Chapter Text
Harry Hart straightened his tie then adjusted his glasses. He was on his way to the conference room, since Arthur had summoned him to discuss something; probably about his last mission in Guatemala and his “accidental” shooting of the IT billionaire they were tracking down. In his defense, the guy was a complete arsehole who had no regard of his workers or his women. Harry had had enough of his chauvinistic speech that he really couldn’t help himself but drug and leave him at the extraction point. He couldn’t care less about what the tabloids would read; he never did anyway.
Bringing his hand up to knock, he rapped on the door once before letting himself in. Harry walked up to the chief and took a seat, leaning back casually and crossing his legs.
About a minute passed by, yet Arthur didn’t say a word. He regarded his knight for a while longer, still remaining wordless.
Around the third minute, Harry had to speak up. “Look, if this is about Mr. Gonzalez, can I just say that he—“
“Nonsense. I didn’t ask you to come here to discuss him—you’re here for the initial briefing for your next mission”
“Hmm” Harry remarked, swiveling his chair to face his companion “I see. Well, let’s get on with it. Where’s Merlin?” he asked, expecting the logistics knight to come barging in with his trusty clipboard in tow.
“Oh. We’ll see him in a bit. But for now…” Arthur trailed off, as he pulled out a sheet of paper from the folder in front of him and slid it towards Harry.
“Snatch, extract, and destroy?” Harry read out, raising his eyebrow. "Easy enough, Arthur" he remarked, as he continued skimming through the document until something caught his eyes "um,"
Arthur chuckled, as he prepared to stand up "I know that look. So why don't we continue this at the training room so that your question can be answered right away"
Harry rolled his eyes and groaned "Sir. There has to be a mistake" he followed his superior out of the room "Why does it say 'two' for the number of agents?"
“There’s no mistake: you’ll be carrying out the mission with another Kingsman knight”
Now this turned even more confusing. In all the years that Harry has been working for the organization, he has never ever worked with another knight, with the exception of Merlin obviously. He knew them—of their existence and of course by their codename, but nothing more than that.
When they entered the training room, Harry realized that he also wasn’t aware that there were knights who looked like they were fresh out of university.
Before he could comment about the youngsters, Arthur spoke “are these the candidates, Merlin?”
Merlin nodded, gesturing to the two people behind him. “Yes sir” he answered sharply, glancing at the candidates. “Stand at ease”
Both straightened up and Merlin continued “Sirs Arthur and Galahad. May I present to you Gawain…” he gestured to the young woman with the dark brown hair and presumptuous air around her “and Percival” he did the same with the young man beside her. He had a sharp jaw line and rather assertive eyes, which chanced a glance at the two senior Kingsman.
Harry noticed it, of course he did. Particularly how Percival’s eyes grew wide when he got a good look at Galahad. But as always, he paid it no mind. The kid has probably heard of whispers about the senior Kingsman, and perhaps was a bit taken aback about being in close contact with them.
It made Harry think about what kind of whispers was being circulated amongst the other members.
“Gawain and Percival, good afternoon” Arthur started “I’m pretty sure you’ve both been briefed as to why you are here right now, so let’s get right to it” he nodded at Merlin to continue.
“Right. From the file you have read earlier, we are to extract an item known as ‘Upsilon’ from a secure facility in Greece. One of you will be accompanying Galahad during the entire mission. And yes you heard that right: just one. We will be conducting certain…” he paused “tests to evaluate your readiness”
“Test” Harry suddenly spoke.
Merlin and Arthur turned to look at him. “I’m sorry, come again?” their chief said.
Harry glanced at his boss then took a step forward. He addressed the two candidates “Frankly speaking, we only have less than a week before the mission start, so I suggest that we just pool all our energies for one test. More productive than exhausting ourselves unnecessarily, don’t you think?”
No one said anything for a while before Harry decided to carry on “Right. I think that’s settled then. Merlin, when would be the best time to conduct the test?”
“Uh—“ he glanced at Arthur and hesitated before “well, we can start tomorrow if you—“
“Excellent. We can do that” Harry cut him off “let’s see, perhaps we can have it at nine in the morning”
“Yeah sure. Should I clear the—“
“We’ll be out at the grounds, so minimal equipment is needed but with maximum ground space”
“Of course” Merlin conceded, nodding his head instead
“I’ll see you both on the field tomorrow then. Kindly bring a pen, is that understood?”
Gawain and Percival looked at each other, before facing Harry and replying “Yes, sir” in unison.
“Terrific. Thank you then” Harry said in conclusion, as he turned to leave. Just right before walking across the threshold, he called out “Merlin. A word, if you please”
“Right. Dismissed” Merlin spoke to the two candidates before excusing himself from Arthur and following Harry out of the room.
“You have to tell me what you’re planning Harry, because I really don’t understand you right now” Merlin said as soon as they were two rooms away from the training room. “And really? I won’t even judge you for choosing the field rather than somewhere indoors, but asking them to bring a pen? What is this, some written test that they have to perfect?”
“I have a plan Merlin and no, it’s not a written test”
Merlin shook his head “You even mentioned that you needed minimal equipment….”
“Ah yes. About that one…” Harry stopped and turned to face his friend “I’ll be needing two sets of Kevlar, and could you set up Oliver?”
The other knight’s brows furrowed at the mention of the name “Are you mental?”
There was a nonchalant shrug “I actually am serious. I have read the file, and I need to conduct this test to see which one of them will be better suited for the task”
“Harry. Those two haven’t tasted foreign soil yet. If you use Oliver on them, they may never have that chance”
“That’s what the Kevlar is for, right?” there was a slight roll of his shoulders as he adjusted his shirt cuffs “Besides, if they don’t survive this test then I’m sorry but I wouldn’t consider them worthy of the Kingsman title”
“Fine” Merlin said after a few moments. He really couldn’t do anything else but agree and trust Harry’s idea—whatever it was. “Will you at least tell me what you’re planning?”
Harry started to walk away and waved a hand “Nope. Because I know you’ll eventually figure it out. Piecing together the equipment and mission file; it’s like a stroll in the park for you”
Merlin slumped his shoulders then let out a sigh. Why did Arthur have to insist about bringing in one of their rookie knights for the mission? He was pretty sure that Arthur knew Harry’s capabilities to accomplish the mission single-handedly. Undoubtedly, both Gawain and Percival have top marks and have been regarded highly by the other Kingsman they’ve worked with so it was no surprise they were the ones shortlisted for the mission. The question now would be: which one would Harry pick?
He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice his name being called. He looked up and saw Harry at a distance, looking at him pointedly.
“As I was saying, I’ll need Oliver in a good spot so I’ll send you some coordinates later once I’ve polished it out” he said finally, as he took a right turn towards the express.
A short beep erupted from his wristwatch, alerting Merlin. He turned and walked the opposite direction, making his way to the lower levels of the headquarters. If Harry wants Oliver for tomorrow morning, he really should get it functioning perfectly by tonight.
It was going to be an awfully long night for him.