Chapter Two:
Artemis was unsure when exactly he began to develop an interest in Alex Rider. He supposed it was after the mining incident, when the genius had been illegally mining diamonds in South America. MI6 had turned up to investigate whether or not some of his hired workers were Italian mafia – Artemis neither knew, nor cared, as long as they got the job done and kept their mouths shut – and Alex had been there.
Artemis hadn't been present, of course, (prickly heat always made his skin come out in a rash) but he'd been watching through the cameras he'd placed so he could keep an eye on things. The age of the operative with the older, more experienced MI6 officers, stuck Artemis instantly. He'd run Alex's face through the system, and soon learned all there was to know about him. Then he sat back to watch. Alex had had a quietly determined expression: jaw set in a firm line, jaw subtly clenched, and knuckles white around the machine gun he was carrying.
He'd not been able to stop watching over the next months, Artemis was embarrassed to admit, but Alex was becoming something of an obsession for him, so he did what any self-respecting criminal genius would do; sought tirelessly for an opportunity to kidnap him.
When MI6 took Butler, in all truthfulness, Artemis' first thought had been about his loyal servant, but his second was Alex. Alex.
Mine.
Artemis had a thing about possession, you see, and what he wanted he had to get. Unquestionably. And, right now, he wanted Alex. Not in that way, not yet. Artemis knew that for Alex to trust him, for him to surrender everything to Artemis, would take time. And time was the one thing Artemis didn't have.
A/N: very short i know, but next chapter should be up soon, and much longer :) thanks SO much to all who reviewed - helped so much!