"Escape from the End of the World-" Part 13 the conclusion

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Solo woke up to the smell of smouldering wires and a sizeable lump on his head. The cockpit was a shambles but nearly intact but when he tried to stand he let out a yelp as pain shot up his obviously broken leg.

“Illya!” He shouted.

“I am here,”the Russian’s head appeared through the curtains. Outdoor light was shining behind him as the cabin had been ripped in half. He pulled himself into the copilot’s seat, surveying the damage.

“April?”

“She came to and shot the General, but passed out again. She seems to have not sustained any further injuries. I think Sylv...Leticia was thrown from the plane; if she is alive, I do not know.”

“How the hell did we survive this?” Napoleon mumbled, holding his head, knowing a miracle had just occurred.

“Your Solo luck, one can only hope.” Illya picked up the microphone, switching on the radio; amazingly it was still working.

“Mayday mayday this is flight BT 97 I repeat Bravo Tango Niner-7. We have crashed, I say again we have crashed. Bravo Tango Niner-7 is down.”

“This is tower control at Viracopos Airport Senhor, what is your location?”

Looking at the on the controls for the compass, Napoleon and Illya made a quick guesstimate, and gave them the approximate coordinates.

Several hours later the agents were safe in their hospital beds in Sao Paulo with Alexander Waverly having been informed of their rescue.

The body of General Machado was recovered and his daughter Leticia, who survived the crash with only contusions and abrasions, had been taken into custody. By all estimates, she was going to be confined to a mental institution for some time. She was raging about killing April Dancer as well as Solo and Kuryakin among other things.

Several days later Napoleon, his leg in a cast and using crutches, was the only one of the three agents who was mobile.

After emergency surgery, Illya’s wound cleaned though he was now on a cocktail of antibiotics and confined to his hospital bed. The surgeon reassured Solo his partner would be fine, and Napoleon knew that for sure when he found out Illya was already terrorizing the nursing staff and complaining about wanting to leave.

April finally came out of her trance, but she too had needed some minor surgery to repair the damage done to her by the General’s vicious attack. She was sleeping a lot, and the doctors advised that was the best thing for her at the moment.

Napoleon entered her room for the first time, finding her laying in bed, staring out the window. Her hair had been washed and combed out, with the sunlight shining on it making it shimmer.

“Hi there gorgeous,” he smiled, standing at her bedside.

“Mmm, hi. I was wondering when I’d see you. I was told we were in a plane crash? I don’t remember that.”

“Actually I’ve been here with you off and on, but you were sort of out of it,” He sat down, and took her hand in his. “What do you remember?”

“I recall feeling so sleepy when we were in the Learjet and just couldn’t keep my eyes open. Napoleon, I had the strangest dream. I was in an office and the General came in, we talked. I was dressed in a rather revealing piece of lingerie, but that’s it. I can’t recall the rest of it. What happened to us?  Illya’s all right, isn’t he?”

“The plane crashed in the jungle. We never made it to Cuba,” he bent the truth to weave his tale.

“The General died as did the crew, only you, me and Illya made it out alive. Illya needed a little surgery as his stitches were infected and he was running a fever, but he’s on the mend now and cranky as ever.” Napoleon didn’t hesitate hiding the truth to protect her.

“Wow I did miss a lot, didn’t I?

“You my dear were very lucky as a piece of wreckage nearly ruined your  ummm, lady parts,” he ended the lies there, thinking that was as good an explanation for what Machado had done to her that he could think of. April not remembering any of it was a blessing in disguise. No doubt the trauma and what ever drug he’d slipped her were responsible.

Napoleon stood, and leaning over; he gently kissed her on the forehead.

“You just concentrate on getting better. I’ll be in to see you later. Maybe I can sneak in some outside food and we can have dinner together.”

“That sounds good and I promise I’ll try,” she said, giving him a little wave as he hobbled out the door on his crutches.

Aprils eyes welled up, remembering more than she let on…

A week later the three agents returned to New York, there was no need to give any reports to Waverly as Napoleon, had done so via video conference from the Sao Paulo office.

Mark appeared at the employee reception to greet his partner and the others, and winked at Solo as he escorted April to their office.

They’d all been assigned to light duty and had nothing more than paperwork to occupy their times.

Slate had been filled in by Napoleon as to what had really happened in Brazil so he could keep an eye on his partner, just in case.

Somehow Napoleon had managed to keep the truth out of the final reports. He’d sworn the doctor who treated her in Sao Paulo to secrecy but refused tell Illya or Mark how he managed that.

If Waverly was the wiser, he never showed it, but Napoleon became suspicious when the Old Man, while in a meeting with his CEA. kept asking for clarification as to what happened on the plane after they escaped the prison for the second time.

Though Napoleon was good at keeping his stories straight, being grilled by Alexander Waverly was worse that some of the most grueling interrogations he’d experienced at the hands of T.H.R.U.S.H.

“Mr. Solo, though you are quite good at what you do...do you really think you can put things over on me, especially when it comes to my agents? Given Miss Dancer is the only female Section II agent at present, do you  think I don’t to keep extra tabs on her?”

“Sorry sir, it just didn’t cross my mind.”

“Well young man I do. Section I was hesitant to put a woman in the field exactly for the reason you have tried to hide from me. Some of them feel a woman doesn’t belong out there. I however disagree, and I think women agents can make a great contribution to the organization,” Waverly stood, walking over to the window, he gazed out at the U.N. building while puffing on his pipe.

“TImes are changing Mr. Solo, and U.N.C.L.E. must keep up. Though a woman is considered the fairer sex; she is not helpless. She may be at greater risk because of her gender, to those who would take advantage of her. It is but one aspect of fieldwork that a female agent must be willing to abide. Sexual abuse is not exclusive to females; you are well aware that male agents face those same dangers too.  Miss Dancer knew of such risks when she accepted the position as a Section II agent. I assure you that this will not deter me from adding more female agents to the field.”

“Sir, just exactly where are you going with this if I may ask?”

“What I am saying is that the incident that occurred with Miss Dancer will indeed be kept out of her medical records as well as the final reports on this affair.  It is my understanding that she does not remember what happened to her and until such time, no one will bring anything up that had to do with the Brazil affair. If and when she does remember the sordid details, she will be given the appropriate counseling and care.”

Napoleon breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes sir.”

“You are dismissed Mr. Solo.” Waverly returned to his conference table, removing the cozy from a tea pot that had been sitting there and poured himself a cup of tea.

Napoleon rose, turning to leave.

“And Mr. Solo,”

“Sir?”

“In the future if you ever hide information from me again, you will be severely disciplined. Am I clear on this? It is at my discretion not yours as to what appears or not in a final report.”

Napoleon’s eyebrows shot up. “Crystal sir.”

“Oh and one more thing Mr. Solo. Apparently Leticia Machado has escaped from the asylum in Sao Paulo. We are unsure of her where abouts but will be on the lookout for her.”

“Thank you for the heads up sir.” Napoleon headed out the door.

Though he, Illya and April were recovering and safe, knowing that the crazed Leticia was on the loose was unsettling.

“One more person who wants to kill us...what else is new?”Solo reasoned as he hobbled on his crutches down the grey corridors he called his home away from home.

He sauntered up to Medical as he just didn’t feel like working on his reports, though there was a fair pile of them on his desk, mostly in need of clarification requested by Waverly.

He was a stickler for detail and Solo was not, at least when it came to his reports. Illya was the one who had an eye for such things and of course typing out the report helped since Napoleon’s handwriting was atrocious.

Granted their Secretary could type them up, but couldn’t insert the details of the mission like Kuryakin could.

Illya wouldn’t be released to light duty just yet, and the reports could wait in Napoleon’s estimation. Instead he decided to pay a visit to the Russian, if just for a few minutes.

As he entered Kuryakin’s room, his partner was eating something from a bowl. After swallowing a spoonful of dark red soup, he greeted the American.

“What’s that you’re eating? Doesn’t look like anything they’d serve here?”Solo asked.

“Borscht,” Illya wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Georgina Semanov from translation made it for me.”

“Hmm, you have a fan club I guess.” Napoleon smiled as he sat down.

“You are not the only one with lady friends at headquarters, though I have not slept with them as you have with your female acquaintances.”

“You must be feeling better chum; you’re zinging them at me like your old self.”

“One tries,” Illya flashed a crooked smile.

“So I was thinking, once you’re out of here and feeling up to it...why don’t we take some vacation days and head to Rio for Carnival?”

“Really? That is what has been on your mind since we escaped that accursed rain forest? Do you really think I want to go back to Brazil that soon after what we went through?  I am sorry my friend, but you are sadly mistaken if you..”

“Relax , I was only joking,” Napoleon laughed.” Though maybe Mardi Gras in New Orleans might be fun?”

“Sometimes I do not understand your sense of humor at all,”Illya said. He picked up his bowl of soup and slurped the remainder from it, letting a little of the red liquid dribble down his chin.

“Mmm, that was good, You should try borscht Napoleon, it is very tasty, especially with a dollop of sour cream in it.” He wipe his face with his napkin and folded it up, placing it on his tray.

“And sometimes I don’t think you have a sense of humor Illya.”

“Oh I do, trust me I do. By the way I will not be able to work on your reports when I get out of here. I forgot to tell you that several of the keys broke on my typewriter and it must be sent out for repair.”

“You’re kidding? Oh man. Well could you at least look over the reports for me. If you make some notes, at least the secretary can type them up.”

“Bad news on that front as well. My reading glasses, that were in my luggage on the plane, were damaged beyond repair so I must have new ones made.  Since they are a special prescription, they will take at least a week to ten days before they are ready. I am not too happy about that as I had some very intriguing scientific journals I was hoping to read.”

Solo sighed, crossing his arms in front of himself and tapping his fingers as realized this wasn’t going well for him at all.

“So are you at least getting nice frames instead you're ugly Soviet ones?”

“Napoleon?”

“Yeah chum.”

“I was only joking.”

“Really?” Napoleon sighed in relief.” Hey, that was a pretty good tovarisch.”

“And you said I had no sense of humor,” Illya chuckled.

Comments

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

Yay, they all survived, and I'm glad April doesn't remember the rape. Excellent conclusion. Or is it? The tag says so, but Napoleon mentions Mardi Gras, which would go with your pic-fic prompt tomorrow.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Ewwww, you're good. I wanted to end the story here, but tomorrow's picfic just might tie in.

Thanks!

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

What a finish! No one got out unscathed, but at least the good guys survived. I suspect and we will be seeing a banshee in the future and what a character she is. Terrific fic, M.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad you decided to finish the story. Appreciate it.

There's always trouble on the road ahead for our boys though..."D

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

BTW how's your fingernails? Growing back? "D

[lacik9.livejournal.com]

Great series. They were very fortunate to survive all those ordeals they were put through. I have to get on a plane tomorrow and hope for a less eventful flight. Concerned though about April remembering more than she is letting on.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, I'm glad you liked the story, even though it was filled with a lot of angst and cliffies. Yep, April Is keeping her mouth shut as she's unaware that Waverly knows what happened to her.

She's trying to hide what she remembers in order to protect her position as a field agent...really thinking along the same lines as Napoleon. Her using memory loss as her cover, save her from anyone prying....

Hope you have a wonderful flight and your destination a delight.

[lacik9.livejournal.com]

Going to NY - will be on the lookout for Thrushies and Leticia

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Hee hee... I think they've all retreated South (way South) due to the extreme cold. It's below 0 with the windchill here right now, and lots of ice/black ice. Be careful getting around.

Have a great trip!