Time Fighter

The next morning, on the anniversary of V-Day, Ana stood alone in the gun range staring down at the Glock 19 and breathing heavily as she felt the weight of it in her hands.

She clicked the switch and released the cartridge, checking to make sure the bullets were there before slamming it back into place.

She took another deep breath as she looked at the target in front of her a few yards back and moved into position, holding the pistol with both hands, her finger on the trigger.

She could do this.

She could do this.

She took in a deep breath and made the shot.

Thankfully due to her ear muffs, the sound was muted but she still flinched at the feeling; it was different from when she shot a tranq gun - more kickback.

She held onto the gun and quickly turned on the safety before dropping it onto the shelf in front of her.

She looked up and saw she'd made her target – a hole in the chest.

She looked down at her hands, which were shaking uncontrollably.

"Fuck!" she yelled out.

She paced away from the stall, and then came back, picking up the pistol again, her body tight as she switched off the safety and aimed again.

She took in a few deep breaths, aiming for the head this time.

But the second she pulled her finger on the trigger, she flinched – the bullet missing the paper target altogether.

She shook her head, and tried again. She felt her body tighten as she pulled the trigger… and she didn't flinch. She aimed for another spot and pulled the trigger again… making her target before she moved to another spot.

It was almost like riding a bike - she found a new target and made it, quickly reloading the gun and then shooting again.

She pulled on the trigger but only herd a click – no more bullets.

She let out a deep breath and pulled off the ear muffs as she paced away.

She almost wished Mrs. Beltran was there to see this – maybe she'd write off their future sessions. But she was glad she was alone. Alone to go through it… alone in case any flashbacks happened. But surprisingly they didn't happen.

Every time she pulled the trigger, every time the gun kicked back in her hands, she didn't see the faces of the people she had killed in cold blood a year ago. People who had no control. She only saw the target in front of her.

There was a knock on the door and she paused, clicking the safety before turning her head to see Dylan walk in.

He looked at her and then the lone target riddled with bullet holes, and a soft smile erupted in his face.

Ana shrugged.

Dylan's smile grew.

"Beltran really does have special powers."

She rolled her eyes and as she took out the empty cartridge and walked towards the other end of the room, placing both parts of the gun in a bin; it would then be catalogued that she used the range with the certain kind of gun.

"I'm thinking the SR-25 will be my next go around."

Dylan snorted.

"You're an excellent sniper, I bet you won't even need practice."

"That's sweet, but before I'm given the go ahead for bullets we both know I'll need to pass the test with the full range of the armory."

Dylan walked forward, linking his arm in hers.

"The fact that you were given tranquilizer guns in the first place tells me the agency isn't worried about weapons training when it comes to you."

Ana failed to hide a smile at that. Dylan always did know how to make her feel better – to see herself in a different way.

"Protocol's a bitch though," she said.

Dylan nodded as they walked out of the range and into the hall.

"Come, our POTUS is about to give a speech."

Ana let Dylan lead her into the lounge room – the same room where she found out who Galahad really was.

And, wouldn't you know, not only was Eggsy there, but so was Roxy, Arthur, Washington, and Kennedy.

As she and Dylan took their spot on the loveseat, Ana thanked probability that Hoover wasn't there – as he'd probably make some ignorant comment about the President and jumpstart her anger that she would've had a hard time controlling.

"It's about to start," Washington said, remote in hand as he upped the volume.

All heads turned towards the large screen mounted on the wall as President Kathy Nora, clad in a black pantsuit settled herself in front of the podium at the steps of the Capitol.

It seemed, unfortunately, that a majority of America's politicians had agreed to Valentine's plan. Rather than enacting real climate change regulations, it seemed they thought mass genocide was a better resolution. And through the tricky line of succession to the presidency, Kathy Nora, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, became the new President. Her first act was to declare martial law until a new House and Senate were elected in rapid elections the country had never seen before. All in all, the woman had taken the position in stride and helped rebuild a country in chaos in under a year, even helping pass a bill that regulated cell phone SIM cards.

"My fellow Americans," the president began, "our fellow allies, and people of the world… we come together today in remembrance of a truly horrifying event that occurred exactly one year ago. Valentine, an entrepreneur, a billionaire, a man of 'taste', held out an experiment that almost ended our society, and maybe even our species as a whole."

They all sat and watched in silence as the President gave her speech. She was eloquent and passionate, leading from Valentine's actions into a speech about climate change and why it was so important.

"Those lost a year ago will never be forgotten. It is tragic that such an occurrence has the entire world uniting as one against a common enemy… but we have persevered since then. Because in the end, that is what we do. Not just as Americans, but as human beings. We will persevere, we will survive, we will fix this problem. Thank You."

The President took a step back from the podium and left the stage amongst thunderous applause. The news channel switched to the commentators, and the lead anchor immediately began the discussion.

Washington muted the television, leaving the room in silence.

Ana took a deep breath.

"Considering I would've called Valentine a worthless piece of shit, that speech was pretty good."

She heard a few muffled laughs, and shook her head.

"I'm actually being serious," she said, standing up as Dylan grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight, "as a fucking planet we went through something – because of him. And because of him and his mother – from what intel is telling us is the main reason for such an incident…" she paused and looked towards Washington, who was staring back at her, "I wouldn't change anything. Hell, given the chance, I would've killed her the second I saw her."

Washington's jaw twitched, and he looked around the room.

"Everyone is dismissed, Lincoln, stay here."

There was a beat of silence before everyone moved, except Ana, who stood still, keeping Washington's gaze.

Eggsy, Roxy, and Dylan all left together.

"I must say, seeing a woman in such a position of power here… it's quite invigorating," Roxy said as they walked down the hall.

Dylan smiled.

"Should've seen Ana and-" he stopped, frowning as he shook his head, smiling again – this time not as strong, "Well, she campaigned hard. Even used her days off at the local colleges, collecting signatures and registering voters to encourage people to vote for her re-election. When she was sworn in after V-Day, there was only a few months before the next election."

Roxy tilted her head at that.

"No offense, but it seems sad that people still need to remind others that this nation is living in a Democracy."

Eggsy sighed, a feeling that Roxy was about to go on a rant about the UK's monarchy contrasted with the US's democracy, but was surprised when Roxy left.

"I'll be in the kitchen watching the news, at least you guys get BBC here."

Eggsy smiled as he stood near Dylan, the both of them watching Roxy walking away.

"She's something," Dylan started, and Eggsy raised an eyebrow, "you're lucky to have her. Agents like her and Ana… makes our agency seem so stupid for waiting this long to accept female recruits."

He could only nod in agreement as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"What's Ana's deal with Valentine?" he asked, deciding to get down to it, not bothering to skate around his question.

Dylan turned and raised an eyebrow.

"Thought we've been through this, Eggsy… I'm not telling you-"

"She lost someone, that's apparent enough, but she has such…" Eggsy faded off, trying to find the right word.

"She feels what everyone else on the planet feels – hatred towards that man," Dylan started, "And the kicker is, he's dead. He didn't face trial. He's gone… and that closure for millions of people will remain open."

Eggsy could only nod.

"I… I had a hard day that day."

Dylan stayed silent at first but then asked "How do you mean?"

Eggsy shrugged, thinking of how to talk about his first day on the job without giving it away that it was his first day…

"Well, we'd lost Harry only a day before-"

"The test in Kentucky."

Eggsy nodded.

"From the footage of the church, we knew what was to come," he said, taking a deep breath. "I had to have Rox call my mum – a complete stranger calling her and telling her to lock her daughter in the bathroom and kick the key under the door – without explaining why."

"Your mom? Your sister?"

"Both alive and well, thank god."

Dylan nodded in their silence.

Eggsy looked back to the door, wondering if Ana was fighting back from the reprimand Washington was probably giving her.

"I was there, Dylan."

Dylan froze, and then turned his head to stare at him.

"I was there, at the compound. Surrounded by rich snobs who had agreed to such a barbaric notion… I was there when we triggered the explosive safety failsafe on the chips so that they all died."

Dylan let out a breath.

"Thing was; it was my idea to do it – cause I had a stupid inklin' that Valentine would have the same chip… but he didn't."

Dylan let out a hum, and shook his head.

"You don't… you mean to tell me that-"

"I fought my way through that compound to get to him. Fought his right hand woman, who had knives for legs, by the way-"

"Gazelle. She had a long rap sheet before she joined his ranks."

Eggsy nodded.

"She was tough to beat. And I even used one of her legs to finally kill him. I killed Valentine. I killed the man who almost killed the world."

Eggsy took in a deep breath and noticed that Dylan had gone silent, his face turning white as he looked over Eggsy's shoulder.

He slowly turned to see Ana standing a few feet away, her face equally ashen.

Eggsy opened his mouth to say something - anything - but Ana beat him to it.

"You did what?"

He froze, frowning at the look on her face, the tone of her voice.

"I… it was me that killed Valentine."

Her face was as still as stone. And then in a split second she rushed forward and shoved him.

He let out a yell as he stumbled back, hitting the wall, and she rushed him again, grabbing his shirt tight.

She only stared at him, her face looking so pained…

"Ana-"

She pulled on his shirt and then pushed again, shoving him further into the wall.

"You killed him."

He could only nod.

"Ana," Dylan said softly, but she only shook her head before she released her grip on Eggsy's shirt, her face twisting, a tear escaping from her eye.

Eggsy took a step forward but she lashed out, punching him square in the jaw.

He cursed as he brought a hand to his face, but then Ana was hugging him tight.

He blinked, and in an instant his arms wrapped around her as she let out a sob. He turned to see Dylan, his face twisted in pain as he watched them. Eggsy looked down at the top of Ana's head as she freely sobbed into his shirt, just like she had the night before, after her nightmare.

A nightmare, he now knew, that was a result of V-Day.

Dylan had said Valentine's death kept closure from millions of people… and Ana was one of them. He squeezed his arms tighter around her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Her knees gave out and he fell with her to the ground, still holding her as she curled up in his lap, holding onto his shirt so tightly as though not wanting to let go.

"I had to. I'm sorry. It was my only option."

Her head nodded as she continued sobbing. He fought his own tears back as he looked up to see Dylan and Kennedy staring down at him. He blanched at Kennedy's hard face – he remembered his earlier threats, and Kennedy looked as though he was about to follow through on his word.

"I don't… I didn't…"

Kennedy and Dylan both shook their heads as Kennedy knelt down, keeping Eggy's gaze as he reached forward and gathered the still sobbing Ana into his arms.

"You did what you had to. She'll come to see that. But for now, she needs to mourn," Kennedy said sharply before standing up and walking away, the sound of Ana's crying echoing down the hall.

Eggsy sat there, a part of his shirt sticking to him, damp from Ana's tears. A hand entered his line of sight and he took it, Dylan helping him stand up.

"I'm sorry," was all Eggsy could think to say.

'I couldn't save her, she's gone,' she'd cried the night before. The weight of her pain felt heavy on his own shoulders.

"I know," Dylan said, "I just… I don't know what she's thinking right now. Like I told you, what happened to her that day changed her forever."

Eggsy looked down the hall just in time to see Kennedy holding Ana in his arms disappear. He felt a small pang in his chest and brought up a hand to rub at the spot.

"On behalf of me, however," Dylan said, and Eggsy turned his head. Dylan reached out to rest a hand on his shoulder, "on behalf of my Claire, I thank you. And I know, time permitting, Ana will thank you too."

At that, Dylan dropped his hand and walked away, leaving Eggsy standing there, completely confused.

"Oy, Glahad!" he heard a minute later.

Eggsy took a deep breath and saw Arthur walking towards him.

"Boy, you look like you've just been run over by a train…"

Eggsy let out a harsh laugh, his hand coming to the damp spot on his shirt.

"You… you could say that."

She tossed and turned in bed that night - not even sure if she'd gotten any sleep before she saw it was already seven am. She let out a sigh as she got out of bed, deciding some training would tire her out enough to take a long nap through the day. A day she didn't want to face - not after what had recently happened.

Breaking down in front of Eggsy twice definitely put a damper on her confidence. How could she face him now? Not only did he wake her from yet another nightmare, but he was the one to kill Valentine. She didn't remember much except her hearing Eggsy's declaration, and Kennedy tucking her into bed, saying nothing as he put a tissue box on the bedside table before leaving.

The halls were empty as she walked to the training room, her earbuds in as she hummed to Rihanna, swinging a hip then and there to the beat.

After a strenuous half hour or so of beating the punching bag, she heard a muffled voice through her headphones and stopped, tugging at the cord as she turned and saw Eggsy in the room, arms crossed.

She let out a deep sigh despite being out of breath, turning her head so Eggsy didn't see the dark circles under her eyes: zombie eyes, she called them. If she left the house 'without makeup', that usually meant concealer under her eyes so she didn't look as tired as she really was. However this morning she'd only washed her face, dressed for training, and left, leaving her make-up untouched on the counter.

"Had a good sleep?"

She blinked at his dismissive tone as she fought to catch her breath. She'd cried on his fucking shoulder – twice within forty-eight hours – an honor only held for Dylan... but then she caught his gaze again and saw the attitude.

Only then did she figure out how alike they really were. The further the emotions, the better.

She sighed and braved her face to a neutral stance before she turned to face him. She faltered for a moment at a small bruise on his jaw, and then remembered that she'd lashed out at him yesterday.

His eyes twitched, but they stayed the same; teasing, just waiting to get a rise out of her.

She blinked and the realization came to her - he was going back to their old animalistic ways to help her. To help her cover up her vulnerability she had: him.

She took a beat to decide how to reply. She hated to admit it but having Eggsy know of her nightmares – hell, he was a victim of a bad one – was almost de-stressing. And even though she had no proof, the way he acted that night in the hotel room told her that he also had his own demons visiting him in the night.

But then she got a second look of his smug and –dammit – handsome face and second guessed herself as she tilted her head.

"I'd be ready for another round… if you are."

His face twitched but he kept his sly grin as he took a step forward.

"Are you awake enough?"

At his last comment he knew he'd gone too far. But he couldn't help it. He liked the fire in her eyes whenever he got on her nerve.

Especially, however how wrong he felt about it; having her accept her vulnerability while he was there after her nightmare, having her soak his shirt with her tears… being there to wake her up from whatever horrors she'd been through without a fist fight… it felt right to him. It was a side of her he'd never seen; a side of her he'd been wanting to see.

He didn't know how she felt about this something between them. He sometimes wished that his first instinct wasn't always to rile her up. But he also looked forward to seeing her, making her cheeks flush and her eyes spark and just hearing the funny, snarky, bitchy and intelligent things that came out of her mouth when he got her going.

Was that something they could make a real partnership out of?

"If I can give you multiple bruises while I'm half awake, I'd love to see the damage I can do right now," she snapped, and he took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly, refraining from grinning.

She tilted her head and smiled.

"Ah, there it is."

He raised an eyebrow but she only shook her head.

"Ana what are you…" another voice interrupted but then faded away and they both looked over to see Dylan, his hair a mess and his eyes barely open, wearing the given Kingsman sweats and black shirt. He looked at Ana and then him, and his eyes widened as his mouth turned down.

"I train with you in the morning," Dylan said stiffly, catching Eggy's gaze and keeping it.

He glanced at Ana, looking at Dylan, and then looked back and shrugged. But before he could say anything she spoke.

"I'm gonna go it alone this morning. Somewhere else. You can sleep an hour or two in my 'cell'," she said to Dylan, a smile forming on her lips, making Eggsy feeling something towards jealousy.

Dylan nodded as he yawned, and before the two of them could blink, Ana was gone.

Eggsy let out another deep breath as he turned to Dylan, who was watching him with a straight face.

"What's her deal?" he asked. Maybe he could get some more insight.

But the expressionless and tired face looking back at him shot down his hope.

He sighed.

"Fine, then let's start somewhere…" he said, and Dylan took a step forward as he crossed his arms.

"The nickname Nat… is that-" Eggsy started.

"How the hell do you-" Dylan's face turned dark.

"She hit two pressure points to paralyze me for three seconds, a rare martial arts move I've only known a few others to master - when I gave her that nickname from her cover name."

Dylan froze, but then moved a hand over his face, shaking his head.

"Jesus, she's still using Natasha?" he muttered.

Eggsy's interest piqued.

"So it does mean somethin' to her? Or is it Natalia?" he asked.

Dylan stopped, meeting his gaze, glaring.

"How the fuck do you-"

"Nightmare victim here," he said raising his hand to give a single wave.

Dylan shook his head.

"Jesus, you're trying to get me in the middle of this, again, aren't you?"

He stayed still, but then moved his shoulder in the smallest shrug ever.

Dylan's face twisted as he turned, shaking his head as he paced a few steps away and paced back to him.

"Fine, fine, I know you unfortunately share her stubbornness; she's told me enough about it-"

Eggsy smiled at that and Dylan cursed.

"God, the two of you…" he took in a deep breath, "Shit… ugh, don't tell her, she'll maim me. But… what I'm gonna say is gonna have to do for your twisted way of knowing everything, cause if I told you directly, she'd probably find a way to make my death seem like an accident."

Eggsy blinked at that, but then grinned when he thought about it. She seemed like she could – she had the act down.

But he knew it was just that. An act.

"Well, you've got a witness now," he muttered, and Dylan let out a laugh, snapping his head to look at him.

"Now I see – shit… no…" he let out a breath, finally standing still, his face back to all business.

"I thanked you for Claire... she was my fiancé," he started, and Eggy's face fell.

Shit. He wasn't expecting that.

Dylan took in a breath, shaking his head.

"She also lost someone that day," he said, his voice softer, and Eggsy closed his eyes tight, shaking his head, "though I figure you're at least smart enough to have figured that out."

Eggsy kept his face grave as he nodded.

"But the thing is," Dylan continued and Eggsy looked back up to watch as he shuffled on his feet, drawing a hand over his face again, "I lost someone I loved. But she… she lost someone more than that."

He stopped.

What did that mean?

Dylan shook his head again.

"Don't you dare say anything. She's irked with me enough as it is these days," he said, turning and walking away.

He had just reached the doorway before Eggsy found his voice again.

"Why did you tell me in the first place?"

Dylan stopped, turning back to him, his gaze piercing enough from that distance.

"Something tells me you're... different."

Eggsy tilted his head at that. Ana and Dylan definitely had the whole vague thing down pat.

"However, Eggsy," Dylan continued, "if this is something that you use to hurt her in any way, if you in any way hurt her, you'll wish she used a bullet the night you first met."

He stopped, staring at Dylan, his face dark and menacing. He wasn't fucking around.

He respected that.

"I'm not that type of somethin', Dylan," he said slowly.

His eye twitched, but he kept his dark gaze.

But suddenly, his face broke into a grin.

"Great talk, Eggsy. Glad we've got an understanding," Dylan said before turning away and leaving Eggsy standing in the hall, utterly confused.

Guys, you have no idea what it means to a writer to read a review! Negative or Positive, whenever I'm in a funk or a writing block, I go back and re-read each and every comment - and it really helps.

Timefighter by Lucy Dacus