A/N: thanks for the alerts everyone! it's good to see more and more people are getting hooked to Nikita—totally one of the best shows on tv right now, in my opinion ;)

Sometimes, Micheal wondered if he was crazy. Here he was—in the middle of the woods—with his arch enemy.

And they were supposedly working together. As in, they were on the same side.

Yeah, he didn't understand how that had happened, either.

Michael glanced at Nikita from the corner of his eye, but she was focused solely on staking out Kasim's predetermined meeting place. He was about to look away, when she suddenly asked, "What's wrong?"

He rolled his eyes. Of course she knew that he was watching her. Nikita had always had a sixth sense for these kinds of things.

Or maybe she just had eyes in the back of her head.

He wouldn't be surprised.

"Nothing."

"Still trying to figure out if you can trust me?" she deduced correctly, a hint of a smile at her lips. "What else do I have to do to prove it to you?"

"Stop working against Division," Michael muttered, without any real conviction.

"You can't expect the impossible."

"I know. But I can ask for it."

Nikita shifted closer, "My place isn't at Division anymore. You know that."

"So this is your life now? Just travelling the world, getting in the way of Division's missions?" Michael paused, his eyes narrowing. "How do you even get your information? Do we have a mole I should know about?"

Nikita laughed easily, "I'm hurt, Michael. You don't think I could have pulled any of this off on my own?"

"I know you couldn't," he said, but his voice lifted in uncertainty.

"Give yourself a little credit; you're the man who trained me. You did good." She smiled then, a little ironically, "Gold star."

Michael shook his head, "Enough of your mind games, Nikita. We have a mission to focus on."

"Fine," Nikita peered through her binoculars. "But when you get back to Division, be sure to tell Amanda and Percy what an awesome job they've done with me. I'm sure Amanda will be happy to know her evaluations made me a stronger person. Mentally and physically."

Michael didn't say anything in response, but he noted the sincerity in her voice. "Amanda made that big of an impression on you, huh?"

"Sometimes a little crazy goes a long way."

"She's not that bad," Michael halfheartedly defended Division's Inquisitor. "There's a method to her madness…or so I'm told," his mouth lifted in a smirk when Nikita rolled her eyes.

"I'm just glad you were there for the recruits' evaluations. God knows what would have happened if you weren't."

"What are you talking about?"

Nikita looked surprised at his sharp tone, "It's just…well, you told me that Amanda and Percy don't like Alex. I would imagine that they went out of their way to make her third test unbearable. But you were there, so that's good."

Michael's mind seemed to be working more slowly than usual, and he frowned. "What third test?"

Nikita blinked, looking genuinely confused. "The test after the mind simulation? You know, where they torture you with the thing you fear most?"

"What is this, Big Brother?" Michael abandoned the pretense of looking through the trees for Kasim. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Nikita."

Nikita sat back on her heels. "That explains a lot," she murmured, almost to herself. "You never knew…"

He grabbed her arm roughly, causing her to drop her binoculars. It rolled down the embankment, and out of sight. "Nikita. What are you talking about? What did they make you do?"

She turned away at that, and her voice was strained when she answered. "That's not important."

"Are the recruits in danger?" Michael demanded abruptly, "Is Alex—"

"I don't know."

"Let me go!" Alex screamed, but her mouth was still gagged and the sound was muffled. She felt herself thrown into a hard chair, and someone fumbled with her wrists. She tried to shout again when she felt her wrists being twisted backwards and snapped into place with cold metal handcuffs. The gag was removed roughly from her mouth, but before she could say anything, someone punched her in the stomach. Hard.

Alex gasped out, completely winded. She bent over in pain, crying out as the handcuffs cut into her skin. "What's happening?" she choked out in agony, "Where am I?"

In response, her blindfold was removed.

Alex blinked several times, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. She felt panic rise in her chest when she realized she had absolutely no idea where she was. "Is this one of your stupid exercises?" she screamed out in desperation. "Amanda? Are you here? Where am I!" She tried to turn her head, but stopped short when a shooting pain travelled through her body, starting at her throat.

Dimly, she remembered being injected with something in her neck. She gritted her teeth to still the pain, and tried to force herself to calm down. She could feel someone behind her and she closed her eyes, slowly counting to ten. "Who's there?"

"Recruit #13, correct?" a deep voice inquired. Alex lifted her head, and watched as a figure walked around the chair until he was it front of her. The person snapped his fingers, and a dim light flickered on in the corner. Alex's eyes quickly scanned the room, her heart sinking when she didn't recognize the area at all. She looked up at the person standing in front of her, but he was dressed in all black; even his face was covered with a black ski mask.

"Where am I?" she whispered, wincing when the person slapped her across the face.

"I asked you a question," he said in a clipped tone. "Recruit #13?"

"YES, okay!" Alex shouted, "Who are you! Is this another exercise?"

"You don't get to ask the questions, recruit." The figure walked around her chair again, and stood behind her. Alex tensed when she felt his breath on her ear, "Tell me, unlucky number 13...What do you fear most?"

Alex swallowed, closing her eyes again. She could feel her heart thundering in her chest, and wouldn't be surprised if he could hear it, too. Experimentally, she twisted her hands in the cuffs, but they were too tight. She supposed she should be grateful for the metal cuffs—after all, that meant she wouldn't have to endure electric shock. Unless he was aiming to kill her, of course...

"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!"

Alex screamed in pain this time when he delivered a sharp blow to her head. Stars exploded across her vision, and she felt helpless tears spring to the corners of her eyes. "I—I don't know!"

"You don't know? Come on, recruit," he sounded vaguely impatient now. "Everyone has something they fear."

"I don't know," she repeated, her voice wavering. "Just let me go, please!"

"Not an option, thirteen," his breath tickled her ear again. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing! I don't know anything!" Alex pleaded, pulling uselessly at her arms. "What do you want with—" she suddenly paused, tensing when she heard the sound of a match being lit. "What are you doing?" she asked slowly, craning her neck around. She gasped when a lit match entered her vision.

"A little birdie told me that you're scared of fire," the man mused thoughtfully. "Is that right?"

Alex's eyes were wide, "N-no. I don't know what you're talking about."

He made a disbelieving sound, and blew the match out. Alex barely had time to sigh with relief before the man walked to the opposite corner of the room, and bent to pick something up. Alex squinted to see what it was, and her heart skipped a beat.

Oil.

Humming to himself, the man began pouring the oil in a careful swirl around Alex's chair. "NO, no! LET ME GO!" Alex screamed, thrashing in her chair. "Why are you doing this! I didn't do anything wrong, I SWEAR!"

The man paused, "Are you ready to tell me what you're hiding?"

"I'M NOT HIDING ANYTHING!"

He shrugged, and kept pouring oil until every last drop was gone. Without looking at Alex again, he dropped the oil can on the ground and left the room.

Alex was left by herself.

"I assume she's tied securely?" Percy asked as the man in black entered the Operations room.

"I've never had any complaints before," the man grinned as he pulled off his mask. "She's not going anywhere."

"An excellent job, Agent Ortiz," Amanda said approvingly. "What did you think of her response?"

"Definitely hiding something," the agent replied immediately, taking a seat behind them. "How long you think till she cracks?"

"This recruit is special," Percy leaned back in his chair, "I'd give her a couple hours."

Birkoff nervously chewed on some licorice sticks. "What made you choose fire as the thing she feared most? I've never heard her mention that before."

"During one of our sessions, Alex said she was scared of being underwater," Amanda replied with a distant smile. "I figured she was lying...so I chose the opposite."

The phone rang behind them, and Agent Ortiz leaned over to answer it. "Hello? What? Yeah he's right here...okay..." He handed the phone to Birkoff, "It's for you."

"For me? Who is it?"

"Micheal."

Amanda held up a hand, "Put it on speakerphone, then let Birkoff talk." The agent complied, and indicated that Birkoff should start talking.

"Yo, Michael. What's up?" Birkoff laughed uncomfortably, "Is the mission going okay? You get a hit on Kasim yet?"

"Screw the mission!" Michael snapped, sounding angry. "What's going on over there?"

"Um," Birkoff pulled at his collar, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid with me," Michael hissed, "That bullshit might work with Per—"

"Oh look, Alex is trying to get away again!" Birkoff announced loudly, gesturing at the screen. "Are you absolutely sure those handcuffs are secure?"

Amanda rolled her eyes at Percy, readying herself for Michael's protests. There was a brief silence, "Alex is in handcuffs? What's going on over there? What happened?"

"Not to worry, Michael," Percy said, sounding bored. "Your precious recruit is in safe hands. We'll handle it. You just focus on Kasim."

"Listen—"

"It's all part of the evaluations," Amanda cut him off. "Don't let yourself get distracted. We'll debrief you when you return to Division."

"But—"

"Goodbye, Michael." Amanda said smoothly, and hung up the phone. She smiled coldly and returned her gaze to the security screen, "On with the show..."