Summoning Into Darkness

by ShadowedRainbow

This is a multi-universe crossover. Unfortunately I could figure out how to list them all; especially since one of the universes isn't on Ffn. As odd as it may look; the story might just catch your interest. This is AU and the events in the movie never happened. Family is supposed to be made of people you trust; but sometimes they are the ones that betray you.

1. Chapter 1

**A note from Shado. I'm not exactly sure where to put this so I'm putting it here. This is just one of many stories that were written as a side project to an original fiction that I have created. These stories came about in chatting with the OCs you will find here. Each OC is an actual person, the names were their screen names when we started this project. The original fiction and these side projects are still ongoing and more than likely will not be finished for at least another year possibly two. The following story was actually used to fill in the blanks on one of the character's life in the original fiction. There of course the names of Napoleon and Illya were changed as was the organization they worked for. But this is the original story line. I have permission from the OCs to use their names (in fact they insisted on it) but I do not own, nor do I receive any monetary compensation for anything related to the Man From Uncle… though if anyone sees Illya, tell him I've still got his handcuffs. And his chocolate sauce… but I used the whipped cream. L This story should be considered AU. Please let me know if you'd like to see more of this story line. –Shado** *** A further note from me: Ok so like, FFN doesn't have one of the crossover universes that starts with this story. It is The Sentinel from the mid 90's. Keep the faith though, Stargate SG-1 does eventually come into play. How? You'll just have to wait and see... Shado***

Chapter One

1989

"Keeper when did you say Shado was due back?" Gem asked his head popping up over the banister of the attic staircase. Dust motes danced in the sunlight from the dormer window over Keeper's shoulder causing Gem to sneeze.

"Bless you." Keeper said reflexively as he stared around the cluttered attic. There were boxes and trunks everywhere. Stacks of stuff made it almost impossible to walk through the crowded space. He shook his head in dismay. "She will be at the conference for at least a week."

Gem finished the climb into the attic, placed his hands on his hips and groaned. "I had no idea that she had this much stuff." He moved to a stack of old packing boxes and batted the dust off the top. The resulting cloud sent both of them into paroxysms of choking. "Damn, how long has this stuff been up here?"

"I have no idea." Keeper said daunted by the task before them. They had planned this very carefully, this excursion into Shado's attic. Their leader was away at a conference on the East Coast for the week, leaving them this perfect opportunity. What they hoped to accomplish was simple. It was time that the beach house underwent some modernizations. Insulation being the primary upgrade. Even though the weather in the Pacific Northwest was mild by certain standards, it still got cold in the winter and living on the water as they all did, they had decided to take matters into their own hands and remedy the situation. Shado, herself, had groused about the heating costs in the previous winter, but had been very reluctant to undertake the chore of taking care of the issue. She was oddly against any changes in the five bedroom home that she had provided for them. Respecting her wishes, they had left well enough alone, until now that is. Something needed to be done and Keeper had decided to take the bull by the horns and do it.

Which brought them into the attic with the intention of shifting the contents into the basement until the insulation had been laid. Keeper sighed heavily and began the chore, picking up the upper most box off a stack and heading down the narrow staircase. Gem shrugged and wrapped his arms around the next case. They carried their cargo into the basement, then returned to the attic for more. Conversation was limited to grunts and groans and they shifted the heavier boxes, and speculation about the contents of said boxes when the load was lighter. They had too much respect for their "leader" to open the cartons they were moving. Shado, as all of them, was intensely private, if there was something that she felt they needed to know she would be the one to tell them. When the girls got in from dropping Shado at the airport, they joined in with good natured razzing about the lazy boys, and soon they were looking at just a few remaining boxes and a large foot locker. It was the foot locker that held their attention. It was a battered combat green affair, various dents and scratches marred its surface. The faded and worn stenciling on the top wasn't difficult to read. This was Shado's locker from her years in the military.

"I thought she had ditched all that stuff." Mage stared at this ghost from their past like it was a coiled cobra.

"Evidently she decided to keep it." Keeper shoved the box with his toe but it didn't budge. He bent and tried to lift one end but its weight decided the matter for him. "Gem, you'll have to help with this one. It's too heavy." Gem grabbed his end, and with a three count they hefted the locker. "Damn, what's she got in here, rocks?'

"Knowing Shado, it's probably a dead body.' Brit teased. She and Mage followed the guys carefully down the stairs. Maneuvering the locker in the narrow confines wasn't easy, the weight and its dimensions making it a clumsy burden. Things went well until Gem reached the last step. His foot caught on the riser and he stumbled, dropping his end to catch his balance against falling. The foot locker hit the edge of the stair with a loud thump and the distinct sounds of splintering wood.

"OW, shit." Keeper cussed. He hurriedly set his end down and rubbed the muscles in his lower back. "Gem, you ok?"

"Yeah, just tripped. Sorry." He bent to pick up his end once more, but an ominous cracking stopped him. "Oops, I think it broke."

Mage and Brit squeezed between the wall and the locker, having set their boxes on the steps. "Oh, man she's going to kill us all." Mage moaned. Shado's temper was fast becoming legendary and none of them wanted it turned in their direction. Keeper leaned against the wall, still rubbing his strained back.

"Maybe it won't be that bad and we can fix it." Faln replied from her position at the basement door. She trotted up the steps and knelt to run her hand under the tilted box. She frowned. "I really can't tell we're going to have to empty it to fix it. I'll grab another empty box and we'll see what we can do. Why don't you all shove it off the steps and out of the way?"

When she returned from the basement, she joined the others where they stood staring at the chest sitting in the center of the living room. She stifled a giggle at the looks on their faces. You would think it was a bomb or something, she thought. She set the box down and nudged the locker with her toe. "Ok, so who is going to do the honors?"

"I vote that Keeper open it." Mage said. Brit seconded her, and Gem made it official. Keeper glared at them all. "After all this was your idea to begin with."

"Alright fine." He snapped and bent to pull the lid open. Silence reigned for a long moment, then he whispered. "Oh shit."

They all stared into the trunk in surprise. Somehow they had been expecting something a bit more, interesting than what they found there. Items carefully wrapped in tissue paper had been just as carefully placed into the foot locker. There were a few things that hadn't been stored with such care, and it was these items that caught their attention.

"Guys, I get the feeling that this is something that Shado would definitely not approve of." Gem said softly. He reached out a hand, contrary to his words to trace his fingertips over a photo album that lay on the top. It was a cracked embossed affair, its exterior showing age and care. The gold lettering on it had worn so thin that they could barely read the lettering. "We really shouldn't pry." His hand clutched the photo album in reflex and he pulled it from the trunk.

"It would be really bad form." Keeper agreed and he pulled a shoe box wrapped tight with red ribbon and tied in a hard knot. Faln and the girls all knelt to pull other items from the depths of the foot locker. Without speaking of the violation they were about to undertake, they took their recovered treasures to the side and sat in a circle, the better to see what each of them had uncovered.

"You realize of course that she WILL kill us." Mage said holding the tissue wrapped bundle she had chosen to her chest. Nods ran around the circle but no one made the effort to return the prizes to their resting place.

"Face it guys, we're just a bunch of snoops and we are all dying to know what deep dark secrets that she has hidden from us." Faln said and she unwrapped her bundle. The yellowed white tissue paper parted easily enough to reveal a black suit jacket. It smelled of cedar, as did everything in the trunk, and with a snap of her wrist she shook it out. It was made of wool and cut in a style that had gone out many years before. Faln's eyes lit up slightly. "A man's." Mage and Brit followed quickly, revealing in turn a dark blue turtleneck and a black one. Small frowns of disappointment creased their brows. "I wonder where she got these?"

"Maybe from a relative. She did, does, have family you know." Gem speculated. "What you got in your box, Keeper?" Keeper as carefully as the girls, removed the ribbon tying the shoebox closed, slid off the lid and stared into it for a long moment. His face paled slightly and he seemed a bit shaken by the contents he had revealed.

"Um, well it's definitely not clothes." He whispered. He pulled a pen off the table behind him and reached it in. Hooking something with the end he carefully lifted the pen. A Walther P.38 dangled from his hand. The pistol had been modified in some strange fashion and was well cared for, gun oil gleaming dully in the light. The grip was worn and showed signs of heavy use. There was a silver K personalizing the weapon and this sent a cold chill through the group.

"Wow. I knew Shado had a past, but a monogrammed gun?" Brit breathed. Mage shook her head negative.

"Shado's name didn't have a K in it, Brit." She observed. "At least not one that I know of, that could be used like that."

"Are you sure of that?" Keeper said softly, recalling the fact that not one of them knew each other's true names. Not even after five years of living together did they know who they all had been in their past lives. It was an unspoken agreement, reached when they had fled the military. Their identities would become the names they had learned during the experiments, their former lives gone for the safety of the team and of their families. They had in effect, killed themselves off. Mage thought for a moment, then ruefully acknowledged Keeper's point. He set the gun carefully aside and pulled out the next item. It was an old fashioned silver ink pen, heavy in his hand. He turned it over in his hands for a moment, noticing the various scuff marks and scratches that marred the shiny surface, then with a shrug handed it off to Faln who was sitting next to him. When it had made its way around the circle and back to him, he laid it carefully next to the Walther on the carpet. The next item he pulled from the box was a thin black wallet, a man's from the look, equally battered and scarred. He flipped it open to reveal a single card in the plastic protected slide pocket. The gold card was still legible and only added to the mystery of the foot locker.

"United Network Command for Law and Enforcement." He read. "There's a signature here, but its too faded to read clearly. I can make out an 'I', an 'N' and there's our 'K'. What the hell was the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement anyway?" he asked the room in general. He closed the wallet and it also made the rounds of the room to at last come to rest beside the other items he had recovered. "Any clues, anyone?' Negatives came from everyone. They grew more mystified as he pulled other odds things from the shoe box, a gold cigarette box that obviously wasn't cigarettes, a pair of cuff links, some shirt buttons, a gold travel clock and some really strange darts that they had a feeling were more dangerous than they looked. At last when the box was empty, their attention turned to Gem who sat with the photo album on his lap. He caressed its worn cover once more and looked thoughtfully around at the group.

"I think we'll probably find our answers there, Gem." Faln said indicating the book. Mage had moved slightly off to the side, the better to look into the foot locker. She was peering into its depths in a concentrated fashion. There were plenty of other items still wrapped in tissue, and from their shape and bulk, she guessed out loud that they may be other articles of clothing.

"I think you are right." He agreed and without further prevaricating, he opened the album. Everyone crowded around so they could see what was there. The first page was blank except for a hand written face page, they all recognized Shado's distinctive scrawl; Illya Nickovetch Kuryakin 1966-1969. A rose had been pressed and still clung to the page, its brown petals still holding a faint trace of color. Gem carefully turned the page hoping that he wouldn't destroy the fragile memento. He sucked in his breath and whistled softly. "I think our questions are answered."

The subject of the photos rarely varied, a young blond man, in his late twenties or early thirties, slimly built graced them all. In some he was shown with another man, dark haired and suavely attractive. The captions under the pictures along with small personal notes, all in Shado's handwriting, gave their identities as Illya Kuryakin, the blond, and Napoleon Solo. There was a series of photos, labeled Partners, that seemed self-explanatory. The affection the two shared was obvious in their postures. Several of the photos had been taken in locations outside the States and only bore the country name as caption. There were a few pictures of others in the album, an elderly man named Uncle Alex; and a younger couple April and Mark.

"Still it leaves a lot to be answered." Keeper said mostly to himself. "Wonder if she worked with them, with him?" he speculated. His relationship with Shado was a difficult one to define and at times jealousy would spur him to rash words and actions. "Notice, there are no pictures of herself in here." He pointed out.

"Seems Shado's aversion to self-portraits is an old one." Faln smiled. "I doubt that will ever change." The others agreed, it was something they often teased her about, her dislike of photography. "Keeper's right, though, this raises just as many questions about her as we had before. We still don't really know who these people are or how she knew them." She looked at one of the photos labeled "Partners", it was one of only a couple that were in color. "Although, you gotta admit, they were really rather good looking."

"I suppose." Keeper growled slightly. Gem hid a chuckle in the turning of another page. This one didn't contain photos, but it had another pressed rose and a folded invitation. "Ah, crap."

Gem flipped the invitation open and read it to the group. "Mr. Alexander Waverly and his Wife, Eleanor formally request your attendance at the Wedding of their daughter, Pagan Michelle Waverly to Illya Nickovetch Kuryakin on Sunday May the 1st , in the year of our lord Nineteen Hundred and Sixty-eight. The wedding will take place at 12:00 pm at St. Patrick's Cathedral with Reception to follow directly after at the home of the bride's parents. In lieu of gifts donations can be made to the Archdiocese Charities Fund. RSVP required." He laid aside the invitation and held up the photo that had been underneath. The smiling face of their sensei as she looked into the eyes of her groom answered their questions at last.

It was a while before anyone spoke, they finished off the photo album lost in their own thoughts. None of them had known that Shado had ever been in a serious relationship much less married. It was a sobering thought, that they knew so little about the person responsible for their current freedom. They weren't certain what to think, they knew she had her secrets but this was a rather large one to be kept. It was Faln who voiced the question that was in the forefront of their minds. "What happened to him?"

"Well the album dates are from '66 until '69 so I'm assuming the marriage didn't last." Mage said. "A divorce do you think?"

Brit shook her head. "No, I don't think so. If they divorced, why did she keep this stuff? I mean, look, the clothes are his obviously, as is everything else here. Would you keep mementos of a bad marriage?"

"I think something happened to him." Mage said. She flipped back several pages in the album. "I mean look, these guys go around armed. From the photos and the ID card, they were involved in some kind of Law Enforcement agency. That means it was dangerous at least some of the time." She tapped her finger on one picture that showed Illya shackled to the wall. "And unless they were into bondage, and I wouldn't put it past Shado, I'd say that dangerous would be a mild description, why else would they train for something like that."

"Points to Mage for observation." Keeper agreed. He motioned toward the foot locker. "Faln anything else in there that might be interesting?" She obliged him by carefully unloading the remaining items from the box. The last thing she pulled out was an old reel of 8mm film. "Bingo." He grinned. "I think I seem to recall an old projector among the stuff we moved, along with a screen. Home movies anyone?'

The girls carefully repacked everything into the box Faln had brought up from the basement as Gem and Keeper went in search of the movie equipment. They didn't look at each other, uncomfortable with the knowledge they had gained in the past couple of hours. Guilt was beginning to set in, guilt that they had given into their curiosity and had found things they may have wished not to.

With much clattering and noise, the boys set up the old equipment, arguing about the placement and exactly how to thread the film into the projector. The thing was as old as any one of its would be operators and almost defied their ability but at last it was set. Before beginning their viewing, Faln closed the shades on the large bay windows, shutting them all into shadow. Something they found appropriate given their journey "into" Shado's past. Mage poured them all something to drink and Gem at the risk of being thought frivolous, grabbed a bag of chips from the pantry. He claimed hunger and a lack of breakfast as his motivation when Mage growled at him. Keeper did the honors and started the film.

The film started with shots of a hallway, people were moving through it carrying folders or objects of some sort. Some of them waved and spoke to the camera person, but there was no sound. However some of the words were obvious. The movement of the camera stopped at a door with the words Lab Six; Dr. Kuryakin; on them. A slim feminine hand pushed the door open to reveal a seated figure at a lab table. The blond head was bent, peering into a microscope and making notations on a pad of paper. He wore a white lab coat and they could see the black of a turtleneck above the collar. His head came up and a smile spread across his face as he turned on the stool.

"Damn, he definitely was good looking." Faln muttered softly. Illya stood up and with a swift motion took the camera from the unseen filmmaker, the picture blurred for a moment then steadied to show Illya kissing Shado. She was dressed rather casually but when the pair separated the circle could see a triangular badge of some sort pinned to her blouse, the number 17 plain. Illya had a similar badge on his lab coat with the number 2 on it. They were talking animatedly about something. Illya reached out toward the camera and the film went dark.

The next time the camera was used it was outside in a park. A group of people were sitting around a picnic table, Illya and Shado among them. Something had happened in the interim between filmings because Illya had his arm in a cast and they could just make out the dark shadows of bruising on his face. Shado was looking at him as if she were afraid that he would disappear if she took her eyes off him. The camera person must have said something because they both turned toward the camera and smiled tensely, but brightly into it. Shado made a gesture and then took the camera. The dark haired Napoleon took her seat beside Illya and smiled into the lens with sardonic grace. He snagged a beer and toasted the camera then his partner. Again the film went dark.

There were several other scenes recorded, not all of them with Illya, there were a few with the younger partners April and Mark, and then one with an elderly pair that could only be Shado's parents Alexander and Eleanor Waverly. They were presiding over a dinner of some sort, Keeper mused that it must be a family get together because of the resemblances, when Shado's head turned toward the dining room door, she smiled softly and sure enough Illya came through it. He went straight to her side and took her hand. There in front of her family, he knelt on one knee and looking into her eyes said something.

"He proposed." Mage whispered. The pandemonium following his action left no doubt in their minds what the answer had been, and they watched as he slid the ring on Shado's finger, her family beaming proudly at their soon to be in law. Waverly took Illya's hand and shook it vigorously and Eleanor hugged him just as vigorously. But it was the look on the newly engaged couple's faces that entranced the watchers.

'They were so in love." Brit's words were wistful. "What could have happened?'

The film played on, showing more scenes from the past; work related, some play, scenes of dress fittings for the wedding, a few quiet evenings caught for one reason or another on film. Then the film began to show what could only be the wedding day. Illya looking more pale than usual, dressed sharply in a designer tuxedo and tails, Napoleon fixing the boutonniere in place. Shado in her dressing room, looking radiant in her wedding gown, her mother fluttering in the background. Then the camera's trip down the aisle to stop in the first row of the cathedral. Several shots of various people coming into their places; then the wedding party, Illya flanked by Napoleon and Mark taking their places; the heads turning to watch the bride walk down the aisle on her father's arm after the maids of honor April and someone they didn't know. The whole ceremony was filmed. When the film finally ran out it took them a few moments to realize that the show was over. It had ended with a final shot of the newlyweds climbing into a limo to start their new lives together.

"Man I feel like peeping Tom right about now." Gem muttered as Keeper turned off the projector.

"You and me both." Mage agreed.

"I think we all feel that way." Keeper said flipping the lights on and opening the blinds. "I think our questions have only raised more questions. Like where is he now?"

"That, my dear is the $64,000.00 question." Brit sighed. "Next one is, do we find out or do we leave this well enough alone?" They looked at each other, then at the footlocker full of memories, back at each other, then as one entity, "Nah, we go looking."

"Of course, when Shado does find out we have been snooping, and you know she will, she's going to either kill us or exile us to Purgatory." Mage muttered darkly. "So, we start looking for- which first? Kuryakin? That's Russian or Slavic I think."

"Hmmm. I think our best bet would be to see what we can find out about that group United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. That would be the best place to start I think, wouldn't you agree Gem?" Faln said. "Can you use the internet for that?"

Gem nodded. The internet was rapidly becoming a great tool for their use, and he as a computer programmer was their resident internet expert. "If there is something on it, I'll find it."

"While he looks for that stuff online, what say we do a bit more investigating of the shoebox. See what we might figure out from the stuff in there." Keeper pulled the open box to him and setting the items out on the table carefully, he spoke again. "I have a friend at the police department. I think we might be able to use his contacts to see what we can find out on the Walther. It's a custom job, but I'm sure there has to be some info on it somewhere." He reached for the phone. As he dialed he took a close look at the gun. "Well, whatever he did, he didn't file off the serial numbers. I don't know if that will help or not, but it couldn't hurt."

Faln looked at the rest of the items. "I'm going to "see" what I can see- who knows I might get a hit. Or a headache." Her ability in psychometrics was iffy at best but there were times when she could read an object. She closed her eyes and sent herself searching., blocking out the gun from her search. The violence associated with that item would ruin her chances with any of the other things. "Well, these definitely belonged to him. They got quite a bit of use- the wallet and ID especially. I can see something with the pen too. I'm not sure what, it's blurry, almost like a double exposure. I keep seeing a pen then something else." She frowned in concentration. "I don't think I'll be able to get much more than that. There was too much violence in his life for a clearer reading. Sorry."

"Hey you tried." Mage offered. She picked up the pen and played with it idly. Keeper was busy talking to his buddy in the PD and Gem was cussing out the internet connection and its lousy modem speed. Brit excused herself to go start dinner, the hour was getting on toward evening. Mage wasn't paying particular attention to the pen she held, but was thinking heavily about the home movie they had watched. She tightened her grip on the pen and jumped when there was a soft snap. She looked at the pen in surprise, she hadn't thought that she was strong enough to damage the metal pen. But a small hair line crack had appeared where the pen screwed together. "Oh crap. I think I broke it." She showed it to Faln who took it.

Faln shook her head. "No, I don't think you broke it. I think it's meant to come apart." She fiddled with it for a moment, then removed the bottom of the pen. Instead of the expected ink reservoir the inside was solid. "Now this is odd." Keeper and Gem joined them at the table. She messed with the pen a bit more and squeaked in surprise when the push button slowly extended like an antenna. "Guys?" she asked uncertainly.

Keeper shrugged. "Maybe it's like Maxwell Smart's shoe phone. Who knows?"

"Go ahead, Faln, try it." Gem urged teasing his friend.

Faln gave him a look that could have melted concrete but then grinned mischievously. "This is Agent 007 reporting in. We have a situation at the beach house. Surrounded by enemy agents; need backup pronto." She said into the pen. The smile she wore was quickly replaced by shock when the pen in her hand emitted a high pitched shrill.