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"Hey, partner, open the door," Napoleon called to Illya. "I brought food."
"Go away," Illya's muffed pain filled voice called back. Standing against the door, he knew he couldn't allow Napoleon in. The infection was spreading, and he didn't want Napoleon to understand how bad it was becoming. The injection Thrush had given him hadn't worked when they were still their prisoners, but it had started just yesterday, three days after they escaped.
Boils and cysts were appearing all over his body. He noticed his mind was beginning to demand strange things.
"Illya, open up," Napoleon demanded as he heard a large crash. When he received no answer, he used his key to open the door to find Illya on the floor. Rushing to his partner, he knelt, feeling for a pulse, just as Illya opened his eyes and shoved him away.
"Wash your hands immediately," he screamed out. Napoleon attempted to help the Russian up, but Illya pushed him again. "You don't have a cut, do you? Wash your hands right now, and don't touch me."
Napoleon could see Illya's aggravation, so he rose and entered the kitchen.
"You don't have a cut on your hands, do you?" Illya demanded once more.
Looking at the small cut in his hand, he answered, "None." Hoping to calm his partner down. "You need to go to medical and be checked out," Napoleon called over his shoulder as he pulled out his communicator. "Open Channel D. Solo here. We need medical to Mr. Kuryakin's ap…." That was all he could say before Illya crashed a vase over his head.
Napoleon woke in Medical with Mr. Waverly standing over him. "What happened, Mr. Solo?"
Sitting up quickly, Napoleon asked, "Is Illya okay?"
"When medical arrived at his apartment, you were the only one there unconscious. The men searched his apartment, but there was no sign of him. Now, what happened?'
Napoleon explained what they found when they were guests of Thrush. They managed to escape, acquire a drug sample, and blow up the building, but not until after Illya was injected. Napoleon explained that his partner had shown no symptoms of the effects of the drug, so they assumed it wasn't effective.
"Sir, I need to find Mr. Kuryakin," Napoleon said as he attempted to get out of bed.
"No, you will remain here until we are sure the antidote our medical personnel created assures you are safe to be out. I've sent out others to look for my missing agent."
…………..
Illya hurried down the street, ducking into alleys. His mind told him to run and hide, although he knew he shouldn't. People who passed him either moved away or laughed. This happened for hours as he ran. Finally, he found a group of large boxes behind a store. So tired, he climbed in and laid down. Trying to remember why he was running, he found he couldn't. Within a few minutes, he was asleep.
He woke after he had slept a day and a half when he heard crying in the alleyway. Looking out of his box, he saw a little girl sitting in the middle of the alley, rubbing her eyes and calling for Kitty.
Hiding in the box, "What's the matter, little one?" he asked.
"Where are you?" the little girl asked, afraid of not seeing him.
"Here," Illya waved his arm out of the box.
"Why don't you come out? I need help to get my kitty off the porch up there. I can't reach him. We were playing doctor, and he ran away."
Illya slowly came out of the box. He could see the boils and cysts were now covering most of his body. He turned to go back into the box when she said, “Don’t go away, please.”
"Don't be afraid. I will not hurt you," he told her as he came all the way out.
"You have a lot of ouchies. I can help you get better after we get my kitty down," she told him.
Looking up at the porch, he nodded, grabbed the porch railing, climbed onto it, and grabbed the cat. After having it safely in his hands, he returned and handed the cat to the girl.
"Thank you, sir. I'll fix you up now." She said as she pulled a Band-Aid out of her plastic nurse kit.
"You can't touch me," he told her. “You will get sick also, and I wouldn’t want that.”
“Sara. Sara,” a woman yelled. As she came around the corner, she saw Illya and began to scream. “Sara, get away from that monster.”
“But mommy, he helped me get kitty.”
The woman grabbed the girl's hand, pulled her away, and picked up a can, throwing it at Illya.
“What’s the matter, Mrs. Nutra?” a group of boys asked, approaching the alley opening.
“This monster was going to touch my girl,” Mrs. Nutra said.
The boys began to pick up cans and garbage from the alley and throw it at Illya. As he ran, he heard the little girl begging the boys to stop.
He ran until he became breathless. People around him were screaming at his ugliness. Some were throwing things at him. A brick hit his head as he turned the corner into another alley. Stumbling down, he turned into an empty building, falling onto the floor before blackness took him.
//////
Back at headquarters, Napoleon thought over what the doctor had told him. Illya needed to be given the antidote in three days; two and a half were already gone, or he couldn’t be saved. Looking over the information he had received, a secretary raced into Napoleon’s office. “I think that Illya has been spotted.” She handed Napoleon the report. After reading it over, Napoleon informed Waverly he would check it out.
///////
Illya woke and tried to figure out where he was. After a few minutes, he realized he didn’t know where he was or who he was. Noticing his arms covered in boil and leaking cysts, he touched his face to find the same thing. As he sat back, his stomach growled from hunger. Leaving the building, he followed the smell of the garbage bins. Picking each lid up, he looked at what was inside. He found a box with a messed-up pizza and a bag of dry bread. Sitting between two bins, he began to eat.
As he finished, he heard voices shouting. “We need to find that monster. He tried to hurt my girl.” A woman shrieked. Remembering that voice from before, he only knew he had to hide again.
A man said, “Come on, gang, he’s got to be around here. Don’t worry, Mrs. Nunta, we’ll find the creature, and when we’re done with him, he’ll never hurt any kid again.”
Trying to run, Illya headed toward the other end of the alley. However, one of the men spotted him, and the group started to race after him. He ran through the street and was almost hit by a car while others joined the chase. Suddenly, a police car pulled around the corner, running into him.
One of the officers went to check Illya while the other demanded, “What the hell is going on here? Why were you chasing this guy?”
The officer by Illya called out, “Hand me some gloves.”
The first officer handed him the gloves, saying, “Someone tell me what’s going on?” The group started to disburse. Seeing a man who often was picked up for creating trouble, the officer grabbed him. “What did you start?”
“Look at him, man. He’s a monster, and that girl's mom said he would hurt her kid. We were going to teach him a lesson about messing with our kids.”
“I’ve seen your idea of teaching a lesson. Get out of here now before I arrest you.” The officer returned to his partner. “How’s he doing?” he asked before getting a look at him, “What the hell is wrong with him?”
“Not sure. I’ve called an ambulance and a sergeant.” A siren stopped right in front of them.
The sergeant joined the officers. Seeing Illya, “What the hell?”
“A gang was chasing him when he ran into our car. I’ve called an ambulance. After checking his high pulse, I didn’t touch him. Not sure if he’s infective and didn’t want to take a chance.”
//////
Napoleon entered the hospital, asked for Illya’s room, and showed his ID to the police officer sitting outside the door after dressing in an isolation outfit.
As he entered the room, he glanced at his partner. Illya turned his head toward Napoleon.
“Hi Illya,” Napoleon said, “How are you doing?”
“Is that my name? Do I know you?” Illya asked.
The question was concerning as this symptom was not supposed to appear until late on the second day. “Open Channel D. I need Doctor Russi.”
A few moments later, the doctor was on the line, “How bad is he, Napoleon?”
“He doesn’t know his name or me. We need to get the antidote into him immediately.”
“I’ll send the paperwork immediately so we can start the treatments here.” Napoleon could hear Russi faxing papers. “We’ll have an ambulance there within ten minutes.”
//////
Illya sat in a medical bed with a frown on his face. “I’m fine now. Why can’t I go home where I can get some real rest?”
“Doc has told you until those cysts and boils are cleared up. Now eat,” Napoleon told him as he entered the room, handing him a great-smelling bag.
Peeping inside, Illya found Golubtsy and ptichye moloko. “Where…”
“Your friend from the Russian restaurant sent it to you.
I figure you would prefer this to the pizza from the trash bin.”
Illya smiled as he began to ea