It might get a little unrealistic, guys. Sorry if I fudge medical details and do things that aren't actually possible in the future.
I don't own Nikita or anything to do with it.
Just as Birkhoff was returning to his regular seat the computer room, he heard a wisp of a conversation Amanda was having with her cell phone. All he made out was, "Alex is currently detained and has been rendered unconscious."
Birkhoff paused for a moment, curious. Was Alex being punished? He listened more closely.
"Yes, she's too be implemented in an hour."
Implemented? Birkhoff wasn't sure what that meant, but it was better than cancellation.
"I plan to make her aware of the implementation. We'll see how it effects her. Birkhoff can help with the process."
Birkhoff sighed. More work. It's not like he had time for much else.
"Yes, cancellation is quite a possibility."
There was the deadly word. He frowned again, wondering what Alex could have done just as Amanda hung up her phone.
"Birkhoff," she called to him.
"What is it?" he sighed.
"You and I are requested in the medical room."
"Can I ask why?"
"You can be patient and find out when you get there," she snapped.
Birkhoff rolled his eyes, but followed her to the medical room anyway. When he arrived, Alex was lying face up on a cot, looking dead.
"This is Alex," Amanda told him.
"Yes, I know, thanks," he said. "I can think of a lot of inappropriate reasons why you'd want me in the same room as an unconscious Alex."
"You can save your fantasies for later, Birkhoff. You're here to help implant a pair of bugs into Alex so we can hear what she's up to and talk to her at all times.
"Is that not a bit extreme?"
"Not under her circumstances."
"What are her circumstances?"
"Confidential," she told him smugly. She held something up, probably one of the things that was about to go into Alex. "I want you to wire this bug to yours and my personal computers. Check up on Alex regularly. We've got quite the troublemaker on our hands."
"Can I ask why I'm assigned to stalk Alex?"
"We suspect her of being up to some juvenile activities understood to be prohibited by Division," she explained. "I'm a busy woman, so I can't track her at all times. You, on the other hand, are usually behind a computer anyway. However, I don't want to leave Alex surveillance up to you. I don't entirely trust you."
"Ouch."
She ignored him. "Just save sound files," she demanded, "and send the interesting ones to my computer in case I miss them. I do plan to partake in occasional surveillance as well, but just in case I miss a beat or to. And I notice something, and you don't report it, don't get used to having all ten fingers. Do you understand?"
"You got it, boss," he said simply, but he was actually quite uneasy about the task. Her took the chips from Amanda and retreated back to the infamous computer room, where he almost lazily programmed the bug and speaker. It was easy, because he was so obviously genius. He wired the thing to the appropriate machines, and was finished within an hour. With a job well done, he took the item back to the lab, where it was probably to be used as some sort of blackmail device for Alex.
He suddenly felt insanely guilty.
"She should wake up any minute now," Alex faintly heard Amanda say.
Alex hesitated before revealing that she'd just reached consciousness. Eventually, curiosity won her over. She slowly opened her eyes.
"There's our girl," Birkhoff declared.
"Welcome back to reality, Alex," Amanda said, returning to her cool, sultry nature.
"Good to be back," Alex said. Her voice was scraggly. She must have been out a while.
"Do you have any idea as to what's going on?"
"In case you haven't noticed, I've recently returned to consciousness. Of course I don't know."
"I'm anxiously awaiting the catfight," Birkhoff muttered.
"Then allow me to fill you in," Amanda began coolly. "Do you feel any pain anywhere?"
"My . . . my ears hurt," she realized, switching to a sitting position. "Or my head, or something."
"More specifically, the area just beneath your ears," she explained. "Don't worry. We were able to avoid the tattoo."
"Goody."
"There is now a device in your head that can record anything you say or hear," she continued. "If you speak, we can hear it. If someone speaks to you, we can hear it. If you whisper, we can hear it. If you open a door, we can hear it. In fact, we can even speak back to you whenever we please, and you can hear it in your head."
"Why? That's creepy."
Amanda suddenly lost her coolness. She strutted up to Alex and leaned right up to her ear, hissing just low enough for only Alex to hear.
"Because I know about Nathan."
Alex gasped, mostly at the irony. "There's nothing going on between me and Nathan," she whispered back desperately, honestly.
"Then you have nothing to worry about," Amanda said, returning to normal volume. A confused look crossed Birkhoff's face.
But she did. She spoke to Nikita and Michael. She could write them notes, but if the bug was as sensitive as Amanda was implying, they would hear the pen scratch, and one might ask what was being written.
"That's an invasion of privacy," she pleaded.
"You don't find much of that in this place, honey," Birkhoff told her patronizingly.
"Privacy is a privilege, Alex," Amanda told her. "We believe you've lost that privilege. It's your job to prove you still deserve it."
"Who's 'we',?" Alex inquired. "Who else believes this?"
"Believes what?" Birkhoff demanded, frustrated the girls had decided to whisper at the exciting part.
They ignored him.
"Only me," she told her, "but I'm merely an extent of Division, and Division is a we."
"How noble you are," Alex scoffed.
"But rest assured, Alex," Amanda continued, crossing her arms, "I'm not afraid to go to Percy at the first recorded evidence of your irresponsibility."
"Can I go home and be innocent now?" Alex requested.
"You can be innocent wherever you wish to, an opportunity I'm afraid you're not fully taking advantage of."
"Whatever. Can I go?"
"Stay here for a few more minutes," Amanda said, seeming almost compassionate. "Let the anesthesia fully wear off. Birkhoff, as soon as she leaves Division parameters, please activates both of her implements. You can go after you put away your gear. Goodbye, Alex."
Amanda strutted out of the room, not looking back. Alex watched her leave disdainfully.
"I really don't like her," she muttered.
"Who does?" Birkhoff shrugged, beginning to gather his gear. "What am I supposed to be listening for whenever I'm cyber-stalking you?"
"Nothing," she snapped. "I'm not doing anything wrong."
"Then what does Amanda think you're doing?" he asked instead.
"It doesn't matter," she said. "I'm not doing it," and before she could stop herself, she added, "anymore."
"Anymore?" he repeated. "So you're not totally innocent?"
"I am now. That's all that matters," she said, not bothering to correct herself. Defending the slip-up would only make her seem guiltier. She was, perhaps, too good of a liar.
"Well, just be on your best behavior and maybe that machine in your head will be out as quickly as it came," he suggested.
"Can I ask a favor?" Alex suddenly implored.
"Sure you can," Birkhoff nodded, "the question is whether or not I can agree to it."
"Don't watch me," she beseeched. "You can pretend to keep Amanda off your back, but I'm begging you, please, don't do it."
"If you're so innocent, then why shouldn't I?"
"Girls like their privacy," Alex explained calmly. "What if I sing in the shower or something? I don't want you hearing that." Or my secret plotting with Nikita and Michael, she added in her head.
"I don't think I'd make fun of you too badly," he teased.
"I'm serious, Birkhoff," she said, become suddenly quite intense. "Division has taken away my future, my past, and my love life. I would like to retain whatever is left of my privacy."
"Yeah, well," Birkhoff began, "Division has taken my career, my fame, and my family, and my . . . and, you know, a lot, but Percy is on me twenty-four/seven. We all have to make sacrifices, my friend."
"I'll be your friend if you don't watch me."
"That's not even a tempting offer."
"What do you want then?" Alex pleaded. "Do you want money? Glory? And escape route out of Division? I can give you that if you just don't watch me."
Birkhoff eyed her quizzically. "And how are you supposed to get your hands on that?"
Alex bit her lip. She'd revealed to much. "I'm desperate," she said as a cover up.
"Well, don't just go offering things if you can't follow through. I might get my hopes up."
"You want to get out of Division?" she pressed curiously.
"Don't most people?"
Alex thought over her next words carefully. She knew was Birkhoff was a perplexing mixture of adorability and irritability, but now that now she had to decide whether or not to trust him. She hesitated for a long time, and Birkhoff didn't help her think. He just kept staring, adding monumental pressure to her decision.
What would Nikita think? Nikita had been friends with Birkhoff, had passed up the opportunity to kill him plenty of times. But that didn't necessarily add up to trust.
But with a constant bug, Alex couldn't talk to Nikita safely, ever. She couldn't go anywhere without it being heard that she was somewhere else. There was too much to lose. So Alex decided, by default, to trust Birkhoff.
"If you unwire my bug from Amanda's personal computer," Alex began slowly, "I can show you an exit from Division."
Birkhoff frowned, seeming unconvinced.
"Show me."