Prompt: On their knees

Summary: A THRUSH captor wants to prove that he can break Napoleon Solo.  Napoleon has to figure out why

Cross-posted to AO3.  Light slash; gen version posted at dreamwidth.

Napoleon flinched as the THRUSH interrogators continued to
beat him with sticks.  He struggled to
his knees; it took everything just to stay like that.

“You can end this suffering, Solo,” the THRUSH executive
said, standing in front of him.  “Just
give me what I want.”

“There is nothing I have that could interest you,” Napoleon
said, struggling to focus as everything around him started to go out of
focus.  “You won’t get any U.N.C.L.E.
secrets from me.  Lesser THRUSH agents
than you have tried and failed…”  He trailed
off, his focus lessening.

The THRUSH executive snapped his fingers, and Napoleon
shuddered as a bucket of cold water was dumped on him.

“Information?” he repeated.
“Whoever said anything about information?  There is nothing I need to know about pathetic
U.N.C.L.E.—my inside men have already found out everything I needed to
know.  How else was I able to have you
brought before me with such ease?”

Napoleon blinked, trying to stay conscious.

“Then… why am I here…?” he asked, his voice slightly
slurred.  “What… what do you want… from
me…?”

“I want to prove that Napoleon Solo is breakable,” the
executive said.  “There’s nothing I need to get from you, Solo.  I just need to prove that I can.”

Napoleon winced as the executive’s hand, cold with the
metal from the silver rings he wore, smacked him across the face.  The hand then stopped in front of his face.

“Kiss the ring on my hand,” he ordered.  “A simple show of surrender and fealty is all
I need.”

Even through the cloudy haze of pain and dizziness,
Napoleon hesitated.

“Oh, go on, Solo,” the executive said, waving his flunkies
out of the room.  “There, it is just the
two of us now—no one else will be witness to your humiliation, if that’s what
you’re worried about.”

Napoleon blinked.

“Then why… go through all this…?” he murmured.  “What’s the point…?”

“To prove that I can!” the executive said.  “To prove that I can break the unbreakable
Napoleon Solo!”

“But if no one else will know, then why…?” Napoleon
asked.  “You’re not… doing this for
yourself…”  He trailed off, his glance
falling onto the mirror in the room, taking up most of the wall space on the
far wall.  “…Who’s back there, watching
us through the mirror?”

“What difference does it make?” the executive snarled.  “Do you want this suffering to continue!?  I am asking you to do one simple thing—one
simple thing that will not bring any harm to your precious U.N.C.L.E., so why
do you hesitate!?”

“Because you’re so insistent…” Napoleon murmured.  “Who is watching us?  Other THRUSH executives?  …No.
They wouldn’t sit by and watch you try to do what they’ve been trying;
they’d be in here, trying, too…  The only
benefit to having me do this is to destroy the morale of my…”  He trailed off, his eyes widening.  “…My partner.”

Of course…  THRUSH
somehow had found out about Napoleon breaking during the Summit Five Affair,
and how that had affected Illya.  What
better way to break him than by breaking Napoleon in front of his eyes again?

A fierce fire lit in his eyes as he got off of his knees
and struggled to his feet.

“Do your worst.”

He nearly regretted that statement; the frustrated
executive hit him several more times until he screamed at his underlings to
throw him back into a cell.

Illya was soon thrown in the cell, as well, and after
cursing their captors out in Russian, he tended to Napoleon’s wounds.

“Once you had figured out what was going on, you could have
just done an act and pretended to surrender,” Illya softly said.  “I saw the look in your eyes through the
two-way mirror; I would have understood.”

“Well…” Napoleon said, keeping his eyes closed as he
rested, flinching slightly as Illya disinfected his wounds.  “…You know I’ve got a stubborn streak.”

“…I do, indeed.”

“Besides… I’d rather kiss you anyday.”

Illya paused, looking at him with a tender expression
before gently kissing him.  Napoleon
managed a smile, relaxing as Illya continued to treat his wounds.

And as they were eventually rescued a few hours later by
Mark and April, recovering together in Medical, Illya had to admit that he was,
secretly, glad that Napoleon hadn’t broken and that, if nothing else, his
partner’s pride was still intact.