Michael was brought into Section after he and a group of militant student activists, led by Rene Dion, calling themselves the "The Bloody Hour" had planted a bomb that went off prematurely leaving Michael unconscious. Michael was arrested, sent to prison and awoke in Section.
Like many recruits, Michael had a hard time adjusting to life in Section. He was trained by Jurgen and by Madeline (See Relationship File: Michael). His initial role was as a Valentine Op, but it quickly became clear, that his talents were that of a top-flight strategist. Michael quickly rose through the ranks becoming a team leader three years ahead of schedule.
Sometime after his elevation to team leader, he was teamed with Simone whom he latter married. Due to high level classification, when and where they were married is unavailable to Psych Ops. Their life together was short-lived. Simone and Michael were sent out on recon mission to gather information on Glass Curtain. Not heeding Simone's request for a backup, they went alone. Simone was "killed." Blaming himself, Michael withdrew from everyone in Section. He often placed himself in dangerous situations in which he could have been killed. (NOTE: When it was later discovered that Simone was still alive, Michael lost control. Upon finding Simone at the Glass Curtain site, Michael freed her and tried to convince her to return to Section with him. This was not to be - Simone chose to die along with Sparks, the head of Glass Curtain. It should be noted that this time Michael did not shutdown, but with the help of Nikita was able to get through his grief.)
Six months after Simone's death, Michael was given Nikita to train. From the beginning it became apparent that this woman impacted him deeply. He took to prolonging their training sessions or staying with her while she trained with others. It has long been suspected that Madeline had given Nikita to Michael to bring him back into balance. After her two year training period was over he convinced Operations into letting her live.
Two words describes Michael - pragmatic and controlling. Michael has come to accept his life in Section. He may believe that it is fitting for someone who had hurt innocent people to dedicated, and may be give, his life in service to atone for his past actions. He will do whatever necessary to survive. In the past, especially after Simone's death, he would blindly follow Section polices and missions. Now with the arrival of Nikita, he bends the rules and protects her whenever possible. (See Relationship File: Nikita).
During the first year of Nikita's post-training, Michael's struggle to control his emotional response to her became increasing evident. During one of the missions to retrieve Van Vector, Michael lost his temper with Nikita to the point of yelling. This was the first time that he had such an emotional outburst After that, it was apparent that Nikita's presence was awakening in him emotions long dormant. Little, by little, she has drawn him out.
All through this, Michael was able to maintain his walls until Nikita was assigned to "get close" Alec Chandler who unbeknownst to Nikita was a child slaver. It was clear to everyone that Nikita was falling for Chandler. After one evening on Chandler's boat, Nikita arrived home to find a very irritated Michael waiting for her; on another occasion, Nikita became involved with Gary Welllman, an innocent who had unknowingly got in the middle of a mission to recover The Directory; and on yet another occasion, Eric, a surveillance op, tempted Nikita into escaping with him. How Michael found out about this is still unknown. However, what is known is that he went to Nikita's apartment the day of the planned escape and slowly seduced her. The question remains - who was seducer and who was the seducee. Watching the surveillance tapes from Nikita's apartment suggests that Michael my have gotten caught in his own trap. Only the timely ringing of his phone kept them from becoming physically intimate.
On each of these occasions, Michael displayed behavior's that were uncharacteristic of him. When Nikita was with Chandler and Wellman, it was obvious that he was jealous (Madeline also felt the need to point out to him, in the case of Wellman, that eventually Nikita would become involved with someone else). Eric's case, however, is slightly puzzling - was he jealous or was he just in a protective mode?
Michael found excuses to go to Nikita's apartment. Unlike his other trainees, Nikita has sparked a protective feeling in Michael. When Nikita was placed into abeyance (unknown to him at the time) and he was given the task of taking an abeyance team to destroy the Freedom League. As the mission was loading, Nikita arrived as the last member of that team. Knowing that he could not let her die, he went against Section policy and gave her a potential way out - a preprogrammed PDA. Michael repeatedly attempted to contact Nikita through this PDA to no avail.
Not knowing if Nikita was dead or alive ate at Michael. From that mission onward, his performance declined. He became careless and during one mission almost got an entire team killed. Not long after that he was taken out of team leader status and replaced by Ackerman. He also suffered with the knowledge that others in Section, namely Walter and Birkoff, blamed him for Nikita's death.
During a mission against Freedom League, he found Nikita alive. Not being able to stay away, he sent one more message - she answered. Michael has always been able to control his emotions. However, he was now drowning in them. He made his way to her. What happened that night is unknown. However, when Michael returned to Section his old "self" returned - decisive, assertive. When he found out that Operations and Madeline knew that Nikita was alive via a communiqué from the Freedom League, that they were holding Nikita captive, he immediately formed a plan (of his own) to bring her in.
Sending a message to Nikita, he arranged for her return to Section. However, once she returned, his behavior became erratic. The two missions that he headed after that were marred by two incidents - the shooting of Kudren and the destruction of the Freedom League's computer. Although he was able to explain both to Operations, it is clear that Operations had some doubts about the reports.
His reaction to seeing Jurgen, who had been assigned to retrain Nikita, was one of apprehension. The appearance of his former trainer seemed to unsettle him especially when Jurgen's relationship with Nikita started to take a personal turn.
After Nikita's return to Section, Michael's relationship with her was demonstratively damaged. At the beginning, they could been seen in the hallways whispering and on one occasion, Nikita was seen angrily walking away from him. (See Relationship File: Nikita) Although Michael's performance and behavior has returned to normal since her return, he seemed to be lost in an emotional haze which was intensified when Jurgen took his place in resetting a bomb and was killed in the subsequent explosion.
Over the next couple of months, a small, but perceptible change has taken place in Michael especially after his recent Mandatory Refusal. Whereas Michael may have been "secure" in his place in Section, he found by Operations' actions that even he was expendable. From this point on, a softening (for a lack of a better word) can be seen in Michael.
The following three missions are a good example of this. During a mission to identify who planted a bomb at a Paris museum, Michael came full circle and ran into his past. Rene Dion, Michael's friend and former colleague, surfaced. At first Michael attempted to hide his friend's involvement by going to him and trying to persuade him to discontinue his actions. Michael's emotional turmoil between protecting someone who he still considered to be a friend and Section was evident. His betrayal of Rene had a profound impact. His unwillingness to defend himself against Rene is a sure sign of someone who may no longer be willing to live his life.
The second mission was an attempt to stop Rodovan Luka from completing an arms deal had an added hitch to it due to Nikita's insistence. As they were initially searching for Luka, they found 2 children who had been left behind after their parents had been "arrested." Nikita insisted that they take they along with them. Even after Michael told her to leave the children at the refugee camp and she told him to do it himself, he gave into her. It appears that he had bonded with the children to the point that he, after killing Luka, sought out the parents and attempted to help the family cross the border.
The third mission the taken down of Joanquin Armel was textbook except for the emotions that emanated from it. It is very clear that although they were acting a part as a married couple, the acting ended there - the emotions were real. Michael's distress the day after he and Niktia made love was not that of a man who is known for his abilities to separate himself from the mission at hand. It was apparent that he was distressed (in spite of the words he used) because he knew that what had happened between them could exposed them to further manipulation by Section (especially Madeline). It also appears that he is attempting to open up to Nikita (an example of this is a statement he made to her at the end of this mission - that there were many things she knew about him, but there were things that needed to remain hidden and that it had nothing to do with the way he felt about her).
Another milestone, which will be discussed further in the Relationship File, is the removal of Niktia from his mentorship. During the mission to bring in Abel Goellner, Operations upgraded Nikita's status to directly report to him. Michael realizes that he no longer can effectively protect Nikita from whatever Operations may do.
Mentorship Year 2 Summary:
Michael's propensity to coral his emotions seem to be becoming harder. Also, it appears that Michael has begun to assert his prerogatives (see Relationship File: Operations) and is questioning his role within Section. How far he will go to protect Nikita and attempt to repair the damage that has been done to their relationship is unknown at this time.
Rank:
Class 5 Operative. Possible successor to Operations.