"It Took Place in a New York Cemetery" (Short Affair Challenge 1/18)

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Short Affair 1/18
Prompt: #1--Plan
Color: Black

Title: It Took Place in a New York Cemetery
Author: Rose of Pollux
Word Count: ~825

It was a dark, moonless night as two figures—one a bit shorter than the other—snuck through the inky blackness towards the cemetery gates. The figure in the lead paused just outside the bars.

“There’re definitely people in there,” he determined. “Looks like the tip was right—THRUSH has started robbing graves now.”

A voice behind him muttered something quietly, in Russian.

“As much as I’d enjoy hearing you curse them repeatedly in your native tongue, Illya, the fact remains that we have work to do,” the man in the lead said. “We need to find out what they’re taking from these graves, and why.”

“So, what is the plan?” Illya asked, now in English.

“The plan is to climb this fence an approach them as quietly as possible. We’re only gathering information tonight.”

“You have the infrared camera?”

“Naturally,” the leader replied, beginning to scale the fence.

“Be careful, Napoleon!” Illya whispered.

He waited, watching as his partner clambered over the top of the fence and dropped down to the other side with a slight groan; Illya then gracefully followed, scaling the fence with the ease and grace of a cat and alighting on his feet to the other side, pausing as he saw his companion looking directly at him. Illya couldn’t see Napoleon’s expression in the dark, but he could very well imagine it after Napoleon’s ungainly landing.

“What?” the Russian asked, innocently.

“…Never mind,” Napoleon said. “Just follow me.”

Fighting back a smile, Illya did so. He soon sobered as they began to discern small lights up ahead—flashlights. Napoleon was already taking pictures with the infrared camera as he crept forward now, keeping as low to the ground as he could while still being able to walk.

He didn’t see the open grave in front of him in the inky blackness; the camera flew out of his hand as he fell. Illya had sensed something amiss and had tried to grab for his partner, but gravity had beaten him. The Russian now crawled to the edge of the grave.

“Napoleon!?” he asked, in a frantic whisper.

A quiet curse replied him, assuring Illya that Napoleon was alright, more or less.

“New plan, Tovarisch,” Napoleon muttered. “You find where the camera landed and get some pictures.”

“What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me; I’m not going anywhere.”

Illya searched for the camera; after being unable to find it, he drew the spare infrared camera he had brought with him and took the pictures of the THRUSH agents. He froze again, able to discern though the night vision window of the camera as to what one of the agents held in his hand: a needle inside of a glass egg—or was it diamond? The needle was handed down to an agent in the grave; a moment later, the needle returned to the glass egg.

“Napoleon?”

“What?”

“Napoleon, I think we should change our plan to a tactical retreat.”

Alarm bells began to ring in the American’s head; he trusted Illya’s judgment, of course.

“Alright. Get me out of here.”

Illya’s resourcefulness soon had him removing his black turtleneck to use as a makeshift climbing rope; the sleeve was just long enough for Napoleon to grab onto, and after making sure he had enough leverage by bracing himself against a headstone, Illya began the slow process of pulling him out of the grave.

“I’ve been dieting; can you tell?” Napoleon cracked, as he made it out of the pit.

“Not at all,” Illya countered, taking a moment to catch his breath. He glanced back at the THRUSH agents and then looked back at Napoleon with a nod.

Napoleon returned the gesture and the two of them retreated.

“So what was that about?” Napoleon asked, as they scaled the cemetery fence again.

“I thought I saw something that was…” He trailed off. “…A needle in a glass egg.”

“Is that significant?”

“It is if you’ve heard the tale of Koschei the Deathless.”

“…That’s the guy who put his soul in a needle?”

“And the needle in an egg,” Illya said, with a nod. “Those who held the egg could control Koschei.”

“And you think THRUSH is somehow inspired by this old Russian folk tale?”

“I know it’s just a tale, Napoleon!” Illya said. “But it makes you wonder why THRUSH would be holding something like that near an open grave. It may be something based on the legend that is the secret to some global plot.”

“It usually works that way,” Napoleon mused. “Alright, Tovarisch; the plan now is that we’ll come back in the morning and see which graves have been disturbed. It could be that they’re trying to unnerve anyone who comes by the cemetery into thinking that they’re invoking the legend. If that’s the case, then we need to find out what they’re trying to cover up.”

Illya nodded, and the two partners disappeared into the blackness of the night.

Comments

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Oh this was very intriguing, and begs to be continued I hope? Nice imagery and references too.

Can't recall if you've posted to Section VII before so welcome and thanks for joining in the challenged today. If you have posted here before, then welcome back!

[otherhawk.livejournal.com]

That was a very tantalising tale, are you planning on continuing it? I really love the Russian folklore references. Oh, and the contrast between the two of them climbing the fence made me smile.

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

This is stunning, and you had me gripped immediately. You have plenty of suspense, intrigue and humour. I can't wait to see if you take this further.

Welcome to the Short Affair Challenge and to Section VII. I hope we see much more of you.

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Thank you! If I can find the inspiration and figure out where I want to go with this idea, I'd like to continue it!

I'm a newbie; this is actually my first fanwork for MFU.

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'd certainly like to continue it if I can figure out where I want to take the idea!

That was probably my favorite part to write. :) Thanks again!

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much; glad you enjoyed it!

I hope to be more active, as well. Thanks again!

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Well then, an even bigger welcome to you! You'll find your direction for the story. It's off to a great start so just let your thoughts flow and before you know it, you'll have a middle and an end to your story.

Thanks for choosing Section VII for your inaugural MFU fic.

PS I approved your membership for Uncle du Jour, though there's not much activity there right now.

Did you join the Map Room as well?

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Sure! I was pleased to find a gen comm; I can't remember the last time I wrote romance.

If it isn't too much trouble, could I possibly have an author tag? I tried adding one, but it would let me make new tags.

And thanks! I haven't joined the Map Room yet; I'll go do that now!

[jkkitty.livejournal.com]

Welcome to LJ. Love the story so far, hope you continue it

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Do you mean a tag for the comm here? If so your tag will be active soon.

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Yes, please. Thanks in advance!

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I hope I can, too!

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

I added rose of pollux as a tag, so it should work for you now.

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Awesome, thanks!

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Your membership to the Map Room has been approved. We may have to add a tag for you there, and Uncle du Jour as well.

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

A moonless night, a cemetery, an open grave? Sounds right up my alley! Am enjoying this so far. Yes, please continue, there's always plenty of prompts here in Section VII. Welcome! As always, new, non-challenge stories are welcome any day of the week!

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

At this point, I don't think a tag will be necessary, as I don't write het or slash. But thanks all the same!

[ssclassof56.livejournal.com]

Enjoyed your post. I particularly liked their landings and the exchange about Napoleon's dieting. Looking forward to the next part of the story.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

The Map Room is also open to AU MFU fiction. Uncle du Jour is also open to Gen. when I took over moderating that site I opened it up to slash/pre-slash to allow people who prefer that to be able to participate in some of our challenges that are offered on Section VII. Writer's Choice also cross posts there as well. Cross posting for challenges is for the Map Room too, as well as open posting.

So far there's not that many takers except for Writer's Choice, but at lest they can write participate if they want to.

I've been posting my on-going AU series In the Map Room.


I write het as well, but not slash as I'm not a fan of it.

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Definitely one of my favorite settings for a story, as well!

Thanks; I hope my muse is sufficiently inspired here, and I expect she will be!

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I like to weave in a touch of humor here and there.

Hopefully, I can deliver a good second part!

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, okay. Is the Map Room where crossovers would go, as well?

I'll keep that in mind and we'll see if I end up posting there. Thanks again!

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Yes, cross overs would be considered AU I guess. Though I posted a long story here called The Little Diomede Affair that had a very brief cross over with Voyage to the bottom of the see, but it was minimal.

If you post a cross over or AU story in the Map Room, you can post a link to it here. That's what I usually do.

Section VII is Glennagirl's site as is the Map Room. I'm also a maintainer for the Map Room. And oh, and there's also the MFU Gallery for artwork, vids and that sort of stuff.

I'm a maintainer for Section VII as is La H Carabele.

Uncle du Jour, I'm the moderator for that one.

Any questions, just pm me. "D

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought.

Thanks for the info! I'm still learning my way around, heh.

Sure thing; thanks again!

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Thank you for a very good bit of suspense. First rate characerisation: love the interaction in Napoleon's rather clumsy descent. The bit about Koschei would have been great for canon.

Hope you'll be reccing this at Halloween: it most deinitely deserves it. And, of course, if there are a few more chapters to follow, even better.

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! As this was my first piece, keeping them in character was my biggest concern, so I'm relieved to know that you thought they were well done.

I certainly hope there'll be more I can add to this! Thanks again!

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

As your first U.N.C.L.E. piece, this is extremely impressive and totally deserving of all the praise it's getting! (And it would also be totally deserving if it wasn't your first attempt.) As always, you excel at getting and keeping characters IC! I am, also as always, very impressed.

LOL, the contrast between the descents over the wall is definitely amusing. And poor Napoleon, falling in the open grave. It is certainly not his night.

The banter is perfect and THRUSH fooling around with a Russian folktale is creepy and unsettling. It will definitely be intriguing to see where this goes.

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! Indeed, keeping everyone IC is probably where most of my efforts go into until I've become habituated to writing for them; I'm glad those efforts are paying off!

LOL, that climbing scene was my favorite to write, definitely. And yep, the Solo Luck is not quite with him tonight.

Thanks again! I hope I can figure out what I want to do with it!

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

I'm a little late, but Welcome to Section VII. This is a marvelous opening gambit for you and like everyone else I look forward to reading more. The boys are definitely themselves here, so kudos on keeping them in character.

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! Definitely relieved to hear that they are in character!