Alex was in agony.

His whole body felt like it had been submerged in flames. He mentally cursed Jack's boyfriend to hell, the man deserved it.

Jack's boyfriend -Glen- had moved in with them a few weeks ago and had seemed like a decent bloke at first. However, as he got more comfortable around the house he began abusing Alex. At first it was just taps on the head or the rare punch, but now Alex was genuinely worried that Glen would one day land him in hospital or worse kill him. The worst part of the whole mess was that Alex couldn't fight back, the moment he began to retaliate Glen had threatened Jack. He couldn't allow Jack to be hurt because he was too weak to cope with whatever Glen threw at him.

The only person who had any idea of what Alex was going through was Tom, Alex's best friend. Tom had become amazing at bandaging Alex up, he knew now how to check for a concussion, how to tell the difference between a break and a sprain and most of all, whether or not Alex would survive the night without a hospital.

Therefore it came as no surprise when Alex picked up his phone, that there was a text from Tom. Alex opened it : 'Hey Al, text me as soon as you wake up! Are you ok?'. Alex smiled grimly. Was he ok?

No.

Definitely not, he was unable to move his left leg without pain flaring up it bringing tears to his eyes, his head was throbbing madly and blood had dried on his clothes, from where it came Alex was unsure.

Grabbing his phone as though it were a life line his finger sluggishly typed:'Not ok need help' before he passed out.

"Shit." Yelled Tom Harris as he reread the message from Alex. He raced out his door ignoring his mother and father's bickering. Tom was prepared for situations like this but the panic never left him. What if he was too late?

He threw his bike in the bush and climbed up the tree that was next to Alex's window, Alex always left the window open, wether it be for Tom to get in or for him to escape through.

Tom knew that Glen had gone too far the moment he saw Alex. There was only one thing left to do: get help. He began scrolling through the contacts on Alex's phone until he found the one he was looking for - Fox.

Tom knew Alex would probably be furious if he found out what was happening but he took the chance anyway.

The phone was ringing, Tom prayed that Fox would answer, Alex needed help and now.

"Hello?" A Liverpudlian voice said.

"Is this Ben Daniels?" Tom asked hurriedly.

"Yes, who is this? How did you get this number?" Ben demanded.

"My name is Tom Harris I'm a friend of Alex Rider, also known as cub." Tom was getting frustrated.

"Alex!" Ben recalled happily, "How is he?"

"Thats what I called about he needs help. Serious help, how soon can you and a medic get to Chelsea?" Tom demanded.

"I'm driving away from London right now and K-Units with me -Snake's a medic- I could be there quite quickly I suppose." Ben said.

"Get here quick, I don't care how many speed limits you have to break, just hurry!" Tom pleaded, "Please."

"Ok Kid, I'm going to pass you over ti Snake he'll talk to you till we arrive."

Tom quickly recited Alex's address and told them to wait outside for him before he heard the sound of a phone being passed around.

"Hello?" The voice sounded bewildered.

"Snake?" Tom asked.

"Yes, now who's the patient?" He voice was professional.

"It's Alex!" Tom said, frustrated.

"Alex? I am afraid I don't know an Alex."

"Yes you do, he trained with you! What was his name? Damn it! Cub! He was called Cub!" Tom whisper-yelled.

"Cub? Alright, is he conscious?" Snake asked now sounding very shocked.

"No."

"Is his pulse strong or weak?"

"One second." Tom muttered before checking Alex's wrist, "Weak, I think, but I've never been good with pulses."

"Ok Tom, you're doing very good, now are there any injuries at all?"

"There is a lot of blood... I don't know where it's coming from though, his leg looks broken too, is it safe to move him? To see where the bloods coming from?"

"No. Don't move him, wait until we get there. His leg, what can you see?" Snake asked.

"Its his left leg, there is a lot of swelling and bruising..." Tom trailed off.

"That's common. We will be there very soon Tom, don't worry Alex will be fine."

Snake hung up. Tom was unsure what to do, should he stay with Alex or should he go wait for Ben and K-Unit? His immediate reaction was to stay, but then what if K-Unit were waiting outside after all, he had told them not to come to the door. Reluctantly he slid out the window onto the tree and shimmied along it. So far there was no car. Another downside to this plan was that he had no idea what sort of car they would be driving.

At the sounds of an engine he let himself drop from the tree, landing as he usually did- in the bushes. The car was in fact not a car it was a big black 4x4, it drew to a halt a few houses away, as not to bring attention to Alex's house.

Four men got out of the 4x4, and Tom instantly cursed himself, how was he going to get three SAS soldiers and a MI6 agent up a tree without being noticed?

"Tom?" Ben asked.

"Fox? Thank God you got here so quickly!" Tom said in relief.

"What is going on?" Someone Tom didn't know asked.

"I'll explain after Alex is ok! Come on!" Tom said rushing back towards Alex's house.

"Why can't we use the door?" Snake asked.

"Because we bloody can't! Now climb the tree, Alex could be dying!" Tom hissed at the soldiers.

Quietly they all slipped inside Alex's window, the room was blue, Chelsea football posters hung from the walls and there were a few footballing trophies and medals on a desk in the corner.

As they took all this in Snake moved to Alex's side.

"His pulse isn't as bad as you made it out to be." He muttered to Tom.

"What can I say? I'm crap with pulses." Tom said, feeling more light hearted now that there was a qualified medic tending to Alex.

"Damn." The word slipped out of Ben's mouth as he moved closer to Alex's side.

"He seems stable enough to be moved, we need to get him out of this room." Snake said after giving Alex a long checkover.

"How do we get him out though?" Tom piped up.

"How? We take him through the door! Thats how." Wolf barked.

"No! We can't do that!" Tom protested strongly

"Why not?" It was not wolf who spoke, but Eagle.

As he spoke heavy footsteps pounded up the stairs.

"Hide." Tom hissed.

Ben and Snake rolled under the bed while Wolf and Eagle climbed into Alex's wardrobe, Tom briefly panicked before hiding in the tree, where he would be unseen but had a good view if anything happened.

The door to Alex's room flew open banging harshly against the wall.

"Wakey wakey!" A loud voice yelled, "Kid! Get up now! Jack will be home in an hour! And God help you if you haven't made her breakfast."

At the lack of response he staggered into the room. He grabbed hold of Alex and shook him harshly, causing Snake to grit his teeth in fury. Alex woke with a gasp of pain.

"Finally awake huh?" Glen snarled.

"What?" Alex asked, blinded in pain.

"Why the fuck aren't you out of bed? We wouldn't want Jack to find out would we? It would kill her." Glen sneered.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Alex yelled in panic.

Under the bed Snake was holding tightly onto Ben to stop him from moving as Glen struck Alex hard across the face.

"Don't talk back to me!" Glen yelled punching Alex in the face before leaving. Alex gladly sunk back into unconsciousness.

Tom rushed back into Alex's room. He met four very pissed off men who looked like they were about to commit murder.

An

I dont own Alex Rider

What do you think? Should I write more?

Ok to those of you who are reading my other fic 'Its None Of Your Business' I will be updating that soon, can you believe I own all the alex rider books except Stormbreaker, Point Blanc and Scorpia? I have ordered them though! I just dont want to write the fic without accurate info :)