Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider/NCIS.

There is no better description than the title for what follows.

Love, W

Chapter 7: The sh** hits the fan. (~1,780 words)

Alex and Eagle were still battling something out.

She didn't even look at Gibbs, as she explained: "Guarana is one of the code names of a defected CIA agent named Walker."

Ziva sighed. She knew already - Riders were in too deep in the world of espionage.

But that they attract trouble like magnets was something new to her.

Suddenly Alex's phone rang. "Yes?"

"Alex, we have received an official threat against you. They know where you are, who you are – no doubt it's Walker – and how good you are. They won't underestimate you. These are no amateurs. Whatever you decide to do, they will not fall easily for any decoys."

A string of curses followed, muttered under her breath.

Ben paled slightly. This had to be bad then, the soldiers and civilian agents decided.

Ziva knew Alex was a professional. She would never curse if it wasn't so damn serious.

"How much do they know?" she asked now.

Eagle and Ben exchanged a desperate look.

"I think, you should assume the worst."

"F***! Great. Just great. Then I'll have to fully brief them. This is... urgh. What did they say?"

"They want to expose you as MI6's liable lethal weapon and present you in an... unfortunate light. They have footage of you shooting at me. I think we have a leak somewhere or they somehow managed to hack into your file."

Alex blanched, all color leaving her face. "Don't tell me they have footage of me now," she whispered, stone-faced.

"They have footage of you naked when you were transformed. Of the whole process. Of the sessions before. Of you blowing up the compound, claiming it's a civilian hospital. We can't contradict them. We don't know when they'll strike again."

Alex closed her eyes, suddenly looking exhausted. "What do they want?"

"Revenge. They said, you should be given over to them or you will see the rest of those you love die. Either way, if you're exposed – and those are their words – you won't be of any use to us anymore, with that branding on your chest."

"It's damn toxic!"

"I know. And you managed just fine on all the last missions. Be careful. Consider everyone in danger. I took the liberty of contacting the CIA, they'll keep an eye out on your former foster family. Tom is already being watched by one of our best, as well as your other friends."

"What am I to do?"

"Solve the case. They think they know all of your techniques. Go through everything you showed them very carefully. Analyze every single little detail. You showed them self-confidence, courage, creativity and that you will do whatever it takes to get your loved ones back to safety. You have only three days, then the ultimatum runs out."

"I thought about that. A bait, a decoy of some kind... But it's impossible. They freaking...!" Alex bit back a tear at the thought of losing Eagle or any of her beloved ones.

"Calm down. Brief your team. They need to know. All of it. Maybe that will help you see a way out? They can certainly ensure that you see the situation from all angles. You are the best we have to offer. If you can't do it, nobody can stop them. You have nowhere to hide, Alex. But standing with the back against a wall can be helpful at times."

"Send my file over. At least twice. Paper helps to focus some people on the main task."

"Be careful, Alex."

"I would be dead if I wasn't. And I have no desire to help them along, thank you very much."

A death threat? A death threat had Agent Rider blanching? It has to be really bad then, Ziva thought.

Ben and Alex exchanged a look.

They knew the sh** had finally hit the fan, after all the time.

Eagle and Alex shared a glance. He guessed that Scorpia was not playing nice if Alex blanched and showed her sleep-deprivation and he was afraid of what that meant exactly.

"My file," Alex explained after picking up two copies of a very thick file from the printer. "This can't leave the room. Not now. I need your help."

They sat down.

The British soldiers were calm on the outside, but they knew, they would absolutely hate whatever came next.

"You are all in danger. Especially you," she stared at Eagle, a tear rolling down her cheek.

He got up from his seat across his room. It didn't matter now, either way they would find out.

He was going to comfort her – no matter what.

Tony looked a bit disappointed. He had thought of cracking the blonde as a challenge. She had obviously shot him down for this soldier.

Gibbs did not look happy but had suspected that they had a history.

Ziva knew already.

McGee grinned.

"PA got a threat. They want to expose me as a liability. A deadly mistake. They have footage of everything, it seems. Even of what happened last year."

The British paled further.

Whatever had happened last year, it was not good judging by the looks on their faces, Ziva deduced.

"What footage?" Agent Daniels asked, clearly worried.

Alex closed her eyes, not wanting to lose it.

Not wanting to see the expression on Eagle's face when she confirmed his worst fears.

"Of me naked, unconscious, transforming. Of me blowing the building up. Of shooting at PA when I was fourteen. Of everything. I'm guessing of our last few days as well."

She turned back to Eagle, another stray tear running down her cheek.

This was the equivalent of the deadly woman bawling her eyes out due to a breakdown, Ziva thought.

"And most certainly also of what happened last night. They know what you mean to me, what I mean to you. They won't repeat the same mistake twice. These guys are professionals. No maniacs, no idiots, no amateurs. They know what they are doing."

Eagle pulled her closer in an attempt to calm her.

"It's bad. We have three days to figure something out. They won't go easily for decoys or baits. They mistrust each other, but they will present a united front against me. If '6 hasn't handed me over, they will send the footage to the TV channels, exposing me forever. Then – I quote – I am useless to '6 and they will kill each one of you guys and everyone else that means something to me until I trade myself for you. I don't know what exactly they will do to you, Chris, but I'm one hundred percent sure that I will have to watch and you will suffer greatly."

The images her mind conjured, didn't help her to keep the impassive façade up.

After all, Alex was only an eighteen year old girl loaded up to the rim with guilt, angst, hurt and rage at the moment.

She rubbed her hands over her face. "This is the unedited version of my file. Only the heads get to see this file normally."

Alex turned back in her killer-persona, glaring witheringly at Lemming. "Last year we had a mole in our rows. If I find out that you, Parrot, are one as well, trust me, you will die a slow and incredibly painful every crooked hair I will make you scream and cry for your mother. I am not usually violent... If I see any of you hurt, because of me, I know that I will lose it."

She hinted at Jack's death.

Eagle closed his eyes for a second, forcing himself to focus. His love needed him. She asked for help. And he would be damned, if they didn't find a way out.

"Alright. Start at the beginning. What exactly did PA tell you?" he tried to get her back on track.

"They will know about my...creativity, protectiveness, attitude, resistance, usual techniques and about all of my training. They know my history. Assume the worst."

"Walker?" Eagle managed through gritted teeth.

He would kill the bastard for shooting at her, but now wasn't the time to repeat his furious death threat.

"Most likely. Remember what he said last year, before he shot me?"

"Yes." 'How can I ever forget?'

"Assume the worst," she simply said, obviously expecting him to understand.

And it seemed that he did.

The other British soldiers as well, only Daniels was left in confusion with the NCIS team.

"What is the worst?" Gibbs asked, his patience running out slowly but surely.

"Four years ago, my uncle died. Ziva, you know him. Ian Rider. He was my last living blood relative and a spy for MI6. He was killed by Yassen Gregorovich – I know," she glanced at the astonished faces of the British men.

"The former head of SO decided to send me on the same mission he died on to complete it. I was posing as a nerd that had won a competition to be the first outsider to use the Stormbreaker. And yes, I mean a male fourteen-year-old, a boy. Anyhow, I found out what was going on by snooping around at night. Gregorovich shot a guy for dropping a box and I knew this wasn't a regular factory. I was lucky. My uncle had left a clue in the public library. I had to dive in a tin mine, got caught and found everything out. Sayle bragged to me how he was going to kill all the schoolchildren in Britain because the Prime Minister had bullied him in school. His henchmen decided to grant me a last swim in a tank with a Portuguese man-of-war..."

Alex went on to tell them about her missions (and only what happened on those missions, not how she felt about any of the stuff) as detailed and shortly as possible.

Eagle held her tightly against his body, needing to feel her warm body probably more than she needed his emotional support.

Or maybe it was balanced.

Ziva found it hard to tell.

"So that's how we ended up here," the blonde finished.

Tony, Gibbs and McGee couldn't believe her.

They didn't want to believe her story.

Alex was desperate.

She needed to convince them to trust in her abilities.

Otherwise they didn't have a chance to beat the enemy in his own game.