Critical Faculty
Summary: When the newly crowned king of Kazahrus, King Vanya, finds himself needing assistance, he reaches out to the people who had saved his life back in New York. Can Jane, Kurt and the team help the young royal? Or will the events in the troubled nation be more dangerous and deadly than they initially thought?
AN: This is a short multi-chapter fic with Jane and Kurt as the main characters but it will include almost everyone. Since Kazahrus was a fictional country they created on the show, I've made up some city names to go along.
Chapter 1
Zvetna, Kazahrus
Royal Residence
21 August
7:30am
Vanya Petrushev still woke up every morning believing it was all a dream, that this morning would be the one when he wakes up in their small Brooklyn apartment, find his mom in the kitchen with her coffee, and rush off to school to make that 8am class he regretted registering for.
But it was not a dream. Rubbing his tired eyes, he looked around him at the ridiculously lavish bedroom that was easily twice the size of their apartment back in New York and sighed. That was his life now; King Vanya Petrushev Valdemaras, the newly crowned King of Kazahrus.
The journey to his coronation had not been easy. Not everyone in Kazahrus was excited to have him claim his right to the throne, especially not his uncle Cyrus. But Kazahrus was a proud country— proud of his traditions, its history and its heritage— and Vanya was undeniably the rightful heir to the throne and they were not about to to put an end to a dynasty that proudly sat at the throne for centuries.
His uncle was honorably offered the chance to leave the country unpunished and seek asylum anywhere in the world he wanted, and while not everyone was fond of Vanya as an individual, his coronation had gone unopposed, at least not publicly or too vocally. His uncle still had loyalists in the country, and Vanya did have plenty who doubted him— his right to the throne, his ability to rule and his loyalty to a country he had never felt affiliated with— but with the right people by his side, mainly his father's most loyal advisor, Alexi Broskov, the young king had managed to maintain peace and stability in the country for the past six months.
"You have a meeting with the Minister of Trade this morning," Alexi said as they sat at the breakfast table, joined by his secretary and his mother, "and the ambassadors from Germany and Spain are scheduled for afternoon visits at the Ladka Hall."
Yasmine Petrushev studied her son closely, in awe of how much he'd grown over the past year, so proud of the man he'd become. But as she did, a cloud of fear sat above her.
"Aren't we going to do something about those letters?" Yasmine said, interrupting Alexi, a man although was loyal to the current king's father, she had loathed for almost twenty years. He was the man that had threatened her to say quiet after King Ivan had raped her.
"Mother," Vanya said, shaking his head.
"Ms. Petrushev," Alexi said, "like I told you, those letters aren't something we should bother with—"
"They're death threats to my son!" Yasmine snapped, "you will take them seriously, Alexi!"
"These things happen all the time," Alexi said in his cool, emotionless tone, "we have analysts who have studied them and concluded they were not actually threatening."
"I'm sorry if this does not reassure me," Yasmine said, "I think we should—"
"Mom," Vanya said calmly, "I don't want you worrying—"
"But I do worry, Vanya," Yasmine replied, "please—"
"If our secret service analysts say there's nothing to worry about—"
"The government is riddled with people who want you gone," Yasmine argued, "how can you trust any of them. Please, Vanya, do it for me. Get someone we trust to look into this."
Five Hours Later
New York City, USA
Weller Residence
21 August
5:30 am
Kurt Weller's phone buzzed on the nightstand next to him and it was not his alarm clock— that had another thirty minutes before it went off.
Next to him, Jane grumbled, burying her face into her pillow and kicking him under the covers, getting him to wake up and check it— putting an end to the annoying sound.
"I hate your phone," she sighed into her pillow as she felt him shift next to her and reach for it.
"Weller," Kurt spoke hoarsely into the phone.
"Weller, it's Congressman Matthew Weitz," came the unexpected voice from the other end, "I need to meet with you urgently. You and Jane and the rest of your team. I'll be at the NYO at 7. Don't be late."
"Are you serious? Weitz—"
But the congressman had already hung up.
"Unbelievable," Kurt mumbled, sitting up in bed and clicking through his phone to find Reade's number.
"What going on?" Jane sighed next to him.
He leaned downed and kissed her forehead. "I'll find out," he whispered, "go back to sleep."
Kurt pulled himself out of bed and stepped outside with his phone in his hand.
Just got a call from Weitz. What's going on?
He sent the text to Reade, and knowing he was not going back to bed either way, he made his way to the kitchen and started on coffee. His phone beeped with a reply and he read it—
Got the same call. Don't know much. But I guess I'll see you soon.
Surrendering to the fact that heading to work early was inevitable this morning, Kurt went back to the bedroom to wake Jane up.
New York City, USA
FBI NYO
21 August
7:20 am
"Relationships with Kazahrus have never been better," Weitz explained, the briefing had begun twenty minutes ago and he was yet to reach the point or the reason why he dragged them all out of bed, "having Vanya at the throne has really helped the United States."
Weitz clicked on his laptop and a new image popped up on the screen of the US base in the Kazahrussian city of Maresk.
"is there is a purpose for this painfully boring show and tell?" Rich interrupted.
Weitz looked at him and then towards Reade. "What's he doing here? I didn't ask—"
"I'm a valuable member of this team, Matty," Rich replied, "you want the team's help, you get me, too."
"Cut to the chase, Weitz," Reade said, "what's the emergency?"
"King Vanya has been getting death threats," Weitz said.
"So? Politicians get death threats all the time," Tasha said, "they have people who know how to deal with them usually. What's this task force got to do with it?"
Weitz nodded. "That's true," he said, "and Vanya's advisors have all reassured him that he should not worry about them, that his secret service can take care of him."
"Exactly," Tasha said, "so why are we here?"
"Vanya still has many enemies among the highest ranking members of his government. Some are loyalists to his uncle and some are just unhappy that an American kid has appeared out of nowhere and claimed their throne. Had he been groomed by his father and brought up in the royal court, he would be welcomed as their king. But that is not the case."
Weitz looked around the room. "Yasmine and Vanya know there are not many people around them they can trust," Weitz said, "and so they've reached out to you guys for a favor."
"A favor?" Kurt asked.
"Yes, they've asked for your help in investigating these threats, find out if there's anything real there and find out who's behind them if that's the case," Weitz said.
"He wants us to do that?" Reade asked.
"Well yes," Weitz replied, "they asked for this team and specifically you two," he said as he looked towards Jane and Kurt. "He said he wanted people he can trust and could not think of anyone else he trusted his life with."
"So we're just supposed to go to Kazahrus and run an investigation?" Jane asked.
Weitz shook his head. "Not that easy," Weitz replied, "they're already not happy with Vanya being more American than Kazahrussian and will feel that this is a huge interference from us in their internal affairs. This won't sit well at all and we're currently working a huge deal with them, economically and politically it would be suicide to publicly do this."
"What are you saying?" Patterson asked.
"This has to be done covertly," Weitz said, "no one outside this room can know about any of it. Jane and Kurt will have to go undercover."
"What are you thinking?" Reade asked.
"I'll leave the details of the operation to you," Weitz said as he gathered his documents, "I expect a proposal from you by midday."
New York City, USA
FBI NYO
21 August
1:00 pm
"The American Community School of Zvetna had to fire their middle school gym teacher last week for drunk driving," Patterson said as the team and Weitz gathered around SIOC to discuss their plan, "and they've been desperately looking for a new one before the school year starts next week."
"So the plan is that Weller goes undercover as their new gym teacher," Rich explained, "this gives him legitimate reason to enter the country and a believable cover with papers that would be easy to process."
"And what about Jane?" Wait asked, "getting a visa for a new foreign employee's spouse is not that easy in Kazahrus. It usually takes up to six months after the foreigner's own residency is issued to allow for their spouse to join them."
"That's why we had to find a job for Jane as well," Patterson said.
"And what better job than a sexy librarian!" Rich beamed.
"Rich!" Kurt's voice threatened him.
"I'm sorry," Rich said, "but the only other position at the school that was vacant was librarian. Honestly!"
Weitz took a few minutes going over the proposal, mumbling and scribbling a few notes as he did. "Ok," he said, "just make sure you take care of these few things," he said as he handed the file to Reade, "and be ready by tomorrow night."
New York City, USA
Weller Residence
21 August
8:30 pm
Jane and Kurt stood side by side in the kitchen, washing and drying the dishes from their dinner.
"Patterson emailed the documents of our cover identities," Kurt said, "and our back stories."
"Looks like we've got some studying to do tonight," Jane said, "each file is like seventy pages long," she laughed, "she did not leave out a single detail."
Kurt chuckled as she handed him a plate. "This could be fun," he mused, "being undercover in a foreign country, just the two of us."
Jane nodded and looked up at him with a smile, "yeah, it could."
"Also, the whole sexy librarian thing—"
Kurt laughed and jumped back when Jane grabbed the dish towel and hit him with it.
"Rich is a very horrible influence on you!" She laughed.
"Trust me," he replied huskily, "I did not need Rich's help for this fantasy.
He took the towel out of her hand, tossing it back on the kitchen counter and grabbing her waist, lifting her effortlessly and carrying her off towards their bedroom.
AN: Ok, so here it is. The first chapter... what do you guys think? Worth taking this forward?