Alex Rider - You Left Me

3. Cub is Jag

hut-J was a cosy wooden place with mostly wooden furniture, the sergeant's office it was.

(AN: Yoda, I am)

"Are you okay cub, you haven't spoken since you got here." The sergeant asked with genuine worry on his face.

Alex nodded "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good." he continued, "No one has been called this since a very good soldier but... would you like to change your code name to Jaguar instead of Cub?" Alex didn't have the slightest knowledge that his dad actually held that name.

"I-err-I, well I mean I would prefer it." Alex stuttered, not expecting that the Sergeant would give him the choice.

"Well now you are Jaguar but I am going to continue calling you Cub because I like it... your like a son to me." the sarge commented, Alex couldn't help but smile, an invisible kind hug sensation spread around his heart, the Sergeant had really stepped in for the role of father. "During your time here, you will be staying with K-Unit."

"Yes sir!" Came the automatic response.

he sighed "As I said, your like a son to me. You don't have to day sir if it's just us."

"Oh ok." Alex scratched the back of his head.

"Here's your timetable, it's slightly different from your unit's because MI6 requested you do at least some school work." Sergeant smiled "Good luck, Cub. Come to me if you have any problems." Alex nodded, yawned and picked up his bag ready to go to K-Unit's cabin.

When he reached cabin 11 he hesitated to knock. Would they accept me? Oh, I don't know. Should I knock, I want to run away. Should I just go in? Alex shook his head That would make them hate me more. I'll just knock. Alex thought to himself. He knocked and the door opened after half a minute of waiting.

"Hiiii, you must be the best MI6 agent! Come in, come in!" Eagle jumped about not knowing who it was as Alex was standing in the dark "What's your name? I'm Eagle!"

"I know who you are." Alex droned as he walked passed Eagle and into the cabin to see all eyes on him.

"C-Cub?" Wolf asked.

Alex walked over to the empty bed that was pushed into the corner of the room, near the door and a window... perfect for him. "That's me, but I'm Jaguar now."

"I'm not calling you Jaguar!" Wolf spat "The best soldier... ever! Was called Jaguar! I am not calling a rich little brat that goes crying to his rich parents... Jaguar." It seems like Alex didn't earn enough respect for snowboarding down the French alps on an ironing board.

"Call me Jag for now then, since you are not allowed to call me Cub anymore." Alex smirked knowing he was 'like a son' to the sergeant "And when I earn the title... call me Jaguar."

Wolf was about to protest when Snake stepped in "Wolf, give the kid a chance."

"WHY SHOULD I?" he shouted, they all flinched. Alex kicked his bag under his bed and laid down on top of the covers, even now he could feel the springs from the mattress.

"We know nothing about him, what he had been through, especially in the past year and seeing as he is MI6's BEST agent, I'm going to call him Jaguar." Snake argued.

Someone coughed, he had black hair, tanned skin and really light blue eyes, he looked strong, tall and well built. "Who's Cub?" Alex held his hand up "So Jaguar is Cub?" Alex nodded "Cub has been here before?" the unit nodded "How long ago?"

"Bit longer than a year." Eagle put in.

"He looks like a young teenager and you're saying a year before now he was here... HOW WAS AND IS A KID HERE?!" Oh it's another Wolf, Alex thought

Alex didn't flinch from the noise like they expected him to, after all he had been through a lot worse that a shouting SAS soldier. "You're going to love the answer..." they all leaned in "... it's classified."

"Don't pull that classified stuff on me! I've had enough of Fox saying that word!" Wolf almost shouted.

"It really is classified though." Alex said "What's that soldier's name?" He pointed at the person he had never seen before.

"Oh, that's Walrus." Snake replied.

"Nice to meet you Walrus." Alex gave a small smile that took effort as he was feeling the opposite inside. "What's your position in this unit?"

Walrus grunted, like Wolf does "Combat." Alex nodded. "What are you good at?"

"Dunno." Alex said truthfully as for some people he had met, he was better but compared to others, worse. It really depended on his opposition and sometimes strength. If he had just been tortured you wouldn't expect anyone to be at full strength... would you.

"We'll assess you tomorrow, for now it is late and I am tired from out hike today." Snake yawed and crawled under his covers. "Night, all."

They looked out of the window, all tired so they didn't get changed but just took off their shoes and copied Snake, leaving questions till the morning.

-In hut 54-

John couldn't get to sleep, he kept on thinking about the new kid, who looked similar to him and reminded him of Helen. John felt drawn to kid, he felt that, that boy had secrets and they were heavy weights pushing him down. Determined to know more, he fell asleep wondering.

-In hut-J-

The sergeant was deep in thought, he had heard shouting earlier and knew it came from Cabin-11 it was near his quarters. His quarters (I, J and K) were all close together and to the west of the mess hall, but a row of cabins came before the mess hall. These cabins were roughly cabins 8-13 meaning he was closest to cabins 10 and 11. So luckily he was close to his Cub, who he was worried for as he knew the soldiers were not nice to him when he first came.

The sergeant fell asleep past midnight due to tiredness.