That could've gone better. They were always bound to run into complications on their missions. No matter how great it was going with infiltration, kicking ass, sneaking around, and taunting one another through the coms, the team would undoubtedly find trouble. Nikita had hoped it would only be the keylock on the safe. She couldn't blow the door off the hinges; there were far too many volatile substances in the room. She had to punch in the code manually, and hope she could find the right combination soon. It substantially slowed her down. But with Michael and Ryan watching her back from the hotel room, she would be alright. Besides, Alex was wonderfully distracting their enemies during the Zetrov board meeting. The issue shouldn't have been that detrimental.
Except it was. Somehow, in finally removing the energy device from the vault, Nikita set off the hazmat alarm. Ari and Amanda definitely knew she was there then. She had to escape immediately. Gogol responded faster than she could flee, however, and she was trapped in the storage area. At least the glass was bulletproof. She had time to formulate a plan- possibly using the explosives she brought. Yet before she could put her rushed scheme into action, Amanda walked through the door. Her voice sent a chill up the rogue's spine. Escaping just became so much harder; she was well and truly fucked.
And it got so much worse when Amanda initiated the airlock. The security measure was in place incase of fire or intrusion. The oxygen in the room would disappear, leaving whoever was trapped inside to asphyxiate. Nikita was going to die there if Birkhoff, Ryan, and Michael didn't figure out a way to get her out of there. Her fiancé was already on his way, determined to save her from another encounter with the bitch. Her partner and nerd were more level headed in the rescue. They would call on a hazmat team, and sneak in through the chaos. All she had to do was wait fifteen minutes for her team. She could survive that long against Amanda.
The bitch just kept talking, though, attempting to claw her way under her skin. Nikita had to fight to stay above it. She couldn't let Amanda get to her, not after all she had escaped. The rogue had to keep proving she was above it all. But it was so hard with the rapid loss of oxygen. Her attention was splintered in too many different directions. She was trying to even her breathing, listen to Alex's progress through the coms, and keep herself updated on her team. She couldn't fight Amanda with all of that going on. She crumbled to the taunts, snapping back in return. The women were left hurting one another with jabs at relationships and emotions.
What else were they supposed to do, facing each other with only a sheet of glass between them. Frustrations overwhelmed them, and it felt as though they were back in that junkyard- back in Division. Nikita and Amanda always could dig at one another like no one else could. There was something about their relationship that left them so open for pain. The rogue knew she was irrational and stupid for it, but after hellish foster care, she reached out to the first person to show her kindness. First it was Carla, then- unfortunately- it was Amanda, until her heart was broken by all the lies and deception. She was taught she was special, that she was meant for more than what life gave her. Yet the bitch still destroyed any chance of happiness she might have.
Amanda really attempted to turn it around and try to play the victim in all of that shit. Nikita wasn't having any of it. She let her emotions get the best of her, snapping and snarling at her enemy. By that point, she'd rather asphyxiate with the energy device in her grasp, then let the bitch win. That was the best revenge she could think of for how Amanda made her feel. Although she hoped there was some good in her (why else was she alive if that was not the case), Nikita wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of having power. She had to suffer the same pain she had put her through several times before.
Alex wasn't entirely certain what was happening, and she honestly didn't want to. She and Nikita had been cut out of each other's feed, mostly because they were too distracted by the other's side of the mission. Since shit had been stirred up with Amanda, the young woman was patched back into all the drama. She was already stressed enough about ensuring Zetrov didn't hand any power to Ari. The danger was gripping her in fear. She felt out of control, like she wasn't doing enough to help. With only a few minutes of air left for Nikita (and a few minutes left of her being able to handle the mental anguish of dealing with Amanda), Michael frantically gave Alex something active to do, "Hazmat's arriving, Alex. Keep Ari in the room."
Settling her breath, Alex knew she could do that. She might not have spent that much time with Ari, yet she knew how to get under his skin. He was the same as any other desperate man trying to grab power. All she had to do was poke at his ego, and it'd all come tumbling down. If only the same could be said of Amanda. Alex didn't know her as well as Ryan, Birkhoff, and Nikita. And she never wanted to. But it was alright. She knew they'd always be able to handle themselves against that bitch. The young woman just had to focus on herself. Her team would be safe with her help, "Ridiculous. What are we waiting for? We can't let this man run our company."
"That's not for you to decide, Alexandra. You're not even supposed to be in here," Ari sounded like he was trying to hold back his anger. Yet he failed miserably. The team of rogues constantly ruining his plans was no doubt getting on his nerves- good. That frustration and lividity would lead to mistakes. It also allowed Alex to annoy him even further. His cool exterior was slipping. If she got him to snap, no one would ever consider him for the vacant CEO position. He'd lose any claim to the Zetrov throne, as would Amanda. The team just might manage to end their tyranny.
"That's right. I'm supposed to be dead," Maybe that was a low blow to deliver, but it certainly got all eyes on her. Alex deserved to play the 'someone tried to kill me as a kid' card. The current state of affairs at Zetrov wouldn't have been so drastic if no one attacked the Udinovs all those years ago. And people like Semak, Amanda, and Ari wouldn't be corrupting a powerful business any further. The world could be set right, as long as Alex didn't falter, "Who do you think planned the murder of my family when I was a little girl?"
"Chairman, I… I can't allow this," Spluttering, Ari had to stop the assaults. Not only was it damaging his character, it was also a blatant lie. He had nothing to do with Nikolai's death. But Alex wasn't going to sit there and explain Percy and Division. Besides, with Amanda running Division at the moment and Ari in bed with her, he was linked to the place so therefore he was linked to the murder. The young woman had no problem lying in that roundabout way. She had no problem lying at all. She'd do whatever it took to get vengeance for her father and save her team. The fact that it stung Ari so much was an added bonus.
"She's Nikolai's daughter. Let her speak," Before the chairman of the board could comment on the subject matter, Ilya interrupted. He had been supporting Alex's right to be there since she walked through the doors. He wasn't going to stop her then. Her father was right in calling him 'Zetrov's greatest champion'. She didn't think anyone else cared about the company or the good it could do more than the scientist. Sharing a grateful smile with the man, the young woman steadied herself. She could ignore the rest of the board and her anxiety. There was no need to worry when she had so many people in her corner.
"Tasarov and Semak thought that they had the perfect plan. Except I survived. They tried to kill me again in New York, tried to make it look like an overdose. But I survived that too," That was less of a lie. Ari was involved with the attack on her in New York, but he and Amanda quickly turned it around to help her. They thought if they saved her that night, she'd just hand over her claim to Zetrov. Maybe if she didn't have a team supporting her, she would've. Yet they encouraged her to keep fighting, and strengthened her whenever she felt like she wasn't strong enough. Just as they were indomitable on their side of the operations, so was she.
Ari's phone started to ring, startling the entire room. Based on the commotion coming through her coms, Alex guessed it had to do with Ryan, Michael, and the storming hazmat team. They were on their way to rescue Nikita, and at just the right time. She was either going delirious, or was attempting to deceive Amanda, even Alex couldn't tell which. But that didn't matter. The rogue needed time, and the young woman was going to deliver. After all, Nikita had helped her so many times in the past, Alex had to return the favor. So, flashing a smug grin, she commented on how many times the phone had rung during the meeting, "Is there another problem? Do you need to get that?"
"There are no problems, Alexandra, apart from the ones you imagine," A tight lip grin pulled at Ari's features. He wouldn't fall for the bait. He attempted to regain his composure and any dignity he had left. That only made Alex want to bury him even more. She was like a wolf circling its prey. The noises coming through her coms were ignored. She had her enemy on the ropes. It wouldn't take much to destroy Ari. The people who had hurt her would finally pay. She could have her vengeance and her peace. After all that strategizing, it seemed so simple. A few more words dragging him through the dirt, and she'd be free.
"Let's talk about your imagination, Ari. This security guard says that he's going to save Zetrov by making an alliance with the Americans. The Americans? We are Russians. We don't need anyone to save us," In a mixture of Russian and English, Alex pandered to the shareholders. They appeared more agreeable to her argument once she stroked their egos. God, she wanted to vomit. Those men were all the same. She couldn't wait for the change in leadership. There could be no more corruption or greed, just a business providing a good. Honestly, in that world, it was more difficult to be kind than evil. But why should they take the easy way out. Everything worth doing took time and effort, "My papa used to say, 'if you can't face the wolves, don't go into the forest'. This man would get eaten alive in the forest. He's not a wolf. He's a dog."
Her sentiment washed over the shareholders. The fact that it continued to be in a mixture of Russian and English probably helped. Yet the board was swayed by her words. Zetrov had to rebrand and rebuild after Semak. Letting Ari take over would only land them in the same boat. That point was made moments later when the alarm started to blare throughout the building. Ari might have been the head of security, but he couldn't even secure the building with all of his company's major players. But that wasn't completely his fault.
Birkhoff had initiated the alarm after Ryan and Michael grabbed Nikita and the energy device. The rogue had saved herself as she always did, tricking Amanda into breaching the vault door early and attacking her and the Gogol agents. She could've killed the bitch then. She was in the gun's sights, injured and defenseless. But where Amanda saw a moment of weakness, Nikita saw strength. The rogue simply pistol whipped the bitch, and sprinted to join her team. It would've been easy to end her enemy right then and there. But she had seen the gaps in the bitch's armor. There was some good in her. Forcing her to go through character change was the superior choice. It proved just how heroic the rogue was. She wasn't what she was molded into, but what she created for herself. No one could take that away from her.
Regrouping in the hotel room, the team had a lot to celebrate. Ari was fired, Amanda was on the run, and Zetrov was in good hands. They had actually won and saved the day. But instead of doing anything crazy in victory, they just cleaned themselves up and collapsed on the couch together. Talking and relaxing was a far better way to decompress after a mission, anyway. Their laughter made the fighting worth it. It was something they could always return to. Although she was wrapped in Michael's protective arms, Nikita managed to nudge Alex, grinning proudly. The young woman shoved the rogue back with a giggle.