Disclaimer: I own nothing anyone recognises.

A/N: This could possibly be seen as sort-of in the same universe as Housekeeping Duties, but isn't necessarily. Either way, it doesn't particularly matter. Um. Alex Rider-wise, this is set pretty much anytime. Stargate-wise, it's an undisclosed period of time after Fragile Balance.

The meeting didn't occur in cautiously neutral territory, in an undisclosed location, and it certainly wasn't attended by a minor, carefully selected contingent of representatives. In fact, the meeting never took place at all.

The purpose of this non-existent meeting was at first glance simple. It was not that a problem needed to be dealt with; it was that a problem did not yet exist, and hopefully never would. The governments concerned in the matter had long since learnt the value of a pre-emptive strike, however minute and subtle. The meeting had been planned to prevent the problem – the situation – from ever occurring, and therefore also from needing to be dealt with.

It had started when the United Kingdom had acquired a new, young, and spectacularly successful agent working for MI6. Much of that success stemmed from the youth of that agent – at fourteen years of age, the sheer unexpectedness of his employment counted for nearly as much, in the minds of some, as his high-quality training and expertise. The fact that MI6 had come by this new agent through blackmail and coercion had been neatly pushed to one side and ignored.

The situation had escalated when the United States had recently (finally, in the minds of some) followed suit in the path of the UK and MI6 in finding a suitable teenager of their own to exploit. This teenager was, it was found, just as susceptible to blackmail and coercion as the first, though this was due more to his technical nonexistence, and the lack of any laws protecting him.

The United Kingdom wasn't sure whether to be peeved that they were being copied, or peculiarly flattered that not only had they put the idea into action first, and gained sterling results, but that the notion was also thought to be worthy of mimicry.

For their part, the United States of America didn't wish to admit to having copied anyone. But, regardless, they found it hard to deny that this particular brand of corruption had indeed been performed earlier elsewhere.

As it stood, however, they were not being accused of wrongdoing by the other nation; this was instead, to be far more accurately defined, a case of mutual ass-covering. As such, the major activity of the conference was an extended session of covert, embarrassed, I-can't-believe-we're-taking-this-seriously cross-referencing of classified mission reports and heavily censored files. There took place much uncomfortable double-checking of events, places and people.

The circumstances surrounding the acquisition of their respective assets were found, in the course of this research, to be somewhat similar, and it was hurriedly agreed that any subsequent actions of course not outrageous in the least. Any further similarities were then firmly ignored.

Anywhere that the two teenagers may have run into each other was scoured extensively, as were even those places where either may have come across anyone else that had previously met the other; mutual acquaintances could prove to be just as harmful as direct knowledge. Harm, in this case, was defined as any situation or circumstance that may result in one government-employed teenager acquiring knowledge of the other.

Paranoid and unsubstantiated fear though this may appear, representatives of both governments had agreed that, however paranoid, their fears were probably not entirely unsubstantiated. After all, the catalysts of this fear were two cynical, bitter, jaded, government-hating, rebellious teenagers...teenagers with a highly, it could be termed, unusual skill set, ruthlessly taken advantage of by their respective governments.

It was a direct result of all the information brought unflinchingly into the light during the meeting, that each of the attendees at some point shared a private, mutual, fervently mentally-articulated thought: if each on their own can do all that is rumoured of them, do we really want them to ever meet? And then they, without exception, redoubled their efforts, and their resolve.

The meeting-that-never-was ended with both parties sharing one common vision, completely in agreement on at least one issue. To this end, their respective governments would be convinced, by any means necessary, that these two teenagers should never meet, never accidentally come across each other, and never even hear of each other. Doubtless the governments in question would agree; they would hate to knowingly allow something to remove their grip on their accumulated power.

And it would not be hard, surely, surely it would not be much to ask, to keep two teenagers, of all those alive in the world, from knowing of the other's existence?

-end-