Chapter 7

The first time Harry met Eggsy, his impression had been of a chubby-cheeked, quiet child, who had calmly sat playing with the snow-globe with the settled obliviousness of a child too young to really understand what was going on.

The second time Harry met Eggsy, his impression was rather… different.

"Get the fuck in, bruv!"

Harry dove through the conveniently open back window of the Kingsman black taxi, and heard the engine roar in response to the driver hitting the accelerator hard. He saw the back of a blonde head, with a driver's cap sitting somewhat askew above a formal jacket before he was unceremoniously jerked onto the floor by the inertia of a wild turn.

"You might want to buckle up, those fuckers were right behind you, so it's evasive manoeuvres until Lyonesse can catch up and tag us out," the driver said, banking a hard right and blithely ignoring the blaring of horns that the move earned him as he no doubt cut off drivers travelling the other direction.

Harry dragged himself back onto the seat, but eschewed the seatbelt for now in exchange for increased ability to turn around and see where they were being followed. He ducked instinctively as bullets hit the back window of the car, but fortunately the Kingsman-prototype bullet-proof glass remained intact.

The driver rounded another corner, and then with an abrupt left that was hidden from their pursuers by the curve of the road, suddenly shot into a narrow side-alley, losing one side-mirror from the tight fit, with a few sparks rising from the scrape of brick on metal.

"Do you think you could have found a tighter alley to turn down?" Harry demanded, noting with no little trepidation that they would be unable to open the car doors in this narrow space.

The driver snorted. "Keep your shirt on, bruv. All part of the plan."

The alley ended, and the car shot out into a slightly wider back street, lined with dust-bins. Another black taxi was waiting there.

"Ready when you are ma'am," the driver said.

"Right you are," came the familiar voice of one of Merlin's minions Harry recognised from a previous op, as the other black taxi shot out of the alley going in the other direction

Instead of flooring it out of there, which was what Harry assumed was the plan, his driver suddenly braked, and practically drifted into a driveway with a sharp turn of the wheel. He clicked a button, and suddenly a patch of wall covered in ivy slid sideways until the gap behind them was closed.

"What…"

"Shh!" the driver shushed Harry before he could ask any further questions, pressing another button (this one Harry recognised) that retracted the taxi light into the roof, making the car simply look like another black car. "We're ducked and covered. All yours Lyonnesse," the driver said.

"Cheers Eggsy, I've picked up your tails, so I'll try and lose these knobheads in traffic. See you on the other side," Lyonnesse replied.

"Eggsy?" Harry asked, a little incredulity leaking into his tone.

"Yeah?" the driver turned, and Harry saw that yes, his driver did indeed match the picture that Merlin had sent him as part of the file.

What surprised him though was just how little the boy (he couldn't be more than twenty three, surely,) resembled Lee. On the one hand, Lee and his grown son shared more than a few facial features. The photos on file were nearly interchangeable, in fact. (It was honestly a little eerie.)

On the other hand, there was something about the way that Eggsy held himself that told Harry that the family resemblance might very well end at the surface level.

Lee had been intelligent and soft-spoken, and it had been his complete unshakeable dedication to whatever cause he thought worthy that had drawn Harry to originally recommend him as a Lancelot candidate. More than anything else, the man had reminded Harry of a bloodhound – loyal, and unwavering in the hunt.

Eggsy on the other hand…

Well. Harry had barely made his acquaintance, but there was something about the way those eyes scrutinised him that warned him that the son was a very different animal indeed.

And then Eggsy grinned – an open, easy expression – and Harry was half-wondering if he had imagined the feral calculation in the boy's eyes.

"Galahad, innit? I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance," the boy said, offering a slightly sweaty hand for Harry to shake.

"Yes. I must apologise for my manners, I was rather expecting Lucan," Harry explained, taking the offered hand. Lucan was, after all, the driver that Harry was most used to working with, the man having been a contemporary of his since very shortly after Harry had first taken up the Galahad mantle.

(Good lord, that was nearly thirty years ago now, before this young pup had even been a tickle in Lee's leg. Where had the time gone?)

Eggsy shrugged. "Lucan was apparently needed for a mission with Percival, so Merlin made the call and said that I'd be an okay fit here. I got you out in one piece, so I guess I pass my first proper exam on this exfiltration gig."

Harry felt his brows raise. "I would hardly say that we are out of the woods yet, boy. The mission is not over-"

"Until we're back to base, yeah, I know," Eggsy interrupted him. "But my bit here with you's just about done, because here's your ride home," he said, indicating a showy silver Jaguar that pulled into a nearby driveway.

Harry felt his brows attempt to meet with his hairline.

"…That is my 'ride'? Isn't it a little… ostentatious?"

It was not as though ostentatiousness was unusual on a Kingsman operation, but normally, that trend was more so that one would fit in at the parties of the well-moneyed, rather than as part of an escape plan. Had Harry missed Merlin being replaced?

Eggsy snickered in response to Harry's expression. "'Donated' by one of the marks a few weeks back. Merlin agreed when I put forward the idea that no one would suspect anyone to have the balls to use a flash thing like that as the secondary getaway vehicle. Olwen ain't stopped beamin' since we gave 'er the keys."

From Harry's previous acquaintance with the hijab-wearing driver (whose family had apparently emigrated to Britain back in the '50s, so regardless of what Fors's expression had said, she was as much a British citizen as anyone else in Kingsman) he didn't doubt it. The woman was a complete and utter menace behind the wheel, which was why Merlin tended to use her skills ruthlessly and often.

"Damn straight I haven't," came Olwen's voice through the comms. "This car really was far too good for that prat you liberated it from. Come on over and hop in, Galahad, we haven't got all day. Eggsy, you know the plan. If you make it back to base on time, my sister-in-law made too many felafels again and I'll split them with you."

"Roger that Olwen," Eggsy responded, his tone crisp and his teeth bared in a grin. "You know I'd do anything for your sister-in-law's cooking."

An indelicate snort came over the comms. "You just say that because you haven't tried her baklava yet. Galahad, our window is closing, move your arse."

Harry realised that he'd been spending time examining Eggsy that he should have been spending on the more immediate task of getting back to base. He jerked a polite nod at Eggsy and then swiftly vacated the vehicle in favour of Olwen's Jaguar. He slid into the passenger seat, and nodded to his new driver as he clicked his seatbelt into place.

"At your leisure," he said.

Olwen smirked at him, threw him a brightly-coloured cap to wear as an easy disguise, and then threw the car into gear with gusto.

A few moments later, and the car with Eggsy in it was out of sight.

Harry watched Olwen out the corner of his eye as she threaded them between a lorry and two scooters, and saw with little surprise that Eggsy had been entirely correct in his assessment – Olwen was clearly enjoying her new vehicle.

Not wanting to be picked up on the auditory communications line, (but knowing that Merlin would gut him if he switched the microphone off before an op ended,) Harry slipped his glasses off and sat them on top of his cap before leaning forward towards the dashboard and using British Sign Language to ask Olwen if he had understood correctly when Eggsy had implied that the silver Jaguar was entirely down to him.

Olwen laughed, and responded one-handedly that Harry had heard correctly, and that if he made her a cuppa when this was all over she could be convinced to tell him the whole mad story.

"Nice driving kid," she said aloud. "I'll let Merlin know that as far as I'm concerned, I'm happy to work with you as an off-sider if need be."

"Cheers Olwen," came the reply over the comms. I'll sit tight here for another hour or two, then I'll go find Tintagel."

"You do that," Olwen responded. "I'll see you the next time we're both in Camelot. Going into the tunnel soon, so we'll be out of contact for a short while."

"Drive safe," Eggsy said. "See you later."

A few moments later, and Olwen drove into the tunnel, temporarily cutting off comms.

"So, what did you think of the new hire?" Olwen asked Harry, brown eyes glittering with amusement behind her regulation Kingsman Glasses.

Harry huffed a laugh. "Unorthodox, but I can see him being a good fit. Not really what I expected but…" that was not exactly a bad thing.

Olwen nodded. "Yeah, he's rough around the edges, no use beating about the bush, but he's quick, and not afraid to speak up if he thinks he's got value to add. We were going to only do a single decoy for this time around before he suggested the fakeout with this beautiful car," she patted the leather upholstered dash with a dreamy smile.

Harry bit back a chuckle. Eggsy had not been joking when he had mentioned how happy Olwen was the car. "I know Merlin has been singing his praises, despite the somewhat… unusual recruitment method. What was Arthur's reaction?"

Olwen rolled her eyes.

"Galahad, when was the last time that Arthur paid any serious attention to us plebs down in Merlin's division? Far as I'm aware he thinks that Lyonnesse and Leon are two separate people, and he's got not the foggiest that Morgause and Elaine married each other the second the legislation went through back in 2013. Hell, he told Merlin to make me take my hijab off, and still hasn't cottoned on that Merlin just stopped putting me on ops where Arthur was likely to see me." Olwen shrugged. "I'm only ever a getaway driver or a paramedic, so it's not like I'm undercover most of the time anyway, (like anyone expects a quality lady like me to be driving one of you white boys anywhere anyway,) and besides, I wear reversible scarves, so give me a minute to switch and ditch the glasses and BAM! Whole new look."

Harry just nodded. He knew better than to offer any disagreements he might have (and honestly, he thought she had a point) and besides, she had answered his question.

It was for the best really that Arthur apparently hadn't noticed Merlin hiring Lee Unwin's son right under his nose.

"So," he said, changing the subject. "What name does Eggsy get now that he's set to pass?" Because if he was being used on a mission with actual Round Table Knights like Galahad, he knew that he was practically confirmed as a useful asset, and Kingsman in general (and Merlin in particular) was nothing if not possessive of appropriate talent.

"Elyan," Olwen replied.

Harry blinked. "Hellion?"

Olwen snorted. "Appropriate, but no, El-y-an," she answered, sounding out the name out for him. "Good solid name. Bastard of Bors, born due to trickery by his mother with a magic ring, and a cousin of Guinevere who helped her and Lancelot escape after the betrayal." People in Merlin's division generally read up on the myths out of curiosity.

Harry blinked. "A knight's name? What's Morgan thinking?" he wondered, naming the shadowy division head who had charge of Intelligence, did the background checks and as the resident Arthurian legend expert got to pick the code names. (Arthur couldn't be bothered, and Merlin tended to let his ex-wife have her way on things like this.)

Olwen grinned. "You know as well as me that that woman has a funny sense of humour." Her expression shifted into a slightly more business-like one, and she nodded at the approaching tunnel's end. "Comms are back on," she warned him.

Harry nodded in response.

"Get us home, Olwen. If what I've heard about Lancelot's last mission is even half true, then it's going to be all hands on deck."

Olwen nodded sharply in agreement, but refrained from commenting. Which was telling in and of itself, because Merlin's division and Morgan's division tended to know anything worth knowing to the last person long before the Round Table Knights, just due to the nature of their respective roles of running support for field operations and generally gathering intel.

Well shit, thought Harry.

This could be a serious problem.