A/N: Chapter 11!

"Mikey, looks like we've got something." For the first time in a month, Birkhoff added silently.

Michael was at the doorway in seconds. "What is it?" He asked somewhat breathlessly as he walked up to the giant monitors on the walls.

Birkhoff dragged an image onto the screen. It was security footage from two days earlier and was taken from an intersection in New York.

"Arianya." Michael said, recognizing the woman crossing the street. "What's she doing there?"

Birkhoff clicked over to a different photo. "Paying the CIA a visit." He answered. "Specifically, one Ryan Fletcher."

Michael groaned. "What happened?"

"Fletcher left the building with Arianya twenty minutes later. He's been off the radar since."

"He left voluntarily?"

"Probably not." Birkhoff replied darkly, zooming in on a photo of Ryan and Arianya crossing the same street a little while later. She was walking closely behind him, one hand around his wrist and while casually pressing her other hand –which clutched a handbag –to his back. "Gun."

"Gun." Michael agreed.

"So what do we do?"

Michael looked down at Birkhoff, raising his eyebrows. "I thought you'd have an idea."

"I would track down Fletcher or Arianya, but that's already been done, and they dropped off the radar about two blocks away from CIA headquarters." He said. "Arianya cut her tracker out herself."

"Wonderful." Michael grumbled. "Any other good news?"

"That's it."

Michael dropped down onto the couch with a sigh. "What're we doing, Seymour?" He wondered. "We've got nothing."

"We could get Division's attention somehow."

"And then what?" Michael snapped irritably, "They'll just send a task team to kill us off."

"Well I don't know!" Birkhoff snapped back, "I'll just triple surveillance again and sit here for a few more hours every day, searching for something to go on!"

"Sorry."

"What?"

"I snapped, it's not your fault. Sorry." Michael said, shaking his head.

"Yeah. Um, sorry, too."

"It was my fault."

"Yeah. Okay." Birkhoff leaned back in his seat.

"It's just"

"-Michael." Birkhoff interrupted. "You don't have to explain anything. I get it. It's cool, man."

"No, it's not, I"

"-Michael? Shut up. It's fine."

He fell quiet and smiled a little. "I'm a mess, aren't I?"

"Yeah, you're totally freaking out a little" Birkhoff snorted, sitting up and leaning toward the computer monitor in front of him. "Now I'm the cool one." He grinned.

"The 'cool' one?" Michael raised an eyebrow, "Don't be ridiculous, Nerd."

"Okay, first of all, I am not a nerd." He sputtered. "I'm Shadow Walker, the Engineer, and at the moment, I've got my shit is way more together than you do."

"Shadownet is only significant to nerds." Michael replied with a smirk.

"Michael, will you stop stealing my thunder for once?" Birkhoff said, blinking.

Birkhoff stared across the harbor silently. He didn't turn around as the crunch of gravel behind him signaled someone approaching.

"Seymour," a voice drawled. "What a lovely surprise."

He turned around and cocked his gun. "What do you want?"

"Relax," Amanda rolled her eyes, "I'm here alone."

"All the more reason to shoot," Birkhoff said with a small smile.

"Listen. You've been watching the news. Semak is dead. Alex is taking back the company. Percy is taking back the company." Amanda said, "Oversight will lose control when that happens, and then Percy will be running the whole scene."

"Isn't that what you want?" Birkhoff said.

"No," Amanda said, nostrils flaring. "I'm a proponent for Division, which frankly, Percy no longer represents."

"So you want to make a deal or something?" Birkhoff snorted.

The older woman leaned forward, looking unamused. The mouth of the gun pressed against her chest, but she didn't pay it any attention. "Here," She growled.

Birkhoff looked down. She held out a black box.

"At the moment, we have similar interests. Get rid of Percy." She said.

"Or I could shoot you now, and I'll still get the black box." Birkhoff said.

"Oh please," Amanda snorted, "You're not a killer."

"Funny. I've got a few names to my record." Birkhoff said pleasantly. He pressed the gun into her skin and snatched the black box out of her hands.

She clenched her jaw. "Okay," There was the sound of a lock opening and a metal box fell to the ground. "What's this?" She brought up a remote. "Kill chip remote? For whom?"

"How-?" Birkhoff swore.

"Your pocket's open," Amanda said smugly. "Now, you shoot, I'll press this button. I'm guessing this is Michael's? Am I right?" she was breathing heavily, eyes wide, but there was a smile on her lips.

It grew wider as she watched Birkhoff's expression freeze and then darken.

"Aha. So we've hit a soft spot. Tell me, Seymour, how many friends do you even have? How many people are there –that you care about? How many are left? Aw, only one?"

Birkhoff lowered his weapon.

"So, Birkhoff," Amanda said, "Let's take down Percy. You do your little nerd thing with the black box, and I'll give you back this remote and your precious Michael… lives. Okay?"

"I'll come after you," Birkhoff said. "You kill him, I'm going to kill you."

"Getting a little protective, hm, Birkhoff?" Amanda smirked. She slipped the remote clutching hand into the pocket of her coat and walked away slowly, as if daring Birkhoff to shoot her while her back was turned.

He didn't, and she walked away.

"Shit," Birkhoff hissed, kicking the fallen metal box across the pavement. "Shit."

He ran back to the house faster than he'd ever run before.

Michael jumped up and pointed a gun at his chest as he threw open the door.

"Jesus," He sighed, relieved to see it was only Birkhoff. "What's going on?"

"A black box, that's what," Birkhoff said, diving toward the nearest computer he could hook the thing up to. It was already unlocked, and he was still panting as the files opened onto his screen.

"Wait, where did you get that? Is anyone coming?" Michael demanded.

"No, I –it was just –not now, Michael." Birkhoff shook his head fiercely as his fingers flew across the keyboard. Files began to load and code streamed past the screen. Then it all disappeared and a single file remained for inspection. "This is what she wants." Birkhoff breathed, eyes wide.

"Who- what-?"

"Amanda. I –she snuck on me. But we came to a compromise. This black box? Its main file is on Operation Riverwood."

"Riverwood," Michael repeated with a frown. "Wait, what compromise?"

"Taking down Percy, mutual goals at the moment, blah blah blah," He left off the part about Michael's kill chip remote.

"So what's Operation Riverwood? I've never even heard of it." He crossed his arms.

"Oh, just information on every government screw up Division ever had to cover." Birkhoff said, eyes scanning down files as they appeared on the screen. A shadow of a smile appeared on his lips, "You know what this means?"

Michael glanced down and met his eyes, "Yeah."

ELSEWHERE:

Amanda reentered her office and established herself comfortably in her armchair. Arianya, who was lounging on a sofa nearby, reading a magazine and swigging a beer, looked up. "Everything ready to go?"

"It's all in place." Amanda said with a smug smile, "Now all we have to do is wait for the dominoes to fall."