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The night of 12 missiles. After meeting Eggsy, Merlin waited for a call.
He didn’t know whether he should wait or not -- Kingsman staff address is not on the same database with agents. But then, it was 8pm when the headquarter was blown up. It's not unusual (in fact, far too common) for them to stay at work at that time.
At 2am, it came, from a line only 2 people in Kingsman know about.
It came asking for both retina and voice verification first. A bit unusual, thought Merlin, but you can never be over cautious in such a night.
"Merlin"
"Tell me it wasn’t you, Merlin"
"It wasn’t me, Junior. Charlie hacked us."
He could practically hear the relief on the other side.
Kingsman has, or, had, 12 knights. A new knight is only sought after when one died.
But Kingsman only has one Merlin. And Merlin is important. Of course previous Merlins had spotted this single point of failure, and that's how Merlin protocol came into practice:
At any given point of time, you could say there are two Merlins. The real Merlin, and Merlin incubating. Codename Junior.
Junior shadows Merlin everywhere. And in fact all staff report to them both.
Merlin handles most of missions, with Junior standby and always helping. When Merlin is at field, Junior is Merlin’s handler.
Should a Merlin die, Junior becomes Merlin, and starts searching for the new Junior.
"Ok" said the girl called Junior.
"I just came back from HQ: we lost all vehicles; workbench is gone; so is server room. I have switched over to our backup datacenter in Scotland. Also turned off all external interfaces. I asked all staff to standby at home. " She continued.
She's good, didn’t crack under pressure, Merlin thought. She’s relatively new too -- their previous Junior didn’t last long unfortunately. He had to fight a lot of people when he proposed her to be the new Junior, which set a record for youngest in age. But she has proven herself, multiple times, and now again.
"Casualties?" Asked Merlin.
A short uncomfortable silence.
"3 in logistics and 5 in intelligence were at home so they survived. Nenneke is at Cambridge for a conference so she's fine too. Everyone in R&D is gone. Oversea departments are intact."
Another second of silence.
"I was doing my daily jogging outside that's how I'm still here" Merlin could hear the slight sobbing now.
She's still only a girl, Merlin reminded himself, but she's also 2nd in line. So he had to be tough.
"Remember your training, this is not a scenario for emotions. I'm opening the doomsday protocol with Eggsy tomorrow. Keep an eye on all staff for me. "
"Yes sir"
"Junior, I'm going to Kentucky with Eggsy. Take care of homebase. "
"Yes sir"
At Statesman, Merlin kept daily communication with Junior -- their private channel is part of the special glasses that only Merlin and Junior have (the natural result of putting two techies together). Merlin kept Junior out of Statesman's notice. Harry wasn't the only one to be defensive against their brother organization. After all, an independent intelligence agency should be, well, independent. Now that all their agents are here, Merlin did not want to expose anything more.
Every day Junior reported back to him about rebuilding progress, it's not easy but it's picking up. They may actually have a home to return to after finishing Poppy. That's something Merlin certainly is looking forward to.
Junior was also his handler when they flew to Cambodia.
Now looking back, it's almost inconceivable that no one in Statesman, not even Ginger, was tracking Merlin's vitals. But you cannot really blame them -- the mission was meant to be a secret to Statesman, plus he was wearing Harry's suit, and all agents' suits are molded to track their owner's vitals only.
Merlin didn't notice the dead silence in his glasses when he was singing -- he would laugh at his own heroic outburst later.
And that's how Junior became the only person to know Merlin still has a heart beat, but no one to tell.
She could of course tell Harry and Eggsy. But they were busy saving the world. And if there’s only one rule for Merlins, that is agents rule in the field.
If you ask different people you get different answers back about what actually happened afterwards.
Ginger would tell you how her screen suddenly flashed big bold letters of "MERLIN IS ALIVE. GO GET HIM. COORDINATES ...,..."
Champ and Tequila were astounded by the sudden broadcast all over the place. Later Champ would bring this up with raised eyebrows when visiting Merlin, and Merlin would put on his best innocent face.
If you ask Junior, she would simply tell you, matter-of-factly, "I hacked them. I had to. We didn’t have any planes left."
She would definitely not tell you how she was screaming into Merlin's half-conscious mind, to ask him to stay there, ask him not to sleep, tell him help is on the way.
"Don't die on me, Merlin. Please"
She would not tell you she was crying.
Merlin was in coma for one week. Harry was at his bedside for one week as well.
Five days after he woke up -- that is, as soon as he felt not like a piece of compressed trash, he requested to be sent home.
"Are you insane? There's not even a home to return to, let alone you would probably die during the flight" Harry stares at him unbelievably.
That's when Merlin flickered his glasses on, and Harry learned there is in fact a home waiting, and Nenneke showed and promised home has enough med to heal Merlin.
And boy isn’t that new workbench looking fancy.
Field agents often have no clue how respected and popular Merlin is among his staff. Even Harry, being closest to Merlin, was surprised when he saw the crowd at the landing gate. Judging from the size many must have come from oversea offices.
"I didn't know there're so many left at home" says Harry.
"Mhm" muttered Merlin. The flight was long and he was really tired and is that annoying pain ever going to stop?
Plane door slided open. There was a small cheering from the crowd when Harry appeared. But Harry soon learned the cheering is not for him -- for when he and Eggsy carried Merlin's wheelchair out, the crowd starts cheering again, much louder this time, "Merlin!"
"I didn't know you're such a star" Harry teased.
"Mhm"
Nenneke insisted on Merlin move to medical bay the moment they landed, but Merlin insisted going to the techie room first.
And everyone had to agree because he's such a stubborn donkey even when he's in a wheelchair.
"Lancelot: 3 coming on your left around the corner; finish them and run straight to the balcony; you'll see a roof, jump on it."
"Good. Now turn right you'll find the fire escape ladder. Climb down. There’s a cab waiting. You should arrive at safe house in 10min. Retina scan as usual"
"Retina scan? Really? What happened to easy door codes?" The complaint was at most half-hearted.
"I do not wish to get hacked again. And I believe you don't fancy getting blown up again either"
"True"
Silence.
"Merlin is back today right?"
"Yeah. Harry's bringing him back. Should have landed by now."
"God I miss him."
"I miss him too, Roxy"
Life is usually not as dramatic as a movie, but it so happens now is a perfect time to announce his arrival -- the thought slightly amused Merlin.
So he did.
Junior turned around upon hearing the noise. And stared. And ran over, wrapped her hands around Merlin, and started crying.
Merlin patted her, telling her everything's alright now.
Christmas.
Merlin, with his new legs, led the toast.
They mourned those perished brave souls in silence, counted their blessings, danced, exchanged gifts, and generally enjoyed themselves.
Merlin was leaning over the bar with a glass of Scotch in hand, and reflecting. A tough year for Kingsman. But isn’t it so every year? He also spotted Junior being approached by a random boy in research. She was a bit surprised and shy, but genuinely happy. He smiled.
"Would you care for a dance?" There was a soft voice.
Merlin turned around and took Harry's hand.