- Nikita is sent on a suicide mission and Michael tries desperately to save her.
- "Total obedience. That's what's expected of Nikita. But she doesn't have the heart to obey an order to destroy a naïve young inventor...and Section responds by sending her on a suicide mission."
This episode opens with Michael and Nikita dancing at a romantic restaurant. It is quickly revealed that they are on a mission. The man they're watching meets someone at the bar and exchanges a film canister. The team splits up to follow to two men as they part. Nikita asks if they're done and Michael replies, "After this dance."
Section finds that the mystery man (Spidel) from the bar is a legitimate businessman with no ties to anything bad. Spidel has made a business arrangement with a chemist named Shays who claims to have invented an explosive that cannot be detected. Tyler, the original man from the bar, slips his sample into a woman's purse and watches as she goes through airport security with no difficulties.
Walter refuses to believe that the chemist has successfully created this explosive. Michael, Walter, and Nikita go with Spidel to meet Shays, where they will verify Shays' story. Walter puts a sample of the explosive in a canister and wheels it out into the field. When he punches the button for the explosion, nothing happens. As he's walking back talking about how he knew it wouldn't work, the explosion goes off and is much larger than anyone expected.
Madeline reports back to Operations that the test was successful and its blast was three times the standard C4. They decide to confiscate the explosive and turn Spidel and Shays over to the NSA. Nikita and Shays talk while he is packing up his things. Their conversation reveals his innocent and naive nature.
Birchoff briefs Operations about a plane explosion that Tyler is responsible for. Operations orders Tyler to be brought in and wants to know where Shays is. At that same moment, Shays is being kidnapped by Tyler's men. Spidel and the NSA agents are dead.
Shays is taken to an unknown location where he meets Tyler and his team of scientists. They want to know how he made the explosive; they want his formulas. He doesn't want to share the information with them because they will use it for terrorism. They threaten his life and he writes down the formula for them.
Nikita had placed a tracker on Shays when she hugged him goodbye and Birchoff tracks it to Shays location. Operations sends Michael's team in to recover Shays before he gives the formula to Tyler. Nikita finds Shays tied to a chair with a bomb strapped to his chest. He tells her that he gave Tyler a bogus formula and she promises to get him out of there.
Nikita reports to Michael saying she found Shays and needs help getting him out. Michael sees incoming hostiles and tells Nikita to cancel Shays so he can't give Tyler the correct formula. Shays, unaware of this order, is so relieved to be rescued he starts babbling about growing a diamond for Nikita. Just as she's about to pull the trigger, she chickens out and leaves Shays behind. Michael asks Nikita if she cancelled Shays and she says she couldn't do it in cold blood.
When they get back to Section, Michael tries to cover for Nikita but gets in trouble by Operations. Meanwhile, Shays has been found out as a liar; his formula didn't work. Tyler's men strap him to a table and run industrial size screws through his feet to make him talk.
Nikita goes to see Madeline, asking for reassurances. She wants to know that when the Section is done with her, that she will be set free. She's looking for something to cling to, a hope, that one day her life can be hers again. Madeline tells her she will never be free from the Section. Nikita thanks her for giving her a straight answer and leaves. She goes home to her apartment and writes the following suicide note: "The only sins I ever committed were on behalf of the Section. I'm only guilty of not taking charge of my own destiny. My fake obituary claimed I died in prison. In the end, that statement is true."
She then pulls out her gun and is about to shoot herself when Michael knocks on her door. She decides to answer it and lets him in. He tells her that he can't protect her anymore. He doesn't understand why she can't just do the job without questions and problems. She once again explains that she's not who Section thinks she is, that she never killed the cop from the first episode. He tells her it is not important what she did, it's what she chooses to do now. In a very rare display of affection, Michael touches Nikita's cheek and hugs her before saying, "I wish things could be different."
When Michael returns to Section, Operations calls him into his office and explains the next mission: to destroy the building and, with it, Shays. The mission will be a suicide mission, using abeyance operatives. The only people to return will be Michael, Walter, and Birchoff. As the operatives come toward Michael to get in the van, he counts them. The first five come together in a group. Moments later, the sixth comes around the corner and Michael is shocked. It's Nikita. She gets in the van and Michael turns to look behind him. Madeline is standing there.
Shays is still strapped to the table. He begs Tyler to let him go, but Tyler explains that for every weapon they create, the other side finds a defense. He needs Shays to help him stay ahead. He turns up the morphine drip in Shays' IV and tells him he will be addicted for the rest of his life.
In the van, Nikita has to help one of the other operatives. He thanks her and tells her he hasn't been out in three months because he screwed up in Zaire. Michael explains the mission to everyone, minus the detail about them all dying. As they're exiting the van, Michael hands Nikita a secondary comm unit and tells her they will be able to communicate if her first comm unit goes down.
The team goes in and plants their charges. As they're about to exit, Michael tells Birchoff to have them hold their positions. Birchoff is shocked, but does as he's told. Walter yells at Michael because Nikita's in there. He goes to grab a comm unit and warn everyone, but Michael stops him. Nikita is still moving; her comm unit has gone down as Michael predicted. However, she's trying to rescue Shays instead of exiting the building. He is shot by one of Tyler's men. Her secondary comm unit begins buzzing. It tells her about the suicide mission and that she's free to run. She gets out of the building just as it explodes.
Section is fooled; they think Nikita died in the blast. Operations tells Michael that he hopes Michael understands Section's position regarding Nikita. After he leaves, Madeline predicts problems with Michael in the future because of his and Nikita's bond. Michael goes back to his office and sends a message to Nikita asking if she's there. Nikita sees the message but instead of responding, she turns the unit off.
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