Nikita

"And the last word they breathe before the end, will be my name."

- Nikita, in the opening titles.

Nikita is the main character of the eponymous show. She was recruited to Division six years before the start of the first season and escaped Division three years ago, and since then they have searched for her. She is a former spy and assassin who has gone rogue. She ran away from home eleven years ago at 16 from an abusive foster-father and started living on the streets. Nikita claims that she got in with a bad crowd, and did "a lot of drugs", which eventually lead to her ending up on Death Row. Division faked Nikita's execution and recruited her, leading her to believe she could have a second chance by serving her country. When she finished her training and became a field agent, Nikita fell in love with a civilian named Daniel Monroe, whom believed her to be an airline consultant. Division had bugged his home, later sending Cleaners to kill him so that Nikita would not be distracted by emotional entanglements.

That's when Nikita escaped and swore to take revenge. After being betrayed, Nikita escaped and went into hiding, re-emerging at the time of "Pilot" once more as a rogue agent determined to bring down Division and free the other recruits. She and Alex worked together throughout the first season.

Biography
Not much is known about Nikita's childhood except that she was fostered into a two-parent family at a young age. We never learn about her true parents. Nikita also confronts her former foster-father eleven years after she ran away, and claims that she and her foster-mother had to tidy up after him often due to alcoholism. She also implies he was abusive.

In the episode All The Way, Amanda states that Nikita was "rescued" from Death Row by Division, who then forced her into the training that she now detests. After escaping Division three years ago, Nikita tracks down the girl of whom she saved her life; Alex. The two create a plan to take down Division from the inside, Alex for the revenge of the murder of her family by Division, and Nikita for the revenge of her fiance. As Season One progresses, we discover many facts about Nikita's time at Division; when she was there, she was considered their best operative, proving this by being able to use their own training and tricks to escape the premises permanently. We also learn that, while there, Nikita grew very close to Michael, one of Division's higher-ranking operatives. This point is reiterated many times even as Nikita is "rogue" from Division, especially in the episode One Way.

History With Division
Nikita also regularly tries to undo some of the damage she may have unknowingly cause whilst at Division. It seems that she looks back on her early days of Division as a time when she had no choice in what she was doing, until she was ordered to kill the entire Udinov family. This is the first Divison order that Nikita does not completely follow; she kills the entire family except the youngest female family member and keeps her alive. She is, however, forced to leave her to return to Division, and therefore cannot control what happens to her.

Nikita revisits her past with Division throughout early episodes to correct her mistakes. For example, she felt guilt over her first kill as he was a husband and father. Nikita believes that she killed him while acting under the guise of the family's nanny, yet discovers that he is alive when she tries to correct this mistake by making peace with the widow.

She is recaptured by Division in the episode All The Way, yet manages to escape through a "hairline fracture" in the perimeter (formerly used by Alex and even Jaden) which is then sealed. The shellbox program created by Nikita for her and Alex to communicate is also destroyed by Birkhoff.

Nikita often works with double-agents or those who are rogue from Division, such as Owen Elliot. This means that she can access information that would be otherwise unatainable without certain levels of clearance. An agent leaving Division usually does so with insight from Nikita, such as Owen helping Nikita because of the death of Emily, or Michael joining her because of her help with Kasim. Into the Dark sees the return of Owen, and the hunt for the black boxes continues.

As of Pandora, Nikita's access to Division has been damaged; Alex is discovered to be her mole and then no longer wishes to help Nikita, Amanda takes control of part of Oversight and Michael is no longer able to retain his cover at Division. However, Birkhoff has helped Nikita with information into Divison and Operation Sparrow, and says he will "cross [his fingers] behind [his] back" to help Nikita. As of the end of Season One and the start of Season Two, Michael and Nikita are on the run together to find the remaining black boxes.

Relationships
Her relationship with Alex was originally symbiotic as the two shared the same ideals to bring down Division from the inside. Nikita is a former recruit and the only one (at the start of the first season) to have escaped. Nikita attempted to rescue Alex after her father was killed, yet failed to stop the girl from being sold into human trafficking. Nikita did, however, help Alex by rescuing her from the traffickers and helping her become clean, despite Alex's protests. Alex soon learned of Nikita's plans and pledged to help avenge her family's murderers. Nikita felt a duty to protect Alex as she saw her past taking place all over again in Alex, especially when it was evident that Alex begins to fall for a civilian, just as Nikita did years before her.

The two are no longer allies after the Season One finale Pandora, and it may be that Alex will join Oversight to help track down Nikita, whom has gone on the run with Michael, searching for black boxes.

In her early days at Division, Nikita was one of Michael's recruits, especially because he was in charge of processing new recruits. He broke the news to Alex as he probably would have to Nikia that they will be joining Division. It is also implied, perhaps for comedic effect, that everyone knew of Michael's feelings for Nikita; even Percy and Amanda. The two often meet when Nikita is attempting to sabotage Divison ops in Season One as Michael is instructed by Percy to kill Nikita. He always attempts to follow through on the order, but always saves her or lets her live in some way. Michael is shown as angry when Division thinks that Nikita is dead after "The Gurdian", as Birkhoff notices. Birkhoff tells of his feelings for Nikita, and that he misses her, too.

Further light is shed on the two's relationship in later Season One episodes such as "Echoes" and "Covenants"; yet, in the latter, Michael tells Nikita that he cannot move on with her until he kills the man who killed his wife and daughter. Michael eventually goes rogue at the end of this episode, and he and Nikita begin a romantic relationship. This relationship has been dubbed "Mikita" by fans.