Self-Destruction Made Easy: An Alex Rider Fanfiction

The Internship Of A Lifetime

The walk to the front doors was a short one, which, thankfully, ended with the doors opening automatically. At the front desk was a burly man, who looked to be about 40 in a suit and tie. He had a head of short-cropped hair with a mustache and goatee. Alex barely had both feet inside the room before a gun was trained on his head.

---Happy's point of view---

It was one o'-fucking- clock in the morning and he was barely staying awake. The only thing that kept him from falling asleep was the constant ping of the force field thing, which made a beeping noise every time an object got within 5 feet of the building. It hadn't gone off in a while though and Happy was starting to fall into a cautious sleep when the force field went crazy.

His reaction was delayed: he had jumped up from his chair and pulled his gun out of its holster just as the automatic door had opened. He stood there, frozen. His gun was aimed right at the forehead of a pink-haired twenty-something, who had a suitcase in hand. As they stood there in total silence, the automatic doors closed with a shudder.

If Happy thought his reaction was delayed, this kid's reaction was ten times slower. It took him at least seven seconds to externally react to the gun, his face contorting into one of fear and confusion.

"You have three seconds to tell me who you are. If you don't, you're going to get really familiar with the layout of the closest hospital." Happy called across the lobby, internally cursing himself for the awkward threat.

"Jesus Christ, my name is Alex. Alex Rider. I'm here for the internship."

"ID?"

"I'm going to reach into my back pocket for it. Just give me a second. I'm not armed."

'Alex Rider' placed his bags on the ground and, with trembling hands, fumbled through his pockets looking for his ID. While he did, Happy eyed him suspiciously.

"I have it, and I'm going to remove it from my back pocket." 'Alex' said, voice shaking. He slowly pulled his hand out from behind him and revealed a...wallet. That was not what Happy was expecting, but he was relieved it was what he got.

"Toss it over. Now."

'Alex' did, and it landed on the floor at Happy's feet with a thump. He slowly picked it up, keeping his eyes and gun on 'Alex' the whole time. As he stood back up, he opened the wallet in front of his face, so his eyes never left the young adult.

In the clear pocket of the boy's wallet was his driver's license. There was a grainy picture of him, pink hair, scars, and all on the left. On the right was a date confirming he was seventeen, and above it, a name printed in black. Alex Rider.

Happy snapped the wallet shut, and sighed, lowering his gun.

"Ok, looks like you are who you said you were. I'm sorry about all that, just...precautions." He tossed the wallet back to Alex, the kid barely catching it.

"Some precautions..." Alex murmured, thinking Happy couldn't hear him. He chose to ignore it.

Happy stepped behind his desk, shuffling papers around, looking for the packet Tony left for Alex. He coughed awkwardly and tried to make small talk.

"Your plane was delayed?" Alex looked at him quizzically, probably wondering if they were just going to ignore the whole 'held-at-gunpoint' situation. Hesitantly, he answered.

"Yeah, I would have called to let you know, but my phone was dead."

"That's ok. Listen, I'm sorry for...earlier. It's just orders."

"That's fine, I'd rather stay here knowing there are competent guards at the front doors anyway." Alex was being too gracious, Happy thought. Not that he wasn't grateful. With a hum of success, he finally uncovered the packet and placed it on the top-most counter of his desk.