A word of warning, updates may be slower due to me having mocks and the fact the gap between chapters I've posted and am writing is getting lower. I will try to keep it to at least once a week if possible.

They weren't sure if this was a trick played by Blunt or the evidence that someone had actually stolen Alex's file. From inside the corridor, Alex smiled, pleased that his plan had worked. Though he was still pissed they had actually gone behind his back when they'd promised they wouldn't.

About a month after he'd been let out of the hospital for his bullet wound, Alex had decided that he'd wanted to remove his files so no one could get the information without his knowledge. It wasn't so that he could show it to the government, they would be silenced the moment they raised a fuss; it was so that Blunt could never pass it to a new potential employer or anything along those lines. There was also the risk of it being stolen. His private life was his to know alone and he'd never asked to have the job so he didn't feel the rules of requiring a file applied to him.

Alex remembered the moment he'd changed his files fondly as he stared at the baffled men in the living area.

"Smithers?" Alex held the phone to his ear, waiting for a reply. Hopefully Smither's wouldn't be busy and redirect his call. Then again, Smither's had assured him that this was one of his more personal numbers and he was one of the few adults Alex had any trust left for. He was not disappointed.

"Alex, m'boy! What can I do for you? I heard about that nasty business with the sniper. Are you alright?" Alex smiled at the genuine concern in Smither's voice and was quick to reassure him.

"I'm fine thanks. I was just wondering if you'd be able to do a favour for me."

"Well, if it's within reason then of course!"

Alex wasn't sure if his request was 'within reason' but hopefully if he explained himself well enough then Smither's would do as he asked.

"I was wondering if you would be able to get access to my file," Alex said, praying Smither's said yes. It was his only option and he would really like to loosen the power Blunt had over him.

Smither's paused before answering. "Well, I could possibly get in there but it's quite the risk. I wouldn't really have any reason to need to be there."

Alex had planned for this. "You could tell them that you want to see how past gadgets have worked in my missions and compare them all together in order to make an event better set…next time," He frowned at the thought of that then carried on. "I want you to switch my files with blank sheets of paper. Do what you want with the original, burn it or maybe find a way to send it to me. I just don't want the information to be given to anyone without me knowing. MI6 also isn't protected from everything. It would just give me peace of mind to know my private life remained just that, private."

From the other end of the line, Smither's sighed. "Alright, I'll give it a go. I can't promise I'll be able to do it though," He warned and Alex knew that. He just wanted to try.

"Thank you Smither's," he replied gratefully.

"You're welcome m'boy. Let's just hope I don't end up losing my job over this."

Smither's had managed to get his files in the end, in such a way that when he told Alex he'd done it he said he could see what the appeal of an active job. However, he wasn't sure if his heart could stand to do it permanently. Smither's had told him he'll keep the files in storage for a while until he felt a long enough time had passed for him to safely send them to him. Alex had told him it would be easier just to destroy them, but Smither's had been adamant to hold onto them. Said they could be important to him for the future, should he ever decide to press charges or something of the sort. Alex knew that would be impossible, but he appreciated the sentiment all the same.

In the living room the men were still debating what had gone wrong when Fox said. "I'll call MI6; tell them there's a problem."

Alex was not going to allow them to undo his, or rather Smither's, hard work and so he was going to be forced to reveal his actions to them. He hoped they would understand and pretend nothing was amiss when they returned them. Then again, if he made them feel guilt-ridden enough they may feel obliged to keep it.

Alex was not going to allow them to undo his, or rather, Smither's, hard work. With any luck they'll agree to keep it a secret.

Alex hurriedly walked in and when it was clear they hadn't heard him, said, "It was me. I switched them. For good reason." He raised an eyebrow at them.

They all jumped and looked at him. Eagle flushed guiltily and Wolf, who appeared the least guilty, still looked away ashamedly.

"We were just trying to help," Eagle blurted out and Alex kept his eyebrow raised.

"By invading my privacy? Telling me you'll happily wait for me to tell you in my own time then just ignoring that and trying to find everything out from my files anyway? Yeah, real helpful." Alex replied sarcastically.

"Totally not my idea. I voted against it the whole time. I tried to get it the better way" Eagle pointed out but Alex glared at him, unimpressed. He was not going to get out of this by shifting blame.

"And yet you were still there, willing to view the file regardless," Alex exhaled wearily. He was beginning to get really tired. Normally he would be asleep by this time. How long he stayed asleep differed, but the point remained that his body wanted to crash and he wasn't letting it. To give it a bit of a break, he settled onto the sofa, not caring if they followed or stayed put.

"Listen, how about if I promise to give you guys an insight but I will only do it if you promise to never do something like this again and don't force me to answer anything I don't want to. I swear, if anything I tell you gets leaked I will be mad and there's a reason I was chosen to be a teen spy and it wasn't only because of my cute face." Alex eyed them all dangerously and they each knew what he was talking about. That look made him appear almost ten years older.

"We promise Alex," Fox said, using his proper name on purpose to convey he was serious. "But you don't have to if you don't want to."

Alex snorted. "And allow you to try and find out by other means? No. I can see the only thing I can do to stop you is by giving you something and if I have to do that it'll be on my terms."

"Ok." There wasn't much Fox could say to that which wouldn't make him feel even worse about himself.

"Good. Now, I'm going to sleep." With that he left, leaving four very ashamed men in his wake.

The next day was uneventful. Alex wasn't in the mood to speak with any of them just yet and so he mostly stayed in his room except for meals. The only time one of them actively went to him was Snake to check how he was feeling and to give him a new bottle of pain killers as the one he had had run out.

The morning after that, however, was different in the sense that when he woke up everything was silent. Normally he could at least here one of the unit moving around but no, this time it was silent and it immediately set Alex on edge. He dressed in record time and went out to investigate.

He was met with a fairly average sight, considering the possibilities that had been running through his head. All of them but Fox were sitting around the table discussing something quietly. The news was on but it had been put on silent. When they realised Alex was there, they stopped talking and turned to him, grim-faced. A sinking feeling settled in Alex's stomach.

"What's going on?" He asked, eyes inadvertently darting to the TV which was showing scenes of a fire. Alex would have dismissed it except he recognised that area and he recognised that house. It was his home.

He ran to the remote and turned the volume up.

"…currently the source of the fire is unconfirmed but it is thought it was an accident due to a fault in the gas system. There have been no reported deaths. Tune in later for an update."

The remote fell from his hands and he staggered backwards, causing him to fall onto the sofa in a boneless heap. His home. Gone. The last connection he had to a life before MI6 had disappeared in mere seconds and Alex wasn't sure what to feel.

"Cub..Alex. Alex!" Someone was calling him. Strange, he'd only just heard them when by the looks on their faces suggested they'd been trying to get his attention for a while. His eyes were blurred though and he couldn't make them out. He'd forgotten to blink.

"You're back," Alex answered tonelessly, when he saw it was Fox who'd been calling him. He hadn't heard him get back in. Absently, Alex knew he must be in shock, he'd felt this on a larger scale when Jack had died, but he didn't know what to do about it.

"I've just been to MI6 to see what they could tell me. The attack was deliberate but they don't understand the motive. Whoever did it must have known you wouldn't be there," Fox informed him. Blunt had been very brief in their meeting, refusing to give much away and it irritated him to no end. He'd just told him that they were working on it which wasn't helpful at all.

"Of course it was," Alex answered bluntly. Unrestrained anger entered him, signalling the shock was dissipating. Of course the attack was deliberate. It was too much to ask that he finally be allowed a semblance of peace. No, he would never escape this life. He'd pissed of way too many people to be able to have that. This was all MI6's fault. If they'd never recruited him then he'd still have a home, he'd still have Jack, have a normal life…

Alex knew he had to get out of there before he started crying. He wasn't just mourning the loss of his home, but the loss of his old life. MI6 had taken it all away from him. He made to stand up but Fox placed a hand on his shoulder, halting him.

"Alex…if you want to talk about it" He trailed off, looking at Alex expectantly but the teen just shook his head and moved from his grip.

"I just want to be left alone," He muttered and Fox could do no more than let him go. He turned to the others who looked back equally helpless. They heard the door slam and then the sound of something hitting the wall. That sound repeated a few times before it ended and they heard a stifled sob that made them all wince.

"At least he's releasing it instead of bottling it up," Snake said with a feeble shrug.

Wolf sighed. "This is seriously fucked up," he said and the others agreed.

"I wish there was a way we could help instead of just trying to get him to talk to us," Eagle lamented.

Wolf's head perked up as he suddenly had an idea. "I have an idea of something we could do. Something which may get his mind of things."

K-Unit gave Alex a few hours to himself before telling him of their plan. Fox nominated himself to go and to inform Alex of it. He knocked on the teen's door and was relieved that Alex allowed him to come inside instead of outright dismissing him, like he'd been anticipating.

Alex didn't look great, his eyes were red rimmed and he could see a noticeable dent in the wall along with the beginnings of bruises forming on the teen's scraped knuckles, but he looked fairly calm now, with only a resigned look on his face.

"What do you want?" Alex asked, refusing to look at him.

Fox settled himself on the desk chair. "Firstly, I wanted to see how you were doing."

Alex shrugged and didn't bother answering. He wasn't fine but he was dealing with it like he dealt with everything else that happened in his crap life.

"I guess I really shouldn't expect anymore," Fox said. "Listen, me and the others were thinking that you haven't really been out much recently. How would you feel about going camping?"

Eagle had wanted to make it a surprise in the hopes of coaxing him out, but Fox thought the boy had probably had enough surprises lately and would refuse to get in the car if he wasn't told where they were going.

"No thanks."

Fox could see what was going to happen. Alex would end up probably spending the rest of his days living with them hidden in his room, only coming out for meals. How it had been since he arrived really. It wouldn't be good for the teen and it would probably drive him and the others a bit crazy, knowing he was there but not being able to do a damn thing to help because Alex didn't want it. He knew he was being a bit optimistic, but he truly thought some time in the outdoors might help.

"I know you probably don't feel up to the moment but we really think it would do you some good. You haven't been out much lately and I'm sure you're getting a bit stir crazy."

"Not up to it? I wonder why that is. It's not like my home has just been burnt to the ground officially making me an orphan and homeless and the only people I have left to turn to are the people who caused the situation in the first place!"

Damn, Fox really felt bad for Alex. When he put it like that, it was a wonder he hadn't lost his sanity. The kid probably had some major trust issues and a lack of faith in adults. It wasn't surprising, the way he had been treated.

"You can turn to us," Fox offered. "That's the whole reason we're here."

Alex scoffed. "And how long's that going to last? Until I'm better and they send me off on my next mission while you all get on with your lives? What's the point?" He twisted onto his side, ignoring his protesting ribs, effectively putting a barrier between himself and Fox. Fox wasn't going to give up that easily though. He was determined to sort this out.

"I don't know what will happen after," Fox admitted. "But you can be damned sure I'm not going to let you go on another mission if I can help it."

Alex softly snorted. "Nice wish. Try telling Blunt that and see how well it goes."

He had a good point, and the promise had been a bit of the spur of the moment thing, as most things seemed to be when concerning Alex, but Fox was suddenly very resolute that Alex would not be under MI6's thumb any longer.

"I'm not sure about how I'll go about it," he confessed, "but I swear to you I will try my best, as will the others."

"But why?" The voice sounded so young, so lost, that Fox's heart broke slightly.

"Because you're a child, Alex. A boy forced to grow up too quickly. Hell, the stuff I've seen so far has terrified me and I am an adult who willingly signed up for it. I can't begin to imagine the stuff you've seen but I want to make sure you don't have to see it again. Those nightmares you've been having? I get them too and I know that can be as scary as hell. I consented to them, you didn't. What Blunt has done is wrong and I want to make things right."

Alex stayed silent for a bit, digesting Fox's words.

"How do I know I can trust you to keep your word?" He asked bitterly, thinking of all the other adults who had failed him previously.

"You don't, but that's the whole point of trust. You just have faith in that person. How about if you start calling me Ben? Would that help? Show that the past is behind us."

Alex thought about it. "Ok," he murmured and Ben smiled.

"You know" Alex said quietly, still not looking at Ben, "this probably wouldn't have happened if it weren't for my Uncle."

Ben stayed quiet. This was the first piece of information Alex had offered willingly and he wasn't going to knock it.

"He was a spy as well," Alex carried on. "He trained me for this life. If it weren't for him doing that I probably wouldn't have been anything special, and they would have left me alone. I still loved him though," he hastily added, as he thought Ben would accuse him of not doing such a thing.

"Of course you did, he was your Uncle," Ben said understandingly, imaging a younger Alex being taught to fight, to hide. To be a spy. It was an uncomfortable picture.

"Yeah…" Alex drifted off. For a second Ben thought he'd fallen asleep till he spoke up again. "You can tell the other's I'll go camping."

Ben grinned at Alex's back. "That's good. Eagle will be pleased. I know he's been looking forward to making smores."

Alex didn't laugh, but he did give an amused noise which was more than Ben was hoping. He left Alex alone, after telling him they'd be leaving that afternoon and he should pack soon, and exited his room with a large feeling of accomplishment. He honestly hadn't expected it to go so well but he felt he understood the teen more and all the memories of Brecon Beacons seemed even worse. He had acted like such a shit and hadn't really spared a thought about Alex after until Wolf had spoken about him. Even then it was a short conversation.

The other's looked at him expectantly when he entered and he smiled.

"Looks like we're going camping."

Eagle cheered whilst Wolf and Snake looked vaguely impressed.

"I honestly didn't think the kid would say yes," Wolf said.

"Neither did I," Ben admitted. "But we had a bit of a chat and I may have promised that we would do all we can to make sure he never went on another mission."

"Well we'll certainly try," Snake said determinedly and without hesitation.

"Yeah," Eagle agreed. "Blunt's a bastard for what he's done. Alex doesn't deserve that shit."

"We can think about what to do after we've been camping," Wolf decided. "This'll be a chance for Alex to hopefully have a good time. And us to. When was the last time we went camping for fun?"

"Too long" Eagle complained. "Let's get the stuff ready. I can't wait!"

As per usual, all reviews, favourites and follows are immensely appreciated! Thanks guys!