#herod sayle

[imnotadogiswear]

Here are some meme ideas I have for my Villains React concept

[winter-wise]

Alex Rider was fun when the books came out, but as an adult I can recognise that the plot of the first book is literally "Man was subjected to years of racial abuse by the privileged upper class and decided to kill thousands of children as revenge" which has. problems.

[spiritandthephantoms]

Part 10 of amazing fanfic quotes

 "...Mate, this is a pet shop. What do you want me to do? Feed a hamster steroids?"

[arshipweek]

AR Ship Week - The Four Yassen Gregorovichs

This is the third weekly post in the lead up to Alex Rider Ship Week.  Only 2 weeks to go!

This week we’ve got a fantastic guest submission by AFewBulbsShortofaTanningBed, all about the different characterisations of Yassen Gregorovich.

The Four Yassen Gregorovichs by AFewBulbsShortofaTanningBed

presented roughly in the order in which they came to be

Yassen Gregorovich is one of the most important and iconic characters of the Alex Rider series, one half of the fandom’s most popular ship, Yalex, and the catalyst to many of the series’ most important events - Ian’s death and Alex’s introduction to the spy world, as well as Alex’s being sent to Scorpia and learning of his father’s history with them. He is also, indirectly, a cause of the events of Snakehead - Alex decides to work with ASIS and Ash in part because he wants to know more about Yassen.

Thus far, there have been four official interpretations of Yassen: the original books (of which he appears in three: Stormbreaker, Eagle Strike, and Russian Roulette, a Yassen-focused prequel); the 2006 movie, where he is played by a scenery-chewing Damian Lewis; the ongoing tv series, where he is played by a menacing and mysterious Thomas Levin; and the graphic novel adaptations of the books (of which there have been six thus far.) The following is an overview of each Yassen and how each is written in fic/shippiness. Spoilers ahead!

BOOK YASSEN

illustration by inkyquail

Appearance: close-cropped blond/light hair, blue eyes (which as a child look “permanently surprised”), “almost feminine” eyelashes, chiseled lips and a smooth face (what do these mean? Who knows!), appears “in his late twenties”, the body of a dancer” (there are further mentions of a “sleek dancer’s body”), said to be small for his age and shorter than John as an adult.

Scar: long and straight “as if it had been drawn with a ruler” on his neck, acquired on a mission with John Rider as depicted at the beginning of Eagle Strike; easily hidden by collar if plot demands it.

Accent: none, or a faint Russian accent, depending on the book.

First meeting with Alex: on the rooftop of Sayle Enterprises, right after killing Herod Sayle.

There were two small explosive cracks.

Alex looked down, expecting to see blood. There was nothing. He couldn’t feel anything. Then Sayle staggered and fell onto his back. There were two gaping holes in his chest.

The helicopter landed in the center of the cross. The pilot got out.

Still holding the gun that had killed Herod Sayle, he walked over and examined the body, prodding it with his shoe. Satisfied, he nodded to himself, tucking the gun away. He had switched off the engine of the helicopter and behind him the blades slowed down and stopped. Alex stepped forward. The man seemed to notice him for the first time.

“You’re Yassen Gregorovich,” Alex said.

The Russian nodded. It was impossible to tell what was going on in his head. His clear blue eyes gave nothing away.

“Why did you kill him?” Alex asked.

“Those were my instructions.” There was no trace of an accent in his voice. He spoke softly, reasonably. “He had become and embarrassment. It was better this way.”

“Not better for him.”

Yassen shrugged.

“What about me?” Alex asked.

The Russian ran his eyes over Alex, as if weighing him up. “I have no instructions concerning you,” he said.

“You’re not going to shoot me too?”


“Do I have any need to?”

There was a pause. The two of them gazed at each other over the corpse of Herod Sayle.

“You killed Ian Rider,” Alex said. “He was my uncle.”

Yassen shrugged. “I kill a lot of people.”

“One day I’ll kill you.”

“A lot of people have tried.” Yassen smiled. “Believe me,” he said, “it would be better if we didn’t meet again. Go back to school. Go back to your life. And the next time they ask you, say no. Killing is for grown-ups and you’re still a child.”

He turned his back on Alex and climbed into the cabin. The blades started up, and a few seconds later, the helicopter rose back into the air. For a moment it hovered at the side of the building. Behind the glass, Yasen raised his hand. A gesture of friendship? A salute? Alex raised his hand. The helicopter spun away.

Alex stood where he was, watching it, until it had disappeared into the dying light.

Other key moments: The Fer-de-lance, Alex’s failed assassination attempt, and subsequent bull-fighting incident (illustrated here by the excellent inkyquail)

There was a slight tremble in the hand holding the gun and he brought his other hand up to steady it.

“You have my gun,” Yassen said.

Alex took a breath.

“Do you intend to use it?”

Nothing.

Yassen continued calmly. “I think you should consider very carefully. Killing a man is not like you see on the television. If you pull that trigger, you will fire a real bullet into real flesh and blood. I will feel nothing; I will be dead instantly. But you will live with what you have done for the rest of your life. You will never forget it.” He paused, letting his words hang in the air. “Do you really have it in you, Alex? Can you make your finger obey you? Can you kill me?” Alex was rigid, a statue… “Maybe you have forgotten what I once told you. This isn’t your life. This has nothing to do with you.” Yassen was totally relaxed. There was no emotion in his voice. He seemed to know Alex better than Alex knew himself. Alex tried to look away, to avoid the calm blue eyes that were watching him with something like pity.

Air Force One and the “I love you” speech

“He saved my life. In a way, I loved him. I love you too, Alex. You are so very much like him. I’m glad you’re here with me now… If you don’t believe me, go to Venice. Find Scorpia. And you will find your destiny…”

Russian Roulette - the eponymous book as a whole, particularly his relationship with John (which has given rise to numerous John/Yassen fics)

Backstory: Given to us in Russian Roulette and Snakehead. Yassen grew up as Yasha Gregorovich, a young Russian boy living in a tiny village called Estrov, hundreds of miles south of Moscow. Unbeknownst to him, his parents and many of the villagers work at a factory manufacturing weaponized anthrax, and an accident at the factory leads to the destruction of Estrov and the deaths of everybody there besides Yassen. (It’s very heartbreaking.)

The whump doesn’t stop there for Yassen; he is betrayed by his parents’ friend, lives on the street for a while, and is eventually captured by Vladimir Sharkovsky, a cruel man who forces Yassen to play a game of Russian roulette for his life, and who Yassen eventually learns was responsible for the destruction of Estrov. There isn’t anything Yassen can do about it, though; he is forced work as a slave for Sharkovsky, as both household laborer and food taster who is frequently tormented by Sharkovsky and his son, Ivan. Several years later, a Scorpia assassin is contracted to kill Sharkovsky, and Yassen escapes with him, thereafter brought to Malagosto and trained as an assassin.

Though he excels in many aspects of training, he struggles with taking a life; due to his potential, he is given a second chance, this time under the tutelage of John Rider, an experienced assassin. John isn’t entirely trustworthy, but treats Yassen with more kindness than he has received in years, and saves his life during one of their missions (the scar incident.) He doesn’t think that Yassen is cut out to be an assassin, emphasizing the harshness and loneliness of the life while pointing out that he has lots of potential and can work elsewhere, have a gentler life. Yassen is on the cusp of leaving Scorpia and the world of espionage and murder behind when he learns that John works for MI6; betrayed and devastated, he plays one final game of Russian roulette (with five bullets and one empty chamber) to determine the course of the rest of his life - he doesn’t want to be a killer, but John’s betrayal has convinced him that there is no world in which he lives and can be anything else. Yassen lives, murders Sharkovsky and his son Ivan, and returns to Scorpia, vowing to become the best assassin he can and loyal to nobody but himself to spite John.

Some time after his return, Yassen and John are in Mdina where John is to be extracted by MI6, in what is staged as a capture. However, the mission goes wrong, and Yassen kills many members of the extraction team and stabs John’s best friend, Ash, in the stomach, leaving him with lifelong pain and disability and contributing to his resentment of John and his decision to agree to Scorpia’s offer to work for them and have the Rider family killed with a bomb in their plane.

Important relationships:

Alex Rider (a parallel and foil, he’s responsible for killing Ian Rider, the closest thing Alex had to a parent and his last remaining family member, and for indirectly throwing him into the world of espionage, and later on sending him to Scorpia. Though usually ruthless and unemotional, he becomes emotionally compromised when Alex comes into play.)

John Rider (mentor, saved his life, gave him the training that allowed him to survive. His lessons affected Yassen’s approach to being an assassin - someone with no attachments, no loyalty, no sentimentality. Though he is revealed to be working for MI6, Yassen still feels gratitude and loyalty towards him for the training he gave him and the time he saved his life, and still loves him over a decade after his death. This in turn leads him to spare Alex multiple times despite orders and opportunities to kill him, and to save his life with Sayle.)

Vladimir Sharkovsky (responsible for the destruction of Estrov and deaths everybody Yassen knew and loved and then personally tormented him for years, his treatment of Yassen is often interpreted as haunting him long after he escapes - often in subtle ways)

Fics: Being the original version and the one that has introduced most fans to the fandom, this is the Yassen who is written about most and who has the longest history of fics about him. You can find book!Yassen in some of the earliest fics of the fandom (though this author does not know how to use ff.net or livejournal and at this point doesn’t believe she will ever learn), and he continues to be popular in fics, in whole or in part, today. The way Yassen is written has evolved significantly, influenced by both the release of the movie (which likely led to a number of fics that favored a more sinister Yassen), and Russian Roulette (which gave us his sympathetic and whumpy backstory and likely led to increased interest in Yassen - replacing K Unit as Alex’s most popular adult companion(s).) More than any other adaptation of Yassen, the books portray Yassen and Alex as parallels and foils, emphasized by their similar appearances and histories, as well as matching scars - both have been shot in the chest and along the side of the neck.

BoldAsBrass - Christmas in Chelsea, New Rules, Exit strategy BurntWhisper - Overture in G Minor Suzie_Shooter - Lights Out series Ireliss - alone together fredbassett - Coins in the Fountain (Yassen Gregorovich/Monica Peretti, inspired by the short story The White Carnation)

MOVIE YASSEN

Appearance: Damian Lewis, red hair and all, taller than Alex (Rider and Pettyfer)

Scar: none???

Accent: heavy, Russian

First meeting with Alex: all the nonsense with the vials in the lab

Other key moments: Campy highlights include the assassination at the beginning

and of course, the rooftop scene

Important relationships

Alex (confrontation over vials, saves his life, tells Alex to forget him and shrugs knowingly when Alex says he won’t, possibly arranged for fog machines and violin music for reasons unknown)

???

No relationship with Ian that we know of, aside from killing him in the most iconic way possible

Backstory: who knows!

Fics: The second interpretation of Yassen and the first one we see onscreen, this Yassen has sadly fallen out of fic-writing favor in recent years. As compared with present-day book!Yassen, movie!Yassen is often written as more suave, confident, and sexually forward. He is also very, very Extra. Though fics tend to tone down his more dramatic tendencies, he remains the campiest of the Yassens. I hope for a resurgence in popularity someday.

RimauSuaLay - No Enemies yaseanne - A brief and tentative excursion abrandnewboom - keep you like an oath

TV YASSEN

Appearance: Thomas Levin - brunet, dark eyes, stockier build and perpetual five-o-clock shadow, long and dramatic black coat, shorter than Alex (heh)

Scar: prominent and on the side of his face, somewhat spider-webby, impossible to miss

Accent: nonspecific, non-native accent; American accent skills shown off at one point

First meeting with Alex: the “Alex Friend” scene (can be found here in a gifset by emziess)

Other key moments

Killing Ian Rider

The rooftop at the end of season 1 where he shoots Julius Grief (here)

The time he nearly shot Alex but then didn’t, concealing Alex’s identity, protecting him on Air Force one, telling him about his father (spectacular moments show in this gifset and this one)

Important relationships:

Alex (similar to the above descriptions, he’s saved his life numerous times and has shown a soft spot for him - hopefully to be explored further)

Ian (unlike the books, the encounter between Ian and Yassen at the beginning of season 1 seems to suggest that Yassen has some sort of personal history with Ian, beyond being his murderer. What that history is, we do not know!)

John Rider (not explored yet, but Yassen says that they worked together. Something that will likely be explored in season 3.)

Backstory: in general, a mystery. We get suggestions that he has a history with Ian, a history with John, and that he was thought to be dead for years. These will hopefully be explored further in season 3!

Fics: The biggest changes (aside from physical appearance and tv-specific events) that I have noticed between how tv Yassen is written in fic as compared to book Yassen is the use of the nickname “Yas” and an increased emphasis on his relationship with Ian - and concomitant increase in Ian/Yassen (aka Yian) fics. (As we saw in the post for week 1 of ship week, it is the most popular ship over the past year behind Yalex!) Numerous fics also incorporate elements of both tv and book Yassen, for instance, including both elements of book!Yassen’s backstory from RR and tv!Yassen’s possible history with Ian and encounters with Alex, or blending their appearances (i.e. a Yassen with blond hair, a facial scar, and a black coat.) He is less of a super-assassin than in the books or tv series, with abilities that seem more grounded in reality and closer to those of a normal hitman, and is less prone to dramatics.

fredbassett - I Spy series (starring Yassen/Ian!) Nanimok: i do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief; Spies and Recreation; The Alec Walker series; Just Say I do (featuring a combo of book and tv show, which seems not uncommon) kelkblr - The French Connection

GRAPHIC NOVEL YASSEN

Appearance: at a glance, I thought that his appearance was meant to be similar to Damian Lewis, but with darker red hair (closer to an auburn.) Upon closer inspection, his face is in fact quite different, as is his build. He has blue eyes and pale skin, but doesn’t look particularly feminine, and his eyelashes are not particularly notable. Taller than Alex.

Scar: Only when the artist remembers it’s supposed to be there. Usually no.

Accent: ???

First meeting with Alex: a blend of book and movie (the adaptation of Stormbreaker incorporates elements of both), on rooftop after killing Sayle

Other key moments: Pulls the same dangling-from-a-helicopter nonsense as movie version

and refusing to kill Alex followed by the “I love you” moment from Eagle Strike

Important relationships:

Alex (like the books and movie)

John (similar to the books thus far, though Russian Roulette has not yet been released)

Fics: none :(

Graphic novel Yassen has the distinction of being the most forgotten Yassen, and thus, he has no fics attributed to him, shippy or otherwise. I’m not entirely sure why this is, though I have some theories. It could be in part due to limited availability of the graphic novels, limited publicity, and slow release; that they do not add much of anything that has not already been portrayed in the books or movie, so there is no new material to grab fannish attention; and that they do not provide a visual of a book-accurate Yassen but instead create yet another version that is, unfortunately, not as pretty as the Yassen of the books and thus is not nearly as alluring. Perhaps this ship week, graphic novel Yassen will finally get recognized!

[zevfern]

Alex Rider season 1 review! Spoilers below:

What a ride, pun intended. It's not perfect, and it's far from accurate, but it's still pretty fun and entertaining.

First off, let's get the complaining out of the way:

Quite a bit of the casting isn't accurate to the books. Blunt doesn't look like Jeremy Clarkson, Mrs. Jones and Eva Stellenbosch are much too pretty, Dr. Greif was cast to look more like Herod Sayle (especially odd since he's supposed to be from Apartheid period South Africa) and Yassen Gregorovitch looks like Noel Gallagher if he had been a successful boxer and not a rockstar.

No SAS training for Alex like in Stormbreaker means that Wolf isn't much more than just an interrogator who shows up later to shoot people. Really disappointed, as Alex gaining Wolf's respect and Wolf reappearing in Point Blanc are highlights of both books and could have been included in the series (maybe budget constraints prevented this?)

WHERE ARE THE GADGETS? All they give Alex is the Walkman MP3 player and it doesn't even work for sending out the distress signal like it does in the book. No exploding earring or CD player buzzsaw :(

The secondary storylines with Tom and MI-6 investigating Scorpio are somewhat hamfisted, and if not for the final episode would not have a good payoff.

Alright, now for the good stuff, and there's a lot:

Alex and Tom's friendship is great, and Tom finding out about Alex's spy recruitment and visiting him at the Friend mansion is great! It helps to humanize Alex, who at times came off as a mix between James Bond and (name redacted) in the books, and Tom gets to be a supporting hero in the story, as he is crucial in the final fight between Alex and Alex's clone since he manages to tell them apart.

Point Blanc (as in the school) is exactly like I imagined when I first read the book, hats off to the producers and scenery department. The uniforms and such are also really cool, and helped with some subtle storytelling (the Kyra clone reveal!)

Speaking of Kyra, despite being an original character who's not in the book I still liked her. She somewhat supplants James Spritz as Alex's main friend in Point Blanc (he's still there, he's just focused on less), and I did like that the writers restrained themselves from using her as a love interest for Alex. I wonder whether she'll show back up later or not.

Yassen, despite not looking all that tough or imposing, still managed to keep the intense intimidating aura he has in the books. Will be looking forwards to seeing him again next season.

As mentioned earlier, if not for the Tom/MI-6 side storylines the final confrontation between Alex and his clone would be much as it was in the book, a swerve that came out of nowhere but was still very exiting. Giving it real stakes for Alex really improved it! A shame the clone got killed, but maybe that's a good thing since Scorpia Rising won't get adapted (as it was the original ending for the book series before Horowitz decided to write more for some reason and the writing suffers for it)

Overall, I'm still really happy I finally watched this, the show runners did a great job with their adaptation. I'm pretty sure the next season will do something similar to season one where elements of another book bleed into the one actually being adapted, but this is still much better than butcherings like the Stormbeaker movie.

[barrenceallence]

literally the last thing i could have ever wanted was tragic backstory for DAMIAN CRAY.

Okay started Alex rider season 2 and instantly crying form first episode alone. What did I ever do to deserve Otto farrant as Alex rider

[fagcrush]

in response to ur "characters you could selfship with" post. im reading the first alex rider novel rn and ... herod sayle is kinda you. hes a weird shady tech company guy who hunts animals and keeps jellyfish and also his butler used to do knife swallowing until that guy fucked up so i guess. knife swallower to butler to a weird tech guy pipeline? also sayle got bullied by the fucking prime minister and decided that was his villain arc. very silly guy i love him u might too

Omg I love that sm... Real

[sassmasteralexrider]

- Stormbreaker (2006)

[imnotadogiswear]

I’ve only read up to Ark Angel at this point but here are some more ideas for a villains react to the books fic:

Begins with Russian Roulette so everyone knows what Yassen’s deal is

Smithers becomes a prime target for revenge/kidnapping

Cray begrudgingly respecting Alex for dropping Skoda on a police conference

Sharkovsky twists how he treated Yassen: “He ate fine food every day!”

Everyone compares their henchmen

Grief being his charming racist self

Rothman gets called out for her creepy behavior (like seriously, she called a 14-year-old her “boy toy”)

Sarov still caring about Alex

Yassen is mocked for his attachment to the Riders

Every character tears into each other’s mistakes

In the end they’re all transported to before the series began. What changes do they make?

Feel free to add on ideas!

[azurenightowl]

When Alex looks back, analyses his memories of the rooftop with Sayle, on the Helipad, he can’t help but notice that Yassen Gregorovich’s hair is the same shade of pale, blond-gold as his. It probably shouldn’t stick in his mind as long as it does.

[literatureandbeyond]

Who Killed Ian Rider?

Okay so despite both the movie and the TV show having Yassen shoot Ian in the head on screen, in the books that never happens. Ian and Yassen are never in a scene together at all if I’m remembering the books correctly.

As well as this, when Alex finds Ian’s car it has a load of bullet holes in it and I think we can all agree that a machine gun is not Yassen’s style in any interpretation of him whether that be the book, movie, TV show or even fanfiction.

But also at the rooftop scene at the end of Stormbreaker Yassen never confirms it. Sure he didn’t deny it but it’s not like Alex would have believed him if he said he didn’t. Yassen was an assassin and literally had just killed a man.

And then to make Yassen killing Ian even more unbelievable, Yassen was on a submarine on his way to Cornwall from Asia at the time. He wasn’t even in the country. Sure he was a good assassin but I’m pretty sure he couldn’t teleport no matter how much training and experience he had.

So who killed Ian Rider then?

Alan Blunt.

(I am going to slightly defend Ian at this point, I’m sorry)

So Alan Blunt only recruits Alex after Ian’s death. Well Ian was the only person who ever would have been able to do anything to stop Blunt from using Alex as a spy and with him dead Alex had no one able to protect him from MI6, therefore, we have the book series.

So Ian was the only thing stopping Blunt from getting to Alex who, in Blunt’s eyes, would be a perfect spy. Blunt would easily have the connections needed to get an agent killed. All he had to do was tipoff Herod Sayle to Ian’s true identity and that’s Ian dead.

By telling Alex that Yassen killed his uncle, Blunt made sure that Alex would never listen to anything the assassin said, presuming Blunt knew Yassen was who John had trained when undercover and was being cautious - SCORPIA could have used that to get Alex to join them, I mean it worked in Eagle Strike.

All of this together meant that by Alan Blunt getting Ian killed would mean he would have complete control over Alex and no-one would be able to stop him from sending Alex on more and more dangerous missions - he had the power to blackmail or get rid of anyone who tried to stop him.

Either that or I read way to much into things and Anthony Horowitz just can’t do timelines (but we kind of knew that already).

[irelise]

Yassen Gregorovich - Books vs TV

With the excellent new Alex Rider tv show out, I thought I would make a comparison post for one of my old favs, Yassen Gregorovich, who has a somewhat different feel in the books as compared to the show! This post will largely cover the first book Stormbreaker and should theoretically contain no spoilers for the potential future arcs of the show, since the events of Stormbreaker are presumably non-canon now. (Spoilers abound for the episodes of the show already out, though!)

If there’s any interest, I’ll put up a second post covering Eagle Strike and some parts of Russian Roulette that delves deeper into Yassen and his complicated relationship with Alex. Just let me know!

Much like the show, Yassen was the one who killed Ian Rider. Unlike the show, however, he’s known to be active on the field and the first time we “encounter” him is prior to Alex’s first mission, where Mrs Jones gives Alex a warning:

She took out a black-and-white photograph and laid it on the table. It showed a man in a white T shirt and jeans. He was in his late twenties with light, close cropped hair, a smooth face, the body of a dancer. The photograph was slightly blurred. It had been taken from a distance, possibly with a hidden camera. “I want you to look at this,” she said.

"I’m looking."

“His name is Yassen Gregorovich. He was born in Russia, but he now works for many countries. Iraq has employed him. Also Serbia, Libya, and China.”

“What does he do?” Alex asked.

"He’s a contract killer, Alex. We believe it was he who killed Ian Rider.”

There was a long pause. Alex had almost managed to persuade himself that this whole business was just some sort of crazy adventure…a game. But looking at the cold face with its blank, hooded eyes, he felt something stirring inside him and knew it was fear. He remembered his uncle’s car, shattered by bullets. A man like this, a contract killer, would do the same to him. He wouldn’t even blink.

[…]

“Why are you telling me this now?” Alex asked. His mouth had gone dry.

"Because if you see him, if Yassen is anywhere near Sayle Enterprises, I want you to contact us at once."

“And then?"

“We’ll pull you out. It doesn’t matter how old you are, Alex. If Yassen finds out you’re working for us, he’ll kill you too.”

I always thought this was a pretty good introductory scene -- Yassen has a very deadly reputation in the books, which is established at once then hammered in over and over again. Other traits which come up again and again include his coldness and his dancer’s body which is totally something I’m into, gotta love those “elegant and deadly assassin” tropes

(also, yes, Yassen is blond in the books and definitely not a brunet or even a redhead as in the movie. he also doesn’t have a distinctive facial scar!)

Yassen doesn’t actually have many scenes in Stormbreaker, although the shadow of his presence looms pretty darkly over the narrative. Alex only runs into him twice on the mission: once from a distance -- A lean, fair-haired figure dressed in black detached himself from the assembly line and walked languidly toward a door that slid open to receive him -- and the other encounter also occurs from a distance, when Alex is spying on a mysterious delivery at the docks in the dead of the night...

And then the tower opened and a man climbed out, stretching himself in the cold morning air. Even without the half-moon, Alex would have recognized the sleek dancer’s body and the close cropped-hair of the man whose photograph he had seen only a few days before. It was Yassen Gregorovich. Alex stared at him with growing fear. This was the contract killer Mrs. Jones had told him about. The man who had murdered Ian Rider. He was dressed in grey overalls and sneakers. He was smiling. He was the last person Alex wanted to meet.

[…]

Meanwhile, the guards from Sayle Enterprises had formed a line stretching back almost to the point where the vehicles were parked. Yassen gave an order and, as Alex watched from behind the rocks, a metallic silver box with a vacuum seal appeared, held by unseen hands at the top of the submarine’s tower. Yassen himself passed it down to the first of the guards, who then passed it back up the line. About forty more boxes followed, one after another. It took almost an hour to unload the submarine. The men handled the boxes carefully. They obviously didn’t want to break whatever was inside.

By the end of the hour they were almost finished. The boxes were being repacked now into the back of the truck that Alex had vacated. And that was when it happened. One of the men, standing on the jetty, dropped one of the boxes. He managed to catch it again at the last minute, but even so it banged down heavily on the stone surface. Everyone stopped. Instantly. It was as if a switch had been thrown and Alex could almost feel the raw fear in the air.

Yassen was the first to recover. He darted forward along the jetty, moving like a cat, his feet making no sound. He reached the box and ran his hands over it, checking the seal, then nodded slowly. The metal wasn’t even dented.

With everyone so still Alex heard the exchange that followed.

“I’m sorry,” the guard said. “I won’t do that again.”

“No. You won’t,” Yassen agreed, and shot him.

Largely a reaffirmation of what we saw from the photograph scene, this time in person: Yassen is generally quiet, understated and deceptively relaxed -- up until the point he murders somebody without blinking. I think the show does a good job capturing that aspect of Yassen, with scenes like Ian’s death and Dr. Greif in the car coming to mind in particular. Gotta love that pairing of Yassen’s generally calm demeanour with the bursts of restrained yet lethal violence!

Some other minor but interesting character notes: despite being one of the most highly-paid and successful assassins in the world, Yassen is perfectly comfortable doing grunt work (passing boxes, dressing in shitty grey overalls). Similarly, despite being (presumably) more comfortable working alone, he’s also at ease with giving orders and coordinating large groups of people.

Now, moving onto the last time Yassen shows up in Stormbreaker. This is right at the end of the book after Alex successfully foils the plot of the big bad (Herod Sayle), only to get kidnapped by him while his guard is down. Sayle takes them to a rooftop where a helicopter is coming to whisk Sayle away, but first he wants to have some revenge...

"That’s my ticket out of here!” Sayle continued. “They’ll never find me! And one day I’ll be back. Next time, nothing will go wrong. And you won’t be here to stop me. This is the end for you! This is where you die!”

There was nothing Alex could do. Sayle raised the gun and took aim, his eyes wide, the pupils blacker than they had ever been, mere pinpricks in the bulging white.

There were two small explosive cracks.

Alex looked down, expecting to see blood. There was nothing. He couldn’t feel anything. Then Sayle staggered and fell onto his back. There were two gaping holes in his chest.

The helicopter landed in the center of the cross. The pilot got out.

Still holding the gun that had killed Herod Sayle, he walked over and examined the body, prodding it with his shoe. Satisfied, he nodded to himself, tucking the gun away. He had switched off the engine of the helicopter and behind him the blades slowed down and stopped. Alex stepped forward. The man seemed to notice him for the first time.

"You’re Yassen Gregorovich,” Alex said.

The Russian nodded. It was impossible to tell what was going on in his head. His clear blue eyes gave nothing away.

"Why did you kill him?” Alex asked.

“Those were my instructions.” There was no trace of an accent in his voice. He spoke softly, reasonably. “He had become an embarrassment. It was better this way."

"Not better for him.”

Yassen shrugged.

“What about me?” Alex asked.

The Russian ran his eyes over Alex, as if weighing him up. “I have no instructions concerning you,” he said.

"You’re not going to shoot me too?”

"Do I have any need to?”

There was a pause. The two of them gazed at each other over the corpse of Herod Sayle.

“You killed Ian Rider,” Alex said. “He was my uncle.”

Yassen shrugged. “I kill a lot of people"

“One day I’ll kill you.”

“A lot of people have tried.” Yassen smiled. “Believe me,” he said, “it would be better if we didn’t meet again. Go back to school. Go back to your life. And the next time they ask you, say no. Killing is for grown-ups and you’re still a child.”

He turned his back on Alex and climbed into the cabin. The blades started up, and a few seconds later, the helicopter rose back into the air. For a moment it hovered at the side of the building. Behind the glass, Yassen raised his hand. A gesture of friendship? A salute?

Alex raised his hand. The helicopter spun away.

Alex stood where he was, watching it, until it had disappeared in the dying light.

HOO BOY where to start! This is a longer scene compared to the rest but I love it so much, it’s probably the best part of Stormbreaker for me and obviously it’s fairly different from the show. I adore the last scene of the show since the tension was delightful, but this hit in a different way. Alex! And Yassen! Actually talking!!! It’s a sparse scene (like most of AH’s writing), but very atmospheric and loaded with meaning all the same.

Let’s start with the obvious stuff first - book!Yassen is fair-haired and blue-eyed (or grey, depending), and has a very measured way of speaking without any accent at all. He very much falls into the archetype of “inscrutable Russian assassin with a mysterious connection to the protagonist” and it’s delightful.

I do like the fact we only really see Yassen in person for two scenes in the entire book, and both times he kills someone ruthlessly and efficiently. (...yes, he did kill Sayle while piloting a helicopter) His reputation is well-deserved and I think the show does an excellent job with that too; every time we see Yassen on screen there’s a feeling that shit is about to go down and somebody is about to die.

The show also does a pretty good job hinting at the connection between Yassen and Alex (ughh Yassen’s expression when he sees Alex for the first time kills me every time). In Stormbreaker, Yassen does (initially) seem colder towards Alex, emotionless, just a man on a job. But even then, we get little hints of warmth shining through such as the way he smiles when Alex promises to kill him, and of course the salute! It’s pretty clear that Yassen has some measure of fondness for Alex, because no way an assassin would normally just let somebody go after they promised to kill him, even if that person is only a teenage boy (especially considering that teenage boy is driven by a desire to take revenge on his uncle’s killer). I also think it’s interesting that Alex reciprocates his salute. He’s clearly aware (even if only subconsciously) of the connection between the two of them.

Though I think what hits the hardest for me is the fact Yassen is the one to tell Alex that he belongs in school, that he’s a child and he shouldn’t be part of this world. Alex in the books is much, much lonelier compared to the show. There was no Jack or Tom there for him, since Jack was kept completely out of the loop and Tom doesn’t even exist in the book. Wolf and the K-Unit largely either ignored or bullied Alex. As for Blunt and Jones, Alex just saved thousands of kids in England yet the only thing MI6 tells him afterwards is that his actions can never be revealed to the public, his youth will make him useful for future missions, and then the only thing they give him is a doctor’s note(!!!) to explain his absence from school.

If that sounds all sorts of terrible and unfair, Alex agrees:

In the end the big difference between him and James Bond wasn’t a question of age. It was a question of loyalty. In the old days spies had done what they’d done because they loved their country, because they believed in what they were doing. But he’d never been given a choice.

Nowadays, spies weren’t employed. They were used.

And of all the people to point out how fucked up the whole situation is and how Alex needs to get out...it’s Yassen, the contract killer, his uncle’s murderer. And Yassen says it straight to Alex’s face instead of just making token protests about how wrong it is to send a teenage boy into danger and then doing it anyway. I think the moment had a fairly big impact on Alex, and I was sad it wasn’t included in the show, but ah well. Another time, maybe?

BONUS

OK i know this was meant to be a book vs tv show thing BUT I WOULD BE REMISS IN MY DUTIES NOT TO LINK TO THE LAST SCENE AS DEPICTED IN THE OLD MOVIE

‘2 minutes of questionable everything’ from the video description about sums it up. the violins. the closeness. the long lingering looks. “i’ll never forget you.”

Anyway, hope this was interesting and at least a bit informative! Do let me know there’s any interest in a part 2 of this post covering Eagle Strike and maybe a bit of Russian Roulette!

[movedyoakkemae]

alex's second "therapy" session. / do not reblog.

Dr. Feng: Alex, the last time we spoke, you told me how your uncle, Ian Rider, prepared you to be a spy. How were you actually recruited into MI6?

Alex: I don't want to tell you.

Dr. Feng: Why not?

Alex: It's classified.

Dr. Feng: You remember, then.

Alex: Yes.

Dr. Feng: It's important to go over these details. I need to know that your memory is functioning properly... that there hasn't been any damage as a result of the injury to your head. And as I've explained to you, I work for MI6 too. Have you forgotten that?

Alex: Why are you keeping me here? I want to leave.

Dr. Feng: Then the sooner we get through this, the sooner we can make that happen.

A long pause. Subject trying to remain silent.

Alex: All right. I was recruited after Ian died. At first, they told me he had been killed in a car accident. It seems to me that MI6 tells quite a lot of lies about car accidents.

Dr. Feng: You think I'm lying to you?

Alex: I didn't say that.

Dr. Feng: Go on.

Alex: I tried to find out how Ian had been killed and that led me to MI6. I nearly got myself killed... twice. The first time, I hid in a car crusher and they started it up. And then I climbed out a window to get into Ian's office.

Dr. Feng: And what did you find?

Alex: Nothing. The whole thing was a waste of time. It was a test. Alan Blunt had already decided he wanted to use me.

Dr. Feng: Who is Alan Blunt?

Alex: He's the chief executive of MI6 Special Operations. If you work for MI6, how come you don't know that?

Dr. Feng: I do know that, Alex. I'm just testing your memory.

Alex: Alan Blunt needed someone to investigate a company called Sayle Enterprises, which had a manufacturing plant down in Cornwall. That was where they were making a brand-new computer -- the Stormbreaker -- and the owner, Herod Sayle, had offered to give one, free, to every school in the UK. Blunt knew there was something dodgy about him and he asked me to check him out. I went into the plant under a false name. There was a boy who had won some competition to visit the factory and I took his place.

Dr. Feng: What happened to Herold Sayle?

Alex: Somebody shot him. It wasn't me. I never wanted to kill anyone. And when I was sent on my missions, I was never given any weapons, nothing that could seriously hurt someone. Mr. Blunt never let me have a gun and I was glad about that. I'm fourteen. It's bad enough that I have to lie to all my friends about what I do. I didn't want to be a spy and I still don't. If they asked me to kill people, I'd refuse. I'm not sure I'd be able to live with myself if I did that.

To be honest with you, if I had a choice, I'd walk away. A lot of the kids at my school would think it's cool to be a spy and to have adventures and miss class and all the rest of it. But I was never given any choice. So far, I've been lucky, but one day I'm not going to be able to walk away. I'm going to end up in a real hospital... or dead.

And what's really sick is that if I get killed, Blunt won't even care. He'll be annoyed. It'll be inconvenient. But in a way, he and Mrs. Jones are as bad as the rest of them. They're using me the same way they'd use a gun or a hand grenade or whatever. I'm just a weapon. A secret weapon. And when the day comes that they can't use my anymore, they'll simply find someone else. They'll forget about me.

Dr. Feng: I'm sure that's not true, Alex.

Alex: I'm tired, I don't want to talk anymore. I want to go back to my room.

[corolune]

Breathing Underwater Chapter Three: Lightning

AO3 / Tumblr Alex had always known he wasn’t like other children. They didn't hear the song of the ocean in their ears, or feel the thrumming rhythm of the waves in their hearts like he did. Then he finds a silvery coat made of seal fur, glistening and calling him to slip it on — and everything he thought he knew about himself washes away like foam on the sea. Alex Rider is a selkie, and this is the story of how a seal becomes a spy. Prologue 〰 Chapter 1: Zephyr 〰 Chapter 2: Nimbus 〰 Chapter 3: Lightning

light·ning — ➀ the flashing of light produced by a discharge of atmospheric electricity; ➁ a sudden stroke of fortune

Only weeks after his fourteenth birthday, Alex woke to a dark sky pierced by a red and blue glow. Everything was still and silent, in that part of the night when everything was asleep. As he blinked his eyes open, he peeked through the soft curtains near his bed, and saw that the flashing lights came from a police car sat in their driveway. As he heard the doorbell ring downstairs, he could feel a sense of unease, the same way he felt when clouds started gathering and he was stuck outside. A sure sign of a storm to come.

Now fully awake, he could hear the soft sound of Jack’s slippers padding down the stairs to the door. Letting the curtain fall back over the window panes, his eyes fell on his fur coat, still on his desk chair from where he’d left it to dry after school. He wasn’t sure what was going on yet, but he didn’t want to leave it lying there if anyone happened to come inside. Shoving aside his sweatshirts and trousers, he pushed it into a hanger in the very back of his closet and slid the door shut.

He heard Jack open the front door with a rattle of the chain, and tiptoed down the stairs to peek into the foyer.

There was a policeman at the door, and Jack’s quiet words floated down the corridor.

“A car accident? But Ian was always so careful…”

Sitting down heavily on the bottom step, the words washed over him, and he felt the first thunders of the storm to come. Just like his parents, his uncle had died in an accident while traveling. Distantly, he found himself wondering if that was what would happen to him, too, dying on his way to somewhere else, a victim of someone else’s carelessness.

As sunlight bled into the sky, he couldn’t help but wonder what exactly happened to his uncle. Where had Ian been going so late at night? And how would he, the same man that drove like an eighty year old, forget to put on his seatbelt? The more he thought about it, the more he found things that didn’t add up.

Tom and Jack put it down to shock, but he knew there was something wrong. And like always, he was too curious to let it go.

A few days later, seated in a drab, grey office opposite an equally grey Alan Blunt, Alex was regretting that he’d indulged his curiosity.

“There’s something we’d like you to do for us,” Blunt said.

“My uncle died because of you. What makes you think I’m going to help you?” Alex crossed his arms and glared at him and Mrs. Jones.

Ever since he had woken to that bleak policeman’s doorbell, he had been adrift in the choppy waves of a stormy sea. At first, it had seemed like the storm would soon be over, but now he saw it was only the beginning of many, like the rains of the monsoons.

“You’ve already proven yourself to be quick, resourceful, and most importantly, curious.”

Curiosity killed the cat, Alex thought to himself as they went on to explain about some billionaire called Herod Sayle, and his plan to give away thousands of Stormbreaker computers.

“All you’d need to do is look around and report back to us,” Mrs. Jones said.

“I’m not doing it.”

All of a sudden, Blunt shifted, and when he spoke next, there was none of the forced friendliness from before. For the first time since Alex had walked into the office, he saw the cunning shark that lay beneath the man’s skin.

“Your uncle left the Royal and General Bank in charge of your care. Certainly, Ms. Starbright is no longer needed, especially with her expired visa. I’m sure Mrs. Jones could find a suitable institution that would handle your living and schooling.”

“Are you blackmailing me?” Alex scoffed in disbelief, yet somehow he’d known this was coming. The storm in his life had finally broken, and now he had these people on one hand, ready to pull him out from drowning in the icy waves. If he didn’t do as they said they would push him back into the water.

Mrs. Jones spoke around yet another peppermint. “Alex, if you only helped us with this, we’d be able to let you stay in your home with your housekeeper. Otherwise, there’s just nothing we can do.”

“You haven’t really left me a choice,” muttered Alex, with a resigned sigh. “It’s just to look around, you said?”

〰〰

He’d done much more than just looking around. When Alex crept back into the room he’d been given at the sprawling Sayle mansion, he snatched up the gadgets Smithers had given him. After some thought, he pulled his sealskin out of the bag and slipped it on, too. If things went badly, he didn’t want to leave it behind, and surely it was safer on him. After his night time adventure in the submerged tunnel, he was coming to realize it could be useful in more ways than he had initially thought. He shuddered, thinking of how the cold and dark water would have been much more comfortable and easier to navigate with his warm seal fur and sharper eyes.

Pulling the silver fur closer to himself, he quietly opened the door, only to come face to face with Mr. Grin — and then, with a sudden jerk backwards, his eyes slid shut and he saw only blackness.

When he woke, he was cuffed tightly to a hard metal chair that rested against the vast, glass wall of the aquarium. Left alone in the room, after Sayle and his assistant had left, he had the distinct feeling of being just as trapped as the restless jellyfish that was held captive in the deep tank behind him. The glow of coloured lamps cast the undulating form of the sea creature in flickering shadows onto the tile in front of him.

As he wrestled with the metal cuffs, he heard the click-clack, click-clack of heeled shoes. With a feeling of dread, he looked up to see Sayle’s other assistant, Nadia Vole.

Moments later, that dread turned into panic, as he was thrown into the winding passage and splashed into the cold tank, only metres away from the Portugeuse Man of War.

The salt water burned at his scraped and bruised wrists. The jellyfish drifted languidly while Alex spluttered and slapped at the water, keeping his head afloat in the small pocket of air.

“I hope you can hear me, Alex,” he heard from a speaker somewhere above him. Through the thick glass, he could see Vole’s cruel smile. “I am sure you will have seen by now that there is no way out of the tank.”

As he looked around, he saw there was indeed no path for escape — the metal structure holding everything together was screwed tightly, and the glass seemed too thick to shatter with his weight. All the while, he kept an eye on the dark, mauve tendrils ever reaching through the drifting current. When he turned his attention back towards Vole, she was still droning on. “Soon, you will get tired, Alex. You will drown. Or perhaps it will be fast and you will drift into the embrace of our friend. You see him...no? It is not an embrace to be desired. It will kill you.”

Kicking in the water to keep afloat, he remembered Sayle’s words describing the stinging cells dotted along the long mass of tentacles. In the neon coloured lights, the circular nodes glowed ominously.

An unforgettable death, Sayle had said.

There was an echoing beat, like a drum, and he realized it was his own heart hammering away in his chest. Flowing water rolled towards him as the current changed, drawing the creature closer, and with a quick push against the wall, he managed to evade it. The glass stretched behind him, some twenty or thirty feet of it, but the man-of-war itself was close to ten feet long.

Its tentacles had danced through the current, just inches away from his arms. He broke through the water, spluttering in his shock. As he gasped for breath, trying to keep still, something clattered against the artificial rocks that were set into the massive aquarium. Through the rippling water, he could see something shiny and metallic winking back at him in the flickering lights.

Vole’s blurry figure seemed to be laughing at him from beyond the thick glass. Suddenly the water shifted, a strong current making small waves and bringing the jellyfish back towards him. More water splashed into his face, and he felt himself being dragged with the flow, his fur coat heavy on his back. With a sharp breath, he ducked underwater, swimming towards the metal object.

Distantly, Alex heard the song of the ocean thrum through his blood. As the water closed over his hair, the hood of his sealskin floated over his head, and he felt himself fall to the rhythm that was pulsing in his heart.

There, he saw what had fallen out of his pockets — Smithers’ zit cream — and breathed a sigh of relief. Somehow, the pressure of the water had lessened, and his lungs had stopped fighting for air. When he reached for the tube, he realized why — instead of rounded fingers, he saw five stout claws, attached to a furry, grey flipper.

Alarmed, he looked through the rippled glass at the bottom of the tank and met Vole’s shocked, round eyes. Breathing out slowly, he shook his head — Vole knowing his secret would only be an issue if he found a way out of the aquarium, and it was easier to focus on the problem at hand. A quick look up, and he could see the tentacled creature still drifted near the top of the water. Hopefully the current would keep it there, long enough for him to spread the cream onto the metal frame keeping the glass in place.

He snatched up the tube from where it lay amongst the rough hewn rocks, and scrabbled at the cap, struggling to get a strong grip on it with his claws. A few failed attempts, and he resorted to holding it in his flippers, and twisting it open with his teeth.

The white cream burst out, and he smeared it onto the metal that was closest to him. He followed the seams, squeezing the tube firmly and rubbing the paste into the joints with his claws. Dodging the enormous jellyfish, he swam quickly to the other side, his back flippers beating the water powerfully, and spreading the cream onto the other side of the frame.

Now, he would only have to wait, and hope that Smithers’ cream would work just as well underwater as it had in his office. He floated into the far bottom of the tank, away from the tangled tentacles and the front wall that would soon shatter.

〰〰

A lean, fair haired man stood silently in front of a helicopter. Though he was irritated at Sayle’s habit of delaying, he looked just as bored and indifferent as the rest of Sayle’s staff. The breeze rustled the leafy trees nearby as the helicopter’s engine rumbled in wait. An inconvenient, and supposedly urgent, phone call had had Sayle scurrying off of the aircraft, and he could see the short man waving his left arm wildly. A thin, shrill sound screeched out of the phone, and he recognized it as Vole’s voice.

Yassen Gregorovich was starting to regret taking this job, and he found himself wondering how many more madmen he would have to look after before his employers realized he was better suited elsewhere.

Sayle was still on the phone as he hurried off the helipad. Sighing, Yassen climbed into the aircraft and switched the engine off, watching the older man’s silhouette disappear into the hedges. It looked like they wouldn’t be departing anytime soon. He might as well stretch his legs.

As he passed through the open archway of the house, he heard an enormous, deafening crash from Sayle’s office. Was this what had caused Sayle to hurry back inside? What was that man up to now?

In a few quick strides, he had a sinking feeling he knew what had happened.

A steadily growing stream of water puddled on the persian rug in front of the office door. It seemed that Sayle’s grotesque jellyfish had finally met its match.

He opened the door slowly, letting the water flow out to equalize the pressure before stepping inside to a scene of complete wreckage, like a seaside town after a storm.

Water gushed through shattered windows, escaping the house. Lavish furniture floated by in broken pieces, and ornate frames with priceless, soaked artwork hung crookedly on the walls. Everything was covered in a fine sheen of liquid, and droplets trickled down from where the spray had hit the ceiling. He spotted the Vole woman prone on the floor, the man of war clinging to her head like a monstrous wig, and couldn’t suppress a grimace.

He delicately picked his way through the debris, careful to keep away from the venomous tentacles, which floated lifelessly in the shallow water that still flooded the room. The front wall of the aquarium was in pieces, as if something had blasted its way through.

A shape in the corner of his eye moved, and he whipped around to face it.

Something dark and furry disappeared under a floating bronze sculpture. Grateful for his combat boots, Yassen made his way towards the corner. He hadn’t been in Sayle’s office in some time, and wouldn’t be surprised if the man had added a new creature to his collection. Kicking aside a toppled candelabra, he sloshed around the heavy wooden desk only to come to an abrupt stop.

He blinked. There, hiding under the remains of Herod Sayle’s desk, was a large, fat, grey seal. As he stared at it, the seal spread its mouth into a smile. Impossibly, the creature lifted its paw as if to wave hello, before shuffling forward with a small splash.

Yassen watched it come towards him with apprehension. Perhaps it wasn’t a fully grown seal, but the thing would easily weigh over a couple hundred pounds, enough to cause serious harm. Clearly, enough to break the supposedly high-strength glass that now covered the floor in broken shards. Had Sayle decided to house a seal in the same tank as the jellyfish? The man was truly an idiot.

The man of war was highly venomous and any animal in close contact with it would succumb to a painful death. Almost every rich person Yassen had had the misfortune of coming across in his life had the most peculiar tastes, and more often than not, their whims bordered on idiotic cruelty.

Round eyes stared up into his, and he found himself feeling a bit sorry for the animal. It was lost, stuck in an unfamiliar world, but it was a strong and brave creature. Instead of succumbing to its fate, the seal had somehow managed to smash its way out of the tank, and now, instead of cowering in fear, it bravely looked up at him, asking for help.

Somewhere deep down, the seal reminded Yassen of himself, but he brushed that thought away before it had a chance to fully form. He bent down, stretching his hand towards the furry animal, and was pleasantly surprised when it bumped its head against his skin. Its fur was soft and warm.

As he looked closer, he saw a shard of glass had pierced into its flank, a bright red line of blood marking it out from the rest of the silvery fur. Now he understood what the clever creature had been asking of him.

“Are you hurt, little one?” He murmured softly, looking into the seal’s eyes as he slowly moved closer. For a fleeting moment, he thought he recognized something familiar — something he couldn’t quite place — in those dark eyes.

The seal huffed quietly, a low grunting sound, in answer to his voice. Compared to Mr. Grin and Vole, he supposed anyone would seem friendly to the poor sea creature.

The glass wasn’t embedded too deeply, and would be easy enough to pull out. Glancing around the room, he saw the sheer curtains that lined the heavy brocade drapes — they were still relatively dry. Tearing them from the windows, he ripped off a wide ribbon of the white cloth, and snatched up a heavy throw from the remains of an armchair.

With a few careful folds of the knitted blanket, his fingers were protected from the sharp edges of the large shard. With his other, free hand, he gently stroked the seal’s side, carefully assessing the best angle to extract the fragment. A quick, sharp tug, and the glass was free — but drops of blood fell into the water at his ankles, blooming like ink.

The seal was breathing quicker now, and as Yassen reached over to grab the strip of linen curtain, he saw the seal watching the blood trickling out of the wound. Swiftly, he folded the cloth around the cut, pressing hard until the blood flow slowed.

That was when he realized that binding the bandage would be a problem. He could wrap it around the top of the seal but he wasn’t about to endanger himself by trying to roll the animal.

Well. He’d done his best, and that would have to be enough. He supposed he could call someone who actually knew what they were doing. Who did one ask for, to help a randomly appearing seal, anyway? This job was ticking a lot of firsts on his list.

Seals, it turned out, were much more intelligent than he had originally thought. The furry animal pressed its flipper against the cloth covering the wound, and rolled in the shallow water, before attempting to tie the bandage itself.

The seal slapped its flippers against the water, and let out a loud, indignant bark. Yassen was shocked to see it grab the ends of the cloth in its claws and wave it at him, and couldn’t hold back a startled laugh. Shaking his head, he bent down again and tied the bandage securely.

For such a clever and brave creature, he would have to find someone to take it to safety, away from Herod Sayle, even if he wasn’t exactly being paid for it. But first, he had a deadline to keep, and a billionaire to prod back onto schedule.

Later, a bewildered animal worker would arrive at the scene after receiving an anonymous tip, but by then the seal would be long gone, as if it had never been there.

← Previous Chapter

[trueishcolours]

GUYS I HAD THE WORST THOUGHT

What if Yassen shoots Julius??

In Stormbreaker, it seems that all the loose ends are tied up, but then Herod Sayle comes for revenge on Alex and Yassen shows up and shoots him. In Point Blanc, it seems that all the loose ends are tied up, but then Julius comes for revenge on Alex, so if we’re transplanting Yassen from Stormbreaker to Point Blanc then it makes sense to have him kill Julius.

Yes I know Julius survives Point Blanc in the books but there’s too many variables. AH clearly retconned that in the first place; we don’t know if we’re getting a season 2, we don’t know how wildly TV canon will diverge from book canon if we do get further seasons, who knows if they’d make it to fuckin season 9 or whatever Scorpia Rising would be. /hyperventillates/

Nobody tell me I haven’t finished the show yet.