Hey guys, so this is my first A.R. fic. Be nice, please :)

I don't own Alex Rider, or any of the characters in it. If I did, K-Unit would be there ALL the time!

Rain pelted against the roof of the mess hall as the soldiers ate. The place was a cacophony of loud male voices and banging cutlery. Whenever there was a lull the sound of the rain filled the silence. Wolf, Snake and Eagle were hunched together discussing the latest disaster of a recruit when the intercom tone rang out, briefly silencing the hall.

"K-Unit, report to the sergeant immediately."

A few heads turned as the three men rose from their meal and left.

Wolf knocked smartly on the sergeant's door.

"Enter." a voice barked from the other side.

Wolf opened the door and K-Unit entered single file before standing to attention in front of the desk. Snake and Eagle stood to his right. They had yet to finds a permanent replacement for Fox, who had left almost three years ago for MI6.

The sergeant stood behind his desk glaring at them. The man always glared. The room was silent as he scrutinised the three men in front of him. They didn't even twitch. He gave a satisfied huff and nodded.

"At ease!" he barked. The man never whispered or spoke quietly. He gave orders in short, sharp tones, roared reprimands, and screamed insults. Compliments in the SAS where few and far between, and never came from the sergeant. This was the military, not summer camp.

"K-Unit, Fox will be returning to the SAS, and to your unit. I don't know why he left and I don't know why he's back but what I am demanding from you is that he stays this time. I will not sit around here training fucking kids to be men only to have fucking MI6 poach them. Is that clear?"

"Yes Sergeant!"

"Good. Now, on to business." He turned abruptly and went to sit behind his desk. The sergeant never sat during Unit reports, or briefings. K-Unit hid their surprise though, trained as they were not to break from position.

"I'll be frank, men. MI6 have made a request. One that I don't like or understand.

"It appears that Fox will be returning with another addition to your unit."

Sergeant Manson knew his men well enough to know they were itching to ask questions, and was secretly pleased when they contained themselves.

"Cub will be rejoining K-Unit. He and Fox arrive in three days."

Wolf's jaw clenched and Eagle's eyebrow twitched. If making this unit squirm for a moment was the only enjoyment Mason got out of this shitfest, then he was going to make the most of it.

Seconds ticked by as he waited for his men to crack. To be honest, after the bombshell he just dropped, he wouldn't judge them. However, K-Unit were trained professionals and they held their ground. His brief attempt for entertainment foiled, the sergeant returned to the task at hand.

"You have 60 seconds to ask your questions, off the record. Ask, before I change my mind."

Eagle was first, of course.

"How long will Cub be staying this time sir?"

"Indefinitely."

Wolf was next to recover.

"What should we know that MI6 aren't telling us?"

"An old colleague at MI6 managed to send me a copy of Cub's file. It's limited but gives an idea of why he's coming here. You will have 30 minutes in the briefing room to see the file before it is destroyed, following this meeting, off the record, of course. What else?."

Taking his turn, Snake asked the last question.

"What do we do with him sir?"

"Cub hasn't been informed yet of the situation. He will be given one week to adjust and then he will join you in training. The SAS is not a place for special treatment, but the training officers will be aware that these are special circumstances. Despite everything, Cub is clearly a kid. Ease him into it. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good. Wolf, you are the Unit captain. This will not be easy. The men won't like it, especially our newest additions, and I have a feeling Cub won't like it either. Just remember, Cub isn't coming as an insult to you or anyone else."

"Yes sir!"

"Good. Dismissed."

K-Unit snapped to attention, saluted the sergeant and filed out the door.

The file was suspiciously ordinary looking. Thin, like all Intelligence files, it sat unobtrusively in the centre of the steel table.

Wolf picked it up but levelled a stern look at his team before opening it.

"Look, there's clearly a lot going on that we need to talk about, but we only have 30 minutes to read this and memorise it, so forget what you're thinking and let's just deal with the task at hand."

Following their captain's lead, Snake and Eagle sat at the table and tried to focus on the file. Wolf flipped open the cover and immediately disregarded most of the papers. Most of the file consisted of Official Secrets Act documents and financial reports. Eventually they came across what appeared to be the only useful information in the whole file; Cub's personal information summary.

Name: Alexander John Rider

Age: 17

Date of Birth: 13/February/1996

Place of Residence:

4 Kings Road, Chelsea, South London, UK

1204 Baye St, Alameda, CA, USA

Brecon Beacons SAS Training Facility, UK

Education:

Brooklands Comprehensive School

Alameda High (4 months)

*Removed from school – tutoring at Brecon Beacons

Known Associates:

Tom Harris (civilian)

Sabina Pleasure (civilian)

Jack Starbright (civilian – deceased)

Yassen Gregorovitch (Person of Interest – deceased)

Anthony Sean Howell (Person of Interest – deceased)

Tamara Knight (CIA operative)

Bejamin Daniels (MI6 operative – former)

Derek Smithers (MI6 technician, agent)

Known Relations:

John Rider (father – deceased)*

Helen Beckett (mother – deceased)

Ian Rider (uncle – deceased)*

*Former MI6 agents.

Legal Guardian:

Ian Rider (deceased)

Jack Starbright (deceased)

Edward Pleasure (guardianship terminated)

Royal and General Bank – (Representative: Tulip Jones)

Note: Rider has been monitored from a young age as a person of interest and future investment, due to family association with MI6 (see Ian Rider; see John Rider). Guardianship obtained to secure asset.

Mission Record:

Herod Sayle – Stormbreaker (see Ian Rider; see Yassen Gregorovitch)

Dr. Hugo Grief – Point Blanc (see K-Unit; see M-Unit)

General Alexei Sarov – (see CIA joint-op file #154J87D)

Damian Cray – Eagle Strike (unauthorized: see Yassen Gregorovitch)

Scorpia – (see Julia Rothman; see Yassen Gregorovitch; see John Rider)

Ark Angel – Nikolei Drevin (see Paul Drevin; see Magnus "Kaspar" Payne; see Tamara Knight; see CIA)

Snakehead, Scorpia – Major Winston Yu (see Anthony Sean Howell; see Royal Blue; see Benjamin Daniels; see ASIS)

Greenfield – Desmond McCain (unauthorised: see ricin; see RAW (ISOS); see First Aid)

*see Harry Bulman

Horseman – Abul-Aziz Al-Rahim "Razim" (see Julius Grief; see Scorpia; see CIA; see Jack Starbright)

Success Rate:

Subject has successfully completed all missions. Mortality rate of colleagues is within normal range. Note: excessive destruction utilised to ensure completion of mission.

Additional Note: Subject displays signs of chronic insubordinate behaviour, on and off contract. Regulatory methods employed have been unsuccessful so far.

Date of Recruitment:

12/Mar/2010

*Note: Subject displayed reluctance to be recruited. Methods employed. Success to be determined.

Medical Status:

Fit for duty

Hospitalisation Occurrences: 7

*See mission files

Medical Note:

's medical staff express concern for subjects situation. Advise further recovery time allowance. Taken under consideration. Disregarded.

Subject has displayed remarkable resilience following traumatic injury (see Point Blanc; see Ark Angel). PT not required. Supervision recommended. Taken under consideration. Confirmed.

Psychological evaluation recommended. Initial psychological evaluation Confirmed. Further evaluation: to be considered.

Preliminary Psychological Evaluation:

Subject displays reluctance to discuss missions and relevant details. Distrustful of strangers. Possible trauma – unconfirmed. Possible sleep deprivation – unconfirmed. Possible PTSD – unconfirmed. Further evaluation recommended.

"Jesus." murmured Snake.

"What the hell do all these anagrams stand for?" Eagle huffed. "ASIS? RAW? ISOS? And PTSD? Do they seriously think he has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at 17?"

"You'd be amazed." Snake interjected, "Even young children can get PTSD, if they's evperienced something really horrific. And by the looks of it, Cub's had plenty of oppurtunities to be traumatised. I mean, looking at this file, it doesn't seem as though these have been low profile missions."

"Snake's right." Wolf said, speaking for the first time since opening the file. "ASIS is Australian Secret Intelligence Service and ISOS is Indian Secret Operations Service. I don't know what RAW is, but it looks like Cub's been loaned out to all kinds of agencies."

The three men sat in silence for a moment, mulling over what they had just read. Eventually Wolf shook himself out of the daze and pulled the file back toward him.

"Look, like I said at the beginning, there's a lot to talk about. But we know that the sergeant has nothing more to give us, so there's no point in asking. We have 15 minutes left. Let's just try to memorise what we can before they destroy the only information we have on Cub, ok?"

His teammates nodded and focused back on the file.