Alex world went silent, his heart was beating wildly in his ears, his mouth was dry, he could only stare at the man in front of him. He knew it was a possibility that one of Scorpia members would find him, but he was so tired that he didn't pay attention to his surroundings. He took a deep breath, he couldn't let the enemy see his fear, not when he was at his weakest.

"You know that stalking a minor is a little creepy right?" he started. He knew that smug face weakness was his temper, if he played with that for a little while he could get the upper hand.

The man smiled "I told everyone that bring you was a mistake, but no one listened to me. I couldn't do anything with Gregorovish there, but now nothing is stopping me, Rider. I will kill you, and I will do it slowly. And I will enjoy every step of it" the man said slowly with a smile on his face, if anyone asked Alex he would say that this was the happiest he had seen smug face.

Alex looked around, they were in the middle of a road surrounded by forest on both sides, Alex had walked further than he had realized, there was no one in sight, they were completely alone, and Alex completely unarmed, tired and hurt. The odds weren't stacking in his favour.

"If you wanted to do it slowly, why are you holding a gun?" Alex asked mockingly after a while.

"You are right" the man said throwing the gun to the floor "I want to do it with my own hands, and this time you won't get the chance to do one of your dirty tricks."

Alex watch as the man threw the gun to the floor and asked himself how someone could be this dumb, even with Scorpia training Smug face let his pride get the best of him, and Alex was prepared to take advantage of that.

Smug face acted quickly practically throwing himself at Alex, who at the last second manage to dodge the attack.

"Are you afraid little Alex" smug face said using the nickname that Yassen used, Alex didn't know how the man had heard since Yassen didn't call him that often.

"Are you?" Alex was taunting him.

Once again, the man came at him this time managing to land a decent punch in Alex, before he could block it. The punch threw Alex back, making him land on the floor dazed. Although dumb, smug face could land a decent punch, being double the weight and towering over Alex it had hurt like hell.

Unfortunately, the man didn't waste any more time sitting on top of Alex taking the breath out of him, crushing his chest.

"It was fun meeting you Rider, but I'm afraid his time to go" he said putting his hands on Alex neck squeezing it, with a wicked grin on his face.

Alex mouth open and closed unable to grasp a single breath, his face getting redder by the second. The boy was getting desperate, his limbs were getting weaker and the man squeezing his life away was holding his face far enough, so Alex couldn't reach it with his fist. Alex laid there on the hot asphalt wondering if this was the end, getting killed by the same organization that had killed his parents and uncle, maybe this was the curse of the Rider's.

Alex was running out of time, black spots were already crowding his vision, nothing that he did loosen the man grip, for once in his life, smug face was being smart, it was a shame that he chose to do it right as he was killing Alex. Alex was losing hope along with his conscious, but then he saw it, he had almost forgotten about it, but there it was, in the corner of his eye he could see the discarded weapon.

He extended his arm feeling his fingertips brushing the tip of the gun, little by little pushing the weapon towards him until he manages to grab it. Mustering all the strength he had with his other arm he knocked on the man's elbow making him fall forward, and before he caught his grip Alex strike with the gun on the man forehead knocking him off him instantly.

Alex took a few desperate breaths felling his throat burn from the strain, getting up right after, just as smug face was recomposing himself.

"You little shit" the man cursed at him while getting up, one side of the face completely covered in blood, as the wound on his head bled heavily.

Alex put some distance between themselves raising the gun pointing at the other man.

"What? Are you going to kill me? We both know you aren't capable of dirtying your hands" the man sneered at the boy. Apparently, it wasn't known that Alex had killed Rothman, something that the boy was happy about. He was not a killer contrary to what the world wanted, to what Scorpia and blunt thought, he wasn't a killer, he didn't want to be.

Alex opens his mouth to reply when suddenly a row of cars stopped around them at all sides, trapping them in a circle of black cars. Despite that, Alex hold of the gun didn't stagger, and as much he wanted to see what was going on his eyes didn't leave smug face that was looking as confused as he was.

Men got out of the car pointing guns at him. Alex's heart dropped, Scorpia had sent back up. "ARRÊT" one of them yelled "LÂCHEZ L'ARME."

Alex frowns in confusion, if they were speaking French, they weren't Scorpia, especially if Smug face was confused as he was. They couldn't be the police either since they lacked the uniforms and the cars. That left the French secret services, the DGSE.

Alex slowly raised his arms dropping the gun on the floor, and the moment he did that they came down on to both of them.

"Wait" Alex cried out as he was thrown to the floor "I'm not with Scorpia" he winced as they slap a pair of handcuffs on his wrists, reminding him of the hot pulsing pain that his wrist emitted. He didn't understand, didn't MI6 warn them? Didn't they know that Yassen had kidnapped him, that he didn't go willingly?

"I'm not with them" Alex yelled as he was pushed into a car, seeing smug face thrown to the car in front. Before he could say another word, a sack was thrown in his head darkening his world.

"Be quiet" someone said, this time in English.

Alex chooses to obey the order, he would only hope that when they put his name in the system, it would clear him, and he could finally go back home.

He didn't know how long they drive for, but it had to be for a couple of hours, he didn't have a clock to confirm, but when they finally stop, he was taken out of the car and handcuffed in an interrogation room, before the sack was taken out. He squinted his eyes having trouble adjusting to the sudden change despite the weak lighting in the room.

They left him alone, but the whole time he knew that they were watching him, having that chilling feeling in the back of his head.

Sometime later, a man entered the room sitting across from him.

The man sat there, observing him, not saying anything, so Alex decided to start "look, my name his Alex Rider, I was kidnapped by Scorpia, I just escaped, I was trying to go home."

The man looked at him before replying with a blank tone "Alex Rider is dead" the man said like he wasn't shaking Alex world.

"What? No, I'm Alex rider" Alex exclaimed pointing at himself with his cuffed hands.

"I can see that" the man said as if he was stupid.

At this point Alex was starting to get annoyed "OK, so let me go."

The man smiled when he said that "Alex, let me explain our version of the events" the man began "you disappeared a little over a month ago, you spent that time training in Malagosto and to complete your anonymity Scorpia faked your death."

"I didn't disappear I was kidnapped, and I didn't fake my death. Look call MI6, they will clear me."

"The Brits don't take kindly to Scorpia operatives, but if that it's what you want" the man raised his hands in defeat before leaving the room.

"Wait-" Alex called out, but it was too late, the man had already left.

Alex just stared at the door feeling defeated, with a groan he let his head fall in his arms lifting right up when he felt the strain on his wrist. He peeled the sleeve back a little wincing when he saw the state of his wrist, it was swollen heavily bruised in an ugly purple, it was most likely broken, great that was all he needed, it was highly unlikely that he would be given some pain reliever, considering that nobody even offered him a sip of water nor a bathroom break.

Thinking about that his stomach rumbled unhappily, it had been a long time since he ate, and his body was already making notice of his predicament.

Alex sat there for a few more hours, feeling sore of being in the same position, until the man came back this time bringing a few more agents. Nobody said anything as they came forward detaching the handcuffs from the table dragging him out of the room. They took him on an elevator exiting on a rooftop where Alex could see a helicopter waiting

"Where are you taking me?" Alex asked.

The man that was walking in front of him stopped making both of the agents that were holding him stop as well "I'm doing what you wanted, but don't say I didn't warn you. Brits do hate Scorpia."

After that Alex was dragged to the helicopter and strapped to a seat, someone most have taken pity on him hand put a pair of headphones on his head, although he could tell that his here disconnect from the others to prevent him from listening to their conversation, but at least he wouldn't end with a headache.

As the helicopter took off, Alex looked at his cuffed hands wondering why he was still being detained. If they were taking him to MI6, they should know he was not with Scorpia, MI6 knew the truth, unless they were trying to cover up using a minor on missions. It wouldn't surprise Alex, at this point.

Unknowingly to Alex back in London, people were having a different conversation. Mrs. Jones walked beside Crawley, having been called to Blunts office.

"The French called" he said as soon both of them sat down.

"What did they want?" Mrs. Jones asked, it was not unusual for the French to contact them, their close distance made it easy from threats to travel between their countries.

"Apparently, they detained a Scorpia agent with British nationality, they are flying him over in a few hours. I want both of you to handle the situation."

"Scorpia? Did they give a name?" Scorpia situation was still very fresh, they went quiet after the incident in Malagosto, so it was a little strange for them to detain an agent so quickly. Alex rider had done some damage to Scorpia, one that would be remembered along his fathers. Like father like son, Mrs. Jones thought sadly.

"No, you know how they are. They drop off is in the usual place."