Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider or anything else you recognize as belonging to Anthony Horowitz or that it's pretty obvious I don't own.

This kind of ties in to chapter 9 of my story Somnium Visum, but can be read alone. I kind of half gave up toward the end so I'm not thrilled with it, but at least I've finally finished it.

Alex shivered, washing as quickly as he could under the cold water. Yeah, this is what he got for waiting until all of the soldiers were gone, but he couldn't bring himself to be here when they were. There were a couple of reasons, not the least of which being that it was just too creepy, but also because he wasn't willing to risk there being an "accident" like had been occasionally happening in the week or so he had been here.

He shivered again, but for a different reason. How was he supposed to do whatever the hell they wanted him to while he still hadn't had a proper chance to grieve for Ian? He lowered his head, his wet hair falling into his eyes, and leaned back against the wall. He bit his lip, doing his best to hold back the tears. If he started crying now, he doubted he'd be able to stop anytime soon.

Things probably wouldn't feel as overwhelming as they did if he was just left alone, but instead so many of the soldiers went out of their way to be cruel to him. It's not like he had asked to be here. He was getting sick of being tripped and worried that it might soon escalate. And the team he was tossed in with? Sometimes they were worse than all the others and other times they mostly ignored them. He wished they would just be consistent so he knew what to expect.

Alex slid down the wall, not really noticing the chill anymore as he wrapped his arms around his legs and let his head rest on his knees. He just let his mind drift, getting a little bit of an escape from this hell before stepping back into it.

By the time he came back to himself, Alex was shivering in earnest. His hands and feet were numb and the water droplets felt like needles against his skin. He fumbled off the water and pushed to his feet, staggering over to his towel.

He dried and dressed as quickly as his stiff body would allow, hoping that he hadn't lost track of time too badly and had missed the curfew. Things would be horrible with K-unit for the next couple of days at least if he had.

He was focused on putting one foot in front of the other as he left the showers and almost didn't see the soldier who stepped in front of him. He stopped just before he would have walked into the man.

The soldier snorted derisively. "Blind and scrawny. Why the hell you're here, I'll never know."

Alex's eyes narrowed. "Considering how stupid and clumsy you are, I'm not quite sure why you're here either," he retorted without thinking about it.

Growling, the soldier reached out and clamped a hand on Alex's shoulder, causing him to yelp in surprise. The hand tightened briefly, fingertips digging into the flesh and pushing the bones together, then he was shoved, hard.

Alex cried out in pain as his back struck the sinks several feet behind him. Falling to the ground, he had a moment to worry over how his legs had lost feeling before he hit the floor with a jarring thud. Panicked brown eyes flew toward the figure looming over him and he tried to scramble to his feet, forgetting in his haste that his legs weren't working properly.

His attacker laughed at how the teen was reacting and stepped forward, swinging his other foot into Alex's stomach. His laughter grew crueler as the blond wheezed for breath and cowered under the sinks, curling into as much of a protective ball as he could and covering his head with his arms. Luckily, the soldier contented himself with the damage he had already done so he limited further abuse to verbal before he turned and left again, chortling the entire time.

It was several minutes before Alex was able to breathe normally and, by then, the tingling in his legs had faded. He cautiously uncurled, wincing as he pulled at the already forming bruises. Casting his eyes around, he used a sink to pull himself to his feet. Forcing himself to move, he started staggering toward K-unit's hut.

He was walking mostly normally by the time he actually arrived, so when he got in the door, he was able to head directly to his cot and drop onto it.

No one noticed the suspicious glance Fox sent his way.

Alex startled awake, disoriented and in pain. Opening his eyes, he went from sleepy straight to panic as he took in the shadowy male figure standing over his bed, reaching a hand for his shoulder. Alex yelled and threw himself away from the man, getting caught up in his blanket and falling to the floor with a crash.

Hearing several voices, but not actually able to make out what any of them were saying, made Alex fight to free himself all the harder. All he could think was that the same soldier was back and had brought others. He finally freed himself and was able to gain his feet, but he didn't see the hand that reached out and caught his shoulder.

"Cub! What the fuck is your problem?" was yelled at him by the man who had him.

Alex blinked and cringed, jolted out of his panic, and looked at who was pressing their fingers into the bruise on his shoulder, trying not to grimace in pain. Seeing that it was Wolf, he relaxed, almost sagging in his relief that it wasn't the soldier from last night.

Wolf scowled, sweeping his gaze over the boy then pushing him onto the bed. "Stop being such a baby. If you get us in trouble, I'm going to make you regret it."

Alex's stomach clenched slightly as he flashed back, almost feeling each of the blows again, before he shook himself out of it and sat up, reaching out to snag his change of clothes. He missed the way Fox straightened and how he focused narrowed eyes on the small blond, but he was the only one who did.

The brunet soldier waved off his teammates before they could question him, motioning for them to act normal. They gave him odd looks before Eagle shrugged and kept chattering at the others.

The teen turned his back as he normally did before tugging his shirt over his head, forgetting about the bruises in his concern over angering his unit. However oblivious he was to the attention before, there was no way he could miss Eagle stuttering to a stop, Snake dropping the book he usually read in their little free time, Fox cussing, or Wolf's heavy footsteps moving closer.

Alex turned warily, wondering what the problem was. His breath caught in his throat as he saw the furious expressions each soldier had, their eyes focused on him, and how Wolf was stalking toward him. He stumbled back, bumping into the wall, and the fear that flashed over his face made Wolf stop.

"What the hell happened to you?" Snake asked, making sure to keep his voice gentle as he pushed passed Wolf. He scanned the future spy's torso, lips pressing together at the clear boot print in Alex's lightly tanned skin and the dark fingers spreading over his slender shoulder - too dark to have been caused by Wolf though there was no way he had helped it any.

"The what is kind of obvious. I want to know who," Eagle said, his normally upbeat voice low and dangerous.

Alex shivered, looking between all of them with wide eyes, wondering what was going on. He flinched when the other blond started to lift a hand in his direction.

The skin around Snake's eyes tightened and he turned just enough to address the others. "Cub and I will be out in a bit."

One look at Alex stifled their objections and they went out the door, but not without Wolf growling that one of them would tell him what was going on before he slammed the door shut.

Snake turned back to the younger. "I need to know exactly how you got these and if there is any lingering pain."

Alex eyed him before nodding hesitantly. He gestured at each as he spoke, "Boot, hand, sink. They're all sore."

Snake scowled at the brief answer. "How? And I'm going to need to see if anything has happened to the bones." He gestured for Alex to sit on the bed.

"He kicked me when I tried to get up after he had grabbed my shoulder which was before he shoved me into the sinks. Nothing feels broken." He sat so Snake could feel along his ribs, back, and joints and tested his range of movement, wincing as the bruises pulled.

Snake nodded, sitting back on his heels. "Well, you seem to be fine, except for the obvious. Can you tell me who did it?"

Alex pressed his lips together and shook his head. "It was dark and hard to make out anything," he lied, staring down at where his hands were clasped in his lap. He didn't want to make things worse or sound like he was crying. He could deal with this on his own.

Snake sighed, standing. "Alright. Change and come outside."

Alex watched him go before gingerly pulling on the clean shirt - now that his attention had been drawn to the bruises, he was really feeling it now.

Outside, the medic found himself accosted by his teammates. All he did was shake his head when questioned.

"He says that he didn't get a good look."

Fox huffed. "Do you believe him?"

Any response that may have been made was stopped with Alex's appearance, though that didn't stop the men from exchanging glances that spoke volumes over how they were going to keep a close eye on the teen.

It was that close watch that allowed K-unit to discover who it was that hurt Alex. Normally the boy met any abuse thrown his way with a stoicism that was impressive for men ten years his senior. Because of that, his minute flinch and refusal to lift his eyes from the dirt when a particular soldier passed by were easy for Snake to note and sent up red flags. After all, if even Wolf's harsh treatment didn't seem to overly phase the kid, then the other soldier had to have done something major. Snake just hoped it wasn't the worst case scenario that came to mind that had happened.

He kept his suspicions to himself for the time being, not wanting to risk one of his teammates doing something rash, especially since he knew them all by now.

So instead, he watched and listened and two days after Alex was attacked, Snake overheard all he needed to to confirm his hunch. That the soldier was grumbling about missing his chance roused Snake's cold ire.

Unlike Wolf who tended to get loud and showed his anger in his every movement and gesture, Snake folded it away into a corner and waited, keeping that pleasant smile on his face as he waited for the right moment to strike. It was why he had commented that Snake was certainly a fitting codename for himself - and most people either forgot or hadn't seen why that was in the first place.

It was surprisingly easy for Snake to sneak away and steal the things that he would need for a small bomb to plant in the soldier's belongings. It wouldn't be anything too bad, maybe blow off a few fingers if you were holding it when it went off, but more than enough to make a mess. And if he timed it right? Then that would be one less soldier that was unsuited for the SAS to deal with.

It was only a day before his opportunity arose, barely enough time for him to build the explosive, much less plant it before training began. The fallout, however, could be heard nearly half-way across the camp as the sergeant and other instructors reamed out the unfortunate unit.

It was all over the camp by dinner that a unit had left their bunkhouse so badly out of sorts that one member had been binned and the others were on a week's worth of mess duty as punishment.

And it was completely unnoticed by everyone that Snake had a satisfied smile on his lips upon seeing the way Alex's shoulders relaxed when who had been binned was found out.