Chapter Text
Allison Hart-Reid had been around Kingsman ever since she was four years old, when she was “adopted” by one Harry Hart and his soulmate Elliot Reid. In all technicalities she wasn’t adopted through official channels, it was more of a falsification of official documents that just suddenly appeared in the adoption system one day already filed processed and without arousing suspicion. Since Harry was a Field Agent for Kingsman she spent most if not all the time with Kingsman HQ’s resident Merlin, otherwise known as Papa (Harry was Dad).
By age 6 she knew all the Kingsman Knights by their given names and had most of them wrapped around her little finger. Arthur enjoyed her presence in the Mansion as long as it did not intervene with the work going on as she brought a sense of Home to the other agents (though the rumor mill was he tolerated her so as not to lose his top agent and genius creator) and she spent a lot of time with the Agents canine companions.
She was 10 years old when her Uncle Leo was killed and the process to select a new Lancelot began. Her daddy’s candidate, Lee Unwin, was a nice man; they had met when Allie had been reading in the KHQ Library, an 18th century French Book on reincarnation, when Mr. Unwin had walked in to study for one of the test they had tomorrow. He was surprised at first to see a young child in KHQ.
- “Hello there, who might you be?” a voice spoke from the doorway of the library causing Allie to look up from the tome in her lap, a young man was standing there, blond hair in an elegant coif.
She recognized from the live feeds in her Papa’s office the few times she was there observing the test. This was her daddy’s candidate for the position.
- “I’m Allie” and offered no more explanation, he expected nothing less from a child in a house full of spies.
He hung out with her that afternoon for a little bit before leaving her to her reading, and he sat on a table across the room to study and they stayed in a comfortable silence for a few hours. Soon after Lee found a board game in one corner of the library, and since he already knew the material as well as was going to by now, he brought it over to her with a mischievous look in his eyes. Given the fact that she as reading an 18th century book in French, she would be a formidable opponent in Scrabble and with the happy gleam that appeared in her eye at the sight of the game he was in for the game of his life. Allie reminded him exceedingly of his little boy, Eggsy, how he missed him so.
It was Harry who found them at the exclamation of success from Allie and Lee’s disbelieving ‘WHAT’. His little girl was roaring with laughter and his candidate was pouting like an indignant child.
- “And what might this be? Allison what have I told you about not warning people before you play Scrabble with them?”
- “It’s quite all right sir, I believe the French book she was reading was ample warning enough.” Lee spoke amusedly at his sponsor.
Meanwhile Allison was smiling innocently in the same direction Lee had spoken.
- “Sorry ayr.” The Gaelic word for father was something he knew Merlin had taught her (with a perfect accent and everything), but he expected her to use it on the Scottish man, not him.
- “It’s all right sweet pea, though it could be considered rude.”
She had the decency to look a bit ashamed and apologized to Lee.
- “Nah, it’s okay, it’s been a while since I had a decent challenger.” This did not surprise Harry as Lee had a masters in English Literature.
- “I came to inform you that dinner is ready for the recruits, Allie your Papa is waiting for you in his office something about a surprise for you before we left.”
Allie perked up something fierce before quickly thanking Lee for playing with her and saying a quick goodbye before running out of the library. Harry watched her go and as soon as she turned at the corner her turned back to look at his candidate curiously.
- “Did you spend all your afternoon here, Lee?”
The young man nodded at him.
- “Did you get any studying done?” he asked once again in a stern tone.
Lee nodded again.
- “Yes sir, I studied for a few hours before we started the game. Sir, if I may ask, who’s child is she?”
Harry regarded him for a moment, wondering if he should answer, he knew that Lee had a young son waiting for him at home (a fact that tugged at his heart) before opening his mouth.
- “She’s my daughter, Mr. Unwin.”
He took satisfaction in the surprise that flitted across Lee’s face.
She was heartbroken when Lee Unwin was killed during the last part of his training but was endlessly grateful for the decision he took, as he had died protecting her daddy and papa to make sure they returned to her.
And so James Spencer became the new Agent Lancelot, and subsequently discovered his soulmate in Agent Percival. Arthur was not amused.
At age 11 her training began with the mated pair, Agent Percival & Lancelot. She advanced through Kingsman training incredibly fast, taking to combat, weapons and tech training like a fish to water all the while completing her high school education at 16 and beginning the first of her three degrees.
Just before her 18th birthday she completed her bachelors in Sociology, and on the day of her birthday party she was kidnapped by enemies of the Agency and tortured for information on Kingsman and its leader. They moved her constantly which delayed the Knights trying to find her, and so on the third week of hell on earth she was rescued.
While Merlin was not usually a field agent, he was Kingsman Agent and as such was trained in every and all form of combat given to the Knights which was a given considering he trained all the recruits. And so Agent Galahad and Merlin stormed hell and high water and got their daughter back.
On her 19th birthday, after a year of healing, therapy, and cosmetic surgeries to remove the worst of the scars from the torture, she was inducted into Kingsman and dubbed Guinevere, a title only used on the most special occasions in Kingsman history. In the 96 years since its inception, Kingsman Agency had only had one other Guinevere, in 1957, her fathers were extremely proud.
By the time she was almost 22, she had made her Sociology bachelors into a Masters and had gotten two bachelors, one in English literature and one in World History, and was choosing a concentration in which to move her masters into a PhD. All the years spent devouring the library at Kingsman had paid off.
Allison was born with two sets of words on her body, indicating both her soulmates were older than her.
One set of words was written in scrabble type lettering, it trailed across her shoulder from the juncture of her neck and shoulder and ending at the bottom of her shoulder blade.
She met him at a tea shop she was escaping to on the row of businesses across the road from Kingsman Tailors.
She had been injured in her last mission, a henchman decided she was a nuisance and threw her out a window leaving Agent Lancelot alone in the room. She had tried to land as gracefully as possible so she could avoid injury but she had not taken into account a mass of ropes near the windows in which her arm got tangled and twisted so roughly she let out a yell of pain, the rope being as old as it was gave away quickly and she landed on her twisted arm.
Needless to say, Morgana and Merlin were not happy with her and her arm was incased in and she was on desk duty until further notice. She was working with her Papa in his office, her extensive knowledge of technology and resourcefulness of a Kingsman Agent made her a great handler and Merlin was happy for the bit of workload taken of him and his daughter being relatively safer for the time being.
She crossed the street and entered the little shop, controlling the urge to get a new bag of mixed tea considering she had 5 already at home, and ordered two Earl Grey & Lavender Teas to go. A short while later she walked out of the shop.
She was barely out of the awning when a young man barely older than herself was shoved into her bad arm.
The suddenness of the impact caused a startled cry of pain to leave her (startling her papa by the sound that came from her earpiece) as she dropped the tea, the hot liquid splashing all over the bottom of her pant suit. Her center of balance disturbed, she would have fallen had the man not regained his footing and taken a hold of her good arm to steady her.
- “I am terribly sorry, Miss, did I hurt you?”
Now considering her line of work it was not uncommon to hear her words spoken so she didn’t give it a second thought before responding.
- “It’s quite alright, I am uninjured, though I am a bit upset about the tea.”
The man in front of her choked on his own air before standing up straighter. The people around them seem to realize what had just happened before she did as they gave them a wide berth and did not complain about them being in the middle of the street.
The young man allowed a small smile to grace his face, which in Allison’s opinion made his face light up.
- “I suppose I should not be surprised I met you outside a tea shop.”
Understanding finally dawned on Allison and she heard a small click in her ear piece signifying her papa cutting of audio communications.
A smile tugged at her lips before responding.
- “I suppose not.”
Before they could continue the conversation another young man almost slammed into her in his haste to get into the shop.
- “Lets continue this conversation elsewhere, shall we? I have a feeling we’re in the way…” the man spoke in a dry tone
Allie chuckled before agreeing. They walked little ways off from the tea shop, nearly arriving at the Tailor’s, before sitting down at a small bench.
For a both remained silent, and Allison removed the part of the suit covering her arm to readjust the loosened sling all the while subtlety looking over the man seated next to her as she knew he would do too.
The first thing she noticed was the mass of curly brown hair atop his head, some pieces falling over his hazel green eyes. She looked down momentarily at his attire while adjusting the tightness of the sling and almost snorted in laughter. He was wearing a maroon cardigan over a white shirt with a black tie, he looked so reminiscent of her papa that it was amusing. All that was left was to learn that he worked in tech and she would probably lose it.
He, on the other hand, was somewhat amazed at the young woman in front of him, she couldn’t have been more than 3 years younger than him. She was wearing a blue pinstripe suit that looked to be perfectly tailored to her figure and black heeled oxfords with brogues. The suit jacket was only being worn around one arm and covering the one with the sling, she had blondish brown hair that was put in a mermaid braid. When she finally looked up at him again he saw her hazel brown eyes, a small smirk playing on her red painted lips.
- “May I know your name?” she spoke while leaning her good arm on the bench and he allowed a smirk to play on his own face before answering.
- “My name is Quentin, Quentin Peterson” he spoke softly yet she heard him easily over the thrum of traffic, “and what might your name be?”
- “Allison Hart-Reid.”
Her answer made him cast a quick look at her left ring finger but there was nothing.
- “My parents didn’t want to give up their last names so they hyphenated them.”
He nodded briefly and before he could speak again she continued.
- “Do you have another set of words?” her words were blunt as it was not common decorum to just ask about someone else’s soulmarks. But seeing as they were soulmates it was more likely that they shared another set of words.
- “Yes I do; would you like to see them? Your words I mean…”
At the nod of her head he laid his left hand facing upwards on the palm of her hand, and there written in her neat hand writing were her words from earlier assuring him she was unhurt.
- “Would you like to see the other set?” Quentin asked and at her answer he pulled up the sleeve of his cardigan, uncaring of it stretching, removed the cufflink and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt.
Little ways away from her writing was another set in slanted, bold writing stating “A bloody big ship, excuse me” in the same writing as her other set.
Quentin always felt a bit irritated at those words, he obviously spoke first to his other soulmate and he was dismissed as if whatever he had said didn’t matter. His hand suddenly grasped hers in an effort to anchor himself into the here and now and not whatever would happen in the future.
- “I would show you your words but I do not want to be arrested for public indecency.” Her tone was quiet as to avoid distressing him with an amused look on her face and his hand tightened briefly around hers as he snorted in laughter.
Her earpiece beeped, and she gently reclaimed her hand to look at the delicate watch on her wrist and stood up suddenly. She had been gone an hour
- “I am so sorry Q; I have to go my, break is nearly over.”
At her words he looked at his watch too, before looking back at her momentarily distracted.
- “Q?” he asked curiously and was surprised when a red flush spread across her cheeks.
- “I’m sorry, it just slipped out.”
A shy smile graced her lips as she looked at him.
- “It’s all right, Q… I like it.” He added with his own smile
Her smile brightened at his words
- “It was great to finally meet you…Q.”
His smile widened and he answered
- “It was very nice to meet you as well, Allison.”
Before they parted ways, Q mustered up his courage and clasped her hand in his again.
- “Would you like to go out for dinner soon?” he spoke, slightly shakily.
The flush on her face darkened slightly more to his great content as she nodded, before turning his hand around and laying it on her sling as she pulled out a permanent marker. Her earpiece beeped again and she hurriedly and clearly wrote down her number on his palm before offering it to him. He, in turn, decided to write it down on her plaster looking amusedly at all the little drawings that were hidden by the sling as he wrote on the only available space on her forearm accompanied by a Q in a little square complete with a little 10 in the corner to symbolize Scrabble.
She let out a short laugh once she saw it and smiled at him as he returned the marker before walking into the tailor shop little ways away from the bench.
Q’s commute back to MI6 was done with an extra skip in his step.
When Allison finally walked into her papa’s office with a smile she was greeted with the sight of Kingsman’s resident Merlin leaning back in his swivel chair sipping at a cup of steaming tea in the white cup with the Scrabble M she had gifted him a few Father’s Days ago.
She flushed once again when she realized she forgot to go back for more tea.
- “I am so sorry, papa.” She spoke covering her eyes and cheeks with her good hand.
Merlin smirked behind his tea at his blushing daughter. If Harry could see her now! She hadn’t blushed this bad since her 19th birthday when Agent Bors had asked her out.
- “Oh no dear, don’t worry about me...” he spoke, his Scottish brogue lilting his r’s “Well, what’s his name then?”
Allison turned serious at that.
- “You are not running a background check, papa!” she stated with a tone of finality and he could’ve laughed at how similar she sounded to Harry.
Harry piped up from the computer screen which was showing his reflection in a loo mirror.
- “We just want to know you’ll be safe, dear, soulmate or not he needs to gain our trust.”
She sighed briefly before pulling another swivel chair close to her Papa’s and leaning against his shoulder.
- “I know…his name is Quentin Peterson.” She told Merlin and he dropped a kiss on her forehead before moving to his station and, after putting Harry’s feed in another screen, began pulling up different data bases and running his name with references to his appearance and range of age.
She left before any substantial information popped up, only seeing his birth place and University, she wanted to get to know him on her own terms.
Merlin, however, kept on investigating after instructing Harry to go back to his mark and Allison to test the new equipment that she could with only one hand.
At one point the man laughed so loudly that Harry had to ask him if he was okay.
- “I’m fine Harry, but this young man is full of surprises.” The amusement in his tone was palpable and brought a small smile to Harry’s face.
- “In what way?”
- “Graduated top of his class in Computer and Mechanical engineering, got a master’s degree in both and is on his way to finish his doctorate in both.
Harry let out a snort of amusement as he boarded the Kingsman cab that would take him back to KHQ.
- “Dear Lord, he’s basically a younger version of you, Elliot.”
A warmth spread across his chest at Harry’s use of his real name, the instances when they used his real name were so far in between that he treasured each one. He was kind of convinced that half of the Kingsman Knights and even Arthur had forgotten that his name wasn’t actually Merlin.
- “I noticed, dear.” Elliot spoke wryly
- “I’m on my way to HQ.”
- “Roger that, Galahad.” Merlin answered and logged the even on the Agent’s mission report of the day.
Across the Thames in the MI6 building Q was running his own investigation. Not too much, but just enough to be sure she wasn’t a Serial Murderer.
And she wasn’t.
She had various degrees, including a Bachelor’s in world history, an on-going Master’s in English, one in sociology and the beginnings of a PhD for ethnic and gender studies. Her parents, Harry Hart and Elliot Reid were a bit sketchy with not a lot of history behind them but they apparently were Tailors at a shop called Kingsman, which her recalled was where Allison had walked in that afternoon after saying goodbye.
He didn’t abuse his contacts as an agent of MI6 for info, using his own hacking skills to pursue databases. He came across an anomaly on her parents as neither seemed to actually receive payment of any sort from Kingsman Tailors and neither did Allison but he let it be. He would soon find out over dinner.
Speaking of dinner…
He felt a surge of warmth and giddiness in his chest, he looked at his hand where her number was visible written in gleaming black ink and fought the urge to call her immediately. He shook his head and turned off his station so he could go home, he would call her tomorrow, maybe…hopefully…
That night, at her home, Allison was fighting much the same urge when her dad knocked on her door.
- “Come in.”
Harry Hart walked into his daughter’s room where she was staying until her apartment was finished being renovated. He found her curled into a burrito of blankets at her plastered arm laying on a pillow, her regular glasses on her face.
- “Hello, dear.”
She looked up at him then and extended the hand that wasn’t injured towards him, silently asking him to lay down with her.
Harry, already having changed into his civvies, agreed, and carefully laid next to Allison being mindful of her injuries and wrapped an arm around her.
-“Hi daddy.” She whispered
- “What’s wrong, darling?”
Allison struggled to find a way to answer that question without sounding like a complete imbecile, and the struggle must have shown on her face as a hint of amusement crawled into her father’s eyes.
- “I’m worried…about Quentin…he’s sweet but it was a bit like you and papa, all love and sweetness with an undertone of danger to him.”
- “Really? I thought he was remarkably like your papa.”
Allison let out a snort of laughter and hid her face in her pillow and Harry laughed along.
- “He is, isn’t he?”
- “You know darling that even if his words are on your skins, you are not obligated to be with him, if you feel he will be a poisonous influence in your life you are well within your rights to walk away.”
She nodded slowly at his words of affirmation but chose to remain silent. She knew she could take care of herself if worst came to pass, she was a Kingsman for God sake, but it was great to know her parents were also there for her.
Harry smiled at his little girl and kissed her forehead before getting up. As he walked to the door he looked back asking the same silent question he always did and at her nod flicked off the lights and left his daughter submerged in the light of the glow stars in her ceiling before heading off to his and Elliot’s room.
When he walked into their room, Elliot was in bed on his laptop with a deep frown on his face.
- “What’s wrong?”
Elliot looked up at Harry when he spoke.
- “Our daughter’s soulmate is MI6.”
Harry stared at his own soulmate for a beat before speaking.
- “Are we talking ‘field agent’ MI6 or tech MI6?”
Elliot typed once again at his keyboard and information started popping up.
- “He works in the R&D department.”
Harry couldn’t help but laugh at the irony.
- “He really is a younger version of you, how dangerous is he?”
- “He just works in designing and implementing new technology for his assigned agent. I’m surprised he hasn’t been promoted, his agents have the top mission rankings. But honestly, if he is anything like me, give him a good reason and he could tear down the government before his first cup of tea in the morning.”
His husbands tone was serious and he knew that Elliot could actually bring the government down if he wanted to, the only reason he wasn’t a field agent was because he refused to point a gun at his dog during training, even if, as he told Arthur, he could tell the gun was full of blanks by the weight of it.
- “We’ll keep an eye on him,” Harry began “but Ally is old enough and more than capable of taking care of herself. James and Martin trained her well, not to mention us.”
Elliot nodded and gave one last hard look at his laptop before powering it down.