Merlin, quite wisely, didn't say anything until his stomach broke the heavy silence in the car.
"Sorry," muttered Merlin. "I didn't eat much at Gwen's. And my stomach hasn't seem to have gotten the memo that we're supposed to be sulking."
"She chased us out of her house. She said not to contact her." The laugh that escaped his throat was bitter and he squeezed his eyes shut. He dropped his head back against the leather of his car seat. Behind his lids, Arthur could still see Gwen's face, the hurt and confusion in her eyes, the tight line on her lips and the utter lack of emotion in her voice when she ordered them to leave. "We didn't even tell her about the attacks."
"She didn't take finding out she was your wife very well."
Arthur cracked open an eye. "No, she didn't. Thanks, by the way, for completely blindsiding me with that. Should have known that you couldn't be trusted to follow a plan."
"I thought it would make her more understanding."
"Really. And how did you think that would work? She would suddenly remember her feelings for me and forgive me for lying to her all these years?" He straightened, running a hand through his hair. "We should go. She looks out of the window and sees us still here, she is only going to get madder."
"I'm not the one at the wheel."
Arthur let out an aggrieved sigh, turned the key and listened as his engine purred. He glanced out of his window but there was no sign of anyone. He scoffed inwardly. As if Gwen would be rushing out after them. His heart heavy, he released the brakes and eased away from the curb. Just as he turned the corner, he took one more futile look.
It was a demonstration of great restraint that Merlin didn't say anything for the next 20 minutes or so, letting Arthur stew in his own thoughts. The plan hadn't been to tell Gwen about her reincarnation, suspecting that she had enough to come to terms with when they explained about their alter-egos. In his mind, once Gwen had gotten used to things, forgiven him, then he would finally act on his feelings for her. Court her. Win her heart. Marry her. Make one successful life with her.
Fat chance of that happening now.
"Hey, drop me here."
Arthur slowed down, pulling over. There was still a good ten minutes to Merlin's apartment. "Where are you going?"
"Food. And a walk would probably clear my head. Plus, you're a like a black hole of despair and I don't want to be sucked in." Merlin opened the door and swung his legs out before hesitating. "Gwen will forgive us," he said quietly. "She's always been the best person."
Which was what made everything worse, although Arthur didn't give voice to his thoughts, merely nodding at Merlin. For a moment, it looked like Merlin might lean over and hug him but Merlin simply nodded back before slipping out of the car. Arthur watched Merlin for a while, then drove back home, where he could lie in his bed and hopefully fall asleep and for a while, forget what a mess of his life was.
Arthur tossed his jacket onto his sofa and pulled out his phone, then realised that he'd silenced it before going over to Gwen's.
Over 30 messages and 10 missed calls.
What on earth had happened in those few hours?
Swiping his thumb across the screen, wincing at the photo of Gwen that appeared, Arthur scrolled through the increasingly frantic messages from Nadeem, and then Pete. As he scanned the messages, his heart sank and he could feel a headache coming. Tension crept up his neck and just as he was about to call Pete, his phone chirped, the caller no one he knew.
"Hello?"
"Mr Penn. This is Susan Lim from the Camelot Observer -"
"How did you get my personal number?" Arthur yanked at his tie, loosening it.
Susan ignored Arthur's question. "I received some very interesting documents in the mail today. I've been trying to reach you."
"Interesting documents?"
"Oh? You haven't heard?" Arthur could hear the glee in Susan's voice. "Not like you not to be on top of things."
"Let me call you back," said Arthur. Hanging up on Susan, Arthur immediately called Pete. As the phone rang, he poured himself a drink. He had the sinking suspicion that he would need it.
Pete was unsurprisingly hysterical but for once, Arthur could empathise with him because right at this moment, he could feel the stress crawling up his spine, its fingers tightening around his chest. He ended the call, then sank into his sofa, not even bothering to switch on the lights. It seemed fitting to sit in the darkness.
His phone chirped again. Susan.
It was tempting to ignore her call, but he needed to take control of the narrative as soon as possible and where better to start than with an interview with Penn Media's biggest competitor? But he couldn't do that without knowing everything.
He jabbed at his phone. "Pete? Emergency meeting in an hour."
There was a glint in Susan's eyes that Arthur was not pleased to see. Still, politeness prevailed - Susan had earned at least that - and Arthur offered her his hand. Her grip was firm and her smile wide, if insincere.
As they sat down, Susan pulled out an envelop from her bag and slid it across Arthur's table.
"I have to admit, what little there is there seems somewhat alarming." Susan leaned back into the leather chair and crossed her legs. "I have always regarded you as an honest man, Arthur Penn, so the suggestion that you've been fudging your company's financials …"
Arthur opened the envelop and pulled out a sheaf of papers. His eyes flicked over the lines of numbers, barely taking them in. It didn't matter since Arthur knew what was on them - the manipulated accounts.
"What reason do I have to do this? I have enough money to last me several lifetimes." He tossed the papers onto the table, then eyed the woman sitting across from him. Sharply dressed in a dark pants suit with one of those stylish short hair styles that was all the rage today, she looked every inch a professional despite the gossip rag that she worked for. Intelligent brown eyes watched him watch her through her oversized glasses.
"What reason do rich men have for doing anything?" She shifted, leaning forward. "It's a big story, Arthur, and it's only because of our history that I'm coming to you with it first."
Arthur smirked. History was a nice way of putting it. The Camelot Observer His mind whirred, questions flying through from every direction. He needed to stall Susan so that Sefa and her team could get to the bottom of this. Yet, he suspected appeals to Susan's better nature would come to naught.
"Big of you," said Arthur. "What do you want from me?"
Her fingers steepled, she leaned closer. "A statement. Your side of the story."
Arthur grinned. "Good try, Susan. You have some evidence that someone is messing with the accounts and some vague rumours from anonymous emails that I am the one involved. That's barely a story, not for a newspaper that has been trying to hang on to its credibility."
"What are you offering?" Susan's lips curled into an answering smile. Arthur had already suspected she was no fool, and it was obvious that this was what she wanted. "Camelot Observer wants exclusive rights on the story, but I can be persuaded to perhaps delay printing these revelations."
"Looks like we have some negotiation to do," said Arthur. "I'm sure I can make it worth your while."
This wasn't Arthur's first tangle with the Camelot Observer. Years of lawsuits filed against them failed to bankrupt them, thanks to Lord Cenred's deep pockets. Ordinarily, Arthur was loathed to work with them, but if he wanted to keep a lid on this for the time being, he had little choice now.
"If," said Susan, "you aren't behind this, then you have someone in your office who is out to make you look as if you are. Any enemies, Arthur Penn?"
"Besides Camelot Observer?"
"I wouldn't call us the enemy - just very interested in the truth."
Arthur snorted. "You wouldn't know the truth if it smacked you in the face."
Susan stood. "With an attitude like this -"
He stood as well, reaching out a placating arm. "I apologise. As you can imagine, this isn't a position that I want to be in."
"No. I imagine someone like you has never been in a position where you need to ask for help."
Arthur sat down again. It had been a long time since Arthur had had to personally negotiate anything, especially in this life time. But he hadn't been king over several life times for nothing. As Susan slowly eased herself back into the chair, he smiled.
His phone in his left hand, Arthur lifted the glass in his right hand and drank deeply. The cool, sweet taste of the cola slid down his throat. He would have preferred something stronger, but in a few moments, despite the late hour, he would have to meet Pete and Sefa and he needed to be fully alert.
Just as he set his glass down and closed his eyes, his phone vibrated.
"Merlin, I'm in the middle of a business crisis at the moment."
"There's another attack. Texting you the details."
The glass toppled onto his expensive white carpet, knocked over as Arthur jumped out of his seat. He yelled into his phone, but Merlin had hung up. Just at that moment a text message from Pete arrived, and with a swear, Arthur tossed the phone across the room. It landed with a dull thud onto his carpet. His feet moved him towards his hidden room, even as the thought that Merlin could probably handle any attack on his own crossed his mind. What he needed to do was focus on the trouble brewing at Albion Media. Pete and Sefa were expecting him soon, and what would they think if he turned up late and panting?
Excalibur gleamed under the self-indulgent spot lights he'd installed. He glanced down at Merlin's text, then closed it to look at Pete's hysterical one. As he closed Pete's text, Gwen's face stared out at him, her eyes bright with laughter. They had been having a picnic in the local park that day. She'd popped by his office with some sandwiches and coffee, and persuaded him to play hooky with her that afternoon. He hadn't needed much convincing.
Arthur grabbed Excalibur.
Despite Merlin's magic, it took Arthur three tries before he managed to plunge his sword into what he suspected was a Questing Beast.
"Not your best," said Merlin as he squatted down to get a sample of the ash. "Does this place have anything to do with Gwen?"
Arthur looked around. "I think she shops at the 24-hour supermarket around the corner. Damn it."
"They aren't letting up."
"No." Arthur's phone vibrated against his leg. "Have you found out anything?"
Pocketing the ash, Merlin sighed. "Not much. I am pretty sure that the same entity is summoning all these creatures. It's not a random leaks at ley lines."
Arthur's phone vibrated again. "Do you think you can stay with Gwen tonight?"
"I was just thinking of that," said Merlin. "Guess I'm not going to have the pleasure of your company."
"No, sorry. But call me. For anything."
"Yes, my lord." Merlin bumped Arthur's shoulder, tugged his beanie down over his ears then started walking towards Gwen's apartment.
Digging out his phone, Arthur scrolled past Pete's messages demanding to know where Arthur was. Then, he tapped on Gwen's number. As he made his way to his car, he listened to the ringtone, willing Gwen to pick up.
"Arthur." He heard her yawn, then what sounded like bedsheets rustling. Sleep laced her voice. "It's late. Is something wrong?"
Warmth and relief rushed through him. "Hey. Did I wake you?"
"Arthur." She sounded more awake now, and her tone cooled. "Why are you calling?"
"I just wanted to -"
"It's late and I'm tired, Arthur." Without a goodbye, she hung up on him. Pain laced through him and he dropped the phone onto the passenger seat of the car. Just as he started the car, his phone vibrated again. He glanced at it, seeing a picture of a frog pop up. Reaching over, he answered the phone.
"Pete. I'm on the way."
"It's past midnight, and we've been waiting for over half an hour. If you're not interested -"
"I said I'm on the way. Do you have all the documents and information on hand?"
"Yes and Sera has -"
"I'll be there in 10 minutes."
The streets were mostly empty, which meant that news of the attack must have spread. It was convenient, making it easy for him to speed to his office. Lights blazed from the top floor of the building as Arthur eased his car into a street-level parking lot. In the lift, he smoothed down his clothes and hair, trying not to look like he'd spent the last half an hour battling a beast. A soft chime signalled his arrival at his floor and he stepped out.
Pete sat at the edge of his chair, his body practically vibrating with stress while a much calmer Sera lounged on the sofa, next to a pile of print outs. She looked up as he entered, then stood, bringing her laptop over to his desk.
"I want to show you what I've found."
Arthur sat down and stared at lines and lines of code on the screen. Pete was on his feet as well, pacing in front of his desk.
"Someone has been injecting lines of code into our system."
Arthur nodded. That sounded like a bad thing.
"And the code, to put it simply, is what is creating all sorts of problems -"
"So if you get rid of the code, it'll be fixed?" That sounded manageable to Arthur. Then, all they needed was some PR intervention and things could go back to normal.
Sefa shook her head, her eyes filled with both regret and astonishment at his naivety. "It's not quite so simple. Whoever is doing this is very skilled. The code is replicating. It's like Medusa, cut off one head and two pops up in its place."
Arthur rubbed his forehead.
"Someone is trying to bring us down," said Pete, the words harsh. "It may well be Camelot Observer - that's how they got news and information so quickly. They are the ones planting it."
Sera leaned over the laptop and typed something. "Look at this - they left a calling card."
Arthur squinted at the screen. More lines of code. "A calling card?"
"Like a signature." Sera brought a finger up to point a line of code. "Here - it says m0rg. Never heard of them before. With such sophisticated work, you would -"
Arthur could feel Pete hovering behind him, trying to look at the screen without getting into Arthur's personal space. Sera was still talking and Arthur suspected Pete was answering her, but nothing was able to penetrate the awful realisation that Morgana was back.
AN: Wow it's been a while. :) Thanks for reading, those of you who still are.