Mrs. Jones and Mr. Blunt were back in the MI6 Headquarters in England. Mrs. Jones had been waiting for her associate in the office when he had come back from lunch and was mildly annoyed when he immediately figured out what it was that she had wanted to see him about, he always knew that when she had that look, it could only mean one thing; Alex Rider. It had been almost a month since they had come back from New York leaving the teen spy behind and Mrs. Jones had been less then happy since then. Alan knew that she had always been against using Alex and it had become even more obvious after every mission he had been through, but this time, Mr. Blunt had noticed with a sigh, this time was really the worst. Mrs. Jones had more than absolutely disproved of this and the thought that she would be leaving a young man, who sometimes reminded her too much of her own children, with an assassin who had a particular name for sadistic acts and who had a particular disliking for the man who the young lad was working for… well, that was too much for her too handle.
Mr. Blunt sometimes didn't understand women. It was for the good of the company, for the good of England and yet, she was unwilling to sacrifice the comfort of one boy who held so much potential. In Alan Blunt's book, that was almost unfathomable, almost unforgivable.
" It's just not right." Mrs. Jones had said as she shook her head, almost as if she was hoping that the emphasis would make him see her view. " A boy his age shouldn't be in that environment."
Mr. Blunt had laughed when he thought of all the times Mrs. Jones must have said that about each and every mission.
" And Grey Fox isn't even the worst threat to him; she'll keep her end of the bargain sure enough, if even only for the money, but what about the others; the woman from Peru, the man from Brussels and most worryingly, the young man who is utterly infatuated with her? He is definitely the worst, you know as well as I that he must be at least slightly mentally instable… The things he's done…" Mrs. Jones had trailed of then as she thought about quite how horrific the 'incident' involving him really was.
Mr. Blunt had tried to argue with her then, pointing out the very good pros about the said topic, making sure to leave out any of the cons. However, Mrs. Jones was just as stubborn as he was when it came to this particular subject and would not relent, as she so adequately displayed with an exasperated sigh as she threw her eyes up to heaven and then made distance between herself and Alan. As she stared out the window she had contemplated keeping her mouth shut, but she just was not ready to let this go. She had turned to Mr. Blunt, who, at this stage had settled himself in his chair and had begun to get back to the paper work he had left unfinished before lunch.
" Well, at least let there be one of the agents with him? Grey Fox won't mind… not really and then we can make sure that Alex is alright."
Alan Blunt had sighed then with annoyance and put his pen down with a dull thump on the paper. He had turned to Mrs. Jones with a dark glare.
" You are being idiotic now. You think that Grey Fox wouldn't mind having another agent? She'd probably kill the poor man out of spite; she'd probably see it as a perceived incompetence on her part. She may very well kill Alex, too."
" And what about if she tells him why there's so much bad blood between you too? Would you not want someone there to defend your side?" Mrs. Jones challenged, then.
Mr. Blunt was quiet then. " No," He had said finally, " Grey Fox would never mention that. It was a situation where she had been out of control; it would be an embarrassment for her." With that Mr. Blunt continued with his work and Mrs. Jones stared out the window. And that was the course of events that led to the present.
A knock on the door caused Mr. Blunt to let out a breath in relief. " Come in." He said as he put down the pen and composed himself as the door opened and revealed a man in a dark grey suit. Mrs. Jones vaguely recognised him as a new recruit and she quickly excused herself. She was glad to be able to leave, she had not wanted to appear to have lost to Alan, but she really felt slightly upset that she hadn't been able to be a proper help to Alex. Mrs. Jones frowned as she popped a mint into her mouth. She walked down the corridor as she contemplated how she was going to get it through to Alan. But one thing was indefinitely decided; she was going to help Alex, whenever and however she could. Even if the help was only minimal and possibly insubstantial.
" Alex! Remember that thing we discussed? Yeah, it's called fighting! That's what we're supposed to be doing here. What the hell was that?" Grey Fox roared from a few feet away at Alex who was, at that precise moment, on the ground. Grey Fox was good, scarily good, when it came to fighting. Alex usually had the advantage of surprise when he fought. Who would expect a fourteen-year-old boy to be that skilled in martial arts after all? Well… apparently Grey Fox. Still, as Alex pulled himself off the ground he couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed; Grey Fox had seemed to soften the moment Alan Blunt had gone. She had been nice enough to him as she introduced him to the rest of her 'team' as she put it. It was one of the nice terms for the group of people who she used and worked with on assassinations and other criminal activities, even though they didn't all appear to be exactly like Alex would have pictured from his previous encounters with such people. Grey Fox had been completely civil to him and he had actually begun to feel like she was not the cold-hearted killer he had known her to be.
But then, the training had begun and Alex found that Grey Fox could change from pleasant and civil to deadly and downright scary in a matter of moments.
Alex steadied himself on his feet for a minute, looking a little woozy but he quickly shook it off. He would not give up on this. In spite of it all, he kind of wanted to impress Grey Fox, even though she did seem hard to please.
A ghost of a smile graced Grey Fox's face for a brief flicker and then, as suddenly as it left, Grey Fox lunged at Alex.
Some time later, Alex sat at the bar counter, sullenly rolling a half glass of coke between his hands. He was sure he had managed to bruise his ribs and his ankle was killing him from where he had gone over on it. The barman, a huge Nigerian native born with a French accent and muscles the size of his head, was working at the other end. The man, Alex had found out, was known as Hawk and despite the scary appearance of the man, he was actually the one and only person that Alex actually likes and trusted. Hawk had once told him that he had known Grey Fox for years and while he was older than her by a good five years, he was utterly content to be her right hand man, aided her without fail whenever she went on any mission. He had even risked his life for her, just as she had, apparently, risked hers for him, though Alex had some trouble believing that at the time. Hawk had told him that he was now semi retired; he was still her right hand man, however, he no longer went on missions or most kinds of assignments with her. And why? Well, at that point Hawk had smiled with a twinkle in his eye and instead of saying anything, he took out a folded photograph of a little girl, no older than five, looking into the camera with a joyous smile, with her arms around a golden retriever whose name could be clearly seen as Toto on a red collar around his neck.
At that moment, Hawk was cleaning a pint glass with an off white tea towel.
" She tries to act mean," Hawk said knowingly as he inspected the glass, " But she's really a sweetheart underneath all that tough I-hate-everything act. I've worked with her for years and trust me, I know when she has a soft spot for a newbie."
Alex looked up from his coke. " What?" He said in confusion, seemingly more confused that he was being spoken to, rather than what Hawk was saying. He didn't believe for a second what he was saying. Confusion really didn't come into it, disbelief, however, did.
" Yeah, believe it or not but she respects you. Probably quite fond of you too."
" Oh, How'd you figure that?" Alex asked as he downed half of his drink. There was laughter in Hawk's eyes as he tapped his temple with his index finger twice. " Because she took you on." Alex scoffed at this but said nothing, though he was thinking back to the apparently hefty price Mr. Blunt had paid for his tutelage.
Hawk raised his eyebrow. " You don't trust me? Let me assure you; no amount of money would prompt Fox to do anything for Mr. Blunt unless she had a personal interest in it." He paused and pointed at the teen, " And you Alex, are the interest in this little charade."
Alex considered this and then nodded slowly as it made some sense in his mind. It was then Alex decided to ask a question that was bothering him since he had first heard the name Grey Fox. " What's the deal between her and Mr. Blunt?"
Hawk immediately stiffened and his expression hardened. He stopped working and spoke very slowly and clearly, as if Alex was a kid. " Never. Ever. Ask that question. It won't do you any good. If Grey Fox does not talk about it, you don't even think about it. Clear?" He asked and suddenly seemed a teeny bit more intimidating than Alex had seen him before.
Alex nodded with his muscles stiffened. One thing Grey Fox had mentioned in the first training session was to always be alert and ready to either pounce of flee. Alex could see why.
The air between them was tense for a moment before Hawk sighed and began working again.
" You should probably go see her, actually. I'd say she's about ready to get going."
Alex nodded again and jumped off the chair and made his way to the back rooms. There were five back rooms actually, all of them along a corridor beside the bar. The first room was the training room, where Alex had spent most of his time; the next was a 'meeting' room in which Grey Fox was adamant that he never enter without her, after that, the storage room where the mops and brushes were kept. Then there was Hawk's personal office and finally, there was Grey Fox's office. As Alex walked down the corridor he could just about hear muted voices. One of which was recognisably Grey Fox. As he got closer to the door he slowed down and sneaked closer, all the while being as quiet as he possibly could.
He heard a woman's voice, and he knew that it was the voice of the lady from Peru, Mila, her name was.
" So, what do you think about him, then?" She asked lazily and the sound of a chair creaking indicated that she had leaned back on it.
" Alex?" There was a pause, " Not much to tell, I suppose." The sound of a pen on paper, she was obviously writing something.
" Come on, don't give me that." Mila implored.
Grey Fox sighed with annoyance but after another silence, Alex could tell that she really was considering the question.
" He has potential." She said finally. " A lot of potential…"
" But?" Mila coaxed.
" But he's a kid. I--"
" –Have taught younger than him." Mila interrupted.
" True… But he doesn't want to be here. I know he agreed to it, but I don't think he had that much of a choice."
" You think Mr. MI6 bribed him?" Mila asked curiously.
" Bribed?" Grey Fox asked incredulously. " More like threatened, I'd say. He's John Rider's son. He's an orphan."
The sound of a chair creaking was heard again as Mila leaned forward. " John Rider? The John Rider, the Scorpia John Rider?"
" The one and only."
There was silence for a long time and while Alex knew it was a bad idea, he just had to find out what Grey Fox knew about his father. Did she meet him? She would have been young, but it wasn't impossible to believe it. So he stayed outside the door and waited for them to speak again.
" But would you take him in, if he was willing?" Mila asked again.
" He is not, and this is a pointless conversation." Grey Fox said abruptly.
" Humour me." Mila asked simply.
Grey fox sighed, but it wasn't in anger or frustration, it was soft, as if she were tired. "Yes. I would." She said confidently, " In a second."
" Will you ask him to become your protégée? Not just your mission?" Mila asked quietly, hopefully.
Alex leaned closer to the door, to hear better. From behind it Alex could hear Grey Fox take a breath. "I--" She began to say but before Alex could hear what was coming, he heard a very loud growl, inches away from him. Even before Alex turned, he knew that it was bad news.