Apologies for suspense. So on and so forth.
It had taken them a little bit to settle into some sort of a rhythm.
It had been a week, and Michael was still fawning over Nikita, completely overconcerned about every single little movement. After about five days she had ended up flipping him one-armed and sitting on him until he agreed to ease up. Birkhoff hadn't stopped laughing since.
The house was peaceful, almost. There was still an undercurrent of fear, the knowledge that it had been like this before and everything could be taken away again. But for now, sparring and breakfast were on the schedule, and Nikita was standing in the upstairs bedroom, looking out over the woods behind the house.
She smiled, softly. It's always good to have a home. Downstairs, she could hear muted bickering over coffee-making responsibilities, punctuated by Birkhoff's loud offers to just throw them all out (an oft-repeated threat) and eventually, Alex's laughter.
She turned back, slowly rolling out her yoga mat and staring at it contemplatively. This peace would soon be shattered, of course. There is no way in hell we are letting Percy get away with this one. But for now, it was time to heal. Time to relax. And there was no way she was going to waste that squabbling about coffee. Besides, everyone knows that tea rules over all.
After a few minutes of slow transitions between some of the simpler poses, carefully avoiding her bad shoulder, she heard the gentle rustle of another yoga mat on the floor. Alex's voice cut through the quiet of the room. "Old habits die hard, huh?"
She smiled. "One of these days, I'll have all of you doing this."
They continued on in silence, glancing at each other every so often as they matched poses, shifting fluidly if not seamlessly.
Just for a little bit, they could have their peace.
Michael ended up making the coffee, after Alex threw a pillow at his head and Sean continued to sit on the solitary couch, hiding his smiles behind a newspaper which seemed to be written in Chinese. Birkhoff gave up and had potato chips for breakfast, muttering under his breath about idiotic-coffee-pot-hoarding-maniacs. Dr. Branahan had eventually settled in with the whole routine, although he had greatly objected to being woken up and dragged off. Again.
The house had quickly settled into something like peace. It was always nice, feeling like he could just stay for a bit. After so long at Division spent running around after everyone (although chasing Nikita seemed to be a theme that he could never avoid) and trying to manage everything, one of the things that he loved most about being out was just being able to rest, every once in a little while.
Not that they spent much of their time resting.
Ever.
About an hour later, he found himself making his way up the stairs towards the bedroom that he'd staked out for Nikita on the first night. He knew he was being over-protective, but… he couldn't really blame himself for being scared of losing his family.
He paused in the doorway, smiling at the sight of Alex and Nikita doing yoga in the mid-morning sun, side-by-side. He crept up, in the unobtrusive way that only certain types of people can ever dream of managing, and was greeted by Nikita without so much as a backward glance. "You know, if you're in here watching, you have to join us. It's in the rules."
He smiled, looking down. "Thought I was being stealthy."
"Mmm. You always do, honey."
Nikita gracefully rose from a near-painful looking squat that involved balancing on the toes, and turned to smile at him. "I wasn't kidding about joining us, you know."
Michael smirked, turning to leave. "Well, in that case…"
"Uh-uh. No escape now. Come on," Alex commanded, a sly grin on her face as the two women grabbed his arms, pulling him forward.
Oh no was his last thought before they began demonstrating the first pose, and he lost himself in a whirlwind of not-being-as-quite-as-well-balanced-as-he-thought-he-was.
Casa de la Badasses was quiet. Too quiet. Seanny-boy had disappeared to wherever he lurked in his spare time, dragging Dr. Branahan with him (Birkhoff had NO idea what they ended up doing- probably shooting something) and there was a rather mysterious absence of Michael, Nikita, and Alex. Now, normally, he wouldn't question the absence of the first two… but unless there was some seriously kinky threesome going on up there, he somehow doubted that things were getting heavy. Oh, no, do not get that mental image in your head, you will never, ever get it OUT.
He twirled in his chair (the only piece of furniture that he had specifically requested when he bought the house- ergonomic and twirly just can't be beat) and contemplated his options. He could go investigate, risking the very, very slim chance of needing brain bleach, or he could sit there and drink Red Bull all day. Oh, come on, even you aren't that lazy. Especially when you're bored. He sighed, staring at the slowly rotating and blinking symbols on his computer screen. Essentially, a whole lot of nothing was going down. And, will you look at that. He's out of Red Bull.
Getting up to grab another can, a loud thump came from upstairs. Please do not be what I don't want you to be he silently pleaded as he made his way up the stairs. He peeked around the door frame, half-expecting to be utterly and completely scandalized, when he was greeted with the most hilarious thing he'd seen all week. Mikey was sprawled out on the floor in a tangle of limbs while Alex and Niki gazed down in teasing condescension, balancing in some sort of moderately complicated yoga position.
Oh.
I am never god damned letting him live this one down.
He makes it down the stairs somehow, only to collapse back in his chair, tears streaming from his eyes as he laughs, and laughs and laughs.
Which, naturally was when something actually popped up on the surveillance footage for the park that Sonja had sent him the coordinates to a few days ago, an event which he had so far failed to mention to the others.
"Whoa, whoa, what the hell is this?!" he exclaimed as soon as he regained control of his hiccups and started typing again. There was some guy that he'd never seen before, sitting on the end of the slide in the otherwise empty playground.
Teasing Mikey could wait. Actually, no it can't.
But it looked like the resting period was over.
"GUUUUUUUYS!" he called. "NOT TO INTERRUPT YOGA, BUT YOU NEED TO SEE THIS."
They'd dropped Will off in the playground, laying him carelessly down on the smooth plastic, an entire vest of bombs strapped to his chest.
Sonya had offered to help him contact Birkhoff. And considering this was the only way that he could possibly save JJ without the use of his legs, he'd agreed to the plan immediately. Like this, crippled, useless, his life was essentially over anyways.
Percy had been lying, of course. About seeing her again. But maybe that was all right. He sure wouldn't have to see the aftermath of whatever was about to happen.
So this is how the great Nikita goes out. In a big boom of Division Agent.
Great.
The wind whipped through the empty playground and he shivered, though its touch was not truly cold. Of all the ways he'd expected to die, since being in the program and even before, when he was a child just beginning to understand the workings of our great and terrible world, he had never anticipated this. Paralysis. And explosions. At least it'll be dramatic. I should have a soundtrack.
And it will be quick.
He drifted in and out of daydreams, before he heard the noises. It sounded like shooting, and yelling, coming from the woodland side of the park. And it was getting closer, and closer. He shook himself, lifting up his head and staring, trying to figure out what the hell was happening. Suddenly, fire opened from the trees around him, but there was a figure, a solitary figure, emerging from the woods, a figure that what felt like moments ago he had been fully prepared never to see again. And she was running for her life. But the Division agents were being mowed down by the people in the trees, and the com in his ear was crackling to life.
Damn it, JJ.
Percy's smooth voice filled his ear. "I did tell you that you would see her again. But don't doubt that we're watching. Get. The job. Done. And we will let her go."
He laughed, heedless. "No, you won't. Of course you won't."
A chuckle from the other end. "Well, you'll never know either way, will you?"
The shooting got closer.
It was all going to end somehow.
JJ, please stay the hell away from the playground.
It was just a park, just a playground. Michael and Nikita were moving as a pair, silent between the trees. Sean hovered behind Alex, as they whispered to each other softly. "Do you recognize him?"
"No."
They moved in closer.
Shots echoed from the woods, as running figures came into view. Alarm bells went off in his head as he recognized a Division hit team. Options ran through his head. Anyone Division is trying to kill is good enough for me. Sean and Alex looked at each other, nodded once, and began to move forward, aiming at the figures in black running through the trees.
Then, the woman reached the playground, stopping in shock by the swingset before moving into the relative cover of the main playset. He heard a shriek of, "WILL!"
So she knows the man on the slide.
Michael and Nikita finished off the last of the strike team. They slowly moved to the edge of the wood chipped area.
"Stay back," the man on the slide called, his hand on some sort of trigger. "They're watching."
He locked eyes with Nikita. "I have to do this."
The woman who had run through the trees was still clutching at the playground, a look of stony sadness on her face. What might have been a tear slipped down her cheek, before she wiped it away furiously. Stepping forward slowly, she moved towards him. "Will… what did they do to you?" she inquired gently.
"DON'T!" the man- no, Will, shrieked. His voice sounded scratchy, like maybe he was on the verge of something, either tears of blind screaming. "Don't. They're watching. And… I can't move."
God damn it.
Division had managed to get back at them first after all.
She had been moving through the woods for what felt like years, sleeping when she could, eating anything she found that was edible. They must have had some way to track her, though, because whenever she rose from a fitful nap she could hear them moving in the distance. Slowly, she was herded in one direction. She knew it had to be deliberate, but she could not figure out why. If they're trying to trap me someplace… What's waiting for me there?
They had begun their final drive perhaps half an hour ago. She was sprinting pel-mel through woods and fields, through backyards of confused civilians and finally into a park. They were shooting now, driving her faster, and she ducked her head as bullets zinged around her.
She had just hit the open ground when someone else opened fire, taking out the strike team one by one. At first she was grateful. But then, then she saw him.
She had moved towards the playground as a desperate source of cover, a temporary respite for heaving lungs and shaking limbs. But then, there was Will, sprawled out on the slide in a jacket much too bulky to conceal anything but a bomb.
The words he said confused her. What did they have on him?
Oh.
They've been herding me.
Of course.
You dumb stupid fucking son of a bitch, you aren't allowed to sacrifice yourself for me. Not again.
That was Nikita, on the other side of the playground. Percy had to be watching. That must have been the price. Blow yourself and Nikita up, and we let her go. The rogue agent must have been lured here somehow. But Percy had played Will, brought her here too. Now they were all going to die.
Unless she could talk him down.
She took a deep breath, moving forward, keeping her eyes on the shaking hand clutching the trigger that could blow them all away.
DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
(I have no idea where that came from or why I am so evil but I shall continue…)
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ALSO I have things planned... lots of things...
{edit} So, I went through and made some minor changes, but reading though this I realized that this chapter was actually a whole freaking LOT better than I thought it was when I uploaded it at three am. Ah well. MOAR UPDATES COMING!