Just some little scenes that weren't long enough to make into actual chapters.
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Tom and Alex had been doing everything together for years. They had joined football together; they went to parties together; they had become a pain in the British government's ass together. They had even had chicken pox together and whenever one of them got a cold the other one was sure to follow. So it was hardly a stretch to think that it was normal that they were both getting their wisdom teeth out together.
Wolf had made the appointment and had simply tacked Alex on at the end having heard him complain about his own teeth lately. Tom had three impacted wisdom teeth but Alex's had all started to float to the top, cutting into his gums.
"Great idea! Thanks!" Jack had exclaimed when Wolf had informed her of what he had done. Then she had started to get into an argument with someone and hung up the phone on him. It might have seemed a little rude but he was so used to it that he couldn't be bothered to care much. There was always some sort of argument taking place over there though it was rarely about something serious.
On the day of the appointment she picked up Tom and himself and drove everyone to the dentist's office. It hardly surprised Wolf that Tom and Alex even had the same dentist. He was fairly certain they'd had the same pediatrician as well. The dentist's office was a small, family operated deal and the waiting room had squeaky chairs with faded upholstery. Tom was busy playing Candy Crush on his phone and Alex was reading a novel for school. Neither of them seemed particularly interested in their teeth.
Alex was called in first and choose to receive local anesthesia shots instead of the sleeping gas. He was far too paranoid to let anyone put him unconscious for something this minor. His teeth were dug out and pulled before too long. At some point he heard Tom enter the next cubicle.
Unlike Alex, Tom had chosen the sleeping gas. He didn't like the sound of drills, hoses, and he certainly didn't want to look at the pliers that would be pulling his teeth from his mouth. Unfortunately, this meant that while Alex was fully awake and alert after his surgery, Tom was extremely loopy.
When Wolf went back to see him, Tom was blinking at the wall and drooling on himself.
"He won't respond to any of our questions," the dentist said. Wolf nodded and leaned down until his face was directly in front of Tom's.
"How are you feeling Tom?" he asked.
"Meh," Tom grunted and Wolf couldn't help but smile just a little bit. The boy was very clearly high and all Wolf could think was that he should get it all on camera. However, he was pretty sure the revenge Tom came up with would be infinitely more embarrassing for Wolf and so he didn't fish out his mobile like he wanted to. "Where am I?"
"You're at the dentist," Wolf reminded him. "You've had your wisdom teeth pulled."
"I wan' 'em back," the boy mumbled and Wolf turned the dentist.
"He can't have them back," the man said all but glaring at Wolf for even entertaining the idea of leaving with the teeth. "Once he's able to walk you can go ahead and take him home." The dentist then went through the instructions for recovery. Once he was done Wolf lifted Tom right out of the chair in a standard fireman's hold. The dentist looked shocked but didn't say anything.
There were a lot of strange looks as Wolf carried the kid back to the lobby where Alex and Jack were patiently waiting to leave. Alex lifted an eyebrow when he saw them.
"Really?" Jack asked. "You couldn't wait half an hour so he could walk himself out?"
"No," Wolf replied, matching her slightly sarcastic tone. "Besides, there's a very good possibility that he won't be able to walk for the rest of the day. Let's get going." Wolf shifted the kid on his shoulder a little bit and was met with a snore. Jack rolled her eyes but led them to the car without any more questions, comments, or concerns.
Tom more or less slept for the rest of the day until the gas left his system. Wolf made him sleep on the couch to make sure he didn't have any bad reactions which was something he was glad he'd thought of. Twice Tom tried to get up and leave the flat thinking he had to go practice. And other times he would sit up, say something to Wolf, and then lie back down.
They seemed like random comments but apparently the kid thought they were having a full fledged conversation. The first comment had been, "There's no need to be snippy," which was followed an hour later by, "It was just Alex." Wolf had no idea what the kid thought he was talking about but he was certain Tom dreaming that he was in trouble.
Wolf was just glad to know that his lectures had sunk in to the point that Tom was even having them in his drug addled dreams. It felt like a job well done.
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"Wait, what?" Alex asked, finally paying attention to what Jack was saying. He had been playing a video game and had not given her the attention he should have. At least until she'd finally said something shocking enough that he had to pause the game and listen.
"Andy's mother wants to visit this Saturday."
"Andy hates his mother and she hates you."
"Yes, Alex, I'm aware of that," Jack said, sounding annoyed. Perhaps because she was having to repeat herself. "But since she hasn't been able to convince him to come work for the family business over the phone, she probably thinks she could do a better job if she comes here."
"Yeah, but seriously?" Alex all but whined. He had spoken to Andy's mother once when she'd called the house apparently upset that he wasn't taking her calls on his mobile anymore. Alex had answered the house phone and had been treated to ten minutes of arguing when he'd told her Andy hadn't been there but he would happy to take a message. Apparently, she'd thought he was lying to her. Which of course he had been but that wasn't the point. "Why does she have to stay here when there's a perfectly good hotel down the road?"
"I don't know," Jack said. "Manners, I suppose."
"Whose manners? Hers or ours? Because it's totally rude to spring a surprise visit on people who don't like you."
"Ours. You will be polite and Tom cannot come here. Understand?"
"I guess," he said. "Are you sure she's even coming? What did Andy say?"
"He doesn't know yet," Jack admitted.
"Well, good luck with that conversation. Welcome home sweetie, that lady that yells at you all the time is coming to spend the weekend and make you feel like a worthless piece of crap. How'd the meeting go?"
"Alex!" Jack admonished but she was laughing too hard for him to take it serious.
"Just let me know what you want me to do."
"Thank you Al," she said sincerely.
"I'm serious," he told her. "I'm well trained in the art of poison."
"You cannot kill Andy's mother!"
"Wasn't planning on it," he said with a shrug and unpaused his game. "A few boils, maybe some constipation. I could make her think she's got dysentery."
"Sometimes you scare me."
"Your man knows the same things I do," he said. "Although if I remember correctly he was pants at matching the cures to the poisons."
"I cannot believe we're having this conversation," Jack said, covering her face with her hands as if blocking Alex from view would suddenly make him normal.
"The offer was sincere though," he said, eyes glued to the television. "She won't know what hit her."
"Who won't know what hit them?" Eagle asked from the doorway of the living room and Jack turned to see him in his rumpled suit and loosened tie. He had recently ditched the cane, having rebuilt enough muscle to walk on his own albeit with a pronounced limp.
"Your mother wants to spend the weekend with us," Alex blurted before Jack could think of a way to announce their current problem with tact. "So I was offering to poison her."
"That's either very nice of you or very scary," Eagle said and he looked surprised. "When did she say this?"
"She called this morning, like four times," Jack told him. "You need to call her back, see if you can get us out of this." He nodded.
"Did she say why she wanted to visit?"
"I would assume it has something to do with an accounting firm," Alex told him. "You know the one that your family has been running since before America was discovered? Shame on you Andy, for choosing to shoot people instead!"
"I see one person I wouldn't mind shooting right about now."
"Me too!" the teen shouted and proceeded to successfully kill his enemy with a sniper shot to the head. "I am the super soldier!" He threw both hands in the air, perfectly pleased with himself, and didn't bother to watch as Eagle rolled his eyes and Jack shook her head at him.
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"We are a go," Alex said into his two-way radio (liberated from K-Unit). He snaked through the trees, rifle in hand, as silent as any well trained SAS soldier. He just knew that if the Sergeant could see him now the man would be at least a little proud. Not even Snake would have been able to catch Alex at this point.
He came to the end of the tree line and knelt on one knee. He braced the rifle against his shoulder and took aim through the high powered scope (also liberated from K-Unit). He aimed the crosshairs at the house across the street. It was a clear shot. There was no wind and the very dark night meant he didn't have to worry too much about taking cover. As long as he didn't move, his dark clothing and painted face would camoflauge him just fine.
"On my mark," a voice whispered into the earpiece that went from the radio to his left ear. His right ear was left open to hear any sudden movements from around or behind him. He had no interest in getting caught before he'd completed the mission. "Three, two, one. Go! Go!"
A bunch of dark clothed figures suddenly emerged from the tree line crossing the street. There were ten in all and it was Alex's job to cover them. His high powered scope had the added benefit of providing good surveillance. He watched as the others reached their mark and begin peeling off bags and pulling equipment out. They had planned this perfectly so that the team would only be at the primary location for fifteen minutes. They had even run drills to make sure everything went smoothly.
Alex scanned the house's windows for signs of movement while his team set up their various traps. Near the end of their timetable Alex's sharp eyes caught a brief movement in the upstairs window and he focused on it intently. It left the room and the teen's instincts kicked in.
"We've been seen," he reported. "Abort mission."
"Copy that," the voice replied and the person it belonged to began to frantically gesture to the other nine people in the yard. They hastily began grabbing their bags and finishing what they could. The front door slammed open and a large man with a balding head and a huge white moustache burst from the house with a baseball bat. He had clearly just woken up and was only wearing his briefs and an untied bathrobe. His huge beer gut was on display for all the world to see.
"Get clear," Alex said quietly into the two-way as the rest of his team scattered back towards the trees. He gripped his rifle a little more tightly as he put the man into the crosshairs waiting to see what he would do. The man seemed a little confused but eventually drew himself up and decided to give chase towards the smallest team member who had been using the cover of chaos to finish one last adjustment.
He started to swing the baseball bat around wildly as he gave chase and Alex didn't even hesitate. He fired. The man was hit in the gut, easily the softest part of his body, and he doubled over when the bright pink paintball hit him. He shouted in pain and cursed but he still managed to pin down the general location of where the shot had come from. He turned, peering into the darkness while the last of Alex's team disappeared into the trees.
"Do you have a clear shot?"
"Affirmative."
"Take it."
"Yes, sir."
Alex immediately took aim at the box that had been set up specifically for him to shoot. There was a large button in the center and Alex put it in his crosshairs. The box itself was dangling from a tree branch and was such an easy shot Alex was positive he could have made it in his sleep. He fired another shot and this time a red paintball hit the button. The force of the impact pressed the button inward and sent an electrical pulse along the wires that ran from the box to the electrical box at the side of the house.
The wires were plugged into a very specific set of wires in the electrical box and when the pulse hit the sprinklers burst to life, soaking the man standing in his underwear on his front lawn. He shouted in surprise as the cold water hit him but he still didn't really move, determined to see where the second shot had come from. In the dark he couldn't tell that the water had been dyed.
Finally, his eyes picked Alex out.
"I see you!" he shouted and took a step as if to give chase. Alex smirked and took one last shot, hitting him with a blue paintball in the thigh. Then he sprang up and ran. Leaving the deputy Headmaster on his lawn.
The next day the whole school was abuzz about Mr. Trell and his skin which had been dyed a deep forest green. Tom had taken one look at the man and whispered to Alex, "Mischief managed." Alex smiled and wondered if he still had time to slip K-Unit's stolen equipment back to their rightful owners before word of the incident made its way out of the school. It was only a matter time before Tom and Alex were the primary suspects considering their not so stellar history with Trell.
None of that mattered at the moment though. Mr. Trell was green and today was a good day.
Mission accomplished.
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Wolf was surprised when he walked into his flat and found both Snake and Tom hovering over Alex who was typing away at a laptop. Tom caught sight of him first and hit Alex's shoulder frantically over and over. The kid looked up and snapped the laptop shut in such an unsubtle way that Wolf couldn't help but smirk.
"What are you three doing?" he asked suspicious.
"What are you doing home?" Tom countered. "You're supposed to be on a date."
"I was," Wolf agreed. "And then the date ended." He pointed to the clock and all three of them looked up to see that it was well past midnight.
"Oh," Tom said.
"Yes, oh," Wolf replied smoothly, now trying not to laugh. "What are you three doing?" He directed his gaze to Snake whose behaviour was truly odd. They were all used to Tom and Alex being sneaky and secretive but he could honestly say he had never seen Snake team up with them. The guy licked his lips nervously when both boys turned to him to see what he wanted to say.
"Jake?" Wolf questioned hoping his friend would just spit it out.
"Alex and Tom are just helping me with something," he said, meeting Wolf's gaze head on despite the fact that he was clearly trying to not say the full truth.
"Helping you with what?" Wolf pressed. "Is it illegal?"
"Yes," both boys said at the same time and then looked back to Snake as if to say that it was all his problem now. Snake didn't look pleased.
"Seriously, what's going on?" Wolf questioned, already over trying to be coy. "Either tell me or I'm cutting the wi-fi." There was no telling if doing so was going to affect whatever they were doing but Wolf figured it was a good enough bet.
"It's just a little website hack," Snake said, looking far too defensive.
"What website?"
"Um," Snake hesitated, looking at Tom and Alex for help. Tom rolled his eyes and finally just spit the truth out.
"Jake's niece has become the unfortunate victim of cyberbullying. We're hacking into social media sites to remove fake profiles, videos, and pictures that people have posted trying to harass her. We've been at it for hours there's so much crap."
"Is that it?" Wolf asked, completely oblivious to how insensitive that sounded. He had been suspecting that they were hacking some sort of government database, something he suspected Alex was capable of doing. Alex was always a little coy when it came to admitting what he was actually capable of. The mundane answer was throwing him through a loop.
"Dude," Tom admonished, shaking his head. "Not cool."
"Sorry," Wolf said, sincerely. "I just thought you were going to say something much worse."
"What kind of person do you think I am?" Alex asked, knowing that the brunt of that comment had been against him.
"A well trained one," he said. "How much longer do think you'll be at this?"
"Probably the rest of the night," Alex replied, opening the laptop now that he knew Wolf wasn't going to freak out. Using their skills against civilians was against everything they had been taught to believe even if it was to help someone out. It was still illegal and their respective organizations would likely claim it as unethical. Well, perhaps not Alex's people but the others would be in a lot of trouble if someone found out.
"I'll make coffee," Wolf said and went into the kitchen. Snake followed him.
"Thanks," he said, leaning against the counter. He knew that Wolf wouldn't have allowed this if he'd heard about it earlier but since they were so far into it he wasn't going to stop it either. "I didn't know what else to do."
"How bad is it?" Wolf asked, genuinely concerned.
"Pretty bad," Snake told him and he suddenly looked as if he was going cry. Wolf had never seen that look on him before so he wasn't sure what to do with it. "She tried to commit suicide."
"I'm sorry," Wolf said and Snake nodded gratefully.
"Yeah, me too," he said. "I've been reading some of things people were saying about her as Alex deletes them. It's horrible, Rey. And it's not like when we were kids. You can't just go home and be away from it. There's nobody to fight back against because it's all anonymous. My god, these kids were making fake profiles just so they could tell her they hated her and that she should die."
"What about the police?" Wolf asked.
"There's nothing they can do," he said. "Nobody actually said that they were going to kill her, just that they would be better off if she was dead. That's means it's technically not a threat and there's no law on the books that says cyberbullying is illegal."
"Which brings us to Cub, the vigliante hacker."
Snake laughed which Wolf had known he would and accepted two mugs of coffee.
"Thanks buddy," he said.
"Sure," Wolf said with a nonchalant shrug. He and Snake cared for each other very much; they were extremely close friends but they had never been overly good with heart to heart conversations. That was usually something Fox handled. "Whatever she needs."
Snake nodded again and took the two mugs to the boys. Alex didn't even look up from the screen. Wolf sat down and told Tom to go bring him his own laptop. He spent the rest of the night and most of that next morning shifting through the internet for everything about Snake's niece, downloading screenshots of vicious comments, saving derogatory pictures and videos, and adding them to those Alex had already saved. They then deleted everything from the websites one by one, shutting down any fake profile they could find.
When that was done, Alex began tracing IP addresses and Wolf did searches on each individual compiling that information into a single spreadsheet. Snake emailed everything to the Headmaster of his niece's school with a plea for help. Nobody expected much help, because there was never much justice for cases like these, but they could hope.
Snake gave Alex and Tom a very sincere hug as thanks and went home to sleep off the copious amount of coffee he'd consumed. Wolf couldn't help but feel a little proud that the boys would go to such lengths to help a girl they'd never met just because her uncle asked them to.
"I know what it's like," Tom said when Wolf made a comment about it.
"What?" Wolf asked, shocked. He had never heard about this before. Tom looked over his shoulder at a sleeping Alex on the couch. He was by far the most exhausted, having done most of the work and Tom and Wolf had simply left him where he'd dropped. The two were at the table enjoying a pizza.
"When I was little some older boys at primary school kept cornering me and hitting or kicking me," he said. "I was so little there was nothing I could do and I was too scared to say anything to anyone. Everytime I saw them outside or in the halls I would get more and more scared. Eventually all they had to do was look at me and I'd feel so terrified that I could barely even move. I even peed my pants once, which of course did nothing to help.
"It went on for two years until one day they cornered me in the bike shed. I remember they started in on me like usual and I was in so much pain I didn't even notice him come into the shed."
"Who?" Wolf asked when Tom hesitated.
"Alex, of course," he said, smiling sweetly at the memory. "He shouted at them to stop and when they turned on him he basically beat the crap out of all three of them. Nearly got suspended for it too but the Headmistress was lenient once she heard the whole story. We had known each for years at that point; had been on play dates together and everything. But it was a different kind of friendship after what he'd done for me. More real; more permanent."
Wolf smiled fondly. The story was immediately his favorite of the two of them. Because of course they couldn't even become best friends without someone ending up with a bloody nose.