AN: My attempts at dialogue. This one-shot occurs right after Ben picks Alex up in Snakehead.

DISCLAIMER: Spoilers galore. The italicized first line is from Snakehead, page 399, when Ben picks Alex up from the river- not my words! It's Anthony Horowitz's line, not mine! Please don't sue me, I just wanted to write!

Enjoy!

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"I'll tell you on the way..."

Alex stepped onto the Chinook. The inside was a lot larger inside than it looked from the outside, and surprisingly well-lit.

Ben turned to the pilot of the helicopter. "Let's go. Alex, sit down over here." Alex sat down in a seat next to the wall. Ben took the seat beside him. The helicopter blades chopped the air, so the conversation was spoken quite loudly.

"Let's hear it, what in the world happened to you?" Ben asked.

Alex paused, unsure of how to begin. "Well, after I went back to Ash, he wanted me to get rid of the gadgets. I didn't. We got onto the plane to Jakarta." Alex didn't mention that Ash had told him all about his past then. He felt it was personal.

"When we arrived, Ash and I got a ride in a van to our overnight warehouse. Then-" Alex stopped for a moment as Ben pulled one of Alex's wrists to him. The helicopter had leveled out a bit, and Ben had moved to kneel in front of Alex.

"I'm going to guess there were a lot of mosquitoes there." Ben noted as he inspected one of Alex's arms. A large first aid kit had appeared from seemingly nowhere. Ben opened the lid. He removed a particular bottle of cream and squirted a bit onto his finger. Alex watched with vague interest as Ben dabbed the lotion onto the bites. Ben looked up for a moment when Alex didn't continue. "Go on."

"Then we stayed overnight, getting ready to infiltrate the Snakehead, but in the morning the Indonesian SAS stormed the place."

"Nice. I'm guessing that was perfect timing. Other arm, please,"Ben commented, for he had finished with Alex's one arm. The lotion had dissolved into Alex's skin. Alex held out his other arm for Ben. This time, Alex continued without encouragement.

"The SAS checked for ID. Ash's didn't satisfy them, and they never saw mine. Rain came down in torrents before they did, and a gunfight ensued. We got away in a van from the Snakehead and arrived at the port with a container ship."

"I'm going to guess that you're leaving out a lot of detail," Ben interjected. "But before you go on, I need to know a few things. First, did you swallow any of the river water?"

"Yes, but it wasn't my cup of tea."

Ben nodded with a chuckle and then continued more seriously. "Did the Australians inoculate you?" Alex shook his head. "Stand up." Alex obliged.

Ben placed his left hand firmly on Alex's lower back and started gently prodding Alex's stomach with his other hand through Alex's shirt. Although Alex tried to pull away at first, Ben held him there.

Ben broke the silence grimly. "I need you to throw up. With that and some luck, you won't get feverishly sick from the river water. Do you want to do it manually, or would you like a drug?"

"A drug, please." Ben nodded and reached into the first aid kit again. This time, a small bottle of liquid was pulled out. Ben poured some of the dark purple, syrupy liquid into a small cup and handed it to Alex. Grimacing, Alex downed it in a gulp. Ben handed him a bag, but remained kneeling. Alex sat down again.

"In a few minutes, you'll start to feel it, and you'll throw up not long after. Do it into the bag, please. It's not fun, but personally I think it's better than tickling the back of your throat. Anyway, once you got to the port, what happened?"

"For some reason, the Snakehead split Ash and I up. I don't know what happened to Ash, but I got put on the cargo ship in one of the containers. I broke out of the containers to investigate. The Royal Blue was undergoing maintenance, so I scanned my fingerprints into the program they're using. Unfortunately, another passenger escaped as well, but was caught. They killed him after finding out I was somewhere on the ship by interrogating him.

"Of course, that meant I had to hide. I did. I managed to escape from the ship, and then I called up a number that Ash gave me. Major Yu, the person who stole the Royal Blue, found me and knocked me out with his cane."

"Then that's where you got this beauty," Ben quipped, placing his hand on the side of Alex's face and tracing the fading bruise with his thumb. Alex simply recoiled from the sudden touch, but Ben assumed it was still hurting. Again, Ben reached into the first aid kit for a cream. With a delicate touch, Ben smeared the cream across the bruise. Softly, he spoke, "You have really bad luck, don't you?"

"Lady Luck just loves me. When I woke up, I was in some sort of hotel and I had a delicious British breakfast with the Major. He told me his plan and about himself. Basically, he's part of Scorpia, and he idolizes Britain and everything British." Alex stopped suddenly with a twisted expression.

"The drug is kicking in, isn't it?" Ben guessed. He took the bag from Alex and opened it for him. Ben politely looked away when Alex was sick. When he looked back, Alex was panting slightly with a shimmering sheen of sweat on his face. Ben handed him a pill in exchange for the bag. "Would you like some water?" Ben inquired. Alex nodded, and Ben handed him a bottle. He downed the pill with some of the water Ben gave him. "Go on."

"A client wants to stop the Reef Island Conference, so that's his mission. The catch is that it has to look like an accident, so at midnight, when the sun, Earth, and moon align in a particular way, the Royal Blue will be detonated between the tectonic plates to make a tsunami. Yu is going to detonate it personally from an oil platform in the Timor Sea." Alex looked at Ben with a puzzled expression, one that asked what the government would do.

"It'll work out, Alex. The SAS will stop them," Ben quickly reassured the boy. "Although, I do have a question. Just a detail- how did you hide on the ship? A systematic search reveals almost everything on a container ship."

Looking away, Alex shifted uncomfortably and murmured, much too quietly with the helicopter's noise. Ben leaned a bit closer. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I-I hid under Major Yu's bed."

Ben looked at Alex, dumbfounded. He needed a moment to recover. "I don't know if you're suicidal or a genius." Alex turned his head to the side in embarrassment. All of a sudden, his hand flew up to the side of his neck, and he turned his head back the other way to reveal a slightly pained face. Ben raised his eyebrows, concerned. "Let me see, Alex."

Grimacing, Alex pulled away his shirt collar to reveal the bullet graze. A small trickle of blood had formed, and the entire thing was a pinkish color with pus oozing around it. Ben didn't speak, but reached out to Alex, placing a hand on his neck and shoulder. Analyzing the wound, Ben decided what he needed to use and retrieved a cotton swab and a bottle of liquid. With a practiced touch, Ben dabbed the swab in the liquid and applied it to the bullet graze. "Take off your shirt."

Alex looked at him. "You can't be serious."

Ben simply answered, "Just wrapping a bandage around your neck isn't going to suffice. I need to wrap it around your chest as well; the graze it a little bit too low." Alex took a deep breath and removed his shirt.

Ben glanced at the bullet scar with a cocked eyebrow, then went back to attending the bullet graze. A few minutes later, the wound was covered in white gauze so Alex donned his shirt once more. "Alright, back to your story. You were eating breakfast with the major, and he told you his plan. So how did you get to the river?"

"He sent me to that hospital I mentioned. Without good intentions. I would have been an involuntary organ donor, but I escaped, lit the building on fire, and met you here."

"How?"

"I made an impromptu kayak from a float on a plane and went down the river. There was a helicopter, and the sniper inside gave me the bullet graze. I flipped the kayak, so I think he assumed me to be dead. Then I washed up on shore, where you found me."

"First, Alex, why didn't you contact us sooner? We would have come."

Alex thought for a moment. He noticed then that he had lost his belt and his wristwatch, essentially. And he had his bombs and incense- the two things he hadn't mentioned to Ash. Realization dawned on him with a nearly painful thud, but he disguised it with an embarrassed expression.

"There was no battery."

Ben frowned. "Smithers forgot something that basic? That's not good. Wait- then where did you get a battery?"

Alex smirked sardonically. "I don't think Smithers forgot. I had a battery in my shoe, though." Ben gave him a look that clearly said to elaborate. "The Australian SAS tested me, and put a beacon in my shoe. It was battery powered."

"They tested you?"

"Yes, I was led out into a mine field to see how I'd react. I did well apparently, not panicking and picking the best course of action. They hired me, you could say."

Ben frowned gravely at that knowledge. "I'm going to say something to Blunt about this."

Alex shook his head. "It's not worth it, Ben. Blunt is just as manipulative as the Australians."

Ben looked surprised. "How so?"

Alex paused. "He took advantage of my curiosity to test me. I jumped out a window to check out my uncle's office."

Ben cocked his head playfully. "At least Blunt didn't force you into it." Alex thought about it, then nodded slowly.

Ben contemplated this information for a bit. "Well, it's off topic, but why did Mrs. Jones mention Scorpia to you? It's not related to you, is it?"

"I betrayed them and then got sniped by them."

Ben did a double take. "What! I thought that was a fake scar. I'm not going to ask more about it, because I'm not sure I have the clearance." Ben frowned. "Though I will admit, it does strike a spark for curiosity."

A faint rush of water was heard over the helicopter's roar. Ben narrowed his eyes, looking directly into Alex's. "The hospital's upriver; yet you're downriver from those falls. Did you go over them?"

Alex was taken aback, but recovered quickly. "Yes, I did. I haven't broken anything, so don't worry." Ben nodded slowly.

"How did you make your kayak, Alex?"

"I used a scalpel to make a seat in the float."

"Were you in a rush to get out of the kayak you made?"

"Yes."

"Let me see your legs." Alex's eyes widened, but he soon complied. Ben took one look at Alex's shins and rephrased his request. "Actually, just take your pants off."

This time, Alex did a double take. "What! That's rude, Ben."

"Yes, Alex, I know. Here, use this to cover what you want." Ben threw a blanket at Alex. "But I need to see." Alex stared, bewildered, at Ben for a moment. He blinked, then removed his pants. He blushed from embarrassment.

Ben looked at Alex's legs. "See, we don't want these to get infected," Ben pointed out, calmly tracing a few deep scratches. They weren't bleeding, but it was still red.

Ben reached into the first aid kit, again, removing a tube of antiseptic painkilling cream. It took several minutes to coat each scratch with the cream, and after Ben gave the okay, Alex immediately put on his pants again.

"So, now what?" Alex asked after a long moment of silence.

"It's about 10 minutes until we get back to base." Ben sat down next to Alex. "I'm going to sleep. You can do whatever." Sure enough, Ben catnapped beside Alex.

Alex thought over his adventure; he'd have to report it soon, anyway. Alex yawned, grateful that his legs no longer stung. Briefly, he wondered if Ben had ever been on a mission before and if so, what it had been like. He leaned against Ben and went to sleep.

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AN: Later, he was awoken by Ben and taken into the military complex. Obviously. Then he repeats he story, blah blah blah. I don't care. I just wondered what they did in the helicopter, and it occurred to me that first aid was extremely plausible, and Alex had told Ben sometime about his mission. So why not both!

Sorry if you don't like fluff, but thanks for reading anyways. If you read it, please review- even if your review is a simple "I liked it."

Thanks again for reading.