Heir and There - Short Affair 5/2

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Prompts - Heir, Red
Word count- 1037
This is just plain goofy.

……………………………………..

The UNCLE agents had been summoned for a last minute meeting concerning their upcoming mission.  Someone coming forward with pertinent information seemed reason enough to assemble the team assigned to rescuing the heir to a small monarchy in central Europe. They were in London, and the briefing was being conducted by the head of the Northwest Region, away from his own New York Headquarters.

As they sat around a large rectangular table, Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin were joined by April Dancer and Mark Slate; the four were bound for that country whose future king sat, albeit impatiently, and waited for their help.

Waverly opened the impromptu meeting by indicating the one unknown person in the room.

"Er, um… this ahh… gentleman…' The last word was pronounced with discernible disingenuous overtones.  Apparently gentleman was overstating the case somewhat.

"Mr. Denning has come to us with, shall we say, intelligence on the matter at hand."  Napoleon cut a sideways glance at his partner, looking for the other man's response to this development.

"Sir…' Solo was the obvious spokesman for their group.  One could only hope that they weren't expected to take this man with them.

"Are we here to gain an addition to our team?" Waverly's eyebrows shot up, a genuine expression of surprise.

"By no means, mister Solo, will mister Denning be traveling with you.  No, he has… um… information.  That is all.  I thought it best to let him share it with you.' He turned to the stranger in the room, setting all eyes on the fellow.  He was a brusque looking man, rumpled and slightly crooked looking.  At least that's what April imagined; he had the appearance of someone who might work for THRUSH, not an informant for the Command.

"Oh, uhm… Well ya see…" A distinctive Cockney accent rang in those few words.  Everyone had to wonder what type of information he could possibly possess that would land him here, in this office.

"Me and ma mayts, see… we seen this bloke, a ginger he was." A quizzical look from Napoleon asked for an explanation.

"What you Americans call a redhead.  Ginger is the preferred term in this country."  Illya received an affirmative nod from Mark, and Mr. Waverly harrumphed an indication that Denning should continue.

"Right-O then.  Well, as I was sayin'…"

The narrative continued on until the final sentence was pronounced with a toothy grin.

"I reckon we'll be callin' 'im a red heirling…"  A table full of blank faces caused the man to swallow hard and then try to explain his little joke.

"You know, same as a red herring… get it?  Red heirling.  Blimey, this is one tough crowd."

Waverly set down the pipe he'd played with during the longer than necessary recitation of sightings and 'reckonings'.  The information was useless, and the team of agents now unnecessarily delayed from their original plans.

"Mr. Denning, you have weaved an unbelievable and useless yarn.  Should I take you into custody on the assumption that you work for THRUSH?"

Tobias Denning had come to this place willingly, and had told his story honestly.  He resented being accused of what he must assume was something bad.

"Only thing I know 'bout Thrushes is that they mostly live in trees, 'less a course you be referring to what 'orses get between their toes."  April rolled her eyes, unable to resist correcting their guest.

"Horses don't have toes, they have hooves and… Oh."

The men at the table all responded to the tone of that single syllable.

"What is it April?"

She took a breath, her inexperience notwithstanding, something about this entire mission seemed out of place.

"What if there really is a red herring in all of this?" She looked around the table at each of them, her expression asking the question along with her words.

"Because of the horses' toes?  I don't get it April."

"No Mark, not the thrush, the double meaning.  We have this sighting of the prince regent here in London, and yet he is reported to be in a THRUSH satrapy.  He can't be in both places at the same time."

And then they understood.  There were two of them, two heirs who appeared to be playing a dangerous game of hide and seek with both THRUSH and UNCLE.  But why?

Tobias was watching all of this, his own story the result of a night of drinking and bird watching.  Real birds, not thrushes and the like.

"I can show you where it were I seen 'im." Waverly nodded his ascent and the four agents grouped for departure.  Two hours later they had the red heirling, as Tobias Denning had named him, and a full confession concerning the scheme he and his twin had concocted.  The two had been separated at birth, each raised by a different parent.  When they discovered each other their mutual love of mischief had given birth to this unlikely plan to trade places and live the others' life for a while.

"But why engage the services of UNCLE?"  April had not been able to grasp their reasoning.  Napoleon tried to explain, although he was still a little baffled, but mostly that parents would separate twins and then keep them secreted away from each other.

Illya thought he understood.  The small country was vulnerable, and by separating the boys there was a greater likelihood that at least one of them would survive to take the throne.  It hadn't been easy on either parent, but the sacrifice had been made out of a sense of duty.

"A misplaced sense of duty if you ask me."  April still couldn't understand it, but that made no difference now.

"Well, at least they're together now, and the country has two heirs to the throne instead of just one.  We need to keep an eye on it though, THRUSH was known to them and therefore still potentially a threat to the entire family."  Napoleon was certain that someday the call would come and the mission would be real.

Another day though.  For now, it was Swinging London waiting on the four agents of the U.N.C.L.E.  It was not an opportunity he intended to waste worrying about some future affair.

Comments

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this nice little affair. It strikes me as most canonesque. Very nice ocs, and the canon characters were well done.

It seems even Illya isn't that fluent in cockney.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, thanks for commenting.