The air whistled by Alex's face as he plunged towards the watery abyss below. Faster, faster, faster he went, gravity sucking his flesh towards the rocky bottom. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, reminding him of the imminent peril.

Without warning, his tied feet were yanked upward, slowing his descent. His bound ankles were practically ripped off- the bungee cord was much too thick, but no smaller cord was available. For a moment, he was slowing to a halt. For a split second, he was motionless at the bottom of his trajectory.

Although he was probably forty feet above the water, he sliced the elastic binding his feet to the cliff above using a knife he had been holding in his mouth. He fell downward feet-first, no longer attached to anything above. The cord snapped upwards, nothing holding it down. He tucked the knife into its sheath, which was hooked onto his belt.

The water didn't feel like a liquid; it was a brick wall smashing into his feet. It hurt. But the icy lake numbed him as he resurfaced.

He swam over to the bank.

"Not bad, Cub, but if this were real life you'd've smashed your head into the ground," said the second sergeant. "Flip your feet around faster, like we all did at base. This is why we train. You've got two more tries."

"Yes, sir." Alex took the offered towel and sat down to wait for the bus with the other soldiers.

-------

Wolf internally shuddered at the cliff.

Much like a "T", a small strip of land hung dangerously over the deep lake below, at least . It certainly looked precarious, but the sergeant told them there was nothing to worry about; thousands of soldiers had done this bungee-jumping exercise before, after all.

Not that Wolf found it reassuring; the exercise was done one-by-one for some reason.

The idea of the exercise was to learn how to 'drop in' quickly on enemies. They were to jump and cut the bungee cord at the very bottom when they were virtually still: that way, they'd be falling only about five feet into the water. They had practiced the flipping-maneuver at base; when hanging with both their feet tied, they had reached up and cut it, then swung their legs down to land on the mats below. The reason for them to jump over water was clear: if anyone messed up, it wouldn't be a death to explain.

Everyone had their own bungee cords to cut, all the same make: K-Unit and another unit were present, as well as Cub and Fox, who were training but at no liberty to say why. Cub wasn't heavy enough to pull the bungee cord they'd be using all the way down. There was a second sergeant present at the bottom of the jump; he could fish Cub out of the water if the thirty-or-so foot drop knocked him out.

Actually, the soldiers had been told that the second sergeant was there to evaluate their progress, but Wolf suspected otherwise.

Not only did the seldom-used precautions warn the soldiers of the danger, but the equipment wasn't very comforting. Their shins would be bound, so they'd have to use the Swiss army knife to cut that after they fell into the bungee cord was attached to a steel fixture extending outward from the end of the cliff. How they got the knife down was left up to each soldier; Wolf would carry his on his ankle. Wolf knew Cub was an operative now- he jumped off with the weapon gripped by his teeth.

Ideally, they would hit the water feet-first; everyone was to jump three times. Anyone who didn't manage to execute the maneuver during at least one of those three tries would be binned. They had all day to do this; buses returned them to the top of the cliff.

Cub had just jumped, and now it was Wolf's turn. The order was B-Unit, then K-. Snake and Fox had yet to go.

The first sergeant's voice interrupted his thoughts. "You're cleared to go, Wolf." Wolf looked at him, his expression unreadable. "Cub's out of the way," the sergeant clarified.

Without hesitation, Wolf fell off the cliff; literal jumping was a no-no because their horizontal movement would reverse at the bottom if they didn't cut the rope. Reversed horizontal movement meant smashing into the cliff's face.

Wolf had discovered how to overcome his fear of heights: imagine Cub behind him.

The little boy perplexed him, especially after seeing him at Point Blanc. The child was a qualified, lethal operative, and just thinking about him made Wolf remember how his job was owed to Cub. If anything, the reason he could jump was because he occupied his mind with thoughts about Alex.

Cub, he thought. Working with operative Cub was fine. Working with schoolboy Alex was not.

For a soldier, operatives were professionals you worked with. Schoolboys were citizens you protected.

Why was Cub training now?

His thoughts of Cub were so distracting that he missed the cut-off time. The bungee cord pulled harshly, forcing him up for a second bounce. Although it sickened him, he forced himself to concentrate on the fall while pulling out his knife. The waters below were coming up, and on the second fall he cut the rope, falling twenty feet or so. If he'd waited to stop bouncing, he'd have to fall a good forty yards. The cliff might have been 120 yards; the bungee cords, 25.

The water wasn't warm at all, but he found the prospect of facing the sergeant chilling. Wolf resurfaced, knowing his hesitance would be a source of trouble.

The sergeant greeted him with a scowl. "You want to tell me what went wrong, Wolf?" Cub was sitting on the ground with B-Unit, Bear, and Eagle.

"I..." Wolf glanced at Cub, the source of his distraction. Cub was watching him, frowning minutely.

"Well?"

"I was distracted, sir."

"You were distracted. Distracted. You are one of Britain's elite forces, and you let yourself be b***** distracted. By what? Butterflies? Oh, wait- it's too cold for those!" the sergeant raged. "Everyone else did it properly the first time, or at least close- even the schoolboy! I don't believe it! If it happens again, you're binned. Go sit with the others." Wolf swallowed, caught the angrily thrown towel, and sat next to Bear, who was beside Cub.

Bear didn't say anything, but Cub leaned forward to get a look at him. Irritated, Wolf snapped, "What?"

"Nothing." The boy shifted his eyes from Wolf to Eagle, who was soaring down the cliff side. Like the others, he cut off at the first bounce, but like Alex, he was a bit slow in flipping.

Fox did the same, except he almost executed the move perfectly the very first time, but he cut the rope a fraction of a second too late, making him fly upwards a bit.

Wolf felt humiliated; he would definitely do better the next time. After all, this is what training was for: practice. And this was a difficult move.

-------

Alex was up for the third time, but he had nothing to worry about; he'd pulled it off on his previous jump. Snake, Eagle, and a pair from B-Unit had just made the last jump and executed the flip adequately. Wolf, Alex, Bear, and the rest of B-Unit had done it on their second try. Three times is a charm, Alex figured. Everyone had passed, so it was just a matter of getting everyone down. Why the ones at the top couldn't ride with the sergeant wasn't a matter to pry into.

He and Wolf were the last two this time. The sergeant had him standing by the edge, waiting for the signal to jump. Alex's bungee cord was attached to the metal thing that was sticking out of the ledge, and he studied it while Ben dropped into the water below, observing how the elastic material's end stretched.

The metallic structure stuck out maybe two feet, and metal crossbeams reinforced it. In the very middle, a sort of hook was attached to the internal crossbeams; Alex's and Ben's hooks were tied to it.

The loop of elastic stretched longer, and longer, then snapped back to its regular length. Alex realized that the metal thing's crossbeams were bending slightly now, and he didn't like that. Some of the earth next to where the metal poles jabbed in was cracking, too. Thousands of soldiers had used this, after all.

Ben's cord's end flew up, and Alex caught and pulled it in carefully, dancing on the edge. Alex then disconnected Ben's cord, leaving only his cord on the metal thing. To prepare fully, he checked his knife. It was in his belt.

Now to address the safety issues.

"Sir?" he asked first. The silence prompted him to turn and look.

Only Wolf was there, watching Alex with a bored expression. "The sergeant says to jump when his radio goes off. He's taking a leak."

"Oh." Alex paused, debating. The radio hadn't gone off yet.

"Wolf?"

"What?" The man's tone indicated that he thought Alex wanted to talk about his initial failure.

"I think the metal thing we attach to is breaking. Look- it's bent, and the earth around its hooks to the ledge is cracking."

Wolf walked up to the edge, carefully keeping his eyes away from the lands below. He too studied the peculiar device, crouching down for a better look. It was clearly worn. "I don't know," said Wolf.

"Hm." Alex paused, and Wolf continued looking at the structure. "I don't really want to jump with this. It wasn't bent until B-Fox jumped." Wolf nodded in agreement, ignoring the stutter.

Below, Fox had almost reached the bank. When he did, the radio would go off.

Alex spoke again when the sergeant returned. The new arrival had walked up out of Wolf's line of sight, and now stood beside him. "I think there's a problem with the bungee-jumping devices," Alex reiterated for the sergeant's sake.

"I know- you said that," said Wolf, mildly annoyed.

"He was talking to me," said the sergeant. Wolf startled and stood, but he'd forgotten he was next to the edge. One of his feet had lost its footing on the slick grass, and he dropped towards the water.

Without a second thought, Alex jumped after him.

-------

Wolf had been studying the bungee-jumping device so intensely that he'd completely missed the sergeant's presence.

Needless to say, his 'sudden' appearance startled Wolf, and he slipped.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Wolf twisted in mid-air to see the world below him; it was rushing up really slowly. Not a second had passed before he felt someone's arms wrap loosely around his shoulders.

The wind was loud in his ears, but Cub's quickly-spoken words were right next to them. "Face me, and hold on!" Complying, Wolf turned around and wrapped his arms around Cub's midriff; the boy had known Wolf's grip was stronger than his and compensated.

They had about 110 yards to go.

Wolf gripped harder, and Cub didn't complain. If their roles were reversed, he would've held on tightly too.

-------

Alex could see the water over Wolf's shoulder. Any second now, the bungee cord would tighten, and Wolf's additional weight would definitely-

"Ah!" Alex hissed breathlessly when the cord felt like it'd dislocate his ankles: the equipment didn't fit his calves properly to begin with, so it slid to his feet now, pulling harshly on them. The pain made him grip Wolf's shoulders a little bit harder.

Lower, and lower they went, closer and closer to the unforgiving dark waters. It almost seemed like their approach was slowing- like it should have- but too slowly.

The tension of the rope on Alex's ankles was too much as they approached the water. He would have screamed when his left ankle dislocated if Wolf's strong grip hadn't been restricting his air supply. As it was, he hissed sharply, but it was more like a whimper. Luckily, the adrenaline hid most of the pain.

Unlike the other soldiers, the pair hit the water, and it engulfed them completely. Within the water's cold embrace, they separated, Wolf kicking for the surface, and Alex thinking he'd be yanked upwards again- but he wasn't; the boy painfully kicked and pulled his way to air.

Alex surfaced in 5 seconds. Wolf had surfaced moments before, a little closer to the bank than Alex.

A sudden shadow made Alex look up. His mind barely had time to register the falling objects before it hit him.

It was the metal thing the hooks attached to and debris from the earth it had been stuck in, and it was headed for his head.

-------

Wolf surfaced. Cub followed suit mere seconds after, but he'd vanished again with a splash, followed by something shiny.

Wolf tread water for maybe 10 seconds before realizing the kid wasn't going to resurface on his own. Closing his eyes for a moment, he inhaled deeply a few times and dove into the icy water.

Opening his eyes to slits revealed that the dirt from the ledge obscured most everything in the normally clear water- and it hurt his eyes. Unrelenting, Wolf dove deeper into the hazy liquid, closing his eyes and flailing his arms to feel for Alex.

His hand brushed something rubbery, and he pulled it to the surface.

The bungee cord greeted him, as did his comrades.

"The h***, Wolf! What was that?" Snake snapped angrily, his fair hair plastered to his forehead.

"Did you get him?" asked a slightly-less irritated and slightly-more sensible Fox. Eagle was beside him as well, while B-Unit could be seen on the banks preparing for first aid.

"No. This is the cord he was attached to," Wolf replied, holding up the rubbery rope. "Fox, follow it this way; Eagle, the other way. Snake, follow Eagle and hold onto the bungee cord while I follow Fox." Wolf turned to the two strongest swimmers. "We'll tug on the cord if Cub's found." Immediately, the unit followed their leader's instructions. Fox did so out of habit- Bear was the new medic, and he was preparing with the others on the bank for their return.

It took a minute before Eagle resurfaced with an unconscious figure. Snake quickly confirmed his pulse. Wolf yanked on the cord, and Fox resurfaced. The other three had already struck out for land.

"They got him," Wolf hurriedly said to the MI6 operative before he too headed for the bank.

Fox swam up beside him. "You're okay?"

"I'm fine, but Cub was in pain. If I'm right, his ankle's broken, if not his skull." Fox nodded, and they continued to follow the others.

Without warning, the leading group stopped. Wolf and Fox caught up.

"What's wrong?" Fox asked.

"He's stuck!" cried Eagle, demonstrating by trying to tug Cub closer to the bank. Snake was perplexed, and Fox hadn't caught on either.

Wolf knew what had happened immediately. Without explaining, he dove down and felt for Cub's feet. Sure enough, the bungee cord was still attached. He was also right about the ankle- it was at an awkward angle. Wolf moved to draw his knife.

The sheath was empty.

He must've lost it during the fall or something. With few other options, he reached to where he remembered Cub's knife was attached. If he wasn't so cold, he would have blushed when his hand missed the first time and touched elsewhere, but he continued searching.

A quick search found the knife, and Wolf used it to cut the kid's ankles completely free of the bungee cord- there were no remnants around his ankles.

By then, the surfaced men had realized what Wolf was doing, so they quickly swam to the bank when Cub was free.

At least they were on land.

-------

"Will he be alright?" Wolf asked Bear, who sat to his left in the very last row of the bus. The last row had seats all the way across, allowing more room for the people in it.

"I hope so. He's what- sixteen? I feel bad for him. He must have some crazy parents."

Fox's face darkened at that, but he kept staring out the window of the bus from his seat beside the seat next to Wolf. Most of the people were looking at one particular person in hopes of seeing him awaken, but it was to little avail.

Cub looked bad.

His wet hair was no longer blond- it was a muddy red. A clean white bandage accentuated the grotesque color, and a brown bruise across the left side of his face didn't help matters. An ankle was wrapped in bandages, the shoe and sock having been cut off. If Alex were an adult, the ankle would have swollen tremendously because joints stiffen as one ages. As it was, uncertainty made it hard to tell if it was swelling- the bandages might be thick. The white towels mummified him, trying to ward off hypothermia.

Wolf shivered, thinking of how cold he'd be if his heart weren't beating as quick as it was due to his own shivers; Cub had stopped shivering with minutes of leaving the lake water. Thankfully, Fox's mouth-to-mouth resuscitation had him breathing, if shakily, and no blood had been coughed up.

Perhaps the worst part was how limp Cub was: bridal-style in his lap, head tilted against his shoulder, feet in the empty seat to Wolf's right.

The bus arrived about 10 minutes after the accident. Having been out cold, Cub was carried by Wolf. No one objected- Wolf had been looked over and deemed fit as a fiddle.

Bear had sat beside Wolf on the bus to watch the boy. One of his hands was supporting Cub's head, partially to apply pressure to the bandaged open head wound and partially to keep a stiff neck from forming, but mostly to ensure that his vitals were present. Before, Bear had said that severe brain damage was possible, as were hairline fractures. Neither could be ruled out without proper scans, if Cub remained unconscious.

But he didn't.

The smallest twitch of the eyebrows alerted Eagle, who was watching intently from the seat in front of them. "I think Cub's waking!"

Bear looked around, asking a question he thought no one could answer. "Does anyone know his name?"

Wolf looked at Fox. Fox was the MI6 operative- he'd have permission to tell, if anyone.

Fox didn't have permission. Having known that Alex had worked with Wolf before, he looked at Wolf in hopes of convincing the other man to tell.

It was a long staring contest.

Fox gave up. "Alex."

Bear had been tapping Alex's left shoulder in a vague attempt to wake him, whispering "Cub, Cub! Can you hear me?" repeatedly, and he missed Fox's words. "What was that?"

"Cub's name is Alex."

Bear quickly switched gears. "Alex, can you hear me? Alex? I need you to say something." Alex's eyebrows tensed minutely, forming a shallow crease between his eyebrows. "Alex?"

"Jack, what the f*** did I drink last night?" Alex slurred, completely oblivious to his surroundings and not at all conscious. His eyes were still closed, and he still hadn't registered the fact that he was being held, wrapped up in a cocoon of towels yet damp. It appeared he had only registered the dull throb of a concussion.

The sergeant enlightened him unintentionally, having noticed a change in Cub's status. "Wolf- no, Bear. What's his status?"

Bear was about to reply, but Alex beat him to it.

The sergeant's voice alerted him to a new surrounding, so he snapped his eyes open and sat up to face the world.

Well, he tried to sit up.

A wave of dizziness washed over him. It woke him up to feel more of the pain his body was experiencing. Knives dragged themselves through his windpipe as he breathed the rough cold air, and his foot throbbed in time with his accelerating heartbeat.

But, oh, his shoulder.

A fire had erupted from the slight movement, searing his collarbone's left side. Alex desperately tried to stabilize it with his other hand, but the enshrouding towels restricted his movement and jostled his shoulder again.

"Aah!"

Six hands secured him on top of the towels. Wolf was holding onto his hips and ribcage, while Fox had slid over a seat to hold Alex's knees and foot steady (he was careful not to aggravate Alex's recently dislocated foot). Bear gripped his neck and supported his head, and the towels kept his arms from moving.

Looking up and realizing that Wolf and Fox were watching him, Alex shut up, breathing heavily.

Fox grinned with a hint of worry. "What did you drink?"

Alex glared through the foggy pain.

"Are you in pain?" asked Bear.

"Sí," Alex answered in Spanish, not entirely with them.

"Where do you feel pain?"

"Me duele mi cabeza, tráquea, pie, y hombro," Alex answered.

Bear huffed, exasperated. "In English!"

"¡Estoy hablando Inglés!" Alex snapped, wincing as the exclamation hurt his shoulder.

"He said his head, trachea, foot, and shoulder are hurting him," Wolf said suddenly.

"Gracias."

Bear blinked. "His shoulder?"

Fox answered. "The thing hit him really quickly- maybe it glanced off his head and nailed his shoulder."

Bear nodded, leaned Alex's head against Wolf's shoulder, and drew out a scalpel.

Alex hissed momentarily at the pain Bear caused by moving his head. "¿Qué haces?" he said when Bear moved the glinting blade over his heart.

Wolf translated, "What are you doing?"

Removing the towel, Bear replied, "I'm going to examine your shoulder- the left side of your head had the bruise, so presumably the bungee-jumping structure hit your left shoulder." The small knife easily cut through Alex's military-issue shirt.

Fox bit his lip anxiously.

Wolf froze but said nothing.

Eagle and Snake, who were watching from the seat in front of theirs, swallowed.

Bear couldn't see well from his angle, though. The other soldiers couldn't see clearly either.

Bear proceeded with his medical examination, taking in the bruised and swollen collarbone. "That's broken."

"¿Qué?"

Ignoring the Spanish speaker, the medic gently touched the flesh to feel for damage. Alex hissed and twisted away, pressing his cold forehead into Wolf's neck. Still, Wolf didn't move other than to continue supporting the boy's upper body with his left arm.

"The clavicle isn't broken all the way- I'd say it's likely bruised badly; the collarbone's not moving. Probably broken a bit less than a hairline, if at all." Bear withdrew his hands and replaced the cloth over Alex's shoulder. "We'll have to secure his arm at some point to let it heal, but I can't deal with this here."

"Tengo frío, y quiero dormir," Alex whispered.

"He's cold and wants to sleep," Wolf translated softly.

Bear shook his head, leaning back into his own seat. "You could hold him closer. No sleeping, though- I'd say his inability to reply in English is a definite indicator of a concussion."

"Puedo hablar Inglés."

"No, you obviously can't speak English, Alex," said his translator.

"Estoy cansado."

"Look, Alex, I know you're tired. You can't sleep." Wolf paused, still a bit shaken. "And you can think of answers to questions I'm going to ask you later."

Alex swallowed nervously, but didn't reply.

-------

At the medical ward at base, Wolf, Snake, Fox, and Eagle sat in Alex's room. He was sleeping. Bear was at a medical lecture.

Wolf was watching the sleeping child closely. One arm was secured in a sling, and he was under a heating blanket. Completely reclined, his hair was brushed aside, showing off Cub's bandaged head. His small form contrasted with the large bed, and Wolf couldn't help but feel sorry for him. It definitely wasn't Cub's first stay in a hospital.

By all rights, he should be dead.

All four of the visitors had seen Alex's bullet wound, and they were going to ask questions as soon as the boy woke up.

-------

THE END

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AN: I enjoyed writing this, but because I didn't feel I could pull off the true ending (where Alex is questioned), I didn't write that part.

Please don't feel obligated to review. This is all for fun; review only if you like to.

If you don't review but enjoyed this story, please read my other fics as 'compensation'. "Downhill from there" and "Quite a Drag" both are plot-less action one-shots like this, and they both have crazy stunts of their own. Kind of like Anthony Horowitz's... but not exactly the same.

Thanks for reading!