Merlin had spent the previous night setting up for the extra lessons for Ella. It was a stretch to say he was nervous, but but he took special care in making sure all the stuff he would need was set up just as he wanted it in one of the sparring rooms in the gymnasium. Flirting with her had been fun, and had almost come as second nature to the wizard, but he had to tread carefully. Archimedes was still at the back of his thoughts, a small niggle that would probably stay for him for a long time after this. But he was moving on, in more ways than one, and even though he really shouldn’t pursue it with a recruit, having someone who he could banter back and forth with was good for him. Although there weren’t any rules against fraternisation amongst actual staff, getting involved with someone who wasn’t yet part of Kingsman, was a very different matter.
But he had always been the pillar of professionalism, and would remain just that, even with such a formidable opponent. She wanted sparring and NLP instruction, and he would give just that. The problem would be which one would be the more dangerous for him. Not physically dangerous mind, but in which one he would have to make sure to keep enough distance to stay professional in his relationship with her. He was contemplating just that before going to bed on his walk with Cubitus, and had made up his mind by the time he had finished his last cup of tea of the day. “Well girl, seems like you can stay in late tomorrow.” he said to the ball of fluff at his feet. She was growing by the day, and was turning into an amazing companion for him. “Because Master needs to get up early, but I might have an extra friend to go running with after that. Come on, let’s go to bed.” Cubitus barked softly, and Merlin turned in chuckling. ‘Yes, I might find a new friend as well tomorrow’, he thought.
When she heard him call out for her to come in, she opened the door and stepped in. She was relieved to see Merlin also dressed down and ready for a fight. Looks like sparring was first. He got up from leaning on his desk and motioned her to the door.
“Oh, okay, great, good thing I showed up in this and not my little black dress.” she joked as she walked back out the door. They walked side by side down the hall. HQ was silent, with only the air vents and their footsteps making noise.
“I’ve made sure one of them was free, not that many people are around there at this time of day. Most of the agents are still asleep, and those who were up late usually go to bed around 4.” he informed her. She nodded, adrenaline starting to kick in as they made it to the gym.
He opened the door and waved her in. There were more instruments in the gym than normal hours, many of them things she hadn’t even seen before. He mentioned the rubber duck, at least that she knew from their basic training. She walked over to where they were and picked one of them up. It was slightly heavy in her hands. She walked back over to him, fondling the weapon. “So, I’m out of bullets...and someone is coming after me, ready to attack...what would you say is my best approach for attack?” she asked, standing fairly close to him with only the fake gun between them.
