A/N: Wow, the response to this has really been overwhelming! Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Thanks to PhantomLoveNeverDies, who spent the time searching for the reviews and pointed out that only 1 person had mentioned Fox. I should say that one person guessed who was going to get custody of Wolf, but I guess I also should have included that more than one person could have gotten it right also.
You all are awesome! Thanks to Jayden95 for the beta. She's recently posted an Alex Rider fic, go check it out!
Challenge at the end of this chapter.
The bullet fired before anyone – except Barkley – could do anything. Barkley shot the bullet, and it whizzed right by Wolf. He'd missed by a fraction of an inch; the bullet had almost gone into Wolf's blue night shirt. No-one had taken the time to change into their proper dress clothes before searching for Eagle and Cub. Wolf didn't hesitate; he fired and Barkley went down.
"Glad to see you," Eagle responded. Wolf had crossed the floor by then, digging his pocket knife out of his pocket. He sliced through Eagle's bonds.
"Get the hell out of here and bring backup," Wolf responded, shoving the communication radio into his hands that had been on the floor. Wolf didn't know if it worked or not but something was better than nothing at this point.
"What about -"
"I've got Cub. Go!" Wolf responded. He bent down towards Cub, who looked warily suspicious of him. "It's okay, Cub, we got you."
"You can't let me go back!" Cub was panicked, now, and the look on his face showed it. He pulled away as Wolf tried to get him free. "I don't want to go back!"
"Who don't you want to go back too?" Wolf said, hesitating as he sliced through Alex's ropes.
"My father! I can't go back with him, Wolf. Please! You have to understand. He hates me! He dumped me here. You know those scars on my back? He gave half of them to me! The other half were from this guy, who my dad hired! Please, Wolf!"
Two things seemed wrong about the situation. No, wait, three. One: Cub was obviously being abused. Two: Cub was begging Wolf.
Three: Eagle had a theory and it had been right. Which made it seem like the world was about to end.
Wolf should have believed him.
That hardly mattered. Right now he had to focus on the other man bleeding, Cub, and getting them all out of there alive.
Although he could have cared less if Barkley lived.
"Deep breaths, Cub," Wolf responded. "We'll make sure that we work something out, okay?" he asked as he cut Cub's ropes free.
Cub nodded, then took a gulping sob. Wolf glanced over at Barkley. He'd passed out, but he was still breathing. He'd live, especially if Fox was able to get help for him fast enough. Who cared if he got an infection? Right now Wolf had one agenda on his mind: Calming down a distraught teenager.
"I can't go with him," Cub sobbed, "I can't, and I don't want too, and I hate him, and…"
"Deep breaths, okay?" Wolf responded. His sister had an anxiety disorder and he'd dealt with all of this before – mostly after breakups with boyfriends who never should have dated his sister in the first place.
Maybe that was why he'd been so angry at Cub in the first place. He reminded Wolf of the man who had dated his sister and thrown a punch at her. Wolf sighed, thinking that he'd really better stop judging people. "We're going to work something out," Wolf said. "That's a promise, Cub. I don't know what it will be, but I'll make sure something happens."
Cub nodded and collapsed in Wolf's arms.
"Damn," Wolf muttered.
Now he had to carry Cub back to the first aid hut and get help for this piece of trash over here.
He supposed the other man's injuries were more serious, but there was no way he was leaving a member of his team down for this piece of trash.
The sergeant slammed his hand down on the phone and looked up. Fox had stealthily followed the man, Cub's father, all the way back to the sergeant's hut. Rather than directly attack the man by his lonesome, he decided to follow the man.
"I'm Alan Blunt," the man said, sticking out his hand to the sergeant. "Where's my son?"
"We're in the middle of retrieving him right now," the sergeant said, smoothly. He eyeballed Fox, who signaled that he'd talk to the sergeant when he was done with Blunt. "I'm sorry you managed to injure yourself when you were here. What did you fall on? We really should get that looked at the first aid hut."
"I'm okay, really," Blunt responded as he straightened his tie.
"No, no! We really need to take care of our visitors. Don't worry, we have the best staff. Eagle!" he said, seeing the man. "Fox, take your hero to the hut to get him some help." The resounding look in the sergeant's eyes said, keep him there. "Eagle, you and I need to have a talking-too, now!"
"Eagle," Blunt said as he turned around and faced the man. "You were just with my son. Where the hell is my son?"
"Wolf is with him now," Eagle said, the look on his face for once perfectly respectable and solemn. "Sergeant, I have a question for you. What's your policy on child abuse?"
"If any one of my soldiers abuses a child," the man responded gruffly, his arm bristling as if he knew what the man was going to say, "I automatically disqualify them from the SAS. And I think anyone who abuses their child ought to be shot. Cub tell you anything, Eagle?"
"Oh, yes," Eagle said with a nod, "Cub told me a lot of things. But it's more what I saw that was the issue."
"You saw nothing!" Blunt responded angrily as he grabbed Eagle and shoved him against the brick wall. "I would never hit Alex! I love Alex! He's my only child! You have to understand that!"
"Listen here, buster," the sergeant responded, stepping in between him and Eagle, "No-one hurts a member of my team. I don't care if you're the head of some agency. I'll say it once and I'll repeat as many times as necessary: You are going down."
"I could have you charged with child neglect!" Blunt said as he stepped backwards from the sergeant. "You let Alex be endangered. You don't know where he is!"
"I don't, do I?" the sergeant said with a mean smirk as he jerked his thumb towards Wolf, who was carrying Cub. He walked over to the teenager, taking the limp boy out of Wolf's arms. "What's the situation, Wolf?"
The sergeant couldn't help but think this was exactly why the SAS never used name and rank while on duty.
"Python, I got to the tent we use to store excess supplies. Eagle and Cub were being held captive in there. I told Eagle to run for help, which he did. Some idiot tried to shoot me, so he's lying there bleeding…"
"That's my caretaker of my son!" Now it was Blunt's turn to lunge towards Wolf. "How dare you hurt him!"
"He tried to shoot me, you son-of-a-bit-"
"Ladies!" The sergeant said, stepping in between Blunt and another one of his soldiers. "Need I remind you what I said before when you attacked Eagle?"
"He attacked Eagle?" Wolf said with a glare, staring angrily at the man.
Blunt visibly swallowed, and everyone could tell the man was nervous.
"Well, I hope you know you're going down," Wolf responded as he rested his hand on Eagle's shoulder. He could see how nervous his comrade was and knew that this had to be bringing up some painful memories. Wolf silently prayed that they could get the help for Cub that they had not been able to get for Eagle.
Then, in a quiet, but forced voice, Wolf responded, "We protect our own. And Cub is one of our own."
"Speaking of our own," Fox added, "We'd better get him to the first aid tent – and that other SOB if we want any hope of not being sued for a medical emergency."
It was then when Cub started to wake up.
So, there's still the ongoing battle of "who should get custody of Cub?"
The next challenge: What will happen to Alan Blunt? (What do you think would realistically happen to him, and what do you personally want to happen to him? I may try and work a few ideas in... *cough*.) [Does not violate TOS, all will be reviewed by my cat-dog Fluffy]
What's going to happen to Cub when he wakes up?
What does Fox now think of his "hero?"
And here's one just for you to vote on: How many chapters should this be? :-)
Pick as many as you'd like to respond to, or none at all. Please continue to review. As of 7/9/11, we have achieved 11.5 reviews per chapter! Also, I've noticed that over 500 people have read this today, and I must say I am extremely overwhelmed! If you read this far, please, please, please review! I don't care how long or short it is. I love getting any feedback at all, and it motivates me to update faster.
Anyway, signing off!
I do have both tomorrow and Monday off so expect an update one of those two days. Reviews could push me to update either day, of course the more reviews the faster I'm likely to update. XD
THANK YOU FOR READING!