Alex Rider pays a visit to Brecon Beacons...

Two years ago...

Alex was almost unbearably hot. His current mode of transport was a Rolls-Royce and despite its looks, the car's air-conditioning was terrible. As Alex stared out the window, the previously silent driver startled him slightly by saying nervously,"So... you're the famous Alex Rider?" The man glanced in the rear view mirror as he said this and caught a glimpse of a pair of deep, serious brown eyes, staring back at him.

"I suppose you could call me famous... I prefer the term 'well-known'". Of course, he'd prefer not to be known at all, it would certainly make his job easier, but new of his feats spread fast. Alex turned back to face the window. "I assume you're completely in the dark about why you're driving me to some remote part of Wales?" Alex asked this with an almost unnoticeable hint of boredom in his voice. He would never let anything he said have a noticeable hint of feeling or emotion, a result of his vigorous training.

"Well, I know there's some kind of military base there, I just don't really know why I would be driving anyone who looks under about twenty five to a place like that. Although it's none of my business, of course," He amended quickly. The man's deep voice revealed a hint of caring that Alex was trained to sniff out like a dog.

Then the infamous spy decided he couldn't be bothered to continue sitting in the stifling heat."Could you open the window, please?" The humidity in the air was making Alex moody and he had to force himself not to snap at the overly curious driver.

"Of course! We should only be about fifteen minutes away anyway." The driver seemed slightly embarrassed he hadn't thought about that earlier, he'd been visibly sweating for at least half an hour.

Throughout the rest of the journey, silence reigned over the atmosphere in the car until finally a pair of solid iron gates slid into view. A guard in the booth on the right of the gates stopped the car and asked for ID from both occupants of the vehicle. The driver showed his and glanced back to alex, his look clearly questioning wether the young agent had brought identification. Alex nodded and pulled out his badge which clearly labelled him as a fully certified agent and an official worker for the British government. The guard then thoroughly inspected both badges, barely hiding his surprise at Alex's, and finally waved them through.

Alex was dropped off with his backpack containing his few remaining possessions at the small car park located at the front of the top secret military base. "Good luck in hell, kid!" The drivers comforting shout fuelled Alex on towards the sergeants cabin, though he didn't appreciate being called a kid. Alex knocked three times on the door, as was customary and received a sharp 'Enter!' Before opening the solid oak door and shutting it firmly behind him. The young spy looked ahead at the sergeant, whilst standing to attention.

"Cub? What the hell are you doing here? They said they'd send me their best operative for an indefinite amount of time! They never told me it was a kid instead of a seasoned spy!" The sergeants sudden outburst almost made Alex jump but he hid it well.

"With all due respect sir, but I am MI6's best operative. I'm also not a kid. I turned eighteen a week ago." Alex's quiet voice seemed silent next the sergeants booming shouts. The statement seemed to faze the sergeant for a second, as he was gaping, mouth open, at Alex.

The sergeant cleared his throat uncomfortably."Alright then. Wether or not you can actually use a gun, you need a position in your unit. I am now placing you with K-unit as their Sniper. Your file said you had some experience with firearms, let's hope it's sufficient. Your codename will be Viper. Now, I assume you know your way around?" The sergeant didn't wait for an answer before continuing, "You are to go and collect your uniform before returning to your units barracks. It's half four now so tell your unit they're excused from their training for the rest of the day. Just to remind you, dinner is at six, lunch is at twelve and breakfast is at five-thirty." Alex did indeed remember his way around and also the meal times but he appreciated the sergeants help.

"Good luck, soldier." Was the last thing the sergeant said before pushing him out of the office and into the pouring rain. Two things passed briefly through Alex's mind; how had the stifling heat changed to rain being chucked down in truckloads so fast? But also how many times people had said good luck to him in one day. Tom Harris, his best friend, had said the same thing minutes before he left, so had Tulip Jones and Alan Blunt, Alex's overruling bosses. The phrase 'Good luck' seemed to be popping up everywhere today as the driver of the rolls-Royce had also shouted it.

Alex continually trudged on in the rain, his Nike trainers being ruined by the mud that seemed to have suddenly appeared in the downpour. He collected his uniform, which lightened his mood slightly as they actually had his size this time, either they had learnt from his stay and expanded their sizing, or Alex had grown in the time since his last visit, the latter being more likely.

Alex's brightened mood darkened once more as he approached the dreaded door (also known as k-units barracks door) Alex mentally prepared himself for his entrance, deciding casual would look best. He opened the door, shutting it again as soon as he stepped in to bar the barracks from the onslaught of rain. Ignoring the stares of curiosity that seemed to follow him like a heat-seeking missile he walked calmly over to his bunk, the only spare in the room. Alex snickered silently at the irony of his heat-seeking missile pun. He had encountered them way to many times.

Just as his bag hit the hard surface of the mattress, only seconds after entering the room, a voice called out, "Who the hell are you?" Recognizing the voice, Alex turned to face a very annoyed looking Wolf. The man was at least two inches shorter than Alex, with dark brown hair that had recently been cut short and dark eyes with a certain hint of anger portrayed deep inside them.

Before Alex could answer, another man spoke up, this one with green eyes the colour of grass and fair hair. "You're not a soldier! You look like a schoolboy! What on earth are you doing here? We've already had one kid in this unit and we don't need another!" Alex raised his eyebrows at that. So they didn't recognise him? Surely Fox would. Alex shot a look at Fox, who was sitting calmly on his bunk, watching the affair with a look of amusement plastered on his face. He caught the look and winked at Alex, who winked back.

"Just let him speak, will you?" Fox's voice sliced cleanly through the tension, releasing it suddenly.

"I'm your new sniper, staying for an indefinite amount of time. My names Viper." All of K-unit seemed shocked except Fox who had already recognized him. Despite this, Fox was surprised Alex would be a Sniper! Was the kid really that good?

"Welcome to k-unit then, Viper. I'm Eagle and I'm the team's technical expert." Eagles the first to recover from the news and Wolfs outburst and indicated for the others to follow suit.

"I'm Snake and I'm the team medic. Welcome to our unit." Snakes Scottish accent was clear in his statement, though it also held a considerable amount of residual anger and disbelief.

"I'm Fox, team combat expert. Welcome to hell." Fox smiled slightly at the last part, mainly because despite how stupid it sounded, it was true.

Finally Wolf relaxed slightly, saying in his gruff voice, "And I'm Wolf, team leader. You answer to me or the sergeant or any other officer who visits." Clearly Wolf had recovered and settled in to glare at the newly baptised Viper, who in turn settled in for a long day.

Alex sat and mentally sighed. He was now part of the SAS for real this time.
____________________________________Authors Note

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognise from the Alex rider books.
Wow, that was my first chapter already! Just so you know, this chapter happened two years before the next part so I won't be filling the two year gap.
Date published: Tuesday 5th July 2016
Date Edited: 11 April 2020
Word Count: 1493
Edit: so I published this four years ago and I've finally got bored enough to reread and edit chapters, all I've done is improve descriptions and fix grammar, no plot changes.