Fic, No Dog Left Behind, Alex Rider. 15
Mar. 5th, 2022 03:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fredbassettTitle : No Dog Left Behind
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Alex Rider
Rating : 15
Characters : Alex, Sagitta
Disclaimer : Not mine (and Sagitta belong to the wonderful pongnosis), no money made, don’t sue.
Spoilers : None
Summary : A mission takes an unexpectedly furry turn.
A/N : Set in pongnosis’ The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea ‘verse.
“We’re not leaving them.”
Marcus rolled his eyes. The kid could not be bloody serious. They were just about to trigger an explosion that would blow a sizeable chunk of a pharmaceutical factory into satisfactorily small pieces and Orion – or rather Alex – wanted to deviate from the plan. Of course the little shit was serious. Why wouldn’t he be?
“I said we’re not leaving them,” Alex repeated.
“I heard you the first time, boss, but it’s not practical. We blow this then we fight our way out. That’s the plan and we need to stick to it.”
“We can take them with us and still stick to the plan.”
“Boss…”
“We’re wasting time! Stop arguing and everyone grab a puppy!” Alex ordered, bending down and picking up the scrawny mother of six even more scrawny puppies and tucking the animal under his arm.
The dog looked like a cross between a dachshund and something that might once have been very fluffy, but even the masses of lank, dirty, matted fur couldn’t disguise the fact that the animal was seriously malnourished, which was hardly surprising as she was living in a grubby basement underneath the boiler they’d chosen as ground zero for the explosion. Her colour could be described as indeterminate or fucking filthy, depending on how polite you wanted to be.
The various members of Sagitta gathered in the basement eyed the pups with a mix of confusion and resignation.
Marcus heaved the sigh of the extremely put upon and grabbed the nearest puppy. Unsure what to do with it, he tucked the squirming creature inside his ballistic vest and hoped it wouldn’t piss itself with fright. It felt soft, warm and wriggly, but the pup quickly quietened down. The other members of his team took their cue from him, and each grabbed a small scrap of fur and stowed it somewhere relatively safe. If anywhere in the middle of a Scorpia operation could be described as safe.
Mace finished setting the timer, reached for the last pup and stuffed it in the pocket of his combat jacket and then they started their tactical withdrawal.
They managed to climb two flights of stairs before the shooting started.
With Adams and Mace on point, they adopted their standard formation, quickly forgetting their furry burdens in the resulting firefight. From what Marcus could see, Alex now had the adult dog zipped up inside his black jacket, with the hem tucked into the waistband of his trousers to stop the animal falling out the bottom. It made him look six months pregnant, and in other circumstances, Marcus would have found it funny but not with his back to a wall, bullets flying too close to his nose for comfort while he waited for a lull in the hostilities so that he could return fire.
The guards in the pharmaceutical facility were good, but they were no match for a Scorpia strike team, even with added furry passengers. Alex, now Orion again, expertly lobbed a smoke grenade down the corridor then they all made a break for the ground floor corridor that led to the service entrance at the back of the building where Jarek, on high ground outside the compound, was steadily picking off anyone he didn’t like the look of – which in the sniper’s current mood was just about everyone he clapped eyes on. The only person he hadn’t drilled a high-velocity round into was a terrified elderly cleaner, cowering behind a bin. The lad clearly did have a heart – maybe he’d like a puppy …
The blast from the basement blew out every window on the first two floors. Marcus grinned. Yeah, there was no feeling like that adrenaline rush. Better than a shag any day.
Orion glanced over at him, looking pointedly at Marcus’ crotch and grinned back at him.
The kid might be batshit insane at times, and the wriggling, snuffling bundle of fluff inside Marcus’ jacket bore witness to that, but he was fucking entertaining to hang around with, and he never worried about blowing a big hole in their expense account as well as in whatever hapless structure he’d decided would look better as a pile of rubble.
Gregorovich had never managed to dampen his second in command’s enthusiasm for really big bangs and Marcus had never even tried. Gregorovich really ought to buy his protégé a quarry as a birthday present, then he could blow shit up to his heart’s content.
A screen of tyres announced the arrival of their transport just as a detachment of guards made an entrance stage right.
A bullet blew chips out of the breezeblock wall just to Marcus’ side, slicing through the material of his jacket.
A second later, he had the satisfaction of seeing Jarek take the cunt apart with a perfect headshot. If the puppy had been hit, Alex wasn’t going to be happy. He glanced down and found himself staring into a pair of wide brown eyes fringed by a mop of dirty blond hair. The bloody thing looked way too much like his boss when he’d just woken up. The little black nose snuffled at him, and a pink tongue shot out and licked his neck.
“Stay down, you daft little bugger,” Marcus muttered. “Big scary world out here, fluff-ball.”
“Did you just talk to that puppy, boss?” Adams said from the opposite side of the doorway.
Marcus shot his 2iC a filthy look.
Adams peered inside his own jacket, checking the status of his furry companion. A hairy nose sniffed the air then promptly retreated. “Wise move, Fido,” Adams told it.
Mace broke from cover long enough to lob a fragmentation grenade at the guards and under cover of the resulting blast, Adams and the others piled into the van, with Marcus and Orion providing covering fire.
As Orion dived for the open doors at the back of the van, the zip on his jacket slipped down and the dog he was carrying slipped out and promptly legged it.
Orion swore violently and ran after the dog.
Two of the guards had survived the frag grenade and one had the presence of mind to open fire.
Orion zig zagged across the tarmac in hot pursuit of his quarry, but four short hairy legs could cover the ground surprisingly fast.
Marcus swore even more luridly then hauled the pup he was carrying out of his jacket and tossed it to Aranda who caught the squirming creature one-handed. A heartbeat later, Marcus was out of the van and running as fast as he could on a course he hoped would put him in the right place to intercept the terrified dog.
Relying on his team to cover him, Marcus shot across the tarmac and threw himself into the dog’s path in a perfect flying tackle, scooping it up and passing it to Alex like a thin, hairy rugby ball with sharp teeth.
They both made it back to the van thanks to some impressive shooting by Jarek and Shale and as they slid across the floor, Adams hauled the doors closed and Ivey took off in another squeal of tyres as bullets thumped into the armoured exterior, while Jarek took out anyone who attempted to follow them.
“So, what the hell do we do with them, boss?” Marcus asked half an hour later, staring at the heap of pups, snuggled up to their mother in the middle of Alex’s combat jacket on the floor of the van. Their passengers had just finished tucking into a meal of chicken stew from some of their ration packs.
“Find an animal shelter,” Alex said, sitting on the floor and stroking one of the pups. “Then drop ‘em a shedload of dosh to take them in and find them good homes.” At the look on Marcus’s face, the kid added, “Even I’m not daft enough to take a load of puppies back to Malagosto.”
“Thank fuck for that,” Marcus said. He’d not been looking forward to having that conversation with Gregorovich.
Alex picked up one of the pups. “Although maybe we could make an exception for this little chap… ?”
“No!”
“But he’s all fluffy…”
“They’re all fucking fluffy.”
“And they’re cute …”
“Yes, boss, they’re cute. No, boss, we’re not keeping them.”
“What if one of them followed me home…?”
“You can keep Ivey as a pet instead. He’s cute if you close your eyes and ignore the way he farts.”
“Oi!”
****
Five weeks later, seven much healthier dogs arrived in Kent in an animal transport vehicle and were taken to a rescue shelter in Richmond.
They’d already been advertised on the charity’s website and there had been dozens of enquiries. The pups and their mother had all scrubbed up very well and were a far cry for the scrawny, filthy little bundles that had been taken into the rescue centre in Florence.
Their benefactor, who’d asked to remain anonymous, had given both the rescue centre in Italy and the charity in England a very substantial donation to cover veterinary bills and transport, with enough left over to leave both organisations in credit for several months to come.
Orion was the first puppy to find his family, but the others weren’t far behind. Cossack, their feisty young mother, ended up being adopted by the woman who ran the shelter. Washed and brushed, she’d turned out to be a beautiful ash-blond colour, outwardly placid, but with sharp teeth if anything upset her.
The names they’d arrived with had been odd, to put it mildly, but they’d stuck. Marcus, Adams, Shale, Jarek and Aranda. They all went to excellent homes.
Six months later, another large donation appeared in both charities’ bank accounts.
Someone had clearly been very taken with the little furry family they’d rescued.
****
By mutual agreement, Alex and Sagitta made no mention of the dogs in their post-mission report.
How they spent their bonus was their business.
What happened in Florence stayed in Florence.
And to Marcus’ relief, Gregorovich didn’t ask any awkward questions.
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Alex Rider
Rating : 15
Characters : Alex, Sagitta
Disclaimer : Not mine (and Sagitta belong to the wonderful pongnosis), no money made, don’t sue.
Spoilers : None
Summary : A mission takes an unexpectedly furry turn.
A/N : Set in pongnosis’ The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea ‘verse.
“We’re not leaving them.”
Marcus rolled his eyes. The kid could not be bloody serious. They were just about to trigger an explosion that would blow a sizeable chunk of a pharmaceutical factory into satisfactorily small pieces and Orion – or rather Alex – wanted to deviate from the plan. Of course the little shit was serious. Why wouldn’t he be?
“I said we’re not leaving them,” Alex repeated.
“I heard you the first time, boss, but it’s not practical. We blow this then we fight our way out. That’s the plan and we need to stick to it.”
“We can take them with us and still stick to the plan.”
“Boss…”
“We’re wasting time! Stop arguing and everyone grab a puppy!” Alex ordered, bending down and picking up the scrawny mother of six even more scrawny puppies and tucking the animal under his arm.
The dog looked like a cross between a dachshund and something that might once have been very fluffy, but even the masses of lank, dirty, matted fur couldn’t disguise the fact that the animal was seriously malnourished, which was hardly surprising as she was living in a grubby basement underneath the boiler they’d chosen as ground zero for the explosion. Her colour could be described as indeterminate or fucking filthy, depending on how polite you wanted to be.
The various members of Sagitta gathered in the basement eyed the pups with a mix of confusion and resignation.
Marcus heaved the sigh of the extremely put upon and grabbed the nearest puppy. Unsure what to do with it, he tucked the squirming creature inside his ballistic vest and hoped it wouldn’t piss itself with fright. It felt soft, warm and wriggly, but the pup quickly quietened down. The other members of his team took their cue from him, and each grabbed a small scrap of fur and stowed it somewhere relatively safe. If anywhere in the middle of a Scorpia operation could be described as safe.
Mace finished setting the timer, reached for the last pup and stuffed it in the pocket of his combat jacket and then they started their tactical withdrawal.
They managed to climb two flights of stairs before the shooting started.
With Adams and Mace on point, they adopted their standard formation, quickly forgetting their furry burdens in the resulting firefight. From what Marcus could see, Alex now had the adult dog zipped up inside his black jacket, with the hem tucked into the waistband of his trousers to stop the animal falling out the bottom. It made him look six months pregnant, and in other circumstances, Marcus would have found it funny but not with his back to a wall, bullets flying too close to his nose for comfort while he waited for a lull in the hostilities so that he could return fire.
The guards in the pharmaceutical facility were good, but they were no match for a Scorpia strike team, even with added furry passengers. Alex, now Orion again, expertly lobbed a smoke grenade down the corridor then they all made a break for the ground floor corridor that led to the service entrance at the back of the building where Jarek, on high ground outside the compound, was steadily picking off anyone he didn’t like the look of – which in the sniper’s current mood was just about everyone he clapped eyes on. The only person he hadn’t drilled a high-velocity round into was a terrified elderly cleaner, cowering behind a bin. The lad clearly did have a heart – maybe he’d like a puppy …
The blast from the basement blew out every window on the first two floors. Marcus grinned. Yeah, there was no feeling like that adrenaline rush. Better than a shag any day.
Orion glanced over at him, looking pointedly at Marcus’ crotch and grinned back at him.
The kid might be batshit insane at times, and the wriggling, snuffling bundle of fluff inside Marcus’ jacket bore witness to that, but he was fucking entertaining to hang around with, and he never worried about blowing a big hole in their expense account as well as in whatever hapless structure he’d decided would look better as a pile of rubble.
Gregorovich had never managed to dampen his second in command’s enthusiasm for really big bangs and Marcus had never even tried. Gregorovich really ought to buy his protégé a quarry as a birthday present, then he could blow shit up to his heart’s content.
A screen of tyres announced the arrival of their transport just as a detachment of guards made an entrance stage right.
A bullet blew chips out of the breezeblock wall just to Marcus’ side, slicing through the material of his jacket.
A second later, he had the satisfaction of seeing Jarek take the cunt apart with a perfect headshot. If the puppy had been hit, Alex wasn’t going to be happy. He glanced down and found himself staring into a pair of wide brown eyes fringed by a mop of dirty blond hair. The bloody thing looked way too much like his boss when he’d just woken up. The little black nose snuffled at him, and a pink tongue shot out and licked his neck.
“Stay down, you daft little bugger,” Marcus muttered. “Big scary world out here, fluff-ball.”
“Did you just talk to that puppy, boss?” Adams said from the opposite side of the doorway.
Marcus shot his 2iC a filthy look.
Adams peered inside his own jacket, checking the status of his furry companion. A hairy nose sniffed the air then promptly retreated. “Wise move, Fido,” Adams told it.
Mace broke from cover long enough to lob a fragmentation grenade at the guards and under cover of the resulting blast, Adams and the others piled into the van, with Marcus and Orion providing covering fire.
As Orion dived for the open doors at the back of the van, the zip on his jacket slipped down and the dog he was carrying slipped out and promptly legged it.
Orion swore violently and ran after the dog.
Two of the guards had survived the frag grenade and one had the presence of mind to open fire.
Orion zig zagged across the tarmac in hot pursuit of his quarry, but four short hairy legs could cover the ground surprisingly fast.
Marcus swore even more luridly then hauled the pup he was carrying out of his jacket and tossed it to Aranda who caught the squirming creature one-handed. A heartbeat later, Marcus was out of the van and running as fast as he could on a course he hoped would put him in the right place to intercept the terrified dog.
Relying on his team to cover him, Marcus shot across the tarmac and threw himself into the dog’s path in a perfect flying tackle, scooping it up and passing it to Alex like a thin, hairy rugby ball with sharp teeth.
They both made it back to the van thanks to some impressive shooting by Jarek and Shale and as they slid across the floor, Adams hauled the doors closed and Ivey took off in another squeal of tyres as bullets thumped into the armoured exterior, while Jarek took out anyone who attempted to follow them.
“So, what the hell do we do with them, boss?” Marcus asked half an hour later, staring at the heap of pups, snuggled up to their mother in the middle of Alex’s combat jacket on the floor of the van. Their passengers had just finished tucking into a meal of chicken stew from some of their ration packs.
“Find an animal shelter,” Alex said, sitting on the floor and stroking one of the pups. “Then drop ‘em a shedload of dosh to take them in and find them good homes.” At the look on Marcus’s face, the kid added, “Even I’m not daft enough to take a load of puppies back to Malagosto.”
“Thank fuck for that,” Marcus said. He’d not been looking forward to having that conversation with Gregorovich.
Alex picked up one of the pups. “Although maybe we could make an exception for this little chap… ?”
“No!”
“But he’s all fluffy…”
“They’re all fucking fluffy.”
“And they’re cute …”
“Yes, boss, they’re cute. No, boss, we’re not keeping them.”
“What if one of them followed me home…?”
“You can keep Ivey as a pet instead. He’s cute if you close your eyes and ignore the way he farts.”
“Oi!”
****
Five weeks later, seven much healthier dogs arrived in Kent in an animal transport vehicle and were taken to a rescue shelter in Richmond.
They’d already been advertised on the charity’s website and there had been dozens of enquiries. The pups and their mother had all scrubbed up very well and were a far cry for the scrawny, filthy little bundles that had been taken into the rescue centre in Florence.
Their benefactor, who’d asked to remain anonymous, had given both the rescue centre in Italy and the charity in England a very substantial donation to cover veterinary bills and transport, with enough left over to leave both organisations in credit for several months to come.
Orion was the first puppy to find his family, but the others weren’t far behind. Cossack, their feisty young mother, ended up being adopted by the woman who ran the shelter. Washed and brushed, she’d turned out to be a beautiful ash-blond colour, outwardly placid, but with sharp teeth if anything upset her.
The names they’d arrived with had been odd, to put it mildly, but they’d stuck. Marcus, Adams, Shale, Jarek and Aranda. They all went to excellent homes.
Six months later, another large donation appeared in both charities’ bank accounts.
Someone had clearly been very taken with the little furry family they’d rescued.
****
By mutual agreement, Alex and Sagitta made no mention of the dogs in their post-mission report.
How they spent their bonus was their business.
What happened in Florence stayed in Florence.
And to Marcus’ relief, Gregorovich didn’t ask any awkward questions.