"It's okay, Lancelot. Put it down." Merlin told Roxy who held her gun towards Eggsy and Clover, both of which had their hands up. "It's verified." As soon as they'd seen the countdown, the pair had rushed to Merlin. She lowered the gun. "Arthur's phone is receiving update texts about getting to safety - we don't have a lot of time."
"What are you gonna do?" Eggsy asked.
"Question is, what are we gonna do?" He corrected. "God know who's in Valentine's pocket and who's not. We have no choice." Merlin concluded. "We're gonna have to deal with this ourselves. Follow me," Eggsy, Roxy and Clover looked around at each other before following him to the plane. Well, Clover thought, Now's as good a time as any to work out whether I'm ready for Kingsman or not.
...
"The fuck is this?" Eggsy questioned, holding what looked to be a yellow robotic sort of arm in his hands. He began to move the control sick frantically, seeing if it'd do anything.
"I have no idea." Roxy answered.
"What you're playing with," Merlin began, coming from the cockpit. "Is a prototype personal trans-atmospherical vehicle. It was developed as part of Reagan's Star Wars project. It's pretty basic, but...it should still work."
"Why do we need it?" Clover inquired.
"We're gonna take out one of Valentine's satellites." Merlin answered her. "We're going to break the chain, stop the signal. It'll take him a couple of hours to reroute it, which buys us enough time for you two," He said looking at Clover and Eggsy, "To get me into Valentine's mainframe so I can shut it down." Eggsy and I glanced at each other before nodding. "Lancelot, you're going to be using it. Get into your halo suit." Roxy nodded.
...
"It seems the implant can emit some kind of counter signal to ensure the wearer remains unaffected by the waves from the SIM cards." Merlin mumbled as he looked at the chip from Arthur under a magnifying glass.
"The waves that turn everyone into a psycho killer." Eggsy said.
"Quite." Merlin agreed. "But what he probably didn't tell anyone is it can also super-heat their soft tissue at his command. Valentine selected his chosen few to get the countdown warning, but he had to be sure they didn't blab to the wrong people beforehand." He explained.
"With all due respect Merlin," Clover began, "How does this even help us?" He looked up.
"It doesn't." He answered and stood. "Roxy!" He called through the plane. "Here we go!"
...
Clover and Eggsy bunched together like penguins in the freezing cold. They'd landed the plane on some mountain and strapped Rox up to the trans-atmospherical vehicle which now had two huge, silver balloons floating above it, billowing in the wind. Eggsy wrapped his arms around Clover's shoulders from behind, trying to warm them both up. She reached up and held his arms with her cold fingers.
"The higher your go, the more the balloons expand." Merlin told Roxy, walking over to stand in front of her, the snow crunching under his feet. "When you reach the edge of the atmosphere, they'll explode." Clover couldn't help but think he could have used a less violent word like 'pop' or something. "You'll need to deploy your missile before that, okay?"
"The edge of the atmosphere." Roxy repeated to herself.
"Once you've deployed, you'll need to release for decent fast." He rubbed his hands together. "Good luck."
Clover and Eggsy moved towards Roxy, each grabbing one hand as she began to move up. "Roxy, my sweet summer child, you can do this." Clover assured her teasingly, trying to lighten up the mood and she nodded with a small smile.
"You've got this, Rox." Eggsy added.
"Eggsy, Clover!" Merlin called from the top of the plane's stairs. "Come on, time is not our friend." Clover let go of Roxy as she could no longer reach due to he height. Eggsy was able to hold on for a few more seconds before he, too, let go. They jogged up the plane's steps, waving to Roxy one last time as the stairs moved up, closing them in.
...
"You're getting in on Arthur and his wife's invitations." Merlin told the pair. Clover looked out of the window, watching the clouds pass by as she worried for her friend. "You two are gonna need to blend in." He took two cases from a storage unit.
"I'm supposed to be Arthur?" Eggsy said in disbelief, wondering how he's supposed to come off as a sixty (at best) year old man.
"The invitations are on his phone." He said and Clover looked away from the window. "Give them this," He handed Eggsy the phone. "And give their real names: Chester and Emma-Louise King."
"What about you?" Clover asked.
"I'm your pilot - I'm gonna stay here."
"Is that gonna fit me?" Eggsy questioned and nodded to the cases.
"A bespoke suit...always fits." He handed Eggsy the light brown, leather case. He then handed Clover hers.
"Is this my suit?" She asked.
"It's your dress." He corrected. "Harry was having it made along with your suit for your birthday. Made it bulletproof, too. I figured now was as good a time as any to give it to you." She nodded with a small smile. "Get dressed." He told the pair as they moved to the end of the plane. "In separate rooms." Merlin added. Eggsy looked down and threw Clover a wink before moving into his tiny, crammed room. Clover blushed and moved into her own.
She pulled the dress out of the bag and smiled, hanging it on the hook on the back of the door. It was beautiful. Harry knew her like the back of his hand. She ran her fingers down the soft, blood red fabric. She tugged her clothes off and threw them in the case the dress was once in. She sat down at the tiny vanity and did the best makeup she could in the little time she had. "Clover, come on." Merlin knocked on the door.
"Gimme a second!" She called back and slipped the dress on along with her shoes. She did the zipper back up to the best of her ability but she couldn't get it all the way. She poked her head out, pressing the dress to her chest to avoid any...slips. "Eggsy." She whispered and his head snapped up, his eyes covered with the glasses. She paused for a moment, taken aback by how dashing he looked. Noticing this, he smirked.
"How can I help, love?" He asked and she blushed, clearing her throat.
"I need help with the zip." She mumbled, slightly embarrassed. He nodded and made his way over, closing the door behind him. She turned and Eggsy took hold of the zip. He pulled on the zip gently, his fingers occasionally brushing against her skin, sending shivers down her back - sometimes Eggsy smirked at. Once he was done, he looked at her through the mirror resting his hands on her shoulders.
"You look stunning." He told her, causing her cheeks to flame up.
"Thank you, Eggsy. You look extremely handsome yourself." He grinned and tugged on his lapels.
"Thanks." A knock came on the door.
"Time to get going." Merlin told them.
...
They emerged from the dressing rooms to find Merlin sitting at the small desk. "Looking good, you two." Clover smiled her thanks at him.
"Feeling good, Merlin." Eggsy replied.
"Oh, Clover." Merlin stood and handed her a small case. "Here are you glasses." She nodded and put them on, the glasses joined by her signet ring and watch.
"Thanks, Merlin."
...
"Eggsy, Clover." Merlin said to them once they'd landed. "We're on."
"You ready, sweetheart?" Eggsy mumbled teasingly to Clover as they waited for the door to open.
"As I'll ever be, dear." She joked back and the door opened to reveal a primped and primed woman with two guards by her side, dressed in thick white clothes to blend in with the snowy surroundings outside. Eggsy walked down the stairs, his hand in Clover's, helping her down in her heels. Once they'd reached the bottom, as she and Harry had taught him, he extended his arm to the brunette. She took his elbow and they walked over to the woman. He handed her the phone.
"Chester and Emma-Louise King." He told her in the posh accent Clover had taught him. She looked down at the invitation on the phone.
"Mr. and Mrs. King, welcome." She greeted formally in her American accent. "I'm sure you've both adhered to Valentine's strict no-weapons policy," She held up her metal detector, "But if you don't object..." She trailed off.
"Of course." They both told her. She ran the detector up and down the pair, starting with Eggsy.
"Do you have any luggage?" She asked. Eggsy turned, letting the woman run the detector across his back. Once she was done with him she started on Clover.
"Congratulations, Mycroft, you just graduated from my pilot to my Valet." Eggsy told him causing Clover to giggle.
"You cheeky..." Merlin muttered to himself.
"Understood?" Merlin nodded. "Good." He winked before turning back to the woman who offered him back his phone. "Thank you." He looked down at Clover who once again took his arm. "Ready to get going, my love?" He asked and she nodded.
"Ready." She affirmed, pressing a kiss to Eggsy's cheek. She looked towards the woman, "Lead the way." The woman lead the pair in silence before Clover decided to break it. "I do hope the dogs will be okay." She told Eggsy.
"I'm sure they'll be fine, sweetheart." He assured her.
"You have nothing to worry about, Mrs. King." The woman told her. "It doesn't affect any animals." Clover nodded and thanked her. "My pleasure, ma'am." She said and lead them through a tunnel with steel doors. People could be heard banging on them and shouting, unnerving the pair slightly causing them to shuffle a bit closer together.
"Eggsy, Clover." Merlin began through the earpieces. "Find a laptop, get me online. The clock is ticking. And remember, try to blend in." He reminded them as they reached their destination, the woman parting from them as another man stood in front of the 'married' couple.
"Would sir or madam care for a drink?" He asked.
"Martini." Eggsy answered. "Gin, not vodka, obviously. Stirred for ten second whilst glancing at an unopened bottle of vermouth. Anything for you, dear?"
"I'll just have a champagne, thank you." She smiled at the man who nodded and departed. She and Eggsy wandered through the room, taking slow and casual steps.
"Whilst glancing at an unopened bottle of vermouth." Clover said, mocking Eggsy's ridiculous order.
"Well, I couldn't just ask for a pint now, could I?" He replied in his normal accent and looked around. "Merlin, are you clockin' this?"
"Yes, I am. Stay focused." The man from before came over and handed them their drinks. Clover thanked him with a smile. "You two, get me online now."
"We're on it, Merlin." Clover said, noticing the Swedish Prime Minister on his laptop on the second floor. Clover nudged her head towards him, pretending she was just fixing her hair. Eggsy nodded and began to lead them up the stairs.
A/N:
Ahh! Oh my goodness, 3 more chapters left including an epilogue!!
I really need your advice, guys. So I'm thinking since the second Kingsman movie doesn't come out for a while, we'll do a different book for it (because I want to continue this).
What I need your help is: What should the sequel be called?
x Clara