Author's Note: Guess where I've been yesterday. OOOOH YES (well, you've probably been wrong or haven't guessed in general, but HELL YES ANYWAY) I'VE BEEN IN AN OPEN AIR CINEMA AND THEY SCREENED KINGSMAN :DDD IT WAS SO AWESOME! Of course it was.

Sooooo ENJOY this new chap and please keep reviewing you AGAJFJFBDLSJDH GREAT PEOPLE!

Cold

It certainly wasn't something unusual here, though, it seemed like the weather was intentionally reflecting her mood. With a gloomy face Victoria stared through the drops the rain left on the taxi's window pane, just as silent as Mr. Hart sitting next to her, who must have sensed that it would be a really bad idea to approach her now. After all she was fuming about him for having tried to manipulate her memory, she was fuming about Arthur, who knew as well as nothing about her and still rejected her without batting an eye, but first and foremost she was fuming about herself.

How could she just give up so fast? How could she let this unique opportunity slip through her fingers simply because she believed this old man to be adamant? She had been wrong about him before and now she could have been too, however, she would never get to know now that she surrendered! Going back was no option either, though, because neither did she want to meet Arthur again, nor appear weak. She'd strutted out of the tailor's shop so proudly that it would only harm the resolute impression she'd left if she came crawling back, obedient like a tamed animal.

When the car halted at the exact same spot it had done yesterday, Victoria kept her seat. Sitting up straight, she waited, as Mr. Hart got out. It splashed quietly at every step she heard him take around the car to her door, which he opened for her now, holding his umbrella above it to shield her from the rain. Victoria, however, got out of the car and marched right past him, not towards her home, but the opposite direction, towards the park across the street.

Her long dark hair curled slowly like it always did when getting wet, but Victoria didn't bother. The chilly water moistening her drop after drop was rather had a cooling effect than an inconvenient one, not only to her body, but also to her mind, though, not as much as to allay her anger. Wrapping her arms around her chest, she kept on stomping through the cold, not paying attention to Mr. Hart, who was quickly hurrying after her.

As he finally reached her, she heard him take a breath to say something, but there she abruptly turned around, making the man stop dead in his tracks.

"You said you wouldn't let me down.", she spat at him, making no pretence of her chagrin anymore.

For a moment Mr. Hart still seemed a bit startled by her sudden outburst, but then he already put on his mask of neutrality he met her with most of the time. "And I didn't. I returned, just like I promised."

"That was not what I meant by 'Don't let me down.'. I wanted you to not lead me into another disappointment, which clearly happened today."

Slowly anger was showing through in his eyes as well. "That your statement was so vague is not my fault, nor is it that you had such unrealistic expectations on this matter."

"Unrealistic expectations?!" Victoria had to gather all her strength to not slap him, particularly now that they were standing so close to each other, as he was still trying to cover them both with his umbrella. "I. Deserve. Getting involved and you know that!"

"What we deserve and what we eventually get is rarely the same, Miss Norwood. This is called life. We all have to deal with it.", he responded rapidly in a similar raised voice as hers.

"Oh, is this what you told yourself when you tried to erase my memory?"

Mr. Hart paused. The rage faded from his features almost in an instant, made way for another blank expression. "Dishonesty is a terrible feature, but sometimes lying is necessary.", he eventually spoke up again, way calmer than before.

Victoria, however, hadn't composed herself one bit, which was reflecting in her tone still containing an excessive amount of ire and bitterness. "You mean because I could turn you in for drugging me?"

"I was referring to Arthur."

Immidiately she wanted to throw a spiteful answer into her opponent's face, when she realised what he'd just said.

He hadn't told her about the drugging in the restaurant, how he'd sublty made her play along by 'remembering' her what he'd told her about the amnesia serum... 'I was referring to Arthur.' He'd lied to him. He'd lied to his superior about having injected her with this substance. Of course he had. It wouldn't have made sense if he'd tried to erase her memory and then left her this note that led her to find him. Why hadn't she thought about this earlier? Rage must have made her blind...

She was still frowning in confusion, as Hart explained further:"Arthur had already been utterly incensed since I couldn't keep you from finding me. Not telling him that I haven't even tried really saved me a lot of trouble. I apologise for dragging you into this white lie, but it was-"

"Necessary, I understand."

Hart might be an astounding agent with incredible abilities, but he still had to comply with his superior's commands just like any other soldier, which he hadn't in her case, though. If it was guilt or something else that stung him into defy Arthur she couldn't tell, main thing was that he had done it. Like the dirt being washed away from the green park bench next to them, anger left her body, what stayed, however, was a knot in her stomach reminding her that her problem still wasn't solved.

Rubbing her face, Victoria let out a deep sigh. "Despite what Arthur said, I can't give up now, Mr. Hart. I have to get involved somehow."

"Miss Norwood, our offer is well-wrought and the only option that provides safety for both you and your family. It's only wise to accept."

"No, it's not." She put her hands down, looking him straight in the eye. "When you learned about all this, did you retreat? No, you didn't, otherwise you wouldn't be here now, Agent Hart, unless they forced you into being a secret agent, which, I'm inclined to believe, is highly improbable." The sudden determination showing in her expression seemed to astonish him, as he examined her shortly, though, Victoria didn't pay attention to it, simply kept talking. "I can't go back to normality, can't resume my old, ordinary life, after what I've seen, after what I got to know. There has to be some way to be admitted to your organisation." Not minding the rain at all, she turned around and began to pace up and down, whilst biting her buttom lip like she was used to when brooding. "I could work as some sort of secretary or assistant or whatever and work my way up, couldn't I?"

"Arthur would never agree to something like this."

"There must be a way, which Arthur has no say in, or where he only gets wind of me being on board when it's already too late, a masquarade perhaps. I could disguise as charlady! Although... I'm really bad at cleaning..." Due to her own absorption with searching for ideas she hadn't noticed it, but now that she faced Hart again, she frowned. The pensive yet indecisive expression he wore right now, looking to the ground while slowly flexing and stretching his fingers of the hand not holding the umbrella's handle, could only mean one thing. Her face lightened up and she took a few quick steps back towards him. "Is there a way?"

He raised his eyes to her. "... There is a post recently vacated..."

"What kind of post? An agent's?" The way he slightly tilted his head to the side as response told her everything it needed to let a beaming smile appear on her lips.

"One of my collegues decided to retire this year. Finally. We've advised him to do so several times."

"Why? Do you consider him as too old for the job?"

"No, he's not particularly old, however, it is increasingly difficult to find a suitable mission when you have a transfemoral prothesis and are blind in one eye."

Victoria's eyes widened a bit. "How... tragic..." Hoping to not seem too insensitive, she quickly added: "How can I apply for the job?"

"You can't. One of our agents has to propose you as his candidate."

"Well, then what are we still waiting for? Make me your candidate!"As he didn't reply anything, her shoulders dropped. "What? What's the problem now?"

"... I already have a candidate."

Victoria began to bite her upper lip, not breaking eye contact. "Who?"

"A Bristol graduate, who seems to have a remarkable sense for discipline, particularly as he's just joined the british army."

"Bristol?" She let out a short laugh, crossing her arms. "Didn't he make it to Oxford like I did?"

"May I remind you that you didn't graduate?"

"Of my own accord, not because I wasn't good enough." Exuding nothing but self-consciousness by her posture and expression, she gave her counterpart a nod. "Go ahead, tell me about his abilities, so that I can scupper your believe in him being a better choice for a candidate than I am."

"Well, he evinces many talents. For instance, apart from his mother tongue, he's fluent in 3 languages."

"Rien de particulier. I'm fluent in french, german, italian and spanish. Also, I'm able of translating latin texts. Please, continue."

"He currently enjoys military education and training."

"Handling weapons and physical abilities can be learnt and developed. Ambition, a strong will and my extraordinary perception skills, however, not. Besides, has he seen someone like you in action before?"

"No."

"Then he doesn't know what he gets himself into."

Hart's face suddenly adopted stern features. "Neither do you."

"Perhaps you're right, but I, at least, wasn't found. This... this boy didn't have to do anything particular to convince you of being the right choice, while I fight for becoming your candidate." She narrowed her eyes to slits. "Why do you actually think I was looking for you? I apologise if that harms your self-consciousness, but I didn't do it because of you as a person. And I didn't do it for the answers I was in need of either. I did it for what you stand for, for what I always wanted to stand for myself."

"And what do I stand for?"

There was a twinkle in her eyes as she was looking deep into his, displaying her fascination and enthusiasm towards what she was going to say. "An adventure. Meaning something. Changing the world... Ideally for the better."

The pleading which had shown earlier returned to his look, though, this time Hart didn't bother to hide it. "Miss Norwood...", he began quietly, yet emphatically. "... Being someone like me is dangerous..."

A small smile spread over her lips. "And you think I don't know that?"

"I am fully aware of what you have been through, but you have no idea what expected you if I really made you my candidate for this job. You have been quite lucky under the circumstances last time. You got away with scars. Next time... you could die."

"If I'm not going to be a part of this..." Victoria took one last step closer, almost breathing the words that exposed nothing but plain honesty. "...I will die anyway."

A light breeze let the rain drops hit her skin like tiny daggers of iciness, but it didn't matter. The frosty sensation was merely present in the back of her mind, as she was staring into her opposite's eyes, the man's eyes whose hands her fate was in now. There were no more arguments to convince him any further, everything was said, now it was up to him. His pensive gaze didn't give a glimpse of whether he tended to decide in her favour or against it. Perhaps he didn't know himself, was on the fence, though, the more time passed, the more Victoria feared his decision. Apprehension almost paralised her, the cold around finally forced its way into her bones, making her shiver, and a booming noise filled her ears, almost drowning it out when Hart eventually said: "Would you like to get changed before we go?"