Napoleon paced his cell; he couldn't help it as he could hear his partner's muffled screams from somewhere off in the distance.
There was absolutely nothing he could do to help Kuryakin and that tore at his insides.
In an interrogation room Illya was trussed up by his wrists, dangling from a hook in the ceiling.
"Tell us ze UNCLE codes Solo," the inquisitor demanded of the blond. Somehow he'd been mistaken for Napoleon.
He spoke in a heavily accented English, almost comical French.
Illya focused on the man's face, noting it was pinched and rather hawkish. THRUSH seemed to attract people with similar facial characteristics. He reminded himself to do a study on this fact once he was out of this mess.
Those thoughts helped him through the session as he would picture the man with different color eyes or a lighter hair color. At one point Illya cackled as he envisioned the man with carrot colored hair, large freckles, and a wide gap between his front teeth.
Of course it was Kuryakin's way to egg on his captors; it was a habit that went as far back as his days as a child in the orphanage in Moskva.
"Is that the best you can do..dooo, Howdy Doody?" Illya laughed again before an uncontrollable cough took him.
"Howdy Doody? What is zis you call me Solo?"
"I call you a puppet. You are nothing but that and THRUSH is the puppeteer!"
Howdy Doody shrieked and jabbed the prisoner again and again with the cattle prod, ripping Illya's now bloody and torn white shirt from him a bit at a time.
"Give me ze codes and I will stop. Zer will be no more pain."
"Nooooo," Illya moaned. "Code you should be worrying about is the one Willie Altschuler has. He is coming and you will die if he is not stopped."
After saying that Kuryakin passed out.
Napoleon finally sat down on his bunk, holding his head in his hands, trying to hide his emotions each time Illya screamed.
"Why the hell had Angelique done this? There was always a chance of betrayal when dealing with her any time. THRUSH and UNCLE both had tolerated their liaisons without putting any specific demands upon them.
There was always misinformation and lies that were let slip, just for show between he and Angelique. They'd bugged each other, found the bugs and that was that.
But now for her to betray him, when he was so sure she was on the side of good. How could she do this? Why now? Did she want Altschuler to succeed? Was she ensuring herself a position in his new world order? Was the threat from the supposed rogue Thrushman real or just a ruse?"
There was a noise outside his grey cell and he watched as the guards returned, dragging Kuryakin between them.
"Illya!" Napoleon called out as they dumped the Russian on the floor, locking the bars behind him and leaving yet again.
"ILLYA!" Napoleon yelled his name this time. "Wake up!"
Kuryakin's eyes opened at last, hearing the familiar voice calling to him. He groaned as he rolled over, peering through the bars at his partner.
"Jesus," Napoleon swore as he saw his friend. Illya was covered in welts and burn marks. There were thin rivulets of blood coming from his nose and mouth, and one of his eyes was blackened."
The Russian could barely speak above a whisper. He was sure the camera couldn't see his lips. "They think I am you. Wanted UNCLE codes. Crazy, no care about...about Altshuler. You must get out. Stop him. Threat is real, I feel it."
"Illya I won't leave you."
"Then-you-must-kill-me. Am not dying like this."
"Now you're the one talking crazy."
Illya didn't answer him.
There was no way in hell Napoleon was going to kill his friend, or leave him behind for that matter.
A short while later the guards reappeared, opening Illya's cell and dragging him out again.
"Take me, I have the information you need. Leave him be please?" Solo begged.
They laughed. "We know you'd say anything Kuryakin to save your partner. We heard about what good a liar you are too."
"You're wrong! I'm Napoleon Solo! Do I look like I'm a Russian? Come on?"
They continued to laugh as they disappeared with their prisoner in tow.
The American slammed his hand against his cell wall in frustration.
This time the helpless Russian was taken to a different room, laying him out on a stainless steel medical table, and there they strapped him down.
The cold of the metal was a welcome sensation to the painful welts and burns on his back. He was thinking he had cracked ribs, and there was a pain coming from his right knee but he dared not to try and move it. Come to think of it, his entire body was hurting him, so his request for Napoleon to kill him was more than reasonable, given he was going to be tortured again.
A petite woman woman entered the room, her hair short and curly. It looked as though was auburn but was slowly fading to grey. She was wearing a white lab coat and moved with care, favoring one of her legs with a slight limp.
Illya watched her with pain filled blue eyes as she prepared a syringe. She was a comely woman, with warm brown eyes.
"I'm Doctor Fischer and I'm here to examine you to make sure you're capable of standing up to further torture. THRUSH likes their captives to live through their little inquisitions."
She leaned in close to his face whispering to him as she checked his heart with a stethoscope. "I'm also a friend of Angelique La Chien and she asked me to give you a message."
"What do I care what she has to say, that traitorous bitch," Illya snapped back.
"You're wrong! She was tricked by Central. They wanted you two...and yes I know you're Kuryakin. The people who work here are nothing but morons and believed Angelique when she told them you were Solo."
"You realize this place is going to be blown up by one of your former compatriots in a very short time? No one seems to care." Illya whispered back to her.
"Angelique told me and that's why I'm going to help you. She's going to get Solo out of here before it happens."
He realized he apparently wasn't included in the rescue, but when it came to Angelique, that didn't surprise him.
"We cannot let it happen, do you not understand? If Altshuler gets away with it, he is going to keep doing setting off more bombs until he brings the world to its knees and not just THRUSH. He is insane."
Linda shook her head, "Look I'm here to inject you with a strong dosage of morphine for the pain. That way you'll get through your next session. You'll have to fake it and scream now and then. Got it?"
"I do not think that will be too hard." He winced as she jabbed the needle into his arm. Minutes later the opiate was doing its magic, making the pain go away and leaving him blissfully numb.
The guards returned, removing Kuryakin from the table and holding him up as he could barely walk.
They took him back to the same room where he'd been tortured the first time.
The same nimrod with the cattle prod returned, asking the same questions again and again, using the the same methods. THRUSH interrogators could be quite
Punches, slaps, and zaps with the cattle prod and of course that forced Kuryakin to let out more screams.
The morphine was working beautifully, but still that wouldn't prevent further damage to his body.
Eventually it couldn't take anymore and he passed out, despite the session being virtually painless as he could only take so many jolts of electricity.
The interrogator shook his head and marvelled at the staying power of Napoleon Solo. It was no wonder he was considered their best.
He had the agent returned to the observation room and strapped to the table again. There Solo would be permitted to recuperate until his next session. Dr. Fischer would see to that.
Napoleon looked up as two guards entered the cell block, but there was no Illya this time.
He was up against his bars in an instant. "Where is he?"
"Shussssh," one of the guards whispered.
"Aren't you a bit short to be THRUSH goons," he asked.
Solo shook his head as he couldn't believe his eyes. There was platinum blonde hair under the beret of one of them and a lot of it.
"Angelique, what have you done?" He growled.
"I will explain, just please trust me one more time?"
She had a key in her hand and opened the cell door. Her eyes tried to plead her case but Solo would have nothing of it.
As soon as the door was unlocked Napoleon was out in a shot, grabbing her by the throat as he drove her backwards, and pinned her against the other cell door.
"Please," she struggled to speak." Let me explain."
He released her, but was ready to choke the life out of her if he didn't like what she said. Napoleon looked over at the other guard, a petite woman like Angelique. She was no THRUSH goon.
"Go ahead but make it quick."
Angelique face flushed. It was obvious she was frightened; he'd never seen her like that before, even though he'd had his hands around her throat.
"They...THRUSH Central threatened to kill my sister Émilie and her daughter Melisent if I didn't give you to them. They want all the UNCLE master codes and as Chief Enforcement Agent they know you have them in your head."
"Then why are they torturing Illya? They think he's me."
"I told them the Russian was you. I couldn't bear the thought of them hurting you, or perhaps ruining that handsome face of yours, not to mention certain other body parts. These idiots here have never seen anything on either of you so it was easy to mislead them."
"Misleading people, something you're very good at doing. So this thing with Altshuler was a ruse too?"
"No it's real, he's heading here thinking he's going to destroy the wealth of THRUSH stored in the mines, Central has kept their gold bullion here since this place closed down in the late 50's. They were trying to take advantage of the truce with your organization by capturing you and the Russian, and I'm supposed to stop Altshuler. You and Illya are supposed to mysteriously disappear in an explosion that kills Willie Altschuler as well. That was what they ordered me to do after they changed their plans and threatened my family."
"Until you gave me the intelligence about your tracker, I really had no idea where he was headed. It was then Central made their threat and instructed their people here to capture you. I was to lead you down via the elevator, while the real entrance to the satrap is through a mine shaft located three miles from here."
Napoleon relaxed, though for a split second he questioned if she were taking him for a sucker. He looked into her eyes, those beautiful enticing yet frightened eyes and he believed her.
"I have to get you out of here, I can't do this to you Napoleon. It's not right."
"But won't it jeopardize your sister and niece, who you never told me about before by the way?"
"There's lots of things you don't know about me darling."
"Excuse me you two but we need to get out of here," the other woman interrupted.
"And you are?" Napoleon asked.
"Dr. Linda Fischer, I guess formerly of THRUSH. I sort of helped your partner through his latest torture session….and don't fly off the handle."
Her hand automatically went to her throat. "I gave him morphine so the screams you've been hearing this time have been faked, as least I hope they were?"
Linda wasn't exactly sure what they were doing to the poor guy. She'd only seen a few torture sessions and they were pretty gruesome. Truthfully she didn't think the blond was going to make it through another one. The morphine was just her way of helping him to pass without any pain.
"Where is he?"Napoleon demanded.
"He's probably dead," Linda said, taking a step back from the UNCLE agent as she feared another violent reaction.
"Well let's go find out. Napoleon grabbed her rifle and Angelique's, removing the magazine from both weapons and stuffed those in his pockets.
He quickly waved his hand towards himself," Give me your handguns."
Angelique and the doctor complied without question and he then handed them back the rifles.
"I want you to pretend you're escorting me as a prisoner to where they took Illya." He tucked one pistol in the back of the waist of his pants; his suit jacket would cover that.
"But we need to go Napoleon, we must stop Altschuler," Angelique protested.
"Not without my partner."