Gibbs always thought his best when he was working on his boat. It helped him relax enough to think about his situation properly.
And tonight he worked furiously with sanding his boat, thinking just as hard.
Alex Rider needed help. If MI6 kept using him they were going to get him killed. And Gibbs refused to just turn a blind eye as a helpless child was being used.
The question was: What could he do? Somehow yelling, and screaming at another government agency didn't seem like such a good idea. 'Right now at least,' Gibbs added silently.
Sighing, he tossed the sander onto the ground, deciding to call it a night. Grabbing his SIG from the counter, he made his way up the basement stairs.
He then went over to the locked front door, rechecking his steps. He peeked through the blinds of a nearby window, the night was dark except for the glow of the full moonlight.
Gibbs then turned and made his way to the stairs, heading for his own bedroom. He paused at Alex's door, it was cracked, and the light was still on.
Thinking that the exhausted teen had fallen asleep while reading his letter, he opened the door to find...an empty room. Drawing his gun, Gibbs swiftly entered the room. Was he in the bathroom? No, Gibbs had passed the only bathroom on the way to Alex's room, it was empty.
Then Gibbs felt the gentle breeze of the midnight air on his face, the window was open and Alex was gone.
Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider
Alex carefully entered the empty alley. Yokov did mean tonight right? It was impossible to tell considering he didn't put in a date on the letter.
Alex's plan definitely footloose. He knew getting caught by SCORPIA was inevitable, but if he got caught and Gibbs found him, and managed to take out Yokov and his men, then this whole horrible mess would be over. He could tough it out long enough for the team to find out where he was at.
As soon as he made it to the middle of the alley, everything went crazy. Four men dressed in black dropped down from fire escapes on either sides of the alley, advancing swiftly towards Alex.
Alex was ready though, dropping down into a fighting stance.
He doubted he could get away from these men, but he refused to just let them take him freely. That would be too easy for them.
One brave man came up to Alex first, throwing a right cross to Alex's head, to which, he ducked easily. And aimed a roundhouse kick to the man. He clearly wasn't expecting it, because Alex hit him squarely in the chest, sending him, stumbling into two other men behind him. As the trio were untangling themselves from each other, their other partner was moving in on Alex. But the teen didn't even give the man time to act before sliding to the side and picking a nearby pipe up from a number of other debris items from the alleys filthy floor. He took its end and jabbed it into the man's stomach. The man clutched it painfully, doubling over.
But Alex made a mistake. He lost track of one of the men that were on the floor. Two were in front of him and were making their way toward him again, but just as they got close enough for him to attack them, the forgotten man tackled him to the ground. The last thing Alex saw was a fist coming straight at his jaw, then sweet darkness enveloped him.
Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider
Alex's head hurt. And he was cold. He was lying on hard concrete floor, that much he could tell. He tried opening his eyes, groaning as what little light that was in the room made his head pound.
Groaning, he sat up, forced his eyes open, and looked around. Not that there was much too see. He was locked in a small, steel, dark room with a single bulb swinging back and forth, flickering so bad it looked like it was going to blow at any moment.
He tried to think about the last thing he could remember. Which also wasn't much. He knew he made it to the alley, when two strong men came and attacked him from behind, he struggled, then...nothing.
Alex was certain he had a concussion, small, but the dizziness and nauseousness he was experiencing told him he had one. Which was to be expected considering this was the third time he had been hit in the head.
Alex stood up slowly, swaying slightly. When his vision cleared he walked over to the door of his confinement. He lashed out with his foot, making the metal door shutter violently, but it didn't budge.
Sighing, he slid back down to the floor, leaning his back against the wall.
Suddenly, jolted by an important memory, he slid his hand to his converse high-tops, and to his relief he felt the thin small phone concealed with in his left shoe. It was a snug fit, but it was the only way he could think of to keep it hidden from SCORPIA, and apparently it worked.
He pulled it out, and just as his fingers, uncertainly, hovered over the first digits of the distress signal, he heard a door slam and then foot steps coming his way.
He quickly slid the phone to the back of the room, making no light was emitting from it, all he could do now was pray no one came far enough into the room to notice the small, black, phone.
He heard the door being unlocked, then two men, the ones that were in the alley, filed in and jerked him to his feet. They wrenched his hands behind his back and tied rope around his wrists.
Alex was then pushed from the room and into the hall, then to a flight of stairs that he was promptly shoved up.
At the top of the stairs there was only a single metal door, which the men through opened and threw Alex inside.
Alex lost his balance, stumbled, and fell into the middle of the room with a grunt. He sat up slowly, and looked around at his new surroundings.
It was also bare, though bigger, and there was a wooden chair sitting nearby. It had better lighting too. Alex guessed that they were in an old warehouse that had been 'renovated' for SCORPIA's use.
The door suddenly flew open, making Alex jump. Then his, stomach dropped as Yokov walked in carrying a menacing smile on his face.
Alex looked at Yokov cautiously, watching his every move. Yokov sat down in the wooden chair, casually, looking amusedly at the teenager.
"Alex Rider. MI6's youngest, and most valuable spy. Rider, one of the most hated names in SCORPIA. And let me tell you, Alex, your name is right up there with your fathers. You've managed to ruin two of SCORPIA's missions. Not to mention killing Julia Rothman, and Nile," Yokov rattled off, playing with a ring on his finger. It was a bulky silver scorpion shaped ring. It's body rested on the top of his finger, while its tail wrapped around Yokov's finger, and it's stinger came to a point on the other side of the ring. It occurred to Alex that this man liked SCORPIA, liked everything about it. Spoke about the terrible organization with admiration.
"I didn't kill anyone," Alex defended.
"Oh? Then what would you call it?" Yokov asked.
" I don't know. Karma?" Alex replied sarcastically.
"Maybe. But SCORPIA doesn't see it that way. And neither do I," Yokov reported.
"Well what do you want me to do? Apologize?" Alex asked, sounding more confident than he felt.
Yokov only shrugged, "Sure, if you'd like. But that won't get you out of what you're in for. SCORPIA wants to see you suffer. It's time you paid your dues."
"What is SCORPIA going to do with me? If they really wanted me dead so badly why didn't they just hire another sniper like last time?" Alex asked.
"Well we figured a fast death would be too good for you. So, were bringing you back to one of SCORPIA's headquarters to make your life a little bit more...difficult. But we have some time before we leave so that means we have some time with one another," Yokuv explained discreetly.
Alex knew what that meant."Well, what are you waiting on? For your guard buddies to come and make sure I don't manage to get out of this rope and manage to beat you like I did Nile?" Alex asked, hoping the man would see this as a challenge, and at least undo the rope.
But Yokov didn't take the bait, he only smiled and said, "I'm not going to make the same mistakes people in the past have made, Alex. You're not going to be able to manipulate, talk, or distract your way out of this. You're mine."
And with those words, Yokov stood, and started his agonizingly slow pace towards Alex.
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Gibbs stormed furiously into the bullpen carrying the dreaded letter. He found the letter in lying on the edge of Alex's bed, out in the open for everyone to read. Apparently that was Alex's way of letting him know where he went and why.
The rest of the team, even Abby, was seated in there waiting on his arrival.
"Gibbs, what's going on? Where's Alex?" Ziva asked, looking past him, expecting to see him.
Gibbs then realized that in his anger, he had failed to tell anyone on his team what had happened, only shouted down his phone to get back to NCIS before immediately hanging up.
"He's gone. Abby, that letter you gave Alex wasn't a letter from a girl, it was from Yokov," Gibbs said handing Tony the letter. Everyone crowded around Tony's desk and read over his shoulder.
Their faces turned grim as they finished. Abby, being the sensitive person that she was, had tears in her eyes. Abby had obviously liked Alex the moment they met.
"Why didn't he tell you, Gibbs?" Abby asked, not understanding how Alex couldn't trust Gibbs enough to handle this.
"Well the letter did say, 'don't tell anyone', Abby," Tony, pointed out.
"But it's Gibbs, Tony. Everyone tells Gibbs everything," Abby said in total confidence and admiration of their fearless leader.
"Well apparently Alex isn't 'everyone'," Mcgee replied.
"Ziva, Tony, go check out the alley. See if you can find anything," Gibbs ordered.
They both immediately nodded and grabbed their gear, heading for the elevator.
"Do we have anything that might lead us to where Yokov has taken Alex?" Mcgee asked, at loss for what he was meant to be doing.
Gibbs heaved a heavy sigh, " None that I can think of Mcgee," he started to say more but Abby's shriek cut him off.
"Gibbs!" She shouted, "Alex has a distress signal built into his phone. If he's in trouble all he has to do is key in the code and it sends a signal to MI6 telling them where he is."
"Do you know if Alex took his phone with him, Boss?" Mcgee asked.
"It wasn't in his room," Gibbs replied, he had been over every inch of the room making sure he hadn't missed anything that would be vital.
Gibbs then stood up, "Mcgee, I want to talk to the director of MI6 in MTAC," he said, saying 'director' like it was the wrong title for Blunt.
"You got it," Mcgee answered, happy that he finally had something to do to help.
And with that Gibbs headed up he stairs, and straight to Vance's office, knowing that despite the late...well earliness, he would be in his office.
Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider
Alex hurt. Every inch of him felt bruised...and probably was.
Yokov had left no place of him unharmed. He was bleeding in various places from where Yokov's ring and steel-toed boots had punctured skin. His torso and back caught most of the painful blows, leaving horrible, painful, bruises, he was sure at least two ribs were cracked. Not even the fetal position had helped him. His thin, white, T-shirt was in tatters.
At some point of his beating he must have slipped into unconsciousness because now he was lying in the comforts of his small room.
Blinking back hot tears he slowly forced himself to sit up, he then realized that his wrists were untied, but looking at them they were rubbed raw, and were bleeding slowly, they stung horribly every time his wrists moved in the slightest direction.
He realized he was in over his head, he needed help, preferably Gibbs' help. He slowly, as painlessly as he could, scooted over to where he had left his phone. His fingers stumbled tiredly over the keys, he was exhausted.
Once the code was entered, and he tossed the phone back into its original spot he laid down and tried to get as comfortable as he could, before drifting off into darkness.
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Everyone was seated in MTAC chairs, with the exception of Gibbs and Vance who were standing in front of the huge TV with headsets on.
Even Ziva and Tony were back from the alley. It had taken that long to get in touch with MI6, and then to get a hold of Blunt. Which only elevated Gibbs' anger. If this was how they treated one of their best agents he'd hate to see how the others were handled.
Then, suddenly, Blunt appeared on the screen, seated at a desk, looking through a file folder.
Gibbs had to hide a smirk as Tony took in Blunt's gray facial features, and he let out a low, "Geez," before promptly getting elbowed in the gut by Ziva.
"Director Vance," Blunt greeted smoothly.
"SCORPIA has Alex. They sent him a letter threatening the people around him if he didn't turn himself over. Alex obviously didn't see a way out of this because he's gone," Vance said not bothering with formalities.
"Ah, yes we've gotten the distress signal. The coordinates have been sent to your forensics lab. Though, we've recently lost the signal," Blunt replied offhandedly.
Mcgee and Abby hurried out of the room to go get the information that was sent to her lab.
"You seem pretty calm for some one with a fourteen year old MI6 agent in danger," Gibbs observed quietly.
"Alex, is a strong-willed young man. He can take care of himself," Blunt replied, dismissing the problem immediately, and giving Gibbs a hard look.
Gibbs returned the look with a deadly glare, "He obviously can't, otherwise, he would not have sent out the distress signal in the first place." He replied heatedly.
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe Alex has a plan? That maybe he went to SCORPIA and sent out the distress signal so you would know where they were? So you could take them down?" Blunt asked,unknowingly hitting Alex's plan on the head.
"That's suicide! He could be killed, no teenager thinks like that," Gibbs exclaimed.
"Alex is no ordinary boy. He can, and will surprise you Agent Gibbs," Blunt said wisely.
"Doesn't mean he should be used the way he is. Tell me, Mr. Blunt, does MI6 have to black mail all of their spy's? Or just Alex?" Gibbs asked, not letting the man off the hook that easily.
This was news to Vance his head whipped around to glare at the man on the screen, "Is this true?"
Gibbs nearly smiled, he knew now he had Vance on his side now. He always did have a soft spot for children. A trait you gained from being a father, Gibbs supposed.
"Whatever Alex has told you, it is of no concern to NCIS. What I do within my agency is my own business. Now, do we need to send agents to DC to pick up Alex? Or is NCIS going to quit asking irrelevant questions and handle it?" Blunt asked waving off the accusation, talking as if he was asking them to pick up his dry cleaning.
"Oh, NCIS will be handling this, trust me," Vance promised firmly.
"Very well. Good day, gentlemen." And with that the MTAC screen went blank.
As Gibbs and Vance were pulling off their headsets Vance mumbled, "I never did like that man."
"Are they really blackmailing, Alex?" Ziva asked with a glint in her eyes.
Gibbs only nodded once and said, "I'll tell you later. Let's go get him."
"Only we're going in, Boss? What if there are more SCORPIA agents there than we thought?" Tony asked validly.
"SCORPIA is a very arrogant organization. I don't think they'd see it necessary to send many agents in to pick up a child. Even Alex and his apparent track record," Ziva explained.
"Just to be on the safe side take one or two other teams with you, Gibbs," Vance ordered.
Gibbs only nodded again, " And when we get back you can explain to me why you knew all of this about SCORPIA, and didn't feel the need to share, Agent David," he said to his agent. What happened to not keeping secrets in his team? He started walking to the door of MTAC only to be called back by Vance.
"Gibbs. A quick word?" Vance asked, but Gibbs knew it was more of an 'order'.
He sighed, "DiNozzo, David, go alert Balboa and Parker's team that we're gonna need their help, then grab the location and Mcgee, and meet me at the car. If the GPS has been lost then Yokuv may have found Alex's phone."
And with that the two hurried out of the room.
"Leon, by the time we actually get there, Alex is going to be dead," Gibbs said quickly.
"I'll be quick. I just want to make sure we're clear on this; our orders are to protect Alex from SCORPIA. Nothing more. This is MI6's business, there's nothing we can do about Alex. No matter how bad it is," Vance said, getting straight to the point.
Gibbs didn't even dignify that with an answer, apparently Vance wasn't on his side after all. He'd help Alex however he saw fit. If he was even still alive to protect.
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Alex was jolted awake by a agonizing kick to the stomach, then felt someone kneel beside him and grab a fistful of his hair, jerking his head up. Yokov.
"What the hell is this?" he asked venomously.
Groaning he opened his eyes, and looked. Alex's only hope was now shattered...literally. Yokov was now holding in front of his face, bits and pieces of phone. Yokov must have found it when he entered Alex's imprisonment while he was asleep.
"What is this?" Yokov snapped, shaking Alex's head.
"Looks like a phone," Alex said dully.
The remark earned him a harsh slap to the face.
Alex got the impression Yokov was only calm and collected when things were going his way. Put a flaw in his plans and his anger overtook his low-key personality.
"Don't play dumb with me, Rider. This isn't a regular phone or you would've made a call by now," Yokov spat.
"How do you know I didn't make a call?" Alex asked, closing his eyes in an attempt to rid himself from the dizziness, and nausea he was now feeling.
"Last call dialed was to a 'Tom Harris' four days ago. You sent out a signal didn't you? Those Navy cops know where we're at don't they?" Yokov asked. He was smart. Alex had to give him that.
Alex only glared at the man.
"I'll take that as a yes," Yokov said smiling slightly, now.
"Looks like we have a change in plans, Alex." And with that Yokov walked out of the room, leaving Alex with his wandering thoughts.
A/N- Okay, well I'm not exactly sure about this chapter. But I went ahead and posted it anyways. This is currently un-beta'ed. But hopefully the next ones will. I was getting anxious about updating and my Beta is super busy (I'm assuming) and I was getting restless. And I wasn't sure if I liked this chapter anyways, this is my first little Alex-gets-really-hurt story....If you get what I mean. So if that was bad I'm sorry.
And by the way just in case anyone was wondering; this story will most likely NOT have any spoilers for the new NCIS episodes. So anyone that's behind are all safe.(And if there does wind up being a spoiler I'll definitely let you guys know. But I don't see that happening.)
Anyways I hope this was somewhat good! Review and let me know, and suggestion's are always accepted.