This is another story I had sitting on my computer waiting to be uploaded but I had decided to write the whole thing first like 'In The Absence Of Knowledge'. But since ITAOK was so well received I thought to post a teaser of this.

As always let me know what you think. This was started long before ITAOK but when that plot bunny bit me, I sort of abandoned this.

Hope you like it. This story was what initiated the birth of a different configuration of K-unit personalities.

Disclaimer: The series does not belong to me but I sure love playing with it and the fruit of my labor is mine.

"You almost give me reason to question your exemplary enthusiasm, child."

Alex kept his face carefully neutral, concentrating on bringing his breathing to an even pace calming his pounding headache as his pseudo-mentor slowly circled him. He felt uncomfortably conspicuous standing in the courtyard of the compound under the radical's scrutiny again; ironically for particular success in a training exercise.

He had done the best that he could on the stealth exercise, setting a record in his age group for the school and getting the fifth best time overall. Apparently that had been too good; again.

The Head of the Institute paused behind him. Protocol didn't allow Alex to turn around and follow the man with his eyes. The man touched him on the nape of his neck, apparently removing an insect stranded there by the dry desert wind. Alex did not flinch.

"Are you sure you have nothing you would like to tell me Iskandar?" He lightly tugged on Alex's black dyed hair noting the sweat on his neck. "No hidden motives?" he came around to the fore to read his eyes. But Alex revealed nothing; he had been practicing. "No Sir"

The man suddenly slapped his ever-present crop into his other hand in an attempt to startle him; it nearly succeeded. "I don't believe you." He leaned back and studied the boy curiously "Do you find that strange?"

Alex thought about his answer carefully. One thing he had learned from this man was that you could find out much by reading between the lines of one statement; things the speaker never intended to reveal.

"No" he answered simply

The instructor showed no surprise. "Tell me why you expect me to distrust you."

Alex secretly winced at the question and the trickery behind it. If he answered as though considering the man's point of view as his own, he would draw even more suspicion to himself, but what could he conceivably present as a reason not to trust him. The man would most likely see through any lie he told him under this scrutiny which would be a disaster, but nothing but the truth made any sense. And the truth was out of the question.

"I didn't expect that my charade would last for ever." Alex began, pausing to gauge the man's response as he wondered if a mixture of fact and fiction would suffice.

He was disappointed when the man simply asked "Well, why not?"

Alex barely managed not to shuffle his feet as he rapidly thought out an answer. "You do know that I am not from here right?" he asked carefully

"Your false accent alone gives that away child, that and the dyed hair."

Alex couldn't help but wince at how painfully obvious he had been. Strangely his instructor found his discomfort amusing.

"Are you surprised that I noticed?"

"To tell you the truth, yes sir," Alex answered reluctantly, only to be surprised by another seemingly random question.

"Do you tell me the truth often Iskandar?"

Alex inwardly cringed, again, at his lax use of language. The man never seemed to take what you said at face value. Something that Alex was accustomed to people doing; missing the often deeper, more cynical meaning behind his words so he could enjoy his private jokes. He felt uncomfortably bare before this man when he spoke. Nevertheless the answer to his current question was a good one.

He eventually answered in the affirmative.

The man looked at him a moment more before abruptly addressing the main topic of the conversation again without further interruption.

"I know that there is more to you than you let on, more than you care to or perhaps should admit, one thing being that you are British although you present your self as a native, but I don't like being deceived. I also despise people who lead false lives to be accepted by others and I abhor spies when I am not employing them.

You seem to try too hard for genuine reasons and not all of the things you do and say add up. Don't give me reason to dislike, despise or abhor you as well Iskandar. There are a good many things about you that you don't know that I notice, be careful ."

Alex was surprised to find that the harsh and thorough criticism actually hurt in more ways than one. Not only was his cover in serious jeopardy if it wasn't already futile, but he also found himself reluctant to have this man hate him. It wasn't that he actually liked him, but the man did command a certain respect; not demand it in the creepy way that the mad men whom he'd encountered before did. This man lacked the certain gleam in the eye that signified that he'd lost a few screws or that Satan had bought them at least; in short he seemed harmless enough to be left alone.

Besides, his reasoning behind why he should train children from the age of 12 and upward how to fight and in most instances kill, was one that Alex could relate to; he didn't agree but he understood. Children these days were still being exploited for war, strife, espionage and the like and as far as this man was concerned, they need to know how to protect themselves, evade capture and fight back when necessary.

Alex also knew that the man was secretly proud of his continued success. He was very proud of his exceptional students. There were only two students that the teacher preferred above Alex, the more prominent of which was Abhijat, a brilliant fighter who often used his looks to get what he wanted among some of the other students.

Looking back, Alex was confused and slightly frightened by the realization that he was assimilating his current environment and he made a mental decision to clean up his act lest it be his last.

"Don't mistake my suspicion for utter disapproval so very young one, but I must be cautious" the man continued trying not to dispel Alex from the road to success.

He leaned closer with a faint threat. "three spies had been found in our midst before; they were dealt with in a very... finalized manner."

The man leaned back with a smile, "You have too much talent to be disposed of like that, but I will not be labeled as partial."

Alex was silent, absorbing the information for later reference putting aside his emotional confusion for now. Eventually he asked "How can I prove my loyalty to you sir?" he was partially genuine.

"I have just the thing for you actually. After you eat, Abhijat will tell you everything you need to know and tonight you will go on your first mission." Alex nodded and slowly left for the uncomfortable living space resembling a dorm he was assigned to, feeling much worse than he had after the exhilaration of the training exercise. Just before he entered the main building the man called to him. "Iskandar," Alex glanced around obediently "You did well."

Alex nodded, allowing only his eyes to acknowledge the praise as he had been taught.

As he trudged up the stairs to their small living quarters, he rubbed his sore chest, knowing that if he didn't take his medications soon the pain would become unbearable.

"I wonder if you can manage Iskandar, I continue to point out that you are moving too rapidly." the instructor asked Alex in the dark of the courtyard that night. "It's as if you intend to shame the others."

Abhijat stood by and watched him steadily, scrutinizing his every move and glance; at nineteen years old he was small for his age, tall but very slight, he was also the best in the school and extremely skilled in body language; one had to become a living lie to fool him and Alex surmised that Abhijat was the one who had instilled such mistrust into the older man.

"I have held my own against the best of men before, why should two British scouts be a problem?" Alex answered and Abhijat carefully noted that he ignored the insinuation of insensitivity.

"You may find it harder than expected." Abhijat smirked after a split second of silence. He was almost certain that the 'four' British scouts would be better trained than what Alex was imagining and he predicted-and hoped- that he would not return from this first assignment.

Alex, for the most part, ignored the boy and his cruel games, tests and comments. But deep down he also had a burning desire to prove him utterly wrong, to prove himself actually better than Abhijat in everything and if so be, earn the approval of their teacher. The long, hard, but interesting month on this particular under cover mission was beginning to cause strange revelations and in some instances awakenings of certain ideas Alex didn't think he had any right to have. After five weeks under his tutelage, Alex was beginning to respect their radical teacher for more than just his skill as a martial artist. Alex wasn't forgetting his mission- which was to gather information-but he was starting to wander what was it that had brought this man and his school this unwanted attention in the first place.

The guy's ideas were far reaching and drastic; some were actually dangerous when considered in the right context but he'd seen nothing so large scale that MI6 had to send their best operative-he had no compunction about bragging- into a foreign country to investigate in a deep undercover setting. He realized that these scouts must have been sent because of the fact that he hadn't made contact with MI6 in three weeks. They seemed to think his was a dangerous position to be in but of course they wouldn't just pull him out.

"I have assigned Abhijat to accompany you because he is more seasoned and stronger than you are." the teacher continued, braking into his thoughts

Abhijat glanced sharply at the teacher as Alex opened his mouth to protest. "If I may interrupt sir, Abhijat doesn't need to come with me, how can I prove my worth when I'm being watched anyway?"

The teacher frowned at him with narrowed eyes, "That's the only reason you want him to stay?"

Alex refrained from glancing at Abhijat in embarrassment. Some how this man was always able to make him feel like a naughty child when he spoke, instead of a skilled adversary as he sometimes like to think of himself. "No sir," he answered after a little deliberation "I know that you've noticed that Abhijat doesn't like me in the least, and I know he doesn't want to come. Since I don't need him, why bother."

The man considered this for a while before conceding "Since you do not have Abhijat's best interest at heart, you mean to say that he will scorn you further if he has to come."

Alex nodded reluctantly as Abhijat listened in amusement.

"Well if you feel that you can complete the assignment and report to me again without any help, go ahead."

Alex nodded in relief.

"You are to lead them away from the compound by any means necessary. If they try to kill you, kill them first and if they attempt to capture you, do the same. I expect you back by sunrise."

"Yes sir."

A moment later, Alex crept off in the direction that the school's scouts had indicated. A few minutes afterwards the man sent Abhijat to follow anyway.

"I hate this bloody desert; who the hell would keep a school here?" Eagle complained as he led his team through a particularly exposed portion of a desert village in the approximate direction of the school. As they crested a small bare hill and lay flat against the ground in their sand colored fatigues, Wolf consulted their directional equipment again and scanned the southern horizon with his night vision goggles. "This place is #$% crazy, there's nothing here." he growled

"They did an aerial scan yesterday" Snake pointed out.

Eagle turned to him in annoyance "And we weren't given the results of that scan. We were just sent into the middle of the desert with an 'it should be around here'; as far as I'm concerned the scan is barely worth bull."

Wolf nodded in agreement but made no comment.

"Think they got a tip?" Fox asked

Wolf thought about it for a moment as they continued down the hill towards a small forest of sangri trees, leaving the village behind them. "Maybe, but how do you hide a school using Stone Age technology?"

"Who knows?" Eagle answered dryly as they picked their way between the medium sized trees.

Alex quietly watched the four men wander through the forest from his perch in the thick lower branches of a densely foliated tree. He was sizing up the situation while trying to shake the feeling that he was being watched. The best thing to do would be to make contact with them and exchange a morsel of information regarding his status but not the location of the school. He had brought a note with him for just that purpose. But the Teacher would get suspicious if he came back without bruises, besides he kept getting the impression that something was a little off. He noted that the team was close to leaving the cover of the small congregation of trees but the strange sensation was making him nervous. He glanced around again to assuage his suspicions and noticed the gleam of something white in the upper branches of his tree. He stared at it for a few seconds and was thoroughly spooked to suddenly see the flash of Abhijat's trademark smirk. A small gasp escaped his lips causing Abhijat to grin wider.

Alex experienced a wave of fury at his nemesis before the reality of his situation set in; with Abhijat watching he would have to pretend to be the enemy, he would have to try leading them away from the compound and possibly engage in combat; he doubted that Abhijat would leave before he was done but he probably wouldn't help either. However I t never occurred to him that Abhijat would stay and watch only to see him gone.

The four men carefully maneuvered between the trees, becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress. At their current rate of success, sunrise would catch them exposed and far from camp with nothing to show for it but an aggravated temper. They could now see beyond the cover of the sparse forest but there was still no sign of anything bigger than a one to two room hut.

Snake hissed his teeth in extreme annoyance "This is a fool's errand man; you don't send the SAS for this kind of bullshit."

Eagle stopped short in the middle of a wholehearted nod when they heard a small sound. The four men turned in unison, scanning the area. A second later a black clad figure darted behind a narrow trunk in the direction they had just left. Wolf started towards the tree but the individual dashed past a few trees heading east before disappearing again. Instead of calling out for the person to stop, Wolf silently signaled for the rest of the team to follow him, but Fox grabbed him by the shoulder before he could get any further. "What are you doing?"

Wolf glared at him as Snake and Eagle continued to investigate "We have to look into this, it could be a student."

"We're supposed to locate the school and make contact with the agent, you can't just change the rules and chase after some random figure who just might be a trainee," Fox countered.

Wolf visibly bristled causing Fox to back down slightly, "Are you challenging my authority Fox?"

"No, but it's an unnecessary deviation from the mission," he answered a second later.

Wolf shook his head and followed Snake and Eagle. "A random local wouldn't follow us into the bushes and if it's a student we'll find the place much faster than this; there's nothing to lose."

Fox shook his head but followed any way.

By the time Fox joined the others a couple meters away from the tree, they all had their weapons drawn and ready, scanning the tree tops as they surrounded the tree, but when Snake rounded the trunk of the tree in question it was empty with no sign of where the mysterious person had gone. They immediately scanned the tree crowns above them but what they heard was a faint laugh several meters in the opposite direction. However just as Fox and Snake ran off in the direction of the laugh, Eagle was kicked in the head from behind from the same tree they had come to investigate in the first place.

Eagle stumbled forward from the force of the double footed blow but soon recovered, carefully watching the trees and the ground. Wolf followed the sound of a twig snapping and barely dodged a savage kick to the knee only to have a bright torch shined in his goggle clad eyes. By the time he yanked the night vision equipment off with a pained yell, the light was gone, but in that vulnerable moment as his eyes adjusted, his assailant clipped him under the jaw causing him to stumble back a step. Fortunately Eagle stepped in then and swept the attacker from behind causing him to fall to the ground, but the boy rolled over lightning quick and grabbed Eagle's pack as leverage to swing himself into the nearest tree again. From there he scrambled to the highest stable branch and attempted to jump to the next tree, but Snake shot the branch out from under him with uncanny precision having retained his night vision goggles.

The boy fell a short distance but landed hard, however he was up within five seconds and ran in the direction the men had originally come from to put some distance between them. He didn't count on a warning shot from Fox though, that grazed his thigh, significantly slowing him down. Less than a second later Eagle was upon him with a swift kick to the back of the knees but he was able side step it and elbow the man in the ribs. But it was becoming clear that it was a lost cause. The men now had him surrounded and he was weakening; his lungs were burning and his chest was beginning to seriously ache again.

Before he could get away again Fox grabbed the back of his neck to allow Wolf to bring up the butt of his assault rifle to knock him out. But the boy was growing desperate; as soon as Wolf was in range he kicked him in the groin as hard as he could. Luckily for Wolf the boy did not meet his target dead on but it hurt all the same. As Wolf cursed and stumbled in pain, the boy twisted out of Fox's grip and barreled past Eagle and up into the nearest tree thanks to the species low hanging branches.

He just managed to pull himself up, grunting with exertion and pain, as Snake lost patience with their violence restriction and fired a real shot that just barely missed his head as he leapt to a much closer tree. But Snake was below him again in a heart beat and he felt the man grab his dangling ankle and pull him down. He was just able to regain his balance when Snake landed a solid kick to the chest meant to seat him, which it did. The boy collapsed a few meters away after letting out a surprisingly pained scream. He landed with his back against a tree and stayed there.

Abhijat watched the whole altercation from various perches after his initial slip up with the laugh. As he saw and heard Alex scream in pain he was acutely aware of the sound of a snapping bone. He wondered if the man was just that strong or whether his little nemesis was simply that weak. He was momentarily surprised when he heard a gurgled form of his name come from the boy as the men approached and he was amazed that the boy thought he would actually help. He whispered a scornful goodnight to him before silently trekking off the way he had come to tell his teacher a remarkably truthful lie.

There, a rather long teaser. I can't say when this will be updated because even though half of it is already written I'm not sure where it will end plus my Spy Fest story and ITOAK have a higher priority but I'll definitely continue if enough people like it.

So go ahead and tell me what you think.