Chapter 2- Zetrov

"No! Nikita, we can't just leave Nathan. They'll kill him!" Alex was worried, not for her sake at all. She knew that if she were to escape division's clutches, it wouldn't be long before they threaten her with Nathan.

"Alex, I know you care about him, but we can't bring him around with us." Nikita looked at her seriously, bent on getting out quickly and effectively.

"But, Nikita, if it was Daniel, you wouldn't leave him!" Alex shouted, knowing that was hitting below the belt. She quickly looked away, ashamed of what she said. "Sorry, Nikita." She mumbled, wishing she hadn't ever said that.

Nikita looked away. "Well, no, but Alex. In this field of work, we can't have extra baggage. He needs to be able to fend for himself."

"Well, how do you know he can't fight?"

"Because Alex, I broke into your apartment for a photo. He attacked me and I pinned him within 5 seconds." Nikita stared at Alex, willing her to accept that Nathan couldn't come. "If it will make you happier, I can set some surveillance in there. Then, if anything happens, we'll know."

Alex looked at the ground for a few minutes and finally came to a conclusion. "Okay, fine, but one sign of division's presence, and we come straight back."

"Yes Alex. If division has presence in his apartment, we can come straight back, but I want you to know, we may be too late."

Alex nodded. "I know, but I'll feel better knowing."

Percy watched Cassie, analyzing her movements and skills. When division recruited her, they ran DNA tests, fingerprint tests, and asked her questions. As far as Cassie knew, she was an orphan, but Percy knew better. The DNA tests showed that Cassie had to have been her sister. Their DNA was just too similar to be a strange coincidence.

Percy decided that since Cassie had no idea, he'd keep her. If she showed even anything slightly suspicious, he wouldn't hesitate to cancel her, but for now, she was okay.

Cassie punched and kicked, imagining the dummy was Ralph. In her mind she traveled back into the past.

Cassie ran down the street, glancing behind her. Her boyfriend Ralph was chasing her, trying to pin her down. She was breathing heavily, wishing she knew how to fight. Ralph had been her beloved boyfriend until last year when she discovered he was a cheater. She accused him and instead of accepting her break-up, he became an abusive, possessive boyfriend. She couldn't get out of his grasp. Every time she tried to break up with him, he would punch her, giving her an obvious black eye.

She was running down the street, taking every possible turn, but somehow he kept following her. She tried as hard as she could, but she just couldn't lose him. After being kicked out of care when she was eighteen, she was stuck in a run-down apartment in a bad area of town. She could scream now and nobody would care.

She thought she had lost him and stopped for a breath. Someone grabbed her neck from behind and stopped her breath before she could scream.

"Hey babe. I told you not to run. I've had it with you, you're not worth it anymore."

Ralph pulled out a gun, pointing at her head. She went into panic mode. Before she knew it, she had Ralph on the ground, holding the handgun in her own hands, pulling the trigger.

The blast knocked sense back into her. She saw the blood on the ground, and panicked again. She dropped the gun by the body, sprinting back to her apartment.

Little did Cassie know that a division agent was watching the whole event. This division agent then gave her description to the police.

The cops knocked on Cassie's door, making her jump. She nervously opened the door, immediately getting handcuffed and shoved around.

"Cassandra. You are under arrest for the murder of Ralph Arche…"

Cassie pulled herself out of the memory, punching the dummy harder. She cooled down, walking over to the mats to challenge another recruit.

Percy watched Cassie defeat recruit after recruit. He could tell that Cassie didn't quite believe in herself, as her opponents showed. She was only challenging the newer recruits, avoiding the older ones that Percy knew she could pin easily if she really tried.

Percy thought back over her recruitment.

Mark walked into his office, a happy look on his face.

"Percy, I have found someone of interest. There is a young girl named Cassandra. She killed her abusive boyfriend yesterday. Never even used a gun before! I directed the police to her and sent Richard and Robert to fetch her out of prison. I think Amanda will enjoy her."

Percy nodded.

"And, I think there's something else about her you'd like to know. She is strikingly similar to Nikita. I don't think it is Nikita in disguise, but we may want to do a DNA scan, just in case. Amanda is happy to do so."

"I think I'd like to meet this girl when she comes in. What's her name?"

"Cassandra."

Percy watched her with interest. It was clear that Cassandra had improved quickly, claiming she never wanted to be weak like that again. She wanted to be able to protect herself.

Nikita walked out of Nathan's apartment, glancing around and checking her transmission scanner. So far, she caught no whiff of division. No cameras, no bugs, nothing. She implanted her own cameras, bugs, and other surveillance devices in order to keep watch on the boy.

As much as this inconvenienced her, she knew that Alex had a great point bringing up Daniel. Whether it was hurtful or not, it made Nikita see Alex's view on the matter. Nathan meant to Alex what Daniel once meant to Nikita, and there was no amount of distance that could change that.

Alex and Michael stood around Nikita's lair, waiting for her return. They both were still trying to get used to being together, Alex getting used to Michael being in on everything, Michael getting used to being around Nikita again. Nikita soon returned, easing the tension building in the room.

"So, what'd you find?" Alex asked worriedly.

"Well, my scanner didn't pick anything up, so hopefully division hasn't been there yet. They certainly know about him though. We'd better get going. The sooner we leave, the less of a chance of running into trouble."

Alex nodded, following Nikita out. Michael followed hesitantly, glancing around like he was worried about being spotted. Michael was worried that maybe Nikita hadn't gotten the tracker out right, that maybe he was overestimating her abilities.

Amanda walked into Percy's office, her average serious look on her face.

"Percy, we have a situation. It seems that Birkhoff failed to notice defects in the security when Nikita last attacked it. It seems that Nikita may have disabled Alex's kill-chip. I think Alex was the mole. She keeps too many secrets. How do we know that she just planted those things on Thom? She was with him for a while before we got there. We only assumed it was Thom, but Alex is showing all of the warning signs. We tried to use the kill-chip, and it failed. It merely gave her a headache."

Percy turned in anger. "Are you saying this whole time Alex has been the one in league with Nikita?"

Amanda nodded, her face solemn. "And, it seems Nikita messed with her tracker too. We have footage of her leaving while her tracker stayed in the same place. Did you ever wonder how a mere recruit overtook the only thing you are afraid of?"

Percy nodded. Why didn't he see the warning signs before? It should have been obvious. How Alex excelled quickly, how she was on the computers all of the time, how she somehow contained the most valuable ex-agent they had.

Percy sighed. "Well, then. How's about we send someone to go shoot her? She can't be too far away. I doubt she even knows we're trying to kill her."

Amanda didn't answer right away. "That's the problem Percy. She left her apartment and we have no idea where she went. We can locate her car, but she could have gone anywhere from there. We're having a little trouble locating her right now. We've tapped into every security feed we can, but we can't find visual. It's like she just disappeared."

Percy leaned over, putting his head in his hand. "Well, I have an idea, but it has to wait. I was planning something, but the timing isn't working out. Damn Nikita."

Alex sat in the car, twiddling her thumbs. Nikita wouldn't tell either her or Michael where they were going. All she would reveal is that they're going to the airport. They were expecting to just get there quickly and quietly, but it seemed there were some other issues. Michael didn't have a new identity, and Nikita had no way to get him one in a few hours. So, they were just going to hope Division hadn't raised the alarm yet.

They parking in overnight parking, quickly making it inside and avoiding cameras as much as possible. Once inside, they got tickets and went to security. It didn't take long since they had only carry-ons. So far, nobody had questioned them, nobody had looked or pointed, nobody seemed to notice the ex-assassins at all.

They made the plane with minutes to spare, and Nikita finally told Alex and Michael where they were going. They were going back to Russia, Ukraine to be exact. At this, Alex almost punched Nikita.

"What! What is there in Russia to possible make me go back?"

"You know Alex, Michael hasn't heard this story. Maybe we should tell him." Alex didn't answer, so Nikita continued, turning to face Michael. "Well, I'm going to try to keep this short. Alex is Alexandra Udinov, daughter of Nikolai Udinov. If you remember, I doubt you do, about five years ago, we had an op. This op was to assassinate Nikolai Udinov and his family. I was on this mission, and when I saw a 14-year old girl on the hit list, I couldn't kill her. I pulled her out of the house and gave her to the chauffer who promised to keep her safe. He was a lying bastard though. Instead, he sold her to sex traffickers who didn't know who she was. When I learned of this, I tried to rescue her from them, but she had gotten herself out. Not too long ago, when you were rescuing her from Vlad, he got her because he figured out who she was. And now, we're going back."

"Why?" Alex and Michael both asked in union.

"To get Alex Zetrov back."