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section7mfuTitle: The Peaceful Meadows Affair, chapter thirteen
Summary: The chaos is mostly over. Mostly.
By Lucky_Ladybug
Chapter Thirteen
Part of being a good spy was in never letting down one’s guard, even if things seemed quiet and peaceful. Mr. Wye had learned that very well through his many years in espionage work, and as Ecks lay on the bed and lightly dozed, Wye busied himself by peering out the window and coming to the open doorway, always checking to see if all was well.
Who knew what could come up through that secret passageway, really. It wouldn’t necessarily be their allies or innocent residents. For all they knew, there were others loyal to Pea who could show up. He wasn’t going to believe there weren’t at least a few.
He was turning from the doorway again when something pressed into his neck. He froze, at the same time reaching for the beam gun he had kept when they had left the office. “What do you want, Lovey?”
The something wavered. “W-What? You already know who I am?”
Wye spun around, pressing his gun into Marietta’s chest. “You’re just an amateur at this. I saw you reflected in the mirror over there.”
Marietta barely listened, instead staring at the weapon. “Won’t you take that away?”
“Are you gonna take yours away?” Wye returned.
Marietta looked to the gun that she was tightly gripping in her right hand. Biting her lip, she didn’t answer and didn’t lower the gun.
“Something’s been bothering me ever since we left the office,” Wye said. “Wasn’t it a little too much of a coincidence that your little note mentioned ‘P’s and Q’s’ and then Mr. Pea just so happens to be running the show? According to you, your note was only supposed to be about Ms. Cue.”
Marietta stiffened, but still tried to clutch the gun in her hand. “Why can’t it be a coincidence?” she retorted. “It’s a common expression.”
“It can be. Maybe it is. It’s just that I’m really suspicious by nature, Duckie, and I don’t think it is.” Wye clicked off the safety. “I saw how these things worked tonight. I saw much better than I’d ever want to. Don’t think I won’t pull the trigger if you try to shoot.”
“And I have a knife at your back,” Ecks volunteered. Always ready for the possibility of danger, he had been awakened and silently slipped behind Marietta, drawing his umbrella knife.
Marietta finally let the gun fall from her fingers to clatter on the floor. “Oh, I don’t know what I was trying to do,” she wailed in despair. “You’re right; it wasn’t a coincidence. I really did believe in this place and the Council and everything. But then Harvey revealed to me after you two arrived that he was the missing Mr. Pea. He told me he knew where my sister was and he’d tell me everything if I’d help him trap you two and the U.N.C.L.E. agents. I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t really think anyone was being killed, and when I weighed all of you against my sister, well . . .” She shrugged helplessly and shook her head.
“Of course we’d come up short,” Wye finished.
“He didn’t know about the note, though,” Marietta said. “I really was trying to warn you about him when I wrote it, as well as to get you to start thinking about my sister and come to me. Deep down, I knew that it wasn’t right to trap you for whatever reason.”
“And he betrayed you anyway,” Ecks frowned. “He was going to have you killed along with all of us.”
“He said it was just to make it look convincing. He insisted no one was going to die. He said the guns just stunned people!” Marietta clenched her fist so tightly she started to draw blood. “But now he’s dead and he can’t tell me about my sister!”
“Look here.” Wye kept the gun steady, still not sure if he would need it. “Those guns don’t stun people. They kill! The whole ruddy Council is layin’ dead because of them, and I almost lost Ecks to Mr. Pea.” He spat the codename in revulsion.
“I’m alive because Kuryakin rewired the gun to jumpstart my heart again,” Ecks said.
“If Pea really knew anything about your sister, he wasn’t gonna tell you,” Wye insisted. “If he’d had his way, you’d be stretched out dead, just like he threatened to do!”
Marietta stared at him, not wanting to believe. But then her shoulders slumped and she looked down in resignation. “Then there never really was any hope,” she said morosely. “And I helped on a plot that almost killed four innocent people.”
“Well . . . aheh . . . I wouldn’t say we’re exactly ‘innocent’,” Wye said uncomfortably. “Guiltless in this particular matter, let’s say.”
“And there’s always the chance that Harvey kept records,” Napoleon said, suddenly appearing in the hallway outside the bedroom. “Maybe he really did know something about your sister, Marietta. If he did, we should be able to find out what.”
Marietta looked to him with a start. “You’d really help me?” she exclaimed. “Didn’t you hear what I was involved in?”
“At least you weren’t trying to get us killed,” Napoleon said. “Harvey tricked you like he tricked everyone who moved into Peaceful Meadows looking for peace and order.”
“Those files are no longer under his mattress,” Illya reported as he joined the group. “He might have disposed of them while we were unconscious from the gas. On the other hand, perhaps he didn’t have much chance to get rid of them. If I find them and take a closer look, perhaps I will learn about your sister’s whereabouts. Do not forget; she has a warrant out on her. U.N.C.L.E. wants her, just as you do.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Marietta remembered.
“If Mr. Ecks and Mr. Wye will be good enough to take their weapons away, can we trust that you won’t try anymore to attack any of us?” Illya asked pointedly.
“I promise,” Marietta declared. “Especially if it isn’t really a stun gun.”
“Did you really believe it was one when you came in here?” Wye said doubtfully. “You acted like you wanted revenge on us for killing Pea before he could tell you about Cue. Just stunning us wouldn’t be much of a revenge.”
“I really don’t know what I wanted,” Marietta said in despair. “I felt so upset and lost.”
“I suppose that’s believable enough,” Napoleon said.
Wye and Ecks weren’t as sure, but they did slowly withdraw their weapons. Illya bent to pick up Marietta’s fallen gun.
“I still don’t know that I trust you,” Wye said. “You lied about a lot of things, including that story you fed us earlier about not knowing if anyone here knew about your sister. Who knows what you might do if we turn you loose.”
“I say we tie you to a chair until reinforcements get here,” Ecks added.
Marietta made a face. “I won’t make any trouble,” she protested. “I promised!”
Napoleon and Illya looked her up and down. “I don’t believe she’ll break her promise,” Napoleon said. “What do you think?”
“I think that it’s better not to take chances,” Illya said. “Some people say one thing and do another, especially on this case. And we really don’t have time to baby-sit.”
Napoleon nodded. “Maybe that’s for the best,” he consented. Looking to Marietta, he said, “Under the circumstances, would you mind terribly if we do as Mr. Ecks suggests?”
“I don’t like it, but I guess you’re entitled to feel like you should,” Marietta sighed. “Alright, I won’t make a fuss about it.”
“Good,” said Illya. He led Marietta out of the room and into the study across the hall. After securely tying her to a chair in full-view of the bedroom, he came back.
“Is she comfortable?” Napoleon asked.
“As much so as she can be, under the circumstances,” Illya replied. “We can watch her from in here.”
“Convenient,” Wye smirked.
Ecks slowly slipped the knife back into the umbrella. “Incidentally, why isn’t there a procession coming up here?” he wondered.
“We directed them elsewhere,” Napoleon explained. “In the tunnels, it tells on the walls which house numbers the panels are going to.”
“Also convenient,” said Wye. “And thank you for your consideration, by the way.”
“It wasn’t any problem to keep them away from both our houses,” Illya grunted.
“And we thought it would be better for Mr. Ecks if there wasn’t a great deal of unnecessary noise,” Napoleon added.
“You were right,” said Ecks, hanging the umbrella around the bedpost.
“So,” Illya said, “let’s search the house and see what we can find in the way of Mr. Pea’s secret files. If not here, the files might have been left in the front office.”
“And if we can’t find them, there’ll be a whole team of U.N.C.L.E. agents out here by morning,” Napoleon said. “Just as soon as we contact Mr. Waverly and request them.”
“What about whatever residents were loyal to the Council?” Wye said doubtfully. “I can’t believe there weren’t at least some.”
“And if they’d agree with everything Pea was doing, they could still be trouble,” Ecks added.
“I don’t think there’d be enough of them to do any real damage at the moment,” Napoleon said. “Especially if they know Mr. Pea and the other Council members are dead.”
“You probably had to show everyone the code to get up from the tunnels, didn’t you?” Wye frowned. “They could always choose to come here even after you redirected them. Just because we keep the doors locked, we might not be safe here. I don’t trust that there won’t be trouble. Look at us, after all—just a small group, but we offed the Council. There’s probably more than four loyal to them.”
“You do have a point,” Napoleon admitted.
“I’m going to call Mr. Waverly right now,” Illya said.
“On what?” Wye retorted. “Your communication devices were taken from you and I don’t recollect you gettin’ them back.”
“They missed our back-ups,” Illya replied. He pulled open the hem of his shirtsleeve and removed what looked like a strip of ribbon.
“That’s a communication device?” Ecks said in amazement.
“Your organization put bombs in strips; we put transmitters,” Illya said flatly.
“Well,” Wye shrugged, “whatever works.”
****
Mr. Waverly was both appalled by Illya’s brief descriptions of the night’s events and pleased that the case basically seemed to be solved. He promised to send a team out by morning, and he intended to be there with them. He was quite intrigued by the thought of the strange community and the tunnel system and wanted to see it all in person before it was all locked down. He also wanted to meet Ecks and Wye.
“Well,” said Napoleon, from where he was sitting on the floor and leaning back against Wye’s bed, “I suppose we should get some rest in preparation for taking Mr. Waverly on the grand tour in the morning.”
“Someone should stand guard, just in case there’s trouble,” Illya said. “I will take the first shift.”
“Are we all going to crowd in here?” Napoleon wondered. “We could always go next-door.”
“There is safety in numbers,” Illya replied. “Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Wye?”
“Oh, I suppose,” Wye said easily, pushing himself away from the wall. “But that don’t mean we all have to stay right in this room. You two could go out in the living room.”
Napoleon nodded and started to push himself up. “A very good idea.”
“Actually,” Wye mused, “I don’t think any one of us has had dinner yet.”
“And there is no food in your house. I checked,” Illya said flatly.
“So either we all starve for the night or someone goes to get somethin’ from next-door,” Wye said.
Lying on the bed once more, Ecks sighed and closed his eyes. “Nothing for me,” he mumbled. “Maybe in the morning.”
“I’m sure we could all go without dinner for one night,” Napoleon said.
“I would rather not,” Illya replied. “I’ll be back in five minutes.” He headed out of the room and towards the front door.
Sighing, Napoleon got up to follow him. “Just in case there’s an ambush, I should really be along,” he said.
“Knock yourselves out,” Wye said with a wave of his hand.
“I’ll pass, thank you,” Napoleon deadpanned.
****
To the agents’ relief, no rebelliously angry Council supporters came at them with torches and pitchforks while they went to retrieve the food. To Napoleon’s exasperation, however, Illya had a bit of a time deciding exactly what he wanted to take over and prepare. But eventually the matter was sorted out and they took a grocery bag of items and utensils to the other house.
“You’re sure you won’t have difficulty with this new recipe,” Napoleon asked.
“That again?” Illya said in irritation. “Napoleon, you have consumed at least two meals created by me. Were either of them the least bit inedible?”
“No,” Napoleon admitted slowly.
“Then stop worrying,” Illya retorted.
“It’s just that some people may be able to satisfactorily prepare one type of meal, but not another type,” Napoleon said. “I think so far, you’ve only made meals with eggs.”
“I’ve made other dishes,” Illya insisted. “You just were not there to try them.”
“And where was I?” Napoleon wanted to know.
“I hadn’t met you yet,” Illya answered haughtily.
****
Napoleon was again relieved when Illya’s newest culinary delight turned out to be exactly that. While they and Wye ate and Ecks rested, the group idly talked, sharing experiences and getting to know each other better—or at least as much so as opposing spies dared.
“Napoleon suggested to me that perhaps you were one of the children of the organization and never had anywhere else to go,” Illya said to Ecks. “Is that true?”
“Yes,” Ecks admitted. “I hated the place for never giving me a choice about leaving. When Zed decided he wanted to take it over, it wasn’t a hard decision to go along with him and Wye.”
“And what if you had opted not to join him?” Illya wondered. “Would Wye have gotten rid of you the way the both of you dispatched of the real Raymond?”
“Technically it was Zed who planted the bomb,” Ecks said. “You probably remember he had a thing for bombs.”
“I remember,” Illya nodded.
“And no,” Ecks said emphatically. “Wye wouldn’t have done that.”
Wye smiled a bit before sobering again. “After you gutted him, Kuryakin, I told Zed he was dead. I didn’t want Zed knowing he was still alive and using him as a scapegoat. Zed was a brilliant man, but I knew enough to trust that he might very well do something like that if cornered.”
Napoleon nodded. “That was quick thinking.”
“I had plenty of time to think it out,” Wye said. “I cared about Ecks more than anything else, including Zed’s plan.”
“From what we’ve heard, you were Ecks’ trainer,” Illya said.
“That’s right. I met him before that, though, briefly.” Wye quickly changed the subject. “And what about you two? Did you first meet in U.N.C.L.E.?”
“Yes. Mr. Waverly teamed us up on a mission that required someone of Russian origin,” Illya said.
“It was . . . interesting, to say the least,” Napoleon said.
“We did not get along at first,” Illya said, focusing his attention on his plate.
“I wouldn’t think so,” Wye smirked. “I’ll bet those early assignments were a piece of work.”
“We were professionals then as we are now,” Illya said. “We did what we were instructed to do, even when we didn’t like it.”
“We just made sure to separate the instant we no longer needed to be together,” Napoleon added.
Ecks smirked too. “Apparently you still have some problems being together.”
“Only when it comes to being domestic,” Illya said flatly.
Napoleon looked across the hall at Marietta, still forlornly tied to the chair. “You know, I’m sure she’s hungry too,” he mused. “I think I’ll fix her a plate.”
“And spoon-feed her?” Illya supplied.
“Well, either that or untie her,” Napoleon shrugged. “I’ll see what seems advisable.” He stood, excusing himself from the room.
“He’ll spoon-feed her, I’ll wager,” Wye snarked.
“No contest there,” Illya grunted.
Summary: The chaos is mostly over. Mostly.
Chapter Thirteen
Part of being a good spy was in never letting down one’s guard, even if things seemed quiet and peaceful. Mr. Wye had learned that very well through his many years in espionage work, and as Ecks lay on the bed and lightly dozed, Wye busied himself by peering out the window and coming to the open doorway, always checking to see if all was well.
Who knew what could come up through that secret passageway, really. It wouldn’t necessarily be their allies or innocent residents. For all they knew, there were others loyal to Pea who could show up. He wasn’t going to believe there weren’t at least a few.
He was turning from the doorway again when something pressed into his neck. He froze, at the same time reaching for the beam gun he had kept when they had left the office. “What do you want, Lovey?”
The something wavered. “W-What? You already know who I am?”
Wye spun around, pressing his gun into Marietta’s chest. “You’re just an amateur at this. I saw you reflected in the mirror over there.”
Marietta barely listened, instead staring at the weapon. “Won’t you take that away?”
“Are you gonna take yours away?” Wye returned.
Marietta looked to the gun that she was tightly gripping in her right hand. Biting her lip, she didn’t answer and didn’t lower the gun.
“Something’s been bothering me ever since we left the office,” Wye said. “Wasn’t it a little too much of a coincidence that your little note mentioned ‘P’s and Q’s’ and then Mr. Pea just so happens to be running the show? According to you, your note was only supposed to be about Ms. Cue.”
Marietta stiffened, but still tried to clutch the gun in her hand. “Why can’t it be a coincidence?” she retorted. “It’s a common expression.”
“It can be. Maybe it is. It’s just that I’m really suspicious by nature, Duckie, and I don’t think it is.” Wye clicked off the safety. “I saw how these things worked tonight. I saw much better than I’d ever want to. Don’t think I won’t pull the trigger if you try to shoot.”
“And I have a knife at your back,” Ecks volunteered. Always ready for the possibility of danger, he had been awakened and silently slipped behind Marietta, drawing his umbrella knife.
Marietta finally let the gun fall from her fingers to clatter on the floor. “Oh, I don’t know what I was trying to do,” she wailed in despair. “You’re right; it wasn’t a coincidence. I really did believe in this place and the Council and everything. But then Harvey revealed to me after you two arrived that he was the missing Mr. Pea. He told me he knew where my sister was and he’d tell me everything if I’d help him trap you two and the U.N.C.L.E. agents. I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t really think anyone was being killed, and when I weighed all of you against my sister, well . . .” She shrugged helplessly and shook her head.
“Of course we’d come up short,” Wye finished.
“He didn’t know about the note, though,” Marietta said. “I really was trying to warn you about him when I wrote it, as well as to get you to start thinking about my sister and come to me. Deep down, I knew that it wasn’t right to trap you for whatever reason.”
“And he betrayed you anyway,” Ecks frowned. “He was going to have you killed along with all of us.”
“He said it was just to make it look convincing. He insisted no one was going to die. He said the guns just stunned people!” Marietta clenched her fist so tightly she started to draw blood. “But now he’s dead and he can’t tell me about my sister!”
“Look here.” Wye kept the gun steady, still not sure if he would need it. “Those guns don’t stun people. They kill! The whole ruddy Council is layin’ dead because of them, and I almost lost Ecks to Mr. Pea.” He spat the codename in revulsion.
“I’m alive because Kuryakin rewired the gun to jumpstart my heart again,” Ecks said.
“If Pea really knew anything about your sister, he wasn’t gonna tell you,” Wye insisted. “If he’d had his way, you’d be stretched out dead, just like he threatened to do!”
Marietta stared at him, not wanting to believe. But then her shoulders slumped and she looked down in resignation. “Then there never really was any hope,” she said morosely. “And I helped on a plot that almost killed four innocent people.”
“Well . . . aheh . . . I wouldn’t say we’re exactly ‘innocent’,” Wye said uncomfortably. “Guiltless in this particular matter, let’s say.”
“And there’s always the chance that Harvey kept records,” Napoleon said, suddenly appearing in the hallway outside the bedroom. “Maybe he really did know something about your sister, Marietta. If he did, we should be able to find out what.”
Marietta looked to him with a start. “You’d really help me?” she exclaimed. “Didn’t you hear what I was involved in?”
“At least you weren’t trying to get us killed,” Napoleon said. “Harvey tricked you like he tricked everyone who moved into Peaceful Meadows looking for peace and order.”
“Those files are no longer under his mattress,” Illya reported as he joined the group. “He might have disposed of them while we were unconscious from the gas. On the other hand, perhaps he didn’t have much chance to get rid of them. If I find them and take a closer look, perhaps I will learn about your sister’s whereabouts. Do not forget; she has a warrant out on her. U.N.C.L.E. wants her, just as you do.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Marietta remembered.
“If Mr. Ecks and Mr. Wye will be good enough to take their weapons away, can we trust that you won’t try anymore to attack any of us?” Illya asked pointedly.
“I promise,” Marietta declared. “Especially if it isn’t really a stun gun.”
“Did you really believe it was one when you came in here?” Wye said doubtfully. “You acted like you wanted revenge on us for killing Pea before he could tell you about Cue. Just stunning us wouldn’t be much of a revenge.”
“I really don’t know what I wanted,” Marietta said in despair. “I felt so upset and lost.”
“I suppose that’s believable enough,” Napoleon said.
Wye and Ecks weren’t as sure, but they did slowly withdraw their weapons. Illya bent to pick up Marietta’s fallen gun.
“I still don’t know that I trust you,” Wye said. “You lied about a lot of things, including that story you fed us earlier about not knowing if anyone here knew about your sister. Who knows what you might do if we turn you loose.”
“I say we tie you to a chair until reinforcements get here,” Ecks added.
Marietta made a face. “I won’t make any trouble,” she protested. “I promised!”
Napoleon and Illya looked her up and down. “I don’t believe she’ll break her promise,” Napoleon said. “What do you think?”
“I think that it’s better not to take chances,” Illya said. “Some people say one thing and do another, especially on this case. And we really don’t have time to baby-sit.”
Napoleon nodded. “Maybe that’s for the best,” he consented. Looking to Marietta, he said, “Under the circumstances, would you mind terribly if we do as Mr. Ecks suggests?”
“I don’t like it, but I guess you’re entitled to feel like you should,” Marietta sighed. “Alright, I won’t make a fuss about it.”
“Good,” said Illya. He led Marietta out of the room and into the study across the hall. After securely tying her to a chair in full-view of the bedroom, he came back.
“Is she comfortable?” Napoleon asked.
“As much so as she can be, under the circumstances,” Illya replied. “We can watch her from in here.”
“Convenient,” Wye smirked.
Ecks slowly slipped the knife back into the umbrella. “Incidentally, why isn’t there a procession coming up here?” he wondered.
“We directed them elsewhere,” Napoleon explained. “In the tunnels, it tells on the walls which house numbers the panels are going to.”
“Also convenient,” said Wye. “And thank you for your consideration, by the way.”
“It wasn’t any problem to keep them away from both our houses,” Illya grunted.
“And we thought it would be better for Mr. Ecks if there wasn’t a great deal of unnecessary noise,” Napoleon added.
“You were right,” said Ecks, hanging the umbrella around the bedpost.
“So,” Illya said, “let’s search the house and see what we can find in the way of Mr. Pea’s secret files. If not here, the files might have been left in the front office.”
“And if we can’t find them, there’ll be a whole team of U.N.C.L.E. agents out here by morning,” Napoleon said. “Just as soon as we contact Mr. Waverly and request them.”
“What about whatever residents were loyal to the Council?” Wye said doubtfully. “I can’t believe there weren’t at least some.”
“And if they’d agree with everything Pea was doing, they could still be trouble,” Ecks added.
“I don’t think there’d be enough of them to do any real damage at the moment,” Napoleon said. “Especially if they know Mr. Pea and the other Council members are dead.”
“You probably had to show everyone the code to get up from the tunnels, didn’t you?” Wye frowned. “They could always choose to come here even after you redirected them. Just because we keep the doors locked, we might not be safe here. I don’t trust that there won’t be trouble. Look at us, after all—just a small group, but we offed the Council. There’s probably more than four loyal to them.”
“You do have a point,” Napoleon admitted.
“I’m going to call Mr. Waverly right now,” Illya said.
“On what?” Wye retorted. “Your communication devices were taken from you and I don’t recollect you gettin’ them back.”
“They missed our back-ups,” Illya replied. He pulled open the hem of his shirtsleeve and removed what looked like a strip of ribbon.
“That’s a communication device?” Ecks said in amazement.
“Your organization put bombs in strips; we put transmitters,” Illya said flatly.
“Well,” Wye shrugged, “whatever works.”
Mr. Waverly was both appalled by Illya’s brief descriptions of the night’s events and pleased that the case basically seemed to be solved. He promised to send a team out by morning, and he intended to be there with them. He was quite intrigued by the thought of the strange community and the tunnel system and wanted to see it all in person before it was all locked down. He also wanted to meet Ecks and Wye.
“Well,” said Napoleon, from where he was sitting on the floor and leaning back against Wye’s bed, “I suppose we should get some rest in preparation for taking Mr. Waverly on the grand tour in the morning.”
“Someone should stand guard, just in case there’s trouble,” Illya said. “I will take the first shift.”
“Are we all going to crowd in here?” Napoleon wondered. “We could always go next-door.”
“There is safety in numbers,” Illya replied. “Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Wye?”
“Oh, I suppose,” Wye said easily, pushing himself away from the wall. “But that don’t mean we all have to stay right in this room. You two could go out in the living room.”
Napoleon nodded and started to push himself up. “A very good idea.”
“Actually,” Wye mused, “I don’t think any one of us has had dinner yet.”
“And there is no food in your house. I checked,” Illya said flatly.
“So either we all starve for the night or someone goes to get somethin’ from next-door,” Wye said.
Lying on the bed once more, Ecks sighed and closed his eyes. “Nothing for me,” he mumbled. “Maybe in the morning.”
“I’m sure we could all go without dinner for one night,” Napoleon said.
“I would rather not,” Illya replied. “I’ll be back in five minutes.” He headed out of the room and towards the front door.
Sighing, Napoleon got up to follow him. “Just in case there’s an ambush, I should really be along,” he said.
“Knock yourselves out,” Wye said with a wave of his hand.
“I’ll pass, thank you,” Napoleon deadpanned.
To the agents’ relief, no rebelliously angry Council supporters came at them with torches and pitchforks while they went to retrieve the food. To Napoleon’s exasperation, however, Illya had a bit of a time deciding exactly what he wanted to take over and prepare. But eventually the matter was sorted out and they took a grocery bag of items and utensils to the other house.
“You’re sure you won’t have difficulty with this new recipe,” Napoleon asked.
“That again?” Illya said in irritation. “Napoleon, you have consumed at least two meals created by me. Were either of them the least bit inedible?”
“No,” Napoleon admitted slowly.
“Then stop worrying,” Illya retorted.
“It’s just that some people may be able to satisfactorily prepare one type of meal, but not another type,” Napoleon said. “I think so far, you’ve only made meals with eggs.”
“I’ve made other dishes,” Illya insisted. “You just were not there to try them.”
“And where was I?” Napoleon wanted to know.
“I hadn’t met you yet,” Illya answered haughtily.
Napoleon was again relieved when Illya’s newest culinary delight turned out to be exactly that. While they and Wye ate and Ecks rested, the group idly talked, sharing experiences and getting to know each other better—or at least as much so as opposing spies dared.
“Napoleon suggested to me that perhaps you were one of the children of the organization and never had anywhere else to go,” Illya said to Ecks. “Is that true?”
“Yes,” Ecks admitted. “I hated the place for never giving me a choice about leaving. When Zed decided he wanted to take it over, it wasn’t a hard decision to go along with him and Wye.”
“And what if you had opted not to join him?” Illya wondered. “Would Wye have gotten rid of you the way the both of you dispatched of the real Raymond?”
“Technically it was Zed who planted the bomb,” Ecks said. “You probably remember he had a thing for bombs.”
“I remember,” Illya nodded.
“And no,” Ecks said emphatically. “Wye wouldn’t have done that.”
Wye smiled a bit before sobering again. “After you gutted him, Kuryakin, I told Zed he was dead. I didn’t want Zed knowing he was still alive and using him as a scapegoat. Zed was a brilliant man, but I knew enough to trust that he might very well do something like that if cornered.”
Napoleon nodded. “That was quick thinking.”
“I had plenty of time to think it out,” Wye said. “I cared about Ecks more than anything else, including Zed’s plan.”
“From what we’ve heard, you were Ecks’ trainer,” Illya said.
“That’s right. I met him before that, though, briefly.” Wye quickly changed the subject. “And what about you two? Did you first meet in U.N.C.L.E.?”
“Yes. Mr. Waverly teamed us up on a mission that required someone of Russian origin,” Illya said.
“It was . . . interesting, to say the least,” Napoleon said.
“We did not get along at first,” Illya said, focusing his attention on his plate.
“I wouldn’t think so,” Wye smirked. “I’ll bet those early assignments were a piece of work.”
“We were professionals then as we are now,” Illya said. “We did what we were instructed to do, even when we didn’t like it.”
“We just made sure to separate the instant we no longer needed to be together,” Napoleon added.
Ecks smirked too. “Apparently you still have some problems being together.”
“Only when it comes to being domestic,” Illya said flatly.
Napoleon looked across the hall at Marietta, still forlornly tied to the chair. “You know, I’m sure she’s hungry too,” he mused. “I think I’ll fix her a plate.”
“And spoon-feed her?” Illya supplied.
“Well, either that or untie her,” Napoleon shrugged. “I’ll see what seems advisable.” He stood, excusing himself from the room.
“He’ll spoon-feed her, I’ll wager,” Wye snarked.
“No contest there,” Illya grunted.
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Date: 2015-07-17 06:16 pm (UTC)This was another good one, keep up the excellent work.
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Date: 2015-07-17 08:35 pm (UTC)