Infinity and Beyond
-Chapter 2-
2.0
"I hope you don't mind me dropping in, unannounced." Nikita says politely to a man named Trevor.
"Not at all, you're always one of my favorite customers." He says before looking at me. "Is this your…"
"Yeah." Nikita's voice comes out as a murmur. I'm lucky that in the few days I've been with her, she hasn't hurt me yet.
But it's weird, I feel even more scared of her than I did when I first met her. I don't know why. I find myself holding onto Lily even more than before.
"Thank you." She smiles at a waitress as she takes a drink from her tray. "I got to hand it to you, Trevor, these are gorgeous."
"If something jumps out, any number of accessories to match." Trevor tells her.
"Hmm." She says as she puts her drink down. She walks around the table and runs her hand over a black machine gun. "That's nice."
"That's mine." He says.
Nikita walks to another table and pulls a black sheet off of a huge machine gun. "Oh, love." She purrs like a cat.
"It's very you." He smiles.
"I'm gonna need a meg of Lokan 2-12." Nikita says. "The demographic's good, but no questions asked. I assume the price is still the same." She turns to him.
"Afraid it's gone up." He says as he grabs his machine gun and points it toward Nikita. I hug Lily tightly and stand there, frozen still. I don't know what to think.
"Trevor…" Nikita starts.
"Supply and demand, Nikita." He says to her. "Ever since you went rogue, your friends are in short supply. There's great demand for your corpse, and even greater demand for your special little girl."
'Corpse: a dead body.' My stomach feels as if there are dots jumping up and down in it. I don't want Trevor to hurt me.
He wants to shoot at her, but something on his gun gets stuck. Nikita takes this chance to quickly grab the huge gun beside her and point it toward Trevor.
"I know." She smiles. I don't really understand it, but this isn't the part of her I'm most scared of. "New deal, Trev, I keep the gun, you keep breathing, and never tall anyone we were here."
"You… you're not gonna kill me." I'm glad that Trevor sounds like he's scared of her too.
"Don't flatter yourself." She tells him. "I've got a much bigger target in mind."
Vision
There were lots of people standing outside a building, holding up signs and shouting. A lot of the signs had a picture of a man. 'Mirko Dadich.'
There were also a lot of letters on the signs. I know all the letters, but I can't read the words.
Michael walked into the building with a man and a woman behind him.
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Mirko Dadich walked out of the elevator with two men behind him. One of them gave him a yellow envelope; he dumped everything in the envelope in his hand. They were a big, ugly ring and a watch.
He put them on as Michael walked up to him. "Two years, and all my belongings are still here." Mirko says with a smile. "Americal."
"Ready when you are, Mr. Dadich." Michael nods.
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Outside the building, Two men were taking a third man who had his head and face covered by a jacket as he walked through the angry crowd.
Someone grabbed the jacket off of him. A blonde-haired woman didn't look happy. 'Hanna Cushko.'
Her head turned toward a black car from across the street. "Hold on, That's not Dadich." She said into an earpiece. "Someone's playing a diversion. He's hired protection!" She walked away from the crowd and toward an old, blue car.
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Percy and Dadich were inside a car. "Percy." Dadich shook hands with him before looking out the window. "Not bad. I feel safer already."
"Protection is just the beginning." Percy held up a hand. "In six months, you won't be hiding from your enemies, trust me. They'll be hiding from you."
End Vision
"Good-bye, Trevor." She says as she carries a very big black case in one hand. She reaches out her other hand for me to take. I don't take it, but I take a step closer to her.
"Come on, Infinity." She sighs before leading me out of the building.
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I'm glad when Nikita puts me down on the floor when we get home. She then puts her black case on a short table beside her computer, which is beeping.
'Alexandra Udinov, her partner within Division wants to talk to her.'
Nikita puts her black purse down on the floor as she walks to her computer. She sits down and begins typing.
I put Lily down beside me as I play with Play-Doh. I use the orange one to make a pot. I flatten it into a pie, and then I pull the sides up to make it look like a bowl.
I use red Play-Doh to make the handle for my pot. I roll it up into a stick and then put it on my orange pot.
I use brown Play-Doh to make meatballs. I take a little bit each time and roll it up into small balls and I put them in my pot.
Vision
Percy and Dadich were sitting on a couch. "Something we've accomplished before." Percy said. "Small nations don't present much of a problem."
"You know my accounts are frozen." Dadich said. "I can't afford the down payment of your services. Your Division will do this on contingency?"
"No." Percy shook his head. "We don't have to. We know that you stashed something more valuable than money when you fled your country."
"What are you talking about?" Dadich asked as if he already knew what Percy was talking about.
"About twenty-five kilos of enriched uranium." Percy tells him.
'Uranium: a gray metal that can be used to blow things up.' I don't like the sound of that. It sounds like something scary is going to happen.
"Enough raw material for a low yield nuclear bomb." Percy continued scarily. "What we don't know, is where you stashed it."
I feel goosebumps pop up. So something bad is going to happen.
"And what would you want with uh…" Dadich didn't look happy.
"A little uranium?" Percy shrugged. "Always comes in handy."
Dadich looked tense as Percy continued. "Relax, Mirko. You're talking to me right now, not the United States government. You should think of this as a business transaction."
Dadich finished his drink in one gulp. "I'm going to need some more time to think it over."
"Of course you are." Percy nodded.
"And I'm gonna need some other things as well." Dadich said.
"Anything you can think of, we can provide." Percy tells him.
End Vision
"Or they cancel me. I get it." An electric voice says.
"You get me a name yet?" Nikita asks as she opens up her black case.
"No, how are you sure it's a protection mission?"
"You said they activated Peters, Heilbrun, and Chang, Michael used to call them Hewey, Dewey, and Louie. Only used them for VIP security. I need to know who the VIP is, and their location."
'The VIP she's talking about is Mirko Dadich, he's at the Southshore Tower Penthouse.' Computer mama tells me, but I don't know if I want to tell Nikita, she scares me.
"Not going to be easy. Still at bottom level access here." The electric voice says.
"Copy that. Lay low. I'll find another way."
"No. I can do it."
"I repeat, lay low. Do not blow your cover."
"You don't have to protect me anymore. I've everything under control."
"Alex…"
"By the way, how's Infinity?" I look up when I hear my name.
"I don't know." Nikita says as she turns to me, but I quickly look back down to my Play-Doh. "She barely talks to me at all." She sounds sad.
"I'm sure she'll come around." Alex's computer voice tries to comfort her.
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Vision
A pretty woman with brown hair was in a room with Mirko Dadich. 'Alexandra Udinov.' Mirko offered her a bottle of wine.
"That'd be great." Alex smiled. "Is there some place I can freshen up?"
"Through there." Dadich waved a hand toward the washroom.
Alex grabbed the phone when he wasn't looking and walked quickly into the washroom, shutting the door behind her.
End Vision
Nikita is talking on the phone in a language I don't understand. I'm sitting on a staircase, changing Lily's dress.
'She's speaking in French.' Computer mama tells me before telling me what Nikita's saying. 'No, no, no. I'm not paying for gossip, I'm paying for intelligence. I've got money, you've got dirt on Division. And stop trying to trace the call, it's amateur hour. Hold on.'
She presses something on her phone and starts talking in English again. "Hello."
'Alex is calling to tell her about Mirko.'
"The war criminal?" Nikita asks.
"Alex? Where are you?" She sounds worried after a few seconds. "Get out of there!"
She hangs up and grabs my hand in a rush. She leads me away to grab her black case before picking me up.
She takes me to a rooftop. "Crouch down by this wall." She tells me as she sets up her firearm. 'She's targeting Mirko Dadich.'
After a few minutes, there is the sound of tires squealing. 'Hanna Cushko is here.' Nikita puts down her machine gun and grabs her handgun. "Stay put!" She says to me. It's not as if I've anywhere to go.
But it's barely a few seconds before she runs back here. I frown a little, I wouldn't mind being alone for a little while.
She looks through something in her machine gun for a few minutes before I hear her mutter. "Get out of the way, Michael."
She fires her gun through a window in the building across the street. She waits a few seconds before picking it up. She runs to a large wooden box, and aims for something there.
I hear tires squealing again. Nikita doesn't fire another shot. I'm tired of crouching so I peek up just a little. I see Michael in the building across the street. I smile and wave. He raises an eyebrow but waves back.
"We've to go." Nikita says to me as she's packing away her firearm.
I get up and walk a few steps closer to her. When she's finished packing, I give Michael one last wave before following a few steps behind her.
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Nikita is pacing back and forth, worried about something. She types something on her computer. "Come on, Alex." She mutters worriedly.
She pushes her hair back and lowers her head when it beeps. 'Alex's offline. Percy's asking her questions about when she was with Mirko Dadich.'
Nikita doesn't look okay right now. It bothers me, so I tell her. "Your friend's okay."
Nikita looks up at me in surprise. "Computer mama told me." I say quietly as I pick Lily up from beside me. I can't talk to her without holding Lily.
"Thank you." She gives me a small smile before she picks up something big and pointy. 'lokan 2-12, it's what she was firing.'
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Nikita is calling someone. 'Trevor, Michael's there with him.'
"Hi, it's Nikita." She speaks into the phone. "Is Michael there yet?"
"Wow." She smiles. "Good timing. You took that round pretty fast; I thought it'd take you all night."
'Feeling pretty smart, aren't we?' Computer mama tells me what Michael's saying to Nikita.
"Always." Nikita says.
'I should've put you down in that alley.'
"Oh, come on. Is that anyway to thank me?" She says.
'So, you're not with them.'
"Michael, I don't even know who they are." She tells him. "Though I do like their style."
'Then allow me to enlighten you. They're a group of freelance mercenaries and they're after the loose nuclear material Mirko Dadich stashed away before he fled his country.'
"What?" Nikita frowns.
'Apparently, he has a GPS device that shows its exact location in Eastern Europe. I figure we've twenty-four hours away from weapons created from uranium hitting the open market. So how do you like their style now?'
Nikita's silent. 'Should've taken out Mirko when you had the shot.'
"And let you die?" Nikita says. "Don't blame me, Michael. You work for Division and Division got in bed with this guy."
'You think Percy will admit that now? He assumes you're in league with the mercenaries. If this comes back to bite us, then you're gonna be terrorist number one on every official list.'
"Uh-oh." She says in a tone computer mama would call sarcastic. "Does that mean Percy will officially have to admit that he's running a mercenary unit on pentagon's dime?"
'You didn't hear me before. They already know what Percy's up to, but as long as he has his little black boxes everywhere, they can't touch him.'
Nikita sighs. "Is that what he really calls them? Little black boxes?"
'Nikita, they're real. Every dirty job, every little op, every little secret on the last five administrations, and you can quit or you can die. But you can't stop Division. No one can.'
"You know what, Michael?" Nikita says. "You're right. I should've taken out Mirko when I had the shot."
'Wait, is Infinity next to you? I want to talk to her.'
"Seriously, Michael?" Nikita says. "You think I'm gonna…"
"Can I talk to him?" I interrupt her. I hug Lily tighter; the look in her eyes is scary. I stop myself from shrinking away.
"She wants to talk to you." She tells Michael before giving me the phone.
I take it from her hands. "Hello."
"Hey, kiddo." I smile when I hear Michael's voice. "How are you?"
I feel my bottom lip shake. I'm going to start crying soon. I haven't cried in front of Nikita yet, I'm too scared to. "When can you come and get me?" I whimper.
"What's wrong?" He asks worriedly.
"I don't like it here." I sniffle. "I don't like her."
"Infinity, she's your mother." Michael says to me softly.
"But she's scary." My eyes are growing teary. "I don't want to stay with her."
"I know she can be scary at times, but she won't hurt you, okay?" Michael tells me gently.
"But can't you come and get me?" I really start to cry.
"I can't do that right now, okay?" Michael says nicely. "But I'll come and get you as soon as it's safe. I promise. So just be a good girl, and stay put for now, okay?"
"Okay." I sniffle quietly. "I will."
"I'll see you soon." Michael says.
"Bye." I say before hanging up.
I walk to the table with Lily still in hand to put the phone on the table. I don't look at Nikita, I'm too scared to, but I hear her sit down in a chair. I know I might have made her angry, so I keep myself a little further away from her.
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"The people behind me right now are protesting Mirko Dadich's overturned conviction." Nikita's watching a news report on her computer.
"Sorry I'm late. It got crazy." Alex's electric voice says.
"I know. Are you okay?" Nikita asks.
"I will be. Been playing dumb over here."
"So you saw something."
"One of the kidnappers was a woman. Long blonde hair, green eyes." 'Hanna Cushko.'
"Good, that helps."
After she's done with Alex, she continues to watch the news report. She stops the video on Hanna's old blue car.
She dials the phone. '911'.
"Yeah." She makes herself sound like she's in a panic. "I need to report a stolen vehicle."
'You have the plate number?' Computer mama tells me what 911 is saying.
"Uh-huh, yeah. I've it right here. It's A6876-44."
'Is that your vehicle, ma'am?'
"Yes. It's a blue paint van. My husband's."
'I'll give that to an officer.'
"Okay."
Vision
Hanna and Dadich were in a car with two other men as they pulled out their machine guns and pointed it at Dadich.
"Wait!" Hanna called out to them before smirking at Dadich. "You really don't remember me, do you?"
Dadich just looked at her. "My name is Hanna Cushko, my father was Evan Cushko. He ran your secret nuclear program, but he kept no secrets from me." She told him.
"Cushko." Dadich smiled. "Your father was a brilliant man. He was a close friend of mine. A dear friend."
"I know." Hanna nodded. The look on her face was scary. "That's why he was executed after the take over, while you fled the country."
"I'm going back, Hanna." He told her. "I'm going to take our country back." He turned to the two men who were pointing their firearms at him.
He turned back to Hanna. "I promise you, you'll have your revenge."
"I want my family taken care of." Hanna snarled. "The nuclear my father enriched for you is his only legacy, and I'm going to sell it to support us."
End Vision
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Nikita takes a cab with me to a subway station. She gets off the cab with me following her. Hanna's car leaves just as we reach a set of stairs.
She leads me down the stairs. "Crouch down and stay here." She tells me as I sit down on the floor with my back against a wall.
Nikita attacks a few people who are standing by a set of lockers, Hanna Cushko and Mirko Dadich are there too.
Nikita, being the scary woman that she is, starts a gun fight. I cover my ears and put my head between my legs. "Whoever you are, we don't want to shoot you." Hanna's voice shouts. "Clearly, you robbed the wrong people."
"No, honey. You did." Nikita shouts back. "You want to get out of here alive; you'll drop your weapons and hop on the first train. I've figured you've got about five minutes."
"You have less than that." Hanna growls.
I peek up for a second to see Michael with some other men following him. They all have their guns ready.
I look back down and squeeze my eyes shut; my hands go back to covering my ears. I know something really bad is about to happen.
It only takes a few more seconds before the gun shots start again. A few minutes later, Nikita picks me up with one arm as her other hand is holding a black bag.
She runs away as there are footsteps following. "Nikita!" Michael's voice makes me look up.
"Michael, help me!" I don't want to stay with Nikita.
Nikita keeps on running before she jumps down onto the railway tracks and jumps up onto the other side. She does all of this while still holding me. I'm scared, so I close my eyes again.
Nikita puts me back down before I open my eyes again. "Is that the GPS?" Michael shouts over the sound of a train.
"You know, we've got to stop meeting like this." Nikita pants loudly.
"What are you going to do with it?" Michael shouts again.
"Well, that depends." Nikita says sarcastically. "What is the going rate for loose nuclear material?"
Michael's eyes land on me as I start crying. "You're going to be okay, Infinity. I promise." He says loudly before Nikita throws the bag onto the tracks.
"Oops." She shrugs.
The train speed by over it with a loud, crunching sound. It's like the sound of me eating cereal, except louder.
Nikita wants to take my hand, but I hide it behind me. I don't look at her as I take a deep breath to stop my crying.
Nikita begins climbing up the stairs; I follow a few steps behind her.
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When we got home, we don't say anything to each other. I really can't think of anything to say to her. I'm just glad that she hasn't hurt me yet.
"Here." She passes me some fries.
"Thanks." I murmur quietly as I take it from her hands. Then, she does something scary again. She sits down next to me.
I feel goosebumps on my arms and the backs of my curly dark brown hair feels like it's sticking up.
"Infinity, I know you don't like me." She sounds like she's choking on her words. "And I know you're scared. But I really need you to at least be able to talk to me."
I don't have anything to say. I can't think of anything I want to say, so I just sit there and stare at my hands.
She gets up and crouches down to face me. I'm forced to look at her. She's not crying, but I can see the tears in her eyes.
"Please, say something." She sounds like she's whispering.
"Um…" I swallow. "I'm going to bed." I say in a rush of words as I quickly stand up and turn my back to her as I walk up the stairs. It's the only thing I can think of to say.