It was nearly 4am before Yassen stopped the car. Alex had been dozing so when the car slowed to a halt he sat up curiously. They were parked new an airport strip with no actual airport in sight. But there was a plane on the runway waiting for take off.

"Get up. We have a plane to get on." Yassen instructed bruskily.

"Where are we going?" Alex asked as they exited the car.

"When I was ordered to kill your uncle my instructions were to bring you to a SCORPIA base in France. That's where your uncle is."

They went through a gate and approached the small jet.

"Bring your kid to work day, Yassen?" A man questioned cheekily as he came down the stepped of the jet to meet them.

"They boy is none of your concern other than the fact that if he's hurt and I find out you were responsible I will put a bullet in your head."

The man shrugged, unconcerned by the threat.

"No worries. Child abuse isn't really my thing."

The man gave Alex another curious glance but said nothing more on the topic. He was a tall guy with dark curly hair. He also had a more prominent Russian accent than Yassen.

The three of them entered the plan and Yassen gestured for Alex to take a seat. Still a bit wary of the new man, he opted to take the seat closest to the assassin.

"I'm taking comfort in an assassin I threatened to kill more than once...How ironic." He thought with a grim smirk.

"Dmitri will not harm you, despite my threat he's actually a friend of mine." Yassen said as he noticed the boy side eying the man.

"You have friends?" The sarcastic response slipped out of his mouth before he realized what he said.

Wide eyed he turned to the killer but the man was only peering at him with a look of amusement.

"Trusted aquaintence, then." He compromised.

The whirl of the engine could be heard as the jet began to vibrate to life, readying for take off.

"So, this is really how you plan to cash in your favor to me, Yassen? Retrieving a spy from your own organization?" The man Yassen called Dmitri asked as he pulld out a book that was in Russian.

"Not my organization anymore." Yassen corrected. "But if you don't think you can do it I can always find someone else."

"Oh, I can do it. It's barely scratching what I'm capable of though. I would have thought you would want my help with something more strenuous. SCORPIA is not what it once was, my friend. A shadow of it's former self."

"Help me with this task, Dmitri and you were forever out of my debt. I would think that would be something you would want."

Dmitri chuckled softly and nodded.

"You have no idea. You are not someone people want to owe a favor to, my friend." He said before cracking his book and becoming silent. The jet began taxing down the runway, once they were in the air Yassen pulled out a computer, it's screen tilted so that Alex couldn't see.

Alex sighed and shifted his feet only to wince as he jarred his still healing soles.

Yassen noticed the grimace and gave a light sigh of his own.

"You are still injured from you own time with SCORPIA."

"It's just my feet." Alex assured He wasn't going to let Yassen think he was wrong to bring him along.

"There's a first aid kit in the bathroom. Once it's safe you can get it and tend to your wounds. I trust you can run on those feet?" The man asked doubtfully.

"I will be." Alex confirmed firmly.

"I can't afford to have to worry about your safety as well as your uncle's and my own, little Alex."

"I can look after myself." Alex bristled.

Yassen raised his eyebrows questioningly but didn't reply, instead he turned back to his work on the computer.

Alex felt the plane gain speed before finally ascending into the air.

The teen looked out the nearest window and silently willed Ian to hold on for as long as he could.

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"It seems as though your nephew has fled. MI6 can't even find the boy. But we both know that you know where the boy has gone."

Ian was hanging by his bound and bleeding wrists from a chain dangling down from the ceiling.

The spy spit blood from his mouth and smiled. Good. Alex had listened to him and went ahead with his and Elsie's plans. His boy was safe.

But SCORPIA wasn't going to let it go lightly.

"Where did the boy go, Ian?" A voice called.

Ian squinted out of black and swollen eyes but had no luck.

He was in a dark room with only a bright light focusing on him. It was a text book form of disorientation and Ian was not impressed.

Rider's body jolted and he cried out as a taser was pressed to his bare side. And was held there.

When the current was finally stopped Ian's head slumped forward.

The room was silent as he panted through the residual pain racking his body.

A thick hand grasped his hair at the back of his head and was yanked back hard until a mouth was breathing hot air into his ear as he spoke.

"Where is the boy, Rider."

"I don't know." Ian ground out. He'd die before he gave up Alex. If he was willing to die for his country then he would have no problem doing it for his kid either.

"Wrong answer, my friend." The voice said, not at all friendly as a punch was laid into the side of his head again and again before the taser crackled back to life.

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They had landed in France early that morning. The trio had immediately went to a house Yassen had aquired over the years.

After only so little time with the man, Alex was already convinced the man wasn't human. Not once had the man stopped for food, a bathroom break or sleep. The guy never stopped. Alex could even hear Dmitri's stomach beginning to rumble in protest.

When they entered the house Alex and Dmitri had both gravitated toward the kitchen in search of food. No such luck other than the basic tap water.

It was Dmitri who finally caved after so many hours of watching Yassen sift through what looked to Alex to be blueprints of a building.

"Yassen, what's the situation on food?" The man questioned.

Yassen's eyes flicked annoyedly to the man and he opened his mouth to tell him to 'fuck off and man up' until he saw Alex's also hopeful expression.

"There's a store about half a mile up the road. Get some food for the three of us and come straight back here. Don't draw attention to yourself and for god's sake don't use a credit card. Make sure you're not followed coming back here." Yassen rattled off as he tossed the keys to the car they had arrived in and French currency to the man.

"You got it. You want to come, kid?"

"No, he doesn't," Yassen answered for him. "We're risking enough sending you out. Go quickly and come back."

Dmitri nodded and smiled at Alex while muttering 'paranoid bastard' as he went causing Alex to fight a smile himself.

Once he was gone that left Yassen and Alex alone...again.

After nearly twenty minutes of awkward silence of Alex watching Yassen look at blueprints again he had had enough and broke the silence.

"So, what exactly is the plan here, Yassen?"

"With an insane amount of luck, infiltration and extraction."

"And what exactly is Dmitri here for?"

Yassen sat back and finally looked at the boy.

"He's a hacker. He'll be my 'eye in the sky' so to speak. He'll watch cameras and navigate me to Rider and back out."

"You're just gonna stroll into their compound?"

No. A diversion will be necessary. It's not the best plan but it's about as good as it's going to get with the amount of time I have."

"How far away is the compound?"
"About twenty miles."

"And Dmitri's going to guide you from here? And we're going to be in the compound with no back up?"

"No, I'm going to be in the compound with no back up."

"Now wait a minute-"

"No, Alex."

"You can't just leave me here. He's my uncle I'm not just going to sit around as you attempt to fix our mess on your own."

"I can't concentrate if I have to worry about you getting yourself killed."

"I can take care of my-"

"Yourself. Yes, so you've said quite a few times, I'm sure. And that may be but I won't risk it and get your blood on my hands."

"Yeah, because your hands are just so clean." Again the words tumbled out of his mouth without a filter. Alex was almost certain that if it wasn't for John Rider he would be dead and on the floor by now. But he wasn't. Yassen just stared emotionlessly at him.

It was a moment before Yassen began to talk again.

"Are you ready to listen to me?" He asked the boy.

Alex sighed heavily and nodded.

"The reason you won't be joining me into the compound is because you are going to be my diversion. You've proven that you can cause mayhem to a near suicidal degree. I'd like for you to utilize that to my advantage."

As realization hit Alex nodded.

"That I can do."

A/N- …..yep. That's what you've been waiting like five months for...I am so sorry.