Epilogue of End of the Road. It's a little short, but I hope you enjoy the finale. R&R!

It was a happy ending for everyone (minus Dr. Three, who may or may not have been shot a few more times than strictly necessary) and the twenty-two children in the project were retrieved, given new identities, and adopted by families completely unrelated to the espionage or government departments. Despite the obvious interest that immediately sparked in MI6 and MI5, Alex coerced them both into signing multiple documents that he had created himself, ensuring that very few loopholes could be jumped through unless he felt they were necessary. For example, MI5 could keep track of them, but only remotely and while they were children. Neither agency could contact them, except in the case of a life-or-death emergency. If they chose to enter the life of espionage, it had to be completely of their own free will. No coercion, no blackmail, no underhanded means of skirting around ethics.

As of his return, only three days later, Alex informed Blunt, Ben and K-Unit (not all at the same time, of course) that he was resigning from MI6. What he didn't tell Ben and Co. was that the documents filed to protect the rescued children were not the only ones signed and legalized that day. He was leaving espionage but only temporarily. It was an addiction that coursed through his blood, as it had in the rest of his departed family, and one that demanded to be fed. The agreement between Blunt and Alex was that he was to be left alone until a later point at which he would re-enter the business as an adult, with real training—not just the meager amounts that had saved his life previously. Sheer luck and fast thinking had kept him alive prior, and he intended to rely on more than Lady Luck the next time he went up against bloodthirsty terrorists.

With Snake's blessing many many weeks later, he was allowed to leave the hospital after recovering fully from nearly every ailment he had suffered—there was still a limp, despite extensive rehabilitation, and the remaining pain was purely psychosomatic—and after thorough examinations by three separate specialists. True to his word, he had sustained no damage on Malagosto, though a thin wound now graced two fingers on his right hand. Somehow, he had gotten that past the medic. There were likely bribes exchanged with the specialists.

A week later found him in Ben's flat, lounging back against the cushions as his roommate informed him of an upcoming assignment. "I should only be gone for a couple days. They're trying to find me a new partner, so I'm taking on the easy jobs 'til then."

Glancing at the calendar marked practically to death with reminders and circled dates, the one that hadn't been marked was the one that stood out to Alex. Tomorrow. "Uh, Ben? I have something that I need to tell you."

The spy ruffled a hand through his hair, the telltale sign that he was flustered, and nodded. "You're moving out."

"I'm m—wait, what? How'd you know?" He put his right ankle over his knee and leaned forward, immediately telling Ben that he had been as careful as humanly possible not to let it slip. When the teenager entered interrogation mode, it was because he didn't know where, or who, his leak had been.

"The little things. You haven't mentioned re-entering school, so either you're getting a job or figured I didn't need to know. For once, the bed was made in the guest bedroom this morning. Besides, you always get that look on your face when I mention running out to restock the fridge or driving K-Unit back down to BB once Snake's arm is out of the sling." He shrugged as he put a napkin on the table to keep his drink from staining the wood. "It was sort of obvious. To me, anyway," Ben added.

"Oh." He resumed a relaxed position. "I guess that makes this easier. Like you guessed, I got a job and I'll have to leave for awhile. But I'm not moving out, at least, not permanently. It'll be for a couple months at a time, but I get tons of time off on top of that."

Ben's eyes narrowed. "It isn't MI6. Or MI5. Or another spying gig."

"Nope."

"Yet you haven't told me what it is, which means you don't think I approve of your career choice."

"You're trying to figure out what it is, aren't you?" the teenager accused, making no effort to deny it.

"I don't need to figure out what it is. I know what it is, and I'm wondering if you have gone bloody insane or just stupid." He held up a hand before Alex could defend his choice. "You don't have to say anything. I get it. It's just stupid that you won't at least try to finish school, being plenty smart and all."

"Would you be able to sit in a classroom all day, worried that someone might run in shooting at a bunch of unarmed kids?"

That got a cringe out of the spy, but he hid any further emotions from his face. Both of them knew that this was a lost cause, trying to change Alex's mind once it was set and determined, and as Ben irritably snatched at a stack of papers demanding his initials, they let the matter slide.

"When do I get to visit?"

Alex glanced up, startled. "Visit?"

"You know, while you're at your new 'job'." He freed his hands to put the air quotes around the last word, a satirical expression on his face that almost worried the teenager.

"I don't even want to know what your evil mind is plotting. Actually, I don't want to know. Just don't blow my cover."

"Really? Signing up under a false name? And you claim to be out of the spy stuff."

"Yeah, well habits take time to change."

Wolf snorted as one of the potential SAS candidates slipped into what they had dubbed the mud pond. Eagle managed to keep his laughter to a minimum until another tripped into the mud right on top of the first. Then he toppled to the ground from his perch on their cabin's porch, giggling like a little girl on a sugar rush.

Falcon opened the door to see what the fuss was about. "New recruits?"

"Better," the unit commander grinned. "Fresh meat."

"Let me run back to get the popcorn." Instead he settled down beside Eagle's former spot. "Any good ones yet?"

For the next month, Brecon Beacons would get to play host to the preliminary testing of candidates looking to get in. This was the easy part, but one that would undoubtedly flush out the young, energetic ones who thought they could do it all from those with prior military experience. It seemed suspiciously based on a mean-spirited game show, where the goal was to do as much damage to the players' psyches as their soon-to-be-black-and-blue bodies.

"Two or three, but their run times aren't stellar and it's still early in the game."

"Good. I haven't missed too much." The soldier looked around the camp, trying to find someone in particular. "Where's Snake? I don't think I've seen him since you guys got here yesterday."

"Probably finishing up his medical exam. He was trying to pass off his arm as sprained instead of broken, but the nurse wasn't going for it. Had him come back this morning to do more tests." Wolf shrugged. "Doubt she'll find anything. It healed pretty well, if his x-rays are any consideration."

It had been almost a month since the three of them had left St. Dominics, and the sergeant had just permitted them to return to camp. Falcon had arrived only three days before them. While the new units were being coalesced from the no-longer-bright-and-shiny new candidates, all available units were undergoing a two-week string of refresher courses. K-Unit had the not-so-wonderful honor of being among them.

Eagle, sprawled on the muddy ground, put his hands behind his head with a perfectly serene expression. The sight of incoming storm clouds did nothing to deter him. "So who else is here? I bet D-Unit got their butts kicked back here again. Their newbies never seem to hold up like they do in training."

"Dunno about them, but C-Unit, L-Unit and R-Unit were all in the mess hall last night."

"X-Unit's probably going to pick up a couple newbies this time around," Wolf added. "I hear they lost another one last month."

"Might as well merge them with L-Unit, then. They're also down to two after this last run in Kandahar."

"And stick Heron and Lemur in the same unit?" Eagle said, incredulously. "There wouldn't be a unit left!"

"Speaking of D-Unit," Wolf stood up, dusting off his cargo pants, "that looks like Tigger coming this way."

Tiger, jokingly named Tigger after his unit discovered the Winnie the Pooh stickers his twin girls had sweetly left in his bag for him, was as stoic and prideful as his name suggested. It was also the likely reason as to why the nickname had stuck so well. Calling your unit commander by the name of a children's book character never went over nicely, but it had persevered nonetheless. He seemed much calmer, walking towards their cabin, than during their prior meeting. As Eagle had commented, his unit had lost three fresh recruits within mere weeks of each other due to no fault of their own. Wrong place at a really bad time.

"Wolf," he greeted in his typical gruff voice (completely wrong for a bouncy, singing Tigger). "You're back from holiday?"

All of K-Unit, minus Wolf who had some composure, cringed at the thought of their time off being called a 'holiday'. More like babysitting. Babysitting a ticking bomb, that is. A clinically insane ticking bomb.

"More than ready to be back."

The man raised an eyebrow. Now those were not words that could be said in relation to Brecon Beacons very often. "Have to say that I agree. We might actually have found a viable person to fill in Dolphin's spot."

"Oh reeeeeally," Eagle commented sarcastically, dragging himself up from the ground to hop back up to his vacated seat. "How much did you bribe this one with?"

"Actually, we had ourselves a volunteer. Bloody good one on top of that. Bunny might outlive all the rest of us."

"Bunny?" the young soldier blurted out as he burst into a new round of childish giggles. "Who the hell gave that poor guy his name?"

Wolf cleared his throat. "Well at least you have someone to balance the comedy out in your unit," he stated as seriously as possible, trying to keep a straight face as Falcon fought to breathe through his laughter.

Tiger rolled his eyes. "I've heard all the jokes, guys. Grow up. He's been in SAS a year already." As a somewhat smallish soldier pushed through a throng of soldiers just leaving the mess hall, cap pulled low over his eyes as the first raindrops came crashing down, D-Unit's leader waved him over. "He gets lost so easily that I'm impressed he can find the cabin every night. Bunny!"

Finally noticing his commander after hearing his name called, the not-so-new recruit shuffled quickly over. "Could you point me to the shooting range again?" He kept his eyes from meeting Tiger's with the nervousness typical of the newbies.

"Right over that way," the soldier said, pointing to a distant spot. "Just follow the sounds of gunfire. Jaguar's headed there too. If you catch sight of him, go where he goes."

"Thanks, Tigger."

"For a newbie," Eagle muttered to Falcon as D-Unit's commander cuffed his teammate over the head, "he's got guts."

"And a limp," Wolf added under his breath, suspicions immediately raised. Louder, he asked, "Bunny, how'd you get the bad leg?"

"I was with X-Unit in Kandahar," came the quiet reply, "up until four months ago*. Been stuck in rehab pretty much since."

"He's lucky he kept the leg at all, much less survived the firefight," Tiger said, clapping Bunny on the shoulder as Wolf felt his heart rate speed up. "Nice bundle of scars to go with it. X-Unit's taking in someone else, so we snatched Bunny from them."

Eagle whistled. "You are either the bravest guy I've met, or the stupidest. At least you guys aren't in Kandahar this time around."

"Don't scare him into running off on us." Turning to Bunny, he pointed out the shooting range again—just to make sure—and shooed him off.

As Snake re-joined his unit, arm no longer confined to a cast or ice packs, he frowned at Bunny as they passed each other and briefly met each other's eyes. "Did Eagle put something in my water this morning, or was that—"

"Bunny," Wolf interrupted meaningfully. "That was D-Unit's newest addition, Bunny."

Snake opened his mouth briefly and closed it again before any words having to do with 'Alex Rider', 'spies', or 'what the hell is he doing here?' could escape. There would be a long private discussion about this subject once Tiger left, but for now, it had to be left untouched. "Oh. New recruit, huh."

A/N: Sooo this is probably the end of any big works I'll be taking on until the winter holidays unless my class schedule is easier than it looks. (I'm going to die. TT_TT) To keep up with the writing, I'm filling in some holes of my Safehouse arc with a string of drabbles called Downtime. It won't be up until I get a couple finished, but I'm glad to finally take on something easy for a change.

It's two in the morning so I should probably go to bed now...

PS: If you really loved this story, you'd leave a review. *hint, hint*

*For a refresher, re-read chapter six (which is technically chapter seven…).