Tom Harris had a reputation for being a tad…unique. He normally ignored the rumors about his sanity as easily as he manipulated Alex Rider into shooting paintballs at K-Unit. Unfortunately for Alex, Tom was one of those hands on kind of people in everything about his life. From football, to school, to hostage situations. Tom was an energetic and talkative person. It was this that let him be Alex's greatest friend, for really it was only him who could keep up with the spy.

But it worked the other way as well. Alex was the only one who could figure Tom out. And thus, he was the only one who wasn't surprised by anything the other boy did. When your whole life was one big surprise it all just became routine.

Tom had the ability to create strange situations out of normal circumstances. If Alex wasn't so used to the strange ways of the world he would have suggested Tom go into therapy. But Alex did know and thus, the things Tom put him in were precious memories. But even Tom had tendency to go bit overboard with his plans and adventures. And once Alex heard the full story from Tom's latest victims he was inclined to agree that yes, Tom was insane. Although he was thinking along the lines of, "I can't believe he actually did that! Is he insane?", not the he-needs-some-serious-therapy thought process. Apparently, it really was all about perspective.

Eagle pulled up in front of a cheap family restaurant, the kind that had a playground and arcade, and sighed in confusion. He recognized three of the cars parked right in front of the building. They belonged to Wolf, Snake, and Fox. Did they get the message too?

He had received a strange postcard with an SAS symbol on it with a date, time, and address. He had been surprised to find that they made postcards like that and conflicted about going to said meeting. It was strange and potentially dangerous but after looking up the address he felt the need to go. There were kids crawling all over this place; what if something bad happened? He didn't like the fact that he wouldn't be there to help. So he went.

When the soldier made it inside he went towards the dining area of the loud, large warehouse-like building. He spotted the other three with incredible ease as they in no way looked liked they belonged there. They were sitting in a booth and Eagle slipped into the empty seat by Fox.

"Please tell me one of you didn't set this up," he said, flipping open a menu and wondering if he would regret eating their pizza.

"Of course not," Wolf snapped. "Did you?"

"No," Eagle replied closing the menu and deciding the food in this place would probably poison him and best not to test his luck.

"Then who did?" Snake asked.

"And why here?" Fox chimed in. There was really no need to ask why they'd all shown up. To each other it was obvious. Their motives were either a sense that something bad would happen, the postcard being a warning, and they needed to be there to help or they were just insanely curious. It was mostly the former though.

They were still discussing it five minutes later when a worker for the child-magnet walked by, giving them a weird look. Eagle shifted in his seat.

"We look really creepy sitting here with no kids," he said.

"How does she know we don't have kids out on the floor?" Wolf countered and pointing to the wide open space that had an insanely built playground and a small arcade. There were screaming and laughing children running around all over the place.

"She doesn't but still," Eagle said, feeling like a total creep. "It looks a little sketchy."

"Then stop squirming," Snake said.

"I'm not squirming," Eagle protested.

"I agree with Eagle," came a sudden new voice as the person the voice belonged to popped his head up over the other side of the bright purple half wall the booth was attached to and that separated the eating area from the play area. All four men jumped in surprise thoroughly not expecting that. The person smirked, folded their arms, and rested them on the top of the wall. "You do look creepy."

"Harris, what the hell are you trying to pull?!" Wolf spouted angrily. Cub's strange friend, Tom Harris, a.k.a Accomplice, was pinned with four very distinct and angry glares. He didn't even bat an eye.

"Calling a meeting," he said then moved to walk around the wall. He grabbed a chair from one of the other tables and sat it at the head of theirs before promptly plopping down. Eagle was just grateful the little brat hadn't tried to fit in the booth. Not only would he not fit but it would extremely awkward.

"You sent those postcards," Fox stated and Harris nodded with a bright smile on his face.

"You are correct my dear Sherlock," he replied in a snobbish tone.

"Why?" Wolf growled.

"Would you believe me if I said I missed you?" the boy asked with an innocent look. He received four very hard looks in response. Giving a frustrated sigh he dropped the innocent look, settling for his normal I'm-slightly-insane-but-I-know-more-than-you look. At least that's what Eagle called it. "Alright fine, I'm here to tell you that you are." At that he paused and gave them an expectant look as if he thought they could finish the sentence.

"We are what?" Eagle asked, taking the bait. Tom looked disappointed.

"You are invited," he said flatly. "Haven't any of you ever read A Clockwork Orange?" They all shook their heads.

"You poor, uncultured meatheads," he said sadly, then clapped his hands and smiled before they could respond to that insult in anyway. "But seriously, you're invited."

"To what?" Wolf asked, looking like he thoroughly did not want to know that answer.

"Cub's birthday is this Saturday," he said. Praying to any deity that would listen, Eagle hoped the kid wasn't saying what he thought he was saying.

"What does that have to do with us?" Snake asked reluctantly.

"Well, usually it's just me, him, and Jack," Harris explained. "Sometimes his Uncle would be there but nobody really expected it. Alex doesn't really like birthday parties."

"Your point?" Wolf growled, cutting off the potential rambling.

"You'll be going this year," he said, then turned to steal a coke off the tray of a passing waitress. The poor thing didn't even notice.

"Why?" Eagle asked. Tom pinned him with a blank stare that rivaled that of the MI6 operatives.

"Because two weeks ago we gave you a decision to make about Jack," he replied. "Did you make it?" Eagle shifted in his seat.

"That's none of your business," he snapped.

"Oh, yes, it is," Tom replied before taking a long drink of his proffered drink. "Did you make your decision? No? Well, here's your second chance. Jack thinks your hunky you know." Eagle felt his cheeks burn as his Unit attempted to not laugh but couldn't quite stop some of the chuckles.

"And how do you know this?" Fox asked, smiling widely at Eagle's blush.

"Asked her," Tom said simply. "That's what she told me."

"So what does Eagle's ultimatum have to do with the rest of us?" Snake asked, putting the conversation back on track.

"Well, I thought it obvious," the boy said with a small burp. K-Unit in no way liked that statement. What was obvious for Tom probably wouldn't be something they wanted to hear. They really didn't want to hear any of the stuff that came out of the kid's mouth. He was weird and attached to Cub, another kid they weren't sure they wanted around even though they did want him alive. Cub they could handle and trust to some extent but his oddball friend was a completely different matter. Soldiers were still talking about the lesson he'd helped Fox with at Brecon Beacons; not to mention making Eagle do a weird little jig as he avoided the paintballs Tom fired at him while they waited for the exercise to start.

"What's obvious?" Snake asked hesitantly.

"You'll be friends." The blunt statement was met with met with hearty laughs. The kid really was nuts.

"Kid, we aren't friends with Cub," Eagle said, smiling. Tom was unmoved. In fact his face was rather stony.

"I didn't say you were," he replied. "I said you will be friends." That sobered them instantly. Was this little weirdo actually ordering them to be friends with Cub?! What the hell!?

"Excuse me," Snake said ever the polite one. "But what makes you think we'll be friends with Cub?" Tom shrugged.

"You've got a lot in common, you all trust each other in the field and thus with your lives, and you really don't have a choice," he said with a little laugh. Wolf arched an eyebrow.

"Oh, really?" he said. "Explain."

"Well, the way I see it you guys aren't going to be rid of him anytime soon," Tom said. "And while I'm great and all," Wolf rolled his eyes at the teenage arrogance, "Al, really does need some more friends." They all gave him some strange looks which he countered with a look of bright expectancy.

"Can't he make friends his own age?" Fox asked, a slight sneer to his voice.

"Not with his job," Tom replied.

"What about you?" Wolf inquired pointing to the mentioned boy. "You're his friend."

"Yes, but I know the secret," Tom said. "And he can't tell just anybody."

"So why'd he tell you?" Snake asked thoroughly curious. Tom actually turned serious.

"Because at that point Alex was desperate," Tom said. "He's a bit of a loner by nature but everybody needs friends. He needed someone to talk to so he told me. He knew I would believe him. I'd somewhat figured it out to begin with. I recognized the look in his eyes. The one you get from battle. I've got a Vietnam War vet living next door. They have the same feel about them. Besides, you've met me, how many people would honestly believe anything that comes out of my mouth?"

Eagle had to hand it to Cub; he sure could pick his friends. Not only was this boy incredibly loyal, he was smart and seemed to be able to handle being the support system easily. He knew it wasn't an easy thing to let a person you care about repeatedly leave to what could be their deaths and never complain. And there was no doubt in Eagle's mind that Tom had never complained about his friend never being around or always being banged up. He just wasn't that kind of guy.

The SAS was used to relationships like these but mostly just in the Unit. Being around each other that much and going through so much together would either tear them all apart or bring them closer together as brothers. That's what Cub and Harris were.

But Harris was right; not only had Cub found a seriously awesome friend he'd found the one person not even SCORPIA would believe if he said the other boy was a spy. The kid was entirely too random and too manipulative for stuff like that to be credible. Although, Cub could probably easily shift through the bullshit by now.

"That still doesn't really explain why you'd want us to be friends with him," Eagle said, his voice a little more gentle than usual.

"There's only so much I can help him with," Tom replied. "A lot of Alex's problems are over my head. But you'd know about them, you'll have had similar ones." Eagle was a little doubtful that the problems in his life were even vaguely similar to the ones a teenaged spy had. The looks on his Unit's faces showed they shared this sentiment. Tom sighed recognizing what was going through their heads. "I mean with things like war and terrorists. Jack can handle the teenage stuff." Oh, yeah, that made a lot more sense. Shaking his head and rolling his eyes skyward Tom took another drink.

"Did you steal that off my tray?" a new voice suddenly said. They all turned to see the waitress standing a few feet away, hands on her hips, and looking really pissed.

"No," Tom replied. He pointed to Eagle. "He did. You might want to make them leave; they don't even have any kids." The girl gave them a mixed look of disgust and anger.

"What about you?" the girl asked. Eagle saw the infuriating boy put on his best innocent look adding a little fear in his eyes for good measure.

"I was just walking home," he said, and he pointed back to Eagle. "Then he dragged me inside of the car." K-Unit, completely shocked that the kid would go so far, froze and prayed this place didn't have any cameras for later identification. Wolf, being of a similar skin tone to Tom, gave the lie.

"Don't let him fool you," he told the wide eyed girl. "He's my little brother."

"We look nothing alike," Tom replied, ruining that completely. The girl suddenly dashed off, presumably to find help. Tom downed the rest of his stolen drink in one gulp, got up, and ran. A full five seconds later, a still shocked Unit jumped up and left quickly, heads down. They each got in their own cars and pulled quickly out of the lot. As Eagle turned out he saw the girl and a security officer fly out of the entrance looking around wildly for any sign of them. Thankfully, they had four different retreating taillights to choose from and probably didn't think they'd all arrived separately.

"Turn left at the light." Eagle gave his second jump of surprise that night and had to right his car from the swerve it had taken as he jolted. Tom poked up from the backseat and put his head on the shoulder of Eagle's seat. His face was creepily close to the man's shoulder.

"Tom!" he shouted angrily. "Are you trying to die?!"

"What are you talking about?" Tom asked, sounding thoroughly curious. "Left."

"Why?" the soldier snapped.

"I need a ride home," he said. "Why do you think I got in?" Eagle made the damn left.

"I can't believe you did that," he said, anger fully evident. "Do have any idea how bad this could get?"

"Oh please, Eagle," the kid replied in a know-it-all tone. "All they have to do is check the tapes on their cameras and they'll find that I approached you, and that I got into your car willingly and before you even left the building. They'll know it's a prank. Right." Eagle turned a little more sharply than necessary, throwing Tom away from him.

"And what if they investigate?" Eagle asked, annoyed. The kid resumed his earlier position before answering.

"There isn't anything to investigate," he said. "If they do, I'll set the record straight. I know the head of the kidnapping unit on the London Police force."

"How the hell do you know him?" Eagle asked, looking at the kid through the reflection on the windshield.

"This isn't the first time I've said that," he said. Eagle prayed for patience.

"Why would you say something like that?" he asked, thinking that there might be something seriously wrong with the kid. Normal, happy children didn't pull that kind of shit. Tom just shrugged.

"Don't know. But this is the first time I haven't lied."

"How was that not a lie?" Eagle practically shouted.

"Did you or did you not kidnap me right before Fox drugged me and took me to Brecon Beacons?" Tom snapped. "You have no children. The only thing I lied about was the soda, and that'll hardly get you kicked out of the SAS." Eagle, who fully recognized that the kid actually had a point, focused on something else.

"How do you know I don't have children?" he asked.

"I've read your file," Tom deadpanned.

"WHAT!?! How the hell did you get your hands on my file?"

"Left," Tom replied. "The Sergeant needs better locks on his filing cabinets."

"Tom!" Eagle exclaimed. Never before had the kid thrown him through so many loops in so short a time. "You do realize that's a federal offense?"

"Only if you tell," he replied. "I didn't take or copy anything except your addresses. How do you think I got the postcards to you?" The flustered soldier had honestly forgotten all about the postcards.

"What makes you think I won't turn your punk arse in?" he snapped.

"Because I know where you live," Tom replied.

"Is that a threat?" Eagle deadpanned.

"No," Tom replied. "It's a promise. Right." They rode the rest of the way in silence as Eagle didn't have a response to that. The only words spoken were the occasional right, left as Tom directed him to his house. When Eagle finally pulled up to the curb he felt calm enough to continue.

"You do realize that I now know where you live too?" he asked, twisting around to look at the kid over his shoulder. The boy had finally sat back and was staring out of the widow, looking like he had no intention of moving. He looked back at Eagle.

"Keeps it even," he replied.

"Why my car?" Eagle asked wondering if there was anything to his suspicion that Tom hadn't randomly picked a car. After everything that had happened that night, it wasn't inconceivable to think the boy knew whose car was whose.

"Because if all goes well, I'll be seeing you the most," he replied. "This will become a familiar route as I fully intend to utilize a person willing to give rides." Eagle couldn't help but feel amused. This kid was just so strange and confusing.

"I haven't even had a date with her," Eagle said, with a small, tired smile. It didn't take a genius to know that Tom took that as an answer to the decision they'd given him not two weeks ago. The boy gave a bright smile back.

"Sometimes you can just tell," he said. "See you Saturday at three. Don't bother with presents, you won't get it right and Alex doesn't care for them." With that he got out of the car and walked up the front drive. Eagle had been there once before but it was awhile back and he had been in the back of the police van listening to the radios as they gave him a quick briefing about the hostage situation. Never in a million years had he imagined that he'd see this kid again at any point. Especially like this. Eagle was acutely aware of what the boy was trying to set up. A guy for Jack and an older brotherly figure for Cub. It was sweet in a twisted kind of way. Eagle waited until the boy shut the door behind him before driving off.

It wasn't like he cared or anything but it would do nothing for their potential case if the kid really did disappear.

That Saturday found Alex, Tom and Jack watching some stupid reality TV show, laughing really hard at the antics of the attention seeking people. It was a show Jack loved called Big Brother, filmed over in America. It was technically a game show as they battled it out with wits and cunning to win some money. Alex couldn't remember how much.

He entertained the idea that he and Tom should sign up. Between the two of them they could win easily. Both were manipulating people with a lot more skill than the people on this show. It would be a breeze.

"Alex, get that," Jack said when the doorbell rang. He wondered who it was. They didn't normally have visitors and Tom was already there. He fought down a groan when he saw K-Unit on his front stoop. That wouldn't be polite.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, instantly stiffing with the possibility of another red alert or worse, a mission.

"Hey Cub," Eagle said. "Happy Birthday." Alex gaped at them for a full ten seconds before his brain caught up with reality. He pieced it together instantly. There was only one person with the means and the motive.

"Tom!" he shouted back towards the living room.

"Yeah," came the somewhat hesitate reply.

"What did you do?" He saw K-Unit exchange amused looks.

"Nothing!" was the indignant reply.

"What's going on?" Jack asked as she stepped into the hallway. She caught sight of them and smiled brightly. "Oh! Hi! Alex, don't be rude." Rolling his eyes the boy stepped aside and let the soldiers in. Alex followed them back to the living room, kicked Tom off the couch and took his seat.

"Ow, Alex," the other boy said rubbing his behind. "What was that for?"

"Why did you invite them?" Alex asked, not having the energy to form any anger. Sure it was his birthday but he knew Tom wouldn't do it if he honestly thought it a bad idea. Tom was a little nuts but when it came to the people he cared about he was unnervingly aware. Which was why Alex was questioning him. What made the other boy think he needed or wanted them here?

"Because Alex, it's a good idea," he said.

"What do you mean?" he asked glancing at the adults. Jack and Eagle were sitting on the other end of the couch, smiling and joking. Wolf was taking a piece of his already half eaten cake and Fox and Snake were in the two armchairs watching the show.

Tom gave him a smirk. "You'll see," he said then turned back to the room. He got off the floor and went to go annoy Snake. Alex got up to talk with Wolf.

They were there for his birthday, an invitation they didn't need to accept as he would have never known about it, but did anyway. Alex didn't have that much of a problem with the soldiers anymore and it was kind of nice to know they cared enough to bother.

Making small talk with the soldier he'd once been mortal enemies with about the latest batch of trainees (turned out K-Unit volunteered their time at Brecon Beacons) was a surreal experience and not one he would have chosen to have. But it was nice to know Tom cared enough about him and Jack to make it his mission to bring her a little love and him some more friends. There was no doubt in Alex's mind that this was what it was all about. He knew Tom very well; knew how the other boy thought.

It was a bit of a dangerous mission on Tom's part as Alex would be getting revenge for the meddling. He had to keep up appearances after all. And Alex's pranks were inescapable and would most certainly leave a bruise. But for now, he followed Tom's advice and waited to see exactly what the boy had meant even if he already had an idea. He just hoped K-Unit were much more sane than Tom. He wouldn't be able to handle anymore crazy friends. One was most certainly enough.