Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider

03: Debates
"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."

Khalil Gibran

Alex avoided the unabashed, curious stares as he made his way into the classroom. There was no doubt that everyone was wondering about what had happened the previous day between the "mysterious stranger" and Mr. Burke.

He took his seat, his back burning from the pairs of eyes directed in his direction.

When the bell rang, signaling the beginning of class, Mr. Burke began the class. He instructed them to shift their desks into a giant circle, facing inwards.

"We're going to have an informal debate," he was telling them, "to the last question I asked yesterday: 'Do you think our country should ever resort to torture?' Those who think 'yes', go to the right side-"

There was a flurry of movement as a quarter of the class moved to the right side.

"Those who are undecided, sit over here-" Mr. Burke motioned to another section and three-quarters of the students made their way to the section.

"Those who think 'no' can stay over there." The teacher nodded to Alex's side.

Alex sat, absentmindedly noting that there were four students besides him on the 'no' side, six on the 'yes' side, and fourteen on the 'undecided' side.

"We'll begin on the 'yes' side," Mr. Burke decided, standing behind the desks, "Who'd like to start?"

A popular boy (maybe his name was Will?) raised his hand. Mr. Burke nodded to him. Will cleared his throat and began, "I thought 'yes' mainly because of the bad people out there: assassins, terrorists, serial killers etcetera. Like," he paused to think of the right words, "what if by torturing someone, you can save a bunch of lives?"

"What if they're innocent?" Someone called out, "You'll ruin their life if you randomly begin to torture them."

"Well, you've got to interrogate them first," Will replied thoughtfully, "and if the evidence points to the fact that they know something, then you can torture them."

"Are you saying that it's okay for the government to torture someone whether they're innocent or not? Evidence can be warped." The same person from Alex's side shot back.

Will cleared his throat, now looking pleadingly at the other members on his side. Another kid responded for him, "Isn't one ruined life worth less than, say, a hundred?"

"It depends on what happens to the hundred, doesn't it?" Someone from the undecided side said, "If they would have lived through tragedy, it can be worth it, but if they would have died…"

"Doesn't it also depend on what kind of torture the person goes through?" Another person from the undecided section pointed out, "Like a harsher form would be cutting off someone's toes one by one-"

A groan of disgust rose up from the class.

"-and a more mild form of torture would be waterboarding."

Alex bristled, "Waterboarding is a form of torture. It might not be that physical, but it's psychological and just as painful. All kinds of torture are equal."

Silence.

"A very good point, Rider," Mr. Burke nodded, "Anyone going to take the rebuttal?"

"Waterboarding is that bad…" Will jumped in again, "It's just when people pour water in your face."

Alex's right hand tightened on his pencil, "That's not what waterboarding is. It's when you suffocate over and over again. Just when you think you're about to die, you get another breath of air, and it starts all over again. And even if you manage to survive it, you can experience memory loss from oxygen deprivation, which makes the subject unreliable."

"So are you saying that even if you could save a million lives by extracting information out of a person, you wouldn't?"

Alex's pencil snapped in his hand. Everyone stared at him, waiting for his argument. He stood abruptly, the desk sliding a couple centimeters across the floor with a harsh, scraping sound.

"This debate is making me feel uncomfortable," he told Mr. Burke emotionlessly, "May I stand outside?"

Whispers broke out, but Alex didn't feel embarrassed. This conversation was getting too close to situations that he had been in before.

"Of course." Mr. Burke made his way to the door, letting Alex out, "I'll need to speak with you later."

"Sure." Alex said dully, escaping the stuffy classroom. He leaned against the red lockers, the broken fragments of his pencil still clutched in his fist.

It was another few minutes before Mr. Burke came out, rubbing his temples, "Does this sudden unwillingness to participate have to do with your involvement with the government?"

Alex raised his eyebrows. Had he figured it out? Impossible. He'd provided a million plausible excuses.

"I know this is a sensitive topic," the teacher continued, "but you're in trouble, right? That bloke that came in yesterday confirmed it."

An idea sprung into Alex's mind. He nodded slowly, looking down at his feet as if he were ashamed.

"It's just…" He studied his dirty trainers, "Before my uncle… He was a soldier in the SAS."

Alex reckoned that if Mr. Burke went digging in his life, he had enough connections to make sure the teacher found exactly what he was saying.

Mr. Burke nodded encouragingly. Alex glanced up quickly, but looked away when he met the teacher's eyes. He had to keep his "shy kid" cover.

"Well, the police told me he died in a car crash, but he didn't." This time the bitter bite to his voice was real, "He'd been tortured. Went through everything we've been talking about. He died from asphyxiation, though."

Lie. Lielielielie.

He turned away and wiped away imaginary tears.

"Please don't tell anyone." Alex bit his tongue until tears sprang into his eyes. He looked up pleadingly.

Mr. Burke looked startled, "Of course…"

Alex gave a watery grin, "Thanks."

The teacher patted Alex's back awkwardly as he wiped away tears, "Go get cleaned up and come back later. I need to collect your papers…"

Alex nodded gratefully, slipping away to the bathroom. He congratulated himself on a job well done.

C*O*B*R*A

Derek Burke stared down at a certain student's paper thoughtfully. A certain Alex Rider kept on reappearing in his thoughts.

"…I think the point is clear. No one should be denied these rights."

"These rights were set up for a reason, and I believe we should abide to them."

Why did the boy sound so mature? The other papers stated how it depended on the circumstances.

Derek shook his head. No. "Mature" wasn't the word he was looking for. What was it?

He stared back down at the neat words on the perfectly crisp, white paper.

"One simply knows when there's no other way."

Experienced. That was the right word.

Alex Rider was experienced.

A/N: Meh...

Well, hello again. This is quite unusual: two chapters to the same story in a day. Well, the last chapter with Alex's responses didn't really count. That was really short, lol.

I think this shall conclude this certain edition. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and to everyone who showed any remote interest in this xD

Good? Bad? Ice cream? Please tell me!

I'm concerned about running out of material to write about... Though I probably won't... If you want to see something, please leave something in the reviews or PM me. I might write a variation of what you ask! If I don't, don't be sad. I'm probably working on it or considering it.

Yeah, I usually don't ask people for story ideas, but... MEHHHH

Thanks again, my llama friends!

-Alice xxx (I do like llamas very much. And alpacas. And violins. And stationary.)