"Never piss off our Russian"~ for the Short Affair Challenge

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Challenge: The Short Affair

-Prompt Word #2 – Evade

-Prompt Colour – Yellow

Author: mrua7

Title: Never piss off our Russian friend

Word Count: Approx. 800

Running through the high grass, it still wasn’t hard for Napoleon to see Illya as the Russian’s yellow hair caught in the sunlight.

“Tovarisch, you need to duck, that hair of yours is like a beacon. How can we evade them if you give away our position?”

“Fine, I will duck lower.”

Kuryakin fell forwards with a muffled yelp.

Napoleon scrambled to his side; his heart in his throat thinking his partner had been shot.” You all right?”

“No I am not; I think I sprained my ankle.” Illya struggled to his feet after lowering himself and he caught himself on a root. Testing his foot by putting weight on it, he hissed at the stabbing pain.

Before he could say a word, Napoleon wrapped his arm around his partner’s waist and help support him.

“Come on, just pretend we’re in a three legged race.”

“What is that?”

“Not a good time for discussion, now let’s go.”

Slowly but surely the UNCLE agents managed to evade the men chasing them. It was sure determination that kept the Russian going; he was flat out pissed about his ankle.

When Solo assumed they were far enough away he gently lowered Illya to the ground.  He leaned back against a tree, but didn’t look very happy.

“Let’s take a look at that.” Napoleon rolled up Kuryakin’s pant leg and didn’t even need to touch the sock to see the ankle was badly swollen.

Illya sucked air when Napoleon gingerly examined it to make sure it wasn’t broken.

“Listen,” the Russian canted his head to one side.”Do you hear that?”

“Water? Trickling water,” Napoleon snapped his fingers. “Come on partner, I have an idea.”

He helped Illya to his feet and in only a few minutes they found a small stream nearby. The water flowing free and clear. It was ice cold.

Kuryakin immersed his foot, shoe and all in it to hopefully reduce the swelling. If he removed the shoe there was the possibility me might not be able to put it back on if the swelling worsened.

Napoleon finally looked to his star sapphire ring pinky ring and turning the stone, he activated the homing device that Illya had installed beneath it some time ago as a birthday gift to him.

Once they’d escaped their subterranean prison the odds of the signal being picked up were much better, that was why he’d waited.

Not long after they heard shots firing in the distance and an explosion, followed by the sound of a helicopter flying overhead; it landed nearby.

A familiar voice called out Napoleon’s name, muffled by the forest, but it was still recognizable.

“Over here! Illya’s injured.”

Mark Slate’s smiling face appeared out of nowhere.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” Napoleon grinned.

“Good to be seen mate, now come on before we have company. We didn’t get them all.”

They carried Illya, soggy shoe and all, into the chopper and took off just as the remaining THRUSH goons arrived.

They got off a few shots at the helicopter, just missing it as it rose.

“May I?” Illya asked as he eyed Mark’s carbine.

“Be my guest.”

Illya took aim with it and finished off the remaining birds.

“Wow, that was some nice shooting,” Mark said. Kuryakin had taken down five of them in six shots.

“There’s a lesson behind this,” Napoleon said. “Never piss off our Russian.”

“Da,” Illya nodded before laying back; Slate’s gun resting on his chest.

They knew Kuryakin was a good shot but little did Solo and Slate know, but Illya had been selected by Mr. Waverly to be a member of an elite and anonymous assassination squad within the ranks of U.N.C.L.E. called the Archangels.

Illya’s code name was Gabriel. There were others named after the biblical archangels but no one knew who they were, not even Napoleon.

Assassination was a dirty business, one with which Waverly didn’t like to have his people involved, but sometimes it became a necessity and hence the Archangel squad came into existence.*

The prerequisites for membership were simple, being a crack shot, a sniper really, and being able to kill in cold blood without remorse. Illya fit in quite nicely.

“Cor mate, I didn’t know Illya could shoot like that,” Mark whispered to Napoleon.

“Neither did I,” Solo became rather contemplative. He knew Illya was a good shot, but not like that. For the moment he put it off to being yet again one of the mysteries as to Illya Kuryakin’s background.

Who knew what he’d been assigned to do as a Soviet agent back home...

* ref to my AU story “The Archangel Affair.” (on FF.net under mlaw)

Comments

[ssclassof56.livejournal.com]

Beware the wrath of Illya! Always enjoy when Mark makes an appearance.

The Archangel Affair. Intriguing. I must check it out. :)

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

That's the truth! Thanks for reading and commenting. The Archangel Affair is one of my older stories in my AU UNCLE series. Hope you like it. I probably should go look at it again as it's been years. Please excuse any typos and errors.

I've been slowly going back and fixing the older stories, but there's a lot! "D

[pfrye.livejournal.com]

Loved the Archangel Affair. Read this on FanFic and left a message first. Enjoy how you interweave your stories/details etc. The concept of the Archangels is fascinating and as I stated in my FanFic comment I'm wondering if you are sewing some seeds of interest in Marc and NS about IK's shooting ability. Thank you again for such a great story.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you again for reading and commenting!! Napoleon, more than Mark becomes intrigued by his partner's actions. Eventually he is 'read' in on the Archangel program by Mr. Waverly, but under tough circumstances.

[pfrye.livejournal.com]

Will that be in an upcoming story?

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

It already took place in one of my older AU saga series fics. I apologize as I can't remember which one.. I'll have to go back and look to see which one it is...but yikes there's a lot.

I used to be able to keep track of it all in my head, but now there's too many. I have a habit of cross referencing all my stories to keep my universe consistent.

Will let you know which story it is when I find it. (chuckle)

[pfrye.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I've read them but don't recall that....

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Found it! Waverly fills Napoleon in on the Archangel program in Chapter 1 of the Archangel Affair. Napoleon is briefed and ordered to possibly terminate my OC Elliott McGowan if she can't be rescued. (she's the mother of Illya's son and a Section II agent)

Archangel agents are completely anonymous to each other for security reasons as they are privy to more information than the average agent....

[pfrye.livejournal.com]

Oh I remember that! (will have to re-read your series with Elliot etc.) - was wondering if NS becomes suspicious or discovers that IK is an "Archangel" assassin? It seemed at the end of this story that he is wondering about how good IK's shots are from the helicopter....just a thought.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

In my head Illya was made an 'Archangel' as soon as he arrived to NY, though it's rare that Waverly called upon him to perform that distasteful duty. So it was pre-Elliott, though I think this is actually the first pre-Elliott story in which I mention the Archangels.

Hmmm, maybe I need to do a story involving IK and some other members of the team? I think you've planted a seed. Still I need to get back to my Illya/Elliott series but for some reason I can't focus on the story I've been working on since forever. One of these days it'll suddenly click.

It happened with the last 2 long stories that I was sitting on forever as well. "The 7 Cities Affair" and "The Monstrous Affair."

There's 2 other stories...the one about the Vatican (that I posted the teaser for here) and an historical/background story for Napoleon and Illya that a fellow writer requested.

Eventually I finish them....sigh.

[pfrye.livejournal.com]

I shall stay tuned......looking forward to whatever you write!

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Oh I just posted an Illya series installment for the PicFic here, and cross posted it on FF.net.

With my new numbering system the stories though not posted in chronological order make sense finally.

"Someday" is 10 D so it's in the middle of the series time wise- Takes place when IK is at the University of Georgia, Ukraine.

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

An excellent fic! I like that you mentioned a bit about the "archangels" and that not even Napoleon knows Illya is one. I've read all your stories with archangels in them and like your concept.

Putting Illya's ankle in the cold stream without removing his shoe was the perfect first aid measure also. Well done! ;D

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you thank you O awesome Calendar Girl! :D

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

I thinK I'll change my username to that. oawesomecalendargirl

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

"OACG!" Your secret code designation. "D

[kat bybee (from livejournal.com)]

Oh my goodness, lady! This story hit very close to home for me, as my father was a "secret" WWII sniper...my older brothers knew about it, but it never appeared in any of his records, and he never told me, his youngest child about it. He never talked to me about his war experiences, but he talked with one of my brothers, and he used to take them shooting. He was a scarily amazing shot...could take the bole off a cactus at 1000 yards! He was also a paratrooper, and could hit moving targets easily...so, yeah. I miss him to this day, even though ours was not an easy relationship. I still loved him. Thank you for an incredible story.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm always honored when one of my stories touches a reader at a personal level. The Archangels are mentioned in more detail in some of my older stories, that I foot noted.

My late uncle was in military intelligence, but his family never found out until after he passed away and his oldest daughter requested his military records, much of which was still redacted. He was wounded on Iwo Jima, as I recall. To this day my cousins don't know about their father's military service in detail. He never spoke about with anyone.