A/N: thank you to everyone who's been reviewing, I appreciate it! and a special shoutout to AfraidToFall94—happy belated birthday :) Oh, and Happy New Year to everyone!
Alex didn't know at what point she had regained consciousness, but she didn't open her eyes. What was the point? She was probably being signed off for cancellation at this very moment. The thought made her heart ache with disappointment and regret. She wouldn't be able to avenge her family's death.
She had failed.
There was a quiet knock, but before Alex could react, she heard another voice respond to whoever was at the door. Keeping still, Alex strained to hear the conversation that followed.
"Is she awake yet?" Amanda asked, keeping her voice low. "The effects of the tranquilizers should have worn off by now."
"Not yet," Michael answered, his voice a mere mutter. "She hasn't shown any movement since we transported her to Medical. How are the others?"
"Thom is recovering in the room down the hall. He has a mild concussion, but there don't appear to be any other injuries. He'll be back out in the field in no time."
"Has he been debriefed? Do we know what happened? Why they took him?"
"I assume because they were trying to get information about Division," Amanda said dispassionately. "It was lucky that Percy arrived on the scene just as the ambassador and his wife were attempting to escape. With the on-site backup team, we were able to apprehend them immediately."
"Yeah," Michael cleared his throat, "About that...why exactly was Percy there?"
"You'll hear about it at the interrogation later," Amanda turned to leave, "I'm sure you'll be there, won't you?"
There was no answer, and Alex heard high heels clicking away. Taking this as a sign that Amanda had left, she opened her eyes. Michael was still standing by the door, his arms crossed. "I assume you heard all that?"
Alex sat up in the bed, and drew her knees to her chest, "Maybe."
Michael looked out the door both ways before he shut it, and strode quickly over to Alex. "Listen to me," he whispered, "We don't have a lot of time, so I need you to pay attention. There are only two places in Division that aren't monitored by security cameras. One is the recruits' rooms—a place you're not likely to go anytime soon. The other is Medical. Therefore, this is the only place we can speak freely."
Alex looked up in alarm at Michael's tone, "Wait, what exactly are you—"
"I already know what evidence they have you," he spoke over her, not meeting her gaze. "Birkhoff is more loyal to me than he is to Percy, so I know. I need you to promise me that you'll go along with whatever story I come up with during the interrogation. Do you understand?"
"Story?" Alex shook her head, "Look, none of this has anything to do with you. I don't need you to—"
"Alex. Do you understand?"
She glared at him, "I won't let you do this."
"Yeah, well," Michael straightened and walked to the door, "You leave me no choice."
Several hours later, Alex found herself sitting in a dimly lit room at the end of a long table; Nikita sat at the other end. Amanda sat at precisely the midpoint of the table, with a clipboard and a voice recorder. There was an ominous looking cart behind her, which Alex suspected held the sorts of things that the "Inquisitor" was known and feared for.
Michael and Percy both stood in one corner of the room. In the opposite corner was Birkhoff, messing around with some sort of machine that Alex didn't recognize. There was also a flat screen TV in the center of the table, directly in front of Amanda. She was holding the remote in front of her, and tapping it impatiently. It appeared that everyone was waiting for Birkhoff to finish...whatever it was that he was doing.
"Okay, all set," he said finally, turning to look at Amanda with a nod, "You can cue the tape now."
Amanda turned the remote around in her hands, but didn't press anything. "Birkhoff, perhaps you should explain what happened while we were at the mission earlier today."
"Um," Birkhoff shot a look in Michael's direction, "Okay. Well, while you guys were gone, I was updating Division's firewalls and security measures. While I was doing that, I ran into a...well, a program that I had never installed myself."
"Go on."
"So, I called Percy to look it over with me. We discovered it was essentially a two-way chat program that could be used to connect with someone out there. Percy immediately knew that this was how Nikita was finding out all her information. There was a leak within our walls. A mole."
Michael made a move to say something, but Amanda held up a hand. "And how did you connect this program with Alex? I'm sure they were smart enough to not leave behind any incriminating evidence..."
"Percy and I reviewed the security footage of the computer room from the past several months. There was only one recruit who was always there after hours," Birhoff's voice trailed off, "Only one."
Nikita suddenly laughed, and it was the laugh of someone who had nothing to lose. "You idiots. You really think that I was using this girl to infiltrate Division?" she spat, "Pathetic."
"You deny it?" Amanda leaned forward interestedly. "Fine. Then Alex can explain what she was doing for all those extra hours in the computer room. And don't give us some excuse about 'working on an assignment.' We all know that's not true." She smiled coldly, "In fact, you're quite good at computers, aren't you?"
Alex gritted her teeth, "You don't know—"
"You're right," Michael spoke suddenly, walking forward. "Alex was working on an assignment. For me."
There was silence.
Alex felt like she couldn't breathe. She chanced a glance at Nikita, who was looking at Michael as though he had gone insane.
"Excuse me?" Percy asked incredulously, "An assignment for you? What is this, Michael?"
Michael straightened his tie, his face expressionless. "I discovered the shell program several months ago. Shortly after Alex arrived at Division, actually. I knew that Nikita had installed it, but I had no idea who she was using it to communicate with. Therefore, I decided to entrust Alex with the task of acting as the mole. There was no way that Nikita could know who she was talking to. As long as Alex didn't divulge too much information from our side, then we would finally be two steps ahead of Nikita."
"Go to hell," Nikita suddenly hissed, her hands fisting around the edges of the table. "You were feeding me wrong information for months?"
Michael stared back at her coldly. "The point wasn't to GIVE you the right information, Nikita..It was to find out how exactly you were planning on extracting your revenge on Division!"
Nikita flipped over her chair so quickly, that Alex didn't even see what had happened. In a flash, Michael had Nikita pinned to the wall, his hands around her throat. "You think I forgot?" he shouted, "Did you think I could ever forget that you betrayed me! You betrayed everything we—that I—taught you!" He slammed her against the wall again, and Alex winced when she heard a bone crack. "And then, as if that wasn't ENOUGH, you went and ruined ANY CHANCE I had at finally killing Kasim!"
"Michael, calm yourself!" Percy shouted, grabbing Michael by both arms and attempting to pull him backwards. Birkhoff hurried forward to stop Nikita from retaliation, and he shoved her into her chair again. "Calm down!" Percy roared again, slamming Michael into the opposite wall. "What the hell has gotten into you? If you don't stop this right now, then I will have you removed from this interrogation!"
Michael took a deep breath, and knelt over a spare chair next to Alex. She stared up at him with wide eyes, but he didn't look at her. "I apologize," he said stiffly, "For losing my temper."
"Hold on just a minute," Amanda said, standing up in anger. "Are you telling me that you have known all this time that there was a breach in Division security, and you said nothing?"
"I told you," Michael responded tightly, "I needed to find out what Nikita's plan was."
"And what about all the missions that she ruined?" Amanda snapped furiously, "You told her—"
"No," Alex intervened, and she felt Michael tense next to her. "We never told Nikita anything. She must have gotten her information from somebody else. All we ever tried to do was figure out what she was planning."
"Oh really?" Amanda said disbelievingly, "And who might this other person be? Nikita, do you have anything to say?"
Nikita glared at them through hooded eyes. "Other person?" she scoffed, "I get my information from everywhere, Amanda. Everywhere."
Alex cleared her throat, "Actually, I may have an idea of who the mole is." Both Nikita and Michael sent her a warning look, but she ignored them. She turned to Amanda and said carefully, "Whenever I had to sneak into the computer room after hours, there was always another recruit I saw sneaking around in the halls." She took a deep breath, "I didn't want to say anything because, well, I figured it was none of my business. Besides she already hated me enough..."
"Hated you?" Amanda narrowed her eyes, "You mean Jaden? You think she's the mole?"
Alex closed her eyes briefly, hating herself. "Yes," she said finally, "I have proof."