Darkest of Times [Albert J Moriarty] - Moriarty the Patriot

Act 3, Scene 2 - Palace Scheming

The palace this morning is particularly quiet, following a busy week of international affairs and meetings with her Majesty and her advisors.

Upon Albert's arrival, dressed in his British Army Captain uniform —red jacket with a white belt and gold accents, black trousers and black boots, a red sash hung across his torso and a black and gold hat atop his head— he's greeted by two guards at the tall gate and he smiles at the pair.

"Good morning, Lieutenant Moriarty." The guards at the entrance to the Palace bow respectfully, Albert nodding his head in return.

"Good morning. I'm here for my meeting with Director Holmes." Albert informs them.

One of the guards at the entrance speaks up. "He's currently conversing with her one of her Majesty's advisors. He asked to let you know he'll be with you momentarily and if you could take a seat outside his office."

"I'll escort you through the palace." The second officer tells him, Albert following after him as they walk through the courtyard and up the stone steps of the palace.

Another set of guards greets Albert with a bow, opening the doors for them to enter inside the grand entrance hall.

The red-carpeted floors are pristine and the oil paintings are free of dust as they're hung along the long stretch of wall. Corridors feed off to various offices, meeting rooms, drawing rooms, dining rooms and the famous Throne Room where her Majesty greets special guests and visitors.

They turn another corridor and the officer nods to a row of chairs along a wall, a smile on his face. "Here, Lieutenant Moriarty. Can I interest you in a beverage while you wait?"

Albert shakes his head, removing his hat. "No thank you, I'll be fine."

With another bow and respectful nod of his head, the guard walks back down the corridor in the direction they came in to return to his post outside.

As he sits down on the chair, awaiting Mycroft's arrival from the meeting room, Albert recalls his rather odd relationship with the London Military Department's Director. While he can't place their first meeting, Albert's visits to the palace have been regular for some time.

A few months into their working together, Albert had made a suggestion —a crazy suggestion. It was about the creation of an organisation that, to the public eye, doesn't exist. At first, Mycroft had simply laughed in his face at the ridiculous idea, questioning the 'doesn't exist' part of the whole suggestion. However, upon Albert's explanation, he became more and more intrigued.

Albert had told him that the organisation would be jointly funded —mostly by himself but with the help of Mycroft— and he'd already appointed former secret service agent, Moneypenny, as his secretary, Moran as an agent and weapon specialist, Von Herder, to be known among them as 'Q'.

The group itself would handle intelligence cases of extreme importance in support of the UK and London's security. The means to carry out those cases would be somewhat severe and cunning, but necessary —hence the organisation being untraceable.

He'd dangled the idea in Mycroft's face and simply handed the plans over to him —but not without a catch.

For the time being, Albert would run everything and he would finalise the decisions, with some guidance from Mycroft. And should anything happen in the future, the organisation would fall under the control of his younger brothers, Louis and William, in his absence. But all of this would be kept a secret from his brothers until the time was right.

As Agent 006, Sebastian Moran is the only member of the Moriarty group with knowledge of the organisation. The name of this organisation? MI6.

On the surface, the organisation would be called the 'Universal Trading Company' and Albert would be known as Captain Moriarty. But behind the scenes, he would be referred to as 'M' and the leader of MI6.