Beats me." Alex said.

"'Sabina Mathews'..." She read out her fake name. "Hmmm... well it has a ring to it..."

"Yeah, sounds great. You still haven't answered my question."

Sabina sighed, realising that there was no way around this one. "I don't know, Mr Blunt asked me to do a mission for him, so I said yes."

"Because you really enjoyed being kidnapped by Damian Cray?"

"Of course not!"

"Then why?"

"It's hard to explain."

"Try." He insisted. But luckily she didn't have to. The elevator doors opened and she raced out of the doors, clutching her back to her shoulder.

Alex called after her, but she was listening. He didn't want Sabina to come and risk her life, but he also didn't want to be the controling friend. He knew that whatever he said Sabina would do the opposite.

"Mr Rider!" The receptionist calld from behind him. He turned around to see what she wanted. "Mrs Jones would like to speak to you quickly. She's coming down now."

Alex sighed and walked over to the row of seats in the lobby. He heard the elevators reaching the ground level, but didn't look up to acknowledge Mrs Jones.

"Can I sit?" She asked politely.

He shrugged and gestured for her to have a seat.

"I can tell you are not very happy with Sabinas involvment. It would be helpful if you could give her some training tomorrow. She's going to need some help, she wasn't brought up to do this. So, will you?"

"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea..." Alex trailed off.

"You would be the best, she trusts you already, and we know your training is good enough." Usually Mrs Jones wouldn't talk about business in the lobby, but she didn't think she could drag Alex back up to her office.

"Fine." He said, then got up and left the building without a backwards glance.

Alex walked to the train station thinking about this situation. It wasn't ideal. It wasn't ideal at all. He had never expected Sabina to become involved in all of this and he felt entirely to blame. If wasn't for him medeling in Damian Crays business, Sabina would have never been kidnapped and Alan Blunt would never have met her.

Then again, thought Alex, the world as I know it would not be around if Damian Cray had succeded in his plan.

Saving the world was still very surreal to Alex. Sure he had seen James Bond when he was younger and thought spy life would have been cool. But now that it was reality for him, it was different, it was dangerous. Sometimes he feared for his life. Now he has to fear for Sabinas life too.

In someways he was greatful that it would be him training Sabina tomorrow. It would give him a chance to see what she was capable of, and how much training she would need. But on the other hand, he was worried that she hadn't quite forgiven him for being kidnapped and wasn't sure how she would react to seeing him.