A week later.

"Always waiting on him to do his bloody hair.." Alex muttered to himself, leaning on the counter in Hex's kitchen.

He was not dressed for school though; instead he wore a smart pair of dark navy dress pants and a light blue collared shirt, his tie was the same colour as the trousers and seemed to darken the hue of his eyes that night. His right arm was suspended up in a sling and the hand carefully held an opened Heineken. The faint purple of bruising still coloured the edge of his features on the usually pale face.

"He takes even longer than the senoritas.." A deep voice agreed with him.

Paulo lounged lazily on the couch in an exquisite white linen pants with a black dress shirt and matching white vest. His messy dark hair had been cleaned, brushed and the bald patch at the top where they had to cut it in order to sew his head wound up, was covered by a creamy coloured fedora with a black band around the base. One of his arms was also in a sling so as to avoid aggravating the sewn wound to his shoulder.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Li demanded coming out of the bathroom with three other girls in tow. Her canary yellow dress contrasted strongly with her long black hair and the white rose corsage that Paulo had bought for her. Her hair was down and covered up most of the marks from the most recent fight, but the tight fitting dress pulled on her wounded flank.

"Nothing, Guapa. Nothing." Paulo hastily assured her, remembering the beating she had delivered only weeks ago. The scars of the terrible battle were still fresh on all involved, Li's eye had gone down well in time though and some clever makeup had covered up the vivid purple hue that it still retained. Paulo was still plagued by splitting headaches, something his many beers tonight were unlikely to help with when he woke up the next day.

"Damn right nothing." Amber growled in a scarlet dress and with a glass of white wine in cast hand. Scarlet was a good colour on her and it meant if the bandage on her sutured abdominal wound bled through, no one would notice.

She passed her glass to the girl beside her, tucked the black clutch under her arm and strutted over to the door to Hex's room and pounded on the door.

"Everyone is waiting on you, Codeboy!" She yelled. When she got no immediate response from her knock or call, the American girl shoved open the door and slipped inside.

"Yeah, go inside Amber. Great idea! That will get Hex out here quicker." Admin snorted sarcastically, from beside Paulo. As if reading his mind, Paulo pulled another beer out of the chilly bin and twisted off the top on his good bicep and passed the drink to the smaller teen.

"We definitely got time for another." Dos giggled, already tipsy on her first glass of wine ever. Her hair was straightened and up for the occasion, the flowing navy dress a first as well and also special for the occasion. She plopped down on the couch beside Admin ungracefully and waved her now empty glass at Li, who happily obliged and topped up her glass from the bottle she had brought out of the bathroom.

"We are going to be late because those two are screwing aren't we?" The forth girl in the room crassly commented. The mystery young lady was a willowy girl, the tallest of them and wore a little black dress that was the definition of both tight and short. Her raven hair was ever so slightly curled and landed at her pale narrow shoulders. The drink in her hand was about her fifth one and beside her, Alex reluctantly topped her up from the bottle of Vodka on the bench. She smiled appreciatively at him, before winking, licking her lips and taking a big drink.

Alex turned back to the group to find several key members giving him stern looks. Li shook her head in disappointment and Dos just grinned drunkenly. Amber, had she been present, would surely be glaring and Hex probably doing the same. Admin hid a snigger, only Paulo painfully shrugged an arm out of his sling for a fist bump in support of his choice in dates. Alex was sure that this was not a good sign.

Alex was saved further awkward moment by Amber emerging from Hex's room with him following her in a slow crutching step. Hex was in an emerald dress shirt and darker green trousers that hid his braced knee. His sleeves were rolled up and strained in exertion clutching the handles of the grey crutches on which he hobbled. Hex's brow had been stitched shut and a small flesh toned plaster covered it up, making it look like he had a gap in one of his eyebrows. The dark green eyes of his seemed sunken in their sockets but that was just the remains of the bruising beginning to fade.

"Finally!" Admin commented in mock exasperation.

"Shut it, you or you can stay dead next time." Hex growled, smacking his friend's foot with a crutch.

"What took ya so long?" Alex complained, distracting himself from the tall girl who leaned lightly against him. He took a deep sip of his beer, figuring he might need a bit of alcohol on board for this night.

Hex was obviously thinking the same thing, having accepted a beer from Paulo and swigging deeply. The cool liquid hit his empty stomach quickly and helped him forget about the throbbing behind his knee.

"It isn't easy getting dressed with a crook leg." He complained bitterly.

Alex and Paulo looked at each other, gesturing towards their slung arms as if to say 'you think you had problems'.

"And on that note your fly is still down." Li added grinning.

In embarrassment both Hex and Amber glanced down to check.

The room cracked up laughing at their expense and the rouse.

"They were totally screwing.." The strange new girl in the group hiccupped and Alex prayed that she hadn't been heard this time.

"So everyone here is somehow cool with the fact that the dance is being held in the recently repaired school gym?" Admin asked the others in genuine incredulity and quite conveniently changing the subject. He felt like he owed Alex that much at least.

"I imagine they mopped up all the blood and got rid of a few of the bodies." Hex ghoulishly commented with his dark sense of humour, as he sunk into a seat. He got the rise he was after as Amber grimaced and punched him in the shoulder. She would never tell him how concerned she was because a good deal of the blood belonged to him. Instead she perched on the arm of his chair and rolled her eyes at him.

Paulo shrugged his broad shoulders then winced at the pain it inadvertently caused him.

"I still don't even remember going in the gym." He muttered, his head wound throbbing at the mere thought of it. Self-consciously he readjusted the hat, still bothered about the head injury he had sustained in the fight and his resulting memory loss around the event.

"You did good in there Cowboy." Li softly assured him and for once there was no cocky wink or bragging comment in reply. Her small hand found one of his large ones; his thick fingers brushed softly over the bandages that remained in place on her torn knuckles.

Paulo's sombre mood didn't last long, it never did. As usual it was Li who dragged out his positivity and sense of humour once more.

"Should you really be drinking when you are on pain killers?" Li teased Paulo as he withdrew another drink from hidden inside his sling.

"Si! Dr Paulo says yes." The Argentinean teen assured her and winked. The cowboy was back.

"You heard the doctor. Si!" Hex agreed, several drinks behind and keen on catching up with his mates. He reached across to tap bottles with Paulo and inadvertently spilled some on the other couple, sharing the couch and in between the two close friends. Admin and Dos stopped making out just long enough to loudly complain and cast several aspersions as to the parentage of both teens.

A car horn sounded, stopping any retaliation.

"Our ride is here." Alex announced somewhat unnecessarily peeking out through the curtains. It was a hard habit for him to shake, taking charge of movements and exercises for the group. This was one ride he didn't want to keep waiting.

Drinks were hastily finished, with an extra stuffed into a purse or jacket pocket as the individuals felt were needed. Jackets and shawls were gathered up and the group started the arduous task of leaving for the school ball.

Hex lingered to lock up and Alex stayed behind to help him as the rest of the group made their way down the steps to the white van that waited for them, its side door open.

"Where did you find this date of yours again, Alex?" Hex asked him for what felt like the ninth time as they watched the uncouth girl stumble in her high heels and swear like a trooper, as she almost tripped over. With very little dignity or grace she fell into the van beside Amber, who yelped in pain at being jostled; her stomach wound was still very painful.

Alex grimaced as his date drew a half empty bottle of vodka from her purse and skulled a deep mouthful back.

"Amber and I have some concerns about her.." Hex elaborated when he didn't reply straight away. Alex supressed a smirk at how Hex had phrased his last sentence, it was the sort of thing parents would say.

"Me too, but I can't say how we met." Alex muttered quietly, as he helped pass Hex his crutches into the van and settled into a seat himself.

"Call it a paying off a debt." Alex finished and the girl leaned her head against him happily, breathing vodka breath so strong his eyes watered. Steeling himself for what the night might bring, Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

When he opened them again, his watery eyes met the steely blue pair in the rear-view mirror.

The van door slammed, the driver smiled a Joker's grin and the rambunctious bunch were off to the school ball.

A/N-

Bam! Finished! Another adventure down, I loved the challenge, LadyMacaroon. I really enjoyed writing this one, as a prequel to Aid Conflict and getting to sneak in the occasional future reference and inside joke. FYI I pretty much started this story with two scenes in my head; the train scene at the start and the final siege of the gym at the end. I hadn't even decided who my evil teacher would be until about half way through! Writing can be fun like that you know?

A big shout out to all those who read and/or reviewed, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

What have I been up to I've been asked? I've been busy with Masters stuff and being an international man of mystery, but I still enjoy coming up with random stories as a creative outlet and a good wind down.

Got a couple of new stories on the horizon some long, some shorter for a variety of fics. Some sit in my computer mocking me and gathering dust, others take over the keys and run away in long rambling tails. I'll have a new short story up for Brooklyn 99 in the not too distant future, just as a bit of fun. I love that show, very funny; an immature guy who kinda sucks at being an adult, but kicks arse in his job? Could be written about me!

In the mean time I've got a side project that came about from a discussion with a work mate about magic affects medical care in the Harry Potter universe. So was born the idea of my amusing new story Mentoring in Magical Medicine; the crazy tales of what happens to a bunch of misfits working for the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad. Should be a bit of fun, pretty much canon and included cameos from plenty of well known characters. If you like the fandom, check it out. First chapter is up now, with more to follow.

Right enough plugging my future stories.. On a different note.

Sadly, I think this will be my last AF story, barring some drastic change of heart. I feel like I've borrowed Chris Ryan's characters enough and perhaps in doing so have been able to neglect the tricky art of creating my own. So yeah, its been fun and I love the stories I created and the enjoyment others have received from them, but this is probably my last rodeo. With that being said, I'll still be lurking around the fandom and am always happy to answer questions and will be still poking my snout in to see what new stuff is coming out. I also have a guide to tack on the end of this one, but then I think that is me done.

It's been a pleasure.

-Grey 'stepping back' Southpaw.