He stopped dead in his tracks.
Michael checked and rechecked the profile. He couldn't believe what he saw. He looked up and noticed Nikita making her way to the large briefing table. Checking to be sure no one was within earshot, he moved to intercept her. She noticed him right away and recognized the look in his eye.
"What is it Michael? Is everything all right?" His blank stare did not give anything away. Finally, he met her eyes. "Have you heard anything about the current mission yet?"
Nikita tried not to laugh. "Strange that you should ask. I was just over at Walter's and he was so cracked up I just had to ask. To make a long story short, looks like we are headed to the..."
He interrupted before she could finish, "... Circus."
The moment was shattered with the arrival of Operations and the remainder of the team. As they took their places at the table, Operations clicked his remote and the hologram was immediately in focus.
Nikita, unable to control herself, burst out laughing.
Operations glared at her, but let the breach pass. Truth be known, he was having a hard enough time keeping his own face straight.
"The image you are viewing is one of a quite unusual sort." He clicked the controls again and two figures came into view on the screen, although they were shrouded in mystery by the darkness of night.
"What you see before you is, indeed, a circus tent and trailers. Please notice the owner of this establishment, only known as M.A. Bear." The operatives moved closer to study the woman. She was smiling and looked like someone's teacher, mother, or even a favorite aunt.
"Don't let her looks deceive you. She is quite notorious." Operations placed his hand in his pocket and moved away from the table. With the remote, he brought up yet another scene. This one was taken once again in the darkness of night, and showed what looked to be a treehouse.
"Michael, I know you have seen the profile. The mission on deck is to infiltrate the ring, bring in M.A. Bear, and acquire the two characters shown in her Sideshow. They are of great interest to Section and we would like to run some tests on them. As for M.A. Bear, she is to be retrieved unharmed so that we can ... question her. Birkoff has your PDA's and you may go."
The team rose as one and filtered out to prepare for the mission.
*****
Michael quickly scanned the crowded arena and began a comm check. Calling to each operative and awaiting their reply only took moments. He looked across the center ring to Nikita, who was waiting to perform.
They had only needed two weeks to make themselves a part of the performance. Nikita performed on the high wire. Walter helped with the elephants, and Mentz was one of the acrobats.
Michael performed in the cage ... with his motorcycle.
Michael had managed to gain the confidence of several of the workers here at Bear Circus, and Nikita herself had become quite chummy with the circus owner, their target, M.A. Bear. Thinking of her, Michael glanced over to the control booth and saw her watching the show with great interest. Michael tracked her line of vision and noticed that Nikita was performing.
She was walking across the tightrope and had made it to the center of the rope when she paused dramatically. Lifting one foot slowly, she spun around and retraced her steps to the roar of the crowd.
Michael slipped his helmet on. He was next.
Blocking out everything but the cage before him, he made his way into the caged ball and barely heard the gate close behind him with a loud clanging sound. Accelerating the engines to a loud roar, he began his routine, riding the bike higher and higher up the walls of the enclosure until he was circling the interior with blinding speed.
Nikita caught her breath from the sidelines as she watched him.
He finished his routine with nary a mishap and made his way out of the cage with the crowd on their feet in admiration.
Michael took the opportunity to check the sideshow enclosure and noticed that for once it was not being guarded.
Since their time here, no one had been in or out of that enclosure. They did, however, hear strange sounds coming from within each night. They sounded almost human. But ... not quite.
Walter was in position to neutralize M.A. Bear at Michael's command as soon as he and Nikita were able to secure the occupants of the sideshow enclosure. Mentz had already made his way over to the sideshow on Michael's command and he stood at the ready.
Nikita and Michael converged on the tent and slipped inside quietly. The sight that met their eyes was not what they had imagined. They had been told that there was a Monkey Girl and a Cat Woman that had been a part of the circus for almost a year now. But there, before their eyes, were two young woman pecking furiously on computer keyboards.
Nikita laughed in spite of herself and the absorbed typists were immediately alerted. Whipping around with wild-eyed surprise, the one known as Monkey Girl jumped to her feet and swung with lightening speed into a nearby treehouse.
The one known as Cat Woman hissed at the operatives and dove behind an odd pile of unknown items in the corner.
Michael looked at Nikita and could only stare at her blankly.
"What's the matter Michael? Cat got your tongue?" Laughing with gusto, Nikita followed the Cat Woman and tried to entice her out of hiding with some doritos she had picked up off the desk. "Here kitty kitty." She called. The Cat Woman only hissed out from her hiding place.
*****
Shaking his head in confusion, Michael began to climb up into the treehouse in search of the Monkey Girl. Stopping on the top limb at the entrance to the hideaway, he paused as Walter burst into the tent with a very angry and ruffled M.A. Bear in tow.
"I DEMAND to know what is going on here! WHO are you people and WHAT in the nubbins are you doing in MY circus?!?!?" She was pulling and twisting in Walter's grasp like a wildwind. Walter was fighting a losing battle.
As M.A. Bear continued to struggle and fight, he had no option but to tranquilize her with a sedative. She slumped into a heap right as Operations came into the tent.
Michael, Walter and Nikita were stunned. They watched as Operations gently took M.A. Bear into his arms and without even a glance in their directions, he made his exit.
Nikita caught a look from Walter and lifted a finely arched brow in question. "So ... what's the story here Walter?"
Walter ignored the look from Michael and explained to Nikita that Operations had only instructed him that he wanted Ms. Bear unharmed. And that he planned to interrogate her ...personally.
Michael turned back to his mission. Poking his head into the darkened hideaway, he saw a quick movement to his right and lept onto the Monkey Girl. She screamed and fought against him, finally biting him on the hand. He drew back in pain and made to slap her when she slowly emerged from the darkness.
Wiping a hand across her mouth, she smiled devilishly and said, "I'm hungry."
Michael was too stunned to move. Lowering his hand he motioned for her to follow him and the two of them climbed down out of the treehouse and joined Walter. Nikita had finally coaxed Cat Woman out from her hiding place and the Cat was happily horking her doritos.
Nikita took in the entire scene and began to laugh uncontrollably. "Michael. What in the world is really going on here? Mind telling us please."
Meeting the eyes of all present, Michael finally fessed up. "The mission, in truth, was to locate and obtain the Monkey Girl and the Cat Woman as they are computer experts with more knowledge of the new systems than even Birkoff. As for M.A. Bear, Operations intentions are classified."
Monkey Girl and Cat exchanged a knowing look. They knew what was really going on. Monkey Girl moved closer to Cat and muttered, "Yeah... right!"
End