I don't know what I feel about this chapter. The ending isn't quite as good as I'd hoped. But it is like the longest chapter pretty much ever for me. So, I'm going to apologise now for not only the super long gap between chapters (please refer to my profile for more info on further updates) and also any spelling/grammar errors etc.

Also some swearing in this chapter.

Anyways, enjoy the chapter. And if you have the time please review/comment it's greatly appreciated!

:]

Cub woke at dawn, his early rising more instinctual than anything else. Wolf and the others were still asleep and remained that way as Alex quietly got dressed, though he did receive something that he assumed was a wave from Snake. The Scot was a fellow early-riser but he appreciated the chance to sleep in when he got it. Ben on the other hand slept like a rock. Eagle slept like a bloody starfish, limbs everything.
"Jesus Eagle," Alex muttered, manoeuvring around the tall man's legs that were hanging of the side of the bed.

Wolf slept, well, he slept like a wolf. One eye and ear open all the time, a fact proven by the low grunt of annoyance Cub got in return for his whispered comment.

Alex stepped out of the hut into the crisp morning air. The sky was beginning to taint blue, no clouds in the sky, which meant the day was going to be the type of freezing that left your eyes dry and lips tingling. The dry cold of the air was already painting goosebumps up Alex's arms and the breath he exhaled condensed and spiralled upwards. He pulled a pair of fingerless gloves out of a pocket in his jacket and slipped them on as he began walking towards the cabin where the schoolkids were staying. His ex-schoolmates. God, this whole situation was fucked. There were so many ways this could turn ugly and turn ugly very, very quickly. He would have to speak to Tom soon, maybe later that day. But he'd have to do it in private. And he couldn't pull Tom aside himself, that would be way to obvious. Think. Wolf could do it, or Ben maybe. Actually Ben would be the better choice, but what cover would he use? Parent's call? Medicine? Think. Is Tom allergic to anything? Maybe, or make up some bullshit about a vitamin deficiency? Or maybe antibiotics? It has to be something relatively vital.

Alex broke out of his musings to find himself already at the front steps of the three cabins housing the kids. He allowed himself to put aside his worry and plans for a moment to appreciate what was about to happen. To be fair, some of the kids didn't deserve this. But some really did. He pulled a key out of his pocket and headed to the middle hut, that was Tom's, and Alex figured it owed his best friend a half decent awakening at least. He silently opened the doors, thankful that Eagle had thought to oil to the locks so they could sneak in. Eagle and Cub had a number of plans involving clothing items, mud and a lot of water, but those plans could wait for a few days.

Alex moved to Tom's bed and knelt down. He simultaneously placed a hand over Tom's mouth and shook his shoulder. The black haired boy jerked awake momentarily in a state of panic but that panic turned to confusion and then anger very quickly. Alex removed his hand from Tom's shoulder to place a finger on his lips, once Tom had, begrudgingly, nodded his agreement Alex removed the hand from his mouth. As Tom was about to speak Alex cut in.

"I swear I will tell you everything later but right now we can't talk. I'll get someone to pull you aside later today," Alex paused. "Look, mate, I know it probably doesn't mean much but I am sorry for lying," Tom still looked angry. Alex sighed and stood up. "Later today okay?" He waited once again for Tom's nod. Alex turned away from the bed but paused halfway, he glanced back at Tom. "Play along, we can't give you special treatment," he whispered. "Oh, and cover your ears," he said, reaching into a trouser pocket. Tom cocked his ear, looking confused for a moment then somewhat terrified as he recognised the look of evil delight on his old friend's face as the blonde pulled some kind of whistle and an air horn out of his pocket. Alex raised the whistle to his lips as he stalked to the middle of the room and held up the air horn. As Alex inhaled, Tom threw his hands over his ears.

It didn't really help.

The whistle was piercingly loud and the air horn was definitely not the ones normal people could get their hands on. Tom saw at least two kids flip out of their beds in shock.

"UP'N'ATTEM' SPROUTS! WE GOT THINGS TO DO!" Alex shouted as he stalked out of the cabin.

A few moments later the noise started up again from the cabin next to theirs. The commotion stopped ever so briefly but the delicate silence was immediately broken by another thunderous yell from the young spy.

"WHAT'S THAT? I COULDN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE NOISE," whatever answer was given by whoever voiced their irritation was drowned out by another blast from the air horn.
"SORRY, WHAT?"

Tom didn't think Alex sounded very sorry.

Again the noise stopped briefly only to pick up again in the last cabin. When Alex stalked out of there he yelled out again.

"YOU HAVE EXACTLY TWO MINUTES AND THIRTY SECONDS TO BE OUTSIDE. REMEMBER, FOR YOU BREAKFAST IS OPTIONAL," Alex smirked at the sudden sounds of two dozen teens struggling to pull on clothes and stumble out into the freezing morning air.

Across the grounds, Snake and Wolf were staring out to where the schoolkid's cabins were. Recruits being woken at early hours was hardly a rare incident at Beacon but Alex seemed to be taking a particular joy in it. Lion, an American ex-marine sniper from E-Unit who currently had the cabin next to K-Unit's, emerged into the grey light and glanced across to Wolf.

"Is that Cub?"

Wolf nodded. "Yes, yes it is,"

The American raised his eyebrows.

"Shit, the kid's got a set of lungs on him,"

Snake and Wolf nodded in unison.

Lion yawned and ran a hand through his mop of straw blonde hair. "I can't say I'm jealous that the brats are your responsibility," he said, a slight smirk playing on his lips, not missing the look of irritation that passed over Wolf's face. "So what exactly does Cub have planned?"

Snake and Wolf glanced at each other. Snake just shrugged.

"Something to do with the lake I think,"

Lion raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Wow," he remarked. "Sucks to be them,"

Cub paced back and forth in front of the students in complete silence. He'd gone through basic, he knew what made recruits nervous and silence was one of those things. After a good five minutes he stopped and glanced at his watch.

"Dearie me, two minutes thirty three seconds," he tutted. "Well, no breakfast it is," he said casually, shrugging as the kids erupted into angry chatter. Several of the boys seemed to be eying him up and Alex had to hide a smirk. No doubt that one would try to start something before the end of the day. Eventually the children muttered themselves out and quietened down again. Alex let the silence sit for a moment before talking. "Today, or at least this morning," he started. "I am your tour guide," he announced, spreading his arms with a grin. "First stop, the place you would be eating breakfast had you been a little quicker to get up this morning," with that Alex stalked off with the students trailing behind him.

Over at the cabin, Wolf decided it was time to wake Fox and Eagle. Partly because they would probably want food and a hungry Eagle is not something Wolf wanted to deal with but also because they all knew Alex didn't like some of the kids. And, if this morning's wake up was anything to go by, the teenage superspy was a hell of a lot more creative than they had given him credit for. He turned to enter the cabin with Snake following. Snake immediately moved to wake up Fox, simply shaking the younger man's shoulder jarred Fox awake. Eagle however, required a little more cajoling. Wolf, ever so subtly kicked him out of his bed then stalked off in the direction of the mess hall barking,

"Eagle. Get up."

The lanky soldier picked himself up off the floor muttering about how sudden wake ups were bad for one's health.

K-Unit's adult members met up at the mess hall just as Cub was leaving with the students in tow.

"And that, Squirts, is what you get foodwise when you're not slow out of bed,"

Eagle and Fox glanced at each other as several of the boys glared murderously at Cub's back, it seemed that maybe Eagle would win the bet after all. The four soldiers quickly grabbed some food before tailing the students and Cub down to the lake.

Alex was well aware of the hate filled looks he was getting, but that's what happened when the government sent children to an SAS camp. Well, obviously he was a different thing altogether but that wasn't the point. The point was that Alex knew Blunt was aware of how much he would dislike this situation, Alex also knew that if the children whined to their parents, the complaints would eventually reach back to Blunt. So Alex was going to make this camp the worse three weeks of the students' lives.

Alex stopped in front of the lake and turned to face the students. He glanced over the group, they had organised like all children, the brave ones in the front, the weak and nervous ones at the back and the jocks halfway in between. And it was those arrogant ones that Alex was interested in. He recognised a few, some of them he knew where the instigators of the worst rumours that had dogged him at Brooklyn. "This is the lake," Alex said plainly, sweeping an arm out to gesture at the expanse of water. He heard a faint 'no shit Sherlock,' but decided to let it slide for now. A smirk played at his lips. "Trust me when I say, regardless of how much some of you may enjoy swimming," he began. "You will hate water when you leave here," Alex paused for a moment. "Let's move on,"

The students were in chaos as they followed the thief-hostage-drug dealer-thug-assassin-spy around the camp. It seemed every time the guy spoke four more theories would pop up. Brandon couldn't shake the weird feeling that he's seen the bloke before. But right now his attention was focused on Lucas Marks, the fellow athlete was hot headed and had a temper. Brandon and Lucas weren't best buddies but there was a friendship there and Brandon really didn't like the way Marks was muttering.
"Lucas, chill out. So the guy's a twat, who gives a shit?" he whispered. The dark haired boy threw him a light glare.
"Are you not hearing what he's saying or something? Keeps calling us 'squirts' and shit like that,"
Brandon was so distracted by attempting to calm Lucas that he didn't noticed the mass of ropes and wood that was the assault course or the four soldiers who were now tailing a lot closer to the students.

"Fox, are you hearing this?"
"No, Eagle I'm deaf but MI6 still accepted me,"
"Wait…what?"
"Sarcasm, Eagle, Christ,"
"Oh, okay. But I thought I'd remind you, our bet still stands in my favour even if Cub doesn't throw the first punch,"
"Why does that matter?"

Alex's voice rang out again of the chatter of the students. "Unfortunately, we don't have a baby pen for you lot. But this course should suffice," he grinned.

Lucas snarled. Who the fuck did this guy think he was? The youngest kid here was just under seventeen and the oldest had turned eighteen a few weeks back. They weren't children. He started pushing himself to the front of the group. Brandon put a hand on his arm to stop him but Lucas just shook it off. "I'm gonna break his fucking nose,"

"I'm going to break his fucking nose,"
"Hear that Fox? Cub's gonna flip,"
"…Fuck,"

Alex was continuing with his speech. "As the point of this is to familiarise yourself with the camp all of you will run the course. When you are all finished then we'll give you food," Alex chuckled, oblivious to the angry young man heading his way. "You know, maybe Squirts. If there's any -unf," there was a dull thud as Alex was tackled into the ground.

Both Snake and Fox immediately moved forward but Wolf held out an arm. "Wait, I kinda want to see how this plays out,"

Alex had been expecting hostility but he hadn't been expecting an actual attack. The sudden contact triggered an instinctual reaction from Alex, and rolling with the tackle he maneuvered himself and his assailant so when they rolled to a stop he was on top. The kid managed to throw a punch that glanced off Alex's jaw. That when Cub stopped playing nice. He flipped the kid onto his stomach with ease and pinned one hand under his knee. Alex grabbed the kid's other hand and twisted it behind his back, he braced a hand on the kid's shoulder and lent down to the boy's ear.

"Test me again Squirt and I will break your arm," he hissed before smacking the kid over the head and getting up. Dusting the dirt and mud off his arms and chest as best he could, Alex turned to face the rest of the students. Most of them were staring at the dark haired kid currently moaning into the mud and clutching his arm. Alex frowned, then pointed at the assault course. "Now would be good," he barked. "Food, remember?" that seemed enough for most of the kids who started off over the first obstacle, giving Alex a wide berth. Alex glanced over at Wolf and the others as they approached, before turning back to the student who had attacked him. Alex nudged the kid with his foot. "That's you too Squirt," he snapped, ignoring the dirty look he got. He rubbed his ribs sullenly as Wolf and the others approached.

Wolf threw a hand on his shoulder. "You okay Cub?"

Alex nodded. "I'm fine, kid doesn't know how to throw a punch,"

Wolf nodded sharply. "Good, good," he paused. "Come on, we can probably walk to the end of the course and beat them all there,"

Alex smirked. "I wouldn't be surprised by that at all,"

As the group moved off, Eagle and Fox hung a few paces back. The former with a massive grin on his face at the expense of the latter. Eagle opened his mouth only to be beaten by Fox.

"I swear to God if you gloat about this I will throw your sheets in the lake," he deadpanned.

Eagle swallowed and then nodded.

"So…nice…weather, yeah?"

There was a long sigh.

"Eagle?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up,"