... Oh dear.

[ladybug_archive]

So off and on I've thought about my Man From U.N.C.L.E. snapshot series, How Do You Like Them Apples? There is a reason why I haven't written any more for it besides the fact of becoming interested in writing for other fandoms more. I think I wrote myself into a corner with one of the little arcs I started.

I was so anxious to do the arc of a mysterious person from the guys' past appearing and doing things like hacking into their computer, that I didn't stop to wait for an opportunity to review said person's episode again first. (I didn't own said episode or I certainly would have done it first.) I thought that I remembered it well enough to go ahead anyway. Eventually I did get around to seeing it again, however, and now I'm no longer sure that what I wanted to do will work for this character.

With Lucius, the new U.N.C.L.E. agent that Napoleon and Illya are trying to get used to, he was always a hired gun, just working for the money and not particularly caring about the causes of the people he worked for. He was arrested eventually and recruited to work for U.N.C.L.E. instead of going to prison because of his knowledge of the T.H.R.U.S.H. activities of his last boss. They needed his help to stop Armageddon. To keep him safe from his former boss, he went to work for them, with the idea that even if the guy knew U.N.C.L.E. had him, it would never be suspected that he was now an U.N.C.L.E. agent. He wasn't immediately trusted, naturally, but he proved himself over time.

With this other character, the one doing the hacking, I had sort of intended to run a parallel and have him now working for another good guy agency after being picked up by them while gravely wounded.

Problem is, I don't think he was a hired gun. He seemed to be one of the high-ups of the organization who just so happened to double as an assassin. (I could be wrong on that, but that's kind of what it seemed to me.)

I suppose it's conceivable he could have changed his mind and allegiance after being caught, but if he was really one of the high-ups it seems a lot more unlikely. Plus, even if they wanted the information from him I don't know that they would trust him to run loose in their organization.

So I'm left scratching my head and not at all sure what to do with that little arc.

One idea I had once was that he was an undercover agent all the time, even while working in the bad organization, and that he had been there long enough to obtain a position of trust. That would definitely make it sticky that Illya stabbed him, but not an impossible or inconceivable situation.

Comments

[jkkitty.livejournal.com]

Sounds interesting. I'm sure you will make it work

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

Thank you; I still hope I can. :) Maybe the only real solution is to go the undercover route. That would put a bit of stark realism into things, both with some of the awful things he would have had to do while being undercover, and the fact that Illya had to stab him to protect the guy U.N.C.L.E. had undercover. It might be interesting, though.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Is there anything I can do to help? Always ready to help out a friend!

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the offer! Well, you could weigh in on what your impression is of the character in question and whether you think that A., My current plan is just fine, B., I should try the undercover agent idea, or C., Figure out something else.

Of course, that would require my divulging the character's identity to you long before it's revealed in the stories, but if you don't mind the spoiler....

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

No, not at all. why don't you PM me, just so that the information doesn't fall into unsuspecting hands...