The end is finally here! Sorry for the wait, but I go back to college on Friday and I've had so much work to do :/ but enough of my crap excuses, heres the last chapter! Enjoy! X

Chapter 8

Alex sat in the car with Yassen, fidgeting constantly. The nearer they got to Wilson's HQ, the more nervous he was getting. Sure, it seemed like it would be easy enough, but he had enough experiences from previous missions to sufficiently worry him.

The only conversation between him and Yassen had been brief. Neither of them was in the mood for socialising right now. After all, there would be plenty of time for that when the mission was over and they were completely safe. Alex's heart skipped a beat as he thought about what would happen between them when the mission was finished, but he couldn't keep up that train of thought at the moment. He needed his wits about him.

As Alex sat looking out of the window with a frown on his face, he was shaken out of his thoughts by a sudden grinding noise from the engine of the car. Smoke started pouring out of the bonnet, and with a final groan the car ground to a halt. There was a deep silence in the car for a moment as they both registered what had just happened.

Yassen climbed out of the car without saying a word, the stony look on his face saying enough. He looked under the bonnet briefly, and then slammed it with a look of resigned fury on his face.

"There is no hope of fixing it. We'll have to walk..."

Alex's heart sunk. He climbed out of the car and started walking with Yassen, doubts shooting through his mind like wildfire. He could barely walk at all, how was he supposed to walk all the way to Wilson's HQ, still with energy left to finish it when he got there? And what if they didn't get there in time? He couldn't bear to think about what would happen if they were too late.

With a heavy heart, Alex quickened his pace, knowing that he was going to have to push himself to the limit to complete this mission. There wasn't any room for error.

XXX

20 minutes later, Alex was beginning to lose faith. He was getting slower with every step; Yassen hadn't said anything but Alex could tell he was getting frustrated. Just as he thought he was going to have to stop, he saw something in the distance. He looked to Yassen, and confirmed his theory with a brief nod. He never thought he would be so pleased to see an evil mastermind's HQ.

They eventually crept up towards the building, and Alex realised how stupid he was to think that the last building had been Wilson's base. This one was a massive, brand new building. There were armed guards everywhere you looked, along with patrolling guard dogs.

This was going to be a lot harder than he thought...however, as these thoughts went through his mind, he glanced at Yassen, and smiled. He was sitting, observing every guard, and Alex had no doubt that he was memorising where every single one of them was. Alex had overlooked one thing. He had Yassen Gregorovich with him.

As Alex watched, Yassen pulled out what looked like a gun. However, just as Alex was about to complain, Yassen slipped into the gun some darts that were clearly going to be used to knock out the guards. Alex knew that if Yassen had been by himself, he would have just killed the guards. He felt strangely pleased that Yassen would do this just for his benefit.

Silently, Yassen motioned for Alex to come behind him, and he swiftly moved forwards towards the first guard, ducking behind a bush for cover. Alex dived behind him, and watched with awe as Yassen aimed and hit the guard with barely a second to spare. He didn't even hear the guard cry out.

The rest of the guards were taken out with similar skill and speed, and before long Alex and Yassen were around the back of the building, looking for an inconspicuous way to get in. Alex spotted a small door, and pointed it out. They crept nearer, Yassen holding his gun steady, but no one seemed to be around here. It was probably a servant's entrance, or something similar.

Swiftly, Yassen kicked the door in, gun at the ready to knock out any guards that may have heard the noise. However, it seemed they had been lucky, as no guards came rushing towards them. Now all they had to do was find their way to where Wilson was going to go through with his plan. As Alex looked around desperately, an announcement suddenly played through speakers that Alex noticed were attached to all the walls.

"Signal commencing activation in 5 minutes. All personnel report to roof. Signal commencing activation in 5 minutes."

Alex looked triumphantly at Yassen. So that was what Wilson was doing? He was sending a signal through the phones. Alex didn't even want to think about what that signal was going to do to the poor children that had bought his phones.

With this information stored away, Alex followed Yassen towards a staircase that was just around the corner from where they had entered the building. They climbed up countless stairs, Alex becoming more and more tired, before finally coming across another door barring their way. Yassen kicked it in with what looked like no effort at all, and they both crept onto the roof, Alex limping slightly.

As they emerged onto the roof, Alex quickly took in his surroundings with a brief look. There was a large tower at the other end of the building, where Alex presumed the signal was going to be sent from. Matthew Wilson was standing at the bottom of the tower, next to a button that looked suspiciously like an activation button. As Alex took in the scene, he heard another announcement.

"Signal commencing activation in 1 minute. All personnel report to roof. Signal commencing activation in 1 minute".

Alex gathered up all his strength, and ran towards the other side of the roof. Wilson looked up sharply at the sound of his footsteps, and Yassen quickly ran towards Alex, trying to stop him from running right towards the enemy.

As Wilson produced a gun from his jacket, the world around Alex seemed to slow down. It was as if he had left his body, and could see himself running towards Wilson, crying out. He watched in horror as Wilson aimed the gun at him and pulled the trigger.

The deafening bang of the gun seemed to pull Alex back into the present, and he stopped, looking down at himself in horror. Blood was slowly spreading from a wound in his shoulder. He dropped to his knees, the pain blossoming and spreading down his arm and his side.

Yassen took all of this in with one deadly glare on his face, and turned towards Wilson, his own gun raised. However, before he fired, he glanced down at Alex, who was watching what was happening with an increasingly pale face. Alex looked Yassen in the eye and nodded. All emotion was gone from his face, apart from a cold hard stare.

With that, Yassen turned back towards Wilson and raised his gun again. With a cry, Wilson dropped his gun, and began shouting at Yassen, his face a picture of twisted anger.

"You couldn't just let me finish my plan, could you? You had to go meddling! You've ruined everything; 20 years of my life, wasted! And all because of some stupid school kid. It's people like him I was trying to kill! I'm fed up of stupid, arrogant little kids thinking they're better than everyone else, thinking they can go around bullying whoever they want, just because they can! I could have been the one responsible for killing you all!"

Wilson had a deranged smile on his face as he pictured what would have happened. Yassen gave him an almost pitying look, before letting his finger rest on the trigger. With one last whimper, Wilson looked straight down the barrel of the gun. It seemed he had realised it was too late to talk Yassen out of killing him. He stepped back, looking as if he was just scared. However, Alex knew what he was trying to do.

"Yassen...the button...he's trying to activate the signal..." Alex summoned up all of his strength, trying to warn Yassen.

Yassen quickly aimed his gun at the button, and hit it right on target. The button exploded, and Wilson fell to his knees, crying out. Yassen looked at him, disgust written all over his face, before finally bringing up the gun to rest against his forehead. Alex looked away; this wasn't something he wanted to see.

He heard the bullet explode from the gun, and gave Yassen a second to cover the body before warily looking around. As he turned, Yassen strode towards him, worry etched on his face.

He pulled off his shirt, ripped it up and began dressing Alex's wound. Alex was strangely not surprised that he'd managed to get shot again, even with Yassen with him. It seemed he was destined to have trouble follow him around, no matter who he had to keep him safe.

Alex looked up into Yassen's face, and gave him a grateful smile.

"Thank you..." Alex whispered. He didn't need to say anything else, all of his emotion was clear to see on his face. As he gazed upwards, Yassen looked back down, right into his eyes, and Alex saw, finally, all of the emotions that Yassen had been keeping behind a mask for all of these years.

Yassen smiled slightly, and Alex felt a shock of butterflies in his stomach. Yassen still managed to make Alex a bunch of nerves, even when he had just been shot. Why did this not surprise him? However, as Alex smiled back, something extremely surprising happened. Yassen began to lean towards him, until their faces were mere millimetres apart.

Yassen looked into his eyes, and Alex tried to put all his unspoken emotions into his eyes. This seemed to be all the confirmation Yassen needed, and he moved forwards, closing the gap. As their lips joined, Alex's eyes fluttered shut, and he leaned forwards, savouring the moment. The pain in his shoulder seemed to disappear, he forgot he was sitting on the roof of Wilson's HQ; the only thing going through his mind was how amazing Yassen was at kissing.

Finally, Yassen drew back, and Alex caught his breath. He was flushed, and couldn't stop himself from grinning happily at Yassen. Yassen, of course, looked completely composed. The only tell-tale sign was the look in his eyes when he looked at Alex. It needed no explanation. They were the most unlikely couple, and yet it felt completely right.

Alex felt he should say something, but he felt completely speechless. It was as if his whole vocabulary had disappeared from his mind. As he opened his mouth to try and put his emotions into speech, Yassen put a finger to his lips.

"Don't try to talk, Alex. There will be plenty of time for that later. At the moment, you just need to get to a hospital."

Yassen stood up and pulled Alex into his arms, ready to carry him out of the building. Alex gave him a grateful smile, and thought back to the beginning of the mission. Would he ever have guessed back then that he'd be in the arms of Yassen Gregorovich, after sharing a steamy kiss with him on the roof of Wilson's HQ? Probably not, Alex thought to himself. Even for him, this was pretty strange. But, after all, Alex thought to himself with a smile, since when has my life ever been normal?

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Ok, I hope you liked it! All the reviews, subsrcibes and favourites have been keeping me extremely happy throughout this story, so thanks to everyone who stayed with it! You are my life line! There may be an epilogue coming up, if I get enough reviews saying they want one :P Thanks again, and keep tuned, because I have an idea for another Alex Rider fic brewing! xxxxx