NOTES: HOLY CRAP! Talk about a Christmas miracle...

Guess what? My computer is back! I've never been so happy in my whole life! Thank you all so much for the kind comments and the support. Most of all, thank you all for your patience.

I hope you enjoy this piece of goodness.

Sadly I had no time for re-reading or beta-reading this, so I have no idea of what you may find in there. Let me know if something is too terrible.


Chapter 10

The next morning Alicia woke up to find out that Amelia had given up.

What the fuck? Just because of a bit of a scare? Susan had told Alicia it would be dangerous! The person that recruited Amelia was supposed to do the same right? Even Peter, who was a whiner, was still there!

But, well, whatever. Guess it meant there was one last candidate to beat.

The thing was that now Merlin wanted them to choose puppies. Amelia was not a dog-person Actually she was more of an other-people-animals-are-kinda-okay person. She never wanted a dog as a child and she sure as hell didn't want one now.

Apparently she didn't have much of a choice in the matter, so she went and chose a puppy.

They had received some kind of schedule and were having breakfast when Merlin appeared in the mess room followed by other three people, one of which was Susan.

"Attention." Merlin said, making them all stand. "These are some of our agents. They will have part in some of the training you will receive. They are Percival, Urien, Bors and Guinevere."

Alicia remembered very well Susan saying something about others not being supposed to know who had recommended her, so she acted as if she didn't know the difference between Susan and the others. Which was a good decision on her part, because Philip waved at the man named Urien and Merlin wrote something down.

Merlin told them to be at easy and she sat back. The agents started walking around, stopping to talk to them from time to time. Eventually Susan came to their table –Alicia was sitting with Diana and Harrison –and sat gracefully but without ceremony. "Hello" She smiled at them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, madam." Diana offered her hand for a shake that Susan accepted.

"Diana, right?" Susan said, then turned her eyes to the boy. "And Harrison." They shook hands as well. She asked a bit about their dogs –Diana chose a Labrador and named her Lizzie and Harrison picked the Pug and named her Meg –before turning to Alicia. "And you're Alicia."

"Yes, madam." Alicia said formally.

Susan's eyes fell on the puppy sleeping by Alicia's feet, belly up. "And this is…"

"Roger." She had actually named the bloodhound puppy after her first boyfriend. He looked just as lazy.

"Why did you pick him?" Susan asked with polite curiosity.

Alicia lowered her arm and grabbed the puppy, pulling him to her lap. "Look at these ears." She said pulling said ears to cover his eyes.

Susan rolled her eyes. She exchanged a few more words with them before going on her way.

"She's intimidating." Diana whispered in fear and awe.

"I think she's kinda bitchy." Alicia shrugged.

"Hey, if it isn't our favorite bracken!"

Amelia looked around confused before turning to Roxy, hoping that the other woman could decipher Eggsy.

"You were the plant." She indicated.

Amelia rolled her eyes. "It's good to see you again, Eggsy." She said honestly, shaking hands with him. "I'm very happy to see you're still around."

"Thanks, Amelia." He said a bit surprised. "I gotta say the same. Good to know you're not really dead."

Amelia snickered. "You're still a smartass, I see."

"At least this time you managed to survive." Roxy teased lightly.

"That girl is good. She reminds me of you." She told Eggsy. "I hope she is the one that gets the spot."

"Tell you something, Amelia." Eggsy leaned closer. "So do I."

Alicia didn't imagine that this thing would involve so many fucking drills! Yes, she had been in the army but it had not ended well, in case someone had forgotten. But there they were doing fucking drills at four in the morning, besides a whole fucking lot classes!

She never thought they would her so much theory! The drills were a pain in the arse, but they were mostly the same thing she did on the army: running around carrying guns and heavy backpacks, doing so many pushups that you ended throwing up, crawling under barbed wire. But those classes!

Most of them were about politics, economy, history… She truly hated all of those. The ones she actually enjoyed were the psychology classes. They were given by Agent Caradoc and he was quite passionate about the subject.

She had never taken psychology on the University –or gone to University, for that matter –but she imagined that it wasn't the mix of subjects that Caradoc presented. He spoke from the more known approaches, –Freud, Jung and those other guys – to things like "mentalism", –trickery or the real deal? –hypnoses, -that's got to be a myth –and he would also provide them with training in something called NLP.

"Now, NLP can be used for many things. Mostly you're going to use in targets to get them where you need them; for example, to seduce them. You'll learn this and apply on Merlin here." He indicated the man, who might not be giving the class, but was there supervising the whole thing.

The Pack boys were making faces –obviously something like that was threatening to their beloved masculinity. Diana raised her hand. "Sir, how can the experience count if Merlin knows what to expect?"

"Well, if he knows what's coming you'll just have to try harder."

They all turned to the door, where Susan was casually leaning against.

"Oh Guinevere." Caradoc smiled at her. "Guinevere is one of our best agents when it comes to infiltration and seduction."

Alicia could see Michael burning to make a comment, but not even him was that stupid.

"Why don't you give the kids pointers, Guinevere?" Caradoc suggested.

Alicia still thought Susan was a bitch most of the time. But right now, there was something about her that was absolutely hot. Actually so hot and sudden that it had to be some kind of role, and that got her wondering if the whole bitchy attitude was a role too.

Susan's blue eyes swept the room leisurely, taking every single one of them. She blinked languidly and they were all transfixed by her somehow. It was like magic.

"You can, of course, learn a thousand tricks to seduce someone." She started saying slowly. "Most of them will even work." She straightened herself and stepped further into the room. "But when you get down to it seduction isn't a formula or a science." She ran her index finger on the surface of Philip's table.

"You see," her hand touched Henry's shoulder lightly "when you're seducing someone it's all about confidence." She walked by Diana and touched the earring the girl was wearing gently. "You have to believe you can do it; but above all, it's about focus." Her eyes were fixed on Peter when she stopped in front of his table and put her hands on it, leaning a bit in his direction. He gulped audibly.

Susan gave him one last smile before approaching Alicia and touching her chin gently. "When you seduce someone it doesn't really matter what is your type…" Her hand glided by Harrison's hand on his table. "your sexuality or how disgusting that person truly is for you."

She leaned against Jackson's table and closed his book. "When seduction is the play, that person is the center of your world." Her eyes turned to Michael and a smirk appeared on her lips. "And you have to make them believe that you are the thing that they desire the most. That if you are not theirs they will never know what pleasure truly is." She started walking again, her hand skittered by Michael's shoulder. "It doesn't matter if they are looking for love, an affair…" She leaned over Lucas, "or a quick fuck." She whispered directly in is ear.

Lucas actually hissed at that and Susan straightened with a warm chuckle. She shared a conspiratorial smile with Caradoc, then her eyes turned to Merlin.

"When you seduce someone…" She started again, this time making her way towards Merlin, a very serious look in her eyes. "…they have to be so captivated by you, so devoted to you, that when you're done with them…" She halted a breath away from him, a bare inch stopping their bodies from actually touching. Merlin was looking down, but his eyes were on her and nothing else. "...they can't remember living a single day without desiring you."

The whole class seemed to be holding their breath together and, for a minute, time seemed suspended. Then Susan sighed and turned to then. "That's what seduction really means." She concluded, back to her normal bitchy demeanor. "Have a good class."

It was like nobody was breathing until she left the room.

"Holy shit." Lucas all but sagged against his chair.

"Maybe she should give the class…" Caradoc observed, more to himself.

Yes, she was good, but Alicia was looking at Merlin. That kind of look? Susan had seduced the poor sod way before now. The plot thickens!

"I am Lancelot and I'll be training you today."

Roxanne stepped in front of the candidates. After almost two months of training they were starting to get in the shape they wanted them and Henry –Caradoc's candidate –was gone.

Eggsy had been the one taking care of their hand to hand combat so far, but he was on a mission and Merlin had asked her to take over. She knew that Merlin trained them sometimes –mostly to show that they were brats and clean the floor with their faces –but they also needed to learn some stuff.

Alicia and Philip were the ones that needed this the most, because they were not very good at it. Especially Alicia. She was too aggressive and always forget to protect her sides and face. She was constantly bruised because of that.

"Let's see what you've been up to." She said, deciding to get down to business. "Michael, step forward."

He did, with a cocky smile. "I promise not to hurt you." He said.

The other candidates traded shocked looks, but Roxy was unfazed. "I can't promise the same."

"OK, why don't we…" Michael was interrupted by Roxy's fist smashing into his face. He fell to the ground holding his nose.

"Your opponents won't be nice and wait for you to be in position." She informed the others. "Neither will they wait for you to get up." She kicked Michael in the ribs, way less hard then he deserved. "Now you, go and do 200 pushups for me. And I don't want to hear your voice until you're done with it."

Michael went without looking to the sides.

"Now the rest of you…" Roxy turned to them, "Find a partner to spar. Alicia you're with me."

Alicia approached her carefully. "Are you going to hit me?" She asked.

"In a minute. First, Galahad told me you need to work on your defense."

"So he keeps telling me."

"So why are you not doing it?" Roxy arched a brow.

"I try." Alicia shrugged. "But I keep forgetting it."

"Let's make a deal then." Roxy said with fake politeness. "If I hit you five times because you're not guarding your sides you'll sleep without dinner tonight."

Alicia clenched her jaw, but just nodded.

"Now I'm going to hit you." Roxy informed before doing just that.

By the time they were done Roxy had hit Alicia a total of eight times, all of them because she was not guarding her ribs and face. She would end up getting seriously hurt if she didn't learn it soon.

"I hope you're not too hungry." Roxy said pleasantly by the end. "You need to fix this, Alicia. Tomorrow, after you're done for the day, you'll come back here and we'll try again."

"Yes, ma'am." Alicia said getting up. She still seemed tense, but she wasn't arguing.

"You're all dismissed." Roxy told the others.

They left the gym and Merlin came in.

"You do know you're not supposed to show how much you don't like the candidates?" He informed, though his expression held no real judgment or disapproval.

Yes, she knew it, but Michael was an arsehole. It pained her that he was very likely to be the one to become the next Kingsman, because he was good at everything. He had many chances of being the one.

That was why she and Eggsy had been giving Alicia and Harrison an extra push, because they were the best options after Michael.

"I know." She said at last.

"That said… Good work." Merlin patted her on the shoulder before leaving.

Merlin was awesome like that.

"Did you want to see me, Arthur?" Susan asked after knocking and being asked to come in.

"Yes, Guinevere. Please, come in and close the door." Harry said with a friendly smile.

She stepped into his office and sat down. Normally there would not be this much formality between Harry and her, but with the candidates running around they employed a lot of care, even if it was unnecessary.

"I hope you understand that I'm not intruding in your business." He started saying, face serious. "I'm asking this as your Arthur."

Susan shifted uncomfortably on her chair. She then cleared her throat. "Of course. What is it?"

"Are you ready to go back undercover?" He asked at once.

Susan hadn't been undercover, not since Cillian. She had done many missions, most of the ones that involved getting quietly in places or arrive blowing up walls. She had not done any undercover mission, much less honey pot.

"Yes." She said without hesitancy, not lying for a second. "I have been ready for a while, to be honest. I just didn't want to approach you. This seemed like some kind of unspoken agreement and I didn't want to be the one to talk about it."

"Guinevere, it's okay." Harry assured her. "I'd be the last person to criticize you for that. The Lord knows I have absolutely no ground to stand on in that subject." He grumbled, mostly to himself.

Susan arched a brow. "I'm sure there's a story behind that."

Harry cleared his throat. "It's not important." He said primly. "Good to know we can count on you for this. There's just one more thing I need to know..." He looked almost like he was sorry now. "How are you and Merlin?"

"In what sense?" Susan knew there was a bit too much steel in her voice to pretend she was not affected by the question or Harry's motives for asking.

"In the professional one." Harry assured her. "I know the others have been teasing both of you for personal reasons, but you're adults. Supposedly." His lips quirked a bit with the subtle jab. "I'm not going to ask about it. I just want to know if you can work together."

"We've been working together." Susan pointed out. "He runs point in all the missions."

"He does." Harry agreed affably. "But he will be with you in this. We're sending a big team this time. It's going to be something major. It's not only you two, of course, but he's going to be there."

Susan sighed. "Arthur, I have no problem with Merlin." She said a bit forcefully. "I respect him a lot. He's very good at his job and I trust him with my life. Is that good enough for you?"

"Of course it is, Guinevere." He said a bit more gently. "I never doubted your capacity for working. Or his, for that matter. I just want things clear."

"They couldn't be clearer." She replied, but there was a certain grumpiness there that Harry did not think was directed at him.

Merlin could be such a pain in the arse sometimes.

"Guinevere…" He sighed, cursing his friend not for the first time. "I know I said I wouldn't meddle in your personal business…"

"Then don't."

"But…" He carried on ignoring her interruption. "You two should really sit and talk."

Susan ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. "Okay." She said at last, but Harry got the impression that she was just humoring him. "We will. After this mission, maybe after the training. But we will."

Harry was not convinced. At all.

In the next night Alicia went back to the gym to meet Lancelot with a bit of trepidation.

She recognized she had been a bit insolent, which was plain stupid. Alicia was trying to prove a point, not only to the others, but to herself as well. She did not have the luxury of being anything less than perfect in everything she did here. She was already behind that arsehole Michael, so she was very punctual to meet Lancelot.

The problem wasn't that Alicia had forgotten why she was there. She had been expecting Galahad yesterday, because she liked him! He was a kindred spirit, no amount of poise could hide that accent of his and if he had made it… Perhaps she could as well.

But no, instead in comes Lancelot with the same lady-like attitude that Susan had. And maybe Alicia is getting prejudiced –and that something she hates, because it's something she suffers almost daily –but she could not stand more of that stiff upper lip bullshit.

Now, Susan had not proven anything to Alicia so far, only that she could arouse a full room of people in a couple of minutes. While that was an admirable skill –and quite entertaining to watch –it didn't prove that Susan was actually a good agent. Merlin was badass, Galahad was interesting, but Lancelot also proved something. Alicia didn't mind being put down to learn a lesson, if it was a good lesson.

She had a feeling that Lancelot might be small, but from the day before Alicia also learned that the agent was vicious.

"Good, you're here." Lancelot said as soon as she entered the gym. "I don't have to wake up early tomorrow, you do. So that's what we're going to do: you'll only sleep once you successfully blocked a punch. Just so you know, Merlin won't go easy on you just because you're tired. Now, get here."

Alicia had a feeling that this would be a very long night…


NOTES: TALK ABOUT HOT! Susan almost killed Merlin in this one. (He'd deserve it.)

I will post another one, because this one took sooooooo long to be posted!

Roger is a bloodhound and I have a picture of him on my "Gentle Lady" Pinterest Board.