I do not own Alex Rider... or One Direction... crap I just gave some stuff away... great, now I'm terrified... anyway....
"I'm sorry." Tom said at last.
"It's not your fault, kid." Snake answered, wearily.
"No, it is. I shouldn't have come, but I didn't really have anywhere else to go." Tom persisted.
"You're right. You shouldn't have come, but you did, and you're not leaving now." Wolf spoke up, his voice rough and gravely, and if Tom noticed the redness around his eyes, he didn't say anything.
"Snake will show you to your room, and we will continue this conversation in the morning, but as for right now-"
A loud thump was heard from the floor above them; Snake and Wolf shared a quick look before taking off toward the stairs, going up two at a time.
Tom followed close behind, apprehension rising up, his chest getting tight with the weight of it. Whirling around the corner into the bedroom they apparently all shared, he was met with a sight he didn't think he'd ever see.
Alex was kneeling on the floor, in front of the smashed window, unmoving. The curtains fluttered in the slight breeze, the blood stains on them illuminated by the moonlight. Rain was coming in, soaking the material, and wetting the carpet.
"Alex?" Snake asked softly.
Alex remained quiet, but Tom could see his shoulders shaking in barely repressed emotion. Wolf inhaled sharply, and Tom followed his line of sight, to where one of the beds had been ripped apart.
"Alex, where is Fox?" Wolf stepped forward, shutting the window, his face impassive but his actions tight and controlled.
"They took him." Alex whispered. Snake knelt down to Alex's level and softly took the note Alex had been clutching.
"Wolf." He said, warningly, before passing him the bloodied paper.
Welcome back, Alex.
******************************
"Well, we know for a fact that it's Fox's blood, but I don't think it's a life threatening injury. They probably just used it to solidify the threat, make it real and tangible." Snake explained to the head of MI6.
Lights were flashing all around the front lawn, agents, forensics, and police mingling on the crime scene, while the sky began to lighten and the dark of night dissipate.
Wolf was being quesitoned by another agent, while Eagle, sat with his head in between his knees. He'd been restocking on groceries, thus missing the entire fiasco with Alex, Tom and Fox. He was still in shock really.
Mrs. Jones remained silent.
"With all due respect ma'am, they're picking us off one by one." Snake said sharply, not sounding at all respectful.
"I'm well aware of the dangers of protecting Alex, solider. I trust you to remember your place and leave to MI6 that which is MI6's business." Mrs Jones replied, her tone clipped.
"Mrs. Jones. First it was Falcon, now Fox. I'm just not sure how much more we can take." Snake gritted his teeth, and tried to hold his tongue. He was exhausted and discouraged; arguing with the head of one of the world's most efficient spy organizations would get him nowhere.
"Hopefully you won't have to deal with anymore problems. I'm moving you to a new location where you're new team-mates will already be waiting." Mrs. Jones took out her phone, furiously typing away at something.
"Team-mates?" Snake asked, incredulously. "There's more than one?"
"Yes. It's obvious to me that Alex is more than you can handle just by yourself, and so four more men will be joining you later today." Mrs. Jones replied, obviously distracted.
"Agents or soldiers?" The SAS soldier questioned, his voice sharp.
Mrs Jones merely smiled at him, and answered, "Yes."
"So they're like Fox?"
"So many questions. You'll have to ask them yourself." She made to get in the car that had just pulled up, but was stopped by a sudden commotion nearby.
It was Tom, yelling and biting and trying very hard to get to Mrs. Jones, the arms of her bodyguards stopping him from getting any closer than twenty feet.
"Let me go!" He struggled and managed to break free, only to get grabbed again and dragged away. "I have to talk to to Mrs. Jones!" Looking wildly at the blank faces around him, his eyes caught Snake's and he hurriedly blurted out, "Snake, Alex's gone to find SCORPIA!"
Snake stiffened and turned to Mrs. Jones. Her lips were pressed together.
"This changes nothing. Proceed as planned. I'll contact you later with new orders." She motioned to her men and they released Tom, who glared at them and muttered something under his breath that probably wasn't very complimentary.
"Mrs. Jones. Alex has LITERALLY run off, on his own, to find SCORPIA and get murdered, and you do nothing?! We can still stop him. He doesn't have to die!" Snake was livid. Alex was just a boy; there was no way he'd ever make it out of SCORPIA's clutches alive, much less with Falcon and Fox.
Mrs Jones turned to face Snake head on, her grey eyes flashing. "If there's one thing I've learned from Alex, it's to never underestimate him. He always comes out in the end. You need to trust me, and follow your orders. That's all I require of you. Until then, I suggest you stop questioning your authority, or I will remove Alex from your unit's custody, and find a replacement for you as well." Without waiting for a reply, Mrs Jones slid into her vehicle and sped away.
******************************
Alex did not have a plan.
In fact, he didn't have anything except a burning hate for anything connected to the spy world and a desperate urge to fix everything.
So many people had died because of his mistakes; he wasn't about to add two more names to that list.
He stopped to catch his breath, early morning light just beginning to light up the road he was traveling. He'd been running for a good two hours, first through the woods, and then switching to the road.
London had been his destination; there were files about SCORPIA at the headquarters that would certainly be useful.
Alex panted, pressing a hand to his stomach. It was aching and his lungs burned. Obviously he wasn't as in shape as he'd thought.
Still breathless, Alex took off running again, only to stop and fall to his knees, clutching his abdomen. It burned with a fire, and he removed his hand, fully expecting to see blood. But there was nothing.
Hissing, he stood up with shaking limbs and began walking, hunched over in pain.
He had to get to London.
******************************
All-in-all, Panther was having an all right day. Having received orders from Mrs. Jones to join a group of SAS soldiers in containing and caretaking (C 'n C they liked to call it back at MI6) yesterday, he'd left early that morning to travel to a location an hour outside of London's suburbs (seven hours from his previous assignment). He hadn't been given much information concerning the people he'd be spending the next six months with, but that was fine with him. He preferred to keep himself to himself, and he could only pray the soldiers would be the same, although he very much doubted it.
Units were renowned to being as close as a family; a brotherhood. Panther could remember exactly one time during his early years were he'd had a family like that. And then it'd all gone up in flames.
The agent went over the rules in his head.
1.) Panther was now his name; no-one was to know the real name of anyone but the person in their care, which was a male named Alex.
2.) No loud or unexpected noises; Alex is dangerous and volatile, and possible triggers are unknown.
3.) Do not speak about your past. You're not there to make friends, you're there as a temporary replacement for a missing team-mate.
Panther scoffed and pulled over for a lunch break, finished off with a cigarette, his one addiction he'd never been able to stop.
Missing team-mate. Karma is out to get me, I swear.
Starting the car, Panther took off, his mind drifting again.
His only worry about this assignment was his dark, Middle-Eastern skin. Acceptance had to earned, he'd learned that, but what if they judged first and never let him prove himself. It had happened before...
Panther shook his head and checked the bag Mrs. Jones had given him, which was sitting in the passenger seat.
"Medication." She'd said. "For Alex. He hasn't asked for it yet, but he'll need it. You'll know what I mean when it happens."
"Why the secrecy?" Panther asked aloud, annoyance seeping through his tones.
Twenty minutes, when the music coming from the radio was beginning to get on Panther's nerves, he saw a figure in the distance, stumbling. It was a hot day, so Panther figured maybe they were just dehydrated. Their car had probably broken down, and that's why they were walking toward London. Still, instinct had the agent reaching for his Beretta, even as he slowed down.
The closer he got, the more he realized that it was kid, which made his earlier theory about a broken-down car rather obsolete. The teen was stumbling, and clutching his stomach, and Panther's gut clenched. Something wasn't right here.
"Hey, kid!" Panther called out, stopping about three meters from the boy. "Need some help?" He may have been on a time-sensitive mission, but he wasn't heartless.
The teen looked up, his brown eyes desperate and pain-filled, before slumping to the ground, his eyes rolling back in his head.
Panther quickly turned the car off and grabbed his keys and a water bottle before running to the kid.
Blood was dripping from a cut on the back of his head, but the brunette seemed to fine otherwise. He felt for a fever. The teenager was burning up, and his eyes twitched under closed eyelids.
"You've got yourself into a right mess, lad." Panther said, before acting on an impulse and carrying the limp boy with him to his car. He weighed hardly anything, and that worried Panther more than it should have.
Just as he was setting the boy down in the back seat, his phone rang. An expletive fell from the agents lips, and he reached into his back pocket, pulling out the newly-issued, secure i-phone with only one contact. A memory came up suddenly, unbidden and unwanted. His old phone, that had more contacts than he had pounds, but with only four important ones.
Panther blinked hard, trying to dispel the painful thoughts, and picked up.
"Yes, Mrs. Jones." He said, calmly, trying to adjust the position of the still-unconscious teen lying on his new leather cushions.
"There's been a slight change, Panther. A new unit will also be joining the team. In fact, they should already be there. The location has changed, because their cover was blown, which is why more men will be coming to help. Also, the charge has gone missing." Mrs. Jones sounded clipped and tense.
"Missing?" Panther paused, thrown off guard with the new development, and opened the water-bottle to drink a little, before trying to cool down the kid.
"Yes, he's going to try and hunt down SCORPIA. Look," She continued over the sounds of Panther choking that were probably traveling through the line better than he would have liked, "he's going to be experiencing some pain soon, which is why I gave you the meds, because I thought he'd be alright but things have gone to hell... Anyway, he's most likely headed toward London so if you pass him on the road let me know. He's medium height, skinny, brown eyes-"
"And brunette hair, yeah, I've got him." Panther finished, sighing, running his fingers through the knotted brunette hair.
"Wait-... You've got him?" Mrs. Jones sounded shocked.
"Yeah, he passed out on the road in front of me. I thought maybe he was homeless or something, because, you know, that happens and I'm not about to let this teen die of heatstroke. He's in some obvious pain though, got a temp and he's still not regained consciousness."
"When he wakes, give him the meds, they'll help with the fever. As for the mission, just go ahead and bring him to the safe house. I'll text you the location." Click.
"Well." Panther looked at the kid and sighed again. "This day just got a whole lot more interesting."
******************************
Three hours later, pulling into the short driveway connect to an old country manor, Alex still hadn't woken up, but that was the least of Panther's worries... It probably shouldn't have been, but he was about to meet the seven men he'd be spending a lot of time with in the near future; it needed to be played correctly or the next few months would be unbearable.
Once he'd parked, a man came out of the front door. He was medium build, and Panther was pleased to see he wouldn't be the only dark-skinned person on this particular assignment.
When the newcomer reached Panther he held out his hand to shake. "Wolf. Where's the kid?"
"Panther. He's in the back seat. Still hasn't woken up." Panther stepped aside as Wolf went forward and opened the side door, checking Alex's temperature. He was murmuring under his breath and the look of concern and genuine kindness caught Panther off guard.
"The others are already here, so you can go ahead and take your stuff inside. Can you ask Snake to come out here please? He's the one wearing a black Adidas hoodie and grey sweatpants."
"Yeah. Sure." Panther responded, a little bewildered. He opened the hood of the car and took out his two duffle-bags.
"You brought two? Didn't take you for a fashion geek." Wolf remarked dryly.
I'm not. That was someone else's job.
"It's not all clothing." Panther replied. "Don't jump to conclusions with me. You'll always be disappointed." He slammed the trunk shut and walked to the still open front door, gravel crunching under his feet.
Stepping inside, the agent looked around at the rather contrasting inside. Very modernly furnished, the main clearly still retained some of the class that came with old houses. It was a large open plan, almost like a London flat, with stairs going up and down directly ahead, a hallway to the far left beside the kitchen.
Two men were in the kitchen, one of which was wearing a black Adidas hoodie and grey sweatpants.
"Excuse me?" Panther began, gaining the men's attention. "Wolf told me to tell Snake to come out to the car."
"That would be me." A very Scottish accent came out of the man on the right, and he shook hands with Panther before quickly leaving the house.
"Lion." The other grinned and waved a little.
"Panther." He paused. "Where are we sleeping?"
"Upstairs. There's only three rooms and the first unit has already taken two rooms for them and Alex, so you'll be with my unit in the big room on the left. Here. I'll show you." He put his mug down and took one of Panther's bags.
"What do you have in here? It's weighs way too much to just be clothes." The brunette joked.
"An agent always comes prepared." Panther spoke slowly, unsure of how much to say.
Thankfully, they reached the room before Lion had a chance to respond.
"In here, you can have the bed next to the window." Lion gestured for him to go ahead.
Panther walked in and took in the large room. It was painted a light blue, with two sets of bunk beds pushed against the wall, with a single bed by the window. That wasn't what caught his attention though.
"Hey, Fennec. Get your head out of your book and say hi." Lion said, but it reached Panther's ears as if from a great distance. "He's actually Fox too, but we call him Fennec because it's a type of fox and there was already a Fox supposed to be here..." His voice slowly disappeared until all Panther could hear was his own pounding heart and heavy breathing.
No. Way.
Fennec looked up, his blue eyes piercing and cold, widening in surprise, shock, hurt. The emotions flickered across his face faster than Panther could document them.
Finally, he spoke.
"Zayn?!"
Hehe, sorry for the extremely long wait...no excuses expect for that I had written myself into a corner. But I hope updates will be more frequent now... Anyway, LOL, this chapter is dedicated to a user on , fuzzyshungee for sending me like three reviews begging me to update and making me feel guilty. This is probably the only reason I rushed to finished this chapter instead of making sure it was good enough for me... so yeah, thank them for this. Also, did I mention how scared I am of this chapter not going down well, since I brought the boys into this? Don't worry, it's still going to be about Alex mainly, but there is going to be a few sub-plots... if you REALLY hate it, message me about it and I may consider opening up my old draft of this story, and continuing that one and this one, so you have like two different versions if you want... I guess.
Over and out,
AgentAlexxRider101
"Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD." - Psalm 31:24