Deliverance. Disorder. Descent.
Author note – this fic was begun in the middle of my mid-year/end of semester exam period... when I should have been studying for my Advanced SOSE/Inclusive practises in education exams. Alas, my brain cannot be stopped so this appeared. It's inspired by the US TV shows 'The Americans', 'NCIS: Los Angeles (mostly episode 3x22 "Neighbourhood Watch") and a couple other FanFiction stories I've read of late. I've done some basic research into muggle politics, Margaret Thatcher was indeed Britain's PM during this year, and a politician named Airey Neave (who is mentioned in this chapter) was indeed assassinated in 1979. Other than that, any recognised characters are not my property.
For Sasha.
January 8th, 1987 – 10 Downing Street, London
As an election year, it was the responsibility of the government to ensure that all members of parliament running for top office were given the best security in the world.
It was also the responsibility of the current leader's special ops team to ensure that all members of parliament stayed alive until the election.
Albus Dumbledore was the head of security for the Prime Minister's office. His team uncovered an untold amount of plots and conspiracies against the British empire over the past 30 years. To most, he is a legend, a name told to recently initiated gang members, or the threat screamed by the cops to their unwilling suspect.
To a select few however, he's simply their boss.
Team Phoenix was a large elite group of agents tasked with infiltrating anti-government groups and monitoring suspicious activity. Usually sent on missions in pairs, they were responsible for preventing a lot of terrorist events both from individuals as well as groups.
0-0-0
Dumbledore strode into the Prime Minister's office, Marge Thatcher hung up the phone she was talking into and stared directly at her head of security.
'What's the latest?' she asked him.
'Chatter suggests there's a group planning an attack on the houses of parliament, no dates, but the group implicated is one that's never appeared on our radar before. Scuttlebutt however puts Tom Riddle as the group's leader.' Dumbledore replied gravely.
'Shit. What happened to him being in Romania or Bulgaria hunting treasure?'
'Either our Intel has been misinformed, or he's back in secret.'
'If he's really behind the planning for this, then we need to figure out who they are and when they're planning on doing it. I remember all too well the last time Riddle tried to cleanse our government.'
'As do I Marge, I've brought in my best agents from their assignments for this; their briefing is in twenty minutes if you wished to attend.'
'Oh, I'm there.'
0-0-0
James hates it when he gets stuck doing paired missions with her. It's not that he doesn't like Lily, that's not the issue at all; it's the fact that she's a tiny, feisty red-head that he wants to live without bearing witness to the horrors of their job.
Special agents, tasked with successfully infiltrating suspect groups, assessing gang activity and exposed to all sorts of unsavoury things is not something for the meek or feeble hearted. He knows she's tough though, he's been paired with her often enough to know that underneath that skinny, pale-skinned ginger is an unstoppable force of nature, especially when armed.
When Dumbledore announced that he and Lily Evans were to be paired up for this operation, James thought straight away that it wasn't going to be fun. He's hit on her enough times to know that she's not his biggest fan, and although he trusts her with his life, he's not entirely sure how this assignment is going to pan out.
Being paired with an agent of the opposite gender sometimes necessitates pretending to be in a relationship. Although James sort of relished the idea of pretending to be with her, he didn't want to experience it for a short time, and never have the chance to genuinely have something with her.
Not that he'd ever admit that.
0-0-0
Special Agent Lily Marie Evans was, at twenty-six years of age, the youngest female operative in the United Kingdom. She was also one of only five female agents with a level one clearance. There were only two such agents in total who were under thirty, and the other one was the tosspot whom she was paired with.
It wasn't that James Potter was a bad person; he was just an egotistical, insufferable git.
After they were briefed, with the Prime Minister herself in attendance, Lily retreated to the gun room and proceeded to pretend the target she was firing at was both Tom Riddle and her annoying partner. All her shots fell in the nines and tens, excluding those two headshots, but they were deliberate.
She could sense when he came into the gun room behind her, but she squared her shoulders and kept firing at the silhouettes.
'Albus has requested that we meet with him in ten minutes so he can brief us on further details.' He murmured once she had whipped off her earmuffs.
Sighing, she ripped off her silhouette sheet and prepped the hanger for the next person.
'His office?' she asked.
'Yeah.'
'D-do you know how deep under we have to go?' she stammered, not facing him still.
'If it's really Tom Riddle heading this thing, we're going to have to go as far under as we can get. I overheard Frank and Alice talking about him; apparently he's the son of the guy who pulled all the strings to start the Cold war thirty odd years ago. Tom Riddle Senior apparently died six years ago, rumoured to have been offed by his son who wanted to run the criminal empire. He was last seen in Eastern Europe about two years ago, but it looks like he's decided that Election year was his year to make a reappearance in his home country.' James explained.
'What are our chances of surviving this?'
'I'm not gonna let you die Evans.'
'What about you?'
'I'm gonna hope for the best that you're not gonna let me die, oh dearest Ginger Ninja.' His response brought a smile to her face as she spun to face him.
'Don't call me that unless you want to die before we even get out onto the field.'
'Noted.'
0-0-0
Albus Dumbledore peered at his two most junior agents over the top of his glasses as they entered his office. He noticed that James, as always, let Lily walk in first; partially in a fit of gallantry, part so he could watch her figure as she walked by him.
He knew he was sending them on the most dangerous mission they would probably ever face, and he wasn't entirely convinced they would survive it.
Having faced the Riddle family before, and bearing witness to the complete and utter destruction they wreaked, Albus knew that if the rumours were true, and Tom Riddle Junior was heading this operation, the difficulty stopping this attack was on par with the horrors the world would witness if they failed.
'I've come to a conclusion about your undercover identities whilst on this case,' he began, 'I don't doubt your communicative skills, but we simply cannot risk the chance of you not responding to your assumed names, so in essence, you will be going under with your real names. Because Riddle has the most advanced computer systems at his disposal, you'll be given new last names, but your first names will stay the same so you won't have to memorise new ones.'
'Who are we going under as?' James asked.
'No one in their right minds would believe you two are married, you two argue too much, but you'll be going under as friends. Lily, your cover is a graduate student who majored in journalism and is working as a writer for a controversial, run-of-the-mill political magazine called "The People" that of late has developed quite the anti-government stance. James, you'll be going in as the owner of a small hidey-hole cafe, less than a block away from the magazine press. Back story is that you two met whilst waiting in line for roasted chestnuts that you can buy from the guy who sells them freshly cooked on the corner of the block three blocks down from you. You bonded, had coffee, and became best mates after realising you both didn't agree with how our country is run.'
'What are our chances of coming out this?' Lily whispered.
Dumbledore sighed heavily, looking away from them both.
'The last time we dealt with the Riddles,' he began, 'we sent in all our agents. My best ones got into the inner circle under the guise of planning a militant takeover of the UK , Marlene McKinnon, Peter Pettigrew, Caradoc Dearborn, Alastor Moody, Alison Rogers and Gordon Prewett all got in deep, and we were getting the best Intel. Somehow the Riddles found out who they really were and had them all executed. We received videos of their executions, as well as the location of where their bodies had been dumped.'
Lily and James stared at him in horror.
'I say this because I don't want to lose either or you. Tom Riddle junior is a ruthless man, and the success of this operation rides almost solely on your shoulders. You are the only two agents I've got that haven't worked on any Riddle cases, you're the two youngest, and I've not yet digitalised your histories. The only proof you exist as a functioning member of society is your driver's license, the rest of it is locked here in my desk. I can't risk sending anyone else; I'm hoping that your youth allows Riddle to be blind to your real identities. As for your survival rates, as long as you don't break cover at any point in time, you should be okay.'
Both agents nodded in understanding.
'I'm sending you both down to our clothing department now; I have a few final arrangements to make in regards to your general living circumstances and employment. As of tomorrow you'll be out on the field, officially as Lily Martin and James Harris,' he handed them both thin manila folders, 'these contain some personal cover information for you both to memorise this evening. I'll see you both in a few hours.'
Nodding once more, they left their boss to his work.
0-0-0
'Why'd you ask the big question?' James whispered to her as they entered the elevator.
Lily turned to him,
'Frank and Alice are virtually the only original agents here; all the others are transfers from army, navy, special ops forces, and other private intelligence agencies. Where are all the other agents who were drafted specifically into our team? I graduated and came straight here, and I'm pretty sure the same goes for you; everyone I've ever been teamed with has had previous employment elsewhere, except for Frank, Alice, Molly, Arthur and Fabian. Where are the others? This security team is supposed to be in charge of protecting the entire government, there's supposed to be a lot of us. If they're not here then they've been killed in action, reassigned or retired. The first one's the most likely and the only huge case our specific security team has been involved in over the past twenty to thirty years is that of the Riddle criminal empire and the INLA attack when they killed that politician Neave ten years back. What happened in the Riddle case that killed so many of our fellow agents?'
'So you decided to screw beating around the bush and ask our boss?'
'Yup.'
'Nice.'
