Michael kept looking at Nikita's bruised and beaten eye as they drove to the airfield. She was absorbed in the information Heidecker was telling her: Birkhoff could fix Michael's twitchy prosthetic with some adjustments to the receptors, and Michael was a good candidate for the limb regeneration process. Whereas Nikita was excited by the idea, he was so confused- and so concerned. He still hadn't figured out what exactly his fiancée had stumbled into. But it certainly wasn't good, not with that injury marring her eye.
When they reached the airfield, Michael snapped himself out of his thoughts. They had to focus on taking out the last of Bechiraj's guards and getting the hell out of Kosovo. The former was easy. But as Nikita and Michael approached the plane, they realized the latter became even more complicated. Heidecker had told them about carrying cargo, but he never explained what it was. Frozen on the tarmac, the agents watched kids run around the plane. Surely they couldn't have been the cargo. That shouldn't be right, "Why are there kids on the plane?"
"As I explained to Nikita, we accept payment in information. The children are Bechiraj's payment. Real world testing is important to our research, and able bodied test subjects are hard to come by," Heidecker tried, and failed, to rationalize what he and the organization he worked for were doing. They prioritized scientific advancement above human life. Nikita should've realized that when he had tried to tell her there was a positive to the science behind killchips and atomic bombs. The group was corrupt, vile. They shouldn't be heeded in any way.
"They're children, not guinea pigs," Nikita practically screamed. What the hell was wrong with Heidecker. It didn't matter if the children came from poverty; they didn't deserve to be used and abused. Yet Heidecker refused to see reason. Human life was nothing to him, especially that of children. So, without hesitation, Michael and Nikita killed him and his men. The two created a mess for themselves: they had to clean the scene, create a cover story, find a place to bring the kids, and secure a new way home. But they didn't care. Heidecker couldn't live anymore. No one like that should exist in the world.
While Michael dealt with the pilots, Nikita attempted to calm the children. The language barrier made it difficult. The best she could do was convey to them in short, choppy phrases that it'd be alright soon; she was going to take them somewhere safe. Speaking calmly and softly was enough to ensure the kids weren't as afraid. She also managed to promise them all sweets and toys. That definitely helped with the panic. Eventually, they settled in their seats and waited for their next trip. Nikita swore to herself that she'd find a way to fulfill her promise to them.
In the meantime, she focused on distracting the children with a movie and whatever snacks she could scrounge up. She had the pilots help her with that once Michael finished questioning them. Knowing they'd keep their lives if they worked with the agents, the pilots did as they were told. They also translated Nikita's assurances to the kids. Before she could go too far with it, though, Michael pulled her aside. They needed to share information if they were to plan what to do next, "The pilots don't know anything. They were just hired to do a job, no questions asked. I'm gonna have them help us with the kids, then take us where we need to go."
"I'll tell the others," Nikita nodded and moved to turn her com back on. However, her thoughts (that were almost too many) stopped her. She was still freaking out about the reason the kids were on the plane. She didn't want to believe that children were being experimented on, yet the evidence was right in her face. The people she was going to trust to make Michael a new hand willingly subjected children to horrific tortures. How could they even rationalize that. Even if it was for the advancement of science, it certainly wasn't for the greater good. Only monsters would consider harming kids to gain power. And monsters shouldn't be dealt with.
Those monsters also knew who she was. Yes, they knew about Division, and they knew about the agents. But they specifically knew about Nikita and her situation. Heidecker had made it a point to tell her about it. That couldn't have been good. Nikita had believed she could brush it off. But after discovering the children, she didn't think that was possible anymore. She wasn't just dealing with scientists who had advanced funding and technology. She had almost made a deal with soulless monsters- soulless monsters that knew far more about her than she did them, "Michael, I think the group Heidecker worked for knows who I am."
"He probably informed them about all the Division agents he studied," Shrugging, Michael assumed that was the matter. The organization was a group of scientists- evil, atrocious, awful scientists, but scientists nonetheless. Of course they shared information about the people they worked with and on. Division had been their source of lab rats for years. They'd know about every agent that had come through during that time, including Nikita. It wasn't too shocking, so maybe it shouldn't be too concerning.
"No. He knew who Sean and I are. He knew what Madeline did," Instantly, Nikita negated. She wished it was as simple as the group knowing basic information about the agents. She wished that, for once, not everything circled back to her mother letting Percy drag her into Division. Yet that was a fact that'd always come back to bite her in the ass. She couldn't escape it- couldn't escape that doom. And Michael knew it. As soon as she clarified what she had meant, his eyes went wide. That definitely wasn't good. Things just kept getting worse.
"We'll look into his stuff when all the kids are safe," After he composed himself, Michael softly promised. He had absolutely no idea what kind of dangers were waiting for them; there was bound to be repercussions for killing Heidecker and stopping the group's human trafficking efforts. But Michael, Nikita, and their team would figure it out together. No one was allowed to run off on their own anymore. Whatever was about to come their way, they'd face it as one. They were stronger, smarter, better that way. They had learned that lesson before; they simply never implemented it. Things would change from then on. They had to.
With Ryan's and Birkhoff's help, the kids were soon taken someplace safe. Nikita was wary about handing them off to child services, but the kids would be protected there; her promise would also be fulfilled. Once that had been squared away, Michael and Nikita could begin their journey home. Nikita planned to go through the files they had found on the plane as they flew. However, the instant she was sitting with no danger in front of her, she fell dead asleep. Turbulence couldn't even wake her. Three days of no sleep made her crash hard.
When they landed, Nikita finally woke. Michael had wrapped his jacket around her as a blanket while he went through the files instead. She smiled softly at the thought. But the moment didn't last long. There were tons of things they needed to do since they were back in the States. The two needed to gather the evidence from the plane, bring the pilots to Division for further interrogation, and debrief- Nikita still didn't know how the team had managed to save her. They weren't done with their mission yet. Though, once back in Division, Michael did put a pause to it, "Hey. Your eye looks really bad. You should get it looked at. Then come find me, okay?"
A part of Nikita wanted to argue. Her eye had (mostly) stopped bothering her since she had slept on the plane. She didn't need Medical; she needed to go over the evidence they had stolen, double-check that the kids were safe, and figure out what to do about the scientific organization that trafficked children. However, the look in Michael's eyes stopped her from arguing a word. It was the same look he had given her when he first saw her walk out of a tiger's cage with a bloody eye. He was so scared. He needed to know that she was okay before they did anything else. So, she went to Medical and actually took care of herself.
As she had suspected, the blow to her eye was only surface deep. Nikita's face hadn't been completely busted. She did have a mild concussion, though. But that could be fixed with rest. The remainder of her injuries simply needed to be cleaned. After receiving no attention for a whole day, cleaning the grime out of her cuts hurt like hell. Fortunately, the pain didn't last long. She'd be perfectly fine soon. The doctor left her in confidence once that was confirmed. She was going to follow when Sean entered the room, surprising her, "So an international incident, huh?"
"Sean, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to take you and Alex away from the girls," Nikita immediately apologized. She hadn't heard Sean over the coms during the mission. So either she hadn't paid that much attention, he had stayed silent, or he had been busy with something else. Regardless, Nikita hadn't wanted to drag him into her dangerous mess. He and Alex were supposed to be spending the weekend with Jill and Sandy and their families, not putting themselves at risk while bailing her out of trouble. God, she had really messed up so bad. All the things she hadn't wanted to happen occurred in the worst ways.
"You didn't. Jill's kids are sick. I stayed to help her, and Alex came back here. She's the reason we even knew you were in trouble," Sean explained lightly. As she had flown back from Kosovo, Alex caught him up to speed. Although he was upset that he had found out about his sister being in danger after the fact, he understood the decision. There was nothing he could've done while he was with Jill and Sandy, and Michael and the team had it well in hand. He didn't need to worry about Nikita's safety. However, he would worry about her thought process. Where even was her head, because it certainly wasn't in Kosovo, "What were you thinking?"
"I didn't want anyone else to get hurt," Nikita answered lamely. She had dragged the team into a war against Division, she had asked them to stay to help clean up the mess, and she had caused Amanda to paint targets on everybody's backs. The team was constantly hurting because of where she had led them. She couldn't pile onto that. She needed to fix everything on her own. That way, things could truly become better for the team. She'd shoulder all the pain herself to stop everyone else's. After all she had done, it was only right. Except, as she admitted that, Sean flicked her bruised eye. She cursed, "Ow! What the fuck!"
"You're an idiot. Leaving us in the dark is more likely to hurt us than telling the truth ever would. What if we had lost you? How is that saving us from any pain?" Sean returned the words Nikita had once told him. When they had talked about why he had left Division, she asked him why he had thought separating from the team would keep them safe. Division wasn't hurting them; their enemies were, and they could attack from anywhere. If they left, they lost the protection of their team. They were stronger together- they always had been.
The best way for the team to know that and to remember that was for them to talk- really talk. They had to keep communicating with each other. Sean and Alex had figured that out as they fixed their relationship. The siblings were closer too because they talked. Michael and Nikita had once known the power of conversation, and they had been really good at it. But it was like they had given up over the past few months. They needed to get back to where they once were, not just for the sake of themselves, but for everybody, "You need to talk to your fiancé."
"I know," Hanging her head, Nikita mumbled. Running off behind Michael's back only made things worse between them. They didn't trust each other anymore. They were so focused on their own pain and on not wanting to cause any more, that they shattered their trust. The two weren't communicating. They just held everything in and pulled away, like they were in some sort of holding pattern. It was almost like the one they had fallen into when she was rogue and he was Division. But at least then they had intentionally meant to hurt one another. Hurting their loved one on accident was way worse. They couldn't even protect them from themselves.
Softly, Sean sighed and pulled his sister in for a hug. Although she returned the embrace, Nikita continued to stiffly sit on the edge of the cot. Her thoughts were racing, but not all of them were about Michael. She had known that they needed to talk for a long time. And she had known that she'd have to force him to listen. Those thoughts returned at the moment, yet so had the ones from the plane. She couldn't get her mind off Heidecker and the organization he had worked for. They were evil. Anyone who could rationalize hurting a child was absolutely evil. And they knew who she was. Those bastards knew about her family, "Sean, keep the girls in your sight."
"What happened?" Pulling away, Sean frantically asked. Both siblings had been worried about Jill's and Sandy's safety since Amanda had threatened those Nikita loved. But no active threat had been placed on them. No active threat had really been leveled at Sean either. He faced the same threats as everyone else in the field; Amanda hadn't singled him out. Yet that could've changed, causing Nikita's sudden intensity to protect their sisters. Something terrible (besides the obvious) must've arisen in Kosovo- something with far reaching effects.
Nikita had to tell her brother about Heidecker and his organization. Sean needed to know of the potential danger they were facing. Encountering a group like that, which experimented on children and knew who two of them were, definitely couldn't bode well. Nikita had brought horrific attention onto the team by hunting down Heidecker. The horrors didn't stop with Kosovo. After killing Heidecker and ruining their plans, the team was on the group's radar. Hell was going to come their way. Nikita was certain of it. And she was absolutely terrified that her loved ones would be affected first, "I think I just opened Pandora's box."