"Mr. President, my name is Poppy Adams," The redhead on the screen said. She decked out in a yellow dress with a light and chirpy voice, "I believe the UN has no teeth. So I've selected you, as leader of the free world, to receive this communication. And I invite you to begin negotiations... on the largest scale hostage situation in history. A few weeks ago," She continued, "An engineered virus was released, contained in all varieties of my product. Cannabis, cocaine, heroin, opium, ecstasy and crystal meth."
"Holy shit," Eggsy whispered and Clover could only nod, her eyes remaining glued to the screen.
"Some of you are already infected. And this is what you can expect in the coming days...After a brief incubation period...victims present with stage one symptoms," Poppy snapped her fingers and the glass panels on one of the cubed rooms behind her cleared, revealing a man covered with veins shaded blue. "A blue rash."
"That's what we saw at the festival," Eggsy muttered.
"And it looks like what Tequila had, too," Clover replied.
"Next...second stage symptoms," Poppy continued, clicking her fingers once again. "Mania, as the virus enters the brain," The person behind Poppy was revealed to be dancing deliriously. "Very distressing to the victim and those around them," She whispered to the camera.
"Stage three," With a snap of her fingers, Poppy revealed another man, standing almost completely still in a contorted fashion, gasping for air, "Paralysis. Muscles enter a state of catastrophic seizure. And once the muscles of the thorax become affected breathing becomes impossible...leading to a very nasty death within 12 hours," The man's eyes seemed to explode in their sockets as blood began to pour from his nose onto the floor. Clover gasped, one of her hands coming to rest against her lips.
"But I have good news to the millions already affected," Poppy said, walking to the final block, "It doesn't have to be this way. I have an antidote," She pulled out a small glass vial filled with a golden liquid and with a final snap of her fingers, she revealed Elton John. Clover's head tilted in slight confusion though she watched on. The doctor in Elton's room moved forward and poured the liquid into John's mouth before stepping back. Within moments, the blue rash pulled back and the singer was able to move freely.
"What have you done to me, you fucking bitch?" He shouted within the room.
Poppy shifted awkwardly and adjusted her glasses, "100% effective...and ready to ship out worldwide at a moment's notice."
"Get out of my room!" Elton screamed at the doctor in the background after sitting on his bed.
"You have my word," Poppy ignored the singer.
"Get out!"
"I will do this...if the following conditions are met," She continued.
"Get out of my fucking room!"
"First, you agree to end the war on drugs, once and for all. All classes of substance are legalised...paving the way to a new marketplace in which sales are regulated and taxed as per alcohol," She began, "And second, my colleagues and I receive full legal immunity. Meet my terms and I look forward to helping you keep our beloved country great...boosting our ailing economy, and easing spending on law enforcement. Or continue this blinkered, outmoded and, frankly, disastrous exercise in prohibition and live with blood on your hands. Save lives. Legalise."
The screen faded...and the group looked between each other before silently agreeing to leave the saloon.
. . .
News broadcasts about Poppy's virus were on a loop, hospitals were full as people began to enter stage two of the virus which had been dubbed 'The Dancing Disease'. Including Tequila who had to be cryofrozen in order to prevent the virus in his system from going any further. As for the president, he had yet to come out of emergency talks in order to make a statement.
"Tell intelligence and law enforcement to stand down. We're gonna dance to this lady's tune." The group heard over the speaker. The agents, both Statesman and Kingsman sat around the Statesman table, listening in to the president discussing the situation with two of his advisors through a Statesman bug in the Oval Office.
"Good. We can make this work. We spin it that it's not a matter of negotiation with terrorists-" His female advisor, Fox, replied.
"No," The President interrupted, "What I'm proposing is we appear to agree to her demands to prevent global panic...and then let the junkie scum go down in flames. Huh?" He chuckled. "Yeah. Take Poppy Adams and her so-called Golden Circle down with them. No drug users, no drug trade. It's a win-win situation here."
"But, sir, we're not talking about a handful of hostages. We could be looking at the deaths of hundreds of millions worldwide."
"Hundreds of millions of criminals, burdens to society," The President said, prompting the opinion of his other advisor, "Am I right, McCoy?"
"Absolutely, sir."
"But, sir, that's...What about people who were just experimenting? Folks who self-medicate? Functioning professionals? Kids?" Fox countered.
"Oh, spare me the crap, Fox," He scoffed, "The fact is, this presidency has just won the war on drugs."
"Congratulations, sir," McCoy said.
"Thank you. And that deserves a toast."
"This is totally unethical, sir," Fox continued, trying to make her case though the President was having none of it.
"Fox, shut up! McCoy, declare martial law. We need to keep control, commandeer stadiums, schools, civic centres...order a press blackout. And put the military on standby to round these junkies up."
Champ looked back from his spot in front of the screen with a scrunched face as he began making his way to the drink rack, "Whether they broke the law or not, those victims are human beings." The man grabbed a bottle and a glass before walking back to his seat. "Tequila," He mused, "He's a great guy. And a great agent. Right now, he's lying in deep freeze waitin' on our help."
"We can't make this personal, sir," Whiskey said, leaning back in his seat. Champ looked at him with a frown. He went to reply though Clover quickly interrupted.
"If you don't mind me saying, sir..." She looked at Champ for permission which he quickly gave with a nod, "I think this situation is at a point where it is beyond personal," She said, "There is the personal element of Tequila, we can't deny that nor the bias that comes with it, but there's also the fact that millions of people will die including agent Tequila. While you might be inclined to believe that they did something wrong, you don't really have the right to decide whether people live or die. As an agent, you should always be trying to do the very best for the people you're protecting and leaving millions of innocents to die because it goes against your morals or beliefs is the exact opposite of that. These people are innocent and need your help and to deny them that would be despicable and cruel. Besides, the President is suggesting that 'taking down' Poppy Adams like this would end the drug trade but that's extremely unrealistic wishful thinking."
Champ nodded, looking at Clover with a look that filled the brunette with pride, "You're right," He said, "Thank you, Nimue." She glanced across the table from her spot beside Whiskey and saw similar expressions on Eggsy and Harry, the latter of which sent her a soft smile, communicating to her how proud her was and she grinned back.
"We have to find that antidote," Champ said, bringing Clover back to the situation at hand.
"Poppy's stockpiles, well, they could be anywhere," Whiskey said.
"She must have some on hand. Locate Poppy..." Champ spat out the alcohol he had been swirling in his mouth into a vase-like object. The three Kinsgman agents looked at each other in equal parts alarm and confusion and Harry's sentence slowly trailed off before he managed to pull himself back together, "And obtain a sample for analysis. Maybe it can be replicated."
"Sorry to cut in, guys!" Ginger said from through the television screen, sitting beside Merlin, "But Charlie is on the phone with his girlfriend. Looping you in now."
"Don't worry," Clara said, "I'm on a payphone covered in a fucking blue rash. Why didn't you tell me? All you said was, 'Don't take any drugs'. It was a music festival for fuck's sake."
"Fuck. Shit. Shit!" Charlie mumbled to himself, "Okay, listen. You need to get to the lab in Italy. Do you remember where we went skiing?"
"Yes," She replied, "Yes, I remember."
"Yeah, meet me there and I'll give you the antidote."
She breathed a sigh of relief, "Okay." Then hung up.
"Alright," Champ said, "Jet's ready. Whiskey, Nimue, Galahad, get to Italy." Both Galahads stood up along with Clover. The pair looked at each other awkwardly, though Eggsy looked more smug as he sent a wink Clover's way.
"You two need to fix this code name thing," Whiskey said, leaning over in his seat to Champ before continuing, "And with all due respect, sir... I don't think Galahad senior is ready to return to fieldwork."
Champ nodded in understanding, turning his gaze to the two Galahads, gesturing to Eggsy, "I did actually mean..."
Clover's heart broke as Harry looked down somewhat dejectedly as he took his seat, "Of course." Though, Clover couldn't deny that she agreed with Champ and Whiskey. Of course she wanted Harry out with her and Eggsy on the field again. To work with him. But she would rather he stay and recuperate than get hurt. She couldn't lose him again after all that happened and if that meant him staying safe and recovering while Eggsy and Clover did missions without him then she would happily bear the loss of his presence.
"And with all disrespect, I'm not going anywhere without him," Eggsy said sharply.
Clover sighed as she whispered, "Eggsy..."
"Are you serious, Clover? He's basically your dad and you're just gonna leave him here?"
"Yes," She snapped, "I'm deeply sorry if my refusal to put him in danger is a cause of injury for you, Gary, but I'll leave him here precisely because he's my dad," Eggsy winced at the use of his name though if she saw it she didn't react, "I care about him and don't want him hurt. That's why I'll leave him here. He has only just remembered who he is and you want to drag him out into the field when we're not even sure how much of his Kingsman training he remembers?"
"Clover, he'll be fine," Eggsy rolled his eyes. "He'll be the brains, I'll be the skill and he," The young man nodded to Whiskey, "Can be...the skipping rope?"
The girls heated glare didn't soften one bit at Eggsy's attempt at humour, "And what exactly am I in the grand plan you're so ready and willing to risk Harry's life in?"
"The beauty?" He said, though it was more of an awkwardly posed question and when he saw the fire grow in the girl's eyes he knew he said the wrong thing. Everyone's collective grimace at the table also probably gave it away.
Clover glared, "Fine, you want to bring Harry? Go for it. But I swear to fucking god, Unwin, if he gets hurt I will gut you where you stand."
Eggsy couldn't hide his grin as he nodded at the girl in front of him, "You've got it, Love."
She rolled her eyes and looked at Harry, her gaze softening as she mumbled a quick, "I'm sorry," to him before she spun on her heel and made her way to the door, having to actively stop herself from stomping like a toddler. Once she reached the door she looked back to see all the men staring at her, glued to their spots.
"Are you all coming or am I gonna have to do this by myself, because I will if you three don't get off your arses."
The three men instantly got to their feet, quickly following after her with Whiskey tipping his hat at her, "Yes, Ma'am."
. . .
a/n:
long boi chapter!
figured I'd make it a lil longer cause the its a bit boring and has lots exposition sorta stuff
clover gave both whiskey AND eggsy a bit of a spray, Well Deserved sprays though.
also we got some cleggsy bickering
CLOVER A N G E R Y
xx Clara