Napoleon woke up feeling groggy with a stabbing headache. When his eyes focused, he realized he was strapped in a small bed wearing a hospital gown.
For a moment he felt a pang of panic, as he reached up to feel his skull thinking that Genius had done something to him, but instead discovered that there were straps holding his wrists and ankles as well as the one across his chest.
"Good morning Mr. Solo. " The Doctor's voice spoke out through a small speaker beside the bed. "I presume you slept well."
"Fine I suppose, but I would have preferred it had been of my own volition," he replied. " I think Thrush needs to change its knockout formula, as I do have a rather nasty headache...now I know how my partner feels, felt." He corrected himself.
Napoleon scrunched his eyes closed for a minute, remembering that Illya was gone. He could feel his heart start to pound as his anger rose, promising himself that these animals would pay for killing his friend.
One of the female scientists entered his room rolling a stainless steel cart in front of her. Once it was close enough, he spotted a syringe, an electric hair trimmer and a straight razor.
"Hmmm, I really prefer shaving myself." He quipped nervously.
"Not where I'm going to do it," she snickered.
Napoleon's eyes darted instantly to his nether regions, but then she took hold of his head as she turned on the clipper.
"Mmmm shame," she said as she ran it along the top of his head, just behind the hairline." You really have beautiful hair...but it will grow back. Then again you might not be of a mind to worry about it any more," she then laughed.
He tried pulling away, but it was useless as he felt the clippers against his scalp. "Now stop that Mr. Solo, I have to use a straight razor next and you wouldn't want me to slip now would you?"
Solo said nothing and bit his lower lip, closing his eyes during the procedure. She put the razor down and picked up the needle, holding it up so he could see her squirt a little liquid out of it as she depressed the plunger.
"Now you're going to feel several pinches, so don't move...wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."
Before she could inject him, he jerked his head violently, knocking the glass syringe from her hand, sending it flying and shattering on the floor.
"Now that wasn't very nice Mr. Solo."
"Do you think?" He snapped at her.
"It's pointless struggling." She left the room, this time returning with another needle and a guard at her side. He held Napoleon down while she injected him.
"There, now that wasn't so bad was it? It was just a local anesthetic, you see the doctor will need you awake for your surgery."
That's when Napoleon's heart began to pound, though anyone looking at him would not even guess the man was feeling a sense of panic.
"My surgery..."he repeated.
"Yes, you and your friend are going to be the first human recipients of Dr. Genius' Pelorus chips. You're a guinea pig!" She laughed as the guard helped her wheel Napoleon still strapped in his bed out into the hall and down to the surgical suite.
"Ah welcome back Mr. Solo," Evelyn Genius pulled down his surgical mask to greet him as the gurney was wheeled into place.
"Doctor, I umm, wish you'd reconsider this? My mother likes me just the way I am, and I wouldn't want to upset her...she's going to be upset enough as it is about my hair being shaved." Napoleon hedged.
"Oh, and I thought you were such a brave little U.N.C.L.E. agent, afraid of a little procedure?"
"Only when it's being done on me."
The gurney was locked into place under a bright overhead lamp, then a few minutes later Napoleon heard the whir of a small drill.
"Do you feel this Mr. Solo?" Genius asked, jabbing a needle into the shaved spot on his scalp.
"No, thank goodness. Do I really have to be awake for this?"
"Yes, I will be asking you a series of questions during the procedure in order to program the Pelorus chip once it's installed in your head.
Napoleon felt nothing as the doctor sliced into his scalp, exposing his skull, then he heard the drill become louder as it was getting closer to his head.
"Please don't do this?" He held his breath, cringing and squeezing his eyes shut as he heard his skull being drilled into, then exhaled as he realized the injections were working and there was no pain.
Christopher Fleming stood beside a computer keyboard waiting to test the chip once it was ready.
"Now Mr. Solo, I'm inserting the chip into the frontal lobe. That's an area of the brain in humans and other mammals, located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere and positioned in front of the parietal lobe and superior and anterior to the temporal lobes. The precentral gyrus, forming the posterior border of the frontal lobe, contains the primary motor cortex, which controls voluntary movements of specific body parts. The frontal lobe contains most of the dopamine-sensitive neurons in the cerebral cortex. The dopamine system is associated with reward, attention, short-term memory tasks, planning, and motivation."
Napoleon had no interest in hearing the details. "So is this going to affect my memory?" He muttered.
"That remains to be seen...now Christopher I want you to press function one on the keyboard please? He said to Fleming.
"Mr. Solo I want you to raise your right forearm."
Napoleon remained motionless. "I can't move it."
"Good very good. Christoper release function one please."
"Now if you would be so good as to try to move your arm again?" The doctor asked.
This time Napoleon was able to move it with out any difficulty.
The question and response process was repeated with his other arm, some of his fingers, and his legs, then finally with his ability to speak.
"Excellent." Genius said. He then closed the dura with sutures, replaced the minute bone flap back in its original position and secured it to the skull with a titanium plate barely the size of a dime and screwed that into place The skin was sutured back together then a soft adhesive dressing was placed over the incision.
Napoleon's bindings were undone, and he was told to get up slowly. He saw no point in being non-compliant and swung his legs over the side of the gurney, then grabbed the edge of it, complaining he was light headed.
One of the scientists took Solo by the arm, helping him to his feet.
He let go and the agent stood, wobbling for a moment like a toddler maintaining his balance.
"Christopher, input this sequence, 7345 please. Alright Mr. Solo I want you to hit the guard."
"No."
"Christopher, hit enter please."
As soon as Fleming finger pressed the key, Napoleon slammed his fist into the guards jaw, knocking him out cold, then stood staring at his fist, incredulous that what he had done was against his will. He had no warning, and his arm lashed out as if it had a mind of its own.
"Very good Mr. Solo. Now if you would walk forward please, slowly."
Again he refused, but as soon as another sequence was input into the computer, he did exactly as Genius had instructed him to. Napoleon grew red in the face. "I don't know how, but I'll stop you some how you sick bastard you'll pay..."
"Christopher 999 please?"
As soon as it was entered, Napoleon found himself unable to talk, or move.
"Alright, enough excitement for now. Guards, put Mr. Solo back on the gurney and take him to his room to rest. Christopher, input 000 to shut down the Pelorus chip for now. Rest well Mr. Solo, we'll be putting you through a battery of tests tomorrow before I implant a chip into your lovely companions skull."
Napoleon's face remained expressionless as they wheeled him back to his room. They unstrapped and helped the agent into his bed and at that point he felt as weak as a baby and had no strength to try to resist.
"There's a buzzer on the nightstand sir, if you have any problems, use it to call. A nurse will be in to check on you later."
With that he was left alone, laying with extra pillows propping him up, as he looked at the serene aquatic scene that surrounded him.
He reached up, touching the top of his head gingerly."Shit," he mumbled, then closed his eyes and falling asleep as fast as his partner usually was able to do.
A nurse arrived as promised, waking Napoleon from a deep sleep as she took hold of his wrist to take his pulse. He grabbed her instinctively, pulling her down beside him.
When he realized who it was, he apologized to the pretty brunette. "It's best never to touch a sleeping U.N.C.L.E. agent." Then he smiled at her as she was laying in a rather compromising position with her head in his lap.
She pushed herself up, giving him a nasty look.
"Oh you could have stayed there if you wanted to. I was kind of nice."
She blushed, and her cross look disappeared.
"That's much better." he said, reaching up and pinching her chin, then he tapped her on the tip of her nose with his finger.
"Now let me take that pulse for you." She said, trying to ignore how handsome he was.
"Be my guest, but I assure you, it'll be racing because of you."
"My you are the flirt arent' you?" She finally smiled.
Evelyn Genius watched on the monitor as wicked thoughts filled his head. "Ah the possibilities," he said to himself.
Later that evening Mishi returned after eating her dinner in silence with the scientists, but instead of going to her room, she knocked on Napoleon's door, as she was concerned about him.
She peeked her head inside after she heard him call and found him sitting on the bed, dressed only in a bathrobe. She sat next to him in silence, aware of the bandage on his head and what it meant.
"Are you alright?" she whispered, taking his hand in hers.
"I don't know. I feel alright," he sighed, " I vaguely remember after the surgery having trouble moving and talking. I wanted to, but I just couldn't"
The confidence that she had become accustomed to seeing in Napoleon's eyes wasn't there, he seemed distant and preoccupied.
"Do you think we'll get out of here?"
"Mishi, I hope so but right now I have to be honest, I'm just not sure. Sorry."
"What are you apologizing for? This wasn't your fault. I accepted this assignment, no one forced me to take it." She reassured him.
Napoleon's hand drifted up along her arm to her shoulder, and before she realized it, he had pulled her towards him and kissed her, hard.
She pushed her hand against his chest. "For once I have to say, this isn't a good idea." She whispered apologetically.
He looked at her strangely, then pulled her to him again, this time as he kissed her he fondled her breast, then in one quick motion he spun her around on the bed, holding her down.
"Napoleon, stop."
He laid down, putting his weight on her, forcing his lips to hers.
"I said stop!" She raised her voice, then slammed her balled fist against him several times. That only made him smile. "Napoleon what's wrong with you?" She tried squirming from beneath him. Then his head started to twitch, and he shook it as if he was fighting with himself.
Suddenly there was a shrill laughter that filled the room, it was Evelyn Genius. "That's just a little sample of the control that I have over Mr. Solo. Tomorrow it will be your turn Colonel" He cackled again.
Napoleon shrank away from her, with clarity now returning to his eyes.
"Mishi, I'm so sorry," he stammered, "I couldn't stop myself, I tried...I couldn't even speak to tell you what was going on. That madman was controlling me and I couldn't do a thing to stop him." He dropped his face into his hands, completely humiliated by his actions.
"I would never force myself on a woman, it's completely against my beliefs, yet I was doing it. If he hadn't stopped it, I would have tried to rape you. Can you forgive me?"
"It wasn't you who was doing it, he was controlling you like a puppet on a string, you can't blame yourself. No harm, no foul alright?"
He nodded his head. "If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone, there's a lot I have to think about."
"I understand," she said, leaning forward and kissing him on the forehead then left, though she didn't like the tone in his voice.
He threw back the covers on the bed, climbing beneath them. His head was throbbing and he lay it back on the pillow. For a moment he stared up at the now dark water, seeing vague shadows of things swimming in the water outside the dome. Then attracted to the light a dolphin swam closer, peeking inside at him. Napoleon recognized it by it's rounded whale-like snout as an uncommon species called Risso's.
He stared back at the creature as it watched him, seemingly studying him before it swam off into the darkness.
This was a situation that had him baffled. There were no clever strategies coming to him, no escapes...not as long as this thing was in his head. Tomorrow, the prospect of the same thing happening to Mishi made everything seem even more dim.
If he could not control his own actions, he would become nothing but a dangerous tool for Thrush to help take down U.N.C.L.E. and that was something he simply could not permit. There might be only one final solution to the problem, one that would be permanent. That went against his beliefs too, but there might not be another option. He wasn't ready to take that step yet, and he vowed to try to overcome Genius' device before that final choice had to be made.
"Oh tovarisch, why did you have to go and get yourself killed? He whispered, but part of him didn't want to believe it was true.
Illya Kuryakin had an uncanny ability to survive, and Napoleon held onto that thought as he closed his eyes, allowing him fall asleep with just a bit of hope in his heart.