By: Ruth Petroni

This is a sequel to "Partners," it takes place early in the partnership of Solo and Kuryakin.

One minute they were walking through the THRUSH warehouse. The next Napoleon heard a loud roar and the whole world seemed to blink out.

He had no idea how long he had been unconscious. When he opened his eyes there seemed to be a layer of dust across his whole body. He slowly stretched each arm and leg, checking for injuries, before standing up.

Trying to get his bearings, by looking at his surroundings did no good, he was unable to see anything, it was pitch black. Suddenly a thought hit him, "Illya!" he yelled hoarsely, "Illya, can you hear me?"

There was no response. Illya had been right beside him when the explosion went off, Napoleon knew he couldn’t be very far away. But, it was impossible to see in the dark. Knowing he had to find his partner and not smelling any gas, he took out his cigarette lighter and lit it.

The entire warehouse, as far as he could see, was caved in around him. There was no light shining in from any direction. They had been in the center of the warehouse when it exploded, which was probably what saved his life, but what of his partner’s?

Napoleon knew he would need help and automatically reached for his communicator. It wasn’t in his pocket, he felt around the floor but it was nowhere to be found, he must have lost it when he fell. He was on his own for now. He had to find Illya.

Keeping the lighter lit, he slowly began taking a few small steps, then stopping, he would kneel down and search the rubble around him. "Illya," he called again. There was no response. He continued to take small steps and search, until his foot finally bumped into something.

Kneeling down swiftly he felt an arm. Fearful of what he would find he slid his hand down the arm to the wrist, searching for a pulse. Thanking God when he found one, very slow but steady.

As gently as he could one handed, Napoleon slid his hand back up the one arm and down the other, checking for injuries. Lowering the lighter to just in front of his partner’s face he discovered bumps, bruises and a large cut on his forehead but nothing that appeared to be major.. "Illya," he said, nervously patting his partner’s face.

There was a low moan, then a soft voice, "Napoleon, what happened?"

Napoleon laughed, never so happy to hear his partner’s voice. "I don’t think THRUSH wanted us to find anything in this warehouse. Somebody blew it up. Can you get up?" his tone was light so his partner would not realize how concerned he was.

Napoleon felt his partner trying to sit up and reached down putting an arm around his shoulders to help. Suddenly there was a loud gasp and Illya fell back to the floor. "Napoleon, there’s something holding me down, I can’t move," you could hear pain in his voice.

He swung the lighter towards Illya’s waist, there was what appeared to be a large beam lying across him from his waist down to his legs. There was a smaller beam just underneath it, holding the full weight off of him but the smallest shift and the large beam would slip cutting him in half.

"Illya," he said quickly, "Don’t move, whatever you do. Do you have your communicator?" he asked, trying to keep the terror out of his voice. He felt his friends arm moving, "No, don’t try to go for it, just tell me where it is so I can get it."

Knowing from his partner’s serious tone that something was wrong, Illya responded quietly, "It’s in my left hand lower jacket pocket. Napoleon, what’s going on?"

Swinging the lighter back down towards Illya’s waist, Napoleon could see that the left pocket of the jacket was under the beam. "We have a problem, partner," he replied swinging the lighter back towards his partner’s face. "You have a beam laying across you that’s being held up by a very small support. If it falls, you’re going to be a lot shorter. To top it off, my communicator was lost in the explosion and yours is under the beam! We appear to be on our own."

Illya’s voice was strong but quiet, "Napoleon, have you had any luck finding the door?"

Napoleon looked at him, "I haven’t even looked yet, I wanted to find you first. Are you hurt anywhere else?" Getting out was important, but he was more concerned with his partner’s condition.

There was a loud noise behind them as another beam fell to the ground a few feet away. Napoleon quickly bent over his partner to protect him from dust and debris. Getting a few new cuts and bruises in the process.

Illya heard his gasp as a piece of debris hit him in the face. "Napoleon, what about you, are you okay?" He reached for the lighter but Napoleon stopped him by holding his shoulders down.

"Look friend," he said quietly, you have to promise me not to move. "I’m fine, now what about you?"

"I can’t feel my legs," Illya replied quietly, "But it could just be from pressure, I can’t tell if my legs are broken or not." He saw the shocked look on his partners face, "Napoleon, you need to find a way out of here and go for help."

"First things first," his partner said, "I need to get some light in here," He walked quickly around Illya, using the lighter again and bent down clearing areas for small fires. Then proceeded to find wood, paper, cloth, anything he thought might burn and built four small fires around his friend. As soon as they were all four going well, he turned back to Illya, "You stay put, I’ll see what I can find out and be right back."

Able to see a little better with the fires going, he took a look at their surroundings, the entire warehouse was a shambles. There were beams hanging from the ceiling being held by who knows what. He couldn’t see any light coming in from outside at all and there were no doors or windows visible.

Deciding that his best bet was to find a wall and then work his way around the room from there, he walked straight ahead until he reached out and made contact with the first wall. Napoleon worked his way around the room like that, climbing over and around piles of debris, still not finding a door or any windows not totally covered.

As he approached the last wall his hand encountered something metallic. He reached up with his other hand also and realized it was a ladder. Grabbing the rung he had found with both hands, he pulled as hard as he could to test it. It appeared to be stable so he pulled himself up and started climbing as carefully as he could.

After climbing approximately fifteen feet, he stopped and pulling out his lighter held it over his head. There was what appeared to be a trap door in the ceiling. Putting the lighter back away, he climbed the last few feet as quickly as he could. He was just reaching for the trap door when the ladder began to shake. Without any warning at all, it came loose from the ceiling and fell to the floor. For the second time in an hour, everything went dark.

Napoleon had no idea how long he’d been unconscious when he finally opened his eyes. He was lying on the floor of the warehouse on his back with the ladder on top of him. He knew he was hurt from the sensations of pain shooting through his body but he had no time to deal with that now. He had to find a way out of the warehouse, he had to get help for his partner.

He stood up slowly, moving the ladder. His arm and leg were hurting and his mind was swimming. He shook his head gently to clear it up barely managing to stay on his feet when a dizzy spell hit him. Pausing just a minute then walking back over to where Illya was trapped.

His partner was just lying there, he appeared to be unconscious. "Illya," he said quietly.

Illya’s blue eyes opened quickly, "I thought you were dead," he said a look of anguish slowly clearing from his face. "I heard the crash and you didn’t answer when I called you."

"I’m alright," Napoleon said, once again shaking his head trying to clear it. "I thought I found a way out, I found a trap door with a ladder leading to it. But the ladder came loose when I tried to climb it. I’ll have to find another way to get to it." A wave of dizziness hit him suddenly. He slumped down to the floor, sitting beside his partner. "Illya," he said quietly, "Talk to me."

Illya looked at him puzzled, "Talk to you?"

He said "Yes, talk to me or I’m going to pass out. Ask me questions, tell me about your life, I don’t care, just keep me awake." He leaned back against a beam sitting nearby, laying his head back against it and closed his eyes.

"Napoleon," and then more forcefully, "NAPOLEON !"

Napoleon tried to raise his head back up, but looking at his partner Illya could see he was on the verge of passing out. He had cuts and bruises all over his face and what looked like a large welt on the side of his head. "Napoleon, how many partners did you have before me? His voice was forceful but quiet.

There was no response so he continued on, "Have you ever really been in love? Napoleon, why’d you join U.N.C.L.E.?"

Napoleon painfully raised his head back up and a look of almost grief appeared to go across it vanishing as quickly as it appeared. It turned to amusement, "Do you always have to take me so literally?"

"Are you conscious again?" his partner’s voice was thick with concern. "You’re the one who told me to ask you questions. Don’t you have to answer?"

Napoleon looked at him, his eyes appearing a little clearer than they had. "Okay, in answer to your questions, five, yes and it seemed like a good idea at the time." He started to get up and another wave of dizziness hit him causing him to fall back against the beam.

Illya started to raise up to help him, "Napoleon, are you okay?"

"Illya, don’t move!" his partner almost shouted. "I’m fine, I just can’t get up yet."

Illya lay back down with a small groan.

Napoleon looked at him, "What’s wrong?"

"Too long on a cold floor, my back is stiff," Illya replied quietly.

Without rising up from the floor, Napoleon slid over to his partner and carefully lifted his head and upper back off the floor, sliding around him so Illya was leaning against his chest. "How’s that?"

"Better Napoleon," his partner replied, "But, you can’t stay here, we need to get out of here."

"Illya," Napoleon replied quietly, "I can’t stand up yet, I’m afraid I have a concussion. Right now, you just need to relax and help me stay conscious." He put his arms around his partner’s shoulders and lay his head down on top of Illya’s. His voice was still quiet, "I was married once, did you know that?"

"Napoleon, you don’t have to answer any of those questions, I was just teasing you." You could hear the strain in Illya’s voice. "I don’t need to know your personal life."

"Illya, you’re my partner and my best friend, if anyone has the right to know my personal life, it’s you." Napoleon’s voice was getting stronger, "We were only nineteen and we thought we had the world on a string. Until one day we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. THRUSH was trying to attack an U.N.C.L.E. courier and they didn’t care who got hurt. They accidentally shot out our tires and Amy died in the crash. I was in the hospital for a while, that’s when I met Mr. Waverly. I had been going on and on about getting revenge for her death. He convinced me to graduate from College and told me the best revenge was to put THRUSH out of business, so here we are today."

"Napoleon."

"Illya, it’s okay, it was a long time ago and like I said, you have the right to know." Napoleon shifted a little, "Alright, I’m ready to try this again." He gently lowered his partner back to the floor and stood up, weaving a little but no longer dizzy. He took two steps and slid on something. Kneeling back down to touch something wet beside Illya. "Illya, you’re bleeding!"

"I know." The answer was very quiet.

"Why didn’t you tell me?"

"Napoleon," there was a touch of irony in Illya’s answer, "Exactly what can we do about it, it’s coming from under the beam. We can’t even reach it to check it out."

"Okay partner, change in plans, first we get you out, then we get us out of here." Napoleon’s tone did not allow for argument. "I’ll be right back, I saw some rope around here somewhere, I’m going to go get it." He first went back over and added more fuel to each fire to keep their light going. Then walked back in the direction he thought he’d seen the rope.

Napoleon was pleased to walk straight over to the right spot, discovering that it wasn’t rope but four coiled electrical cords. Picking them up he discovered that his left arm wasn’t able to hold the weight, quickly shifting them to his right arm, he headed back for his partner laying the four cords beside him. "Okay Illya, I’ve got a chore for you, I need you to braid these four cords into one stronger one okay?"

Illya didn’t even bother answering him, just reaching over and beginning to work.

Napoleon walked straight out from Illya’s head and found a large beam lying on the ground. Grabbing it and pulling as hard as he could. It didn’t move. He then continued on his way digging into each debris pile, looking for something. "Hey Illya," he called to his partner, "Why’d you join U.N.C.L.E.?"

His partner answered without even looking up. "At the time, it seemed the best of the two choices I had. I was in the Russian Navy and assigned to a submarine."

"A Submarine? I thought you got seasick?"

"Now you see why it was the best of my choices." Illya almost laughed, "I spent six of the sickest months of my life and was offered a chance to come to the U.S. I figured how much worse could it get?"

Napoleon had to laugh with him, suddenly reaching into the pile of debris he was searching and coming out with a six-foot metal bar, being careful to hold it in his right arm. He walked quickly back over to his partner, "Illya, how’s it coming…. Never mind." Seeing the completed cord lying on the floor, he reached down and picked it up, laying the pipe beside his partner. "Illya, how are you at chin ups?"

Looking at Napoleon like he had lost his mind, "Chin ups?"

"Okay not necessarily chin ups, but can you pull something your size, just using your arms?" He unwrapped the cord and tied it around the beam in front of Illya’s head, leaving just enough cord for his partner to grab if he stretched his arms over his head.

"Alright Napoleon, give, I take it we have a plan?" Illya had that exasperated tone in his voice.

"It’s very simple," he replied, "I’m going to use that bar to lift up the beam and you’ll pull yourself out with this cord." Napoleon’s expression belied the calmness of his voice, the concern was written all over his face. "Then we’ll get out of here together."

Illya looked at the beam then at his partner. "Napoleon, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you’re not Superman. There is no way in your current condition you’re going to lift that beam. I think we’d be a lot better off if you’d just get out of here and go for help."

Solo walked over and knelt beside his partner. "Illya, I swear I’m not leaving you here. We either get out of here together or not at all. So quit arguing and let’s get this done." He stood back up picking the metal bar up in his right hand and walked over to the beam keeping Illya pinned. "Now, you grab ahold of that cord and when I lift you pull yourself out."

He slid the metal bar under the beam beside Illya’s leg then leaned the bar against his right shoulder and prepared to push. "Ready?" he said, "Now!" With every bit of strength he had he pushed on the bar, lifting the beam a couple of inches, before it fell with a loud thud back to the ground. Napoleon falling beside it. "Illya?" his voice was thick with pain.

"I’m right here Napoleon," his partner’s voice came from beside him. "I’m out, are you okay?" Illya had literally crawled over to his partner, helping him to sit back up. "Now what?" his voice was shaky as he checked his partner out.

Napoleon rolled over and came to a sitting position very slowly. "Let me check out your leg and we’ll get out of here, okay? Wait a minute, what about your communicator?"

Illya’s look was enough to know it wasn’t going to be that easy. "It’s rather flat," he said holding up the ruined pen. "It was helping to hold the beam off of me."

Knowing there was no time to waste, Napoleon leaned over to check his partner out. There was a large tear in Illya’s pant leg, it was easy to see the cut that was still pumping blood out of the young Russian. Napoleon reached up and quickly removed his tie then pulled his shirt out and ripped the bottom half off to form a bandage. "This is bleeding pretty badly," he said with a worried voice. He lay the bandage on the cut then using his tie he tied it on as tightly as he could.

Illya winced with the pain of the tight bandage then looked his partner up and down, "Well, I guess we’re going to both skip the fancy ball tonight, you look like hell."

"You don’t exactly look like Cinderella yourself," Napoleon responded with a laugh, "Maybe you should have stayed on that submarine, seasickness must be looking pretty good to you right now?"

"I don’t know, the submarine just never had the excitement you can get in America."

Napoleon rolled over to his hands and knees and slowly rose to a standing position. He swayed a little, then reached down to pull his partner up beside him. "Can you walk?" he asked, leaning his partner against his right shoulder as they both literally held each other up.

"If you can walk, I can keep up with you." was the reply

"Well then I guess it’s time to tackle that trap door." He reached down and grabbed the metal bar he had just used then placing Illya’s arm around his shoulder they began a slow walk towards the fallen ladder. He could tell how much pain Illya was in by how heavily he was leaning on his partner and the slight winces he could see as they walked. "Illya, are you okay?" he asked quietly.

His partner just continued to walk, "I’m as alright as you are, let’s just get out of here okay?"

When they reached the ladder, Napoleon helped Illya to lean against the wall. "Stay here while I try to get this trapdoor open." Taking the metal bar with him he carefully climbed up the nearby stack of debris. Slipping twice as pieces of metal and concrete shifted under him. The slips reminded him that they needed to get out of here quickly, his injuries were not starting to feel any better and very soon the both of them could be incapacitated.

Reaching the top of the debris pile he tried using both arms to raise the metal bar over his head, he discovered that his left arm wouldn’t move. Using just his right arm he was able to extend the bar over his head and once it connected with the trap door he pushed as hard as he could. On the third attempt the trap door was pushed open. It took another two tries to get the hole totally open.

Leaving the bar at the pile, Napoleon carefully climbed back down to his partner then walking over he untied the cord they had previously used and brought it over to the trap door, limping heavily. His partner just stared at him with a worried look as he made the trip.

"Napoleon, what can I do to help?" he asked gravely.

"Illya, I’m going to try to hook this cord onto the bar then throw the bar through the trap door like a javelin and hook it. With any luck it’s strong enough to climb out on, then you can lift the ladder up and I’ll hold it while you climb out."

Illya looked at his exhausted partner, "Napoleon, it all sounds great except for the part about who’s going to climb out. I have both my arms, you don’t." seeing the argument forming on his partner’s face, "for once partner, use my idea, please."

"I’ll make a deal with you," Napoleon replied quietly, "you can do the climbing as long as you’ll move back for now. If I miss this bar is going to be coming down hard and fast, I don’t want you under it."

Illya knew better than to even argue, he limped out of the way, watching as Napoleon began the slow climb back up the pile of debris with the electrical cord.

Napoleon tied the cord to the bar with the strongest knot he could remember with his swimming mind. He just kept talking to himself, this is for Illya, he told himself, we need to get out of here now. He’s lost too much blood. The thought scared him half to death, he couldn’t lose his partner now. They had managed to form the perfect partnership and life without his friend and partner was not worth thinking about.

As soon as the cord was secured, Napoleon picked up the bar and without hesitation, threw it through the open trap door. It went all the way through on the first try, hearing it hit the roof with a loud bang. Pulling easily on the cord he heard the bar moving until it slid over the trap door, with the cord dangling almost perfectly in the middle. He reached as high up the cord as he could with his right arm and put his full weight on the cord. It held.

Illya had begun working his way up the debris pile before Napoleon even had the chance to go back down and get him. "Okay partner, my turn," he said with as much conviction in his voice as he could muster. "As soon as I’m out, you lean the ladder up and you climb up."

Slipping his jacket off, Illya reached as high up the cord as he could reach and began pulling himself hand over hand up the cord. With the pressure off his leg, he almost felt like he was back in gymnastics class. It took him only a couple of minutes to reach the top and grabbing the edge of the trap door he was able to slide over the edge onto the roof. He moved the bar, pulling the cord up and out of the hole, then leaned back in, "Alright Napoleon, bring the ladder."

He looked down with concern at his partner, afraid that now that he was out, Napoleon might not have the strength to move the ladder. But, he had forgotten his partner’s obstinance. Napoleon climbed back down the debris pile, picked the ladder up with his right arm and carefully worked his way back up. Propping the ladder against the debris he raised the other end up to his partner.

Illya reached down and held both sides of the ladder as hard as he could against the side of the trap door. "Okay Napoleon, let’s go." He watched as his partner climbed slowly and painfully up the ladder. Not letting go until he had stepped onto the roof beside him. As soon as Napoleon was safe it was as though all the strength in his body drained out, Illya collapsed to the roof before his partner could catch him.

"Illya, come on, this is no time for a nap," Napoleon said worriedly. "No sleeping until we have our feet on the ground, not the roof okay?" He reached down and lifted his partner up beside him. Placing Illya’s arm back around his shoulders, he began walking towards the side of the building he had seen the fire escape on earlier. That side of the building appeared to be undamaged on the outside so he dragged his partner out onto the fire escape and going first began helping him down.

It took them twenty minutes of stopping and restarting to reach the last rung of the fire escape. Napoleon dropped to the ground, landing hard but managed to stay on his feet. Looking up at his partner he said, "Come on Illya, just lower yourself down," His partner looked dead on his feet but carefully lowered himself down until Napoleon could hold him and help him slide down to the ground.

Illya lay on the sidewalk beside Napoleon, breathing heavily. "I don’t suppose you have the car keys?" he asked, "I can’t walk anymore, just leave me here, you go for help."

Napoleon who had already realized they would need to walk the five blocks back to U.N.C.L.E. Headquarters looked angry, "No way," he almost shouted, "We go back together." He rose slowly to his feet, feeling the aches in his body, lifting Illya up beside him. Hearing a low moan he looked down, Illya had passed out.

Lifting his friend like a baby, he cradled his head on his shoulder and started the five-block walk. Putting one foot in front of the other became a chore but with his determination not to leave Illya, he finally arrived at the door.

He couldn’t even say anything to Del Floria when he walked in the door. Just nodding towards the dressing room, ignoring the shocked look. His gait was unsteady but his burden was held tenderly. Illya had not regained consciousness, which scared him but he could barely think anymore, his mind was swimming and the pain was getting worse.

The door to U.N.C.L.E. opened, he vaguely heard an "Oh my God" from the reception area, but he didn’t even stop for that, just turning towards Medical and continuing on.

He was vaguely aware that someone was in front of him.

"Mr. Solo, let me take him, Mr. Solo." The voice was trying to take Illya from him, he shook him off and continued.

"Let him go," it was Mr. Waverly’s voice. "Just have Medical ready."

Napoleon arrived in the Medical section, stumbled over to a table and very gently laid Illya on the bed, reaching for his hand to maintain some connection. Someone tried to take his arm and move him away but again he shook them off.

"Take care of Illya," he moaned, "I’m fine."

He knew Mr. Waverly was beside him before he heard his voice. "Napoleon, Illya is being taken care of, now it’s your turn."

Napoleon looked at him, but there seemed to be more than one of him, "I’m not going anywhere until Illya is awake, I promised him I wouldn’t leave him." His voice sounded strange, even to himself and his head was exploding, but he held onto Illya’s hand and wasn’t about to let go. He looked down and saw blue eyes looking up at him.

"Napoleon," a weak voice rasped, "please let them help you, I’m fine."

It was almost as though that was all his body was waiting for, as if a switch was thrown he fell down into the darkness.

When he opened his eyes again, Illya was sitting on the side of his bed. "Hi stranger, how are you?" he asked quietly.

"Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?" Solo smiled, looking up and down his friend, the head movement caused a lot of pain and his vision swam for a minute.

"Don’t move too much Napoleon, you’ve got a concussion, I just wanted to be sure you’re okay?" There was a look of concern on his young partner’s face.

"What’s wrong?" he asked with a low moan as he tried to stretch, deciding maybe it was better not to attempt to move. "Who died?"

"You almost did Napoleon, why didn’t you just leave me at the warehouse and go get help? Do you know how badly you were hurt?" Illya’s voice broke.

Just then Doctor Morgan arrived, "Good Morning Napoleon."

"Hi Doc," he replied, "When can I go home?"

"Napoleon, have you looked at yourself yet? No, don’t try, let me explain your injuries; you have a severe concussion, a broken left arm and leg, you have five broken ribs, one of which punctured a lung, in addition to numerous cuts and bruises. You won’t be going anywhere for a while, so don’t bother to argue. I’m sending a nurse in with a shot for you, you will take it without any discussion." With that he walked out of the room.

Solo looked at Illya and saw the pain on his face as his injuries were listed. "Illya, are you okay?"

"Napoleon, I’m fine, they sewed up the hole in my leg and pumped a little blood back into me. As soon as I rested I was almost back to normal." Illya still had that funny look on his face. "They said you wouldn’t let them help you until you knew I was okay. Why?"

"Illya," Solo looked into his eyes. "You are my partner and you just happen to be the best friend I’ve ever had. You’ve taken care of me when I was hurt and I will always do the same for you. The only thing that kept me going on the walk back over here was knowing that you might die if I didn’t get help. So really you saved my life as much as I saved yours."

"Napoleon."

"Enough with the talk," Napoleon interrupted, "get out of here, it’s time for me to start taking advantage of the opportunities and flirt with a few nurses."

Illya stood up and started towards the door, "Thank….."

Napoleon stopped him, "Don’t say it, I don’t need thanks, just be sure that you’re always there when it’s my turn."

With that and knowing his friend was okay, Napoleon fell asleep.

The End
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