A/N: So yeah, you're once again getting it a day early because an exam went well :D and once again because I have a hard one tomorrow and will probably just want to find a bottle of something explosive to drown my sorrows in. (Anyone under eighteen: Drinking is Bad. Do Not Do It. It Ruins your life... There, I think I've been sufficiently responsible (read hypocritical) ) Anyways, onto the story.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Alex Rider. I am simply borrowing him and promise to return him – mostly – unharmed.

***

Alex once again hauled himself onto the land underneath Widow's Palace and repressed a shudder as he did so. He hated this place. It was cold and dark and smelt foul from the refuse that had washed up on the shore.

He once more unzipped the rucksack and pulled out the inflatable. Detaching his oxygen cylinder, he connected it to the inflatable using the tube that would normally feed his BCD. Within seconds, it was inflated and Alex quickly sealed off the valve. He stripped off his scuba equipment and shoved his feet into the shoes he had brought with him. Next, he pulled out the baby oil and began to coat his shoulders, back and chest with it, until he was slick and virtually frictionless.

He pushed the raft onto the water and crawled on top of it, forced to keep low by the ceiling. There had been only a foot and a half to start with, with the inflatable thrown into the equation, Alex had to keep as low as possible or scrape his shoulders on the rough stone.

Carefully he navigated over to the grate and pulled out his metal eroding zit cream. He was forced to roll onto his back to apply it, and winced as the rock scraped his shoulder. He smeared the cream onto the edges of the grate and supported it with his hands. It gave way with a metallic scrape and Alex cast it into the canal. It immediately sank out of sight below the surface. After pouring some more oil on his chest and shoulders, he reached up into the narrow tunnel, pushing his rucksack ahead of him. It was a tight fit and Alex had to force down the panic that rose within him as he felt the walls pressing against him. He had never thought that he would have to go through here again. He was tempted to go back and revert to his original plan, but he had to admit that it was suicidal to do so. Slowly he began to manoeuvre his way along the narrow tunnel.

***

The two men stood up as the boy reached them.

"Where are they?" he asked.

One of the men frowned. The voice seemed tinny. He shook his head. They had the boy's guardian – what could go wrong?

He raised his gun and pointed it at Rider's chest. "Come with me or I'll shoot," he ordered, coldly.

Without protest, the boy walked forwards, his face expressionless. The men frowned. Something was wrong here.

***

It hadn't taken long for Alex to bust out of the room where he had come out - this time he had come prepared - but as he crept along the corridor, gun in hand, he realised that he didn't recognise anything from his brief visit. The palace was just that, a palace, and it was huge.

Luck, however, seemed to be once again on his side. Just when he realised he was hopelessly lost, he heard someone approaching and hid himself in the shadows of the dimly lit corridor as two guards walked past.

"Tell you what, seeing as we both need to get off early, how about I go to the cells while you check the offices? We could be done in half the time," said one guard.

"Are you mad?" replied the other. "Do you have any idea what they would do to us if they found out? I might need to get home early, but I'm not that desperate! We'll just walk a bit quicker, ok?"

"Offices first, then?"

"Yeah. We'll do the cells after."

Alex smiled and followed them, silently. The guards were tired and unobservant. They weren't expecting to find an intruder and more importantly they didn't want to – they just wanted to go home. It was easy to follow them without being noticed. It might not be the fastest way to the cells, but it was the surest.

It took about five minutes to reach the offices. The guards did no more than walk down the corridor and open each door. There were no tigers this time.

Alex stayed behind after they turned the corner, certain he would be able to catch up with them. Most of the offices were little more than cubicles but one was richly decorated, with a brand new computer sitting on the desk. Alex crossed to the desk and loaded it up. He didn't have time to search the files, but he was pretty sure that he could find something that would allow him to copy the contents of the hard drive. He blinked when the screen finally flickered into life, there was nothing on there. He did a quick search of the computer. Nothing. Not a single document, not even a photo.

He frowned and began to search the draws. Also empty, apart from one, which was locked.

His frowned deepened and he took out a piece of expanding bubblegum. Within seconds the lock cracked. He opened the draw. It was virtually empty, apart from a file and a bunch of memory sticks, each carefully labelled. He grabbed them, shoving both into his rucksack. He pulled out a bit of Semtex and moulded it to the bottom of the desk. Approximately half of what he had come in with was gone now, dotted at random intervals throughout the building. He was probably going a bit over board, but he didn't care. Better safe than sorry.

He caught up with the guards about half way down the next corridor, still being careful to keep to the shadows. He was confident that they wouldn't see him. At his training in Malagasto he had been taught how to avoid attention if he needed to. He had been the best. He would not be caught.

But gradually they moved further down, away from the shadowy opulence of the main house and into the basement. The lights became brighter, the walls white with white linoleum underfoot. He stood out, and there was nothing he could do about it. One of the guards looked at his partner, then half turned, an exclamation of surprise on his lips. Alex raised a straw to his lips and blew. The dart sank itself into the guard's neck. Another straw, another dart and another blow and they were both unconscious. Alex knew he could have used a gun, he had several with him, but somehow he could not bring himself to shoot someone, even a Scorpia guard. He forced his mind away from the explosion he would cause later.

He checked the guards were indeed unconscious and carefully stepped over them, heading down the corridor. It only took him a few turns to find the cells and immediately he was surprised that the guards had been told to patrol here. There was a small army outside the cells, one man for each door and then two at either end of the corridor. He peered around the corridor, planning his next move. He ran through the contents of his rucksack, He needed something silent, that could take out a large number of guards, even if only temporarily. Immediately his thoughts turned to the stun grenades he had brought, but they were loud and would attract a lot of attention. Frowning, he pulled off his rucksack, searching for something, anything, that he could use.

Eventually he found it, right at the bottom. It was what Smithers had called a Solar Grenade. Privately, Alex thought he might have been watching too many vampire films, but he didn't comment. What the device did was actually remarkably simple. It set off a magnesium flare, bright enough to temporarily blind someone for up to five minutes. He pulled it out, along with a handful of darts to fit into his blowgun. Before, he hadn't had time to reload, but with his opposition temporarily blinded that shouldn't be a problem.

He pulled the pin on the grenade and threw it round the corner. As he expected, all heads turned towards it, and Alex clapped his hands over his eyes. He was not directly in sight of it, but he wasn't taking any risks at this point.

5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

He counted down silently. Just as he reached one, a bright light wormed its way through his fingers.

After a couple of seconds the light died down and Alex opened his eyes to look around. There were a series of bangs and muffled curses coming from the guards.

"Hey! Hey! Anyone know what the hell that was?" called one voice. There were a few grunts of denial, but no-one else spoke.

Alex turned the corner, his blowpipe and ammo held firmly in his hand. It took perhaps a minute to take down the confused stumbling guards, though one did lunge at him, obviously not having lost his sight completely. He now had approximately an hour until they woke up. He hastily stuffed piece after piece of bubble gum into his mouth, before forcing it into the locks of the doors on either side. By the time he reached the end, he had run out of gum, having to divide his last piece in two and hope it would still work. It did.

Several prisoners had come out of their cells, obviously wondering what the crack was. Alex tried to find Jack or Silvia in the crowd but was disappointed. They weren't there. He clenched his fists in anger. It couldn't change his plan though. He had to get these people out of here.

He turned to the prisoners, several looked confused at the materialisation of a teenager in their mist, but he ignored their anxious glances as he spoke.

"I am here to get you out. Follow me, as quietly as you can."

Several people looked primed to object, but a large man stepped up beside Alex and silenced them with a glare.

"Which way, kid?" he asked, quietly.

Alex looked up at the man gratefully. Now was not the time to ask awkward questions. Silently, he stalked out of the corridor, retracing his steps towards the offices. Once there, he paused and closed his eyes in thought as he struggled to remember. Mrs Rothman had been talking to that doctor over there, he could remember that... but how had he got here in the first place? Slowly it came back to him, and he started forward. He was surprised how quiet the people behind him were; some had obviously had training, and he guessed the rest were just terrified of being caught. It took him a surprisingly short amount of time to reach the entrance hall and he felt the man next to him breathe a sigh of relief as the large double doors came into view.

"That the way out, kid?" he asked.

Alex nodded, once, and laid a restraining hand on his arm. "Wait."

The man turned to look at him questioningly. "Take them around that wall. I want to check out that door there," said Alex, pointing alternatively to the wall to their right, and a large, highly ornamented door on the opposite side. "Keep them well back from the door. Once I've figured out that that room isn't a guard post or something, I'll blow the doors and you run. Take them to the nearest square, and don't get separated."

The man raised his eyebrows at 'blow the doors' but didn't comment. Instead he simply nodded and headed off around the room, hugging the wall and signalling the others to follow him.

Alex, meanwhile crept the other way, and soon found himself outside the door. Cautiously he withdrew the device that Smithers had given him and placed it against the door, putting the headphones in his ears.

Voices came into hearing, even as a room popped up on the screen. He could see twelve figures gathered around a table, though he couldn't make out any details. There was a dark object on the far wall. Alex guessed it was a television.

"Something is wrong," said one of the voices. It sounded Australian, though it was difficult to tell through the distortion that the device caused.

"Yes," agreed another, "He should not be so pliable. Rider is known for causing trouble."

"Nonsense," came a third voice, "He will not try anything that might risk the life of this... Jack."

"Even if he does, he will be shot. He cannot escape again."

At this there was a murmuring of agreement.

The last voice continued. "We have no reason to be worried. This room is almost completely impenetrable. They would have to blow the entire building apart to reach us. Even the door is made of disguised steel and can only be opened by the key, which as you can all see is in the middle of the table right now. We have taken every safety precaution possible; even if we do, by some twist of fate, lose Rider, there is no possible way for them to get to us. We are the board members of Scorpia and we should act like it, not a bunch of cowardly school girls!"

Alex pulled the device away from the door and turned it off. The board members. It would explain the ridiculous number of guards by the cells and the patrols. Well, if he couldn't get in to them, and he fully believed them about the security measures in place on the room, he would simply have to make sure that they could not get to him.

He took out a small amount of Semtex, his last piece and carefully filled the keyhole with it. It may not be quite as effective as chewing gum at blocking a lock, but he was sure that it would solve his problem at least temporarily.

Now it was time to bust out of here. He had been planning to simply throw a grenade at the doors, but it seemed an incredibly dumb thing to do with twenty or so newly freed prisoners relying on him to escape and the entire building wired with plastic explosives. He had no guarantee that they would not get hit by the debris. So instead he crossed to the doors and squeezed his tube of zit cream on each of the four large brass hinges. The doors were large and sturdy, but without the hinges to hold them in place, they fell outwards with a crash.

Alex stood still as the people streamed out, vanishing quickly into the darkness. He could hear shouts further back in the building. He knew that he had to get out now, without being seen. If they saw him, they could kill Jack and Silvia. He turned and ran after the others, turning the corner just as the first men burst into the entrance hall.

It didn't take them long to reach a square. It was in fact the same one that Alex had slipped off from on his school trip. Alex pulled out his last gadget. It wasn't a weapon or anything to help him pick a lock. It simply communicated his position to an MI6 helicopter nearby.

It took them all by surprise when it arrived. It was so quiet that they hadn't heard it until the last minute. The square was, unfortunately too small for the helicopter to safely land, but five ropes were lowered from the helicopter, each supporting a figure in a harness. They landed and Alex was surprised to see that one of them was in fact Mrs Jones. It was incredibly strange to see her in the field.

"Mrs Jones?" he asked, trying – and probably failing – to keep the incredulity out of his voice.

"Yes, Alex. Who are these people?"

"They were held captive by Scorpia."

"I see. And is, per chance, your plan finished, by now?"

Alex bit his lip. "I need to talk to Smithers."

Mrs Jones frowned at him for a minute then sighed and pulled out a mobile phone. "Don't worry the line is secure. Speed dial 3 for Smither's."

Alex smiled his thanks and keyed in the number.

"Hello?" answered Smithers cheery voice a moment later.

"Hi, Smithers, it's Alex."

"Alex, old chap, great to hear from you, I can't tell you how relieved I am that you aren't dead."

"Thanks, Smithers, I have to admit I'm pretty relieved about that too," smiled Alex. "I was wondering if you have had any results from the bot."

"Of course, dear boy, my Alex is currently sitting in a cell with two beautiful women, who claim to be called Silvia and Jack. Ring any bells?"

Alex's smile broke into a grin. "Do you have co-ordinates, Smithers?" he asked.

"Of course I do!" exclaimed Smithers, "Did you think that I wouldn't have some way of tracking a gadget as fabulous as this one? I can assure you I don't plan on loosing this, young man!"

"Smithers," began Alex, "Just out of curiosity, why do you have a robot that looks just like me?"

"Ah, well you see, Alex. It didn't. The Alex-bot was originally Genevieve Mark II, but I simply stripped her back and coated her circuitry in enough latex to make her look like you. You're eyes were remarkably difficult, you know? It took me at least three tries to get brown eyes, they're so much harder than blue, if you want them to be convincingly human at least. Anyway, the entire point was that teenagers can go a lot of places without raising suspicion, so I thought that a remote control teenager might be able to gather information quite easily. I never imagined that it would be used in this situation, but when working with you, anything is possible I guess."

Alex shook his head. Smithers might be a genius, but sometimes Alex wondered about his sanity. Robotic teenagers? Gods, scary thought.

"Ok, Smithers, thanks for everything. Could you send me the co-ordinates?"

"Will do. You take care now!"

Alex hung up.

Four SAS soldiers had emerged from the darkness and had quickly moved through the former-captives. It was one of their surprised yells that drew Alex's attention.

"Lynx?!"

***

A/N: Ok I'm sorry about the ending. But it was either here or carry on for another two thousand words, and seeing as this chapter is something of a record for me already I thought I better stop.

Congratulations to everyone who guessed right, yes Smithers made an Alex-bot. Seems slightly creepy to me, but anyway.

OK so I have a question. Any of you who have read my Duty to the Dead... would you be interested in a prequel? ie, how Yassen and Amethyst got together? It'd be short, lie maximum three chapters, more likely a one-shot. What do you think? PM me about that, or simply say yes or no in the REVIEW that you, as a polite, cultured, intelligent and above all, kind individual will be giving.