FALLEN ANGELS

Chapter 14

"Right…you go to your left all the way down the corridor to sector 03, and then down the stairs…Mikey I swear she was supposed to be out by now."

"You weren't supposed to let her go there in the first place."

"You know better than anyone she doesn't listen…at least not to me; what was I supposed to do?"

"Tell me for example…I'm on my way there; check if the road is clear."

"It's clear…you can move now."

Michael practically ran all the way to the stairs, always looking back to see if Roan will come in through the main door. Birkoff's line had fallen silent, and the only thing on his mind right now was to get there in time, somehow he felt she was in trouble the moment he didn't her from Nikita for several minutes. This thing wasn't like her, to just disappear in the middle of a mission; he couldn't afford to make any mistakes now, but she was out there, and he couldn't help her. Birkoff was nervously pacing through the tech room, his thoughts a mess as he was figuring out what to do.

"Birkoff, can you hear me? Please…nerd, tell me you cover this."

"Nikki, I can barely make you out…what happened? Where are you?"

"Gas…in the room…door." She tried to say more, but the words didn't come out of her mouth, so she started kicking the door with one of her heels. As soon as it made contact with the device, she heard a huge explosion somewhere in the distance, but she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore so she fell limp on the floor. Birkoff heard what she said, but at the same time, he heard Roan on the other line telling Percy that he's going down to kill Nikita.

Heidi was running really fast but she bumped into Michael somewhere near the stairs:

"Just the person I wanted to see," she said in a breathless voice, jumping into his arms," now we can really talk without rude people interrupting us."

"I'm sorry, I'm really busy now…I need to find someone," Michael told her and pushed her away," did you happen to see Nikita?"

"Yep…she won't bother you anymore…I took care of her."

"Heidi, what did you do? I don't have time for this…get out of my way... I need to find her."

"You can't help her anymore. She'll be dead soon enough, you know that gas in the room, it makes you lose your voice, faint…and then, you know. Look at me; I'm the one you really need."

Michael was about to push her away, but at this exact moment Oliver practically waltzed into the room, and dragged her away from Michael.

"Heidi, I don't have time for your games now, we need to leave…things didn't go according to the plan…the chopper is ready." He was yelling at her, while taking her hands away from Michael," Heidi please don't make me knock you out again….move."

"I was the one to close the door to your safe room Oliver; and now she's going to die…Michael, I can have you all for myself now."

"Heidi, so it was you all along…you stupid, crazy psychopath…do you even know what you did by closing that damn door? I swear, once we're home, you're not getting out of the clinic ever again, mark my words," Oliver told her, realizing the full extent of what her actions did today," because of you my plan went to hell and it took me years of planning…and now I don't have a list anymore, and the feds are arresting everyone…I will kill you, I swear."

Since she didn't listen and kept squirming, he took his gun out and hit her in the head and she fell into his arms. Oliver ran outside with Heidi in his hands, and Michael tapped his com addressing the Division extraction team:

"Guys back out now…securing sector 07 and you're out…Roan blow the damn chopper, Schwartz is on his way over there. Birkoff, give me an escape route now."

Birkoff secured his line then yelled into the com:

"Michael, Owen…Nikita was set up. Go get her; she doesn't have a lot of time left. She reported a few minutes ago, but she's not responding anymore…Down the stairs to the left, I'll open the door…30 seconds guys."

Panic was written all over Michael's face, so he was the first one to race down the stairs, and with Birkoff's help he was able to open the door, only that the moment he did that another explosion was heard on the parking lot…he got Nikita out of the room, and was holding her in his arms, but she was not reacting. He kept touching her face, make sure she was still breathing, but she was really pale so he kept checking her pulse every second, until he heard Birkoff:

"Dude, he put explosions on every car so that nobody would be able to get out…he was literally planning on killing everybody; there's a huge chaos right now, everyone is running in every direction, nobody seems to remember where the exit is…every damn car is blowing up, get out of there, now, I'm beginning to lose the control over the house…it will collapse anytime soon. How's Nikki, Michael?"

"She's unconscious Birkoff…I got her out of that room, but…she's not waking up, but her breathing is even…what kind of a gas is that anyway?"

"I don't know the specifics yet, but from what I heard from the crazy Heidi; it blinds you at first, then as you inhale it, you lose the voice…get her out, she needs fresh air…I'll look up for the antidote. Damn…Michael…we have a problem…Roan is up your way…do something; I guess you'll have to kill him now."

Michael raised his gun, and was about to pull the trigger, but instead of Roan the one who came in running was Owen. He had a bad cut on his forehead, it was bleeding but other than that he seemed fine, but he still didn't move, and put his gun down. Michael was still waiting for Roan to appear, and seeing as nothing happened, he lowered his gun:

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, don't I deserve at least a thank you? Roan was coming here to kill Nikita, finds you with her…and Percy finds about you."

"Genius conclusion…I'm amazed; and that cut on your forehead means he's not coming anymore?"

"That's nothing…he's been…taken care off, and he's not dead, just peacefully sleeping in a corner where his team will find his limp body. How is she?"

"Not responding…Birkoff said I need to get her out, she needs fresh air. He doesn't know yet what kind of gas was inside."

"Ok then…I'll go first, since you're with precious package" Owen said and sprinted up the stairs," Division is out of sight, you can come now."

Michael rose to his feet, Nikita securely in his arms, but the moment he approached the stairs, the lamp exploded and the room went dark. Then right above him another big explosion was heard and Michael could easily make out more screaming sounds, guns firing in the distance and the sound of people running on the main floor of the villa. He didn't even had time to process everything as he noticed a big marble piece of the ceiling together with the chandelier collapsing right above them, so he just closed his eyes, and protected a still unconscious Nikita with his body.

/

Michael wasn't sure where he was or what time of the day it was, but he was really aware of the throbbing, searing pain in his head. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times trying to adjust to the light, just to notice he was inside Division's medical room:

"You're awake…we've been kind of worried," Amanda told him while approaching the bed he was lying on," you've been out for several hours."

"What happened?" Michael asked while standing up from the bed, and trying to make a few steps.

"We thought you could help us with that," Amanda told him while offering her support." Birkoff lost your signal for a few minutes."

"The basement was jammed, that's why he lost me; while I tried to get out some piece of marble from the ceiling fell because of the explosions…and then I woke up here."

"Did you find Nikita?"

"Elliot found her before me, she wasn't there…did we get the list?"

"No, the place was reduced to pieces, sadly; it was such a beautiful house…the CIA arrested some of the guests…they don't know anything."

"And Schwartz?"

"There was an unfortunate accident, and his…ride blew up in the sky; right after you gave the order. Both he and his cousin…his bodyguards died. Roan didn't even had to clean afterwards."

"Good…at least something went right. Can I leave now or you need me for a debrief?"

"It can wait…I know how you feel about failures."

"I guess the same way I feel about being hit by a marble stone in the head. There's not much of a difference at the moment."

"I see…the debrief can definitely wait, as long as you feel better," Amanda smiled at Michael and left the room heading towards Percy's office.

Michael looked after her, and then sat on the bed with his head down trying to make sense of what happened. He needed to know Nikita was ok, but if he was left to walk around unharmed it meant Percy didn't know what really happened down there, and at the moment it was the thing that mattered the most. After several minutes of debating he got up and went to open the door but bumped into Birkoff:

"Dude, no wonder you were "indisposed" for so many hours; they didn't even let me anywhere close to you...you should at least watch were you walk."

"Birkoff I'm not in the mood for that…I need to go…"

"Home," Birkoff stressed the word, enough to make him understand he'll jam his tracker frequency so that Percy thinks he's there," you should go there, I'll let you know if we need you here."

"We'll be in touch," Michael told him as Birkoff handed him his jacket, and pointed to one of his pockets, "there isn't much left of the day so I'll be back tomorrow."

Birkoff nodded and Michael left, quickly getting to his car. Already inside, he put his hands on the steering wheel and closed his eyes trying to remember any detail that would lead to finding out what really happened. Birkoff couldn't tell him, afraid of the fact they might have been watched, and Michael needed to see Nikita with his own eyes. Starting the engine he opened his eyes with the fierce determination of beginning to think positive, because he was sure that if anything would have happened to her he would have felt it.

The moment he stopped into the lair, Michael felt as if the air had been knocked out of him…the place looked the same, yet he didn't find Nikita there, only Owen sitting at her computer. He stopped in the middle of the room, and his face must have been reflecting the questions he couldn't ask because Owen stood up and told him:

"She's in the kitchen," he said while taking his jacket off the chair," I'm going to head out because the day has been crazy as hell. I'll come back tomorrow to help packing."

"Wait," Michael stopped him," wasn't Alex supposed to be here with her?"

"She didn't want too…the moment I brought Nikita here; she called the team to get you to Division, but said she won't come later on."

Owen left and Michael's eyes roamed the room…it meant a lot to both of them, it was their place in a way. A lot of things happened here, their first talk, the first fight…approaching the table he noticed his knife in a corner and smiled tracing it with his fingers. Even after Uzbekistan when he thought he hated her, deep inside he was still looking for a reason that would have explained her actions. He knew she wouldn't have broken her promise made all those years ago…yet he still chose to believe Percy over her. At the very thought of Percy, Michael's eyes hardened, and his hand tightened on the knife.

In the meantime Percy was in his office with a drink in his hand. He was very happy about something, and you wouldn't even think this man just had a failure on one of his missions. When Amanda came in, he offered her another drink as they sat at the table:

"Now…don't I deserve a thank you for making you listen to me about his mission?"

"I've got to give you your idea was brilliant…who would have thought it would work out so good?" Percy asked while sipping on his drink," and the most important thing is that they didn't even realize it was all a set up."

"They thought they were doing a good job at hiding…and now we found them…the team Nikita's been working with…they did a good job at hiding it."

"Alex…that's why she reminded us all so much about Nikita…she trained her."

"And Michael…her mentor; they've always shared this connection…he always protected her, covered up for her…"

"Fell in love with her," Amanda finished Percy's thought with a frown," Percy…I was thinking if we should debrief Birkoff…see if he had any idea about Michael."

"Birkoff you say? I don't think he was involved…he did report seeing Nikita with Elliot there."

"Might have been a cover up…I feel as if we don't know the full story yet. How else can you explain them finding out so quickly about Schwartz changing the location of the meeting?"

A/N-Things are getting ugly my lovelies, so buckle up :D