HELLO! Hey, how's it going? Yeah, I know, I've been gone too long. I seriously planned to post this chapter a week after the last, but then I got sidetracked by writing other chapters and edited previous chapters and then editing this chapter endlessly because that's the life of a perfectionist. It's a vicious cycle.
But I'm here now and I'm really excited for upcoming chapters and I actually think I'll be able to post the next chapter relatively soon. But if you're ever curious about update ETAs or just want to know that I'm alive, feel free to PM me. I LOVE getting messages from you guys and it makes my cold little heart smile.
So, here is chapter 15! Please keep in mind while reading this that I am not a medical student nor do I have any expertise on medical things, so, please don't judge me on the plethora of probable errors! I struggled somewhat with this chapter and the scenes in it, but challenges make for a better writer?... hopefully?
Anyway, enjoy and please review!
By the time Eggsy arrived at HQ, all of the surviving Kingsmen were seated at the conference table. Eggsy took a moment to berate himself for always being the last to show up at these blasted meetings, but he accepted it with a tired shrug.
Taking his seat between Percival and Kay, Eggsy straightened his tie and nodded cordially to Bedivere and Merlin. Roxy shot him a concerned side-eye. Once all remaining Kingsmen were settled, Merlin began the meeting with a stern voice and an even sterner glare.
"Good evening, Gentlemen. Gentlelady. Shall we get right into business?" He said while opening his tablet. "As I'm sure you all have noticed, a few of our fallen brothers have not been replaced; the Kingsmen are only at half capacity and as much as I hate to say, we are in desperate need of more knights."
Eggsy glanced at the five empty chairs at the end of the table at the same time as everyone else.
"While this organization has a plethora of lower level agents; a diminished number of knighted Kingsmen such as yourselves threatens to drop this operation into degradation and I plan to resolve this problem immediately. Our last successful recruitment was a little more than a year ago and as we've seen, just adding one Kingsmen agent is enough to make all of our jobs easier."
Bedivere smiled self-consciously and nodded to Merlin.
"While I would like to have these recruits tomorrow, this is not a decision to be made on an impulse. Study, observe, even test your possible recruits. Do not settle for second best. I expect all of you to submit your recommendations to me by the end of March and you better be damn sure they're up for a challenge."
"That's a bloody understatement." Eggsy said.
There were a few chuckles between everyone including a stifled huff from Merlin.
"Now that that's been said, on to the reason I called all of you in." Merlin put on his glasses and in-turn, Eggsy and the rest of the knights put on their glasses.
"A certain deluded, power-happy country in the North China Sea has just threatened to start WW3, and I would rather that not happen. A number of organizations such as ourselves are equally eager to stop this and have sent their own people into the storm, and I do not intend for the Kingsmen to sit idly by."
Eggsy watched the stats and information of the mission flash up on the screen. He adjusted his glasses.
"Galahad, Lancelot, Gawain, and Kay, you all are to report to the airbase in an hour and I expect you to be in route immediately. Bedivere and Percival, I'm flying you out to our subsidiary branch in Hong Kong to gather our affiliate agents. Just in case."
And then, all at once, everyone stood up; Eggsy being the first to leave.
The plastic chair squeaked as Eggsy sat down.
He tapped his foot on the ground a couple times, ran his fingers over his face, and stared at the bottom corner of the cot in front of him. Eggsy opened his mouth once or twice, but nothing came out. The words were stuck in his throat.
He coughed the way one does before a public speech.
"Herschel is good. He gets along with JB." The words sounded awkward. "But, I've, ah… I've told you that before, haven't I?"
Eggsy laughed the way one does on an uncomfortable first date.
"So, I need to leave. Only for a few days," Eggsy said, leaning back in the hospital chair and avoiding Elaine's sleeping eyes.
The only sound between them was the soft, electric march of her heart, the quiet traffic out in the hallway and the near constant string of Eggsy's debilitating doubts. All of which were almost too deafening for Eggsy to bare; if only Elaine could cut the prickling silence with her laugh.
"I said I would stay." Eggsy brought his head down into his palms. "I know I said I would; that I would stay until I saw you awake and okay, but I'm not. I'm not going to stay. I keep promising you things I can't keep."
The skin on his back prickled as he leaned forward again, face still in his hand, and reached up to twirl a strand of her hair with his fingers.
He missed the mess of her hair; how it always looked wind tossed and tangled and on fire in the soft light of the mornings he traveled to Columbia street to bother her. She never minded. Elaine was always illuminated; no matter the time of day, her hair, her freckles, her easy smile never failed to catch the light; but she was lying here and her strawberry locks never looked more faded, duller. The freckles of mascara peppered around her eyes were missing, her rosy blush gone.
He picked up her lifeless hand and brought it to his mouth.
"I'll come back, Elaine," Eggsy promised into her hand.
With reluctance, he dropped her hand, grabbed his jacket, and left without looking back.
Stepping through the door into the hallway without paying attention, Eggsy collided with Elaine's doctor. The doctor jumped with a startled gasp and clutched his chest.
"I'm so sorry, didn't see you there, doc," Eggsy said.
"Yes, yes, that's alright."
The doctor walked past Eggsy into the room and Eggsy didn't stop him. But as Eggsy stood in the doorway, he watched the doctor nervously wring his hands and pull at the sleeves of his white doctor's coat. His red, bulbous nose twitched as he caught Eggsy standing out of the corner of his eye and once again he jumped, startled.
"One too many pots of coffee again, doc?" Eggsy asked. He tried not to convey the suspicion too heavily in his voice.
"Y-yes, I guess there has been." The doctor gave a nervous laugh.
"Right."
Eggsy leveled him with a curious gaze to which the doctor shifted uncomfortably under. It was then that Eggsy made the priority to dig deeper into the doctor when he returned from the mission.
Doctor Gould was looking at Eggsy with and nervous curiosity.
"Well… have a good night then. I'd say stay away from the coffee, though."
"Right, right. Of course." Gould laughed.
Eggsy was unconvinced.
Again, with reluctance, Eggsy turned away from Elaine's room and made his way to the airfields.
Twenty minutes later, Galahad, Lancelot, Gawain, and Kay, were up in the air and headed half-way across the globe. These flights were getting old; the flights around the globe, flights that ate up hours, days of his life. The jets were fast, but Eggsy valued his time more now that he learned how to value himself.
But, like the well-trained gentleman he sometimes was, he didn't complain… much. At times, he thought these flights could be counted as punishment.
"My bloody arse is numb," Eggsy lowly complained to Roxy.
"Shall I kick it?" Roxy asked, nose buried in a book.
"How many blasted hours have we been here?" Eggsy rolled his shoulders and wiggled in his seat.
"Well, these flights are an eternity." Roxy sighed.
Elaine popped into Eggsy's mind.
She had said the same thing once they landed in Paris. She had just agreed to run away with him on a whim. Just like that. Eggsy knew Elaine would travel anywhere to fuel her wanderlust. He had seen it in her eyes as they traveled around Paris. Driving through the countryside, Elaine just set her forehead against the car window and watch the Parisian land roll by her; her wide eyes taking nothing for granted.
Even the simple things he noticed about her in London; she was always people watching, sometimes he would spot her sketching a lone diner or a couple walking down an avenue. She was always observing the world around her. She would be so caught up in her world that she would yelp and jump when he brought her out of it, her eyes would be wide and questioning, then her confusion would melt and she would laugh at herself and punch him in the shoulder just for making her jump.
"Eggsy,"
He looked over at Roxy.
"What's gotten into you?" she asked.
Eggsy shook himself when he noticed he had been smiling while reminiscing about Paris and Elaine and lazy car drives.
"Nothin'. Why are you starin' at me?" Eggsy carefully manipulated his features into boredom as he adjusted his shoulders.
"I just…" Roxy rolled her eyes. "You're confusing. That's all."
"Yeah, whateva, bruv." Eggsy mentally prepared himself for the elbow to his ribs just after saying that.
Gawain stood up and faced the group of Kingsmen.
"We should reach our destination in just under an hour. Start gearing up."
There were a few 'aye's and nods as everyone began suiting up into their tac gear. Already having the underlayers on, the preparation didn't take long and soon Eggsy was just sitting again. Restless.
And thinking of Elaine.
At the other side of the world, Doctor Gould was standing over his patient as he wrung his hands together and hesitated in taking a step closer.
"I took an oath, you know," He told her. "I swore I would protect, yet here I am."
He awkwardly shuffled his feet and racked his brain for any excuse or explanation he could protect himself with. Nothing came to mind.
Doctor Gould opened his mouth to begin an explanation he didn't believe when one of the research residents barged into the room.
"Doctor Gould,"
"What?" He asked with irritation.
The resident had tense shoulders and a tight grip on the files she was holding.
"You know the new drug we've been developing, the one to help the rehabilitation of coma patients?"
The doctor's blood pressure jumped. He took a deep breath before turning to face the research resident. He nodded at her to continue.
"It's been stolen." She said nervously.
Doctor Gould nodded slowly, walking up to her.
"Do we know who it was?"
"Security cameras caught them, but they were wearing a dark hoodie and we couldn't see her face."
"Her?"
"Yeah, well, from the build of their shoulders and the stature, we're reasoning whoever took the drugs was a she."
Doctor Gould sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to will his slight panic away.
"Well, contact the police,"
"We have,"
"Find out if anything else was stolen and I'll talk to the board."
She nodded and walked out of the room.
He took a moment to calm himself before turning back to his patient and setting an apologetic hand on her arm.
"I'm so sorry, but it will only get more complicated from here," He whispered.
It was at this point that the once prestigious doctor saw himself behind bars and stripped of his medical license.
Eggsy was waiting for the signal.
He and Gawain were sitting in the frigid air of their mission location waiting for Lancelot and Kay to finish their scope of the target area, full tac gear weighing them down.
Eggsy kicked at the snow beneath his feet.
"Galahad," Gawain spoke.
Eggsy turned to look at him.
"Perhaps this is not the time, but I have been meaning to say I'm sorry for what happened to Elaine. She's a good person, she certainly doesn't deserve the state she's in."
Eggsy adjusted his gun and nodded.
"Yeah, I know," He mumbled.
It was then that the calm night was cut with the sharp peppering of gunfire. Eggsy's earpiece crackled with the urgent voice of Kay and Eggsy and Gawain snapped up.
"Let's move out," Gawain ordered.
Both of them ran into the dark, snowy field they were faced with, their guns at the ready.
Running towards the gunfire with Roxy shouting in his ear turned into a sudden flash of Elaine. The harsh popping of bullets turned into the sound of a car crash and as he ran he found himself running to Elaine.
And he wasn't fast enough.
"Galahad!"
Eggsy snapped back to the mission, disoriented. He whipped his head to the voice, but before he was able to pinpoint something tore through his shoulder and he was knocked back.
"Eggsy!"
Clutching his bleeding, throbbing shoulder while on the ground, Eggsy cursed whatever deities he could think of for messing with his life.
Eggsy didn't look up when the door to the infirmary opened and sharp footsteps approached him from behind. Focusing on rewrapping his bandage while ignoring the pain shooting through his shoulder, he kept his eyes down when Merlin sat on the cot opposite him.
"You've let your attachment affect your work."
Eggsy hesitated; the bandage he was wrapping stilled. After a moment, he continued, still refusing to look up.
"Am I out?" He asked.
Merlin let a silence hang between them until Eggsy met his eyes. Eggsy bit back the excuses until Merlin's stare became too much and the words began spilling out of his mouth.
"I'm sorry, I just got caught up in things and lost myself in my head and I know this was an important mission
"You're not out," Merlin said after a long silence.
Eggsy's shoulders relaxed.
"But you were warned," Merlin said sternly. "When you became a Kingsmen; in a rather round-about way, you were told that this life does not bode well for those who have attachments. This shouldn't be taken as an invitation to cut off everyone you care about, but a reality that when on the job nothing else matters but the job."
Merlin paused in his speech, taking a moment before continuing.
"Those we love can be a strength when held at the right moment, but thinking of your comatose girlfriend while being shot at is not effective, to say the least."
Eggsy let out a humorless laugh.
"Yeah, got that," Eggsy mumbled.
"In light of your current state, you are being suspended until further notice."
"What? Merlin, come on!" Eggsy argued, wincing when his shoulder jostled.
"Due to both your shoulder and your priorities."
"You gotta be takin' a piss," Eggsy said angrily.
"I can assure you I am not and considering you thought you were out two minutes ago, I should hope you'd be pretty damn pleased with just a suspension," Merlin deadpanned.
Eggsy ran his hands over his face, ignoring how his shoulder screamed in pain.
Merlin sighed heavily, then stood and set a hand on Eggsy's good shoulder.
"This isn't meant to be a punishment, Eggsy. Take some time to heal."
And with that, Merlin left Eggsy to think by himself.
Elaine was vaguely aware of the world.
There were lucid moments that fluxed in and out of her memory and sensations of someone holding her hand, but her existence came and went. She didn't know where she was, but she didn't have the energy, nor any reason, to care.
She just slept because that's all she wanted to do.
A couple outstanding moments she could briefly if at all, hang on to, where moments of someone holding her hand and speaking with a sad voice. She felt her hair being brushed back and harsh beeps marching on and her cheek being caressed and someone poking her with sharp needles. She was laying in cotton sheets that irritated her skin, and she didn't like the pillow she had.
But then, everything would melt away and there would only be the refreshing darkness that she comfortably sank into like a good night's rest.
When Elaine woke up again in another lucid moment, she saw a figure standing by her side. Wearing a dark hoodie, Elaine couldn't make out their face, but her vision was too blurred and tired to make out anything of detail. So, she closed her eyes again and let the world fall away.
As she was sleeping in her comfortable darkness, she felt tight tugs on her arms, like a needle were being pulled out and then the air beneath her nose was pulled away. The machine where her heart had been monitored on flatlined, but it sounded off; like she was hearing from underwater.
Everything she heard sounded off. The voices surrounding her were warbled and unrecognizable. Elaine couldn't tell if it was just one person or twenty, but she didn't have the energy to care but she was getting an inkling of fear at the base of her stomach.
And then someone was moving her. She had enough consciousness to feel a pair of strong hands set her in a wheelchair and push her back so she didn't fall forwards. She attempted to say something, to speak out, but there was a terrible, solid disconnect from her mouth to her brain.
A hand pushed her chest, and she realized she was slumped forward and she couldn't straighten her self up. For the first time since she began to gain consciousness, a coil of fear wound around her spin and sat heavily in her stomach.
A needle poked her arm and soon a warm calmness enveloped her. The coil of fear drained out of her and she felt herself falling back to a comfortable sleep as whoever had her began rolling her through the fluorescent hallways of the hospital.
"I told you this would work."
"Don't speak too soon. She's here, but the drugs have yet to take effect and we could still be found out." Doctor Gould said. "Will the Kingsmen be after us?"
"Most likely."
They were standing beside the bed Elaine was lying in. She was hooked up to their own heart monitors and oxygen tanks and other such requirements.
"Are you positive it was safe to move her so soon? She was mumbling nonsense when I took her out of the hospital."
"That's a good sign. Normally, a patient with her injuries and the state of her medically induced coma would need a great deal of physical therapy once awakening from the coma, but with this new drug, she'll have practically all dexterity and mental functions. It's an amazing drug. And there's only a 17% chance of complications."
"What are the complications?"
"We've already discussed this," Doctor Gould looked at his accomplice with doubt.
"Yes, but you bored me and I forgot what you had said."
The doctor tried hard to reign in his impulse to roll his eyes or let out an irritated huff.
"How far have I fallen, letting corruption and conspiracies be a priority over patient care," Doctor Gould muttered under his breath.
"Complications," She snapped.
Doctor Gould jumped.
Nowadays, his nerves made up more of his body than muscle.
"Speech impediments and chronic migraines, both fairly unlikely, with temporary amnesia being the most probable of the complications."
She nodded, sitting on the bed beside Elaine and brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. She then fixed her blankets and set a gentle hand on Elaine's shoulder.
"I'm willing to take those risks." She whispered.
After watching her for a moment, Doctor Gould cleared his throat and declared that he was going to research possible treatments for the potential complications Elaine may encounter.