Chapter 11

A/N: I finally updated! Sorry, I didn't update in two months, but I hope you like the chapter and don't forget to add a review at the end.

Alex had been relaxed in Medeia's presence. They talked about nothing and everything. When Medeia proposed the idea of Twenty Questions. Alex thought she would ask priding questions about his life, but she just asked about normal things. What's you favorite fruit? What game do you like playing the most? Questions that were normal.

He should have known better. He should have known not to let his guard down. He should have known that being close to another person was not allowed and could only bring pain to both of them. He should have been more careful around Medeia and their own surroundings.

When Medeia asked her question about his uncle, Alex had stiffened and turn to look at her. It hurt to talk about his uncle because it was him and his parents who had driven him into the profession that he is in now before he was born. He couldn't blame them though. To them, they were risking their lives to save their nation and home. Alex though, he wasn't a patriot. He was just a teenager who should have been worried about his next school assignment or asking the girl he liked on a date.

But he wasn't. That was a fact that Alex conceded with. He wasn't normal. He wasn't an average high school student worrying about what to do in future years and what universities to enter. He was a spy for the MI6 and had gone on multiple missions saving millions of lives, but no one knew that. Only his superiors Mr. Blunt and Ms. Jones knew about him and Smithers, but Alex actually liked him with all the different items that he created which saved his lives countable times.

He didn't want the same action done to Medeia that happened with the Pleasures.

When he finally noticed the group of people tailing them, it was too late. Alex turned around to be faced with five heavy-built men. All of them wore the same black suits with black sunglasses as well to hide their eyes. Alex, personally thought that they looked like imitations from the typical bad guys in movies wearing the suits.

Alex assessed the men in front him. They were all heavy-built and towered over six feet. Alex's eyes glanced towards the golden figure of a scorpion on their suits. Realization of who sent the men, Alex cursed in his mind. Scorpia. He had thought that the organization had finally fallen with his last mission in which he had once again destroyed their plans. Of course they wouldn't leave him alone thought Alex bitterly.

He noticed the confident stance the men took showing no emotion towards them and the item being concealed under their black coats. Alex knew instantly that these men were not hired by Scorpia because of their size and muscle. They were trained and prepared to do whatever their job was. And Alex was sure that their target involved him being in a body bag and buried a few feet deep underground.

Alex's eyes wandered toward where Medeia was. He had suspected her to be paralyzed with fear and that was the reason why he had not heard her utter a sound with the group's appearance. To his surprised. Medeia was staring steadily at the men with a determined look in her eyes. It seemed that she was ready for whatever was to come. Before Alex could warn her to run away, the one in the middle of the group spoke drawing Alex's attention to them.

" Hello, Alex. We were searching for you a long time. I'm glad we were able to meet. I'm here to greet you on the behalf of our organization, Scorpia," a gruff voice stated.

They make it sound as if they won't be killing me, but I rather not be captured either. My only option is to fight them head on. I hope Medeia can fight by herself because I won't be able to keep an eye on her.

So, there here for Alex. I wonder what he did to be targeted by Scorpia. Now that I remember, their past few plans have failed repeatedly. There has been a rumor that a teenager was the one to destroy their plans. Hmm... I'll ask Alex later if it was him who did it. My questions can wait.

Both Medeia and Alex prepared themselves for a fight when the group started to approach them.

" Our bosses told us to just capture Alex Rider. They never told us about another person," the one in the middle continued to speak turning his head to Medeia. " Especially a young girl. They wouldn't mind if we capture you too for our own amusement, " he leered at her.

Medeia didn't even flinch or move away from his words and what he was implying. Alex's eyes narrowed. He will prevent them from placing their grubby hands on Medeia at all costs. A few word caught both of their attentions though.

They... bosses. There was more than one person behind the order to capture Alex.

I thought Scorpia was disbanded! Since the last time I encountered the group there was only a few of them left. Did they regroup or added new members? Orr did they joined together with another organization? The last one made Alex frown mentally. If they joined with another group then that would mean they are either to their former power or even more so depending on which organization they teamed up with.

Both, Medeia and Alex had their own thoughts on the clue they were given, but they had more pressing matters which consisted of the five heavy-muscled men in front of them.

Alex wondered how no one in the neighborhood had noticed five grown men surrounding two teenagers. Then he saw the time on his watch. It was only fifteen minutes since school had ended since it takes thirty minutes for Alex to walk to his house. The time was barely 3:15.

Most students would either be at school for extracurricular activities or hanging out with their friends outside. Parents would still be working. Those who were staying at home were probably working or relaxing until everybody else arrived. There was no one there to see the group and what they would do.

Medeia and Alex were only about three block away from Alex's house and there was a shortcut through a cemetery on the second block so they could reach his house faster. Alex didn't know where Medeia lived, but he did know that she lived further from the school than he did.

Both groups were at a stalemate, analyzing each other. Neither one making a move. Alex caught Medeia's eye trying to convey his new plan. His eyes flickered to the men and he shook his head slightly. He then tilted his head minutely back signifying that they should turn back. Medeia nodded her head in returned.

They were going to run.

The group in front of them gave no indication that they saw their movements to each other. They just stared at them through their black sunglasses. Alex nodded as well so Medeia knew it was time to start their plan.

A second later Alex sprinted down the sidewalk being followed by Medeia and the five other men as well. Medeia eventually caught up to him and was running alongside of him. The group of men were running behind them, but they were only a few feet away. Alex never lessened his speed down the street until he turned a corner facing the gates of the cemetery. Medeia stopped beside him.

Alex was briefly surprised when he saw Medeia beside him. Alex had sprinted the whole way there and he knew that most people would have had trouble keeping up with him or would have stopped half-way through. Medeia was standing next to him as if they had walked leisurely up to the cemetery. She was not even out of breath. The only indication of the short run was the lightly pink color to her cheeks which were not noticeable either if you did not look close enough.

Now, they were at the cemetery gates. They only had a few seconds before their followers arrived to where they were. There was only one problem.

The gates to the cemetery were locked.

When Alex tried to go through the gates they were set and did not budge. They were locked. The gate was to separate doors with metal spikes as bars for entrance. There were a few smaller bars set diagonally in between the bars. Alex wasted no time to start climbing the gate and stepping his feet on the diagonal bars. It was a bit tougher than climbing a fence because the bars were set diagonally, but Alex was able to go over and land on the other side to the cemetery.

Medeia had followed his lead and was on the other side of the gate as well. By the time they had finished climbing the gate, seconds had passed and the group of men were in front of the gate. Alex thought they had a chance to escape because the gate was locked, but he should have known better.

Once the men had realized that the gate was locked they pushed all their weight on the gate and the lock gave in. The five men were running towards them, but Medeia and Alex had separated and headed for different section of the cemetery and headstones.

Medeia had headed towards the right while Alex dashed to the left. Alex had believed that all five men would have tried to capture him first because he was their target and leave Medeia alone, but was surprised when he looked back and saw the one who talked to them at the sidewalk barking orders at two of the men to follow Medeia while the other three followed Alex.

Alex zigzagged through the headstones when he felt a small, speeding object pass through him above his shoulder. It was a bullet. Alex did not know which one of the men shot it, but he knew that they were far too close to him if they able to make a shot and be that accurate to almost hit his shoulder.

Alex turned suddenly to the right and entered the ancient part of the cemetery. The simple headstones of the graves in the beginning were turned into weather worn angels protecting the people below them or statues of people depending which religion they believed in while the person was alive. There were also a few mausoleums in the aisles of the headstones.

This area of the cemetery was bowl-shaped with trees to the surrounding sides and only one opening through them leading to the other parts of the cemetery. With only one entrance to the section Alex had a limited amount of area to run through, but there was one huge advantage. There were more places where he could hide.

The headstones were tall and wide enough for Alex to hide behind and if he was desperate, then he could hide in one of the mausoleums until the men leave. It would be easy to spot the men behind the headstone because of their built and Alex just had to make sure to barricade the mausoleums if he entered one so they were unable to discover him.

When Alex had turned, he spotted a row of statues in front of them and decided it was time to hide. He hid behind a marble statue of an angel. The angel was staring forward with a sword held above his head and his marble wings showing proudly behind his back. The angel was ready for battle and to decimate any enemy in his way. That was the image it portrayed for Alex.

It supplied Alex with an amount of courage and calmness in his situation. Alex heard the men searching the rows of the headstones for him since they had lost sight of him before he made the turn, but he knew that it would take them a few more minutes to discover him.

Behind the headstone, Alex eyes caught on his digital watch on his left wrist. The time was 3:43. It had been twenty-eight minutes since he had alerted MI6 of Scorpia's men. The watch was another one of Smither's invention.

The digital clock was black with number on the screen blinking and changing to 3:44. To the left side of the watch were the dials to change the time of the clock while on the right there was an extra dial. When Mr. Blunt's agents who were following Alex failed, Smithers had given Alex the watch in order for MI6 to be sure Alex was safe. The watch served as a GPS when Alex was wearing it and in case Alex was in trouble then he could contact them for help. But it seemed to Alex that the watch did not work.

While Alex had been assessing the men he had covered the watch with his right hand holding the watch. His hand had hid the watch from view and he used his thumb to pressed the button on the side to alert the MI6 that he was in danger. One Alex had pressed the button it should have sent a message of alert and his whereabouts to Mr. Blunt's office and he would have immediately dispatched some of his men to Alex's location.

The time was 3:45. MI6 should have been here by now! Thirty minutes have passed already. Either Smithers invention did not work which Alex highly doubted because they always worked or Blunt was taking his sweet time to send some help to him. Alex was leaning to the latter. It wouldn't be the first time they left me to fend for myself. Alex thought bitterly.

Alex's original plan was to wait for help to come, but since no one had arrived in the past hour it seemed that they had no one to send for him or they were wanted him to get out of this mess by himself. Since no one had arrived to assist him Alex had created a Plan B with two choices.

He had to either fight the three men who were one row away from his hiding place and find Medeia afterwards or run to his house which was only one and a half block away from the cemetery. Closer of he dashed through the trees behind the headstones.

Alex had decided on the first option since had already took off from the beginning and he could not leave Medeia by herself. He was already worried about her since two of the men had followed her when they were separated. The only option left was to fight.

The men were closer to him now. They were only five headstones away from him. Alex tensed. He was ready as he could be. He did not have any weapon on him, but since they did not know where he was he had the advantage of a surprise attack. He did have his backpack though. Since it was filled with two textbook, three journals, a copy of Edner's Game, and a box of pencils it would serve as his only defense against them.

He took the straps of his backpack from his shoulders and lay his back pack on the ground. Alex gripped one of the straps with his right hand, slowed down his breath, and strained his ears to hear when they come. They were only two paces away from him now.

Alex waited.

He saw out of the corner of his left eye the group approaching the headstone where he was he stood up silently as to not alert the men to where he was just yet. When he saw one of the men above him about to peer behind the angel statue he swung his heavy backpack over his left shoulder. The man did not even make a noise that he was hit and Alex knew that his backpack was not at all light.

The other two men had been behind had been alerted to Alex's presence. Alex did not show himself to the other two, but instead dashed to the next headstone. It was lucky he did. Once he was covered by the headstone a few chips of rock had been flown away with a bullet hitting it.

The men weren't aiming for Alex's head, but they could aim anywhere else as long as they did not kill him. Alex did not want to get hit either way. One time in his short life had been enough and that shot was aiming to kill. It had hurt him like hell.

The men had surrounded the headstone where Alex was behind, so he could not go back to where the entrance was, but he to find Medeia. Dam. What am I suppose to do? Again the idea of running to the trees and going home until MI6 came went through his mind, but it was only a fleeting though. He could not abandon Medeia. Not only was she one of the few people who did not seem to shy away from him, but actually try to know him, she was an innocent victim involved in this.

This was his problem. Scorpia was after him. He did not want anyone else to die or be harm because of him, again.

Then Alex heard three shots being fired behind him. The surprising thing was that there were no bullets hitting the headstone or that successfully landed on him. Alex took the chance to carefully look over the statue to determine what had happened.

There on the right side to the statue was Medeia. She held a black, sleek handgun with a golden scorpion on the handle in her right hand being directed at the three men who were surrounding Alex. Her legs were slightly placed apart from each other and Alex was able to see a few golden pieces in her left hand.

The Scorpion on the gun should have worried Alex as to who's side Medeia really was, but it didn't. The only thought on his mind at the moment was that Medeia had defended him. Had saved him. Alex knew that the possibility of him succeeding from escaping was slim. He was cornered and if he tried to run to where the trees were they would have shot him before he had the chance.

Another part of him had thought that Medeia had already left the cemetery. Left him in the cemetery. Knowing that she had not left him, but actually stayed to helped him filled Alex with gratitude.

Witnessing Medeia as she was at that moment made Alex look to the side at the angel statue where he had hid before. To Alex, Medeia seemed related to the angel statue to the side because of the stance she took.

As if no one was going to defeat her.

Medeia turned her head towards Alex. Her eyes were still the same color as before, blue, but now they were filled with determination. She smiled slightly at Alex.

" Glad to see you're still here," stated Medeia.

" Me too," Alex replied because it was true. He was glad that Medeia was still there.

A/N: I was going to finish typing this yesterday, but it was becoming late. Don't know when I'm going to update because I still need update my other story. I think the end was a little bit OC on Alex's part so, please update to see what you think on it. I will probably need a beta soon so,if you're willing just PM me.

And since I updated today,

Happy Fourth of July! :)