[For Karen] Waving Guns

[ms_legendary]

My name is Nikita. Seven years ago, I was taken off Death Row by an elite covert unit of the U.S. Government called Division. They trained me to be an assassin, called it a new life and a chance to serve the country I'd wronged, but they lost their way and I escaped. For almost four years, I've been fighting to dismantle Division, to protect the innocent people of the world from the horrible things it did, horrible things I did for them. I haven't been alone...until now.

Bucky's not dead, but he's a mess and Jason's worse. Not physically worse. His head's healing fine. He's young, he's strong. He'll live. But his heart's in such a black place right now, it hurts to look at him. It's like walking across obsidian shards. Nikita knows what it's like. She's been there.

She's been meeting him in the Compound, because it's good for him to be around other people. It's good for both of them. And she's glad for the company, glad to have someone she can trust, but the problem is, she can't really trust him like this. Not when he's wired tight as a time bomb, ready to explode. It's going to take time for him to recover from what happened to Bucky and she's been stationary too long already.

No one's attacking her, there've been no attempts to get into the hut she's staked out, no one's trying to penetrate the Nina LaFleur I.D. not that they could. As far as she can tell, this island's not networked to any of the alphabet soup databases. She's as far off the grid as she's ever been. If she's still alive. If this isn't a dream. If she's not going insane.

Stick with what you know, Nikita. Michael's voice is strong and steadying in her mind. It should be a comfort but it makes her want to get high more than she's wanted it in years. She won't, even though there are ways, but her teeth are floating with the urge. She shakes it off and goes to the kitchen for something to eat and some tea instead. Dealing with physical needs, that's always a good way to stay grounded. And cooking will give her something to think about that isn't whether Michael and her other allies are dead.

Comments

[callofkaren]

Dealing with the duties she had didn't really take much out of Karen -- not the way a full day's work used to -- but she still happily collapses in a seat in the kitchen. On top of a slow day in the boutique and council office, she'd been taking the three dogs everywhere with her. Utica was calm as always and Styles seemed to still miss Archie and William, but Matthews was still a young enough puppy that he needed a leash and constant watching.

It made her miss Robin and her dog-whispering.

"Stay," she told Utica and Styles, and looped Matthews' leash around the chair before getting up again to head over to the fridge.

She gave the woman already cooking a smile as she passed. "Hi. What're you making?"