Work Text:
Indiana Jones never had a problem sleeping on planes. He certainly had experience. As he buckled into his seat on the Curtiss C-46 Commando, he wasted no time sliding his hat over his eyes and leaning back. The flight from New York to England might be his last good night of sleep for a long time.
-
“Hey, professor!”
Indy was awoken by someone calling for him. He made no move to adjust his hat. Whatever it was, it could wait until they got to Europe. Suddenly, artificial light flooded Indy’s eyes as a hand lifted the brim of his hat upwards. The hand was attached to a young man, maybe 15 or 20 years Indy’s junior. He wore an ill-fitting suit and had dark, floppy hair.
“You’re Professor Jones, right?”
“Can I help you, kid?”
“James Musgrove,” he said, as he reached out his other hand. “I’ve read all about you!”
“You’re an archaeologist?” asked Indy as he reluctantly shook Musgrove’s hand.
“Intelligence agent. I’ve read every document the U.S. government has ever written on the Nazis, including on your operations on Geheimhaven.”
Geheimhaven , thought Indy, as he suddenly recognized Musgrove’s name.
“Any relation to Colonel Musgrove?” he asked.
“My uncle. He told me all about that Ark business. I’ve even seen the photos of the aftermath. Grisly stuff!”
“Yeah…” Indy trailed off as he remembered the Nazi screams, joined by his own as he urged Marrion to keep her eyes closed.
“I have to ask, though. Didn’t you end up helping the Nazis?”
“What?” Indy snapped back to the present.
“Well, I know it wasn’t intentional, but didn’t you lead them to the Ark?”
“Without my involvement, they would have acquired the headpiece of the Staff of Ra and used it to find the ark. Even if they didn’t, they were digging up the entire city of Tanis. They would have found it eventually,” he finished. He didn’t add that they probably would have killed Marion, and that might have been worse than anything.
“Right, but then wouldn’t they have gotten themselves killed with it anyway? Maybe even Hitler, too.”
“Hitler would never have been within a hundred miles of the Ark before they tested it. You wanna learn about Nazis? Learn this : they’re cowards. Murderous, fanatic, idiotic, cowards . To embarrass themselves in front of “the Führer'' would be a death sentence. They’d never risk it. They’d test the Ark, and they’d die, and they’d send in new groups until they figured it out. Or maybe they give up on weaponizing it and just use it to bolster their propaganda. Either way, our intelligence loses.”
“Oh. I guess that does make sense. One more thing though, how’d you survive on top of that U-boat when it submerged?”
“I thought you were a Nazi expert? The U-26 only submerges when it has to. They’re faster on the surface.”
“Oh.”
Indy slid his hat back over his eyes.
“If you have any other questions, leave ‘em til we get to Milton Keynes.”
“Uh, sure.”
Damn kids , Indy thought to himself. Was I like that back in 1916?