Thanks to Jayden95 for the beta. Updating might be interesting this next week as it looks like internship's about to hit full-force. I have an interview tomorrow - wish me luck.

Challenge at the bottom, and yes I did put a challenge there this time!

Thirty minutes prior to Fox's discovery…

"Don't move," the gunman ordered. He had his gun to the small of Alex's back and didn't look like he was going to move anytime soon. Alex groaned in pain. There was blood, Eagle noted, dripping from his arm. "Kneel down and put your hands behind your head very slowly."

"Why? Afraid I'll kick your ass?" Eagle asked even as he knelt in the dirt. He wasn't going to show any sign of weakness if he could help it. And if he had to hide behind sarcasm and witty remarks, he would.

"I have the gun, you might want to be careful what you say," the man responded in a taunting tone of voice. He shoved Cub forward to the ground, and the teenage boy toppled. He gasped as he caught himself with his injured arm, and Eagle noticed the teen boy wasn't wearing his sling. Figures, kid's as stubborn as me when it comes to injuries, Eagle thought with a tired sigh. "Search him, Cub. I want his weapons – anything. You know the drill," the man said in a sing-song voice.

"No," Cub responded, planting his feet firmly on the ground as he attempted to get up. A bullet fired, and Eagle noticed that the man had reverted to using his silencer. He couldn't help but notice that the bullet hit directly into Cub's arm, and winced when Cub cried out in pain.

Eagle was careful to show no sympathy, even though he felt it. One of the first things they were taught was not to show any sympathy towards a comrade when in battle, captured, or at risk of being captured; that would give their captor that much more of a risk of hurting that comrade or holding that power over them.

"The next one won't be in such a nice spot, Kid. Move, dammit, we don't have all day." The man was starting to get agitated, now, and although Eagle was proud of Cub's defiance, he really hoped the kid would listen. The last thing he wanted was to be shot, too.

"Fuck you," Cub responded, but he moved over to Eagle anyway. He awkwardly searched Eagle's pockets and removed his gun. When the man had his head turned for a second, Cub took Eagle's pocketknife and slipped it into his own pocket. Cub scowled as he tossed Eagle's cell phone to the ground.

"That's much better, Alex," the man responded.

So Alex was the kid's name, Eagle thought. But how did the man know him?

"Shove it, Barkley, or I'll stick it up you're a—" and how did Alex know the man? At least he had a name now. Although Eagle wasn't sure if that was good or bad; hearing a name did give him less chance of survival. Still, at least he had some information.

"Language, language," the man said. He shoved Alex to the ground and kicked him. "How's your daddy doing? Does he know yet what I do with you when he's not home?"

"Fuck you," Alex muttered, but Eagle could see his shoulders sag.

Wolf, Fox, Snake, this would be a great time for you guys to discover me missing, he thought.

The time on his watch read 4:10 AM – the same time Wolf had woken up.

LATER…

"Damn it," Wolf hissed. He knew Fox was right. So much for his theory that D-Unit was hunting rabbits again. Although he had to say he much rather would have preferred that option. "Get that radio working, Fox. We've got to radio the sergeant and -,"

"No need, we're here," the sergeant said, abruptly cutting him off. "Fox, close your mouth, you're going to attract flies. Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?"

"Fox seems to know the most," Wolf said, jerking his thumb his direction.

"Hey!" Fox said, put off. "Just because I agreed with Eagle's theory doesn't mean that I know anymore than you do –"

"But you're going to explain, because you're the one who dragged us out here."

"No, you –"

"Would someone PLEASE explain what's going on?" the sergeant demanded, the frustration on his face clearly evident.

"Fine," Wolf responded. "Cub and Eagle weren't back last night by 2300. We decided to go to sleep, thinking that they'd probably just come back late. I woke up at approximately 0400 and noticed that they weren't there. Now we've got this blood on the ground and no idea what's going on."

The sergeant was silent for a second. "They weren't back in their barracks, that's odd. I know that Eagle's pulled a lot of stunts, but I don't see this as something he'd do. Despite what you think, Eagle is fairly responsible. Now, Fox, what's Eagle's theory that you agreed with?"

Fox looked put off once more but revealed the theory anyway. "Cub's been behaving out of sorts ever since he got here—"

"You can hardly blame him," the sergeant interrupted, "after all, his mother just died."

"That was true?" Wolf interrupted, his mouth opening in surprise.

"Yes, it was. If you made an ass of yourself when he said something about it, I don't want to know about it. Anyway, continue, Fox."

"Anyway, Eagle thought there was more to Cub's story about his 'injured' arm," Fox said, using quotation marks to show that he didn't fully believe that Cub's arm was simply injured. "And then he started asking Cub questions. We all saw Cub's back…"

"Hell of a lot of injuries for some sixteen year old kid," Wolf interrupted, "and I although I'm not sure I think he was abused, I don't think that he was telling the truth that he got all of those scars from the accident."

"And that was Cub's response to why he had the scars. Eagle thought that Cub had been abused."

"Did he say why he thought that?" the sergeant asked, a cross look on his face.

A look passed between Fox and Wolf, and then between Wolf and Snake. "We didn't really give him much chance to explain, sir."

The sergeant sighed. "Well, we need to find them. His father's due back tomorrow, and the head of MI6 will rain wrath down on our heads if we lost his kid at training camp. I also want to hear Eagle's theory for why he thinks Cub is abused. And Wolf –"

"Yes, sir?" Wolf asked, knowing he was in for it now.

"If you suspect anyone has been abused, especially if they're underage, you come to me, no matter who the theory is from or how much bullshit you think it is. This whole situation might have been prevented if I'd have known something. Clear?"

"Crystal," Wolf mumbled as he made his way over to where Snake was standing, looking at a large map.

"Anyway, as I was saying, we've got a lot of ground to cover and a short time to do it, especially if we now need to prove an abuse case as well," the sergeant responded. "Snake, you come up with a plan to search the grounds. Wolf, you're with me. We'll need all the cadets in on this. Fox, help Snake."

Fox nodded briskly, suddenly glad he'd believed Eagle's theory. And then – "Wait a minute," he said, "The kid's father is the head of MI6?"

And there went his hope of getting a promotion there when the SAS was done.

Challenge: Do you still think Fox will apply for MI6 like he did in the books?

What's going to happen to Alex?

If Blunt is prosocuted and his custody of Alex is taken away, who will get custody of him?

Will Eagle get to live?

(That's a lot of challenges - pick two, or if you have time respond to all of them).

R&R