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Remember all those "black boxes" of secret info Percy has stashed around the world? He has special guardians assigned to each of them. One guardian, a foxy fellow named Owen, is interrupted by a bank robbery while trying to update one of those boxes. Loyal to the core, he contacts Percy, who promptly hops on a jet in the middle of another op to rendezvous with him and retrieve the box. This makes Michael suspicious. Fed up with Percy's non-answers, he does a little snooping to find out what's going on. Little does he know, Alex is snooping on him at the time and immediately feeds the new info to Nikita. But Alex's actions don't go entirely unnoticed: Thom, having followed Alex after her hasty exit from a training exercise, sees her leaving Percy's office. He's pissed that she'd be so reckless. She lies and says she was just digging for her own files. Thom doesn't turn her in, even when Birkhoff tries to frame Jaden for the security breach. When Alex later goes to patch things up with Thom, he kisses her. Somehow, she resists his ruddy-cheeked sweetness and, embarrassed, he closes himself off at once. Aww.
Meanwhile, Nikita has caught up with Owen. Turns out Owen has fallen in love with a young lady named Emily. Nikita tries to convince them that she's the only one who can protect them, but Owen is still loyal to Percy. Right up until Emily gets a sniper bullet through the chest. Roan and Percy torture Owen in an effort to find where he's hidden the black box, but he doesn't budge. Nikita catches up to them just as Owen has fought his way out of captivity and is about to kill Percy. She wants him dead, too, but they have to destroy all the black boxes first. They escape and Owen apparently spends some time in Nikita's fabulous loft, recuperating whilst wearing little black undies. Yowza. Stay tuned for the full weecap.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!A bank employee leads a man to the safe deposit vault and gives him some privacy. He opens box 239 and takes out a black hard drive that requires a blood sample from him before he can upload something from a flash drive. The man's a bit scruffy and rugged, in olive drab clothes. (I am later shocked to learn it's Devon Sawa, who did a whole mess of growing up in the last decade or so.) As he waits for the drives to do their thing, a ruckus erupts in the bank proper. He peeks outside the vault, sees a robbery in progress and pockets both drives. He creeps outside, joining the hostages on the floor while French-speaking gunmen shoot up the place. The Montreal police drive up outside. "Damn eet!" curses one of the gunmen. He grabs a little girl and forces her toward the door. Sawa's as-yet-unnamed character silently debates with himself before trying to trade himself for the little girl. He grabs the robber's gun and shoots the other thieves, then takes their extra clips while eying the police through the front door.
Charm School, Ops Room. Michael and the gang are in the middle of overseeing some Pakistani operation when Percy gets a call from our bank hero. He's skulking through an alley somewhere and identifies himself as "Guardian" followed by a code. "The package is out in the open," he tells Percy. Percy looks worried. In a low voice he asks if it's been compromised. Hero says it hasn't, but he's taken a wound from the cops. Percy, flustered, tells him to find cover and call him back at 16:00. He announces to Ops that he needs to be in Montreal in two hours and needs a flight out. Birkhoff checks Orbitz or some damn thing because Division isn't badass enough to have their own jets and/or helicopters. Michael's aghast that Percy would leave in the middle of their operation, chasing after him when Percy leaves the room. "What the hell's in Montreal?" Percy's like, "Use your inside voice, dummy!" Michael keeps pestering him as they stomp through the training floor, but Percy isn't forthcoming. Alex, exercising nearby, overhears their spat.
Alex messages Nikita from the abandoned computer lab about Percy's Montreal trip. Nikita, once more in fabulous lingerie in her fabulous loft, thinks it's unusual for Percy to "go out into the field." Her interest is further piqued when she finds out that Michael and Percy bickered in front of everyone. She searches online for recent Montreal news.
Back in Ops, Michael paces and fumes about Percy leaving. Chill, dude, I'm sure he'll bring you a T-shirt or something. Birkhoff wonders if he left for Nikita, but Michael doesn't think so. Michael asks for the news feeds. "You sure you want to get all up in Percy's bidness?" Birkhoff asks. Michael gives him a look like, "Do cranky baby otters enjoy delicious shellfish?" Duh. Birkhoff understands the look well and gets working. Ugh, his feeds are all white text on black backgrounds. The bank robbery news catches Michael's attention. An article names the hero as one Owen Elliot (guess they knew his name from the safe deposit thing?) but goes on to say the hero then turned on the cops. Yeah, he turned on some viewers, too, but in a different way. At the same time, Nikita is watching a news clip of said robbery. A policeman giving his account says Owen seemed to have military training. The cop goes on to say that they only sustained injuries while the robbers weren't so lucky. Nikita and Michael realize at the same time that Owen must be Division. One of the news clips is of Stan Lee: "That bugger moved so fast it was like he was a superhero or something!" Heh. A reporter goes on to say that the man, a landscaper from a nearby town, had come to check out a safety deposit box. Police are already searching his apartment. In Ops, Birkhoff can't find any Division records for Owen. "That's because he's off-book," Michael says with a snort. "The only reason he surfaced is because something went wrong."
Montreal. Inside an abandoned school building, Owen is removing a bullet from his upper arm using nothing more than a pocketknife and scavenged first-aid supplies. The squelching sounds are quite disgusting through headphones. As he bandages up his wound, he happens to see a crumbling display of butterfly specimens and pauses.
This segues to Nikita showing up outside Owen's apartment building. Stained-glass butterflies decorate a tenant's window. Nikita talks her way past the cops on duty, then knocks on the butterfly tenant's door. A young woman answers and Nikita claims to work for a designer who would love to see some of her work. While Madame Butterfly searches for something she can part with, Nikita makes smalltalk about the "commotion" going on door and is this where the guy from the news lives? Madame Butterfly claims not to know the man in question and then gives Nikita two glass butterflies, because she's nice like that. Nikita leaves and then, while the cops aren't looking, steals some letters from Owen's mailbox. Back in her car, she uses a freshly-stolen cellphone bill to con customer service into tracking down her cheating "husband"'s phone. Miraculously, this works and Nikita is soon pulling up in front of the old school.
She goes in, gun at the ready. She skulks around the school until she finds Owen in the science lab. "Hands," she barks at his back. "Put 'em up slowly." He does as he's told and turns to face her. She makes a snarky remark about how this "school gone to hell" should remind him of Division. Nikita spies the hard drive on a table. She asks if that's one of Percy's black boxes. "See for yourself," Owen says, tossing it at her. Nikita falls for it. As she reaches out to catch it, Owen does this damned awesome launch off the side of a table, leaps through the air and kicks Nikita in the head. Ouch! But so cool. She fights back. He hurls her to the ground and pockets the black box. A glass butterfly falls conspicuously out of Nikita's pocket. "Where did you get that butterfly?" Owen demands. Nikita tries to explain, but Owen's already in the middle of trying to kick her again. They fight some more in a visually pleasing way and then Owen has her in a stranglehold. He demands to know what she did to Emily. Nikita, choking, gasps, "I'm... not... Division!" This gives Owen a moment of pause. Nikita fights her way out of his grasp and knocks him down. She runs off. Owen flees through a classroom window.
Percy, in a Montreal hotel room, gets a call from Owen. "You're early," he remarks. "What went wrong?" Owen says an "operative made a play for the package." Percy describes Nikita to Owen. "Who is she?" Owen asks, the question a confirmation of her identity. Percy says she's a rogue agent and wants to know what Nikita said. Nothing, really, but she got away because Owen had to choose between going after her and protecting the package. Percy agrees this was the right move. He makes an appointment to meet Owen in an hour. As he hangs up, he turns to Roan, who's been sitting there quietly like some kind of creepy version of a Vulcan, and tells him to secure the rendezvous point. Also, he wants "complete containment," which means killing Owen after the meet.
Nikita messages Alex to dig up info on Owen Elliot. Alex is alone in the computer lab but, shockingly, other recruits start filing in. She gets up and follows them to their training session, where Birkhoff is teaching them how to rig a Bluetooth headset to listen in on nearby cellphone calls. Jaden tries to flirt with Thom, but Birkhoff cuts them off. Alex feigns ignorance with her Bluetooth in order to get Birkhoff to turn it on for her. She then pockets the device. Alex then just gets up in the middle of their training session and leaves. Somehow, only Thom the remedial spy notices. Back in her quarters, Alex uses a bit of tape, eyeshadow, and an Itty Bitty Booklight to lift Birkhoff's thumb print off the device.
Montreal. Emily returns to her apartment to find Nikita waiting for her. Nikita knows Owen has c
alled her. She says the people Owen works for are going to kill him. Emily tearfully waxes nostalgic about how sweet and shy Owen is. "Why would anyone want to kill him?" Nikita explains about the dangers of falling in love in this line of work, and how it killed her fiancé. The whole time they're talking, they're just standing in front of the apartment's big bay window. Dumb. Nikita eventually starts to convince Emily by promising she's the only one who can save Owen.
Shipyard. Roan and Percy watch as Owen approaches from some distance away. Before he gets to the rendezvous point, Nikita calls him from Emily's phone. She tells him Emily will be in danger if he gives Percy the black box. It sounds like enough of a threat that Owen abandons the rendezvous and immediately heads to Emily's apartment. Percy, watching through binoculars, is peeved. Roan gives some snipers the green light to shoot, but Owen is out of range.
Charm School. Alex uses the stolen thumb print to trick the scanner and get into Percy's office. She digs through a few drawers, then hears some beeping on the other side of the door. She hides under a table just as Birkhoff and Michael walk in. Birkhoff's nervous about sneaking in, but Michael threatens to tell Percy about Birkhoff's after-hours porno chats in the conference room. Birkhoff uses Percy's laptop to look up Owen. They both find it curious that he's been assigned "landscaper" as a cover, since it doesn't give him any excuses to travel. But it does give him plenty of excuses to make "trim your bush" jokes. His designation is "Guardian," which neither of them have ever heard of. He's also got "Cleaner-level" training and is assigned to a piece of hardware listed as "BB-4905." Michael realizes what's going on. He leaves and Birkhoff trails after him. Alex breathes a sigh of relief and sneaks out. As soon as she starts down the hallway, Thom grabs her from behind, claps a hand over her mouth and says, "We need to talk."
Emily's apartment. Owen comes in, gun raised. Nikita greets him similarly. She wants the black box and then she'll help him and Emily escape. "Why?" Owen asks, suspicious. "Why'd you save that little girl at the bank?" Nikita asks in answer. Instead of hiding out, he did the right thing. She also tells him about the nature of the black box and why she needs to destroy it. Emily walks into Owen's arms and asks if Nikita is telling the truth. He says he doesn't know, but it looks like he's starting to. Nikita slowly lowers her weapon and asks once more for the box.
Charm School. Thom shoves Alex into his room. "What the hell were you doing?" he asks, his neck and cheeks all flushed with emotion. Alex tries to play it off like she was just having fun, but he's not buying it. "You want to put a gun to your head? Fine, it was nice knowing you." He shows her the door, but she pauses and tells him she was looking for her file. She says she wants to know why she was chosen, why she's special. Thom calms down, but says she was reckless. He'll be forced to turn her in if she does something like this again. He tries to sound very stern but he's just so cute!
Emily's. Nikita has apparently just been told that Owen literally buried the black box. He won't tell her where until she tells him how she escaped and removed her tracker. There's no time for that, as a bullet has just silently pierced through that big bay window and hit Emily in the chest. Blood spreads across the front of her blouse. "That was me favorite shirt! That was me only shirt!" She crumples to the floor. Owen cradles her, but she's already gone. More shots come through the window. Nikita tries to get him to leave, but he stands there firing through the window. Division operatives burst through the door and grab him. Owen fights like a champ but he's overrun and taken down. Nikita gets out of there.
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thing we see, Owen is in the bowels of some ship, getting the snot beaten out of him by Roan. Roan apparently didn't have a Judas Cradle on hand, so he had to make do with tying Owen to a regular chair. Percy watches, arms folded, and chastises Owen for taking something of his. Owen takes the hits without saying anything. Percy wonders what Nikita told him. "That Division is the evil empire and I'm the big, bad wolf?" Don't flatter yourself, cupcake. Instead of answering, Owen recounts how he met Emily (by taking her to her dialysis treatments) while Percy looks mightily bored. "You took something of mine, too," Owen says, his mouth full of blood. Roan beats him again. Meanwhile, Alex is messaging Nikita what she learned in Percy's office. Nikita says she needs just one more thing.
Charm School. Birkhoff is sniveling to Michael because the security logs show an entry into Percy's office, despite their best efforts to cover their tracks. Michael says he'll explain it to Percy as "legitimate Division business" but Birkhoff's still worried. A nameless drone announces that Michael has a call from Nikita. Alex goes up to Birkhoff under the pretense of thanking him for his Bluetooth help, then slips it into his pocket, like he won't wonder later what it's doing there. Michael goes to Ops to take the call. Alex, wearing a headset concealed by her hair, hears the conversation from the training floor. Nikita tells Michael she wants to talk to Percy. Birkhoff, in an effort to trace her location, patches her through to Percy. "Your ears must have been burning," Percy says. "I was just talking about you to your boyfriend." Michael, listening in, makes a face. Heh. They chat in a friendly way about how much Nikita would like to kill Percy, but that's not going to happen, unless, as Percy says, she wants to do "irreparable damage to the country." She proposes trading Owen for the black box. At this point down on the training floor, Jaden gets onto Alex for being sneaky. At first Alex thinks it's about Percy's office, but it's actually about Alex being in Thom's room. "You want Thom? You can have him," Alex says. She's too busy listening to other people talking! Percy thinks Nikita is bluffing. She rattles off the serial number she got from Alex. Percy thinks Owen gave it to her, and Owen plays along. Birkhoff traces Nikita to a location near Percy, then says Percy's location out loud so Alex can hear it, too. Alex immediately walks off the training floor to report to Nikita.
The recruits are assembled on the training floor. Birkhoff tries to blame one of them for the security breach, but no one steps forward. Thom glares at Alex, but says nothing. He has a super hot glare, by the way. Birkhoff tries to pin the blame on Jaden, but Michael interrupts, disgusted with Birkhoff's weaselly ways. Michael says he'll take the blame. "If there's any blowback, it'll be on me and me alone."
Shipyard, night. Nikita quickly takes out the two Division guards on duty. Roan hears the resulting thuds and tells Percy to get to safety. Roan then turns his attention to Owen, who suddenly gets up, spins around, and uses the chair he's tied to to whack Roan. A high-octane fight ensues. Devon Sawa has the perfect physicality for this role. Owen's fighting has a certain feral, realistic quality. I enjoy a good fight scene, what can I say? Owen knocks Roan right over a railing and he lands unconscious on the floor below. Owen then takes a gun and heads topside. Percy tries to sneak away, but Owen comes up behind him. Then Nikita comes up behind Owen and orders him to drop his gun. She can't let Percy die yet or the black boxes will get out and innocent people will be hurt. She tries to appeal to him on dead Emily's behalf, but Owen doesn't care anymore. He wrestles Nikita for her gun. Percy shoots Owen in the side. Nikita grabs his arm and drags him away amid more gunfire. Together they jump ship. Percy shoots into the water.
Charm School. Thom's in his room, working on some computer project. Alex comes in and teases him about his project not going well. They joke and smile, then she sits on his bed and starts to thank him, but he just goes, "You're welcome." He sits beside her and gives her a pep talk about her second chance at life. She hugs him. He kisses her and she murmurs, "Don't." He gets all embarrassed and tries to act like it's no big, then shows her the door. He won't look her in the eye as she leaves, just stands there hanging his head. Aw!
Percy's Office. Percy questions Birkhoff about the breach. Birkhoff stammers and then tells Percy to talk to Michael. Wussy.
To wrap up the episode, we see Nikita and Alex messaging back and forth. They ask each other if anything surprising happened. They each answer in the negative, Alex while glancing at Owen and Nikita while looking over at her bed where Owen is recuperating from his wounds in naught but his little black undies. This all probably won't end well, but it ought to be damn fun to watch in the meantime.
Tippi Blevins is a rogue recapper. You can reach her at b_tippi@yahoo.com or http://twitter.com/tippib.
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