Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Alex was in Yassen’s temporary apartment in Abu Dhabi when suddenly he had the distinct feeling something was wrong. “Yassen-” he began, before realizing he was fading.

Yassen Gregorovich made a slight turn towards him, eyes widening slightly as he took in Alex’s half faded form.

“I don’t know what’s wrong-” Alex began again.

And he was gone.

In a different universe, another, younger Alex, yelped as an odd scientist took a vial of blood and hair.  The scientist threw him back into the cell and put the samples into machine that took up the rest of the room.

The young Alex looked on in confusion as the machine began to chug away, a blur beginning to form in the centre.

Slowly, a figure was taking shape, it was a he, Alex realized, and he had on a black t-shirt, with dark grey cargo pants, and what looked like an arsenal of weapons. Older than him, but… oddly familiar.

The person was now lying on the floor unconscious. The scientist bustled around, quickly swabbing the man’s cheek while a guard removed the weapons and quickly handcuffed him. They seemed to be extra cautious with him-

“SCORPIA operative-”

“Be careful-better to handcuff him-”

Before they threw him into Alex’s cell. Briefly he wondered if he would be safe with that amount of caution they handled the man with, before dismissing the thought, if anything the man could be useful in an escape. Possibly. If they could get the handcuffs off.

Taking a closer look at him, Alex was startled to see the resemblance to himself, although older and sharper somehow.

The scientist suddenly crowed in excitement “It worked! An exact DNA match, I pulled another Alexander John Rider from a different dimension!”

Alex stared at the scientist in disbelief, before turning his attention to the man beside him. It could be another him, he realized a bit hysterically, same face, eyes, hair, everything.

The scientist continued to talk, but Alex couldn’t hear anything still stuck on how similar, and yet different, the other person, the other Alex looked.

Perhaps, when he woke up tomorrow, he would be back in his bed, instead of stuck in this weird nightmare.

Distantly he noticed the scientist leave and the guards settled down in the chairs and table near the door. Yes, with luck he’d wake up and this would all be over.

Chapter Text

Alex groaned as he slowly came to. With a jolt he realized his hands were behind his back and tried to pull free, wincing as the handcuffs dug into his wrists. This wasn’t good. He could feel the ache in his shoulders and wondered how long he was out. And what the hell happened. One minute he was in Yassen’s apartment then- he was here.

Rolling over he noticed he wasn’t alone. His first thought was

Julius-

But the clone was dead, Yassen confirmed it, and this person didn’t have that cruel look in his eyes. Instead, he looked frightened, unsure of what was going on. But still-

Alex took a deep breath before rasping “What’s your name? Do you know where we are?”

The boy jumped slightly before stuttering “Al-al-Alex. You appeared out of nowhere, the scientist said something about you being from a different dimension? It was weird, apparently a DNA test said we were both Alex Rider. I don’t know where we are, it, I, they injected me with something after they kidnapped me.”

Alex stared. Well, that was a new angle, he was in a different dimension? Then he remembered actively fading. Maybe he died and this is some weird version of hell.

“Right, my name is also Alex, but maybe just call me Orion, otherwise things might get confusing. How old are you?”

“Orion? What kind of name is that? I just turned 14, I was walking home from school, Dad-” Alex began

Orion jerked upright. “Dad? John Rider is alive? What about Helen Rider, Ian?”

Alex looked at him in confusion. “Umm, yes? Dad and Uncle Ian are both alive, but Mom died in a plane crash when I was young. Are they not alive in your world?”

Orion let out a breath. “No, John -Dad- died in that plane crash also. Ian when I was 14. What year, exactly, is it here?”

Alex blinked “Uh 2010? And where did you go? Who raised you?”

Orion just looked pensive before hesitantly responding “Ian, until he died then-it’s complicated. It was 2013 in my…. dimension….” Orion sighed again, before “We should get some sleep, we don’t know what that scientist wants and should be rested beforehand.”

Alex looked mutinously at him, with lots of questions still in his eyes, before slowly nodding.

Both of them settled down to try and sleep.

Orion woke up to the door swinging shut behind the scientist. The scientist was probably a billionaire, only a billionaire would come up with something this crazy he sourly though.

“Oh good! They’re awake! Now my name is Dr. Alistair Blackwood, I do hope you don’t mind the accommodations, but I’m afraid nothing else was quite as secure as this. If you don’t mind behaving things will go much easier. I have instructed my guards to use as much as force as necessary. To begin let’s start with seeing the difference in fitness levels!” The scientist said motioning to the guards.

The guards aimed a gun at Alex and Orion before grabbing Alex and slamming the door shut. Alex twisted in a panic trying to get free. One of the guards shoved the gun in the back of his neck and started to drag him away.

Orion jumped up “What are you doing? Leave him alone assholes!”

“Ah don’t worry, he’ll be returned.” Blackwood called over his shoulder as he followed Alex and the guards.

Orion cursed before looking around him. He needed to get these handcuffs off. As it was, escape would be difficult. The cell was bare, not even a cot. The lock appeared to be electronic. Outside the cell was filled with that odd machine, and a small table by the door. The ground was clean and there was nothing he could use to get free.

There were no windows, no way to tell time.

MI6 would be looking for Alex, Orion was sure of that. He was also sure they would be ecstatic to get their hands on him, considering he was in SCORPIA’s uniform. No MI6 would not help him; they would just throw him into another cell. Now he had to just hope he could get free before ‘6 found them.

An hour or so passed before an out of breath Alex was dragged back, a bruise forming on his cheek.

Alex was cursing them, and strugglingly hard. One of the guards looked like they were about to hit him again.

Orion quickly spoke up, praying Alex would get the hint and shut up. “Oh, how absolutely brave of you, picking on a 14-year-old. Is it because you can’t beat someone your own size in a fight?”

The guard snarled and pushed Alex into the cell, dropping him harshly to the ground before reaching out and grabbing Orion, pulling him out of the cell.

They aimed the gun at him, stopping his attempts to get free and led him down the hallway. It was dingy, less clean and sterile than the cell and room he had arrived him.

Finally, they arrived at what looked like a treadmill.

Blackwood looked up “Oh wonderful, the other one. Get him up on the treadmill and keep him still.”

The guards did just that, twisting his arm and keeping the gun pointed at him.

Blackwell frowned. “Well, I need the shirt off… with the handcuffs that will be difficult. Hmmm, cut it off. I don’t want to risk taking the handcuffs off.”

The guard Orion had goaded earlier grinned and pulled out a knife.

Orion scowled when he realized that knife had belonged to him. “Fucking thief.” He muttered.

The guard just grinned wider started to cut off his shirt. It wasn’t pretty given it was ballistic fabric. Orion’s knife, however, was good enough to still get through it.

The guard gave a particularly hard tug and cut through skin as well. Orion hissed in a mix of anger and pain.

“Whoops, didn’t mean to do that!” The guard said cheerfully.

Soon after the ruined shirt was on the ground and Blackwood was happily attaching monitors to his skin, skillfully ignoring the bleeding cut.

“Right now, we will see how long you can run for!” Blackwood said finishing up with the monitors.

Orion cursed under his breath as the gun was shoved into the small of his back, and reluctantly he started to run.

Two hours later a tired Orion was put back into the cell. The cut had congealed but Alex let out a gasp when he saw it.

“Are you okay? Does it hurt? Should we clean it?”

Orion sighed again and waspishly said “What exactly would we clean it with? And I’ll be fine.”

Alex then took that time notice the other scars he had, and his eyes widened. “What happened to you?”

Orion closed his eyes and wished the question away before reluctantly answering.

“Which time? I’ve had a… difficult… life. With luck, you won’t have to go through it. Just, if anyone tells you that your dad or uncle are killed in a car crash-don’t look into it. Just stay away. It isn’t a life you want to find yourself in.

Alex frowned “Why would that matter?”

“Do you know who your uncle and dad work for? Orion asked instead.

“A bank?”

“MI6. And the head of MI6 is just looking for an excuse to use a child agent. They will not hesitate to send you into life threatening situations without weapons or healthcare afterwords. And when you refuse, they’ll blackmail you.” Orion said flatly.

Alex stared at him “MI6? That can’t be right, they have boring jobs.”

Orion snorted in amusement. “So, bankers now need to know multiple languages, know how to lose tails, hotwire cars, pickpocket people, have rock climbing skills…”

Alex opened his mouth, before carefully shutting it again.

Orion took pity on him “They aren’t allowed to tell you anything. I only found out because when Ian died, I looked into it. And MI6 blackmailed me into working for them. I don’t work for them anymore… I got a better offer.”

That got Alex’s attention “A better offer? Shouldn’t you still be in school?”

Orion hesitated “I learned what I needed to survive, the rest… well, I’m still working on school. As for the better offer-it doesn’t really matter. It’s a choice I really hope you will never have to make. I am not a good person, that doesn’t mean you can’t be.”

Alex frowned but realized by the hard set in Orion’s eyes that he wasn’t going to explain any further.

“Does that mean MI6 will be looking for me?” He said instead.

“Yes. They will be.” Orion answered. He paused for a long second before adding “If we don’t escape before MI6 gets here, they’ll probably take me into custody. Don’t argue with them or get in the way. It won’t help.”

“Why would they take you into custody? You’re a prisoner here?”

“The organization I work for is -well known- in the intelligence community. And not for any good reasons. Operatives are rarely captured alive, so to find one, and one that has knowledge about future events, would be considered very lucky for them.”

“Wait, the organization you work for isn’t legal? Are you a criminal?” Spluttered Alex

Orion sighed once more “I did tell you I am not a good person. So yes, I would be considered a criminal. And no, I am not going to tell you why.”

Alex frowned but reluctantly nodded and settled back down to wait.

The guards had thrown in an apple, some bread, and a couple bottles of water sometime during the night, along with switching the guards watching them. Alex carefully helped Orion drink some water and eat some food.

By this time, Orion’s arms and shoulders were starting to go numb from being twisted behind him this long.

When Blackwood came the next time, the guards switched again. Orion couldn’t tell if they had specific time shifts and it had been 12 or 24 hours, or if they were switching out randomly and couldn’t be used to tell time.

“Time to get up!” Blackwood began, “Fascinating day ahead of us, we will be doing some medical tests like in depth DNA testing, along with some more… invasive tests. Anywho, who wants to go first?”

Alex shrunk back trying to hide against the wall. Orion noticed the glee in the mad scientists eye as he took in how scared Alex was. Letting out a groan, he pushed himself forward and sneered at Blackwood. “I bet you aren’t even a real doctor and are just playing pretend. You sure you’ll understand any of the results?”

Blackwood’s eyes darkened and he snarled “Well I guess you just volunteered to go first then. Guards!”

The guards came forward and grabbed him again. But Orion was ready this time. He quickly lashed out at the guard causing him to let go. Orion spun around to face the other guard but before he could do anything there was a gunshot and Orion collapsed on the floor.

The bullet had missed but left a deep gash in his leg.

Blackwood smiled with a dangerous glint in his eyes. “Now, I wouldn’t want you to harm my guards, so I would advise you not to try that again. Next time it will be in a more vital part of your body.”

Orion snarled but let himself be dragged upright. The small fight had opened the cut from last time, leaving him bleeding from multiple wounds. Alex looked on in terror.

Suddenly gunshots rang out, the guard dropped Orion back in the cell slamming the door shut.

Blackwood cursed “I need to get out of here. Don’t let anything happen to the prisoners.” Before heading out the door. The guards hesitated but settled near the door.

Orion struggled to stand up before rasping “Get behind me, in the corner. If anyone comes in don’t say anything until we know if they’re a threat or not.”

Alex just nodded, terrified, and got up to do as he said.

All they could do was wait and see. Orion had a bad feeling that MI6 had found Alex, which was great for Alex, but not so great for him.

Chapter Text

John Rider was not a religious man. He did however pray that Alex would be here. It was the last lead they had, and Alex had been missing for 5 days already.

Ian Rider looked over before splitting off towards the computer room. His job was to find any information on this setup, and why Alex was taken.

Motioning to the SAS unit, John moved into the building. His steps were graceful, reminiscent of his past. Several units had already started in on clearing the building, John and the unit assigned to him were to specifically look for Alex.

When they got to the basement, a door suddenly opened, two enemy guards started towards him. Without evening thinking he fired twice, killing both of them before they took another step.

His first thought when he looked into the room was disappointment. There appeared to be a big machine in the middle of the room, but Alex was not immediately visible. Then he took a couple steps into the room and stopped. There was a cell at the far side of the room, a familiar looking older teen was shielding something behind him. The teen was bleeding and without a shirt, with his hands cuffed behind him.

Hesitantly John called “Alex?”

There was a sudden movement, and a younger teenager popped out from behind the other teen.

“Dad!”

The older teen was warily watching them; it was eerily like looking at a younger version of himself.

“Ian, we found him, and another person, who will need medical attention.” John said into his radio.

“….You’re not going to believe this. Hell, I don’t believe this. These people think that that person is another version of Alex. But be careful, they also noted he appeared to be SCORPIA. Was wearing the uniform when he… appeared…”  Ian replied.

At that the boy just sighed in resignation. He knew he wasn’t getting free, John realized.

“Right… we’re going to get them free and bring them out.” John answered.

“The other Alex has tried to protect me; he kept the worst of the attention off me at least. And he really did appear out of nowhere; they took blood and hair then-” Alex was yammering on. John tried to listen, but he couldn’t stop staring at the other Alex, a tired, stressed, but older Alex. Shaking his head he motioned to the soldiers to get the two out of the cell. Rummaging through the dead guards clothes he found a key belonging to the handcuffs.

While the younger Alex was allowed free, a gun was kept trained on the older Alex as he limped out of the cell, more gracefully than a teenager should be.

Malagosto perhaps? John really hoped he was wrong, that it was just coincidence, but that movement…

Moving forward he quickly unlocked the handcuffs before quickly replacing them with their own. Alex was watching concerned, surprisingly he kept quiet.

One of the SAS members grabbed him and started out the door.

Alex watched worriedly before asking “Is… is he going to be, okay?”

John hesitated, not wanting to lie, before finally saying “I’m not sure, if he cooperates then yes, he will be fine.”

Alex didn’t reply, instead he quietly started to pick his way out of the building.

Orion was shuffled along quickly. The SAS seemed to want to get him secured as soon as possible.

In a last-ditch effort, he pretended to trip, hoping to catch his captor off-guard. The SAS member however didn’t fall for it, instead, he hauled Orion up shoved him to keep him moving.

Before long they reached the cars. Mostly army vehicles, there was a couple nondescript cars. Probably MI6.

Without hesitating he was led to one of the nondescript cars. Up close he realized it was outfitted for a prisoner in the back.

The SAS member quickly shoved him inside before attaching a harness. With his hands cuffed behind him, Orion wouldn’t be able to get free. The windows insured that he couldn’t see out either.

To his surprise, Ian Rider got in behind the wheel, the SAS soldier slipping in beside him. Ian took one long look at him before sighing and saying, “You know what will happen when we get to headquarters, don’t you.”

Orion stubbornly said nothing.

Ian just shook his head and started driving. The SAS troop would finish up and contain the area. Ian and John now just had to worry about getting their respective charges, and the information Ian got, back to London.

It was a long drive. Orion distantly realized they had been kept somewhere in England still.

Finally, they pulled up and parked somewhere. Orion couldn’t tell where exactly, but he’d bet that it was the Royal and General Bank.

Ian looked back with an apologetic look on his face.
“Sorry about this-”

A dart hit him, a sedative pumping through his veins, Orion hissed in anger and woozily glared at Ian, before finally, everything went dark.

John and the younger Alex got into the second nondescript car. Pulling out, he finally asked Alex what he could tell him about the other prisoner.

Alex hesitated before answering “He didn’t say much, other than it was 2013, I’m guessing he is 17 from that. Apparently, his dad died in the same crash Mum did, Uncle Ian raised him instead. Also, that he wasn’t a good person, and that he hoped I’d never have to make the same choices he did… Do you and Uncle Ian actually work for MI6?”

John paused “Yes, we do. Anything else?”

Alex shook his head, “I think that was everything, except that he knew you guys would take him into custody.”

John slowly nodded “Thank you. Are you sure you weren’t hurt anywhere other than the bruise?”

Alex nodded “Orion-that’s what he told me to call him, he said two Alex’s would be confusing- kept the worst of it away from me. Whenever they’d focus on me, he would make them mad and cause them to take it out on him instead.”

“Orion… the hunter.” Mused John, “Well, I’m glad you’re safe. We have to go to headquarters first, and get debriefed, then we can go home, alright?”

Alex nodded before settling in for a long drive.

Orion woke to a startling white room. There was a small cot in the corner, and a camera positioned to see everything. The door didn’t have a handle, and Orion would bet in swung in, so that he couldn’t get out accidently. Groaning he struggled into a sitting position and leaned against the wall. This was not a good situation to be in. MI6 was one of the more ruthless intelligence agencies, and they were not above ‘interrogating’ a 17-year-old. Particularly since that 17-year-old was one of SCORPIA’s.

Before long the door opened, and an armed agent came in.

“Try anything and we’ll shoot to incapacitate.”

Orion reluctantly nodded and let the agent pull him up. He was lead down the hallway into another white room, this one with a table and chairs around it.

He was pushed into a chair and quickly his handcuffs were attached to the back of the chair and his legs were chained to the legs of the chair. Orion gave an experimental tug, but there was no give. No way out.

The door opened and in walked John Crawley and John Rider.

 Sitting down Crawley began “I’m the Deputy Director of MI6, Crawley, and you know who this is I presume?”

Orion jolted slightly “Deputy Director, that’s different, who’s in charge- Blunt or Jones?”

Crawley paused, slightly unsure “Mrs. Jones is currently the head of MI6. Is that different in your world?”

“Yes.” Orion answered, short and to the point.

“Are you going to cooperate with us?” John asked curiously.

Orion gave a sharp smile “On the important details no, otherwise there is no reason not to answer.”

“Did you graduated from Malagosto then?” John challenged.

Orion tilted his head and considered his answer “Would you believe me if I said I wasn’t SCORPIA?”

Crawley snorted and responded “No, are you going to try to pull that?”

Orion nodded slowly before stating, “I graduated Malagosto two weeks after my fifteenth birthday.”

Both Crawley and John paled as they processed the fact a fourteen-year-old went through Malagosto-and graduated.

“Why SCORPIA?” John finally asked.

Orion gave them a considering look before asking “If you and Ian were to die, what would happen to Alex? Perhaps without Blunt here he would fare better than I did, perhaps Jones would make the same choices, perhaps not.”

John felt a chill go down his back. “Does Ian die in your world? Alex told me I was killed in the plane crash.”

Orion inclined his head “When I was fourteen, Yassen Gregorovich killed him during the Stormbreaker mission. Blunt’s solution to Ian dying and not finishing the mission was to send a child instead-and where exactly would he find a trained child to use…”

John was shaking his head “MI6 doesn’t use children-”

But Orion was relentless “So you’re telling me he never showed any unusual interest in Alex? I’ve seen my file from when I was young-it’s a lot more detailed than normal.”

John paled and tried to protest, but nothing came out.

Orion continued “And when I, rightly, refused because it was the mission that killed Ian, he blackmailed me. I was given no weapons, no backup, and a measly week and a half of SAS training. I nearly died multiple times. In fact, I should be dead except for the fact Yassen Gregorovich decided not to kill me, he told me instead I stay out of that world and left. And when I thought I could stay out of it, I was called back in. Sent on another mission, again with no weapons, back up didn’t show up when I called for it, and no medical attention after. That time I was nearly dissected alive. And then finally, it happened one more time, this time I was lent to the CIA, same issues, no medical attention afterwords. So when Yassen Gregorovich showed up one night and gave me a choice, between staying with MI6 and probably dying before I hit 16, or going with him for training that would keep me alive, I did choose SCORPIA over MI6. You might understand why I don’t really care to help MI6 out.”

Crawley and John were both quiet for a minute before John asked “Do you regret it? The choice you made?”

Orion gave them a long look, “I regret having to make the choice. Not the choice I made.”

John slowly nodded, “You aren’t going to willingly tell us any information about SCORPIA then.”

“No. Not unless there is something for me in it.” Orion answered his eyes hard.

That got Crawley’s attention “And what would be the cost to get you to talk?”

Orion gave another sharp smile “Freedom. I tell you enough to take down a chunk of SCORPIA, and in return you help me get home, without the handcuffs or to hand me off to the MI6 in my world.

Crawley hesitated for a minute, listening to something in his ear, before slowly shaking his head. “No deal.”

Orion shrugged, “Then I suppose we’re at an impasse, good luck getting me to talk otherwise.”

At that Crawley and John slowly stood up and left the room. Another agent came and started to unhook Orion, dragging him back to his cell.

Orion sighed, before settling back against the wall, it had been worth a shot, even if it was a long shot.

Tulip Jones, Crawley, and John stood in her office.

“We can’t afford letting him go.” Tulip sighed, “We’re sure he wouldn’t agree to anything else?”

Crawley nodded, “He has a serious problem with MI6, and if he was telling the truth it might be slightly warranted. No, he won’t willingly give anything up.”

Mrs. Jones sighed once again. “Then he will be interrogated. He might be 17 still, but he’s a SCORPIA operative and certainly considered an adult from their standpoint. John… you and Ian are to work from home for the next while. You don’t need to see this.”

There was a conflicted look in John’s eyes as he looked at the monitor with Alex-Orion-sitting in the cell. Then he slowly nodded and headed out the door. No, this was not something he wanted to see.

Chapter Text

It started immediately, the lights getting brighter every time Orion closed his eyes, and the sharp noises that brought him back to awareness.

Sounds that just wouldn’t stop playing, and a distinct lack of food or water. With no windows, food schedules or any other way to tell time, Orion had no idea how long it had been. His shoulders burned, and wrists were starting to become raw when he pulled them while being started awake.

His bullet scrape had stopped bleeding, as had the cut, but they ached, and Orion was starting to worry about infection.

The first time he was dragged out of his cell after they began, he was taken to another room. There was a lone chair sitting in the middle of the room, and he was dumped onto it. Quickly he was chained down to the chair.

An agent came in, not one Orion had seen before.

“You ready to talk yet?”

Orion didn’t dignify that with a response.

The agent jammed a thumb into the bullet scrape, Orion let out a pained gasp.

“Fuck off.” Orion hissed.

The agents eyes darkened, and he nodded towards the soldiers. Two came forward and started to hit him.

By the time they were finished Orion’s cut and bullet scrape had weakly started bleeding, his wrists were raw and ankles were starting to go raw. Bruises were beginning to bloom across his body.

Thrown back into his cell, the cycle continued.

It was getting harder and harder to stay awake, even with the constant noises and lights. This time they came to get him, he didn’t even notice them until they grabbed him. Orion knew that should concern him, but he was just too tired.

Brought to the familiar chair they seemed to be trying a new tactic. The agent, who Orion had dubbed John Doe on account of how ordinary he looked, had brought out a taser.

John Doe asked the familiar question “Are you ready to talk?”

When Orion glared weakly at him, the agent jabbed the taser into his chest. Orion convulsed, twisting, trying desperately to get away. After a few seconds the agent removed the taser. Orion’s muscles twitched as he tried to catch his breath.

Without giving him a break, John Doe jabbed the taser back, hitting him in the stomach. As electricity arced through him again, and he let out a scream.

“How about now?” John Doe taunted him.

“I don’t….” Gasped Orion.

The agent frowned, and repeated the procedure, this time leaving the taser in place for a couple seconds longer. The scream that came out this time was long and primal, before he slumped in the chair, muscles twitching and screaming at him. His head lolled, eyes rolling back in his head as he thankfully passed out.

When Orion woke again, the room spun around him. Trying to move he found that his muscles didn’t want to cooperate. Strugglingly he managed to sit up right. By this time, all sense of time had fled.

The door swung open and John Doe came in. Orion realized the camera must have alerted him that he was awake again.

This time he was brought to a new room, a table was in the middle, with restraints on it. Nearby a bucket of water sat.

Orion’s breath caught in his throat, and he immediately started to struggle. Memories of

not being able to breath-

Dr. Three-

Pain-

He lashed out, trying to kick out at the agent, but he was weak from a lack of water and sleep. The agent easily manhandled him over to the table. Unlocking the handcuffs Orion was quickly pinned by the agent’s two helpers before he could react.

When they finished locking him in place, the agent looked over at him.

“Well? Anything to say?”

Orion didn’t answer, instead focusing on his breathing, he couldn’t, couldn’t let them see how much drowning terrified him.

The agent sighed, “Look kid, we don’t have to do this. If you just give us something this could all be over.”

When Orion didn’t answer the agent shook his head and motioned for his helpers to begin.

The table tipped into place and a cloth was placed over his mouth and nose. Orion immediately tried to dislodge the offending cloth, but of the helpers kept it pressed to his face. Water began to pour onto his face and Orion tried to keep his mouth shut, to not breathe until the last second possible. When he finally gasped water poured in, he spluttered and coughed, trying to get rid of the water, but just taking in more. When he felt his body start to convulse the cloth was finally taken off, and he gasped.

“Please…. I don’t….I can’t…” Orion begged.

The agent just motioned again and the process started again, the restraints bit into open wounds as he desperately tried to get free.

By the time they finished, Orion was soaking wet and shaking.

They seemed to have figured out water was his weakness, because the waterboarding continued in what seemed in an endless cycle. Sometimes he wouldn’t wake up until they got to the room, and was strapping him in. Other times, he would pass out in the middle of questioning. Orion was always left shivering in the cold cell in the end.

His lungs burning he tried to lay on his side, to let the water drain out of his abused lungs.

Over the last little while it had been getting hard for him to breathe, even afterwords. There was a constant rattle in his breaths, and he was always cold. Orion wondered how far they’d go, whether or not this would be how he died. By some luck the bullet graze hadn’t gotten infected yet, but Orion knew that it was only a matter of time before one of his injuries got infected.

He had to stay strong, if he gave in, he’d just be thrown in Gibraltar. There he would have no chance of escape. Dimly he wondered about his chances of escape in this condition, probably worse than if he was in Gibraltar.

Mrs. Jones listened to the agent she had assigned to the older Alex Rider’s ‘interrogation’. With a shake of her head she interrupted “It’s been three weeks since we started. We need this information. Already one of the operations he hinted about has started and we need to stop it, and soon. Is there any chance he will break soon?”

The agent hesitated before answering “I doubt it. He’s stubborn, and even though he’s terrified of drowning, he seems to be even more terrified of saying anything.”

“It’s not surprising, SCORPIA’s track record with operatives who break is… not great.” Mrs. Jones answered, “Get him medical attention, I want him able to talk soon. We’re going to see if that deal is still on the table.”

The agent hesitated again “We believe he has pneumonia, it might be a couple of days before the antibiotics start working.”

“That’s fine. Do it now. And someone call in John and Ian Rider, I want them here when we talk to him next.” Mrs. Jones ordered.

The agent just nodded and left. Secretly, he was glad he no longer had to interrogate a teenager.

Orion was delirious, the room spun around him constantly, and noise seemed muffled. His head lolled as it was just to much effort to keep it steady. He was moving, being shuffled along to yet another room. This looked more like a infirmary then interrogation room though.

He was lowered on to a bed and quickly secured to the bed.

Distantly he heard monitors beeping and felt a prick in his arm, before everything went dark once more.

When Orion came to again, it was to peaceful quiet, other than the quiet beep of a heart monitor.  Groaning he tried to move and felt the restraints. He realized the open wounds on his wrists were wrapped in bandages, as was his other open wounds. An IV was also hooked up to him. Focusing on the IV bag he vaguely recognized an antibiotic and painkiller on the bag. That would explain why his thoughts were so fuzzy.

The bag was almost empty, when someone came in. It was another agent, a women this time. She checked the bag and monitors before turning to him.

“How are you feeling?”

Orion eyed her suspiciously.

“It’s not a trick, just a simple question. They want you in better health then you are currently. You have pneumonia, along with the beginning of an infection in your wrist wounds.” She said dryly.

“I’m fine.” Orion rasped.

“Right, of course you are.” She said rolling her eyes. “I’m told the Deputy Director wants to ask you some question now. Someone will be in shortly to come and get you.”

By the time the next person had made it to the infirmary, the painkiller had worn off. Orion’s lungs and throat felt like someone had poured acid down them.

Ian Rider walked into the infirmary. Orion watched him warily.

Ian observed him for a minute before asking

“Will you come willingly? I promise that it’s just a talk.”

Orion paused, then slowly nodded. He wasn’t in any condition to fight, it was better to save that for a time when it would matter.

Ian began undoing the restraints, before carefully cuffing his hands back behind his back. Even if he was going willingly, they weren’t stupid.

Helping Orion up, Ian led him down a small hallway back to more a familiar area.

It was the first room he had been in, with the table and chairs.

Once again he was attached to the chair before Ian left the room.

Crawley and John Rider walked back in. John looked pained when he saw the condition that Orion was in.

Crawley started “Look, we want to talk about that deal.”

Orion snorted painfully. “Good for you, what makes you think it’s still on the table. You just spent how long exactly torturing me.”

Crawley winced “We’re willing to allow you to help with the investigation into returning you home.”

Orion paused, that would be a good thing but… “And if anyone I know is pulled through also you’ll let them go with me. No conditions.”

That got John’s attention “You think someone from SCORPIA will be pulled through again?”

Orion hesitated “My disappearance won’t be unnoticed… I wouldn’t put it past them to try and send me backup.”

Crawley winced “That’s a lot to ask.”

“It’s not looking like you have much of a choice, or you wouldn’t be in here asking me this.” Orion said pointedly.

After glancing up at the camera for a minute, Crawley finally nodded. “But if any civilians, or people on our side are shot or injured by you or your people, the deal is off.”

Orion slowly nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll start talking. But first can someone take these handcuffs off? I’ve had enough of them.”

John got up and carefully undid them. “The leg cuffs will come off once you hold up your side of the deal.”

Orion got right to the point. “What do you want to know first. Missions I ran for MI6, terror attacks for the next year and a bit, or information on how to take out several of the current SCORPIA board members?”

“You have information on the board members?” Spluttered Crawley.

“I help take down three of them in my own time. See they made the mistake of promoting Yassen Gregorovich to the board, who in turn promoted me to his second. Regardless the promotion messed with Mr. Gregorovich’s retirement plans. So to solve that, he started taking them down. Unfortunately, Dr. Three figured out what was going on… but they came to an understanding considering he also wishes to retire one day. SCORPIA is under new management in my world.”

“How could they trust anyone who takes over after them?” John asked, “SCORPIA isn’t exactly known for it’s loyalty.”

Orion gave them a sharp smile, “Because the person who will be left in charge is me.”

That stopped both Crawley and John.

“Right… why don’t we start the MI6 missions… Stormbreaker has already started.” Crawley said a bit dazed.

Orion settled in and began to speak.

By the time they had completely gone over the three MI6/CIA missions several hours had past. Both John Rider and Crawley were a little pale at the fact a teenager had been put on those missions.

John got up and unhooked Orion from the chair, without putting on the handcuffs.

“You’re going to have to spend one more night in the cell, without the handcuffs and with blankets and clean clothes-and food. I’ll bring you to a shower also. You’ve been here for just over three weeks. They’re currently figuring out what to do with you after tomorrow. It’s not like we can just set you free considering you will be a target, will be helping out the investigation, and don’t have money or ID.” John informed him. “I’m trying to get them to agree for you to come home with me, but it’s slow going. Ian isn’t sure that’s a great idea either.”

Orion sighed, but nodded. “A shower sounds good. So does food.”

“Good, then lets get going shall we-it’s this way.” John led him out the door, for once without any handcuffs or force necessary.

Chapter Text

The next day saw Orion in the same position as the last, in a chair sans handcuffs and leg chains.

Once Crawley and John had settled into their chairs Orion began “Right, so the next couple terror attacks I only know about in passing, but still enough you should be able to stop them. One I -sort of- participated in-“

“Sort of?” John said a little dryly.

Orion shrugged “Someone wanted to release a biological weapon on the mines in Central Africa. I didn’t exactly agree with it, and because we were attacking the board at that moment, Mr. Gregorovich and I were able to stop it without it looking like we had anything to do with it. Just another attack on the board.” Orion eyed them for a second before continuing, “The new SCORPIA doesn’t take terror contracts anymore. The current board believes they draw far too much attention to us.”

“Well at least that’s something.” Muttered Crawley, “Still leaves a lot of room for illegal activity.”

Orion shrugged “We have to make money somehow.”

John winced, but motioned for him to continue.

“So the first attack is Damian Cray-”

The questioning continued all day, with a quick break for lunch, and Orion’s meds. It was late evening when they finally finished. Orion would still have things to clarify, and more finer details to give later on, but the broad strokes had all been covered.

“So, what’s happening to me now?” Orion wondered, hoping it wasn’t another night in the cell. He’d had enough of white to last a lifetime.

John grinned “I finally got permission to bring you to my home – with Alex and Ian. Technically you are still underage and I am the closest relative!”

Orion snorted at that, “I don’t think the underage part registered when they were ‘interrogating’ me.”

Crawley winced “Ah well, that was slightly different… and now you are going to be pretending to be a law-abiding citizen while you are here.”

Orion sighed and nodded “Do I at least get a weapon?”

Crawley eyed him “What normal seventeen-year-old – which remember you are pretending to be – would have a weapon exactly? You will be given one when helping out in the investigation though.”

“At least I’ll get one then. You know I don’t really need a weapon to kill someone though, right?” Orion said dryly.

“We’re ignoring that part. Remember any…bad… behaviour and you’ll be thrown back into a cell.” Crawley sniffed.

Orion rolled his eyes, but instead of answering Crawley he looked over at John “So, can we leave?”

John nodded “Yes. Let’s get out of here.”

As they were driving away from the bank – and Orion distantly noticed they were headed to Chelsea and wondered if it was possible they would be going to his old home – John was nervously tapping the wheel.

“Didn’t you say Ian wasn’t particularly happy about me coming to live with you?” Orion suddenly remembered.

John paused his tapping “Well, he is happy you won’t be in a cell anymore-but he is worried about Alex. And suspicious that a kid he apparently raised turned to SCORPIA. He doesn’t quite understand the whole ‘assassin was better than the alternative’ thing. And perhaps a bit annoyed that you also chose the assassin who also apparently killed him. Once he has a bit longer to get used to it – and sees that you won’t be hurting Alex – I’m sure things will smooth over.”

Orion nodded slowly “That… makes sense. I did always wonder what he’d think. I guess I was correct in assuming he wouldn’t have taken it well.” Orion paused for a moment before deciding it was worth asking. “Why is Blunt not in charge of MI6 anymore? And why hasn’t SCORPIA retaliated against you again?”

John focus on driving for a minute before finally answering “After I came back from my deep cover mission I was retired from field work. It would have been too dangerous to continue-I was far too well known. MI6 made a deal with SCORPIA that they would stop hunting me, and in return they would release several high importance prisoners from a secret MI6 prison. It was enough to get them to stop-assuming I didn’t mess with them any further. I think they thought that killing off your Mum was a large enough blow against me, and I would suffer more living through it - and if I hadn’t had you to focus on it would have been torture to keep going on. Anyway, that was why SCORPIA hasn’t targeted me – or you – again. As for Blunt… I’m fairly high up in MI6, high enough when I noticed several discrepancies regarding current training methods and legal training methods I was able to do something about it. He had apparently taken some of SCORPIA’s methods and applied them… anyway, Blunt was forcibly retired. From the sounds of what you went through- the illegal training methods was the tip of the iceberg.”

Orion nodded thoughtfully “Well, Jones wasn’t much better, but at least she did try to help me. And it’s probably a good thing I don’t see Blunt again – or I will be thrown back into that cell.”

John paused again, before muttering “If he’s smart he won’t come near me now that I know what he was planning for Alex.” He eyed Orion for a second then added “Not that you heard that though. Plausibly deniability in case something does happen.”

Orion snickered before nodding in agreement. “I didn’t hear a word.”

Sure enough they pulled up in front of Orion’s old house. Walking in was a bit surreal – he never thought he’d see the place again. It was different of course, Jack had played a part in the decorations and furniture in his world, but still-the basics were the same.

“We’re here!” John called into the house. Seconds later there was steps on the stairs as Alex came racing down them.

He skidded to a halt when he saw the state Orion was in. The tee-shirt didn’t quite cover all the bruises, and the bandages around his wrists were quite obvious. The last rattle in his lungs probably didn’t help either.

“What happened? How is he is worse condition than before.” Alex asked confused.

Orion suddenly realized that Alex hadn’t been told about his… accommodations… for the last several weeks. And that he didn’t realize just how ruthless MI6 could be. That one was more understandable though-he wouldn’t have thought that before he was blackmailed either.

“Er, it’s complicated Alex. And he’ll be fine now. All that matters is he’s here now and-” John began, but Orion cut him off.

“I’ll be fine. But I did tell you MI6 would be happy to get their hands on me.” Orion paused for a second and then added “And I am technically a terrorist, it’s lucky I was released at all.”

Ian took that opportunity to walk in and responded a bit snidely “I don’t think you gave them much of a choice.”

“But-they can’t do that! It’s illegal, and what about basic human rights?” Alex protested.

Orion sighed “Again, terrorist – we don’t exactly get to have basic human rights. Leave it alone, the intelligence community is a harsh one. I knew what I signed up for.”

Alex hesitated before glaring and Ian and John. “I can’t believe you let this happen. What kind of people do you work for?” Then he spun around, before pausing and looking back at Orion “You’re welcome to join me in my room. Anyone else is not invited.” And with that marched back up the stairs.

Ian glared at Orion before heading after him, going to try to mend the rift that Orion had apparently created with his response.

John hesitated in the doorway “Uh so anyway, are you hungry for dinner?” He attempted to change the subject.

Orion just looked at him for a second before slowly nodding “Yeah… that would be good.”

Armed with some takeout food, Orion headed up the stairs to Alex’s room. He had a few things he wanted to find out-and clarify with Alex. It was only fair to him to explain himself a bit more now they were out of the cell. Privately, Orion also wanted to explain why he was considered a terrorist. It shouldn’t technically matter, but he didn’t want his other self looking down on him.

Knocking on the door he hesitated before going in.

“Go away Uncle Ian.” Came the response.

“Um, it’s me, Orion. I have food?” He said quietly.

“Oh, you can come in then.” Alex quickly replied. Food was a great motivator.

Orion pushed the door open quietly before shutting it behind him. Glancing around it was a little messier than he had ever had it-but fairly similar. Which was just weird, he could even see a gift Tom had gotten him for his 10^th birthday. Placing the food down on the desk he stood a little awkwardly. Alex noticed and waved him towards a chair.

“Are you really going to be okay?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be on antibiotics for a bit, and will need to keep the bandages clean, but in a couple weeks everything will be cleared up.” Orion kept to himself that the handcuff marks would probably scar. “I knew this would happen, I had training specifically in case this happened.”

“Training doesn’t make it better.” Muttered Alex, then that sunk in, “Wait training as in they also tortured you?”

Orion paused then carefully explained “RTI training is to help make sure the operative won’t break in an…interrogation…, it’s done with medical monitors attached and concessions made for health. I wasn’t in any danger during it.” Well, he was if he failed, but Orion thought he’d better leave that part out. Alex might have been his age when he went through it-but he hadn’t seemed to have quite as hard of a life as Orion had. Which, Orion was rather happy about. At least one version of him had a possibility for a normal happy ending. Assuming nothing went wrong with world hopping maniac.

Alex was a bit pale when he nodded and continued “What did you mean you were a terrorist?”

Orion sighed, right to the hard explanations then. “When my Ian died MI6 really messed me up. I was in a lot of danger and didn’t have a lot of options, so when the assassin who killed Ian – but who had also saved my life – offered me a different choice, I took it. I began his apprentice. When I joined SCORPIA – a terrorist organization – I did it with the idea of infiltrating it and taking it down from the inside. Yassen, the assassin, was aware but didn’t really care. He just wanted to make sure I had the training to survive, then retire. After a while, I realized that it wasn’t going to work. That even if I took down SCORPIA, a competing company would rise in its place. Yassen gave me another choice, I could continue with my plan, which probably wouldn’t end up helping, or we could remake SCORPIA into something better. Back to what it was originally, just another part of the intelligence community. I could change it so there were no more terror attacks, no more human trafficking, no more drugs, and most importantly no targeting children. I chose that option. One day I’ll run SCORPIA myself. Already Yassen is making some of the changes. When I’m in charge the rest will be implemented. It will take time yes, but it will happen. As I said, I’m not a good person, but hopefully, it will be enough.”

Alex slowly digested what he heard. “Have you killed people?”

Orion just nodded “Too many to count by now. Most weren’t good people. Some were. It’s not a world children should ever be in, or worry about even.”

Alex took a deep breath before looking back at him, “You are trying to help. You just got dealt a bad hand. At least you are trying to do something about some of it. I never had to make those difficult choices, so I don’t understand completely, but… maybe you aren’t as bad as you think”

Orion blinked, then smiled slightly. “Figures the person who best understands and tries to give me a pep talk is myself-albeit a slightly different and younger self but still.

Alex snorted, “I don’t think that is ever going to be not weird.”

Orion nodded “I get it. Now that the foods cold we should probably eat thought.”

Alex started and looked a little bit mournfully at his takeout. “… I forgot about that.”

And that was that. Orion wasn’t sure Alex completely understood the gravity about the fact he was a killer and terrorist, but at least there was one person in the house he could relax – a bit – around.

Chapter Text

The next morning Orion woke when Alex came thundering down the stairs. Apparently, he had needed the sleep-not evening waking when Ian or John had gotten up.

There was definite tension in the air, but Alex didn’t seem to notice as he grabbed breakfast. It wasn’t until after when they were discussing Alex’s schooling – or lack of it due to the threat against him – that the tension finally boiled over.

“I still know a lot of the material. I can help you out with homework if you have questions” Orion offered Alex.

“Impressive considering you dropped out of school to become an assassin.” Ian said snidely.

“No. You died. You don’t get a say in any choice I made after!” Snapped Orion.

“Right. Alex we are going for a walk.” John hastily cut in, grabbing his younger son and forcefully dragging him out of the door. Orion and Ian barely noticed, too busy glaring at each other.

“You became a terrorist! An assassin! I’d say you didn’t make the best choices! I would’ve thought I raised you better than that!” Retorted Ian

“Raised me? You were never there!” Orion hissed. “At least Yassen-”

“Yassen? The assassin who killed me? You’re comparing me to the assassin who killed me?” Exclaimed Ian furious.

“At least I know he actually cares about me. Something I can’t say about you.” Yelled Orion.

“Of course I cared about you! You’re my nephew!” Ian snarled back. “I would never have wanted any of this for you.”

“Funny way of showing it-you trained me my entire life! I know for a fact you took me on some of your missions.” Orion said, eyes flashing dangerously.

Ian paused for a second “I don’t know about that. If I did I’m sure they weren’t dangerous missions. I promise you Alex-I would never have left you vulnerable to MI6 if I had known about Blunt. I probably was training you, but not to set you up for a life like mine. Unless that was what you had wanted. But John has dangerous enemies, and so do I. I was training you to survive if anything every happened and they attacked you. At least that’s why we did it in this world. I would assume it would be the same in yours. Particularly if John had been killed by SCORPIA.”

“It was ASH who set the bomb.” Orion said quietly.

Ian froze. “What?”

“ASH-he’s the one who set the bomb. He’s a double agent for SCORPIA. In my world he’s dead already. Turned traitor against SCORPIA, they didn’t take to kindly to that. I assume he’s still alive here.” The fight seemed to have left Orion. “I know this isn’t what you wanted. I know you have a problem with me being an assassin. But it was the only real choice I had. I’m selfish-I wanted to survive, and this is how I did. Yassen-I know he killed you but, he’s also the only person who actually cared whether I would live or not. He protected me, made sure I could survive in SCORPIA, and I owe him my life for him.”

Ian sighed the fight leaving him “I….understand… I wish it hadn’t been the assassin who killed me-but-I’m glad someone has been looking out for you. I don’t like it. But, I do understand. I wish things had been different, and I hadn’t died.” Then he paused as something occurred to him, “Why don’t you stay here? You could be a normal teen, get a job-you wouldn’t have to be an assassin anymore!”

Orion shook his head slowly “First, I don’t even know how to be a normal person again-and I sure as hell will never work for MI6. Second, I can’t leave Jack or Tom. They might be safer with me gone, but my enemies still might attack them. Without me there to protect them… Plus SCORPIA will have no reason to continue the protective detail I have on Tom-or keep Jack safe without me there. No. I have to find a way back, and sooner rather than later.”

Ian blinked “…Who’s Jack?”

Orion snorted “Our housekeeper, who practically raised me since I was a young kid. With you gone all the time, it was up to her.”

“Does she know…. and Tom for that matter?”

“Yes. Both of them know, MI6 and the CIA kept them both informed-although reluctantly-on my…. career.”

Ian sighed and shook his head. “And of course Tom wouldn’t care. That boy has no common sense.”

Orion’s lip twitched “To be fair, I think the biggest draw of the protective detail was the boarding school that came with it. Far away from his parents. Although I did forget to mention the academic requirements of the school. I did enjoy the outraged emails from that.”

Ian laughed for a second before sobering up. “I’m sorry. About everything. I know I can’t apologize really for your Ian but still… I’m also sorry for leaving you with MI6 the last couple weeks. I… I didn’t think they’d go that far.”

Orion gave him a look “You do know who you work for right? Underage or not doesn’t really matter to them when SCORPIA is involved.”

Ian winced “I’m starting to think I don’t know them well enough.”

Orion gave a sad smile before swiftly changing the subject. “Did they ever catch Blackwood? The scientist in who made that thing that brought me here?”

Ian shook his head. “No. We are slightly worried that he will either try again with another person, or try to capture you and Alex again. With John and I here, and now you also, any attack is unlikely to succeed but…”

Orion nodded, “We should still be careful.” Then he looked outside and noticed Alex and John loitering by the road. “And we should probably go let them know the coast is clear again.”

Ian squinted in confusion at him before following his gaze outside and snorted instead. “Yeah, that might be a good idea.”

It was later that evening when things went wrong. The lights in the house suddenly cut off.

Alex frowned down at his phone “Hey! My phone stopped working!” He complained.

Ian and John shared a look before John barked out “I’ll active my emergency beacon. Alex go to my office and lock the door. Orion go with him-but take this”

John shoved a gun into his hand. “You’re too injured to right now. It will be best if you look after Alex instead. Keep him safe.”

Orion paused but reluctantly nodded and pulled Alex towards the stairs. John and Ian’s office was the most secure place in the house, but they had to get there first.

Unfortunately enemies had gotten to the stairs first. Orion cursed before raising his gun and firing. It appeared they had also entered during the back. Towards the front of the house, Orion could hear the crack of gunfire.

One of them had grabbed Alex, but Alex was fighting back, his karate coming in handy.

Orion cursed again when he realized his gun was empty before hurling it at the nearest enemy. It surprised them enough Orion had time to get closer and grab the knife on their belt. Without hesitating he stabbed the enemy soldier in the throat. While he hated close combat-Alex was at risk here. Turning to face the others, he heard sirens in the distance. Alex had gotten free and had darted behind him. He seemed to understand he would just get in the way if he tried to fight. Plus he didn’t stand a chance against people with weapons.

Orion hoped they didn’t want to injure them to badly-and that would keep them from firing their guns. Raising his knife he prepared himself to fight again, slipping into the mindset that had been drilled into him at Malagosto.

And with that he struck, like a viper hitting one of them in the heart. Not giving the soldiers any time to respond, he spun and attacked another. But before he could reach them there was gunfire and the enemy soldiers fell to the ground. Orion spun back around to see a gun warily pointed at him.

“Put the knife down.” Ordered a SAS soldier.

Orion hesitated, but did as he said. If the SAS was here, the attack would be over. He was covered him blood, most of it not his.

The SAS unit guided them back towards the living room, where John and Ian were sitting on a couch looking battered. John was currently winding a bandage around his arm and Ian had a nasty cut on his leg.

Crawley was standing in the middle of the room ordering around the MI6 agents and SAS soldiers. When Orion and Alex got there he looked over.

“We’re moving you to a safehouse. It’s been decided that it’s too dangerous to keep you here-even with John, Ian, and Orion’s abilities. Everyone needs to pack-”

Crawley was in the middle of his sentence when the phone started to ring. Everyone paused, turning to look at it. John slowly got up and answered it.

“Hello?”

“Uh, yeah. Is this the Rider residence? And I don’t suppose you happen to have a 17-year-old Alex Rider there? We appear to be missing ours…”

Bemused John held the phone out to Orion “It’s for you?”

“Who is this?” asked Orion suspiciously.

“Boss! Wonderful to hear from you-”

Orion pulled the phone from his ear and stared at it before returning it and asking “Marcus?”

“Yeah-all of Sagitta is here. And let me tell you it was a pain in the ass getting here.” Marcus said dryly. “You get us into the weirdest shit you know.”

Orion just snorted, “You’re welcome? Life isn’t boring around me at least. Let me talk to ‘6… I’m working with them for this. In exchange for information I was freed and anyone sent to help me will be given amnesty as well. Wasn’t sure if that would happen… but I’m glad I included that now.”

“…You hate ‘6.” Came the dry reply.

“Wasn’t a lot of other options- this world’s SCORPIA wouldn’t trust me anyway. Plus Blunt’s not in charge so it’s at least a bit better.” Orion said with a forced cheerfulness in his voice. “Anyway. Give me a second.”

With that Orion turned to everyone else “My personal combat team managed to make it here. I trust our deal is still in effect?” This was said with a pointed looked at Crawley who gave a reluctant nod.

“Great. I suggest they come with us to the safehouse. They’ll be able to set up a protective detail around the property.” And he trusted them more then MI6 to protect everyone. Not that that would be said out loud.

“Bring them here. We’ll move to the safehouse once they arrive.” Crawley managed to get out, looking like he’d rather be saying anything else.

Orion turned back to the phone “Do you know the address?”

“Yes, should be around 15 minutes away.” Marcus confirmed.

“Great I’ll see you then. Where you able to bring anything with you?”

“Easily concealable weapons for everyone-along with extra for you in case you didn’t have yours anymore, and cash. Didn’t know where we’d end up and wanted to be able to fit in well enough. Mr. Gregorovich figured we could buy what we needed later with the cash anyway.”

“Good. Try not to stand out.” Orion ordered. “I’m going by Orion here, less confusion than with two Alex’s.”

“Understood boss.” Marcus replied and hung up the phone.

“They’ll be here in around 15 minutes.” Reported Orion. “We should pack up and get ready to move after.”

John nodded, and started to herd Alex upstairs. Orion had the easiest time packing, Ian had gone into town and gotten some clothes for him earlier that day. Everything was still in the bags which made it very easy to throw into a duffle bag. With no ID, weapons, or anything else important, he was good to go in seconds. Then, he sat down to wait.

Earlier That Day in Orion’s World

Yassen Gregorovich was not happy. It had taken two weeks to track down anyone with any idea of what had happened. Now he had a terrified Alistar Blackwood attempting to send Alex’s combat and personal security team to the same….world… as Alex. Sagitta at least, was prepared and ready to go. They had a large amount of cash, easily concealable weapons for all of them-and Alex-and could get the rest there. The real question was how on earth did Alex manage to find himself if this situation?

Blackwood bustled around for a moment more looking at the combat team.

“Right, whose first? This will work to get you there, but you will likely have to find the alternate me to attempt to find a way back. I’ve based it so the blood and hair samples will seek out where there is a match. Hopefully it is the world your operative is in.” Blackwood stated.

Marcus looked at his team for a second before stepping up “I’ll go first. Might as well get it over with.”

One by one the team stepped into the middle of the machine – built over the last two weeks – and faded before disappearing. When all who was left was Blackwood, Yassen, and several members of Danube, Blackwood let out a sigh of relief and eyed Yassen.

“So, am I free to go now?” He said hopefully.

Yassen eyed him back. “You’ll be staying in Malagosto and trying to figure out a way to get them all back. Or until they return. Either way you will not be leaving anytime soon.”

And with that Yassen stalked away. Yes, having Alex where he could not contact him did horrible things to his mood, he mused. Apparently getting attached to someone is contagious.

Chapter Text

When a knock came at the door, Orion was first to move. Knowing Sagitta, he would be the only person who knew if it was them or not.

Opening the door he came face to face with his person combat team. All of them were wearing casual clothes with backpacks. Sagitta all eyed him in concern, but Mace was the one who actually spoke up

“What happen to you.” He said bluntly.

“MI6.” He replied just as bluntly. “They ended up giving up and making a deal instead.”

“Right… I need to look you over.” Mace said firmly.

Orion shook his head “Not now. Wait until the safehouse. We could be attacked here again.”

Marcus grumbled but agreed with a reluctant nod and look at Mace that screamed don’t you dare forget.

Shuffling in, the living room became rather packed. Both the SAS members and MI6 looked twitchy and uneasy. In fact the only one that looked slightly at ease was John.

“The safehouse is not in London. We have several cars that will be bringing everyone over. It will be big enough for all of you though. A couple SAS unit will be… staying close by in case of emergencies. Do… do you all have weapons.” At the last question Crawley looked pained.

Marcus’ lips twitched. “Yes. Along with some for Orion. Could use some spare ammunition though.”

Crawley sighed but nodded “Let Jackson over there know what kind and we’ll get it for you.”

And with that they were all bustled into cars.

Orion looked over and immediately started splitting everyone into cars. Ian and Alex had planned to go together, and John had wanted to travel with Orion-probably to clarify a few details of the information he gave MI6 so Orion split his team based up on that.

“Marcus, and Jarek go with Ian and Alex, Shale and Mace with me, and Adams, Aranda, and Ivey in the third vehicle.

Quickly and efficiently everyone was loaded up and they were on their way to the countryside.

The countryside that Orion had been expecting was starting to look awfully familiar. In fact, it was looking like hell on earth. Orion groaned when they turned down a ragged dirt road. Shale eyed him with a bit of concern.

“What’s wrong?” Shale finally asked.

“Brecon Beacons. The SAS training camp. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put a SCORPIA combat team and assassin into a camp full of SAS units should be shot.” Muttered Orion.

“I’m sure it will be fine…. probably. With luck it won’t be mentioned or no one will figure out that you are SCORPIA.” Offered John.

Orion paused for a second, considering that. Then he shook his head “Not likely, my luck isn’t that good.”

The Sargeant stared at the phone. “I’m sorry, you want eight SCORPIA operatives, two MI6 operatives, and a 14-year-old to come here? Do you know how difficult that is going to be? The paperwork alone-”

“Spread them out between the units. They can all stay in the larger barracks at night. One will need some medical attention. All of them are allowed to be armed as per the agreement with them. Of course, if they hurt anyone that isn’t an enemy, the deal is off the table, so they will be on their best behaviour.”

The Sargeant groaned “You owe me for this. Now to explain to my men that SCORPIA operatives will be here soon.”

A little while later all the men had gathered into a large hall. They all looked very confused as to why they had been summoned. The Sargeant walked to the front of the room. Immediately they all sat up straighter.

“MI6 has asked for our help with something. It will not be easy but I expect all of you to be on your best behaviour. In a couple hours we will be having some guests. There will be two MI6 agents, a 14-year old boy who is one of the agents child, and… eight SCORPIA operatives. I’m told a 7 man combat team along with one of their assassins.”

At this there was immediate outrage from the men assembled. The Sargeant glared them into silence.

“It is not up for debate. And apparently, they already know where this camp is located so that excuse doesn’t work either.” The Sargeant looked a bit hesitant to mention the next part. “According to ‘6 there is someone who has figured out how to pull people from a different… world…. DNA testing showed the fourteen-year-old and the SCORPIA assassin to be the same person-and I’ve been guaranteed that twins or clones are not possible for either of them. The SCORPIA operatives are all from that different… world… and none of them seem to care about loyalty to this world’s SCORPIA at least. The assassin made a deal with ‘6 that they would give information that would take down a good chunk of our SCORPIA-and apparently it’s already been useful and fact checked. In return they, and their men would be released and allowed to help with the investigation to get them home. They will be armed. Given that harming any of our people will immediately result in the cancelation of their deal, they will be on their best behaviour. That doesn’t mean you can let your guard down though. I expect each and every one of you to be watching them. They are here as they have already been attacked once. And MI6 thought this would be the safest place to hide them. You’re dismissed for now.”

And with that the Sargeant stalked back to his office, absolutely done with the world.

The Sargeant met them at the entrance to camp.

“Who is who?” He barked.

John immediately started to introduce everyone. “Ian and I are the MI6 agents, this is my son Alex.” Waving a hand towards Orion he continued. “This is also Alex, but we’ve been calling him Orion instead-his SCORPIA codename- as two Alex’s get confusing. He’s 17, but graduated Malagosto a few weeks after his 15^th birthday. Technically speaking he’s also my son. I haven’t really met any of the combat team so I’ll leave that to Orion.”

The Sargeant went a little pale at hearing just when Orion graduated.

Orion sighed but started to introduce the combat team. “Marcus is the commander, Adams is the communication specialist and second in command, Shale and Jarek are both snipers, and Jarek also specializes in explosives. Mace and Aranda are medics, and Ivey is the linguistics specialist.”

“Right. As I’m sure you’ve figured out, you’re in Brecon Beacons. I have orders to split you between the different units. You’ll all be staying together overnight however. I’ll be issuing uniforms and I expect you to wear them. I understand some of you aren’t exactly on the same side as us, but I expect respect and for you to follow the rules at all times. Do you understand?” The Sargeant yelled.

“Yes sir.” Came the response from everyone. Although Orion and his combat team looked a little hesitant.

“Two to a unit, with one person by himself. I’ll be assigning codenames to the three that aren’t already using them. I’m assuming none of those are your real names?” The Sargeant directed that towards Orion who gave a nod. “Right, Ian, you’ll be going by Eel, and along with Ivey will be with J-unit. John, you’ll be Panther, and Alex you’ll be Cub. You two will be with L-unit. Marcus and Shale will be with R-Unit, Mace and Adams with P-Unit, Aranda and Jarek will be with F-Unit, and finally Orion will be with K-Unit. All the units are just passed selection. I expect everyone will get along.” The or else was left unmentioned.

Alex -Cub- Orion reminded himself, looked excited. Orion couldn’t believe another version of himself got stuck with Cub as a codename. At least it wasn’t him-and at least he would be with John. That would keep the bullying away. His stay would likely be more interesting than Cub’s, after all, somehow he managed to get stuck with K-unit again.

Mace coughed slightly gaining everyone’s attention  “I need to look over Orion and make sure he’s okay.”

The Sargeant nodded “I was told one of you would be injured. Head down to the infirmary once we get into camp. I’ll have your units meet you there. I should mention that everyone in camp knows about you lot. They have all been told to be on their best behaviour as well. If there are any issues, do not deal with it yourselves. That is the last thing we need in this camp. I don’t like having your kind here. This is supposed to be a place where we train to fight against you. But we don’t always get what we want, and you’re here.”

Orion scowled slightly but nodded “Understood, sir.”

The infirmary looked as military and dreary as the rest of camp. The Sargeant had led them to camp then pointed the way to the infirmary. The rest of their group would be going to the mess hall to get ‘acquainted’ with their units.

Mace led the way in, smiling at the nurse who was there. “Hello, we just got to camp and Orion here is injured and just needs to be looked over. I’m his medic.”

The nurse went a little pale but nodded and agreed. Apparently even then staff had been told mused Orion.

Once they were in a room Mace glanced at Orion. “Shirt off.” He ordered.

Orion bit back a sigh and complied.

The nurse blinked in surprise at the sheer litany of bruises covering his body, along with the bandages. Mace just let out a quiet curse and got to work.

When he finished going over everything visible, along with changing the bandages, Mace turned to Orion and asked “Anything else?”

Orion hesitated, but seemed to realize it would be better to cooperate with his medic. “Pneumonia. Mostly cleared up now, still will be on antibiotics for about another week.”

“So you’ve been on antibiotics for almost one week now?” Mace asked, anger in his voice. Obviously he had figured out just why Orion had pneumonia in the first place.

Orion nodded then said “Is that all?”

Mace sighed but nodded “Yes, that’s all. Take it easy. You’re no use to anyone if you die of stubbornness boss.”

Orion gave him an innocent look in return. Mace just snorted and shook his head, before heading outside.

K-Unit was not very happy. Out of all the units, they had to be stuck with the Malagosto trained assassin. The only bonus was unlike the other units chosen, they only had one tag along. And it wasn’t the 14-year-old kid.

P-Unit joined them as they headed to the infirmary. They had one of the SCORPIA operatives trailing behind.

As K-Unit and P-Unit got closer to the infirmary the door opened suddenly, with Mace and Orion heading out. Orion saw them and bit back a sigh.

Wolf eyed the obviously 17-year-old and the man around their age. Turning his attention to the man he said rather hopefully “Orion?”

Orion rolled his eyes and cut in “Wrong person Wolf. I’m Orion. Yes, I am as young as I look. Quite frankly I don’t care what you think. I graduated Malagosto a few weeks after my fifteen birthday.”

Wolf started, his eyes quickly snapping over to Orion. “How did you know my name?” He demanded.

Orion paused, realizing he let it slip that he knew them. “It doesn’t matter.” He finally muttered. He was not about to rehash the disastrous first time he was here.

P-Unit was staring at him in shock, before quickly shaking themselves and turning to Mace. Adams cut in before they could say anything.

“Any injuries the rest of the team should know about?” He asked Mace.

Orion scowled at this “I’ll be fine. Just a bit sore and will need antibiotics for another week.”

Adams eyed him doubtful “No offence boss, you aren’t the most reliable source when it comes to disclosing injuries.”

Mace snickered but quickly sobered up at the look Orion shot him. “He’s covered everything. A few bandages to keep out of the water, nothing serious.”

Adams relaxed “Good, because I sure as hell don’t want to return if Orion isn’t mostly in one piece. That would be suicide for us.”

Orion winced “He’s not happy is he?”

Mace answered, not needing him to clarify who he was. “Oh he is pissed off and ready to start shooting anyone who comes close. Even the Docter is mad. Apparently he is fond of you and doesn’t want to bother having to find a replacement for his plans.”

P-Unit and K-Unit paled as they realized what Docter they were talking about. Orion just sighed, and waved a hand in the air.

“Ah well, nothing we can do about it from here.” Pausing he looked at the SAS units and in a slightly sour voice added “We should probably get going.”

Wolf jumped “Right, we need to get your things for when you are here. This way.”

Snake, Eagle, and Fox exchanged a look, they still had a mountain of questions for Orion. Best to question him later they quietly decided. When they had less of an audience-perhaps he’d open up a bit more.

Chapter Text

After everyone was outfitted with uniforms and equipment, the different units split up. K-Unit headed to the shooting range, and were rather uneasy. Orion picked up on this and was almost gleeful at the fact he was making them uneasy.

“Uh, Orion, if you knew Wolf’s name, do you know ours? Or should we introduce ourselves?” Fox asked nervously.

Orion glanced at him consideringly, “I know who everyone is. Let’s leave it at we’ve had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting. And you can stop worrying that I’m going to shoot you. I have no desire to go back into MI6’s custody. If we meet again in my world, that fear would probably be wise though.”

All of K-Unit paled at this.

“Uh what exactly happened that you would shoot us on site?” Squeaked Eagle

“Besides being SAS?” Muttered Orion, then he sighed and seemed to realize they wouldn’t stop asking questions. “MI6 blackmailed me into working for them when I was 14. I did a 2-week stint here-and was stuck with you. Besides the bullying, name-calling, and general hatred of my existence that wasn’t the issue. I risked my life trying to give Fox a chance to live. I was repaid by having him and his SAS friends nearly capturing me-and I would not have let myself gone back to MI6 alive by the way-but afterwords, after I escaped, SCORPIA nearly killed me, and my combat team for it. Next time I know to take the shot.”

That stopped K-Unit in their tracks.

Orion sighed but also stopped “Fox was doing his job. Next time, I will also do my job. It’s a hazard of being on opposite sides. Here however, we are on the same side at the moment. Nothing will happen.” With that stated he stalked off towards the shooting range.

After exchanging uneasy glances, K-Unit followed.

Orion was slowly starting to relax. He finally was relatively safe, he had backup, and he was armed. Taking a breath he swiftly brought up the gun and emptied the round into the target. There was a couple stray shots, but those would be fixed after a couple more rounds. It had been a while since he had been to a firing range considering he had been in MI6 custody.

On the other hand, the Sargeant looked like he wanted to snatch the weapon back from him. It was also sinking into K-Unit that this 17-year-old was a seasoned assassin-and had the shooting abilities to match.

“Who taught you to shoot?” Eagle asked curiously, ignoring the four glares shot his way.

Orion flicked his glance towards Eagle before glancing back and emptying another round. This time there were no stray bullets, it was however, seconds slower than Yassen would approve of.

“Yassen Gregorovich.” Orion finally responded. This caused the already pale soldiers to pale even further. Orion continued “I spent five months training under him before going to Malagosto.”

Eagle let out an unmanly squeak. Against better judgement Snake opened his mouth “And you’re still alive?”

Orion gave them an unimpressed look “Obviously, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Aren’t you also supposed to be shooting?”

That jolted the unit into action, anything was better than dwelling on the fact Yassen Gregorovich had personally seen to Orion’s training.

Finally it was time for bed. Alex looked exhausted when they gathered in their barracks. Orion was also more tired than usual, the lingering pneumonia made it harder for him to keep up. The others in their group were all fine- they were used to hard long days.

“How was the rest of everyone’s day?” John finally asked.

“Why exactly did we have to come here Dad?” Alex moaned.

John gave a slight smile “We didn’t have a choice-it’s one of the safest places we could be. I’m sure you’ll live. What about everyone else, were you given much trouble given your… occupations?”

Ivey snorted, exchanging a look with Jarek. “You mean other than the constant glares, and suspicious looks? It was fine-nothing we aren’t used to.”

Marcus nodded at that “It isn’t the first time someone isn’t happy with us being hired. Orion, did they give you any trouble?” This was followed by sharp glance in Orion’s direction. They had all recognized Fox as well.

Orion hesitated “It was fine. They just wouldn’t stop asking questions. Of course they never liked the answers but… not my problem.”

“You sure boss?” Checked Marcus, not trusting his answer.

Orion shot him a look in return, and Marcus held up his hands in surrender.

“Okay okay, I’ll stop.”

“I’m going to bed. Everyone else should probably also-something tells me tomorrow will be a long day.” Orion said pointedly.

John and Ian nodded, already herding Alex into bed, Sagitta quickly following in their example.

The next day Orion headed to the showers hoping no one was there. When he got there it was empty and he quickly stripped and showered. As he was getting on his uniform there was an exclamation of shock behind him. Whirling around, he found Snake had walked in while he was changing.

“What happened to you?” He demanded.

Orion raised an eyebrow “The bruises or scars?”

“Both!” snapped Snake.

“It’s not really a concern for you. However, MI6 for the bruises. The scars, well, my job isn’t exactly easy. Or safe.”

“That knife scar on your back looks really bad. Not to mention that bullet scar on your chest!” Snake pointed out. “And I should be concerned because the aging looks like you got them a couple years ago. Kids shouldn’t have those kinds of wounds!”

Orion sighed “I’m aware. I agree kids shouldn’t be in this life. I know better than anyone-but I am. The knife scar was never an issue-we needed a way to get a bug into a house, and they would’ve noticed a surgical wound. A knife wound on a street kid however would go unnoticed. The gunshot… I survived. That’s all that matters. And the person who shot me is long dead.” With that Orion continued pulling on his uniform.

Snake paused “Please tell me you’re joking. You were given a knife wound as a way to bug a house. That couldn’t have been safe, bugs aren’t meant to go into someone like that. Not to mention who on earth would come up with that plan?”

Orion snorted “Yassen Gregorovich. He’s very practical like that. And it was fine, they gave me painkillers before digging around to put the bug in. It worked also.”

Snake had no answer to that, and he didn’t have time either as Orion brushed past him heading out of the shower.

It was still early when Snake finished his shower and headed back to his cabin. Still caught up in all the old injuries that the 17-year-old had. Once back at the cabin, with the rest of his unit starting to move around he spoke.

“We need to question Orion more.”

“What exactly do we do? Tie him down until he answers all of our questions?” Eagle said rather dryly. “I don’t think he would be very happy with that.”

“I don’t know! The kid shouldn’t be in this life - and he has more scars then some veteran soldiers.” Snake snapped.

“You saw them?” Wolf said, his head turning.

“Yeah, in the showers. He was getting changed but I saw enough. Also saw the effects of MI6’s interrogation. I know he’s a SCORPIA assassin, but I can’t believe they did that to a kid.” Snake muttered. “I’m starting to really believe it was MI6 that started his career path.

Fox was quiet for a second “They want me to join them.” He said finally.

That stopped everyone.

“MI6?” checked Wolf.

“Yeah… I haven’t given my answer. Technically I wasn’t supposed to tell you but…” Fox answered.

“Do you want to?” Eagle ventured.

“I did, now… I’m not so sure. I don’t think I want to be part of an organization that even thinks about using a child like that-or uses ‘enhanced’ interrogation on one.” Fox answered, face pensive.

Wolf slowly nodded, “That makes sense. Let us know when you decide.”

With that everyone finished getting ready and headed to the dining hall.

Ian, Alex, and John clustered together in the dining hall, as did the different units. Sagitta was sitting in a completely empty table, with Orion squashed between Shale and Marcus. The SAS units all avoided them like the plague.

K-Unit was particularly popular that morning as everyone wanted to know about the kid assassin they were assigned.

Alex listened in but didn’t understand a lot of what was being said. Apparently this Yassen Gregorovich was well known judging by the SAS unit’s responses to that tidbit of information.

John winced at that. “Well that came back to bit me in the ass.” He muttered.

Ian paused and looked at him in confusion “What exactly do you mean?”

John squirmed a bit “You know how I was deep cover, and an instructor in-” With a glance at Alex he paused and then continued “Anyway, I sort of trained Yassen Gregorovich-he was my apprentice.”

Ian choked “You’ve got to be kidding me. Wait-in Orion’s world, didn’t Gregorovich kill me?”

Joh winced again “Well, he was always very practical. And good at doing exactly what his job entailed.”

Ian looked outraged at this observation. “I can’t believe you trained the-” another look at Alex, “Well, you know.”

John sighed “I tried to convince him to leave that world. Obviously it didn’t work.”

Alex looked very interested in the conversation. “You trained an assassin-wouldn’t that make you an assassin also?”

John put his head in his hands. “I was deep cover Alex. I still worked for MI6, but yes, the organization that Orion works for thought I was an assassin.”

Alex’s eyes widened “And they still let Orion in after you betrayed them?”

John and Ian paused. That was something they hadn’t even considered.

“They must have had good reasons for it. By the fact they sent a combat team to help him I’d say he’s very trusted now.” John finally answered.

“But-” Alex started.

“Eat your food.” Ian said firmly.

Alex’s lips twisted in disgust as he looked down at the mush posing for breakfast.

“I’m not sure this qualifies as food.” He muttered.

John snorted in amusement “Eat it anyway-you’ll need the energy.”

When breakfast was finished Orion and K-Unit headed to the obstacle course. Eagle took that time to prod a bit more information out of Orion.

“So why would Yassen Gregorovich personally train you?”

The rest of K-Unit let of choked noises.

Orion didn’t even bother looking at Eagle.

“He owed my father a debt and repaid it by saving my life. Which involved training me to survive this world.”

“What exactly did Panther do to have Yassen Gregorovich owe him a debt?” Wolf said surprised.

This caused Orion to look over assessing. Apparently John Rider’s MI6 career isn’t well known.

“He was deep cover MI6 for a while. During that time he helped Yassen-and saved his life once.” Orion finally answered. “In my world John Rider died before he could ever repay it. Here… I don’t know. Regardless, he made a case against SCORPIA’s board to recruit me-and has trained, and helped me ever since.”

“Oh. Is that why you didn’t go to SCORPIA for help here? Because you wouldn’t have his backing?” Eagle continued, ignoring the glares he was being given.

“Yes. The board would only have known me as John Rider’s son-the traitor. I’ve had 3 years to prove my loyalty in my world. They trust me there. Here I would be starting not only from scratch but without the backing of someone they trust. It would be suicide to have gone to this world’s SCORPIA.” Orion answered not particularly caring if they knew that information.

“And your SCORPIA won’t mind that you sold out this SCORPIA? Not to mention if MI6 can give the information to your MI6?” Fox asked curiously, drawn in by Orion’s answer.

Orion gave a snort. “All the information I gave is about the past in my world. The information on the board members was only on the board members that Yassen and I took out. Terror attacks have already been stopped in my world by the current board – Yassen Gregorovich and Dr. Three – due to the attention it brings. Past MI6 missions I ran… well that was in the past also. No. There is nothing I spoke about that MI6 could use against my SCORPIA. It might clear up a few things for them, but they had probably figured those out by now anyway.”

K-Unit didn’t have time to answer as they had come up on the obstacle course.

In the evening, the current SAS units gathered outside K-Unit’s hut. The units would didn’t have anyone attached to them wanted to hear about the additions.

“Can we trust them?” Asked one of the SAS soldiers

“Yeah, until they get offered money.” Muttered someone in the back of the crowd.

“I don’t think so, Sagitta appears really loyal to Orion-and Orion is dead set on going home. Judging by what he told us, SCORPIA wouldn’t trust him here anyway.” Wolf pointed out quietly. “Plus from what was mentioned when we first met him-he mention someone was pissed off he had disappeared. Along with Dr. Three. I think that someone is Yassen Gregorovich. Orion seems to have some sort of mentor/apprentice type relationship with Gregorovich.”

That raised a lot of eyebrows until Frog from P-Unit spoke up “From the sounds of it, Gregorovich is fond of the kid also. The members of Sagitta made it seem like if Orion was badly injured Gregorovich would shoot them for it.”

That stopped the SAS soldiers in their tracks. Yassen Gregorovich was fond of someone?

“Right, so generally we can trust them-for now. At least as long as there is a possibility of getting home for them.” Fox finished firmly. “We should all go to bed. We still need to be alert when dealing with them. Generally trusting them doesn’t mean we get lax.”