"You wanted to see me Michael?" she asked as she flopped down in the chair in front of his desk.

Michael pulled out the keypad by the side of his desk, pushed a few keys and jammed surveillance of his office. "We have a briefing in ten minutes. I wanted to talk to you first. We have a location on the headquarters of the terrorist group Firestorm. We are going out to destroy their headquarters and capture their leader."

Nikita studied Michael. She knew there was something else to this. He wouldn't call her in just to tell her what she'd find out in ten minutes from Operations. "What else is there Michael? What haven't you told me?"

Michael looked at Nikita. He was more impressed with her every day. She had learned quickly, especially after the Adrian debacle. Never take anything at face value around Section. She had learned that lesson the hard way. Finally, he nodded his head and spoke. "There will be someone with us on this mission. Do you remember Marcus O'Brien?"

Nikita's face registered surprise at the name. How could she ever forget O'Brien. It was her fault he was in Section. He had been a good cop, just trying to do his job. He wanted her to testify against a rapist who had attacked her. Of course, it was impossible for her to testify. But she couldn't make him understand. She couldn't tell him that she worked for Section and that she didn't exist in the outside world anymore. If anyone outside of Section knew she was alive, she would be cancelled immediately and so would they. She tried to get him to let her handle the situation with the rapist, but he wouldn't let it go.

Finally, Section gave her no choice. She had made a mess of it and it was up to her to fix it. So she had O'Brien called to the rapist's apartment. When he arrived, the guy was dead. She made sure O'Brien's gun would be the murder weapon. The police were called. She gave O'Brien a choice. Come with her or go to prison for murder. She had felt lousy doing that to him. He was a good cop. She respected him ... understood where he was coming from. Of course, he made the only choice he could. He went with her ... became Section material.

She still wondered if there were something she could have done differently back then. Something that would have spared him. As of yet, she hadn't come up with anything. Of course Michael, Madeline and Operations told her she should have informed them immediately when the problem arose and they would have handled it. She knew how they handled things. The rapist and probably the cop would have both been dead. She had at least managed to spare O'Brien his life.

Michael watched Nikita closely as all those thoughts were running through her head. He knew she felt bad about what had happened to that cop. If she had only come to him first, they could have handled it. But her compassion being what it is, she couldn't turn O'Brien over to Section if there was any other way around it. She had failed and O'Brien had been recruited into Section.

Nikita finally spoke. "Yeah, I remember him. What about him?"

"He will be on our team. It is his last test before he achieves full operative status. We are to evaluate him and report back to Operations."

"WE, Michael? WE are testing him? Don't you mean YOU? I'm just another operative on the mission, right?" Nikita watched Michael's face closely. He never gave away his emotions, but if she studied his eyes, she usually could tell if something was up.

Michael stood, buttoned his jacket and then answered her. "No. I mean we. You and O'Brien will be on point during the mission. I will be providing support from the van. The rest of the team will set charges and provide backup. You will be directly involved with O'Brien. You will have to assess his performance once inside. I will, of course, make a report, but you will have the most contact with him. It will be up to you. ... And Nikita, you have to disengage your feelings about this. You have to see him as just another operative. You can't let your feelings about how he got into Section rule your judgment. They could very well be testing you too."

Nikita looked up at Michael's last statement. "So what else is new, Michael? I'm sure O'Brien will be fine. And my report will say exactly what it needs to say."

Michael knew he had to get through to her, but it wouldn't be easy. There were things that she just didn't know. "Nikita. Please. Listen to me. You can't cover for him. If he can't do the job, we have to know. I know you don't want him canceled, but it is not your fault. All you have to do is write an honest evaluation of his performance. You know if your report and mine are too different, there will be questions asked. Don't give Operations and Madeline a reason to cancel you." Michael stopped talking ... he could see she wasn't really listening to him anyway.

"Fine, Michael. Now shouldn't we be going to the briefing?" Michael nodded and they headed out of his office. They walked side-by-side through Section towards the briefing area. They were an impressive team to anyone who watched them. They were always so much in sync. Even their strides matched each other when they walked. ====== Payback - Part 2 They arrived at the briefing and Nikita saw that O'Brien was already there, along with the rest of the team. Operations and Madeline arrived at the same time Michael and Nikita did. Once everyone was seated, Operations began the briefing. He gave a brief background on the group and pinpointed their location. He explained the profile of the mission. Nikita and O'Brien would be on point and they would retrieve the leader of Firestorm and download their computer files. The rest of the team would place charges throughout the compound and provide backup should it be needed. Michael and Birkoff would provide support from the van. Operations then dismissed them. They would meet at van access in two hours.

Everyone got up to leave. As Nikita was getting up, O'Brien came over and motioned for her to remain seated. She sat back down.

"Hello Nikita. It's been a long time. How are you?"

Nikita smiled at him. He seemed to have weathered training very well. "I'm fine Marcus. How are you?"

Michael made a pretense of studying his PDA and not leaving the room. Since he was mission leader, that wasn't all that unusual. He was actually listening very closely to the conversation between Nikita and O'Brien.

Marcus glanced over at Michael and then back to Nikita. "I'm doing great. I guess you heard that I'm through with training. This will be my first 'real' mission without the old ball and chain ... oh sorry ... I meant 'mentor'. I'm glad they paired us up. I was wondering if we would ever get to work together."

Nikita smiled at Marcus. "And just look. We get paired together on your first mission. How lucky can you get?" Nikita laughed and then started to get up. Once again, Marcus pulled her back to her seat.

"Uh Nikita, I was wondering. When we get back from the mission, if you don't have any plans, maybe you'd like to go out to dinner with me. Now that I'm free to leave this place, I'd like to have dinner with a beautiful woman."

Nikita glanced in Michael's direction to see if he was listening. He didn't appear to be ... maybe he didn't care. Of course, with Michael, you never knew. She put on her best smile and answered O'Brien. "Sure. Dinner sounds great. I'll meet you at Comm around 7:30?"

O'Brien smiled. This just might be easier than he thought. "Great. I'll see you then. I guess we better get ready for the mission."

As Nikita and O'Brien rose to leave, Michael looked up. "Nikita, I need to talk to you."

O'Brien smirked. He looked from one to the other and shrugged. "See you later," he called as he walked out the door.

Nikita walked over to Michael and perched on the edge of the table beside him. Michael read a bit more on his PDA before Nikita took it out of his hands.

"Michael you wanted to talk. So talk" she sighed.

Michael looked around to make sure know one else was near and then began. "Kita you have to be very careful with O'Brien. You know you have to evaluate him. And now you've made dinner plans with him. That's not very smart."

Nikita was ticked at the whole situation. She didn't want to be responsible for evaluating anyone ... especially not O'Brien. It was bad enough she got him in here. Now she would have to decide whether he lives or dies. Sometimes she wished that Michael would just quit protecting her and let them cancel her. That way she wouldn't always be put into these impossible situations.

"I'm going to dinner with him, Michael. That's final. If you didn't want me to go, why didn't you say so when he asked me? No, you wouldn't do that, would you. You wouldn't admit it if you were jealous."

Michael sighed. Why did she always make it so difficult? "Nikita this is not about jealousy. How are you going to feel if O'Brien can't handle the mission? What if he screws up and you have to give him a bad report? How will you feel about going to dinner with him if you know he will be canceled?"

Nikita jumped up from the table and started to leave the room. Michael grabbed her hand. She looked at him and said "He WON'T screw up Michael. And he WON'T be canceled." With that, she shook her arm free and stormed out of the room.

========

Michael waited by van access as the team arrived for mission departure. He noticed that O'Brien hadn't arrived yet. Just then he saw O'Brien and Nikita walking down the hall together. He would have to keep a close eye on those two. He didn't trust O'Brien. He had read his file ... he would make it a point to check out his psych file when they got back.

Once everyone was in the van, Michael again went over the mission parameters. He kept an eye on O'Brien, but the man seemed to be listening and responding properly. They arrived at the scene and started unloading. Michael got out first, then the rest of the team. Nikita was the last to exit. Michael stopped her and said "Be careful. Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary."

Nikita watched Michael's face. She could tell he was worried. "Michael, is there something more I should know? Do you have additional intel?"

Michael shook his head. "No. Just be careful. Now go."

Nikita looked at him for a few more seconds, responded sarcastically "Yeah, sure," then ran to join the team.

Once inside the building, Nikita and O'Brien headed upstairs towards Firestorm's main computer terminals. According to Birkoff, there were four people inside the room -- Firestorm's leader, Stimson, their computer specialist and two guards. They would have to be quick, but they shouldn't have any problem taking out the guards and incapacitating Stimson.

On the way up the stairs, O'Brien tripped and fell and Nikita went down with him. In the ruckus, both of their comm sets dropped on the floor. O'Brien picked them up and handed one to Nikita. They got up and made their way to the appropriate room.

Once they were outside the door, Nikita spoke to Michael. "Michael we're in position. Is everyone ready?" She got no response. She switched channels on her comm set. "Michael, do you read?" Still no response.

O'Brien watched her. "Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Yeah, my comm set isn't working. Tell Michael we're in position." O'Brien spoke. "Team 1 in position. Ready on your mark."

In the van Michael spoke. "O'Brien, where is Nikita? Why isn't she reporting?"

O'Brien ignored Michael's questions. He hit his comm unit and then spoke again. "Michael, it's O'Brien. Do you read me?"

Back in the van Michael was highly agitated. "Birkoff, what is the problem? Are their sets working or not?"

Birkhoff punched some keys at the computer and tried to reach them again. "Nikita, it's Birkoff. Do you read me?" No answer. He tried O'Brien. "O'Brien. Do you read? Please respond." No answer.

He watched the data on his computer screen and then told Michael "It seems that one comm set is down. The other one seems to be working. I can't tell who has which one though. I just don't know why they aren't responding. According to my data we are getting through. Should I send one of the others to find out what's going on?"

Michael had his own thoughts about what was going on. But he kept them to himself. "No. I'm going in. Tell everyone to hold position." Michael exited the van and Birkoff told everyone to hold. Nikita, of course was hearing none of this. O'Brien heard the order but decided to ignore it. He turned to Nikita.

"What should we do? Neither of us can hear Michael. How do we know if they've set the charges? When do we go in? Should we abort?"

Nikita was running the situation over in her mind. She knew Michael wouldn't blow the building with them still in it, especially if they hadn't achieved their purpose. But she didn't know how long to wait. She didn't want to move too soon, but they couldn't wait forever. She took one last look around and decided. "Let's do it. On three ... one, two, three."

O'Brien kicked open the door and took out the first guard. Nikita was right behind him and took out the second. Just then Stimson grabbed his computer operator and threw him into O'Brien. At the same time, he shot at Nikita.

Michael heard the commotion upstairs. He couldn't believe they went in without an order from him. Michael relayed orders through Birkoff. "Birkoff, tell the others to set the charges." Then he carefully headed towards the door. He arrived just in time to see Stimson shoot at Nikita.

She ducked out of the way, just a half second too late. The bullet hit her arm. It knocked the gun out of her hand. O'Brien had managed to knock out the computer operator and had his gun trained on Stimson. Stimson was preparing to shoot Nikita again. O'Brien pointed his gun at Stimson and yelled "Stop."

Michael was disgusted. They had to get out of there fast. The charges would go off in two minutes. He shot the gun out of Stimson's hand and then pointed his at O'Brien. He moved to Nikita to see how badly she was hurt. It was just a flesh wound, but she had hit her head on the floor when she fell. She wasn't unconscious, but she was in pain.

"Birkoff, get everybody out. Nikita's hurt. Have medical meet us at Section." Michael then turned to O'Brien. He pointed at Stimson. "Tie him up and bring him in."

O'Brien stood there and stared at Michael for a minute and then said "We had the situation under control. You didn't have to come charging in here to save the day. We could have handled it." Michael ignored him. He turned his gun on the computer operator and cancelled him. Then he went to help Nikita up.

O'Brien, who was pulling Stimson out of the room, stopped. "You didn't have to do that. Why did you kill him? I think you enjoy your job too much, Michael."

Michael ignored him again and said "Move. We've got about 60 seconds before the building blows." Then he turned his attention to Nikita. He put an arm around her waist and helped her out of the building. Just as they reached the van, the building blew.

The return trip to Section was very quiet. Nikita knew that Michael was angry. She knew that Operations would be furious. They hadn't downloaded any of the computer files. Sure, they had captured Stimson, but they needed those files. There was no way Stimson had all the information they wanted stored in his brain. It would probably take months before they could get a chance at the information again.

They entered Section and Operations was waiting for them. "Michael, what happened? This was a simple operation. There was plenty of time to get that information and Stimson. I want to see you in my office now." With that, he looked over at Nikita.

Michael intercepted his look and knew exactly what he was thinking. Operations thought this was Nikita's fault. Well, this time he was wrong. And Michael would tell him exactly what was going on.

O'Brien smirked at the way Operations was treating Michael. Serves him right, he thought. Mr. Too-Big-For-His-Britches needs to get knocked down a peg or two. And I'm just the man to do it.

He noticed Jamison and Winters taking Nikita to Medlab. He rushed over and said "Nikita, I'll stop by in a little while to see how you are. We can decide about dinner later." Nikita nodded and, with that, O'Brien turned and went to debrief.

======

Madeline stopped by Medlab to check on Nikita. The doctor reported that she would be fine. Her arm was cleaned and bandaged. She would have a headache for a day or two, but, as long as she didn't do anything strenuous for the next few days, she would be fine. Madeline nodded and then spoke to Nikita. "I understand there were some problems on the mission. I would like to see you in my office in one hour." She turned to leave and then stopped, turned and smiled. "Oh, and I will need your evaluation of O'Brien before you leave today." The she turned and left.

Nikita slumped. She had a major headache ... the painkillers hadn't set in yet. She needed to talk to Michael, but she knew he was in with Operations. The way Operations was yelling, she figured Michael would be tied up for a while. She didn't want to write her evaluation of O'Brien without talking to Michael first. But that apparently wasn't going to happen. She would rest for a while, go see Walter and then head to Madeline's office. Just as she was leaving Medlab, O'Brien walked up.

"Hey Nikita. How are you doing? Do you need some help?"

Nikita laughed. "I'm okay. I've got a bit of a headache, but I'll be fine. Just need to rest."

O'Brien nodded and then said "Well, we can postpone our dinner until you're feeling better. I wouldn't want to push you if you're not up to it."

Nikita smiled at him and said "No. I said I'd go out with you and I will. I'll meet you as planned. We might have to cut it a little short, but I'll be there."

O'Brien looked at her. Things were going better than he could have ever hoped. With Nikita injured and off her game, things would be easier for him. "Are you sure you are up to it?"

Nikita smiled at him. "Yes, I'm sure. Now I'm just going to go rest for a while so I can be alert for our dinner. See you later." Nikita waved at him and then headed off in the direction of her Section room.

A little while later ...

Michael was in his office reading O'Brien's psych profile. He couldn't believe they would let someone with those problems continue on in Section. Michael had heard a few things rumored around lately about O'Brien, but he had never experienced the problem first-hand. He should have been canceled a long time ago. Of course, Madeline usually had some devious reason for keeping these sociopaths around. He was going to have a hard time convincing Nikita on this one, though. She liked O'Brien. And there was the fact that she felt responsible for him. The only way he would be able to prove it to her was to make O'Brien show his hand himself. He needed aplan.

In the Observation Deck ...

Operations looked up as Madeline walked in. "So, Madeline, how are things progressing" he asked.

Madeline smiled. "Things are going well, so far. It was unfortunate that Nikita was injured, but she's okay. We should be able to stay on schedule."

Operations nodded and Madeline returned to her office.

=====

Nikita made her way to Madeline's office. She really didn't want to have this conversation. She knew what they thought. The mission had been botched and it was her fault. They always thought everything was her fault. Well, actually sometimes it was. And Michael always covered for her. This time, however, it wasn't. She couldn't help it if the equipment stopped working. Now that she thought about it, they probably gave them faulty equipment on purpose.

"Come in" Madeline called. The door to her office opened and Nikita walked in. "Please have a seat, Nikita. So tell me, what happened out there today?"

Nikita slumped in the chair. She knew that it bothered Madeline when she slouched. Madeline always wanted her to act the proper lady. She also knew that Madeline realized it was one of Nikita's ways of rebelling against her. She noticed Madeline's smile. Madeline also knew that Nikita knew she knew what the reason behind the slouch was.

Nikita laid her head back and said. "I have one question. Did you purposely send us out with bad equipment? Our comm sets were not working. That was the problem. We couldn't hear Michael or Birkoff. We didn't know what was going on."

Madeline studied her. Nikita was learning. Always question everything. You never knew when Section was testing you or bating you, or sending you to your death. Always be alert and on your guard. It took a long time, but Nikita had finally learned that lesson well.

"No Nikita, we did not send you out with bad equipment. If you couldn't hear anything, why didn't you just abort the mission?"

Nikita sat up straighter. "I wasn't the team leader. It wasn't my call. We figured we could still do the job. The only problem was the timing. When to go in. As far as we knew, nothing had changed."

"Ah, but that's just it. You didn't know. Michael could have received new intel and been trying to reach you. You should have either waited for him to get in touch with you, or returned to the van. Now, tell me exactly what happened."

Nikita related the events as she remembered them. The van arriving, the team going into the building, O'Brien tripping on the stairs and her falling over him, the comm sets not working after that ... everything she could remember ... Michael showing up and saving her from being shot again, O'Brien getting Stimson and Michael helping her out of the building. She purposefully left out the details of the little exchange between Michael and O'Brien. She didn't quite understand that one herself, but she wasn't going to say anything that might reflect poorly on O'Brien. It was his first mission, after all.

She also left out the fact that Michael had warned her to be careful ... like he knew something was up. They didn't need to know every little exchange she and Michael had anyway.

Madeline listened closely. She could tell there were things that Nikita was leaving out, but didn't call her on them yet. There would be time for that later. "Are you sure that's all you remember?" she asked. Nikita nodded and Madeline said "Fine. You can go. Just remember I need O'Brien's evaluation before you leave."

Nikita stood up to leave. She stopped and said "Madeline, why me? Why am I the one evaluating O'Brien. With my history with him, I would think you would want an objective opinion from someone else."

Madeline smiled. Nikita was definitely catching on ... she would one day be a formidable operative. "That is precisely why we want your evaluation. That will be all."

Nikita left and headed toward Walter's station. On the way, she noticed that Michael was in his office. She would stop by and talk with him after she checked in with Walter. ======= Payback - Part 6 Walter looked up and saw Nikita headed his way. "Hey Sugar, what's up? You tired of waiting for Michael to come around and decide to give old Walter a chance?"

Nikita smiled. She could always count on Walter to lift her spirits. "You wish," she replied as she laughed. She looked around to make sure no one was to close and then said "I guess you heard about the mission today."

Walter looked at her and studied her face. Something was bothering her. "Yeah, I heard. Tough break. I just don't know why your comm sets wasn't working. I checked it out myself. It was working fine when I gave it to you." Nikita took in this information and nodded.

"It probably got messed up when we fell."

Walter was listening closely. He hadn't heard that little tidbit. "You fell? What do you mean you fell?"

Nikita explained to him how O'Brien had tripped going up the steps and how she had fallen as well. They had both lost their earpieces during the fall. When they got up, neither one worked. Nikita looked at Walter when she finished speaking and noticed he had a funny look on his face. "What is it, Walter? What don't I know?"

"That's not right, Sugar. Only one of the comm sets was inoperable. The other was working fine. Apparently you had the one that wasn't working."

Nikita was stunned. "But Walter, O'Brien tried to reach Michael and Birkoff. He didn't get any response. We both tried a couple of times."

Walter knew how Nikita felt about O'Brien. Everyone did. He hated to be the one to disillusion her, but someone had better set her straight. "Listen Sugar. I checked them both when you got back. Your's was not working. Looked like it had been tampered with. O'Brien's was working just fine. There was no way he wasn't hearing Michael and Birkoff. There was nothing wrong with his comm unit."

Nikita sat silently for a while. "That can't be right Walter. Maybe his comm set got straightened out during the scuffle with Stimson. Why would he have lied about not being able to hear Michael? That doesn't make sense."

Walter turned back to his work. "That's something you're gonna have to find out yourself, Sugar. I've gotta get back to work." Nikita thanked Walter and then headed for Michael's office.

She knocked on Michael's door. "Come in" he called. Michael looked up and saw that it was Nikita. He had been expecting her to come by. He saw the look on her face -- the one that said "We need to talk." He switched off the surveillance to his office and told her to sit down.

"How are you feeling, Nikita?" he asked. She said she was fine. Michael sat silently, waiting for her to speak. He could tell she was trying to decide how to begin the conversation. He also knew it was most probably regarding O'Brien and what happened during the mission. He would let her speak and then decide what to tell her. He wasn't quite sure what was up himself. He just knew something was fishy.

When it seemed that she wasn't going to say anything, he finally spoke. "Tell me what happened out there today, Nikita." He noticed to look of relief on her face before she answered him.

"I don't know what you've heard, but this is what happened. As we were heading up the steps, O'Brien tripped. As he fell, I went down too. We both lost our earpieces. We retrieved them and headed for the location. Once we got there, I tried to contact you, but I didn't hear anything. I assume you didn't either. I switched channels and tried again with the same result. Then O'Brien tried to reach you. He didn't have any luck either. He tried switching channels as well. We just couldn't make contact. I decided to go ahead and continue with the mission. Marcus went in first and took out the first guard. I followed and took out the second. I guess that's about the time you showed up. You know everything else."

Michael nodded. "That's not entirely accurate. Birkoff and I could clearly hear O'Brien over the comm set. I would imagine he heard us as well."

Nikita didn't like what she was hearing. Apparently O'Brien had lied to her. But why? What did he think he was doing? Of course, maybe Michael didn't know what he was talking about. Oh, she hated being stuck in these situations where she didn't know who to believe or what was really going on.

"Michael, that doesn't make sense. Maybe he really wasn't hearing you. Maybe it was only working one way. Why would he lie? What purpose would it serve?"

Michael replied "I don't know. Maybe he wanted the mission to fail. Maybe he wanted to get me out of the van. I don't know. I think you need to find out." Michael had decided not to tell her about the psych profile yet. He could tell she wasn't ready to believe it. "Just remember when you do your evaluation, that you are putting not only the lives of other operatives in his hands, but also all the innocent people we are here to protect." Michael then went back to working on his computer.

Nikita sat there a few more minutes and then got up to leave. As she was leaving she remarked "Thanks Michael. I knew I could count on you to clear things up for me." She threw him a cold look and then headed out the door. =========== Payback - Part 7 Nikita went to her Section quarters to begin her evaluation report on O'Brien. Her mind was spinning in ten different directions.

She knew she could believe Walter. Should she believe Michael? Walter's claims seemed to back him up.

But why would Marcus lie to her? This was his first mission. What was going on?

Michael had to be wrong. There was no way anyone could have gotten to Marcus while he was in Section in training these past two years. And he was too dedicated of a cop before to have terrorist connections. So there was no reason for him to want the mission to fail.

Were Madeline and Operations behind this somehow?

All these questions were circling around in her head. This situation certainly wasn't helping her headache at all. She popped a couple of painkillers and turned on some soft music. She decided there was only one thing she could do. She would write down everything exactly as it had happened.

She included the things she had omitted when she talked to Madeline -- the little scene between O'Brien and Michael when they captured Stimson, the fact that Michael had warned her to be careful ... that he felt something was off ... everything. She included the fact that Walter said O'Brien's comm set was working. She included the fact that Michael and Birkoff had heard O'Brien, but he claimed not to be able to hear them. She concluded her report by stating that, until further investigation was made into the comm set incident, she would not be able to give a complete assessment of O'Brien's potential as an operative.

She forwarded her report to Madeline and turned off her computer. She noticed it was soon time to meet O'Brien for dinner. She headed off to shower and change. She got to Comm about five minutes early. She talked to Birkoff for a few minutes while she waited for O'Brien. He showed up precisely on time. "Hi Nikita. Glad you were feeling up to this. Shall we go?"

"So, Marcus, just where are we going for dinner?" she asked.

"Well, I figured I'd make dinner for you at my place. After the day you had, I didn't think you'd want to put up with a lot of people and waiters, and what not. If that's okay with you."

Nikita smiled at his thoughtfulness. "That's fine. To tell you the truth, it sounds great. I could really do with a relaxing evening tonight." Nikita waved goodbye to Birkoff and then she and O'Brien headed out together.

Marcus smiled at Nikita, all the while his mind churning. Just wait, Nikita. You'll have an evening you won't soon forget. Sorry I can't give you that relaxing evening you want.

Once they arrived at Marcus' apartment he took her coat and hung it in the closet. Then he turned on some soft music. "Make yourself at home, Nikita. I'll just finish setting the table. Dinner should be ready in a little while."

Nikita wandered around his apartment. It was quite a bit different than the apartment Michael had set up for her when she first "got out" of Section. It was pretty small, one bedroom w/bath, small kitchen and the living area. She thought it didn't have much of a personality to it. Of course, he hadn't really had time to get it furnished yet. He had just completed his training. Boy Nikita, you must have hit your head harder than you thought. You're even beginning to question his decorating skills and he hasn't even been here that long. Get a grip.

Marcus finished setting the table and brought them each a glass of wine to drink. They sat on the couch and talked or a while. They talked about everything and anything. Finally, Marcus turned the conversation back to the mission. "So Nikita. I hope you didn't get into too much trouble about our not getting the computer files today. I'm really sorry. I don't know what happened. I guess when we fell it knocked out the comm sets and we were dead in the water."

Nikita watched him closely as he talked. He sounded genuine, but there was something in his eyes ... they seemed cold, uncaring. Not at all like the O'Brien she knew before. She decided to try and draw him out a bit more. "Oh, I've been through worse. I think Michael got the worst of it. He was in with Operations for a quite a while."

O'Brien snorted. "Serves him right. Everyone thinks Michael is so special and he can do no wrong. Today proved just how wrong they were. He certainly didn't plan that mission very well -- you almost got killed, and we didn't get the information. He's lucky I was there to catch Stimson."

Nikita didn't like what she was hearing. It sounded like O'Brien had it in for Michael. He almost sounded ... vengeful. She was getting nervous. What had happened to him since he'd been in Section? She was feeling guilty too. If she hadn't gotten mixed up with him, he wouldn't have been brought into Section and he wouldn't have "gone around the bend" as it seems he had. She would have to handle this situation very carefully.

Marcus handed her another glass of wine and then headed for the kitchen. "Dinner should be ready in a few minutes," he called. Just then, Nikita started to feel really strange. Her heart began pounding, her head was pounding, and she was beginning to feel disoriented ... ======== Marcus came back into the living room and noticed that Nikita wasn't looking very healthy at the moment. He walked over and touched her shoulder. "Nikita, are you okay? You don't look so hot."

Nikita lifted her head to answer him, but she couldn't seem to focus her eyes or her thoughts. She shook her head to try and clear it, but that just made matters worse. Her head was pounding ... it was becoming harder to breath. Finally she managed to utter "Marcus ..." Then she slumped back against the couch.

"Oh no you don't sweetheart. You're not gonna die on me yet. You have to be here for my triumph. You have to be here when I take down Michael. Well, at least until I cancel you, anyway. Hmm. Tough choice. Do I kill you and make Michael watch, or just do away with Michael and let you watch? Choices, choices." With that he took hold of Nikita's shoulders and shook her until she came too.

She looked around the apartment with glazed eyes ... where was she ... what was wrong with her ... what was Marcus doing here? Then she remembered. She was having dinner with O'Brien. She remembered his remark about Michael and the strange way Marcus had been acting. Now she knew what was probably wrong with her. He must have drugged her wine. "O'Brien, what did you put in my drink?" she demanded.

O'Brien let out a wicked laugh. "Well, I see you are the exception to the 'dumb blonde' rule. Section has trained you well. But apparently just not as well as me. I just added a little something to help you relax and make you more cooperative. I'm not sure why you are having such a terrible reaction, though."

Then it hit her. She had taken the painkillers before she left Section. "It's my pain medication. It must be interacting with whatever you put in my drink."

"You stupid bimbo ... leave it up to you to try and ruin my plans. Well, never fear. I'm not about to let anything happen to you until Michael gets here." He noticed the shocked and frightened look on her face. "Yes, that's right. I'm gonna make a little phone call to your boyfriend and we know he will charge right on over here to rescue you. Of course, he will have to figure out where we are first. But it shouldn't take a smart boy like him long to figure it out, should it?"

Nikita tried to gather up her strength and stand. She had to try and incapacitate O'Brien and get some help. She couldn't let Michael walk into a set-up. She tried to get up from the couch, but her limbs weren't cooperating. Her legs felt like jelly. When she tried to stand up, they began to tingle. And her breathing started acting up again. This was definitely not good. Maybe if she just rested for a while.

O'Brien noticed Nikita trying to stand up and it infuriated him. "Oh no you don't. Don't even think of trying to take me out and saving your boyfriend. Guess I'm gonna have to do more than just drug you." With that, he backhanded her across the face. Twice. "Why couldn't you just cooperate like a good girl, huh? I mean, after all, I cooperated with you after you killed that rapist. I went along with you to "a place" just like you asked. Of course, you didn't give me a whole lot of choice, did you? Seems to me turn-about is fair play ... don't ya think? You're gonna help me take out Michael whether you want to or not."

Then he took a straight-backed chair and placed it in the middle of the room and carried Nikita over and tied her to it. "Now, we wait. And don't even think of dying on me Nikita."

Back at Section ...

Michael hung up the phone. He was quite disturbed. He had just gotten a phone call from O'Brien. He had sounded panicked. Something about someone trying to grab Nikita. They had managed to get away, but Nikita had been seriously injured. She wouldn't let him bring her to Medlab. She kept calling for Michael. She only wanted Michael. Then O'Brien had hung up.

He didn't even say where they were. Something was definitely wrong. He knew that O'Brien was unstable. If he had Nikita, then she was definitely in trouble. If only he had insisted she break those dinner plans this evening ... yeah, right. Like she would have listened to him.

Michael made his way to Walter's station. "Walter, do you have any idea where Nikita and O'Brien went for dinner this evening?"

Walter was startled by Michael's presence. He hadn't heard him come up behind him. "No Michael. Sugar didn't say. Why, is something wrong?" Michael turned to walk away when Walter called out. "Michael. I want to know if she's in trouble. What is going on?"

Michael sighed. He might as well tell Walter. Maybe he would remember something that would help Michael locate them.

Walter was scared. He knew something was up with O'Brien after that lie about the comm sets, but he didn't think the guy was psycho. He shook his head. Michael was about to leave when Walter called out, "Michael. I remember Nikita talking to Birkoff right before they left. Maybe he knows something."

Michael nodded and headed for Birkoff. Birkoff was busy running sims and ignored Michael for a few seconds. Michael finally grabbed his chair and spun him around. "Birkoff, do you have any idea where O'Brien took Nikita tonight?"

Birkoff was ticked ... until he saw it was Michael. Then he was got nervous. He hated to blow off Michael; Michael had threatened him on more than one occasion. However, he wasn't sure that Nikita would want Michael to know where she was. Man, he wished these two would figure things out between themselves so he wasn't always stuck in this position. "They went out to dinner, Michael."

Michael was holding himself in check. He knew that Birkoff was afraid of him. But he was quickly losing his temper. "I know, Birkoff. I need to know where they went."

Birkoff looked Michael in the eyes, not that he could tell anything. Michael never betrayed his emotions. "If she had wanted you to know, I'm sure she would have told you. Is there a mission or something you need her for? Just call her on her cell phone."

Michael pulled Birkoff's chair closer. "Listen to me Birkoff. I will find out where she is. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. I've already tried calling her and there was no answer. She's in trouble. Now are you going to tell me what you know or am I going to have to beat it out of you?"

Birkoff made up his mind very quickly. "I overheard him saying he was making dinner for them at his place. Thought she could use a quiet evening at home after her ordeal today."

Michael nodded and let Birkoff go. Then he said, "Get me the address." Birkoff was only too happy to oblige. In a few seconds, Michael had the information he needed and was headed out of Section.

Madeline and Operations were watching from the Observation Deck. Operations turned to Madeline and spoke. "Things seem to be progressing right on schedule. Are you sure this will work?"

Madeline smiled. Oh how she got tired of that question. But she understood his need to ask. He was "Operations" after all. Even though she was the one who came up with the strategies and worked out all the details, he had to ask ... to prove he was in charge. She really didn't mind all that much.

"Yes, it will work. Michael and Nikita are our best. It will work."

Somehow Operations thought she sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than him. ===== Michael raced to O'Brien's apartment. On the way, he tried to cover every contingency. He was pretty sure this was a set-up. What he didn't know was what condition he would find Nikita in. Hopefully she was fine and Marcus was just using her as bait.

He knew Section had surveillance on O'Brien's apartment. If he was holding Nikita hostage, why weren't Operations and Madeline notified? If they knew, what were they trying to do? Apparently this was some kind of test. He just wasn't sure of whom.

Michael knew he should have had back-up with him. But if Operations and Madeline didn't know what was going on, he didn't want to put Nikita in jeopardy with those two. He knew they were testing her --making her evaluate O'Brien. He hadn't had a chance to read the report she submitted.

If she had reported everything was fine, and then this happened, well ... he didn't want to go there. He couldn't think about that right now. His only priority now was getting Nikita away from that psychopath O'Brien.

Michael checked the hallway out carefully before entering. Then he slowly made his way to the apartment door and listened. He didn't hear anything. Wait ... he heard something. It was Nikita. She seemed to be moaning. Apparently she was hurt. His first instinct was to break the door down and get her out of there. However, he knew that would be foolish. He would have to play this out O'Brien's way.

Michael lifted his gloved hand and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He knocked again ... still no answer. What was going on? Had O'Brien been on the level and someone had taken or injured him? Michael's mind was racing ... not that you would ever be able to tell to look at him.

He appeared calm, cool and collected. Finally, he decided to try the door knob. It wasn't locked. Very carefully he pushed the door open, but he stayed in the hallway just in case. He made a quick survey of the room and that's when he saw her. She was tied to a chair right in front of the door, about halfway into the room. She didn't seem to be very coherent and she was having a hard time breathing. He knew he had to get her out of there quickly. Making another quick scan of the room, he made his way to Nikita.

Just as he reached her, he heard the click of a gun behind him. Michael stopped and turned. O'Brien was standing there with a gun pointed at Michael. He kicked the door shut.

"So glad you could join us Michael. I'm sorry your girlfriend isn't quite awake right now. But don't worry. I'll make sure she's awake long enough to say goodbye to you."

Michael had entered the room with his weapon drawn, but he had lowered it a bit when he got to Nikita. He started to raise his arm, but O'Brien saw the movement.

"Uh, uh, uh, Michael. I don't think so. I want you to put on the safety ... there's a good boy ... and throw the gun over here to me." Michael didn't move. He wasn't about to give up his weapon to this lunatic.

"Do it Michael. I was going to cancel you first, but I can just as easily shoot her first. In fact, that might just be more fun. Watching you agonize over her death ... knowing you could have prevented it. Yeah, I think I'll just go ahead and ..." O'Brien moved the weapon to train it on Nikita.

That was all the opening Michael needed. He lifted his gun and shot the gun out of O'Brien's hand. At the sound of the gunshot, Nikita roused. She looked up and said "Michael?"

Michael looked at Nikita and was about to speak when O'Brien let out an enraged roar and ran straight for Michael. Michael lifted his gun again and shot O'Brien straight through the heart. O'Brien was dead before he hit the floor.

Michael pulled out his cell phone and called for Housekeeping. Then he turned his attention to Nikita. She had tears in her eyes. Michael gently untied her. "Kita, what did he do to you?"

Nikita told him about the pain killers she had taken before leaving Section and then about Marcus drugging her wine. She didn't know what he had used.

Michael called Medlab and told them to be prepared -- he was bringing Nikita in. Just then Housekeeping arrived and Michael told them to find whatever O'Brien had used to drug Nikita and report to Medlab immediately. With that, he picked up Nikita and took her back to Section.

Two hours later ...

Michael had been called to Madeline's office. As soon as he knew Nikita would be okay he answered the summons. Operations and Madeline were waiting for him.

Madeline spoke. "I understand that Nikita will be fine. I'm glad."

Michael, in a rare show of emotion, glared daggers at her. "Are you? I know you were behind this. You almost got her killed twice in one day. Or was that the plan? You wanted her dead. Just what was so important that you set her up with that psycho?"

Operations spoke. "Michael, I will not tolerate that kind of insubordination. We are in charge here and we make the decisions. I don't care if you like them or not. We do what is best for Section. Even though you seem to feel to the contrary, Nikita is no different than anyone else here. If we feel she is the person for the job, she will be used."

Michael turned to stare at Operations. He just glared at the man. He knew it made Operations nervous when he didn't speak, so he just sat there and stared at him.

Madeline knew the situation could quickly get out of hand, so she stepped in again. "Michael, I'm sure by now you've figured out that we were testing Nikita. We wanted to see if she could be objective when it came to O'Brien. She passed. She submitted her report before she left. She drew no conclusions. She included all the information she had ... the fact that O'Brien apparently lied about the comm sets, everything. She said she would need further information to draw a conclusion. She did well."

"I also assume you have read O'Brien's psych file. We made sure it was brought to your attention indirectly. O'Brien apparently has had it in for you since he got here. He was very angry with Nikita for getting him into this situation, but he was also attracted to her. Since she and you seem to have a ... connection, he projected all of his rage on you. He wanted to extract revenge. Even though it was Nikita's fault, he couldn't blame her. He was in love with her. So, since she's in love with you, you became his target."

"What you didn't know was that O'Brien had somehow become a favorite of Oversight. We couldn't just cancel him without any reason. Up until now he had not given us any reason. We had to play out this situation and get it on tape so that he could be canceled without any questions."

Madeline stopped speaking and Michael nodded. He didn't respond. He simply got up and walked out of the office. He headed straight to Medlab to see Nikita. She was sitting up. She would have to stay for a day or two until all the drugs were out of here system.

Nikita heard him come in and smiled. "Michael."

Michael walked up to her and pushed a stray strand of hair off her face. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, Michael, or I will be. Michael ... I'm sorry."

Michael was surprised. He didn't know why she was apologizing. "Kita, sorry for what?"

"I'm sorry about O'Brien. I didn't know he was crazy. It was my fault that you got mixed up in this. But I do have to say I'm glad you showed up when you did."

Michael whispered "I'm just glad I got there in time." Then he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

This story © Copyright 1999, Sherry