Soul Suckers

Alex Rider couldn't afford to have a soul; not after what he saw on the field. But, what Alex's classmates didn't know, couldn't hurt them. Or at least until they signed the Official Secrets Act.

Stupid field trip, eighteen year old Alex thought, sitting quietly on the bus. MI6 contacted him last night with instructions for his next mission; A.K.A, Mission Schoolboys

The bus pulled up in front of The Royal Horticultural Halls & Conference Centre in Westminster and he grudgingly got off the bus with his feet only slightly dragging. Who said he couldn't act normal until his mission actually begun?

His best buddy, Tom Harris, got off behind him and Alex turned to nod at him before charging up the sidewalk and into the building using only speed that training with the SAS could allow. No one noticed him.

After he opened the door and handed his bag to the guard on duty, who just happened to be a former

MI6 agent named Ben Daniels, he quickly went into the men's room, locked the door, lifted the sink from it's base and changed into the clothing his agents left there.

He came out dressed in an typical agent uniform. And really cheesy sunglasses to acknowledge his more sophisticated, James Bond, spy side. He nodded to the guards/agents on duty and ducked through a door into the conference room as his classmates walked through the doors.

He walked up onto the stage that was set up by a crew yesterday and got behind the curtain, only to be greeted by Tulip Jones and Sergeant.

"Hello, Alex," Mrs. Jones said, her minty breath filling the the air with a wonderful, yet sickening, scent.

"Jones," Alex nodded.

"Alex," said Sergeant Harrison, nearly growling like usual.

"Sergeant," Alex nodded again.

After their lovely conversation, they heard voices trail into the room, sending them into quiet mode.

"Everyone, be quite and take your seat!" Mrs. Collin's voice met their ears. Many did as she asked, but not all. This small group of 'trouble-makers' consisted of Tom and a couple others. After Tom had heard what he had, he was scared of assassins, soldiers named Eagle, and the scorpions of any kind, but not Mrs. Collin's loud voice.

About ten minutes later, fifteen SAS soldiers and fifteen MI6 agents walked on, going in a pattern from soldier to agent across the stage. This shut everyone, even Tom, up.

Jones, Sergeant and Alex walked onto the stage, Alex nearly hidden behind the figures of the two adults; all wore completely neutral expressions. A collection of gasps broke out as Jones and Sergeant moved to the side to reveal Alex.

Alex went up to the stand centered in the middle of the stage.

"Hello students. Welcome to the first annual Schoolyard Combat Training Session. I'm Agent Alex Rider of Military Intelligence Section Six: Special Operations, a.k.a, Cub."

Most student's faces broke out into confused expressions, but only one wore a grin.

"I have been given full support from the Prime Minister himself to give you all the grueling details of my past adventures, but I'll save you the nausea and give you a brief run-through." He paced over the stage while reciting the memories MI6 gave him.

"I was fed to jellyfish, blew up a helicopter then jumped from the scene in the air, fought of a Great White shark, taken down the most notorious crime organization of all time, SCORPIA, then was shot in the chest from an assassin, saved Washington D.C from a bomb, going into space by doing do," He took a breath before continuing, "saved the world from yet another bomb, this time planned on creating a deadly tsunami, saved the world from a near apocalypse in Africa," his voice didn't crack, even before he said, "watched my guardian blow up, then saved the world again."

No one spoke. Everyone thought intensely about this new outcome.

Tom Harris of the first row was smiling as he turned to evaluate the expressions of his classmates. It was pretty priceless, he decided.

K-Unit was in the back smiled smugly and not trying to hide it. After getting the clearance to read the legendary Cub's file, they were flabbergasted, to say the least, and then a sense of pride overcame the flabbergast because Cub was in their unit. He also brought Fox back, so that was a plus in the liking scale.

"K-Unit, J-Unit, and N-Unit, come up with our guest," Alex ordered. The unit's in question stopped smiling smugly; mostly it was K-Unit, but the rest felt prideful as they knew Cub from Breacon Beacons. As they passed Tom's chair, Eagle picked Tom up from the collar and dragged him along for the ride.

They walked up the stairs in a line from the order Alex had called them in and stood behind him, lined up.

Alex turned around and paced in front of them before stopping in front of Wolf, turning to face his classmates and continuing, "This is Wolf, the leader of K-Unit." He turned back to face Wolf. "Hello Wolfie, nice to see you again,"

Wolf's facial expression didn't change; it was still a tough guy face. "You too, Cub."

Alex was just about the only person who could call Wolf, Wolfie without getting a concussion. He figured it was the whole snowboarding down a mountain on an ironing board thing. Wolf getting shot in the process helped as well.

Eagle was nearly jumping up and down with excitement, and Alex, noticing this, said, "Hey Eagle" as well. Tom blanched at learning the soldier's name.

"Hi Cubby," he replied. It took all of Alex's self control to not face palm. He was working up a tough guy image and Eagle destroyed it with one word.

He turned on his heel and addressed his classmates, who wore more easygoing expressions than before because of Eagle's nickname "Anyone who refers to me as "Cubby" will get binned from this Course." Then he remembered his nickname for Wolf. "This goes the same for Wolf. You won't get binned for calling him Wolfie, but you will have a clear understanding of what exactly pain is."

His classmates' easygoing expression faded and was replaced with a fearful state of mind as they glanced towards the man who was nicknamed for his fierce growls.

"Units J and N, along with K, will be helping you throughout the exercises I have planned for you today," Alex continued. "Letters A through D, go with Viper," The leader of J-Unit nodded his head and walked down the stairs. Without waiting for anyone to follow, he moved to the back of the room.

Alex continued going down the line of Unit members until Tom was the only one left.

"The rest of you will go with Tom and these nice agents, who will get you your Official Secrets Act's. If you don't sign these forms, you will be arrested."

The kids in question nodded stiffly. Alex nodded as well, "Good. Dismissed."

He walked down from the stage and started his assessment of achievement.

He went to the impromptu shooting range they had set up the day before and watched his classmates take aim at the target in front of them. Even though it was only at the fifteen yard mark, they still ended up missing.

"Hand me the gun," Alex said. Eagle glanced at him, then a sly smile crossed his face.

The student holding the gun handed it to Alex and stepped aside. He held the MP5 with pinpoint accuracy and fired the remaining rounds into the target within five seconds.

"P226," Alex said. Eagle took his own firearm out of it's holster on his hip and passed it to Alex, who raised it and fired multiple times.

His classmates' eyes were wide and their mouths were hanging open. "That's how you shoot a gun." Alex told them, then moved on, leaving the target with one hole and thirty-three bullets behind him.

He made his way to the obstacle course and watched in amusement as his fellow classmates struggled with climbing over the ten foot wall. It was priceless when they made faces, and Alex had to try not to laugh as they fell to the ground...multiple times. It was quite a sight.

When they fell down in front of him, he clapped and paced slowly. "Wonderful work, really."

They lifted their heads off the ground in unison. "It's just, you made it through with record speed. The lowest record, that is. But, it's okay, you'll get better."

They looked suspicious. "I think maybe you should go again; try to work out the kinks."

Now they glared. "Now, now, that's not the attitude I was hoping for." he chided them.

One was brave enough to speak up. "Oh yeah, Rider? What's your record?"

"On the big one?" he asked.
"Yeah!" he said.

"What was it?" he asked Viper, the instructor. "Thirteen and a half?"

Viper nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

Alex nodded and the kid asked. "Minutes?"

"Yeah, minutes."

"What about on this?" a curious girl asked.

"Uh,...five and three quarters, maybe. Can't be sure though, never done it before."

"I think he should. Right guys?" the kid said.

There were mumbles.

"I can't; don't want to get the suit dirty."

"Why don't you go change?" the girl asked.

Alex turned to Viper. "Extra's are in the back, right?"

"Actually, Cub, we brought yours along. It should be in Fox's bag."

Alex nodded. "Be right back. While I'm gone though, you can go ahead and re-do the course."

They grumbled and Viper started being the unit leader and continued yelling at them until they grudgingly got up and started over.

Alex went over to Fox's bag and grabbed the camouflage uniform with Cub marked on the name tag.

He changed quickly in the bathroom and left the suit in the same place he left his school uniform; quite literally under the sink.

He walked over to the obstacle course yet again in his combat boots just as the group finished.
"Time?" he asked Viper.

"Fifteen and twenty-three for the first. The last was sixteen and thirty-six." he answered and Alex nodded, then got ready on the time.

"Go!" Viper yelled and Alex took off. He ran over to the tires, jumping in and out with speed that was incredible, then the wall, which he scaled quickly as well. Next came the bob wire on the ground. He did an Army crawl under those, ignoring the mud, and finished with dodging the ten mannequins that moved.

He wasn't even out of breath by the time he made it over to Viper, who placed his thumb down on the button. "Five and a half." he stated.

"Good, I'm getting faster." Then he turned to the astonished kids. "Keep going and you'll get better. Just remember to dodge and weave." They all nodded, their mouths hanging open.

"I gotta go check on the OSAs. Talk to you later Viper."

The man in question nodded and promptly went back to yelling at the kids.

Alex shook his head and thought, Poor kids. But, he got over it; they bullied him for years.

"How's it going, Tommy-boy?" he asked as he came up behind his friend.

Tom jumped and jumped around to look at Alex's face. "Stop going all Bond on me! Jeez!"

Alex smiled. "It's entertaining."

Tom did the only thing he could, he stuck out his tongue.

"So, how's it going?" Alex repeated.
"Good. So far there's been no arresting."

"Well that's a plus."

"Yeah. Hey, how's everything going with everyone else?"

Alex smirked, "They are failing miserably."

Tom smirked along with him. "Wasn't that the plan all along?"

"Yup. Exactly, mi amigo."

"Well, you're plans always work, don't they?"

Alex though about this. "Well, that one prank on Eagle failed quite miserably. Only because Eagle was trying to prank me at the same time. In fact, both plans failed."

"We need to have story time later." Tom decided.

Alex smiled, "Deal."