Hello all. To be completely honest I've felt out of sorts recently, and said out of sorts has leaked into my creative drive. Also in honesty, I have written these chapters months ahead - however before mentioned 'out of sorts' has my own doubts creeping in to this story. Hence the many updated chapters before posting this one. I needed to visit the characters again - hoping that they will lead me in the right direction. And they did!

I hope you enjoy.

If you do - leave a review.

If you don't - also leave a review.

Thanks.

New Rush

Ana walked with purpose, hands clenched tight and her whole body on alert; save for the small grin on her lips with Apollo at her heels.

Since his arrival, he'd followed her everywhere. To the kitchen for meals (and treats), and to the tech room whenever she asked for updates on Marsha even though she knew they wouldn't tell her anything. He even tried to follow her to the gun range, but the sounds were hard enough on human ears – Dylan watched over him while she re-trained her mind and body with real bullets.

She didn't realize just how much she had missed him – a feeling unable to put into words – until a few nights after his arrival when she was having a nightmare. She woke up with Apollo licking her face, whining as he lay on top of her, trying to chase problems away as the weight of his body proved an indescribable comfort.

She stopped at the doorway and looked down. Apollo looked back up at her with a snort.

"Behave," she said to him, though more-so to herself.

She took a deep breath and entered the Dining Room, her confusion over her summons growing as she spotted Dylan and Eggsy already sitting at the table.

As soon as she sat down Washington cleared his throat and began.

"We've got a mission for the three of you. Something… local, surprisingly so."

Ana clenched her fists under the table, still upset that she wasn't allowed to pursue her main mission. However a mission at home proved something exciting.

"It seems that a rather large weapons deal to is to take place soon, from a major gang to a militant group known for aggravating peaceful protests throughout larger cities in the nation."

Adams fidgeted on his Clip-Pad, and a barrage of photos were displayed on the table – those of carnage and despair.

"So far this militant group has been linked to not only the re-imagined and more violent Occupy Wallstreet movement in New York, but as well as multiple attacks that turned peaceful protests into riots in Chicago, Orlando and Philadelphia. They took credit for the Walmart bombing in Boulder, and the power outage at The Great Mall which resulted in more than fifty casualties."

Ana sighed, and as soon as Washington looked at her, she spoke.

"I figure this is something the local police or even the FBI can do? Why are we being brought in for a local weapons deal?"

"Believe it or not, Lincoln, the FBI and the LAPD only have so many hands on deck, as well as red tape, financing, and regulations that keep them at bay. And as you know, that's where we come in."

"I wouldn't disparage this mission so soon, Lincoln," Adams said to her softly as he walked around the table to bring up the details of the mission.

Multiple mugshots, maps, schematics of weapons…

"The location of the deal is a unique one at that," Washington said, and Adams nodded, using his clip-pad to bring a hand-drawn map onto the table, accompanied with equally hand-drawn blueprints.

Ana glanced at it, but then did a double take when she noticed the name at the corner of the blueprints.

"Oh, my god," Ana said, her body forming goose bumps.

"Called it!" Adams said.

"Oh, my god," Ana said again, tapping on the location and zooming in to make sure she knew what she was seeing.

Dylan peered over the table and then laughed.

"Oh boy, this is gonna be a good one."

"The Magic Castle!?" she almost shouted, "We're going to the Magic Castle!?"

Apollo barked at her feet and she smiled, bending sideways over her chair to scratch at his head.

"What's that?" Eggsy asked, peering over the table as though it would hold the answers.

"It's only the most elusive but awesome place in Los Angeles!" Ana started as she sat back upright. "I've been trying to convince the agency to let me go – but it's invite only from members. And to become a member is hard enough itself. But since we're Kingsman, I know we have membership," she gave a pointed look at Washington, "yet I've been denied access repeatedly."

"So it's only for rich people, then."

Ana shrugged.

"Touche', but members also invite friends, so it's always a mix of rich and those who want a peek into the world every night. But it's a Magic Castle. There are magic shows and magicians everywhere, the halls and rooms are even magic themselves, with secret entrances and a maze-like architecture," she faded off, too excited about the location to continue.

"Magicians? Pull a bunny out of a hat magicians?" Eggsy asked

Ana ignored Eggsy's mocking tone and turned to Washington.

"When?"

"Tomorrow night. The three of you are going together. You and Galahad will maintain your cover – Roosevelt will be-"

"The breathtakingly handsome third wheel," Dylan finished for him.

Ana almost asked if the two men could switch their covers, but held it back.

"Well, now that that's in order, details of the mission will be sent to you all. It is of upmost importance to identify both the Buyer and the Seller. Since it is in such a public place the main objective is to plant trackers on both. Apprehension is of course a plus, but not mandatory. The place has a strict dress code so dress to the nines, agents. Dismissed."

They all stood up and walked out, Dylan giving a parting nod as he left, and Eggsy and Ana continued down the hall together with Apollo between them, snorting heavily.

"How can you be so excited about a place you only know a few things about?" Eggsy asked.

Ana took a second, but then rolled her eyes for show.

What she wasn't about to tell him is that she and Natalia always wanted to go. They'd both always loved magic, and Ana even had a short spout in Jr. High when she raised enough money to buy a beginner's kit. It didn't last long, what with them needing to spend more time on getting jobs to care for themselves. Their great plan was to dress exactly the same and split up to become a magic trick themselves, confusing even the magicians themselves.

"Because I am."

Eggsy gave her a side look.

"What?" she asked, turning to him, tightening her fists to refrain from putting them on her hips.

"Whad'ya mean, what? I can't look at ya?" he asked, exasperated.

She frowned at that.

"You were giving me a look-"

"Jesus Christ, not this again-"

"You know what? NO. I'm not dealing with this right now," she said as she started walking away, shaking her head.

"Lincoln! Linc!"

She raised an arm with a wave.

"See you tomorrow, Galahad."

"You forgot somethin'!"

She stopped and turned around, her mouth gaping open as she saw Eggsy and Apollo standing there, both looking at her. Eggsy turned his head to look down at Apollo and almost comically her dog turned his head to look up at him.

"Traitor," she muttered under her breath as she took a few steps towards them. Eggsy slowly bent down, reaching out his hand. Apollo sniffed and then growled, shaking his head and then trotting over to her.

She smiled and watched Eggy's face fall.

"Nice try," she said across the hall as she turned back around, glancing down at Apollo as they walked.

"Good boy, you're getting an extra treat for that," she whispered.

They exited the cab and Ana stared up at the building, a big smile on her face.

It really was a castle. Tucked into the Hollywood Hills, with towers and lighting to accentuate the architecture. Dylan was talking to the driver about a separate pick-up location as Eggsy walked up next to her and softly cleared his throat.

She looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.

His cheeks looked flushed as he stared back.

"You look beautiful," he simply said, and her insides turned. She looked away, hating that she felt her cheeks get warm as she adjusted the grip on her small white handbag.

She wore a black A-Line dress with white polka dots. Her hair was in an elegant yet messy bun, with loose hairs to frame her face. It was topped off with white sensible two inch heels – to either kick ass or run in; whatever the situation called for.

"Thank you," she said, gaining courage to meet his gaze again, "You clean up well yourself."

He gave her a grin as he tugged on his bowtie – which she had just noticed was also polka dot and her insides turned yet again – with a thin layer of anger. There was only one person who could've snitched about what she was wearing. She turned to Dylan and met his gaze with a glare. He only grinned and used his pointer fingers to motion a heart in the air, lipping 'So cute' in exaggeration.

"Well, at least this time we won't be trying to kill each other."

"You sure about that?" she asked as she turned back around, smiling as he let out a laugh.

He held out his arm and Ana didn't hesitate as she slipped her hand through. Dylan walked up to them, tickets in hand. There was a backdrop for people to have their photos taken by a professional photographer – but it would be posted on the website – so it was avoided.

"Here we go!" she said as they entered the doors. They all stayed silent as they watched the small group before them enter through a bookcase that turned out to be a door. They gave their tickets and listened to the spiel about no cell phones or photography of any kind and then moved towards the bookcase. The usher told them to say 'open sesame', and once Ana said it, the door opened and they walked through.

It was dark with soft lighting, but full of olden, maybe even Victorian decorations. There were paintings on the wall with eyes that followed you, or that changed from a different angle. The carpet was lush, the wallpaper decorative, and everyone was dressed well and talking quietly.

They all scanned the room but saw none of their targets.

"Let's get a drink, shall we?" Ana said, dragging Eggsy to the bar, their arms still entwined.

Dylan ordered their drinks as Ana and Eggsy took a walk around the room, noting the emergency exits, two separate doors to Showing Rooms, and two separate staircases, one going up, the other down. They walked around the other side of the bar and Ana gasped, walking forward to a lone piano in the center of the room, velvet rope surrounding it.

It was playing "Spice Up Your Life" by the Spice Girls and Ana couldn't help but laugh at the magic of it; the keys were playing on their own.

"Irma!" she said.

"Who?"

"It's the ghost Irma, she plays the piano, and even accepts tips!" she said, pointing to a small jar on the piano bench that already had a few ones and even a twenty inside, "You give a request, and she plays it. People always try to outdo her, but she never fails. At least, that's what I've read."

"Well, you've been aching to come here, what song did you have in mind to stump her?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"It seems somewhat juvenile to stump her… what's the fun I that? I just always wanted to request…" she took in a deep breath and leaned forward so 'Irma' could hear her, "How Bizzare by OMC," she finished.

Eggsy let out a chuckle.

"Old school, nice," he said.

They both stared at the piano, waiting… and suddenly the keys moved, starting the opening chords.

Ana smiled and squeezed her arm as the song continued.

"Wow," she whispered, watching the keys press down on their own as the song played, the keys even moving to accommodate for what the lyrics were. She felt Eggsy looking at her from the corner of her eye and turned, blinking at how close they were.

"What?"

"It's just… I almost wanna know what it would be like here with you, without the mission," Eggsy said.

Ana was grateful for the dim lighting as she looked away, knowing she was blushing heavily.

The thing was, once he said it out loud… there was a moment where she wondered the same thing, despite everything that had happened.

Dylan took another bite of his lamb and hummed in approval.

"You and your meat," Ana smiled as she shook her head, cutting into her steak.

"Says the meat eater herself," Dylan said with a mouth half full.

"This isn't meat, it's… art," she said taking the bite from her fork and humming as she chewed with her eyes closed.

"I swear," Dylan said, looking at Eggsy, "this woman could be offered a million dollars to go vegetarian and she'd turn it down without a second thought."

Ana opened her eyes to find Eggsy smiling at her as he took a sip of his soda.

They'd all only had the one drink at the bar but then moved onto non-alcoholic drinks, asking for garnishes such as limes and cherries to put on the façade that they were cocktails.

Ana was having a hard time remembering this was a mission. There was a short showing in a room where a woman did a few card tricks to small audience, and ended the show with a handwritten note from an audience member stapled to the Queen of Hearts which was found in another persons' jacket pocket. After the show they had time to wander the place, keeping an eye out for exits and people and general perimeter checks; but Ana also took the time to look at the history of the place, pictures, artifacts, paintings that were magic themselves as tricks to the eye.

"We've had no luck so far," Eggsy started, "What do you two think?" he asked.

Ana grabbed a fry and chewed as she stared at him for a moment, her sly comment that she'd already located one of their targets lost in her mind.

He'd changed his accent. He annunciated his words more, which at first were shaky, but by now seemed almost natural. But it wasn't to her. She was used to the absence of t's and r's from him. This new accent was so refined and came out of nowhere… she so badly wanted to just straight out ask him, but feared it would start a spat.

So instead she chewed her fry as she looked out from their rather private dinner booth into the vast dining room, eyeing the table where one of the targets was sitting. He was accompanied by two women who were draped over him, and another man sitting across from them – a man that wasn't in any of the mission details.

"Well while you two have been scarfing down your dinner and not paying attention, I've spotted one of our targets at the other side of the room."

She heard muttered curses and turned to watch both men look over at the target and then back at her.

"The John Doe with him is a small blip, but it probably means he's just security," Ana said, grabbing another fry, "and it means that the Seller will most likely have security of his own, too."

"Which means our hope of apprehending our targets easily has been shot to hell," Dylan said.

"Never say never, Roosevelt. This just means we'll need to keep a closer eye on our Buyer, who will lead us to the Seller. We plant the trackers and can go from there."

"What if he has a different show than us?" Eggsy asked, noting that after the scheduled mandatory dinner non-members had to have, there was a magic show after with different time slots for different diners.

"We have the same slot and same show, I asked our hostess before we were seated," Ana said.

Dylan raised an eyebrow at that.

"What? I just mentioned I thought he was cute, she gave me a pitying smile and let me know."

"Huh," Eggsy said, taking a bite of his own steak.

Ana looked over to the table again and her eyes widened as she met the Buyer's gaze. She looked down, pretending to be flushed, but then looked up again, making sure to meet his gaze again as she winked.

Just then their waiter appeared again, smiling.

"Looks like we enjoyed our entrée's! Are we thinking about dessert?"

"If by desert you mean another steak, then count me in!"

"Nope, no, and no," Dylan cut in. Ana picked up her steak knife and turned, giving him a glare. Eggsy laughed out loud, and Ana couldn't help but smile. Dylan stared at her, eyes wide, looking between her and Eggsy.

"We're going to skip desert, want to get in line for our show," Dylan continued.

The waiter nodded.

"I'll bring the check right away."

Ana had been making eyes at The Buyer as they waited in line near the door to the main magic show. It was almost like a theme park line, but there was nice velvet rope instead of dirty metal.

"Still no Seller."

Ana turned back to Eggsy and stepped out from his arm. He frowned at her, but she only gave one subtle shake of her head.

"I've got the Buyer. I get close enough, I can put the tracker on him, and even download one to his cell if I get lucky."

"But with no Seller..."

"Could mean the deal is a bust… and then the mission is a bust," Dylan said, frowning.

"Don't lose hope yet, boys. I'm off to the ladies room, behave while I'm gone."

Ana ducked under the rope into the hallway, making sure to pass where the Buyer was standing, and met his eyes. She faltered, gave him a sultry look up and down, and then glanced at the women surrounding him before she visually shrugged, meeting the man's gaze and winking before she continued and left the dining room, asking an usher for the nearest bathroom even though she knew where it was.

She pushed through and tried to slam the door behind her, but the fixture on the door made it a slow close. She slapped her hand on the door as she rushed to the sink, turning the water hot as she ran her hands under the spray, the temperature jolting her to reality.

She was in her dream place – but on a mission.

She was with Dylan, her best friend – but on a mission.

She was with Eggsy… she wasn't yet sure how to describe him but he'd called her beautiful and told her he wanted to take her here – without a mission.

She looked at herself in the mirror and frowned.

The thing was… she was leaning more towards Eggsy's stance.

She was enjoying the place – it was hard not to – but something was missing… and it was the mission that was taking it away from her.

She sighed and washed her hands under the hot water, the steam billowing up from the faucet.

She took a deep breath and fixed herself in the mirror, grabbing her lipstick from her clutch to reapply before she settled up and left the bathroom.

In front of her was the Buyer himself.

He was handsome in The CW kind of way; jaw too perfect, a rouge boyish look with his face and hair, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets, a smug grin on his face.

She settled her jittery insides and gave him a grin.

"Saw you cozy with that short guy. Does that do it for you?" he asked.

She genuinely laughed at that. Eggsy wasn't a towering-over-you kind of guy, but he made it work… by just being him.

She faltered over the internal realization, but shook her head.

"It's our first date together after a month of texts, and he brings me along for show, just to impress his business partner."

The Buyer winced at that, pushing off the wall to take a step towards her.

"Man's an idiot."

"I agree," she grinned, taking two steps closer to him, lifting her hand to fidget with his collar as she blinked slowly and looked up at him, "Now, those women with you… I hate to say it but I think they might be in the same position I'm in."

He shook his head immediately.

"Just some friends of mine, really. They wanted the chance to Instagram their experience at the Magic Castle-"

"But were too dull to realize there's a no picture policy?"

He laughed softly at that, running his hand down her arm, sending the wrong kind of shivers through her body.

"You really like this place, don't you?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow.

"What makes you say that?"

"I saw you at Irma. Haven't seen anyone so excited at a piano since I saw her my first time," he said, subtly sliding his arm in hers and leading her back towards the line.

"What was your pick?" she asked as they stopped near a velvet rope, and the man who was most likely security opened it for them, giving her the eye. She looked away, acting nervous.

She ignored the stares of the women, visibly pouting at her.

The Buyer leant in and whispered into her ear "Everybody by the Backstreet Boys."

She smiled at that.

"Good choice, maybe I'll ask her to play that later tonight," she said, and the Buyer chuckled to himself as he slung an arm over her neck, acting cozy very quickly.

Ana blinked at the two pairs of jealous eyes that were staring at her. She then managed to take a glance over and almost laughed when she saw Eggsy and Dylan staring at her incredulously.

She turned back to the Buyer.

"What should I call you?" she asked.

"Kyle. You?" he asked, standing in her space, looking down at her.

"Natasha," she said.

"Natasha," he repeated, his smile turning downright evil.

She heard a few harrumphs and the women left, one of them shoulder checking her, which in turn stumbled her into Kyle, who took the opportunity to snake an arm around her waist.

"Some friends you've got there."

"Nothing gets by you does it?"

"Not everything, obviously. It's why I love magic so much."

"Well, you're in the right place."

"Sir," the other man said, and Kyle took a small step back, keeping his arm around her waist as he turned towards two newcomers. Ana held herself together as she turned and saw two men who looked exactly alike.

Her heart stuttered and she took in an involuntary breath.

New Rush by Gin Wigmore

I hope my super extensive research for this amazing place is correct! I love you all, thank you for the views and even more importantly - the reviews! Please take a moment to leave a comment about what you think - it really helps! More excitement to come, I promise! I just have too many ideas, don't know how to sort them out.