Written by Codename Ghost
Date: 8/15/97
Birkhoff turned as the door to the van opened and Michael
stepped inside, Nikita, Nadia, and Bishop following behind him, reached
over to his console to turn down the volume just as Operations' voice started
to shout. "What's going on?" Watching the video feed, if he'd
had any doubts as to Michael's loyalty, they'd been eased when he'd seen
Michael shoot the Legion member.
"We're moving on the warehouse." said Michael shortly, dipping
a hand into his pocket to pull out the sketch he'd made. Nikita pulled
off the wig and glasses, handing the glasses to Birkhoff and tossed the
wig aside, kicking off the high heeled shoes as she moved to the back of
the van to find her pack with her street clothes.
"Operations is not going to like this." warned Birkhoff.
"In or out, Birkhoff, your choice." Bishop moved past Michael
and to the front of the van, sitting behind the wheel, turning the keys
in the ignition.
"I am not going to stay behind and try to explain this to him."
Birkhoff muttered, adjusting his glasses, and Michael suppressed a smile,
feeling an absurd gratitude for the offhand support. "Need a backup
team?"
Twenty or so Legion members at the warehouse, if they hadn't already packed
up and left, and with the element of surprise they could take down maybe
a fourth of them, be entrenched on the ground floor--aloud he said, "Call
it in--2217 Alexandria, tell them to give us a five minute head start."
Enough time to get inside and establish if there was anyone still there.
Pulling on a T-shirt and zipping her jeans, Nikita tossed down the pack
and came up behind Michael as he smoothed the paper out on the console,
Nadia moving to his other side to look as well. "Three floors, offices
are on the main floor, the top two floors are living quarters. Two fire
doors, east and west, opened only from the inside, access to the front
door is restricted by a keypad. If they've changed the code I'm going to
need a way to bypass it."
Birkhoff nodded. "I can rig something up."
"Also a camera at the front entrance, I can take that out once I get
inside."
"You're not going in alone." He looked at Nikita as she spoke,
arms folded over her chest, no room for compromise in her tone.
"Just long enough to get through the front door, Nikita." he
said placatingly and Nikita frowned, eyes narrowing as she stared hard
at him, trying to gauge his sincerity. Michael returned her look evenly,
letting nothing whatsoever of what he was thinking show in his eyes, his
expression; he would go inside and not stop until he found Simone, regardless
of how many Legion members were still present. That was the one Legion
member he wanted above all others...
"All right." said Nikita reluctantly, still unsure but willing
to give him the benefit of a doubt, and Nadia bent over the sketch, asking
Michael something in a low tone as Nikita moved back, checking her watch.
Twenty minutes later and Bishop brought the van to a stop two blocks up
from the warehouse, as per Michael's instructions; as he'd said the area
was mostly abandoned buildings and having the van parked on the street
just in front of the warehouse would draw too much notice. Michael was
the first to leave the van, walking slowly up the sidewalk, gun held down
at his side, feeling horribly exposed as he walked up to the front entrance
of the warehouse, stood for a long moment in front of the door as he tried
to remember the code. It took a few long minutes but it finally came to
him and he punched in a series of numbers, holding his breath as he waited
for the buzz indicating the door was unlocked, pulled the door open and
stepped inside, the gun up to cover himself as his eyes flicked from left
to right.
He stood still for a long moment, listening to the sounds in the warehouse,
hearing off to the left the opening and closing of drawers, coming perhaps
from Pietro's office, where the monitor for the front door camera was also
conveniently located. Moving as quietly as possible down the hall, he saw
that the door was partially ajar and he dropped down to a squat, placing
his hand on the door and slowly pushing it open, extending his gun hand
to cover the room as the door swung open.
Two people stood in the office, one methodically running documents through
a paper shredder and the other packing computer equipment into a box, a
woman in her early thirties with short brown hair and a young man barely
out of his teens, vaguely familiar to him. The woman lifted her head to
look at him and made a belated grab for the gun that lay on a desk and
he shot her in the shoulder, turning his gun on the boy as he brought up
the rifle slung from his shoulder and putting a bullet in his chest. Rising
to stride inside, he picked up the gun on the desk and went to shut off
the monitor, dropping to his knees beside the woman as she lay crying on
the floor and pulling a set of handcuffs from his pocket, slapping one
cuff on her wrist and the other on the desk leg. He had one more set and
he was saving that one for Simone...
Coming out of the office he debated whether or not to go deeper into the
warehouse or head for the living quarters but the decision was made for
him as shouts came from down the hallway to his right, he headed left and
for the stairs, taking them two at a time, gun down at his side. At the
first landing and rounding the corner only to throw himself down as a burst
of gunfire cut through where he had been standing, rolled and fired up
into the stairwell, catching a brief glimpse of a camoflauged leg as his
assailant ducked back behind the wall.
A shout from below him and he scrambled up, placing his back against the
wall and pointing the gun back down the stairs, eyes flicking back up the
stairwell to make sure that his attacker wouldn't catch him off guard.
The stairs creaked below him and he sidled towards the second flight of
stairs, cursing silently, trying to decide which way to go, from the sound
of it the one above him had an automatic weapon and even a poor shot would
be able to cut him down before he reached him. Then from below was the
rattle of gunfire and a clatter of feet as the one below went off to respond,
he let out his breath in a sigh of relief and turned his attention back
to the stairs, placing his feet carefully on the steps as he moved up,
one, two, three, a pause to listen, four and another pause, heavy breathing
above him.
Five, six, and as he put his foot down on the seventh an impression of
movement, he dropped immeaditly to his knees, one hand flailing to grasp
the railing and keep himself from tumbling back down the stairs while the
other instinctively brought up the gun and fired three shots. The man in
green camoflauge jerked as the bullets struck chest and abdomen, finger
tightening on his automatic weapon and sending a last burst of fire up
into the ceiling, the light above exploding in a shower of sparks, the
man falling to the floor. Cautiously Michael moved up the stairs, hugging
the wall, and stuck his head around the corner, seeing an open door leading
to the second floor and no one visible, stepped up onto the landing and
kneeled by the man to pull the rifle free of his limp hands, shoving his
gun behind his coat and into the small of his back.
Squatting to approach the door in the same fashion as before but pushing
it open with the longer barrel of the automatic rifle, supporting the rifle
with both hands, but there was no one in the hallway and he took a few
precious moments to listen. Gunfire from below, loud enough that it would
make it difficult to determine if anyone was on this floor other than by
searching room to room and he didn't have the time for that. The apartment
he had shared with Simone was on the third floor, he would have to look
there first and then come back to the second floor--he let the door ease
close and started to turn to go back when there was a gunshot behind and
something struck him hard in the back of his right shoulder, spinning him
around, the rifle falling from his hands to clatter on the floor.
Gasping he pushed back with his feet, getting his back against the door,
his right arm hanging limply at his side, and tried to reach for the rifle
but a bullet sent up dust and fragments of wood just inches from his fingers.
Coming down the stairs was Simone, gun in her hand, smiling as she walked
closer to him.
"Dear, sweet Michael--how predictable you are." She shook her
head, smile indulgent, dark eyes sparkling with a mad light. How could
he ever thought of her as Simone? he wondered despairingly, watching her
as she came to a halt. "Pietro said you would never come back here
but I knew you would. I think he had far more confidence in your conditioning
than I did, he sincerely believed that the Section would give up and kill
you. I imagine he's locked away in a little white room right now."
The wound hurt badly but he'd suffered worse, had taken two bullets and
still found the strength to walk miles through enemy territory to a hospital
in sub zero temperatures, he let his left hand fall down behind him, feeling
for the gun in his back, as he asked, "Who are you?" A hundred
other things he could ask but that seemed the most important, coming directly
from the heart.
Simone shrugged. "Just another lost soul, looking for a family, a
place to belong. Just like you... Louis." He went still as she said
the name he hadn't used in years, the name that had belonged to someone
else in another life, a person so far removed from the one he was now as
to be someone else entirely. "There's not a lot of difference between
us, you know that? That's why it was so easy for us to make you think you
belonged to us. You could be Legion, Michael--Louis--you could fit in as
well with us as you do the Section."
She stepped closer, waving the gun, head tilted to one side. "How
many people died in that bombing? 27? 30? How many of them were children?"
He had his fingers closed around the gun, arm bent in an awkward attempt
to draw it out, and Simone moved forward to give his wounded shoulder a
kick, the pain surging in a white heat to blur vision, only vaguely aware
of her pulling his gun out of his hand.
Struggling to push himself up off his wounded shoulder, he kicked out at
her feet and she danced back, finger tightening on the trigger, teeth bared
in a vicious smile. "Getting shot in the knee is probably one of the
most painful ways to be shot, other than being shot in the stomach, of
course. I think I'd like to hear you beg again before I put a bullet in
your head."
"Go...to hell." he gasped, pulling himself up with a groan, sweat
streaming down his forehead.
"You first, darling." She lowered the gun, aiming first at his
knee, lips curving in a smile as she raised the angle of the gun to aim
at his groin.
"Drop the gun!"
He turned his head to see Nikita on the stairs, gun aimed at Simone, her
beautiful features set in a hard, implacable expression, a glint of fury
in light blue eyes. Simone held her gun in both hands, aiming it at Michael's
head, and said with a quick sideways glance at Nikita, "I'll kill
him!"
"And I'll kill you." responded Nikita flatly. "Drop it."
A click and he closed his eyes against the expected impact of a bullet,
when it didn't come, he opened his eyes to see Simone dropping the gun
as ordered, letting the one she had taken from him fall as well. Nikita
moved up the stairs, gesturing with the gun for Simone to move back, and
behind her came Bishop, scooping up the rifle and kicking the two handguns
towards the stair, going to grab Simone by the arm and shove her against
the wall. A brief search and then he handcuffed her and took her back down
the stairs, Simone's curses carrying back up to them.
Kneeling beside Michael, Nikita studied the wound in his shoulder and shook
her head at him, arm draped over one knee. "Why do you feel this constant
need to take advantage of the Section's medical plan?"
He managed a faint smile. "It's the benefits that make the job."
Taking his good arm and slinging it over her shoulder, she pulled him up
to his feet. "Careful, Michael, I might actually think you have a
sense of humor." Sliding an arm around his waist, she helped him down
the stairs.
End of Part 8
Go to Chapter 9
Go back to Chapter 7
Go back to Chapter 6
Go back to Chapter 5
Go back to Chapter 4
Go back to Chapter 3
Go back to Chapter 2
Go back to Chapter 1
Return to the Fan Fiction Page