Oh, hey there. Um. So, I don't actually have an excuse for being so late. Well, I do, but none that you want to hear.

Credit for me finally finishing this chapter up goes to the amazing BatFink, who sent me a very nice PM that made me feel like an awful human being for not updating this for over a year.

(Sorry about that).

Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider at all in any way.

(PS: A bunch of the formatting got messed up here, so if there's a large space instead of a horizontal line I'm sorry, but FF decided that it was going to be annoying for me today)

QUICK SUMMARY OF WHAT'S HAPPENED SO FAR SINCE IT'S BEEN A YEAR:

Alex was adopted by a couple named Thomas and Abigail Evergreen since he couldn't get emancipated. MI6 decided that if he had a family, he could be manipulated, and so they refused to let him live alone and allowed the adoption to go through. Alex grew fond of his new parents, and learned that Abigail had a very late stage of cancer. She had been offered an experimental surgery in the United States, but it wouldn't be covered by the healthcare system. Thomas and Abigail couldn't afford it, so Alex went to Blunt and agreed to go on another mission if he would be paid for that mission and his past ones. He gave Thomas a shady excuse about a job and left, telling Abigail that he was going on a school trip.

Last Chapter:

So, on the fourteenth day of Alex being gone, Thomas awoke to an empty bed, a note from Abigail telling him she had gone out shopping with friends, and to the ringing of the doorbell.

He stumbled groggily down the stairs to the door and opened it while rubbing his eyes.

At the door stood four, very big, very well-built men. The most muscular of them was glaring slightly at him, another one looked apologetic, one just looked tired, and the last, the closest to the door just looked sheepish.

Thomas raised an eyebrow at the men, avoiding catching the muscular one's eye. "Good morning… Can I help you?"

The sheepish one cleared his throat. "Ah… Yes. Is Alex Rider home?"

"No, he erm…" Thomas cleared his throat as well. "He's not."

The man nodded, and rubbed the back of his neck a bit awkwardly. "Do you have any idea of when he'll be back? We've got a bit of a matter to discuss with him."

"Is he involved in a gang or something?" Thomas blurted out, and all four of the men's eyes suddenly widened.

The most muscular out of the lot of them, the one who had been glaring at Thomas, spoke suddenly. "A gang?"

"I've known him for all of a week or two when he suddenly runs off, and then four very large men appear at my door, asking for him… What am I supposed to think?"

The apologetic one looked very surprised for a moment. "You've only known him for… For a week?"

The sheepish one looked pained for a moment. "Right, I'd forgotten he'd just been adopted. Sorry for bothering you, but erm, you will tell us if he comes back, will you?"

"How could I?" Thomas spoke coldly, as he had realized that they hadn't replied to his suspicions of a gang. "I don't have your contact information."

"Oh, right." The sheepish one chuckled awkwardly before patting down his pockets and pulling out his wallet, and from that wallet, a business card. "My name's Ben Daniels, I worked with Alex's uncle…"

"You're a banker?" Thomas asked before glancing down at the card.

"Yep. Royal and General." Mr. Daniels answered promptly, looking honest. However, the three (very well built) men right behind him absolutely refused to look at Thomas after the statement was uttered, and this alone left Thomas suspicious.

"I see. Well, when Alex gets back from his little trip, I'll be sure to give you a call. May I ask why you wish to speak to Alex?"

Ben shrugged. "He usually stays in contact with me, even when he goes on his little trips… He texted me last night and said he was back, but nothing else, so I wanted to see if he was okay."

"And you brought your little entourage with you?" Thomas smelt something fishy in the air, there was something odd going on… (Not to mention the fact that Alex had not, in fact, returned the previous night).

"They're co-workers of mine, and they were worried about him too. Look, I've got to get going. When he comes back, just give me a call." Mr. Daniels spoke quickly and firmly before he and the other men turned and walked away.

"Something's just not right here…" Thomas muttered to himself before closing the door.

"I agree." A voice spoke behind him, and Thomas whirled around, wide-eyed, to find a very weary looking Alex with dark circles under his eyes, a black eye, a long scratch down his neck, and a busted lip.

"Alex!" He shouted, pressing a hand to his heart as it beat uncontrollably. "Where'd you come from?"

"I heard you talking to Ben and the gang, and so I snuck in through the back." Alex said, smiling slightly. It was then that Thomas realized that he was leaning heavily onto the wall.

"Why? When'd you get back? What happened? Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital?" Thomas fired off, rushing to Alex to pull him into a firm but gentle bear hug.

"I did it because I didn't exactly want to talk to them right now, I got back last night, I got a little beat up by some guys where I went but I'm fine and I don't need to go to the hospital." Alex grinned widely at Thomas as he pulled away from the hug. His adoptive father, however, was scowling as he examined the injuries on Alex's face.

"If you got back last night, why are you only here now?"

"Well, I didn't want to disturb you or Abigail, so I just spent the night at a friend of my father's…"

"You said that your father died when you were too young to remember him."

"I did."

"And his friends still stayed in contact?"

"No, this one only got into contact a little while ago… I just stayed with him because it was closer to the airport than your house, and I wasn't in any condition for a long ride on the Tube." Alex answered evasively. "Where's Abigail, is she okay?"

"She's out shopping with friends… Damn, Alex, what the hell were you doing that you got beat up so badly?" Thomas examined Alex with a critical eye, determined to not miss a single thing.

"It was completely unrelated to my job, just a random occurrence, and yes, the perpetrators were arrested, so don't worry." He managed a weak smile, while Thomas looked on, unimpressed.

"I'm going to call Abigail, she'd want to know you're home." Thomas said, grinning at Alex while digging his phone out of his pocket.

"While you're at it, you might as well tell her that she's getting that surgery." Alex spoke nonchalantly, walking to the fridge in the kitchen and pulling out a soda can, popping it open and guzzling half of it down before his adoptive father could think of a reaction.

"How the hell did you manage to come up with 40,000 pounds?" Thomas said, phone still halfway up to his ear.

Alex shrugged, not wanting to mention the fact that it was more like 110,000 pounds. "I told you, my job pays well." (1)

"No job pays that well without being illegal, Alex!" Thomas shouted, tossing his phone onto the couch frustratedly.

"Mine does." Alex stated simply with a wry quirk of his lips, taking a sip of the soda.

"Alexander John Rider, you will tell me what exactly you've been doing for the last few weeks, or so help me—,"

The teenager set down his can carefully, though his eyes blazed with anger. "Or what? You've been my guardian for less than two months. What could possibly give you the right to demand anything from me? Oh, and congratulations on memorizing my full name. Really, bra-vo."

"Look, Alex, I don't want to get into a fight on your first day home, just tell me where the money came from—," Thomas was cut off once more.

"Look, Thomas, I've told you repeatedly that the money was obtained through legal means. If you can't trust me on that, I don't think I can remain here." Alex's voice was no longer angry, but merely cold and calm, in a way that sent a shiver down Thomas's spine.

Thomas gaped. How had things escalated so quickly? "Alex, please, just sit down, I know we can work this out," he begged his adopted son, sitting down on the couch himself and gesturing to the spot next to him in what he hoped was an appealing fashion.

Alex opened his mouth, but thought better of it and sat down on the couch, though in the farthest possible spot from Thomas, which hurt the man a little.

"Please, Alex, I just want to understand what your job is. If nothing else, I want to know why you're so injured right now."

The teenager gave a short laugh on the word 'injured', which worried Thomas to no end, but before he could dwell on it, Alex began to speak. "I'm not going to tell you a thing about what I was doing. That's it. Please don't beg me, or be suspicious of me or anything, because I can promise you that this last time was absolutely the last job I ever do in that line of work. Not because it's illegal, but because I don't enjoy it at all. It doesn't hold any pleasant memories for me, so I don't want to discuss it at all, and I really need you to just respect that."

Thomas took a deep breath before sighing and nodding. "If that's what you need, then I'll respect it. Now go upstairs, take a shower and then come downstairs to eat. You look like crap."

The teenager laughed and his face instantly looked ten times brighter from the expression. "I can't disagree with you there!" Then, his eyes grew serious once more. "But, seriously, thank you."

"Of course."

Abigail was beside herself when she returned from her day out and saw that Alex had returned. She grabbed into a hug and refused to let him go. Alex didn't even try to escape the embrace, though with the frail, shaking arms about him he could have done so without any sort of problem.

She immediately began to cook a huge dinner with steak, some type of casserole with noodles and a lot of vegetables (since Alex was "still a growing boy and couldn't afford to eat nothing but junk). Alex would have protested this treatment, but considering the fact that he had been captured and starved for a little under a week during his mission, he was quite content with the large amount of food.

Abigail, finishing up dinner, yelled at Thomas to set up the table, while insisting that Alex relaxed and watched some television. Alex had just found some type of show about spies from the CIA when the door-bell rang once more.

"Hm, that's odd…" Abigail remarked as she carried out a large, steaming casserole. "Are we expecting anyone?"

Thomas and Alex shook their heads, though the two exchanged a quick look before Alex jumped up from the couch. "I'll see who it is," he muttered as he walked quickly to the door.

"I'll… go with him." Thomas mumbled before running after his adoptive son.

Alex swung open the door to reveal the same four men from earlier in the day. His face instantly went blank, though he didn't seem at all surprised. Thomas merely stood back, feeling a bit uneasy.

"So you are back." The man who had introduced himself as Ben Daniels remarked with a small grin.

"Evidently so," Alex nodded with a small, polite smile that was too bitter to be genuine. "Any reason why you're here, Ben?"

"Just wanted to check on you," Ben answered, eyes flickering over to Thomas before flicking back to the teenager. "Any chance we can talk without your new guardian?"

"No. We're about to eat dinner." Alex answered shortly.

The other three men (who all looked fairly uncomfortable at this point, and the most muscular of them was observing the rose bush next to him with an interest that could not have possibly been genuine) winced a bit at his tone, but said nothing.

"Mrs. Jones sent us." Ben attempted, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't care if the Prime Minister sent you." The teenager said plainly while Thomas fought not to slam the door and drag his new adoptive son away from the tense situation.

Ben sighed loudly. "Alex, please be reasonable -"

"Believe me, Ben, this is by far the best choice I'm made in a very long time." Alex remarked before nodding at the group and slamming the door shut, locking it before Thomas could say anything. The teenager sucked in a deep breath before turning and flashing an overly bright smile at Thomas, "Ready for dinner?"

After dinner, Abigail felt a little bit queasy and (after giving Alex another huge, suffocating hug), went to go lie down for a little bit, leaving Thomas free to interrogate his adoptive son.

"Sit down."

Alex peered at him suspiciously, but did as he said.

"I know I said just earlier that I wouldn't interrogate you, but… But I need to know who those men were. Just for my own peace of mind. Because having four very muscular men who are probably all armed—"

"Where'd you get the whole armed thing?" Alex interrupted, his expression a mix of things that Thomas couldn't read.

"My uncle is an American, and likes carrying a pistol everywhere. Whenever we went to visit him, he would give us a lesson on guns, and how to spot if someone was carrying one…" Thomas paused. "Well, that, and the fact that when Ben turned around, his coat billowed out some and I could see his gun."

Alex muttered something under his breath and then sighed. "Okay, so, you're kind of right. I don't actually know what Ben was doing with a gun, but the other three are in the SAS. They worked with my dad a little, and they all knew each other from uni or something. I messaged Ben that I was home, and I guess they were all together and that's why they were at the door."

"What do they have to do with your job though? Because I know Ben has something to do with it."

"Where'd you get that?"

"Please don't think me an idiot, Alex."

The teenager sighed. "Sorry, I don't… Could you just take me on my word that I'm not doing anything illegal at all? And that the four of those men don't have anything to do with it?"

Thomas thought for a minute, but gave in and nodded, resulting in a large grin spreading across Alex's face.

The sight of his adopted son being happy caused him to grin as well, and he didn't for a minute regret his promise to Alex.

"Wait, what do you mean I'm getting the surgery?" Abigail demanded, staring at both Thomas and Alex.

"What we said. You're getting the surgery." Thomas grinned at her, enjoying the startled look on her face.

"But… it's too expensive, we can't afford it!"

"Actually, my parents were pretty wealthy, and they left some money for me. What better thing is there to spend it on?" Alex lied smoothly, grinning charmingly at his adoptive mother.

Abigail began to protest, but Thomas shut her up quickly.

"If Alex wants to spend his money on a surgery that will make you better, let him. We want the best for you, Abigail."

Alex grinned cheerily at her and she sighed and finally gave in. They were going to America!

"I bloody hate America." Alex muttered as they finally got off of the plane and stepped into the terminal of the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. He was used to long plane rides with his "job", but that didn't mean they got any less aggravating. The only thing different with this one was the novel experience of having someone fuss over him.

Abigail had offered him one book, and then another, and then some snacks she had packed. Every thirty minutes she would ask him if he was feeling airsick, and if he wanted to chew some gum or suck on some candy. He had been offered painkillers, a blanket, a sweatshirt, and even Thomas's sweatshirt (which Thomas had protested, but Abigail had shut him up with a fierce glance).

The thought that someone cared about his comfort on a plane ride made him feel warm. No one had ever really done that. Ian had always made sure that he had a book, but that was it. Alex didn't know why the experience had affected him so, but he suddenly became very glad that he had gone to Blunt to demand the money, and that he had gone on the mission that Blunt had presented. Abigail deserved to live her life much more than anyone he had ever met.

"You don't hate America, you just hate plane rides!" Abigail chirped, grabbing his arm and dragging him over to baggage claim. Her grip was weak, but Alex didn't even think about escaping it.

"Do you see our luggage, Thomas?" She asked, grinning in a way that made it seem as though they hadn't been cooped up in a plane for over ten hours.

"No, I don't." Thomas grumbled, the bags under his eyes showing the aftereffects of having a toddler sitting right behind him. The little brat had kicked his seat for hours during the night. Alex had had sympathy for the man, but not enough to change seats with him.

Suddenly, Abigail pointed excitedly. "Isn't that one of ours, over there?"

"I'll go get it," Alex volunteered, and moved quickly through the crowd to grab the large red suitcase. He wrapped a hand around the handle and tugged quickly, managing to get it off the large conveyor belt that had all the bags going round and round. Feeling a small amount of pride for the easy grab, he began to walk off and ran right into someone. "Oh!" He exclaimed in surprise. "Excuse me!" And then he saw the woman's face.

He flashed a small smile to hide his expression of surprise, and was glad to see her looking distracted with no amount of recognition on her face. Before she could look too closely at him, he walked quickly back toward Thomas and Abigail, wheeling the large suitcase behind him while he swung his small, carry-on backpack and pulled out a cap, jamming it onto his head.

While he walked, he glanced through the crowd and was alarmed to find several familiar faces. Each one made him pick up his pace slightly.

Once he reached his adoptive parents, Alex let the suitcase drop at his feet and whipped out his cell phone, dialing a number that he had never thought he would use. He ignored the curious and worried looks of Thomas and Abigail, and walked a few steps away to ensure that he had a small amount of privacy (though real privacy was impossible in a crowded airport such as this one).

He tapped his foot impatiently while he waited for the man to pick up.

"Hello? Who is this?" A deep voice demanded.

"Mr. Byrne, this is Alex Rider. I'm sorry to contact you on such short notice, but I'm at Baltimore-Washington International Airport and there's a problem."

"Alex? Please, call me Joe. What's going on?"

Alex took a deep breath. "Joe, I've spotted at least six different Scorpia operatives here. I don't want to alarm you or anything, but I'm pretty sure that can't be anything good."

There was a deep inhale of breath on the other side of the line. "Alex, are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I am. I know we thought Scorpia was disbanded, but either they didn't, or there's a new group with the old members. Either way, there's cause for alarm." He realized suddenly that Thomas and Abigail were standing close enough to him to hear him, and sent them a weak smile in return. He'd have to find a good lie to get out of this one.

Alex heard the head of the CIA shout something and give out instructions to someone. Though he could not tell what was being said, the sound of Byrne taking action relaxed Alex a bit. "Alex, are you still there?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you know the names or aliases of any of the operatives?"

"Yes, sir. I knew one woman as Tanya Ridanaya, that's R-i-d-a-n-a-y-a, codename Venom. Another woman I knew as Wei Lee, that's W-e-I L-e-e, codename Longshot. The others I just knew by their codenames, Colonel, Paroxy, Pyro, and Splendant. I don't want to alarm you too much, but the five out of those six specialized in explosives."

"Okay, we've got hits from Interpol, they used aliases to get through security. I've sent out a few team from the FBI and a team of my operatives. My guys will come to you and I need you to tell them where they can apprehend the Scorpia operatives."

"Joe, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but you should know that I'm not here alone. I'm with my adoptive parents."

"Oh. Do they…"

"No, they don't know." Thomas gave Alex a suspicious look while Abigail merely looked frightened and confused. Alex flinched and turned away to look at the crowd and keep track of as many of the Scorpia operatives as he could.

"I'll give them copies of the Act to sign when we take you guys in… Have you been recognized?"

"Somehow, no. I think their training has gone lax. They didn't seem to spot me."

"Okay, my guys are there. There's a familiar face in the group. Call me if you get any more information."

"Okay, thanks Joe."

"No, Alex. Thank you."

Alex hung up the phone and took a deep breath. He pretended not to feel the gazes of his adoptive parents burning into the back of his head as he kept his eyes on the Scorpia operatives, and waited for a "familiar face" to show up.

(1): So, the missions I counted were: Stormbreaker, Point Blank, the Wimbledon mission at the beginning of Skeleton Key, Skeleton Key, Eagle Strike, Scorpia, Angel Ark, Snakehead, Crocodile Tears, Scorpia Rising, and the newest mission which he just returned from in this chapter.

AN: So, once again, I apologize for the long wait. If you're still reading this story: thank you. If not, well, then you'll never get this message.

Last chance: should Abigail live?

Thanks for reading,

-Marie