Disclaimer: We don't own Alex Rider story.
Based one year after the events of JTH, no spoilers, aren't we clever?
Edited: 23.01.2017

She knew that there were times that her curiosity got the best of her; it didn't help that her imagination was filled with stories of her eldest brother's 'achievements' mixed with her own superhero ponderings that she finds herself thinking about in boring classes. She would admit to anyone who asked that she did want to be the hero one day; dive in just in time, save the day and then disappear until next time. However, Evelyn Alessa Bennett (youngest sibling to the (in)famous Alex Rider) also knew that all those reasons had absolutely nothing to do with the fact she had been sitting in a police interrogation cell for coming up two hours and all the police were just friggin' stupid.

This was not how she imagined everything turning out. It was a complete accident (mostly), just a big misunderstanding and not her fault. In fact, she should blame Alex; it was his fault, in all his James Bond glory. But, when she looked over to Officer Pig-Eyes, she knew he wasn't taking any of it.

"So, go over this story one more time". Pigs-Eyes glared up at her from the paperwork spread out on the metal table. Evelyn straighten up in her seat and lifted her chin; hoping to look defiant and unfazed. She tried keeping her hands down in her lap, but somehow in the midst of her concentration, she would find herself still chewing on her nails. Pig-Eyes shuffled the papers, stood them up, banged them gently on the table and set them down in the corner in a perfectly straight and orderly pile; he then turned his gaze back on Evelyn, giving her his undivided attention.

"Just to clarify, Miss Bennett; if you please..." His voice droned like that of an oversized bumblebee.

Evelyn exhaled loudly, making a sound mixed between sigh of exhaustion and a groan of annoyance. She flicked her head to the side to remove her blonde bangs (or fringe as her British brother called it) out of the icy blue eyes she had inherited from her mother,

"Well,"

Evelyn's day had started rather bland. Get up, breakfast, go to school, ignore or annoy the teachers. She spent most of interval texting Alex as most of her friends were on a field trip for Biology, he didn't answer much. He was probably in class, weird how he had, in the past, had broken many laws, but wouldn't do something so little like texting in class. Didn't he understand how bored she was?
This boredom led her to the mess she was in. On the walk home, Evelyn caught sight of something that didn't even look remotely legal. Two men in an alley, hunched shoulders, standing in the shadows, clearly avoiding any unwanted attention. One in a dark jacket was a little shorter than the other. He gave his 'friend' an envelope. Evelyn moved closer, sticking to the wall, she hid behind some dustbins.
The taller man opened the envelope and seemed to count.
Envelope full of money? Alarm bells rang in Evelyn's mind; this really was not a legal encounter.
She weighed up the idea of leaving them to it or doing the bold thing and catch them in the act and have them arrested. Granted she was only fourteen, a really small fourteen year old, and these were rather big men. But Alex had only been fourteen, her mind told her, and he took down tonnes of bad guys and even went to space. That decided it, it was just a couple of dealers, she could totally pull this off.
Evelyn moved closer, she could hear the shorter man talking.

"It's all there, you don't need to count it"
He had a strange accent, British but strange. If Alex was here he could had probably told her what part of the country the man was from. Evelyn was at a loss, it was all the same to her most of the time. A British accent was a British accent, case closed. She decided to try and take in his features, just in case she had to describe him later. His face was square(ish ) and sharp set. Blue eyes and dark hair. Strong build. Slightly worrying if a fight was to occur. The other man smirked and looked up at him.

"Nothing wrong with being cautious",
The Pome, Evelyn decided to label him, nodded. He kept his shoulders slouched, hands in pockets, but his eyes were constantly scanning the area. Evelyn kept her breathing level and near silent, she didn't want to be spotted. His eyes flicked back to the other man. She decided to take in this man's appearance as well. Not only slightly taller but also slightly older than Pome, whereas Pome looked about mid to late twenties, this man looked about early forties. Greasy hair and pock marked skin, he definitely was no charmer, and he wore a brown leather jacket. Pome started talking again,

"Are you sure this was the appropriate place to do this? It seems a little too open"
Greaser laughed, a deep smoker's laugh, and shook his head. He closed the envelope again and stuck it in his jacket pocket. He patted Pome on the arm.

"You worry too much my friend, come, we have business to complete"
They both turned and walked further in to the alley and went through a back door of a building. Neither man had spotted her. She could turn back now. She could turn back, go to the nearest police station, tell them and if they believed her, they will handle it from there. But she didn't want to. Evelyn wanted to be able to tell her own stories, like Alex could, like her father and her recently acquired uncle could. She also didn't want to enter the same way those men did. There had to be another way into the building.
There was a small window open. A long, not very wide window. It was out of her reach.
Wooden crates under dustbins and an abandoned dining chair on top of that, Evelyn balanced precariously in front of the window. She teetered to the left slightly and rested her hands against the filthy wall to regain her balance. If she fell and broke her leg right now she would be so screwed. Evelyn closed her eyes and steadied her breathing.
'She could do this'. She grabbed the window frame and pulled herself up. Her makeshift ladder wobbled again under her. Evelyn slipped. The chair disappeared from under her and everything fell with a crash. Evelyn winced at the sound. Her legs hung aimlessly. She rested her feet against the wall. She steadied her breathing again and let out a sigh of relief when no one came to investigate the noise she made.
With pure perseverance and no upper body strength, Evelyn pulled herself through the window and through to the other side. She was sure she would be discovering many bruises in the morning.
She dropped down as carefully as she could on to a stacked pile of barrels in front of these were tall scaffolding. From here, she could see the two men talking about 20 feet from her, completely unaware of her arrival. Evelyn smiled to herself; she could totally pull this off. From her place on the barrels, she leapt onto the scaffolding, her momentum carrying her forward. Evelyn landed harshly on her stomach; surprisingly she made very little sound. She rolled on her back, and bit her lip to stop a yell. Tears pricked her eye; she was winded. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, maybe this was a terrible idea.
A torn, opaque curtain hung pathetically from the scaffolding blocking her from the men's view if they were to look her way. She allowed herself a moment to catch her breath.
How did Alex do this so often? Would he be mad if he found out she did this?
Evelyn wiped a tear that had fallen and blocked these thoughts from her mind. She had to focus on the task at hand so she could go home. She gritted her teeth and rolled back on her stomach, ignoring the dull throb of pain. She commando crawled to the edge of the scaffolding and peaked through a small tear in the curtain to continue to observe the men.
Pome was looking through large crates of...something while Greaser watched with a smug look on his face.

"Good to go?" Greaser's voice carried through the building. Pome looked up and gave him a calculating glare. He turned back to one of the crates and pulled out a sub-machine gun.
Evelyn's blood ran cold. She stumbled across arms dealers! This was not good, really not good.
She was way over her head.
Pome examined the weapon in his hands, took it apart, inspected it and put it back together. He nodded to himself. He placed it back in the crate.

"Very good condition, I'm impressed. I'll be interested to know where you got them, the last man we went to sold my people duds. It got one of my men killed"

Greaser forced a smile; it looked very fake. Evelyn had a light bulb moment; she pulled out her cell phone. She rested on her elbows to balance the phone and started to take pictures. Evelyn had always hated the sound her phone made to take pictures so it was set on silent. The men didn't know a thing.
Greaser cracked his knuckles then folded his arms.

"I'm afraid I have orders to keep, I'm sure with further business my boss will relent. For now, you aren't exactly trusted. Nothing personal, just protocol"

Something flickered in Pome's eyes. Evelyn guessed that he did take it personally. A moment later he gave Greaser a lazy smile. He turned and lifted a lid back onto a crate.

"Very well, you've been a good host. I do prefer to know who I am affiliating myself with", He turned back to Greaser, who still had his arms folded,
"Security reasons and all that. If something happens your end I'd rather it not lead to me, surely you understand"

Greaser gave him an almost genuine smile.
"Of course, we are both men of caution but I can assure you, nothing is going to lead this to us"

'Knock on wood' Evelyn thought. Obviously, this wasn't the case as police sirens started screaming from the street. Both men leapt from their skins. Pome pulled out a handgun from his jacket and pointed it at Greaser.

"What did you do? Are you a rat?"
Greaser paled, clearly the only arms involved in this transaction were supposed to be the ones in the crates. He raised his arms above his head. Pome moved slowly to the exit.

"No, of course not. We agreed to be unarmed!"
Pome's face was void of emotion.

"Like you said, I am a man of caution"

Evelyn decided that it would best to use this standoff as an opportune moment to get away without notice. She was shaking slightly and her hands were pale. She fumbled as she put her phone back in her pocket. She turned quickly, causing the scaffolding to shake slightly. Evelyn leapt onto the barrels, her plan to go through the window once more. The barrel shook dangerously underneath her. Just when she thought she was safe, one beneath her shifted. The entire pile collapsed to the ground, taking Evelyn with it. Everything hurt, so badly. She was vaguely aware of letting out a yell.
Evelyn heard loud voices, but they sounded far away. Pome and Greaser!
"No! You leave, I'll deal with this"

Evelyn whimpered. Pome was staying. Pome was staying to get her! Pome was the one with the gun.
'Oh, God!'
She was about to die! How did Alex deal with this?
Evelyn heard movement close to her. Barrel after barrel being thrown off her until Pome's face was visible. Instead of anger she saw...Concern? WTF.
The emotionless mask was gone and a kind, worried, expression was in its place. His eyebrows drew together, a sign of confusion.

"Are you crazy?!"
Evelyn groaned and sat up slowly. She rested her head against a fallen barrel.
"I admit, I never actually been tested"

Pome smirked at her. It fell quickly, something flashed in his blue eyes. Something close to recognition. How was that possible? She had never seen the man before.
At that moment the police barged through the door with guns raised.
"Step away from the girl, raise your hands!"

Pome instead reached into his jacket! Was he seriously going to bring out his gun? No instead he brought out a badge. WTF!

"Ben Daniels, MI6. Currently working for CIA. Stand down; I'm on your side"
The police did as they were told. Seriously? Evelyn groaned and lay back on the ground; she was never wishing for an adventure again.
Evelyn tried to recall where she heard the name 'Ben Daniels' before, she was too sore to think.
Ben turned back to her and seemed to examine her. His mouth was set in a straight line.

"Do you have any idea of how much trouble you're in, blondie?"
Evelyn just groaned.

"And you didn't think to notify the police at any point?" Pig-Eyes frowned at her.
Evelyn spat out a piece of chewed nail with a pfft as it shot across the table, Pig-Eyes grimaced; she had a sudden urge to laugh.

"Well, when Daniels brought out the machine-gun, it definitely crossed my mind; besides, as it turned out, you guys already knew".

Pig-Eyes, not so subtlety, glared at her from across the table. He clearly was annoyed with her, possibly hated her. Evelyn didn't mind, she had that effect on the adult population. Pig-Eyes shook his head.
"You know Girly; you have a pretty hefty charge against you here".

Evelyn examined her nails and nodded.
"Yeah, well so do you".

Pig-Eyes smirked; obviously, he had decided to humour her. Good, she may not be a field agent when she's older, but she knew how to negotiate.

"MMhmm, I know so", Evelyn leant forward and crossed her arms on the table, she looked directly at the officer.
"You see, you have been neglecting my basic needs, which as the USA being a part of the UN, is party to the Declaration of Human Rights and Rights of the Child; agreements you have been breaking by having me stuck in here for the past two hours. I haven't eaten since lunch, I'm hungry. I asked to use the bathroom thirty minutes ago and I'm still holding,"
Evelyn sat back a little in her chair, "That can be very damaging to my kidneys. I still haven't been given my phone call," Evelyn tried not to break her stride, she bit her lips to stop herself from laughing at Pig-Eyes' falling face.
"And, you have interrogated me for the last two hours, me. A Minor, I'm only fourteen, without a lawyer or a caregiver present,"
She tutted.

"That is a pretty hefty lawsuit right there Mister Officer," Evelyn leant forward again. "Also your case, whatever it was that you were doing, happens to involve the CIA, which in turn, is using a MI6 agent. That's a pretty messy situation you have found yourself in"
Evelyn smiled.

"I think it would be best for both of us if we just let this one slide".

Pig-Eyes grunted.

"I'll get you that phone call".

With that, the man stormed out the room.

Twenty minutes later, Evelyn sat outside the police station; her back against the building.

"Here's trouble!" Ben Daniels strode out of the building, a grin plastered across his face, blue eyes sparkling. Now that all potential danger was no longer present, Evelyn realised just how attractive the young man was. He sat down beside her and gave her a light punch on the shoulder; Evelyn gave him a small smile.

"Nice to see you got all your mess sorted; I, for one, have a lot of paperwork. Don't worry; I'll leave you out of it".

Evelyn shrugged.

"Why are you being so nice to me? I'm pretty sure I screwed your whole investigation"

Ben smiled down at her.

"The entire mission was screwed from the beginning; besides you remind me of someone".

Evelyn felt her curiosity spark again; she shifted so she could look at Ben more clearly.

"Really, who?"
A familiar voice cut Ben off before he could begin to answer,

"Evie, what were you thinking?"

Evelyn grinned as her eldest brother came around the corner; for some unfathomable reason she could have sworn, Ben's grin was bigger.

"Of him". Ben replied.

Evelyn flicked her eyes between Ben and Alex. Of course, they knew each other. It was Alex. Alex knew everyone. Alex stopped in his tracks when he saw Ben. A rare, bright smile appeared on his face. Ben stood as Alex strode forward. Alex gave him the biggest bear hug Evelyn had ever seen her brother willingly give; Ben even tried to lift him off the ground before roughly ruffling Alex's hair.
This was just weird. Alex laughed and shoved him away. The whole interaction reminded her of how her father and Ian were sometimes.

"What are you doing here Daniels?" Alex said it through a breathless laugh. Evelyn had never seen him so bubbly. Getting even weirder. Ben was still grinning. Evelyn's cheeks were getting sore watching them.

"I was doing a job for Byrne, which the little lass so rudely interrupted, which the Popo interrupted further", Ben brought his finger to his lips, "I'm currently undercover, so don't tell anyone one. How'd you know it was me?"

He was clearly joking around; Alex shook his head at him. Smile never disappearing from his face.

"Not sure, I think it was Liverpudlian accent",
Liverpudlian, dammit, she should had known that one. Evelyn stood and purposely coughed into her hand.
The two men (honestly it was weird to think of Alex as a man, but he was eighteen) turned to her.

"Sorry to break up this heartfelt reunion, but can't you two just swap numbers 'cos I gotta get home." Evelyn pointed at Alex, "And, he's my ride, soo..." She raised her eyebrows at them.

Ben laughed at her, and nodded.

"Yeah, I have to talk to the boss anyways" He hugged Alex again. "Take your sister home Alex, good luck with the 'rents".
Evelyn wasn't sure whether he was referring to her parents or the Pleasures. She also wasn't sure how he even knew they were siblings.

Alex smiled and waved goodbye, "See ya 'round, Ben".
Alex looked back at her and his smiled faded slowly. She was right; he would be (and is) mad at her.

"Get in the car Evelyn, you never answered my question"
Evelyn sighed and moved towards the parked vehicle. How would she explain this to him? She swung open the door and dropped down into the passenger seat. Alex sat down beside her and clicked in his belt. She did the same, she didn't want to be in anymore trouble with Alex; he had a thing about seat belts.

"So?"
Alex was looking down at her expectantly. She realised he wasn't going to drive until she told him.
She sighed again.

"I'm sorry Alex, but you always made it sound so cool".

Alex gave her a strange look that she couldn't decipher.

"Are you seriously going to try and pin this on me?"

Evelyn jumped in her seat.

"What! No!" She relaxed a little; a dark look clouded her features. "It was entirely on the barrels".

Alex looked seriously confused now, "What? Evelyn, seriously? You put yourself into that situation; you should have walked straight home and ignored Ben and that dealer. If you had you wouldn't been near those barrels, or whatever you're blaming this on".
Evelyn glared at him, weak in comparison to what he could dish out, but still dark. "Would you have walked away?"

There it was, Alex's glare, Evelyn squirmed in her seat.
"You're not me Evelyn. We did not have the same upbringing.
What if it hadn't been Ben? What if it had been two genuine arms dealers in that room? Evelyn, you can't fight, look at yourself, no offense but you wouldn't last a second. You would have died," His voice quietened, "you could've died today, for what? Because you thought it was cool?"

She couldn't speak, she couldn't look up at him. If she did she would start crying. She could feel it in the back of her throat.
Alex sighed and sat back in his seat. He ran his hand through his hair. A sign that he was stressed. He closed his eyes but continued to speak.

"I'm sorry if somehow I misled you with my stories Evelyn. I truly am. But you have got to remember that I had very little choice in what happened. I was sent in and I had to survive." He paused and turned to her.
"Look at me" She shook her head, He sighed, "Look at me".

Evelyn slowly lifted her head; his face looked hurt, as if she had somehow betrayed him. As predicted, the tears came. They streamed down her face, her body shook with silent sobs. Alex released his seat belt, and then hers. She allowed herself to be pulled into his lap. He proceeded to run his fingers through her hair in attempt to calm her. She felt a light kiss on the top of her head.

"Please don't do that again Evie, it's not worth it, it is so not worth it. It's not worth the therapy sessions, not worth the scars, not the nightmares, and most definitely not worth losing you" Evelyn took a deep breath, she still shook slightly but the tears had stopped.

"I won't do it again, promise" She couldn't see him smile. "Good". He planted another kiss on her head. A pause.

"You're not going to tell mum and dad about this, are you?" She muttered into his shirt.
His chest vibrated as he laughed.

"To tell the truth, it's Marcus that scares me; I won't say a word, besides I can't say much. I had to spend the night in a cell once".

Evelyn lifted her head. "What?"

Alex smiled down at her.
"Did I ever tell you about the time I hijacked a crane?"

AN.
This has been edited to fit with the continuity of the JTH rewrite. Also took out dated references.
-Jean &Diana