DISCLAIMER: I don't own Alex Rider. Do you realise how this is on fanfiction.net?

CUB: HAZARDOUS TO MY HEALTH

Alex hummed to himself happily as he crawled through thick, sloppy mud for the eleventh time. Many people would be exhausted after doing it eleven times, but not Alex. Instead of going over it at a quick pace he travelled at a painfully slow speed. He wasn't trying to annoy Wolf so much he broke his hand from punching a tree. That was just a bonus. "PICK UP THE PACE, CUB!" Wolf yelled, his bandaged hand held close to his chest, it was almost protective.

Alex sighed. "I don't kno-" He started singing. 4 powerful glares were sent Alex's way. Alex could sense them, that was the power they contained. "No singing? Okay then, maybe one day you'll understand singing counters depression. True story." Alex could tell just by the quiet shift of footsteps that someone was coming over. He had his money of Wolf, since if K unit was a gang he would be the ringleader. Just as he cleared the barbed wire Alex felt himself being picked up by the back of his clothes. " I don't remember this being part of the obstacle course." Alex said seriously as he stared a fuming Wolf in the face.

"We told you last time, this isn't a fucking resort for teenagers like you who don't know when to shut the fuck up." Wolf snarled. Alex could match his codename to his behaviour. It was clearly a very fitting circumstance. "We don't have time for your scouts songs."

"It wasn't scouts songs. In fact it was, in theory, you. As that is a chant that many military forces use as it distracts the recruits from any pain they have." Alex corrected. "Scouts songs are a little different. A little like this." Alex licked his lips and started singing a song he had learnt as a scout when he was younger. He sung it deliberately off key. Alex groaned quietly as Wolf dropped him. Okay then. No songs.

"Stop giving us fucking attitude, Cub." Wolf growled at Alex.

"Stop fucking swearing, Wolf." Alex scrambled to his feet as Wolf's face twisted with anger.

"I want to take you to the shooting range and shoot you several times." Wolf said in a deathly serious tone.

"Isn't that hazardous to my health?" Alex asked. Wolf gritted his teeth before storming off, leaving Alex alone with 3 of his unit members. "Can I stop this obstacle course?" Alex yelled as he saw the dark sky begin to tint with the colours of a sunrise. Wolf didn't answer. Shrugging, Alex walked off towards the mess hall. The possible forms of human life they served (and called food) might help him. If it came to the worse he could shove it in Wolf's face. Although that might piss him off further. That would be an interesting moment.

Alex knew that he was expected to give Wolf respect, just because he and many other SAS soldiers had risked their lives for the country. However, he didn't see why he should respect them. He had risked his life to save the world, yet he didn't get any respect from anyone. Jones, Blunt and every adult in this world saw him as a irresponsible kid. Alex wished that was the case. He wished he could be just a kid. He was trapped in his mind that should never have belonged to someone his age. He could never forget all the deaths he had caused, just because he breathed.

Many people said he was depressed. Alex knew it was more than that. He lived life with the same feelings as most people, but at times he felt everything wash over him, everything that he regretted in life, and he became tired. Not the kind of tired that could be cured with a night's sleep. The kind of bone weary tiredness you get when you realise that you have nothing to live for and you're sick of thinking about your past. It was this phase that Alex liked to call 'momentary depression'.

No one else would understand. All they saw him as, once they learnt his past and his present, was a grenade. All you had to do was pull the pin and he would explode. In the most metaphorical way, of course.

As soon as Alex entered the mess hall he was reminded of his school without Tom. Everywhere he looked was unfriendly faces. The SAS men stared at him, with cold, unforgiving looks. The teenagers glanced at him, gossiping about him and discretely taking up any spare seats. Not one person looked friendly enough to let him sit with them.

It was amusing in some sort of way to Alex. He had saved their lives many times, yet they despised him because of a lie. His life was a lie, even the early stages. Perhaps that's why he was so comfortable in his own web of them. Alex collected his plate full of delicious mush and scanned the room for a spot to sit in for the final time. Seeing no one wanted him to sit at their table he went to the corner of the room and sat on the floor. He picked and ate little of his food. It had became a habit from the amount of times he had been captured.

After he had ate what he wanted to he rose silently, tipping the remains of the mush in the bin and slid out. Not one person had heard him move. No one had seen him leave either. It was then that the SAS men realised that the boy they knew as 'Cub' was a mystery. No one knew anything about him. The only things they did know were assumptions. To them, it was better that way. After all, it's not like Cub was important. He was just someone pretending that he was as tough as the soldiers were.

Alex had always hated gossip. It was probably because he was the thing they were gossiping about. But he knew as he stood with the rest of the class, waiting for the units that would train them, that he realised that the only thing worse than being gossiped about, was to be gossiped about while you were in front of them.

"Druggie Rider...did you hear?...beat up..."

"Has no...went off the rails...use to be..."

He was sick of hearing them make up stories about how he became a 'drug dealer' and 'drug addict'. He could almost laugh at the irony. He wasn't allowed paracetamol for things such as headaches in MI6's books. In case he became 'addicted'. "I can hear you." Alex said in a loud voice. Everyone instantly shut up. After all, Druggie Rider was probably violent after taking his drugs.

"SILENCE!" Wolf yelled, not noticing that the group of school kids were already silent, as he stamped forward. The units were hot on his heels. "I don't want you here." Wolf said quietly, his eyes scanning the mass of kids.

"Could of fooled me." Alex muttered to himself.

"To me, you're a waste of space. If it was up to me I wouldn't let you come here; even if it is for protection values." Wolf continued. Behind him Fox shifted lazily, rolling his eyes at points of what Wolf was saying. "All of you are worthless." Wolf's eyes latched onto Alex's. "You have no value. The men here have gone through more than any of you could ever dream of encountering. The teenager 'struggles' you face are nothing in comparison to ours. We've seen people die in front of us, and we couldn't do anything about it." Silence was the only thing that followed.

"Okay, so if you follow us...we're going for a first aid lecture." Snake jumped in. "You'll need to know this at some point in your life. It's why we were asked to teach you the basics."