Warnings: Violence, Blood, Mentions of rape, Abuse, Language.

"Alex using sign language to speak"

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Peppermints And The K-Unit

The soft rhythmic beeping of a machine drew him into conciseness. Slowly he cracked his eyes open but immediately regretted it squeezing them shut seconds later. He felt his hand twitch only to find something in it. Forcing his eyes open, letting the bright lights stream in he found a face looking down at him. An older woman with darker skin, short black hair and black eyes stared back. It took him a few seconds to process that he did not know this person and upon realizing this his body end rigid as he tried to get away.

He flinched squeezing his eyes shut as a hand rose towards his face, fingers laced into his hair before beginning to stroke. He blinked in surprise, that was not expected but, it felt good. He unconsciously leaned into the gentle hand. A soft sound became to fill the small room for a few minutes before he registered it was actually coming from him.

"It's called purring, the sound you are making..." She chuckled softly scratching the cat ears that were perked up, alert and listening. He jumped hearing her voice shocked at the gentleness of it.

He watched the woman suspiciously, just waiting for her to turn around and become like all the other scientists. With the white walls and blank room he had to been in one of the labs or a recovery room. After all he had been dreaming a very odd dream last night, he blamed the tests that had preformed earlier that morning.

"My name is Tulip Jones, but you can call me Mrs. Jones...Do you have a name?" She asked keeping her voice soft and gentle as possible. He looked around the room noting the machine he was hooked to that told the beating of his heart to his left as well as an I.V in his arm and some other needle a little farther up but he suspected it was either morphine or some kind of drug to treat the affects of the gas. He blinked poking at the bandages that were around his stomach cautiously before surveying the others around his torso, arms and legs. Looking over at her confused he frowned softly, he had never been cared for to this extent. "You have a lot of injuries including scars and bruises not to mention a bullet wound that is still healing a few centimeters away from your heart...It's rather fresh too, maybe a week old at tops."

He nodded knowing of all of the wounds well. Pointing to his throat he smiled sadly trying to indicate he could not speak and he did not know if she knew sign language. She looked confused for a moment before understanding filled her eyes and she smiled faintly reaching into her purse and pulling out a note pad. Pushing himself into a sitting position he was careful not to show the pain he was in. He took it gently clicking the pen open before writing with a slightly unsteady hand but it was neat other then the slight shaking.

I do not have a name, I was always called C or 13...The name of the experiment was Experiment Cougar. Where am I?

"You are in a hospital called St. Dominacs. Don't worry you are safe here." She told him. He watched her closely looking for the signs that she was lying but he did not detect any. Deciding to trust her answer for now he nodded.

A hiss escaped him as the door swung open and a man who looked like he belonged in a graveyard or at least a very dark and gloomy place. Another man followed in behind him and he flattened his ears against his head. A doctor, he hated doctors. He growled low at every step they took closer to him. He may be mute but for some reason he was still able to hiss, growl, and purr, since he had never purred before today he didn't know what the use of it was but growling and hissing were warning that he would and could attack.

"Calm down boy." The man in a dark suit with gray hair and pale skin, he had gray eyes, he looked boring and not like a person that could be trusted. He knew the man too, this person was Alan Blunt, he was one of the higher ups in society as the Head of MI6, but the hybrid did not get good vibes from him at all. "What is wrong with him, Mrs. Jones.?" He demanded glaring at the woman as if she had done something wrong.

"He was perfectly fine before you two walked in, he probably doesn't like you." She answered and he watched curious as she unwrapped some kind of hard circle like thing. She caught him looking and held out a hand palm up, he peeked into it staring at the red and white mystery in the middle of her palm. "It's called a peppermint, it's candy." She told him, after a few seconds she set it down on the bed next to him where he could get it if he wanted it.

He glared at the thing she had named a peppermint slowly bringing up a hand and poking at it. His eyes narrowed as if he was daring it to move. His ears perked up twitching as his long tail jerked from side to side in the tangles of the covers. He picked it up slowly waiting for it to explode in his face, he managed to unwrap it by pulling the sides just as he watched Mrs. Jones do before sniffling it. He tilted his head able to identify some of the ingredients but not all. Figuring it was safe he stuck it in his mouth, after discovering it was not something to bite immediately he stuck with sucking on it pleased to find it was sweet and very good. He looked up seeing three pairs of eyes on him filled with confusion and tilted his head as if to ask what?. He may be a genius at everything that could save him on a mission but small things, like the candy, were stranger to him completely. There were not these things in the lab just pain and fear.

Mrs. Jones was smiling although it was small amusement twinkling in her dark eyes. Blunt was just watching him with a bored and slightly annoyed look on his face. While the doctor seemed to be trying not to laugh at him. Apparently his actions were funny, he was just taking necessary cautious action just in case he had to defend himself if the peppermint was a bomb, he could tell that it was not poisoned from when he had smelt it before.

The next few weeks were spent getting his health up and sometimes taking walks outside. The hybrid the nurses learned quickly was not adapt to normal life. Almost everything he did was survival. Cars that went by sent him jumping a foot in the air and moving in to attack. They were even able to get him into one he would expertly slip away.

His silent nature and spy instincts made it easily for untrained eyes to miss. If it hadn't been for Mrs. Jones who had taken it upon herself to visit the boy everyday they were positive the male would have run away.

After a panic attack when a nurse had tried to give him a shot and had resulted in three knocked out nurses and five people holding him down before he had the chance to hurt himself or someone else. They began to give them the medicine in a drink form to avoid any other panic attacks.

Alan Blunt had decided that the boy was not allowed to be in society instead he was to be sent to Breacon Beacons where he would be trained and live with the SAS soldiers in between missions that MI6 would send him on. Of course the hybrid had no say but it seemed he did not mind either. He had been trained his entire life in spy work he did not know how to do anything else.

So three days later, they would have left right away but the boy, Mrs. Jones had named him Alex Rider on the second day she had gone to visit him in the hospital, refused to go near the car. It took a gallon of milk and gently coaxing to get him near it. After showing him it would not hurt him as he had previously thought the blonde had climbed him, curled up in a spot where the sun had warmed the leather seats and proceeded to fall asleep. He had been trained in spy work but had never left the facility he had been born and raised in.

Alex's sandy blonde cat ears flattened against his head even more then they had previously been. He had been told to hide them as to not rise any suspicions, his tail was wrapped carefully around his waist where the tucked in shirt would hide it well. It had been almost a month since he had been rescued from the lab. Now almost to a healthy weight, although he was still twenty pounds under, he looked much healthier. His brown eyes stared into sharp light blue which like his were filled with experience and seemed to be calculating him top to bottom. This man called the Sergeant was a tall, build tanned man with dark chopped hair. He stood tall, towering over the small hybrid, most people did, he was meant to be quick and nimble. Alex knew the instant the man walked up that the Sergeant could have squashed him like a bug.

"Your name will be Cub here, you will be in the K-Unit. Follow orders and you'll survive. I'm not allowed to bin you but you can be positive that I will make your life a living hell if you don't follow the rules. Got it?" The deep voice made the smaller male shudder inwardly in fear bringing back horrible memories. He nodded, the Sergeant grunted motioning him to follow.

The walk was short and quiet. The hybrid took in the details of the camp mapping out the layout almost unconsciously. He was so absorbed him his work that he just barely missed slamming into the Sergeant who had stopped walking. He swallowed unconsciously tugging at the collar of his shirt buttoned all the way up so it hid the bandages around his neck hiding the scar that provided a horrifying reminder that he would never speak again. He did not want to freak anyone out like he had in the hospital when the nurses first saw the scar that started on the left side of his throat and curved around the front to stop a few inches right of his Adam's apple. It had been horribly stitched, so it had scarred badly. The Sergeant slammed the door open, four men scrambled to attention immediately next to their beds. An empty one was tucked in the corner far from the others, Alex's small bag thrown on it carelessly.

"K-Unit! This is your new team member! His name is Cub! I expect you to treat him like one of your own! He will be here permanently understood?!" The Sergeant announced walking into the room.

"Yes Sir!" The four men yelled in unison ram rod straight and stern. Alex stood by the door nodding to the Sergeant as he left, the older male eyed him probably wonder why the newest addition to the SAS had yet to speak.

The door slammed shut behind the male and as soon as the footsteps were gone four pairs of cold eyes found him. He stared calmly back before slowly tilting his head questioningly.

"Wolf." The blonde blinked eyes darting to the Hispanic that suddenly spoke before nodding understand that this man was the leader. "I'm the leader. That's Eagle." He gestured to the blonde haired male next to him. "Technology Expert. This is Fox." The black haired male to Alex's right nodded looking annoyed. "Language Expert. And that is Snake." The red haired male did not even move or acknowledge him in the least bit reading over a medical book. "Medic. Now then, what is a kid like you doing here?"

The hybrid shuffling nervously staring at the ground. He couldn't speak so how was he supposed to answer.

"Well?" He looked up to Wolf before sighing digging his hands into his pockets trying to find a pen and paper. Frowning when he found none he looked at the Language Expert moving his hands into the correct forms. The male looked at him so a moment reading his words before nodding.

"He says 'I was sent here for protection.'" Fox translated to the others who were now watching him curiously.

"What are you mute?" Wolf sneered annoyed. The hybrid froze before rubbing his arm to stop his fingers from moving to touch the scar on his neck, that would be a dead give away. "Lets get dinner."

The males pushed past him leaving only he and Snake. He hesitated before walking over and gently tapping the male's shoulder to get his attention. The red haired male looked up obviously not noticing his Unit had left. The older nodded his thanks before hurrying to catch up with his Unit.

The hybrid sat on his bed glad to find his sketch book, Mrs. Jones had given it to him after a few days in the hospital. Opening to a newer page he began to sketch slowly zoning out, silence slipped into the room except for his slow breathing and the sound of the pencil on the paper.

"What do we have here?" Alex blinked as the book was wretched out of his hands and he looked up to find Wolf standing over him looking at the page. "What the fuck is this supposed to be?" The male grunted looking at the page, the hybrid hid a smile before reaching out turning the book the correct way. The drawing was of the K-Unit all standing in a line minus himself, their animals were nearby. Wolf's was at his side, Fox's was sitting in front of his feet, Snake's was wrapped around his right arm, and Eagle's was perched on his shoulder. The drawing itself was done very well since drawing became a form of speaking for him. The male scoffed ripped out the page and tearing it up. "Pathetic. It's not like you are going to be here long anyway, just go home kid!"

Alex watched the pieces flutter to the floor emotionless before slowly turning his eyes up to Wolf. He stabbed his pencil into his paper digging it in. If you didn't like the drawing you could have said so, you didn't have it rip it to shreds. He wrote shoving the pad into the man's hands giving him enough time to read it before grabbing it skillfully back. Leaning against the wall he returned to drawing ignoring everyone in the cabin as he worked on another different picture. He made no movements except looking up briefly when Fox gathered the pieces, assuming the male was going to throw them away he return to his drawing.

The next morning he awoke early before the others, slipping out of the cabin he went to the empty showers taking a quick one before changing into fresh clothes he had brought in, making sure the collar was hiding the scar before walking back to the cabin. The Unit was up by this time but he just walked past hiding his sketch book and sitting on the bed patiently. When they started to leave for breakfast he stayed waiting until it was over before meeting up with them at the first block of the day, a fifteen mile run. He made sure to stay a bit behind them watching them interact glad to see they appeared to like each other, he placed it with the word he had learned once called family. He was not used to such bonds so it was interesting to watch. Normally he would have been done with the lap but he did not want to make them hate him even more then they already did.

The next block was the obstacle course. There were other teams there all staring when the five walked up annoyed to see a kid. He shifted staring at the ground.

"So the fifth member of the K-Unit shows his face. And he's just a little kid too! How pathetic!" One of them sneered as other laughed. "I bet he can't even run the course in twenty minutes!"

The hybrid stepped past them causing a chorus of 'oooohhhh's stepping onto the starting platform he completely ignored the K-Unit's calls as they tried to make him get down. He found Fox easily.

"I'll be fine, I want to prove that I am not some useless kid." He signed before running forward. The course was easy to him, the ones in the facility had been worse, and after years of being forced to train with the electric collar shocking him at every wrong move his body dove into hyper drive. They became like second nature. But in this course, he did not beat his previous time. Landing on the end point he tensed waiting for the collar to electrocute him, only for nothing to happen. He reached up slowly touching the clothing over his neck expecting to find the collar there, but nothing of the sort met his fingers. He blinked remember that a man named Smithers had deactivated and taken off the collar, it had almost killed the hybrid in the process but it had worked. The male sighed in relief before climbing down the ladder. Only to find the shock and angry faces of his Unit along with the others. He shifted marking the woods to his left as an escape route.

A hand reached towards him, his instincts took over, it was bad, bad meant pain, pain was not good, run. And so he did. He turned quick as lightening and darted off before anyone could grab him. He darted through the halls of the lab, weaving through the scientists, anything to get away. His hands clenched was his sides in fists as he tried to pick up speed. His mouth opened in a mute scream as powerful shocks surged through his body sending wave after wave of electricity. His body met the cold tiles of the ground twitching and jerking in agony.

Hands shook him forcing his body upright. His now green eyes shrunken in his panic found Fox, oh, right. He was at Breacon Beacons, safe, the scientists were dead. His eyes shifted to normal and he shakily pushed the hands away and rose to his feet touching his throat to make sure the collar was not there. If they had noticed how his eyes had been green they did not show but they did seem to notice his habit of touching his throat. Finding his time table then checking the time he turned away and headed to lunch. He was not about to explain anything to men who he did not know nor trust.

He ate his food slowly listening the his Unit talking around him, he was not hungry. He barely ate much and could not stomach a normal amount because of his malnutrition that he had suffered throughout his entire life.

A tap on his shoulder brought him out of his silent thoughts. Looking up he found a solider he did not know, he looked at the smirking man for a moment before turning back to the front. The tapping came again, harder then before, by this time the entire mess hall had gone silent, watching them. He ignored the male completely watching the wall with a bored expression but he discreetly pushed the butter knife into his sleeve, just in case. Until, he was roughly pulled out of his seat by the collar of his shirt forcing him to meet the black eyes of the man who had been taping his shoulder.

"I'm talking to you, you little shit!" The male red faced with anger glared, the hybrid watched him calmly having not noticed he was talking. The act only made the man more angry. "What. Is. A. Kid. Like. You. Doing. Here?!" The man separated each word furiously getting no answer in return. With a roar of rage a large meaty fist swung towards Alex's head.

Survival instincts took over immediately, the smaller hands grabbed the one holding his shirt, using the nearby table as leverage he flipped around the arm, the fist missing his head by inches. His knee collided with the male's hand stunning him enough for the grip to release. He twisted in the air landing on his feet before kicking the man's legs out from under him. With a loud crash he fell to the ground, as the hybrid moved to walk away he was grabbed by the leg sending him down to earth. Spitting out blood from where he had bit the inside of his cheek on impact he spun slamming a high kick to the male's groin, making him double over. He ducked away from the path of a punch, his right hand shot out, the knife sliding from his sleeve and into his hand. The blade pressed to the neck hard enough to draw blood as he pushed a knee to the male's chest, his other hand having caught a fist that had tried to punch him. The room was frozen, no one moved, it did not even sound like any one was breathing, waiting to see how it would end.

"CUB! BEAR! What in God's name was you doing?!" The Sergeant stormed into the room probably heard the racket on the way to the mess hall to give afternoon orders. The large man turned to Wolf. "Explain your unit-mate's behavior."

"Sir, Bear kept bothering Cub, after Bear grabbed Cub by the collar while screaming at him, my unit-mate took it as a threat and acted in self defense, that is all." Wolf answered, Alex blinked, he had not expected the leader who hated him to actually tell the truth. It was probably to make sure none of them were binned.

"Is this true, Cub?" The Sergeant looked at the youngest member in the camp still in the same position as before. The blonde hybrid nodded lightly, "Get off Bear, you and your units are to run fifteen miles before your next block, next time I'll see to it that the ten of you are binned, before you can say 'SAS'." The male grunted before turning to the other units that still had yet to get over their shock. "What are you standing around for?! This isn't a birthday party, get your lazy asses to your next blocks before I bin you all!"

Alex cleaned up his plate with half eaten food before beginning his lap, ignoring the glares from the K-Unit. They finished their laps before going to their blocks, which were lectures. Alex found them interesting eager to learn more about the world he had been locked away from for his entire life. He skipped dinner again that night earning a look from Snake who disapproved of how little he was eating. Instead he slipped into the woods, climbing a tree and looked over the camp. He sketched it out in his sketch book swinging his legs lightly to hit the bark of the tree.

He returned to the cabin a few minutes before the K-Unit, sitting on his bed and sketching like he had been there the entire time. He looked up at them bracing himself for the yelling that would probably come. He was correct, Wolf looked murderous.

"You could have gotten us binned! Did you think of that?" The leader growled, true to his name. The hybrid flinched at the raised voice pressing into the wall as Wolf stormed forward. A large hand grabbed his shirt yanking him so he was nose to nose with the leader. "Don't you dare ever think about doing that again! Understood?!" Alex nodded before he was pushed back into his bed head hitting the wall. He barely noticed, curling up he clawed at the fabric above his heart, his scar burnt and twisted painfully. But he made sure to keep his breathing normal to appear like he wasn't wriggling in agony underneath. He squeezed his eyes, now green, shut praying that sleep would take him into a slightly better place. He was wrong, he dreamed of the horrors he had gone through in the lab. He watched over and over, time and again as the monster that had ripped out his voice chords did so, without mercy. But he couldn't blame him, he would have done the same thing, to survive. He awoke screaming, but no one heard, no one would ever hear him. He scrambled out from the tangles of the covers and outside, where he threw up at the edge of the woods. He sobbed quietly gripping at his hair, pulling and tugging as he tried to make the memories stop, they didn't. He never saw the pair of eyes that watched him silently from the darkness of the cabin. He didn't move for the rest of the night.

Questions:

1. I'm thinking about doing a pairing...but I'm not sure yet. Who, if I do, should Alex be paired with?

2. I'm still trying to figure out whether or not the K-Unit found him. Although I do want him to keep his identity a secret. Any ideas on how to do so?

Please, Please Review. Any and all flames, suggestions, and random comments of any kind are greatly appreciated.

(I strive to better my writing style, anything helps.)

Any ideas would be fantastic.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you liked it.