Alex took a steadying breath as he looked out the window. He hated being locked up, but he really didn't have much of a choice today. Alex knew that his father was mad, but he wasn't sure what he'd done to make him this angry. He'd already been locked in the closet for more than a week, being let out only during certain times of the day to eat and use the bathroom. He hated it. He hated every frigging minute of it.

Not that he'd ever let his father know that, though. The second he let his father know that, his father would use the closet punishment much more often.

At age eleven, Alex Rider was very smart. He was smart enough to even sometimes, when he was lucky, outsmart Alan Blunt.

-end flashback-

Alex winced as he looked at Wolf. He reached down and slowly tied his shoe, trying to avoid looking at the figure as it moved on the bed.

"Alex," Wolf said as he pulled himself up. Wolf wasn't feeling that great himself, Alex guessed. He could see the black-and-blue marks up Wolf's arms. "You okay?" he asked.

Do I dare answer him? Alex thought. He hadn't really liked Wolf over during training, but now his thoughts were changing. He sighed as he tried to remember the question. "I don't know," he answered honestly. He half expected Wolf to smack him – Ian always hated when he answered anything with I don't know.

-transition-

"That's a good answer. I don't know how I'm feeling, either," Wolf said. He'd watched the transcripts from Blunt's interviews. The bastard was a complete sicko and made Eagle's father look like he was kind and loving. He had laughed about his aggressive treatment towards Alex and had said he would always beat the kid anytime he'd said I don't know.

Alex looked at him, his face mirroring disbelief, and just snorted as he leaned against the corner. Wolf could see that he was still wearing a sling, which probably meant that his arm still hurt.

He felt bad for the kid, but unless they both got out of there, an event that didn't look like it would happen anytime soon, he didn't know what he could do.

"How's your shoulder?" Wolf asked as he pulled himself all of the way off the bed.

Cub glared.

It's going to be a long few days if he won't even TALK to me, Wolf thought with a frown. He sighed as he closed his eyes and rested against the wall. He shuddered, having a sudden flashback from when they were held hostage by the supposed NYPD officers.

Flashback

"Leave him alone!" Wolf demanded angrily. He would have pushed himself up and launched an attack on the man, even with his handcuffs; if not for the fact that Snake was glaring at him evilly, and the fact that he knew he'd probably be killed.

"Oh, you care for this one, now, do you?" the CIA officer sneered. He flickered his lighter in front of Fox's face, and Fox swallowed hard. He knew he couldn't show his fear of flames. It wasn't so much that he was scared of fire as he was scared of being burned. "I guess I'll mark him first," he said, pressing the lighter against Fox's elbow.

Fox couldn't help the scream that escaped from his lips as the officer burned him with the BIC lighter. He could feel the flame against his skin. It felt like hell – Fox didn't really know how else to put it. He couldn't even think as the pain rippled through his body. And then, without any warning, he was shoved to the ground.

"Take this as a lesson," the CIA man responded. "We can, and will, do anything to you. And that includes killing you. You're guilty until proven innocent, here, and good luck proving your innocence. It's never happened before." With that, he left the room, slamming the door behind him. Wolf's heart sank when he heard it lock shut.

End flashback

"You know," Wolf said as he made his way over to Alex, "It's okay to be scared."

Another glare, but this time, it was slightly less dark. "Like you ever are," Alex retorted. "And I can't be scared. If I show I'm scared to him, he'll eat me alive."

"I've been scared before," Wolf said with a shrug. "Did you ever get told what happened with the rest of us while Eagle was missing?"

"Why would I?" Alex said. He moved himself up on the bed, and Wolf sighed. It seemed that Alex had even less trust for people than Wolf himself did.

"We were looking for you," Wolf said.

"You mean you were looking for Eagle," Alex corrected with a quick shake of his head. "Nobody ever looks for me."

Wolf sighed. "No, we were looking for you, too. The sergeant made a team as soon as he realized what had happened."

"He can't!" Alex felt a chill run down his spine. "You can't tell my dad that, Wolf."

Okay… that was new… "I'm guessing that there's a reason behind this?" was all Wolf said.

Alex would have kicked him if he hadn't been so far away. "I was kidnapped once before. By my dad, he didn't tell my mom where we were going or anything. Mom got mad and sent a team after him. He beat me because he thought they were coming for me, not him."

"Sounds like a charming man," Wolf said, hoping a bit of sarcasm would calm Alex down. "I won't tell him."

Alex rolled his eyes and backed against the wall as the door opened. Wolf could clearly see him shiver as he saw the form of Alan Blunt.

Eagle took a deep breath as he forcefully exhaled, pacing in place. He didn't feel very well at all. He wanted to be helping find Alex, but at the minute, he was overwhelmed with information.

Wolf was dead.

Their teammate had given his life to protect his comrade, even though it had been this comrade who Wolf had so hated. Eagle took a sharp breath as he sat down on the couch, trying not to think about the past twenty-four hours.

He groaned as his father's voices flooded his head. "You're worthless. You'll be the death of me yet. If you're not the death of me, you'll be the death of someone you love. And…"

"Eagle?" Fox said. The man was next to him now. "Are you okay?"

"Do you think I'm okay?" Eagle snapped as he glared at Fox. "My team member just died, and it's my fault!"

"Hey, he was my team member too!" Fox snapped back before catching the second thing Eagle said. They still needed to work on finding Cub. The last thing they needed to do was muck around in, well, this. "And how the hell is it your fault?" he demanded, not missing those last words.

Eagle just stood up and moved towards the door, slamming the door on the stairs. Snake came over, looking at Fox's flushed face. "What's up?" he questioned, looking at Fox.

"Eagle thinks Wolf's death is his fault and just went down the stairs," Fox said.

Snake took a minute, pausing to see the tiredness in his comrade's eyes. "I'll go talk to him. You get some rest."

Fox was only too happy to oblige.

Snake pounded down the stairs. He knew that normally Fox would have gone after Eagle, but Fox hadn't slept in the last 24 hours. It was time to get the man some rest.

Besides, Snake had a good idea what was bothering Eagle. This – Eagle's disappearing, anyway – had only happened once before, and he had a pretty good idea what had triggered it. Eagle was rarely so expressive with his emotions, but Snake knew that he had to be troubled by the situation.

Not only was Alex's story bringing up some serious issues within his past, he had also just had a friend die. There was no doubt in Snake's mind that there was more there.

"Eagle?" he asked, seeing his friend leaning back against the wall.

"Just needed some air," his friend replied, but Snake could see how tense he was. Snake forced down his feelings about Wolf and turned to face his friend. Right now he was the team leader until they could get things straightened out.

"Eagle, this situation isn't your fault." Snake paused, wondering how much to say. Sometimes he wished he could read minds.

"It is." Eagle swallowed hard, and Snake knew he'd hit the nail on the head, so to speak. "It is my fault. I should have gotten help for Alex sooner. I should have stayed with Alex when he was kidnapped. I should have been kidnapped, not Alex. I should be dead, not Wolf!"

Snake ran a tired hand through his hair. He wished it wasn't raining outside. "Eagle, none of this is your fault. You told us the whole time that Alex was being abused. We should have listened sooner. You told Wolf as soon as you thought that the kid was being abused, right?"

"Yeah," Eagle said.

"That was absolutely not your fault. From what you told me, staying with Alex wasn't exactly your choice. And no, you should not be dead instead of Wolf, Eagle. Should Wolf have had to die? No. It's awful. We're all going to grieve for a time. Once, Wolf and I were talking about the most painful ways to die – during RTI training our first time, which was a pretty stupid way to pass the time, if you ask me! - and Wolf said he didn't care how he died, he just wanted to die serving our country. Or of old age."

Eagle nodded but he still looked uncertain. "So you don't hate me then," he said, and Snake could see him look a little bit more relieved.

"Eagle, I don't think anyone can hate you for too long. And no, I don't hate you," he added, knowing how that might come across to the man.

"Well, that's a relief," Eagle replied.

"This does not mean that you get to burn down my bed, though," Snake warned.

"Well, darn. There went that idea…" suddenly, Eagle trailed of, and Snake could practically see him thinking. "You know what?" he questioned.

"What?"

"I just thought of something. We need to talk to Katakana – he might know where Alex is!"

Wow! Sorry for the long update. Hopefully people are still reading and reviewing. Your challenge:

What did Eagle think of?

What is Alan going to do to Wolf and Alex?

I promise there will be more Alex in the next chapter. Every review, no matter how long, will be an extra 100 words towards the Alex/Blunt scene.

Enjoy!