The first thing they did upon arriving back at the flat was contact the Sergeant. Snake dialled the number and got patched through relatively quickly.

"Snake?" The Sergeant questioned. His voice was gruff and a bit croaky from the shouting he had just been directing at his trainees.

"Yes Sir. I was calling to tell you that since our mission with MI6 we have been given a…new job."

"A new job? Explain."

"Do you remember Cub?" Snake asked and the Sergeant chuckled.

"Hard to forget that kid. Yes, I remember him. Why?"

"He was the agent we were told to retrieve", Snake said grimly.

"Ah shit. He wasn't too banged up was he?" The Sergeant sounded genuinely concerned about Cub and he was. That kid had been better than most of the people training there at the time and he had managed to earn his respect, a tough feat for many.

Not feeling up to explaining Cub's injuries, Snake just said "He's in the hospital right now. The thing is, we ended up offering to let him live with us while we recover. I know it's a bit sudden, it was pretty much a spur of the moment decision, but it's something we really can't back out of and we want to do it. Of course, we need your permission first."

The Sergeant was silent for a few moments. "I never liked Cub coming to train with us", he said seriously, "It wasn't right for a 14 year old boy to be trained with a bunch of grown men soldiers. It's even worse when he's being trained for a life as a spy. I'm fine with your decision; in fact, I whole heartedly approve it if it means he's away from those cold-hearted bastards. You will still have to meet with your new unit member at some point, but I can make it later than I was initially planning. Also, don't expect to get out of paperwork."

"I wouldn't expect it at all Sir" Snake said, pleased the Sergeant was okay with the idea. "Thank you."

"No problem Snake. Make sure Cub gets better. Keep me posted."

"I will; thanks again."

Snake hung up the phone and grinned at his friends. "He's fine with it. Even called MI6 cold-hearted bastards" The others snickered.

Now safe in the knowledge that their jobs weren't going to be in jeopardy, Eagle voiced the question they were all wondering, "What now?"

"Well, the hospital said they'd ring when Cub regained consciousness so we may as well get a room ready for him. I'm not sure how he's going to take the news he's living with us but we may as well try and make him feel as welcome as possible. God knows we sucked at that the first time round," Snake replied.

"You're right. He can have the guest room at the end of the hall," Fox said.

Eagle grinned. "It'll be just like old times," he crowed. "The whole group back together again!"

"You do realise those 'old times' you're talking about lasted barely 2 weeks," Wolf said dryly and Eagle shrugged as if to say 'who cares?'

The rest of the day was spent changing back into civilian clothes; they were still wearing the gear from the mission, and sorting out Cub's room. Fox and Eagle volunteered to go and collect Cub's belongings from his house which was only a twenty minute drive away. Mrs Jones had assured them was empty and that they were welcome to collect anything they thought Alex would want. This volunteering wasn't just an act of kindness however, Eagle was extremely nosy and Fox was curious to see if there was any evidence to suggest what happened in the house. He knew it had probably been professionally cleaned but that didn't mean there wasn't anything to find.

They drove to Cub's house and once getting up to the door, realised they had a problem. The door was locked and they hadn't thought of asking for a key.

"Blunt or Jones didn't happen to slip you a key did they?" Fox asked, cursing his forgetfulness.

Eagle gave him a look saying 'What do you think' and Fox sighed. He supposed it was best Eagle hadn't been given the key if they had been given it due to his tendency to lose things. Once they had been locked out of their cabin as Eagle had 'misplaced' the key whilst training. Getting in through the windows hadn't been an option as they'd locked them to preserve the heat on a cold night. What had seemed like such a good plan had forced Eagle to do a 'cub' as it had then been dubbed and get in the cabin via the chimney. Cub had made it look a lot easier, but then he was a lot smaller than Eagle who, though the smallest out of the four, was still a hell of a lot bulkier than a teenage boy. They never trusted Eagle with the key, or anything else, ever again.

"There's got to be a spare key around here somewhere. All houses have spare keys" Fox muttered, searching under the welcome mat which hid nothing.

The next five minutes were spent searching for a key they eventually had to admit didn't exist. It seemed Cub and his guardian had wanted to make sure no one unwanted could get inside easily. Obviously, it didn't work, but it had probably helped them sleep better at the time.

"Oh well. You're a spy, getting inside should be easy for you," Eagle commented, looking at Fox expectantly.

Fox was slightly embarrassed he hadn't just thought to use his expertise in the first place. Then again, he did try to avoid breaking the law if possible and he was pretty sure what he was about to do counted as breaking and entering, even if there was no one in the house and they technically had permission to enter. Hopefully, no one who saw them would call the police. Fox looked inside the rucksack he had brought and dug through it until he found what he wanted.

"Got it." Fox pulled out a small needle from his bag which Eagle looked at curiously.

"Please tell me that is some sort of gadget or I am going to be seriously underwhelmed."

Fox rolled his eyes. "It is, I had it from my mission and I liked it so 'forgot' to give it back. I think Smither's knew I'd kept it but couldn't be bothered to ask for it." He grinned and Eagle clapped him on the back.

"I knew I'd start rubbing off on you sooner or later! So, what does it do?"

"The metal has the ability to bend at the slightest touch but it will only do so when in a door lock. Apparently it's something to do with temperatures and pressure but I really didn't understand it when Smither's explained so please don't ask. Just watch."

Fox placed the needle into the lock and it bent easily to match the indentations within. In no time at all, the door was open. Eagle didn't look too impressed.

"So, it's basically just a fancy lock picker? I expected more from the big fancy MI6."

"It got us in didn't it?" Fox reasoned, putting the needle back into his bag. "This thing got me out of quite a few precarious situations so don't bad mouth it."

Instead of going straight upstairs, both men felt the need to have a little look around. They knew they were invading Cub's privacy, but the devils on their shoulders were being much more convincing than their consciences'. There was nothing unusual in the hallway so had something happened there, all evidence was gone. He went to go into the kitchen where he saw a dent in the framework of the door. Eagle told him he was going upstairs and Fox told him he'd be there in a minute. He carried on into the kitchen.

Nothing looked out of place initially however he spotted a stain on the floor, hidden beneath a cupboard. The dark brown colour of it suggested it couldn't be anything but blood and he frowned, wondering if it belonged to that guardian of Cub's. Fox also wondered that if that was his guardians, whether he'd been there to witness it. He felt a pang of sorrow for Cub if he had. No one should have to witness that sort of thing.

Resolving that he would talk about this with Cub when they were able to take him back to the flat (he would be surprised if the kid came out with no trauma at all), Fox went upstairs to find Eagle. There was only one door open and Fox went through that to see Eagle opening all of Cub's drawers looking more surprised with each draw he opened. He wasn't sure why as Cub's room looked like any teenage boys would. Blue themed with a few Chelsea football posters stuck by the bed.

"What's wrong?" Fox asked.

"It's... it's tidy!"

Fox scoffed. "Just because you seem to make it look like a tornado's hit your room all the time doesn't mean everyone else's has to look that way."

Eagle huffed but continued. "How many teenage boys room have you seen that looks this tidy and so…I don't know, boring?"

Now Eagle mentioned it, the room did look like it was…lacking something. Other than the posters, it seemed that Cub hadn't bothered to make the room his own, as if it was a hotel room that he had to tidy before he left. There was nothing to suggest what Cub was like, other than he liked Chelsea, the colour blue and being tidy. It was a bit strange and Fox wondered just how much time Cub had been spending in his home in the recently and whether his 'part time job' had something to do with it.

"Well…maybe that's just how Cub likes it, and I don't want to know how you know what teenage boys room's look like these days," Fox said, not wanting to stay any longer than necessary anymore. "Let's just get his stuff and go."

"Do you think he'll like it?

"I don't see why not. It looks just fine"

Upon returning from Cub's house, the group began to preparing his room even though they weren't sure how long it would be before he was actually able to see it. Wolf even had fun designing the room though he'd never admit to it; Eagle could voice it for the both of them.

The room itself had simple light green wallpaper with an emerald carpet and striped green bed covers. It clashed a bit with the posters Wolf had been adamant had to be placed in certain positions around the room, but no one though Cub would mind. They had moved the furniture around a bit so it had a similar layout to Cub's old room. It was a bit smaller, and there had been a lot of dust to clean due to its disuse, but now it was perfectly liveable. They'd even added a few pictures that Fox and Eagle had found in the house so he would feel more comfortable. They mostly contained Cub with a red headed woman that they assumed must have been his guardian and on the back it said her name was Jack. There was also another picture of a very young Cub with a man they didn't recognise. The back of the picture said his name was Ian but that it wasn't helpful. Perhaps he was Cub's Uncle?

The hospital still had yet to ring them and so they finished the room and turned in for the night. It had been a long day and they were sure another was to follow.

For a while, Alex had been so drugged up that the nightmares had stopped plaguing him. He should have known that the peace wouldn't have lasted. This time he was with a different man, the very man who had 'welcomed' him upon his arrival and had overseen most of his captivity so far. He'd hoped he would never have to see this face again, even in his memories. Of course, his mind never did what he wanted it to.

"It really isn't too much to ask Alex. Just tell me, what is the password?"

The interrogation had started when the man decided that meaningless torture was starting to lose his appeal. Why just torture him when the kid probably held valuable information? The issue was that once the man got it into his head that Alex probably had been told a lot of information, the torture got worse and Alex truly had no answers. This didn't matter to the man though; he just thought Alex was lying to him and it made him more frustrated.

Right then, he wanted the password to MI6's computer files and Alex had to wonder when the man thought he'd have been told that. He doubted any field agents knew that. Alex had a feeling the man was delusional and literally insane.

"I've already told you. I don't know" Alex shouted. His lungs constricted painfully and his throat begged for water.

"I hardly believe they would keep such information from their best agent. Why do you insist on lying to me?" His interrogator picked up a surgical scalpel and wiped it with the edge of his shirt.

"I'm not lying. They didn't tell me anything. They don't trust me with that sort of thing," Alex insisted, eying the sharp tool warily.

"Well, let's see how this makes you re-evaluate your answer."

The man came closer and closer, and Alex, bound tightly to a chair, could do nothing to stop him. The glint of the scalpel became brighter as it was lifted up to his skin…

Alex woke before the climax of the memory could happen and he sighed in relief, noticing that he wasn't in the cell any more, but a hospital. He had vague memories of people rescuing him but the drugs he was being fed clouded his mind and immediately started sending him back to sleep again. He tried to fight it but it was inevitable. Alex returned back to his nightmares.