A New Life

Chapter Three

"Haha. Very funny," Alex commented without even a hint of humour in his voice. He stood and turned back to face Tony. "If you'll excuse me..." He went to step around him, but the other man grabbed him by the arm.

"You don't know what you're doing kid. You need our help as much as we need yours!"

Alex pulled away. "Nice try, but I gave up falling for that old trick many months ago, Mr Stark. MI6 has managed to find many things to keep me in business with them. Now I am making the decision to walk away... and you can't stop me." He had almost made it to the elevator before someone else spoke up.

"They won't leave you alone Alex," Natasha said gently, walking after him. "You can't stop being who you are. Trust me. I should know."

He turned to face her. "How would you know? You're a Russian assassin who had to be forcibly recruited by Fury. It's not like you actually care." With that he stepped into the elevator, letting the doors slide shut behind him.

"We won't be seeing the last of him."

Natasha turned around and poked a finger in Tony's face. "This is your fault! I told you I should have been the one to talk to him!" She muttered something under her breath in Russian before storming out of the room.

"Well that went well," Steve said as he stepped into view, Bruce and Peter hovering behind. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that as soon as he steps outside of this room, who knows how many organisations will be waiting to snatch him up? Not to mention that Fury will probably pick him up and drop him back on my doorstep!" He leaned against the counter, staring out at the city. "I would hate to be that kid right about now."

It hadn't taken long for Alex to realise that someone was following him. It might be a coincidence that they had been behind him for the past ten minutes, but he doubted it. He took a sharp left turn, then another right to try to shake them. In a few moments, they were behind him again. Angry now, he turned down an alley that he knew had a dead end and skidded to a stop behind one of the big dumpsters. The car braked at the end, and two men got out. Both were wearing black suits and sunglasses. Could they be any more suspicious? He rolled his eyes and stepped out in front of them as they approached. One of them pulled out his gun. The other took a step towards him.

"Alex Rider? You're coming with us."

Alex slipped his hands into his pockets casually, fingering the knife he had stolen from the Avengers tower. "Sorry. I think you have the wrong kid." He went to walk past them, but the man who had spoken gripped his arm tightly.

"I don't think so."

Alex froze and slowly looked down at his hand, before lifting his head to look the man in the eye. "Let me go." When he didn't make any attempt to do so, he twisted out of his grasp and kicked him in the stomach, forcing him to the ground under him. He heard the all-too-familiar sound of the hammer of a gun being drawn back and felt the cold metal being pushed against the back of his head.

"Let him go," the man demanded.

Slowly, Alex stood and turned to face him. "Please... you have to help me," he pleaded. It was enough. The man lowered his gun slightly, and Alex took the chance, kicking the gun out of his hands and drawing the knife from his pocket. Before he could use it, something hit him in the back of the head. Hard. He crumpled to the ground, and the two men looked and one another with grim expressions.

"Let's get him into the car. The boss can deal with him." One of them picked the boy up and threw him over his shoulder, carrying him to the black SUV and pushing him into the backseat. "Let's go!" he yelled to the driver. He looked back to the unconscious boy, who was slumped forward in his seat despite the seat belt holding him in place. He was just a child... 15 at the most. Why would his boss want them to pick up some kid? Suddenly everything went dim, and he looked out the window to see that they were in an underground parking lot. As the car stopped, he unclipped the boy's seat belt and hauled him out of the car. It was none of his business. If Nick Fury wanted this kid - whoever he may be - to be brought in, bring him in he would.