CHAPTER TWO — SERGEI OR ETHAN?

"You must be mistaken" — ethan hunt

ALEXIA FIDDLED NERVOUSLY IN HER SEAT AS SHE LISTENED TO JANE TALKING TO HER FATHER IN THE BACK. She was in utter disbelief, she couldn't believe it. Just hours prior she was strolling the dark Russian streets in search of the prison that now she had broken a man out of. And that man was her Father. They had to leave quite quickly and if it weren't for the fact her Father was in the van she would left earlier. Benji hadn't really noticed that the girl hadn't asked to be dropped off anywhere, he was to busy worrying about what was going to happen next.

The strange man, Ethan's passenger, was like a frightened bunny. His eyes darted around everywhere, unsure of his surroundings and the new people he didn't know. Alexia couldn't blame him for being confused.

Alexia glanced back into the van, only for Ethan Hunt, her Father, to lock eyes with the girl. She gulped nervously. Ethan furrowed his eyebrows, frowning at her presence. "Who's the kid?" He asked. Whipping her head back fast enough to get whiplash, Alexia removed her gaze from Ethan to look out of the window at the passing emergency vehicles heading to the prison.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

He had seen her now. There was no going back. Alexia sunk in her seat, slouching down and out of sight. Benji gave her a weird look and as soon as she noticed it, she sat up with a sigh. "My name's Alexia." She replied timidly.

"She travelled all this way to find her Dad." Benji cut in, causing Alexia to turn to the man and glare, but he continued nonetheless. "He's actually in the same prison you were. Cool, right?" He beamed. No one replied, and after a moment of awkward silence, Benji revealed to his friend. "She helped us get you out."

As Ethan glanced at the girl, he wasn't sure whether to be impressed with skill or concerned for her well being. In Alexia's experience, both was best. Ethan hummed softly. "You could've broken him out too." He suggested.

This was it. The truth was about to come out, she knew it. She didn't see a way out of this that didn't involve telling the truth and it was best if she was honest about. Well, she hoped so anyway.

Opening her mouth to respond, she found that no words came out. Gulping nervously, the teen took a shaky breath before stammering. "I—uh—I." She fumbled as she tugged at her sleeves and stretched the fabric. The way Benji was glancing at her and the silence in the van, it lead her to believe that they realised what she was trying to say. "I—uh—I... I did." Revealed Alexia, finally looking over her shoulder to meet Ethan's gaze.

Then the penny dropped.

"You must be mistaken." He insisted, shaking his head in denial. It wasn't possible. He couldn't have a kid. Being related to him was the equivalent to a death sentence and he couldn't do that to anyone again, especially not to an innocent child. Fortunately, Alexia was neither of those things.

Alexia shook her head, dismissing his theory, before retorting. "I have an IQ of 160, you really think I am mistaken?" A small 'damn' was heard from beside her as Benji let out a small gasp at her score. Alexia paid him no mind.

"Sorry, Alexia, was it?" The girl nodded. "I appreciate you help and all that, but I don't have a daughter." Ethan continued to protest pointlessly. She was his daughter, she knew it, it was just a matter of convincing him.

A small scoff escaped her lips as she exclaimed. "Yes, you do, whether you like it or not. I'm not anywhere and I don't care if it's dangerous."

Ethan sighed heavily and dragged a hand down his face in exasperation. "You really do sound like me." He mumbled to himself.

Curiosity took over the girl as she watched as jane grabbed a piece of equipment from the van and held it towards Ethan's face. Alexia noted how she hadn't seen it earlier, but she wasn't surprised, it was rather dark beforehand. Beside Ethan, his Russian friend was panicking still. "Sergei, what's going on?" He asked in Russian, panic evident in his voice. The name he used to address Ethan (Sergei) it must've been his cover name, Alexia quickly deduced.

"It's okay, Bogdan." Ethan tried to reassure his friend.

Benji then spoke up as Jane used the device in her hands to complete a retinal scan. "I don't mean to bring up the other elephant in the room, but what's with the big hairy Russian?" He asked what they were all thinking.

Without turning away from Jane, Ethan replied. "Who, Bogdan? He fed me intel. If I left him there, they would've killed him." As he explained, Alexia couldn't fight her smile. This man, her Father, was kind and considerate. He wouldn't let his friend die even when it was easier to leave him, after all, it wasn't like he had further use of the man. So despite the fact they found him in prison, Alexia could tell he was a good man and that made her smile widen. Jane then removed the device from Ethan's eyes who then continued. "So we're gonna give him his freedom. Did you call in the sweepers?"

"On their way."

"Good, good." Alexia just sat awkwardly in her seat, unsure as to what to do. Ethan frowned as he looked at his friend in the driver's seat. "Uh, Benji, how is it you're here?"

The teen watched as a bright, beaming smile spread across the man's face. "Oh, I passed the field exam. Crazy, right?" He chuckled.

"Congrats." Alexia said and that just made his smile brighten.

"Yeah." Ethan sighed in disbelief, but Alexia noted the sense of pride and joy he held for his friend's achievement. "Crazy."

As soon as Jane tried to put something in his mouth, he swatted her hand away. "DNA test." She informed him, showing the man what she was holding. Alexia couldn't stop herself from wondering whether that could be used to prove she was telling the truth, that they were Father and daughter. But she soon decided it wasn't the time for that. If Ethan was to accept her as his, then he would have to do it in his own time.

"It's me."

It's procedure." Jane countered. "I'm just confirming it's you."

Rolling his eyes, Ethan grumbled. "You're very thorough."

Alexia reached into her pocket, withdrawing her swiss army knife. Her mind wandered back to her Uncle in Cadiz, thinking about what he might be doing as she sat in a van with the man she set out to find. She wondered whether he was alright and if he missed her. She missed him.

"Sergei?" Bogdan queried, in English this time. "Are you not Russian?"

As she ran her thumb over the blade's casing, she glanced back into the van to see Ethan pull out a gun and check its magazine. "Relax." He attempted to calm his prison friend.

"Sweepers approaching!" Announced Benji. Alexia had heard Ethan use that word earlier but she had no clue what it meant, in the context they meant at least. Noticing the girl's perplexed look, Benji turned to Alexia and whispered. "I'll tell you later." Then he spoke up. "Brooms are out!"

She really had to brush up on her lingo.

"Roger that."

As Ethan continued to fiddle with his weapon, Alexia moved her gaze to Bogdan, the man extremely confused and scared. Two feelings she could currently relate to. "Sergei." He said, regaining his friend's attention. "Are you not Sergei?"

"Oh boy." Alexia muttered, dragging a hand down her face at the thought of what was about to happen. One awkward identity-revealing question was enough for one van ride.

She jumped in her seat as Bogdan was suddenly darted with a tranquiliser. The Russian let out a groan, his hand shooting up to where he had felt the impact. He frowned. It was Sergei — or Ethan — who had shot him: his friend. Neither him nor Alexia had seen that coming.

"You'll be fine." Ethan told him as he got up to extract the dart from Bogdan's neck. "Bogdan. I always take care of my friends."

"My friend." Slurred Bogdan as the sedative Ethan had shot him with immediately began to take effect. The man slumped, his limbs loose and his head drowsy. Must've been a strong sedative.

All of a sudden, the van halted. The side door opened then Ethan lowered Bogdan through it where he was caught by people in another van that had stopped right next to him.

"Holy shit." Alexia cursed at the sight. Now that was something she had never seen before.

Then both vans closed their doors and Bogdan was driven off in the opposite direction, no doubt to a safe place where he would be granted his freedom just as Ethan had promised.

Jane zipped up her bag before looking up at the agent before her. "Messy bringing him along."

Ethan smirked. "I thought it went rather well." He said and Alexia rolled her eyes at his smug tone.

"Mind telling me what you were doing in a Russian prison?" Inquired Jane. Both Benji and Alexia exchanged a look as they too wanted the answer to that question.

Pulling a jacket onto his shoulders, Ethan turned back to the woman. "Mind telling me why you broke me out?" He countered.

Alexia slipped her blade back into her pocket as she remained quiet. She wasn't an agent, she knew nothing about the mission Jane and Benji were sent on. So, she knew this wasn't her place to say anything. "This wasn't a rescue mission?" Frowned Jane.

Oh that wasn't good. Neither one knew what was happening.

"Uh, let me put it this way." Ethan began casually. "If the Secretary wanted me out of there, it must be pretty bad out here."

A brief moment of silence encapsulated the van, then Jane spoke up, breaking it. "We were after a file. We lost it." Alexia knew she wasn't supposed to hear this classified conversation. But to be fair, if she wanted to she could find out anyway with a half-decent computer and about an hour, probably less.

And if she was going to be involved (well, sort of involved at the very least) then it was probably a good idea to know what was going on.

"'We'? Who lost it? You?" Queried Ethan as he furrowed his eyebrows.

Alexia instantly spotted the look of sorrow on Jane's face as she fixed her gaze down on her hands that she was fiddling with. Then she revealed. "Agent Hanaway." The teen had to resist the urge to borrow one of Benji's computers to look up Agent Hanaway was and what he had done. Because whoever he was, he sounded important.

"Where's Hanaway?"

No reply came from Jane's lips as if she said aloud, it would become true, as if it would become real. Benji glanced at his friend through the rear-view mirror with concern and a shared grief upon his face. Hanaway was his friend too. Sensing this, Alexia turned to Benji and offered him a comforting smile which he gratefully accepted.

Sighing sadly, Jane then began her tale. She recalled Hanaway's last mission to Ethan; how the agent managed to intercept a courier they previously hadn't known the identity of. And how he wasn't the only one after what the man was carrying. How he was chased until someone else killed him. Agent Hanaway was dead.

Jane stared down at the van floor as tears trickled down from her eyes. "It was my op." She admitted. "I put him in the field. And she left him just alive enough for me to see him die."

Alexia liked to believe everything had a reasonable explanation, but as she listened to Jane story, she couldn't help but disagree with her own belief. Because how could anyone do such a thing? Wasn't killing a man not enough? Was it necessary to make his friends watch him go with no hope of saving him?

The girl quickly wiped her eyes to prevent any of the tears accumulating to spill. The death of Agent Hanaway was wrong, monstrous and inhumane. She understood grief. She understood fate being a cruel mistress. But she didn't have anyone to blame. You couldn't blame the sickness. But Jane and Benji had someone to blame. And Alexia couldn't imagine what that was like.

"I'm sorry." Ethan said sincerely.

Jane withdrew a phone from her pocket and held it up to Ethan. "You know her?" She asked. Alexia may have not been able to see what she was showing him, but she could only guess that it was a picture of the woman who shot and killed Hanaway.

Nodding softly, Ethan replied. "That's Sabine Moreau. Contract Killer. Works for diamonds." Well, that woman certainly had picky taste. But as Marilyn Monroe used to say 'Diamonds are a girl's best friend' not much in Alexia's case though. The way to her heart was most likely through a brand new computer. "What was in the file?" Inquired Ethan, causing Alexia to perk up curiously.

Jane didn't reply and instead refocused her gaze onto her hands. When no answer came from her lips, Ethan gave his colleague a look until finally, she replied with a burdened sigh. "Russian nuclear launch codes."

"Oh my Lovelace."

Ethan's expression twisted into alarm as his mind ticked away as he figured out who was behind it. "IMF's been looking for an emerging extremist. Code name: Cobalt. He's determined to detonate a nuclear weapon however he can." Cobalt definitely sounded like someone they didn't want to mess with or annoy. He also didn't sound very stable. "We know Moreau's worked for him before."

"What else does the IMF know about him."

With a disappointed shake of his head, Ethan replied. "As much as you do now." Alexia had to admit, that wasn't much. Then, he added. "But if Moreau's has nuclear launch codes, you can bet Cobalt's gone from a person of interest to enemy number one."

Heart racing inside her chest, Alexia tried to control her breathing as the severity of the situation washed over her. And she was frightened, even if she wouldn't admit it.

Benji looked past Alexia and out of the window as he brought the van to a stop. He then told the others. "We're here." When Alexia followed Benji's line of sight, she found him to be staring at a payphone. What was so important about a payphone, she couldn't help but wonder. It looked so normal. But maybe that was the point.

Ethan got out of the van and made a beeline for the phone. She let out a gasp as she watched him input some numbers and the entire thing opened up for a retinal scan. It really was amazing. Swiftly the teen exited the van to stand next to Jane, back resting against the metal door as Benji leaned over her seat to pop his head out of her side window.

"Why was he in prison?" Pondered Jane aloud. Alexia shrugged. It was hard enough getting his prison records, she didn't even manage to get the reason he was there.

Benji pursed his lips. "He disappeared after he and his wife... you know." Alexia glanced over at her Dad in thought. He knew he had a wife, she found that in his file, but she had no clue what happened to her. It was like everything she had on Ethan Hunt was just a few pieces of the puzzle, like a document that had mainly been blacked out. Benji continued. "I thought he'd just been transferred. Put on leave. There were rumours, though. Talk of an unsanctioned hit."

Now that did not sound like the man she was getting to know.

Alexia rose an eyebrow at the man she believed to be her Father as he started to walk away from the phone booth. After a moment, he stopped and frowned. Then, turning on his heels, he returned to the machine and wacked it with this fist. It immediately began to hiss and smoke. "Woah." Gasped the teen at the sight of the self-destructing message. It was like she was in a spy movie.

"What do you got?" Jane asked as Ethan made his way back towards them, hands stuffed deeply into his pockets/

Ethan paused. His eyes remained away from theirs as he digested the mission he had just been given. Then, rather nonchalantly, he announced. "We're going into the Kremlin."

"Holy Pascal's triangle!"

Benji darted out of the way as Alexia made a grab for the van door and she got inside as the man beside her let out a nervous chuckle.

"I thought you said 'The Kremlin'." Benji continued to laugh as Ethan got into the van along with Jane. He then repeated, hoping that what they heard was a mistake. "I thought you said 'The Kremlin'." When Ethan didn't reply, Benji knew it wasn't a joke. It was real. They were going into the Kremlin. Alexia strapped on her seatbelt then turned to the other techie who gulped nervously. "Okay."

Alexia's head was swimming. She couldn't believe it. But she had to because now she was caught in this whirlwind and there was no escape. The teen glanced at Agents Hunt and Carter in the rear-view mirror, the two both obviously worried about what they were about to do.

She found her Father, mission accomplished. But now she was going with him on his own mission. Never would she have expected it to turn out this way, not even in her craziest dreams. And she had had some crazy dreams.

They were going into probably the most famous building in all of Russia. Correction: they were breaking into the most the famous building in all of Russia. And there was no turning back now.

Rewritten as of: 23/07/23

Alexia and Ethan have met and the truth is out. Some people may think this is a bit fast, but 1) Ethan doesn't really accept it and 2) if she didn't say that he probably would have dropped her off somewhere. He had to hear it so she could stay.

Alexia is a non-religious genius so instead of saying "Oh my God" she now says things involving scientists and mathematicians. A little thing that I thought would be cool.

Alexia: this is like a spy film
Fourth wall: *non-existent*

This girl is so confused and overwhelmed. All she wanted to do was find her Dad and now she's swept up into this mess. Not great. But she soon adapts to her new environment.

Next chapter: Alexia goes on her first mission!!!

Thank you for reading!!!

Sincerely Rosie aka Winter326