It all started when Alex came back from one of his missions. He returned to school and his best friend Tom immediately greeted him. Alex said hello but nothing more was said. Tom was confused as to why he was being so distant. He was concerned for his best friend.
Tom tried to get Alex to talk to him but the young spy kept pushing him away. Tom was stubborn but Alex was more stubborn than his friend.
Every conversation Tom tried to initiate Alex immediately shot down. It hurt Tom that his best friend was ignoring him. It hurt Alex to do that to his friend but it had to be done.
That's all Alex could think to himself. It had to be done.
Alex couldn't let anyone else he cared about get killed because of him. He refused to put anyone else in danger.
Before going on a high danger level mission, Blunt sent him to the SAS military base. Alex's unit also noticed the distance the boy was putting between them. Even the Sargent noticed the change in the usually friendly kid.
His innocent eyes had lacked that same innocence. His kind smile was replaced with a frown. His once happy face was now just a emotionless expression. Each unit member tried to break through the broken boys facade.
The first one to try was Snake. The unit medic was doing a physical examination on the kid and tried to talk.
"How have you been?" Snake asked concerned for the boys mental state. Alex only shrugged in response to his question.
"Anything you want to talk about?" Snake asked hoping to get an honest answer.
"No," Alex replied. He was being honest though. Alex really didn't want to talk with anyone but everyone had other ideas.
Next up was Wolf who took a different approach.
The two were training in combat. They trained in silence for a while but eventually Wolf got sick of Alex's quietness.
"I want you to tell me what's bothering you Cub," Wolf orders in a stern voice. Alex pauses his movements to look at his unit leader.
"Nothing is bothering me," Alex answers with a straight face before going back to punching the worm out bag.
"Nobody believes that," Wolf says but it only ends in the man getting ignored. It aggravates the man but Alex doesn't really care.
"We're done for today," Wolf says before leaving the boy in the training area. Alex doesn't respond and feels relieved that Wolf left. Alex wanted people to leave him alone. It made it easier for him to distance himself. It made it easier to isolate himself.
That night when the boy was taking a shower k unit talked in their cabin.
"He won't talk," Wolf says.
"He says no whenever we ask him if something's wrong," Snake added and Wolf nods in agreement. "I tried asking nicely too."
"I tried to force the answers out of him but he won't budge," Wolf tells the other and they all sigh. They knew the boy needed help but he just wouldn't accept it.
"I'll try tomorrow when we're at the shooting range," Eagle says with hope.
The next day came and Alex and Eagle were at the range. Alex shot bullet after bullet into the targets. His level of skill impressed almost everyone. Eagle however was less impressed and more scared. Scared that a teenage boy could shoot with no emotion and 100% accuracy.
"So Cub, Whats new with you?" Eagle asks the boy he had grown fond of. Alex only shrugs in return.
"Talk to me," Eagle pushes. Alex doesn't respond. "Why won't you talk? What happened?" Eagle asks trying really hard.
Alex walks away from the range leaving Eagle standing there alone. Alex can't help but feel bad though he knows it's for the best. At least he convinced himself it was.
Eagle was almost in tears. Cub was destroying himself and everyone but him could see it.
Fox was last. He was the last hope.
Alex as lying on his bunk while everyone else was at the hall getting dinner. Fox stayed behind to talk to him.
"Come on Cub please talk to us," Fox pleaded but Alex wouldn't budge. "Why are you doing this?"
Alex didn't want to explain. He just wanted peace and quiet.
"We care about you Cub," Fox told the boy. Alex paused. They care?
Fox saw the boy thinking about his words. He thought maybe he finally got through but Alex's walls went back up.
"I can't," Alex said before getting up and walking away.
He refused to let anyone else get close to him though everyone kept trying.
