Battle Scars (Kingsman: The Secret Service)

14 - Last Test

If there was one thing that Liz is looking forward to after all of the tests, she could not wait to stop wearing these hideous jumpsuits. The grey, plaid suits might just be her least favorite thing about all of this. Although, she still hated Charlie more than them. 

Liz walks down the hallway of the Kingsman headquarters to the room that Merlin instructed her to go to with Beau beside her. The three remaining candidates knew that the next test would be coming up soon and none of them knew what it would be- or even when. Liz had managed to ask Harry if there had ever been two candidates to win, curious to know if it was really possible for Eggsy and her to win. It has never happened in Kingsman history, but, as Harry said, sometimes, rules are meant to change. 

She stops in front of the wooden door and twists the doorknob, stepping inside. Inside the room, Arthur is sitting down in an armchair near a fireplace. Another armchair sits across from him. Liz shuts the door behind her once she is sure Beau is out of the way.

"Merlin said you wanted to see me, sir?" Liz strolls a few feet forward.

Arthur motions for the chair in front of him. "Sit down."

Patting the side of her thigh, Liz orders Beau to follow her to the chair and sit down near it. He's learned so much over the time since she's had him. There were rare times when she would actually have to use a verbal commands. Liz could even just give him a look and he would understand her. 

"Pretty dog." Arthur nods his head at Beau. "What's his name?"

Liz smiled, "Beau?" 

"Why that name?" 

Liz shrugs her shoulders. "I just liked the name."

"It pains me to admit it, but I think that one day, you might be as good a spy as any of them." Arthur almost grumbles as he says it. 

She tilts her head to the side, eyes squinting at the older man across from her. Liz could hear the disdain in Arthur's voice when he said that. Everyone knew that Arthur doubted Eggsy and Liz's ability to become Kingsman. From the beginning, he never thought that they should be here in general. 

Arthur picks up a pistol from the small table beside his chair. Liz swallows a lump in her throat when Arthur points the barrel of the gun directly at her. She straighten ups and stares him down.

After a second, Arthur removes his thumb and lets the gun spin on his fingers to offer the handle to her. "Take it." 

Liz reaches forward with a stone cold expression on her face, not letting Arthur have any hint of what she is thinking about. This is another test. The last test. 

"Shoot the dog." 

Liz's eyes dart to Arthur, shocked. Her gaze moves down to Beau, who is watching her with adoration from the ground. Everything in the room seemed to freeze and Liz could hear her heart thumping in her ears. That's the last test? Liz turns her hand to point the gun at the dog she loves with all of her heart. 

A small whimper comes from Beau as he backs up and lays on the ground with his dark eyes on the gun. Liz's heart breaks. That's why Merlin had them pick a dog in the first place. They wanted the candidates to grow close to the dog because this would be the biggest test of all. 

The gun slightly shakes in Liz's hand. She was capable of completing the other tasks, but this one was too hard for her. She couldn't bring herself to pull down on the trigger. Not on Beau. Beau loved her so much and she loved him. 

Swiftly, Liz moves her arm through the air to point the gun at Arthur's chest instead, deciding with her heart instead of her head. Her breath is steady as she keeps the gun pointed at Arthur. In the back of her mind, she actually does consider shooting him instead. He always rubbed her wrong. There was something about him that she couldn't trust, even if Harry did. 

Arthur raises a brow, as if he knows the thoughts that are running through the girl's mind. A gun goes off in another room. Was that Eggsy or Roxy? Did one of the actually shoot their dog? Eggsy loves J.B. so much. Liz had a hard time imagining him doing that to his dog. 

"Give me the gun." Arthur instructs.

Just like he did, Liz has the gun spinning on her finger to hand it back to him. 

"At least the other girl's got balls." Arthur grabs the gun out of her hands. "Get out. I knew you couldn't make it." 

Liz pushes herself up from the arm chair. Beau darts to her side, staying close to her boots and far away from Arthur. Her hands wrap around the door knob.

"Go home." Arthur shakes his head at her. "Your father would be so disappointed in you. He didn't even hesitate when it was his time."

Hurt washes through her body as she shuffles out of the room. Maybe she didn't know her father as well as she had thought. She was so young when he died, but Liz remembered certain moments all of the stories her mother used to tell her before she went crazy. 

Liz bends down to scoop Beau up in her arms. "I love you, Beau." She presses a kiss to his head while walking back to the bunk room to gather her things to leave. "I guess I just wasn't cut out to be a Kingsman after all."

By the time Liz walks out of the front door of the headquarters, she sees Eggsy standing on  top of the stairs. "Eggsy?" She sets Beau down by her feet.

Eggsy spins around with Beau in his hands. "Liz? Did you-"

"No," She shakes her head with her lips pressed together. "Thought about pulling the trigger on Arthur, though." 

"That thought crossed my mind, too." Eggsy states. He looks down at the black taxi in front of the stairs. "Come on." 

"Eggsy, what are you-" Liz shuts up when she realizes that he plans on hijacking the taxi. She jogs down the stairs. "Beau, come on, boy." She opens the back door for him before climbing in the passenger seat. 

Was this the right thing to do? Definitely not. However, the couple were rather mad at  Arthur and this seemed like the right thing to do at the moment. 

XXXX

I really did plan on making this a lot longer, but if I did, I wasn't sure if I would be able to upload it tonight because I feel kind of sick. 

I didn't want Liz to do this test. I couldn't see her doing it anyways. And it would be weird if she got it and Eggsy didn't. 

This story is almost to the end. I'm so excited to write the action scenes. They are going to be so much fun.

Question: What do you think?

So, yeah!