"Er sorry mate, change of plans, we can't meet up with you after all."
"Why not?"
Wolf looked at Alex who was listening to the conversation with idle interest. On the phone was Bull, Snake's cousin, who they'd made plans with soon after they had been sent on leave. Of course those plans had been made without Alex in mind and now they couldn't leave the teen on his own, especially with everything that had gone on. It had been three days since Tom's visit and since that time he'd had a check-up at the hospital where he had been informed that his burns would definitely not be leaving a scar and his ribs were healing very well. Whilst they were all pleased at Alex's recovery there had been a solemn air around them as the more Alex healed the further he was in Blunt's clutches. They had yet to decide what they were going to do about that.
"Something's happened, work stuff and we can't leave the flat for too long."
"I thought the whole point was that you were on leave. Surely they didn't call you back early?"
"Not them, MI6."
"…Oh. Well, could we come to you?"
Wolf hesitated. On the one hand he hadn't seen Bull or his team in ages and he knew Snake really wanted to catch up with his cousin but on the other they had Alex to consider.
"You know, if I can have my friend over you can have yours over. You don't have to ask permission, it is your house after all," Alex pointed out, having heard Bull's suggestion.
Wolf mouthed an 'are you sure' to Alex and when he got an eye roll combined with a head nod he replied that that was fine and if they could come over at seven that would be great.
"That's fine, see you then!"
Wolf hung up the phone and Alex said, "I'll be in my room tonight if you need me before you ask. While I'm sure one of you will try and make this into some sort of bonding experience you guys need to talk to some other adults without me hanging around and I need to study if I don't want to rely on being a spy for the rest of my life."
Slightly miffed, Wolf replied, "I was not going to turn it into some bonding experience, in fact I was going to suggest the same thing. Yes really." He added at Alex's raised eyebrows.
"Whatever makes you feel better," Alex shrugged. "By the way, need me to cook dinner?"
"Nah we'll order take out. You want some?"
Alex thought of the number of take-outs he'd had in the past week. While he enjoyed take-out, he really wished the others would just accept that he could cook every day. For some reason they had a major guilt complex over the thought of Alex cooking for them every day.
"No, I'll make myself something. Ben got the food I asked for right?"
"Yep, though I don't know what you're going to do with all of that."
"It's called cooking."
"Still seems like a lot."
"And this is why you're not a cook."
In the end, Alex made himself a curry. He knew the others would be confused as to why he was pretty much making himself something they could have easily ordered out for but they just didn't appreciate how different home-made food tasted. And anyway, Saturday night was homemade curry night. It always had been and this was the first time he was getting to bring back the tradition.
From inside the lounge, Ben could smell the curry cooking and got up to have a look.
"Is there anything you can't make?" Ben asked as he stared at the pot containing the curry sauce. He looked slightly mesmerised and it made Alex smirk.
"Jack taught me. We always made a curry together on a Saturday night."
Strangely enough, though he was talking about Jack the words came out easier than they had previously been. His heart still gave a twinge, but it was no longer the heart-wrenching pain it had been and tears no longer threatened to fall at the thought of her.
Ben also noticed this and felt relieved that it seemed Alex was doing better. Still, he hastened to change the subject.
"Do you think you could teach me? I know I'm not the best cook but Alex, this smells better than any take-away and it would be good if you weren't the only one who knew how to cook."
Alex hesitated for a moment, this was his and Jack's tradition after all, but Jack was dead and Ben had a point. There was no harm in it.
"Yeah sure, can you grab the chicken out of the fridge?"
Grinning, Ben did as Alex requested and the two ended up making Alex's curry together. Well, it was going to be just Alex's until everyone else smelt the food and asked whether he could make enough for everyone. They were just lucky Ben had gone a bit overboard with the shopping.
The doorbell rang at exactly seven and Snake went to open the door. As soon as he did he was bombarded by four men, each carrying their own snacks and drinks.
"Alright guys? How have you been?" Bull asked as he set his crisps on the table.
"We've been ok. It's been ages. How's Liz?"
Bull grinned. "I proposed to her last week and she said yes! Rabbit, sorry Rick, also had a little girl a couple of days ago, didn't you mate?"
"That I did. Most beautiful thing I've ever seen but she's got a pair of lungs on her. Anyway, what was the reason you couldn't come out? Everything looks fine here."
Snake paused before responding. They had wanted to tell the others about Alex however the teen had been adamant he just wanted to study and they knew if they told the others about Alex then they would demand to see him. In the end, Fox saved them by giving the easiest response.
"Sorry guys," he said apologetically, "classified."
Though they looked put out, the four accepted that response.
"Oh well, we can still have fun here right? We don't need to go out for a good night."
"Hell no we don't!"
An hour and a half later, Alex was reading a book in his room. At least, he was trying to. Since the others had finished their own dinner, and how Alex had been pleased at their praise, they had started playing music which had become increasingly louder as the night progressed. It was getting so loud Alex was surprised the neighbours hadn't complained yet. To make it worse, it wasn't even good music.
Alex continued to try and read his book for the next five minutes until he heard a loud 'whooo' and snapped. At this rate he was going to get a full-fledged head-ache and he really could not deal with that. His initial plan of remaining hidden disintegrated as the noise level continued to grow and his patience wore thinner and thinner.
Barely restraining himself from slamming his book on his desk, Alex grabbed his phone and stormed out of his room. He charged into the living room and paused for a second as he saw what was going on. In the centre of the room, Eagle and another man Alex didn't recognise were play fighting (at least that's what he assumed) while the others and 3 men Alex also hadn't seen before were cheering them on.
None of them had noticed Alex entering and so to get their attention he slammed the door behind. Almost instantaneously all the men stopped what they were doing to stare at Alex. Snake, who was nearest the CD player, turned down the music.
"Could you please try and keep the noise down, I am trying to study," Alex said in his most calm and pleasant voice. It also happened to be his most fear-inspiring.
There was silence for a few seconds before the one had been fighting Eagle gained his bearings again and said, "Uh, so I guess this was the complication you mentioned?"
Ben was the one to answer him. "Um…guys, this is Alex. Alex, this is Bull,' he pointed the one who had been fighting Eagle, "Rabbit, Crow and Badger," he indicated each one in turn. "They make up P-Unit."
Crow began to eye him strangely. "Wait, I think I know you," he said and then his eyes widened in recognition. "You're that kid from Brecon aren't you! The one who was there while these guys were training. I heard all about you!"
"I'm getting the feeling I'm pretty famous," Alex commented. "Anyway, as I was saying, keep the noise down or I'll show you a video." He brought out a phone and aimed it in K-Unit's direction. They all knew what it was instantly.
"You said you deleted that!" Eagle accused, stabbing a finger towards Alex.
Alex gave a small grin and shook the phone. "Spy, remember? What did you expect?"
"What's on the phone?" Crow asked and Alex had to commend him and the others on their ability to not be asking millions of questions about what he was doing there. Looked like they had more restraint than K-Unit.
"Nothing, nothing at all," Snake answered and Alex had to stifle a chuckle at how panicked he sounded.
"Doesn't seem like nothing Snake," Bull taunted.
"It is nothing," Alex said. "…as long as you promise to keep the noise down," he added.
"Promise! We promise, right guys?" Eagle looked around at the others who looked really put out that they weren't going to see the infamous video but nodded regardless. K-Unit and Ben slumped slightly in relief.
"Good. Now I'm going to go but the moment the noise turns up this comes out." He gave his phone one last warning shake and left the room.
Fortunately for his head, the men did keep to their promise but it was quite funny to hear some of P-Unit intentionally turn up the music in the hopes of getting Alex out to show the video. K-Unit however foiled their plans at every turn and Alex managed to continue to work in peace.
In case you were wondering, the video itself was something Alex took the previous night. The whole thing had come about as Ben had had the bright idea of everyone going shopping. Apparently he, along with Wolf had decided they needed to go out and get some games otherwise they were going to go stir-crazy. At first they had only intended to get board games but then Eagle saw a Wii and decided they had to have it. This had then led to a Mario Kart competition when they got back with the consequences for losing becoming more and more embarrassing with each passing round. In the end, the penalty ended up being loser sings a song of the winner's choice. Alex, having played this game many times around Tom's house was the winner and Wolf, who for some reason lacked any ability to drive electronically was the unfortunate loser and Alex had given Wolf the song 'Girl's just wanted to have fun'. Now this actually isn't the video Alex was talking about (though that isn't to say he hasn't kept it for something else). No, the video Alex was talking about was one he took at the end of the night when all the men had had far too much to drink. This game involved players singing a song without the words and having the other team guess it. Under sober circumstances this game can be hilarious, so with most of them drunk it was video worthy material. Recording K-Unit all singing 'We are the champions' in slurred voices would always be the best thing on his phone.
The next morning Alex woke to a crash. Awareness came abruptly and he sat up with his fists raised ready to attack the culprit of the noise. It wasn't, however, necessary as Alex immediately saw that the perpetrator was currently lying on the floor groaning. By the door, Ben was groaning at Eagle's lack of stealth.
"Sorry Alex; didn't mean to wake you there," Ben said guiltily.
Alex narrowed his eyes at him. "What are you doing in here?"
"It's uh, nothing," Eagle said as he got up from the floor. "I just got confused about whose room this was that's all. But I see this isn't my room, so I'm just going to go…"
The two left hurriedly and Alex wondered what they were doing as there was no way he was buying their excuses. Quickly getting ready to find out what they were doing, Alex noticed something was missing. His phone.
Alex sped out his room and into the living room where he saw Eagle holding his phone, a frustrated expression on his face. Ben was beside him with an exasperated expression.
"Give me my phone back Eagle!" Alex ordered. Eagle yelped and almost dropped Alex's phone.
"I will once those videos are deleted!"
With an irritated noise, Alex charged towards Eagle who in a moment of panic threw Alex's phone to Ben who immediately started sorting through the files whilst Eagle attempted to keep the teen distracted. Alex knew what he was trying to do so changed trajectory and lunged at Ben. Ben threw the phone back to Eagle but instead of catching it, the phone fell to the floor with a loud 'crack'.
There was a second of quiet before Alex yelled, "You broke my bloody phone!"
"It was an accident!" Eagle argued but Alex could see that he wasn't too sorry as it meant the video was gone.
"If you had just left my phone alone this wouldn't have happened," Alex grumbled. Inspecting the phone he saw that the damage wasn't too bad and he might be able to fix it.
"You are going to pay for this," Alex said, holding up his cracked phone. "Both literally and figuratively. You too," he added to Ben who looked incredibly shamefaced.
"Be quiet over there," Wolf called out. During the whole phone fight the actual telephone had started ringing and Wolf, being the only one in the room who actually heard it, went to get it.
The others did as he requested and Alex was still sullenly examining his phone however when he noticed how tense Wolf's voice had become he listened in.
"Alright. One chance. We'll meet you tomorrow at four."
Wolf hung up the phone and regarded the others with a grim face. "That was Puma. He said he wanted to meet up tomorrow, and for Alex to come as well so he can apologise. He sounded genuine but you never know. I want to refuse but the Sergeant said we have to at least give him one more chance."
"Where does he want to meet?"
"He suggested laser quest as he suggested it would make it easier to bond." Wolf didn't look convinced but he continued regardless. "Also it would be better for Alex as it's something active but you don't actually get hit with anything."
"Is it really a good idea if Alex goes? Fox could just stay here," Eagle said, much more serious than he had been.
"Hey, it's fine. I want to see for myself if he's sorry," Alex said.
"You sure Cub? It would be no problem at all if you didn't want to go," Wolf said.
"I'm sure. Anyway, this gives me the opportunity to shoot him with no consequences."
The positively dangerous grin Alex gave made all three men feel glad that they were not Puma.
They arrived at the laser quest place at four the next day and it was a surprisingly large building. Puma was already waiting for them as they walked inside and to say it was a tense greeting was an understatement but fortunately they got kitted up quickly with little said to each other except an apology from Puma.
The teams ended up being Alex, Ben and Eagle against Snake, Wolf and Puma. Of course there were others on the teams but there weren't too many people there as it was a weekday. The two teams were split up and given a chance to prepare and find a good spot before they started. The area was designed like a maze and there were a few reflective surfaces that reminded Alex of a house of mirrors at a fun fair.
A horn sounded signalling the beginning of the game and Alex, part of the yellow team, spied for members of the blue. The darkness meant it was more difficult to see who exactly it was he was shooting but Alex was fairly certain he was tailing Snake from the build. He quietly snuck around a corner and aimed his plastic gun in Snake's direction and fired. His aim was true and the blue light flashed telling Snake he had been shot. Alex heard a muffled curse and smiled, moving away to find another victim whilst Snake had to wait for his life to recharge.
Out of the corner of his eye, Alex spotted a flash of blue and immediately swivelled around so he could follow it. The person was obviously quick for it wasn't soon before Alex lost them and he soon realised he couldn't see anyone, not even a reflection of colour. A bit confused but ready to go in search of someone else, Alex didn't expect the hand to come out of the darkness and wrap itself around his mouth, effectively gagging him. Barely a second after Alex saw his yellow light disappear so he and his attacker were in almost pitch black.
"I'd stop struggling if I were you Alex. After all, you don't want me to use this do you?"
The words sent a chill down Alex's spine. It was Puma. He'd been lying this whole time and now, instead of a plastic gun, he had a very real metal one and it was pressed right against Alex's back.
As I believe I said last time I posted the chapter like this, this is where the action begins to pick up again. As always, thank you for your kind reviews, new favourites and follows. I would also like to point out I have only been to a laser quest thing once and it was probably just under 10 years ago so excuse anything that doesn't seem correct.