By the time Eggsy had a long and tear-filled conversation with Tilde, another with his mum, taken a shower and scrubbed the dried blood from his face and neck, and wrapped what may have been some bruised or cracked ribs from Charlie pulling him through a wall, it had been two hours and Merlin was still in surgery.

There was a quiet knock on the door and he pulled the bathrobe more securely around himself before going to answer. A young man- well. A guy his age was waiting outside, a stack of clothing in his hands. "Yo, are you Galahad?" He checked something on his phone. "Eggsy?"

"That's me," Eggsy said.

"Ginger Ale asked Vodka to send these up for you and for me to collect your other clothing so we can get it cleaned."

"Vodka?" Eggsy asked, accepting the stack of clothing- his own, Kingsman tailored original suit that he had worn before getting on the plane and changing. "Um, let me grab that clothing for you, bruv."

"Vodka," the young man confirmed. "She, Sake, and Absinthe are in charge of various branches of logistics, analysis, and general staff here. I'm Mark, I work under Vodka."

"Well, um." Eggsy was caught a little off guard by the young man's chatter- there was a lot he wouldn't have told any visitors to Kingsman, the code names of two extremely competent women and one extremely competent man who run- ran- the analysis, logistics, and R&D departments being one of them. Talkative, these Americans. "Oh, hold on-" Eggsy fumbled into the pants pocket and pulled out Merlin's cracked glasses. "Thanks." He gave the man a smile and closed the door firmly behind him, letting himself sink down onto the bed with the pile of familiar clothing in his arms- the dark suit, the crisp white shirt.

Igraine and Isolde and Erec- the heads of the support departments, answering only to Arthur and Merlin- he had liked them very much and now he didn't know- Merlin's address hadn't been in the databases, and maybe some of the others- while not all the support team stayed at headquarters, some did- who had made it out? Who was dead and buried in the rubble of a dozen bases? Had any of them made it? Were they looking for the rest?

Eggsy suddenly found it impossible to sit still. He yanked off his robe, wincing at how the sudden movement made his ribs ache and began to pull on the suit, watching in the mirror as he straightened the cuffs and aligned the creases and made sure everything fell just so before sliding Merlin's glasses into his pocket. Despite the neat suit- the Statesman did a good job cleaning and pressing it- he couldn't hide how anxious and tired he looked.

Another knock at the door. Eggsy fumbled his cuff link but managed not to drop it as he made his way across the room, threading it as he went. He opened the door to find Harry there, looking about how Eggsy felt; exhausted and gaunt and griefstricken but dressed to the nines. The Kingsman way.

"'Lo," Eggsy said quietly.

"Hello, Eggsy," Harry said. "Brought you something." He held out a box of ammo and Eggsy almost smiled.

"Thanks." He took the box and a step back. "Come in?"

Harry nodded and entered, sitting at the heavy oak desk chair while Eggsy took off his suit jacket in order to load his pistol and shrug it into his shoulder holster. He pulled the jacket back on, heavy fabric settling over his shoulders. Eggsy fixed the collar and looked up to see Harry watching him, the traces of a lopsided smile lingering around his mouth and corners of his good eye. "What?"

"It's enjoyable," Harry said, standing as Eggsy headed for the door. "Seeing you settled into being a Kingsman. I always knew you could."

He sent a crooked half smile of his own back at Harry. "All thanks to you, bruv. Been a long year without you, but Merlin and Roxy-" His breath caught for a short second. "They've kept me on the narrow. Got a girlfriend, had a good run of missions. Mum and Daisy are away from Dean, living in a little flat not too far from where I live-your place." He faltered again. Because of course, the house was gone too. JB. Brandon.

Harry's hand landed heavily on his shoulder. "You all right?" he asked, sounding doubtful.

"Eh," Eggsy said, and changed the subject. "Where'r we goin'?" Up until this point he had been following Harry without asking.

"We've been invited to eat with Ginger Ale and Agent Tequila, then to see Merlin. He should be out of surgery soon, although he'll probably still be out. Then we should both sleep." Harry steered Eggsy around the corner.

"Where's your room?" Eggsy asked. "Not still in the padded cell, righ'?"

"No," Harry rolled his eye. "I'm two down from you. I'll show you before we go to bed; you can say hello to Peanut."

"... Peanut?"

"Ginger Ale named the puppy you brought while we were gone and the dog seems to have taken to the name."

"Oh," Eggsy smiled. "The puppy. Sorry I traumatized you, by the way, but… not really sorry."

"Well, it worked, so job well done, I'd say."

They entered a cafeteria that was almost deserted. Fluorescent lights had been halved, cutting down the glare from the almost- empty tables. Far above, at least three stories up, skylights showed the clear stars of the dark nighttime sky. Surprised, Eggsy checked his watch. It was nearly nine-thirty at night- the time zones had sure fucked him up. It didn't feel any later than three.

"Over here!" Ginger Ale waved them over to where she and Agent Tequila were sitting at a small table in the corner. "Hey, Agents."

"Hey," Eggsy waved back and Harry nodded.

"Eat whatever you like," she pointed out a long buffet along one wall. "It's all fresh because there's always staff and agents and who knows who all coming in at different hours."

Eggsy wasn't about to turn down food now- even with the meat grinder in Poppy's diner, he was starving. He hadn't had a proper meal in days, not since dinner with Tilde and her parents. Four minutes later, he had a plate full of sausage and potatoes, a glass of bitter, and was ready to eat as fast as manners would allow- Harry was next to him, after all.

"I used your royal etiquette class," he blurted out in Harry's direction the moment Harry sat down with his own plate just as Tequila stood to get more. "Thanks for that."

"Did you, now?" Harry asked, amused. "When was that?"

"Um. Four days ago?" Eggsy said. "I um," he was sure he was blushing but he wasn't going to be able to do anything about that at this point. "I may be seriously dating Princess Tilde of Sweden."

"Shut up?!" Ginger Ale said, almost dropping her fork. "She's my favorite!"

"Favorite what?" Eggsy asked.

"Royal! Of course, I watched the British Royal Wedding, but I like all of Tilde's programs and she's so pretty."

"Yeah, I'd agree with you on that one." Eggsy smiled and took another bite. "Anyway, I had dinner with her parents. It actually didn't go so... well…" Eggsy suddenly regretted bringing up the topic. "I was there when HQ went down. My mate Brandon… he was at my place. Your place," he directed at Harry. "Watching JB. So I saw it through my glasses during dinner. Didn't make a good impression. But probably sprinting out with hurried apologies probably didn't help either." He took a hasty drink and looked down at the table.

They sat in silence for a moment until Tequila came back and plunked his plate loudly onto the table. "So, the terrier puppy. Peanut. What's with that?"

"Kingsman training," Harry replies, picking up the change of subject gladly. "All trainees select a dog from a range of puppies on day two, provided you pass the flooded room test. We're watching for a variety of items; why they pick their dog- is it because it's easy to train? A hunting dog?- how they choose to train it and if they succeed, and how they react when there are problems. Then, for their final test…" Harry's voice dropped and he took a sip of his pint. "They are asked to shoot their dog."

Ginger Ale actually did drop her fork this time. Tequila set down his glass so hard the cutlery shook. "They what?!"

"It's a blank," Eggsy said. "It's about following orders, about whether you would shoot an innocent on command, about if you would take someone who looks innocent out if someone knows they're part of something they shouldn't be."

"And you did it?" Tequila asked.

"No, he didn't," Harry said. "That's why Roxy became Lancelot instead."

"And a damn fine agent she is. Was." Eggsy's voice went out again and he stopped talking. He rubbed the heel of his palm on the edge of the table. "Tilde got me- us- a new puppy. Already, after. I don't know if he has a name yet."

Eggsy didn't look up, since he could feel three pairs (well, okay. Two and a half pairs) of sad eyes on him. So he stabbed a sausage with a little more force than might have been strictly necessary and then jumped when his cell phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket with the intent of turning it off, but-

"Eggsy? What's-" Harry asked. Eggsy had gone white and stood up so abruptly that Harry did as well, ready to move the second they were off to run somewhere.

Eggsy slid his thumb across the phone and held it to his ear. "Hello? Hello?"

There was a half second of silence and then Eggsy let out a most ungentlemanly like whoop of excitement. "Haha! Oh my days! I can't belie- where are you? Who- Are you- We're in America, with the Statesman- they're like the American Kingsmen, we stopped Poppy, and Charlie was there too and- you need to get here, Merlin's been injured and- yeah! We'll find a way to get you here. I can't believe it! You're the best, okay. Talk to you later!"

Eggsy ended the call and for a moment Harry thought he was about to spike the phone to the ground in his excitement but the young man settled for shoving his fist in his pocket and sprinting over to wrap his arms around Harry in a two second hug before throwing his hands in the air in victory and collapsing at the table.

"Eggsy, who-" Ginger asked but Harry had worked it out, his eye lighting. He dropped into his own seat.

"She's alive!?" he asked. "Roxy made it out?"

"Yeah, bruv!" Eggsy's voice was hoarse and his eyes were wet. "She's a little beat up and was buried in the rubble for ages, but she got herself out and just made it to a safehouse. She's okay. Roxy's okay. And it sounds like maybe there were others there as well. Kingsman might not be as gone as we thought."

"Oh thank god," Harry rubbed his face with his hands. "We can use all the Kingsmen we can get and from what I hear- and from training- Roxy's one of the best."

"You're damn right about that." Eggsy downed the rest of his drink. "Anyway, we need to get her here; I don't suppose that could be arranged?" He glanced over at Ginger Ale and Tequila, the former of whom had a hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes and the later of whom looked suspiciously misty himself. "She and Merlin are friends, get along like a house on fire," Eggsy told Harry. "She'll want to come see him and of course he'll need to know eventually that she's fine."

Ginger Ale smiled. "Of course. We could have you in London in six hours, if you want."

"I'll do it," Eggsy said. "I can talk to Tilde on the plane, explain everything to Roxy on the way back, and Harry can stay here to look after Merlin."

"Of course, Eggsy," Harry nodded. "Now, if you're going to be on a plane in an hour, you better get ready to go."

Eggsy stood and then hesitated, turning to Ginger Ale. "Can you fix something for me?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out Merlin's glasses. "They're Merlin's- not exactly standard Kingsman issue, but I'm more worried about the lens. They're prescription and he needs them for more than the spy business."

"Sure," Ginger Ale took the glasses with a smile and set them on her clipboard. "Won't take any time at all."

They stopped by the medical wing before they left. It didn't do them any good; Merlin was still in surgery. "Tell him hello and that he's an idiot if he wakes up before I get back," Eggsy directed.

Harry grinned.

"So… he took your place?" Roxy asked in a hushed voice, as if Merlin could hear them from their plane somewhere over the western edges of the Atlantic Ocean. She looked horrible; her face and arms were covered with bruises and her left arm was in a sling that cut the neat lines of her suit; she'd broken her collarbone. A piece of medical tape helped support a broken nose. Neither of them cared how she looked- at least she was alive.

"Yeah. Said "on the count of three, we'll-,'" Eggsy described, mimicking Merlin's Scottish accent. "And then shoved me right off and stepped on the fuckin' mine." He shook his head. He wasn't going to tell Roxy about right after- how scared he had been, how Merlin had told him he had been there when Eggsy's father had died for them, to use his training, the training Merlin had given them, to save the world. "He sang. Did you know Merlin could sing?"

"I caught him once, when he was at his station past midnight once. Was it John Denver?" Roxy asked, leaning forward to brace her good arm on her knees. "It's his favourite."

"Even Harry didn't know that."

"I can't believe Harry's alive, I'm going to punch him square in the face for not telling us," Roxy said.

"He didn't know who we were, Rox," Eggsy reminded her.

"Still."

"Anyway, I thought Merlin was gone-" Eggsy swallowed hard, remembering the feeling of guilt settling heavy in his stomach every time he had used one of Merlin's precious secret gadgets during that final fight. "But then he took out a sniper on the roof and we found him by the gates- he'd dragged himself over, Rox, at least thirty meters. He just about passed out when we got there, from blood loss at least- we had to put him on a litter and carry him back to the plane."

"So how is he? Really?" Roxy asked.

"He's alive," Eggsy said. "But, Rox, his legs…"

Roxy's eyes shone and she gingerly switched seats to lean against his shoulder. "But he's alive. We can deal with the legs. He's alive."

"Yeah. And he'll be glad to know you're alive, too, by the way."

They were both exhausted by the time they got off the plane; both agents had slept but neither had slept well and it had been a long five days for the both of them. Eggsy helped Roxy move stiffly down the stairs, not the she really needed the help; she had dug herself out of the rubble of an explosion big enough to take out the Kingsman mansion and then climbed to safety with a broken collarbone, after all. But she didn't seem to mind Eggsy's steadying hand on her hips so he left it there.

Harry was waiting a dozen meters from the aircraft stairs, glasses on and the Statesman agents nowhere in sight.

"Lancelot. Good to see you again." Harry held out a hand to shake, but to nobody's surprise, Roxy bypassed the handshake and went in for a brief, cautious, hug instead. Harry accepted it with equanimity. "How's your arm and shoulder?" Harry asked as she stepped back, his good eye tracing the sharp lines of the sling immobilizing her left arm and then following the bruising up to her face and over her broken nose.

"Hurts, but not bad. I fractured my collarbone. I'm on some painkillers." Roxy shrugged her other shoulder. "How's Merlin?"

"He's stable. Got out of surgery about eight hours ago." Harry took Roxy's small bag from Eggsy and lead them towards the elevator set into the wall. "He woke up once around 0600 hours, but only for a minute and he was pretty groggy, still. They've done some checks and the Statesman doctors don't think there's any brain damage, but they need him to really wake up all the way to be sure. Besides that, there's some extensive burns and cuts, mostly on his thighs and torso, and of course the damage to his legs."

Harry stopped talking as the elevator stopped and they moved down the hall outside their rooms. Harry opened the door on the other side of Eggsy's room from where his and Merlin's rooms were and gestured Roxy inside. He set her bag down at the desk. "This is your room, Lancelot. Eggsy is next door, Merlin's room after that, and then mine."

"Can we go see him?" Roxy asked.

"Briefly," Harry conceded. "Then you two- especially you, Lancelot- need to eat and sleep. You'll be no good to Merlin or Kingsman if you're completely worn out."

The two young agents nodded in unison and followed Harry back into the hall and down to the medical sector. Merlin was in a room not dissimilar to the one Harry had been in, although it lacked the padded floors, ability to flood, and the drawings of butterflies covering the walls. One wall had the distinctive pane of two way glass, currently made translucent so they could see through to where Merlin slept.

Harry and Eggsy stepped to the side to let Roxy precede them into the room. "Oh, Merlin," she breathed, moving forward to place one hand on the glass divider. Eggsy's breath caught just behind her.

Merlin looked small. That wasn't something anybody ever said about Merlin; he was only a handful of centimeters short of a full two meter height and managed to intimidate all of Kingsman when needed. It helped that he was probably the most intelligent person in the building, had trained most of the agents, and had the ability to make their lives a living hell if they made impossibly idiotic decisions. Even when he was sitting at his desk, seen only through the screens of Kingsman glasses, Merlin managed to loom large.

But not now. The tech wizard's face was still pale although no longer verging on grey and soot Harry and Eggsy had tried to carefully clean from his face on the plane was now completely gone. Eyes closed, his face looked different without his glasses and the rough beginning of a beard was starting to shadow his cheeks and chin. His arms were wrapped in bandages and the off-white hospital gown couldn't completely hide the wrappings around sections of his torso as well. Several IV lines of clear fluid slid into one arm and a cannula ran under his nose, although his breathing was even. Most obvious though, were his legs. Eggsy caught Roxy's hand and squeezed it tight. Both feet were clearly gone, judging by the shapes under the blankets, and now Merlin's legs ended just below the knees, one a few centimeters longer than the other.

"We're hoping he wakes up again fairly soon," Ginger Ale said from behind them. All three agents turned to see her smile faintly at all of them, a pair of medical staff poking at clipboards and tablets. "Hello," her smile became a little more genuine as she turned to Roxy. "I'm Ginger Ale. Nice to meet you."

"Lancelot. But as long as we're not on the mission, call me Roxy." Roxy extended her right hand to shake. "Nice to meet you, too. I've already heard a lot from Eggsy about you all."

"Mostly good, I hope?" Ginger's smile faltered again- it couldn't all be good, of course, not with Agent Whisky turning on two of the Kingsman agents.

"Of course," Roxy replied politely.

Ginger took the out and turned to Eggsy. "And for you, Eggsy…" she pulled Merlin's repaired glasses out of her pocket and handed them to him. Roxy's eyes softened and her lips pinched in what Eggsy recognized as "trying not to cry".

"Thanks, Ginger," Eggsy blinked quickly a few times and slipped them into his own pocket before nudging Roxy with his shoulder. "Want to go say hello?"

She nodded and they made their way out of room and ten meters down the hall to the connecting door, letting it scan their palms before it unlocked and they could slide it open. The room was quiet, only the regular beep of the heart monitor and a few other instruments interrupting the hazy silence. Eggsy pulled over two chairs from near the door and settled them next to the bed, gently pushing Roxy into one.

"'Lo, Merlin," he said quietly. "Brought you something." He waved the glasses around and set them carefully onto the small bedside table. He half hoped the techie would wake up at the appearance of his beloved glasses, but there was nothing.

They sat in silence for a moment until Roxy reached out and took Merlin's hand with her good one. On the other side of the glass, Harry finished speaking to the medical staff and Ginger only to turn and find that agents Galahad and Lancelot were both asleep in chairs, Eggsy leaning sideways in his with one hand on Roxy's knee and Roxy's head resting on the hospital bed to keep weight off her shoulder, Merlin's fingers still wrapped in hers.

Eggsy woke up an indeterminate time later with knots in his back and neck. He groaned and rolled his neck, checking his watch: ten thirty in the morning. He'd only been asleep for about four hours. Sighing, Eggsy stretched his arms and reached out to wake Roxy, who was still asleep, head pillowed by the hospital bed, her hand covering Merlin's- Merlin.

The haze of just waking up over lingering exhaustion popped like a soap bubble and suddenly Eggsy knew what had woken him, his eyes flying up the bed to Merlin's face in time to see him blink once, slowly, hazel irises half covered by his eyelids. "Melin," Eggsy couldn't stop the grin. "You're awake."