"Listen up. Your mission is to land on the target without the RADAR detecting you." Merlin's voice pumped through the speakers in our HALO suits as we sat in the jump plane, waiting for the green light. "If I read you on the RADAR or if you miss the target, you go home. Is that understood?" The seven of us glanced around at each other, trying to read the other's mood, but I could only make out Abi's. Nervous. We were both nervous as Hell, and I was sure she knew it too. Quidditch was one thing, but jumping out of a plane with only a parachute? That was something else entirely. "Drop zone coming up. Twenty seconds."

"Time to line up?" Abi asked. I nodded and stood up, staring at the still-closed gate as my heart rate increased. Then the door opened. I felt a hand slip into mine and try to crush it. I glanced up at the owner and saw that Abi was ghostly pale but utterly determined not to let her fear rule her. I squeezed her hand back and turned my attention from the gate to the light.

"Oi! Lovebirds! You ready?" Owens chuckled from over my shoulder. I just rolled my eyes.

"Focus, Jace." Nigel growled, his voice wound tighter than a Swiss watch.

"Shut up, all of you," Autumn spat. I tuned them all out, squeezing Abi's hand one more time as the light turned green.

"Let's go!" I said as I started at a run. Abi yelped but she never let go of my hand so when I went running out of the plane she was dragged right behind me.

"Harry, you bloody wanker!" She cried as the seven of us formed up in a circle.

"This is incredible!" Jason hooted even as Nigel spun flips and tricks. Even Jared and Sophie, the two most serious of the group, were getting in on the fun. I grinned but looked down, trying to spot the target area. Hm, three hundred meters to the east, twelve hundred meters to the North. Looks like Merlin was going to make us work for our place today.

"The target is not directly underneath us!" I barked into the comms. Abi looked at me and nodded, lining up with me as we angled toward the landing area.

"You want to come in at an angle?"

"Seems the smartest thing to do," I said as Autumn joined us.

"You two have noticed the problem too, yeah?"

"Looks like it."

"Good."

"Seems you lot are cheerful as can be." Merlin said over the comms. "But did you really think it was going to be that straightforward?" I blinked as my mind raced through the possibilities the wanker was about to subject us to. "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." He chuckled through the comms as the four behind us started to panic.

"What!?"

"No chute!?"

"Bloody shite!"

"I can't! So long boys!" Nigel squealed as he reached behind him and popped his chute… At fifteen thousand feet.

"You bloody piece of shite!" Jason screamed as the group shot away from the parachuting idiot.

"Fuck! What do we do!?" Jared yelled as we drifted closer and closer to the target.

"I told you: aim for the target, come in under the radar. 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." Merlin said.

"Change of plan!" I barked to Abi and Autumn. "Jason, Jared you two pair up. Autumn, Sophia, pair up too!" I called and the four of them did exactly as ordered. "The target is North by Northeast of our position, angle until you're right on top of it and then fan out! Slow down as much as you can and then grab hold of your partner!"

"Understood!" The five of them shouted as we angled toward the target until we were basically right over it.

"Twenty-five hundred feet, start pulling parachutes. Autumn and Sophia, you two first!"

"Why couldn't we just circle up and start pulling chutes!?" Jared yelled desperately.

"Yes! Do it!" I called into the mic as the six of us circled up. "Autumn! Sophia! You two first! We're almost in range!"

"Got it!" Sophia called as Autumn just nodded.

"Twenty six!" I barked, and a heartbeat later, Sophia pulled her chute successfully. Then Autumn's deployed, Abi's, Jared's, leaving just Jason and me.

"You first!" Jason said as he grabbed hold of me. I nodded and pulled the chute.

Then I watched as Jason was torn from my chest as my chute deployed. His grip failed, and he fell, flipping end over end as I stared in horror.

"Jason!" I screamed as he reached behind him, desperate to open his chute. But nothing happened. He tugged on his reserve, but it was too late.

Jason Owens fell from the sky screaming as his parachute failed, his reserve wrapped around his legs and the rest of his body. I closed my eyes as I heard the horrible, final impact of his body slamming against the Earth.

I shook my head and spotted the target, directing my chute over toward it and touching down easily. I shrugged off the parachute, not giving a damn if I was supposed to recollect it as I sprinted to where Jason's body lay, unmoving.

I pulled a knife from my belt, cutting the chute free from his face to find his neck broken beyond repair. Just like the rest of his body. I pressed my fingers to his jugular, praying for a pulse – but there wasn't one. Not even a whisper.

Jason Owens was dead from a faulty parachute.

"Merlin?" I growled into my mic.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," The Scot muttered, obviously and utterly horrified by what he was probably seeing through my HUD. "You all had Parachutes and reserves. Functioning parachutes. I don't know why his didn't deploy."

"Harry! Oh my God! Is he okay!?" Whittaker cried out as he landed, running over to me as I knelt by Jason's body.

"No. No he's not." I said, putting the flap I'd cut open back over Jason's face. "Nigel's going to freak out."

"They were close?"

"They went to secondary together. This was the first time they'd seen each other in years." I said quietly as Abi landed in the target and rushed over.

"Jesus Christ… He's… Is he…?"

"Yes."

"Oh, Christ…" Abi whispered, crossing herself as she looked down at Jason's body.

"How'd this happen?" Autumn demanded as she, too, joined us a few moments later. "His chute deployed!"

"It's his reserve. His main chute never opened. He was spinning around so much that his back was to the ground when the reserve deployed. It never had time to right itself."

"And there will be a full investigation on his parachute to see why it failed. Mr. Hodges can escort his body back when he leaves. I can say for certain he's failed this test," Merlin said as we turned around to look up at the sky. Sophia was coming in for a landing, too, but it was obvious she didn't care about making the target.

"What the Hell is she doing?" Autumn asked as Sophia dropped in just a few feet away from us.

"My God… He's dead?" Sophia asked as she knelt beside the corpse.

"Aye," Merlin said as he joined us on the lawn. "But I'm afraid you and Mr. Hodges are excused from the training program, miss Pride. Go. Get your things. Go home."

"Yes, Merlin," Sophia said quietly, removing her parachute as she walked away. I frowned as I watched her go. Something wasn't quite right here…

"In light of this unfortunate accident," Merlin said, staring down at the canvas-wrapped, blood-stained body, "anyone else who wishes to leave may do so."

"You seem surprised, Merlin." I growled. "First you try to drown us, then you drop us out of an airplane and tell us one of us doesn't have a chute. Now you're surprised that one of us died because he didn't have a chute?"

"You raise good points, Recruit Potter," Merlin snapped waspishly. "But this is not the Marines. If you have an issue, you come over here and speak with me quietly."

"This is a bit bigger than that, Merlin. A man's died on Kingsman's watch."

"Aye, and I will live with his death for the rest of my days."

"Yeah, so while this is sappy and sad and everything, what are we supposed to do now?"

"Miss Ebert, you, miss Bourne, mister Whittaker, and mister Potter can return to the barracks. I'll send Nigel on his way when he finally lands. Kingsman will see to mister Owens' autopsy and the investigation."

"Not much need for an autopsy." I scowled. "He broke his neck on impact."

"That is likely, but we will still need to conduct a thorough investigation."

"I'll be waiting for your call, Merlin."

"No need, lad. Everything you did was recorded. The jolt of your parachute opening ripped him free from you. Dismissed."

"Sir, yes sir."

"What a day…" I muttered, brushing Regulus' coat out as we sat in the barracks that now held four beds.

"I really didn't expect that this really would have been the most lethal job interview in the world," Abi said quietly, scratching Lacy gently as the two sat on the floor.

"Better him than us," Autumn said as she filed her nails absently. Her poodle, just as pompous as his mistress, sniffed as Autumn shifted so her left leg was over her right. "Though it is rather morbid this happened at all."

"He shouldn't have died at all," Jared said quietly, sitting on the end of his rack with his Bullmastiff sitting between his feet facing him. "It could have been any of us."

"His parachute malfunctioned but he had one. I doubt Merlin knew it was faulty."

"He was upping the stakes?"

"He definitely succeeded," Autumn said. "Now we're fighting for our lives."

"I'm well aware." I sighed, pushing a hand through my hair. "I wonder if they'll just send Nigel and Sophia on their way…"

"I wonder what happened to the others who failed out. Hanks, Tarth, and Wright…"

"Dunno but I doubt they're with Owens," Abi said.

"True enough," I said as the room lapsed into awkward silence. A few minutes later, the door handle was twisted, and Merlin stepped in.

"At ease," he said as we all tried to clamber to our feet but stopped halfway. "Now, I realize it's been a trying day for all of you, but I thought you should know what happened to Mr. Owens was a result of twisted line due to his tampering of the chute. He was smart to check the chute but he was no skydiver."

"So…" I said slowly. "He knew he had a chute but, because he fucked with it, it didn't deploy?"

"Correct."

"Hm," I said, steepling my fingers under my chin. "His reserve?"

"Untampered with and deployed when he pulled the strap. It's like you said, Major, his back was to the ground when the chute deployed."

"And so it became his shroud…"

"What a Hell of a way to die." Whittaker murmured. "My grandpap was a paratrooper in the War, he said the Yanks had a song about that."

"Aye, and you both just quoted it." Merlin said as he shook his head at his clipboard. "You have an assignment."

"Already?" I asked as Merlin handed me a file. I opened it, and a woman's face stared back up at me in black and white.

"A Party? Merlin, now you're speaking my language." Autumn grinned as she pulled out the photo herself.

"Aye, in London. Tonight."

"So who's this?"

"Your target. Your mission is to use your NLP training to win over the individual on the photograph in your envelope. And when I say win over, I do mean in the biblical sense."

"Oh, great." Whittaker mumbled, staring at his photo before he turned it around and held it up for us to see. "Merlin, I'm sorry, but I'm not exactly big on women."

"And Mr. Potter and Miss Ebert are not, as you said, big on men while is Miss Bourne is not big on women either. You will have to do things you are uncomfortable with if you are to be an Agent. Understood?"

"Yes sir." Whittaker mumbled as Abi and I glanced between each other, holding up the photo of the woman of obvious Indian descent who was our target.

"Merlin? What's the target's name?"

"You'll have to get that from her," the Scot said flatly. I just rolled my eyes. "Right then, get dressed. The party starts at ten, so you might want to be late. Oh, you also have leave to return to your homes to get dressed, but you mustn't be seen." He smirked again as he walked out the door.

"Might want to be late? Bloody Hell is that supposed to mean?" Whittaker grumbled as he walked over to his suitcase. "Bollocks, I don't think I have anything suited for a party here…"

"Me neither." I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Bleib, platz." I said absently as I stood up and checked my watch. "It's three o'clock. It'll take an hour to get to London…"

"You have a place?"

"In Mayfair, yeah." I scratched my chin with a small smirk. "It's not too far from Saville, actually. Feel free to join me."

"A house in Mayfair? This I've got to see." Autumn scoffed as she stood up from her chair and held her hand down to her dog. "Stay."

"You too, Sam, stay here boy." Jared told the Bullmastiff, who looked up at him and then flopped over on his side. "Ruddy dog. So, are we leaving or not?"

"Bloody Hell, Potter!" Jared gasped as I opened the door for them to step through. "You've been holding out on us!"

"I don't like talking about my family's money." I shrugged as I put my keys down with a small shrug.

"But the place is huge!"

"Honestly, I'd love to live here," Abi said as she stepped into the kitchen. "Do you mind if I use your loo?"

"Sure. Just let me get my toiletries out of the master bath. I'll use the guest bath. Oh, and Jared, there's a third bath if you want to use it."

"You have three bathrooms…"

"The house is a six bedroom, five and a half bath." I shrugged. "But it didn't come cheap."

"No it bloody well didn't," Jared muttered as I opened the linen closet, tossing him a towel as he dragged his suitcase along behind him. We'd all changed into the clothes we wore to our initiation. If we didn't, we would have looked rather strange walking through London in our training gear. "How long have you lived here?"

"Just under five years, actually. My bank's been taking care of the bills while I've been away… Actually, they've been taking care of them since I moved in. I don't know how much I'm actually paying for the place."

"What!? Harry, you're going to run out of money!" Abi protested.

"I doubt it." I shrugged as the two of them looked at me in shock. "Now, if you'll follow me? The master bath is right this way."

"Bloody Hell, Potter." Autumn breathed, her suitcase trailing behind her as she glanced around the room. "You hire an interior designer or is your taste just that good?"

"Definitely an interior designer." I grinned, opening my closet to reveal my three suits, uniforms, and dress blues. "I'm just a Marine." The two laughed as they stepped into the bathroom with me behind them. "I'll get my things and then be out of your hair."

"Come on, Potter, we've seen each other in the buff a hundred times by now." Autumn said as she started stripping off her dress after placing a makeup bag on the sink. "No need to be a prude."

"On the contrary, I'm quite enjoying the view." I smirked as Autumn laughed while Abi smirked too. "But this isn't just a simple wash up after training. You're getting ready for a party, and I don't really want to get caught in the crossfire." I grinned as the two of them laughed.

"Hm, you may actually bring the target home with you tonight, Potter, especially if you have a place like this to bring her to."

"Bloody Hell, innit that the truth? We're just getting ready and I already don't want to leave." Abi grinned as she undid her suit. "You wouldn't happen to have a blow dryer, would you?"

"And a curling iron, straightener, all the good stuff a woman could ever need." I smirked. "My father and godfather wouldn't have had it any other way."

"They were men of good taste, then." Autumn smirked as she opened the drawers and found the items in question. "Like father like son, I see. These are very nice, Major."

"Money has perks." I shrugged as I took my toiletries. "Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time for me to go get dressed."

"Relax, Potter, you still have a few hours before the party starts."

"True, but I haven't showered in my own house since May. I'm certainly going to enjoy myself, if you don't mind." I grinned. "I'll see you two in a few hours."

"See you, Harry." The girls said in unison as I stepped back into my bedroom.

"Hm… Suit and tie or blazer and slacks… Decisions, decisions…" I muttered, checking my watch once again.

"Hi, is this seat taken?" Jared asked the woman with a smile plastered on his lips.

"Oh, no! It's all yours." The lady said, gesturing for him to sit down.

"Thank you. I'm Jared, how do you do?"

"Scarlet, I'm well."

"At a party like this, who wouldn't be?" Jared smirked.

"A girl being swarmed with men like you," Autumn said as she sat on the lady's other side, sipping her drink. "I'm sorry, darling, is he bothering you?"

"Not at all." The lady said as I leaned against the bar, watching this entire deal play out.

"Whisky and coke, please." I told the bartender, who nodded and slid the drink down as I laid a hundred-pound note on the bar. "Mind opening me a tab, guv?"

"Of course. Might I get a name?"

"Black, Castor Black." The man nodded and put the note in the register as he scrawled the name down with a running total. I smirked and picked up my drink as Abi joined me.

"They're doing a great job, aren't they?"

"Oh yes. Want to go save the lady?" I smirked as the redhead grinned broadly.

"Don't mind if I do. Will you save me from Winter over there?"

"Of course." I grinned, watching her sashay away.

"My, my, the wolves certainly are on the prowl, aren't they?" Abi asked as she sipped her champagne, curling her nose slightly as she put the glass down on the table between them. I frowned slightly as I took a glass from a balding waiter. I sipped at the champagne and quirked my own nose. A little bit flat and a bit sharp but nothing too out of the ordinary…

But this was Kingsman.

"Is it just me," I started as I rounded the bar, "or is the champagne a bit… Off to you lot?"

"I thought so," Abi said.

"It's an acquired taste." Autumn said, finishing her glass.

"Hm, try this next time." The lady said, holding up a bright red drink.

"Lady Walters-Herring." The waiter I'd taken the glass from said. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. "There's a call waiting for you at reception."

"Sorry to cut this short." Lady Walters-Herring said as she stood up, smoothing her dress.

"We'll see you in a few?" Jared asked.

"Of course." The lady smiled as she walked away.

"Bugger… Go 'head and take a seat, mate."

"Don't mind if I do." I blinked, my stomach protesting violently. "Bloody Hell…"

"Are you okay?"

"I don't think so."

"Sorry to eavesdrop but you know there's a much easier way to guarantee getting someone home." The waiter, still holding his bottle, said as we looked up at him in confusion. I had the sinking feeling I knew where this was going. "Rohypnol." Bloody, buggering Hell… I thought as he smiled wickedly. "Or even something stronger." My vision blurred as my magic fought the bloody roofie, of all things, coursing through my system even as Jared, Abi, and Autumn toppled like tenpins.

"Fuck you…" I growled as the drug finally, inevitably took me.

When I woke up, it was to the feeling of metal behind my head and ropes binding my arms and legs. I groaned, blinking to clear my eyes as I noted the waiter strolling down the…

Wait?

Was I tied to train tracks?

Oh, for the love of all that's holy… Tricked by a target named Scarlet Herring and captured by a goddamned roofie…

"Castor Black… Or should I say Major Potter?" The waiter smirked as I glared up at him. "This knife could save your life." I blinked, snarling as I heard the train horn. I tore my eyes from him and turned to see a train barreling down at me. Huh… Guess that makes sense since I'm tied to train tracks.

"Major Potter, Royal Marines. London, England." I growled, glaring up at the waiter/my captor as he stood over me with a small pocket knife in his hand.

"Now, now, don't be that way, Major. You see, my employer has two questions for you, [Potter], what the fuck is Kingsman? And who's [Hamish Mycroft]?"

"Major Potter, Royal Marines. London, England." I repeated flatly, still glaring at the balding man.

"Now, now, Potter, I just killed three of your friends. You think keeping quiet will bring them back? Is Kingsman worth dying for?" The man grinned sadistically. Then I knew that no matter what happened, I wasn't getting out of this alive.

"Major Potter, Royal Marines. London, England. Oh, and fuck you." I growled as I closed my eyes, hoping to whatever power out there that maybe I'd see mum and dad again… Remus, Sirius, Fred. Maybe dying wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

Or so I thought until I heard the train blow its horn again, blinking in surprise as I felt my stomach drop while I watched the train pass overhead. I stared at the passing cars, then the concrete ceiling, focusing once again as Merlin came into sight above me.

"Major Potter, that was textbook." Merlin grinned as he knelt beside me and started cutting the ropes off of me. "I've never, in all my years training recruits, seen someone take the train test so calmly. Bloody well done." A million thoughts were thrashing violently in my head, so many things I wanted to say, so many things I needed to ask – but my mouth only formed:

"How'd the others do?"

"Bourne and Whittaker passed, just not quite as calmly as you. Ebert's up next. Want to watch?"

"Yeah, might as well." I grunted as I rubbed my aching wrists. Answers could come later.

"Just untie me, please, I'll do whatever you want!" Autumn cried, pressing her breasts into the air as she arched her back. "Please, anything! Just let me live!"

"Alright then, Autumn, then I'll just need you to tell me two things: what is Kingsman? And who is Gerald Baldwin?"

"Kingsman is a spy agency! Gerald is the man who sponsored me, goes by the code name Giles. The head of the agency's a man named Arthur, I don't know his real name! They're based out of a tailor shop on Saville, same name as the agency! Please! Please, untie me!"

"Thank you, Autumn, you've been a dear." The man grinned as Autumn turned sheet white.

"No! No! Please! I'll do anything!" She cried, thrashing violently against the ropes as the train gained ground. "Let me go, please!" She screamed desperately as the train ran over where she was lying.

"You've failed." Giles, a bear of a man, growled as he glared down at the girl strapped to the tracks.

"Gerald…"

"No, Autumn. Go home."

"Gerald, I'm sorry! Please, untie me!"

"No," Giles said as he turned his back. Merlin slapped the mute button as she raved and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"[Lancelot, Kay,] congratulations," Merlin said, "and for the second time I can say that to myself." The Scot grinned at me as he turned to the three agents, including the one at my side who I had never met before. "Your candidates have reached the final stage of the testing process. As tradition allows, you now have twenty-four hours to spend with them. From now on, there are no safety nets. Understood?" The three of us nodded as Merlin nodded too. "Potter, remain behind. Bourne, Whittaker, you're dismissed." The two nodded and glanced back at their sponsors who smiled and escorted them both out. "Mr. Potter, I'd like you to meet my old friend of mine. This is Harry Hart, also known as Galahad."

"Major Potter, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, sir," I said as I shook the man's hand.

"Since I am not an agent," Merlin said, "Galahad, since he abstained from proposing a new recruit this cycle, has volunteered his time to mentor you for the twenty-four hour period. He will teach you the finer points of being a Kingsman field agent and I will see you here after that period is done. Is this acceptable?"

"Yes, of course. Agent Galahad, thank you for your time." I said as the man smirked.

"Oh, don't thank me quite yet. Our time together hasn't even begun."

"Right." I nodded before a scowl fell on my lips. "We need to have a chat, Merlin."

"About what?"

"You let us think we were in another life-threatening situation on a day where one of our comrades already died."

"Major, I am afraid that, for our purposes, Mr. Owens' tragic demise was to our benefit."

"How is that, Agent Galahad?"

"We needed to test your loyalty at the highest level. What better way is there to test who will crack then under the threat of death? With Mr. Owens' death, that chance appeared to be a near certainty. And it did, indeed, cull the unworthy."

"Aye, speaking of," I muttered, turning back to the monitor. "What are you going to do about her? She was willing to sell her body to save her life, what else would she do?"

"I can't say I'm sure." Merlin said, frowning as he tapped a button on the dash. "Autumn, time to go home."

"Fuck you! Get me out of here you bloody, blistering-" Merlin hit the mute button again as I turned to Galahad once again.

"Well, isn't she charming?"

"You have no idea." I shook my head. "Send me back out there, Merlin, and turn off the cameras."

"Major, I do not–"

"I'll go with him, Galahad, I know what he's planning and it's nothing untoward. In fact, it may just be for the best." Galahad looked at Merlin and then at me before he sighed and nodded.

"Very well, if you insist."

"Come, Potter. Let's get this over with." Mycroft said as he stood from his chair and gestured for me to follow him. I fell alongside him as we made our way back to the track. We went through a few tunnels, leaving Galahad behind. Then Merlin finally spoke again. "Are you going to do what I think you are about to?"

"Aye."

"Why didn't you do it with the others?"

"Who says I haven't?" I said quietly, turning to face Mycroft as he shook his head.

"Me. Because I offered them jobs elsewhere in the organization."

"Sophia?"

"She's the exception."

"With Autumn."

"A different exception."

"Fair," I nodded, shrugging slightly as we started walking again. "We both know this has to be done."

"Aye. Her pride would never let her take a lesser job than agent."

"Aye." The tunnel opened up, revealing the train tracks. "Leave this to me." Mycroft nodded, folding his hands behind his back as I approached the tracks.

"Potter?"

"Autumn," I said, touching the bracelet where I kept my wand. There was an expanded space there where the wand sat but where I could still get to it.

"Thank God, cut me loose!" I shook my head as I knelt down beside her and drew my wand. "H-Harry?"

"I am sorry for this, Autumn." I focused, aiming my wand between her eyes as her eyes crossed to get a better look at the tip of it. "But there's not much of a choice, you didn't really leave us with one."

"I- No… Please, I don't know what you're doing but please… Just let me go…"

"I will, just not yet. Believe me when I say I'm not going to hurt you, Autumn. In fact, you won't even remember this. Good luck… and goodbye. Obliviate."

[A] - Long Italics: From Kingsman: The Secret Service.

AN: Typically, I don't post ANs. I think most authors will put them in to bloat an already inflated word count; however, this is necessary. I apologize for the lack of chapters here and on Dance with Dragons but life has happened in a big way. Night shift makes writing difficult, and somehow, I didn't realize that in less than twelve hours, 2024 will be halfway gone. I'm in a rut regarding DwD, but I have a good reserve of chapters for this story.

Also, if it's not already up when you read this, I have a new story I'm working on: Impera ad Astra. It's a Star Wars fic for those of you interested. Recently, I read a fic (that I will not name here) that left me… Disappointed. It was an X-over that used well-beloved characters from a different franchise and cheapened them into mockeries of what they represented. Essentially, that author created OCs out of well-established, well-loved characters. So, I challenged myself to improve the story's basic premise using completely new characters and one small canon change to set the snowball downhill.

But lastly, I want to thank you all for reading this - the note and my stories. I appreciate you all taking time out of your busy days to read what I've put to paper. I wish you all the best,

Prof. Ashes.