Means to an End

extras 
Means to an End is the tenth part of the Loaded March series. It was uploaded to Archive of Our Own on September 23, 2012. It consists of 110,988 words.
Read it here and prepare for pain.
==Summary==
Conspiracies. double-dealings. Intrigue.
Arthur has had it with being manipulated, with waiting for something to happen, with not being in control. The enemy is playing games and has every intention of using them and throwing them away like a two-bit hooker past their prime, and honestly? The team's done with this rubbish. They've been pushed around, kept in the dark, strung along.
Now it's time to push back, to take risks, and to hope it's not going to go all to Hell.
==Plot==
Merlin and Arthur get married.
No, really, that's it. That's all that happens.
(We don't talk about the rest)
ooOOoo
Arthur thinks that he made a mistake. He shouldn't have pushed Morgause. Because of his ridiculous overthinking, he constantly is checking his phone--even whilst in post-coital bliss (and there is a lot of that). Merlin is not happy. The team is not happy. Then Pendraong Co.'s Servers crash. Arthur is furious and suspicious.  Merlin decides to distract Arthur by taking him out--just the two of them--no body guards, no roles, no phones--just them. Arthur takes Merlin to his favorite restaruant that he went to in college. Whilst conversing, Merlin proposes that they should elope, immediatley. (insert Extra Breathless at my Door).  And then they have Gaius marry them with an old Pagan rite. It is beautiful. Then the consumate their marriage in the clearing/grove they were married in.  Arthur is in a much better mood.
And that's where we like to think it ended.
But now there is pain acomin'.
Arthur is sure that the NWO has something to do with Pendragon's server crash, so the next day he sends Merlin, Gwaine and Lance to another Pendragon location-- the super secret Nanotechnology and Advanced Robotics laboratory bunker, which is where Gwen works. Arthur goes to Pendragon HQ. Morgause does call that day, saying that she has a man at Pendragon working on the servers. Arthur's job is to help get an external harddrive out of the building. Merlin hacks the Pendragon security and well, everything, and keeps an eye on the situation. When the NWO guy starts his download, Merlin runs on Encrypt on it and sets up some more secuity on it so that the NWO can't access the informaiton on the harddrive. The NWO mess with the heating and cooling and eventually trigger the firealarm. Everyone is evacuated. Arthur gets the harddrive. It has a drop off address on it.
Arthur and Percy then engage on a not so wonderful treck across London, like a messed up scavenger hunt game. Arthur is pissed. When they finally talk to the NWO things do not go as planned. Will ends up hurting Percy's leg and Arthur is almost shot in the head by Bryn--the bullet actually grazes his head. While this is going on, Merlin and the rest of the team has no idea what is going on. Merlin is barely holding it together. Gwaine is having an even harder time. Leon gives in and tells Morgana a bit of what's up. Eventually Arthur calls to have Kay pick them up and when they arrive, Morgana accuses Merlin of working with the NWO. Morgana and Arthur have words. Arthur  tells Excalibur that they will fill them in on what happened fully in the morning. Lance patches up Perce and Arthur. Merlin takes Arthur upstairs to take care of him in every way. Arthur is a bit of a mess, really. He's scared and is afraid that he's going to lose Merlin. Morgause calls angry with him---because of the encryption.
The next morning Arthur tells Excalibur what happened the night before. Merlin is a bit crushed that Will was involved, but he knows it could have turned out worse if he hadn't been. Uther calls to schedule a family dinner--Merlin is invited. Merlin is nervous and a bit panicked. Things are a bit tense at dinner. Uther is trying to test Merlin and Arthur and Leon can definitely feel the tension between Morgana and Merlin. Leon and Morgana announce their engagement, kind of. When Uther turns talk to the company, Merlin leaves the room and seeks out Perceval. Arthur, Leon, Morgana, and Uther talk shop and about Lightforce, the company that worked on fixing the Pendragon servers. Arthur discovers that they are going to have to take a trip to France to check out a Pendragon prototype.
Merlin talks a bit with Gwaine and Percy. Merlin admits that 'he could have slapped Morgana' right when Morgana walks into the room. They have a nice little chat, and things are relatively smoothed over. Merlin finds out that Morgana is a seer and directs her to Gaius.
Before leaving for Paris, Arthur meets up with Olaf to discuss current events. Once in France, the team goes out for dinner to let off steam. They celebrate Leon and Morgana's engagement, they make fun of Arthur and Merlin, and Gwaine lets it spill that Gwen is pregnant. There is much arguing over many betting polls.
Arthur and Merlin have a desperate night together, afraid for what could happen the next day--afraid of the worst. (Okay, now we have to prepare for some pretty painful stuff)
At the testing game, Arthur had set a trap of sorts to see how information was flowing in the several governemnt contacts that he has been getting info from and reporting to. He knows that the NWO want this EMP prototype and so does the government. The trap is set and sprung, but there is chaos when that happens. Merlin and Kay are in the testing field when the last EMP goes off. Merlin goes down lack a sack of potatoes--his magic screaming in pain--Arthur feels the pain throuh his bond. The prototype testing grounds are attacked. Dragons attack. Morgana and Gwen are kidnapped. Merlin and Kay are taken. The team on the dragons capture the prototype. The team is hurt.
The end up on Hunith Emyrs's doorstep, beaten and a bit broken.
==Quotes==
"No, really. Okay. New rule. No more self-doubt. You're the most gorgeous man on the planet. If I'm looking at someone else, it's because I'm thinking, I'm the luckiest bloke ever, not because I'm checking out his arse. All right? It's a permanent rule. Because, really, this is getting a bit ridiculous."
-Merlin to Arthur
"I'm mad in love with you, Merlin. So much. I don't want to lose you. Ever. And I get scared, sometimes. That I might...  No, it's all right. I know Merlin. I know. You don't have to tell me. I can feel it, sometimes. Late at night when you're finished grousing at me for staying up late with paperwork and have finally given up. When you're curled up on your side with your bum against my knee and a pillow over your head because I won't turn off the light. You'll take a deep breath and you'll sigh, and I'll feel it. How you feel about me. I know, and it takes my breath away and I wonder if you know how I feel about you." -Arthur to Merlin
Gwaine let go of the phone, but after a moment, his voice as fragile as crystal, asked, "And what if we lose you?"'Merlin didn't have an answer for him. Instead, he put on his most cocksure smile and said, "Come on, what are you talking about? That's never going to happen, mate."--Gwaine to Merlin
"Just close your eyes," Merlin whispered. "Close them and take deep breaths. Count backward from a hundred until all you can hear in your head is your heart pounding. Listen for the silence in between the heartbeats and try to make that moment stretch as long as you can. It'll be like freezing time. And when it's frozen, that's when you'll know where I am. It'll just be a pull. A direction. And you'll know I'm close when the sound of my heart pounding fills the silence in yours."                                                                                                                                                                                                              --Merlin to Arthur
"They'll come after you, Merlin. I know they will. Nothing else makes sense. They're desperate at this point, they're on some sort of a schedule. Why would they take the risk they did by sending in a hacker instead of asking me to copy the information over for them? Because they wanted to make sure that they got all the information they needed up front. They could trust me to walk it out, but not to make sure that the data was there. And why didn't they just wait until they had a better opportunity to come in and get the files themselves? Because they don't have time. They're running out of options. And doing something drastic--"                                                                                                                                                                                                                    --Arthur to Merlin
"And..." Arthur's voice turned strangled and hoarse. "And if they get you, if they take you and I can't get you back, fuck the mission, tell me you'll do anything, and I mean anything --" Merlin didn't let him finish. He pulled away from Arthur and bowed his head, their foreheads touching. "I'll do anything. I'll do everything to get back to you." 
Merlin remembered the time they'd first met, although they hadn't known who the other was at the time. He remembered the biggest arsehole on the face of the planet, a man with a big bark and an even bigger bite, and how he'd shredded the two corporals with a few well-chosen words. At the time, Merlin had thought that the blond, extremely fit Captain was the most attractive prat he'd ever seen, that it was such a shame that Merlin had to be the one to knock the chip off his shoulder, and thank fuck he's not my Captain.
Preceded By: 	Followed By:
The Play's the Thing	Desperate Measures
Category:Parts