Alright, so this chapter is going to be a ride. Being that it is my longest chapter I've posted, I've packed a lot of stuff here and I hope it isn't too much. That being said, I've really enjoyed writing this and I hope you guys enjoy it just as much as I do. Also, I'm working my butt off for this story so I hope to be posting more frequently, especially now that class is out. Yay! I've been thinking about posting a one-shot about how Eggsy and Elaine met and I'll share it if there is want of it. Let me know if you guys would be interested.
Elaine woke to an empty bed.
She was expecting as much, but nevertheless, ran her hands over the cold sheets next to her and thought it would be nice if Eggsy were by her side.
Rolling out of bed, Elaine meandered to the window where Herschel lounged. Running her hands over his back, she leaned her forehead against the cool glass and contemplated the street below.
"Still no snow?"
Herschel bit her finger before cowling and jumping down from his perch and proceeding to stride his way to the kitchen.
Twisting her sleeves around her fingers, Elaine pushed away from her window and followed her cat. As her bare feet padded across her creaky wood floor, Herschel knocked against her ankles and rolled along.
To her dismay, however, all that greeted her on her kitchen counter were bills she couldn't pay and a sad, wrinkled apple.
The flower shop paid her next to nothing and Elaine was running out of her savings. Soon, she would have to do the unthinkable; move back with her parents.
Not that they would notice if she were there.
"Do you think I could be a stripper?" Elaine asked her cat.
He blinked slowly at her, waiting patiently at his bowl.
"Yeah," Elaine mumbled as she knelt down to fill his bowl. "I'd fall on my bankrupt little face."
Sighing, Elaine turned to make her own breakfast. She poured some cereal that was probably stale into a bowl and opened the fridge to get the milk. The contents shook as the door opened. Glass mustard jars and cans of half-used sun-dried tomatoes sat here and there, but no milk.
"Great. Just a dry bowl of stale cereal. Nice." She groaned, closing the fridge.
The only reply she got was a disinterested cowl from Herschel.
But there was a convenience store just down the road. Grumbling as her stomach complained, Elaine shrugged on her coat and walked out the door.
Descending each step, an itching fear crept upon her as the presence of the darkened window of the apartment across from her loomed over. The dreary morning weather darkened the entire street and in the distance dark thunderheads loomed as they billowed up in the sky. Sheets of rain could be seen falling on another part of the city so the dark shadows cast on the apartment fit the stormy atmosphere.
Having never really considered that apartment (even though it was directly across from her) Elaine just assumed it to be vacant. But she hesitated on the last step leading from her apartment and stared into one of the darkened windows. She was never one to be paranoid, but there was an unmistakable feeling of eyes watching her and as Elaine peered into the apartment longer and longer, it became apparent that the dark outlines of a figure sat at the window.
Watching her.
Fear laced through her lungs like barbed wire and Elaine turned and ran up the steps to the safety of her apartment only slammed the door behind her.
"I guess I'm having dry cereal," Elaine said to no one.
As she was eating, she managed to convince herself it was a trick of the light. Or what if someone was spying on her? Would that be such a terrifying thing? But Elaine couldn't shake the connection she felt, that the figure had locked sights with her and was swooping in.
"And I am going crazy," Elaine said to the cat in her lap.
Looking to distract herself, Elaine grabbed her laptop to see if it was ready to cooperate. Opening it, the display screen glitched, then brought up her normal home screen
"At least you're working fine."
With the way her computer had been working, she'd have to get a new one. Not that she had the money for that. Slapping her screen a few times managed to get her email up and running. Finding the video Maisy had sent her, Elaine opened it and clicked play.
The thumbnail of the video was the youtuber cheesily looking at a superimposed photo of a handsome man in a suit. Shrugging, Elaine had nothing better to do.
"Hey guys, yes. I'm back." The youtuber ToriMysteriorsi began.
The conspiracy youtuber was a poster child for all the other con-tubers out there; Instagram makeup, dollar-store skeletons in the back, blue ombre hair, a wispy voice that listed the conspiracies and internet mysteriousness available at her fingertips. Elaine felt the nerves in her spine fade as she listened to all the funny, sometimes scary stories ToriMysteriorsi told.
"The next thing isn't as scary as some of the other groups on our list, but still disturbing; The Kingsmen. So, supposedly, the Kingsmen is a section of the government that is so elite and dangerous that most of the government- and the world- don't know about them. Their token signatures are always nice suits, black-rim glasses, and black umbrellas. Now, you may be thinking to yourself; attractive guys wearing nice suits and umbrellas. What's the harm in that? Well, what if those umbrellas were guns?"
It was at this point that ToriMysteriorsi stopped to let that soak in with an almost comical expression.
It was also at this point that Eggsy seemed to sound like a Kingsmen. But how many people wore suits, glasses, and carried umbrellas?
It was silly to think of.
Shaking her head, Elaine returned her attention to the video.
"I am going to show you a video of one of these 'Kingsmen' caught on camera… murdering someone." The youtube led up dramatically.
The screen went black and returned with what looked like surveillance footage from a gas station. The Kingsmen appeared to be arguing with the owner when he pointed his umbrella at him and the owner fell to the floor.
"Now, I know it was hard to see since the footage isn't that great, but there was definitely a kickback to the umbrella and something shoot out so fast you can barely tell from the tip. I mean come on you guys; that's a gun."
The youtuber replayed the clip slower in order to emphasize the kickback and projectile the umbrella was producing and the sickening look of pain on the owner's face.
"And there is more."
Elaine forgot her cereal, once more feeling a creeping fear crawl up into her stomach and lace up her spine.
Eggsy wasn't a Kingsmen. He just wasn't. This whole theory was probably wack, anyway.
"As it turns out, the store owner was a Class A war criminal. And what constitutes a class A criminal are crimes against peace; so think Pearl Harbor or planning ways to start a war. It's not as serious as crimes against humanity, but still, this guy might have deserved a bullet to the brain. But, anyways, this umbrella murderer must have had some type of authority if he was able to just pop a bullet in a head without a flinch."
Elaine pictured the once harmless umbrella that sat at Eggsy's side practically every time she saw him.
"These guys are also known to wear glasses that people think are recording and giving them information."
Again, Elaine thought of Eggsy's glasses.
"But it gets even scarier… Who leads the Kingsmen. People are saying the Illuminating is controlling them, or they're the actual government and the government we see is fake. Or… the Kingsmen are all lizards that are trying to take back their planet."
Elaine laughed. There was the conspiracy video she was expecting. The youtuber laughed and rolled her eyes at the camera.
"Now, do I actually believe the lizard/Illuminati theory? No. But it's still fun to think about. But I do believe there is something strange happening with suited men wearing glasses and carrying umbrellas."
Meaning Eggsy.
Elaine knew she should turn off the video before she read too much into the evidence.
"There is one last calling card of the Kingsmen." ToriMysteriorsi said.
Elaine's willpower was too weak and as her mouse hesitated over the exit bar, she waited for the last piece of evidence.
"The insignia of the Kingsmen in a golden horizontal K in a circle."
A drawing of the insignia popped up on screen and Elaine felt her blood turn cold. There was no mistaking it.
Eggsy was a Kingsmen.
Elaine slammed her laptop and shoved it away from her.
"Nope. No, no, no, no, nope, absolutely not. Elaine… you are paranoid."
After that, Elaine spent the rest of the morning paranoid, skittish, and understandably upset; but before she could spiral down a hole, she always managed to talk herself out of the realization. ToriMysteriorsi was a conspiracy youtuber, after all.
She thought taking a shower would calm her nerves, but the hot water- hot to the point it was steaming- refused to relax her muscles. Stepping out of the shower with a robe and her hair in a towel, Elaine contemplating calling Eggsy to ask him.
But what about his umbrella? Would he kill her?
"No. Elaine, you're a paranoid idiot." She told herself resolutely.
The night before is what calmed her nerves; him sitting with her and playing with her hair, talking all night and him staying with her as she fell asleep. They had confessed their love. Why would he hide something like that? It wasn't possible to hide something like that.
Taking a relaxed breath, her muscles and heart calmed with the memory of all the good Eggsy had been to her.
"This is simply a bad case of cabin fever," Elaine explained to Herschel. "I need to be surrounded by flowers. And buy milk."
Ignoring the prickling sensation at the back of her next, Elaine walked out of her apartment towards the subway. Adjusting her scarf, her eyes were stoutly kept in front of her and she would be damned if she let stupid superstitions lock her up in her cramped apartment.
Well, she wouldn't keep her cramped apartment if her financials continued the way they were.
Running behind schedule, Elaine jogged the last stretch of the city block to catch her transport and her scarf bobbed up and down as she rushed to catch the train. Her Doc Martens sloshed in the quasi-snow mush that was left over from the night before and splashed up on her daisy embroidered jeans.
Slipping in just as the doors closed, Elaine caught her breath and slumped against an empty seat. Leaning her head against the window, she put her earbuds in. Relaxing, Elaine ignored the world around her, losing herself in the feeling of the tracks and the melodies swimming between her ears.
The doubts diminished, losing their grip in the music.
"Eggsy loves me," Elaine mumbled to herself, smiling.
She let that thought surround her, the silly conspiracies falling to the nearly forgotten edges of her mind. The way he smiled, how he kissed her, made her laugh, couldn't be a faked.
He was real. And he loved her.
Elaine leaned forward and smiled into her scarf.
Sighing, she looked forward and was unnerved to see the man sitting across from her was staring at her. Shooting him a standoffish look, Elaine was about to say something, but then he leaned back with a smug grin.
"They fooled you, love."
Elaine reeled internally while she stared back at the stranger. The clank of the tracks a rhythm beneath them and the other passengers keeping to themselves besides this one creep.
"Alright." Elaine really didn't want to deal with creeps.
"Yeah. They got you fooled," He said.
The man was missing a tooth and had the distinct smell of weed surrounding him.
"I heard you. Thanks." Elaine gathered her things and made to move to another seat.
"The Kingsmen," He drawled.
Elaine froze.
"They got you, yeah, they got you." The man laughed like it was all a joke the world was in on.
Too jarred to say anything back, Elaine slung her bag onto her back and found a different seat at the other end of the train. Hands shaking, her breath shallow and weak, Elaine looked back at the stranger and he seemed to get a gleam out of knowing she was scared.
He rose his hand, pointing his fingers at her, and made the gun motion children made.
"He's crazy. Or I'm hallucinating." Elaine tried to convince herself.
If her heart rate was anything to go by, she failed at convincing herself.
She watched Elaine walk out of the tube. Her face was pale and even from a distance, her hands were visibly shaking. Eyes locked on the ground in front of her, Elaine was completely oblivious to the world around her.
"Done. Give me my money." The man said.
She stepped back to avoid his reeking marijuana breath and reached into her pocket to give him a thick wad of cash. The man ran through it quickly before smiling and looking back up at her. He nodded stuffed it in his own pocket.
"Who are the Kingsmen?"
"Does it matter?" She asked.
The Kingsmen wouldn't be a problem, Elaine wouldn't call them for help. That's all that mattered.
"For an extra couple pounds, I'll follow her,"
Turning, she opened her jacket enough so the gun strapped to her waist was visible.
"Do that, and you won't have kneecaps."
Slipping past the man as he blubbered a half-assed apology, the woman dissipated into the crowds unseen.
Tripping over her own nervous feet when she walked out of the tube, it took a strong mental jolt to remember that Elaine needed to go to the Greenhouse.
"Because Louise is in Surrey." Elaine reminded herself.
Still shaking, she walked the familiar route to the gardens and gradually released her hold on her anxieties. Though it turned out to be a rather herculean task. The shiver of fear still shot through her; it made her want to shut down, to fly back to Minneapolis and forget London and Eggsy and everything that followed her.
Elaine was letting go of her tense shoulders until she bumped shoulders with a woman crossing her path.
"Elaine!"
She nearly passed out seeing Roxy standing in front of her in her suit. Elaine's eyes immediately jumped to the umbrella she carried and the words of the creep on the subway resounded in her ears.
They had her; the Kingsmen.
Taking a step back, Elaine was too panicked to catch Roxy stepping closer.
"Are you okay? You look pale as a ghost," Roxy noticed with a caring voice Elaine didn't think possible to fake.
That's how terrible these Kingsmen were. Everything was fake, Eggsy was fake and Roxy was fake and her sister was a terrorist and…. Elaine froze.
Mr. Thomson was one of them.
Too caught up in the panic suffocating her, Elaine didn't register Roxy as she tugged her along. She was asking her questions but when Elaine finally realized what was happening, she tore her arm out her Roxy's grasp and took several unstable steps away from her.
"Stay away from me!" Elaine yelled.
Before Roxy had time to say anything, Elaine threw her bag at her and ran.
"Elaine!"
Sprinting away as fast as her legs could carry her, Elaine didn't look back. And she didn't stop until she reached the greenhouse.
Lungs burning, She slammed the rickety door behind her and leaned against the chipped wood.
"I just threw my bag at a murderer. Nice."
Elaine knocked her head against the door when she realized her wallet and her phone and her keys to her apartment were in that bag.
She was at least thankful Roxy didn't follow her. And then there was the matter of Eggsy. She recalled the times she had joked about this and he always deflected with a joke or a quip.
Leaning over her knees, Elaine brushed a shaky hand through her hair and wondered when her life got so annoyingly precarious.
Eggsy threw his duffle on a dusty chair by the entrance to his new home. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great. It smelt funny and he could already tell the heating system was going to be a nuisance if the metallic clanging was anything to go by.
Taking off his jacket and loosening his tie and collar, Eggsy walked to the window and spotted the computer supplier that supposedly was a cover for several hackers working for Calisto. He was given a gun and a camera. Merlin threatened that if he used the gun more than the camera, he would get iced from the Kingsmen.
The sharp ring from his phone sliced through the quiet apartment. It was Roxy.
"Yeah, Rox."
"You need to come back to London."
He straightened, worrying sitting heavy in his stomach.
"Why? Is Elaine okay?"
Possibilities rushed through his mind when Roxy hesitated.
"We don't know, but it appears that someone gave her false information about us."
"What does that mean?" Eggsy asked, already gathering his things.
"I don't know, Eggsy," Roxy sighed. She sounded tired. "I ran into her and she was terrified of me, kept looking at my umbrella like she knew it was a gun."
Eggsy halted. He recalled all the times Elaine had jokingly asked if he was a spy. He also recalled all the times he had blatantly lied to her face. And now she knew.
Eggsy had lost her.
"Are you listening to me?" Roxy asked.
"Yeah, I'll get back as soon as I can."
"One of our private jets is waiting for you at the airport."
Without hesitation, Eggsy ran out of the flat and made his way to the airport. He was in such a hurry that he forgot his tie.
The sound of water rushing over leaves and petals calmed her. By no means was she okay, but she was in a tranquil state of not really caring. It was like her nerves got to the point where they gave up and didn't register the world.
As she tended to the greenhouse plants, she mulled the possibility of this whole thing being a fluke. Elaine had been under so much stress; her financials were becoming more depressing by the day, she didn't have the designing career she wanted, and her sister was proved to be a terrorist. It's possible her brain pooped out on her and added in a Kingsmen conspiracy just to fuck her up more.
She liked to think that was the case.
Elaine pictured Eggsy, Roxy and herself laughing about this, Eggsy and Roxy opening their umbrellas and looking for the guns she imagined and Roxy laughing as she gave Elaine her bag back.
Her fantasy was disrupted when the sound of a car pulling up reached her. Headlights flittered through the windows which were followed by the sound of a car door slam. The car was still running.
Too scared to look through the window, Elaine backed away from the door.
Heavy footsteps walked up the wooden stairs. It had to be a customer; nothing dramatic was going to happen. Convinced that there was no one dangerous behind the door, Elaine took a step forward just as the handle turned and the door creaked open.
The door knocked softly against the wall and Elaine's breath caught as the looming figure of Greg stood just outside. There was a moment when both Elaine and Greg stood staring at each other, both coiled in suspense of what the other would do.
And just like that, a jolt shot through them both and everything fell into chaos.
Elaine bolted towards the back door, just barely escaping Greg's reaching arms. He shouted at her to listen but Elaine jumped over a stack of soil bags and managed to kick over a heavy pot. Rushing away, Elaine heard Geg stumble over the broken shards of the clay and curse. Not taking any time for granted, Elaine reached the backdoor unscathed and flung it open.
A bleeding hand hit the open door she was about to run through. Just as Greg slammed the door, his arms shot out and wrapped around her.
"Lainey, just calm down!" Greg said as he grabbed her wrists to stop her flailing.
"Like hell!"
Elaine ironically used a move Greg himself had taught her when they were friends. She used his grip on her to kick her legs out and then bring them back down so as to kick in Greg's knees with her heels.
Letting out a curse, Greg dropped her. But Elaine suspected she didn't successfully incapacitate him, just distracted.
Stumbling to the opposite wall, she grabbed a shovel and turned around to hit him. But when she turned, Greg was already too close and before she could do anything about it, his fist connected with her cheek and everything went dark.
It was the humming of the car that woke her. Convinced she had just been in bed, Elaine was startled when the darkened streets of London were flying past her. And then came the pain.
The entire left side of her face was throbbing. Groaning, Elaine reached up and felt her cheek swollen and tender. The memories of Greg in the greenhouse flooded her mind and her heart sped up in fear.
"Sorry. I had to."
Greg was behind the wheel, his eyes focused on the road. Alarmed, Elaine noticed they were speeding up and exiting London. There was no telling what this would lead to.
"You had to?" Elaine asked, the sarcasm deeply ground into her voice.
"If you would just listen to me,"
Elaine scoffed and leaned against the cool glass of her window. The car was dark and only the hum of the engine and the road beneath them cut the silence. There was a glass bottle by her feet.
"Where are we going?" Elaine asked. She knew it would be futile to tell him to let her go, but if she could work out a plan to get away from him, she could outsmart him.
But he stayed silent.
"I think you owe me an answer." Elaine raised her voice, wincing when it made her face throb even more.
He was silent again. The dark landscape melted away in place of new as the moon shone through the stormy clouds.
"If you want to be a dick, then fine. I just want answers. Why are you doing this?" Elaine was on the verge of angry tears, but she knew she was too tired to bother breaking down.
"I'm saving you."
"Really?" Elaine sighed, slumping down in her seat and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Are you expecting gratitude?"
"I got a call a couple day ago from someone claiming you were being followed. Dangerous people are after you and you're mixed up in things bigger than you can imagine."
"No shit," Elaine mumbled to herself.
A silence paced between them again. Elaine could tell he felt bad about hitting her, but it was all the same in her book. But he was right about one thing; she was caught up in things too big and too dangerous. She couldn't trust anymore. Her sister was a stranger and Eggsy was dangerous. And there she was, trapped in the car, held captive by a man who had formerly been one of her best friends. There was no one to trust.
"I know what you're thinking," Greg said like he had the right to claim he knew her. "You're thinking the brit is going to save you. He's not. The sooner you realize I'm not the bad guy-"
"You're right," Elaine interrupted, ignoring the tears on her cheek as she wrapped her hand around the glass bottle at her feet. "Eggsy isn't going to save me."
In a world where twin sisters were terrorists, lovers were murderers, and ex-friends violated their restraining orders, Elaine realized she no longer had any room in her heart for trust.
Raising the bottle up, Elaine slammed it against Greg's skull. The thick glass shattered with a disgusting crunch as it hit and Elaine felt a drop of blood hit her face. His hands yanked the steering wheel as he fell unconscious and just as his head hit the wheel, everything went to hell. The violent lurch hit Elaine's chest as the seat belt restricted her, the glass bottle with Greg's blood on it flew past her head, her blood froze as she felt herself float as the car rolled.
Then, it felt as if some godly hand reached down into the car, touched her cheek, and then slammed her head against her passenger window with enough force to shatter it.
When Elaine came too, she was hanging upside down. The roof of the truck inches away from her. Elaine groaned as she tried to maneuver herself out of the painfully tight seatbelt. Screaming, she unlocked her belt and felt to the ground, all the while willing herself not to black out again. Turning her head, Elaine looked over at Greg, the effort of which made her want to throw up. She didn't know why she looked at him.
She didn't know if it was out of empathy or a macabre desire.
He was slumped over, hanging by the seatbelt, but still breathing. Blood covered his unconscious face and Elaine felt a pang of regret flash through her.
Focusing on getting out, Elaine squirmed out of the totaled car, broken glass gouging into her elbows as the smell of gas burned her nose.
Pain cracked at every movement, her hair had bits of the windshield in it, and her breath was filled with smoke. Heaving, Elaine finally managed to free herself from the wreckage and laid breathless on the cold ground. She stared up at the opaque night sky, feeling nothing. Lifting up her shirt, Elaine felt her stomach and the sharp splinter of glass that protruded from her. Thick, warm blood coated her hand.
Her hand falling limp to the ground, Elaine closed her eyes. Her body was numb now. She was tired. She was free. Sirens blared in the distance.
Snow started to fall.
Opening her eyes again, Elaine took a moment to notice it was the first snowfall of the year before blacking out.