And now, the conclusion of Gunshots in the Dark. This has been co-authored with Writer With Sprite and NightmareWorld. If you enjoy, find our original works our check out some of the other works on our Writers4all profile - after you read and review, of course. *Insert smiley face here*

Disclaimer: We kidnapped Alex to see if Anthony Horwitz would surrender all rights. He wouldn't, so we gave him back. Does that answer your question about our ownership of him?

Jail - 6:00 A.M.

Lawyer groaned as he awoke and stretched over, rolling to look at Junkie. Junkie glanced at him and frowned. "What's up?"

"Thinking of the kid."

"What about the kid?'

"About how he doesn't deserve all this shit. I just want to kick Brick's ass."

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm sure he does too. Why does Brick get to prey on innocent kids like that?"

"Because he has power. I think he has savings outside of the jail."

"I want to fucking strangle him."

"Shut up, you'll wake the kid," Lawyer retorted. "I'm right there with you, but we won't be of any help if we get holed up in solitary."

"Yeah."

"What time is it?"

Junkie groaned and checked the forbidden watch. "Six o'clock."

"Okay. I'm going back to sleep."

TWO HOURS LATER

Lawyer was shaking Alex awake. "Come on, kid. It's time to wake up. I want to see if we can use a favor to get you to Mike."

"Okay..." Alex said, sitting up. "When's the other guard's shift ending?"

The guard who Alex just mentioned came up to the door. "Why the hell are you in this cell? I put you with Bricks! You idiot-"

Lawyer interrupted him. "Because he said he didn't want to be with Bricks! Did you ever think there might be a reason for that?!" he snapped.

The guard groaned and rested his hand on the taser, eyeing Alex as he moved his key to unlock the door. Seeing no other guards around, he quickly tasered Alex, causing the teenager to drop to the floor.

"You can't do that!" Lawyer screamed. "That's against the law!"

"Shut up!" The guard said. "You don't know anything!"

"No, you don't know anything! You tasered the damn kid!" Lawyer screamed. The guard glared at him before reaching for his baton, using it to effectively knock Lawyer to the floor.

Hearing the thud, the nearby prisoners looked that way. Some of them who were down the hallway in the commons area, playing cards before breakfast, looked up and began moving in that direction, curious about what was going on. The guys started moving down that way in curiosity.

"Yo, Tampon, we need help over here!" Junkie screamed at one of the other inmates known for fighting. That's actually how he'd gotten his name; he'd smacked someone once and they'd gotten a bloody nose. Tampon only joked about the nickname, saying 'it made him look tougher.' Newbies and guards alike were encouraged not to mess with him. "Get off the kid! He didn't do anything to you! MIKE! GUARD! Someone go get the guard!"

The inmates who had been playing cards began running down that way, sprinting to find out what had happened.

The guard grabbed Alex and wrapped his hand around his throat. "Everyone back away! The kid's fine."

"You tasered him!" Lawyer shouted. "He didn't do anything to you! He's not even supposed to be here, he's sixteen!" He knew that would be the magical word for some of the prisoners who had children that age, like Stalemate and Tampon.

One of the inmates came to the cell door, seeing what was happening. He moved inside, trying to wrestle the taser out of the guard's grasp. The guard backhanded him, but another inmate came in from behind, pulling the guard back out of the way and letting the taser fall to the ground.

"Yo, Tampon, go get Mike, he should be here by now," another man spoke up, glancing at Tampon who looked like he was about to ax-murder the guard with his brain. He started barking orders. "Football, go call 999. Tell them to get over here because a prisoner's about to go down. Nike and Shoes, go see if there are any other legit guards around here that can help this kid."

The crowd dispersed. "Hey, are you okay?" the man asked as he used the guard's own cuffs to cuff him.

"I don't know, Stalemate. He doesn't look that hot," Junkie said, concerned. As if any of them could do anything with their limited medical supplies and medical skills. He sighed, remembering his kid brother Alex's age. He felt bad the kid was in this mess, especially when it clearly wasn't his fault.

Alex pulled himself up off the floor, leaning heavily against the wall. "I don't feel too good either..." he muttered. He glanced at the guard. "Aren't... Aren't you guys going to get in trouble for that?"

One of the other inmates remaining shook his head. "Yeah... but some of us have kids. It's worth it."

With that, Alex vomited again into the wastebasket. Some of it missed and hit on the guard's clothes. He didn't look particularly worried about that. "I guess that taser isn't good for my health, huh?"

Stalemate spoke up. "What did they arrest you for?" he asked.

"For resisting arrest, because... I was... I don't know, sleeping?"

Lawyer spoke up. "We think the guard kidnapped him. We'd ask him for information, but, ya'know, the guard's kinda unconscious..."

Tampon came running back. "I got Mike."

Mike groaned as he looked at Alex. "You? I thought we got rid of you yesterday!"

"That would be too easy..." Alex sighed. "I think I need to call my friend soon, before anything else happens."

"And before you throw up anymore on the guard's uniform," Stalemate added. He grinned. "In as much as I think that would be fun..."

"Speaking of which, why is the guard in handcuffs?"

"It's a long story," Stalemate said, "but we can explain it after the kid gets his phone call. We'll babysit him, you don't have to worry."

Mike sighed. "Just don't kill him. I can't get you out of trouble for that." With that, he walked with Alex towards the phone.

Ben glanced down as his phone rang. They were standing outside the guard's house, with several police cars as well. They'd called them to they could get access to the house, and the warrant was too easily obtained once they handed over proof of the badge. "Hello?" His expression quickly became excited, and then exasperated. "Alright, we're coming to pick you up. Just hang on. You okay?"

He started walking to the car, and gestured for the unit to come with him.

"You look like crap," Lawyer informed Alex as the kid leaned against the bed.

"It's not like he got any sleep for two nights in a row," Junkie reminded Lawyer. "Oh wait I'm wrong, he got... an hour."

"I think Ben's on his way, at least... And it was three nights."

"Three nights? No, you were only here two nights," Lawyer said, concerned. "Oh, you mean you didn't get any sleep the night before that. That sucks."

Mike walked over, looking extremely happy. "I have good news for you all," he spoke up. "Bricks is being transferred to another maximum security prison. The guard who happened to arrest Alex again - or dare I should say, kidnapped him - is under arrest. I think he pled guilty. Something about overwhelming evidence. And I've arrested CatFish for ignoring your request to get a phone call, as well as several other guards who were dirty." He smirked. "By the way, the real name's Thomas."

Alex looked at him. "You were undercover." It wasn't a question.

"Nice guess." The guard smiled. "Yes, I was." He glanced at the kid. "This 'Ben' isn't going to be angry when he picks you up a second time, is he? Because I don't want him to hurt you, and he seemed mighty upset the first time."

Lawyer rolled his eyes. "Mike-slash-Thomas, did anyone ever tell you that you've studied too much law?"

Alex shook his head, laughing slightly. "Ben's not going to hurt me, I promise. He was pissed off at the people who arrested me, and one of his friends for not shutting up and bothering him the whole way."

"The trigger happy one?" the guard guessed. He glanced at Lawyer. "You never told me what you were in for, anyway."

Lawyer shrugged. "I honestly haven't the foggiest myself," he responded.

Junkie grinned. "It wasn't for drugs, that was my arrest reason. Bet you didn't guess that, huh, kid?" he asked. Then his grin faded. "I have a younger brother about your age. I'd hate for him to be here. I'm glad that you've got someone who's getting you out."

Alex shrugged. "Yeah... I do too."

Junkie reached over and ruffled Alex's hair with a teasing grin. "Couldn't resist. I annoyed my brother with that all the time."

"You'll have to keep in touch," Lawyer told Alex. "Oh, shit. I'm moving," he said as Alex started to reach for the waste basket again. "Did they drug you a second time or something?" His eyes met Junkies'. "Did you drink any water here, actually?" he asked. "Did one of the guards offer you water? Did he have red hair?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh, you're going to have a long, long day... Sorry, kid," Junkie said as he watched Alex vomit. "We think he drugs the newbies to make them more cooperative, but we've never been able to get any proof."

Alex groaned as he clutched his stomach. "Further proof I'm never drinking city water again."

"Thanks for mentioning that, Lawyer," Thomas said. "We'll add that to his charges."

"Don't you have to have proof for that?" Lawyer asked.

Thomas's grin only grew bigger. "Nope, Redhead is singing like a canary; he doesn't want to go down for as long as the rest of them."

Suddenly, a shout could be heard from the other room. "No, I want to know where Alex Rider is, and I want to know NOW! I will NOT hold, dammit! Don't give me that hand wave!"

"Cue SAS arrival," Alex muttered.

"Sir, if you wait a second. We've had a lot of trouble this morning. What was he arrested for? We need to know so that we can bail him out. Was he even up for bail?"

"He wasn't arrested, he was snatched out of my house!"

"Sir, I would appreciate it if you didn't make up lies about my workers. I just got in this morning, and I can assure you that none of my guards would do that-"

"Then how much about them do you really know, huh? 'Cause I'll tell you, they clearly don't know what they're doing!"

"I better go talk to him," Thomas said as he pulled himself up. He walked out to greet Ben. "Are you Ben, Alex's guardian? He's had a bit of a long night. He's more than ready to go home. I am so sorry, I only just found out about the incident. If you'll come back this way with me and we can chat?"

Ben seemed to mutter something under his breath, but went with the guard.

"Dude, that's your boyfriend?" Lawyer teased Alex, gesturing towards Ben, as the unit entered the room. He recognized Ben from the previous night. "He looks nice. I would date him."

Ben gave him a weird look. Then he directed his attention at Alex, worried. "You okay?"

"No..." Alex shook his head, and then steadied himself on the wall. "It's been one of those days. Hey, but their days haven't exactly been filled with fun either." He gestured at Lawyer and Junkie. "Can you two... explain... I think I'm going to be sick again..."

Lawyer nodded and spoke up. "Yes. Junkie was ordered, late last night, to escort a prisoner to his room. That in itself was unusual. What was even more unusual was that the said prisoner was rooming with Bricks. Removable, of course, was the prisoner-'

"Who the hell's Removable?"

"Sorry," Lawyer said, looking sheepish. "Alex. It was our nickname for him, because we knew he wasn't supposed to be here. We all have nicknames-I'm Lawyer, this is Junkie-" (Junkie waved), "and... yeah. Anyway, Alex was shouting because he didn't want to room with Bricks. Something about how they didn't exactly agree on the whole sex thing, you know? Not that I blame him. So Junkie says that Alex can room with us so he doesn't have to room with Bricks and so we could figure out why the hell the kid was back." He paused and took a breath.

"They denied that request, and pretty much dragged Junkie back to his jail cell and dragged Alex to room with Bricks. I don't know what happened in that room..." he glanced over at Alex. "Your turn here," he said with a shrug.

"Brick just roughed me up a bit, 's all..." Alex said. "Had my arms behind my back, but someone named Catfish came in at that time and got me back to their cell instead. I guess... Bricks couldn't do anything unless I was scared?" he said, remembering what the first guard told him.

"Seems legit," Lawyer said with a shrug. "And then he crashed, hard. And then we called Mike. Or, Thomas, I guessed." He glanced up. "So does this mean you can help me get out of here? Or at least help me figure out what the hell I was arrested for?"

Alex glanced up at Ben. "Yeah, can you help Lawyer out with that? I guess he was arrested, but like me, they never told him what he was arrested for and he never got a court date or anything."

"I'll be out in two months," Junkie told them happily.

"I'll talk to Jones," Ben told Alex. "I wouldn't be surprised if she's banging her head against her desk for this whole ordeal, and just wants to wrap everything up and put it behind her."

His phone rang at that note and he groaned as he picked it up.

"Did you find him yet?" a very annoyed Mrs. Jones asked. If Ben hadn't known her for so long, he might have thought that she even had a worried tone in her voice.

"Yes, ma'am. They brought him back to jail. Several guards have been arrested for things, and an inmate was moved to a higher security prison."

"Good. Did he get any help while he was there?" It was clear from her tone of voice that she expected the answer to be 'no'.

"Two other inmates and a guard helped him out here." Ben glanced at Snake, and gestured, "Watch him, don't let him move," before stepping out to the door.

"Excuse me, did I hear you right? Two other inmateshelped him? What have they been charged with, and how did they help him?"

"One of them was never told what he was here for, and it seems like the other was arrested for doing drugs. The reason he was abducted was because an guard owed an inmate a favor, and the guard came and got him. The inmate apparently... had a thing for Alex." He grimaced at the end. "The other inmates knew he liked kids who were... like Alex, so as soon as they knew he was here, they pulled some favors with a guard who was undercover to get him out and move him to their cell."

Mrs. Jones responded to that, and there was a short conversation that followed before she told Ben to get the kids' names who had helped Alex directly, and that she'd be dropping all of the charges against them, as well as helping them with anything they needed.

After Ben explained about the attack, she said she'd see what she could do for the other prisoners. They hung up and Ben stepped back into the room.

"Call went that good, huh?" Alex smirked at Ben.

"Your boss has your phone number? That's cool," Eagle said. "I don't think Sarge knows how to work a phone."

Alex rolled his eyes. "How much sugar did he drink?"

"You don't want to know," Snake told Alex, not about to tell the kid they'd been drinking even though he could probably guess.

"What'd Jones have to say, anyway?" Alex asked, raising his eyebrow at Ben. "Good news or bad news?"

"Good. And she could probably just look up my phone number," he pointed out. To Junkie and Lawyer, he said, "She's getting your sentences dropped, and if you need any help, she'll give it."

Lawyer's mouth dropped open. "Sweet!" He grinned at Junkie, then his smile faded. "Although we don't exactly have a place to crash..."

"Well, she did say she'd help. We'll get something," Junkie told Lawyer confidently. "By the way, Alex, my real name is Joshua."

"I'm Brayden," Lawyer said. "Nice to meet you." Turning to Ben, he guestured towards Alex and asked, "Does he always get in trouble like this?"

"Yeah," Ben sighed. "You don't even want to know how I met him..."

"And it would take way, way, too long to explain," Alex said as he gestured for the waste can yet again. After he finished throwing up, he muttered, "I am never drinking city water again." Turning to Ben, he said, "Can we go home now? I just want to sleep..."

"Yeah... Do you want to go back to my place or yours? Jack's home."

Alex winced. "Yours. If she sees me looking like this, she'd kill me. I can at least get myself patched up and say I was sleeping at your house the whole time for a cover story. No way she knows about this." He glanced up at Ben. "I'm so ready to go home."

"Don't take offense, but just looking at your haggard expression, I want to go home too." He glanced at the other three. "Hey, thanks a lot. Good luck, okay?"

"Hey, it'll get better just being out of here!" Lawyer said enthusiastically. He gave Alex a look. "No offense, but stay out of trouble. And out of jail. With your luck they'd put you with Bricks again, without us there to help you again."

"Yeah," Alex replied with a small laugh. "I'll try."

"Key phrase, try," Ben said. "Okay, we're going home now. Any protests?"

Unsurprisingly, there were none, and with that, the trio headed home.

Thanks to all who reviewed! Your comments mean so much. For those of you following A Complicated Game of Cat and Mouse, it will be updated tomorrow, 8/8/2012-Wednesday. I'd like to thank Alyss Mainwaring, mysteryangelcutlass14 for favoriting, MissDarkAngel280397, Aliinna, CoolerThanThouArt, HannahBerry96, and kcllxoxo for following; and Wolfwind97, MyLifeIsComplete, Mythomagic-Champion, Bookdancer, Zoeblum, Anonomon13, PeaceLoveNINJA, FallingStar93, and Owltalon for reviewing! Your kind words mean so much!