Of course the meeting had been a trap. Harry cursed himself as he stumbled into a back alley, tugging at his tie to be able to wipe the blue stuff off his face. He couldn't think anymore, could barely breathe. Every draw of air was like fire in his lungs, but the alley kept on.

"Oi, you! Get back here!" a voice shouted from behind him. Sounds of others bickering drew the man back for a moment. The others were still arguing over whether or not Harry was armed.

Using what was left of his momentum, Harry swung out into the street. Struggling to get his feet steady, he bounced off a parked car, setting off an alarm as he hurried down the sidewalk.

Several other people saw him and either turned away or walked by him. He tried to croak out a word but his throat was coated with whatever had been in Professor Arnold's hand. Harry cursed this assignment, but he was damned if it would claim the life of his friend and him in the same swoop.

The men were chasing after him now, shouting, but Harry couldn't focus on it. His head buzzed and his feet wavered under him. Spots began to dance about his vision and nothing seemed to shake them free.

"Stop him!" someone shouted. He lurched into another alley, hoping that no one had seen him move this way. His vision began to fog over and it felt like someone was pulling on his body. There was maybe only seconds before the men caught up.

A hand reached out and pulled him back. Harry turned, stumbling and recoiled from the punch to his jaw that sent pain flaring up his face. Another landed to his stomach and he hunched over, barely able to resist gravity.

"Shoot him in da head," a voice said. "Valentine wants dis taken care of 'lready." Harry shoves at the body closest to him, sending the voice laughing as someone grabs his arm and beats on him until he drops like a stone to the ground.

"Never seen nobody walk around with dat stuff in their system," the voice laughs. "Must be one tough son of a bitch."

"Just shoot 'im 'lready," another voice says, but Harry can't move this time. He despises that his limbs won't respond to his command and his eyes are already too blurry to see anything of use to him. His death, he finds, is going to be as disappointing as his life.

The sound of a gun cocking rings in his ears and he braces for the last sound of a gunshot.

Which never comes. Instead he hears someone shout "Oi, you bugger!" and the sounds of fists landing. He tries to focus, and sit up, but all he can see it the blur of a figure, grace and speed, disarming the men and sending them bleeding to the ground. There is two gunshots, but the figure seems to fly above them, kicking off the wall to knock the gun away from the one man.

All of the men end up on the ground, broken or worse in a pile around the figure. Harry can just barely make out the glow of blonde hair in the light from a street lamp. The figure moves in close as Harry blinks. A pair of blue eyes come into view and Harry just nods to whatever the man says.

Blackness closes in and Harry finds himself unable to resist the pull.

-

Eggsy sat in the corner of a fire escape and washed the blood off his knuckles. So far it had been a productive Home Day. Lilies were on his father's grave and two attempted rapes and one assault had been stopped. The tension that had been so tight around his spine this morning was starting to loosen its grip on him. He was almost ready to go back to Roxy's for midnight champagne and ice cream.

Six years, he muses. Six years and still he can't find it in himself to stay there longer than a night's reprieve from the cold. Once during a bitter winter he did spend a weekend hold up on her couch, but it hadn't lasted and he had damn near been chewing the window ledge to get out. Homes had become suffocating for him. Another problem he could lay at the feet of his father and his replacement: Dean.

Shaking his head, Eggsy tried to push back those thoughts. The night had been good, and he didn't need to ruin it with thoughts of his Mum's boyfriend. He set down a water bottle and dried his hands on his shirt.

He wonders if the night will produce anymore excitement when he sees a man come round the corner into the side alley Eggsy is hiding on. The man stumbles as he walks, obviously pissed already. Eggsy starts to stand, he doesn't need to watch this guy walk home.

Then four guys come into the alley after the first. One grabs him and punches the man hard in the face. Eggsy winces, noting for the first time the posh suit the first man is wearing. He sits back on his calves and waits to see how this goes. Eggsy doesn't need to step in if the posh-suit did something to provoke a beating. He doesn't need to get more shit from the gangs around his side of town.

Of course then one of the men starts talking on shooting the guy, and Eggsy quietly makes his way down the escape. He isn't there when the posh-suit shoves them away but it gives him a chance to climb off the railing and dangle for a moment, getting his bearings until the posh suit drops from the beating and the thug pulls the gun out again. Eggsy only has a second to take a deep breath and let go.

He lands one the first thug, kicking the gun out of the second before punching the third in the jaw. One of them shouts, "Oi, you bugger," but that just fuels Eggsy on.

The fourth is a big one, and Eggsy has to slide around his punches because the first one feels like a hammer to his chest. Second and third are reaching for guns, and Eggsy flips off the wall to kick the second into the first. They both bounce off a dumpster and Eggsy kicks off the wall to punch the fourth hard in the face. The man must have a solid jaw because it feels like he missed and punched the brick wall.

The third gets his gun out, letting off two shots towards Eggsy who is ducking around the fourth, who goes down from one bullet and the other grazes Eggsy's back before he's disarming him too.

They don't slow, and it takes Eggsy a lot longer than he thought before finally he's got the second in choke hold and waits until he goes limp to toss him to the side on the fourth guy who is bleeding and whining. He stands there, panting from the adrenaline.

Posh-suit just blinks up at Eggsy and he snorts to himself. Moving in closer he can see a trace of something blue coating the man's jaw and streaks are across his whole face.

"Can you move, bruv?" he asks, leaning in close. The man nods, and then falls unconscious. Eggsy sighs and rolls his eyes.

He hadn't realized it was going to be one of those kinds of Home Days. Still, he can't leave the man to be shot by whichever arsehole woke up first. Grabbing him up by one arm, Eggsy slings the man over his back and begins the very long trek through the back alleys to get to Roxy's place. He supposes it is sort of fitting to be bringing home a beat-up stranger to her on Home Day. Though, he doubts this man will last the day with them, he does feel that at least he is holding up to James' standards. Eggsy hopes the elder Morton stops by soon. Maybe they could all have champagne and ice cream when he did stop by.