As much as I loved 'Resistance' (because Nikola was in it), I hated the idea of Nikola betraying Helen. Even if he didn't really intend to, and if he did help her in the end. So this is my remedy to that...
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"You hear from Tesla?" Henry asked, trying to breach the topic as casually as he could.
"No," Helen said, carefully. "And I don't expect that I will. He's still refusing to quit his job so...we're on opposite sides I'm afraid."
"I'm sorry, Doc," Henry said, concerned. Magnus had raised him, she was the closest thing he had to a mother figure. Despite his problems with Tesla, he knew how much the cocky vampire meant to her.
"Me too," Helen said, "I always knew there would be costs associated with striking out on our own...but this one was unexpected."
Henry didn't know what to say to comfort her, and she offered him a small smile of reassurance before exiting his lab to leave him to his work. His computer started beeping of its own accord just as she was leaving.
"Um, Doc, hold on a second," Henry said. Helen turned back to him.
"You're gonna want to see this," Henry said. She was by his side in moments, just as the files started popping up on his screen.
"Where did you get this?" she said.
"It was on my tablet," Henry said, with a frown. "Tesla handed it to me as we were leaving."
"A detailed list of all of SCIU's facilities," she said, a small smile on her face, "Abnormal inventory, top secret plans for future expansion," she grinned, "Ah, Nikola, you are full of surprises."
Henry shook his head in bemusement. Just when he thought he'd got a handle on the vampire's angle and motives, he turned around and surprised them once again. He wondered if he would ever understand the guy.
"Download these and email them to me as soon as possible please, Henry," Helen said.
"Sure, Doc," Henry said. "I just wish that Tesla had told us he was going to help us instead of making us play that whole game."
"Sometimes it is essential to play the game," Helen said, cryptically, "He had his reasons, I'm sure, Henry. Now, I have a meeting I have to get to."
She turned to walk out of his lab again, a small smile on her face. Nikola had played his part well, magnificently even. Not that she would ever tell him that, no he was far too cocky as it was. Nor would she have the chance to tell him that any time soon. They had to stay out of contact for a little while to maintain the cover of his betrayal against her, the final stage of their plan.
Helen let her smile spread as she walked away. Yes, her delicately concocted plan had fallen into place nicely. She didn't like the fact she had to lie to Henry, but it was necessary.
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A few weeks ago, in a small, out of the way bar in Old City...
Helen sat sipping on a drink as she waited for her contact to arrive. She was in a corner, and despite the lack of obvious threat, she was still on edge. She had chosen an out of the way location and had inconspicuously slid into the corner booth deliberately so as not to be seen. She had grown rather too good at it after her 113 year isolation and, despite being back in her own continued timeline, she was still constantly feeling the need to hide in the shadows. Habits like that were hard to break. Being inconspicuous had been an essential survival mechanism for her for over a hundred years, and she was only just getting used to playing hardball in the limelight again.
"This is a bit of a cliché, my dear, don't you think?"
Helen smirked as Nikola slid into the booth across from her.
"When the need arises I've grown used to not being picky about such grievances," she shrugged. Nikola shot her a smirk.
She took in the sight of him. He looked the same as she remembered. Of course he did. It had only been a matter of weeks for him, and yet it had been so many years for her. She had been waiting for so long for this moment, with far more anticipation than she was willing to admit to herself just yet. The thought of seeing such a familiar old face after so many years of isolation had been like a light keeping her going through the lonely years.
"You're looking rather pensive," Nikola remarked, twirling the glass of deep red wine the waitress had just placed on the table in front of him – Helen hadn't even noticed him order one in her reverie. "I'd say 'penny for your thoughts' but I daresay yours are worth more than that, my dear." He winked.
She'd almost forgotten how much she'd missed spending time with him, or how he could make her laugh so easily.
"Not to mention your previously expressed disdain for clichés," Helen said. He grinned. "I missed you." She blurted it out before she could stop herself. It had been so long after all.
Nikola raised an eyebrow.
"Usually, I'd be over the moon hearing such a profession from you," Nikola said, "But it has only been a few weeks. I think you're getting rather clingy in your old age, Helen."
"It's been a few weeks since you last saw me, Nikola," Helen said, taking a deep breath. She had to tell him some time, and sooner was better, biting the bullet and all that. "But for me it's been a bit more."
"What? Did you come across another time-dilation field in the deserted French countryside?" Nikola said, taking a sip of his wine.
"Not exactly," Helen said. "But it has been years since I last saw you."
Well, since she'd last spoken to him. She had been weak a few times when she had known that past-Nikola would be in the same country she was hiding out in. She was only human after all.
"Helen, unless you somehow invented time travel and neglected to tell me about it I don't see -," Nikola said but paused upon seeing her expression.
"It's a rather long story, Nikola, and I think I'm going to need another drink," she said.
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An hour later, and indeed several drinks later, Helen and Nikola were still sitting in the corner booth. At first, Nikola had thought Helen was teasing him with tempting stories of time-travel to punish him somehow for something he had surely done to upset her without yet realising it. But then she'd told him of Adam's plan, of John's betrayal (now why didn't that part surprise him?) and how she'd followed Adam back to prevent him from saving his daughter and altering the timeline.
Something about the way she'd told it, and the look in her eyes, had made him believe her. Besides, he was a genius, the impossible was never truly impossible to him.
He had sensed something different about her the moment he'd arrived. She had seemed different. There was something in those blue eyes of hers that he knew so well, something that he had not seen before.
He could understand what she'd gone through. He'd spent 60 years underground and pretending to be dead on the run after all. That's why he also understood how difficult it must have been for her, more than him even. He had always been a solitary kind of person, until he met a certain blue-eyed blonde at Oxford, but Helen had a life, a family at her Sanctuary. But that was Helen, sacrificing her own happiness and jumping off cliffs to save others without a thought to her own safety.
"Nikola?" Helen said. He grinned.
"I always did appreciate an older woman," he said. Helen rolled her eyes.
"Incorrigble," she muttered, "Utterly bloody incorrigible."
"Come on, Helen," Nikola smirked, leaning forward, "You missed me – you said it yourself just before."
"I'm beginning to wonder why," Helen remarked wryly.
"Well, they do say absence makes the heart grow fonder," Nikola grinned.
"Are you quite finished, Nikola?" Helen said. He merely gave her a boyish grin. "I have a...proposition I wish to discuss with you."
"I'm intrigued," he said, "Does said proposition involve a significant reduction in the amount of clothing we're both wearing and a pair of handcuffs?"
"Nikola," Helen said, warningly.
"I'm just trying to be a good friend, knowing how much you missed me," Nikola said. She really regretted giving him that ammunition right now. Nikola was incorrigible and insufferable enough without encouragement.
"I'm sure by now you're aware of the position of the government and their increased involvement in abnormal affairs?" Helen said, deciding to cut right to the chase and hope Nikola would follow.
"Yes, I did hear you and your rag-tag crew told the government to take a long leap off a short pier," Nikola said, his eyes twinkling in barely concealed amusement.
"Not exactly in those words, but yes, essentially the same message," Helen said.
"I wish I could have been there," Nikola grinned, "Watching you get all fired up and telling them to -,"
"Nikola, focus," Helen said. "They approached you to take up a position as the head of a new abnormal research facility in Area 51."
Nikola didn't deny it, nor did he inquire as to how Helen knew about that. Of course she did. She was still frightfully well connected despite her going rogue.
"Do not fret, my dear," he said, "I told them a similar thing to what you did. Do you not recall how last time worked out for me?"
"As comforting as that is to know," she said, offering a small amused smile, "That wasn't why I asked you to meet with me."
He was curious now. Then he realised what she was planning and grinned.
"I always said you were a minx, Helen," he said, grinning. "Have I ever told you how sexy you are when plotting to manipulate the government?"
"Not recently, no," Helen said. "Will you do it?"
"Take the job at SCIU in order to give you and your rogue agency inside information?" he said. She nodded.
"I need someone on the inside, Nikola," Helen said, "Someone who I know won't harm the abnormals. Someone I trust." She looked him in the eyes, letting him know how genuine that sentiment was.
"Helen, you and I both know that governments come and go," Nikola said, "They are but fleeting ships in our lifetimes."
"But right now," Helen said, "They pose a threat to everything I stand for – everything the Sanctuary stands for. This is my life's work, Nikola. Please."
He knew she wouldn't ask if she weren't serious.
"I need you, Nikola," Helen said.
"For you, Helen," Nikola said. Helen smiled. "Well, for you and for the free wine I can wheedle out of them. Not to mention the offer of a private plane I heard about..."
Helen grinned.
"To plotting to infiltrate the government," Nikola said, holding up his glass.
"Yes, it is rather a concern that this isn't the first time we have drunk to that," Helen said, clinking her glass together with his.
"Nor should it be the last," Nikola smirked, "Never bore your audience, dear Helen."
"Speaking of audiences," Helen said, "I have an idea how we can convince the government that you are authentic in your wish to work with them, and let them think you really have betrayed me..."
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So, there's my Teslen solution to 'Resistance'. :)
I feel, considering how Helen led everyone to believe Biggie was dead in 'Veritas' that her and Nikola plotting something like this to make it look authentic wouldn't be outside the realms of reality... She does go all out when making sure a plan will work after all. :P Gotta love Helen's crazy plans.