What Doesn't Kill You Will Inevitably Try Again Chapter 6: Alvin and the Chipmunks, an alex rider fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own the Alex Rider series.

Claimer: I do own the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Yep, you all guessed it…The poll's still going on. I'm keeping a tally of how many people want Alex/Dessi and how many want Tom/Dessi, and I have to say that Alex/Dessi is winning by a considerable amount. Anyways, if you don't like Alex/Dessi, don't forget to tell me, and if you do like Alex/Dessi, also tell me! You can do it in a review, since then you can tell me awesome reasoning too! Thanks for all you guys input!

Chapter 6

Saturday passed way too quickly for Alex's liking, and the time to go to the cinemas with Cindy loomed closer and closer. In the morning the entire household was woken up by Jake and Desiree, again, at 5:35, again. Needless to say, everyone, especially certain MI6 agents, were extremely annoyed with them. Again.

It'll take them a while to break the habit, though Alex wasn't sure if they were even trying to break the habit. After all, when they returned to Australia they'd still have to wake up that early for their morning run around the AIS headquarters.

The three spent the morning locked in Alex's room to avoid pissed off MI6 agents. They did the rest of their homework, then just hung around, telling stories (that weren't classified) until it was time for lunch. Jake and Dessi were pretty much ignored by Daniels and Crawley, and the two in turn ignored them. Thus Jack, Tom and Alex spent another meal in an awkward silence.

After that, Alex and Tom took Dessi outside to play in the snow, something the girl hadn't done in ages. She'd never been in a place with enough snow to have a snowball fight, so that was what the two boys decided to do. It turned out that Desiree has freakishly good aiming, and soon Alex and Tom were running for their lives, being pelted with snowballs from the girl that hit their mark every single bloody time.

All too soon they'd been called inside for dinner. Even faster was the time in which they actually finished dinner. Before they knew it, they were being dropped off at the cinemas. Ben and Jake hung around, keeping the kids in their view. They planned to tail the three into the movies.

"Alex!" Cindy shrieked when they entered the cinemas. She bounded over from a group of her cheerleading friends and threw her arms around Alex, pulling the boy into a hug. The poor boy didn't know what to do, and looked over to Dessi and Tom for help. Unfortunately for him, the two had dissolved into fits at the sight of the teenage spy, who faced madmen bent on blowing up the planet on an almost daily basis, completely out of his depth with the obsessive cheerleader. Alex huffed at them.

"Come one Alex! I want you to meet my friends!" Cindy exclaimed when she finally let go of the boy. Reaching out, she grabbed Alex's hand and proceeded to drag him over to her friends, all of whom were fellow cheerleaders. Alex grabbed Tom's collar as he was dragged pass his friend. Tom reached out to grab Dessi's wrist. So the three reached Cindy's friends in the most undignified manner possible.

Desiree shook herself out of Tom's reach with a slight scowl, before proceeding to glare at each of Cindy's friends, taking in every detail to make sure they weren't threats. Cindy's friends began to fidget, uncomfortable with the glare the Aussie girl was giving them Alex shook his head slightly when he saw the source of their distress. He really needed to teach that girl how not to annoy others.

Alex tuned back into Cindy's introductions in time to hear her say, "…And we also took the liberty of getting you and your, ah, companions, their tickets. No need to pay us back, my dad knows the people here and we get these free anyway. So here," she said, thrusting the tickets towards Alex.

The teenage spy turned to give the tickets to Tom and Desiree. The girl glanced at the title of the movie and raised her eyebrows slightly, though she didn't make a comment. Tom, however, did.

"Alvin and the Chipmunks; the Squekuel?" He asked, "Who in the world picked this movie?"

"I did," Cindy said coolly, "We're all here just to hang out so no need to see something too…involved."

"Right…" Tom trailed off, mentally questioning Cindy's sense of logic. Although, if the girl really did get her tickets free, then she would probably have already watched the cooler movies.

There was a very awkward silence after that. After all, the two groups didn't usually talk, as the cheerleaders didn't have anything to do with anyone, unless it was about a routine they were performing at a football match.

"So, when do we go in?" Alex asked Cindy, just to break the silence.

"Oh, anytime we want! We were just wondering if you guys wanted any popcorn or drinks or anything, but if not, um, we can go in now if you-"

"GET DOWN!" Dessi shouted, throwing herself sideways and tackling Tom to the ground. Alex's long nurtured instincts caused him to duck, while Cindy and the rest of her friends just started screaming like mad. Luckily for them, they weren't the intended target or they'd be dead.

Bullets flew past where Tom had been just moments ago. Alex lifted his head to see Dessi already scrambling to her feet, trying to find the source of danger. Ben and Jacob came running in, guns held up as Cindy and her cheerleaders, along with every other person in the cinema, ran screaming away from Jake and Ben.

If it weren't for the fact that someone was trying to kill his best friend, Alex would have taken a moment to smack himself in the forehead at the other people's stupidity. As it was, he allowed himself to roll his eyes before scrambling over to his friend.

"Come on," he grunted, grabbing Tom and dragging him over to hide behind the wall. Before they could make it there, however, a burst of gunfire cut them off and forced them to fling themselves backwards to the ground to avoid the hail of bullets. Abruptly the bullets stopped, though more gunfire could be heard. Confused, Alex raised his head off the ground and glanced behind him in the direction of the sustained gunshots.

Desiree, Jake and Ben had hidden themselves behind a large potted fake tree. In her hand, Dessi held what Alex recognised to be Ben's spare pistol. The three of them were firing in the direction of where the previous hail of bullets came from. Between them was a small pile of magazines. Even as Alex saw them, Ben reached down grabbed a magazine, and expertly reloaded his gun, his eyes never leaving the threat. Dessi and Jake kept firing. The girl's aiming had become so precise that the Scorpia assassins couldn't even peek out of their hiding spot for fear of ending up with a bullet in their head.

Ben finished reloading and rejoined the gunfight. Dessi glanced at Alex, who was still on the ground staring at her, and shot him a look that clearly said "get Tom OUT!" Alex scrambled to his feet again and grabbed his friend; the two of them got behind the wall just as all sounds of gunshots ceased from both sides. Looking out, Alex saw that Ben, Jake and Dessi were out of mags, and from the sound of it, the other shooters were out too.

Footsteps alerted Alex to the oncoming assassins. The teenage spy braced himself, shoving Tom further down the corridor they now hid in, and prepared to tackle the first person to turn the corner and face them.

They never got to Alex, however.

The moment Jake, Dessi and Ben heard the oncoming footsteps, they'd thrown themselves towards Alex and Toms' hiding spot to intercept the Scorpia assassins. Now they were engaged in a deadly fight, three against seven. And those already bad odds were worsened by the fact that they were dealing with fully trained Scorpia assassins. Joy.

Alex dived for the man who was attempting to sneak up on the distracted Desiree. The girl turned in time to see Alex wrestling the man to the ground. Dessi spun again and ducked to avoid the punch that had been aimed at her head. She darted forwards and swiftly threw all her weight behind a punch which she aimed squarely at the pressure point in the man's neck. Swearing slightly, the man staggered back in pain, and Dessi darted out of range of his flailing fists. Glancing around, she spotted two things simultaneously; the empty gun she'd discarded on the ground, and an unoccupied assassin sneaking towards the corridor where Tom was hidden.

Dessi lunged for the gun and raced for the assassin. Nimbly she darted in, holding onto the barrel of the empty gun, and raised her arm. The assassin never saw the gun come into contact with his head. He never heard the sickening crunch that reverberated through the corridor, and never felt the fiery pain. He just blacked out and crumpled to the floor.

Desiree glanced at Tom, who was staring from the girl to the unconscious assassin and back again with an open expression of surprise. Dessi tossed him the empty gun, hoping to God that the teen knew how to use it, and darted back into the fight to engage with one of the three Scorpia assassins that surrounded Ben.

It's at times like these that Agent Ben Daniels was truly grateful for the training he'd received when he'd been with the SAS. Without it, he shuddered to think what state he would be in when two of the Scorpia assassins decided to take him down. If that wasn't bad enough, a third man joined them, though he seemed to be in pain and didn't have full use of his right arm. Ben didn't know that this guy had already been incapacitated by Desiree moments before. Ben ducked, blocked and dodged, doing his best to stop the flurry of movements. He took some of the punches that would only leave a bruise. A sudden movement caused Ben to spin; raising his arms to block what he thought was an oncoming attack. Instead he saw flying blonde hair as Desiree tackled one of the men Ben was fighting to the ground.

As Ben turned back to the other two assassins, he couldn't help but think why did you have to get the injured one, Dessi?

Jake had taken two of the assassins head on. He managed to hold his own against them, and now he saw an opening which the tired assassin on his left produced. Jake struck, catching the man right in the nerve on his neck. The man dropped like a stone, unconscious, and Jake pivoted away to avoid the blow which his other opponent dealt out.

Alex was pinned to the ground in an iron grip. For a while after he tackled the man, he'd had the upper hand. Now the Scorpia agent was on top of him, hitting him with punch after punch while the boy desperately tried to free his hands, both of which were being held by one of the assassins. Damn that guy was strong.

There was a loud echoing crunch that sounded like someone had just been hit in the head with a pistol. The assassin's attention wavered slightly, and for a split second his vice-like grip on Alex's arms loosened. That second was all Alex needed. With a jerk, the teenage spy pulled free of the man and pushed him away with his legs. Jumping to his feet, he proceeded to knock the man out using a series of blows that was actually a combination of thinks he'd learnt from his late uncle, from Scorpia and from the AIS.

The Scorpia assassin didn't stand a chance against the teenage spy. He was able to deflect the blows which originated form Scorpia, but after that he was completely at the mercy of the very badly bruised teenage spy. Alex proceeded to knock the man out, wincing slightly as all his carious bruises and cuts made themselves known. There was a salty taste on his lip. Alex raised a hand to wipe at it, and found a trail of blood. Apparently the boy had bitten through his lip in pain.

Alex looked around for Jake, Ben and Desiree, and found the three still engaged in separate fights. Rather than going over to help Ben, who was still defending himself against two attackers, Alex made his way to the corridor to check on Tom, and found the boy kneeling at the head of an unconscious assassin, holding an empty pistol. Slightly shocked, Alex glanced questioningly at Tom, who shook his head and pointed in the direction of Desiree. Alex nodded, before grabbing the unconscious body out of the corridor.

Desiree shoved her already injured opponent as far as she could. The man staggered back before tripping over the edge of the now dirtied cinema rug. Spinning, Dessi ran back to Ben, tripping up one of his opponents before grabbing the MI6 agent and quickly dragging him away. The three Scorpia agents fell back slightly to regroup, just as Dessi arrived back in the corridor with Ben in tow. Jake looked up and saw them congregating at the corridor. The AIS agent lashed out, pushing the assassin far away, before darting towards the corridor. The assassin turned and scrambled to where the rest of his cohorts were convening.

Glancing around, Dessi saw Alex depositing the unconscious man near the potted trees, and frantically waved him over before looking down at her silver bracelet. Her fingers trailed along each charm, uncertain. Dessi made a snap decision and grabbed one of the charms, wrenching it off her bracelet.

Ten seconds…

Alex saw her throw the charm just as he reached them. He saw the water droplet flying through the air, and yelled at them to run. The five of them turned and sprinted down the corridor which would lead to the emergency exit.

Five seconds…

Four…

Three…

Two…

One.

The remaining Scorpia assassins didn't know what was happening. One moment the air was clear and they could see the retreating backs of their target and his protectors, and the next the air was suddenly filled with a sweet smelling white gas. The four of them could feel their eyelids drooping. They blacked out before they hit the ground.

Alex led the way out into the chilly night. With the exception of Tom, the others all looked a lot worse than they did when they entered the cinema. In many places their clothes had torn. They all had bruises, and a couple of cuts. They were slightly fortunate in the fact that due to the cold, they had to wear thicker clothes, which probably prevented them from suffering any major injuries. Even with the adrenaline still masking most of their pain, they could all still feel the dull throb in places where they knew there would be bruises.

Many of the customers who had been in the cinema before the fighting started had already driven home. There was, however, still a large crowd gathered outside. With his eyes refusing to focus properly, it took a while for Alex to realise that most of the crowd were made up of MI6 agents. The only people who weren't was a small group of girls. At their head was-

"Cindy," Alex groaned through his pain as the head cheerleader spotted him and started running towards him, pushing Desire aside to get there.

"Alex!" She shrieked, throwing herself onto Alex. Desiree stumbled from Cindy's push, and would have fallen had Tom not caught and steadied the tired girl.

"Er…hi," Alex said, trying to extract himself from Cindy's bone crushing hug as the other MI6 agents began moving towards them.

"Oh Alex! I was so worried! Are you alright?" Alex thanked God when Cindy finally let him go. He had a feeling that the hug had given him more bruises than the fight. That's irony for you.

"Mr Rider, Mr Harris, Miss Harwood, Agent Wood, Agent Daniels," a familiar voice interrupted before Alex had to answer Cindy. Looking around, he spotted a very familiar MI6 agent walking towards them, several surgical tapes stuck across his nose.

"Agent Banks!" Alex and Tom exclaimed at the same time.

"I need the five of you to come with me," Banks said with a slight smile for the two boys, "You," he added, looking at Cindy, "You may leave now."

Cindy shook her head and linked her arm through Alex's as the boy winced. "I'm not leaving him," she said.

"With all due respect," Banks said, hiding his annoyance, "That wasn't a suggestion." Alex had complained about Cindy Rills before Banks had his nose broken, so the agent knew full well who the girl was.

Cindy scowled at him before turning to Alex and quickly kissing him on the cheek, ignoring the boy's flinch. "Happy birthday for tomorrow," she whispered into his ear, before leaving to meet up with her friends. As she went past, she purposely shoved into Desiree again, hitting the girl right in one of her more painful bruises. Dessi stepped back, barely muffling a whimper of pain, before sending a death glare at the girl's retreating back.

"Dessi? Are you alright?" Tom asked as Alex started towards her with a worried look on his face. Jake merely glared at the cheerleader as she left with her friends.

"Yea," she said, massaging her arm and giving the two boys a smile.

"Come on you lot," Banks said, dropping his professional front the minute Cindy had left, "Let's get you all home. Jack's going crazy, and I don't think that Agent Crawley can handle her for much longer."

Ben, Alex and Tom snuffed a laugh as Dessi looked on, worried. The girl knew about Alex's housekeeper's temper, having read it in her file, but had not yet seen Jack's infamous temper in person. She wasn't sure if she wanted to.

"Hope she calms own before we get back," Tom said.

Alex looked at his friend. Then he looked at Ben, who had definitely come off worse in the fight having been forced to face off against three assassins, and now sported an array of cuts and bruises. Then at Jake, whose bruises were starting to heavily show, despite the scarcity of light. He then looked across at Desiree, who had the beginnings of a black eye. Then he examined himself, his bruises, his swelling cheek and his tattered clothes.

"I don't think that'll happen anytime soon," he said to Tom.

And that's another chapter done!

Can I just say that Cindy Rills isn't meant to be evil or anything. She's just a really spoilt only child who is used to getting her way and is very jealous of Dessi because she knows that Alex likes Dessi way better than Cindy.

Anyways, like it? Hate it? Please tell me in a review!!!

Remember, if you want something to happen, also please tell me!

Love Chariots99