With the closure of the Vacek mission and Michael's reactions during the mission's completion, a review of past missions had been taken to pinpoint the start of Michael's deconstruction.
Starting with the mission against the Freedom League, Psych Ops has noticed marked changes in Michael.
The Freedom League Missions:
Although it cannot be proven, it is suspected that Michael saved Nikita from dying in the explosion that took out the Freedom League outpost. Her subsequent capture by FL may have come many months later. Several events bears this theory out:
(1) After Michael's mission to tail a FL kidnaping of
a scientist, he
returned to Section refocused
after many months of acting
carelessly.
(2) His "intel" about the FL location and his subsequent
challenging
of Ackerman's authority
during the planning phases of the
takeout of the FL's headquarters and the possibility
of Nikita's
retrieval.
(3) The freshness of the injuries that Nikita exhibited after her return.
(4) Michael's reaction to Jurgen being put in charge
of Nikita's
retraining.
(5) His shooting of Kudren when he was suppose
to bring him in
alive.
Michael's Reaction to Jurgen
During Nikita's retraining with Jurgen, Michael repeatedly made attempts (such as doctoring Jurgen's file) to turn Nikita from his former trainer. He may have even attempted to kill him during a mission in which several members of Jurgen's team were killed. Jurgen suspected this and confronted Michael which lead to a fight between them in the White Room
Did Michael help takedown Jurgen because he believed that Jurgen's blackmailing Section was wrong or did he do it out of jealousy? During Jurgen's last mission, when a charge did not go off, Michael was going to go reset the charge. Was it because he felt guilty of his part in Jurgen's downfall?
Mandatory Refusal
During his recent stint of MR, he did not take out the operatives that came after him, but merely disabled them. The most glaring example of this is his actions with regards to Nikita. Instead of killing her as predetermined by MR policy, he merely imprisoned her in an attempt to keep her out of harms way.
The Mission to Destroy the Remnants of Rene Dion's Group:
During this mission, Michael came face to face with his past. Rene Dion, whom was a friend and colleague of Michael's during his university days, reappeared in his life. During this period of his life, Michael had made the mistake that lead to his induction into Section.
Even though he knew that what Rene was doing was wrong, he went to his old friend and tried to reason with him. Unfortunately for Rene, he did not heed Michael's advice. Rene was brought into Section for a short time. A mission profile was set with Michael betraying his friend. The night before the mission was set, Michael went to Nikita.
In the time they spent together, he opened up to her - explaining who Rene
was and what he owed him. Uncharacteristically, he admitted to Nikita
that he was uncertain that he could go through with the profile.
In the end, Nikita killed Rene. Michael's statement "you should have
let him" is the first clear indication that Michael's emotional facade
was starting to crack. Did Rene's words "you are without honor, you
are not alive" cause this crack? Or did Michael start to question
if what he was doing was right?
The Armel Mission:
Portraying a "happily married couple" seem to have a profound affect on Michael - especially the morning after he and Nikita made love. He appeared anxious to the point of saying "it was a mistake." Although his next words were mission related, Nikita seemed to understand that he was saying something else. After the mission was over, he was overheard that he was "conflicted" and "that she knew a lot about him, but not everything and that somethings needed to remain hidden."
Given the intel that we now have, this observer has to wonder if he was
speaking of his marriage to Elana and their son?
Several other instances stand out:
(1) Michael's not reporting a fellow operative's pregnancy
(2) A possibly false MR with Nikita after an entire team
was
"compromised" (including David
Fanning) and the mission not
completed. (It is rumored that Fanning kidnaped by
Fanning in
order to have his wife Lisa returned to him.)
(3) Michael allowing Nikita's request that the attempt
to get two
children and their parents out
of Bosina.
(4) Michael's lack of response to Andrea's attempt to
kill him during a
mission
(5) Michael's response to Operations "lecturing" him
when a
mission's success window was
very tight.
(6) Michael's betrayal of Nikita during the Adrian mission
(7) Michael's offer of escape to Nikita after Adrian
was captured.
With the loss of his son and wife, it remains to be seen whether Michael
will be able to hold himself together.
Lady Aeval