Final chapter! Thanks again for the reviews :) , it's nice to have some feedback, especially since it's my first story :s . I hope I wasn't too mean to the characters :p and that you guys like the ending.

Waverly and Gaby were silently making their way through the woods. Gaby was glad that their boss had decided to accompany her. With his reassuring manner, the man had a way of making you believe that everything was going to be fine.

"The plan is simple.", Waverly had said. "You and I go in first. They won't be expecting anybody so it should be pretty easy to enter undetected. So when they hear or spot the vehicles we'll be inside already. The cars will be a good diversion. Their attention will be focused on what's going on outside and this will allow us to move more easily inside the house and find Solo and Kuryakin. Our mission is to rescue your partners. My men will take care of the rest. We'll have other vehicles further up the road to block their escape."

Yes the plan was simple. Gaby was only hoping they wouldn't be too late.

Illya, please be alive. And you too Napoleon, of course.

The man was taking his time. He was making a show of choosing the best shooting distance and the right angle. Solo was watching his partner. Illya's body had tensed up in anticipation of the pain. Napoleon's eyes shifted back to their captor. The man had paused and was also staring at Illya. To Napoleon's surprise, he set his gun down on the top of a rather expensive looking piece of furniture and moved closer to the back of the chair. Then he suddenly grabbed a fistful of the Russian's hair and forced his head back, exposing his throat. He pressed his fingers to Illya's carotid artery and smiled as he felt his racing pulse.

"My, my, your partner's heart is beating awfully fast. I think the poor young man is scared. Won't you say something to reassure him?"

Napoleon resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Of course Illya was scared. He was tied to a chair with a sadist about to use him for target practice. He had an excellent reason to be scared. But he also knew that the man's words were meant to humiliate his partner and, knowing Illya, it was probably working.

Disappointed by Napoleon's silence, their captor went on, "There no reason to worry, really. I'm a good shot, I won't miss."

The awkward position was straining Illya's neck and he was starting to fidget. This seemed to amuse the man who waited a bit longer before he finally let go of the agent's hair. Then he stepped back, picked up his gun again and aimed it at Illya's forearm.

"I wonder if he's going to faint.", he said, winking at Napoleon.

Just as he was pulling the trigger, the door flew open.

Illya heard the gun go off, he closed his eyes reflexively. For a moment he was only aware of the painful pounding of his own heart, it felt like it was going to break the rest of his ribs and burst out of his chest. Then he felt something trickling down his forearm. Blood. Something was off though. Why was he feeling no pain? For an awful few seconds he wondered if his arm had been so damaged that he had lost feeling in it. But no, that wasn't it, there was some pain but it was nothing compared to what he had been expecting. It was more of a stinging sensation. His heart was still racing but at least it was no longer at risk of shooting out of his chest and ending up on Napoleon's lap. He opened his eyes.

Napoleon had seen the door fly open a fraction of a second before the gunshot. The sudden noise had surprised their captor and had thrown his aim off slightly. The bullet had ended its course in the door of a cabinet to Napoleon's right. From where he was he couldn't see Illya's arm but his partner didn't seem to be in much pain, the bullet must have missed him or just grazed his arm. The man responsible for this positive turn of events was one of their captor's subordinates. He was now standing in front of his superior.

"I hope you have a very good reason for making me miss my shot."

"The men on the roof spotted vehicles coming up the road!"

"Vehicles? How many?"

"At least five large vehicles, they look military. We need to leave soon, Sir."

Vehicles? Military? It had to be Gaby and the reinforcements. Napoleon felt a wave of relief.

"We are not leaving without the file."

"We'll be outnumbered, Sir."

The leader let out a loud exclamation of rage. He holstered his gun and quickly made his way around the chair in which Illya was sitting.

"Tell me where the damn file is! Now!", he roared at Napoleon. Then he punched Illya in the chest, in the exact spot where he had broken his rib earlier. One, two, three times.

Illya felt pain exploding in his chest. It was so intense that he thought he was going to black out. The man was now pushing his fingers into his abused ribs. He could feel the bones grinding. It hurt so much. Please make it stop…He let out a long muffled howl of agony.

Napoleon winced when he heard the Russian's scream. Their captor was obviously desperate and he was trying to inflict as much pain as he could on Illya in the little time he had left, hoping it would make Napoleon talk.

Just hold on a little longer Peril. Help is coming.

The man who had come to warn his superior called out: " Sir, there is no time. We need to leave now."

The leader swore and took his gun out. He pressed the muzzle against Illya's chest, directly over his heart. Napoleon felt his own heart sink.

No…

Illya managed to raise his head and met the man's eyes with a defiant glare. The man's finger hesitated on the trigger. Then he lowered the gun.

"I have a better idea." He smiled. "Tell the others that we're leaving, now!", he barked at his subordinate. "You", he said, gesturing to another man "Hold his head still." Then, to Napoleon's horror, he went to pick up the discarded roll of duct tape. He quickly wrapped several other layers of tape around Illya's head, completely covering his nose. Then he smiled at Napoleon. "That way you still get to watch your partner die. Slowly, and painfully."

Then he was gone.

Napoleon and Illya looked at each other. They both knew that help would never arrive in time to save the Russian. Napoleon tried to use his weight to move the chair but it was too heavy. It wouldn't have done much good anyway. His arms were stretched behind his back with a rope tying his wrists and his ankles together. He would never have been able to remove the tape from his partner's face.

Illya's wide eyes were fixated on him. He saw fear in them and his heart constricted. It hurt to know that this man who had saved his life several times before was going to die and there was nothing Napoleon could do to help him.

"Hey, come on Peril, I'm pretty sure that this is a walk in the park compared to KGB training."

He tried to keep his tone light but despair was creeping up on him.

Illya let out a distressed whimper and started thrashing violently against his bonds. Napoleon was beginning to beat himself up for denying Illya a quick death by not letting their captors shoot him through the heart. Then he heard a gunshot, and voices. Close.

"Hey! Hear that Peril? That means the cavalry is here!", then he shouted "In here! We're in here!"

The door flew open and Waverly appeared, followed closely by Gaby.

Upon entering the room, Waverly was confronted with a strange scene. His agents were both tied to heavy armchairs, facing each other. Solo, usually calm and composed, had a look of panic on his face. "Help Illya!", he shouted. Waverly rushed to the Russian agent's side and spotted the tape covering his mouth and nose. Bloody hell! No wonder Solo was so agitated. Waverly knelt in front of his agent and produced a knife. The Russian's head looked like it was about to explode. Waverly quickly placed the tip of his knife under the tape and started cutting as fast as he could without also cutting his agent's face. Then he saw Illya's eyes roll back and, forgetting all caution, sliced through the layers of tape in one swift motion. In the meantime, Gaby had cut his bonds. Waverly lowered the younger man to the floor as quickly and as gently as he could. He laid him flat on his back.

"Careful", Napoleon warned, "he probably has a couple of broken ribs on his right side"

"Duly noted", Waverly replied. He was watching the Russian's chest worriedly. A hand held close to Illya's nose gave him confirmation.

"Miss Teller…"

But he didn't need to say more Gaby was already tilting Illya's head back. She pinched his nose, covered his mouth with hers and blew air into his lungs. Waverly watched the agent's chest rise and fall, he waited for it to rise again, it didn't.

"Come on, Kuryakin, don't be stubborn."

Gaby breathed a second time into the Russian's mouth and this time he stirred and started gasping. Waverly quickly cut the collar of his turtleneck open so that he would breathe more easily. Napoleon let out an audible sigh of relief.

Illya was finally able to breathe normally, that felt good. Someone was cradling his head and a gentle hand was smoothing his hair back from his forehead, that felt good too. Gaby? There was someone else too. Waverly? What was he doing here? Where was Cowboy? Illya was confused. He tried to push himself up but the sudden pain in his chest made him gasp.

"Easy Kuryakin, I am told that you have a couple of broken ribs?" Waverly helped him sit up.

Napoleon chose this moment to clear his throat noisily.

"Hum, well this chair is really comfortable and I don't mind being tied up from time to time but I seem to have developed an itch on my nose. Now that Peril is feeling much better, could one of you untie me, please?"

"Miss Teller would you mind freeing Mr. Solo while I'm having a look at Mr. Kuryakin's ribs?"

Gaby rushed to Napoleon's side and quickly cut through his bonds.

"You found us just in time, how did you get here so fast?", Napoleon asked her.

"We went in first. We used the cars as a diversion so that we could go in undetected and look for you."

"Hmm, about the file…", Napoleon began.

"The file is in a safe place, Solo.", Waverly replied as he lifted Illya's shirt to examine his chest. "Miss Teller took great care of it and delivered it to me."

So that's why the men couldn't find it. It was with Gaby all along.

"What about the men? Who are they?"

"I haven't the faintest idea, but my men will have neutralized them and brought them to the headquarters for questioning. It's always good to know who your enemies are."

"Well I'm sure Illya would be glad to take part in the questioning."

"I don't doubt that he would but first Mr Kuryakin is going to have his ribs checked by a doctor."

Illya groaned.

"No need. I am fine now."

"I'm sure you are", Gaby said, lightly touching his ribs with her index finger. This made him hiss in pain. He blushed slightly and gave her a sheepish look. Napoleon repressed a chuckle and Waverly smiled.

"If you don't touch I'll be fine.", Illya grunted, wrapping a protective arm around his chest.

Gaby frowned as she spotted the bullet graze on his forearm.

"And what is THAT?"

"Just a graze, the leader of the men tried to shoot me."

"In the forearm?", Gaby asked, surprised.

"Cowboy suggested the forearm."

"What?! Solo told him to shoot you in the forearm?!"

Uh-oh, she was calling him Solo, that wasn't a good sign. She glared at Napoleon. Waverly had his 'You're on your own' smile on. Solo held his hands up and flashed Gaby his best placating smile.

"In my defense, I was trying to save him from a bullet to the kneecap." He tried to ignore her scowl. "By the way, you should consider yourself lucky, Peril. If you hadn't been sitting down and tied to the chair, I would have told him to shoot you in the backside."

Now he had two pairs of eyes glaring at him.

Gaby started shaking her head. "I thought you two were past trying to kill each other."

Napoleon and Illya shared a glance.

Please don't tell her I suffocated you…

"Hey I worked hard to keep the man alive. You should all be thanking me.", Solo said with a smile.

"Thanks Cowboy."

"I was joking, Peril."

"I mean it."

Solo looked him in the eye and nodded.

Waverly smiled.

"A delightfully touching scene. Now let's clean up this mess and leave, shall we? Kuryakin still needs to have his ribs looked at."

Looking at Illya's mortified expression, Napoleon chuckled. He was definitely glad that his partner was alive.

The End.

Let me know what you think, and please don't kill me over medical inaccuracies :s.

Also, about Waverly accompanying Gaby for the rescue mission, I don't know much about Waverly in the movie but I know that in the old series he would sometimes work as a field agent when Napoleon and Illya needed to be rescued or when they screwed up the mission. I liked that aspect of him in the series so I used it in my story.