Did you know that they actually make 5 million volt tasers? Ow.

Tom had always hated Mondays but this Monday would perhaps be the worst he'd ever had. He had been perfectly content on his little pull out couch in Wolf's living room when all of the sudden the soldier was standing over him, roughly shaking his shoulder and demanding that he wake up. Tom was rudely awakened from his very nice dream of a Gryffindor/Slytherin dance off in the stone hallways of Hogwarts and opened his bleary eyes to the man. In his limited amount of consciousness he was able to see that it was still dark outside. And not pre-dawn dark either. Deep, dark, middle of the night dark.

"You need to get up," the man said. His worried tone probably did more for Tom's exhaustion than a double shot of espresso ever could. Wolf never sounded worried. Only angry, frustrated, tired, and sometimes happy if you were extremely lucky.

"Wha' 'appen?" Tom mumbled trying to sit up. Wolf simply pulled him up by the arm.

"We need to leave," the man said and then proceeded to force Tom's head into his pullover hoodie. The one with his football number on the back and the SAS logo on the front. It was Tom's favorite and Alex had had it custom made for him a few months ago. It annoyed Wolf, who thought Tom might be taking a risk wearing such a thing in public.

"Why?" Tom asked, putting his arms through the sleeves and straitening the piece of clothing out. Wolf moved about the room stuffing semi-clean clothes into a rucksack.

"Put your shoes on," he ordered and Tom followed the order knowing that now probably wasn't the time to argue. Even his lack of respect for authority was no match for an SAS guardian fleeing their flat in the middle of the night. Something horrible must have happened.

"What's going on Rey?" Tom asked forcefully, his sleepiness forgotten and fear starting to settle in. He didn't like this, not at all. Wolf looked up at the forceful use of his name. Tom rarely called him Rey. He usually called him Wolf, Wolfie-Daddy, or nothing at all. Tom could see the soldier wrestling with his answer, even in the dark.

"Something's happened," the soldier finally replied.

"What?" Tom asked, thoroughly disheartened by the man's reluctance to just tell him. Wolf had never held back bad news. He thought it was better to just blurt it out and get it over with, even if such a thing was untactful. "Alex?"

"We need to leave," Wolf said again, and continued throwing things into his rucksack before he zipped it up and threw it over his shoulder. He then gestured for Tom to come closer. "Come on."

But Tom couldn't move. Wolf's lack of answer told him everything he needed to know. Something had happened. He didn't know what. He needed to know. Wolf probably would have just taken him by the arm again in order to make him move but the man never got the chance.

BANG!

Tom jumped horribly at the sound and he turned in time to see the front door bend awkwardly where the door latch was. Someone was trying to break it down.

Wolf didn't hesitate. He grabbed the teen by the arm and forcibly dragged him into his bedroom and then into the closet. Tearing things off the lone shelf he eventually unveiled the one part of the flat Tom had never seen before. The attic entrance.

The building used to be a single family home and the attic still existed. The roof had been too low to convert it into another level of flats and so they had closed it up. It didn't surprise Tom to know that the entrance just happened to be in Wolf's bedroom. He also wasn't surprised to see that it was no longer a sealed entrance. The door was knocked away fairly easily and Wolf stuffed the rucksack inside.

BANG!

Tom had the wood splinter even from back there but it didn't sound like the sturdy front door had given in. Not with all the deadbolts Wolf had on it. They'd need a battering ram to break it down and while it sounded like they had one it still wasn't easy to break in. Tom had never felt so grateful for Wolf's intense paranoia. Not that he had any idea what was going on.

"Come on," the soldier said, turning to Tom with interlocked fingers and a clear sign that he was about to give the teen a boost into the attic. Tom stepped into Wolf's hands and allowed himself to be easily lifted into the dark hole that he was dearly hoping the Grudge wasn't in as well. Tom quickly maneuvered himself around so that he could see back out.

"Whatever you hear," Wolf said. "Don't come out."

"Wait, what about you?" Tom asked nearly panicking when he realized Wolf wasn't about to climb in there with him.

"I need you to trust me Tom," Wolf said. "Find the door." Tom could feel it under his leg and quickly dragged it out from under himself. "Do you have it?"

Tom nodded.

"Wolf," he began.

"Put it back in," Wolf told him. "It's going to be really dark, but whatever you do you can't shine a light in there. Okay?"

"Wait," Tom started again.

BANG!

"Tom! Do as I say right now. Put the door back in. Everything will be fine. I promise. I'll come get you soon."

Tom knew it was lie. He'd been in enough danger to know the man was just trying to calm him down but he didn't understand what was happening. Why wasn't Wolf following him into the attic?

BANG!

But there was no time for any more questions and Tom knew it. He nodded. And with the soldier's last promise in his head and shoved the attic door back into place, throwing himself into complete blackness. A few seconds later he heard rustling from just on the other side and he could clearly picture Wolf piling things back onto the closet shelf.

BANG!

There was noise, a shout, and then a new, absolutely terrifying sound.

A gunshot.

Two Hours Earlier

For some reason it was cold. Eagle couldn't pinpoint why. He was a little too exhausted to think clearly. The only thing he wanted was to get back into bed after his nightly trip to the kitchen for a glass of water. Why he couldn't leave water by his bed before he fell asleep even he didn't know.

In his semi-consciousness at one in the morning he could register enough to know that something was off in the upstairs hallway. It was cold. It shouldn't have been. They always kept these windows shut and the heat was on. His curiosity quickly began to override his sleepiness as he pinpointed the breath of cold air to Alex's room. The boy always slept with the window tightly shut and the door wide open.

But tonight it seemed to be the other way around. The door was nearly shut and very, very cold air was creeping out through the cracks. Something was wrong. He could feel it. Eagle quietly set his glass of water down on the little table that sat between his door and Alex's. He then reached into the planter to pull out the military grade 1 million volt taser he kept hidden between the stems of the ivy plant. Jack thought him ridiculous but between him and Alex there were just too many enemies.

He had a horrible feeling that their measures to make him go away for good was just too little too late. But could he be here? It seemed impossible. And yet, Alex's door was nearly shut and his window was clearly open. The boy was near OCD about his sleeping habits and any apparent deviation was cause for worry.

Weapon in hand he took a single step towards the door and paused. He listened intently. He knew the sounds of Alex's sleep. The kid had a tendency to fall asleep on the couch once nine-thirty came and went. Especially on the week nights and even more especially after Tom had been over for a few days. Eagle was trained to pay attention to details. Alex's sleep patterns happened to be one of those things your training didn't let you fully ignore.

The kid would let out a small snore every fifth exhale, every third if he was congested. It took Alex almost half a minute to breathe in and out five times in his sleep. Eagle counted to forty-five just to be sure. No snore. Something was wrong.

He gently poked the door out of his way. Letting it fall open almost silently.

The bed was empty.

The window was open.

Someone was leaving through that open window.

That someone was too big to be Alex.

It took Eagle nearly five seconds to fully process what his sleep sore eyes were telling him. He didn't hesitate.

He fired and the taser's two lines found their mark. The man screamed, jolted and jerked as one million volts of electricity ran through his body. Eagle watched as the intruder fell forward, out of the window, and away from the taser's reach. The soldier didn't wait around to hear the thud as his body hit the ground. He ran for all he was worth, down the hallway, down the stairs, through the living room, and out the front door. He was on the front lawn in seconds and just in time to see another man running full pelt towards a car.

Eagle ran after him, barely even feeling the frozen grass on his bare feet. Whoever the man was, he wasn't a powerful runner and Eagle was diving towards his legs soon enough. The soldier made contact and the black clad intruder went down. The soldier quickly climbed back to his feet to keep his advantage and let loose with a hard punch to man's head. He felt cartilage give out and even in the near darkness of the street he could tell that the intruder's nose was horribly broken. The man screamed and Eagle let loose with yet another punch. This time no noise came from the man and he went completely limp.

But Eagle heard the roar of an engine and he could do nothing but watch as the black SUV sped up over the curb, across the sidewalk, and onto the lawn. The last thing he saw as the vehicle ran him down was the blinding light of headlamps and the dark shadows of two people inside.

Tom didn't know how long he'd been in the attic. The space felt small to him and he was sure that most of the attic was still closed off to him but he didn't dare explore for fear of being lost in the darkness and he didn't dare search the rucksack for any sort of light. Not even after everything had fallen silent. He didn't know what had happened to Wolf.

There had only been a few gunshots and then complete silence. He couldn't even hear voices. But Wolf hadn't come for him, which meant something was wrong. What if the soldier was lying on the living room floor bleeding to death? What if he was already dead? Tom couldn't stop himself from thinking such things even though he was desperate not to.

Wolf had told him not to move, not to turn on a light. But the darkness was beginning to crush down on him and he was sure that the longer he spent in his hiding place the more he'd worry and panic. But what if someone dangerous was still out there? Wolf had told him not to move, that he would come get him and at the moment that was all Tom had to hang on to.

He remembered something his physics teacher had once told him. An experiment called Schrödinger's Cat. The guy put a cat in a box, sealed the box, and then told everyone that as long as they didn't open it the cat could be either alive or dead and was therefore both alive and dead. A bunch of bullshit in Tom's opinion. He couldn't understand why Schrödinger wouldn't just open the box and let that poor cat out before it got to the point that people wondered if the thing was still alive or not. But now he thought he understood.

As long as he stayed here and didn't move and didn't turn on a light Wolf could be either alive or dead. Therefore, he was both alive and dead. As long as Tom didn't know which he could pick for himself. He chose to think that Wolf was alive and chasing down the bad guys on foot while they desperately tried to get away in a stolen car. Just like in that Will Smith movie, Bad Boys. Only this time they wouldn't get away because Wolf was Wolf and he was alive and this was Tom's dream so that dead cat could just kiss his arse.

The front lawn of the Rider home was a mess. As Snake haphazardly pulled his car over behind one of the three dozen police cars he knew that his image would forever be buried in his head. The blue lights cast ever changing shadows on the lawn and all the way to the front door. The entire street was out to see what had happened. Spectators were snapping pictures, news cameras were going, and police were futilely telling people to go home, there was nothing to see here. But there was something to see. There was always something to see at this house be it the tragedy that had just occurred or the giant hole Tom had once dug trying to dye the water supply green.

He was out of his car and nearly to the police barricade before he realized he'd forgotten to lock it. He didn't go back. He physically couldn't turn to go back and lock his car. To hell with it. At this point, he didn't care if it was stolen. A quick flash of his military identification and he was through the barricade-tracksuit and all. He hadn't had the presence of mind to fully dress. He'd barely remembered to put on trainers.

He found Fox by the front steps and when he stepped up he saw Jack sitting on the bottom step, arms wrapped around herself, and trying to a give a statement that meant something. But she was crying and it was a little hard to make out she was saying. Fox put a hand on his upper arm and turned him back around. Apparently now was the time for a private conversation.

It was then that Snake noticed the sheet covering the dead body in the middle of lawn. There was so much blood that the sheet was red almost to its ends. The breath hitched in his throat.

"It's not Andy," Fox told him. "It's an intruder. The coroner said they killed one of their own as they were chasing Eagle down."

They were far enough away from anyone-but most specifically Jack-that they could speak freely.

"What happened?" he asked.

"From what we've gathered," Fox began, "Andy interrupted them kidnapping Alex. He tasered one of them and the guy fell from the second story window. He's unconscious but he should be available for talking in a few hours. Andy then ran out here and was able to stop another guy from getting away. They fought and we think Andy managed to knock him out. At this point the car ran up from the street, onto the lawn, and chased him for ten feet. They ran him over."

"He's at the hospital?" Snake asked.

"Yes, he's in surgery now," Fox said. "Paramedic said it looked bad but since he never actually went under the car they should be able to save him."

"How do you know they didn't completely run over him?" Snake asked, hating how they had slipped into work mode but knowing it was necessary. If they were going to fix this, if they were going to find Alex, they needed their full wits about them. Now was the time to bury all the feelings and deep desires of revenge and operate as the cold soldiers they were supposed to be. They had a job to do.

"He tried to disappear behind the bushes," Fox said and pointed to the corner of the house where Snake could now see that the bushes lining the front had been nearly demolished. He was certain if he went over he'd find Eagle's blood staining the mulch. That was the same bush Tom and Alex had once hidden behind to fire paintballs at them. It seemed so long ago. It had barely been a year and a half. It was nearing December again and Eagle's second Christmas in the Rider house.

"He got all the way to the end," Fox continued, "where they pinned him between the hood and the house. We don't think they were going that fast. It seems Eagle jumped to keep the car's impact away from his torso. They crushed his right leg."

Snake winced. That was the type of injury to permanently cripple someone. He didn't say it.

"That was when Jack came out," Fox finished. "She didn't see anything. At least, I think she didn't see anything. Nobody can really understand her."

"Where's Wolf?" he asked knowing Fox had already called the man. Fox shrugged.

"He should be here any minute," the other man told him. "Said he had to wake the kid first and you know how that can be."

Snake couldn't help but snort in amusement. He could just see Tom trying to roll out of that stupid pull out couch and trying to focus. The kid had a hard enough time focusing when he was fully alert, nearly asleep would make it impossible for him. Wolf would probably be a while.

"Do we know who they were?" Snake asked. Fox gave him a look. One that suggested that he should know exactly who this was and that he was naive for not acknowledging it.

"You actually think this was Skelter?" Snake asked and Fox winced. This was the first time any of them had dared utter the name on their own soil. Even when being debriefed they hadn't been forced to say the name. They had said it when they'd first heard it but after the mass grave they'd found they had stopped saying it. And even though Snake knew it made them seem like those jumpy Harry Potter characters he still could rarely muster the will to talk about Skelter. Voldemort had nothing on this guy.

"It's a very distinct possibly that we shouldn't ignore," Fox said but never outright confirmed his own suspicions. The conversation would have continued if Puma hadn't suddenly appeared from the crowd. Skelter had been before Puma's time in the Unit so the guy didn't know anything about it. Snake wondered what he was doing there.

"Fox," he said curtly. "Something just came in over the police radios. There's been a shooting at Wolf's place."

Snake took off for the car. Fox turned back just long enough to give Puma some final instructions.

"Take care of Jack," he shouted.

"Who's Jack?" Puma shouted back.

"The hysterical woman on the front stoop. She's Eagle's girlfriend!"

In the blink of an eye they were speeding towards Wolf's flat. They even passed Brookland and Snake couldn't help but think that Tom and Alex should have been waking up for school in a few hours. Well, Alex would wake up. Tom would roll out of bed and try to remember where he was. But Snake knew he was getting dangerously close to too much emotion.

He could hear something beyond the thin piece of wood that separated him from whoever was out there. He didn't dare move, he barely breathed. It wasn't Wolf. He knew that. If it was Wolf he would have gotten him out of this pitch black hole in the top of the closet wall. Tom hated this hole. Hated it more than he'd ever hated anything or anyone.

He hated it more than the cancer that took his big sister; he hated it more than that assassin guy that once made Alex cry in his sleep; he hated it more than the Head of MI6; he hated it more than his absent, overly critical father. He even hated it more than that deadbeat that had tried to beat him. He just wanted to leave this stupid hole. He just wanted to see light. Any light. A pinprick would do.

Just a small little pinprick of light so he would know he hadn't been lost to the world.

He felt his first tear escape from his eye. The first real tear he'd shed in years. This tear wasn't for show, for manipulation, for himself. This one was for Wolf. Because he knew it had been too long. This was no longer Schrödinger's stupid cat in that stupid box in that stupid experiment all those stupid years ago. This was now and it had been too long and there was someone out there that wasn't Wolf. Wolf wasn't both alive and dead. Wolf was probably just dead and not even Tom's imagination could conjure up any other explanation.

The tear Tom shed wasn't for himself and his own end. It was for Wolf.

It was then that he heard a voice. A painfully familiar voice.

"He always makes sure that he can get away," it said. "He always makes sure the both of them have a place to hide."

Tom heard things being moved from the shelf. He knew that voice-that very familiar, soldier voice-and that voice was about to find him. He wriggled back just in time to avoid being smashed in the face by the flimsy little attic door as it was punched away.

Light flooded in and for a moment he was blinded by it. And when his eyes adjusted a few seconds later he saw Snake, burn scars and all. The soldier reached a hand in and Tom grasped it. The soldier pulled him out of the attic-hole with relative ease and the teen fell into his arms. He couldn't find his feet and it was in that moment that the pressure that had been building inside of him for however long he'd been in that hole waiting for Wolf to come back, bubbled up and over the sides of the emotional wall he'd spent more than half his life building.

Tom shed another tear.

"Please shoot Schrödinger in the face," he whispered.

Yeah, so...a little heavy. But some people were asking for a bit more spy things. And I thought we'd seen enough good times for awhile. I'm not sure how long this story arch will be but I can promise that I'll start adding some more humor to the next chapters. It might be some darker humor though. You'll learn all about Skelter soon enough-he's an original of my sleep deprived brain. Skelter was who I was talking about in the last chapter. I can't believe how many "Is Jack pregnant?"s I got. That's my fault though for introducing my scary man at the end of a chapter called 'Baby Daddies'. :/

Oh, and there won't be any horrible explicit violence/torture in any of this. I might talk about it though but, again, not explicitly.

I'm trying to add some depth to all of these characters and unfortunately that means pushing them to their limits. Hope you guys understand and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. You have no idea how many rough drafts I went through. I actually considered making this own its own story so that people could skip over it if they wanted to but I clearly decided not to split the 'verse up into separate stories. If you don't like the darker stuff just ignore the next couple of chapters.

And finally...a show of hands...who wants Tom to be the hero in this 'mission'?