Michael stared blankly at the data on Birkhoff's computer. He couldn't dispute the miracle anymore. It had become possible to regrow limbs. There was a very real chance he could have his hand back, not simply suffer to constantly adjust to a prosthetic. Nikita was on her way to secure him a new hand. However, that wasn't a part of the miracle. She was alone and going after a mad scientist and a crazed corrupt politician. She needed to get out of there. No hand was worth it; Michael couldn't lose her too. Unfortunately, Nikita was far too determined, "Birkhoff, we have a problem. I think Bechiraj may be crazier than we thought. I gotta go in."
"No, Nikita, you need to get out," Although Birkhoff had turned his com off so Nikita couldn't hear their lies falling apart, what she was doing could still be heard. As her voice rang throughout the nerd cave, Michael instantly turned Birkhoff's com back on. His fiancée hadn't been talked out of her dangerous mission before she left, but he could call her back before she made a mistake. Michael couldn't leave Nikita in danger. He had to do what he could, even from Division, to save her. His hand wasn't worth her life.
Nikita was shocked to hear Michael. She had honestly believed that he either wouldn't have asked where she was, or he'd believe whatever lie Birkhoff told him. She thought she could bring Heidecker back to Division without anyone noticing. Her fiancé hadn't noticed a lot about her recently. She felt as though she had been drifting between the walls of Division like a ghost. It was almost like she was rogue again, doing things right under the radar. Who would ever expect a ghost to be up to something dangerous. She was alone. Helping people all by herself like she was used to, "Michael? What are you…"
"Pull out. It's too dangerous, and you're alone in there," Michael commanded tersely. Nikita needed to return home immediately. If something happened to her while he wasn't there… Hadn't they had that conversation a thousand times over. Nikita couldn't rush into dangerous situations alone. She didn't need to. She had a team; she had a partner. There were plenty of people around her who would've had her back in a second had she just asked. Doing anything alone then wasn't only dangerous, but also stupid. Michael had learned that.
"I can't let them kill Heidecker," Nikita did hesitate before she turned her com off. She did consider going home, but she knew she couldn't without a better prosthetic for Michael. She also couldn't leave Heidecker in danger. What she had done to Bechiraj's leg drove him to insane measures. He was going to kill Heidecker for her actions. Although he wasn't the most morally superior scientist, Nikita could allow that to happen. She needed him to help Michael. And she couldn't let him suffer for her actions. Enough people did already.
"Damnit. Nikita!" By the time Michael called her name, it was too late. Nikita's com was silent, and her tracker showed her sprinting towards Bechiraj's house. All Michael, Alex, and Birkhoff could do was watch her tracker and wait for her to make contact with them. The latter became less likely the longer the silence stretched. Nikita's tracker went up to the house, stayed for a few moments, then broke off in a sprint again away from the compound. She didn't get far. She stopped nowhere near the perimeter, then very slowly moved back to the house. It wasn't difficult to figure out what had happened. Nikita had been captured.
It was time to bring others in on the mission. Michael, Alex, and Birkhoff couldn't stand around the nerd cave any longer. They needed to inform Ryan of what was occurring, and they needed to rescue Nikita. Pulling Ryan away from Ops and towards his office, the three hurriedly caught him up on what they knew; Birkhoff shared most of the information. He didn't like a single thing he had heard. It just kept getting worse with each new detail, "Kosovo? Do you have any idea how delicate the political situation is there?"
"Why the hell didn't you stop her?" Turning on Birkhoff, Michael snapped. The nerd had been the only one to know about Nikita's insane stunt; he should've been the one to do something about it. How could he have not said anything. That wasn't the question Michael really should've been asking, though. He should've been asking why he didn't notice what his fiancée was doing earlier. Why didn't she tell him about her plans or the information. Why was she so distant from him, and why wasn't he chasing her to get her back. What was going on had nothing to do with Birkhoff. Michael and Nikita had messed up- him more than her.
"Please remind me of the last time someone successfully stopped Nikki from doing anything. Ever," Immediately, Birkhoff defended himself. Michael had every right to be upset about the danger Nikita was in. However, that was in no way shape or form the hacker's fault. He had tried to talk sense into Nikita. He had tried for a whole week to get her to not sprint into danger. Yet it didn't work. She had to get what she wanted- what she thought was right. There was never any stopping her when she was on that path.
"He has a point," Alex backed Birkhoff up. Michael couldn't yell at the hacker for letting Nikita go to Kosovo when he himself probably couldn't have convinced her to stand down. In fact, Alex believed that even Sean couldn't have talked Nikita off the ledge; though, she often listened to her brother less than she did her fiancé. She was always far too stubborn to be taken off her mission. Her former mole knew that well. Sometimes, it seemed like Nikita was more determined to get herself killed completing her objective than to play it safe. The team had to get her to stop. She finally needed to learn that her life was as important as those she needed to save.
Ryan shook his head and sighed. They shouldn't be focused on Nikita and her stubbornness at the moment. There were far worse things occurring. Kosta Bechiraj was too powerful of a man to mess with. And not just because of the connections he had curated through his corruption. His position in the government meant he was practically untouchable. The CIA's mission against him had been a huge risk on its own. Since it had failed, any other move against Bechiraj was a death sentence- and not just for the agents involved, "And we have an international crisis. Nikita just assaulted the deputy prime minister of a UN recognized…"
"Kosta Bechiraj is a criminal. Everyone knows that," Alex interrupted. Who cared what Nikita did to him. Bechiraj was a corrupt bastard who deserved to die. The CIA had certainly believed that to be true. They had tried to kill him, and- thanks to their cover story- no international incident had occurred. If Division got in front of Nikita's actions then, everything could work out. They could rescue her, deal with the fallout, and spin the story in their favor. They had done things like that in the past. It wasn't any different then.
"He's a duly appointed government official. That's what matters," Ryan wasn't arguing that Bechiraj wasn't an evil man that didn't need to be removed from power. He simply had to make it clear that the team needed to think and gather more information before they stormed into Kosovo to rescue Nikita from Bechiraj. It was different than political situations they had faced before. A war could break out because of their actions. And, of course, the President could sign their death warrants. They had to be smart and patient, far more than Nikita had been.
"No, what matters is Nikita's captured," Michael was so close to strangling Ryan. A part of him understood that as the head of Division he had to look at things politically. Any wrong move, and Division would be burned to the ground. Three hundred agents couldn't suffer because of Nikita's terrible decision to storm into Kosovo alone. However, Michael didn't care about anything or anyone else. The whole world could crumble at his feet, and he wouldn't care as long as Nikita was safe in his arms. He had to save her, no matter what.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Shut up, everyone. Shut up. I got Nikki. She's close to her com," Waving his arms to catch the others' attention, Birkhoff played the feed from his com through the speakers in Ryan's office. He had heard strange shuffling over the line, but he figured it was just static. Until he heard Nikita groan as she came to. When she was dragged to wherever she was, her com must've fallen out of her ear and had turned back on. Thank God. Her team could hear everything she could, and they could create a plan to save her.
Bechiraj did most of the talking. He accused Heidecker of being with the CIA and trying to kill him; he had messed with his new leg, and he had to fix it or else. Heidecker tried to defend himself, yet it was no use. Bechiraj wasn't buying anything the scientist said. He even believed that Nikita was his bodyguard sent in to rescue him and kill Bechiraj. He was at least somewhat correct. However, that knowledge made him even more dangerous. He cocked his gun and started to scream at Nikita. She didn't react, but that didn't matter to Bechiraj, "Pay close attention to what happens to your bodyguard. It will happen much more slowly to you."
Without him commanding it to, Michael's prosthetic curled into a fist. He was too distracted by the threat leveled at his fiancée to notice anything else. She was going to die, and he wasn't there to protect her. He had driven her to Kosovo, and he was going to lose her. There had to be something he could do. He couldn't be powerless to save someone he loved again. Yet Nikita was too far away from him. There was nothing Michael could do but pray. He was so terrified, he nearly missed his plea being answered. For some reason, Heidecker saved Nikita. While Michael finally breathed, Alex questioned the miracle, "Why would he protect her?"
"He's buying some time," Ryan suspected. Heidecker wanted to live anyway he could. Saving Nikita just might be his best bet. It worked perfectly for Division. They had time to plan and be smart. At least, that was Ryan's intentions. Michael had other ideas in mind. Without a word, he began to leave the office. They had wasted too much time already catching everybody up and discussing what to do. They had to act. It wasn't a debate. Though, Ryan did try to call him back and wait a few moments, "Michael, you can't go in there blind."
Once again, Michael didn't care. He wasn't concerned with his own safety, nor was he mindful of any international incidents he might cause. How could anything else matter while Nikita was in danger. In the time that it would take for Division to gather intel, make a plan, and race out to her, it could be too late. Michael couldn't risk it. He needed to be geared up and in the air immediately. The rest of the team could deal with everything else. His only focus was his fiancée, "You come up with a plan. I'll call you when I get there."
"I gather his plan is step one: fly to Kosovo; step two: kick ass," Unable to help himself, Birkhoff quipped while Michael hurried to gather his mission gear. The team shouldn't have expected anything else from Michael. It was a surprise that he didn't take off the instant Nikita had been captured. Maybe a part of him had been in denial and needed surefire confirmation for the anxiety to kick in. A death threat certainly fit the bill. He was going to save his fiancée no matter what his team did. Fortunately for him, they would work on a plan that would ensure everyone was safe. Even if some of them acted like it, no one on the team was alone.
"I want to go with him," Watching Michael disappear, Alex decided that she had to join him. Nikita had gotten into huge trouble by trying to go on a mission alone. Alex couldn't let Michael fall into trouble as well. She also couldn't sit aside while her best friend was in danger. The missions she had had to sit out on because of her blood pressure were unbearable. She couldn't just sit and watch people she cared about risk their lives- she couldn't do that anymore. She needed to help. She would be fine as long as they were too.
"Take backup with you," Ryan sighed as Alex ran off. It was about a ten hour flight to Kosovo. He and Birkhoff could create a plan while the agents were in the air. Whatever they came up with, it'd be better if there were more agents in the field to execute it. Though, they were in such a tricky situation that Ryan didn't believe they could come up with a way to save everyone and stay quiet. News about what Nikita did to Bechiraj would come out. Things were going to explode, "There's no way we can keep a lid on this. No containment possible."
"Well, look, even if Bechiraj flips out, it doesn't necessarily mean Division had something to do with it," Birkhoff shrugged. The worst that could happen after Nikita's attack would be that Bechiraj closed the borders to Kosovo. Sure, it was a huge international incident. But that couldn't be linked to Division. There were a million reasons why a paranoid world leader would close borders. The agents could be free to operate a rescue mission without pressures or dangers from the President. That was at least some relief.
"And if the body of a US senator's daughter shows up a decade after her 'death' in Kosovo? Conspiracies aren't good for Division, especially with our president," Honestly, Ryan was always worried when the Pierce siblings went on international missions. Too much conspiracy surrounded them. If anyone discovered who they were and what they were doing, hell would rain down. The children of a US senator, who had been murdered, committing espionage and assassinations on foreign soil wasn't good, especially when one of them was supposed to be dead. Nikita and Sean could never be discovered. Division would burn if that conspiracy broke.
"I'm beginning to understand why Percy made the black boxes," Birkhoff couldn't believe he was agreeing to anything Percy had done. However, in tricky situations like Kosovo, a black box would've been great to have. Obviously, Percy had gone to great lengths to get Nikita recruited and to keep any conspiracy theories from growing. He wanted those in power to cower to him in any way he could- using a child as a pawn (until she escaped him) and hoarding secrets were just a few examples. He'd also control narratives. Ryan considered that to handle the situation in Kosovo. It'd definitely save them. And, God, did Division need to be saved.
