A/N: I've been gone a while. Sorry about that. But I'm back now with a new oneshot (yay) and big news! I finished a fantastic book, Empire of Storms, and it was so amazing I've still got feels. Can't wait for the next one to come out!

Now, a small note: this oneshot, while being Alex Rider, is based on a small scene from Mission: Impossible, Rogue Nation, a wondrous movie (for those who've seen it, it's the scene after the opera where Ilsa confronts Solomon Lane about what happened there).

Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider or Mission: Impossible

Jasper Landry holds court in a nondescript room on the seventh floor of an unremarkable hotel. It is into this room that Alex Rider is led, the guard charged with guiding him taking a stance behind him at the door. The head of HELIOS is seated at a desk facing the door of the room, features coolly analyzing the young man before him. Alex meets the cold grey gaze evenly, face cast in a mask of blank indifference as he takes in his surroundings.

"Would you like to explain to me what that was all about, Mr. Landry?" He addresses the man seated opposite him, voice deceptively calm.

"Insurance." The man shrugs. Alex curls his lips back in a snarl.

"You sent me to do a job. I said I'd do it, but on my own terms, and in my own way. Without your interference."

Jasper Landry laces his fingers together as he meets Alex's sharp stare. "When did I deviate from this?"

"When did you deviate?" Alex slams a hand onto the desk at which his boss is seated, inciting the action of the guard stationed by the door.

The guard reaches for his gun, but Alex isn't one of HELIOS' top assassins for nothing. In one fluid motion, he leaps, using his legs to send the man crashing to the floor. A swift kick to the head knocks him out and his gun is in Alex's hands within a second.

"You deviated from our arrangement when you sent two gunmen to kill me at the opera tonight!" Alex's voice is ice cold.

"You missed."

"I missed my shot because an MI6 spy was there looking for you. Not covering our tracks well enough, are we?" Alex baits the man, inviting a reaction, but Landry remains unflinching.

"He was there because you let him escape in Ljubljana. Was that my fault as well?"

"You know what happened in Slovenia. He would have been killed by your bloodthirsty lackey, and that's not what you asked for." The spy matches the other man's tone exactly, chilly and unemotional, ignoring the groans of the HELIOS agent stirring behind him.

"Whether I asked for it or not…this is the second time he's slipped away from you. Is this to become a trend? MI6 agents escaping from the grasp of my best assassin?" Alex has finally gotten a reaction from HELIOS' head. Landry's tone is biting, caustic, as snarky as Alex himself can be.

Deep down, Alex Rider grins at the rise he's evoked from his boss. "Are you questioning my methods or my loyalty?"

Landry smirks humorlessly. "I can't decide. Perhaps I should just kill you now and spare myself the trouble."

Alex snorts, unaffected by the casual mention of his death. "You won't kill me – haven't got it in you to do it yourself. No, you'll arrange for me to meet with a tragic accident down one of these alleyways. A mugging, perhaps? Freak shooting?"

Landry tilts his head. "How would you like to be killed, then, Alex Rider?"

Alex is unfazed by the use of his true name, merely smirking back at his (soon-to-be-ex) employer. "I've told you before. If you're going to kill me, be a man. Have the guts to do it yourself." The spy tosses the gun down on the desk, crossing his arms and fingering the knife hidden beneath the sleeve of his tuxedo coat. "Just remember that I'll take you with me, you son of a bitch."

And then, as Landry reaches for the gun, Alex slides a knife out of a sheath on his arm and hurls it at the man, simultaneously ducking to dodge the bullet aimed at his head. The gunshot rings out loudly, connecting not with Alex's head but with that of the unfortunate guard who had just managed to stand behind him.

Moving out of the way of another bullet aimed by the guard standing behind HELIOS' dead leader, the spy snatches the gun from his old employer and returns fire, taking the second guard down with a bullet between the eyes.

Alex then yanks his knife out of Landry's neck, wiping the blade on the man's suitcoat before striding out of the room, face blank save for a tiny smirk in the corner of his mouth (he won't show it, but he's really glad to be free of this place).

Touching a tiny bead in his ear, Alex addresses the head of MI6.

"Jones? I think I'm bored of deep cover."

What did you think? Let me know!