25

"I do not know if I am exited or terrified" Owen admitted as Ianto led them along a narrow alleyway and Jack was curious as to why when this was clearly NOT the way to the store.

They emerged into a courtyard and there he was.

Eggsy.

"Hey" Ianto called as a greeting and Eggsy nonchalantly raised an arm in reply. He then pushed off the little VW he was sitting on and Jack got the impression that this guy sat on car hoods a lot.

"Is that ravishing creature Toshiko Sato?" Eggsy finally spoke, looking past Ianto at Tosh with raw interest, Owen moving closer to her with annoyance.

"Hello Eggsy" she smiled softly "Long time no see. Look at how you've grown."

"Says an ageless beauty" Eggsy crooned as he reached for her hand, bowing over it before pressing his lips to the back of it in an elegant gentlemanly manner.

"Oh please" Gwen snorted as she stood awkwardly with a cane, "She's not royalty ya know."

"Technically she is" Eggsy answered before Ianto could stop him "She was in the top three percentile for the Agency Testing you know. This divine creature revolutionised the daily life of Kingsmen everywhere with her innovations. A real boon for the Kingsmen to have her. She is sorely missed since she fell down a hole. We are glad the Captain managed to pluck her back into the sunlight and miss her dreadfully."

"Now Eggsy. You know what happened there. I would like to say I am enjoying my retirement but these are these annoying little things called favours .. apparently I am well suited to doing those for people. Who knew" she said with a cheeky grin as they talked and Owen saw that Eggsy was still holding her hand, stepping forward and neatly between them, breaking the contact.

"I'm Owen. She's mine"

Everyone froze, gaping at him as he puffed to his chest and squared his shoulders at a lithe young thing who everyone knew could wipe the floor with him. Ianto face palmed in the background. Eggsy looked at him and sniggered softly "Well now me old china, no need to boggle. After all. My cousin CAN speak for herself ya know!"

"Cousin?" Jack spoke.

"Her father is my father's cousin" Eggsy explained "He went to the Japanese Agency and met her mother there… boom. Returned with her to England where we get our blossom here. We grew up together, almost like siblings instead of distant blood ... cousins. I tell you she was an adorable little girl … I remember her as the prettiest girl in the room when I was small. How old was I? Five?"

"Four." She whispered with a blush "You were four and I was what…ten? About that?"

"I told the entire family that I was gonna marry her one day. She was going to be my wife" he laughed "everyone rolled their eyes at me but I knew…. I knew she was special."

"Then we grew up and you realised there are laws about marrying fellow agents" Ianto smiled "Or I may have beaten you to it cousin."

"Ahhhhh… had there been a possibility, she would have chosen you too. Ya wanker" Eggsy sighed as he turned to Ianto "You are always so …bloody perfect."

"Until I almost destroyed the world."

"That was not your fault. It was hers … no … don't argue. Lisa knew the risks, knew what she was doing and the rules. She could have withdrawn when she saw what they were doing. She was told to evacuate. You think we didn't see you dragging at her? Her fighting you to get back down there for her lover? We all knew she not only burned you with another deal on the side who wasn't even Kingsman approved and her contact was not just a double agent but she was sleeping with him as well … but she went into the hot zone, almost taking you with her."

"It doesn't matter. I failed" Ianto whispered now, looking down at their impeccable shoes.

"Well … not really. You do have the chip … right?" Eggsy smiled as he clapped Ianto on the shoulder "You do have that. With that we can find to who is behind it. She was a mad mare, your Lisa but she did complete the mission. She did get to the Doctor's computer, did download everything and all we have to do now is take a look."

"We nearly didn't have it" Ianto said as they all walked along, reaching back to let Jack snag his hand. Something the ENTIRE team saw with surprise as they had never seen a PDA between them before, let alone a blatant one.

"And you would have done your duty. I know. Good thing you don't need to. You wouldn't have half the things hers will show us. We might even be able to pull the virus apart and discover it's genetic makeup since she was infected at the end. We might find a counter-agent."

"An antidote?" Owen was interested now, moving to walk with the men as Toshiko rolled her eyes and fell back to walk with Gwen who was getting tired of limping along behind them all. She could have stayed at base. Jack did actually tell her to man the base but no. Scared she would miss something, here she is puffing along like 'Limp Along Cassidy' in that bloody moon boot.

Eggsy stopped walking and swung to address Owen "Doctor Harper. I know this will excite you. Are you ready for a little excitement?"

Owen went to speak but then squeaked as the ground shook. He looked at Ianto whose face was bland so he decided not to panic and instead reached back to Toshiko like he was going to help her when clearly he didn't' like the movement and wanted her for stability.

The entire cobbled area of the street started to lower like the one the car had been on the other day and Jack barked with laugher. "A lift. Like mine, you have one too. Shame you don't have a perception filter on yours though."

"Yes and you have no idea how jealous Grandy is of that. A quality piece of kit that" Eggsy nodded as the ground swallowed them whole then he added "ours IS bigger though."

Jack grinned at him like a Cheshire cat as he knew it didn't matter.

He had something they didn't.