Hey guys!

Well here's the sequel. Hope you guys like it :D.

Oh, and if you have time, I'd really appreciate it if you read Once, another one of my Alex Rider fics. I think I'll be starting it back up again soon :D. It's got Yassen in it.

Thank you again for all your reviewing!

-Lauren

x.x.x

Yassen Gregorovich was a changed man.

Within the last few months, he had undergone a complete transformation from an assassin into a father. Impossible, some might say. But Yassen had done it.

It was amazing, if you thought about it. Yassen couldn't name any other person he knew that had undergone the same transformation that he had. The life of a contract killer was rarely long.

It was an ordinary day – the sun was shining, the birds were calling, and Yassen reflected. It had been months since the incident with Michael Smith, and already the drama seemed to have faded – Yassen remembered it, but it seemed like it happened in an alternate universe – not in the life he was living now. And yet it was the very girl who was in the middle of the incident that caused the change in him.

Anya had impacted Yassen like no other person he had ever met – and every day he wondered where he'd be if he'd answered no to the question of taking her in. It would have changed both their lives – though for the worst. It was amazing how one single decision could change the course of fate.

Yassen could hear Anya's rhythmic breathing as he walked past her room. He smiled. She was such a peaceful person. Over the last few months, she had come out of her shell quite considerably. Though she would never be as outgoing as some of the students at her school, she was not afraid of human contact and the grief that had once dominated her persona had vanished. She still was not the best conversationist, and stumbled in some social situations, but she was enjoying life.

She and Alex had become good friends – there were some things you can't go through without becoming friends – and being kidnapped and escaping is one of them. Alex told her his life story, and though she was shocked, she found that the story fitted every assumption she had made about Alex.

Somehow, MI6 hadn't found out that Alex had been involved in the incident, but they did know about it. All Smith's assassins had been taken to court and charged with murder – they all received life sentences. Michael Smith and Julia Rothman were dead.

It seemed that life was perfect for Yassen, Anya and Alex, but that was all about to change.

x.x.x

Kiara wasn't happy.

Currently, she was sitting in a house that wasn't hers, with, possibly, the most annoying boy in the universe.

'Hey, Kiara,' called Ryan. Kiara rolled her eyes and turned around to face him reluctantly.

'What?' she asked boredly.

'There's a cockroach in the bathroom,' said Ryan, grinning.

Kiara groaned.

It was so typical of him to be amused by such an irrelevant occurrence.

'Did I really need to know that?' she asked, in an irritated tone.

Ryan didn't answer – he was already running back to the bathroom. Kiara rolled her eyes and turned on the TV. There was nothing good to watch – there was only a documentary on butterflies, the Simpsons, some horrible TV soap opera, an equally intellectually degrading TV drama, a grotesque Japanese film –

'RYAN!' Kiara screamed, as she felt something crawl down her back. Kiara jumped up and screamed, and hopped around trying to rid herself of the cockroach. She ran her hands down her back, trying to shake the thing off. Ryan started to laugh uncontrollably.

Kiara saw the cockroach fall to the ground and scurry away quickly.

'RYAN, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!' she screamed, and lunged for the boy.

She wrapped her hands around his neck and pushed him to the ground. He managed to kick her shin and she released her hands instinctively. Ryan took the opportunity to grab Kiara's neck, but she had recovered quickly from her injury and forced his hands away. She saw an unguarded target area on his body, so she took the opportunity to kick him in the groin.

'What's going on here?' asked Robert, walking in with his hands on his hips as he saw the two fighting teenagers.

'Just practising,' said Kiara, smiling as she saw Ryan groaning in pain on the floor. She stood up and dusted herself off.

Robert rolled his eyes.

'We're on a serious mission here, guys. Don't muck around. You have to-'

Kiara screamed again as Ryan pulled her hair and made her topple to the floor. He grabbed her neck and placed his fingers at the different pressure points he had been taught to locate.

'Ryan! Kiara!' shouted Robert, but the teenagers paid no heed to the older man.

'I win!' shouted Ryan.

'Oh, shut up,' said Kiara, rolling her eyes.

'I wouldn't be rude. I could kill you right now,' Ryan reminded her, pressing a little harder with his fingers.

'As if you would,' said Kiara, completely unconcerned.

'Let her go, Ryan,' said Robert, irritated. The last few days had driven him to the end of his patience.

Scorpia agents were meant to be efficient, focused, talented and mature. Ryan and Kiara were only 14 years old, it was true, but Robert had seen better behaved 8 year olds. Robert hated every second of this mission. He was charged only to act as a guardian for the two teenagers. Apparently they could handle themselves. Robert doubted it. They were juvenile, immature, and insolent. He didn't know what on earth what Dr Three was thinking, sending these two out. But Robert knew better than to argue with Dr Three.

Reluctantly Ryan released Kiara, and in a split second she'd turned around and was starting to strangle him.

'Kiara!' said Robert sharply.

'He set a cockroach on me!' she protested.

Robert shook his head. This was getting out of hand – Kiara underestimated her strength; Ryan's face was starting to turn red.

He grabbed Kiara by the collar and pulled her away from Ryan. Ryan coughed and muttered something rude under his breath as he massaged his neck.

'Now, I want you two to listen,' Robert said, bending over the two teenagers and frowning. 'This is a serious mission we're on here. If we don't succeed-'

Ryan interrupted him.

'Yeah, Scorpia will dispose of us. We know. Whatever.'

'I wouldn't take this lightly, young man.'

'I wouldn't take this so seriously, old man,' said Ryan, sniggering.

'Ok, you two can muck around as much as you like now. Just don't come crying to me when you fail.'

'Trust me, we won't,' Ryan assured him, and left the room with a confident sneer.