Chapter Three: Pug Life.
I groaned as my alarm clock blared Iggy Azalea's Work. It broke my heart to hear she was missing. Famous people and dignitaries alike were still going missing and we were still clueless. It was one month into training, my personal favorite time, puppy time! My own a jet black Great Dane, Belle, was currently curled up on my bed while I changed out of my pajamas. Merlin allowed me to wear more casual clothes since we weren't in any present danger. I was dressed in a nicer pair of jeans, a white top and my favorite black blazer. Once I was ready, I ran to check on the puppies. They were all stacked in their cages, looking nervous as can be. Belle trotted off to wherever she disappears to during training and I walked up to the balcony, waiting for the recruits to fall in. Aha, here they are. I stifled a giggle as I saw them,
"Did I look that ridiculous during my training?" I asked Merlin, he nodded.
"Yes, yes you did." He replied,
"Thanks for the honesty." I rolled my eyes, the recruits were all lined up, waiting to be informed of their next task.
"As you all have learned over the last few weeks, teamwork is paramount at Kingsman!" I started.
"We're here to advance your skills and test you to the limit, which is why you're all going to choose a puppy!" I pointed to the puppies below us, a few of which were beginning to bark and yelp.
"Wherever you go, your dog goes. You will care for it; you will teach it, and by the time it's fully trained. So will you be… Those of you who are still here, that is." I looked to Merlin, finishing my dramatic dialogue.
"So, choose a puppy." He smirked. They all sprang forward and began to scope out puppies. Charlie grabbed the German Shepard so fast, it was kind of scary, the others went about choosing and Eggsy shockingly grabbed a pug. Had there been one when I trained, I would have grabbed it. They're one of my favorite breeds. Roxy chose a poodle, not bad. Speaking of Eggsy and Roxy, the three of us had bonded quite a bit. I helped Eggsy study and Roxy with her fighting techniques, and it was going to kill me to see one or both of them go. Charlie still got on my nerves, and my self-control was wearing thin to not kick his ass. I grabbed Merlin's clipboard from him and pulled up the recruits names as I typed which breed they grabbed.
"Now that you have chosen your puppies." I walked down the line and paused when I heard Eggsy laugh at Roxy,
"A poodle?" He smirked.
"They're gun dogs. Oldest working breed. Easy to train." She cast a glance down at the pug.
"A pug?" She questioned. Eggsy looked alarmed.
"It's a bulldog innit?" He asked, looking at me. I shook my head.
"It'll get bigger though won't it?" He asked, Charlie and Roxy both sniggered. He looked at me for some reassurance.
"It'll get a slight bit taller and very wide…." I said.
"Shit!" Eggsy cursed. I suppressed a smiled.
"Now, you will eventually train your puppy to do the following." Merlin gestured to me. I quickly let out a sharp whistle and Belle came galloping towards me, ears flopping in the breeze. She plopped next me and stared at the recruits in curiosity.
"Good girl Belle." I pet the top of her head. I demonstrated some of the tricks I taught her and sent her on her way when she finished.
"Today's training will be the following." Merlin launched into his explanation of the fact they were not allowed to pick up the puppies as they run the obstacle course in full armor.
"Morgana!" Galahad's voice crackled through my earpiece.
"Sir?" I asked, stepping away from Merlin's booming voice. Damn he was loud.
"Would you like come with me to visit Professor Arnold?" He asked, Merlin cast a glance over at me
"Sure, sure! Give me two seconds!" It was a rare thing for me to go on a mission. I was trained for it, yes, but Merlin chose to keep me at the office usually as communications. I walked over to Merlin and waited for him to finish,
"What's going on?" He whispered, turning to me.
"I'm going to talk to Professor Arnold with Galahad." I shrugged. He gave me a wary look.
"Georgie…" He sighed, I fought an eye roll.
"Merlin, I'll be fine. It'll be easier to get into the college with me anyway." I assured. I wouldn't really consider this a mission, compared to our normal ones. This was more recon than anything.
"Fine, fine, go. I'll see you when you get back." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. I beamed and hugged him tightly. Wait. Not professional. I backed away and looked at the recruits; Eggsy gave me a confused look. I smiled at him.
"I'm leaving you lot alone with Merlin. Good luck." I winked at him and turned on my heel, I wanted to sprint up to the house, but I kept my cool. Once there, I changed into my suit and I left to meet Galahad at the shop.
"Lovely timing, have you drawn up an alias?" He greeted as I entered the main part of the store.
"Yes sir." I flashed my manila folder, grinning happily.
"You are posing as a college student. You can't go dressed like that." He gestured to my suit. I nodded in agreement and quickly ducked into a changing room to change into a less formal outfit of jeans and a blouse.
"Merlin called me threatening my life you know." He explained as we walked out to the car.
"He's just being silly is all. I don't understand why he's so overprotective." I rolled my eyes as we started for the college.
"He cares a great deal about you. We both do. I completely understand where he's coming from. In all honesty, if I were going anywhere but a college, I wouldn't have insisted you come along." He admitted. I glared at him slightly.
"You two were the ones that insisted I join Kingsman… Now you're not even letting me go on missions at all!" I exclaimed.
"It's only because we care about your well-being Georgianna." He sighed. I huffed, not feeling in the mood to argue.
"Eggsy did very well on his first task." I chose to change the subject.
"That's good to hear." He nodded.
"Do you believe he can do it?" I asked. My favorite recruits were him or Roxy. Though Roxy was highly qualified due to her training and preparation. Eggsy was smarter in different ways.
"It's still early in the process." He replied, reading over his newspaper.
"Come on Harry! I need honesty here! You wouldn't have chosen Eggsy if you didn't think he would win." I replied.
"Oh look, we're here." He sprang from the car and I scrambled out to join him. We strode into the main office and I smiled at the lady behind the desk.
"Hello, how may I help you?" She asked, Harry walked forward and gestured to me.
"Hello madam. I am here to drop my lovely daughter off for a tour of your fine school." He said,
"Ah yes, name?" She looked at her computer.
"Rachel Quil." I answered quickly, Harry gave me a strange look. I shrugged. I was never very good at giving codenames. I almost went with Jane Doe, but that may have seemed a bit to obvious.
"Here you are. If you could just sign in and a representative will be with you shortly." She gestured to the signing book and I quickly signed it and turned to Harry.
"Alright Daddy, I seem to be all set." I smiled. He smiled back.
"So it would seem. I will see you after your tour." He kissed my forehead and walked out. I sat down and surveyed the room. She was the only person in there. Getting the professor's room number should be easy.
"I'll be right back." She scooted out of the room and I waited until she was out of sight before launching from my chair. I plopped into the chair and quickly logged into her account. Who on Earth just has their password as Catsrcool? So lame.
"Galahad?" I asked as I scoured the computer for the information I needed.
"Yes?" He replied,
"Your target is in room 103, building 3." I explained, straining my ears to hear the clicking of Gladys' heels on the linoleum floor.
"Oh Gladys! How's the kids?" A man chirped, I let out a sigh of relief as I backed out of everything,
"Excellent." He replied. I logged out of the computer and sat back in my chair just as Gladys walked back in. I smiled at her and she returned it.
"Joseph here will show you around," She gestured to a young man behind her. He gave me sleazy smile and I was instantly reminded of Charlie. Great.
"Nice to meet you, love." He held his hand out. I took it and he planted a kiss on it.
"Nice to meet you as well." I replied, snatching my hand away before I flipped him over my shoulder.
"Right this way… Er, I didn't catch your name?" He narrowed his eyes at me.
"Rachel," I replied quickly. He smiled.
"Beautiful name for a beautiful girl." I fought an eye roll as we walked out of the office. He lead me through the halls, droning on and on, throwing compliments in there every once in a while,
"This school actually has some interesting art history, over there is a statue of Queen Elizabeth, designed by one of our students, you know," I zoned out as I admired some of the kids talking and laughing. I wondered for a brief moment if I had turned Merlin down that day, would I be here? Or at some other place? No… I'd probably be in jail…. Yeah… Definitely jail….
"So, it's just been me talking this whole time, do you have any questions?" He turned to me.
"Yes actually, do you have a Professor Arnold here?" I asked, he smiled happily.
"Oh yeah, he's the best!" He launched into an even longer speech when all of a sudden there was a loud explosion.
"Oh shit!" He shouted, my eyes widened as I realized it was building three. I turned to the kid, but he was sprinting away.
"Wimp." I scoffed, I turned and sprinted towards the building. I wrestled through the frantic students and launched through the door. It wasn't difficult to find the source. I covered my face the best I could as I stumbled through the smoke, turning my glasses on to track for Harry. I found the remnants of the professor and a giant hole where a window used to be. I climbed through and found a lifeless Harry. Oh God.
"Merlin!" I spoke through my earpiece as I leaned down to check his pulse. Oh thank God.
"Georgie? Is everything okay? Are you okay?" He asked, I coughed some more, breathing was becoming more and more difficult.
"I'm fine, it's Harry. He's unconscious or something! Send help! Something has gone wrong!" The smoke was beginning to make me a little dizzy,
"Alright, Bedivere is on the way, just stay with me." He said, I couldn't really breathe anymore, but I didn't want to leave Harry. Using what strength I could gather, I quickly jumped to my feet and started to tug Harry to a less smoke filled area. I didn't get very far before my vision was swirling, I fell to my knees.
"Bedivere is 2 minutes out." Merlin spoke, it started to get even harder to breathe, my vision was growing fuzzy. The last thing I remembered was Bedivere and Merlin shouting incoherently, then my world went black.