I AM ALIVE! (I THINK)

A/N: hello, my fellow Fanfictioners, I am back with part two! I hope you enjoy and the verdict for the vote is that her name is going to be Freya :)

Warning! Swearing and pretty much the same from the last part/chapter.

Disclaimer: even though I asked Santa ever so very kindly, I didn't get the rights to Alex Rider in my stocking :( Ah well, there's always next year, I'll wish harder :)

In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield.
~Douglas MacArthur

Operation Cold Cobra

Part Two

"It's gone a bit FUBAR!" The agent said.

"Uh, Eagle... is it just me or does it smell like a swimming pool in here?" Falcon said. He looked to the floor and noticed a fine mist of yellowish gas come through a vent in the corner of the room.

"Respirators on!" He yelled.

Wolf slipped his respirator out of his back pouch of his webbing and slipped it over his head quickly. He looked down at the man below him before realising that the man would need the respirator more than he did. So he slipped it off and put it on the man. Wolf was wearing a scrim net, a square piece of green cloth, used as a tactical scarf, which was folded into a triangle and wrapped round his neck. He pulled it up to his nose and mouth to ensure that it coved them so he didn't breathe as much of the gas in. The gas started to sting his eyes.

"Everybody out!" Wolf shouted and the scrim net dropped from his nose and mouth, he automatically drew in a breath as he picked up the man off of the floor into a fireman's lift over his shoulders. Most of the team had taken a run for the exit which would take them about five minutes to get to. The gas was still filling the room. He staggered forward, the man he was carrying was deadweight, not his fault but it was sure making it difficult for him to manoeuvre himself out of the building to higher ground. He coughed for what seemed like ages and tried to refrain from rubbing his eyes, but the urge became too strong and he rubbed his palm into his eyes to try to rid the irritation. It only made his eyes worse and his vision became blurry, the walls of the narrow corridor that he was trying to walk down was becoming twisted and it felt as if he was in a nightmare. He coughed again and felt a sticky liquid fall into his hands from his mouth. The corridor was very dimly lit, made worse by the gas that had filled it, so he wiped the substance which he guessed could have been blood or saliva onto his combat trousers. His breath was coming in grunts and gasps and there was no way he would be able to carry on, no matter how much he wanted to. He dropped to his knees and shrugged the man's body off of his shoulders and laid his next to him. He held his head as he tried to clear his head and pulled the scrim net back over his nose and mouth. He didn't feel himself blacking out from the lack of oxygen.

Snake was outside; he'd taken off his respirator and was breathing in the cool night air of Russia.

"Wolf, we need to get... Wolf?" He tapped Eagle on the shoulder rapidly making the man turn round. "Wolf's still in there!"

"What, no, he can't be, he was in front of me when we left he had that man we found in the cell." The look in Eagle's eyes was panicked and He grabbed his respirator and a spare one and dashed for the entrance, Snake hot on is tail.

"Get that MERT here!" Snake shouted as he ran after Eagle.

The dashed down the short flight of stairs leading to the corridor where they were only five minutes ago. They both squinted to try and see Wolf through their respirators. A dark figure could be seen low in the mist. Eagle tapped Snake to get his attention and pointed to where the dark figure was. He bent down and turned the body over. It wasn't him, it was one of the guards they had shot dead earlier before this disaster.

Another body about a metre away came into view as some of the thick chlorine gas shifted.

It was Wolf, he had no respirator on, but the man below him had.

"Wolf?" Snake shook him. There was no response. He shoved the spare respirator they had over his face and picked him up quickly and put him into a fireman's lift. Eagle took the civilian man. They both hurried out of the building as quick as they possibly could. They were slower getting up the steep steps that led to the entrance but they were finally outside out of the chlorine gas.

"ETA two minutes for the MERT."

"Thanks. He laid Wolf on the floor. There wasn't much for them to do to help him as he was unconscious, Snake took his water bottle and opened it up and took off Wolf's respirator. He poured the water into Wolf's eyes and flushed them out. He did this three times.

The thrum of a Chinook could be heard not too far away and they knew that it had to be the MERT coming to get Wolf and the civilian.

The Chinook landed about a minute later and three men and a woman rushed out the back in military attire carrying medical kits and equipment. They went over to the civilian first and took him into the back of the Chinook before three of them came over to Wolf.

"I've flushed his eyes out with water, but that's all I could do." Snake told him. "I don't really know how much of the gas he took in but he was down there for a while and had given his respirator to the civilian."

"Thanks." The medic, reached for the dog tags that constantly hung around his neck and took at look at them. It had his blood group, service number, surname and initials and religion on one side and on the back was his codename: 'Wolf'.

They pulled his unconscious body onto the stretcher and dashed back to the Chinook which took off a minute later and began its journey back to the HQ where they were stationed for the five months they were out there for.

They pulled the gurney into the Russian Military Hospital and pulled the unconscious man onto the table that they had set up for him. They began removing his clothes and replace them for a hospital gown. They took his vitals and began to use sponges to his skin, they just used water but it was to make sure that any of the chlorine gas that had possibly absorbed into his skin was washed away and the irrigation would happen every few hours for about two days. They put an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth.

After about an hour, Wolf began to come round, out of his state of unconsciousness. He looked around blearily and noticed that he was no longer in the gas filled corridor, but in a very white, very sterile environment which is guessed was a hospital.

A nurse entered the room and he looked up.

"Morning, Mr. Harrington." She smiled and went over to him, checking the monitors before taking a blood pressure cuff and placing it round his arm, Wolf complied without thinking, letting the nurse do what she had to.

"Where is everybody else?" He asked.

"Still in the field."

"And the civilian?"

"Died about a half hour ago, you've not been here long. He wasn't a civilian; he was an MI6 agent who went missing nearly three years ago." She paused. "There you go, all sorted, you're going to need a little activated charcoal in a bit to get rid of any of the gas that's gone into your stomach." Wolf just nodded. She walked out the door, but just before she closed it she said, "Oh, and your wife has been notified and the doctor said you'll be able to be taken back to England tomorrow afternoon."

"Can I call her?" He asked, he knew she'd be panicking from hearing that he was in hospital, just like last time, six years ago.

"I'll see." Wolf nodded his thanks and she left the room, leaving Wolf alone, staring at the wall.

So, ten became nine, but they could still carry on with the mission. They retreated back half a mile to rethink their plan.

"There's an entrance round the back of the compound where all the goods used to come into the factory, but no doubt that will be full of guards and getting the pass code wrong may have triggered an alarm, so they'll be on high alert. So, the main frame from there is through a door in the corner of the room and then down the stairs. Okay, everybody got that?" Lynx said. They all replied with a chorus of mumbled agreements and they soon set off.

They reached the edge of the compound, the large fence had a large automatic gate for any large vehicles coming into the compound, it was operated by the two guards that were stood there, and they had a large dog too. Coyote could see that there were a few guards dotted around a hundred metres from the gate where the entrance was. A security camera could be seen above the gate and over the door.

"Lion, take out the two cameras, above the door and above the gate." Lynx told him and he got his sniper rifle out. He lay on the ground in prone position, unfolded the tri-pod stand and looked down the sight at the camera that was soon to be his target. He lined it up so that the round would go right through the camera and destroy all of the cables so that they could be sure that they weren't working. It was lined up and he fired. He could see down the sight afterwards that the round had met his target so he moved on to the next one and shot that one with the same precision, without the notice of the guards either.

This was the small chance they had to move in before the guards on surveillance watch saw that two of their cameras were out.

They went up to the gate; Falcon shot the lock off, allowing the gate to be swung open and the soldiers to enter the compound where they spread at into a base line and started firing a spray of rounds at the guards and at the ones who ran out to see what the commotion was. The bodies dropped to the floor with their semi-well-aimed shots and blood poured out of their fatal wounds, the crimson substance now in patches over the snow covered, dusty floor.

The entered the building in single file, there was a corridor and two people went into each room to clear them, killing the occupants and doing a quick search for any useful, or what could be useful, information. Three of the set charges around the building.

Lion found a set of gas cylinders that were probably being used to make gas bombs or something like that. He attached the C-4 to the side of the canister and moved on.

Finally the place was clear, they left the building. And even if there were any straggling survivors of their fierce killings they were sure to be dead soon enough. They got out of the building, passing all of the bodies they'd killed earlier and went back to the spot where they had sniped the cameras. They made sure they had everyone accounted for, which they did. Lion set the timer for fifteen seconds and they left.

Fifteen seconds later the charges blew. The building exploded and a huge fireball leapt up into the air as the gas canisters exploded and debris was hauled across the perimeter and beyond. Not one of them visibly flinched.

An air strike would finish the job off in about fifteen minutes when it was sure that the team were out the area and that is exactly what happened.

The medical team tended to Wolf for many hours, taking tests to see where any of the gas was so they could get it out. He was unconscious for the majority of it, only waking for a minute or two, staying in a haze of semi-consciousness before returning to the dark.

Four and a half hours later the chlorine gas was mainly got rid of and he was put into a room on his own as not to infect any other patients with the gas that was potentially still in his system, just in case.

Elizabeth was sat on the sofa watching the TV when the doorbell rang. A horrible feeling came to the pit of her stomach as it always did when the doorbell rang when Lewis wasn't here. She was always afraid of that black car turning up and that man stepping out to tell her bad news.

She walked slowly to the door, the churning in her stomach worsening, the close she got. She turned the key and opened the door cautiously...

It was exactly what she had been dreading. A man stood straight in military attire. He was beret-less and had what seemed to be a stern face. Her heart leapt and she stepped backwards.

"May I come in, Mrs. Harrington?" He asked, gently.

"Yes... Yes, come in," She pointed the way to the lounge area. "What happened?"

The man went on to tell her what had happened, being careful to hid the detail that she should not hear. He was in the SAS after all.

"He is still recovering at the hospital in Russia, but as soon as he is fit enough for the flight home, we will notify you."

"Than... Thank you, Sir." He stuttered, trying to keep herself together. She smiled as best she could and stood up. The man did too and quietly made his way to the door which Elizabeth opened for him and let him out.

"If you need to talk about it, that's what I'm here for." He told her before turning and returning to his black car.

"Yeah..." She said quietly. She wondered back into the lounge and started to cry. She heard footsteps running down the stairs and looked up. It was Alex.

"Are you okay?" He asked and walked towards her. She nodded, but fresh tears came to her eyes as she did and then she shook her head. "What happened? Did something happen to-..." She nodded before he finished his sentence.

"Mr. Harrington?" A nurse came into the room.

"Yeah," He said.

"You're being taken back to London where you'll be in their hospital for another few days while they decide when to discharge you."

"Thank you."

An hour later, Wolf found himself being pushed on a gurney towards a plane in a groggy state. He'd been sedated slightly for the five hour flight, to make him comfortable. The fight, in general, was boring, staring up at the boring ceiling. The nausea set in when the drug was beginning to wear off and they were in the midst of landing.

Elizabeth was waiting for the flight to land at the hospital and as soon as she caught sight of him she rushed towards him and embraced hi tightly.

Wolf hugged her tight as kept her close for as long as possible before the doctors told her they needed to move him to a room; but even when they got there he embraced her in a long hug once again.

A/N: OK, so there you have it, the end to Wolf's ordeal that cost him his profession in the SAS.

Please kindly review :D

~HollyBlue2 :D