Hi, yeah I'm alive ... no excuses otherwise ... onwards ... this was a one-off idea that got stuck in my head... hope you liked it and let me know if you did :D
As always, English is not my native language, therefore should you find any spelling mistake please let me know and I will see to correct them as soon as possible.
„Today another prominent victim to V-Day has been confirmed. Vlad Masters, billionaire, scientist and Major of Amity Park, has been found dead. His remains have been located in the ruins of Fenton Works. The building, located in Amity Park, has collapsed at V-Day, due to an explosion of unknown cause. In the baseme…" the voice of the female TV presenter slowly faded away, while the video feed continues to play in the background, showing pictured of the man, his accomplished and achievements in his life.
Stepping forward, Merlin moved his fingers over the tablet in his hand, and on the screen behind him other information came up, Kingsman own data that they had collected on the now deceased businessman.
Eggsy, or Galahad as he was now known in the ranks of Kingsman, watched with interest. He had heard of Vlad Masters, the self-made billionaire, coming from underprivileged background and taking the business world in a storm. The wish to make it out of poverty just like him was a dream that many dreamed in the estates he grew up.
"Vlad Masters confirmed death gives us the perfect opportunity, to follow up a lead we've got a while ago." Introduced the Scottish quartermaster the young agent into the mission. Who was seated opposite him on his appointed place, righthand to the still empty head, a place reserved for the new Arthur, once one was selected
The young man crocked one eyebrow, "Did he had an implant?" Confused that they would send him on a simple recon mission. V-Day occurred less the four month ago, sure there were many other places he could be of use right now.
"We don't know the full situation of his death, yet, the details are still obscure. Our US bureau has promised they look into that as soon as possible, however they were highly decimated, having been hit hard by casualties on V-Day."
Eggsy silently huffed, the weapon laws in the US allowed a lot of people access to high power firearms in the few minutes Valentines SIM had been active. Ranking the US within the top five nations with the highest death count in the world. Sharing that list with other high populated countries including India, China, South Afrika, and Mexico.
"It will take a while until we have a confirmation to that. Anyway, the secretive of the man made it impossible for any previous attempts to infiltrate his company. All investigation from the US branch had been stopped or had been coming up clean. Only the reliability of the source had him still on our radar."
"Who is this source?" He could see Merlin frown. "Unknown." This made Eggsy lift both eyebrows up and he wondered who in the world could outsmart Merlin.
"But is reliable?"
"He signs his intel with C.W. is highly elusive and we had not been able to confront him in person since he showed up on our radar a while ago. Each time a possible lead shows up, the trace disappears again suddenly and on a different location." A photo popped up on the screen, the blurry picture showed a grainy person, possible male, tall and well dressed. No further details were clear enough to confirm.
"Then why acknowledge the source at all?"
"The last time someone didn't was 2001, the 11th of September. When finally, someone concedes to the warning, the towers had been destroyed and they barely managed to stop the plane what was heading towards the Pentagon."
"Fuck," replied Eggsy shocked.
"A lot of people could have been saved that day," the bald man breathed out a sigh, "Anyway he is not your mission. The intel C.W. provided, stated that Mr. Masters had been working on a new drug." Merlin noticed the confused look on his newest agent. "Not many knew this, but Mr. Masters had two doctor title, one in biology and a second one in chemistry."
The young Kingsman nodded mutely and Merlin continued on. "The drug is supposed to make the person who received it obedient, and to follow any given order or suggestions."
"A new kind of date-rape drug?" he asked.
A set of formulas and chemist diagrams appeared on the board. Replacing the previous pictures. "Worse, complete control of the person and their mind."
Eggsy blanched, something like this was bad, really bad. With a drug like that, the possibilities were endless. Using this on a single person to complete an assassination of a target or ordering an employee from a nuclear facility to sabotage it, and all this without creating a connection to the person behind it.
"I see we are clear why something like this should not be allowed in the wrong hands, even if the formula is seemingly not yet complete. Someone might be able to salvage what he already achieved. Therefore, you will go and collect anything he has on the formula and any other projects before someone else comes and takes over."
A map popped up behind Merlin, marking two spots in central USA. "There are two possible location, where he stored the data. Amity Park, where he was the active major for the last 3 years. His manor there was set ablaze during V-Day, but we think there was an underground lab that might have withstood the fire. The second is his manor/castle in Wisconsin, 'inherited' from the last Dairy-king. Mr. Masters had been very selective about guests, visit on invitation only and no personnel working there either. It was impossible to infiltrate this location for an investigation without tipping him off."
"Then there we will find his server with all his save files." Concluded Eggsy, memorizing already the information displayed in front of him.
"That would be my guess as well." The pictures switched to an overlay from a building and blueprints, "No heat signature from the satellites indicates that the servers are not located over ground. You will have to break into the house and search for a secret access to an underground lab. I will take care of the security system what I can access remotely or you will get me access if necessary."
Blond hair bobbed in confirmation while reading the more detailed information in the files before him.
With a simple finger swipe on his tablet, Merlin closed all details displayed on the screen behind him. "When you are done with reading," he waited a second to ensure the attention of his agent, "Wheels up will be in one hour."
Tilting his head in thoughts Eggsy asked "Why the hurry?"
"With the news report out, we expect looters. It will be better to destroy all the evidence before someone else will pick them up and sales them to the highest bidder."
The younger man could only nod to that conclusion.
One long flight over the Atlantic later, with the small surprise of Merlin being his pilot, Eggsy arrived at the previous Dairy-King Castle. The security outside was easy disabled by Merlin and the young agent entered the spacious mansion.
The bolt interior in bright green, white and yellow made Eggsy cringe.
"Ah yes," said Merlin, "Mr. Masters had been a big fan of the Green Bay Packers, an American Football team."
"More like obsessed…" He replied in a whispered.
Merlin and he both had presumed that the entry to the 'secret underground lair' – and how Bond villain was that anyway - would be at the ground level of the castle/mansion, however, they wanted to make sure that nobody had entered the home of the former Mayor of Amity Park.
Once he had completed the search through the upper floors and the obscene amount of guest rooms, bathrooms and other places a billionaire apparently had a need for, he arrived at the master bedroom. There Eggsy could find a couple of pictures he showed Merlin through his glasses for facial recognition. Mostly featured in those photos where a red-headed woman, many of them clearly ripped and torn, removing a second person that had original stood beside her. Some of the pictures where even digital manipulated adding Mr. Masters in the position next to her, holding her in his arms.
"This would be Madison Amelie Fenton, wife to Jack Rupert Fenton. Close friends since their time together at the University of Wisconsin. Both confirmed V-Day victims." Informed Merlin.
"I think, he wished to be closer to her as they actually were…" mumbled Eggsy picking up the last of the pictures frames, there he could see Madison again, holding in front of her a black-haired boy of 10 or 11 years of age, both smiling at the one behind the camera. The frame, made from heavy silver, was engraved with the word: Family. So Mr. Masters was lusting after the family of someone else, shaking his head Eggsy placed the picture back, with satisfaction he positioned it with the photo facing down.
"Did your scan show anything bruv?"
"Nothing that could be an entry point, try the ground level again."
"Rodger that," Downstairs Eggsy found himself soon in the big living room. Stylish decorated and the walls full with oil paintings bookcases and other decorative novelties. Centrepiece of the room where a big lush sofa and the huge fireplace, his mantle decorated again with American Football memorabilia.
"Wait, the sensors are picking something up." Announced Merlin. Eggsy could hear the clicking of keys from Merlin's console. "By the fireplace."
Shaking his head, the youngest Kingsman member whispered "Are you fucking kidding me? This guy is not only a creep, but definitely watched one to many Bond movies too."
"Agreed." Mumbled Kingsmen Magician, "Try if you can find a switch or something."
It took Eggsy one guess, with the thought in mind 'Where would a bond villain put the switch' and he found a red button in the base of the American Football trophy. With a tentative press on the switch, the secret passageway sways open with little to no resistance.
"If this is a secret Bond villain lair I expect a pool full with sharks and crocodiles, or something similar" Eggsy joked as he slowly moved forward into the now open staircase. The walls surrounding him where bleak concrete no longer following the rich (and crazy) billionaire theme from upstairs. Or he maybe had forgotten to mention this area to his obsessed interior designer.
Four landings down on the staircase Merlin said "Be careful Galahad, as deep as this might go, the signal could be disconnected."
"Yes mom," no sooner as the words had left his lips a big glowing something erupted from the wall in front of him. Eggsy reacted, as trained, within a fraction of a second leveled his gun and pulled the trigger at his adversary, still trying to wrap his mind around it that his attacker had just emerged from a solid wall. The bullets didn't stop him … it … whatever, and Eggsy had to jump to the side, barely escaping the long dangerous looking talons at the end of the claw from… a … green glowing vulture?
"… What the fuck was that?" Eggsy shouted, his head turning from side to side, searching for the 'What-ever-vulture' that had attacked him. Kneeling on the ground, his back to the wall and his gun following every movement.
"Don't … know … maybe a hologram?" Merlin tried, sounding no less confused as his current charge.
The feeling of cold air whispering over his shoulder, had Eggsy looking to the left and he noticed three long cuts along his biceps. "Since when can a hologram cut through bulletproof fabric?" None had pierced his skin, though his suit arm was shredded.
Silence on the other end spoke more of his handler's shock then any cursing the scot could have voiced.
The minuscular sound of wind passing feathers made Eggsy turn and doge to the other corner of the staircase corridor. And not a second to late, the 'vulture-thing' was back, clawing at the space his head had previously occupied. With high precession, the young man emptied the clip of his weapon into the thing. Hitting head and heart with several bullets, although every single one of them harmlessly passing through the glowing body and only stopped by in bedding into the far wall.
"Bloody he…"
Suddenly a blue light cone enveloped the vulture-thingy and with a haunting scream, the beast disappeared. Eggsy whipped around, towards the origin of the blue light, his empty weapon following his body.
One passage further down, at the next staircase stop, stood possible the least person Eggsy would have expected within the underground area. A genuine teenager roughly 16 or even 17 years old. With midnight black hair, startling blue eyes in a white long-sleeved shirt under a black t-shirt and in a pair of dark jeans. In his hands, he was holding an honest to God soup thermos.
Merlin's swearing over the comes mirrored Eggsy's own jumbled thoughts.
"You okay?" asked the boy, after he had secured the top of the thermos back on.
Eggsy usual impudence had vanished and he gaped at the teen, once for his life out of words.
The boy slowly walked up the stairs to Eggsy landing "Are you injured?" pointing at his shredded suit arm.
Ignoring the question and the teen appearance Eggsy shout: "What was that?" "One of the Fez' Vultures." His rescuer explained. "One of? There are more?" looking frantically around them, wary of any movement.
"There are three of them. Don't worry, the other two are still inside their containment. This one," he holds up the thermos for him to see, shaking it for good measure, "escaped a few days ago when I was upgrading the power supply."
Eggsy simply nodded, once more lost for words.
"So," the teen drawled out, "who are you?" Though, before the young agent could think of an answer, the boy holds up his hand. "No let me guess, your name is Bond, James Bond."
Eggsy tilted his head to the side "Why would you think that?" he asked, following up the suggestion by using his best Bond imitation.
"Honestly?" the teen quirked one eyebrow, smiling "First of, you are here, alone, means you found the secret entrance and made it inside the mansion without Vlad noticing. That needs balls and serious skill. Second, your accent, very BBC like."
Eggsy mirrored the grin on the teen's face. Taking the offered hand with ease, to help him stand up. "True, and what am I calling you?" using his poshest accent.
"Danny is fine." He said, while fastened the thermos on his belt. He turned and started walking down the stairs from where he had come. "Follow me, I show you where you can access the mainframe."
"What?" echoed Merlin, his own outspoken question, speaking for the first time since the boy had shown up to save Eggsy's sorry arse.
Danny stopped, looking over his shoulder "You are here to stop Vlad recent plans, right?"
"Maybe," he paused for a moment, "but why would you help me?" Eggsy thoughts tried to supply him with a reason why a billionaire was keeping a young teenage boy hidden within a secret lair under his secluded mansion that would not add further fuel to his already growing nightmare pool. "Aren't you his … employee…?"
The boy froze on the spot, his back stiff "I'm, not, his, property!" the words where forced as if it took him a lot of willpower to speak them. They could not see Danny's face, but the agent and his handler both predicted they would see a dark frown on it.
"Sorry," Eggsy quickly apologizes.
"We are missing something," mumbled Merlin on his end, "I'll run facial recognition, to see who he really is."
Once the moment had passed, Danny sighed and his shoulders slumped down. "Just forget it, please." "Sure," the young brit agreed and both continued their path downstairs.
Further and further it goes, and after 5 more turns, they finally reached a bigger landing. The staircase continued, but his guide directed them to a heavy looking steel gate. Eggsy had never seen such a door in person, but often enough in the few movies and documentaries over the cold wars and their nuclear bunkers. He was sure, that massive wall of steel would withstand any explosive he had on him. Good thing then, that Danny knew the code for the keypad right next to it.
"The code changes every 48 hours, and requires, in addition, a biometric scan." He pressed his hand on the screen above the keypad. "Don't think it would help you if I tell you the numbers for today." Danny shrugged and stepped to the side. Without any noise the gate, at his mid over half a meter thick, opened, and swung towards them.
Directly behind the passage, expensive wood panel covered the concrete grey wall. As if they had simply entered a new part of the mansion above their head and not an underground bunker. Another set of stairs, just four steps, and they entered a cavernous room. Right in front of him was a sitting area with a dining table easy holding 8 persons surrounded by small cupboards, that if he had to guess held fine tableware or something similar.
To his left, a living room completely stocked with a big comfortable looking sofa, some beanbags, a huge TV-set, and wicked looking sound system. To both sides of the plasma TV, that Eggsy was sure had cost more than Harry's entire butterfly collection– and that is saying something – where huge shelves fitted into the stone wall, filled with hundreds of books. No movies, he wonders for a brief moment, then guessed, that they may be stored digitally.
Swaying his head to the right, the room opened to a big fully equipped kitchen, of any cook's wet dream, including a breakfast bar and an island in the middle. A left-over plate with a half-eaten sandwich on the island showed what Danny had been doing before he came to his rescue. Several doors lead from the room, all made of steel, except one. Right next to the fridge by the kitchen, one was made of frosted glass and Eggsy could see something tall and green behind it, something that was swaying from side to side, like in a breeze.
"How big is this place?" asked Eggsy, in awe at the same time surprised and confused about the accommodation. Danny had stopped, to give his guest the time to look around. "Well, what you see is obvious the living area. Entertaining, dining and kitchen. Through the door," he pointed at the one made out of frosted glass, "is an artificial garden with some trees and a vegetable area. A few chickens as well, but they are far in the back." Turning to the right Danny waved at a set of doors next to them. "Through there you reach the next levels below. One level down you have the gym, fully equipped. An indoor running track and a pool. After that come the living quarters, just some bedrooms and two big bathrooms."
Eggsy lost control of his face and his mouth was down on the ground. Danny ignored it and continued: "Then there is the storage, dry and cold. Wine and other spirits as well, but I've not access to that, sorry." He smirked, thinking that his guest could probably use a stiff drink. "On the last two level, you have the lab and the reactor."
"Reactor!?" exclaimed Merlin and Eggsy simultaneously.
"Not nuclear," The teen waved their fear away. "Don't worry." He stepped forward: "Come I get you to the terminal."
Still working to get over the shock that an obviously crazy man such a Vlad Masters may had access to nuclear material, the young brit asked: "Wait," he pointed at the doors on the right. "Is the mainframe not in the lab?"
"It is, however, I won't be able to get you past the security measurements. A second terminal is behind that shelve." He nodded his head in the direction of the entertainment area. "It has a direct link to the mainframe, you should find everything you are looking for there, no worries."
"Wow" mumbled Eggsy quietly, a little louder he asked, "'ow does this all works?" a little of his natural accent shining through his speech.
Danny had reached the left bookshelf and moved the heavy looking furniture to the side. Not much effort was necessary and when Eggsy looked, he saw it was actually mounted on small almost invisible rolls. Hiding behind it a big terminal appeared, integrated into the wall and just a big as the bookshelf with several monitors and keypads.
Suddenly a woman appeared next to them. Used to the hologram appearances of the other agents not bodily present during meetings, Eggsy immediately recognized the woman as such. Nonetheless, his hand had landed on his pistol, which he had reloaded on the way downstairs.
The hologram woman was clad in a turquoise jumpsuit and had strawberry blond hair down to her shoulders. "Daniel who is that?" she asked, her posture stiff while she examined the brit with a dark look. Not giving the teen the time to actually form a reply, she added: "You know that Vlad does not allow guests without him present."
"He is only a visitor, he won't be staying long," Daniel replied in a calm voice.
"That is not okay, I'll have to inform Vlad." She flickered for a second then turned around and disappeared. Danny meanwhile stepped slowly up to the terminal and opened a program on the main screen. A black box appeared and Eggsy noticed how code lines started running, the young boy adding every few seconds some extra characters.
"Danny?" inquired the agent, "who was that?"
"Oh, that is Maddie, she is the A.I. that is running the whole thing here." The teen explained, concentrating on typing.
While he wasn't worried, that this artificial intelligence could actually notify Mr. Masters – with him being dead – the young agent wasn't sure if there was a subroutine, which would alert someone else of his presence. He was about to point this out to his host when the hologram woman returned.
"Let me out!" she demanded immediately, stomping her virtual feed, fiercely glaring at the teen. "Will you let me access the news channel again?" said teen countered, still not looking up. "No." she denied, shaking her head. "Then your access will be limited too." He replied.
Crossing her arms over her front Maddie huffed, drew in an unnecessary deep breath and screamed: "Daniel Matthe …" whatever she actually wanted to shout was rudely interrupted, by her turning into a white fluffy house cat.
Eggsy's head snapped up to the teen, who was still pressing his finger onto the enter key, a wide grin on his lips. "Sorry about that, she will no longer interfere." "A cat?" He had to ask.
Danny just shrugged and smiled "An inside joke between Vlad and me."
"Will there be no issues running … all this?" He waved into the room. "Nope," the teen turned fully towards him "Do you have anything you can plug in, so that your handler can access the terminal or are you just copying the hard drive?" he asked, then added a second later, "I won't be able to actually give you the actual hardware, sorry."
After a moment consideration, where the young agent collected his thoughts and worked through the events just happened, he pulled a cigarette case from his pockets. The matching set to the lighters a Kingsman Agent is equipped with. He fully opened the case, and pulled out from the connection between the two half's a short cord, at its end a USB plug.
"Proper spy shit, cool" Danny chuckled and pointed at a USB port on the terminal. The brit smirked and connected his device, letting Merlin's program doing its job at extracting all the data they are here for.
"You want anything to eat or drink?" the teen asked, stepping away from the terminal and turning in the direction of the kitchen.
"Na, I'm good." Eggsy was not risking poisoning or drugging, no matter how welcoming his host seems to be.
Danny shrugged and walked into the kitchen area.
"Uplink is working," said Merlin, audible typing of keys in the background, "That is a lot of data." He exclaimed. Eggsy replied with a wordless grunt. A moment later the handler ordered, "Go speak with the boy, this will take a while." Eggsy nodded his agreement, leaving the transmitter connected.
Danny pulled from the monster fridge, that kind you usually only see in those posh cooking shows, a can of sugary drink and sat down at the kitchen isle. Eggsy waited a moment then lean next to the teen "How long are you already down here?" speaking out loud the first question on his mind.
"A while, not sure how long exactly, as Maddie is blocking my access to the news and any other information from the outside for a few weeks now. And you know, day and night are difficult to determine if you are underground."
"Hm," Eggsy mumbled, his mind directly making the connection that the AI must have stopped Danny's access right around the time of V-Day, which leads to the conclusion, that Mr. Masters was in the know of the event and therefore most likely equipped with one of those lovely implants. "Did you made the program, to," He thought over the right words to describe what had happened to the A.I. "contain? Or is it transform? Maddie?"
"Oh, yeah that I made myself. A guy needs his quiet time, you know." His cheeks turning a darker pink, and he was avoiding looking at Eggsy or even just in his direction.
The young agent chuckled, oh yes, he knew all about it, living in a barrack with 9 other people for over 6 months. One can get very creative to get some alone time. "You must be good with programming then?"
Danny shook his head, "Na, my friend is the genius, he taught me some and the rest I've learned over time."
Eggsy nodded, turning serious again, he asked: "If you are able to create something like this, why did you stay?"
The teen grew stiff, the soda can crackled in his firm grip, all fun evaporated, eyes narrowed. "Orders." He finally spits out, after a long moment of silence.
Suddenly everything clicked in place, "He used it on you?" Eggsy blurred out, anger making his blood boil.
Danny blinked once, twice, surprised at the sudden change of mood on the agent. Tilting his head to the side, "So that's why you are here." It was not a question. He shrugged and placed the now dented can on the breakfast bar. "I see." Danny sighed, "I've to disappoint you. 'OB' doesn't quite work that way I'm afraid."
"OB?" enquired Eggsy,
"Short form of 'obedience' that what he named it. Well, it does have a scientific name, but it's to long and complicated. You will find it in the information you are downloading." He waved his hand, making a gesture at the terminal in the living area.
"You know an awful lot about this stuff," remarked Eggsy.
"If someone used it on you, wouldn't you wish to know everything you can about this?" countered Danny.
"Probably," Eggsy agreed. "And Masters, had just let you access all this the information?"
"Vlad's ego is bigger than the Grand Canyon. He made sure that I know all about this, and that there would be no way for me to get out of it." Huffed the teen annoyed.
"Bastard." Mumbled Eggsy, Danny nodded.
"Ask him on the limitation on 'OB'." Ordered Merlin, the words only audible through the bone-conductor in the classes.
"Danny, would you be able to tell me why you think this would be of no use for us?" inquired Eggsy after a moment.
"Well for starters, some of the ingredients are almost impossible or extremely difficult to obtain for you or your organization. Maybe you can find a substitute for some, but never all.
"Furthermore, the orders have to be precise and are limited to the person's mentality."
Looking puzzled, Eggsy asked, "Explain."
Danny pushed himself off the island and picked up a glass from the cupboard. He filled it at the tab with water and placed it before Eggsy. "Order me to drink this."
"Ooookay." Confused by this request Eggsy looked at the teen, then ordered, "Drink this." Pointing at the glass on the counter.
"Drink what?" Danny countered, "The table? That is wood. The glass? Not a liquid. The water in the glass? How much? Just a sip, a gulp, maybe two or everything?"
"Hm," Eggsy said, scratching his neck, "Yeah, I think I get it."
"Good, next you have to make sure the order does not allow any loopholes," Danny said. "Example, your bad guy of the week has placed an explosive collar around your neck." "Like in the movie: Deadlock?" interrupted Eggsy.
Danny tilted his head, blinked twice then nodded. "Yeah, as in Deadlock." Shaking his head, he smirked. "Anyway, let's pretend the bad guy has access to OP and ordered the following sentence: "Do not remove the collar!"
Eggsy nodded, trying to follow with this weird example.
"While short and precise, this order allows you with a ton of loopholes. 1st," Danny counted with his fingers on his hand. "You can still deactivate the detonator, just not remove the collar from your neck. 2nd the order was given to you; therefore, you could ask someone else and they could actually remove the collar for you."
Eggsy nodded again, showing that he was following the teens reasoning so far.
"3rd you could sabotage the system that is behind the explosive and all, and at last, you could call for help. Tell everyone what is going on, and someone will free you one way or the other. Being a spy notwithstanding."
"Makes sense."
"If, however, the order was phrased differently, like: "Do not try to remove the collar!" it will close the loopholes all at once. The simple addition to the sentence will stop you to do anything by yourself, or even asking for help."
Eggsy mumbled something unintelligible, that for some reason included the name Merlin, but Danny didn't ask.
"Anything else we should be aware off?" he asked and Eggsy thought for a second he saw an already dim light in the boy's eyes die.
Danny nodded, "You could order someone to kill themselves, however, it may only work with someone that is already unhappy with their life. Also, if you would order a loving mother to kill her child, this wouldn't work, on the other side an unhappy mother or a stepparent might go through with the order."
Eggsy grimaced at that, knowing his own stepfather would not even need 'OB', to off him, a simple opportunity would be enough for that waste of space.
A single orange pixel flashed on Eggsy glasses. Merlin wanted to speak with him. As Danny was aware about his link to a handler he felt there was no need to conjure up an excuse, therefore he simply asked. "Could you give me a moment?"
"Your handler?" Danny asked Eggsy nodded, not seeing any reason to lie. "Okay," he shrugged, "I'll go into the garden." The teen pushed himself from the kitchen counter and walked to the frosted glass door. Once close enough it opened automatically and the young spy and his handler could see behind it a lush park, with trees and other green plants before the door closed again.
Eggsy whistled low, "This place has about everything one could wish for." "Except maybe freedom." Remarked Merlin. Eggsy winced, "Sorry." After a brief moment, he asked "So what do you have for me?"
"His full name is Daniel Matthew Fenton," "Fenton as in 'Fenton Works'?" he interrupted. "Where Masters was found?" "Exactly, seventeen years old and son of Jack Rupert Fenton and Madison Amelie Fenton," "The picture upstairs." Mumbled Eggsy more to himself than to his friend.
"It took me so long to complete the search because Daniel Fenton was declared dead, 8 months ago." Eggsy eyes wandered to the frosted glass doors, where he knew a very much alive Daniel Fenton was behind. "How long does someone have to be missing to be declared dead, if no body was found?" he wanted to know, his voice emotionless.
"For the state of Wisconsin, 7 years. However, Danny was reported missing only 18 months ago." "Well his body is obviously here, then how?" "That's what threw me off. A body was found, together with two others, all three burned and only parts were recovered. No DNA could be salvaged from any of those … bodies." He could hear the effort in Merlin's voice to stay calm. "They found blood, a lot of it. All evidence pointed that Daniel was a victim of the Chicago Butcher, a serial killer, who targeted teenage boys and was shot dead by his arrest."
"You think that Masters planted the evidence with this sicko to hide that he was the one to kidnap Danny?" "Aye, and my guess is that he planted the blood and whatever to stop any further investigations. My search showed that Daniels sister and two of his friends reported several times to the police and even the FBI telling them, that her brother had not run away and they always pointed into Vlad's direction. But with his status as Mayor and billionaire, no case was ever initiated."
"Bastard." "Aye." Merlin agreed.
They stayed silent for a moment, both thinking over their new insights.
"Merlin?" Eggsy asked calmly. "Yes, Galahad?" "Can you replay the video from when Danny and I walked downstairs?" he could hear keys clicking over the come "Anything particular that brought this up?" "Just a thought." A small video window opened on his classes and the young agent saw himself walking downstairs again, eyes on the back to his guide.
They had walked down the first set of stairs and turned towards the next set when Eggsy said "Stop." The video halted. "Rewind," Merlin did. "Stop, play slowly" ordered Eggsy again, "Zoom in on his neck, the moment he turns on the landing." The video started and this time it slowed down to a crawl, second for second trickled by until Merlin stopped it himself. The small picture showing a close up of Danny and his neck, just as he was to turn and only visible for a second a metal collar flashed under his shirt. "His example, he was speaking of himself." Muttered the handler. "Aye," agreed Eggsy.
"I'll not let him trapped here," Eggsy stated immediately, "The next one to find the entrance maybe…" "I don't you expect you to. Let me check the already downloaded data. See if I can find anything there on how it works. You should in the meantime get a better look at the collar." Eggsy nodded and walked towards the frosted glass door. "And may I suggest to use your watch, you don't know how he might react to you inspecting it." The young agent nodded silently and checked on the display that he selected 'knockout' and not 'amnesia'. This would give them 15 Minutes to work, if necessary he could administer a second dose.
He passed the door and before him opened a vast area. Roughly the size of a small stadium full of grass, a handful of trees, an area of crops and also an enclosure for small animals. Eggsy stopped in his tracks, letting the view sink in then mumbled "Is it just me, or does it look just like Valentines oasis."
During their investigation of Valentines bunker, after the prisoners had been released, Merlin Roxy and he had found that the mad genius had planned to stay hidden for at least a year, maybe longer, depending on how the world had healed by then. For that, he had stocked up on all essentials for his voluntary and involuntary guests. This included an entire floor in the mountain that had been converted to a farm and greenhouse.
What he saw now, was eerie similar. "Could Masters have been in league with Valentine right from the start?" "Possible, remember their first tests, they used chemicals and biological weapons, maybe he was the one to develop them." "Bastard died way to easy" Mumbled Eggsy in an afterthought Merlin grunted in agreement.
They located Danny not far to the side under a tree, sitting upright on a stone bench. The young agent was impressed with how much it felt as if he was really outside. He could hear birds sing, a gentle breeze circulating through the room, creating enough movement in the trees that the leaves rustle and the light felt warm on his skin. Vlad Master has undeniably been an evil man, nevertheless all this they have seen here was proof that he had also been a genius, just like Valentine.
Closing in on the teen Eggsy noticed that Danny had his eyes closed, face lifted up towards the artificial light source in here, shadow and light playing on his features. Before he could say anything to announce his presence, the other spoke "The thing I miss the most is the sky. Daytime is okay, but at night there are no stars." Blue eyes opened and he turned to Eggsy for a moment, "I always wanted to become an astronaut. Silly I know," he looked up again through the leaves above, "But I so love to the see stars." Stepping closer he replied, "I grew up in London, the only stars I've seen where the once out of plastic my dad glued to my bedroom ceiling." Danny chuckled and he grinned too. Using this moment of distraction, Eggsy aimed and true to his impressing test score in training his dart hit Danny neck three fingers under the chin, the perfect spot.
The teen turned, in reflex, his hand reached for the object at his throat. He heard the other man utter an apology, but the drug was to strong and he was out like a light a second later. He never felt his body falling or that he was caught in strong arms before he hit the ground.
Eggsy moved Danny in his arms and placed him face down on the bench. "Good shot Galahad. Now give me a good picture of the collar and the lock." "Yes, Sir."
Pulling the shirt down revealed a tump wide matt silver collar around the slender neck of the teen. There was not much room to lift it from the skin, he could barely fit his pinkie under it. Outside there was no indicator that it wasn't just a piece of jewelry, but he saw that inside and in direct contact with the skin, where some circuit. The lock was a mechanical one, 4 turning wheels with numbers from 1 to 9 on it. It reminded Eggsy on a bicycle lock, or some exclusive BDSM neckless he has seen on the internet once, almost a lifetime ago.
"Let me guess, we only have one try before it will explode?" he asked. "No, I think not, he wanted to keep the boy," "His name is Danny," interjected Eggsy, the collar and it's implication that the teen was just a 'thing' to possess and not a person grated against his nerve." Merlin must have noticed, "My apology, didn't mean anything with it. Masters has put a lot of effort to keep Danny here, he would not risk his death. From the data I was already able to decipher the collar is not equipped with explosive, but could deal a high voltage shock to knock the wearer out." "Okay, any suggestion on the code?"
Merlin suggested numbers as fast Eggsy could turn the little gears at the collar, each one holding a special meaning in Masters or Danny's live. However, after several minutes they had not come close to opening the damn thing.
"What about words, encoded as numbers?" asked Eggsy. "I've tried every three or four-letter word that I could think of he might have used. Father, dad, mine or others are to short or to long." "Son?" "19 15 14, to long." Eggsy's mind was running wild in his head, he tried to remember everything he knew about Masters, all he had ever read, seen or heard from the man. One specific fact popped up, he had once read on Vlad Masters Wikipedia page. "Fiu" he muttered. "What?" Merlin inquired. "Mrs. Toma, an old geezer at the estate, she barely spoke English. Her son Andrey was a good friend in school. She always called him 'draga fiu' that's Romanesque and mean 'dear son'. Masters family originated from Transylvania. They moved to the States when he was 3 years old." While he spoke he simultaneously turned the numbers until the fit the numbers to the letters. "6 9 2 1" both men said loud when the last digit was placed. A faint audible click was heard followed by an electrical hum and the collar opened at a previously seamless part.
Merlin was about to compliment his charge when a signal at the terminal next to him caught his attention. The tower of the small private runway they had landed was reaching out to him. "Good thinking lad. Could you handle it alone for a few minutes, I have to attend to something other for a moment?" "Sure, go ahead, I've to wait for Danny to wake up anyway." His focus already shifting, Merlin added "May I suggest that you hide that collar, and not on your person." "Will do." Next, he saw through Eggsy's glasses how he turned left and threw the offending item into the grain field.
"Here is November 247 Charli Kilo how can I help?" Merlin spoke into the microphone, opening the channel to where the tower was hailing him. "Dolhun tower here, a package was dropped off for you. Security has already looked over it and will be delivering it to you in about 4 minutes. Do you wish for it to be placed in your storage compartment?" came the male voice from a tower operator through the radio. "We were not expecting anything delivered. Can you tell me from whom?" Merlin could hear key clicking while the person on the other end where checking their information. It took a moment but then he replied "The name on the sender states a Mr. C. Works, do you know this person?" "Not that I'm aware of. However, it could actually be for a friend of mine, do you know what exactly is it?" "The description only said 'Luggage', two to be precise." Merlin hesitated, thinking about anyone who might know there are here and would send some 'Luggage'. "Look," interrupted the tower personal, "If you wish we can bring it to your cabin door, you take a look from there and if you don't want it, security will take it back and call the police." "Thank you that would be appreciated."
Merlin made a quick check on the video feed from Eggsy's glasses, the young agent had taken position next to the tree, leaning against the trunk in a casual manner, waiting for Danny to overcome the knockout drug. "Galahad, I'll be off coms for a moment." "Everything alright Sir?" "Yes, have to check something outside." "Okay."
Standing up, Merlin corrected the pilot uniform he was wearing, looking impeccable once again, and left the pc monitors open, just in case. Three steps to the right and he reached the cabin door.
Through a small window, Merlin could see the airport security driving in a golf cart towards their parking space. Two males were sitting on the small bench in the front of the vehicle. One was clearly over sixty and driving, the other a possible mid thirty with a big bushy beard. Neither looked like they would pose a threat, however, the quartermaster was too long in this business to not be suspicious at anybody.
He opened a secret compartment over the door removing a small gun from it, pushing it in the back of his trousers with ease. In addition, Merlin also removed the three holdings straps from an assault rifle, that too was hidden in there, but left it for a quick draw. Only then did he press the release for the cabin door.
With little to nothing noise the door opened to the outside, a small staircase folded out automatically underneath. Merlin positioned himself half in the door, using the wall next to it as part of a cover, one hand on the assault rifle, his posture relaxed and none threatening.
The men had stopped their cart roughly four meters away from the entrance. "Hello, Sir." The younger greeted friendly with a smile, the older nodded "Sir." "Hello," replied Merlin, "Just leave it there, my boss is on the phone right now." He nodded back to the compartment from the plane, "he is checking in with our partner. We will take a look once he's done."
Merlin could see the younger wanted to say something, but the older poked not so subtlety his elbow in his rips. "As you wish Sir." Both jumped from the seat and the younger removed the 'luggage' from the back. "Is there anything else Sir?" asked the older gentleman supervising the other. The quartermaster smiled "No, thank you. That would be all at the moment." He nodded and climbed back on the cart behind the wheel, the other followed a moment later. Merlin waved a goodbye and the two speeded away.
Only once the cart was no longer in sight let Merlin his hand drop, finally releasing his grip on the rifle. He checked from a distance the two bags that they had placed on the ground. Two dove grey duffle bags, full and no ominous deformation. With a quick switch on his glasses, he was able to scan the content from the distance. Mostly clothes, papers a few pictures in their frames. It still didn't explain where the bags had come from.
With a sigh he stepped down the stairs, he would have to check them out by hand. Once closer he noticed a luggage tag, flipping it open he read:
Daniel M. Fenton
Fenton Works
Amity Park
They were Danny's, he concluded surprised.
Merlin then saw an envelope sticking partially out of a side opening. Pulling it out, he almost dropped it again, right in the middle where the Kingsman insignia and his name. His real name, one he has not used since he became Merlin.
Slowly he turned the paper around, the back was sealed with a wax seal showing an interlaced C and W. Now it was making sense. Quickly he broke the seal and pulled a thick sheet of paper out. In neat lettering stood:
Hello Hamish,
Thank you for following up on the information I have directed to you and freeing Daniel of his confinement.
Due to reasons, I was unable to assist him myself, something I regret dearly.
You will find in the bags Daniels belongings, including the blueprints and patent papers to the inventions from his parents. Unfortunate his family did not survive V-Day. I, therefore, suggest you take him with you to Britain. Amity Park only holds pain and misery for him and he needs a family. From my observation, I know that Mr. Unwin has already experience in being a big brother and will sure be able to extend his heart to include another person.
Daniel will make a great asset to Kingsman, never as an agent though, his heart is to big for this kind of work. However, being a genius runs in the family, he just never had the chance to explore his talents. Which I'm sure you will be happy to ably in your R&D department. His other talents will be useful for your organization too. However, he will tell you about them once the right time has come – do not pressure him!
In the future, once Daniel has learned what he needs, I will come for him. Even though that won't be for a few decades, there are certain duties waiting for him he is entitled to, that he is yet not aware of.
When he asks simply let him know: All is as it should be!
He will understand.
C.W.
Charles Work
There was a small arrow on the side, indicating that he should turn the page around. Merlin did and found:
PS:
St. Mary Hospital
Kentucky
Room 401
Name: John Doe
He is soon to wake up, it would be better you are there when he does.
Merlin stared at the message, processing the truckload of information it held within the few sentences. His eyes still looking at the short message on the back of the card the words 'Kentucky' 'wake up' replayed on loop in his mind.
"This," he mumbled, "this … could not," Merlin's hands trembled holding the thick paper, "… he couldn't mean …" The quartermaster of Kingsman shook himself out of the stupor he had fallen and run back into the plane and to his desk, bags for the moment forgotten. He also ignored Eggsy's video feed and opened up his search program. A few keystrokes later and he had his answer
Eggsy was eyeing his surroundings, the slight movement of the tree, the distant noise of animals. It unnerved him how similar everything was to Valentines bucker. True everything here was on a much smaller scale compared to the Oasis the crazy genius had built inside the mountain. Truly a masterpiece of modern science, biology, and engineering. Sadly, it was built for the intended cost of 6 billion people or more.
A soft moan stopped him in his train of thoughts, Daniel was finally waking up. Eggsy could not stop the smile forming on his lips, remembering the many Bond references within the last hour. Where it was normally the spy who woke up after being unconscious, not the host of said spy.
The young agent had chosen to wait outside of the teens view, cautions about his reaction. Hoping Danny would not hold a grudge for the dart to the neck.
Faster than anticipated the teen had overcome the last remedies of the drug and had sat up. Immediately his hand shot to his neck, while he also looked frantically around until he found Eggsy right behind him, casual leaning against the tree. A second later his hand dropped ever so slightly to where not that long-ago Masters collar hat been. Overwhelming relieve washed over his face and he sunk boneless back to the bench. "Oh, thank you." He breathed almost inaudible.
Eggsy hesitated a moment, but then replied "You are welcome."
"I was afraid my hint was to subtle," Daniel said, looking up through the waving tree crown over them.
"Truth is, it took me a moment, but yeah it did the trick." The younger boy laughed and stood up, stretching in a way that made Eggsy think of a lazy tom cat.
Suddenly the booming voice from Merlin came over the glasses. "Go hifreann leat!" Eggsy flinched and jumped from his relaxed position. "Merlin?" he asked anxiously. All the young agent could hear was almost hysterical laughter and further swearwords he thought where in Gallic.
Worry settled in Eggsy's stomach, had something happen while they were here. He reached up to his glasses, pressed them firmly against his head "Merlin? What is going on?"
Danny jumped up. Ready for anything. He owed it to these people to help wherever he was able to.
Eggsy repeated his question twice more, each one more worried before he could hear his quartermaster switch to English. "This lucky son of a bitch" more laughter. The young agent shared an equally puzzled looked with the teen.
"Merlin, what…?" "Tell Danny to pack anything he is in dire needs to take with him. He is coming with us." "What?" replied Eggsy eloquent. "Don't dawdle, lift off is in 45 minutes."
"WTF Merlin! What is going on? I don't understand!" he shouted, reaching the finale thread of his nerves.
"It's Harry, Eggsy. He survived." A happy and relieved laughter again, "The bastard survived. I'll explain everything on the plane, just get your asses over here. Oh, and if Danny asks, tell him "All is as it should be" he will understand."
"Not so sure that I do." replied the younger man, shocked to the core. Looking up he meets curious blue eyes. "Have you ever been stargazing from the English countryside?" He asked. Daniel starred back, lost on the agent's way of thinking, shaking his head in negative.
"Do you want to?"