Everlasting Changes

By Kiamii

Summary: Good can't ever last too long. A world where you need trauma, Alex is faced with things he never expected. What has K-Unit have to do with it?

Chapter One "Little Cub?"

Pain. It was unbearably hard to withstand this form of torture. Not only that... It was cold. Too cold for him. His intestines were frozen nearly and his teeth chattered, his eyes burning. He blinked and shivered more in his pathetic form. They had finally done it, he thought, they had finally broke him. He felt nothing but intense pain lately and he thought he was getting smaller or the room was enlarging. He was dying, he mused. Right now, he preferred dying instead of rotting away in the tiny room that was given to him since he was kidnapped. He frowned and blinked back tears. He would not cry. He would not allow them to see that at least.

They broke him, or so they thought. Alex Rider closed his eyes and submitted himself to darkness, wanting peace away from his pains.

His thoughts weren't heard to those who were thinking of him, miles away. If one were to zoom in upon Alan Blunt, he was sighing as he felt in wonder how best to explain to Alex Rider that Jack Starbright was not among the living anymore...

"Alan. Its best to get him back first." Mrs. Jones responded.

He wasn't the only one thinking of Alex Rider. Currently, K-Unit was being briefed over a rescue mission.

"You are to infaltrate this location and rescue the agent. He is one of the highest ranked agents of MI6 and it would be wise to make sure he is rescued unharmed. Well, not harmed from his rescuers. You will know him when you see him and to identify him, there is a bullet wound a few inches above his heart." Sergeant commanded. The unit nodded and got ready. They had said they would know automatically who the agent was when they got there.

"What MI6 agent have we met before?" Eagle asked wryly.

"Who knows." Wolf sighed. The three men headed out.

"Maybe it is Fox?" Snake suggested as the jumped into a jeep.

"Fox was never shot in the heart." Wolf said. The three men had no idea of what would take place as they drove off for the location.

Meanwhile, a man of harsh thoughts smirked at the pitiful looking figure of the agent. What fools MI6 were to send a mere child to investigate him. Well, he certainly had done a splendid job at making them realize just how much of a child this boy was.

"Tsk Tsk. I would have imagined a lot more fight from you boy." The man said, "Its a pity you'll never be able to spy again." The comment was said with slight malice. He had been peeved to find their spy was only fourteen. The government had stooped to a new low and only an idea had formed in his mind that had succeeded. His plan?

Currently, in front of him, there was no fourteen-year-old body of Alex Rider. He had managed to do something no one had done before. He had shrunk the boy's body to the size of a small child. That of around five or six. He grinned at the small form that shivered on the floor, face down. He had managed to give the boy a good beating the past three days that he had been in his stay here. Scars of whips lined the boy's back, burns on his chest. Bruises aligned his cheeks and black eyes formed on his eyes. Blood was dribbled slightly out of the boy's mouth. The articles of clothing on his small body was torn and caked in dirt like his skin. All of that was enormous on his small frame.

"Goodnight, Alex Rider." The man said in a cold voice. He gave a swift kick to Alex's chest and the boy cried out in pain, having been kicked right where the bullet wound (that had been there for a few months only) was currently present. Alex spat out blood and whimpered in pain. The pain became too unbearable that he blacked out once more... The man left and it was sometime after (most likely another day had hit) before whisperings rattled Alex awake, the sound of the cage that he occupied was opened.

"What the..." A man's voice trailed off. Three sets of eyes viewed the small boy in front of him. No recognition hit them and they knew that for the boy was a small child and the face was bruised beyond recognition with swelling.

"Oh my god. Who would do this to a child?" another's voice swore. Judging by the closeness of the voice and breathing in his face, that man was next to him. Alex whimpered as a hand slid under his head, another under his knees. He felt himself lifted into the air and he bit his lip, trying to stop the painful cries that threatened to spill.

"We better get this kid back to base before we continue looking for that agent." one more man's voice commanded. All three voices were terribly familiar but, he could not place them. He was carried swiftly through places until he heard more voices, unfamiliar ones, and two voices that made him stiffen.

"Who is this?" The voice of nonother than Alan Blunt came.

"A child we found beaten with in an inch of his life in the heart of their base."

"I wonder... Lift up his shirt please." Alan ordered. The men looked at him but did as they were told. the group's eyes widened upon seeing the bright red bullet wound a few inches above the heart.

"Who knew the agent was this young?" Eagle drawled.

"He is actually fourteen-years-old..." Jones said in disbelief.

"I believe we have found what Mr. Circe has been up to." Alan murmured. Circe was the man that Alex had been sent to spy on. If Circe was as braniac as he was led to believe, then this solution was certainly creative.

"They shrunk Alex Rider." Alan explained, "his body was taken back roughly nine years. I have no doubt that he has the mental ability of his fourteen-year-old self though."

"Alex Rider...?" Snake said wearily.

"You knew him as Cub in SAS training." Jones elaborated.

"CUB!??" K-Unit exploded in surprise. Snake noticed a stretcher coming towards them and placed the child on it gently before he turned back to his partners.

"We will analyse Agent Rider's health and report back to you as he is in your unit and you did rescue him." Alan said rather reluctant before him and Jones parted from K-Unit who were pale.

"Cub was 14?" Wolf said hesistantly.

"He was MI6's top agent..." Snake said weakly.

"Shot in the heart... Shrunk..." Eagle whispered. The three men looked at eachother and back at the fragile looking body that was being placed in an ambulance. The men left the scene and returned to their own houses.

It was a day later as Wolf exited his shower, that a phone call came.

"Hello?" Wolf answered.

"Is this James San Luca?" A voice stated.

"Yes this is." Wolf responded in a weary tone.

"We need you to come down to The Royal and General Bank. There are a few matters to discuss about your account." The voice replied and Wolf received directions there and to bring his unit which had been coded as his paperwork. Wolf sighed, MI6 were very paranoid people and he was thankful he knew what meant what in that message. For one, he knew he didn't own an account at that bank and he knew MI6 used that bank as a cover. He called the guys up and they met at the bank.

"I wonder if this is about Cub." Snake said. The three men looked at each other before walking in to the bank. They were taken by surprise to see nonother than Fox chatting with someone at the front desk. He looked over and grinned before waving the men to him.

"Hey you three. Long time no see." Fox said in an amused manner.

"So this bank is MI6 headquarters?" Wolf asked. Fox nodded.

"Alex is in a confined room on floor three. I get to be the lucky devil who takes you up there to see him." Fox said. He motioned for them to follow and headed for the elevator. The men and Fox went inside and as they reached the third floor, they walked down the hall until they came to a room with a glass tinted window. They could see in but the inside occupants couldn't see out.

"This is where he is?" Wolf asked. Fox nodded and pointed over to the bed where a small boy was sitting on it, glaring at a tall man in front of him who was smirking and holding up some sort of board.

"What's up with Cub?" Snake asked in an amused tone. Cub was sitting on the edge of the bed, red trainers on his feet and a baseball cap over his blonde head. He looked somewhat... adorable. His brown eyes pierced childishly at the man and K-unit was relieved to know the blood and dirt was cleaned off him. Though the scars and bruises remained.

"He woke up yesterday. He figured out what happened to him when it happened. He can think like himself which is why he is glaring at the cards that are meant for a five-year-old. The man is his current doctor while he remains at headquarters. Mr. Blunt wants to talk with you three and I about Cub." Fox answered, studying Alex's face. The boy was glaring at his doctor until the man put the cards down and went over to Alex, tousling the boy's hair and knocking the cap off. Alex appeared to be whining at that and the doctor chuckled. Fox showed his friends towards Blunt's office and they entered.

"I was wondering when you men would show up." Blunt said. He stared at all four of them before getting right down to business.

"Agent Rider was given a drug that caused the body to revert but, his mind to remain intact as it is. As of right now, his former guardian, Jack Starbright, was found dead the day he was kidnapped. Considering these circumstances, I request that Fox Daniels take him in. He had his own compromise that he would take the offer so long as you three would be with him. As you are SAS, I am unsure how to proceed gentlemen." Alan Blunt stated. Wolf, Snake, and Eagle were staring in a small amount of disbelief. Fox looked sheepishly at them and an understanding came between the four.

"We'll do this. If SAS will give us temporary leave until we can aquire a more permanent routine." Wolf stated. Alan nodded and informed them of Alex's home on Chelsea which was currently modified to add in fireproof walls and bullet proof windows. The men nodded and were excused to pick up their young charge whenever they wished. K-Unit were shown Fox's office and the door closed behind them.

"So... we're taking care of a 5-year-old Cub." Eagle said slowly.

"Actually he is fourteen with the body and some habits of a five-year-old." Fox pointed out.

"Ri-ght," Wolf said. Fox sighed at his former teammates.

"I was asked to do this because I am probably the only MI6 agent that Alex is familiar with." Fox explained. The others nodded.

"So, what do we do now?" Snake asked. The men shared a look before they decided to spy on Cub at the current moment. They found him being carried down the hall towards Smithers' lab.

"Smithers is our inventor for some spy gadgets." Fox whispered. They spotted Smithers who greeted the boy with great enthusiasm. Alex gave Smithers a small smile and was placed on a chair by his doctor.

"Not letting you walk my boy?" Smithers asked in an amused tone.

"They have this idea that I need to be treated by the age that I look now. Can I really help that my body isn't letting me control everything?" Alex sighed.

"Let us be lucky the drug didn't make you one or two." Smithers assured. Alex paused, looked at him, then shuddered.

"You're right." Alex said. Smithers smiled brightly before pulling out a few select items that could be found in a child's room rather than a teenager's room.

"I was asked to create these lovelys to fit your current age though and I daresay this was a fascinating project. Now this may seem like an ordinary teddy bear," Smithers held up a brown furry bear with denim overalls and a blue collar that had a paw on the chain, "but, when you press the paw on the bear, using one finger print on each side at the same time, basically, a sleeping gas is emitted. This next item is," Smithers held up a crayon box," your ordinary set of crayons except it holds only black crayons. Simply break one of the crayons and a smoke bomb is created. My last item," Smithers placed the items down and held up a remote control car with the remote, "is a toy car. Inside the car is a listening device which can be activated by pressing the Go button under the car and then driving it to the destination. A distress signal can be sent to us by pressing the start button on the remote three times. I haven't had much time to get anything else created but, I feel you can have fun with these items."

Alex grinned at the inventions.

"Smithers, you are awesome." Alex said as he held the bear up and examining it for any abnormal features. It was perfectly normal looking.

"My pleasure dear boy." Smithers said joyfully, "Now, I believe your doctor is coming back any second to collect you for another session. Tomorrow your guardians are supposed to come get you."

"Guardians? You mean the people who are replacing Jack." Alex said confused at first before turning bitter. Smithers hesistated before clapping a hand on the boy's back.

"Cheer up Alex! Everything will turn out fine. I can't tell you who but, I know they are good people." Smithers said. Alex looked at him before giving in. K-Unit had been spying on them without them knowing but, could not hear anything.

"Wonder what they're saying." Wolf murmured. The men gave up and went back to the entrance.

"So I guess we need to pack up and sell our flats before heading towards the place." Fox said. The men nodded.

"One good thing. Won't have to spend so much money on a flat I'm rarely home to." Eagle joked.

"So, tomorrow we meet up?" Wolf inquired. They agreed and split up, each going back to their house to think about the events that were about to take place with in the next 24 hours.

Author's Note:

What'd you think? My first time with an Alex Rider Fanfic. Haven't had a chance to read all seven books so I might have information wrong until I read them all. I am using fanfic names for K-Unit. Don't have a Beta so the words might be an error until then. Hope you like it!