Authors Note: Hey guys, sorry it's taken so long, my laptop broke :( but he's finally better....I've finished all my exams so I should be able to update within the next few days...Thank you SO much for all the review and favourities...hope you like the chappy although it's a bit short...

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the order of the words...

Fights Among Other Things

***

"The whole camps against him now, you know. They're pretty pissed that he injured you and are all ignoring the good things he actually did, like carrying you back here at full sprint, the whole two miles! They're all out to get him now. I'll have to talk to them and tell them the truth" Badger worried. He felt guilty now that he had heard the true story. Badger quickly left Hawk, hoping against hope that he would be able to clear Cub before anything bad happened.

Unfortunately, Badger was too late. As he left the infirmary Cub was backing up against a wall, Units A, L and Pig, cornering him so he had nowhere else to go. Alex Rider was stuck. 10 of Britain's elite fighting force started to lay into him.

***

Slowly Alex backed towards the nearest wall, putting his guard up, his mind immediately assessing the situation. He could easily tell who the strongest fighters were, Wasp and Hare who looked to be of brown to black belt ability, and he knew that if he wanted to 'win' this fight they were the one he needed to take out first. He noted, with confusion, that most of the soldier had a strange look of reluctance and uncertainty painted on their faces. Slowly the men in front of him formed a half circle, Pig being the only one with satisfaction in his step.

"Where do you think you're going, you piece of s*ite?" Pig asked in his Geordie accent, hatred dripping from each syllable, obviously thinking that Alex was trying to escape.

"Nowhere." Alex replied in monotone, finally reaching the wall.

"You think that if you go crying to mummy, the big, bad men won't hurt you? Hmmm? You think that if you run to the Sarg he'll protect you? Cause he won't. He's as disgusted with what you did to Hawk as we are." Pig continued.

"But I..." Alex tried to defend himself. At least he now knew what their problem was with him.

"We don't care for your excuses little boy. You know what? You're really annoying us." he stated coldly.

"But..." At least he saw the first fist that came flying towards him Alex mused. Pig had attacked first, as Alex had suspected he might, with a gyaku-zuki, a reverse punch, which had it connected, would have seriously winded Alex. Alex quickly blocked and retaliated with an oyayubi-ken, a knuckle to the temple, which quickly knocked his attacker out. Trying to make sure that Pig would be ok, Alex missed the next fist that was flying towards him until it was too late. It connected with his chin and sent him flying backwards into the wall. Strange, he thought, that kick had been pulled. Why would a bunch of soldier with the intention to hurt me pull their strikes? Blinking the black spots out of his eyes, he quickly brought up his guard again, as Wasp, Hare and Frog reluctantly united in the next attack. Alex ducked and blocked as quickly as he could; only striking with blows to pressure points to slow the attacks down. He didn't feel the blows that evaded his blocks. 5 minutes later and both sides were tiring and Alex knew that he would have to take them out soon...he still had 6 more men left to fight. 30 seconds later, and Frog and Hare were down, leaving Alex able to concentrate on taking out Wasp. He noted a slight uncertain shifting in the group as he finally managed to knock Bear out. Unconsciously he turned, guard still raised, to face the other fighters, and started to mentally assess them. He could tell that, although SAS, they were inexperienced with 'real' unarmed combat. Then he saw their faces. Each of the remaining soldiers had a scared, uneasy look on their face. None of them were prepared to fight him. He dropped his guard, scanned the scene around him and snapped, "What the hell was that about?"

***

9 Hours Earlier

A and L units stood to attention in front of the sergeant's desk.

"Men, you have a new 'assignment'" the man said with obvious distaste. The men in front of him shifted uncomfortably. "MI6 wants you to test one of their agents, in a surprise attack tonight. They want to see how he responds and how quickly he reacts..." the sergeant paused.

"Who's the agent, sir?" Wasp asked cautiously. It was evident that the sergeant disliked the orders, which was making the man weary.

"Cub." The sergeant answered. The response was immediate. For the first time ever, the nine soldiers back mouthed their assignment, to their superior. Phrases such as "You cannot be serious...", "But sir..." and "But he's only a Kid..."drifted through the angry men. I mean, yes they found him annoying, but they didn't want to hurt him. He was only a child.

Eventually the sergeant roared "SHUT UP!!!" and silence immediately reigned. "Those are your orders. MI6 has asked that you don't pull your attack. I suggest that you follow those orders or you WILL. BE. BINNED. I have some more information for you..." a knock on the door made him stop. "Enter." The Door opened to reveal Pig, D-units linguist. "Pig. You should hear this as well. It's about Hawk. As you know Hawk is in the infirmary. Cub is responsible. He dislocated his ankle and knocked him out because Hawk was 'really annoying' and 'irritating' him. I suggest you keep that in mind with your assignment tonight .Wasp you are responsible for filling in Pig. Men DISMISSED."

He watched as the men exited as one and sat down with a sigh. He felt revolted with himself. He was as bad as MI6. He had manipulated his men, just as he had been ordered to. He sighed once more. Mrs. Jones was coming to camp tomorrow. Cub would be leaving tomorrow if he was still in one piece.