So here's finally the first chapter of my fanfiction.
Hope you'll enjoy it and I'd be happy to get some reviews on it so I'll know what you guys actually think about it ;)
Thank you very much and take care everyone =)
Silent
"Father! Look at that! I received 100% in my arithmetic test!" The small blonde haired boy quickly entered the library where his father was still working. Although he knew his father didn't like noise that much he couldn't hide his excitement. The tall man gave his son a disapproving glance. "Philippe! Calm down! It is truly disrespectful to bust in the room of someone, telling unnecessary things."
The boy immediately stopped and the smile on his lips faded away. He thought that his father maybe would have been proud enough to accept the little noise he made, but instead he still didn't seem to appreciate it. Pride and excitement vanished and instead the boy became silent. "I am sorry, father."
The man still examined his son in a rather inflictive way. "Don't you remember the values I told you? You shouldn't give in to your feelings like that. Go on, repeat what I've taught you."
The boy straightened his back and looked his father in the eyes.
"Success is not something you need to talk about, because it is achieved silently. Silence, on the other hand, gives you the strength to control yourself and self-control gives you the ability to gain success."
The tall man nodded. "So how do you tell me about your success?"
The eight year old boy gave himself a second to breathe in. Then he stepped forward and handed the paper over to his father without making a comment at all. Silently he watched his father's eyes examining the paper until he nodded. "Good." he said and returned the sheet to his son who waited for a second out of respect before he left the library without making any noise.
France – Paris – 3rd March 1862
I made father angry again. Although he always kept telling me the values I forgot them again. Maybe it would be a good idea to write the values down so I won't forget them again. I can read them every day. I can also add more values or things I am doing wrong. Then I will not forget them and I will not repeat them. I will write everything down from every day. The teacher told me that something like this is called a diary. I will start a diary.
"Success is not something you need to talk about, because it is achieved silently. Silence, on the other hand, gives you the strength to control yourself and self-control gives you the ability to gain success."
It is truly disrespectful to say unnecessary things.
Philippe
Philippe Juste was sitting at the large writing desk in the library working on his arithmetic exercises. Although the ten year old already had finished his homework he still kept working. After all, his father was working all the time as well. Later on he would keep on studying English. Although he had started with the new language about a year ago he already was capable of using basic grammatical structures and had a vocabulary of about almost 1.500 different words. He was already thinking of starting to study a third language. Maybe Spanish or Italian.
Madame Claire entered the room carrying a tablet with tea and cookies. She put it on the desk next to Philippe's documents, giving him a warm smile. She was an old lady doing the household at their place. However, Philippe always felt like she was trying to nurse him. "Philippe, it is such a nice day. Why are you not going outside, meeting some young fellows?" She asked stroking his blonde soft hair. The boy gave her a sour face since he truly disliked the way she treated him and additionally he hated being touched like this.
"I'm working." He simply stated and kept on solving the tricky exercise.
Madame Claire sighed. "My boy, you are just ten years old. Don't you think you are working too much? It is enough that your father is always busy. What is it you are doing anyway? I thought you've finished your work about two hours ago."
Philippe sighed. Like that he wouldn't be able to solve the exercise at all. He turned around to the old maid, giving her a rather cold look.
"Madame Claire, I am busy. Please, would you mind stop bothering me?"
That was all he said and it was enough. Saying too much would be disrespectful and unnecessary. However, Madame Claire just sighed and left the room, shaking her head. This ten year old boy already behaved like an adult. It was horrifying.
The blonde boy sighed and turned his attention to his tricky arithmetic exercise again when he heard the doorbell ringing. However, since Madame Claire would take care of it he did not have to stop working again.
He finally solved the problem, smiling slyly about his success when there was a loud noise, coming from the hallway. Irritated Philippe got up and left the library to check what the matter was. But what he saw made him pausing in shock.
"Monsieur Juste, please stop any resistance and come with us. You are accused for treason and we are allowed to bring you to the police station by using force if necessary." One police officer said to his father who was incredibly calm.
"I do not understand the reason. I have never betrayed the French Police nor the Government." He answered glaring at the four officers.
"As I said you are accused for treason. Everything else will be dealt with at the police station." The man stepped closer trying to put handcuffs on his father who suddenly got angry, pushing the man backwards.
"I have not done anything like treason!" He claimed, stopping another officer trying to detain him.
"That is enough Monsieur Juste!" The first police officer said again and they charged at him all together, being able to overwhelm the strong mean, putting the handcuffs on him.
"Monsieur Juste you are arrested, you know your rights. Everything else will be dealt with at the station!" The officer shouted and they pushed the screaming and raging boy's father outside.
Philippe was not able to understand the scene. This was just totally wrong. There was no chance his father had done something that justified an arrest.
He was not able to move until suddenly Madame Claire came, pulling him in a soft embrace.
"Hush, my boy." She said with a creaky voice. „Everything will be alright." She tried to calm the pale boy down, stroking over the blonde hair. However this time Philippe did not even notice it.
France – Paris – 11th October 1863
Madame Claire was not right. Nothing went alright. Today on the sixth day of the arrest of my father a police officer came to our house. He said my father had strangled himself. He also said he had left a letter, telling them that he could not live any longer with the accusation of treason and that he wouldn't wait for them to sentence him.
Treason. I do not know the word treason. So I looked it up in a dictionary. It says treason is the crime of helping your country's enemies or of trying to destroy your country's government. I do understand this. But I do not understand why they accused my father of treason. He was a loyal man and he would have never betrayed the French police, the government or France itself.
However, no one believed my father so far except for me.
So I will make sure they will realize their fault.
I swear to that.
Philippe
Philippe entered the book store near the main station and took a look around. He was impressed by the amount of books in here. He recognized many important authors and poets, but he also noticed many non-fiction and school books.
He was just about to take a closer look at one of the books when a man grabbed his shoulder.
"Are you trying to steal? Get out of here, child. I don't need any harassers from the orphanage." He gave Philippe a fearful glare, but the young boy remained calm.
"I am not trying to steal anything. I just wanted to take a closer look at it. I haven't read Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream so far. I only had Romeo and Juliet, Othello and Hamlet." He answered.
"You really know these books?" The shopkeeper lifted an eyebrow and examined Philippe warily. "I don't believe you, child. How old are you? Twelve years old maybe? You shouldn't even know who Shakespeare is."
"I am only eleven years old and yes I do know Shakespeare. He's one of my favourites. I've even already read the original pieces."
"You really are trying to make fun of me. Get away now or I'll call the police so that they'll bring you back home. I bet they aren't that nice to thievish children at the orphanage who are brought back by the police."
"Please, Monsieur. I just want to read some books and learn more languages and mathematics. But at the orphanage they don't have that many books so it is hard to learn something."
The man hesitated and looked at the young boy sceptically. In fact this young man was at least very polite and he didn't seem to be as dumb as the other orphans he had met.
"I don't think I can help you. You cannot even pay for the books." He finally said and turned around, but Philippe didn't give up.
"I know, Monsieur, that's why I thought I could give you a hand in here. You don't have to pay me anything, just let me read some of the books from time to time."
Again the man looked at the boy and into his icy blue eyes which had a very strong and self-confident look. Yet he shook his head. He had no use for a boy. In the end he would probably just betray him and steal some of the books anyway.
"Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; but he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed."
Silence ruled in the book store when Philippe had finished speaking and with every second the boy got a little bit more nervous. This would be his only chance in order to get his hands on more books and in order to be able to learn more.
Finally the man turned around, giving him a thoughtful look.
"Your English is pretty good and it seems like you've really read Shakespeare's Othello." He said and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Come back here tomorrow at eight o'clock and don't be late."
"Yes, Monsieur." It was hard for Philippe to hide his joy, but he managed to do it and just turned around in order to leave the book store as silently as he had entered it. Now he would be able to read again and to learn even more. There was still so much he wished to know.
But for now he would return to the orphanage where he had to live at the moment since he had no living relatives left.
France – Paris – 3rd December 1864
It seems like Monsieur Dupont kind of really is trusting me now. So far I was allowed to read the books at the store as long as I did a good work during the day and since I worked very hard every day he also was always satisfied.
However today he gave me one of the books and said I could take it with me as long as I would bring it back again. I promised I would take good care of the book and treat it with respect. Like that I will be able to learn even more. It will make things easier.
Besides there is a person I would like to know more about. I've read Monsieur Dupont's newspaper and there again was an article about that private detective from Saint Tropez. He seems to be quite successful and has solved three rather difficult cases this year. But before I can meet up with him I need to come up with a good and realistic plan. Otherwise I doubt I'll be able to convince him, although so far I never had problems in convincing the adults. This, however, is a very important step and a private detective surely is more intelligent than most of the people I've met during the last years. I need to proceed with caution.
First I will think through everything and of course I will keep an eye on the activities of the private detective. Then I will try to get in touch with him and maybe, if everything goes well, I might be able to leave this place and start with my actual goal.
Philippe
The young blonde boy examined the one sitting opposite to him. The well-known private detective Luc Barre just had arrived from Saint Tropez an hour ago and it already seemed like he had found the man he was looking for. He was intelligent and a professional and he seemed to be very interested in what Philippe Juste had to offer him.
More interesting though was probably the fact that the boy was just about 13 years old and already had a clear goal and a realistic conception. Not to mention that this young boy had found out everything about him in no time on his own.
"Well, Monsieur Barre, what do you think about it?" Philippe asked pouring more tea into the cup of his guest.
A light smile appeared on Luc's face. The tall middle-aged man surely was interested. This boy was convincing.
"You see, this is very interesting and attempting. However, I'm wondering why you want me to join in your plans." The man responded, taking a sip of the hot tea.
Philippe nodded knowingly. "Of course, but you see I need a partner not only with knowledge but also with experience. Additionally you seem trustworthy and I suppose so far people would not take me seriously since I am too young yet."
Luc understood what the blonde boy meant. People tended to underestimate other people according to her age. However, this young fellow surely was incredible and interesting. Everything he had told him so far seemed plausible and elaborated.
"Additionally I have got a major problem which I will have to get rid of first, otherwise I won't be able to achieve anything." Philippe suddenly added, examining the private detective.
"And you think I will be able to solve this problem?" The man wondered. "What is it I can do?"
"You see since my father's death I have spent time in this orphanage, not being able to make use of the money my father has passed on to me and the same goes for my father's house, because I'm underage." Philippe started to explain.
Although Luc already understood the meaning behind this he waited for the young boy to go ahead.
"I would love to make use of the money and the house in order to get the secret service running, but as long as I don't have a warden I won't be able to do so." The blonde boy finished his explanation and inquiringly looked at the private detective who slowly nodded.
"I think I know what you are after. You want me to adopt you, isn't that right?"
"Yes, indeed it is. Since I am rather clever and have a good heritage there were many interested people who actually wanted to take me in, but I fear I would not be able to start my project with the wrong person taking care of me. Of course, the wardship would just take place on paper and I can guarantee you will be made up for taking care of this."
Luc watched the child interested. He was sure that Philipp had thought very carefully about this and since the boy was only 13 it was quite impressing. Nevertheless the man took some time to give this a thought. He had no family so it wouldn't be a problem to move to Paris and it sure would be fine for him to take the wardship. Additionally business had been bad last year since it had become hard to gain information on his own.
"A secret service." Luc repeated with a thoughtful look on his face. "Independent of the police, the army and other security forces. This is quite tempting." He gave Philippe another gaze. Then he smiled.
„Monsieur Juste, I think I will support your organization as much as necessary and of course I will take immediate care of your little problem. This is just the change and the challenge I have waited for."
Philippe noted his success in silent joy. Now he had just gained the support he needed to start his project. Since the death of his father it had been his goal to find the culprit behind the real treason that had happened years before. However he soon had realized he could not count on the police he still thought his father had been guilty, so it was necessary to deal with this by him.
He shook Luc Barre's hand sealing the deal between them and laying the cornerstone for an amazingly powerful organization.
France – Paris – 9th February 1868
Luc has done a great job. In these few months we have established a headquarters which is right here in my father's house. Additionally he has found two more volunteers. The first one is a police officer of Scotland Yard in London called Mister White. He has left the police, because he did not agree with their idea of justice.
The second one is a young man, a bit older than I. His name is Julien Lestroit. He seems to be righteous and loyal and also has lost someone innocent to the law.
Thanks to Luc's contacts we were able to solve our first case a few days ago. It was nothing difficult or important, but it was work and my small team has done a fine job.
Tomorrow Mister White and I will travel to England. Scotland Yard has contacted him and asked him for help in solving a case. They are not allowed to deal with it alone because an officer of Scotland Yard seems to be involved so they will need help with it. Mister White has given me the idea to make use of this to establish another branch of our secret service in England and he is right. This will grant us more possibilities and increase our operating distance. Additionally it will be easier to deal with country issues when we are on the spot.
I actually don't want to leave the headquarters alone for such a long time, but on the other hand I am certain that Luc and Julien will do a fine job.
Philippe
The two men sat in the cab while outside it was raining. It was a really wet summer and since they had arrived in London the weather had been like that. Additionally they hadn't made any progress at all. This was quite a difficult case and Mister White contacts hadn't helped so far. Additionally Scotland Yard had demanded great confidentiality what made it even more difficult for the two of them.
The cab finally stopped and Philippe looked outside, examining the run down surrounding.
"Is that it?" He asked lightly bugged.
"Yes, that's Whitechapel. We'll meet my man over there. But I must warn you this is a rough place and the stuff that's going on is not right legal." Mister White opened the small cabin door of the cab and Philippe turned up the collar of his trench coat which he had bought after their arrival in London. He had liked this new fashion although he normally did not pay that much attention to it. But these trench coats were just very useful since they had a lot of pockets.
"I don't care what these people are actually doing as long as they have good information for us." The young men answered, getting off the cab. Mister White followed him silently and quickly paid the cab driver before he led his young boss to the shabby building.
Although it was raining they already heard voices from behind the wooden door and when Mister White opened it the voices grew to a huge noise.
Men were shouting and cheering while standing in a circle around two men, standing in an arena, fighting each other.
Phillipe immediately realized that gambling and boxing was the illegal part Mister White had mentioned before. Well, he couldn't care less about something like that, after all they were not here to gamble but to gain information.
The air was full of cigarette smoke and the scent of liquor and beer. Although Philippe at least hated the scent of cigarettes that didn't affect him at all and he kept examining the surroundings.
"Where is your man?" He asked Mister White, showing his impatience.
"Easy, Philippe. My contact man does not like to be pushed and the people here also just want to enjoy the fights and relay. Starting a hurry might have a bad effect."
Philippe knew Mister White was right and yet he was annoyed. Relaxing was for lazy people. He wanted to work.
His eyes moved around anxiously as they stopped, watching the fight that was going on. There were two young men in the circle, even in height and weight. However Philippe soon knew who would be winning. The black haired man was sparkling with energy whereas his eyes were secure. He easily avoided the attacks of the other one and fought back with hard hits.
However something bother Philippe and that was the fact the man did not make use of more precise hits. The blonde man was sure although he probably weighed less than this boxer he would win a fight.
Suddenly the black man hit his opponent right into the face and the other one went to the ground.
"Knuckle's the winner!" A slim man shouted, lifting the black haired man's hand. Philippe rolled his eyes. Knuckle seemed to be the man's fighting name. How uncreative.
"This is the guy." Mister White said, pointing to the circle.
"Seriously? This boxer?" Philippe asked, giving his comrade a disapproving glance.
But Mister White shook his head.
"No the other one. He arranges the fights and earns a lot of money with them. He will give us the information." He quickly explained and led Philippe through the crowd towards the slim man who was still talking to the boxer.
"Hugh, old man! How's business!" Mister White said as they came near the two. The slim man looked up and grinned.
"Bob, haven't seen you for ages." He pointed at the crowd. "As you can see business is great. How can I help you?"
Philippe examined not only the slim man but also the grinning boxer who was standing next to Hugh. The well trained body showed him that this guy had been boxing for a long time now. Probably he had started as a young kid.
"Straight to the point. That's the Hugh I know." Mister White smiled and shook Hugh's hand. "Well you see I thought you might be able to give us a hand with something." He shoved some bills into Hugh's pocket. "Have you ever heard of Sam McBrighton?"
Hugh's face darkened lightly, but then he smiled.
"Bob, do you understand what you are asking for? I heard this is a tricky thing for Scotland Yard and you know that I am not very best friends with them."
Mister White nodded and was just about to hand more money over as Philippe got distracted by the boxer named Knuckle.
"Yeh, this is the first boxing fight you attend to?" The young man grinned. Philippe did not.
"None of your business." He simply answered while Mister White and Hugh still were talking.
"Whoa, I didn't mean to. I was just wondering. You don't seem to be English. You're from Germany?"
"I don't think it does matter where I am from."
"Jeez, you are not that talkative, are ya? Just mean to be friendly. Is this your first trip to London? You like it so far?"
Philippe blinked at him with slight anger. He hated annoying people so much and this kind of person was just the one he could not stand.
"I think I already mentioned that this is none of your business. Now, could you be so kind to stop bothering me."
It was not a question. It was a demand. But the boxer did not seem to understand that.
"Easy, man. People are here to have fun, not to fight."
"Well are they? To me it rather seems like they actually just come for the fight and you are even more the fighter."
"Man, don't take it so serious. Of course boxers come here to fight. But I meant that in another sense. You really are weird."
"Well, probably you should just express yourself more precisely."
Of course Philippe hadn't understood this wrong, but he actually wanted to stop this conversation. This guy was a nuisance. He was here on business not for a small talk.
"You really are an aggressive one. Maybe you should start boxing, too. Helps ya to get rid of aggression, you know? And it's a good training."
"I am not aggressive." Philippe responded rather aggressive.
Therefore Knuckle just smiled and Philippe got mad. This smile was mocking him and that was something he could not stand. "However, I do not need training since I am already well trained and I could beat any of you boxers without any problems."
"Whoa, that's quite ..."
"... intriguing!" Hugh examined Philippe and gave him a slim smile. "You say you can beat any of my boxers?"
"Yes." Philippe simply stated while Mister White looked at him in disbelief.
"Well then, how about you fighting my best man and you gaining some nice information?"
Philippe looked into Hugh's eyes and he knew that the man would not betray them. It was deal and Philippe accepted.
"Fair enough. We have a deal."
Now even Knuckle looked like a dumb little puppy.
"Man you are crazy. Billy has never lost a fight so far." He said, earning an angry look from Hugh.
"I cannot see how this is actually relevant to me." Philippe looked at Hugh. "I will fight. Go and get your Billy and prepare to give us the information and the money. We will not pay you twice."
The slim man just nodded and turned around. "Knuckle, go show him the place where he can get changed." He asked the tall boxer, who just shook his head.
"You guy are crazy and hot-headed." He said, turning around and showing them the way.
Mister White also seemed to be worried, as he laid his hand on Philippe's shoulder.
"Philippe, please think over this again. These guys know no rules."
"I will consider that."
"But, Philippe. I am sure we can get the information on another way.
"But this is the easiest."
And with that the blonde young man fell silent.
A couple of minutes later he found himself in the fenced circle. He could taste the dust from the ground which was lightly stained with blood. Just like his opponent Philippe was only wearing his pants revealing an actually well trained body.
However there were some differences between him and Billy. The man in front of him was wearing bandages around his fingers so he would not break them that easily. And the man in front of him was bigger than him. He almost looked like a bull.
Yet the blonde young man did not seem to be concerned. He rather examined his opponent silently while the mass around them went crazy.
"Philippe, you should really think this over again." Mister White started another try to stop his young boss from fighting, but Philippe did not even seem to listen.
"You better bet on the right person." He simply stated and moved closer towards the boxer.
Mister White sighed what made Hugh laugh who was standing right next to him.
"This boy is really something. Either he is insane or naïve or maybe even both." The slim man said, giving him a pat on the neck.
"Unfortunately I think he is neither, though I do not know what he is. This boy is special." Mister White shoved his money into Hugh's hand. "And he's probably got a point although I guess he did not really mean me to bet the money."
"What? You seriously bet all your money on a sixteen year old boy?" Hugh looked at him in disbelief but mister White smiled.
"Well, my lad, he's got to be my boss for some reason, right? Maybe you underestimate him."
"Maybe, maybe not. We will see as soon as Billy is finish with him."
And with that Hugh gave the signal for the fight to start and although Mister White wanted to trust in the blonde man he was not quite sure whether this had been a good idea.
Philippe saw the very first blow coming and easily avoided it. Also the second one was no problem for him. That boxer probably had the strength to knock him over at once but he was slow. Therefore Philippe started in a defensive way. He just avoided the hits and sometimes used his hands and arms to deflect the large man's blows.
Although the people around him were extremely loud he did not hear anything since he only concentrated on his opponent. He was searching for weak spots and found them easily. Since this guy relied on his strength he did not care much for covering.
Philippe took his time, waiting for the right moment and there it was.
The boxer took a step back in order to haul off and therefore his side was wide open. He quickly examined the body and then placing a precise strike in the side of the man, breaking one of his rips.
Irritated the boxer missed with his next attacked. But Philippe knew that a broken rip would not stop this guy from fighting. Again he was watching the movements. This man was so slow it was almost tiring, but Philippe needed to be concentrated. Again he avoided some of the boxers attack and then placing another strike and with that starting an amazing counter attack. His first strike hit the sternum, making the man gasp for air. That little second have Philippe enough time to break his opponents nose. Quickly he avoided the angry counter attack until he was able to catch the right arm of the taller one. He twisted it around, breaking it with an ugly noise.
The boxer howled using his healthy arm to make a hit, but again Philippe evaded any contact, moving around as elegant as a cat.
Since Billy now was not able to cover his right side Philippe made use just of this. He jumped forward, using his flat hand to precisely hit one point of the body which was nothing but the larynx and to the surprise of the whole crowd the huge massive man just fell over unconsciously.
It was silent in the run down building, while Philippe left the circle and stopped next to Hugh.
"You owe us." He simply said and went on to get to the other room to get his shirt and the trench-coat.
"Well." Mister White started to break the silence. "I guess he is right. You really owe us." And he opened his hand in order to receive the money he had just won. From now on he would always bet on his boss.
France – Paris – 27th June 1869
I returned to Paris while Mister White stayed in London. We were able to establish a branch there and it's going rather well.
Meanwhile Julien and Luc have been rather busy, too. Luc has looked for more promising members of the secret service. Monsieur Chapeaux, a doctor, has fulfilled these conditions and he's glad to help us. But Luc is about to look for even more fitting candidates. I think this is going to work out well.
Julien on the other hand went to Spain. Luc has a trustworthy informant in Barcelona and we hope that Julien will be able to get him on our side. A Spanish branch in Barcelona would be unpayable since it also has a large harbour.
As soon as possible I will travel to Austria. Austria and France have been connected for ages now and I think it would be a good idea to establish the secret service there as well. I know my father has an old friend in Vienna and I think I will be able to persuade him to help us. Not that we might be able to expand the secret service even more, but I think he might also have some valuable information on the betrayal of my father.
Philippe