Mission Log: "New Regime"
click here for the episode guide entry
Section One, briefing table...
Operations is addressing six people sitting at the table, including Madeline, Nikita, Michael and an operative named Sykes. On the holoscreen is a molecular schematic of the briefing subject.
OPERATIONS: Our sources report the development of a new strain of nerve gas called R-1. It kills in seconds and has a shelf life three times that of its nearest competitor. All prototypes of the gas must be destroyed.
SYKES: What's the location?
OPERATIONS: We don't know. We do know it's being funded by a hostile country through bank accounts maintained at an embassy in Brussels. We'll infiltrate the embassy and identify the names of the scientists working on the R-1 Project. Those names will lead us to the project itself. The mission is planned for tomorrow morning. The embassy is well secured and there will be a backup team of four operatives....
An operative in field garb strides angrily across the Common Area.
KRONEN: Enough is enough!
OPERATIONS, sharply: What is it, Kronen?
KRONEN: I hate this place!
OPERATIONS: What's the matter with you? You're supposed to be debriefing.
KRONEN, whirls and aims an automatic pistol at Operations: Debrief this!.
He fires twice, and the impact of the bullets send Operations sprawling across the briefing table. Standing just outside Munitions, Walter fires at Kronen, who turns, only to catch Walter's second bullet. He falls, dead.
MADELINE, rushing to Operations' side: Get Medical, now!
Stunned, Nikita sits there, staring at Operations.
Section One, Common Area...
Section personnel are standing around in small groups, talking in hushed tones, as Nikita walks up to Michael outside Communications.
NIKITA: Any word?
MICHAEL: It's still too early.
NIKITA: Is he dying?
MICHAEL: I don't know.
NIKITA: You care, don't you? (Michael doesn't respond) So what happens now?
MICHAEL: Someone takes his place.
NIKITA: Who?
Michael looks over her shoulder. Nikita turns to see Egran Petrosian enter, flanked by two bodyguards.
PETROSIAN: Good afternoon. My name is Egran Petrosian. I will be in charge pending Operations' return. Along with all of you, I deeply regret this morning's events. I will keep you advised concerning Operations' condition as information becomes available. In the meantime, he would not want our attention to be diverted from the business at hand. So, Red Team, please remain. The rest of you, back to work.
BIRKOFF, murmuring to Walter: That's us.
As the other Section personnel disperse, Petrosian confronts Michael, Nikita, Sykes and Madeline.
PETROSIAN, to Michael: I have reviewed the mission profile on the way here. It is inadequate. I'm making some changes. Nikita will stand down, and you will replace her with two operatives of your own choosing. And you won't leave tomorrow morning. You will leave tonight.
MICHAEL: I'll advise the backup team.
PETROSIAN: There will be no backup team.
SYKES: A smaller primary unit, plus backup, makes more sense. That's the way Operations designed it.
PETROSIAN: What is your name?
SYKES: Sykes.
PETROSIAN: Well, Sykes, in case you dozed off, I have news for you. Operations is no longer in charge. I am.
Sykes and Michael walk away.
PETROSIAN, to Nikita: You will be stationed with Birkoff to provide technical oversight.
MADELINE: That function is mine or Michael's. Nikita is not cleared for it.
PETROSIAN, to Madeline: She is now. (To Nikita) I suggest you review the mission profile and use any remaining time to rest. This is the first action of the new regime. We will all want to do our best.
Section One, Medical...
Madeline is standing on a catwalk, looking down into an operating room, where two surgeons in red scrubs work on Operations. A doctor stands near her.
DOCTOR: I'm sorry, but he's not going to make it. It's just a question of how long he stays on life support. Will you be making that decision?
MADELINE: I already have. I've decided he is going to recover. His will to live is very strong. Your will to save him has to be strong, too. I'll help you. (She plants the barrel of an automatic under the doctor's jaw) Go back inside. Tell your colleagues to do the possible, then the impossible, and then the unthinkable, until he's out of danger. Because when you're finished, Doctor, that room will contain either four living men, or four corpses. Do you understand?
DOCTOR, nodding: Okay.
He turns away, hurries back down into the operating room.
Brussels, embassy, at night...
Sykes and another operative crouch in the cover of woods and watch four uniformed guards at the embassy's gate.
SYKES, via comm-unit: Pattern's complete.
VOICE OF NIKITA: Time to partial window.
SYKES: Thirty seconds.
Section One, Communications...
Wearing a comm earpiece, Nikita paces behind Birkoff, who sits at his bay.
NIKITA: Coverage?
VOICE OF SYKES: Forty percent.
NIKITA: Go.
Brussels, embassy...
SYKES: Michael, twenty seconds.
Michael is on a rooftop overlooking the embassy courtyard. He fires a bolt from a crossbow, and the bolt, a line attached, flies through the night to lodge in a wall on the embassy roof.
SYKES: Five seconds.
Michael hooks himself to the line and glides over the courtyard, suspended from the line, passing directly over the head of an unsuspecting guard. He reaches the embassy rooftop. Attaching suction cups to a window, he uses a laser to cut the glass, lifting the entire pane out of the window. A moment later he is bounding up a flight of stairs, pauses outside a pair of doors.
Section One, Communications...
BIRKOFF: Security is pretty tight. Wrapped around a Z-cubed function.
Brussels, embassy...
MICHAEL: Can you break it?
Section One, Communications...
BIRKOFF: I can get you in. I can delay the alarm. But I can't disable it.
NIKITA, to Michael, via comm-set: Go.
Brussels, embassy...
Michael enters the room -- and finds himself in a library, with every wall lined with books.
VOICE OF NIKITA: Michael, the only thing we know is that the disk is hidden in a book.
Michael moves to the one wall and proceeds to use a scanning device, running it along the rows of books.
VOICE OF NIKITA: Michael, you're running out of time.
Michael continues scanning, shelf after shelf.
Section One, Communications...
BIRKOFF: There goes the alarm.
NIKITA: I thought you said a minute.
BIRKOFF: I said maybe.
Brussels, embassy...
Seeing that the guards at the gate have been alerted, Sykes and the other Section operative begin shooting. The guards fire back.
Section One, Communications...
BIRKOFF: You've got to get him out of there, Nikita.
NIKITA: Continue to search.
Brussels, embassy...
The scanner readout switches from red to green, and the device beeps. Michael opens a book, finds the disk in a cutout.
MICHAEL, via comm unit: I've got the disk.
Section One, Communications...
VOICE OF NIKITA: Withdraw.
Brussels, embassy...
An instant later, two guards race up the stairs and burst into the library -- and see nothing out of the ordinary except an open window...
Outside, Michael goes to the edge of the roof and repels down. Below him, a guard whirls, raises his automatic rifle, but Michael shoots him on the way down. Reaching the bottom, he begins to run. Two guards burst out of a door. Michael whirls, fires, brings down one of them.
Section One, Communications...
NIKITA: Sykes, retrieve Michael.
Brussels, embassy...
Sykes and the other op are engaged in a fierce firefight with the gate guards.
SYKES: I can't! There's too much resistance.
Section One, Communications...
NIKITA: I repeat -- retrieve Michael now!
Brussels, embassy...
Pinned down against a wall, Michael kills another guard. Suddenly, the black Section SVU smashes through a gate. Sykes is behind the wheel. He opens a back door. Michael jumps aboard.
MICHAEL: Go.
Michael uses the open door as a shield as he guns down one more guard.
Sykes throws it into reverse. The SVU speeds backwards, out of the embassy.
Section One, Communications...
VOICE OF SYKES: We're out.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Nikita removes the comm earpiece.
Section One, Van Access...
Michael and Sykes are entering Section.
SYKES, angrily: What the hell is going on? He's a butcher! We lost two men today because we didn't have backup.
Nikita is waiting in the corridor. Michael stops; Sykes walks away.
NIKITA, to Michael: You all right?
MICHAEL: I'm fine.
He moves on. Petrosian approaches Nikita from the other direction.
PETROSIAN: Nikita. Your performance today was superb. Cool, objective, decisive. Exactly what I need for my second in command.
NIKITA: What about Madeline?
PETROSIAN: Madeline is extraordinary. She will continue to be useful in psych ops situations. But she's been with Operations a long time. She is versed in his style. His methods. What I need is my own Madeline.
NIKITA: I'm really not interested in a promotion.
PETROSIAN: No? You prefer to go on living from day to day? Risking your life on mission after mission until one day your luck runs out and you are blown to pieces in some obscure corner of the earth? (He captures her hand in both of his) There is more to life than briefings and missions, Nikita.
Nikita nods halfheartedly.
PETROSIAN: Good.
Section One, Medical...
Nikita joins Madeline on a catwalk above the bay where Operations is located.
NIKITA: How's Operations?
MADELINE: I'm confident the doctors are doing everything they can.
Nikita nods, smiles, and begins to walk away.
MADELINE: Has Petrosian offered you my position yet?
NIKITA: Yes.
MADELINE: And what did you say?
NIKITA: If I say no, he's going to offer it to somebody else.
MADELINE: That's not the point.
NIKITA: What is the point?
MADELINE: The point is, you don't have what it takes to do my job. And, if you try, you'll only end by destroying yourself.
She turns and walks away.
Section One, The Perch...
Nikita enters as Petrosian pours two glasses of champagne. He hands one to her, takes the other. Then, using a remote, he causes the perch to "go dark". In the Common Area below, Madeline is watching as the glass darkens, concealing Nikita and Petrosian from her view.
PETROSIAN: In addition to taking over for Madeline, you will handle technical oversight until I can find someone I feel I can rely on. It's double duty but it can't be helped.
NIKITA: No problem.
PETROSIAN: You will answer only to me. You will be my eyes and ears in Section, and you will carry out my instructions to the letter. Now, our first priority is to ensure that there is not another Kronen in Section waiting to go berserk, so you will initiate a full review of personnel evaluation procedures.
NIKITA: That's already being done.
PETROSIAN: Good. Next, I want to ensure that all activities in Section come under my direct control. Starting with Walter.
NIKITA: Walter?
PETROSIAN: I am told that he likes to work on his own secret projects. I want to know what they are.
NIKITA, putting down the glass of champagne: I don't want to spy on my friends.
PETROSIAN: Kronen shoots the Section commander in plain view. Sykes complains about mission designs. Walter works on unauthorized projects. Section is out of control. It has to stop.
NIKITA: Well, I have to feel certain that Walter won't be harmed.
PETROSIAN: If you want to protect your friend Walter you will do as you are told.
Section One, Munitions...
Nikita enters quietly, coming up behind Walter, who is working at his table. Her lips close to his ear, she blows him a kiss. He jumps.
WALTER: You scared me.
NIKITA: I didn't think anything scared you, Walter.
WALTER: Get out of here.
NIKITA: Still thinking about Kronen?
WALTER: Yeah. It bothers me that I didn't see it coming.
NIKITA: Nobody did.
WALTER: The day before, I was trying to brief him on the new laser sight and he kept talking about his mother.
NIKITA: His mother?
WALTER: Anytime anyone in this place starts talking about Mom, you know he's got problems.
NIKITA: So what else are you working on?
He gives her a sly smile.
Gantzway Labs...
Michael is standing in a busy hallway, holding a clipboard. He is wearing a white lab coat and glasses.
MICHAEL, softly, via comm-set: I'm in position.
Section One, Communications...
BIRKOFF: Gufeld should be in the hallway in about thirty seconds.
NIKITA: Sykes, report. (There is no response) Sykes?
Gantzway Labs...
Sykes is in the basement, opening a fuse box.
SYKES: I'm in position.
In the hallway, Michael sees Gufeld coming down a flight of stairs.
MICHAEL: Target in sight.
Section One, Communications...
NIKITA: Sykes, disarm security.
Gantzway Labs...
Sykes cuts a wire in the box.
Section One, Communications...
BIRKOFF: Sykes, you opened the wrong box.
Gantzway Labs...
Sykes looks further along the wall -- and sees another box.
In the hallway above, Michael walks up to Gufeld.
MICHAEL: Mr. Gufeld? Would you have a look at this, please?
He hands the clipboard to Gufeld -- then presses the barrel of a gun into Gufeld's side.
MICHAEL: This way.
In the basement, Sykes struggles to open the second box.
Section One, Communications...
NIKITA: Sykes, hurry up.
Gantzway Labs...
SYKES: It's jammed.
Michael is walking down the hallway, Gufeld in front of him.
VOICE OF NIKITA: Michael, hold. Sykes?
In the basement, Sykes finally pries the box open.
SYKES: I got it.
Michael has stopped, holding Gufeld in place with the gun, waiting for the signal.
VOICE OF NIKITA: Go, Michael.
Leading the way, Gufeld opens a door. An alarm goes off. Red lights flash. Michael keeps walking, Gufeld in front of him. Armed guards are running through the corridors. Two run right past Michael, enter a room.
VOICE ON INTERCOM: Security to Three West immediately.
MICHAEL, to Gufeld: Keep walking.
They reach a checkpoint. A guard leans out to stop them.
GUARD: I'm sorry, gentlemen. No one's allowed to leave right now.
Michael hits him. The guard falls. Michael turns, shoots another guard.
Outside, a guard runs alongside the building, reaching a door just as it opens. Michael strikes, knocking the man over a railing. A Section SUV pulls up. Michael shoves Gufeld into the backseat, gets in beside him. The SUV takes off.
Section One, Systems...
Petrosian and Nikita are walking in the corridor leading to Systems.
PETROSIAN: Conference in Paris?
NIKITA: Briefing is at 9 o' clock.
PETROSIAN: The meeting with Hurley?
NIKITA: The Bosnian protocols could make that awkward. I suggest we push it back a week.
The enter Systems.
PETROSIAN: And the Gantzway mission?
NIKITA: All elements satisfactory, except Sykes. He failed to disconnect the alarm.
PETROSIAN: And what about our friend Walter? Did you find out what he's up to?
NIKITA: A remote surveillance mike. A new type, countersynchronous. Seems harmless enough.
PETROSIAN: Excellent, Nikita. I am very pleased with your work. However, I do have one more assignment for you tonight. Volare's at the east end of the park. You know it? (She nods) Be there, 8 o' clock. Dress appropriately. Someone will be meeting you.
She turns away, then turns back, starts to ask a question.
PETROSIAN: He will know you.
Volare's...
Nikita, her hair done and wearing a black sheath dress, stands at the bar. She looks around, sees Michael outside, walking past the neon-lit window. He enters, joins her at the bar.
NIKITA: What are you doing here?
MICHAEL: Petrosian sent me to meet someone. Why?
NIKITA: I imagine that it's part of the full life that he's promised me if I work for him.
MICHAEL: Am I under orders to please you?
NIKITA: Of course . . . not. He can make it easier for us. We could have a chance to spend more time together outside Section.
MICHAEL: I wouldn't put too much trust in him.
NIKITA: Okay, well, if I'm dealing with the devil, it's because sometimes the devil is the only one open for business. But that's not the problem, is it? Michael, it bothers you that I have so much more power now. You don't like it. Maybe it even makes you a little uncomfortable.
MICHAEL: No.
NIKITA: Shall we just have a drink? No more games. No promises, just a drink.
Section One, Medical...
Madeline enters the bay where Operations is resting after surgery.
MADELINE: Can you hear me?
Eyes open, Operations nods.
MADELINE: I'm sorry. It should have been anticipated. The doctors say your progress is slow but steady. (She leans closer) Live!
Section One, Communications...
Petrosian and Nikita walk past Communications.
PETROSIAN: I trust last night's assignment was satisfactory.
NIKITA: Yes.
PETROSIAN: Good. Gufeld is in the White Room, ready for questioning. Interrogate and dispose of him.
NIKITA: Of course. (She begins to move away)
PETROSIAN, sternly: Then...report back.
Section One, White Room...
The heavy metal door swings open. Nikita enters, looks at Gufeld, secured to the chair.
NIKITA: Mr. Gufeld.
GUFELD, afraid: Who are you people?
NIKITA: You worked on something called R-1. I want the location of the research facility.
GUFELD: I don't know what you're talking about.
NIKITA, circling the chair: Mr. Gufeld, I'm in a hurry, so I'll make this quick. If you don't tell me the location I'll have to have you killed. If you do tell me, I'll let you go.
GUFELD, in disbelief: You'll let me go?
NIKITA: Well, if we get what we need, there's no reason to hold you.
GUFELD: The people I worked for...
NIKITA: ...threatened to kill you if you ever told what you knew?
GUFELD: Yes.
NIKITA: No problem. We'll protect you. (She turns away)
GUFELD: You promise?
NIKITA, forcing herself to look him in the eye: Of course.
GUFELD: In northern Iraq, near the Turkish border, just outside Zakhu.
NIKITA: Thank you.
The heavy metal door swings open and she leaves. The Torture Twins walk in, set down their yellow cases, and stare at Gufeld.
Section One, Common Area...
Petrosian and Nikita enter, walking side by side.
NIKITA: I have the location. A mission profile is being developed now.
She glances across the area toward Munitions, sees Walter.
PETROSIAN: Good. You can't have sympathy with another person's weakness. You must use the weakness to control the person.
NIKITA: Of course.
Seeing Nikita, Walter coldly turns his back.
PETROSIAN: Everyone has their weakness, whether it is status, love of praise, a lover, a mother, or simply the desire to go on living. You find a weakness, you control the person. Do you understand?
NIKITA: I think I'm beginning to.
PETROSIAN: Good.
Section One, Communications...
Nikita slips into Communications, approaches Birkoff.
NIKITA: Birkoff.
He walks away from her. She follows him.
NIKITA: I need a favor.
BIRKOFF, coldly: Personal favors are against regulations. Walter said we're all living by the book now. Even Petrosian's little pet.
NIKITA, spins him around to face her: Wrong, Birkoff. Petrosian's little pet gets what she wants, or what they did to Walter will look like a foot massage compared with what I do to you if you mess with me. Now....It's about Kronen.
BIRKOFF: The guy who shot Operations.
NIKITA: I need you to find out everything you can about his mother. Everything.
Birkoff goes to his workstation, pulls up the intel on his screen.
BIRKOFF: She lives in Brazil with five kids, Kronen's siblings. She was thrown out of work about a year ago. Lived on the street. Then everything changed.
NIKITA: Changed how.
BIRKOFF, scanning the data: She moved into a condo about a month ago. Nice neighborhood. Servants.
NIKITA: The money.
BIRKOFF: Legitimate bank accounts.
NIKITA: Source of the funds?
BIRKOFF: Untraceable. What's going on?
Nikita keys out the file he is reading.
NIKITA: As far as you're concerned, nothing.
Section One, The Perch...
Nikita enters.
NIKITA: The mission's being prepped. It leaves tomorrow night. The bioweapons plant will be destroyed in thirty hours.
PETROSIAN: Red Team?
NIKITA: Michael, Sykes, Pelham, Vronsky.
PETROSIAN: No. Not Sykes. He has been weak for some time now. I have decided to cancel him.
NIKITA: I'll see to it.
PETROSIAN: No. You will do it personally.
NIKITA, taken aback: Why?
PETROSIAN: I have told you before, Nikita -- compassion is a weakness. You have to be able to kill without a moment's hesitation.
NIKITA: I've killed so many people that I've lost count.
PETROSIAN: Yes, in combat. But this is different. This is a man whose only crime has been a failure to live up to the standards of Section. I have to know that you can kill him, too. For me. (He opens a case, revealing an automatic) Do it the old-fashioned way. Face to face.
Nikita picks up the gun, inserts a clip. She looks up to see Sykes, bound and being escorted across the Common Area by two operatives. Sykes looks up at The Perch, sees her. Petrosian is watching her.
PETROSIAN: And Nikita. Don't try to deceive me.
NIKITA: Of course not.
Section One, Level 4...
Nikita approaches Sykes, who is secured to a chair at the end of the darkly lit corridor.
SYKES: I knew this was coming for a while now. I never thought you'd be the one to do it. I always thought you were one of the good ones.
She says nothing, staring at him with tears welling up in her eyes.
SYKES: Do what you have to do, Nikita.
Nikita aims the automatic -- but hesitates in pulling the trigger.
SYKES, struggling to maintain his composure: Do it. Do it!
A shot rings out -- and Sykes slumps forward. Nikita turns to see Madeline standing behind her, smoke rising from the barrel of the gun in her hand.
MADELINE: It's time we had a talk. (She goes to Sykes, checks for a pulse) Petrosian has to be stopped.
NIKITA: Why?
MADELINE: He hired Kronen to make the hit on Operations.
NIKITA: What makes you say that?
MADELINE: Kronen's mother was destitute. Petrosian saved her. The price was the hit. The mother is now...
NIKITA: ...living like a queen in Brazil. I saw the file.
MADELINE: Good for you.
NIKITA: It could have been tampered with.
MADELINE: By whom?
NIKITA: Somebody who wants to turn me against Petrosian. You, for example.
MADELINE, coldly: Petrosian is a murderer. And worse. (She starts to walk away)
NIKITA: Why should he be any worse than Operations?
Angry, Madeline turns on her.
MADELINE: Don't be a child. If Petrosian consolidates his grip on Section he'll start a reign of terror like you've never seen.
NIKITA: Why should I believe you?
MADELINE: I'm telling you the truth.
NIKITA: The trouble is, Madeline, the puzzle palace you've created tends to let the truth fall through the cracks.
MADELINE: The file you saw was real.
NIKITA: Then use it to bring him down.
MADELINE: It's circumstantial. His friends are too powerful. We have to find another way. Choose, Nikita. Are you on Petrosian's side, or ours?
NIKITA: I don't take orders from you anymore, Madeline.
Madeline walks away.
Section One, The Perch...
Nikita enters. An operative standing guard at the doorway leaves.
NIKITA: Sykes has been handled.
PETROSIAN: Yes, I just got a message from Housekeeping. The doctors tell me that Operations is improving.
NIKITA: Yes. I hear he's going to be moved soon, to a hospital in Geneva. It won't be long before he's back running things.
PETROSIAN: And I'll be gone.
NIKITA: And I'll be at the mercy of Madeline.
PETROSIAN: Mercy is not exactly her strong suit. Still, what is to be done?
NIKITA: Kill him.
PETROSIAN, pretending to be outraged: Do you have any idea what you are saying? Operations built Section with his own blood and his own pain and you want to murder him in his sickbed.
NIKITA: He's the past. You're the future.
PETROSIAN: Yes. It would be convenient for both of us if he were out of the way. Yet, not long ago, you were reluctant to kill Sykes. Now you are ready for this?
NIKITA: There's no choice. It's now, or it's never.
PETROSIAN: Or perhaps you are setting a trap.
NIKITA: You never lied to me. You made promises and kept them. That's not true of Operations, Madeline, Michael, or anyone else in here. With you, I have a chance at life. Without you I have nothing.
PETROSIAN: In that case you should be willing to kill Operations yourself, with your own hand.
NIKITA: All right.
PETROSIAN: It will be best if we are not seen together in the aftermath. I will have certain arrangements to make, the sooner the better. It must be done during tomorrow night's mission, when everyone else is occupied.
Section One, Systems...
Nikita is at a computer, keying up a display that reads: BACKUP MATRIX -- DELAYED VIRAL INDICATOR. She sets the clock for four hours.
R-1 Project facility, night...
A Section team enters the facility. Michael is outside, watching from a distance.
MICHAEL, via comm unit: Hentgen, report.
HENTGEN, inside, via comm unit: The final charge is set.
MICHAEL: Withdraw.
Section One, Communications...
Nikita stands behind Birkoff, who is at his workstation, monitoring the mission.
VOICE OF MICHAEL: Twenty seconds to detonation.
NIKITA: Evacuate.
BIRKOFF: Evacuation sequence in progress.
R-1 Project facility...
The teams leaves the facility, which explodes seconds later.
Section One, Communications...
BIRKOFF: That was easy.
Nikita is watching a clock on another monitor. It ticks to 3:58...3:59...4:00. An alarm sounds.
NIKITA: Birkoff, what's going on?
BIRKOFF: I don't know.
NIKITA: Well find out. And don't lose touch with the team.
BIRKOFF: The team is fine. The problem is internal. Looks like the backup matrix might have bled into the primary circuits. But I don't see how...
NIKITA: I'll go check on Systems.
COMM OP: You want the signal table?
BIRKOFF: Yes, hold those.
As she leaves Communications, Nikita looks up at the darkened Perch.
Section One, The Perch...
Petrosian watches Nikita enter the medical bay where Operations is located via a handheld monitor.
Section One, Medical...
Nikita approaches Operations, a syringe in hand. He seems to be sleeping. She puts the needle to his throat, but can't inject him.
Section One, The Perch...
Seeing this, Petrosian quickly exits.
Section One, Communications...
BIRKOFF: Raise me another twenty percent. Somebody turn the alarm off!
Section One, Medical...
Petrosian enters to find Nikita sitting beside Operations' girney.
PETROSIAN: What happened?
NIKITA: I couldn't do it. He's lying there so helpless.
Petrosian takes the syringe from her, and injects Operations.
PETROSIAN: I was wrong about you. You're weak. I will find someone else.
NIKITA: No you won't.
PETROSIAN: You don't understand power. You're finished.
Nikita rises, taking the syringe from him. Petrosian sees Operations turn his head and open his eyes.
NIKITA: Vitamin B.
Madeline enters, flanked by two ops.
MADELINE: You have many influential friends, Egran. But even they won't be able to explain this away.
Petrosian looks at Nikita -- and realizes he is lost.
Section One, The Perch...
Operations is sitting in a wheelchair. Petrosian stands nearby, watched by an armed operative.
PETROSIAN: We did so many mission together. We were good.
OPERATIONS: The best.
PETROSIAN: I often wondered what would happen if we went head to head.
OPERATIONS: Now we know.
PETROSIAN: Still, it was close.
OPERATIONS: Your timing was excellent. I was overcommitted. Careless.
PETROSIAN: If only Kronen had been a better shot. (He laughs softly) I don't suppose, for old time's sake, you could find me a deep-cover assignment in some backwater, never to be heard from again.
OPERATIONS: I'm afraid not. If word got out, discipline would be compromised.
PETROSIAN: Then let us not prolong things. Though I do have one last request, if it is still the custom for one to be granted to the condemned man.
OPERATIONS: Within reason.
PETROSIAN: Shake my hand.
OPERATIONS: With pleasure.
He takes Petrosian's hand in both of his. Then Petrosian leaves, followed by the op.
Section One, Common Area...
Nikita is crossing the area, sees Walter over in Munitions.
NIKITA: Hi, Walter.
Walter looks up and coldly turns to walk into the back of Munitions. Madeline is standing near the briefing table as Nikita approaches.
MADELINE: He'll forgive you, eventually. After all, you did save Section.
NIKITA: Did I?
MADELINE: I think it's pretty clear Operations is a better choice than Petrosian.
NIKITA: Better for who?
MADELINE: If you had doubts, why did you side with us?
NIKITA: Petrosian was willing to give me a life, as much as one can have inside Section. But in order to get it, I lied, I bullied, and who knows, eventually I might even have killed in cold blood. In other words, I found out what it's like to...to be you.
MADELINE: And you didn't like it.
NIKITA: No I didn't.
MADELINE: Power is addictive, Nikita. You've had a taste. It's in your blood now.
NIKITA: You're wrong. (She starts to walk past Madeline)
MADELINE: You'll be back. It's only a matter of time. But there'll be one difference.
Nikita turns, slowly.
MADELINE: The next time, I'll be waiting for you.
End
Written by Robert Cochran
Guest stars:
Egran Petrosian.....Nigel Bennett
Sykes.....Dean McDermott
Transcript by Jason M.
|