History Repeats by I Always Bring Backup.

Hey people! I've been reading some awesome fics in this fandom for a while now, and I decided to have a go at writing my own. Please bear in mind that this is my first attempt at 'proper' writing and won't be as good as the other fics you have been reading. However, I understand that practice makes perfect, and any constructive feedback is more than welcome. :) Please note that this is AU. In this story, Alex is eighteen and still working for MI6. The Pleasure's got killed by some of Alex's enemies when he was fifteen.

Summary: Three years after Scorpia Rising, eighteen year old Alex is still working for MI6. One day, he comes face to face with another child, who is being manipulated and lied to the same way Alex once was by MI6. History seems to be repeating itself. First Fanfic, AU, a one-shot.

Edit Update: Haha. Ignore that last part of the summary. I lied. This is no longer a one shot. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider. Don't believe me? Check out this writing. Not really best-selling novel material, is it?! Hehe. :)

"This operation is very important. Human trafficking needs to be stopped, Alex. Out of all our agents, you have the best chance of infiltrating the main organisation and bringing them down. It's just like the Snakehead operation we sent you on a couple of years ago. Are you in?" Mrs Jones, the head of MI6 and Alan Blunt's successor asked, as she unwrapped a peppermint. She slipped the sweet into her mouth, before examining the eighteen year old agent in front of her. Alex Rider was one of MI6's best field agents. He had been working for them ever since he had been fourteen. At one point, Alex had been meant to go live with a friend's family, but the Pleasure's had been killed by one of Alex's enemies. With no other place to go, Alex had returned to London to work for MI6. Mrs Jones was glad. Although Alex was young, he was a useful tool for the intelligence agency to have.

"Do I have a choice?" Alex muttered, trying not to breathe in too much of the sickly peppermint smell radiating from Mrs Jones. The aroma followed his leader around like a shadow, and Alex privately wondered whether the Head of MI6 had an addiction to peppermints. She certainly ate enough of them.

"Alex, you always have a choice…" Mrs Jones began, holding her hands up in a placating gesture.

Alex barely managed to keep from rolling his eyes. This was just one of the many lies MI6 had fed him over the past four years. "No I don't. I'm one of your agents, now. I've got a responsibility to help as many people as I can. I don't have that much of a choice and you know it," he interrupted her. It was true, after all. He sighed. "I'll do it,"

Mrs Jones nodded, her raven black hair bobbing back and forth. "Thank you. I appreciate your help, and I'm sure the people we're trying to save with this operation do as well." She paused, and shuffled through a couple of papers one her desk. "I'll sort out the rest of the details and contact you tomorrow. In the meantime, you are dismissed."

Alex stood up and tilted his head in the smallest of nods before exiting the room. It was expected courtesy to acknowledge the Head of MI6 before leaving the office. But Alex couldn't care less about courtesy. As far as he was concerned, these people had stolen his innocence, and turned him into something he didn't want to be. He had only returned to MI6 after the Pleasure's deaths because he didn't have anywhere else to go. His education had slipped thanks to MI6, and decent jobs were hard to get with his level of schooling. The only real option he had was to continue working with MI6, and hope that the people he saved during field operations got a chance to live a better life than he did.

Alex was so wrapped up in his thoughts -which was dangerous for someone in his particular line of work- that he didn't hear the footfalls of someone walking around the corner in front of him. Usually, he was hyper aware of his surroundings, but he should have been safe in MI6's main office. It was disguised as a bank, and had some of the best security he had ever seen, for goodness sake! The agent rounded the corner and crashed straight into a younger boy.

"Oh, sorry," Alex muttered, looking at the person he had just bumped into. "Didn't see you, there,"

"It's no problem," the boy replied, dully. He met Alex's gaze briefly, before glancing down to the ground.

Alex frowned in confusion. The boy looked to be about thirteen to fourteen years old, but he had the saddest expression Alex had ever seen on a child. Actually, wait. Alex had seen that expression on someone that young before. When he had been fourteen and looked in the mirror, that same expression had greeted him.

"Is there a problem?" the boy asked, returning his gaze to Alex's face.

Alex realised he had been staring. He was about to apologise when he caught a proper look at the child's eyes. They were a piercing blue. But, those eyes weren't the sort of 'piercing' which would attract girls. Instead, they were hard and cold. They studied and pierced through everything they rested on. But, even as he studied those eyes, Alex could see a tinge of sadness and a hint of fear swimming in their depts. The agent flinched.

"What are you here for?" Alex asked warily, although he had a suspicion he already knew. You didn't just find a young, broken teen walking around the Head Quarters of MI6 for no reason.

"Gotta check my account," came the hard reply.

Alex looked at him and nodded. "With someone called Mrs Jones?"

The boy narrowed his eyes at him. "Yeah. How would you know?"

Alex resisted the urge to swear. MI6 had lied to him, again. They said that they would never use another child as an agent. Alex paused briefly to release the anger before speaking. "Are you…working… for them? Are you being sent on an operation?"

"I wouldn't call it working," the boy said flatly. "You have the choice to work. You don't get blackmailed. And, you get paid." He sighed, and checked his watch. "Anyway, I've got to go. Don't want to keep Jones waiting," The boy said the name with a sneer, before turning to walk towards the office.

"Wait," Alex instructed. Years of field experience had given Alex an air of authority, and the boy responded to the commanding tone by swiftly turning to face him. "I just want to say...well...take care, kid. And if you ever get the chance to escape this place, take it. You don't belong here. Take it from someone who knows,"

For a brief second, a small smile broke out on the boy's face. It wasn't a smile of joy; rather it was one of relief, and thankfulness that someone finally cared and understood. But then, the moment passed as the boy obviously remembered where he was and who he had to go see.

"Thanks." The younger teen uttered the word hollowly. Then, he swiftly turned around.

This time, Alex made no move to stop him. He could feel anger surging through his veins at the very thought of MI6 using another child in the same way which they had used him. The boy's soft footfalls on the carpet echoed the past. A past where Alex had been manipulated and lied to. Alex had to fight the urge to explode right there in the middle of the corridor.

This was all MI6's fault. And he hated them for it. Alex wished that whoever the child was, he had never gotten involved with this mess in the first place. But despite what he had told the boy, he knew the child would never escape this place.

Alex never had, and never truly would.

Nobody did.

Thanks for reading!