Disclaimer: I own nothing of King Arthur.
Author Note:
Beautiful Enigma: I'm so happy your getting into it more! I've been going a bit slow with it but I'll be able to write more and longer when my schedule tires down at bit, which is quite soon. Thanks for reviewing, always appreciate it.
Cardiea: Yes, they've just come together in this chapter. I leave it on a bit of a dull note but I've had to do a bit of planning for the chapter after this.
Tristan and Ania will have a bit of deep discussion in the chapter after this one, I promise. Also learning a bit more about Ania and why she's so…cold.
I'm glad you laughed in the Lancelot scene. I thought if anyone had to be the whore to extract information that it had to be him.
I'm ecstatic that you like the flashback scene. They come off the top of my head (not literally) and they are a lot of fun. You'll like the one in this chapter with Vanora and Bors.
Fantastic that you reviewed, and I'm happy to be on your C2. Thanks. Enjoy this chapter.
Uncomfortable
Upper London: Ice Bar
The music in the up town London bar pumped through the building. Neon lights floated around the dark room, being the only light source.
Ania sat on a cushioned chair in the corner of the retro bar clad in a knee length black skirt, black stilettos and a dark brown tank-top. She had no time to change out of her work clothes when Vanora told her it was her who would be going into the bar to meet the MI5 team.
She scratched her ear piece with her freehand; the other was holding a martini glass, and heard Vanora cough.
'Can you see them?' Vanora asked her. A buzzing sound came through when Vanora pulled back from the microphone she undoubtedly had in front of her as she sat in the black van, parked outside of the club.
"No," Ania said, not moving her lips too much. "But you'll flip when you find out who just walked in."
'Who?'
"Arthur, Lancelot, Gawain and…Tristan," Ania breathed as she watched the four men make their way through the bar.
'Don't worry, none of them are holding a Nokia phone in their left hand.' Vanora laughed as Ania gulped.
"Yes, Van, they are." Ania turned away from the group. "Holy Fuck Van, they're spies!"
'Keep it cool,' Vanora hissed worriedly. 'This case has become a conflict of interest. Just get out of there unnoticed.'
"They are stationed on all sides of the bar," she whispered into the microphone on her top. "I can't get out without being noticed."
'I'm sending in backup,' Vanora said as she signalled for Guinevere to go in.
The sliding door of the van opened, revealing a tall girl in a short black dress and long dark brown hair. She closed the door with a 'thud' and made her way into the bar. "Testing," she said into the microphone.
'Go ahead Guin you're clear,' Vanora said watching her friend walk into the bar.
Guinevere walked directly to Ania and sat down on a stool beside the flushed woman. "Are you alright?"
"Do I look alright," Ania questioned, her voice quivering like mad.
"Calm down," Guinevere said as she waved to the undercover bar tender. "I'll have a whisky and a signal for when the newcomers have steered clear."
The man nodded and went back to the bar. Ania looked behind her and saw Tristan standing, stiff as a board, by the bar as Arthur squinted in their direction. "We need to get out," Ania said.
A blond man walked to their table and pulled out what looked to be a business card. "Agent S?" he asked Ania.
"Who wants to know?"
Guinevere watched a tall bald man with a 'Respect' tattoo on the back of his head rise from his seat beside a short stocky man who looked like the Russian Mafia.
The blond man smiled at Ania pleasantly. "You need to come with us."
"Why?" she and Guinevere asked.
"Without a fight," he continued as if they had not spoken. "My employer would like a word."
Ania lifted the side of her skirt, out of view of the man, and fingered her gun. "I don't think so. Your employer can come here or speak to mine."
The man nodded to the cronies and they swiftly walked over to the table. "Let's go 'hot stuff'," said the bald one.
'Problems?' Vanora asked. 'I have visual. Get out of there. They are Italian Mafia. Again, abort the mission, they work for Honorius.'
0-0-0
Gawain noticed the two stocky men walk to a far table, where two brunette women were sitting. "Don't they look familiar?" he asked the air.
'Mafia,' Tristan said, turning around casually to get a better look.
"If my eyes don't deceive me," Lancelot said. "I'd say that was Ania and Guinevere sitting at the table."
"What are they doing here?" Arthur asked as he waved off a bar tender.
"Holy crap!" Lancelot yelled as a guns came out along the table.
Tristan instantly pulled out his gun and fired at the Mafia men.
People in the bar began screaming and getting onto the floor. "Stay down!" Lancelot yelled as he ran to where Ania and Guinevere stood fighting in hand to hand combat with two of the men.
Arthur pushed past a group of people, yelling for them to get on the ground.
Ania knocked the blond man to the ground and pulled out her gun. "Goddamn Mafia," she mumbled as she put her gun to his head.
Guinevere held the bald one on the ground with her foot and gun pointed to his back as the short one sat against the wall, blood pouring from his leg. Gawain slammed the mans head against the wall, knocking him out before turning to Ania. "Long time no see," he said, smiling and pulling out handcuffs.
"Shit," she mumbled, realising now she and Guinevere had been caught as spies. She pulled out her phone and dialled to headquarters. "This is Agent S. Pin code: 152292567, requesting an armed car to uptown London. Ice Bar. I have three armed men, one wounded and needing assistance."
She looked at the blond one and then to Guinevere who was calmly sitting on a chair. The sounds of police cars was coming closer to their location.
'Ania? What's going on?'
"Everything is under control Van," Ania said as she looked at Arthur. "I'm coming out in a minute. Give this case to Daphne and her lot."
Guinevere nodded.
"Someone want to tell me what's going on?" Lancelot asked Ania. "Why are you here holding a gun?"
"What do you think?" Ania snapped.
"You're Agents?" Gawain asked them softly. "When?"
"Could ask you that," Guinevere said, looking at Arthur accusingly.
Ania looked at Tristan who was putting his gun back in the back of his pants. "Hi."
"Ania," he greeted.
"These the purps?" asked a man with a Manchester accent.
"Yes," Guinevere told him. "Don't go to gentle in this one and his wound. He managed a heavy backhand before I could blast him."
The man chuckled. "Right O."
Ania stepped aside, going closer to Tristan, so the police officer could get to the wounded man.
The people in the bar were being filed out, some of them being taken into ambulances, to be treated for shock. Arthur phoned his headquarters in a corner as Ania and Tristan stood in a tensed silence and Lancelot brooded beside Guinevere and Gawain.
"You really giving up the case?" Gawain asked Ania.
"Conflict of interest," Ania said looking toward the door. "Don't work with personals."
"Gov is going to keep us on it," Guinevere said airily. "He knows who the MI5 people are." She looked at the blond man who was being led away by SIS Agents. "Waited two years to catch that guy. If only we'd just sat here he would have come to us earlier."
Ania laughed softly.
"Well this had your name written all over it," said a gruff voice behind her.
Ania jumped and with Tristan turned around to see the Gov giving her his 'look'. "Killed two birds with one stone?" he asked her sarcastically. "Caught Mafia cronies and met up with your new team?"
"New team?" Guinevere asked in a small voice.
"Too right," Gov said as he ate a mint. "You know the office is going to have kittens when they hear you had a shooting in the middle of a public place."
"No one died," Ania said. "Well, one guy got wounded but….things happen."
Fully expecting for him to laugh at her, Ania breathed a sigh of relief when Gov pulled out a cigar and laughed heartily. "You're still on the case, Madam," he said as he lit the end of the cigar.
"Are we allowed to do that?" she asked him curiously.
"We are now," he said, pulling the cigar from his mouth. "Nice to meet you boys."
He winked at Guinevere and made his way to the bars exit.
0-0-0
London: Residence of Ania, Guinevere and Vanora
"This is a nightmare!" Ania screamed in her pillow. She fell back on the couch and leaned her head against the back.
Vanora flopped down beside her and removed her shoes. "We'll get through this."
"We were going to see them at the party anyway," Guinevere said as she threw her phone on the table, "there's no real difference."
"Yes, but we were only going to see them for a few hours at the party," Ania said irritably, "now we have to work with them!"
"You know what we need?" Vanora said, a smile creeping over her lips.
The two girls waited for their best friend to answer.
"Pizza, Ice cream and an epic." Vanora picked up the phone and dialled the pizza parlour closest to them.
Guinevere jumped down to their DVD collection and pulled out King Arthur, Gladiator, Lord of the rings and the Last of the Mohicans. "Pick one," she ordered Ania.
"We'll have a large Napolitana, a medium Mexicana and a family size half Caprichosa and half Hawaiian," Vanora said into the phone. "Delivery, yes. Thankyou!"
"The Last of the Mohicans," Ania said to Guinevere, pushing the DVD to her.
"I can't believe how much they have changed," Vanora said as she took out plates and cutlery.
0-0-0
Flashback: Vanora's House in Winchester
"I don't think we can get through this," Vanora said tearfully. "I can't stop thinking about what we had to do."
Bors put a hand on her arm and nodded. "We'll get through it Van. We couldn't have a kid now…what would everyone say?"
"I don't care about what everyone will say Bors!" she screamed. "I care about me! Me and you! How is this going to work?"
"The baby is gone," Bors said softly. "We made the choice. When the time is right we can have another one."
Vanora wiped her eyes and nodded. "What if my parents find out?"
"They won't," he whispered as he put his forehead against hers. "Look, you can't face them like this. Go to Ania's. Stay with her until school starts and take a holiday."
Vanora glared at him. "This is how we fix everything? Have an abortion and then 'Van, just take a holiday everything will be fine?'"
"That's not what I mean and you know it."
"I can't handle you right now," she said, walking toward her room.
"Vanora!"
Vanora stoped on the second stair and looked back to Bors. "I don't want to talk right now. I just want to be alone. There's the door."
End of Flashback:
0-0-0
Secret Meeting Location: New conjoined MI5 and SIS headquarters.
Ania pulled up into the forest covered parking lot. There was a black bus waiting for them in the middle of the deserted, cemented area.
"A bus?" Vanora asked softly. "I'm going to be working out of a bus?"
"It'll look different inside," Ania told her as she opened the car door. Guinevere handed her, her work bag and then shut the passenger door.
Vanora glared at the shiny black bus as Ania locked the car with her keys. "Mercedes," she said as she looked at the logo on the front of the bus. "Nice."
Ania knocked hard on the side of the door. Guinevere bent over to fix the strap of her heel as the door opened with a loud 'thump'. "Good morning," Arthur said curtly, looking at Guinevere for a brief moment before stepping aside.
A short step rack slid out and the girls climbed into the bus one by one. Inside it was like a giant office/home. At the far end was the drivers cabin, where Lancelot was busy talking on the phone. And in the middle was a group of desks-Tristan was stationed at the first one looking over paperwork until the girls arrived, Gawain has just slammed his phone down after having just been rudely dumped by his cleaning lady because he never managed to leave his cheques on time, Dagonet was typing away on his laptop and Galahad was snoozing with his feet up on the desk.
Dagonet threw a pen at the youngest MI5 Agent to wake him, and received a groan and an off handed wave of his hand in return. Dagonet rolled his eyes and shrugged at the girls.
'Fabulous. Stuck with my ex, who is just so happen to still be in love with, his gang of friends and my own team and best friends. Just what I needed.'
Author Note: Ok, peoples! Review. Feeling lonely!