39Just the Beginning-
Chapter 9: And They Will Rise Again
Alexa's POV
Seattle, US, 4:00 a.m., Pacific Time Zone
Two years after the get together in New York, Alexa was doing her best to keep in touch with Amy, Dan, Ian and Natalie, but she felt she couldn't be very intimate with them and pretend she had been with them for the three year when they needed her the most. And there was the fact that after the get together Ian and Amy were acting like nothing happened. Amy started to date this guy, Evan, from her school.
Alexa was in her apartment in Seattle, the apartment her parents owned before they died and Alexa inherited, Vikram had done his best to keep the apartment in good shape. Alexa was going over a few Vesper channels where news never traveled fast -not even after she betryed them two years ago- to try and figure out what their next step was, when she stumbled on an encrypted massages from Jasper Wyoming's house, the massages had pictures, pictures of Phoenix, Amy and Dan, and Alistair.
The code was cracked in record time for Alexa, after looking at a couple other documents, Alexa figured the Vespers next move, and she knew she had to act quickly. Alexa grabbed a few weapons she knew she be needing, a jacket with Israeli money, her passport and her international phone to call the Russian head quarters, she needed the fastest way to Tel Aviv, Israel, and the fastest way would be the shark.
Someone picked up her call, but she didn't give them time to speak. "Get me NRR. Now." Alexa commanded. "This is Alexa Kabra." Alexa had to use the Kabra name in the Lucian territory, and for emergencies.
"Hello." The daughter of the grand Russian duchess Anastasia said answering the phone. "Alexa, how are you?"
"I don't have time to talk right now; I need the fastest thing you got to take me to Tel Aviv." Alexa said. "The Vespers are plotting a kidnapping."
"I'm sending the shark." NRR said. Alexa thought she would pester on who the Vesper are, but then again, she was her grandmother's friends.
"Thank you." Alexa said breathing a sigh of relief.
She checked her watch and calculated the Israel time zone, it would be two in the afternoon there, flying from Russia to the US by shark would take about half an hour, and then a flight to Israel would take about an hour, landing her in Tel Aviv in about an hour later, and the assault would start at three forty-two, but sometimes Vespers changed the time of their hits, Alexa would have only a few minutes to find and get Alistair and the Starling boys out safely, it sounded impossible to be done, but Alexa had to try. Alexa kicked herself for not looking at those documents earlier.
The shock hit her, what if the Vespers had multiple targets? Those were 101 procedures of tactics to take your enemy down that she studied when she was with the Vespers themselves, Alexa had to tell someone so they could get this check out. Alexa picked up her phone and dialed Fiske's, nothing. She tried Nellie's, but she remembered she went to France and didn't have an international phone. She tried McIntyre, finally, an answer. "William McIntyre talking, who is this?" the deep voice of McIntyre said, he sounded like he was up at four in the morning every day. In normal times Alexa would have rolled her eyes annoyed that he didn't bother to check his caller ID that Alexa knew he had, but this weren't normal times.
"William, it's Alexa, I got a tip off that there is going to be a kidnapping on the name of the Vespers today, there might be more." Alexa said while McIntyre listened to her already checking up on the Madrigal's in the area. "It will be done at three forty-two Israeli time zone, it's were I'm going today."
"How in Grace's name are you going to get to Israel today and at that time?" he asked.
"I'm going by Shark." Alexa said. "Don't just check up on the Madrigals, but on the other branch agents, remember, they want to break the Cahill, those people they kidnap today, might be a bargaining chip."
"Noted." McIntyre said.
"Good, now I have a shark to catch." Alexa said getting ready to hang up.
"Be carefully." McIntyre said.
"I can't do that." Alexa said hanging up, grabbing her backpack filled with dangerous weapons and walked out of her house, double locking the door and putting the alarm on. She walked up the stairs to the roof of her building, thanking her parents for choosing an apartment in a disclosed location. Alexa could see the fastest helicopter on earth reach her apartment building.
Alexa literally jumped inside the helicopter, not wanting to a waste a minute. "Welcome aboard Alexa." NRR said from her Russia location just as Alexa landed on the helicopter and started to head to Israel.
"Good to be aboard." Alexa said back, finding herself a sit for the next agonizing hour of blaming herself if she failed at saving her friends.
Ned's POV
Tel Aviv, Israel, 3:43 p.m., Israel Standard Time Zone
Ned was running, he couldn't stop there was a Vesper running after him. Ned just hoped he wouldn't get one of his headaches, he had to find a save place to call William McIntyre. Ned couldn't bring himself to think of his brother and Alistair who now would be in the hands of their kidnappers.
After taking a few turns, Ned found himself in an alley like street, the buildings were low, and a good tactic if Ned needed to get away if that street was a dead-end. But as far as Ned went into the street, the taller the building became and soon he to a dead-end, his Vesper tail was getting closer, Ned tried his best to think of a way out, and what he didn't want to happen, happened, he got a head bursting headache that brought Ned to his knees.
Just as his tail approached him, a new figure jumped down from one of the buildings, landing on its feet, and standing between Ned and the Vesper. Ned didn't know if the stranger would be of help or not, but Ned was busy with the waves of pain.
Alexa's POV
Alexa had arrived to late, when she reached the scene were the Vesper agents had Alistair and Ted, Alexa knew it was too late, she couldn't just charge in head first into the Vespers, no matter how much her instincts told her other wise.
As Alexa was watching Alistair and Ted get kidnapped, she sank to her knees in angst, she was there, but she couldn't do anything, and then a thought came to mind, where is Ned?
Alexa saw Ned running away from one of the Vespers into a street, from were Alexa could see the street was a dead end. Maybe Alexa's mission wouldn't be such a failure if she could just save Ned from that one Vesper, Alexa ran and jumped from building to building as fast as she could, she knew Ned was prone to have one of his headaches from all this running. For once in the eight year she had drunk Gideon's serum Alexa was thankful for it, it had given her faster speed she needed to catch up with Ned and his follower.
She had caught up with the Vesper, but Ned was almost to the dead end when he had his headache, Alexa saw his fall to his knees in great pain, all she could think was; Hang on, I'm coming.
Just as the Vesper caught up with Ned, Alexa jumped down in the middle, thankful for the serum once again that she had landed on her feet.
"Why is it that every time we meet your jumping down from buildings?" A cold and very familiar voice said.
"Maybe for the same reason why every time you meet me I'm on a mission for the Cahills." Alexa said angrily to her ex-vesper boyfriend, X.
X gave Alexa a cold chuckle. "It amazes me to see that no matter what, you will always think of the best come backs." He said. "Now get out of the way." He tried to push Alexa aside, but Alexa stood her ground.
"I'm not letting you take him." Alexa said with a stern voice.
X pushed Alexa her down; she fell to the ground. "That's not an option." He said advancing towards Ned, who was still on pain, but Alexa took X's feet from under him.
"I'm making it one." Alexa said, she stood up, same time he did. "Hey, X, I found another thing in common with our encounters." She said.
"And what is that?" he asked her with a smug smirk.
"I'm always knocking you out in the end." She said as she kicked him in the face, hard. With X out of the way, Alexa walked up to Ned. "Ned, it's Alexa." She said knowing he probably couldn't see her clearly. "Are you okay? Anything I can do?" she asked him kneeling in front of him.
Ned shook his head. "I'm fine now." He said, but he defiantly didn't sound fine.
"Okay, just sit down and wait a minute." Alexa said. She grabbed her phone, some rope and handcuffs from her bag. Alexa waked over to X's knocked out body, handcuffed his hands together and tied him up. They kidnapped Cahill agents, and Alexa kidnaps the leader's only son. Alexa picked up her phone and gave NRR her location. "Can you stand?" Alexa asked Ned, he nodded.
In a few seconds the Shark was flying above them, a rope latter was thorough down, normally the helicopter would land, but they didn't have time. Ned motioned for him to go on first. When Ned was being pulled up, Alexa grabbed X and her grappling hook that she had replaced the hook with a strong magnet, she shot at the Shark's feet, the magnet wrapped around the feet and she boosted herself up, along with X.
Alexa and Ned got on the helicopter and took their sits, Alexa dropped X behind her sit. "The mission?" Natalya asked.
"Not a success or fail, but Ned needs to rest and I have to get X ready for heavy questioning after McIntyre pulls the list for the kidnapped agents." Alexa said.
"Back to Seattle then?" Natalya asked.
"Please," Alexa said.
Have way trough their trip X started to grumbled, he was almost coming to, so Alexa hit him with a sleeping dart and he went back to sleep for two more hours. Ned slept the whole way while Alexa just looked out the window; she never could sleep when she was airborne.
They arrived at Alexa's apartment building at around seven AM, Alexa was glad that all the hallways to her apartment were empty, because explaining why a fifteen year-old girl, who lives alone, walks to her apartment with a boy following her and dragging another boy handcuffed and tied up would be hard to explain to the neighbors.
Ned and Alexa walked inside Alexa's two story apartment. "You probably need some rest the guest bedroom is upstairs first door on the right, I'll be down here if you need anything." Alexa said.
Ned started to walk up the stairs, when he turned to Alexa. "What about my brother and Alistair?" He asked.
"I'll try my best to find them, and X-" Alexa said kicking the sleeping boy lightly. "-is going to help us, he liking it or not." Ned nodded and walked up the stairs.
Alexa dragged X to her office, it was her father's, he was a smart man that took little after his brother, and he had a sound-booth-like cell made completely of four inch bullet and shatter proof glass made into his office. Viktor's office was big, Alexa never even dared to re-arrange the furniture or any aspect of her father's office, the office had two work tables that stood in opposite sides vertically, her parent's tables, three bookshelves stocked from top to bottom with books from their family history. An office couch stood near the bookshelves and a fireplace near her mother's table.
Alexa untied him, but she left the handcuffs on, she put him the glass cell and locked the door that was finger print sensitive, for safety purposes, so if Alexa was inside she could unlock the door. Alexa went over to her father's table, time to get X ready for questioning, she grabbed a remote and searched for the right button.
X's POV-
Seattle, US, 7:04 a.m., Pacific Time Zone
X was waking up from a dreamless sleep, when he heard sounds that blow his eardrums out. He stood up fast with his ears covered, taking in his surroundings, he was in a glass cell with only a mattress, pillow, blanket, a bench and a small door across from the mattress. X looked at the other wall of his cell, he saw Alexa look at him with a satisfied smirk.
"Alexa, get me out of here." X commanded her.
"You are in no position to make any demands." Alexa told him keeping smirk on her face. X hit the glass wall trying to break it, but it was like hitting a brick wall. "Don't even try, it's four inches of bullet and shatter proof glass." She told him.
"You're enjoying this." He said crossing his arms and leaning back on the glass wall.
Alexa walked over to the cell, with the remote in hand. "Of course I am what's better than torturing your ex-vesper-boyfriend?" She asked no one in particular.
X looked at her. "When did we brake up?" he asked sounding serious, but Alexa took it as a joke.
"I think I made that clear when I hit you with that backpack." Alexa said. X just shrugged. "Anyway, you should get ready; we're flying to Attleboro this afternoon. There you're going to met some very pissed off Cahills who'll want revenge on you and your family." She said.
"I'm sure your family will love me, darling." He said skeptically.
"You better hope, because two of those kids are Isabel's." She said.
"Kabra?" he asked, Alexa nodded, X paled a little. "With you there to protect me, I'm not worried."
Alexa looked at him. "Who says I'll be protecting you? Because if you've taken anyone I care about, I'll be just as worst." She said as she walked out of the room.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. But if you review I'll send you the beginning for the next chapter.