A/N: Thank you for the reviews and PMs. Time to switch this story to M. You can expect drama, violence and sex ahead. Not always at the same time though. ;)
I do not normally pick up where I left off in the last chapter, but this time I am. Also, in the AU version Nikita's beginnings as a rogue will be different - right down to how she gets her safe house/ the loft.
Divine Fighter: That is a good question. Maybe both at this time. This chapter should answer that question.
chpll1525: Is Nikita up to something? This chapter will answer that question. Much Nalex is coming in the chapters a head.
Enjoy!
"Frankenstein syndrome. A twisted lust for my own creation."
Amanda pulled Alex into a kiss. Alex was stiff at first then melted into the other woman. Amanda pulled herself upright and twisted her fingers almost painfully into Alex's hair. "Bathe, then my room. Don't dawdle."
Nikita looked down at her hands on the bar. What had she been thinking about tonight? Why follow the other woman? Why would she say the things she said to Alexandra in the bathroom?
She knew why. She took up the glass the bartender slid in front of her. The juices from the maraschino cherry swirled in the bottom of the glass like blood through the glittering bubbles. She craved something stronger than a 7up but if she was even thinking about what she was thinking about, she needed her head on straight. Nikita turned and spotted a paper at an abandoned table.
She quickly found the properties section and started looking. Did she dare cross Percy? She was angry and part of her wanted to end her own life. Daniel was dead, and she figured that was all a result of her own weakness. She defied Amanda and Percy and fell in love with the man. Her love got him killed at the hands of one of Percy's pet cleaners. That was one thing Nikita was certain of - that, and she wanted revenge for Daniel and for herself. Daniel's love and death sparked something inside of her that she hadn't felt since Carla's half way house.
Going rogue, she thought, would be the only way to get clean again. She felt dirty for all of the lives she extinguished for Division. This would be more than revenge if she chose the path considered. This would be a way to achieve the balance she had long since lost, and set the wrong things right... A chance at redemption. She needed a place to start. She needed a safe house
Nikita would think of it as a mission. It was a mission to save lives and save her own soul. Getting revenge on Division? Well that was just the icing on the cake. She picked up the paper and left heading immediately to a nearby shop that carried everything, including burner phones.
Alex knocked on the door. "Come in." she heard.
She stopped as she opened the door and then came in further to close the door. She smiled as she saw Amanda standing there in a black leather dress. Amanda stepped closer moving with an even greater degree of self posession and awareness of her own power and drew a crop along Alex's jaw. "Adequate. Remove your clothing."
Alex chuckled. "No wine and dine?"
Amanda stepped closer. "No games. You surrender, I control. I will find satisfaction and if you are a very good girl, I will allow you to experience a sexual resolution that I believe you have desired for far too long." Her breath caressed Alex's throat, dangerous and arousing at once.
Alex swallowed dryly. This was easily one of the most dangerous women she knew but... This could get her closer to the information she needed, she tried to justify. She nodded slowly.
"Take off your clothes and kneel." Amanda's nails scraped lightly over her throat and down the center of her chest before she seated herself to watch. She crossed her legs as she watched the normally self-assured Alex fumble slightly with removing her casual clothing. She smiled as the younger woman pulled a shirt up and over her head, highlighting the lean and lovely stomach and chest. Alex soon lowered herself to her knees.
Amanda's brow rose as Alex looked at her in expectation.
"I think you have spent your entire life grasping for control, for strength. You will release your control to me Alex." She toed an ottoman to beside the young woman. She lowered herself and unwrapped a small bundle. She pulled out a collar. "Put on the collar Alex, and release yourself to me." Alex gritted as she stared at the older woman impassively.
Alex slid the thin but strong leather of the collar through her fingers. She didn't trust this woman any further than she could throw her but she wanted this. Amanda was power. Alexandra hoped she could use that power to get where she was going. All she had to do was trust the most untrustworthy individual on the planet. She sucked in a breath and drew the black leather collar around her throat, buckling it in a close but not strangling tight notch. She looked over at Amanda.
Amanda's lips curled. "Perfect." Her fingers curled around Alex's chin and drew her in for a long deep kiss. "Well done." She drew Alex's hands to rest on her knees so that they were easily accessible as Amanda manipulated the heavy buckles of the wrist restraints. Alex kept herself still as Amanda finished and stood. She moved to the chest of drawers nearby and removed a few things.
She drew a pair of nipple clamps with a chain through her fingers and smiled. "I do love your nipples. I think we should take a moment to bring them to their fullest potential." Amanda lowered herself into her chair again and pinched one of Alex's nipples. Amanda smiled even more as the younger woman sucked in a breath at the pinch and a loud exhale at the swift clamping of her nipple.
Alexandra's were wide as Amanda playfully tugged on the chain. She looked down to see her other nipple receive the same. She bit her lip at the second tug. A more forceful pull drew her to the side. "I would suggest you follow Alex, if you wish to keep them." Amanda purred.
Alex soon found herself chest down over the ottoman, her nipples feeling pinched and sensitive. Amanda stood over her. "I see myself as an artist Alexandra. My psychological profiles, the missions I help with, they are... sketches. When I find a subject worthy of my master work, it is... sublime. I intend to prepare you like a canvas. I stretch you," she said as her nails drew down Alex's back, the instinctive arching, brushing nipples over fabric drawing a small whimper as Alex began to discover the edges of pleasure and pain. "Once you're in position, I prepare you. As a painter will use gesso to prepare his canvas, I will use hand or paddle to give you a good base. When the heat and color please me, I will switch to a crop to create my art and when the fire in you rises, I will lay you on your back and make you scream from pain... and from pleasure." Amanda's hand massaged Alex's ass cheek, nails scraping. "You will be my Mona Lisa."
Alexandra closed her eyes. She was doing it all for revenge she told herself, even as her body betrayed her. She never just gave up control before and just felt. Over the next several hours she discovered pain, pleasure and craving as she never knew existed before.
Nikita walked into the large space. Industrial lofts were trendy these days, but usually only in the right neighborhoods and with some work. This, while fairly centrally located was most assuredly not one of the right neighborhoods. Only a pair of angry guard dogs and being set fairly well back from the fence kept this place from becoming a crack den or just plain getting every window broken out. She tucked her hair behind her ear. Paint the windows. Clean up the dust and metal shavings on the floor. Get a few appliances in here and replace that scary ass toilet in the other room. The list was already going through her head. This place was perfect, low key, multi-purpose, easily escapable if the shit came down. She chuckled. Cheap. Bonus, it didn't have time to make it on the market. She snagged the information off an agent's desk just after a bored secretary tossed it on. It would take work, but it would be safe.
A frowning man came in behind her. He wiped his gnarled hands on his jeans before running one set of fingers through the little bit of grey hair that stood bravely on the top of his head. "Sorry," he ground out. "The dogs are a little difficult. My son got them from some guy who said he trained guard dogs."
"Said?" she asked turning.
He harrumphed. "One of 'em coughed blood. Vet said he'd been getting gunpowder in his food. Tore up his stomach. That's old school dog fighting."
Nikita's jaw tightened. The dogs were just like Division recruits. They deserved better than to be run hot and fast and done to death before they knew what happiness was. "The asking price..." she started as she walked closer to the man. His cologne, though stinging, didn't quite cover the aromas of auto repair.
The grizzled man grimaced. "I know the place, it ain't shit. This building, its all I have left of my son. I gotta sell for enough to take care of his kid."
"The asking price is too low. Add another two thousand on price... and throw in the dogs." Her face grew grim. "I need the vet info, if you know someone who can feed them when I am away, I will pay well and I'll give you an extra thousand if you tell me where to find the trainer."
His creased face rearranged itself into a smile. "Knew I liked you kid. Let's talk money."
She sat in an old office chair and stared out into the little bit of sky she could see through the filthy glass. Mr. Rogers was almost dancing by the time he left, the cash she had given him in an envelope was duly tucked into his deep front pocket. It felt good to make him that happy. It felt even better when he pulled out a picture and showed her the little boy she helped, was still helping by paying for Hiram to swing by and check on the boys every day.
Standing up, she pulled a light jacket around her. A greasy old ballcap, also purchased from the old gentleman was pulled down so the brim would obscure her face with just a little dip of her chin. She had to go out and get some tools and paint, hit the local stores for some furnishings, oh, and get a pair of steaks for her new best friends, as well as one of those auto feeders in case she couldn't get away and Hiram Rogers was running late. Lifting her wrist, she looked at her watch. A few hours before she had to put her game face on. It would have to be enough.
Alex sat gingerly on the bench with her tray. Part of her wanted to hiss at the lingering pain. Part of her smiled at the reminder. Something in her freed up for a few moments. The red hot, ice hot flicks of pain across her reddened ass and from her tortured nipples hovered on the border, first pain, then pleasure. Back and forth until she was a moaning, whimpering mound of pure need and then Amanda filled her.
She blinked startled as her daydream resolved to a reality that involved Nikita sitting across from her. "Hi," she greeted.
Nikita nodded. "Hey. Heard you did well on the assignment."
Alex shrugged. "Got the goods and didn't have to call a cleaner so it went well enough."
The older woman watched Michael and Percy walk through the dining area, deep in discussion. She didn't want to leave Alex here anymore than she could walk away from the dogs, Fenris and Cerebus, when she learned where they had come from. There was so much risk in this. Would she try to disentangle Alex only to find that she loved the job? Would Alex sell her out?
She had to approach this carefully and she had to control the scene. Nikita smiled. "Let me know when you get your big girl leash. I want to take you out." She stole a green bean from Alex's tray and stood. "Looking forward to it," Nikita smiled and left.
Alexandra's brow knit. There was something more here than it would appear... again. She just resigned herself to being patient on several levels. Her eyes narrowed. The video? She needed to check with Fedya. She really hoped it was Irina who took her video and ran. She was getting a squirrelly gut thinking of what Nikita could do with it. Dinner tasted like ashes. Alex choked it down. She needed to play her role to the hilt.
