Hey guys!

Wow, it's evident that a lot of people wanted this story updating ASAP! I apologise for the long gap in my chapters, I've just been really focused on my one-shots recently. You know when you get something in your head that just wont leave until you put it down on paper? Well that was True Believer for me, that episode left so many gaps, only writing could fill them in for me.

Anyway, I wont keep you waiting any longer. I'm not particularly happy with this chapter, so please give me your feedback. Here's the next chapter to False Pretences...

Enjoy.

X


False Pretences - Chapter Seven.


"Father down!"

Nikita stood motionless, gun raised high as flames licked menacingly around her legs. Heat pulled at every limb as she took a slow step forwards, ignoring the crackle of fire in the unstable building around her.

Instead, she fixated her gaze to the bed before her, to where she knew her next target hid, terrified of what was to come. This was her last target, the final member of the Udinov family – a thirteen year old girl, too young to understand what was going on around her.

It was in that moment, that Nikita knew what she really had to do, what was the right thing to do.

Alexandra Udinov didn't deserve to die for something her father had created, for an empire that was not yet hers. She didn't need to suffer the fate of her family, not like this. So Nikita took a stand, she made a decision, one that she could never falter on. She dropped her weapon, taking off her mask so that her eyes were visible to the child before her. In them, held a steady gaze of security, of a promise that everything would be alright.

Even as she shuffled to the floor, meeting the gaze of the terrified blue eyes before her, she felt no disrespect for her actions. Division would never know, it was the right thing to do, the only thing to do. Even as Alexandra's eyes fluttered to a close, her body worn down from smoke inhalation and lack of oxygen, Nikita felt no remorse for what she was about to do.

Saving her felt good – it felt real.

So she commando-crawled over, until the young child was securely in her arms, away from the sudden threat of the flames around her. She was going to get them out of here, because neither of them needed to die.

Not like this.


Nikita coughed violently at the sudden onslaught of smoke that attacked her lungs, blocking her regular air flow and filling her body with a horrible suffocating feeling.

The first thing that hit her was the heat. A relentless, orange glow that wrapped around her, instantly drawing perspiration from her pores and making her breathe in heavily. The house around them had become a sudden inferno, fuelled by it's own rage, seeking out anything burnable in it's path.

She tightened her grip naturally around the girl beneath her, the realisation of what had just happened hitting her. Everything had happened in slow motion, time becoming a painful drag, not willing her feet to move faster, or for her reflexes to become quicker. She had heard the dulcet tones of charges ready to ignite, the charges that she knew Alex had brought into the house with her.

A faint movement beneath her caused her attention to be shifted onto the girl below. Raising her pounding head off the floor, she released her grip on Alex slightly, giving the other girl a little space to move. She had been using her own body as a shield, trying to protect Alex from the blast and any shrapnel that might have come their way. Alex coughed lightly, the smoke dragging through her own lungs, perhaps not helped along by Nikita's restricting weight against her chest.

She gave the older woman a slight push, willing her to move her body away and allow her to get to her feet.

"Are you alright?" Nikita asked, her voice catching in her throat as the smoke refused to allow her any room for speech. She noticed that Alex just nodded her response, struggling just as much to form words. The younger girl rolled over as Nikita stumbled to her feet, her eyes reflecting back the fire's glow as she took in the sight for the first time.

Nikita saw her eyes widen, a sudden fear gripping their gaze and flashing an image of her past across her scared features. For a minute, she didn't see Alex, but an image of the small girl she had rescued six years ago. The Alexandra Udinov that should have died in a house fire with her parents.

"Alex, come on. We have to get out of here." she said quickly, shaking the thoughts from her head and reaching down a hand for encouragement. She willed the younger girl to take the gesture, knowing that every moment longer they spent here was a dangerous game. The noise of the fire was incredible, she knew that it was picking up momentum. The house was becoming unstable, little pieces of rubble were falling from it's already compromised walls, clattering to the ground below.

"Alex please..." Nikita quickly bent down to take Alex's hand, roughly jerking her upright, forcing her to scramble to her feet. The motion seemed to shake something from the younger girl, to wake her up slightly. Alex shook her head, her eyes focusing once more. She gave Nikita a small nod, trying not to let the flames get to her, to take her back to a place she really didn't want to be. Nikita gripped her hand tighter, noticing that the other girl still held the other one close to her chest, a faint amount of blood visible through the strange dancing light around them.

There was only one way out of this room, back the way they had come, towards the heat that threatened them.

"What are you doing?" Alex found herself shouting over the roaring noise of the flames, even though she was only a few feet away from the assassin. She coughed once more, more smoke plunging into the room and blackening their already sooty skin. Nikita was leading them towards where the fire burned at it's brightest, not away. Alex found herself tearing her eyes away from it's destruction to desperately scour the room around them, looking for any other way out. The darkening smoke was making it difficult to see beyond a few feet.

"Listen to me Alex!" Nikita half-shouted, turning her back to the heat momentarily, so that she could grab the other girls face with both hands, forcing her to look directly into her hazel eyes.

"This is the only way out, back the way we came. I know it's hard, but you're going to have to be strong. I'm right here and nothings going to happen alright?" Nikita could hardly hear her own voice over the roar now. Flames were licking at the open door, threatening to catch light against it's wooden frame.

They had to leave – now.

"Alex come on!" she growled, roughly grabbing the other girl's hand and pulling her forwards. With her hand firmly in Nikita's, Alex didn't protest, it was almost as if her feet weren't her own any more. She tried desperately to rub at her eyes with her free sleeve as they began to water, the smoke stinging at them relentlessly.

As they reached the door, her eyes locked with the burning hallway. One side of the room was completely unrecognisable and she knew the front way out was going to be impossible. A ceiling strut had collapsed, bringing down a portion of the roof with it, leaving their options limited to the back of the house. It was the way Nikita had entered earlier. She knew it was where the main blast had taken place. She had left her mission briefcase next to the guard, after knocking him out, leaving the charges for when her and Nikita had retrieved the non-existent weaponry. That's when a sudden thought hit her – she had the trigger for the charges.

She didn't get any time to ponder her thoughts as Nikita jerked her forwards, pulling her out into the hallway. As soon as they stepped out, the heat doubled. Flames became closer to their skin, licking around their legs and sprinkling down little pieces of burning paper and plaster from the walls. She found herself giving a slight strangled yelp as one fell upon her shoulder, instantly burning through her clothing and attacking her skin below. She rubbed at it frantically, trying to dislodge it whilst keeping pace with the assassin before her. She didn't dare to let go of Nikita's hand, through fear that she might lose her in this burning death-trap.

"Come on, this way!" Nikita's voice was even more hoarse than it had been previously, and she noticed that the older woman gave a sort of strangled cough after she formed her words. It wasn't just the heat bearing down on them that was the immediate threat, it was the smoke inhalation too.

Alex tried not to let her eyes fall upon the painting towards the end of the hall, half of it's canvas burning upwards, leaving just half of the image intact. It reminded her of the one that had hung near her bedroom, back in the Udinov mansion. It too, had been burning when she had last seen it, when her father had dragged her past, leading her to the last room in the house that was free of flames. She closed her eyes quickly, desperately trying to block out the memories. Instead, she gave Nikita's hand a quick squeeze and allowed the older woman to pull her forwards, through a door to the left and into what she soon recognised as the houses kitchen.

The back door was open, it's frame visible by the air pressure pulling some of the smoke out of the house. As Nikita made a beeline for it, Alex stumbled forwards, releasing her grip on the assassin's hand as she tripped over something on the ground, plunging her to her knees on the hard-tiled floor below.

"Alex!" she heard Nikita shout her name as she scrambled to her feet, ignoring the throbbing sensation now shooting through her legs, sending pins-and-needles down to her feet. She grabbed the table next to her for support, her heart beat drumming out a rhythm too fast for her oxygen-starved body. She coughed, trying to clear the restricting fog from her lungs so that she could answer.

"I... I'm alright." she managed, forcing her feet forwards once more. Nikita gave her a quick nod, reaching for her hand in the smoke. She door was right there, they were so close. Through the crackling flames, she could hear sirens in the distance, no doubt rushing to their location to get the rogue flames under control.

As Alex moved to take Nikita's hand, she gave a strangled cry, all that her oxygen-starved throat could muster, as something closed around her left ankle tightly. The next thing she knew, her foot was pulled roughly from underneath her, pulling her unexpectedly back to the ground. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as her head collided with the tiles, stars exploding behind her vision.

"Shit, Alex!" she heard Nikita say quickly, as a pair of hands roughly snaked themselves around her throat, pressing down with force. She met the eyes of a man, a sort of crazed glint in his eyes, hi-lighted by the trickle of blood from a head wound he was supporting. Her heart skipped a beat as she desperately tried to grasp his own hands in hers, trying to release their grip, only just feeling the stabbing pain go through her own injured hand. She kicked out, aiming for his groin in a desperate motion to free herself. Her knee collided with satisfying force and the grip around her throat loosened considerably. She kicked out again, shoving him backwards as Nikita threw him off in a well-aimed tackle.

She forced her unwilling body to roll over, her limbs shaking beneath her as she pushed her way to her feet. She looked behind her nervously, Nikita had him pinned down to the floor, raining down several punches across his face. She took in the sight of his clothing, it must have been the security guard that Nikita had knocked out earlier, she must have caused him to come round when she had fallen over him in the darkness.

She rubbed at her throat, the air around them so restricting it almost felt as if his fingers were still there, pushing down on her windpipe. The roar of the fire was louder now, and she realised in horror that more of the kitchen was ablaze, the fire nearly consuming their only escape route. She coughed once more, a light-headedness threatening to overcome her as she saw the guard throw Nikita off, rolling her roughly to one side, the assassin's back colliding with the counter units behind them. The assassin was quickly to her feet, finding reserves of oxygen that Alex didn't know existed. Times like this, she was sure that Nikita was super human, it always amazed her how Nikita could keep her cool in situations like this.

Nikita sidestepped around him as he went to grab her, his fingers just gracing her side, not enough to get a good hold upon her. She kicked out, catching him in the knee cap and expecting him to fall to the ground, instead it seemed he was ready for the blow. He grabbed her leg, flipping her to the floor, his eyes reverting back to Alex.

Nikita looked up just in time to see him raise something, her heart skipped a beat when she realised it was a small pistol, complete with a silencer attached to it's barrel. She felt down to her side, her hands falling empty against her holster.

She leapt to her feet as quickly as her limbs would allow, a certain fatigue flowing through them, making her joints burn with effort. She couldn't call out fast enough as his finger fell lightly upon the trigger, only a moments hesitation before he squeezed it tightly down.

Nikita shouted out, her eyes falling to Alex's baby blue ones, widened in shock as if she were a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Desperately, she forced her feet to gather themselves together and spring forwards, her hand reaching in slow motion for the gun before her.

The noise of the fire around them seemed to dampen slightly as a familiar sound rung around her subconscious. It was a sound that made her blood run cold, that told her her actions had been too delayed, too late.

The sound of a gunshot rang out in the houses smoky darkness – loud and true.


Michael rested his head back against his car head rest, pulling a hand through his dark locks, a horrible feeling sinking through his heart at the screen before him. He had looked at his car GPS many times before, with the same image on screen, but today, today it felt a hundred times worse somehow.

Beating his hands down heavily on his steering wheel, a voice broke his angry thoughts, a voice he was beginning to despise.

"Status?"

Percy.

Michael had to force himself to take a deep breath before he answered, not trusting himself to speak without saying something he might later regret. This was his job, it should have been as a standard protocol usually was, however this time it felt different - It felt wrong. He cared about Alex, it was perhaps that level of care that had brought Percy's suspicions up about her to start with.

Now he was looking at a small screen – the blinking light that had been showing him Alex's progress now distinguished. Percy already knew, he just wanted to hear Michael say it, to force him to realise what had just happened.

With sirens now ringing closer in his ears, Michael increased the grip around his steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. Taking a deep breath, he narrowed his eyes and forced his unwilling voice to play back just what Percy's corrupt ears wanted to ear.

"Her trackers down." he whispered, ignoring the sting behind his eyes and even worse, the satisfying sigh down the communications device from his boss.

"Alexandra Udinov – Alex," he corrected. To him, she would always be Alex, no matter what she may or may not have done or the company she kept. Not even Nikita was worth what had just happened.

"Is dead."