AN: I decided to wait and question Alex until we got home, since it probably wouldn't be smart to discuss his work at MI6 in front of civilians

Hello all! I live on the Texas coast and we had the day off school to evacuate for hurricane Ike. I'm not evacuating. I'm of the hunker down and wait it out variety (although mom did go up to Dallas). I've got all my emergency rations ready and secured down all the stuff outside, so all I had left to do was wait. Since I'm not so good at waiting I wrote another chapter! Woot! I'm posting it without checking over it since electricity will probably be down for a while. Not that I really check over things anyway since I hate proofreading, but yeah. (Beta reader anyone? I have no idea how this works.) I realize I haven't posted in ages, but…I have no excuse. I'm working on that. I'll try to make the updates faster and post again soon to let you know I'm alive. Not that it's anything death threatening. At worst, flooding and broken windows. Maybe some blown over fences and trees. Unless it starts to flood, I'll be sleeping in the closet under the stairs tonight like Harry Potter! Or not sleeping, as I imagine it's hard to sleep through a hurricane. But never fear! I have snacks, a flashlight, and some good books to keep me company. And if anyone wants to update an AR story of their own to keep me amused until my laptop dies that'd be much appreciated too. :p

I decided to wait and question Alex until we got home, since it probably wouldn't be smart to discuss his work at MI6 in front of civilians. But when we walked through the door of my apartment I decided I was going to get some answers, no matter how frustrating pulling information out of Alex was.

I pushed Alex to a chair in the kitchen and sat down across from him. "So, what were you doing at headquarters?"

Alex sighed. "They're sending me on a mission. I leave Monday." That must be what Mrs. Jones meant by "I'll see you on Monday." It doesn't look like Alex wants to go. Wait…he's still injured! I was only shot in the leg and I'm still on leave. And Alex was shot in the chest!

"But…but…you're injured!" They can't do that can they? It wouldn't be…right.

Alex shrugged and gave me a look that said I needed a new brain. "This won't be the first mission since I was shot. And I told you the bullet wound doesn't bother me anymore, remember?" Not his first mission? That's right…he had some other injuries that were bandaged up but I forgot about them to focus on the bullet. And you can still see the remnants of some fading bruises. So, these missions clearly have a level of danger to them and they're just going to send him out again. He's going to come back with even more injuries and he hasn't even recovered from the last ones! That's…unethical. How does he have time to live?

"When did they send you on the last time? How much time did they give you to recover from your injury?" I'm seriously not liking this.

"They sent me out the day I got out of the hospital." Alex saw my look of disapproval. "They were in a rush," he explained. "There were extenuating circumstances." There had better be some pretty impressive circumstances to ignore protocol like that, especially for a 14 year old boy. But, clearly there is nothing I can do about it. Yet.

"And why were you with Mrs. Jones?" Alex looked slightly confused at the question.

"…She was giving me my assignment, you know, for Monday."

"You get your assignments from the Heads of MI6?" That can't be…that would make him…

"Yep," Alex said nonchalantly, not understanding my incredulous look. "Isn't that their job? To give assignments?"

Alex doesn't seem to have any idea what that means, but I think I have MI6's highest ranking agent sitting in my kitchen.

Alex went off to do his homework. On a Friday evening which I told him was unnatural, but he said he wanted to get as much done before he leaves again. Which I guess I can understand because he's enough behind as it is.

The unit came by several hours later. I think they like Alex more than me. They never use to visit this much. Of course, usually I've spent the entire day with them on whatever job we've been assigned or we've spent weeks together in some godforsaken foreign country and just want away from each other. And we do have more free time now. K-unit is on the shift that gets all the easy one-day duties, like temporary bodyguarding. We'll probably return to our normal duties when my leg heals.

"What's up?" Snake asked. What's up? That's actually a very leading question. Let's see. I've just found out my intriguingly frustrating underage ward is an extremely high ranking agent whom it seems the government is mistreating and there doesn't seem to be much I can do about it.

I settled for "Alex ships out for another mission on Monday."

"So soon?" Snake frowned. "But he's injured." Like I forgot.

"I don't like it anymore than you." I gave them a look and they understood. That's what I like about SAS units. You grow close enough not to need words. I don't have to verbally disagree with the government. My unit can look at me and tell I would rip off some people's heads if I thought it would help.

"That sucks." Eagle offered his input. "When I was a teenager I used to fantasize about being a teen James Bond. This puts a whole new spin on that." Only Eagle.

"You're an idiot Eagle." Eagle grinned at me, but it was only a half-hearted grin because despite being an idiot, Eagle had a point. This sucked.

I saw Eagle get a renewed gleam to his eye. You can practically see ideas forming in his head and I've learned to be wary. Luckily for everyone in the vicinity, this time it was fairly innocent curiosity.

"Hey Cub!" He called out and bounded into the living room towards Alex's room. We followed him to see Alex coming out of his room. He grinned at the unit. "Hey guys."

They waved in greeting while Eagle continued trying to catch Alex's attention. "Cub! Hey cub!" He waved his hand in Alex face.

Alex looked at him like he was insane. Clearly, the reason he came out of his room was because Eagle had called him. He was already paying attention and Eagle was once again being an idiot. "What?" Alex asked, sounding amused.

"So I hear your headed out on Monday," Eagle started, practically bouncing with excitement "and I've always wondered what kind of weapons MI6 agents get." He looked at Cub expectantly.

Alex shrugged "I don't really get weapons, being underage and all that. I get a couple gadgets, but for weapons I just use what I can find. Like if someone isn't watching their gun close enough and puts it down. That way if I screw up the government isn't as liable."

They don't arm him! That's unbelievable. He can't have much experience with guns at his age. What if the only gun he finds, he isn't familiar with?! What if he doesn't find a weapon at all?! They just leave him defenseless?!

K-unit was already voicing all my concerns aloud, but Alex was just shaking them off. "It's fine really. I've always found something. Maybe not a gun, but there's always something I can use. And my age gives it an element of surprise, people don't expect me to take their guns. Sure, it'd be nice if they'd give me actual weapons, but I can make do."

"Do you know how to shoot? You left camp before weapons training." I asked. K-unit all quieted to listen to Cub's response. This is serious. They might be able to send him without a weapon, but to send him without knowledge of how to use one could be fatal.

"Yeah," Alex nodded "I learned how to shoot."

I gave him a skeptical look. When would he have time to learn? It's hasn't been that long and from the looks of things he's been busy. There's no way he could get enough practical knowledge is so short of time to be a good shot. This is something I might be able to help with. Probably not enough to make an big impact on his next mission, but I can start now. "We'll go to a shooting range tomorrow."

K-unit enthusiastically agreed to help out and show Alex the tricks of the trade. Alex didn't understand their enthusiasm. "Seriously guys, it's not necessary. I learned how shoot."

"Even so," Fox said "It'll be good practice. And besides," he added as he reached out to ruffle Cub's hair "It'll be fun."