“This is what I love about LFN fans… zany fun and boundless creativity wrapped up in compassion and kindness. This is why there was a successful convention 20 years later, and this is yet another reason why LFN remains a special period in my life. Congratulations to all involved, and a very happy birthday to you, Heather. I hope you enjoy the book.” -Christopher Heyn

*Disclaimer: Code Names of my mission team are used due to protection , but mostly strictly for fun.

For those who know of me, know of two things; my passion for film and my fandom of La Femme Nikita. As I stated in previous blogs, I got to experience a once in a lifetime event in Toronto earlier this summer to meet half the cast and help volunteer for the event. What I didn’t realize, is what ridiculous friends I would make and bring home with me from the convention.

My 31st birthday was and wasn’t recently; it was earlier this summer on June 6th. A week after a lot of us came home from the Reunion Convention in Toronto (my personal birthday gift to myself this year). I met few and very amazing individuals, as I also reunited with Maxine and a few of the ladies of the Official Roy Dupuis Fan Club during this trip. The memories are solid, however, I would have never imagine the wits and ends my new friends would go to put together a little adventure for me in order to receive a very special birthday present and a long winded birthday.

 So, what had happened was, behind my back, a couple of my LFN friends decided to team up to buy me one of Chris’s books, “Inside Section One,” due to my passion for TV, film, and writing in general. However, they wanted to make me WORK for the damn book and send me on a scavenger hunt that would take me “around the world.” It wasn’t just a scavenger hunt, it was a mission directed from Nikita. The objective of the mission was this, SURPRISE! The directory was taking down from digital encryption and transferred to hard copy, in result of multiple attempts of Red Cell stealing the damn directory again. I had to “travel” around the world and warn my team of operatives to execute Omega Protocol and go dark until instructed otherwise. In reality, my travels were teleported through messenger, tipping off each operative.

Mind you, I don’t do a whole lot of role playing, since my life is already 3-Dimensional as is, however with a little nudge from The Accountant and my team leader, Kendra, I gave in, and the mission was underway. Another note for you all, this scavenger hunt/mission/role play started on June 15 and finished on June 25! Here are the hints that came up for my travel log:

1.   First hint to start me off was going to Melbourne, and connect with codename: Katiebug and tell her to execute Omega Protocol.
2. Katiebug then sent me the hint, “give a message to the Bulgarian, by La Brea Tar Pits.” That hint sent me to codename: Bulgarian Lass.
3. Once identity was verified, Bulgarian Lass cussed at me in her native tongue after giving me the hint, “What about Sag Harbor?” My first reaction was, what the hell is that?? Eventually the hint led me to a New York operative, which we don’t have a cool codename for yet. LOL!
4. The fourth hint from the NY operative was, “I hear the band likes Nascar Hall of Famers, but they’re scared of the judge.” LOL! I pinned it down to N.C., but I knew of two operatives from NC. I sent a message to the first one, but within two minutes, I told her, “disregard.” I then remembered who codename: Judge Judy was.  
5. After succeeding with the Judge Judy factor, she then sent me a hilarious, but long ass hint. “New assignment from Ops has me working on a TV show called ‘Judge Judy’ to infiltrate the networks. Agenda currently unknown…”

   That’s when the banter was taken a step further, “POGUE! YOU NEED TO COME TO ORDER OR I’LL FIND YOU IN CONTEMPT!” LOL! After she calmed Pogue down, she sent me back to our “b” channel to wait further instructions from ‘Nikita’. I then made my way back to “b” channel, where Nikita displayed a new hint.
    

6. This next hint sent me out to Venezuela with a code to decrypt and a photo of the largest waterfalls in their country. That’s when I knew I found codename: LatinChica.
7. After LatinChica, I would head to Washington State to an operative who goes by the codename: The Accountant. No, I am not talking Ben Affleck movie lingo.
8. From there, The Accountant, sent me the hint, “There’s an operative who bounces a signal off Virginia. Their substation shares my coast.” 
9. That hint led me to the operative, Valencia. Once I verified my identity and sent her to execute the Omega Protocol, she sent me back to NC to deal with the feds. LOL!
10. I guess I was too good of an operative, because the last operative (*cough*The Fed*cough*) had me hanging for like two to three days, purposely. My retaliation, you may ask? I sacrificed her and fed her to Red Cell and went ahead with my team leader to head to the cargo plane to intercept the directory.

The reality of my next step to work towards my gifts, the cargo plane ended up to be another escape room for me and Kendra to piece together and get out. As I went behind the cargo boxes, an envelope dropped into my hands. It turned out to be a couple of the pieces of the extra goodies that Chris sent to everyone who bought the book during this time around! Even though I was distracted momentarily, Kendra and I managed to get out of the cargo bay of the plane with twenty minutes to spare. We were trained well! LOL! However, my mission wasn’t done. Saturday, I had another piece of the puzzle awaiting in my mailbox to reveal another essential of the gift. When I put everything together, I didn’t hesitate to call Kendra to demand my answer… “YOU GOT ME CHRIS’S BOOK, DIDN’T YOU!?!?”

As usual, Kendra had a good laugh over the phone and she finally explained the whole ordeal of putting the mission together and her and Jennifer both assisted in buying me the book for my birthday. She knew I was catching on quick with the scavenger hunt, but she gave me each piece of the puzzle separately just to keep me second guessing myself. Let me just say, it fucking worked.
Today, as she came over to have lunch and watch one of Roy’s more ‘current’ films, “Cyanure”, she finally delivered my copy of “Inside Section One” which will be a good tool for me for further education with the film industry and how film and TV projects are put together.

Let me tell you a small secret, I have had NOBODY in my life that went through all of this planning to feed my geekiness, and to give me a gift that I would cherish for life. My life is nowhere easy for me. I found Kendra has certainly earned a place in my “chosen” family here in Madison, and I am super blessed that ReCon seriously brought us together to cherish so many memories together already!! I just hope someday I can provide such amazingness creativity to celebrate her life and our friendship!!

Also, I am blessed for the individuals who played their part in this game. It was soooooooooo perfect and fun with everyone involved!!!! All the clues and banter was priceless between me and those involved. I just hope the Bulgarian Lass can teach me a few words in her native tongue. Last, but surely not least, thank you Chris for giving us this opportunity for a crazy birthday ride that lasted ten damn days with these friends!