Act 4: Superpowers

Uebel had reluctantly telephoned THRUSH headquarters and asked them to bring his grandson home, they had not been pleased, but he had managed to convince them, and since he had superiority over most of the people at the training complex and he was related to the child, they eventually agreed.  He wasn't sure whether they believed his story, and hoped they didn't.  He knew that the UNCLE agents wanted to take Karl away, and it would be more difficult if half a dozen THRUSH men with guns arrived.  If not though, Karl would simply think them into not being any trouble.

"How did you manage to get a grandson with superpowers, Mr. Uebel?" asked Napoleon, trying to make polite conversation and get some information out of the man at the same time.  Uebel remained silent.  "Was it some kind of lucky accident?  Selective breeding?" There was no reply.  He tried again, "Does his mother know you have him?"  If she was working for THRUSH she was a very good actress, she had been quite convincing, but something had been strange about this affair right from the start, and the start had been when Karin Jung had contacted UNCLE.

Uebel sighed silently, what did he care if the UNCLE agents found out a little information, they would never have the chance to tell anyone about it.  "We have had a program of selective breeding for several generations, I was part of it, as was my daughter.  She does know that I have her son, but she is not working for us.  She has not spoken to me for eleven years."

"What of his father?" asked Illya, "and siblings?  Are there more like him?"  The idea chilled him to the bone.

"His father is dead."  Uebel told them, "and I do not need to give you any more information."

They sat in silence for several minutes until Illya said quietly, "You killed him, didn't you?"  Uebel did not reply, but the look on the man's face was enough of an answer, the guilt and regret of a man that had killed the man his daughter loved, mixed with grim determination to do what was asked of him by his superiors.  "I thought so."  said Illya.  Then the silence returned again.

Uebel sat at his desk and watched the UNCLE agents watching him, wishing again that he had told THRUSH their plan wouldn't work, that UNCLE didn't scare that easily.  Still, when the boy arrived they would no longer be any trouble, he would tell him to do something that would guarantee they would never be a threat again.  He would get him to send one of them back to UNCLE programmed to kill that irritating Waverly.  He had never liked him when he worked for UNCLE and he must have been the one that sent them to his house.  The American, he decided, would do that.  As for the other one, well if they couldn't scare him off by making him forget his own language then he would forget English too.  Or maybe he would just forget how to breathe.

His thoughts were interrupted by the trapdoor opening again.  "Großvater?" said Karl's voice, "Bist du da?"

The fools at THRUSH had sent him alone.  "I am here Karl," he replied, his eye flicked briefly over to Illya and he smiled slightly, "and we are speaking in English today so that Mr. Kuryakin can understand us."

All his confidence of the previous day had returned now that he had a weapon to protect him from the agents.  Illya knew that Uebel was trying to provoke a reaction in him, and he wasn't going to rise to the bait.  He sat still, resisting the urge to hit the double agent about the head until he forgot a few languages too.  "Please come down here, Karl." He said.

The boy climbed cautiously down the ladder and looked at his grandfather and the two UNCLE agents with guns.  Uebel smiled warmly at him and Illya and Napoleon exchanged a look, realising simultaneously that they had little defence against the boy and that he was going to side with his grandfather.

"Karl, I'm sorry I had to interrupt what you were doing.  These two men have come to take you away.  I need you to deal with them, then we can get you back to your training."

Karl turned towards Illya and Napoleon.  Napoleon kept his gun aimed at Uebel while Illya moved his to his side.  "I thought I would save you the trouble of doing it for me this time." he said.

"What would you like me to do?"  Karl asked his grandfather.

Uebel thought for a moment.  His plans that he made earlier would do nicely, he decided.  He opened his mouth to answer, but before he had the chance to speak, Illya interrupted.  "Karl, before you do anything you should know what kind of man your grandfather is."  he said, "Did you know that he is the one that killed your father?"

Uebel put on a show of horror and disgust. "I did no such thing!" he exclaimed.

Karl looked unconvinced.  "Yes you did," he said simply.

Uebel shot a look of anger at Illya then turned back to his grandson, "Okay, I did." He said, "you read my mind, you know it's true.  Here's something else that's true, you are going to do exactly what I tell you.  You are working for THRUSH and you are going to deal with these two men.  If you do not, your mother will die too."

For the first time since he arrived, Karl's face which had been an expressionless blank seemed to show an emotion, it was not the fear Napoleon and Illya would have expected to see on a boy who has heard his mother's life threatened, it was hurt.  He looked his grandfather in the eye.  "You thought I would turn against you because of what you did to my father."  He told him, "I would not have.  I have always known that it was you, your mind is an open book to me, I never cared."  Uebel looked confused, so Karl explained, "I never knew my father so it did not matter to me that he was dead.  I had you and I had my mother so I did not need him.  In fact, when I was four years old I told her that it was.  She assumed you had spoken to me about it, I never corrected her." 

Uebel realised he had made a big mistake.  His hands began to shake and he was sweating in fear.  The idea of harming his daughter had never occurred to him before, but in his anger at the UNCLE agent, he had snapped out with a threat that, once said, he realised that he meant.  That wouldn't normally bother him, but he knew that Karl realised it too  "Then do what I want you to do." He insisted, his voice shook slightly.  The confidence was gone again.

"What I did not know," continued Karl, "was that you would threaten my mother, even out of anger or fear.  I now see that she was right about you.  I did not realise before what an evil man you were, and now you want to use me for evil too.  I would rather not." His gaze hardened and Uebel struggled unsuccessfully to look away then collapsed onto the floor.

"What did you do to him?" asked Napoleon.

Karl smiled, "I erased his memory of everything to do with the Eugenics Project, my mother and I.  He will not be a threat to her now.  Don't worry, he will wake up fine in a few minutes, with perhaps a slight headache."

"Undo it." Illya told him sharply.  Not only did they need to question Uebel, but after what the boy had done to him, he not like the idea erasing people's memories, even the enemy's.

Karl shook his head apologetically, "It is not possible," he explained, "even if I wanted to, and I do not.  Once something is erased it cannot be brought back."

It couldn't be.  Illya felt all the strength leave his body and he sunk down into a chair, defeated.  Napoleon hesitated, then rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder.  He did not even notice.  There was nothing that could be done.  He had lost his mother tongue for good.  He would have to relearn from the beginning as a foreigner.

No one said anything for a few minutes until Karl hesitantly asked, "Mr Kuryakin?"

"Yes?" answered Illya

"I know you don't like that I can see your thoughts, but you are misunderstanding me."

Napoleon looked up at him, "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I can do nothing about something I have erased, but in Mr. Kuryakin's case I simply built a barrier separating the languages he has lost from the rest of his mind.  Restoring them would simply be a matter of removing the barrier."

"You could do it now?" Illya asked, looking up, hopeful again and not wanting the opportunity to be lost if the boy disappeared.

Karl nodded, "This will not hurt," he assured him, "and it should not cause a headache this time." He fixed his gaze to Illya's blue eyes and stared unblinkingly for almost a minute.  Then stopped.  "There." He said.  Illya blinked in confusion and disappointment.  It had not worked, everything was exactly as it had been before.

Napoleon looked at him questioningly and he shook his head in reply.

"It would be difficult for your mind to cope if everything came back at once," Karl explained, "so the barrier is coming down slowly.  Things should start coming back soon."

"Good," said Napoleon.  He looked at Illya, making sure that he was all right, "then we should get going, we'll take Mr. Uebel back with us, I'm sure there's something we can do with him, even if he has forgotten about this project.  Karl, if you don't mind we'll have a few questions for you too, then we can get you on the next plane back to your mother."

"No problem." Said Karl, he didn't want to tell them anything, but he was tired and it would be easier to go along then be evasive or lie than try to control them, he wanted to get home.

He climbed the ladder and held the trapdoor open for the two UNCLE agents who were carrying the unconscious Uebel.  They tried not to look too conspicuous as they carried him to the car and strapped him into one of the back seats.  Illya got into the back in case he woke up and Karl rode in the passenger seat, anxious to get out of UNCLE's way so that he could get on with is own plans.  He doubted they would approve.

Napoleon smiled happily to himself.  Things had turned out perfectly, Illya was going to be all right, they caught the THRUSH agent and the boy was safe.  His hangover had even faded away.  Despite his decision on alcohol that morning, maybe another night of drinking with Illya wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.  He had enjoyed most of the parts of the night that he remembered.  "Hey, Illya, do you fancy a few drinks tonight to celebrate?" he asked over his shoulder.  "Maybe we'll both be better company than yesterday."

Illya glanced up from the window, half lost in his own thoughts.  "Maybe we will," he said, "but you still won't be able to hold your vodka." He turned back and closed his eyes, rejoicing in the indescribable pleasure of his languages returning, slowly dribbling in as Karl's barrier broke down.  He felt whole again, like he was himself for the first time longer than he could remember.  Slowly, against his will a large grin began to creep across his face, he didn't try to stop it.  The first thing he was going to do when he got home was make a telephone call, he felt the need to speak Russian.  He had few friends back in his homeland, but those he did have he were going to hear from him very soon.  He had neglected that part of his life for too long, and he was never going to make that mistake again.