Close Protection - Chapter 8
Jun. 3rd, 2009 03:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
araFandom: Alex Rider
Pairing: Alex/Sabina sorta
Summary: Alex thinks he's done with espionage, but SCORPIA thinks otherwise. They target Alex and drag others in too. Now he's going to train with the SAS for his 'protection' so needless to say things look rough. Oh, and his class is coming too.
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): Language, acute angst, violence I suppose, a little hint of sex talk (nothing explicit)
~Close Protection, of a Sort~
Chapter Eight: The Ice Cream Boys
Hello my bbs! Look what Ara has for you today! Shiny new chapter! :D Also I would like to say that not only do I have a LJ (arithilim . livejournal . com), I also have a shiny new account on Dreamwidth! ara . dreamwidth . org ! Pimp the open source, baby! lol (And do have some extra invite codes if anyone's interested)
Now there were things I was going to say... *thinks* Ah yes, more pimpage time! Anyone interested in writing some flash fic (aka stories less than 1,000 words) for AR should head right over to www . flash_rider . livejournal . com ! It's great for people who'd like to write, but aren't ready for a whole long story yet. You don't need a LJ to participate! There's even a new prompt to work off every 2 months! *waves cookies* You know you want to ;)
Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I read each and every review and I really appreciate them. I'm afraid I was pretty bad about replying to a lot of them, and I apologize. My life has been really crazy the past few months - I'm just glad I could get this chapter out. Please know that even if I didn't reply I still read yours. All of the words of love and encouragement really helped me get this chapter out.
Thanks goes to Dream, my awesome beta, Nyxie, my 'conceptual beta' and poker in chief, and Jusmine, JediKnightofMiddleEarth, and Mad Mogg who all sent me lots of *cough* encouraging flair to get this done. All of you rock :D
Also, very important, the dialouge at the end from the part when a girlfriend is introduced was written by the wonderful Nyxelestia! It was originally part of a little fanfic clippet she did for this story, and she kindly allowed me to commandeer it for this chapter :D
And for maximum impact, when you get to the cut in the driving scene, play the song "Horseshoes and Handgrenades" by Green Day before moving on :D
With no further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Chapter 8!
Chapter 8: The Ice Cream Boys
He almost made it through the meal without incident. Josh finished first and got up to deal with his tray.
“Hey, Alex,” simpered a voice behind him as one of the girls from his class slid into the now-empty seat next to him..
Alex’s eyes widened slightly as he looked to see who it was. Bleached blonde hair, rail thin figure – this was the new girl who’d moved here just before he returned to school. What was her name? Anna or something? She was already one of the most popular girls in school. She’d also never talked to him in his life.
“Uh- hi,” Alex said neutrally, if confused why exactly she was talking to him. He looked past her to his friends for help, but they looked just as nonplussed as he felt.
“So, this whole SAS thing sucks, right?” she asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder and flashing him a smile., as if they talked all the time.
Um – wha? Alex thought. “It’s, uh, not exactly my first choice for a vacation either,” he replied, thrown by her sudden launch into conversation.
She giggled shrilly and Alex winced. Now that was an annoying sound. She flipped her hair again, and posed, and Alex stared at her with something akin to fascination. Was she flirting with him? If so, then he was decidedly less impressed. Seriously, didn't she get whiplash from all that hair flipping? "So...?" he asked leadingly, raising an eyebrow.
She looked vaguely disappointed for a moment, and Alex nearly snorted. What had she expected? Him to fall all over her? Sabina was way hotter.
She brightened quickly, leaning in almost conspiratorially. "So listen, Alex," she said. "You know that homework stuff we have to do? Well, I just don't understand maths. It's just so hard for me, you know?" she whined, pursing her lips in an exaggerated pout.
"I'm...sorry?" Alex replied. She didn't seriously think that looked sexy did she?
"I know you're really good at maths," she continued, laying a hand on his leg, just above the knee, and leaning in further, so she was practically on top of him. "You always know the answers in class."
Alex stared at the hand, more than a bit uncomfortable. She was definitely in his bubble.
"So I thought that you," the hand slid up his leg slightly making him jump, "could help me."
What the hell was she doing? "Uh- you mean like tutor you?" he asked, more than a little distracted. Was she trying to feel him up?
"Yeah," she said. "You're just so smart," she simpered, her hand sliding up further. Okay, so that area was more than a bit sensitive, and despite himself, Alex felt himself beginning to react. "So will you do it?" she asked, giving him what he supposed she thought was a convincing look.
The hand slipped up even farther, definitely into dangerous territory. "Um, yeah, sure, whatever you say," he quickly agreed, just wanting her to leave and for fuck's sake get her hand out of there before this got seriously embarrassing! "I - uh- better finish my lunch," he said, hurriedly turning away.
Reluctantly she with drew her hand, and Alex nearly sighed in relief. "So, I'll see you later then?" she asked, standing.
"Yeah, right," Alex affirmed, just glad that she was out of his personal space. With a last attempted coy smile, she turned and flounced back to her table.
Alex stared after her. What the hell had just happened?
He slowly turned back to his friends, only to be confronted with Nick and Tom sitting across form him wearing identical wide grins.
"Thanks for the help," he muttered, giving them a glare of doom.
"What?" Tom asked smirking. "A totally hot chick is feeling you up and you think we're going to interrupt?"
"Oh, Alex," Nick mimicked. "I just have so much trouble without your big, strong body. "
"Honestly!" Emma said, looking disgruntled. "I don't know why you seem to think she's so hot! Her hair is totally fake and she looks emaciated. Not to mention she has a brain the size of a walnut."
"Yeah," Nick said slowly, as if explaining something to someone very stupid. "She's hot."
Emma shot him a glare. "Besides, I don't know what she thinks she's doing with Alex. He doesn't need any sluts hanging off him!" she exclaimed darkly.
"Oh, come on, Em. You're just jealous because the boys fawn over her," Tom complained.
She scowled at him, and turned away in a huff.
"So Alex," Nick said in a falsetto voice. "Will you help me with my maths homework?" He fluttered his eyelashes flirtatiously, before he and Tom broke out laughing.
Alex sent them an annoyed looked, but couldn't help a little smirk of his own.
Josh walked up, totally oblivious to what had happened, and paused, seeing them in fits of laughter. "What'd I miss?" he asked blankly. They just laughed harder.
---
Wolf came to collect Alex after lunch. "Hop in," he commanded indicating a military jeep. Alex did as instructed, getting in to the passenger’s seat.
Wolf took off down the dirt road. They cruised along for a while in silence, though not a particularly uncomfortable one. Though he was rather curious about what exactly was happening, Alex was amused to see that Wolf was not the most careful of drivers.
"You're training with another unit today," Wolf said eventually in his gruff manner.
Alex nodded. "Who?" he asked after Wolf didn't continue.
"D-unit," Wolf answered. "They'll be teaching you driving. They were in mobility troop, so that's their specialty."
"What troop were you guys in?" Alex asked curiously.
"Air," Wolf said shortly.
Alex couldn't help but smirk at that. Wolf must have been so pleased to find out parachuting was going to be his specialty.
They drove the rest of the way in silence.
--
D-unit was waiting for Alex next to a pair of innocuous looking cars, looking surly and just generally dangerous. At Alex's approach, the leader stepped forward. "Cub?" he asked.
Alex nodded in confirmation.
"I'm Tiger. This is Shark, Cobra, and Lynx." He nodded to the other men. "We'll start you out driving in these. Let's go!" he called to the others.
The men sprang into action, getting into the cars. Alex was directed to the driver's seat of one.
"Ever driven before?" asked one of the men, climbing into the back.
"A little," Alex replied. "My uncle taught me."
"Well, don't worry about fucking it up. As far as cars go, these are fairly indestructible," the man replied.
"Right," Tiger said getting into the passenger seat. "You have your wheel, clutch, pedals, ignition..." he pointed out the various controls. "Start 'er up and we'll give 'er a run. It handles pretty well, so you shouldn't have too much trouble if you've had a little experience."
Alex did as instructed and started the car. Next to them, the others turned theirs on as well.
"Now just go on. Foot on the brake, shift into drive…yep. Now slowly take your foot off the gas, and yeah, see how we’re rolling forward. Good. You can ease on the gas a little. This car’s very responsive so just keep it gentle-like."
Alex smoothly depressed the pedal and the car began to speed up some.
“Nice and smooth,” Tiger murmured. “Now just keep going along this road nice and easy.”
Alex drove slowly down the road, the other car following behind. He wondered if he should mention that Ian had actually taught him quite a bit of driving technique, but then decided against it. It’d be good to get a bit of a refresher (Jack never let him drive) and anyway, he wanted to get used to the car. And besides, maybe he’d get a chance to have a little bit of fun for once.
The road curved gently up ahead.
“Just follow the curve around,” instructed Tiger. “That’s it.”
Alex smoothly made the turn onto another straight stretch. He gained a bit of speed and made the next turn impeccable.
“I think you’ve got it,” Tiger determined. “Take the road off to the left up here, then stop when you get to the white line and we’ll make this a little more interesting.”
Alex really hoped so, because honestly, he’d be hard pressed to call anything about the exercise so far interesting. He turned off, onto what looked to be a race course on steroids, and braked, while the other car pulled over to the side. From what he could see, the course ahead of him was full of sharp turns, obstacles, and other things that looked like they generally made the course more difficult.
"Welcome to mobility troop hell," the man in the back (Lynx was it?) said with a wry chuckle. "Learn to love it."
"This is a defensive driving course," Tiger explained after catching Alex's confused look. "We'll be training you here. Drive through real slow to get a feel for it, about 10 mph-ish. Slow down when you need to - no heroics here. I'm not explaining to Wolf how we managed to break you in one day, clear?"
Alex nodded. "Got it," he replied, inwardly sighing. Why hadn't he wanted to really show them what he could do again?
"Before we get old," Lynx commented from the back.
Alex rolled his eyes and started moving, going painfully slow as instructed. There certainly were a lot of twists to this course.
As they went around a particularly sharp curve, Lynx piped up again. "You'll want to take that slow for now," he lectured. "Don't even try to make that going fast until you learn how to do handbrake turns."
Alex gave an exasperated mental sigh. He knew how to execute flawless handbrake turns. It was one of Ian's favourites.
"Just go around the ramps for now," Tiger said. "Those only work at high speed."
Alex navigated a series of obstacles carefully, feeling out the turning radius of the car and how close he could cut it.
"You're not too bad at this, you know," Lynx commented from the back.
Alex pushed down the urge to turn around and smack the man. Seriously, this guy was more annoying than Eagle. "It's not like it's the first time I've driven," Alex responded as civilly as he could manage. "My uncle taught me a few things."
And then they were back at the beginning, and Alex paused at the white line and turned to look at Tiger for instructions.
Tiger gave him an assessing glance, before seeming to come to a decision. "You've been handling yourself pretty well, so now add some speed. Show us what you can do."
Alex grinned. Finally. "With pleasure," he said cheerfully and slammed on the gas.
--
Eight minutes later, he came to a screeching halt back at the start.
There was dead silence in the car, and for a minute Alex thought maybe that hadn't been the brightest idea ever. Then, "So you can drive," Tiger said, taking it perfectly in stride.
"Holy fuck, Cub," came from the back in a slightly shaky voice.
Alex smirked. No, it had been definitely worth it.
"'A few things'?" Lynx muttered sarcastically. "Jesus fucking Christ. Your uncle taught you how to do that?"
Alex shrugged. "He was pretty cool like that."
"No shit," Lynx replied, still a bit shaken.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I think I'm ready for a break," Tiger said amiably, opening the door. Alex and a still muttering Lynx did the same.
The other two men whistled and clapped from their perch on top of their car as Alex followed Tiger over.
"Nice show, Cub!" the big man Alex thought was Shark called.
"Thanks," Alex replied with a wry grin.
"That was some really sweet driving," the other said, hopping down to clap Alex on the shoulder.
Alex shrugged. "I've always liked to go fast."
"It shows," the man, Cobra, said with a toothy grin. "I especially liked that handbrake turn over by the graffiti wall. Nice and seamless."
"Favourite of my uncle," Alex admitted with a grin.
"A man of action then?" Shark asked.
"You could say that," Alex said ruefully.
"So how do you feel about J turns then?" Lynx questioned. "My personal favourite."
"Well, I do think they're useful," Alex replied, getting drawn into discussing driving techniques.
---
"Later, Cub," Lynx said a few hours later as he dropped Alex back off where Fox was waiting to pick him up. "Have fun with the ice cream boys." He drove off before Alex could ask him what the hell he was talking about.
"Ice cream boys?" Alex asked, turning to Fox.
Fox just laughed. "It's what all the unlucky bastards not in Air Troop call us. They're just jealous because we get to wear sunglasses."
Alex shook his head. On second thought, he didn't really want to know.
---
Dinner was even quieter than before. It seemed that annoyed SAS men had a nasty streak when it came to working their groups hard.
Tom and Alex both finished early, and decided to walk around for awhile. It was nice, Alex thought, to just spend some time relaxing with his best friend. That was, until a sneering voice came from off to their right.
"Oh look, its little sick Rider."
Alex looked over, and saw Tyler Briggs leaning against the washroom wall with his cronies. He rolled his eyes at Tom, and just kept walking.
"I hear you’re so pathetic you tripped and fell into a door knob," Briggs added, annoyed at Alex's lack of response.
Alex just sighed. Honestly, this was just pathetic.
"Is it true that you're so weak they won't even let you go to the bathroom by yourself." Briggs taunted, trying to provoke some reaction.
Alex didn't even bother to look at him this time. If Briggs wanted to be an immature toddler, fine, but he had far more important things to do.
Briggs, now utterly frustrated, went to the next level. "So where's your little bitch, Rider? Does she know you're getting off with this fag?"
Tom stopped abruptly and made to turn, but Alex placed a hand on his arm. "He's not worth it," he said lowly. Tom nodded stiffly, and allowed Alex to begin leading him away.
A furious Briggs grabbed at Alex's arm, pulling him around. "Don't walk away from me, Rider," Briggs hissed menacingly.
Alex just stared at him coolly, assessing for a long moment, until Briggs began to shift uncomfortably under the frigid gaze. "Let go of me," Alex said deliberately and coldly.
Despite his sudden nervousness, Briggs was too stubborn to back down. "Make me," he sneered.
Alex gave him another blank look before effortlessly twisting his arm out of Briggs's grasp, maintaining eye contact.
Briggs blustered. "I'm warning you, Rider. Stay away from Anna!" he blurted out.
Alex's expression turned confused. "What?" he asked, thrown for a moment. ...Anna? Where the hell had that come from? Was that why Briggs was suddenly picking a fight with him? "Is that seriously what this is all about? Her flirting with me?" he asked, annoyed.
"Just stay away from her!" Briggs repeated, getting more defensive. "She doesn't need weaklings like you hanging off her!"
Alex rolled his eyes. "Funny, she doesn't seem to think that," he drawled.
"You shut up!" Briggs yelled, reaching out to grab Alex again.
The door of the barn banged opened noisily and Briggs had enough sense to let go and step back as Eagle emerged.
"Rider," he said brightly, coming over to them. "Just was looking for you. I'm taking you for the evening today." He turned to look at the others. "Run along now and go find your units," he said dismissively, making a shooing motion.
Briggs hesitated a moment, but, after giving Alex one more nasty sneer, turned and left, his gang following him. There wasn't much else he could do with Eagle standing right there.
Tom clapped Alex on the shoulder supportively before walking off himself, and Eagle and Alex were left alone.
"So, what am I doing?" Alex asked.
"Unarmed combat with me, and Snake, and Fox," Eagle answered.
Alex felt the first stirrings of unease. This hadn't gone so well last time.
"Well, we best get going," Eagle said. "The others are waiting."
Alex dutifully followed him off, feeling a little sick. What happened before couldn't happen again.
---
It turned out that Alex needn't have worried. 'Unarmed combat' turned out to be the three men practicing drills alongside him, teaching him a new style of fighting they'd picked up in the desert. They settled into a comfortable routine, Alex paired with Fox while Snake and Eagle worked with each other, repeating hits over and over.
"So how's the girlfriend, Snake?" Fox asked, after he'd made sure Alex picked up the rhythm of strike-block-hit.
"Eh, pretty good." He blocked Eagle's punch and returned a hit of his own. "She bought that house we were looking at. Hopes I'll get leave after this," he added.
"I'll bet she does," Fox said with a wicked grin. "Keep that elbow up, Cub," he instructed.
"You're just jealous because you're not getting any," Snake sniped back.
"Speaking of getting any, seems dear little Cub here is a regular player," Eagle cut in.
"What?" Fox asked, looking at Alex in confusion as he paused mid-strike.
"Break time," Eagle announced, he and Snake coming over to sit down on the wood bench.
Fox went over to them, Alex trailing along behind him.
"So what's this?" Fox asked.
"Well, Cub here seems to have gotten into a little bit of trouble for stealing someone's girlfriend," Eagle said with a grin.
"I did not!" Alex exclaimed, sending Eagle a dirty glare.
"What, get in trouble?" Eagle asked innocently. "I'm pretty sure you did, cause that looked suspiciously like a fight to me."
Alex tried to answer, "No, I-"
"Who's girlfriend was it?" Snake asked, cutting Alex's protests off.
"That kid Tiger's always bitching about," Eagle answered. "You know, the one that's got that big nose?"
"Oh him," Fox nodded in recognition. "Nice, Cub. He deserves it."
"I did not steal his girlfriend!" Alex protested.
"Really? Because he seemed pretty pissed off about it to me," Eagle said slyly.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much though," Fox reassured Alex. "I'm sure you could take him. Though really, Cub. I'd never have expected you to be such a player."
"I'm not!" Alex exclaimed. "It wasn't even like she's Briggs' girlfriend anyway. He wishes, maybe."
"Ah, so it's just a jealousy thing then?" Snake prodded
Alex snorted. "Even I know he's been after her for weeks."
"So she's hot then, this girl you're fighting over?" Eagle asked curiously
"Uh, I guess so..."Alex answered, blushing as he recalled his reaction to her. "But I wasn't fighting over her. I'm not after her," he tried to explain.
If he hadn't been looking down he would have seen the identical evil grins the men shared.
"You don't have to be embarrassed about it. We're all men here," Fox said soothingly. He winked evilly at Alex.
"And I have to say, you have the right attitude," Eagle added. "Don't get caught up in one girl, like idiots like Snake."
"Hey, I resent that," Snake complained
"No, you resemble that," Fox and Eagle said simultaneously before breaking out laughing.
Snake folded his arms and grumbled something about "stupid idiots" and "getting them".
"Anyway," Eagle said, turning back to Alex, "I just want to say that we're very proud of you, Cub. You're becoming a regular Casanova."
Fox added on dramatically, "flirting with random, coveted girls...he's really grown up, hasn't he?" He faked a loud sniff. "We might as well call him Don Juan now."
Alex rolled his eyes. "Oh, grow up. Besides, it wasn't like I was flirting with her; it was the other way around."
"She was coming on to you?" Fox asked eagerly.
"Well, yeah," Alex said, finding it kind of disturbing how interested men in their mid-twenties found teenage romance.
"Ooh, that's even better when they come to you! Practically James Bond worthy!" Eagle exclaimed.
"Hey, your new nickname should be double-oh-hot-stuff," Fox said in a burst of creativity. "Y'know, update it from last time and all."
Snake just shook his head and said to Alex, "You just had to encourage them didn't you?"
"So, Cub," Eagle said, coming over to sling a casual arm around his shoulders. "You figure you're going to go for it with this chick?"
"What? No!" Alex said, horrified, shrugging off the arm.
"You should," Eagle advised. "You said she was hot and all. And besides, meaningless sex is fun."
Alex groaned. "I don't believe this."
Fox just gave him a truly evil smirk. "We could, you know, help you out. Give you a few pointers or something," he suggested wickedly.
"Oh my god, this is not happening," Alex mumbled.
"You know, it's your own fault for feeding into this," Snake told him unsympathetically.
Alex just groaned.
"Is it just that you're a little unsure of what goes where?" Eagle asked. "Cause it's perfectly normal, you know. See, what you do it you take your-"
"I know perfectly well what goes where thank you very much!!!" Alex shouted. "And I am NOT SLEEPING WITH HER!"
"But why not?" Eagle asked petulantly.
"I have a bloody girlfriend, alright!" Alex said exasperated.
Eagle's mood shifted instantly. "Ooh, you have a girlfriend?" he asked,
Seeing the utter glee on Eagle's face, Alex hastily tried to back track, "Oh, no no no no no..."
"Is she one of our classmates?" Eagle pressed.
"I don't have a girlfriend!" Alex attempted, knowing it was useless.
"Right - just tell him to get him to shut up," Snake advised.
Alex sighed and turned to Eagle. "No."
"Then where is she?" Eagle asked eagerly.
Alex rolled his eyes. "As of right now, San Francisco."
Snake raised an eyebrow. "An American?"
Alex shook his head. "No, she's British. Met her when I was undercover at Wimbledon, actually. But when her dad was almost killed in a pipe bomb and she...well, it's classified, but basically got put through hell and threatened last summer, they decided to move to get away from it."
Snake frowned. "Wait a second - does she know you're a spy?"
"Why do you lot care so much?" Alex asked.
Eagle shrugged. "We don't have much to talk about, and we're bored. So, does she?"
Alex sighed, remembering. "Yes, it was a bit hard to miss at the time."
Fox frowned in thought. "When was this?"
"Er... midsummer?" Alex said.
"Was she the '15-year-old, female civilian' that the report said was with you on Air Force One?" Fox asked.
"What the hell was Cub doing on Air Force One?" Eagle exclaimed.
"It's...a long story." Alex said, then turned to Fox. "And classified."
Fox smiled sheepishly. "Right... sorry."
"So...what does she look like, then?" Eagle asked randomly.
Alex looked at him funny. "Why do you care?" He asked.
"Hey, it's fun," Snake defended.
"Riiiiight..." Alex said, shaking his head.
"I'll bet she's ugly," Eagle declared, catching Fox's eye over Alex's head.
"Well, no-" Alex started.
Fox caught on right away. "Of course, of course, that's why Cub doesn't want to tell us..."
"What? No!" Alex tried again.
"Probably very uptight, too, prim proper" Eagle said sagely.
"No, she-"
"Probably doesn't know he's a spy, or anything..." Fox shook his head sadly.
"She's a year older than me, brown hair, blue eyes, freckles, nice tits, over all fucking hot, likes sex jokes and nothing but, and she knows I'm a spy because I saved her life when we were kidnapped by Damian Cray on Air Force One and he tried to threaten me for the codes to set off a bunch of nuclear warheads by threatening her!" Alex exclaimed in a rush.
He paused to breathe and saw the odd looks K-unit was giving him.
"Oh, fuck..." he muttered, burying his face in his hands.
"So...super hott, sex joke happy, and a year older than you? How on earth did you score her?" Eagle teased.
"I saved her life," Alex mumbled.
"Well, that sort of thing is usually a good way to get a shag-" Fox reasoned.
"We've never gotten that far!" Alex said, affronted.
"So how far did you get?" Eagle asked.
Alex blushed, thinking back to the time they'd spent over Christmas. "Why the bloody fuck do you care?!" he snapped defensively.
"So, at least past the snogging stage, yeah?" Eagle guessed, not unsettled in the least.
Alex just moaned pathetically.
Fuck my life.
--
Review please? I'd love to hear what you thought :D
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Date: 2009-06-15 12:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-18 12:53 am (UTC)