"Such is my life" ~ for the Song Story Challenge on Section VII

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

                                                                                                             

They walked in tandem along the dimly lit city streets; two men, one dark-haired and the other a blond. Their eyes darted in every direction, their ears listened for every sound.

There was a clatter of something falling to the ground...

Reacting at the same time, they pulled their weapons from their shoulder holsters and paused near the entrance to an alleyway.

A black cat emerged, hissing it’s annoyance at being disturbed.

Both men smiled, not in amusement but perhaps in relief it wasn’t someone jumping out at them with a gun in their hand.

“There,” Napoleon Solo suddenly looked up, pointing as he spotted their quarry scrambling up a fire escape.

“On it,” Illya said darting forward, grabbing the ladder and climbing upwards with the agility of an acrobat.

Solo moved on to the next building, anticipating that’s where they’d be headed.

Kuryakin scurried up, following the man to the topmost floor; watching as his target ducked through an open window.  Of course the Russian dove in after him, only to be ambushed.

A lamp came crashing down on his head, fists flew and for a moment Kuryakin found himself dazed; brought down to his knees.  It was just long enough for the man to escape out the door, leaving the apartment’s half-drunken occupant shrieking in shock.

“My apologies madam, these random Housing Authority Inspections can be a bit of a surprise,” Illya said as he headed out the door himself.

The blond opened his communicator, “He has gotten ahead of me. I do not know if he is heading down to you or up to the roof.

“Gotcha,” Napoleon responded as he positioned himself by the steps of the building, keeping himself out of sight. It would be easier to jump the man than confront him directly if he came this way.

The Russian ran down the shadowy hallway; it stinking of mildew and urine. He paused, listening as he canted his head to one side...hearing quick, heavy footfalls sounding like they were moving away from him and up a flight of stairs.

That was the answer he needed... the roof.

Illya took off, arriving at the stairs and taking them a few steps at a time.  He looked up seeing sunlight from the open door at the top, and decided it prudent to draw his gun as he carefully stepped outside.

There was no sign until he spotted the ginger-haired man heading towards the building’s ledge.  Backing up and taking a few steps; he ran at top speed and leapt across, landing on the next rooftop, though he toppled to his hands and knees; he wasted no time in getting up and taking off.

He followed suit, flying through the air with his arms aeroplaning; he landed upright, still on his feet, momentarily skidding on the gravel surface.  Withdrawing his open communicator; he spoke again to his partner.

"Murray is heading east along the rooftop of the next building Napoleon.”

Solo ran across the sidewalk, anticipating Liam Murray coming back down to the street. At the moment he felt stuck between a rock and a hard place, having to wait while his partner was trying to catch up to the T.H.R.U.S.H. agent who’d stolen a very important document from an U.N.C.L.E. courier, whom he killed in the process.

The rooftop chase came to an end, not knowing if Murray was going to backtrack or to make a sizeable leap below to an overpass filled with passing cars driving in both directions.

“Stop! Do not do it. You will be killed,” Illya called out, fearing the young man was going to make the dangerous jump. “Just give me the documents and I will let you go.”

His words were ignored, forcing Kuryakin to shake his head in disbelief as he watched the agent hurtle himself at least 20 feet down, landing among the moving cars. He was narrowly missed by a few of them as they screeched to a halt; their horns blaring in protest.

Fearlessly, Illya followed suit and took advantage of the fact that traffic had been stopped by Murray’s stunt.

He continued after the man, heading along the road, following him doggedly,  weaving around the vehicles stopped there until Liam halted, leapt over the guardrail, taking a 30 foot drop to the street below.

It could be a deadly one for him, but Illya didn’t hesitate; it was now or never...knowing he wasn’t going to live forever anyway. One thing had escaped his notice though, and that was a sixteen-wheeler heading his way on the street below.

His movements were timed perfectly. As the Russian hit the ground, he curled up and rolled, helping to absorb the impact; miraculously taking him out of the truck’s path.

The air horn blared as it began to jackknife, putting him in danger of being crushed. but somehow the U.N.C.L.E. agent continued to roll, going directly beneath the truck as it skidded above him and past him

Illya got to his feet, feeling a searing pain shooting up his right leg as he spotted the red-haired man rounding the corner.

This chase was becoming wearisome and now painful, but still he wasn’t going to back down. It was simply not in the Russian’s nature to do that...this was his life, his way of doing things. He was single minded and unbending in his devotion to duty, whatever the cost to himself.

“Napoleon,” Kuryakin shouted into his communicator, “He is headed back your way!”

Solo, who’d been along the sidewalk trying to keep up with his partner and the fleeing birdie, slammed right into man as he came around the corner; knocking both of them to the ground.

The U.N.C.L.E. agent was the first one up, tackling Liam and taking him out with a karate chop to the neck.

Illya showed up seconds later, unable to run as he was limping badly. It was then the discomfort from some scrapes and cuts from the chase made themselves known to him. He leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees as he tired to deal with the pain.

“Nice job flushing him out tovarisch,” Solo got to his feet, dusting off his clothes and hands.

“Such is my life my friend. I flush them out and you catch them.”

“Well you are sort of relentless that way, aren’t you?” Napoleon smiled.

“It is my way,” Illya shrugged. He lowered himself down, searching Murray’s jacket pocket for the stolen document, and retrieved it.

“And so it is chum,”Solo clapped a hand on his partner’s shoulder, offering him assistance to rise. “But if you ever pull a stunt like that again...jumping the way you did. I’ll have you pulled out of the field for a month of Sundays. Capische?”

“What, you are pulling rank on me?”

“Yes I am. You’re a valuable commodity to U.N.C.L.E. but more so to me. I don’t want you getting killed because you think you’re Superman and can leap tall buildings in a single bound.”

“That is what you think of me… a valuable commodity?” Illya’s face was filled with what could best be described as disappointment.

“You’re my partner chum, and my best friend. I’d like to keep you around for as long as possible. The odds of losing you are bad enough with T.H.R.U.S.H. wanting to do you in; I can’t have you killing yourself.  Besides who would I get to write my reports for me?”

Illya’s eyes went wide for the briefest of seconds before he started to smile.  He wouldn’t argue the point with Napoleon...at least not now.

“Will you look at that?” Solo groused. “You do all the chasing and it’s my suit jacket that gets torn. How unfair is that?” He said it on purpose, knowing it would get a rise out of his partner.

“Yes,” Illya agreed,“ and just how unfair is that?” He limped over to a wall, leaned back against it and slipped down to sit on the sidewalk, waiting for a medical transport to arrive...

Comments

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

"...because you think you’re Superman and can leap tall buildings in a single bound.” Love that line. Great use of the prompt. I like it when Napoleon pulls rank and gives Illya a little talking to about his risk taking.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you thank you! Glad you liked it. I wasn't quite sure about this one...

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

I like the way the action mirrored the video. Don't you just feel sorry for Napoleon's jacket :-D lol

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

I couldn't get that video out of my head, so I just went with bits of it, along with some lyrics to tie it in. The music was very 'spy like' wasn't it?

Thanks for the comment!

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

I'm out of breath just reading it. That was fast and furious, and no one go seriously hurt. Truly amazing, very MFU. Nice one.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

(Big Smile) Thank you! I couldn't get the video out of my head, so some elements of it made it into the story. The music for this, as I told JantoJones, felt very 'spy-like.'