TWENTY – TWO

"Um. . .does somebody want to call the police?"

There was a long, awkward silence before anybody seemed to respond. Then Mr. Bray got to his feet, and clapped his hands twice to get everybody's attention. But not before he cast an uneasy glance in Alex's direction.

"All right, everyone! Um. . .due to the. . .situation we're in, I'm going to have to ask everyone to stay where they are until the police arrive. Mrs. Bedfordshire -" he looked at the secretary, but she already had her BlackBerry out.

"All rready done," she said, her voice shaky. "The police are on their way. So is the ambulance."

Alex heaved a sigh of relief. This was good – it looked like the adults were taking over the situation. The school nurse was also on the move, applying basic first aid to the injured girl. Now he just had to get out of here, before everybody started questioning him. A lot of them were all ready eying him, and whispering behind their hands. Probably wondering what kind of school kid would go around shooting the bad guys.

Then Jasmine jumped up, and ran over to him. "Ian!" she exclaimed, the volume of her voice drawing the attention of everybody in the gym. "Are you all right? You're bleeding!"

"I'm fine," he mumbled.

She looked him over, her eyes falling to his chest, which still slowly oozed blood. For a moment, she stared at the puckered, pink/white bullet scar that hovered mere centimeters above his heart. Then she tore her eyes away, redirecting her gaze to the floor.

"I thought they'd kill you," she said softly.

"Well, they certainly tried," he responded, making his tone light. Making it seem like he totally calm and relaxed with the whole situation, while in truth, his hands were trembling. His blood was still racing as both fear and shock beat at his system.

I killed them. Right in front of all these people. What are they going to think? I'm probably some kind of monster to them. . .

"You were awesome," Jasmine suddenly declared, meeting his gaze firmly. "You saved the whole school!" A strange glint appeared in her gaze. "I really believe it now, that you're a real spy. No normal person could've done what you did."

Alex cast a furtive glance at all of his classmates. They were breathing in every word, varying degrees of awe and fear on each of their faces. In all truth, however, Alex couldn't bring himself to care all that much about them knowing he was a spy, or even a secret agent for MI6.

The entire school just saw him take out some terrorists. So what? To them, he was Ian Daniels, a strange transfer student, who was now going to disappear very soon. After a while, they'd forget about him, and the whole thing would become nothing more than a story shared amongst other students. There really was nothing to fear.

That was when one boy slowly got to his feet, standing alone amongst all the other students. It was Tom. He merely looked at Alex, really looked. He took in Alex's features: the weary brown eyes, the black hair, and the visible, faint scars that littered Alex's torso. Especially the little bullet scar which was visible even to those at the back of the room. Tom carefully recalled everything that had happened in the day – his conversation with 'Ian' earlier in the day, the call to the gymnasium, how 'Ian' had slipped away from the group, and then showed up to take out the terrorists.

And Tom knew. He realized that he'd knew all along, but had been afraid to admit it. Maybe it was because he wasn't quite sure, because this person who came back in Alex's place was somehow different. Changed into something a bit darker, something more frightening. But Tom knew.

"Alex," he finally spoke quietly. Despite all the whisperings of the students, his voice carried across the gym with strange, total clarity.

Alex froze as soon as he heard his name, and slowly turned. His gaze met with Tom's. To both of them, everything else faded away: every last student seemed to disappear, and only the two of them seemed to inhabit the entire space.

Tom waited a long moment, then asked the question he'd been wanting to ask for a long time. "Why?"

Alex breathed out a tired sigh, and a small, sad smile settled onto his face. "I killed someone, Tom. An innocent person who didn't deserve to die – I shot her right between the eyes."

The blood seemed to left the other boy's face as his eyes widened. "You. . .killed someone?"

"Yes. I was fed lies, and was led to believe that she was my enemy. But that doesn't make a difference. I still made the decision to kill her." Alex felt incredibly calm. He shrugged. "And it all began from there."

Tom swallowed, and whispered, "What do you mean?"

Alex hesitated. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"

". . .yeah. I'm sure."

The teenage spy looked at his friend, and wondered what Tom would do after he knew the truth. Will he view me as some kind of monster? Will he hate me? Even so, he knew that if anybody deserved to know, it was Tom. "I ended up joining Scorpia, a terrorist organization. They trained me as an assassin, and sent me out to kill an innocent man. I killed him. Right in front of his only son's eyes." Alex could see Tom's horror, yet he plunged on.

"I was so lost, trapped in a terrible darkness that I was to scared to face. MI6 finally caught me, and told me the truth behind Scorpia's lies. I realized that the people I've killed were completely innocent, and that what I've done was nothing more than murder. I wasn't able to face myself. So I became Ian Daniels. The new identity was supposed to protect me from Scorpia, but really, I was just hiding from myself."

Alex fell silent, not knowing what else to say, and waited for his friend's reaction. He expected fear, anger, even revulsion. He'd even understood if Tom wanted to get away from him – after all, who would want to be friends with a murderer?

But Tom only looked sorrowful. He touched his own chest, the same spot where Alex was scarred. "You were shot. . ."

Alex blinked in surprise. "Yeah. . .that was how I died and became Ian. It was at one of the American President's speeches."

Tom stared, his gaze still sad. Then he began to walk forward, closing the distance between the two of them. Alex remained still, uncertain of what Tom's intentions were. Tom came within a few feet away, and still didn't stop. He reached Alex, and threw his arms around him without any hesitation.

Alex lost all sense of thought, totally shocked. He merely stood as still as a statute while Tom hugged him. What. . .?

"I'm sorry," Tom softly said. "It must have been hell. But I'm glad that you're back."

"T-Tom. . ."

Alex slowly lifted his own arms, and hesitantly returned the gesture. A slow smile made its way to his own face, and for a moment, he closed his eyes.

"Thanks, Tom. I'm. . . .I'm glad to be back, too."

"I'd hate to break into your little moment, Alex," a gruff voice suddenly said, "but I think you've forgotten about the audience."

Alex's eyes jerked open, and he pulled away from Tom. Wolf was standing beside them, one hand rubbing his bruised jaw. He was frowning, making him look somewhat intimidating, but Alex couldn't help but notice that the SAS soldier's eyes were twinkling with amusement. Wolf, noticing that he finally had Alex's attention, nodded off to the side.

That was when Alex remembered that he was in a gymnasium filled with the entire school. He also realized that they had just heard every single word he'd said. He swore under his breath. He was in big trouble now.

He stared at his classmates. They stared at him with wide eyes. He looked over at the school staff. They bore varying expressions of complete shock and disbelief. Alex sighed. Ah, what did it matter? Now that they knew the truth, there wasn't much he could do about it. Now it was up to MI6 to keep it all under wraps.

"Alex?" Tom seemed slightly worried, and a bit guilty. It was because of him -

"Don't sweat it," Alex responded, suddenly feeling rather light-hearted. He looked out at the entire gymnasium.

"Look, I'll admit it," he said loudly. "I am Alex Rider, and I'm a spy for MI6. Now that you all know that, I suggest you keep it quiet." He smiled. "If you don't, then I'll have to hunt you down, and . . . ." he purposefully let his sentence trail off on an ominous note.

There were a few gasps, and more than a few glances at the dead terrorists. Every single person in the gymnasium mentally vowed to immediately forget the entire incident.

The gymnasium's main doors banged open then, and the police poured in, followed by paramedics bearing a stretcher.

Wolf dropped a hand onto Alex's shoulder. "Shall we go, Cub?"

"Yeah." Alex looked at Tom. "I'll see you later, okay?"

Tom grinned, and lifted a hand in response.

Alex headed towards the lavatory doors, intending to slip out of all the commotion. Wolf went with him, and both of them managed to make it the school's front doors without being bothered by any of the police.

A sleek black car from MI6 waited for them outside. Alex paused just outside of the school doors. Wolf, too, stopped, and watched him, seeming to read his thoughts.

"What are you going to do now, kid?"

Alex looked up, squinting against the bright light of the sun. He peered at the sky, which was nearly cloudless. He brought a hand up to shield his eyes. It was really bright, and he could feel the gentle warmth of the sun. He dropped his hand, and looked towards the black car.

"Well, I'm a spy, aren't I?"

Wolf didn't say anything.

Alex thought of his father, who had worked undercover in Scorpia. He tried to imagine what that might have been like, working amongst evil people in order to bring them down. He smiled. "I've decided."

"What have you decided?" Wolf inquired, becoming curious as to what was going through this enigma of a teenager. The SAS soldier could remember the first time he'd met the kid, back in boot camp. Back then, he had thought the whole thing was a joke. K-Unit, a group of four trained professionals, work with a mere school boy? The whole thing was ridiculous.

Yet, Alex had been the one to kick him out of the airplane when he'd been frozen by fear. It was at that moment when Wolf had been forced to change his thinking. Alex wasn't just a mere school boy. He was much more than that, forced to face one terrifying nightmare after another, and yet coming through every time, a little bit stronger than before. Wolf looked at the young man beside him, and couldn't help but feel respect for the teen.

Alex Rider began to walk towards the car that was waiting for him.

"I've decided. . . .I'm going to go after Scorpia."

FIN

Thank-you to all those who read, reviewed, or favorited this story. Without your support, I would've never gotten this far. :)

I'll be taking a break from writing any fanfiction until I finish up a couple of stories on the other site. In the meantime, feel free to pm me with any ideas or suggestions. Adieu for now!!