Chocolate 20, Papaya 22
Hi, I'm new here (& hoping I'm doing this right!), and lost_spook is what I'm known as in most places. The story pieces I'm sharing are from an odd AU thing (originally from a meme prompt elsewhere; there's a link with the details so far for anyone who wants them) - I wanted to play around with it here and see what happens. I've been eyeing up your tempting prompt lists for a long while, so, here goes...
Title: Lead Me On
Author: lost_spook
Story: Heroes of the Revolution
Flavor(s): Chocolate #20 caution, Papaya #22: now what?
Toppings/Extras: None.
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 1758
Notes: c. 1984 (Anna, Michael Seaton.)
Summary: The resistance has suddenly gained a hero. It’s a bit of problem.
***
“Perhaps you’d be good enough to explain,” said Colonel Seaton, following Anna down the stairs into a cellar that was being used as a back-up operations centre. “What is it I’m supposed to be doing?”
Anna turned and gave him an appraising look. This was her first meeting with the resistance’s unexpected new hero. He fitted the bill well enough so far as looks went, being tall and fair, although she thought, it wasn’t so much that as the way he moved, the way he spoke: there was a sharpness to him, an energy - the air of a man used to being obeyed.
“Well,” Anna said, “you’ve attracted some attention, Colonel.”
“I thought they told me titles and real names were to be left at the door,” he said. “It’s Arran now.”
Anna, who’d been pulling together some papers on the nearest table, glanced up at him. “What, like the woolly jumper? Not very inspiring, is it?”
“Just a name,” he said. She thought, though, that she saw a humorous twitch at the corner of his mouth for a moment and gave him an additional point or two for that. “And, no, not like the woolly jumper, nor the island. Now, surely you must have some instructions for me?”
Anna sat down at the table and motioned for him to do the same. She picked up the nearest pencil and rearranged the papers in front of her. “Not really instructions. We can’t order you to do this, but I’ve been asked to persuade you.”
“And who the hell are you?” he returned. He sat down, but she caught the glint of anger in his eyes, ready to be insulted that they’d left him to someone he no doubt dismissed as a mere girl.
Anna smiled. “What’s that got to do with the price of eggs? I’m nobody. We’re all nobody here. Except for you, it seems, and that’s the bloody problem.”
“I understood it was an advantage,” he returned, but she felt now she’d caught his attention in the right way. He thought she was someone he could do battle with: a worthy opponent. She decided she could return the compliment, if that was what it was. “That’s what you people keep telling me.”
(Anna hadn’t been in the London base when she’d heard the news about Seaton. She’d been halfway to Brecon, stopping off to make contact with a small cell and they’d heard it over their radio. The resistance had been getting pretty good at intercepting official signals, and this one had been everywhere, anyway, not even Hallam’s people could hide it: Colonel Seaton, sent to deal with a civilian protest outside the former Marylebone Workhouse had instead defected along with a good dozen of his men and assisted the protesters in getting the condemned elderly inhabitants out of the building.
The Colonel was someone who’d been on their lists to approach - maybe the first overtures had already been made - but Anna was close to the centre of operations and she hadn’t heard anything to suggest they’d got any agreement out of him. And this! This was outside of anything - it was the first such open rebellion to come from within the government for years, and maybe the only one that had ever been so successful.
It made all the difference. Suddenly, Jako and Gretel, the two she’d been calling in on, were fired up with the possibilities, having lost the defeatist attitude with which they’d first taken her messages. Anna wouldn’t put too much hope in any one person, but it was possible this might be the turning point they needed.
Unlike the other two, though, she was already thinking ahead - there were going to be repercussions all over the country. Once Hallam and his people saw that reaction, they were going to clamp down all the harder in fear. There was going to be trouble. Wasn’t there always?)
“They asked me to speak to you because I know the tunnels well,” she said. “Got locked down in them a few years back. Thought I was never going to see daylight again.”
“Tunnels?”
“Closed underground lines mainly,” she said, “but there are others.”
He studied her closely. “I’ve no desire to hide for however long it takes till they’ve forgotten about me. If you’re not going to make use of me, there isn’t very much point, is there?”
Well, and aren’t you the big hero to the life?” said Anna. “You’d rather they took you away and executed you publicly, then? Maybe they’d beat you down until they got an apology out of you first while they were at it. Kill off that bit of hope you gave people. Wonderful.”
Arran leant forward against the table. “I think we can’t afford to wait before we strike at them again. Show people the tide can be turned.” He paused and gave her a dark smile. “If it can, of course. But the only way to find that out is to try.”
“And you don’t need to explain that to me, either,” she said. “We’re not going to hide your light under a bushel, don’t you worry. We want to cause some confusion.”
“Then congratulations,” he said dryly. “From where I’m standing, it’s working.”
Anna leant forwards. “If you agree, what we do is make it look as if we’ve smuggled you out to the provinces somewhere. Take you through the tunnels, let you be seen on the outskirts, send out a decoy for them to follow -”
“That sounds like a pointless risk.”
“Not if we get them sure enough they need to be looking elsewhere. What we want is to get you a meeting with - someone important.” Anna caught herself. She’d nearly slipped and said Whittaker’s name aloud.
“Ah. Now I see.”
“There is some risk, of course,” she said. “But if we thought it was too great, we wouldn’t be asking you. We don’t want to lose you.”
“Then when do we start?”
“I need to radio someone; then we can go right away. Everything’s ready - just waiting for your agreement. And, like I said, I know the tunnels. I’ll be your guide.”
Arran got to his feet as she did, giving her a curious look. “You said years before. You don’t look that old.”
“None of your business,” she told him, and then relented with a quick smile. “If it matters to you, well, I got involved over five years ago. That’s a long time round these parts. I’d have thought a soldier would understand that.”
(Anna had ended up in the Resistance through being in the debating society. She didn’t think that had been the intended outcome, but then again, it was a group designed to encourage a lot of argumentative people, so maybe it was. There were questions that they could never raise there, and that in itself opened her eyes. And once Anna saw a thing, she had to respond. She’d never been the passive kind.
“Don’t get involved in anything,” her mother had told her before she’d set off for university, lucky enough to still be permitted a place. “Any political groups, I should say. It’s not safe, no matter how it sounds. Promise me, Catherine.”
So, Anna, who was that much younger and still known only as Catherine Miller, had promised she wouldn’t, and while she slowly made up her own mind about things, she ignored illegal pamphlets and leaflets that were dumped around campus. She’d get her degree first and do something about the rest later, if somebody else hadn’t got rid of Hallam first. Besides, it was more complicated than that, wasn’t it? The country was in a mess. Maybe that needed fixing before the government.
She might, despite her rebellious mind, have walked that way forever, away into a career and family, put all her energies into helping with the ongoing fuel crisis or food shortages instead, but the girl next door to her was taken away by Security Division. They didn’t drag her away in the night; they came quietly by day, as if it were a reasonable act. She’d been printing seditious leaflets, they said. Catherine Miller had one in her possession. She’d thought it was pretty innocuous and half-hearted. She’d have had more to say than that, given access to a printing press.
It made her furious, but she knew what to do: she waited for somebody to show an interest in her friend’s disappearance and found out from them where to go and who to fight. She did remember about her mother’s advice, but it was only Catherine who had promised to be cautious. Now she was merely Anna, and Anna had made no promises to anyone.)
“One thing,” said Arran as Anna led him away. “I’ll have you know that whatever happens, I am not begging their pardon for what I did. Hallam and anyone else who allows such orders to be given - they’re the ones who ought to get down on their knees and beg if anyone should! And if I can make them, I will.”
Anna opened the door, turning back towards him. He meant it, she thought, and felt a shiver of excitement. It wasn’t only her mother who’d told her to be cautious. Everyone had. People when she’d started trying to trace that leaflet to its source; the Resistance every time anyone had an idea for a mission. And of course, you wanted to come back alive if you could, that was only common sense, but she didn’t think you won things by being cautious.
“All right,” she said. “I believe you. But while we head out this way, you keep quiet and keep that hood up - Captain Cardigan.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I thought it had a ring to it.”
“Suppose it does,” she said, locking the door behind her. “And I’m Anna, by the way. If this little venture doesn’t get us killed, we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other in the near future.”
Arran waited for her to lead onwards. “What did I do to deserve that?”
“Oh,” said Anna, giving a private smile. “It’s not all that bad, sir. You haven’t met the rest of us yet. It could be worse.”
Yes, she thought, it could definitely be worse. Colonel Seaton would do; he’d do very well. Provided, of course, that they didn’t mess this little ploy up and get themselves both arrested or killed. Because it could be worse; that was one of the things you learned here: it could always be worse.
***
Title: Lead Me On
Author: lost_spook
Story: Heroes of the Revolution
Flavor(s): Chocolate #20 caution, Papaya #22: now what?
Toppings/Extras: None.
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 1758
Notes: c. 1984 (Anna, Michael Seaton.)
Summary: The resistance has suddenly gained a hero. It’s a bit of problem.
***
“Perhaps you’d be good enough to explain,” said Colonel Seaton, following Anna down the stairs into a cellar that was being used as a back-up operations centre. “What is it I’m supposed to be doing?”
Anna turned and gave him an appraising look. This was her first meeting with the resistance’s unexpected new hero. He fitted the bill well enough so far as looks went, being tall and fair, although she thought, it wasn’t so much that as the way he moved, the way he spoke: there was a sharpness to him, an energy - the air of a man used to being obeyed.
“Well,” Anna said, “you’ve attracted some attention, Colonel.”
“I thought they told me titles and real names were to be left at the door,” he said. “It’s Arran now.”
Anna, who’d been pulling together some papers on the nearest table, glanced up at him. “What, like the woolly jumper? Not very inspiring, is it?”
“Just a name,” he said. She thought, though, that she saw a humorous twitch at the corner of his mouth for a moment and gave him an additional point or two for that. “And, no, not like the woolly jumper, nor the island. Now, surely you must have some instructions for me?”
Anna sat down at the table and motioned for him to do the same. She picked up the nearest pencil and rearranged the papers in front of her. “Not really instructions. We can’t order you to do this, but I’ve been asked to persuade you.”
“And who the hell are you?” he returned. He sat down, but she caught the glint of anger in his eyes, ready to be insulted that they’d left him to someone he no doubt dismissed as a mere girl.
Anna smiled. “What’s that got to do with the price of eggs? I’m nobody. We’re all nobody here. Except for you, it seems, and that’s the bloody problem.”
“I understood it was an advantage,” he returned, but she felt now she’d caught his attention in the right way. He thought she was someone he could do battle with: a worthy opponent. She decided she could return the compliment, if that was what it was. “That’s what you people keep telling me.”
(Anna hadn’t been in the London base when she’d heard the news about Seaton. She’d been halfway to Brecon, stopping off to make contact with a small cell and they’d heard it over their radio. The resistance had been getting pretty good at intercepting official signals, and this one had been everywhere, anyway, not even Hallam’s people could hide it: Colonel Seaton, sent to deal with a civilian protest outside the former Marylebone Workhouse had instead defected along with a good dozen of his men and assisted the protesters in getting the condemned elderly inhabitants out of the building.
The Colonel was someone who’d been on their lists to approach - maybe the first overtures had already been made - but Anna was close to the centre of operations and she hadn’t heard anything to suggest they’d got any agreement out of him. And this! This was outside of anything - it was the first such open rebellion to come from within the government for years, and maybe the only one that had ever been so successful.
It made all the difference. Suddenly, Jako and Gretel, the two she’d been calling in on, were fired up with the possibilities, having lost the defeatist attitude with which they’d first taken her messages. Anna wouldn’t put too much hope in any one person, but it was possible this might be the turning point they needed.
Unlike the other two, though, she was already thinking ahead - there were going to be repercussions all over the country. Once Hallam and his people saw that reaction, they were going to clamp down all the harder in fear. There was going to be trouble. Wasn’t there always?)
“They asked me to speak to you because I know the tunnels well,” she said. “Got locked down in them a few years back. Thought I was never going to see daylight again.”
“Tunnels?”
“Closed underground lines mainly,” she said, “but there are others.”
He studied her closely. “I’ve no desire to hide for however long it takes till they’ve forgotten about me. If you’re not going to make use of me, there isn’t very much point, is there?”
Well, and aren’t you the big hero to the life?” said Anna. “You’d rather they took you away and executed you publicly, then? Maybe they’d beat you down until they got an apology out of you first while they were at it. Kill off that bit of hope you gave people. Wonderful.”
Arran leant forward against the table. “I think we can’t afford to wait before we strike at them again. Show people the tide can be turned.” He paused and gave her a dark smile. “If it can, of course. But the only way to find that out is to try.”
“And you don’t need to explain that to me, either,” she said. “We’re not going to hide your light under a bushel, don’t you worry. We want to cause some confusion.”
“Then congratulations,” he said dryly. “From where I’m standing, it’s working.”
Anna leant forwards. “If you agree, what we do is make it look as if we’ve smuggled you out to the provinces somewhere. Take you through the tunnels, let you be seen on the outskirts, send out a decoy for them to follow -”
“That sounds like a pointless risk.”
“Not if we get them sure enough they need to be looking elsewhere. What we want is to get you a meeting with - someone important.” Anna caught herself. She’d nearly slipped and said Whittaker’s name aloud.
“Ah. Now I see.”
“There is some risk, of course,” she said. “But if we thought it was too great, we wouldn’t be asking you. We don’t want to lose you.”
“Then when do we start?”
“I need to radio someone; then we can go right away. Everything’s ready - just waiting for your agreement. And, like I said, I know the tunnels. I’ll be your guide.”
Arran got to his feet as she did, giving her a curious look. “You said years before. You don’t look that old.”
“None of your business,” she told him, and then relented with a quick smile. “If it matters to you, well, I got involved over five years ago. That’s a long time round these parts. I’d have thought a soldier would understand that.”
(Anna had ended up in the Resistance through being in the debating society. She didn’t think that had been the intended outcome, but then again, it was a group designed to encourage a lot of argumentative people, so maybe it was. There were questions that they could never raise there, and that in itself opened her eyes. And once Anna saw a thing, she had to respond. She’d never been the passive kind.
“Don’t get involved in anything,” her mother had told her before she’d set off for university, lucky enough to still be permitted a place. “Any political groups, I should say. It’s not safe, no matter how it sounds. Promise me, Catherine.”
So, Anna, who was that much younger and still known only as Catherine Miller, had promised she wouldn’t, and while she slowly made up her own mind about things, she ignored illegal pamphlets and leaflets that were dumped around campus. She’d get her degree first and do something about the rest later, if somebody else hadn’t got rid of Hallam first. Besides, it was more complicated than that, wasn’t it? The country was in a mess. Maybe that needed fixing before the government.
She might, despite her rebellious mind, have walked that way forever, away into a career and family, put all her energies into helping with the ongoing fuel crisis or food shortages instead, but the girl next door to her was taken away by Security Division. They didn’t drag her away in the night; they came quietly by day, as if it were a reasonable act. She’d been printing seditious leaflets, they said. Catherine Miller had one in her possession. She’d thought it was pretty innocuous and half-hearted. She’d have had more to say than that, given access to a printing press.
It made her furious, but she knew what to do: she waited for somebody to show an interest in her friend’s disappearance and found out from them where to go and who to fight. She did remember about her mother’s advice, but it was only Catherine who had promised to be cautious. Now she was merely Anna, and Anna had made no promises to anyone.)
“One thing,” said Arran as Anna led him away. “I’ll have you know that whatever happens, I am not begging their pardon for what I did. Hallam and anyone else who allows such orders to be given - they’re the ones who ought to get down on their knees and beg if anyone should! And if I can make them, I will.”
Anna opened the door, turning back towards him. He meant it, she thought, and felt a shiver of excitement. It wasn’t only her mother who’d told her to be cautious. Everyone had. People when she’d started trying to trace that leaflet to its source; the Resistance every time anyone had an idea for a mission. And of course, you wanted to come back alive if you could, that was only common sense, but she didn’t think you won things by being cautious.
“All right,” she said. “I believe you. But while we head out this way, you keep quiet and keep that hood up - Captain Cardigan.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I thought it had a ring to it.”
“Suppose it does,” she said, locking the door behind her. “And I’m Anna, by the way. If this little venture doesn’t get us killed, we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other in the near future.”
Arran waited for her to lead onwards. “What did I do to deserve that?”
“Oh,” said Anna, giving a private smile. “It’s not all that bad, sir. You haven’t met the rest of us yet. It could be worse.”
Yes, she thought, it could definitely be worse. Colonel Seaton would do; he’d do very well. Provided, of course, that they didn’t mess this little ploy up and get themselves both arrested or killed. Because it could be worse; that was one of the things you learned here: it could always be worse.
***