Chapter Text
The bright fluorescent lights buzzed and reflected off the harsh grays of the safe house.
“Good evening, Agent Twilight”
He nodded in greeting and asked, “Handler, what mission do you have for me today?”
“Actually, I have an update on your most important assignment, ‘Operation Strix.”
“Oh?”
“You see, recently UK covert operations at MI6 reached out about an “alliance” between agencies. In exchange for information about the relations between East and West they will send agents to make up for our recent losses by the secret police, as well as clearance to intelligence that could help world peace. I suspect a mole leaked as much, but I’m not entirely opposed to an alliance. They have good reason to be worried as their allyship with the West would bring them right into the middle of a war that we could prevent.”
She shifted in her seat and the soft sound of a drawer opening filled the quiet space before a folder thunked onto the desk.
“For how this relates to the Operation, there was a list of agents sent with the terms of agreement and one in particular caught the eye of WISE higher-ups. Among the available spy’s there is an agent Alex Rider. she spoke with a slight frown and leaned forward on the desk to flip through the pages before turning it towards Twilight.
Intrigued his eyes quickly scanned through the document before screeching to a holt upon seeing a certain vital piece of information.
“They are employing child agents?”
“It seems so. While I was as surprised as you are, his results speak for themselves. Rider is a highly qualified agent, he has succeeded in stopping several worldwide disasters all since he was 14.”
If Loid was a less composed agent her words would have brought him to his knees in shock. Fourteen was far too young to be fighting for your country, let alone the world.
“Moving on, last month Eden Academy announced a program to allow high school students to apply to their esteemed school. It was created as a second chance for teens to show their excellence and become of service to their community. Agent Rider is going to become a new member of the operation, entering the school through the new program.
“He is extremely talented and while Strix is progressing smoothly so far, you know as well as I it’s important to have secondary plans in place. I’m sure he’ll easily pass the exams and will understand the importance of excelling better than a young child like Anya. ”
“Hmm, I understand Handler, It would certainly improve my chances of entering Desmonds social circle if I have two children attending Eden.”
Twilight asked, “Is there already a cover in place?”
“Yes, Agent Rider will be known as Alex Walker, the orphaned child of a close friend who died recently. As his godfather you’ve been compelled to take care of his son out of duty to the dearly departed. You’ll be flying over in four days to acquire our new asset.”
“Understood.”
“Good Luck Twilight.”
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
They were adding a new addition to the family. That was all he could think about as he walked back to his home. How this new addition would effect the carefully curated balance he had put so much effort into.
He arrived and clicked the key into place, swinging the door open and calling out.
“Anya, Yor! Can you both come here?”
He watched them both come around the corner.
“What’s wrong Papa?”
He knelt down to her level and put a hand on her shoulder while asking, “Anya, how would you feel about having a big brother?”
She gasped and there were stars in her eyes when she said, “A Big Brother!? Woah that’d be sooo cool!”
Well that was easier than he thought, then again he already knew his real challenge would be convincing Yor.
He stood back up glanced at his wife.
Eyes wide and mouth agape Yor asked with surprise, “What brought this on?!”
He sighed and said, “Well, rather recently a good friend of mine passed away.”
She gasped, “Oh no thats terrible, I’m so sorry Loid.”
“I appreciate it Yor.” He smiled warmly and preceded to speak, “But yes, it’s rather unfortunate. Not to mention when he died he left behind his son, Alex, who has been in foster care ever since.
“Thats just awful. Is there no one to take care of him?”, she asked.
“I’m afraid not, he’s also turning 17 this year and I worry that he won’t be able to find a family before he ages out of the system. I was listed as one of the few eligible guardian in the will, however I wanted to make sure you and Anya were comfortable before I tried anything.”
He really needed this to go well. He would accept if they did not want the burden of an extra family member of course, especially Yor who was part of this family for her own reasons, but it would be much more difficult to reason with WISE why he was rejecting a valuable asset that could be essential to the mission.
MI6 had a much larger well of resources to pull from and they needed all the help they could get with the recent spy searches. Their intelligence could be vital in keeping the peace between Westalis and Ostania. Having one of their agents directly involved with Strix could be risky but it also gave them access to intelligence that could further the mission.
And while he didn’t agree with their use of teenage agents, he couldn’t deny the usefulness of a family as a cover. With the added benefit of not having to hide his “side job” or worry about defending civilians, he could see the appeal. Not that Yor had ever needed defending, but a trained spy was logically the more reliable choice.
“So, what do you two think?”, He asked earnestly.
“I want A BIG BROTHER PAPA!!”, Anya yelled with Bond barking in agreement.
Yor hummed thoughtfully, “Well if Anya and Bond are okay with it I don’t see why not. Yuri and I always had each other, it makes me sad to think that poor boy has no one left to care for him. At least he won’t be with complete strangers if we take him in.”
She pumped her fist with determination and said, “Yeah let’s do it!”
“Alright” he chuckled, “I’m glad you’re both so excited about this and I appreciate you being so supportive.”
“So what do you need us to do to prepare Loid?”, Yor asked eagerly.
“Well, I took a few days off work to go fly over to the UK to get acquainted with Alex and make sure he safely makes his way here. I would be grateful if you both look after each other while I’m gone.”
“Okay, I think we can do that, right Anya?”
“Right Mama!” she said while nodding vigorously.
“And I know this is sudden but we will likely need to move.”
“WHAT! Why Papa!?”
Loid explained, “While our current place has worked well for just the three of us, if we want to continue having our current setup we’ll need another room for Alex. We could even get a nice backyard for you and Bond to run around in, Anya.”
Not to mention the fact that neither me or Yor were ready to give up our private spaces just yet.
“That makes sense.” She her hit her fist onto her open palm while exclaiming, “Oh! I think I saw a couple 'For Sale’ signs in Camillas neighborhood last time I did a cooking lesson with her. That way we’re still close to the hospital and town hall.”
“Good thinking Yor. I leave on Friday so we’ll have four days to pick a house and get our affairs sorted. You two start packing, I’ll get everything else worked out.”
“Okay! Anya I’ll help you start sorting your room, let’s get started!”
“Yay!! You better get us a REALLLLLYY BIG backyard!” She yelled while pointing at him.
“Alright I will, now get going, Yor can’t pack your room all by herself.”
“Aye Aye Agent Papa!”
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Anya couldn’t believe it! She was getting a big brother and he was spy too! Now Papa would have another super secret sidekick to help him beat up the bad guys.
“Anya! Come pack your toys in this box while I fold your clothes.”
“On it Mama!”
Oh and they were going to a cool new house where she could run around outside and play. She was sooo excited to tour with Becky next time she came over! Maybe her puppy and Bond could play! Then she could make second son jealous and want to come over with his dog too. She put on her strange smirk and rubbed her hands together like a bondman villain scheming at the thought.
“Hey, Anya?”
Oh no she zoned out!
“Un yes Mama?”
“Let’s try to take it easy on Loid this week, while he may not show us he’s upset, losing someone is really hard so we’re gonna try to help him as much as we can. Okay Sweetie?”
“Okay Mama!”
Mama didn’t know about Papas cover so she was gonna be a super helper this week with Papas secret and helping Mama feel better.
“But Papa still cooks.”
Sighing Yor responded, “Alright thats fair, but everything else we try our best at! One of us will walk Bond everyday this week and no arguing with Loid when he wants you to study. Also make sure to be on your best behavior with your classmates.”
“Okay Mama.”, she repeated, somewhat dejected.
She hated hated hated studying but this week she wouldn’t complain to help Papa out.
Plus she wanted to be at her best for big brother! Like Papa had said first meetings were the most important.
She wondered what big brother was like? Probably all serious and cool like papa. She giggled to herself imagining a smaller Papa look-alike with matching furrowed brows and looks of concentration.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Alex was tired, to put it mildly. Two years of absolute and complete nonsense from MI6 and his life had been completely thrown off the rails. Ever since Ian had died his life had been a downward spiral of utter insanity and loss. Losing his grades, his social life, Tom and.. Jack.
That was the worst part of the whole thing, that Jack had gotten involved with it all. Sometimes he wished she had just left when Ian died, it would have hurt but at least she would be alive then. Or If he had been brave enough to stand up the first time MI6 showed their ugly mugs and let her get deported while he was whisked off to the orphanage. He had so many opportunities to get her to safety and he selfishly ignored the risks for his own needs. Not that it mattered in the end anyways. He had fought so hard in the beginning to not end up in foster care and yet it happened anyways. He just always had to do everything the hard way and take everyone else down along with him.
His only comfort was that he would be aging out of the system soon and as a legal adult with nothing to lose it would be much harder for MI6 to convince or coerce him. They might even lose interest completely now that he was growing up. The innocent dumb kid look was slowly starting to fade with the broadening of his shoulders and hair on his chin, his flimsy protection of youth against bad guys would be gone.
But he had doubt of even that small hope. Two years of training and success in various missions made him not only skilled in spy work but a dangerous source of intel on MI6 and any other intelligence agency who’d used him for their own benefit. No, it was much more likely he’d be shot quietly outback than be left to his own devices.
He was shook out of his depressing thoughts by a shout.
“Alex! You have a visitor!” The worker yelled down the corridor.
Well either Jones was here to send him to his grave (or another mission but it felt like a death sentence all the same) or his parents had come back from the grave to claim their lost son, because there was No Way he was getting adopted.
He called back, “Coming!” as he jumped down from the bunk bed, the other teenagers eyeing him curiously as he left the room.
While he hated the orphanage he didn’t hate his roommates. None of them were here for pleasant reasons and there was an unspoken agreement between the older kids to not pry (too much, they were still nosy teenagers after all). There was also a certain camaraderie he hadn’t felt with his peers at school for the last two years.
As he walked down the dusty wood corridors he heard some noise from the younger kids playing games and he couldn’t help but smile a bit, they were all usually very quiet and sad but it seemed they were in better spirits today, he wished he could say the same. Maybe he could join them for a game after.
Alex reached the visitor rooms and the worker stood up from her desk to walk him towards the right door.
“Just so you know it’s that same lady from last time. What was her name again?”
“It’s Mrs. Jones, and thanks for the warning Ms. Taylor.”
“No problem Alex, now hurry and meet with her so she leaves — she gives me the creeps” Ms. Taylor said while holding her arms and shivering with a grimace on her face.
Alex laughed, throwing a, “Will do!” over his shoulder before opening the door.
Any good mood he had scrounged up on the walk over had vanished at the sight of Mrs. Jones. Sitting there in all her pristine grey glory looking out of place against the warm brown of the timber walls, chewing on a peppermint as she waited for his arrival.
“Hello Alex, How have you been adjusting?”
His teeth ground together and his fists clench as he replied, “As well as I can be I guess.”
She hummed in polite interest before asking, “Why don’t you take a seat?”
“I think I’ll stay standing, thanks.”
Alex knew he was being rude but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He had practically no control over anything, he was owed at least a few petty power struggles every now and again.
Jones sighed but didn’t argue with him instead she continued to speak, “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m here?”
He nodded and stayed silent hoping to get her talking and gone as fast as humanly possible.
“Well you see Alex, you’ve been adopted.”
His brain short circuited and his mind blanked at those words.
Of all the things she could have said that was the last thing that had come to mind.
“Can you repeat that? I’m pretty sure I heard wrong.”
“You heard me right Alex, you’re getting adopted by the Forgers.”
He was so baffled he forgot he was supposed to be acting hostile.
“The who?”
“The Forgers. Your place in their family is part of a larger mission for peace.” she said in that same unruffled composure, unaffected by his shock.
At hearing the word “mission” his blood ran cold, he felt what ever fiery anger was be doused tidal wave of numb exhaustion and acceptance. Of course they needed him on another mission, it seemed like they wouldn’t stop using him until he was dead.
At the very least they weren’t lying to him about his “adoption” and keeping the mission a secret until the very last minute. He always felt like there were to many missions where he was just conveniently already involved somehow and all the coincidences simply didn’t add up. He sounded like a conspiracy theorist but MI6 and Blunt especially were definitely clever enough to set something like that up.
He grimaced and sighed deeply before asking, “What’s the mission?”
“Your being sent to the hostile nation of Ostania to cooperate in a joint mission called Operation Strix. You’ll be partnered with WISE agent Twilight or Loid Forger, his cover for the mission. You’ll be briefed on your role and the mission goals once he arrives four days from now.”
Four days before he was shipped off to another country probably to be shot at and barely survive before being sent back to the orphanage. He wondered if it was even worth it to try running away or if MI6 would just catch him and force him to go anyways. Not that he had anywhere to run too, he would just be on the street, they’d find him in two seconds flat.
Sighing heavily he very reluctantly agreed, “Alright, do you know how long the mission will be?”
“Its long-term, could last anywhere from six months to a year.”
“What!? I’ve never had a mission last that long, what are we even doing?”
Jones frowned and replied, “As I said before Twilight will brief you on Friday.”
Annoyed he asked, “I’m going away for a year and you can’t even tell me why?”
She took a deep breath to control her frustration before responding,”I don’t know all of the mission details. They were very secretive with their plans for fear another country would intercept the message. They have already lost agents to the secret police, if the information leaked the agents and the operation would be in serious danger.”
He was upset for a moment before he realized how pointless it was. Did it really matter that he wouldn’t be in London for a year when there was no one to come back to?
“Any other questions?”
He huffed, “No.”
“Good. Smithers will make sure you are prepared before you go.”
That brought a small smile to his face, Smithers gadgets always fascinated him. He turned to go, his hand reaching for the door-knob before he was in interrupted.
“Oh, and Alex?”
He looked over his shoulder at her, his head tilted in confusion.
“Be careful.”