Clara and Eggsy walk towards Harry's recovery room with their puppies in tow. Standing in the doorway, Clara beams when she sees that Harry is not only awake, but up and walking as well. Eggsy walks into the room while Clara remains put. Harry turns to Eggsy, "Ever heard of knocking?" he asks.

"Only when I'm casing a place to rob." Clara, who still stood in the doorway, raises her hand and knocks on the doorframe. The action was more sarcastic than anything, but Harry nodded at her with a smile nonetheless. This earned her a smirk from Eggsy too, who turns back to Harry. "Merlin said you wanted to see us."

JB suddenly starts to bark, as if just realizing there was an unfamiliar face in the room. Harry looks at his candidate, "I hope JB's training is going as well as yours is."

Eggsy smirks and looks down at JB. "Sit." JB complies and sits down. He looks from Harry to Clara with a proud smile on his face.

Clara gives him a smirk of her own, "Yeah? Watch this." She turns to Bowie, who was sitting patiently at her side. "Bowie, go introduce yourself." She orders, pointing in Harry's direction. The golden retriever trots towards Harry, sits down in front of him and extends a paw to the agent.

Harry shakes the dogs paw with a chuckle before looking at Clara. "Impressive." Eggsy just gives Clara an exasperated look, almost as if she made a habit out of showing him up. Clara sends him a wink in return. This doesn't go unseen by Harry, but he ignores it for the moment. "Congratulations on making it to the final six candidates, you two. Your test results were better than I could've hope, Eggsy. And I expected nothing less from you Clara." He says with a proud smile.

A knock on the door draws them out of their conversation. "Come in." Harry calls.

Merlin enters the room, addressing the recruits first. "Oh… Eggsy, Clara, I need to have a private conversation. You're dismissed."

"Nonsense. Let them observe. Might learn a thing or two." Harry insists.

"As you wish." Merlin concedes. "Take a look at this." He gestures to the large screen in the room, showing them the footage taken from Harry's glasses as he was grabbing hold of the man Clara recognized as Professor Arnold.

All of a sudden, the professor's head exploded, drawing a surprised gasp from Clara and a vulgar outburst from Eggsy. "Fucking hell! That is rank Harry. You blew up his head? It's it bit much, ain't it?"

"Actually, the explosion was caused by an implant in his neck." Merlin zooms in on the video, revealing a small scar on the man's neck. "Here, under the scar."

Harry turns to Merlin, "Did my hardware pick up the signal that triggered it?"

Merlin nods, "Fortunately, yes. Unfortunately, the IP address I traced it to is registered to the Valentine Corporation." He says, bringing up a profile of Richmond Valentine on the screen.

Harry shakes his head, "That's not much of a lead. He has millions of employees worldwide."

"That Richmond Valentine is a genius." Eggsy says, staring at the screen. Both Harry and Merlin look at him, slightly confused. "Did you not see his announcement today?" He asks.

Merlin shakes his head, "No."

Eggsy takes Merlin's tablet and searches for the footage of Valentine's latest announcement, bringing it up on the screen:

"We each spend on average two thousand dollars a year on cell phone and internet usage. It gives me great pleasure to announce those days are over. As of tomorrow, every man, woman and child can claim a free SIM card, compatible with any cell phone, any computer, and utilize my communications network for free. Free calls, free internet, for everyone. Forever."

Once the video ends, Merlin takes is tablet back from Eggsy, only to have it snatched from his hands again, this time by Harry. Harry focuses in on Valentine's assistant, revealing a scar that was similar to Professor Arnold's implant scar. "Valentine's assistant has the same implant scar. I think Mr. Valentine and I should have a tete-a-tete.

"He's having a gala dinner next week, I'll get you an invitation. You need to be careful though." Merlin warns. "Since you've been out, hundreds of VIPs have gone missing. No ransom notes, exactly like Professor Arnold."

"Then I suggest you make my alias somebody worth kidnapping."

~8~

The following morning finds the remaining recruits on their latest mission… waiting to jump out of a plane. Clara's stomach is in knots, but she maintains her calm exterior. If anything, she does it for Roxy's sake. The poor girl was terrified. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." Roxy repeated, her leg bouncing anxiously.

Eggsy turns to her, "What, don't like heights?"

"Yeah, it's okay. I've done it before, which is probably why, come to think of it." She replies, agitated.

Clara places a comforting shoulder on her hand. "Hey, it's gonna be alright Rox. You're top of the class, if anyone can do it, it's you." She says with a reassuring smile.

Merlin's voice comes over the speakers on the plane. "Listen up. Your mission is to land in the target without the radar detecting you. If I read you on the radar or you miss the target, you go home. Is that understood? Drop zone coming up, twenty seconds."

Eggsy turns to Clara and Roxy, "We've got to go." The recruits stand and prepare to jump out of the plane.

Roxy turns to Clara, gripping her shoulders anxiously, "Clara, I really don't think I can do this."

Before Clara can respond, Charlie pushes them aside, "Of course you can't. Head to the back and I'll show you how, yeah?" Clara simply rolls her eyes at this, and as Charlie goes to jump out of the plane, she extends her leg, tripping him on the way out. One of the other boys gives her a dirty look before him and another recruit jump out, following Charlie. Sure, she would hear it from Merlin later, but it was so worth it.

As Clara, Eggsy and Roxy are about to jump out, Roxy stops them. "Eggsy! Clara, wait! Hang on!"

Clara turns to Eggsy, who seems to be waiting for her. "You go, we'll be right behind you."

Eggsy nods, placing hand on her shoulder quickly before turning to Roxy, "Follow me, yeah?" Roxy nods in response. Eggsy turns to look at Clara again, sending her a wink before putting his arms out and falling backwards out of the plane. "Come on!" He shouts.

Roxy still hesitates. Clara faces Roxy, grabbing her shoulders. "Roxy, it's now or never. Jump, or I will push you out." She smiles sweetly to counteract the forceful tone she just used. "See you down there, yeah?" With that, she jumps out of the plane.

She catches up to Eggsy, "Glad you made it!" He says.

Clara smiles, "Well let's hope Roxy does too." As if on cue, Roxy appears a few feet behind them. "Atta girl, Rox!"

A few moments of silence pass before they hear Merlin's voice through their helmets. "My, my, you're all very cheerful. Did you really think it was gonna be that straightforward? Any idiot can read a heads-up display. A Kingsman Agent needs to be able to solve problems under pressure. Like what to do when one of your group has no parachute."

The recruits look around, varying degrees of horror on their faces. "What? No parachute?" Roxy shrieks.

"Shit!" Clara shouts.

Roxy asks, "Who?"

Eggsy, ever the gentleman, shouts, "Fuck!"

Charlie looks around, "Which one?"

"What do we do?" Rufus asks in a panicked tone.

Merlin speaks to the recruits again, "I told you. Aim for the target, come in under the radar. And I hope not to be scraping one of you up. But if I do have to, and you're inside the target, please know I'll be very impressed."

Rufus is clearly the most frightened of the recruits, he shouts again. "Fuck!"

Roxy also shouts, "Oh, shit!"

Eggsy is the first to come up with an idea, "Everybody listen, I've got a plan! Pair off! Grab the closest person to them." Eggsy being closest to Rufus, holds a hand out to him. "Rufus, come on!"

Rufus shouts again, "Oh, fuck!"

"Rufus!" Eggsy shouts.

"Oh, shit! I can't!" Rufus panics and pulls his parachute. "Oh, thank god."

"Rufus, you wanker!" He looks at the others, "Shit, we're an odd number now! Quick, make a circle!"

Surprisingly, Charlie agrees with him. "Fuck, he's right. Boys, let's do it."

The recruits all grab each other's hands and Eggsy instructs them again. "We pull our cords one by one! When we know who's fucked, the person on their right grabs them."

Clara nods, "Brilliant, Eggsy."

Merlin's voice comes through their helmets again, "Good plan, Eggsy. You have thirty seconds. Come on now, hurry."

Digby (generously) volunteers to go first, "Me first!" He opens his parachute and is pulled away from the group. "Oh, fuck! Yes!"

As their altitude is getting lower, Hugo goes next. "Okay, me next." His parachute also opens. "See you on the ground, boys."

Next is Charlie, "Now me!" He pulls his parachute, letting out a relieved breath when it opens.

Wasting no time, Clara turns to Roxy. "Roxy, you're next!" The girl nods, pulling her parachute, and letting out a cry of joy when it opens.

Eggsy turns to Clara. "Fuck, alright. Clara, no matter what happens now, I've got you, alright?" Clara nods, and he takes her hands in his. "Yours first, okay?"

Clara glances at the ground as they quickly approach it, "Alright, hold on!" Eggsy complies, clinging to Clara for dear life. "Oh, fuck!"

Eggsy pulls Clara's parachute and it opens, "Shit!" Eggsy barely manages to hold onto Clara's legs as they get closer to the ground. "Clara!"

Clara closes her eyes, not wanting to see them hit the ground. "Fuck!" A few seconds later they both hit the ground with a light thud, landing inside the target.

Merlin gathers the recruits once they have all reached the ground. "Hugo, Digby. You don't land in the K, you're not in the K. Rufus, you opened too soon. You were all over the radar. All three of you, pack your bags, go home." The three walk off, disappointment evident in their faces. "Eggsy, Clara, congratulations. You set a new record. Opening at three hundred feet, that's pretty ballsy. Well done for completing another task. Fall out."

Charlie and Roxy head back towards the building, Clara begins to head off but stops when she realizes Eggsy isn't with her. She turns to find him confronting Merlin. "Oh boy." She mutters to herself, staying where she is, knowing Eggsy was about to get his ass handed to him.

"Sorry, sir." Eggsy starts, "But why the fuck did you choose me as the gimp? Am I the expendable candidate?"

Merlin looks at him sharply, "No, no, no. You don't talk to me like that. You have a complaint, you come here, and you whisper it in my ear." Eggsy stalks towards him and Merlin leans towards him. "You need to take that chip off your shoulder." He says, pulling Eggsy's parachute which opens, propelling Eggsy backwards. The stunned expression on his face turns into a small smile, his smile only growing when he sees Clara sprint over to him. Once she reaches him, she holds out a hand and helps him up. They walk back towards the Kingsman estate, Eggsy still holding on to Clara's hand. Not that she minded.