"Cub? Cub, come on, listen to me! You did good! That stunbelt around your waist? Can you undo it?" Wolf coaxed. "It'll have something strong enough in it to pick the lock on the cell door. I just need you to get it off, and toss it over here. We'll look after the rest, okay?

Alex nodded weakly, crying out as he moved his arm to unsnap the buckle at the back. He fingers were shaking, though, quickly becoming slick with blood and he couldn't seem to gather enough strength to press down hard enough.

"Easy, Cub, take your time," Fox encouraged. "Like Wolf said, you did good. If you can get that belt to us, we can do the rest, and we'll all get outta here."

The buckle finally came loose, and the belt dropped, but K Unit could see the damage underneath. Two large blackened areas on Cub's abdomen identified the entrance and exit routes of the electricity, and repeated shots along the same course had given him third degree burns. The area around them were splotched red.

Alex clamped his teeth onto his bottom lip, knowing that his cries and screams would bring the other guards back here. They were too close for that now. Using the last of what he had, he slid the belt over to them, and passed out.

Between the four of them they had managed to rip the belt apart, and found several potentially useful items. Sooner than they would have thought, the cell was open, and Snake streaked past them to get to Cub, landing on his knees.

The medic in him was taking over, and he wanted to check the boy out, but Wolf shook his head.

"We don't have time, Snake," he said firmly, brooking no argument. "Just make sure he's breathing and let's get out of here."

"But the burns-" Snake protested.

Wolf shook his head. "No worse then the rest of him. Get a move on."

Snake pressed his lips together with disapproval, but the soldier in him knew Wolf was right. They had to get to safety first. He did as ordered and nodded curtly. The boy was breathing, had a pulse.

Snake was surprised when Wolf crouched down and very gently picked the boy up, keeping him securely cradled against his wide chest. "Let's go," he ordered.

Almost afraid the door would be locked, despite not having heard any locking mechanisms, they were nonetheless thrilled that it opened as silently for them as it had for Ben and Troy.

They cruised through the halls silently as ghosts, until they found the tunnel door the SAS team had originally come in. It took only moments for Eagle to make short work of the lock, and then they were running.

Some time later, they were forced to slow for a rest. The alarm would be going off any minute as Ben and Troy came back for their discussion with Cub only to discover they were all gone.

Wolf went to lay down the Cub, but then found himself in a dilemma.

"Uh, Snake? Can I put him on his back with those whips?" he asked.

Snake frowned. "You shouldn't, but then there's the burns on his waist, and the broken rib, and I'm worried about that old injury. So I don't see how you have much choice."

"Hey guys, there's a tree over here. Wolf can sit up against that, and we can lean Cub against his chest. Ya don't mind, do ya Wolf?" Fox called.

Snake shrugged as Wolf looked at him questioningly. "It's still gonna hurt like hell no matter what we do. Infection is our worst enemy at the moment, especially those burns. At least your shirt is cleaner than the ground."

They managed to finally get Wolf and Cub situated in such a way that Snake could properly examine the still unconscious boy.

Eagle frowned. "Should he still be out?"

Snake shot a glare over his shoulder. "Would you prefer he be awake, screaming and bringing every guard within earshot down on us?"

Eagle held up his hands defensively. "Okay, point taken. Fox, let's do a perimeter."

After watching their direction until he couldn't see them anymore, he turned back to Snake, who had a worried frown on his face. "What is it?"

"What isn't it? I can't do this. This kid is seriously messed up, and I think he's got some internal injuries. But it's his heart I'm most worried about right now."

"Why?"

"Because it's in a bad way, and there's not a damn thing I can do about out here. I don't think we should move him any more then we have to, but he's got nothing for protection out here. It's October in Canada. It's going to get damn cold tonight. If we don't move out, he'll die of exposure."

Wolf nodded. "Okay, I can see how that's frustrating. We'll just do what we can for now." Then he felt it. "Shit, I think he's coming around."

The warning barely left his lips when Cub arched away from him, crying out, struggling to get his back away from whatever was touching it. But the arch pulled on his chest wound, broken rib and burns.

Snake reacted quickly enough to clamp his hand over Cub's mouth to muffle the scream. When it had died down, he carefully took his hand away, realizing immediately that the boy was having problems breathing. But pain created panic, and he was still struggling against Wolf. His fingernails and lips were turning blue.

Then he remembered the thiopental. Shit, was the kid having a reaction to it? It had been known to cause cardiac and respiratory depression.

"No no no no no!" Snake cursed. "We don't need this!"

"What's wrong?" Wolf demanded, unused to seeing Snake so panicked.

"He's having a reaction to the drugs. Can you calm him down, please?" Snake demanded as his hand was smacked away with another flailing arm.

"I'm trying, but I don't want to hurt him," Wolf snapped back.

Cub went limp suddenly, and without warning. Both men froze, fearing the worst. Snake recovered first, and checked his vitals.

"He's not breathing. I've got no pulse," he reported.

Wolf immediately moved to lay the boy down, and frowned when he saw Snake hesitating. "You've forgotten how to do CPR?" he asked harshly.

"I'm just not sure we should. The damage we could do-"

"Is irrelevant at this point, don't you think? I'll breathe, and you handle the compressions however you feel is right," Wolf commanded, already leaning down.

Snake hesitated only a moment longer before nodding, and setting to work. "One minute. No response," he called out. He could actually feel the broken rib moving up and down as he pressed. Oh yeah, if there hadn't been internal injuries before, there sure as hell were now. "Two minutes. No response. Come on, Cub, breathe you miserable little brat!"

A gasp of air as Cub once again arched off the ground, turning into a coughing fit. Both men watched in relief and sympathy as tears streamed from Cub's tightly squeezed eyes.

"Holy shit! What happened?" Fox shouted as he and Eagle came into their little hiding spot.

Wolf and Snake were both sitting, watching helplessly as Alex tried to get in two consecutive gulps of air without coughing. Both men ignored their teammates for the moment, focused instead on trying to calm Alex down, while at the same time holding him up without touching any of his injuries.

"Did you find water?" Snake asked them.

Eagle nodded, a little shocked at what they walked in on. "Uh, yeah, and we found a cave. Is he gonna be all right?"

Alex was obviously breathing better, but had started shaking violently, sweating, and he was as white as a ghost. The four men exchanged concerned looks. It didn't take a field medic to tell them Alex was going in to Shock, and out here, with no resources and no treatment, it could be fatal.

Wolf took control. "Eagle, Fox, report."

"There's a bit of a cave hidden off the bank of the lake. Fifteen minute walk from here, two minutes to the lake. It's definitely rock. We recon inside and there doesn't appear to be signs of habitation," Fox answered crisply.

"I think we'd be able to safely get a fire going without drawing too much attention to ourselves," Eagle followed up, casting dubious glances at Cub.

"Snake, is Cub stable enough to travel that far?"

"He really shouldn't, we could risk another failure, and to be honest, if that happens, I don't think we'll get him back this time."

"It's a risk we'll have to take. We can't stay out in the open like this," Wolf decided, this time allowing Snake to carry the boy.

AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW

Smithers felt his heart fall as he realized the tracking device for Alex Rider been activated. He really had been fond of the boy, and Alex had deserved so much better. He sighed and picked up the phone to call it up to Blunt.

"Sir, Smithers here. I'm calling to report that Alex Riders tracking device has been activated. Yes, Sir. I'm sorry, Sir but Alex Rider is-" He cut himself off as his eyes widened dramatically. "Alive! Alex Rider is alive and on the move!" he crowed happily, forgetting who he was speaking to, and hanging up. "He's alive!"

Alan Blunt looked up as Mrs. Jones entered his office. "You've heard, then?" he asked.

Mrs. Jones nodded soberly. "He's alive, for the moment. But if his Tracking device was activated, then that meant-"

"That he was dead. I am well aware of that. I've got a plane preparing as we speak with qualified paramedics on board," Blunt answered briskly.

"What are we going to tell him?"

"Mrs. Jones the boy was just reported dead not ten minutes ago. I hardly think that need be a concern at the moment. I highly doubt he'll be checking himself out of St. Dominic's this time," Blunt answered dismissively.

But Jones wasn't satisfied. She knew he would ask as soon as he was able, and she wanted to be prepared for it.

"What are we going to tell him?" she repeated calmly, while still making her point.

"What we always do, Mrs. Jones. The truth. We just have to make sure it's our version of it he hears."

AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW

The cave was small, blessedly warm, and far too quiet. Somehow, telling jokes while Snake was tucked away in the back with a dying fourteen year old boy would just be wrong.

They had been there for just over three hours, and no one had disturbed them, so they felt relatively safe, especially as it was now dark outside. Cub, however, had been steadily getting worse, and not surprisingly, feverish. They'd cleaned his wounds as best they could with water from the lake, but they had nothing to offer as bandages that wouldn't do more harm than good.

"Well, I'm convinced," Eagle announced suddenly.

"About what?" Wolf dared asked.

"Alex. Cub. He's ours. No doubt about it. He's part of our team."

Fox chuckled a little. "You sound like you've just adopted a stray dog. But yeah, I know what you mean. It's hard to see him as a kid now, ya know?"

Snake nodded from where he kept a close eye on Cub. He'd passed out as soon as he'd been lifted, and hadn't woken since. But the signs of shock were lessening now that there was a heat source.

Wolf grunted.

"Com' on Wolf. You can't say that Double O Nothin' hasn't grown into Double O Somethin'. I mean, did you actually watch the way he broke those chains?" Eagle went on.

"Yeah, and nearly got himself killed in the process," Wolf argued.

He didn't know why he was fighting it so hard. He liked Cub, had come to respect him a great deal more, and yeah, he had to admit, felt like Cub was part of the team, therefore, his selected family.

But something was bothering him. He still couldn't get that look on Cub's face as he offered himself up to die in their place out of his mind. He'd seen it a hundred times on battle weary soldiers, usually old men or Black Ops who'd seen too much to ever really fit into the world anymore. There had been acceptance, resignation, but most of all, hope for peace, at long last.

That expression hadn't ever bothered him when it came from an old man, or a close to retirement Black op. But it sure as hell bothered him seeing it on a fourteen year old! Kids shouldn't have serious, shadowed eyes like Alex did.

As a human being, yeah, it tugged on his heartstrings. He wasn't entirely cold. And he would give anything to help make it go away. But as a team leader? Men like that were dangerous to have around. They were unpredictable and a liability.