*6 months ago*
"Faster!" the KGB agent growled, eyes narrowing at the sight of the child crawling through the tight space, "Faster, or I start shooting!"
The Project tensed and finally reacted to the order, its movements speeding up as he barrelled through the rest of the course. Unlike his earlier days of training, he didn't bound over to the agent with a grin on his face, asking how he did.
They seemed to have beaten that out of him.
"Another few months and you'll be ready." The agent sneered as the child frowned at the reminder of what his existence was actually for, "Back to your room boy, and wait for future instructions. Tomorrow, we will work on your hacking skills."
As the boy raced off, the agent couldn't stop a small smirk from appearing on his face.
The Americans wouldn't know what hit them.
***End flashback******
Getting into the building was easy.
The CIA clearly were lax when it came to the lowest level of their building. After all, you needed a special code to get to them.
Or so they thought.
"Daddy?" Lyov cautiously spoke up from within the cleaning trolley, covered with a large towel, "What if I can't find Papa?"
Illya knew the child's chances were slim. They weren't completely aware of any defences the CIA would have in the vents, and with so many rooms and so many floors, Napoleon could have been in any one of them.
If he was even in this building.
Knowing that the store-rooms had no cameras in them, Illya, knelt down and pulled Lyov into his arms.
"You will find them…." He gently reassured the child, "… You want to know how I know that?"
Lyov nodded.
"Because you're our son." Illya shrugged, "You've got your Papa's attention to detail and my superior spy skills- "
He ignored Lyov's little giggle at this.
"- and I honestly believe that you can do anything you put your mind to." Illya smirked, "Including out-smarting Sanders and saving your Papa, agreed?"
Lyov nodded eagerly, a look of determination flashing across his face as he was lifted up into the air and held up near the vents. It only took a few seconds for all the screws to be undone, the cover to be removed and for Lyov to crawl inside, shuffling his way through the ducts.
….
'Can you guys hear that, or is it just me?' Napoleon signed, making sure to keep his hands low as to avoid the attention of the camera.
'No… hear what?' Gaby signed back, following Napoleon's gaze up to the ceiling.
'The squeaking… like little boots rubbing across metal.'
…
Lyov peeked through the gaps in the vents, frowning when he came across yet another empty room.
They were nowhere to be found, and he was starting to panic slightly.
Shuffling forwards a little more, he attempted to peer through the next vent.
There!
Gaby, the old man his parents worked with and Papa!
His training quickly kicking in, Lyov glanced around the small area. They didn't seem to be hurt, the door was probably locked… and there was a security camera on the right corner opposite, thankfully pointing at the people in the room.
There was no way he was getting them out of here, without being spotted by the camera.
Shuffling backwards, he quickly though of another plan.
Now… where was the security room again?
….
Napoleon's eyes darted towards the vent as the squeaking and banging passed over them.
'Dammit Illya.' He thought to himself, 'I hope you know what you two are doing.'
…..
Thankful that the security room wasn't too far away from the room that his Papa was locked in, Lyov continued forwards until he reached that particular vent.
Sanders was in there.
Remaining as still as possible, Lyov watched as Sanders leaned into one of the screens, before cursing and taking several steps back.
"They should have done something by now… something should have happened by now! Isn't there a sign of anything?"
One of the technicians shook his head. "Nothing Sir… everything is proceeding as normal. Nothing out of the ordinary at all."
There was a brief moment of silence, before Sanders cursed again and stormed out of the room.
"… How is he in charge again?"
Lyov didn't know the answer to this himself, allowing himself to breathe as he examined the situation.
He needed at least one of them to leave… if one of them left, then the other would be too focused on the screens to notice Lyov enter the room. A quick nerve pinch and he was be out for just long enough for Lyov to hack the systems and set the camera on a loop.
If he could remember how to hack the systems.
…
Illya glanced up at the vent and frowned.
This was taking too long…. Lyov should have been back by now, with news of where Napoleon and the others were being held.
No alarms had been sound, but that didn't mean that nobody had noticed that something was wrong.
And something was definitely wrong.
Taking a seat in the small room, Illya kept his eyes on the vents, counting to one thousand in as many languages as he could.
….
'Come on' Lyov thought to himself, glaring at the back of the two men's heads, 'Leave, move, do something!'
When they didn't even flinch at the major brain signals that Lyov was shooting at them, he sighed under his breath and buried his face in his hands.
Okay…. New plan.
….
Illya's eyes darted up to the vents as there was a tapping on the metal, pushing himself to his feet when he spotted Lyov.
"What are you doing?" he hissed, moving a little bit closer, "Where is Napoleon?"
"I can't get to him!" Lyov whispered back, "He's locked in a room and the camera-men won't leave!"
That was a problem.
"Alright…" Illya sighed wearily, "… If… If I can make distraction… then you can get them out?"
"I-I think so, but- "
"- Do it." Illya turned to face the other door, "And Lyov, please be as fast as you can."
