Over My Head

An Alex Rider/Maximum Ride Crossover

AN: This takes place after Skeleton Key and before The Angel Experiment. (:

-Chapter 1-

Wings. Long black wings, stretched out on either side of me as I coast through the air above London. The clouds are swelling, ready to break. I have something to do but can't remember what, so I keep on coasting with my long black wings.

An airplane flies by, and Mr. Blunt and Mrs. Jones are in it. Blunt gives me a look as bland as every expression he makes. I stick my tongue out at him. Screw MI6 and all their crap—I'm going to do whatever I want. I've got wings now.

Only—something is going wrong. The plane gets dangerously close, and I feel myself getting sucked in. I pump my wings but only succeed in going backwards at a faster rate. Now my left wing is caught in a propeller, and I give out a blood-curling scream.

"No!" I cry. "Not again! No!" In the window of the plane, Blunt is smiling.

—

I woke with a start and glanced at the clock. 6:34. I had some time before I had to get ready, but no longer did I feel like sleeping. Instead, I rolled groggily out of bed and began to change into my uniform.

When I went downstairs for breakfast, Jack as still cooking it. I peeked over her shoulder and into the pan; scrambled eggs and hash browns.

"Nightmare?" Jack guessed at my early rising.

"Yeah," I admitted ruefully. "How'd you guess?"

"The moaning," she replied. "Oh, no, not again!" She mimicked in a high-pitched voice.

"Shut up," I muttered, punching her arm playfully.

"Seriously, though. Do you need to talk?"

"No thanks, Dr. Phil. Even normal kids get nightmares." She gave me a look but let it go. I sat down at the table to wait for breakfast, still half asleep. Summer had been fun, spent with Sabina, but now school was back in session. I couldn't bring myself to dread school, though, because I hadn't heard from MI6 since the business with Sarov and the CIA. Maybe, I thought with a hint of naïve hope, they were done with me.

Breakfast was served, and Jack took the seat next to me.

"So, any plans for after school today?" She wondered.

"I was thinking about kicking the ball around with some guys to practice for playoffs, why?"

"Oh, just because I'm not going to be home later."

"How come?" Jack looked away, like she didn't want to say anything more. I raised my eyebrows.

"It's just that, with your uncle gone, I'm not getting paid by anyone anymore. The mortgage bills on this house are enormous, and you should just see what the car insurance companies charge me. So, in a short, I need to get a job soon, or I won't be able to keep up with the bills." I blinked. Money had never been an issue with my family—Ian got paid a big whopping amount from MI6. Even though he wasn't working anymore, there had to be enough in there still.

"What about his will?" I wondered out loud. "Didn't he leave money for you in his will? Aren't you able to get into his account?"

"There's still a lot of money," she admitted. "But it's going to get used up at some point. I did the calculations, and if there isn't some sort of steady income, we're going to run out. We need to think ahead, Alex. We need to put away money for your university fund, your first car—and when we buy that, our insurance rates will sky-rocket—and so many other things. The fact of the matter is that I need to get a job sometime within the next year or so. I'm sorry. I'm going to try to find something part-time, though, okay?"

I felt hollow. I always thought that I was financially set, with all that Ian had collected over the years. But Jack was right. Our house was huge and our Mercedes wasn't going to pay for itself. It struck me as wrong, though, that Jack—who was on the job just being here—should have to work an additional job.

"How about I get a job," I suggested. She looked at me flatly.

"You're fourteen, Alex. You need to focus on grades at this point. You've missed so much school, it's a wonder you haven't fallen too far behind." I pouted, but she was right. I was still making up work from the last time MI6 used me.

"Anyway," she huffed. "I have an interview at McDonald's. Wish me luck."

"McDonald's?" It was bad enough that Jack was going to work, but a talented woman who suffered through university working at McDonald's? I imagined her saying, 'Would you like fries with that?' and shuddered.

"It's the only place that called back so far. It doesn't mean I'm working there; I just need to keep my options open. Now hurry up and get ready or you'll be late."

I sighed and brought my plate to the sink, gathered my books and brushed my teeth. My feet felt heavy with guilt as I mounted my bike and headed to school.

—

On my way home from school, I stopped at a candy store to by Jack some M&Ms. She had a sweet tooth, and I thought maybe the candies would cheer her up a little. I bought the biggest bag I could find.

As I walked to my bike from the shop, though, the hairs on the back of my neck pricked up. I had the strange sensation that somebody was watching me. Nobody seemed to be out at this time of day, especially in this part of the city. I did a 360 degree turn and saw no one.

I made my way to my bike on high alert, wondering what it would be this time. What was going to terrorize me today?

All of the sudden, my vision blurred. The bag of M&Ms fell to the floor. My eyes felt droopy, and I couldn't lift my feet. What's happening? I wondered. I felt dizzy, and I was vaguely aware that I had fallen to my knees. Within seconds, I was unconscious.

—

I'm not sure how long later it was that I woke up. I slowly opened my eyes to the glaring florescent lighting above me. As my vision adjusted, I realized that I was in an office—and a bland one at that. There were no pictures or paintings, no décor whatsoever. Just a desk, a few chairs, a shelf of boring-looking books, and the small couch I was laying on.

It was Blunt's office.

I internally groaned. Not this again. What did they want me to do now? Dismantle an atomic bomb because my fingers were just the right size?

A few seconds after I opened my eyes, the owner of the room walked in, followed by Mrs. Jones.

"Rider," he greeted.

"Blunt," I responded brusquely. He and Mrs. Jones sat down in the two chairs behind his desk.

"Sit down," he said, nodding to the open chair across from them. I reluctantly obliged. Mrs. Jones was looking at me with something like pity.

"We have an assignment for you," Blunt started.

"I told you, I'm done with MI6,"I said, as calm as I could manage.

"Listen, first. This is a very low-risk assignment, and it might actually be fun for you. It involves traveling to America—"I tried to interrupt but he stopped me. "—but you will still be supervised by us, not the CIA, although we are working with them. You see, there is a company that we heard is doing illegal experimentation on children around the world, and we need to find out what's going on in case the rumor is true. Both we and the CIA have sent agents to one of the locations that is said to be the sight of experimentation, but they haven't been able to infiltrate. They discovered, however, that the company is looking for a fit teenage male to work in the lab, and in the past they have drawn experiments and employees from an orphanage located near this lab.

"If you agree to work with us, we will send you to this orphanage. Since there are no other teenage boys there at the time it is likely they will pick you. All you have to do is keep your head up and contact us, with gadgets that Smithers will supply."

"Wait," I said, unable to hold my peace any longer. "So you want me to go to this orphanage that a dangerous company steals children from in hopes that I, too, will get stolen? If they're looking for an employee, why would they go looking in an orphanage? No part of this sounds low-risk, much less fun."

"Our theory is that they take employees from the orphanage in case something happens to them in the lab, so the company will not get sued," Mrs. Jones supplied. Lovely—now I have to worry about 'something' happening to me in the lab, too.

"What makes you think I will say yes to this?" I probed. "How could you think I would possibly agree to this?"

"Tell, me, Alex, where is that house-keeper of yours today?" Blunt asked, drastically changing the subject. I made no answer. "You're money must be beginning to dwindle. What if you run out?"

My stomach dropped as I realized where this was headed.

"You can't bribe me with money," I spat.

"Six-hundred thousand pounds is a lot of money," Blunt mused, staring directly and emotionlessly into my eyes. "If you agree to do this small, easy mission, there will be six-hundred thousand pounds sitting in your own bank-account." I thought of Jack in the window of McDonalds. 'Do you want fries with that?'

How could I pass up that large sum of money and make Jack, after all she's done for me, work in a dingy, low class fast-food restaurant? How could I make her work at all, when she was working for me every day?

The whisper of six-hundred thousand pounds scratched at my core. It was a lot of money. We would be set, at the very least until college, when I could get my own job. The humane part of me argued that I was selling my soul. Maybe I was. The sane part of me protested that they wouldn't pay that sum of money for an easy, low-risk mission. Maybe it wasn't.

"Fine," I agreed quietly, while the rest of me screamed not to. I wasn't doing this for them, though. I was doing it for Jack.

AN: Quick favor to ask: if anybody knows how old Max and the gang were when Jeb got them out of the school, could you PM or write it in a review? I rented the first book from the school library forever ago so I can't go look it up :/ Thanks!