Disclaimer: Don't any of it and this is just for fun

Archive: Sure but let me know where

Author's note:

Can you believe it? 2 updates in one week!

Sooo I've decided to approach this chapter from a different position than I might normally. There will be a ton revealed here but most of it will be done from Mr. Gray's mental thoughts. It felt more natural that way rather than trying to turn it into snappy dialogue between all of them. I hope you end up liking it…I miss Michael and Nikita talking but all of this needs to get out and I truly think this is the best way. There's plenty of time for them to discuss parts of it in another chapter

Also I'm not sure on Nikita's exact age (my DVD's are packed for a move to a new house this coming weekend) so bear with me if some timelines seem a bit off.

There are only one or two more chapters to go…maybe a sequel AFTER I finish "Something to Remember".

Deep inside the Devil's Den

He looked from side to side. Michael and Nikita were on his right and Mr. Jones and Michelle were on his left. It was no surprise that they had opted to sit apart from each other given the turn of events.

"We have come to a decision; a plan that will affect all of you and one that your father, Nikita, has been assisting us in realizing. Of course given the outcome of certain parts of the equation we've had to make some adjustments but we believe that these adjustments will actually benefit the plan in the long term."

He sounded like a financial advisor meeting with a client losing money, Nikita thought. Her anger was just simmering under the surface so she couldn't help but scoff out loud. She certainly didn't have the patience to listen to them speak of Adam's death and Michael NOT being dead as "adjustments". Her father and his godforsaken plans were the ones that should be dead.

As for Michael, he knew that they were finally going to find out the "price" for all of this. A small part of him felt relief…relief that maybe, just maybe, there would be some clarity to be found…but he knew Section too well to keep the dread from trailing its' dark fingers up his spine. The helplessness he felt in the situation didn't help.

Nikita glanced at Michael. He may have been wearing his patented blank stare but the energy emanating from him was what she had felt in the courtroom waiting for her sentence from the murder she had NOT committed. They were 666 feet below the surface, clearly at the mercy of those here. There weren't any options for escape and it was crystal clear that the "plan" wasn't up for discussion.

But it was time for everyone to stop running anyway, to remove all the facades. Too many bonds had already been broken…and after all, there wasn't a truly innocent person sitting in the room.

And a part of her wanted to know the whole sordid tale…the conception point of the "plan" and where it fit into all their lives but she remembered what had happened the last time she went looking for answers. She had learned that sometimes the questions cost too much. She was tired of paying for her own mistakes. As she had told her father – she was done.

Looking directly at Mr. Gray, removing any emotion from her face, she spoke.

"Just get to the point."

Interesting, Mr. Gray thought. The old Nikita would have demanded answers. She would have needed to go back to the beginning. Of all the profiles of operatives over the years, hers had fascinated them the most. What drove her was so different from the rest of them. It was what made her perfect for their role for her in the end. And it would seem that the sped up time frame wouldn't affect the plan after all.

There was still Michael to contend with but even he seemed to have fallen into line with what they had in mind…so far at least. Soon it would be out of their hands anyway.

All these years of manipulating each of the players…he thought…a mother here…a child there…a father, more than once…and finally they were here, the finale or the beginning, depending upon how one viewed it. Michael and Nikita would probably view it as just another ploy, another charade until the next surprise, but this time they would be wrong.

It almost made him want to wax poetic at the beauty of it. Almost.

It had after all been the perfect plan. They owed the current Mr. Jones quite a lot for playing his role so well. Of course he got a lot out of it as well…but not every father would have been able to offer up his own child at birth to condemn her to years of hell. The ultimate experiment with your own flesh and blood certainly took fortitude. He'd proved that he possessed that particular trait in spades many times over the years.

Even with the missteps along the way, the center of the plan had stayed true to itself. All 27 years of it with Nikita at the center. Such blind faith they'd had in this plan, based solely on one little girl – no one in Section would believe it, which is part of what made it so perfect.

Her mother had been the easiest of the pawns to control since she'd had no control of her own...until later and that had fit into their plans nicely. The street years had been some of the more stressful times for the group and they had taken out more than a few shady characters wanting to get their hands all over her. Poor fools hadn't known that she was already spoken for in this lifetime.

And the antagonists, Paul and Madeline – the evil leaders – able to help mold Nikita down the path she was born for by being the complete opposite of everything we needed her to become. Their particular personal endings had surprised the group but not Nikita. No, she had accepted them for whom they were, faults and all, and expected no less or more than they were personally capable of. It was only one of her many gifts.

Walter, that sentimentalist; they couldn't have written his part any better then he had done himself. They wondered what Nikita would reveal to him once this was all done…where he would end up. They had taken bets on somewhere in Central America, maybe on a boat or running a small café.

Last they had checked on good ol' Mick, he was back in London doing theatre. He had always been good for some entertainment during the dark days.

And sitting here with them today, Mr. Jones little indiscretion, Michelle – a blip really…she had never been nor would be Section material. Nikita intrinsically knew this and would do right by her, they were sure.

Of course Mr. Jones had been the lead domino the last few years, putting so many things into motion. He had tried, really he had, to make Nikita see what would come to be. They were quite sure that it nearly broke his soul that it had taken his "death" for that to happen. In the end, he had truly had to give her up. Even now, with his disease progressing at a rapid rate, they weren't sure that Nikita would forgive him in time. That would probably be the price he would pay.

And finally, Michael, who had turned out to be the most important player that they hadn't counted on but secretly loved and hated. There was his son Adam, the distasteful but necessary blood cover, that had bought them so little in the end. Still…many places still believed in a life for a life and that was what they had needed. Yes, Michael had kept them up at nights. The had stopped counting how many times he had been written in…and written out…only to be written in again this one last time.

Nikita just wasn't Nikita without Michael.

Leave it to V.A.T.O.S. to get this final important detail wrong. He had a feeling that Nikita would want to come up with some nasty demise for that monstrosity of a machine that she loathed. They would have to impress upon her its' importance through her whole life. Her father hadn't been exaggerating that it had saved her life more than once. The last count had been 267.

So many puppets on their strings, all leading towards this end game. An end game that they were sure would surprise everyone.

Puppets no more.

No one could say that they weren't patient. They had earned this, the Devil's Den group…oh yes, they knew what everyone called them. That was fine after all, if anything it was good, it deflected the attention of those that might look too closely - those that might have seen the vulnerabilities there. It wouldn't have done for those outside the group to know that they actually had semblance of hearts where others thought was only steel. They too had served their purpose well.

But the group was ready to retire. They had all been here from the beginning. It was time for their reign to end; time for the new blood of Section to make it what they will. It was time for Nikita, and Michael as the case would be, to take the reigns…the true reigns, not the fake Mr. Jones and Oversight reigns that they thought pulled the strings.

No, the future of Section would be theirs to write. The responsibility of the world and its' terrors their children per say. They could even contemplate having children of their own if they so liked. They would hardly believe it of course – like he said, this time they would be wrong.

He wondered low long it would take for them to see it for the truth?

It was time to reveal everything…