Disclaimer: Not mine, don't own, don't sue

Summary: See previous chapters

Chapter Four

Tilde dismissed her official guard when they returned to the suite, gracefully flopping onto Eggsy's lap. "He spent a large portion of dinner ranting about drug-users ruining society. Even if he signs the decree, he'll delay it until the victims are beyond saving."

Eggsy wrapped an arm around her, kissing her temple. His Kingsman training held, but his clenched jaw was obvious. "No help from that quarter, then. What leads to we have?"

Ginger Ale sighed. "From discussion with Merlin, this Charlie seems to be the middle-man and errand boy. Being legally dead, he's hard to track, but…"

Merlin took over, "We have a lead through his girlfriend, Clara. She'll be at the Glastonbury Music Festival, easy enough to slip her a tracker there."

Roxy nodded. "The hard part will be getting passes to the VIP section this close to the date."

Tilde shook her head. "Accommodation, yes, that was sold out months ago. Day passes I can get you. After dealing with the President, I doubt that anyone will blame me for wanting some time to enjoy myself with my boyfriend before returning home."

Statesman looked pained, as though embarrassed to admit to having him as their Head of State. Eggsy wrapped an arm around his girlfriend as she leaned into him, shifting to look at her seriously. "High chance of this mission turning into a Honeypot, babe, depending on her type."

Every other Agent in the room raised an eyebrow, disbelieving that Eggsy would actively tell his partner of the probability of sleeping with another woman, but Merlin was unsurprised. Eggsy was too serious about Tilde to lie about this, and Tilde knew about intrigue and having to cosy up to an enemy. She was secure enough in Eggsy's love that she wouldn't feel threatened.

Sure enough, Tilde only scoffed. "With Classless Clara, I do not doubt it. Her type is 'attractive and breathing', and there is little that will cause her to turn anyone down."

Roxy smirked at her partner, looking up from where she had been hacking Clara's other social media. "Want back up? Her Instagram has far too many Kardashian selfies for me to think that gender will be a concern, and we should have a variety, just in case."

Tilde smiled. "She does not like girls whom she perceives as younger-looking or prettier than her. I think that you will be in no danger. She may see 'winning' a handsome young man away from you as incentive, however."

Agent Tequila looked very, very interested in that line of thought. A few of the other Statesman staff looked faintly appalled. Roxy rolled her eyes. "Honestly, and you Yanks say that we're the prudes. Eggsy and I will do a bit more research, and be ready to go when the tickets are."

The younger crowd left, followed by Tequila, and Harry turned to Merlin. "Do I need to point out how many problems recruiting her is going to cause?"

Merlin rolled his eyes. "Not as an agent, but potentially as one of our contacts. As Princess and eventual Queen, she'll be made aware of potential problems before they become actual problems. The world is changing, and it is harder and harder to operate in the shadows."

Harry raised an eyebrow, surprised that Merlin, of all people, would say so. Merlin frowned at him, galled to admit that anything technological was difficult for him. "Even with a back-door into every traffic system and camera circuit in any city in the world, people begin to notice. Every phone has a camera capable of recording, and unusual event go viral within minutes. We are going international more and more often, and we need contacts there, too. If other continents have agencies like Statesmen, we need to know, and work together."


The mission went smoothly, with the exception of a loud four-way debate about the effectivness of a tracker that had to be absorbed through mucus membrane vs spiking a drink or an 'accidental' brush of skin on skin.

Merlin and Ginger Ale exchanged exasperated glances. The Statesman counterpart huffed an embarrassed sigh. "Our latest crop of R&D recruits have expectations based on Hollywood Spy movies, and the STEM gender imbalance doesn't help. I've been trying to get them out of that mindset, but…"

She trailed off with a shrug. Merlin squeezed her hand sympathetically. "There's always one recruit we have to beat that mindset out of every time I train a cohort. Usually the ones like that in R&D give us some other reason to fire them."

Ginger Ale huffed again. "If they can't give me some kind of interrogation or tracking device that doesn't involve seducing the target, I'm getting rid of the lot of them and starting over. It's getting ridiculous."

Merlin chuckled, ignoring the increasingly incredulous looks he was being thrown by Harry, who had never seen the Wizard this open with anyone, "Tracker has activated, and they're on the move. The four of you, stop arguing and get in the meeting room so we can strategise."

It only took a few minutes before the door opened, and Tequila led the way in. "- lookout for a spiked drink at a music festival."

Roxy rolled her eyes, "Not everyone at a festival is going to be straight, or interested in a one-night-stand. If you can't invent something that's undetectable without VERY specialist screening, you're doing it wrong."

Holding hands, Eggsy and Tilde strolled in behind them, looking amused. Tilde sat down easily, "Well, what is next?"

.

.

.

.


A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to update, the amount of other things taking up my time has been insane.

If you like my work, it's also available through online bookstores under the pen-name Natasja Rose.