#to boldly queue | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

derailedfiction · 1 year ago

Text

Run boy, run | Merlin | Kingsman

Chapter 3: A bitter life of Kingsman agent

Summary: Roxy would definitely change the rules a little bit, like Merlin, who was quite anxious about being the temporary Arthur. One day, when she would be the chosen one, she would change the rules in a suitable way.

A/N: I wrote it in 2015 pls have mercy on me.

"Is it me or does he look quite cheerful today?" Eggsy whispered conspiratorially to Roxy, who was sitting next to him.

She hadn't even notice that but Merlin was in fact more relaxed than yesterday and even nicer? His usual remarks were less strict. She shrugged in response. The personal life of her superior wasn't her interest, so she really didn't need to know. However, as she looked at Eggsy, she saw he was quite interested in it.

They had known each other for over a year, and she knew that look on his face. The look that tells her it is only a matter of time, before he asks some stupid ass questions, and probably got him hit on the head. Her and Eggsy's eyes met and she gave him 'don’t you even try' gaze.

"C'mon aren't you curious?" He insisted, with a charming yet somehow devilish smile.

"Eggsy, no. Don't even try it," she patted him on the head, trying to bring him to order, but she wasn't sure if it would help.

"Fine, Rox, fine. How's your candidate? Or don’t you have one?" He changed the topic, and was met with her sigh of relief.

"As a matter of fact I do have one, and I personally think he's really good. He's got a chance to get Tristian's place," Roxy answered.

Good Lord. Was that Merlin whistling, or is there something wrong with my hearing? She thought, as she got a quick look at the man. She was sure Eggsy had heard it too, because he was looking as surprised as she was.

"I bet he got laid last night," Roxy almost spit out the tea she was drinking.

"Eggsy!" she said that too loud, and attracted attention from Merlin.

"What are you two so fierce fully whispering about?" He queried.

"Our candidates, Merlin," Eggsy answered instead of Roxy, who was coughing out her tea.

"Good thing I didn't spit on my clothing... I wouldn't have time to change," she sighed with disbelief.

Eggsy looked as if he had the best time of his life, while watching her reaction. He handed her a napkin, laughing silently. How generous, she thought sarcastically, accepting it.

"C'mon that was funny," he tried to convince her, but after meeting her ice cold gaze Eggsy finally stopped talking.

A few moments passed in silence, disturbed from time to time by one of Eggsy's loud sighs, and after each, he would got tired look from Roxy.

"Eggsy..." He looked at her with suspicious look on his face, as her voice seemed a little too nice to him. "I didn't know you like Taylor Swift," her lips formed into huge grin.

"The hell? How would - " He started, highly surprised.

"Eggsy, language," he heard from Merlin.

"Were you spying on me? Have you seen how I’ve been singing? I don't believe that! Roxy, c'mon..."

She laughed softly to herself, watching him look at her in disbelief. It had in fact been an accident, but the film she had on her phone was a completely different story.

"I am a spy... What did you expect? Anyway, it would be shame if someone could see it..."

"Roxy don't be like that. You beat my ass on the rifle range and now this?" Eggsy was so surprised by her cold-blooded actions, that he couldn't find right words. "I was your slave yesterday but now you're gettin’ monstrous."

"Good," she said with satisfaction, as Eggsy tried to put everything together. "Anyway what are we waiting for, Merlin?"

He looked up from his newspaper and without a word, he pointed at the open door through which other agents walked into the meeting room. As soon as they had appeared Eggsy, sat back in his official place, so other agents could be seated in their own seats. He was a little surprised that none of the agents actually had the look of the spy. It was more like they were in a secret organisation like the Freemason, but for absolutely not like super-secret spy agents. They all exchanged greetings between Merlin, Galahad and Lancelot and took their seats, but quite interesting conversations didn't stop, as Eggsy overheard few.

"Gentlemen, please. I know we haven’t seen each other in person for quite long, but please stop talking as we have few tasks to do." Merlin said through the commotion, which was filling the room.

"Sorry for delay, Arthur. I got news for you but later, after the meeting.” Percival entered the room with his classic smile on his face. He seated himself on Merlin's left side and winked to Eggsy, and he knew something was going to happen and probably Merlin wouldn’t enjoy it at all.

"Since we are all here, I'd like to start the meeting. First things first; before we decide who will be the representative of headquarters, I'd like to outline plans for Kingsman’s near future for, and for the losses we suffered after Valentine’s day. I'm pretty sure you know quite much about it, but within few days we've found out about some crucial deaths in our department. Glasses please."

Roxy was only partially listening to Merlin. Nothing was new, as they were updated nearly every day about these kind of things. She concentrated on watching the other agents. She had seen them for the first time and she would have admitted, that she wouldn't have guessed that they were agents. More than a half were nearly fifty years old. Two she could tell were over sixty, and she and Eggsy were definitely the youngest of the group. She felt as if she was in a museum, with magnificent and maybe dangerous relics of a previous age. In her opinion agents should be changed out, not after their death but after passing a certain age, which would be fifty-five or sixty in her opinion. Of course, if the agents wanted retirement, that would be most understandable. Although such great figures of intelligence would be as magnificent in their new roles as consultant, as they had been spies. Roxy would definitely change the rules a little bit, like Merlin, who was quite anxious about being the temporary Arthur. One day, when she would be the chosen one, she would change the rules in a suitable way.

Lancelot snapped out of her dreams, and her gaze rested on Eggsy, who was as much interested in the lecture as she was. Good for him that Merlin was standing next to monitor, which was a habit hard to get rid of, because he was constantly whispering to the agent next to him. Merlin probably didn't pay much attention to that, because he had enough attention from the other agents.

Roxy narrowed her eyes, trying to understand each single one of these men. How did they get into this organisation? Through family connections? Through a friend? Or maybe by accident or stupid coincidence. Roxy slowly moved her eyes from one face to another, trying not to look at each agent for too long. She was a naturally observant person, and she could tell by a short look that two of the agents were going to be rather unpleasant and snobbish. There was probably no other person like Percival, open and easy-going. Although perhaps the agent in his fifties next to Eggsy. He could be a quite nice companion to talk to. Others were for her more blurred, and not interesting, but she wasn’t underestimating them. Roxy knew perfectly well that they were killing machines, rather than men, and she should show them respect.

Lancelot looked at empty chair. The chair belonging to agent Tristian. She had mixed feelings about the fuss that came with the recruitment. She had made it, and had successfully become the new Lancelot, but she wasn’t sure if she had chosen the right candidate. He had all the needed attributes, and yet something was keeping her worried all the time. Maybe that self-satisfied look Eggsy gave and his talk about his candidate. Or the fear that her candidate would stand against candidates proposed by other agents, and he would fail the first task.

It’s alright, Roxy. If he won’t pass the recruitment, it won’t be your fault. He’ll get the preparation for the oncoming tasks, and it’s only up to him, she thought trying to calm herself down, but if he drops out before Eggsy’s candidate, I’ll have no life for at least two months, perhaps even longer. Who knows what he will think of to make my life a little bit miserable.

The truth was that even if Roxy was a Kingsman agent, she had so many doubts about her part in the organisation that she needed to prove herself constantly. Prove that she is indeed worthy of the position, and only during missions had she been feeling free enough to believe that. That this was the best place for her and that she fit in here. Partially because she was the first lady in this company, and partially because of herself and her own problems.

Lancelot looked at the Merlin just in time when he finished his presentation, and returned to his seat. She knew what would happen next, and she was very nervous about it. That good humour of Percival, could bring storm clouds to this very room.

“Now we can take care of another, very important point of our meeting. The election of the representative of our division. I believe that every one of us has their own candidate in mind, but unfortunately we can and we must choose one, and only one. I suggest Percival as a temporary leader, our representative, and hopefully the next Arthur.” Merlin’s voice was calm and commanding, but Roxy saw a flash of fear in his eyes as he peeked at the agent on his left, unsure of his reaction, like a prayer to Percival not to do anything rash or reckless.

“Merlin I’m truly honoured by your choice but I must decline.” Percival smiled a lightly to his friend, as he had literally stopped breathing for a moment when he had heard the words. “We all know how important it is to choose the right person. He must know literally everything about Kingsman. Mission statuses, economics of our organisation. and how to manage all agents at once. I, personally, can’t say I know much about these things. I get a mission to complete, and I do complete it. Of course it’s in all of our interests for Kingsman to function correctly, and I believe that our organisation will function at its finest under command of our beloved Merlin. Which is why I’m suggesting he is our candidate for Kingsman headquarters.”

During his speech, Percival hadn’t had the courage to look to his right. Instead he was moving his gaze from one agent to another, while trying to convince them of his idea. Which was truly a good decision because if looks could kill Percival now would be a pile of ashes. Merlin sat in complete silence, being too well behaved to tell Percival directly what he thought of Percival’s speech.

“All right. Thank you, Percival, for your precious words.” Merlin’s voice was calm, but one could sense the fury and anger behind it. He already regretted having this meeting and changing the rules. Crafty twice loses. “Now the voting. Please raise your hand if you support Percival as the candidate.”

Merlin closed his eyes, hoping that this would delay his unfortunate fate. However, when he opened them and saw only two hands up, Merlin clenched one hand into fist, his knuckles whitening under the strain.

„Well then… Thank all of you for coming here. We have a verdict,” Merlin slowly unclenched his fist. “That would be all for now. You can now go, and exchange the latest news.”

The various agents got up, and began leaving the meeting room. Percival was first to go but a firm grasp of Merlin’s hand on his arm prevented him to take another step.

“We have something to explain to each other, haven’t we?” Merlin, looked like he had turned into venomous snake patiently waiting for his next victim.

“Oh man, Merlin won’t let Percival go. This’s going to be good.” One of the agents snorted as he was the last to leave. “I’m sorry. I’m Gawain, and you must be our new Lancelot. I’m really happy that something is changing in this old-fashioned organization. I’m looking forward your achievements, young lady.”

They crossed the corridor and went to a smaller room with a bar. Most of agents were already there, talking and laughing, with glasses filled with alcohol in reasonable amounts.

“Thank you very much, sir,” Roxy smiled a little bit still concerned about Percival’s fate. “I don’t know if you have met…”

“Ah, Galahad I’ve heard few things about you lad,” Gawain shook hands with Eggsy. “You both still look like scared nestlings.”

“Gawain, we’ll do our best to soon be one of the best agents.”

“I’m holding you to your word, my young friend. It’ll be pleasure to see your development.”

“So, what will happen to Percival?” Eggsy asked with interest.

“Well, he and Merlin are quite good friends, so I don’t think Merlin will kill him. However, he’ll probably end up with a few broken bones. We’ve all seen Merlin’s reaction,” Roxy and Eggsy looked at each other and then at the doors. “Oh, he’ll be fine. I’m joking.”

“No, he’s not. Trust me, if you unleash the legendary fury of Merlin, there is literally nothing to stop him, and Percival was quite successful today. I’m Bors, by the way. Welcome to Kingsman, kids,” The man in his fifties interrupted his colleague with charming smile. “I know a few things about Merlin and trust me if you tread on his corns, he won’t forget about you easily. My arm still hurts when I think about an argument we once had.”

“Don’t be absurd, you just went way too far in that conversation, and I must say it was mostly your fault.”

“My dear Gawain, what has he told you to get you on his side?” Bors looked both offended and surprised by this unexpected betrayal, but after a second, he started laughing, Gawain joining in.

“For give us kids. We’re dinosaurs. Merlin is not that bad actually. He’s one of the best technicians, engineers and computer specialists in the world. I’m glad he works here, and not somewhere else. Anyone wants a drink?” Gawain asked, and when there was no response, he poured a few fingers of scotch into tumbler.

“He hadn’t had much choice as his uncle got him here. He was literally brought up in this facility,” Bors shrugged and sighed wearily. “Everyone has a story and Merlin’s is quite an interesting one. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to catch up with the latest rumours.”

“And that was one of Kingsman’s best cut-throat. He can do miracles with knives and after thirty years I’m still impressed by his abilities.”

“Oh, and what is your weapon of choice, Gawain?” Roxy asked with courteous smile.

“Nothing in particular, really. I still can’t decide, but I have plenty of time to...”

“Did you hear that?” Eggsy looked at them, surprised and not sure if he had been the only one to hear the muffled scream.

***

“Come on Percy, I barely touched you.”

“Really, then why my nose is bleeding?” Percival slowly got up from ground, trying to stop the bleeding. “Fuck, Merlin new mats and blood is everywhere.”

“Be a man and take responsibility of your actions. Come on!” He was walking around him with defiant expression. Merlin jostled him and jumped back and again.

“Merlin, fuck off!” Percival swung to punch him, but was to slow and was immediately knocked down. “You are the best option for Kingsman and you can’t deny it!”

“Say that again to my face, instead of the ground, Percival. I can’t hear you from ground level, you piece of shit.”

Maybe making Percival his personal punching bag wasn’t the most humane thing to do but surely he would learn. Merlin turned to him, taking off the boxing gloves and tossed them on the ground.

“Do you know why I didn’t want this position? Why I wanted to get back to my first job?” Merlin queried, slowly approaching his friend. “Because of my wife and son.” He reached out toward Percival and helped him get up. “Now that we’ve cleared a few things I’d like to give you a very special and private tour of my kingdom, which will be ruled by you for some time, and I’m starting to regret my decision.”

Merlin slapped Percival’s arm and left to change clothes. He still needed to let go of some steam, but he didn’t want any of that damn idiot’s bones to break. After the tour of ‘what and where’, he had to come back here again. And although his thoughts had calmed down, he was still in his murder mode.

Breathe in and slowly out. You know how to cope with this, he thought under the shower, letting all his negativity drain away with water. It’s not your fault. Percy does things before thinking about it. He probably shouldn’t feel pleasure in most likely breaking the nose of his friend, but the sight of blood gushing out of Percival’s nose was quite memorable and pleasing.

“So Percy, now without my blessing, you’ll need to cope with some things down here. Firstly you won’t have my clipboard because you obviously don’t deserve it, and I’m taking it with me. I’ll get you a new one in some time,” Merlin said with satisfied and smug look on his face, once he had returned from his shower.

“Great. So what am I going to use during that time?” Percival asked, still trying to stop the bleeding. “Do you have any ice here?”

“Yes in the freezer. On your left, but be careful there’s chemical weaponry in there.”

Percival looked at his friend, opening the freezer with hesitation.

“I can’t believe we are still friends.”

“Don’t drive me mad. That way you’ll live longer, Percy. Now can we move on? I don’t have all day.”

“Go on. Maybe I won’t leave a bloody trail after me,” Percival snorted in reply. “What else should I know?”

“The tasks the candidates will have to go through. I’ve written everything here on these cards, and of course you need to rewrite all the points to the computer system over there,” Merlin came closer to the panel on the wall and touched the screen. “Once you have done that, you’ll send it to me. That way I can monitor if you fuck it up or not.”

“How am I supposed to fuck up the recruitment?”

“I don’t know, Percy. I don’t know. You’re capable of fucking everything up, my dear friend.”

Percival could still sense Merlin was pissed off, and he wasn’t blaming him for that, but was sure Merlin could stop being so, because it was becoming rather childish.

“Of course you have to do it manually; I’ll not make it any easier for you. Now, every needed instruction, you can find in this panel, along with all the necessary information for each of the candidates. You must remember to make sure that you write down all of them. Now come here, I’ll show you the weaponry.”

Percival followed the quartermaster into the next, quite impressive, room, which connected with the central room. It was full of weapons of any kind. From the simplest knives to the most advanced guns and chemical weaponry. He stood for a while in silence admiring the view.

“Bloody amazing. I feel like a child before Christmas.”

“I know. I feel the same,” Merlin turned toward him. “You told me you had some news earlier?”

“Ah, yes. There are a few agents assigned to lead you-know-what, and I think the best option would be Eli Bovell,” Percival took two steps back as he saw Merlin’s reaction.

“Eli Bovell? The same Eli Bovell I’m thinking of? The one that nearly blew up my plane?”

“Yes, in fact yes. But…” Percival took another step back. “But, he’s still alive thanks to us. It’s kind of repaying the debt.”

“Fantastic. Amazing. I can’t wait to see him here, bossing around and driving me mad,” Merlin said sarcastically. He sighed loudly, looking at a showcase containing a number of machineguns. “Good. I’ll be ready for him. However, he can’t come in here. This is a restricted area for him. I don’t want him playing with my toys.”

“You probably have more than a month before he arrives, so relax. Also I’m really sorry for what I did today, but you do have great chances to become Arthur,” Percy came closer this time, and Merlin could hear the regret in his voice.

“Yeah, I know. That’s the thing that worries me, Percival. I’m sorry about your nose. I hope it’s not broken,” Merlin watched his stupid friend carefully through glasses with a forgiving smile. “Remember one thing, though. If during my recruitment anything happens to my wife or to my son, you’re responsible for it, and you’re next in line to have a bad accident. Keep that in mind, Percival.”

“Of course. I’ll remember that, and be sure I’ll take care of them. Now, if you’ll excuse me, this bloody thing doesn’t want to stop bleeding,” as soon as Percival had finished speaking, the man left the weaponry, leaving Merlin alone.

“God, I need to destroy something,” Merlin snarled, and punched one of the shelves with his fist on his way out of the room.

Carefully, he closed all the doors, and turned on the alarm. Just in case, or just because, he was little shit, and couldn’t help himself to cause some trouble for Percival. Merlin loved him like the brother he never had, but today Percival had gone way too far. Despite knowing all of Merlin’s doubts, he decided to come up with this idea. If he had had something upstairs, he would have ended up with broken bones.

Be nice to people so they’ll be nice to you, fucking bullshit, Merlin thought as he was changing into training clothes. He needed to shake off this idiot’s behaviour and return home more relaxed. The last thing he wanted was to bring all the stress and anger to his family. Just for second he looked in a mirror, and saw face of an extremely tired man.

“I won’t get any younger. It’s exhausting,” Merlin told his reflection and went to the gym.

With no one around, he finally felt unrestrained enough to unleash his anger on a training bag. Merlin stopped thinking about everything else. His only focus being smashing his fists into that bag, and trying to throw away anything negative that happened within the month. The death of Harry, nearly loosing Cecilia and Alex, Kingsman’s failure, bloody recruitment and now this, stabbed in the back with amazing grace by Percival. This poor training bag wouldn’t survive his furious hits.

“Fuck... this... bloody... shit...” With each word, his punches became more and more powerful. In the end Merlin took a step back, then kicked it in a half-turn. He took of his gloves and grabbed a towel to dry himself off.

“Fuck it, I’m going home,” he said with rather self-satisfied tone, looking at the devastated training bag. Its replacement was no bother for him at all, because from now on it was Percival’s duty to take care of such things, and that thought brought him into an even better mood.

***

"Hamish, you're earlier," he was surprised by the lack of surprise in her voice. Cecilia felt obliged to explain herself as she continued. "Percy called just before you came and told me that you'd left with a stern face. Is everything all right?"

"Yes it is. Percy was successful at driving me mad today and I just couldn't stay there any longer or I'd do something very, very bad to him."

“Oh boys, you always have to play on each other’s nerves. I don’t really understand it. However, I believe you came up with a suitable revenge on him, haven’t you?” His smile was more than the answer she was expecting. “You should go sleep or rest at least. Last month was quite exhausting for you.”

“I don’t need to be back at work till Monday, so don’t worry. I have plenty of time to rest and sleep,” Hamish came closer to his beloved one and kissed her cheek. “At least I can spend some time with you and Alex.”

Cecilia looked at him with a gentle and supportive smile. It wasn’t that hard to see in his eyes how much he needed a few days off work, and she was happy for her husband to have some free moments for himself.

“Go sleep. I’ll wake you for dinner and maybe later you can show Alex how to train his puppy. What do you say?”

“All right. I can agree on that.” He kissed her lips short and passionately, “And we need to talk after my sleep because unfortunately, I’ll be taking part in another recruitment. More work is just absolutely what I need right now.”

“Oh well, that happens especially when you have friends like Percy. We'll manage, love,” He looked at her astonished at how well she knew his friendship with Percival. “But you know if you kill him one day, give me a shout so I can help you hide the body. Sleep well, darling.” Cecilia pecked his lips and returned to preparing the dinner.

***

The time had come, and Percival was able to briefly meet all the candidates before the beginning of the actual recruitment. They absolutely weren’t suspecting anything, even if they had had short talks about upcoming events with their mentors. Two boys and one girl got his particular attention.

The first one, Lancelot’s choice, had the look of a very strict person with a very high self-assurance, which probably was a cause of his pride, but he could forgive him that after seeing his scores at school and shooting. At once, he managed to get good contact with other young men in the room. The second was Bors’ candidate. The quiet one, though with an impressive IQ, and interest in white and chemical weaponry. Percival had a feeling about this one to be one of the most problematic candidates, apart from perhaps the last one. The girl, the only one among seven boys. She would definitely be a huge deal of trouble, as she was Galahad’s candidate. She was the daughter of former RAF pilot with a flair for computers.

Percival checked the list one last time, making sure that all of the youngsters had arrived and were ready to begin his first recruitment.

“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Percival and you’re about to start on one of the most dangerous job interviews in the world,” he could have sworn this didn’t sound as serious as when Merlin said it, but he couldn’t help it. “The bags on your beds. Sign them in advance so we can know where to send your bodies if you won’t make it through the process of the recruitment. Any questions?” He begged for none. “No? Then you’re dismissed and we’ll start tomorrow morning.”

Percival turned around and walked out, trying to look calm. However, that was over him. Being on missions was nothing in comparison with training a bunch of kids to become a spy. He got to Merlin’s room only to find Eggsy and Roxy, waiting for him impatiently.

“Oh my God. What you two are doing here?” He queried, as he put his clipboard on a desk. Fortunately Merlin wasn’t as mean as he wanted to be and got him new clipboard in advance.

“Well we thought, we could look how it’s going with our candidates?” Eggsy answered with a question, coming closer. “And what do you think about them?”

“Roxy, your candidate will go far, if his pride won’t come out to quickly and Galahad... Good Lord, have mercy because yours, and trust me I can sense it, will be one big problematic girl. Just like you were, boy,” Percival smiled slightly when he saw pride on Eggsy’s face.

“How is your nose?”

“Good but broken, thanks for asking. Merlin has a really good right hook.” In fact, he was beginning to wonder if he hadn’t broken his nose when he had hit the floor. “Roxy do you have any more agents for the “Arthur recruitment” list?”

“Yes, in fact. Though unfortunately only one name, from American cell, Gerard Mole,” Eggsy laughed and received a surprised look from both agents.

“What? Mole as an agent, that doesn’t bode well.” He explained himself still laughing silently.

“Anyway that’s the one I’ve got. I’ll probably get the names from Canadian and Asian cells in few days. Hopefully, we’ll close the list within two weeks and process will start within the month,” Roxy ended her thought, interrupted by Eggsy’s laugh. “Oh, I’ll send you all the needed data tomorrow morning, if that’s not a problem.”

“No, that’s fine. Galahad please tell me how it is going with completing squads in other cells?” Percival turned his eyes on the boy.

“Well, the Canadian and American cells are doin’ pretty well. The Asian cell is a few steps behind, but also with good perspectives. The Australians send me documents and reports about problems with rebuildin’ their headquarters, and unfortunately a candidate from Australia may appear as the last one.”

“All right then. I’ll update the information and send it to Merlin. Hopefully he won’t break anything this time.” Percival smiled wearily, walking back to the monitors and began to update the data to the main computer.

“By the way, when will he be back? Because I saw him leave and didn’t get the chance to ask him,” Lancelot looked expectantly at the older agent.

“On Monday, I bumped into him when he was leaving,” once again, Eggsy rescued the situation with his information.

“Percival? When will start the first task?”

“Probably in few hours. They need to go to sleep; otherwise, there would be no surprise. Why, Galahad?” He asked suspiciously.

“I was wondering if I could see how my candidate will do. Roxy probably is dying to see it too, aren't you?” Eggsy looked at the girl both asking, begging for acceptance and excitement.

“That's true.” She said quickly, as she felt Percival's sight on her as well as Eggsy’s. “It would be quite interesting.”

“You two have a deal, haven’t you? Which candidate will last longer?” He smiled lightly. There was a time when he himself and other agents had made deals about which one of the candidates would fail first or last. The loser hadn't had a easy life for month but it was still worth it. “Well I don’t see any problems with it. Other agents are gone, as well as Merlin, so you can watch freely and enjoy the view. However you need to wait a few hours. Go to the library, dining room or whatever, and spent that time somehow.”

“Thanks Percy! You're the best.”

“Off you go. I need to rewrite the data for Merlin. Oh and I owe you for voting for Merlin.”

“Don't take it personal, but I really think that Merlin is the best option for Arthur.” Eggsy's smile was unbelievably wide.

“I must agree with him, Percival. He’s our best shot.” The blonde nodded in silent agreement. “But I think that you would be a good choice as well. Maybe not as much, but still.”

“Lance, c'mon I know where we can spent those hours. Drinkin’ good alcohol and debatin’ about world peace.” Eggsy caught her sleeve and started pulling her toward the exit, but she stopped.

“Go. I'll catch up with you in the library,” Roxy carefully watched as Eggsy left, and when she was sure he'd gone, she turned to Percival. “Sorry about that comment and being a candidate for Kingsman’s leader aaaaand... mom is asking if you can make it for her birthday dinner next Saturday, uncle.”

“Nothing has happened. I'll see what I can do. If I find somebody to take my place for that evening. I can't leave the recruits on their own. Merlin would have my head for that. But I'll do my best to be there.”

“All right then. I won’t interrupt you anymore. I’m sure you have quite a lot of things to catch up with, so I’ll go meet up with Eggsy.” She smiled and kissed Percival’s cheek.

“Good, then see you in few hours. If you both won’t be sleeping till then.”

***

The task was about to begin. All candidates were asleep, unaware of the oncoming event until the water had reached their beds. All of them not quite awake, yet trying to figure out what was happening. Soon they were sure the room was going under water and they needed to do something to prevent drowning.

“Use snorkels!”

“What?!”

“Showerheads!” Another person picked up on the idea.

Everyone looked around trying to figure out what was happening. Two boys were pointing at the toilets and showers, and soon began to swim in that direction, not paying attention to the rest of the competitors.

„He’s right go, quickly!” A tall blond had no problem with commandeering the other recruits.

At this point, no one wanted to stay behind and the rest of the group was swimming towards showers to get pipes. The girl was the last one and just before the water reached the roof, she saw one extremely panicked boy. It was obvious he couldn’t swim or he had big problems with swimming.

“Take a deep breath!” she shouted at him, and took one last breath, turning back for him.

She tried to get to him as fast as she could because it wasn’t hard to notice that his panic didn’t help him at all and soon he’d be out of oxygen. The girl grabbed him tightly and tried to swim to the rest of the group.

The blonde had the feeling it was ages before she got to the pipe with oxygen and could take a deep breath. At the end she could have sworn she saw blackness around her. Of course, she gave the pipe to the boy first, he wasn’t looking good, nearly in agony even. If he won’t get help, he’ll end in one of those bloody bags, she thought sarcastically.

Even though the room was under the water, with unlimited air supply they could have been there as long as they wish but it wasn’t the task and somehow everyone knew that finding a way out in short time, would be the best solution at the moment. Few were pointing at the door as an option, but that would be just too easy to try, and even if one of them would dare to swim there, that person should have capacious lungs to go there and back if it would turn out to be locked.

The girl looked at the blonde who had the idea with pipes, hoping that he would have another marvellous plan, but his face had left her no doubt nor other peoples’ faces. Everyone was trying to put on a brave face in the situation, but all of them were trapped.

“Oh my God, are they even tryin’ to get out of the room?” Eggsy was not impressed by the candidates’ doings.

“Eggsy if they don’t figure it out soon, they’ll probably won’t pass the recruitment and that would be most unexpected turn in Kingsman history. Every single recruit will fail because they couldn’t free themselves from that room. Amazing...”

Roxy looked at the monitor in astonishment. She really hoped her candidate would figure it out, but he was far from that. As was Eggsy’s girl.

“C’mon! Mirror! Think of it! Mirror!” He nearly shouted at the monitor to the swimming figures.

“I don’t think that’ll help at all, Eggsy. Maybe just sit down and enjoy the thought that your candidate saved the life of that poor boy. Anyway whose candidate is he?” she looked carefully at the floating figure which was clasping a pipe with air. He probably won’t go too far from it.

“He’s Bors’. You got it ‘ere” Galahad pointed small rectangle on the other monitor. “Curious how he had picked this one, or maybe he was the first to go and my girl just made the game a little bit harder...”

“That’s quite probable. Look now, I think they’ve finally found out about the mirror. They’re hitting it all together.” She was impressed how the group of strangers was able to learn to cooperate so quickly.

“Plus for group work and one big minus for the time!” He snorted in reply.

***

As they figured out the only escape route worth trying was to break the mirror, and with a little luck, it would be a two-way mirror. The whole group caught something like a tap or a sink and hit the mirror, at the same time. Unfortunately, nothing happened. So they tried again, and again. Until the glass began to crack, and it finally broke into small pieces, and the recruits ended up on the floor coughing and trying to start breathing normally again.

“Hey, you’re all right?” The girl asked the boy who was coughing the loudest.

“Yep, totally. If only I could swim...” His voice was breaking, and it was extremely hard for him to speak, too busy concentrating on breathing and thanking the girl for saving him.

“Congratulations on completing your first task. It took the longest time to solve that problem, but I’m impressed with how all of you worked together. John, Victor well done. For those still confused. If you get a breathing tube around the U-bend of a toilet, you have an unlimited air supply. Simple physics, worth remembering. Anna well done for helping the non-swimmer. If you hadn’t, he’d have probably ended up in a body bag,” Percival said when the recruits stopped coughing.

All eyes were on him, and it wasn’t especially hard to see how their gaze changed from the steady and emotionless one to the fearful, lost and a little bit disorientated one. Now they had found out that practically anything could happen during the recruitment, and they need to be prepared.

“All right, that’s all for now. You can go back to your room and clean up a little. Fresh and dry bedclothes, as well as sheets, are next to the door on the other side of the room. Get them and go to sleep. Tomorrow won’t be any easier than this. Good night.”

#kingsman #merlin x ofc #eggsy unwin #roxy morton #kingsman the secret service #kingsman the golden circle #to boldly queue

2 notes · View notes