Hope you enjoy this next chapter!
Alex blinked several times and silence filled the room. Her eyes dilating and constricting with each blink, adjusting to the dimly lit room. Her purple eyes were more sensitive, her eye sight sharpened to an inhuman level. Rain battered the windows while thunder sparked across the cloudy midnight sky.
'Her eyes….' Nikita thought fearfully; not knowing what was wrong scared the crap out of her. She looked over at Michael who mirrored a similar look of surprise, and utter speechlessness.
Purple eyes danced back and forth between two familiar faces, Nikita then Michael. Just as Alex recognized and identified them, the room spun, even when she was already lying down. She quickly closed her eyes, frowning her eyebrows in disorientation. Her body no longer tingled but her head felt cloudy, heavy and still spinning. Ringing in her ears gave her a growing headache. She also had a slight tremor lingering in her hands. The combination of all these symptoms and feeling of dread led to one thought for Alex, 'Herione would be very nice right now…'
Only then would the pain disappear and leave her drifting in an endless world of no worries.
"Alex," Nikita tried again and again. "Alex, are you okay? Please, talk to us."
"Alex, do you know who we are?" Michael asked, uncertain of what was currently going through Alex's head. The anticipation nagged at Nikita sending her patience on overdrive.
Alex opened her eyes again just a slit, and opened her mouth slightly managing to get a few incoherent syllables across before closing her eyes again, "Ni…I…ca…ugh."
Nikita placed the palm of her hand against Alex's forehead, feeling her burn up once again, even warmer than before. In a panic, Nikita said shakily, "Michael, we need ice, lots of it."
Understanding immediately, he flew to the freezer and retrieved multiple packets of ice. Nikita reached out and held onto Alex's dampened shaky hand. She gently squeezed her hand calling out to her again. High sustained fevers were the worst. You never know if it will do further damage then just cause shivers and a pounding headache. In the worst case scenario, brain damage could occur which is certainly undesirable.
Alex responded by opening her eyes again and Nikita smiled, happy to see her eyes again even if they had changed into an unnatural ghastly colour. Nikita gently stroked Alex's hair back, away from her face. She remembered that a single stroke would comfort Alex when she was overcoming her withdrawal from multiple drugs, mostly herione. It seemed to be working now as well lessening Alex's distress.
Nikita tenderly whispered, "Alex, we have ice here and it's going to feel cold but we need to bring down your fever."
Michael placed the first pack on Alex's forehead, which quickly began to melt the ice through the thin plastic cover. Condensation already began to form and precipitate, streaming droplets down Alex's heated skin. Each ice pack being added on caused her to flinch at the sudden cold contact.
As Nikita and Michael both placed ice pack after ice pack, Alex's breathing involuntarily grew heavier and heavier. Each breathe rattled her body senseless. She grimaced several times, gripping the white silky bed sheets tightly, whimpering her disapproval at the unwelcomed cold.
By now, Alex had ice packs surrounding the lateral edges of her neck, underarms, and sides. Nikita continued to monitor Alex's fever while Michael paced back and forth trying to think of something, anything that can help them figure out the cure to whatever was infecting Alex.
"Nikita, I need to get back to Division and figure out how to get more intel from there. I'll ask Brikoff to help out and I'm sure we'll find something with his help." Michael explained rationally.
Still keeping her eyes on Alex who seemed to be weaving in and out of consciousness, she replied, "Michael, Alex is getting worse. Please be careful when you go back. And please hurry. I don't know how much time we have left."
Michael walked over to Nikita and slowly turned her around to face him. Nikita leaned forward into his embrace, feeling comfort and security in his arms. She needed to stay strong for the three of them, especially for Alex. No words were exchanged between Nikita and Michael as they departed slowly.
"I'll be back in a few hours. Call me if there are any new updates and I'll give you a call as soon as I find anything." Michael quickly said. "Nikita, everything will be okay. We'll figure this out, you and I." He paused and his eyes softened a little, trying to give Nikita a bit more strength and reassurance to get through this, "Just like old times. We'll get through this." Michael released one of his dazzling smiles, charming Nikita once again.
Nikita nodded and gave a sly smile, acknowledging Michael's words of comfort and determination. Michael gave both Nikita and Alex a last look before he made his way out of the loft, making his way down the multiple flight of stairs.
Nikita turned around to face Alex again and took a good long look at her. Alex had lost weight, her face sunken in with her skin pale and sickly. She no longer had the healthy glow. Her once flawless skin was now slick with beads of sweat, mixed with the condensation of the melting ice packs. It had only been a few days since the explosion at the lab, and the mysterious gun shot wounds, but so much had happened leading to all these unpredictable events. If the mission hadn't gone awry, Alex would have been half way across the world by now, enjoying life.
Never in her life had she felt so scared and helpless. Nikita was able to save her from a fire, rescue her from a life of prostitution and drug addiction, and yet now she can't seem to save her from something so small as a microscopic bug in her body? It was both frustrating and terrifying at the same time.
Alex with her eyes still closed tightly, moved her head towards Nikita. Her hand unclenched from the bed sheets and slowly and shakily moved it's way over towards Nikita, barely lifting 2 inches from the mattress before Nikita reached for her hand.
"Wat-er." Alex managed to mumble half consciously.
Nikita suddenly feeling relieved that Alex spoke, "Okay Alex, I'll be right back." Nikita gently placed Alex's hand down on the mattress and jogged across the room towards the kitchen to grab a glass of cold water.
As she poured a glass of water, she caught movement from outside her window on her left. Her body immediately tensed and became alert as she scanned the windows, concentrating on any sounds. After a few seconds, nothing. 'It might be a bird again.' Nikita contemplated, slowly beginning to let her guard down.
She turned her attention back to the glass of water in her hand. She grabbed a straw and began to make her way towards the other end of the room where Alex. Out of the blue, multiple objects broke through the glass windows. Nikita dropped her glass of water and on instinct rolled across the floor away from those objects. Nikita quickly recovered and looked at the foreign objects that quickly emitted a thick gas. "No! Smoke bombs." Nikita cursed.
The sound of glass shattering boomed through the room as highly trained professionals came through the windows, descending from thick black wires. One word went through Nikita's mind at the first glance, 'Division.'
The heavily armour clad agents wore gas masks and mercilessly closed in on her. The sedation gas leaking from the smoke bombs were beginning to have its effects on her as she tried to manoeuvre herself to the direction of where her weapons were. It was hard to see through all the fog but Nikita managed to spot a few agents in Alex's direction. In a hurry, being agile despite the effects of sedation, Nikita sprinted to her guns and loaded them behind a large box. 'Alex, I'm coming for you,' Nikita thought, wishing that she could tell Alex telepathically.
Meanwhile, when the sound of shattered glass reached her ears, Alex drowsily opened her eyes suddenly confused and unsure at what was happening. She began to realize something was very wrong with no one was at her bed side while a thick white smoke began to fill the room bottom up. Soon after, gun shots were fired in all sorts of direction from the windows towards the opposite side of the room.
Alex tried to sit up by leaning on her side and slowly trying to push herself up into a prone position. "Nikita." she called out weakly before falling back to bed, beat from using her energy to get up. 'Why can't I get up? Ugh I need to get up and help Nikita. Division is here to attack us.' thought Alex desperately as she mentally fought her body and mind for control.
Suddenly, two people dressed in black with masks approached her bed side. One of them called out to her arousing her from a semi-conscious state. "Alex? Oh my gosh, Alex! We are here to save you. Alex!"
The speaker took off his mask briefly, and Alex met comforting and sparkling blue eyes belonging to the one and only Nathan. "Alex, it's me Nathan." Nathan dropped his mask to the ground and bent forward towards Alex. "Alex, this is going to help you recover temporarily." He took out a syringe with a yellow fluid and did an intramuscular injection into Alex's deltoid muscle.
Alex becoming more and more conscious and aware of her surroundings replied with surprise, "Nathan?"
Quickly and swiftly, Nathan effortlessly lifted Alex up cradling her in his arms and heading out towards the window as discussed according to their action plan. 'Alex is so light. She looks so sick, please be okay Alex. I'm going to get you to safety and Division is going to give you a cure.'
Alex was limp and unmoving in Nathan's arms, though her eyes were open gazing up at Nathan then around the room where smoke clouded her vision. She seemed to be much more conscious and aware of what was happening but wasn't able to quite move freely just yet. "Nathan, help Nikita," she called out.
"Alex, I'll explain but we need to get out now." Nathan responded quickly, pulling Alex closer as he ran towards the awaiting helicopter.
Nikita took out as much men as she possibly could. These agents weren't the average ones, they actually had some skills. Two bullets already grazed her flesh when she took shots at a few of them. This pain was nothing to what she was feeling inside though. She wanted to just run out and bring Alex out of danger. But if she did that, she would kill herself, which won't help the situation at all.
There were only a few more agents left. All she could think of was to not get captured by Division because Alex needed her help. She needed Alex and couldn't just disappear just like that without saying goodbye.
She knew Division was after her but of all times, why now when Alex needed her the most. It was just a cruel world and there just wasn't any room for acceptance of this cruelty.
Nikita made her way across the room, closer to Alex but feeling a little disoriented from the smoke. Her heart rate was slowing due to the effects of the smoke bombs but she continued to push herself forward. With her gun in hand, she took out more agents but what she saw made her panic even more. An agent without head gear had Alex and was making his way out the window. This blond agent stepped onto a helicopter and gently propped Alex up in a seat.
"ALEX!" Nikita fully sprinted towards the window but another agent blocked her way and fired at her, one bullet grazing her arm. She quickly shot him in the neck with one fatal bullet. As the agent fell to the ground, Nikita leapt over him and ran towards the window. She screamed again, "ALEX! NO." Her movements were slowed because of the sedation gas but she continued to push forward, strong as she always is.
By the time she reached the window, the helicopter was already too far out to get to. "ALEX!" Nikita screamed out helplessly, catching the attention of Nathan who was on the helicopter with Alex.
Nikita swiftly took aim and shot at the blond agent who kidnapped her Alex. Just as Nathan began to turn around, a sharp pain hit him in the chest. Upon seeing the blond agent's face after taking two shots, Nikita recognized him as Alex's neighbour. 'Nathan? With Division?' Nikita thought, trying hard to piece together what she was seeing.
'What….why is he here? He's Division?' Nikita continued. 'Why is he taking her? How'd they find us?' Being distracted by the new turn of events, Nikita didn't sense the agent creeping up behind her.
The helicopter was getting smaller and smaller as the distance between them became farther away.
A sudden blow to Nikita's head knocked her out immediately. She fell onto the ground where dozens of sharp glass shards resided.
Two agents remained standing in the loft after this mission. One of them pressed a switch in his head gear and said in a deep voice, "Extraction complete. Nikita has been knocked out, still alive."
BAHH... that was intense to write :) What's going to happen to Alex, Nikita and Nathan?
