An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Michael Samuelle/Nikita Wirth, Michael Samuelle/Simone Samuelle (past)
Characters: Michael Samuelle, Nikita Wirth, Simone Samuelle
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Spies & Secret Agents, Secret Organizations, Lost Love, Secret Relationship, Falling In Love
Summary: After the death of his wife, Michael Samuelle finds a lifeline in a compassionate stranger named Nikita.
Sometimes, when the memory comes, it comes in fragments of distorted sounds and flashes. The metallic taste of adrenaline rises up in his throat like bile. When it finally presses through in its entirety, Michael can’t help but flinch in shame.
It begins right before the ambush.
They’re in the outskirts of Amsterdam. Michael and Simone move in tandem through the decommissioned electrical generating station that serves as a front for Glass Curtain’s compound. The light of dusk was strange, a sickly green, as it seeps through the broken windows. It feels too bright for the hour. The shadows it casts are long and menacing and the rusted machinery provides plenty of hidden spaces.
“Michael,” she whispers behind him, “something’s wrong.”
He had verified the intel himself. He trusts the data and his reading of it. He shouldn’t have.
“It’s clear,” he tells her after he briefly surveys the silent area. “Keep moving.”
Simone hesitates. It was the smallest pause, almost imperceptible, but later he’ll replay it over and over. In that same breath, it was as if she wanted to insist they fall back and call for the backup team she’d requested in the briefing.
They push forward, hiding in shadows, until suddenly the silence they inhabit shatters.
There’s a flash, an overwhelming cloud of dust, and a vibrating, concussive roar that seems to swallow the world.
Michael pivots, firing blindly. Instinct takes over. Shapes move through the smoke. Automatic gunfire cracks against the surrounding brick. He feels the heat of a bullet graze his shoulder and then the pull of Simone’s hand on his vest.
Michael follows her directions and fires upon a pair of armed hostiles. He crosses underneath the stairways of the abandoned station, seeking a better position. Simone follows behind him.
Michael turns in time to see her stumble. No, not stumble…drop, unnaturally fast. Her body folds in on itself as she clutches her side.
He turns and lunges toward her, but a blast from the right throws him sideways into a wall. The shock rattles his skull. His vision goes white, then black, and then an agonizing blur.
jbbartram-illu
2087
baratheonpilled
dededos
