A/N: So, I was supposed to have work today, but I didn't. They cancelled my shift. I was a little irritated that they didn't call and tell me, but it suited me just fine. I went back home and went to bed, in an attempt to soothe sore muscles from a day helping at my brother's work yesterday. He's a porter at an auction house. I spent most of the day on my knees – get your minds out of the gutter! - in a boiling hot auction room passing silver and jewellery from cabinets to viewers. The rest of the time I was moving furniture. When you're 5'2" and half the stuff is both bigger and heavier than you, that's no joke! Anyway, I've forgotten where I was going with this…

Oh yeah! Anyway, a side effect of me not having work was me having spare time to a) recuperate and b) post this! Yay! So yeah, in celebration I'm starting a new story!

**IMPORTANT PLEASE READ**

Several important things to announce here.

First off this is a SEQUEL to both Past of Shadows and Shadow of a Doubt. It's not essential for you to read it, the plot doesn't carry on. However, there will be occasional references to things that happened in the two fics and the characterisation carries on. There was a LOT of character development in them. Plus, you need to meet Yuri! Who, I'm afraid to say, doesn't appear in this fic, but does in the sequel! (Which, yes, is already planned. And partly written… I might be getting ahead of myself…)

Secondly, THIS IS SLASH. As are the previous two fics. Well, there are hints of slash in this one, but not a full out slash-tastic relationship… as of yet. This might change later on… but not definitely.

Thirdly… DISCLAIMER: I own nothing that you recognise.

Fourthly and Finally, WARNINGS: implied assassination and torture. (yeah, this isn't going to be as bad as PoS or SoaD. Think this is a good thing… although, if you do feel like reading a dark fic, keep an eye out for Dulce et Decorum est, the sequel to Pro Patria Mori. And yes, that was a shameless plug.)

And now, I have talked… typed myself to speechlessness, onto the chapter!

-o-O-o-

"Agent Harris," greeted Mrs Jones.

Tom nodded politely. He had been working here for a year now, having joined the army at seventeen. He had been inducted into the SAS aged nineteen, one of the youngest recruits in history and he was proud to be there. Aged twenty, he joined MI6, having been head hunted for the job.

He wasn't their best agent, he knew and accepted that, but he was reasonably good at his job. He often wondered what Alex would think if he could see him now. Of course, it had been Alex who had sparked Tom's dream of being an agent rather than a footballer; Alex had been the reason he had joined the army.

He had thought, maybe, when he joined the SAS that he might run into Alex and again when he joined MI6, but he hadn't and as time went by he forgot all about Alex. Well, not forgot, but ceased to associate his work with him. He stopped expecting to run into him.

He snapped his focus back to the present as his boss started to speak again.

"We have a very... delicate situation at hand in Russia. We need our best agent on the case."

Tom raised his eyebrows. He wasn't their best agent, why was he being told this? He knew by now that MI6 worked on a need to know basis and even then it was like trying to get blood from a stone.

"In fact, we need better than our best agent," admitted Mrs Jones. "We've assigned five agents to this case so far – only one of them infiltrated successfully and he turned up dead within the week. However, there is someone that we know of who could almost certainly complete this mission. The problem is that he disappeared about five years ago and we haven't heard from him since. We spent a year with every agent we could spare looking for him, but no-one could find him. He is, after all, the best." She paused and looked speculatively at the files in front of her for a moment.

"We believe he is now a contract killer by profession and he is rumoured to still have never failed a mission though we can never say with any certainty that any specific target was assassinated by him. He is unique, however, in his stance against the large companies. He has, apparently, been responsible for the fall of the Triads, of Scorpia and several other criminal organisations. Admittedly, many of them tried to take him out first as he was taking their business."

"I'm sorry," interrupted Tom. "But what does this have to do with me?"

"We need you to find him."

"Why me?" asked Tom bluntly. "It sounds as if you would need someone with more experience."

"Unlike our other agents, those we have sent to find him in the past or those who stumbled across him by accident, we feel that he would be reluctant to kill you."

Tom took a deep breath. He really didn't want to know the answer to the next question, but he had to ask, though he thought that he had guessed the answer.

"Why?"

"His name is Alex Rider," said Mrs Jones, pushing a photo across the table. "I believe that you used to be friends."

-o-O-o-

"Thanatos," greeted the man, and Alex smiled coldly.

He had many, many pseudonyms – one for every possible need – but Thanatos was perhaps his favourite. The boy-faced, implacable god of death. The one who couldn't be cheated, merely delayed. Not cruel, just inevitable. People who understood the significance said that it suited him.

"You completed the last job well. I know of no one who could have done it more efficiently."

Alex didn't respond to the praise. It was only fact, after all. He was the best.

"You said you had another job to offer me," he said, calmly.

"Yes..." said the man, obviously uncomfortable with 'Thanatos' cutting through his polite small talk.

"Who is the target?" asked Alex.

The man handed him a picture.

Alex looked at it. The man had a military background, that much was obvious from the way he stood, but the awkward angle of his arm and his predominately grey hair suggested that he had been retired for several years now, probably due to an injury.

"We will pay you-"

"The same as for the last job," interrupted Alex. "My fee is non-negotiable."

The man hesitated, then nodded. "Very well. We expected no less. Your money is in the briefcase on the table."

Alex crossed to it silently and briefly inspected the briefcase. Finding no obvious wires or anything that would suggest it was booby trapped, he opened it. There were bundles of fifty pound notes inside. Quickly, he counted one bundle, and then counted the bundles. After a moment he nodded. He would count it later with more care, but for now it would do. Anyone, who tried to trick or double cross him, would wind up dead, after all.

"It will be done within the week," he said, then turned to leave, taking the briefcase with him.

Two days later the man was dead, a bullet between his eyes.

-o-O-o-

Two weeks later, Alex once again stood across from the man who had ordered the killing.

"Congratulations," said the man. Alex didn't know his name. He didn't really care. Anyone who was hoping to gain his services would come with his fee in cash, a picture of the target and details of where he could be found. Anyone who didn't, didn't obtain what they had been seeking.

"You have now proved yourself the best assassin of this day and age. We have but one more task for you."

Alex simply looked at him, until the man shifted uncomfortably. "We do not actually know what he looks like. We only know his name... Orion."

Orion... the hunter. Another one of his aliases.

"So that's who you are," murmured Alex. He had been hired to kill many of their members by another group seeking to perform a hostile takeover – not that there was any other kind in the criminal underworld.

He sighed and turned to the man, pulling a knife from a sheath on his thigh. It was carbon-fibre. Just as sharp as a normal knife, but wouldn't set off the metal detector he was forced to go through to meet these people.

The man turned white.

"You're going to come with me," instructed Alex. "You are not going to scream. You are not going to attempt to alert anyone that anything is wrong. If I so much as suspect... you will be dead and I will have gone before anyone has understood what you mean."

The man swallowed, and nodded. He didn't need proof of what the assassin could do. The cold certainty in his voice let him know that he hadn't even begun to test his abilities.

The knife vanished, hidden up the sleeve of the jacket that Alex was wearing. He could draw it, throw it and vanish before the body hit the floor, if it was necessary.

A week after that, several members of the group disappeared. The remains of the man who had been in contact with Thanatos was found sometime after, brutally tortured and mutilated. There was a message attached:

Do not try to hunt the hunter. You will fail.

It was signed, Orion.

-o-O-o-

Alex sighed and glanced in the window at an angle in front of him before passing it without stopping. He was being followed.

Frowning, he changed direction, moving off the main street onto a side road, though it was still busy. He needed a clearer picture of his footpad before he decided on his course of action. He preferred to not kill unless paid, but he would if he had to, if it was a secret service agent. Otherwise, he would lose his stalker, vanishing into the crowds that always thickened around this time of year.

The business with that last group had been messy - too messy for his liking, if he was honest - but it had also been necessary. He wouldn't be surprised if this footpad was simply linked to that. They could find no proof, but he hadn't covered his tracks as well as he had liked. It had been necessary to prove it was Orion, and not Thanatos or Crosshairs or another of his pseudonyms.

And definitely not Alex Rider. A single piece of evidence could sign his death warrant.

He half turned, after he deliberately stumbled into someone, to apologise profusely and caught sight of his footpad clearly for the first time. He was short, with black hair and pale skin. Alex quickly turned back and carried on walking.

He had recognised the man. There was no doubt, despite six years age difference since he last saw him. Now Alex simply had two questions: Why was Tom following him, and how had he found him?

-o-O-o-

A/N: So, what did you think? As usual, reviews are greatly appreciated and I'll do my best to reply to them all. I'm going to aim to update this once a week. Which I guess will be on Thursdays, but I'm not promising anything, so don't hold me to it. Anyways, yeah. Reviews are love. Plus, I really want to know what you think of assassin!Alex…