Notes: DEAR LORD, I AM SO SORRY!

It was never my intention to disappear this way. I swear I haven't abandoned this fanfiction. My computer broke and it took me a while to manage to fix it.

Thank you for all the patience and the support. I hope you love Alicia as much as I do!

Chapter 9

Alicia was not sure she should be doing this –or trusting this woman, for that matter. Susan seemed okay enough –she looked so graceful and dignified it was ridiculous –but she also was a bit of a cold bitch.

Alicia was still trying to figure out how much was an act and how much was not.

The fact was that Susan had charmed the hell out of her mother. She came into their house as a teacher from some fancy school in Germany! She told Alicia's mom that they had a scholarship waiting for Alicia but she had to go now. It would be a while before she could come and visit, but she would keep in touch. They would take great care of her.

Tina –the mom – had all but melted for Susan's fake accent. She asked for a lot of assurances, but she didn't protest all that much. Tina was sad that it was so sudden and they had no time for a farewell party, but she helped Alicia pack and hugged her tight.

"Your mother is a very sweet woman." Susan said as they rode the cab to wherever they were going. "She's also strong. She'll be okay."

"I know." Alicia said quickly without looking at her. "I don't like lying to her."

"Oh. So when you broke into places and stole stuff you told her?" Susan arched a brow.

Alicia chose not to answer.

They arrived at some tailor and Susan went in, so Alicia followed her.

"Miss Pevensie." The man behind the counter said politely.

"Teddy." She replied with a nod.

She went into a fitting room and Alicia kept following, because it wasn't as if she had a choice.

"Ready?" Susan asked when the door closed behind them.

"I'm starting to get worried, to be quite honest." The girl said, hands going to her pockets.

"Then why don't you leave?" Susan offered politely.

"Because that's my chance to do something good." Alicia said firmly. "I wanna make a difference, I wanna make my dad proud. I wanna prove my value."

Susan smiled at her. "Then welcome to my world." She turned to the mirror and put her hand in it. Suddenly the floor seemed to be moving and they were going down.

And that was very positive, because Alicia was starting to worry that this was a very elaborated prank or that Susan was just crazy.

They had a ride in some kind of extremely small and fancy train that took them God knows where. During it Susan explained some rules to Alicia, like she wasn't supposed to tell the others who had indicated her or how fights wouldn't be accepted. But when they got there and Alicia stepped out of the car… "Wow." She breathed out, awed. "That's amazing."

She walked to the glass that showed the biggest hangar she had ever seen. In it airplanes and cars were parked, while people carried on working.

"I'm glad you think so." Susan said coming to stand right beside her. "We work hard here. I myself dedicated many years of my life to this."

Alicia threw her an assessing look. "You don't look that old."

Susan's smile had something mysterious in it. "You'd be surprised. Let's go."

Susan guided her through hallways until they came across a bald guy that was standing on his own with a clipboard on his hand. When he saw them he straightened his back and cleared his throat. "Guinevere."

His look was hopeful when it came to Susan, but she was looking at Alicia. "Guinevere is my codename." She explained before finally looking at him. "Merlin."

"You're just in time." He said, his face now showing nothing at all.

"Are we the last ones?" She wanted to know.

"Arthur is late as always." He replied. "You, miss, go in." He pointed at the door.

"Kick their arses for me, will you?" Susan winked at her, before turning her back.

"Thank you, Susan!" Alicia said honestly.

The other woman just waved at her. Alicia looked at the Merlin guy and he was watching Susan go. Interesting…

XxX

Susan went to the place where she knew all the others would be: the room behind the two-way mirror. When she got there Percival had a whole lot of money on his hands.

"Susan, dearest. We're placing bets on who gets the spot." He said with juvenile excitement. "Are you betting on your girl?"

"A hundred pounds on Alicia." She declared putting the money on his hand.

"Atta, girl." Percival celebrated.

"Who are you betting on, Eggsy?" She asked the boy.

"Not sure yet." He answered honestly. "I'm waiting to see Harry's candidate."

"Considering you were the last one we should expect something in the same line." Dagonet said dryly.

Eggsy flipped him the bird.

"I think Susan took care of that quota." Urien said pointing at Alicia, who was sitting alone in her bed, just looking all the others talking.

"Holy fuck, she's hot." Eggsy said.

"Excuse me?" Susan arched a brow.

"Sorry!" Eggsy said immediately, raising his hands in surrender. "Shouldn't have said it."

"I'm glad you are aware of that." Susan glared at him. Then she turned to Caradoc. "Who's the plant?"

"Amelia." He pointed at the girl with bangs.

"She is the same one from our recruitment." Roxy observed.

"There aren't that many technicians willing to be drowned." Caradoc informed them.

Finally the door of the recruits' dorm opened and a young man entered the room.

"That's got to be Harry's boy." Percival informed.

"He seems exactly the same as the others." Eggsy murmured dispassionately. "I'm putting one hundred on Susan's girl." He decided.

Harry came into the room in a hurry. "Two hundred on my boy." He said waving money at whoever was grabbing it. "Has Merlin started yet?"

Percival took the money out of Harry's hand. "No. He is about to."

They watched Merlin enter the room and make the kids fall in formation. He then delivered his "most dangerous job interview" speech.

"Merlin does a stellar job in this area." Caradoc said, observing the kids mingling after Merlin left them to it. "He makes it sound scary but interesting at the same time."

"Things tend to sound interesting in his voice." Susan shrugged.

All the eyes turned to her. "What?" She asked confused.

"We thought…" Gareth started carefully, "that you guys weren't on speaking terms."

"We are on speaking terms." She insisted. "And even if we weren't it doesn't change the fact that his voice is kind of intriguing."

The door opened and Merlin came into the room. Everybody turned to look at him with curious eyes.

"What?" He asked alarmed, looking from one to the other.

Percival was the first to recover. "Nothing." He shook his head. "Bets?"

"Caradoc's and Urien's candidates won't last the month." He said ignoring the protests of both men. "I'm betting on Michael, Dagonet's candidate."

Susan turned her back to them to focus on Alicia. Roxy's candidate, a girl named Diana, was talking to her. She hoped she had made the right choice. She had a good feeling about Alicia. What she didn't have a good feeling about was the way that the boys, led by that Michael boy, were looking at her.

XxX

This was a bit like Alicia expected. There were more people than she thought there would be; some of them were friendly, like the girls Diana and Amelia and a boy named Harrison. She was still holding her judgment on Lucas, the last guy to arrive. He looked like problem. Not the kind of problem that would hurt and make you cry in your pillow, more like the kind of charming arsehole that would convince you to do something stupid, get you arrested, charm his way out and leave you behind.

And, of course, there was the Pack. Alicia had been expecting them. Susan had warned her against the preppy boys and now she knew who they were. The one named Michael was obviously the alpha of this bunch and they would follow his lead. When she looked at him and saw him smirking at her she knew that it would be like in the Army all over again. She just hoped that in this place he wouldn't go without punishment.

XxX

"Ok, calm down! Time to make your bets!" Percival said waving his notebook around.

They were all in Merlin's office, waiting for the infamous first test: the flooded room.

"Michael solves the problem and the plant survives." Dagonet proclaimed about his candidate.

"Diana solves it, but the plant dies." Roxy offered.

"The candidates solve it together, but the plant dies." Bors predicted.

"Lucas fucks up and the plant die." Eggsy decided.

"Alicia takes control of the situation and the plant survives." Susan called.

"These are bold words." Dagonet arched a brow.

"Yes. And 400 pounds make them even bolder." She slapped the money on the table.

All the other agents were looking at Susan like she was crazy.

"I got lost somewhere around Bors…" Percival admitted looking at the notebook in his hands.

Urien rolled his eyes and took the notebook, writing down the other bets. They saw by the screen Merlin get behind the two way mirror and the last candidate lie down and turn off the light.

"Shut up all of you!" Eggsy called. "Show's about to start."

XxX

Alicia did not like the feeling she was getting from this place. From the look and speech of that Merlin guy she was expecting something sketchy to go down. Susan had warned her too much for it to be this easy.

Alicia was naturally wary, she was fast to mistrust people and she just knew she wouldn't be able to rest until something happened and proved her right.

Fortunately she did not have to wait long.

They had lain down to sleep for the night and that guy named Henry had just turned off the last light. The silence was absolute and Alicia was counting her heartbeats trying to sleep, when she felt the water.

They all seemed to wake up at the exact same time, lights were turned on and they saw in panic water coming from God knows where and rising quickly.

"Stay calm!" Michael shouted looking around. "Shower…"

"Forget the shower heads." Alicia cut him, water coming to her chest. "That is a fucking two way mirror, is a way out." She pointed at the mirror. "Jackson, Lucas, break it." They were all looking at her in shock. "Do you want to fucking die? Break the fucking mirror. NOW!" The last part was swallowed by the water now covering their heads.

Jackson and Lucas swan to the mirror with the others following closely behind. Alicia was about to go was well when she saw Peter trying to open the door and Amelia swimming around in panic. She grabbed the girl by her shirt and pulled her to Peter. She pinched him on the back to gain his attention.

Jackson and Lucas had taken turns punching the same place in the mirror and eventually the pressure of the water helped to break it. All of the others were closer to it, so the water took them to the next room. Alicia and the other two were dragged until they hit something.

The impact knocked the breath out of Alicia, but the water was clearing and she could just stand and breathe now. She pulled Amelia up too, because the girl seemed to be unable to move on her own.

"Are you okay?" She asked shaking Amelia.

The other young woman was gasping for air, but nodded, so Alicia checked on Peter. He was choking, but seemed okay enough. She turned around to see the other standing in the next room, looking at them with Merlin.

"Alicia, congratulations on passing your first test with flying colors." The man said, obviously surprised. "You not only showed leadership; you thought quickly under pressure and remembered your other teammates. I have to say… It's been a while since I saw something like this."

"Thank you, sir." She said still breathless from the experience. And, okay, maybe a bit about the shock of the praise.

"You did well." He turned to the others. "The rest of you, go back to bed."

"But it's all wet!" Philip complained.

Merlin's face said it quite clearly that he didn't give a fuck.

XxX

"Holy fucking flying shit!" Eggsy gaped at the screen. "Fucking fucker fuck!"

"Language." Susan admonished with a frown.

"How the fuck did she…" Eggsy turned to Susan, obviously not caring about her frown. "And how did you know?"

"I didn't." Susan said easily, shrugging gracefully. "I had a feeling."

"A feeling?" Eggsy repeated, still in shock.

"Well, things just got very interesting." Caradoc commented. "I guess there's a new favorite."

Susan smirked. Oh yes, there was.

Notes: Alicia for President!

She's awesome, Susan made the best choice ever.

Hope you liked it, but let me know.

Xoxo