Disclaimer: I do not own the Alex Rider series.
Chapter Two
"I wish you didn't have to go so soon," Jack said as she helped Alex pack for America, "It feels like you only just came back."
"I know, but this is really important," Alex said placidly.
"But still...it really does feel like you only just came back..."
The two lapsed into silence. They seemed to have this talk every time Alex was sent off on a new mission, which was often enough that it has become a sort of tradition.
"Now you be careful," Jack said, helping Alex carry his bags downstairs, "I don't want to spend any more time in a hospital waiting room. Look after yourself properly. Don't forget to eat fresh fruit every day. No, don't look at me like that, you know they're good for you."
Alex sighed. "I know Jack."
Outside the house, a sleek looking black car was already waiting for him. Alex gave Jack a tight hug, before saying goodbye and running out into the cold. Jack's voice trailed out after him:
"Good luck, Alex!"
The MI6 agent opened the door, before forcefully shoving his bag into the car and getting in after it, ignoring the grumbled protests from those already in the car.
"Hello Alex," Ben greeted from the driver's seat, starting the car and driving off towards the airport.
"Hey Ben, Rose," Alex said. Rose turned around from the passenger seat with a broad grin.
"Hey Alex. You want a cookie?" She asked, holding out a very large chocolate chipped cookie.
"Sure, thanks!" Alex grabbed the cookie, sent Rose a smile, and took a huge bite from it.
"Hey! How come he gets one?" A new voice spoke.
It was only then that Alex realised there were more people in the car than just him, Ben Daniels and Rose Allende. In fact, there were four more men, three of them staring at him with hunger in their eyes, and the last fast asleep, his head leaning against the window.
"Eagle!" Alex exclaimed, "Snake, Shark! What are you guys doing here?"
The three awake members of K-Unit grinned at him, before saying simultaneously, "We're your backup team."
"It's freaky when you guys do that, you know?" Ben asked from the driver's seat.
"We know," Eagle, Snake and Shark chorused together, "That's why we do it."
Alex raised an eyebrow as Rose dissolved into fits of laughter, "I don't even want to know what you three do during your spare time."
"I don't think you want to know either." Alex, Eagle, Snake and Shark spun around to see Wolf wide awake and staring his team mates with a smirk.
"Wolfie! Glad that you could rejoin us in the realm of the conscious!" Ben greeted.
"Fox, if it weren't for the fact that you are no longer on my team, I'd kill you for calling me that."
"Aww, Wolfie doesn't like his code name," Eagle cooed, before recoiling from the glare that was sent his way, "Jeez Wolf, I was just joking."
Wolf just rolled his eyes.
As the members of K-Unit engaged in some relaxed bickering, Alex took the opportunity to quickly finish off his cookie. Agent Allende had figured out what he was doing, for she turned back to Alex with a grin and wink, but K-Unit were too involved with their impromptu argument to take any notice of the cookie that had held their attention not so long ago.
They arrived at the airport not long afterwards. K-Unit took care of everyone's bags, while Alex, Ben and Rose went to check them in. Due to their special status as government operatives, they pretty much had their choice of seats on the entire plane. The seven of them had decided before hand that they would sit in the Economy Class; less people stared at you that way.
"Here're your tickets!" Rose announced, handing out the tickets she held to their respective owners, before leading them all to the boarding gates, "And if anyone makes a fuss on the plane, they will not find themselves waking up the next morning. I'm in no mood to deal with the annoyance of men. Am I understood?"
"Yes Rose," K-Unit muttered simultaneously. Ben raised an eyebrow, impressed at how his ex-protégée had managed to cow his ex-unit so effectively. Alex merely grinned at the sight of Rose's glare directed at someone other than himself.
All in all, the plane ride was rather uneventful. Rose had sat beside the twenty year old boy, which had become something of a tradition between the two agents after their countless missions together over the years. The two agents, the youngest agents currently employed by the MI6, had passed away the time by alternating between flicking sultanas at Ben, Wolf, Snake, Eagle or Shark, and competing against each other on the game Tap Tap Revenge, played out on Rose's iPod Touch.
"Urgh!" Rose had exclaimed when their scores were tied for the eleventh time.
Eagle had leant over the aisle so that he could see the iPod. "Awesome! Can I have a go?"
Rose and Alex had exchanged smirks, before the former issued a challenge to the SAS soldier. Ben leant around a sleeping Wolf, and he, along with Snake and Shark, watched with amusement as Rose and Eagle battled it out. It really came as no surprise when Rose annihilated the SAS soldier.
"No fair," Eagle had whined as his half of the iPod continuously flashed Loser at him. Ben and Snake were snickering behind the man's back, while Rose wore a triumphant smile. Alex and Shark merely exchanged exasperated looks. Wolf slept on, not knowing about the commotion around him.
The rest of the had flight passed rather quickly, with the iPod touch being passed around so that they could have a sort of championship tournament with Snake defeating Eagle, Shark beating Snake, Fox owning Shark, Rose completely obliterating her former mentor, and Alex drawing with Rose. Again. Wolf had slept through the entire thing.
Just before they were about to land, Ben and Eagle had come up with the idea that it would be amusing to wake Wolf up by pouring their spring water over the man's head. It had been amusing to watch, but once Wolf had actually woken up, spluttering and coughing, the two men knew that their deaths were imminent.
Now, two hours after they'd arrived in the USA and checked into their hotel rooms, all anyone of them felt like doing was to lay in their beds, watching Wolf shout himself hoarse at his current and former teammates, while Eagle and Ben hung their heads, muttering apologies under their breaths. Rose found the whole thing highly amusing, and so Wolf's loud yelling was interspersed with the twenty six year old's laughter.
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"Alex, wake up."
A soft voice spoke somewhere above him. Someone was shaking him gently, trying to get him up. Alex groaned.
"Five more minutes," he muttered.
Rose chuckled. It was always a pain trying to wake the boy on the first day of missions. She had no idea why, but the rest of the time the blonde boy seemed perfectly capable of getting up at the crack of dawn by himself.
"Alex, wake up or there won't be any breakfast for you," she whispered in a rather motherly voice. At once Alex shot up out of bed, wide awake, almost whacking Rose with his head as he did so. Agent Allende laughed; boys, even secret agents, could be so predictable sometimes.
Someone had gone out and bought a stack of bread, some jam, and seven cups of coffee. Ben and K-Unit were already up, devouring the bread like there was no tomorrow. Alex joined the fray, grabbing himself some food before there was none left. Helping himself to the coffee, he sat down next to Rose who was amusing herself with the commotion.
"They way they act, you'd think that they'd never had a good meal in their life," she said, not bothering to keep her voice down. If any of the men heard her, they ignored her jib.
Alex grinned. "Ah, what do you expect? They're not exactly taught manners at that hell hole they call a training camp." It was a true statement – after all, all the men who were currently fighting over the bread, had at some point in their lives all been trained as SAS soldiers over at Breacon Beacons.
Rose laughed, before turning to Alex with a slightly more serious expression on her face. "Alex, you've memorised your character, haven't you?"
Alex raised an eyebrow. "What do you take me for, Rose?" He asked with a hint of amusement in his voice, "I'm not exactly a newbie. I've done this before, in case you've forgotten. I know what I'm doing. Stop worrying and enjoy the last moments of freedom you'll have before the mission."
"You're right...as usual," Rose smiled, slightly mollified. She couldn't help but worry when she watched Alex go out into the field, and had to constantly remind herself that she was doing the same thing back when she was twenty. Still...the boy just seemed to bring out some strange maternal instinct that was inside her.
"Should we be stopping those guys any time soon?" Alex asked, going back to looking at the five squabbling men.
"Oh, I don't know," Rose replied with a smirk, "This makes pretty good blackmail material for when Ben tries to get me to do something." And so saying, Agent Allende pulled out her phone and began filming Ben Daniels having a struggle with Eagle, a bit of strawberry jam spread on his face.
"You are mean," Alex grinned, "Have I ever told you that I never want to get on your bad side?"
"All the time. You said that to me like five times during our last mission."
"Well, what you did to Crawley really...okay, it was funny but I don't want it ever to happen to me."
Ten minutes later, the fight finally died down as the last of breakfast was consumed. After they'd all laughed at the video Rose took (or rather, Ben sulked while the others all laughed), the female agent grabbed Alex and Ben and dragged them both into the bathroom. She rummaged through the bag that was already in there, before pulling out two bottles of permanent hair dye.
"Here," she said, shoving the bottles at Alex and Ben, "I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you how to use this. They should be the same colour, since you're supposed to be related, but different shades. You've got two hours." With that, Agent Allende left the boys to dye their respective hairs, going back out to K-Unit so that the five of them could run through their five different plans of attack should Alex or Ben call for backup.
Forty-five minutes later, Alex walked out of the bathroom, his blonde hair now a soft brown. After ten minutes, which Rose spent inspecting the "new" Alex and K-Unit spent ogling at the now brown haired boy, the twenty-year old joined them in making their various plans.
A little more than an hour later, Ben Daniels came out, his hair dyed such a dark brown that it could almost be mistaken for black.
"Why did I get such a dark shade?" He whined.
Rose smirked at him. "Because last time when me 'n' Alex were on a mission, you chose for my hair to be red," she said, running a hand through her dark brown hair, "This is merely payback."
"But now I look like you!" Ben exclaimed.
"Better than looking like yourself," Alex and Rose said simultaneously. They grinned at each other, and high-fived.
Ben sighed. "Nope, not immature at all, what are you talking about?" He muttered sarcastically under his breath, thinking back to a meeting he'd had with Mr Blunt at the end of the previous year where he'd had to defended the two's maturity level.
"You know we're just joking," Rose said.
"Yeah, we love you very much," Alex added, struggling not to burst out into laughter and join K-Unit in rolling around on the ground.
"Jeez, thanks," Ben said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "So good to know I'm appreciated around here."
Okay, I know that that was sort of a really big filler chapter, but I just wanted to show how Alex has found a sort of second family with Rose, Ben and sort of K-Unit.
Anyways, don't forget to REVIEW!
Love Chariots99