Inquisitio veritatis- Seeking the truth- Chapter 3 for the Short Affair Challenge

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Chapter 1 is here,  Chapter 2 is here.

This story started out as a response to the July PicFic, but morphed into a WIP. Apologies to those who don't like WIPs. I 'm working on this one as quickly as I can.  The story will be finished, I promise.

Challenge: The Short Affair

-Prompt Word 1 - Muscle

-Prompt Word 2 – Return

-Prompt Colour – White

Author: mrua7

Title: “Inquisitio veritatis- seeking the truth”- Chapter 3

Kuryakin, as was his habit, made a bee-line to the UNCLE archives for any information that he could find on the Xaverian Brothers, but unfortunately there was little to be had. The only reference he located was related to Napoleon Solo having been taught by them at the school in Brooklyn, and that it was an all-boys school.

He found that interesting on a personal level; perhaps having Napoleon attend there was his father and mother’s efforts to curb their son’s very active libido.

His partner had once told him that he lost his virginity with the family nanny. That in an of itself would have had Napoleon shipped off to a boy’s school, that is if his parents found out.

Illya wondered if the nanny’s indescretion having been discovered was merely dismissed and not thrown in jail for having sex with a minor. He snickered, knowing Napoleon would have probably pleaded her case and got her off without any punishment other than losing her job. 

Illya lost his virginity at the same age as his partner, but it wasn’t due to an over active sex drive. He was shy and knew little but found out about it with a girl named Natasha who was a good friend. She also lived at the Moskva orphanage.*

She was shipped off to be a servant to someone in high standing with the Kremlin. Illya himself was nearly sent to a farming cooperative, but once they discovered how intelligent he was, he was sent to a school to develop his talents. It was from there he was chosen by Viktor Karkoff to be trained for Soviet intelligence work…*

It was he who had Kuryakin sent to the west to complete his education at the Sorbonne and then at Cambridge. At the same time Illya was spying on his fellow Soviets attending school outside the USSR. *

He was set up by his handler, causing an incident with the West German Embassy in Paris. That led to his transfer to Cambridge in England, but it also let to Karkoff losing face. He somehow managed to leave the GRU and transfer to KGB. **

Deep down, someday Illya knew Viktor would have his revenge, but so far that had not happened. Illya knew that it would though, and he therefore had to remain ready at all times.

He’d suffer the consequences by attending a school with no girls, though the young Solo probably did figure a way around that. Brooklyn wasn’t an island. 

Bay Ridge, where the high school was located consisted of a mix of ethnic groups... Italian, Irish, Hispanic, a a fair few other nationalities. The area had a number of historic sites, though they were rather young by comparison when Illya made a mental note as to the historical sites in Moskva alone.

Still, he was sure Napoleon had more than ample opportunities to meet those of the fairer sex to satisfy his young cravings.

Illya shook himself free of those thoughts as he headed back up to the Infirmary to check on his partner’s condition.

He’d often complained about Napoleon being like a mother hen to him at times and here he was now being guilty of the same thing.

The heart monitor was beeping steadily as Illya took his seat beside his partner’s bed. 

Though half of Napoleon’s face was covered with an oxygen mask, it was evident his color had improved.

“Ah, Mister Kuryakin, Nurse Caldwell in her crisp white uniform said as she walked into the room. The woman was built on the husky side, with her biceps stretching the material of her sleeves. She was a veritable walking muscle.

“We couldn’t wait to return, could we? Hmm? At least we had the decency to finally change our clothes and we hope shower?”

He raised a single eyebrow in response, not answering her. He felt as though she were addressing him like he was a six year old child. There was something about this woman that rubbed him the wrong way. Most likely it was her constant usage of nosism.

It was particularly annoying to him, and he wondered if she did it in an attempt to unnerve him. It was in essence a constant reminder of the overthrow of the Tsar and his family, Illya’s distant relations, though no one knew that. It was a secret he’d kept all his life, having been warned by his father to keep it well hidden.

No one back in the Soviet Union knew that his mother was a relation to the Romanovs, a far removed cousin and of no consequence, which was what most likely saved her family’s life during the Revolution and the subsequent murder of the Tsar and his family.

“Must you constantly use the royal ‘we’,” Illya finally jabbed. “It’s most unbecoming, especially to one who is not of a royal bloodline. You were born in Hoboken, New Jersey were you not? Your grandparents who were farmers, emigrated from North Yorkshire in England, did they not?”

He watched as her face turned red with embarrassment. She’d been outed and she knew it. She let it slip once in a while that she was somehow related to the British royalty. It made her feel special, and it was only a harmless white lie.

“Do not worry Nurse Caldwell your secret is safe with me, but please in the future, refrain from using the royal we, and so forth in my presence?”

“Um, yes sir Mister Kuryakin. I apologize if it bothered you. I’ll leave you alone with Mister Solo for a few minutes.”

He waved her off with that disarmingly crooked smile of his. “Not really, I suppose it is fine as it makes you happy. Nothing wrong with that? Forget what I said, and if I upset you, I apologize.”

“Thank you Mister Kuryakin,” she actually smiled before she disappeared out the door.

Illya remembered a line jotted down by a science fiction writer he’d met once who was working on a new book. Having an eidetic memory, he remembered everything he’d read and thinking perhaps those words applied to Nurse Caldwell…

”This sad little lizard told me that he was a brontosaurus on his mother's side. I did not laugh; people who boast of ancestry often have little else to sustain them. Humoring them costs nothing and adds happiness in a world in which happiness is always in short supply." *

Napoleon remained unconscious and that was his condition when Illya was forced to leave him. He needed to do more research on these Xaverian Brothers. Perhaps a trip to the city library or better still a visit to Cardinal Spellerman.

He and Napoleon had become acquainted with his Eminence during ‘The Vatican Affair,’ and with the cardinal’s help there were able to prevent a member of THRUSH being elected pope. It also helped that he was a friend of Alexander Waverly’s.

First the library, as he would have to make an appointment to see Cardinal Spellerman as one could not just drop in without proper notice. Illya, after experiencing the rituals of the Catholic church while posing as a conclavist for the Cardinal from Poland, knew there was no getting around rules.

Illya opened his communicator as he left Solo’s room.

“Channel F- Lisa Rogers.”

“Why hello Illya, I don’t get many direct communications for me, from you. How is Napoleon?”

“Improving. Lisa I need an appointment early this afternoon to meet with Cardinal Spellerman. I am a bit under the gun as I have a flight to catch later in the day.”

“I will do my best.”

“You always do. Kuryakin out.”

.

* ref to “The Orphanage”

** ref to “First Kill” and “Beginnings”

Quote: is from  Robert A. Heinlein's "Time Enough For Love"

Comments

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the read. I like the bit with Nurse Caldwell, including the apology; and definitely the brontosaur quote. (Which I don't recognise..?)

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Oops, I apologize. I forgot to footnote. I had to write it as if it were just from notes from the beginning stages of a book. The quote is from Robert A. Heinlein's "Time Enough For Love," published in 1973. My story is taking place in the early 60's... hence it being a bit that Illya read in the early stages of writing.

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

You're welcome and thanks for pointing it out. The quote is from the character Lazarus Long, and one of my favorites. It just seemed to perfect not to reference in this chapter.

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

Chapters 2 and 3 were both excellent. I love the way you weave in the histories you've already built for our agents, and I can't wait for more.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's been a bit of a head scratcher figuring out where to take this. Other than the ABC challenge, I haven't tackled a WIP if a while. The next chapter is pretty much done, but there's still more to happen with this story to make it unfold.

Actually the bit about Napoleon losing his virginity at 16 to the nanny came from Robert Vaughn himself, who said that's how he lost his virginity as a teenager.