Author's Note: Written for the 5/7/15 Impromptu Challenge on LJ's Section VII community.

All men are equal before fish.
~~~ Herbert Hoover

What Are the Odds?
by LaH

Summer 1972

"Odds fish! What an unexpected catch to have become trapped in the U.N.C.L.E. sea-exploration bell," exclaimed Napoleon Solo as he peered into the glass window. The diving sphere was being kept sealed to protect the unusual fish captured unintentionally off the coast of The Malagasy Republic in the West Indian Ocean.

"It's one of the rarest creatures on Earth," noted Illya factually, "actually thought to be completely extinct for millennia until a dead specimen washed up in a fisherman's net a few decades ago."

"I have heard that. Netting a living one is quite the feat for the Command from a scientific standpoint, accidental though it was."

"Mr. Waverly has summoned a phalanx of ichthyologists, all internationally recognized as experts in the field, to take charge of the specimen of course," Illya expounded after a nod of agreement with his partner's prior statement.

Napoleon tilted his head to one side as he watched the coelacanth trapped in the water-filled metal bubble swim from one side of its current world to the other. "It is a rather arresting shade of blue," he commented seemingly offhandedly.

Now Illya tilted his head as he continued his own gazing into the bell. "That it is."

"Illya," Napoleon now found the question forming on his lips, "you don't think this is a Thrush machination, do you?"

"What? The fish?" asked Illya with a bewildered blink.

"More the fact that it is the exact same shade of blue as your eyes. I mean what are the odds of that happening organically in nature?"

Illya glanced in absolute astonishment at his partner. Then he saw the subtle pulling at the corners of the other man's mouth that hinted at a barely-concealed smirk.

"Ha ha. Very funny, Napoleon. If you were thinking of trying out a career in stand-up comedy after your retirement from the field, I would say the odds are you shouldn't quit your day job."

—The End—