Operation Aotearoa

Chapter Two

Alex was woken by his shoulder getting shaken lightly. Not ready to wake up yet the teen ignored it and tried to slip back into the sweet bliss of unconsciousness. This was short lived when the culprit of the shoulder shaking started talking.
"Come on Al, we're here"
Groaning in response Alex forced his eyes open to be greeted by Fox's gentle features. He looked very sympathetic towards the boy. Clearly an hour and a half's sleep wasn't enough.
Alex looked around the plane. People were already standing grabbing their luggage from the overhead compartments. Wolf was part of that group, clearly ready to get off of the plane. Fox held out his hand and Alex saw he was holding two sweets. At Alex's confused look he explained.
"They chose a kid to walk around and hand out sweets, so I got you one. Do you want it, or not?"
Alex nodded and grabbed the green sweet. The wrapper had the airline's logo on it, and the rest of the wrapper was clear. "Thanks"
"No problem"
With that Fox got out of his seat to join the crowd of people getting their carry ons, and walking off the flight. The red head handed Alex his bag, and started getting off. Snake followed behind. Wolf and Eagle were nowhere to be seen. Alex assumed they must have somehow got off already. It wouldn't be surprising if they did. Wolf is not a very patient person, and he has a skill to speed things up when he wants it too.
Thanking the air hostess waving people off at the door, Alex walked down the ramp and made his way across the tarmac and into the airport. Like he suspected Wolf and Eagle were already there. At the sight of the three of them Eagle bounded over, grinning like an idiot.
"Guys look at this!", the man beamed, waving his phone around in front of them all. "I got a selfie with the pilots!"
A collective sigh went around the rest of the group, not at all shocked by Eagle's childish behaviour.
"That's really cool Connor", Snake said to humour the man. He draped an arm around his shoulder and started to walk off towards the baggage claim, listening to Eagle's excited babbling all the way.
Alex plopped down on the nearest bench he could find and placed his head in his hands. God he was tired. An hour of sleep didn't help at all. It made it worse. He was starving, and had a pounding headache to add to his problems. Curse Blunt for not letting him have a break. His last mission had drained him. Alex would be surprised if he even got out of this one alive. Despite the mission not being a very dangerous one, the boy was bound to make mistakes. He was tired, not just physically, but mentally too. He could feel the fatigue deep in his bones and not for the first time, wished he could just have a normal life. He should be in school, stressing over whether he passed his GCSE's, not about whether he was going to live to see another day.
The boy honestly felt like crying. He probably would if he wasn't worried about wounding his pride. He was stuck between wanting to cry, punching something, and crawling into a ball and dying.
Alex felt someone put an arm around his shoulder and the boy looked up to see Fox looking at him.
"Me and James are going to go get the campervan from the hire station over there if you want to come. That way we can get you all set up in the back or something and actually get some proper sleep. You look like you need it"
"What about our bags?", Alex wanted to accept the offer with open arms, but he didn't want to be completely useless either and not help with anything.
"Lewis and Connor are on it"
"Is there anything else that needs doing?"
"Jeez Al, mum and dad really raised you to be polite didn't they? There's nothing else that needs doing. Come on, let's go with James", the man said, gently pulling Alex up. The teen was confused as to why referred to his mum and dad until his sleep deprived mind caught up. God he was tired.
"Okay"
Alex followed Fox and found Wolf already in line for VroomVroomVroom. The teen recognised the name from multiple other airports. He didn't realise how big of a company it must be.
After a couple of minutes it was finally their turn. A lady who must have been in her late twenties with long brown hair, and a navy blue shirt with the company's logo on it greeted the boys with a smile.
"Kia Ora, how can I help you guys today?", she asked, her voice gentle.
"Oh, yeah, hi- um we hired a campervan online", Wolf said while handing over some pieces of paper, Alex assumed had the receipt on it.
"Oh yes- I'll take that", the woman gently took the papers, and scanned them. Alex noticed her long pink nails and wondered how someone could function with them. After a minute or so the woman handed some papers back along with a key.
"Okay, so you can have camper number four. So if you just go into the car park and head right you will find them out there. You said that you would return the campervan to Ōtautahi, Christchurch, but if that changes then please let us know. Any information you will need to know should be on the papers you have, or on our website. However if you have any questions you can give us a call and we can help you from there"
"Okay, thank you", Wolf replied, pocketing the keys.
"No problem. Have a nice stay in Aotearoa, New Zealand!"
"We will, thank you"
Alex flashed the woman a quick smile before following Wolf and Fox. Snake and Eagle had joined them on their way out with everyone's bags.
"Look at that nice couple. They are hiring a campervan too", Fox whispered to Alex. It took the boy a second to understand what he meant, but once he caught a glimpse of the agents he clicked. Well that worked out nicely for their mission. The campervan was just for cover, but following the agents will be much easier if they are in one too.
It didn't take the group long to find their assigned campervan, and when they did Alex jumped in the back and made himself comfortable. The campervan was quite nice. It was supposed to be able to sleep six, with three double beds available to set up. Alex took a seat in the corner, behind the table. Buckling himself in, the boy rested his arms on the table to cradle his head. Eagle could be heard looking over all the features of the campervan, but was quickly told to shut up and get in his seat by Fox. Alex didn't bother to see who sat next to him, or who was driving.
The boy put all his effort into trying to sleep. It proved to be harder than he thought it would be. He was tired, but sleep wouldn't come. Alex never used to have sleeping problems, but being constantly on edge caused him to become an insomniac. Four days and he would say he has had a little over six hours of proper sleep. At that thought Alex did cry. Tears streamed down his face and gathered on the table beneath him. Of course it was silent sobs. That's all he was allowed to do. Cry in secret, suffer in silence. Teenage spies didn't have time to be weak. Weakness was a liability.
An hour went by and Alex was still losing the battle against sleep. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes he opted for looking out the window instead. The boy wasn't surprised to see Fox sitting next to him, with Snake and Eagle on the other side of the table. Wolf was left alone up the front to drive. The men were playing a quiet game of cards. Looking over at Fox's cards he could tell the man was losing miserably.
"I hope you're not betting anything", Alex whispered into the man's ear.
"Only an arm and a leg", the red head whispered back with a nervous smile.
Smiling softly, the teen rested his head back against the window. New Zealand's natural beauty filled his vision, and the boy couldn't help but feel awe. Mountains, water, and forest surrounded him. It was an impressive sight.
"Hey James, where are we?", Eagle called out to the front.
"Ah- let me see. We are nearly in Havelock", the leader informed over his shoulder. "We can stop and get some food and have a bathroom-"
"Wait. Where are the agents?", Alex felt bad for interrupting Wolf, but he thought it was reasonable. The boy was so caught up with crying over not sleeping he completely forgot about his job.
"We're tracking them", Fox answered simply.
"What?", the teen questioned. Since when were they tracking them?
"We are tracking their campervan"
"But- when-"
"Stop stressing", Eagle chimed in.
"Stop stressing? This is my mission and I can't even do it right-", Fox cut in before he could ramble anymore.
"You're a tired teenager who shouldn't even be doing this stuff in the first place. Cut yourself some slack"
"But-", the teen was once again interrupted, this time by Wolf.
"No buts. Besides we're here"
"Finally!", Eagle cheered, jumping out and running for the bathroom, Snake not far behind.
"You coming?", Fox questioned, noticing Alex had made no effort to move.
"Nah I'm good. You go on", the teen replied, causing the red head to give him a long look.
"If you're sure", he drawled out.
The boy just sent him what he hoped was a reassuring smile and watched as Fox caved, and left him alone. Alex took the time alone to think. The comment Fox made about him being a teenager and that he shouldn't be doing this bothered him. Although he is right, and Alex shouldn't be doing this, it still irritated him. Not because he was once again just being written off as 'just a teenager', but for the fact that Alex doesn't know what he wants. At times he wishes he could go back to school, and live a normal life. But he knows that is too mundane for him. He can't deny that he enjoys the rush of a mission. That every near death experience pumped him so full of adrenaline that sometimes he even looked forward to doing it again. The teen knows he is getting cocky. That his luck of the devil will run out. Some might call him suicidal for enjoying the rush. Maybe he is. It's not that he wants to die, but he is no longer afraid of it either. If the teen were to be honest, he is actually scared of getting fired by MI6. Without espionage he knows his life will be a lost cause. Even if he does manage to catch back up at school, any boredom he would feel from a normal job would eat him alive. His life has been ruined in so many ways Alex is left with a constant feeling of hopelessness. Slowly devouring him, leaving behind a bottomless pit of emptiness. Alex never really understood the concept of people saying they felt empty. Up until the age of fourteen he had been a happy kid. He loved his life. The only thing that he had to worry about was whether Ian was going to be home, or if Jack was going to attempt anything more than a ten minute meal and burn it. The thought brought a ghost of a smile to the boy's face, but it was a hollow smile. There was no feeling behind it. Because now Alex knew what it meant to feel empty, and it hurt more than any torture would. The teen hates himself for it, but sometimes he wants to be tortured. Just so he can feel something. He is already a bad person anyway. After bringing so many people to their grave, what was one depressing thought in comparison? Being happy is all the boy wants, but he doesn't even know if it is something he deserves.