If anyone asked, what was one of the most awkward moments he had was eating dinner with Mrs. Jones. For one, he thought she would be the type of person that didn't eat at night, only drinking a cup of tea and the occasional cracker.

Perhaps Alex was right and the only reason she had cooked something was because Alex was there, teenagers had to eat, it was a known fact, so even a woman without kids would know. But even then, he would've thought she would order from some random restaurant. Maybe she was a health freak and didn't want to eat anything processed or with too much butter and oil, like Ian was.... And Yassen.

That name came as an afterthought, he didn't even know why he thought of him, and comparing him to Ian, like he was a good person.

He cleared his head; it was no use thinking about that.

"Everything OK, Alex" Mrs. Jones that had been ignoring him until now asked, Alex only nodded while drinking some cold water to numb his throat.

"Are you enjoying your dinner?" she continued.

"Yeah, I didn't know you could cook" he wasn't lying he really was enjoying his dinner it was surprisingly good, when Alex saw that Mrs. Jones was cooking, he was expecting some bland and dry piece of chicken, but not it was juicy and savoury, and for a moment he wondered where did the women learn how to cook.

"I'm glad you like it, it's not often I have someone to cook for" she said rather sadly he noticed, he never really thought of her lack of family, her only world was MI6, what a shitty life, even the cat looked miserable.

"Hmm, maybe you should quit the spy life and open a restaurant" he suggested putting some potatoes in his mouth.

Mrs. Jones let out a small smile while looking at her plate "if only was that simple" she said shaking his head. He knew what she meant, she was probably way too deep in this life, too many enemies formed, and with Blunt as her boss, good luck enjoying retirement.

Alex felt a little bad for her if it wasn't for the fact that she had part of the guilt dragging him to this life. He felt a cold dread, would he end up like her, alone in a flat when the only thing going on in his life was a job he never wanted, that if for some miracle he reached her age. Yeah, his future wasn't looking very bright right now.

Dinner didn't last much after and soon Alex was sitting on the couch watching the news with disinterest, it was painful how much Mrs. Jones was similar to Ian, maybe in a parallel reality they would have been a couple.

A meow was heard in the room making Alex look down to see Q looking at him expectantly, he smiled bending down to pet his head before putting him in his lap. The cat instantly lied down, making itself comfortable before closing his eyes while Alex continued to pet him.

Mrs. Jones look at him suspicious, "how do you make him like you like that. He never went to sleep in my lap."

Alex smirked looking at her, "I told you Mrs. Jones, food is the way into a cat's heart"

"You fed him? I told you he had an automatic feeder that gives him the recommended amount of food" she said.

"What is a cat if it isn't a little bit chunky, isn't that right Q" he said, surprised when the cat actually meowed in agreement "see, he gets it" he said grinning at her.

"Whatever I'm going to bed" Mrs. Jones said getting up presumably to go to bed, leaving Alex laughing to the clear display of jealousy.

"I think it's the best we also go to bed Q" he said getting up, taking the cat with him.

The next morning, he woke up cheerfully entering the kitchen with Mrs. Jones cat following him, smiling even more when Mrs. Jones saw that her cat had clearly replaced her "see the difference, Mrs. Jones?" he asked sitting down buttering a piece of toast.

"Good morning to you to Alex, and if you're done trying to steal my cat I suggest you hurry up with breakfast, we got to leave."

Alex downed his cup of orange and shoved the toast down his throat before getting up, shaking his hands to get rid of any crumbs.

"I'm ready" he said with his mouth full

Mrs. Jones didn't say anything, but her face said it all as she got up from her seat and grabbed her purse "goodbye Q" he said petting the cat "I'll give you more food later" he said whispering knowing that Mrs. Jones was listening. The cat meowed, going back to the kitchen, ignoring his real owner.

"I'm hiding his food" Mrs. Jones stated, opening the door of the flat.

"You would starve your kitty "Alex said in a shocked innocent tone

Not much later, Mrs. Jones discarded him with Smithers. "What's up with her?" he asked, seeing her pissed off face when she left

"oh, she just found out her cat doesn't love her"

Smithers laughed amused, "I'm sure you had nothing to do with that"

"Not at all, it was that a personal reflection on her part. "Alex replied

"I'm sure that was what happen, anyway, want to help me test out new gadgets?" Smithers asked, making Alex interested

They spend about one hour messing around with stuff and testing new ideas, having caused 2 small fires and one minor explosion in that span of time.

"Looks like our fun his over Alex" Smithers suddenly said looking at the entrance of the room, where Crawley had appeared

"are we going to another field trip?" Alex asked the man

"come on, Alex, we have to go"

"Where are we going?" Alex asked the moment he closed the car door

Crawley didn't answer him immediately, probably thinking if he should tell Alex their destination.

"We're going to SAS training camp" Crawley responded with his eyes focused on the road

SAS, wasn't wolf and his team from there? Why would Crawley take him there

"do what?" Alex asked

"probably to humiliate some recruits" Crawley answer, making Alex even more confused

"how?"

"You'll see" was the only response he got, apparently the conversation was over, Alex once again was left in the dark about his own life.

Seeing he wasn't getting any answers, he decided to make use of his time and closed his eyes to have a nap.

He didn't know how long he slept before he was shaken awake

"we're here" Crawley said the moment he opened his eyes. Alex got out of the car and looked around, they were in an open space of land, with trails of mud from the recent rain that led to several cabins. In the distance he could see a group of people, dressed in military clothing, running.

If anyone asked him, this looked like a downgrade from Scorpia.

He followed Crawley into an office where a man was waiting for them

"my job isn't to ask questions, but I don't know what Blunt is thinking, bringing a child to this world." The man began

"unfortunately, you have to take that up to Blunt" Crawley answered instantly

The door opened behind them and someone came in "wolf" Alex called out the moment he recognized the man

"Cub?" he exclaimed, clearly confused about the teen presence

"Wolf, I believe you and your unit are familiarized with Cub, take him to the mess"

"Yes Sir" wolf called out before turning to him gesturing to follow.

The moment the door closed, wolf posture broke

"what the hell Cub, what are you doing here"

Alex shrugged his shoulders "Apparently to embarrass new recruits" Alex responded seeing the questioning look on wolf face he continued "I know the same as you, they like to keep me in the dark"

Wolf cleared his throat, "how have you been? The last time I saw you, you weren't in the best shape" wolf asked

"yeah, Point Blanc didn't leave the best memories" he said making wolf frown

"no, not point blanc. Last month when Yassen Gregorovish tried to kidnap you" wolf specified

"oh, I didn't know you were there, my memory from that night is pretty foggy"

"do you know if they end up catching the guy?" wolf asked, making Alex swallow dry

"He ended up catching me instead" Alex admitted, making wolf stop and turn to him

"what?" wolf asked with a dangerous expression on his face. Alex didn't know what the man was thinking, but he could imagine, he had rescued Alex from Yassen only for him to be taken away regardless.

"Like a week later, he managed to smuggle me out of the country"

"To where?"

Alex opened his mouth to respond but stopped, "I'm not sure if I can say"

"It's best if you don't then, special ops like to gate keep their information. But shit Alex, if anyone had told me that Gregorovish had taken you, I wouldn't have expected to see you again.

"Yeah, Blunt didn't expect to see me either, his face almost made this all worth it. But I didn't make it back in one piece" Alex said raising his broken wrist, at least the bruises around his throat had healed enough that it weren't visible any more.

"For escaping Gregorovich, that's nothing, cub."

Finally, they had arrived at the mess, and Alex was instantly assaulted by the loud noise and foul smell.

"Come on I'll take you to the rest of the unit" wolf took him to a table in the corner that Alex could recognize its occupants.

"Wolf what did the sarg- is that cub?" suddenly everyone on the table looked at him with a shocked face

"cub is visiting us for today, don't ask questions because I don't have the answers"

Alex sat in one of the empty seats wolf seating beside him, before sliding a plate towards Alex and grabbing one to himself

With the plate in front of him, Alex immediately realized where the foul smell was coming from

"what is this?" Alex asked

"your ration" wolf said, not looking at him

"What is it?" Alex asked, looking at his plate, it seemed impossible to guess what it was, there was a gray paste and a brown mush.

"Mashed potatoes and mystery meat, a delight" fox responded looking at him eager to see his reaction to the first bite.

"Why is it gray?" he asked, poking the apparently mashed potatoes with his fork.

"It's a mystery, like the meat"

Another point to Scorpia then

Alex gathered the courage and took the fork to his mouth. The taste was instant, tasting as bad as it smelled

In the mid of his despair, he heard fox laughing, "it's always fun to see the reaction to the first taste."

"You better eat up Cub" wolf grumbled next to him, almost done with his plate

Alex managed to eat three more mouthfuls before giving up, if he ate more he would get sick all over the table

When fox saw that he wasn't eating more he took Alex plate, "can't let this fine meal go to waste" he said while devouring Alex leftovers. The young boy could only look in disgust at the man

"what is this wolf, is your unit a kindergarten now?" a voice suddenly called out from behind them

"watch it" wolf warned getting up

"it's always fun to see what your unit has been reduced to, enjoy your babysitting" he said before getting away from the table and joining another that was laughing from what the man had said

Looks like there is one in every place, a tie then

"Cub" a voice called out, everyone was silent by the new presence, every bit of laughter had died in their throats. It was the Sergeant and Crawley who had arrived, their conversation had ended

Alex got up and went in their direction "and what do you morons still doing here, lunchtime is over" the man yelled out making everyone scramble out of the room

Crawley turned to him, "you will have a practical test to evaluate your skills"

"Why? Does Blunt want to use me again?" Alex asked suspicious

"no Alex, but we want to assess Scorpia training, the last time he had an insider was sixteen years ago" it was his father of course he thought bitterly "besides you can rub it in all these man faces, that not a minute ago we're laughing at your expense" Alex had to say that Crawley made a good point

"alright, but then you have to get me Mc Donald's"

Crawley let out a small smile, but quickly returned to his stern face.

"It truly his an experience of the first meal. If you do what you are told when we leave, I'll get you some McDonald's."

Alex smiled victoriously before nodding once.

The Sergeant cleared his throat, getting their attention, "if you two are done chit-chatting, I would like to get going. I don't like MI6 wandering around my camp, much less when they bring a child along" the man grumbled

Alex was led outside, walking until they arrived to a shooting range area where he could see that K-unit and the other guy unit were

"attention" the Sergeant yelled, making all men drop what they were doing.

"Someone get me a gun" he ordered and immediately someone that Alex didn't recognize handed a pistol

"and clear the targets"

The Sergeant checked to see if it was loaded beforehand, it to him

Alex took it felling the weight on his hand, hating that it reminded him the last time he had held a weapon, the time that he killed Rothman.

"Show me what you got, cub" the Sergeant said.

Alex turned around and went to stand in the line marked on the ground, as he passed the others, he heard the man from early, "I bet you he doesn't even hit one."

Alex clenched his hand around the gun, clearing his head.

He lifts his arm, and faster than anyone expected it, he shoots five times, hitting all the targets in a row. He smiled victoriously, turning to the man, seeing his sour face when he was proven wrong.

"Very well cub, let's step up to moving targets"

Alex watched as the targets lowered themselves until they disappeared from his view

"the targets will come out of the ground, ready yourself cub" the Sergeant instructed

Alex put himself into position waiting for it to start

He focusses his eyes in the middle, waiting for the first target. He waited 10 seconds before the first one on the far right sprang up, the target didn't even have time to settle before Alex had already hit the target, his arm moving instantly as soon he heard the mechanism working.

As the targets appeared Alex shot them, and as time went on the targets sprang up quicker and remained less time up, not that it matter Alex hit them all, he could do this with his eyes closed.

Eventually it stopped "great job cub, you did better than half of my men" the Sergeant said to him before turning to Crawley "you got your test-" he began before Crawley interrupted

"no, make him do it again, blindfolded"

The Sergeant laughed, "OK, now that is ridiculous."

"Entertain me" Crawley simply said, fixing his eyes on Alex, like he knew something that he didn't.

"Fine, someone get me a blindfold" he ordered.

"What? Sarge that's ridiculous, he's going to end up killing someone" the man from before said.

"Silence, only speak when you're spoken to, soldier" the sergeant yelled out making the man fall back in line. Someone came running with a blindfold that the sergeant gave it to Crawley.

The spy came to Alex tying the blindfold tightly around his eyes, making sure that no light passes through "remember the McDonald's" Crawley said quietly before turning him towards the targets.

It wasn't a threat but Alex, sure, was hungry and that serve like a good motivation.

"Ready yourself" the sergeant yelled out

Alex took a deep breath concentrating in all the sounds, quickly he heard the first target, his arms automatically turned in that direction and he fired. The process was the same as before, with the targets getting faster each time, and quickly enough the course had ended. Taking off the blindfold, he turned around to see all the shocked faces except Crawley's.

"Can someone explain to me how can some of you still fail at this course, when a bloody schoolboy can do it with his eyes closed, and a broken arm"

"He obviously could still see under it" the man whined.

"QUIET" the sergeant yelled face red with anger "Cub still got a better score than you, what's the excuse now?" the man back down clearly shamed of his failing score to be out in the open

"You all embarrass me, dismiss, I can't even look at your faces now" the sergeant said

They all left, leaving Alex awkwardly standing there, "If Scorpia is training all their assassins like that, we got a big problem in our hands" the sergeant whisper to Crawley.

"We know, but right now they were slowed down" Crawley explained.

"By what?"

"Classified" was the only answer before Crawley turn to him "let's go Alex it's time to leave."

Alex handed back the gun to the sergeant, before following Crawley to the car. He had never really thought of the training that Yassen had given him, but seeing everyone shocked faces told him everything he needed to know, his training clearly wasn't normal, why Yassen had chosen to teach him was a mystery, perhaps he wanted to make him his successor, at least that was what everyone seemed to think.

As promised Crawley stooped in the first McDonald's they passed getting him a Big Mac and a Happy meal with a toy inside, that Alex was sure that was just an attempt to make fun of him, but jokes on him, he loves Chicken nuggets

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we're almost reaching the end, next chapter our favourite assassin will make an appearence