Well guys, I finally uploaded. I would also like to say that out of the 500 some people who have seen this story, I only got 11 reviews. Shame. nudge nudge, wink wink.

Luckily Alex was a fast runner, making it to the stop with time to spare. He then slumped down on the bench and tried to sort out the turmoil that was currently his mind.

What the hell was going on? Why were there a group of teenage spies who no one knew about? Why the fuck were these spies not doing what Alex was doing? They were willing. Wouldn't that make them a better choice? 'No', Alex shook his head. 'It has nothing to do with that. I have to be mature. MI6 didn't know these spies existed. Therefore the CHERUBS were not a viable option.' Then he sighed. 'Who the hell aM I kidding. They would have used me anyway. With me, they don't have to worry about being considered 'unethical' or something. With me, there's no one to protest if I don't come back. Even with Jack they could just get rid of her.'

Alex shuddered, a sudden chill coming over him. Maybe it was just the fall air. He didn't have a jacket. Or maybe it was something Alex shook it off. The bus had just showed up, after all. He stood up, groaning a bit because of muscles he hadn't used in a while. Alex smiled suddenly, a large contrast to his previous frowns. He briskly walked onto the bus and took a seat at the back next to a young man. Alex, who was currently scanning the bus for any danger, took a moment to realise that he had met the man before.

It was Ben Daniels or Fox as he had been known during his stay with the SAS, who Alex had met and become close to on his Snakehead mission. "Ben," Alex said, "did you just get out of the bank after a 'trip'?" Ben, who hadn't looked at Alex at all, looked shocked for a moment before a smile spread over his thin lips. He reached over and ruffled the blond hair of the much shorter spy. The teen huffed, his fingers flying up to his head to fix the disarray. Once Alex had finished he reached up to mess with Ben's own hair, only to find the dark hair was too short to do anything to other than tickle.

This only served to irritate Alex more. "Grow your hair out!" he commanded, jokingly, "I want to be able to mess with it back since you always seem to enjoy ruining mine so much." Ben chuckled, shaking his head, "But then Alex all those people ill-disposed towards me would have one more thing to harm me with. And that wouldn't be very fun for me." "Well then, I'll just do this," Alex replied, ever so slightly annoyed. The teen'd fingers shot up and made Ben's eyebrow hairs stick straight up.

Alex snorted, then. The older man looked so ridiculous. This reaction caused Ben to reach over and whap Alex on the upside of his head. "What's so funny, you little brat?" To this, the boy replied cheekily, "You and your eyebrows." Ben, finally giving up, reached up to his eyebrows and set them the right way. As he was doing this he muttered, "Damn brat I never should have saved your life." This was said just loud enough for Alex to hear. To that Alex muttered, "And I never should have saved your life, indirectly." This was also said just loud enough for the other friend to hear. Then, simultaneously, the two spies both said, "Bastard."

Alex and Ben both started laughing at that. Nevermind the young mother who was looking at them like they were crazy for being 'silent' for a minute of two and then suddenly breaking out into laughter. It's not like they cared what she thought of them. Or that they were disturbing her less than a year old baby. And the elderly couple sitting in front of them. Oops. The doors opened and Ben glanced up to realise that it was his stop. Quickly saying goodbye to Alex, he rushed off the bus before the doors closed. Barely. Aled snorted when he saw the little scrap of sweatshirt that Ben had to pull through the doors.

But Alex quickly went back to his thoughts before getting on the bus. His thoughts from then were rather, *cough very cough*, important. Alex had been thinking of a way to escape from MI6, the SIS, forever. Sure he wouldn't be completely free from government agencies, but most things would be better than where he was right now. Hopefully. Alex decided to go over his plan one last time before he reached his stop. It was simple, but it would depend on CHERUB wanting to keep him. He would get picked up by CHERUB, that would be the easy part. Alex would seem like he was going along with the mission.

But there would be a twist. Alex wouldn't 'disappear'. He would stay with CHERUB and work with them until he had to leave. At least, that was the plan. However Alex had a sudden epiphany. What if he never got himself picked up by CHERUB? What if he just disappeared from the orphanage and hid on the streets? He could contact someone who owed him a favour. Maybe the Japanese, they had always disliked that a teenager was a spy. Alex scrapped that plan, though. There were too many ifs. Too many risks. Plan A, the CHERUB plan, would work better, smoother. It was more foolproof and Alex couldn't afford to make mistakes. Not now, and not ever. A mistake could get him killed, or back with MI6. And those were risks Alex couldn't stand to have.

So he was decided. He would stay with CHERUB. The JApanese were his backup plan. It would work. Alex would finally, after the longest, most painful, most horrible year of his life, Alex would be free. He would never have to go through it again. Hopefully. There was the problem of the possibility of CHERUB pulling an MI6 and sending him on life-threatening missions. However, Alex refused to think about it. His plan would work. He would be happy. And he would never have to deal with MI6 again. Alex smiled then, hopefully. A smile full of hope for the future, a future with far less troubles. And that was all that mattered in that moment, that perfect moment.

Well there you have it, chapter 4. Hope you enjoyed it. I hav ea feeling that I won't uploaded until I get at least 5 reviews. Shouldn't be too hard for you guys. A minute of your time for hours of mine? Please?