Bruised and Battered

Maria was beaming as she entered the small foyer of Arthur's office, the smile refusing to budge even as she saw the stack of papers resting on her desk, no doubt coming from Arthur for her to sort through instead of the man himself actually doing it instead. Merlin looked up from where he was bashing his fist on the printer, trying to get it to work properly, to see her plop down on her chair with a bright grin.

"It went well then?" he asked, starting to smile himself, he always did whenever his sister did, the same for her and his grins, they just liked seeing each other happy.

Back in their hometown, they hadn't been the most popular of children. It was like there was just something about them that made the other children not care to know them. They were picked on relentlessly, bullied even, by their peers. It had made for a very lonely existence in such a small town, they only really had each other to rely on and support each other, help come up with fibs for why Merlin had a busted lip or why Maria had gotten detention to keep their mother from worrying.

It hadn't been an easy place to grow up, only one kid seemed willing to ignore the others and stick up for them, Will, his name was, but he'd had a bit of a falling out with Maria which put a strain on his friendship with Merlin as a result. They weren't hostile to each other, they weren't mean, but they weren't as close of friends as they had once been.

It was a blessing in disguise though, to be so excluded by every other child, really. They spent more time in the library, studying for their classes, doing their homework, and soon enough, they were doing well in classes, so much so that they didn't need to spend that much time studying. It left them bored and, one day, they stumbled on a book of computer codes and how to program computers. From there it was like a fire had ignited inside them, it was like a spark had gone off because, before they knew it, they were devouring the book and testing the lessons it had given them.

They honestly didn't know how it had turned into hacking from there. They hadn't needed to learn it, not much, it was like…like they were just prodegies when it came to working their way into places they shouldn't be able to get to. It was like…like magic, in a way, how easily it came to them. Oh it took forever at times to work something out, but not because they were learning how to do something, but because the computers, for how well they did with getting into them, often glitched and short circuited when they were around. It was a constant battle for them, because they were unparalleled in their skills to hack, but electrical devices just never seemed to cooperate.

The hacking had been a godsend though, it had helped them cope with their childhoods and with the stresses of the day, just challenging themselves to see what they could do. Never ever to corrupt someone's files or do something unlawful with the information they could get access to, never. They more…tried to help. Like what happened with the virus that had gotten out, they used their skills to find the criminals and put a stop to it. It was like…like they were just vigilante cyber-crimes investigators, that was how they liked to think of it.

They hadn't asked for this gift or proficiency in hacking, it just grew over time, it just came naturally to them. They could work out codes better, crack passwords faster, slip through cracks with ease that they were sure they shouldn't have, but they weren't about to question it. It was a gift and something they had determined to use to help keep people safe from the truly horrible hackers that would rob them blind if left alone long enough.

"Yeah," Maria nodded, shaking Merlin from his thoughts, "Mr. Garren said that it's even ok if I keep working here," she looked over, "I just need to be able to come in and run some tours, help with inventory and cataloguing, setting up displays and fact checking. A lot of that happens after-hours anyway, after I'd be done here. And the tours are more on the weekends unless a school makes a trip in and I should have plenty of notice for that to work something out with Arthur for a few hours off here and there."

"You got the job then?" he laughed, his sister had been aiming for a position in the museum nearby since she got there and he was very pleased she seemed to have gotten the job.

"Mhmm," she laughed, "I can't believe it," she let out a breath, "I thought I wasn't going to get it, but Mr. Garren said that I was the most qualified applicant," she glanced at her brother, "And it probably helped that I'm working in the Arthurian section and my brother's a Merlin."

Merlin rolled his eyes at that, "Never going to stop poking fun at that, are you?"

"You were the one that wanted to be called that," she reminded him, "I honestly don't see what's so bad about your name Merr…"

"Oi!" he pointed a finger at her, warning her NOT to say his full name as he knew she was about to, "No."

She rolled her eyes, holding up her hands in surrender, "And you were the one that thought our signatures should be what they are."

Merlin sighed at that, knowing she was referring to their hacking codenames, the Wizard and the Witch, it just fit though! Merlin was a wizard…and his sister could be quite the little witch when she wanted to be.

"Ow!" he flinched as a paperclip hit him in the head, earning a glare sent at his sister.

"Don't give me that look," she defended, pulling something out of her pocket to set on her desk before starting to open it, "I know exactly what you were thinking just now. And I am NOT a witch!"

"You're my sister," Merlin deadpanned, "To a brother, that automatically means you're a witch."

"I can vouch for that," Arthur's voice spoke up as the man entered, not having heard anything but the last bit of their conversation, "Morgan was a right one growing up."

"I'm sure Morgan was as lovely as she is now," Maria defended, smirking as she sent a look at her brother, "Don't you think Merlin?"

Merlin just flushed and coughed, ducking down behind the printer and pulling the bottom drawer out to check for paper, busying himself in his task so as not to have to answer. It was a trap, he knew, either he agreed with Arthur and had to say that the woman he may or may not have a crush on was a witch, which would only come back to bite him later, or he'd have to agree with his sister and his entire argument that little sisters were witches to their older brothers was invalidated. He had grown up with traps like that, he wasn't about to make it this time, and not in front of Arthur.

Arthur seemed oblivious to why Merlin had really gone silent, assuming he was actually attempting to get work done and earn his wages now, and turned back to Maria, seeing that she still had the stack of papers on her desk that he'd left her before she went on her lunch. He opened his mouth to ask her about why there wasn't even a dent in it, when he noticed what she was munching on in her hand, "Has someone given you chocolates?"

Maria blinked, glancing at the candy bar in her hand and up to him, smirking in a way that had Merlin groaning at the sight of it, "Yes."

"Let me guess, Gwen?" Arthur crossed his arms, smug.

"Secret admirer this time," she shrugged, taking another bite, "I came back from lunch to see it on my desk with a lovely poem, I love poems."

Arthur's expression dropped to a frown at that, looking to Merlin for confirmation that HE hadn't just given his sister some chocolate and she was making up the note, "She brought it for lunch," Merlin huffed, NOT about to cover for his sister and lie to his boss.

"I knew that," Arthur muttered, turning back to Maria when she scoffed.

"Sure you did," the girl muttered.

He narrowed his eyes at her, "I did, in fact," he defended, "I am the next in line for the company, it's my job to know what goes on around here, especially in my office. I have to be on top of everything."

Maria nodded, leaning forward, pretending to check something on her computer, "Then Merlin reminded you that you're scheduled for a conference with your father five minutes ago?"

Arthur's eyes widened for a moment before he cleared his throat, "Of course I did," he hurried past her, into his office, the two siblings leaning over to watch him grab some random paper or report before he was hurrying back out, "I just stopped in to get my notes for it…"

And then he was gone.

Merlin frowned, clicking open his computer, having to move the mouse a few times to get it to appear, before opening Arthur's schedule, "I don't have an appointment with Mr. Pendra…" he blinked, turning to his sister, "Mia!"

"I'm sorry," she laughed, "I can't help it if your boss is so easy to tease."

"He's your boss too now," Merlin reminded her, "You'll need to be on his good side if you expect him to let you off a few hours to give tours at another job."

"That IS true…" she murmured, glancing at her papers, "You think if I get this stack sorted before he realizes his father's not in his office or in the building today, he'll be more lenient?"

"You can try," Merlin grumbled, "But knowing Arthur, we're going to end up here after hours just to finish the work he'll pile on us for that."

Maria winced as she heard Arthur shouting her name in the hallway, realizing he was right.

~8~

It was cruel and unusual torture, she was sure of it, how much work Arthur had actually piled onto hers and Merlin's already long list just to spite her for tricking him. He hadn't just kept it to doing file sorting in his office or anything else that their job description actually listed, but he'd branched out. He had them running errands all over the company, not allowing them to use the phone, stating that he needed signatures on requests and reports. He had them getting lunch for the few of the company that didn't eat in the cafeteria. He even had them wiping down and cleaning all the equipment in the training rooms and they were utterly disgusting, some of the padded suits that would be worn for demonstrations, full of sweat and stains and just horrible.

The last thing on the list though had had her telling Merlin to go home and that she would handle it. It was already well past dark, the company's nightly cleaning crews and watchmen the only ones in the building which proved just how late it was, and they were to get up extra early to report on what they'd accomplished today for Arthur. Merlin was already dead tired, having been on the job longer than she had been so she sent him home for rest. Really the last part of the list shouldn't be that hard to do in the sense that it needed two people to accomplish it. She was sure she could get it done herself.

But truly, the fact that Arthur had gone so low as to task them to clean out the pens of the training dogs, the ones that were set for the company and even the ones currently being taught various skills, was so far out of what she had agreed to do as a secretary that she was tempted to quit. But then that would mean her brother would be forced to take on her duties again and he barely managed it before she arrived. So she made her way down to the level of the company where the animals were trained.

Camelot didn't just train people to be bodyguards or develop weaponry to help protect, they also trained certain animals to help as well. Guard dogs, police dogs, even a hunting dog or two for sniffing out tracks in the woods of people who had fled or were in need of rescue. They were kept in spacious pens, with their water bows and plush little cushioned beds, toys to entertain them when they weren't being trained. They were all well fed and well cared for, the company made sure of that. The last thing they needed was for any animal rights groups to target them for poor treatment of the dogs.

She doubted that the company would ever be able to treat the dogs poorly though. From the whispers she heard and a bit of research she'd done about the company, about Arthur and his father, Arthur's mother had trained and bred showdogs, she loved the animals and, from what she knew of Mr. Pendragon, the man had loved his wife dearly. He wouldn't disrespect her memory by harming a single hair on those dogs heads or shoving them into small cages like other testing facilities did.

The dogs were kept in separate rooms based on what they were in training for, there was one for service dogs, one for guard dogs, police dogs, and hunting dogs. She had already managed to make her way through the service dog section, the hunting dogs, and the police dogs, sweeping out their little pens, taking out the bags that contained their…presents for their trainers. She had just finished up the guard dogs when she passed the last room, a room she knew she wasn't to enter despite it containing more dogs. It was the room reserved for Mr. Pendragon, Arthur, and Morgan's dogs, the ones they were personally having trained for themselves or even for very close friends and connections, they got specialty training.

It was off-limits to anyone but the single trainer in charge of those dogs, and the three Pendragons themselves. There was even a keypad on the lock to keep others out…

So why was the door cracked open with a light on inside? She was sure that Arthur and the others had left already, left early actually and so had the trainers.

She frowned, debating whether she should just walk away, assume it was the cleaning crew, or go in and check that it wasn't someone trying to kidnap the dogs for the competition…it HAD happened in the past. She was just about to walk away when she heard a pained whimper from inside the room, a dog crying out in pain.

Without another thought, she ran into the room, nearly slamming the door into the wall from the force of her entrance, shouting out, "Oi, what are you doing!?" before she even realized who was in there or what was happening.

Murphy was standing there, a golden retriever, before him, backed into the wall of the training area just on the other side of the pens, cowering from the man. She could tell, even from there, that the retriever was an older dog, the greying hair on its face told her as much, and it was clearly in pain. Murphy had to have been hitting it, and she got her proof soon enough when the man struck the dog once more, having ignored her shout from behind.

"Murphy stop it!" she ran in, hurrying to grab the man's arm as he moved to hit the dog once more, pulling him back just enough to spin him around but not stop him, "What are you doing!? This is the Pendragon's restricted training room! You can't be here! And when they find out you were abusing one of the dogs…"

"And how are they going to know?" the man sneered at her, grabbing her by the shoulders and shoving her back, "YOU gonna tell them? They gonna believe you?"

She grimaced as she smelt the alcohol on the man's breath. He didn't appear to be drunk, but he clearly had been drinking, "They will," she said, sounding more sure than she actually felt. She did doubt, quite a bit, that Mr. Pendragon or Arthur would believe her, but she had to try, "And you'll be fired before you can even say…"

Whatever she was going to say was cut off when Murphy swung at her, backhanding her to the ground, sending her stumbling quite a few feet, "You ain't gonna tell no one!" he shouted, grabbing her viciously by the arm and hauling her to her feet, "You breathe a word of this…" he snarled, shoving her back.

Maria cried out in pain when she slammed against a glass cabinet that held the sedatives for the dogs, the glass shattering and cutting the back of her tunic, digging into the skin of her back as well. The dogs weren't violent, but sometimes if one of the dogs got out of the pen in the middle of training, they could be in danger if the other dog saw them as an attacker. It had happened only once, but it was enough to install a glass cabinet with a handful of sedatives to keep the dogs from harming each other in such a case. And that was what had now broken into her back.

She crumbled to the ground, gasping from the blow and the wind being knocked out of her.

Murphy stood over her, raising a hand to deal another blow, making her flinch and lift her hands to cover her face…which only served to make Murphy let out a dark chuckle at seeing the girl that had gotten the best of him cowering just like the dog had, "That's right," he spat at her, "Cower like the bitch you are. Make a fool of me," he muttered, sending her a kick to the stomach when she started to lower her hands and defenses, thinking a blow wasn't coming, "You tell anyone about this," he threatened, "And this will seem like child's play compared to what I'll do to you."

Maria struggled to breathe as Murphy stormed out of the room. She swallowed hard and looked up, looked for the dog, only to see it had fled, back to its pen and was safe for the moment. She shifted, wincing and gasping as she tried to get up, but she felt so bruised all over. She knew her stomach was going to bruise, as would her face from the backhand he'd dealt her. The way her arms were tingling from where Murphy had grabbed her she could guess they would have marks too.

She nearly fell to the ground again when she straightened her back, feeling as though it were on fire from the numerous cuts. She couldn't even reach behind her to see if there was still glass there it hurt too much. She tried to take a step and nearly stumbled into the wall. She had landed on her knee when she'd fallen from the blow to her face, and it was throbbing.

She sniffled, already knowing there were tears falling from her face from the attack, but needing to collect herself. She couldn't make it back to her uncle's flat in such a state, not walking the streets at night, especially not crying, that would be like painting a target on her back.

She used the edges of the pens to make her way to the door, to where she'd dropped her coat and bit her lip hard to manage to swing it over her shoulders even if she didn't put her arms through it. She wiped at her eyes and prayed to every god she could think of as she tried to leave the building that she would make it home without further incident…

~8~

"Where have you BEEN young lady?" was the first thing Maria heard as she entered her uncle's flat to see the man himself spinning, mid-pace, to face the door when it opened, "Your brother said you would be back by half past and it's…"

"Uncle please," Maria cut in, hobbling over to the edge of his small sofa, "Not now…I just…I need help."

It was then that Gus noticed how pale she was, the limp she was sporting, her bloodshot eyes, "What happened?!" he rushed over to her as she struggled to remove her jacket, gasping when he got it off her to see blood soaking into the back of her shirt, "Maria!"

She winced, "Merlin's sleeping," was her weak response to tell him to keep his voice down.

"What happened!" he demanded, not keeping his voice quiet at all.

"I was leaving," she muttered, turning slightly for him to examine her, "I was about to leave but I saw a light on in the Restricted AT room."

Gus frowned at that, why there would be a light on in the Animal Training room, especially the Pendragon's personal one, but he had no time to ask that as he moved to grab a pair of sheers to cut her shirt off her, not heeding her weak protests as he removed her shirt, he needed to be able to access the wounds and she was his niece for god's sake.

"It was Murphy, he was hitting one of the dogs…" she swallowed hard, closing her eyes as she felt something pull out of her back, apparently there HAD still been glass in it, "A golden retriever and…"

"With a gray face?" Gus paused in his efforts to get the glass he could see out of her back, there wasn't much stuck in her cuts that he could see, but the ones that were were causing him immense worry that they might have become infected from her walk over.

"I think so," she held her breath, feeling another piece come out, "You know that dog?"

"It was Raine's," Gus murmured, "Arthur's mother. Her prized showdog. His father keeps her with his dogs in the company for more protection," that and it was too hard for the man to be around the dog as often as it would be had it been at his home instead, "Murphy wouldn't dare hurt that dog…"

"He did," Maria swallowed hard, watching her uncle move to go get a first aid kit now, relieved because it meant he didn't think there was anymore glass stuck in her, "I tried to stop him and…"

"And he assaulted you," Gus finished, frowning as he really took in the sight of his niece, her face was already bruising and he knew by her limp and how she was breathing that she was injured elsewhere, there were bruises on her arms as well, in the shape of hands, starting to form, "We must call the police," he stated, "File a report, ensure Murphy is charged and…"

"No," Maria shook her head, "No one would believe that a 'Knight' of Camelot did this," she reminded him, "They'd sooner think I was mugged on the street than that someone in Pendragon Security would attack someone. And there weren't any cameras in the room, you know there aren't in the restricted rooms, there's no evidence to confirm it was Murphy besides my say so."

Gus frowned at that, but even he could admit that was a logical thing. Murphy was known in the town as training to be a bodyguard, no one would believe the word of a new employee over a well known figure in the town. And if Mr. Pendragon found out, he didn't doubt the man would defend Murphy as well.

They were trapped between a rock and a hard place now, but he was going to get the truth out of Murphy, he was going to get a confession, or he might just have to work out a way to concoct an untraceable poison. NO ONE harmed his family like this, no one.

~8~

Maria nearly heaved with relief when, for the first time all day, she was finally alone in Arthur's office. It had been…hell, the entire day just literal hell for her. She had to wake up early, not that she had really been able to sleep with her injuries, to make sure that she dug out the ancient makeup kit she'd gotten as a joke from one of her friends in University once to put coverup on the nasty bruise on her face so Merlin wouldn't see. The second he saw her as bruised and battered as she was, she knew her brother would be out for blood and that would get him in all sorts of trouble.

No, she had had to be careful. She wore a turtleneck, covering her arms and back. She wrapped her leg tightly for more support so her limp wouldn't be too noticeable and made sure to walk slightly behind Merlin and Arthur the entire day.

She had been looking forward to a slow day at work, to sorting papers and just sitting at a desk to keep off her legs, but no, of course that couldn't be her luck. No, as it turned out, the reason Arthur had assigned the cleaning of the dog pens was because he was going to take out two of the Hunting Dogs for training in the woods just at the edge of the Pendragon Security property. They had an agreement with the city that they could use the woods to train the dogs with the understanding that anything that happened in the woods, should the dogs be involved, would be Camelot's responsibility and obligation.

So she had ended up sitting in the back of Arthur's car, with two very excitable dogs running all over her lap to try and stick their heads out of the cracked windows, dogs that seemed eager to poke and nudge and step on every bruise she had.

To make matters worse, despite her efforts, it seemed like both Merlin and Arthur were aware something was off about her, continuously asking her if she was ill because she was pale and tired and quiet.

The only reprieve she'd gotten was when they returned to the office for Arthur to get the logs to make his report and the man had sent Merlin to go fetch some weapons that were being repaired for the training rooms and left himself to go speak with the dog trainers about the progress of the two he'd tested that day, ordering her to take messages for when he returned.

She had nearly cried when they left the room to give her time alone. But she couldn't, she had to touch up the makeup on her face, she knew, by now it would be so grimy and dry that it would be obvious to even the men that something was on her face. She had to be quick and wipe the current coverup off and replace it before either man returned.

Unfortunately for her, she severely underestimated how long it would take to remove make up having never used it before, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard someone gasp, "Oh my god!" from the doorway.

"Merlin!" her head shot up, her eyes wide to see her brother standing before her, horror painted on his face.

"Mia," he raced over to her, "What the hell happened!?" he crouched down, reaching out gently to take her face in his hands, tilting it to see the bruise spread across her side by her eye, the evidence of makeup still around the edges of it.

"Aren't you supposed to be getting the weapons…"

"Gwen already brought it to the training rooms for her dad," Merlin cut in, a serious expression on his face, "Now tell me what het hell happened Maria!"

She winced at the use of her full name from her brother, "Murphy was attacking one of Mr. Pendragon's personal dogs last night when I was leaving and I tried to stop him and…Merlin!" she cried, but her brother had already turned and taken off out of the room as the implication of what had happened hit him.

She struggled to get up, to follow him, to stop him, but staggered against her desk as her knee gave out, finally unable to handle the strain of the day, nearly sending her to the ground had she not braced herself against the desk. She bit her lip, her eyes filled with worry for her brother, she should have just kept her mouth shut.

Now all she could do was hope he wouldn't do something stupid…

~8~

There was only the briefest stroke of luck shining on the Emrys siblings that day. Merlin hadn't even made it down the hall towards the training rooms that he knew Murphy would be in, when Arthur had come across him, had stopped him when he saw the boy's murderous expression and demanded to know what was wrong.

To say Arthur was shocked that Maria had apparently been attacked by one of his own 'Knights' would be an understatement. He had been inclined to remark that Merlin must have heard wrong, but the look in Merlin's eyes, the anger, that could only come from a brother defending his injured sister. He had seen that same look in his own eyes whenever Morgan was hurt. He had tried to calm Merlin down, to keep him from confronting anyone and making the situation worse, but it had taken some doing to keep that up when he heard the story himself.

Apparently Maria had been heading home and found Murphy abusing one of the training dogs, no, not just any training dog, but one of his father's personal dogs. When she'd tried to stop him, Murphy had attacked her. He had to have threatened her too for the girl to go to such lengths to keep quiet about it.

But he would NOT allow it to remain a secret, to allow Murphy to continue in his ways, ways that were damning and tarnishing of the Pendragon reputation, especially not if the attack had truly happened.

He didn't believe Merlin or Maria were lying, not about something as serious as that even if he had doubts that Murphy would risk the probation he was on to attack someone. Merlin wouldn't have reacted that way if he hadn't seen physical evidence of the attack instead of just heard his sister talk about it. So she had to be sporting bruises of some kind. That wouldn't be enough to convince his father even if it was enough to convince HIM that it happened as Maria had described.

He sent Merlin off, telling him that he and Maria were to have the rest of the day off, to get her home and help her recover, see to her injuries and, if anything more serious came up from them, get her to the hospital and he would ensure the company paid for any expenses. He had sworn to Merlin that he would see justice for the two of them, and that was exactly what he was doing now.

He had had to wait till the end of the day, not wanting to let on to Murphy that he was planning to investigate the matter, not wanting to risk the man trying to erase or clean up any evidence there might be. So he waited, biding his time, till Murphy left, and went to the animal training room reserved for his family. He entered the key code and stepped in, looking at each of the dogs as he passed their pens for any sign that there was something wrong with them. Merlin had said Murphy was abusing one of them when Maria tried to stop him, they must be showing signs if that were true.

There was no training for them today, so at most they had someone come in to feed them and give them water, collect their droppings and ensure they each had their toys before leaving. The feeders wouldn't notice something serious being wrong with just those mere tasks. But he could tell easier. The dogs were always so excited when he or Morgan or his father entered, because they came fewer than the feeders did.

All the dogs were exhibiting the same excitement and energy as they always were…till he got to the last pen and his heart dropped at seeing the reaction to Aurora, his mother's last showdog. The little golden retriever was sitting as far back in the pen as she could, and when she saw him, instead of getting up to run to him, she let out a pained whimper and began to pace the back, like she was trying to find a way to get farther back from him. He noticed it then, how she was limping, favoring one leg just ever so slightly. He squinted, trying to look closer at her without entering the pen, not wanting to upset her more and, just barely, he could see a bruise just under the hair along her spine where it parted, she had been hit!

He stepped back in shock at that, knowing if there was one bruise there was bound to be more, but he couldn't get close enough to see just yet. He looked around, knowing there had to be more evidence and walked into the training area, pausing when his shoe crunched on something. He looked down, seeing shattered glass on the floor, then over to the sedation case where it was completely broken, with even a little blood on the edges of the glass remaining in it. The feeders didn't enter this area, no one did but the dogs and trainers, so no one would have come there or noticed it had they not entered, but there it was, even more evidence.

He looked back at Aurora, knowing that there was still one more piece of evidence he would need to convince his father.

~8~

Maria wasn't sure what she should feel when, the very next morning, she found herself standing with her brother, Murphy on the other side of the room, in Mr. Pendragon's office, Morgan and Gwen to the side, frowning in confusion, while Arthur faced his father. She and Merlin had been the last ones to enter, so she wasn't sure what was going on.

"What is it this time Arthur?" Mr. Pendragon huffed, seeming irritated with his son and the constant 'meetings' he seemed to keep calling.

"I've gathered some rather disturbing evidence of an assault that has occurred right on Pendragon property," Arthur stated, "And as a result, I wish to have this man," he gestured at Murphy, "Fired and banned from the property along with a restraining order placed upon him should he come within 20 yards of my assistant, Maria."

Mr. Pendragon gave him a dry look, "You accuse one of our own of assaulting your secretary?" his tone left little to be imagined in how much he believed his son's accusations.

"I have done no such thing," Murphy spat, sending a glare at Maria that had her stepping back, closer to her brother, earning a glare from Morgan and Gwen, as though just that action proved his guilt with them.

"I can prove it," Arthur responded, "I can prove that he assaulted my secretary when she tried to stop him abusing one of our training dogs."

Mr. Pendragon frowned at that, for as hard a man as he was, he had a soft spot for the dogs of the facility, especially with how important they were to his late wife.

"I didn't abuse nothing," Murphy defended, "I was in the training rooms, going over commands with one of the dogs I work with..."

Arthur scoffed at that, "You lie to my father's face," he sneered, turning to his father, "He broke into our restricted AT rooms, and the dog he targeted, was Aurora."

"What!?" Mr. Pendragon's eyes widened at the name.

"I examined the room, there was shattered glass and blood in the training area, where Murphy pushed Maria into the sedation cabinet, cutting her back. I looked over Aurora, she's bearing bruises that could only come from being hit. And here is the rest of your proof," Arthur pulled out his phone and slid it to his father.

Mr. Pendragon picked it up, looking at a video Arthur had set up of the single camera that had been hidden inside the Restricted AT room, a camera only three people in the entire facility knew about, fixed to Aurora's collar.

As the video played out, despite there not being any sound, Mr. Pendragon's face grew angrier and angrier. He could see it, Murphy actually hitting Aurora from the dog's point of view, he saw Maria come running in, clearly trying to stop the man, only for Murphy to turn on her and hit her. When she went crashing back into the cabinet and fell to the ground, that was when Aurora bolted back to her pen and the feed cut.

"Arthur!" he turned to his son, "Have this traitor escorted to the holding cells," he stood as Arthur grabbed the stunned Murphy's arms, Morgan rushing to a side phone to call in more guards incase Murphy tried to attack as he was being hauled off, "And you," he sneered at Murphy, "You are fired, banned from all Pendragon properties, and you can rest assured the authorities will be hearing about this. Marta…"

"Maria," Arthur corrected.

"The girl will be filing a report about this, I will make sure of that," he eyed the man in disgust, "Now get him out of my sight!"

"You can't do this to me!" Murphy shouted, Arthur struggling to lead him away, only managing to do it, when other security personnel entered to help restrain the man, which was just in time as he had tried to lunge at Maria and attack her again, "Let go of me! You can't do this to me!"

Mr. Pendragon let out an angry breath as his door shut behind the raving man, turning to look at those remaining in his office, "Don't you have work to do?" he demanded of them.

Morgan rolled her eyes, but walked out with Gwen, Merlin and Maria turning to leave when he called out for Maria to remain.

She turned and faced the head of the company just as Merlin shut the door behind him, knowing her brother wouldn't go far, but still, feeling intimidated to be facing down Mr. Pendragon alone. She didn't even know his first name and it made him feel even more imposing and less personable as well.

"Sir?"

He let out a breath, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, "I do not have much left of my wife," he began, looking up at her a moment later, "What little I do have is precious to me," she watched his expression pinch, as though what he were about to say was difficult, "Thank you," he managed to get out, "For looking after them."

Maria nodded slowly, "It's…just a part of the job, isn't it?"

"Not like that," Mr. Pendragon could admit, "And not just Aurora."

Maria cleared her throat, trying to wave off the odd stirring at the thought that he appreciated her efforts to help keep an eye on Arthur too, "Any chance for a raise then?"

Mr. Pendragon almost cracked a smile at that, but just pointed at the door, "Out."

"Worth a shot," Maria shrugged, heading to step out the door, not entirely sure how she felt about the entire situation but knowing one thing for sure…

She really would need to stick around, she needed to learn more about how to defend herself, protect herself, as did Merlin, they could both serve to learn a thing or two from Camelot.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that, maybe, just maybe, she had been wrong about Arthur. He had believed her brother after all, when he told the blonde about the attack. He had gotten evidence, confronted Murphy, and made the building feel safer to her, and all that happened without him even seeing her injuries himself.

He'd believed them this time.

Maybe he wasn't as bad as she originally thought.

A/N: I hope you liked the chapter :) I was so torn because I hated writing Marayna injured by Urry in the original series, but it had to be done here too :( But I think it was what she needed to see that Arthur was starting to come around and that maybe she was wrong about her assumptions on him and to give him a chance ;)

We ALMOST got Merlin's full name! Almost lol }:) We will find out what it is soon though, and I sort of laugh thinking what it is. 'Merlin' was definitely a better choice of name for him ;)

Some notes on reviews...

I just want to start by saying thank you all for your understanding and support about how long it took to update this story before. I am so glad to be back and I'm very much looking forward to the story to come too :) I'm really glad you've enjoyed it so far :')

I can't say if they'll regain their memories or not ;) I can say that there will be something involving Morgan and the memories of the past though, and that the original series did happen so this isn't a full AU but more a sequel to that ;)

The DW stories should be resumed mid-April and WWTW2 will be up in October ;) I'm glad you've enjoyed them so far! :)

That'll definitely be a thing to consider in this story, how they had to learn to be hackers instead of being born knowing how to do it :) I touched a little on it here that they just have an affinity for it since they learned about it. It comes more naturally to them than other things in life, they had more time away from people to just understand computers and how they worked so their childhood sort of led them to a path that took them down a road of being hackers one day :) It'll be a big thing to them how you choose to use what you know, sort of thing. Like hacking, in a general sense, is thought to be negative. But the governments will often find expert hackers and offer them jobs to help protect things from hackers and help track other ones and stop them, Pendragon Security just hasn't reached that point or awareness of that option yet ;) As for Morgan, I can say there's a very subtle hint about whether she'll have 'magic' or hacking abilities in this story in the first chapter, but it's very small }:)

I can say that I do have a Valentine's twist planned for a certain chapter in the future, but I can't say which one just yet ;)