It wasn't Nikita's week at all. She failed to stop Division from killing their target- a young intern at the White House. When she tried to get more information on the victim, a Division agent was sent to kill her. Nikita then tried to tip off the cops, so the news of the victim's pregnancy would be released, but Division was a step ahead of her there too. Her last step was to tell the young woman's parents about the situation. Unfortunately, they weren't her real parents. They were Gogol. The intern was a plant, and Nikita was left poisoned. At least she wasn't alone, "Hey. You're a nerd. Do you know how to make any of Division's antitoxins?"
Birkhoff was surprised by Nikita's call. The last time she had been in contact with them was when they saved that Division recruit. They helped the girl start a new life, then Nikita disappeared back to her safehouse. She said it was to contact her mole, but neither Birkhoff nor Michael knew what she had been doing since. Her asking about Division poisons and antidotes was definitely a surprise. The hacker wished he could catch up with her train of thought and knew what the hell she was talking about. But he was simply left scrambling, "Uh. No."
"Oh. Okay. I'll just ask my mole," Nikita hung up. She didn't want to involve Alex; she'd be putting herself in danger by helping the rogue. Except, Nikita couldn't rely on Gogol for the antidote. She couldn't help them. She had to stop them- Ari was just another man standing in her way. Fortunately, Alex was all too willing to somehow get the antidote to her. All she asked for in return was damaging intel on Gogol. Nikita had no problem telling her that. It'd just be after she handled the whole mess. If she managed to survive, she'd tell Alex everything she wanted to know. No questions asked.
"Mikey! Come get your girl!" As soon as Nikita ended the call, Birkhoff shouted for Michael. He was pretty sure she was in trouble and determined to solve it all on her own. If she was asking about antitoxins, though, that wouldn't be possible. She was poisoned and in deep shit. That was the time to involve the whole team. Nikita wouldn't listen to Birkhoff, however. She'd just taunt him. Michael was still the only person to ever get through to her. It was like he had magic powers over her. They definitely needed those then.
"My girl? What?" Michael stumbled into the room, playing dumb. He knew Birkhoff was talking about Nikita. Who else could he have been yelling about in annoyance. However, Michael didn't want to admit that he associated 'his girl' with Nikita. She wasn't his anything, besides his friend and somewhat teammate. He knew it was dangerous to think of Nikita as 'his'. It made his heart flip and beat erratically, and his stomach twisted in flutters. Those weren't emotions he could allow himself to focus on. There were many reasons why not. But mostly, he wasn't sure how she felt in return.
"Nikki's been poisoned," Fighting an eye roll, Birkhoff shared his thoughts. Ever since Division, Michael and Nikita had been idiots. Whether it was in regards to each other, their emotions, or how to conduct themselves on a mission, the two agents were dumbasses. Except, Birkhoff couldn't berate them at the moment- as much as he wanted to. Nikita somehow got herself poisoned, and they had to help her. Birkhoff hoped it wasn't anything complicated; she simply survived an attempt on her life. But he doubted it would ever be that simple with her.
"What!" Instantly, Michael surged for the burner phone. Birkhoff had to remotely put the call on speaker. There was no way he was missing that conversation. Yes, because he was concerned about his friend and what kind of fucked up situation she found herself in. But also, he was just nosey about what Michael and Nikita said to each other. They had a habit of overbearing their emotions to each other- or simply running away from them. The hacker had to witness it in action to see where he could help or where he could tease. Things were already starting out strong with Michael's voice crack when Nikita answered the phone, "Where are you?"
Nikita was almost annoyed by Michael's question. She was handling the situation herself; she didn't need his help. Except, the panic in his voice was palpable. He was beyond worried about her. He had every right to be; she did manage to get herself poisoned out in the field. But it was going to be alright. She had already made sure of that, "I'm at my place, planning an op for Gogol. Don't worry. I'm going to doublecross them and screw over Division. My mole's gonna get the antitoxin for me. I'll be okay."
"What the hell is going on?" Michael demanded. Birkhoff nodded. They'd definitely be more at ease if Nikita just explained what was happening. Sighing, she quickly ran through the whole situation. Division killed a young government intern. She tried to stop it, but failed. Later, she found out the victim had an affair with a senator, who was a friend of Percy's, and had gotten pregnant. When Nikita couldn't release that news to the police, she tried the victim's parents. That was when she discovered the intern was also a Gogol spy. Nikita attempted to fight Gogol, lost, and Ari poisoned her in order to make her work for him. But she had a plan to stop him.
Ari Tasorov, Gogol's leader and head bastard, wanted Nikita to help him finish his dead spy's mission. They were going to expose the senator and sell government secrets. She was fine with exposing a corrupt senator, especially one with ties to Division. But she wouldn't let Gogol get away with selling secrets. Nor could she let Division hide the whole thing under a rug. She was going to screw with both black ops organizations. Well, as long as Alex got her the antitoxin first. Michael was determined to help with that, "Stay right there. I'm coming to you."
"No, Michael. You'll only make things worse. I appreciate yours and Birkhoff's help, but I'm in enough trouble as it is with Gogol. I don't want Ari hurting you guys too," However, Nikita stopped him. It was too late for them to meet up anyway. The mission was that night. She was rushing to plan as it was. Adding someone else to the mix wouldn't make anything better. She was putting her life on the line by pissing off both Percy and Ari. And she was endangering Alex by asking her to smuggle her the antidote. Birkhoff and Michael had to stay away. If it went bad for her, at least the other rogues could still be around to continue the fight.
"I'm surprised Percy has never had Ari killed," Cutting Michael off as he began to argue, Birkhoff changed the subject. He didn't want to admit it- he didn't want to leave Nikita in danger- but she was right. They had to stay out of it. There were already too many players in the field. Two more into the mix could ruin everything. Michael and Birkhoff simply had to trust that Nikita knew what she was doing. She seemed to be well on top of things at the moment. Maybe that was because of her mole. If she didn't have that, she'd be well and truly fucked.
"He tried. The agent's gun jammed," Nikita replied to Birkhoff's comment hollowly. She tried to keep all emotion out of her voice. But in doing so, Michael knew exactly what she was holding back. She had been the agent sent to kill Ari, and she had failed on purpose. He would've loved to know what she had been thinking to make that decision. As far as he knew, she had only disobeyed orders when it came to Alexandra Udinov. What made Ari so special too. Unfortunately, before Michael could ask, Nikita was already changing the subject. She didn't have the time to talk, "I gotta go. I'll check in with you guys after."
"She's just as stubborn and annoying as ever," Once Nikita ended the call abruptly again, Birkhoff sighed. She was determined to be alone; they couldn't help her. At least she had a valid reason that time. Michael's and Birkhoff's involvement would only make things worse for her. Gogol wasn't an organization to fuck with. So wasn't Division, yet the rogues had information against that organization. They knew what to expect from that hellhole. Ari, however, was a different ballgame. Which was why Michael rushed out of the room to see what he could do to help Nikita. Birkhoff rolled his eyes, "And you're not any better."
Alex was probably being an idiot. She didn't exactly know what she was doing. Nikita needed help. Alex needed actual information on Gogol instead of the runaround from Amanda. So, the young woman was making stuff up as she went in order to achieve all that. The best she got was intentionally getting her wrist broken so she could go to Medical. While the doctor was distracted, she managed to get the antitoxin Nikita had described to her. All she had to do from there was somehow get it to the rogue. But how the fuck was she supposed to do that.
There was no way the two could meet and do an exchange. What Alex was doing was risky enough. Nikita advised that she'd slip the antidote into an agent's pocket as they went out on the next mission- chances were it was the one she was ruining. Alex didn't know who those agents would be, however. Except for Kelly, who wouldn't let the young recruit near her. And Thom. Thom would be a great option. She could easily put a pill in his pocket without him knowing, and Nikita would be able to grab it in return. Alex just had to distract him.
The best distraction she could think of was to kiss Thom. She knew he liked her a lot. If Alex kissed him 'good luck' before a mission, there was no doubt that he wouldn't think about anything else. Unfortunately, when he kissed her back, she couldn't think either. She was hardly able to put the antitoxin into his pocket. Alex knew she liked Thom; he was a nice guy. But she had no idea that her feelings for him ran that deep. She was in deep trouble if her emotions had. Relationships were dangerous things. They were distractions, and they could be harmful. What had she done with that kiss, "Nikita, I hope you know what you're doing. Cause I don't."
Unfortunately, Nikita barely knew what she was doing. Once in the field, she acted on instinct to put her loose plan into action. She took out the Gogol agents sent to watch her. She grabbed the antitoxin from Thom after knocking him and other Division agents out. She smuggled the senator away from Kelly. And she exposed the whole situation and coverup to the news. That last thing definitely made her a bigger target for Division and Gogol- as expressed by hers and Ari's conversation outside of a bar in DC. Yet Nikita didn't care. She revealed the truth and helped an innocent in her own way. The danger didn't matter.
Although Michael attempted to help Nikita, there wasn't anything he could do. He couldn't get her an antidote. He couldn't get her information on Gogol or Division. And he couldn't join her mission at the last second and expect things to go his way. He just had to sit and wait (or, in his case, pace) until he knew she was fine. Nikita let him and Birkhoff know with a text that she had survived, and that they should watch the news for important updates. Michael had no idea what she was talking about until the next day. Once he saw the information about the corrupt senator plastered on the TV, he had to call her laughing, "You made the news. Congrats."
"I love fucking with criminal organizations that want me dead," Nikita was far too proud of herself. She was definitely riding the high of telling Ari off outside the bar. But it was all going to crash into her eventually. She still had a splitting headache. It wasn't as though she could just walk off being poisoned. It was going to take a minute for her to bounce back. At least she could relish in her success until then. She wished she would've been able to save the young woman from Division. But she exposed a corrupt senator, and she made certain neither Gogol nor Division got what they wanted. She could take the win. It'd be good for her.
"You feeling okay?" Softly, Michael asked. Nikita never made it clear what kind of poison she had been injected with. All he knew was that it was something Division manufactured, and Gogol was able to reverse engineer it. No doubt the drug was a nasty one. There was a chance Nikita barely survived it. How exactly she managed that also evaded Michael. He was so out of the loop on that mission. He wanted to know everything Nikita had faced. And he wanted to know why she didn't involve him from the start. He could've helped.
"Yeah. Yeah. I owe my mole so much," Nikita replied absentmindedly. She knew she had to tell Michael more than that. Yet she was distracted by the messages on her computer. As soon as she finished her mission, Nikita sent Alex the information she wanted to know. The young recruit was grateful for the intel, even asking for more personal information about Ari. The rogue was tempted to ask what that was all about. But she figured it had to do with the reason Alex had stayed alive in Division. She had her own mission to complete. One she would hopefully share with Nikita some day. She'd be more than willing to help her.
Then was Michael's chance to ask Nikita the millions of questions he had. He could interrogate her about the full facts of her dealings with Ari and Gogol. He could make her tell him about the poison she suffered. He could also demand to know why she chose that mission to go alone, why she chose to save Ari when she could've killed him, and why she was hiding so much from him. Instead, Michael repeated a question he had asked Nikita before. After everything that had just happened, he deserved to know who her mole was. Who inside Division had risked their life to help her. Who should he thank for keeping Nikita alive, "Who is she?"
After the two women finished discussing Gogol, Alex wondered if Amanda was right about personal relationships; were they really a distraction and not worth having. Nikita was honest with her reply. Sometimes, Amanda was right. Sometimes, relationships and feelings hurt like hell and dragged you under. But other times, when you let it, they became the most freeing things in the world. Alex's only reply was 'good' before she logged off. Yet it made Nikita grin softly regardless. The two were getting somewhere. They all were. That was probably just the wonders of open communication. But it worked, "I think she's a friend."