Written for today’s short affair prompt at Section VII

Summary: Takes place during *that* scene from “The Children’s Day Affair.”  Napoleon knew he was throwing away his chances of escape by stopping to help Illya.  Part of him was counting on it.

Cross-posted to AO3.

Contrary to what Mother Fear had thought, Napoleon Solo had
known exactly what he was doing when he had found Illya moaning in pain in that
THRUSH cell and decided to stop and help him.
Napoleon had known that he was forfeiting a chance of escape to help his
wounded partner.

Nothing else mattered right now other than helping Illya.  How THRUSH could even think that Napoleon
would have considered abandoning his partner, even for a minute, would have
been laughable had the situation not been so dire.  Did THRUSH really not know anything about
him?

He wasted no time, of course; he used explosives to open
the cell door and reach his partner’s side.

“What’s the matter?” he had asked, softly, and Illya hadn’t
even been able to reply.  All the Russian
could do was to look up weakly, glance back at him, and have a faint look of
relief cross his face at last as he lay back down on the cot to let Napoleon
treat him, clearly exhausted by his ordeal.

Slowly, Napoleon lifted the back of Illya’s shirt, frowning
as he saw the purple bruises from where Illya had been hit with fists, and bleeding,
open wounds from where he had been whipped.

Napoleon didn’t say a word as he began to clean Illya’s
bleeding wounds.  Illya winced, but
didn’t resist or insist that he was fine, as he usually did.  That was Napoleon’s second clue that
something was very wrong—his partner’s moaning had been the first clue that the
normally unshakable Russian had been suffering.

In addition to that, what had struck Napoleon most was the
brief flicker of fear in Illya’s eyes before he realized that it had been
Napoleon with him.  Illya didn’t frighten
easily, nor did he normally try to let on that he was in any pain; so, what had
he been through to react in such a way—unable to keep from expressing the fear
and pain he would normally be able to suppress?
What had they done to him!?

With each moment that ticked by, Napoleon knew that there
was no chance of him getting out of here; oh, he would try, and he would try to
take Illya out of here with him, but he knew that they wouldn’t get far.

At this point, there was a part of him that didn’t want to get far—it was a part of him
that only rarely showed itself, and, subsequently, it was a part of him that
frightened him the most about himself.

For even the most kind and good-natured man like Napoleon
had his limits, and THRUSH had crossed them by hurting his partner like
this—not just his physical self, but his spirit, as well.

Nevertheless, he wanted to get Illya out of here, and so he
made an attempt—helping his partner to his feet and trying to ease him out of
the cell—only to be met by the THRUSH guards ready to take him prisoner now, as
well.

Again, Napoleon didn’t say a word as he was taken captive
with his partner.  THRUSH thought they
were trying to teach lessons in this academy of theirs?  Fine—they were about to be schooled.

He would spare the children, of course—and hope there would
be a way to undo the THRUSH brainwashing.
But the adults?  They would not
see the mercy that Napoleon normally showed his enemies.

His love and compassion for Illya was not a weakness.

And THRUSH was about to learn that the hard way.