London, England
We landed at Heathrow, around five in the morning, local time.
As we had not checked in any bags, we left the aircraft carrying our hand luggage and ignored the other passengers eager to recover their own bags. We were met, before being shown through a door and then escorted along a service passageway. We finally emerged onto the tarmac where an AgustaWestland AW190E helicopter, in a tasteful brown livery, was waiting with its rotors spinning.
The twin-engine helicopter started to taxi as soon as we were aboard and a few minutes later lifted off and turned to the west, increasing speed to over one hundred and twenty knots.
'K' Manor
After a little over twenty minutes, we dropped down towards a large stately home that was situated in many acres of private forest and grassland.
When we were a mere few dozen feet in the air, a large part of the lawn to the rear of the house, slid out of the way, allowing the helicopter to drop below into a cavernous, underground aircraft hangar that was filled with a seemingly endless collection of aircraft and vehicles – predominantly London taxi cabs.
We were met a few metres from the aircraft by Merlin, who was standing there with his usual clipboard and watching our every move.
"Lancelot, Galahad – good to see you both!"
"Merlin!" I replied with a grin, while Roxy gave him a nod and a smile.
I noticed a large group of nervous looking young people further away, across the hangar. We had lost two Kingsman to that lunatic, Valentine. The first had been Arthur, but we had also lost Agravaine and in a way, we had lost Lamorak, too. Lamorak had been promoted to Arthur. Thus, we had a rather larger group than usual, actually sixteen, as two spots required filling. Neither Roxy nor I had been asked to nominate anybody, which was good as I really had nobody to nominate and Roxy had confided to me that neither had she!
Each of the remaining Kingsman had provided one, if not two nominees. I noticed that the group consisted of about six girls, with the rest being lads. I sincerely hoped that they were not all cocky bastards, like those that we had had to endure! I honestly did not envy them their training and I was glad that it was behind me.
..._...
I grabbed Merlin's clipboard.
"What have we got today?" I said in a mock Scottish accent.
Merlin grabbed back his clipboard.
"Get your grubby mitts off my clipboard! Nobody touches the clipboard, nobody!" Merlin insisted, with an annoyed grin.
"Keep your hair on!" I laughed.
"Funny man!" Merlin grumbled, and then thrust a document into my hands. "Here – read!"
..._...
I looked at the document that I had been handed: it was 'The Last Will and Testament of Harry Lucas Hart'.
I felt very confused. "Why..." I began.
Merlin smiled before replying.
"Harry left everything to you – in the hope that you would be able to make further use of his worldly goods as you move forward in your new life as a Kingsman. You get the house and everything in it. You get the car, you..."
"Harry had a car?" I interrupted, incredulously. "What was it – a fifteen year-old Ford Fiesta?"
"Not quite!" Merlin replied, before turning very smug as he grinned at me. "But it is a company car!"
"Okay, I'll be careful which buttons I push!"
..._...
I was surprised and a little shocked, to tell you the truth!
Most of the past month had been spent out of the country and what time I had had before then was spent relocating my Mum and sister. I had not had a chance to find a place for myself yet, so for now Roxy was going to put me up at her place, in South Kensington.
It had turned out that the house that Kingsman had provided for Roxy was not far from Harry's old place, which it now turned out, was mine!
Your life is changing, Eggsy my boy!
"You know, I am somewhat surprised that they allowed a lady to be a Kingsman," I said cautiously and saw Roxy scowl.
"You thought that Kingsman would be full of pretentious, misogynist, bigots?" Merlin enquired.
"I suppose."
"At one stage, you would have been absolutely right. But over time they decided that, err, the female variety had important assets that err, men didn't!" Merlin explained delicately. "They, err, had assets like..."
I watched Roxy's expression as I interrupted. "Like tits?" I pointed out helpfully, with a sly grin.
Roxy dropped her scowl and laughed.
"Err, yes – those would be some of the assets, yes!" Merlin admitted, looking slightly uncomfortable.
"Have there been many, before Roxy?" I continued, curiously and I could see that Roxy now leaned forward out of curiosity, too.
"Just the two so far – both are dead now. They served in the sixties and into the seventies. It was discovered that women could do the job just as well as the men and in a few instances – better!" Merlin said, flashing a grin at Roxy.
"I can believe that, if they were of Roxy's calibre!" I said.
"Oh they were!" Merlin confirmed, before wandering off.
..._...
"Thank you, Eggsy – for a moment there, I thought you were 'anti-women'!" Roxy grinned. "Glad I was wrong!"
"Never going to happen, Roxy – you outdid several other men to get to where you stand now."
Roxy seemed a little unsure of herself, but smiled.
Roxy and I boarded the 'tube' and we headed back towards London at high-speed.
I gazed at the blurred image out the window as I spoke. "I wonder if anybody has ever got off in one of these," I asked offhandedly.
"Well, the trip does only last a few minutes; so ample time for most men – more than enough even!" Roxy replied with a mischievous grin.
"Funny Roxy!"
'K' Headquarters
As we stepped out of the shop on Savile Row, we turned right and headed north towards Oxford Circus tube station, before we were somewhat rudely interrupted.
"Hey! How you doing sweet stuff?" A voice called.
"Excuse me!" Roxy said, turning to glare at the youth.
"Love the suit – you look hot!" he continued.
I started to say something, but Roxy stopped me.
"I've got this!" She cautioned.
I had to admit that Roxy did look 'hot' in her official Kingsman suit. Naturally, it had been tailored for her body and showed some of her curvaceous features. Roxy wore trousers, instead of a skirt and carried a more feminine variant of the Kingsman umbrella. On her feet were custom designed Kingsman shoes with low heels.
"Come on, lady! I can give you something your toff can't!"
I ignored the implied insult and just stood there grinning like a Cheshire cat, while Roxy braced up and stared at the youth.
"You have one chance to walk away!" She advised in a calm, polite tone.
I stayed back, knowing that Roxy could handle ten of this idiot! I took in Roxy's stance and the way that she was holding her umbrella. Only another Kingsman would notice that she was coiling up like a cobra about to strike.
The youth just grinned. "You want to hurt me?"
I could not believe it – the idiot thought Roxy's challenge was foreplay!
"Merlin – you got your ears on?" I called into thin air.
"No, Galahad – they're on the desk beside me!" Merlin responded dryly.
"Not the best place for them! We are going to need an ambulance, New Burlington Place, in about two minutes!"
I watched as Roxy swing the umbrella up and outwards, the wooden handle of which caught the youth on the bridge of his nose and he crumpled to the pavement.
"Better make that now, Merlin!" I corrected.
"Always knew you two were going to be trouble!" Merlin grumbled.
I smiled affectionately at my colleague. "You always leave a mess behind you, everywhere you go!" I commented and Roxy smiled back.
"I do not!" She retorted.
We continued along the street and then left up Regent Street towards the tube station.
Elsewhere, at the same time
"Who is he?"
"Seems to be a foreign national. Was found outside a pub in the centre of Glasgow. Something doesn't fit – just not sure what, which was why I called you," The medical examiner explained.
"Thank you, James, it is much appreciated. Did the man have much on him?" The tall thin, well-presented man, asked.
"Just the usual change, but no wallet or identification. I did find a small package that had been sewn into the lining of his jacket. Haven't opened it, but feel free, Thomas."
The man, Thomas, picked up the package, examining every detail, rolling the package over in his gloved hands.
"May I?" Thomas asked and lifted a scalpel and proceeded to open the package.
"What is that?" The medical examiner asked.
"A metal disc – why would you want to smuggle a metal disc into the country?"
Author's Note: For this story, I am not using an original plot. This is so that I can concentrate on getting the characters and background correct. Some readers may recognise the plot, as it unfolds or even straight away!