Set pre-series in Nikita's Division days right before the St. Petersburg op where she and Michael kissed. A set-up to that, and a play on Kelly's line that Nikita could bat her eyelashes and Michael would let her get away with anything.
Nikita was pissed. She had just gotten back from a mission and they were sending her on another one. 'Rising star' her ass. Percy and Amanda had to have been punishing her or something. Why else would they expect her to kill a drug kingpin in the jungle one minute, then seduce a target for intel the next. It was ridiculous, and it was bullshit. If she could've smacked that smug expression off of Percy's face she would've.
Instead, she had to shave her legs. God, Amanda's amused yet disapproving look when she handed her the razor and wax kit almost made Nikita snap. Of course she was dirty and 'rough around the edges'. She just ran around a forest. She also debriefed for that mission, briefed for the other, and only had a few hours to get ready before flying to St. Petersburg. Why couldn't any other agent go out. So what if she was geared up and the 'best option we have'. She was so tired she might make a stupid decision. And she definitely didn't want to look pretty.
There was no time to go home and relax before she had to leave. So Nikita was left showering, shaving, and primping in the Division bathroom. At least she had access to recruit shorts and a tanktop. She could change out of her dirty, bloody mission clothes and wait to pull on whatever dress Amanda picked out for her. She really hoped it wasn't too tight or confining or revealing. Couldn't she at least be comfortable while she did something she despised.
The thought of some gross man touching her, made Nikita shave a little harder than she needed to. A harsh razor burn was going to mar her perfectly smooth legs. So the fuck what. Maybe it'd keep his hands off her. That'd be the dream. In the meantime, she was stuck in the communal bathroom of hell, shaving at the sink because it was far more convenient than the shower. Though, it was less private. Any one could walk in on her. Worst of all, Kelly, "Seduction mission?"
"No. I just prefer to shave and wax inside Division. The lack of privacy really gets me going," Nikita bit. She glared at Kelly through the mirror, before resuming her harsh strokes. The other agent was unfazed by her lividity. She had just returned from the same mission. If she had to go out again, she'd be pissed too.
"You missed a spot," That didn't mean Kelly would be helpful, however. It was far more fun to watch Nikita get riled up. The fact that she nicked herself aggressively trying to clear the patch of hair made it even better.
"You wanna help? I could use an extra set of eyes when I wax," Forcibly slamming the razor down on the sink, Nikita turned to face Kelly. Her smug grin melted for a second at the horrible thought of helping her partner wax her more sensitive areas. Nikita simply scoffed and rolled her eyes at the idea, though. She switched her legs in the sink and began hacking away at the short, coarse hair.
"Why don't you ask Amanda? I'm sure she'd love to control every inch of your appearance," After a moment, Kelly was able to bounce back with her own sarcasm. She was certain it wasn't too far off the mark. Amanda did a lot of the makeup, hair, and dressing for seduction missions. Why not shaving as well.
"That's the most disturbing thing you've ever said," Nikita shuddered. Kelly only shrugged and leaned against a nearby sink. Sighing, the overworked agent returned her attention to her leg. She had to be in the right mood to stand her partner at times, and then wasn't it. She roughly pulled the razor over a trouble patch of hair, and reopened a cut on her knee. Splashing water on the wound, she hurriedly grabbed for a towel, "Fuck. Shit. Why can't these targets be into hairy women? My eyebrows, legs, whatever, can only take so much abuse."
Kelly grabbed the tweezers that had been abandoned on the counter and cleaned up a few of the stray eyebrow hairs Nikita had missed. Her plucking was far more harsh than gentle, earning her a glare and a hiss of pain. She ignored it, smirking, "I'm pretty sure you need a boyfriend for that."
"If only, right?" Snatching back the tweezers and pulling away, Nikita muttered. She had managed to staunch the bleeding (of the cut and her multiple nicks) and soothe the redness on her brow. If that was how tweezing and shaving was going, then waxing would be hell. She would so much rather let her seduction target shoot her.
"Nah. I'm good. Don't need that kind of baggage," Kelly replied offhandedly. The lies of Division were enough for her. She didn't need a boyfriend. Besides, the seduction missions could be enough at times. Not for Nikita, though. She actually had standards for that sort of thing.
"You don't want to carry theirs? Or you don't want to pass off the poor excuse of a life you pretend to have?" Smiling proudly, Nikita spared the briefest of glances at Kelly. She had to bite her lip to hold back her laughter.
"You're such a jerk," Annoyed, angry, and everything in between, Kelly attempted to shove Nikita. She knew the attack was coming a mile away. Successfully, she dodged the blow and pulled the razor away so she wouldn't cut herself. Her smug grin grew at the fact, while her partner got even more ticked off.
That was how it usually went between the two. They'd do well together on the mission, then be at each other's throats in Division. However, Nikita and Kelly couldn't work with anyone else. They sort of gravitated towards each other, and never backed off. They were the best each other had. So they learned to make it work- kind of, "You call that an attack?"
"Come here so I can kick your ass," Kelly charged after her partner. Nikita laughed as she ran away. It was a more snide, 'I got the best of you' sort of laugh; Division not one to bring out the joy in people. But it was a sound that captured the recruits' attention as the two sprinted past the locker room. Smiles rippled through the crowd. Maybe watching the agents be real people instead of killing machines for the black ops group was more beneficial to those newly forced into the system. It wasn't all lost. Knowing she could joke around certainly helped Nikita.
Though, there was a time and place to fool around in Division; Nikita had learned that the hard way. Hers and Kelly's chase was leading towards Ops, and that was the last place they could be at the moment. The antagonist either had to confront her partner and get into a fight, or change the game. She decided on the latter. Recently, Nikita had learned to scale buildings using parkour and her momentum. She bet she could use it in the hallway to get up into the rafters before Kelly turned the corner.
It was a struggle, proving she had to practice her skill, but Nikita was up where the lights dangled. She had to be careful of wires. Yet that potential danger was shoved aside as she watched Kelly confusedly stumble into the hallway. She couldn't figure out where her 'target' went; she had just seen her, and the rooms were locked. Her questions were fortunately answered soon as she moved further down the hall. Nikita dropped from her hideout, shouting "Boo."
Not proud of how easily that frightened her, Kelly quickly scowled. Nikita could only grin excitedly about her own accomplishments. It took her partner a second, but she soon realized why that was. She had scaled a bare wall in barely no time at all. Kelly's irritation vanished, "How'd you get up there?"
Rather than tell her, Nikita took off down the hall and jumped up the wall again. It was easier the second time since she knew what she was doing. She also utilized the fact that she was barefoot. Kelly chased after her, staring up in awe. Both began to laugh, triumph and amazement washing over them. That was how Birkhoff eventually found them. He saw Kelly standing in the middle of the hallway then Nikita in the rafters, then dropped his tablet and gawked, "What the fuck? Dude. Can it even support your weight?"
"Are you calling me fat?" Nikita mostly joked to watch the nerd squirm. As expected, Birkhoff stammered and tried to over-explain what he meant. She just laughed at him.
"You did eat a whole carton of ice cream yesterday," It was only a half-pint and Nikita had been starving, yet Kelly didn't need the full story to poke fun at Nikita. Birkhoff laughed that time as the agent in the rafters glared. Oh, she'd show her.
"Watch this, bitch," Nikita flipped upside down so her knees hooked one of the beams, and started to do crunches. She was definitely going to have to shower again later. But it was worth it. At least, she could rationalize showing Kelly up as worth it to herself. If she had to explain that to Amanda, she'd be screwed.
While Kelly rolled her eyes, Birkhoff stared at the rafters. He doubted they would snap with Nikita climbing around in them; though, he wondered just how much pressure they could take before the ceiling cracked, "Wait, how much weight can these beams hold?"
"Well hurry up and figure it out. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up," Flipping upside down instead of doing pull-ups or whatever was probably a bad idea; Nikita would admit to that. She'd have to pull herself back up and drop down before she fell. She could be fine if she did, even if she didn't believe Kelly would catch her.
"Nerd, you're heavy. Pile on," Kelly instantly nudged Birkhoff towards Nikita. She should've been the one to climb into the rafters, see if she could scale walls and hide in ceilings too. However, making the hacker do it seemed more fun.
"It's 'Birkhoff' to you," With a huff, Birkhoff stomped over to Nikita. Although it would've been smarter to simply grab weights from the training room, he tried to figure out how he was going to join the agent. She solved his problems by reaching out as if she were to lift him. He had to hop to make that happen, and he only hovered a few inches off the ground, but their experiment sort of worked.
Whereas the beam held their combined weight, Nikita couldn't hold both of them up. She wasn't that strong. Her legs buckled and she panicked, "Get off. Get off. I'm slipping."
Too late. Her legs untangled from the rafters, and she and Birkhoff fell. He managed to land on his feet first before stumbling to the ground. Nikita, on the other hand, crashed into Kelly and smacked her face on the floor. She was lucky it wasn't her head or her neck. Yet her nose did throb. And her partner groaned beneath her. All the noises and sounds of distress drew Michael quickly to the scene. For a moment, all he could do was stare. Once he saw blood on Nikita's face, however, he sprang forward to help her up, "What the hell is going on?"
"I'm fine. I'll get up on my own," Birkhoff mumbled as he grabbed his tablet (that luckily hadn't been cracked) and got to his feet. The others ignored him. In fact, Kelly was ignored too as Michael's gaze narrowed in on Nikita and her bloody nose. She lifted the hem of her tanktop to wipe it away herself, causing his eyes to drift to her bare abdomen. It was a brief second, but Birkhoff caught it. He chuckled slightly.
"Uh. Field training," That was the best Nikita could come up with. She blamed lack of sleep and the stunning blow to her nose; though, Birkhoff and Kelly didn't supply a better answer. They simply nodded to what she had said. Some partners and crime they were.
"Field training?" Michael wasn't buying the excuse for a second. The dark bruise forming around Kelly's eye from Nikita's stray kick as she fell didn't help. The two agents plus Birkhoff were a strange mix. They had to have been up to something. Their handler was just unsure if he wanted to know or not.
"Yeah, you know, practicing how to dangle off a building with your partner," Nikita was so clearly talking out of her ass, but she wasn't receiving any backup. She was lucky Michael thought what she said was a little funny.
"It happened to Greg and Russell," Finally, Birkhoff also supplied some sort of explanation. It wasn't great, yet it'd plausibly cover their asses. That was all they really needed.
Michael was certainly fine with it. Other things were more important than whatever shit the three were up to. He didn't necessarily care as long as they were safe. Nikita's bloody nose was of great concern. It wasn't broken, thank God. She had simply shocked it with the impact. Gently, he helped clear away some of the blood. His thumb brushed along her lip, and his hand cradled her cheek, "Are you alright?"
They were too close for Division's standards, yet Michael couldn't help move closer in the pretense that he was examining her injury. Nikita canted towards him as well, managing to block Birkhoff and Kelly from their view. His touch was so soft and caring, it had her a bit stunned. She also wanted to melt into it and never let go. The way he looked at her with such intense yet adoring eyes, she knew he felt the same. Her words became more breathed than spoken, "Yeah, yeah. All better."
"Your date won't even notice," Kelly interrupted, snapping the two apart and jolting them back to reality. Uncertain about what she had just witnessed, she stared at them. Michael and Nikita attempted to not let their expressions give her any answers. Birkhoff did his best to hide his amused smirk.
"Just be smarter on your mission," Clearing his throat, Michael advised. Nikita nodded. That was a given. She wouldn't be that rash in the field, as long as his gentle touch wasn't there.
"That'll be easy. The dumbasses are staying here," Nikita dodged swipes from both Kelly and Birkhoff, and made her way back to the bathroom. She had less time than before her little adventure, and more things to clean and prepare for St. Petersburg. Yet when wasn't she causing some sort of problem for Division. The black ops group should be used to it by then. Besides, she'd do anything to delay a seduction mission.
Watching Nikita leave, and once again ignoring Birkhoff and Kelly as they took off, Michael considered following her. Not to the bathroom, that wouldn't have been right. But what if he followed her to Russia. She was going to be all alone in St. Petersburg, she'd need a partner. And with a forming black eye and possible ill feelings, Kelly wouldn't have been ideal. He should ensure she stayed safe and smart, and that her seduction target wasn't too handsy. He could keep her safe. And he could stay close by her side, Division standard's be damned.