A/N: For all of you who have been wanting more Alex, here is some Alex! In addition to this chapter, next chapter will be mainly Alex/Ian and Alex/Blunt interaction, so stay tuned. Of course, K-Unit will still show up, as well. Challenge at the bottom.

"Dad?" seven year old Alex whispered. He breathed a sigh of relief at the lack of the man's response. He'd seemed really tense and angry lately, and the last thing Alex wanted to do was make him mad. But he did really want to get some breakfast.

He sighed as he opened the bowl of cereal and got the milk out of the fridge. At seven he was already used to getting food for himself. Alex gasped as he was roughly grabbed from behind.

"Hey!" Alex said, wincing as he felt himself shoved to the floor. He glanced up. It was not his father who had grabbed him, but Ian. "Let me go!" he screamed. "Don't touch me. Please don't touch me!"

He knew how vicious Ian could be. He didn't want to be anywhere near him. The last time Ian had come by, he was bitten by the guy.

Needless to say, he hated Ian.

"Hey!" he tried again as he was roughly dragged. "Let me go! I don't want to listen to you!"

All sign of breakfast was forgotten as Alex was dragged by Ian to his room for some "play" time – all because Alex had forgotten to take off his shoes when he'd entered the house last night, and Blunt had wanted to 'remind' him.

End flashback

Later…

"We're going to have some fun," Katakana said as he looked Fox directly in the eyes. Fox couldn't help but squirm under the man's uncomfortable glare. "Ian is coming to get Alex. We're going to the final resting place, where Blunt will make his plans. In the mean time, it's been decided that we're better separated. So Ian's goal is to get the destination with Alex, and it's my goal to get to the destination with you."

"I'm not going anywhere with Ian," Alex responded, drawing Katakana's attention from Fox. "I hate him. He can die and go to hell."

Katakana raised his eyebrows, gripping Alex by his chin and forcing the teenager to look at him. "The teenager's got balls, I like that," he said towards Alex. "Tell me, Alex, how you feel about short term engagements?" he dropped Alex's head.

At Alex's confused look, Katakana quickly amended. "One night stands? I know none of the K-Unit swing that way, but I do. Let me tell you something, Little Alex, you don't speak without permission or I'll just drag you to a separate room and give you a taste of a one night stand. Are we clear?"

"Go to hell."

Fox winced. They really needed to teach Alex the art of negotiation. Sometimes it was just better for them to shut up and listen. This would have been one of those situations.

"You're lucky I don't have time right now," Katakana said. "Just ask Fox, mate. I do follow through on my threats. And I am going to punish you. Give me your arm."

"No." With that, Alex was roughly shoved to the floor. Fox tried to break free from the door that he'd been handcuffed too, but found himself unable to. Katakana placed his knee on the small of Alex's back. "You're going to listen, you little son of a bitch," Katakana responded. He gently lifted up Alex's shirt sleeve, revealing his arm.

"Don't hurt him!" Fox cried out, knowing what was going to happen. He pulled desperately against the door, but it was no use. Not only was he handcuffed to the door, his foot was also cuffed to the pole that was in the room. Fox didn't want to know why it was there.

"Shut up," Katakana said, flashing his knife at Fox. "I swear to God, I'm coming after you next, got it?"

Fox growled silently, wondering what he could do to help Alex. "Why? Are you too scared to come after me now?" he demanded, hoping to give Alex a chance to break free and slip away.

Katakana just rolled his eyes and focused on his task. He knew what Fox was trying to do, and he wasn't going to fall for it.

Alex closed his eyes, trying to think of any way out of the situation. He couldn't escape the yelp that escaped his lips when Katakana pressed the knife down on his arm, hard, making it bleed. Katakana smiled as he stood up. Alex groaned, clutching at his hand.

It was then when Katakana licked the blood off of the knife.

Not able to control himself, Alex responded by promptly throwing up.

Alex groaned as he awoke the second time. His hand had been bandaged, but he wasn't fooled. He knew that Ian - or whoever had done it – didn't really care about him, they just cared about making sure he lasted longer, not wanting to get infected. It was the message he'd been preached all of his life.

Nobody cares about you, Alex. If they do patch you up, it's just to make sure you can't die before they have time to torture you more. Got it? He'd heard those words from his father since he was five.

Flashback

"Daddy! Want play!" Alex said, tugging on his father's leg. He saw the dark look on his father's face, but didn't understand it.

"Jones," his father said, "Your child is pestering me."

"He's your child, too. Why don't you take care of him for awhile?" Mrs. Blunt demanded as she stormed out of the kitchen.

"Fine, you want to play?" Blunt demanded. Alex shied away, not knowing why. Why was his father so upset?

Grabbing Alex's arm, Blunt dragged him across the room before forcing him into the closet. Alex felt a tear run down his face as the door slid shut. Why did his daddy want him in here? He didn't understand…

He grabbed at the lock, or tried too, but it was well above Alex's head. Even if he would have been able to get it, he would have found that it was locked.

"Daddy!" Alex demanded. He was then silent. Obviously he wasn't going to get what he wanted from his father. His only question was… how long would he be in there this time?

## end flashback ##

Alex stared up at Ian, thinking the same thing this time. How long would he be with Ian this time? After the man – he still didn't know his name, he realized – had cut him, he'd been shipped off to Ian.

For the first time in his lifetime with his father, though, Alex found something important.

He found that he had hope.

He had hope that the sergeant would rescue him.

"We have a lead," a somber Don Eppes said as he greeted the group. Eagle, Wolf, and Snake stood before them. They'd arrested the men at the place where the trio was being held and had them all in interrogation rooms. "Does the name Katakana sound familiar?"

"Yeah," Wolf was the first to speak up. Don knew, somehow, that he was the leader of the SAS team. "That's a code name for the one who took Fox's – I mean, Ben's – place on the mission. Why?"

"We think he's involved," Don said, putting the photos down on the table.

Wolf looked at the photos wearily. One photo was of Katakana licking blood off of a knife; another one was him piercing the skin of Alex Rider; yet a third was of him holding up a knife to someone else's throat.

"That's my son!" the sergeant said as he looked at the picture. "This is Alex Blunt," he explained, putting the picture he'd taken of his son to celebrate his adoption next to the other picture. "That's my man, Fox, or well, Ben," he amended, realizing that the FBI agents had the clearance and the need-to-know of his men's names.

"You know what I think?" Eagle said, speaking up. "I think Katakana must have been in on it from the start."

Challenge:

Has Katakana been on it "from the start?"

How bad will Alex get hurt by Ian and Blunt?

Will Fox be able to escape Katakana's wrath alive?

Pick one and respond, or review to all if you have time!