"Have you heard anything yet?" Nikita tore into the safehouse post-mission. She had been able to shove aside her panic and worry to concentrate enough on her op. But the instant it was over, her entire being was focused on finding her daughter. Maybe if she was actively looking, instead of waiting on the other kids to contact them, the dread couldn't seep in. Things were already horrific enough. Her daughter being threatened and harmed and kidnapped and brainwashed were her worst nightmares come true. She couldn't allow it to become any more grim or disastrous. She was supposed to have protected Piper against all of the pain in the world. God, did she fail terribly. Nikita had to make up for it and save her little girl.
However, there continued to be no word about her whereabouts. The other kids went after Pj and James, promising to bring them home. It was possible they hadn't found the two yet. But they still should've checked in. No one else should've been in danger or hurt. The team had to ensure everyone stayed safe. It was why they had painfully separated themselves from their children. The stupid idea was that they would be safe if the danger their parents brought was out of their lives. That decision did more harm than good, though. Nikita had to shove those thoughts aside to be able to check Birkhoff's computer for any updates. She ignored the nerd too, causing him to snark, "Hey, how are you? How was the mission? Sure, you can touch my stuff."
"Ryan can debrief on all of that," Michael answered for his wife, moving to join her at the computers. Ryan was far more rational and level headed than the rest of the team. He always had been, even before the kids came into the picture. Not only did that help with missions, but it also let the rest of the team be as paranoid about their children as possible. That moment was no exception. Michael felt as though he was spiraling out of control. He couldn't get his daughter's screams when he had found her in the Shop facility out of his head. She was so panicked and scared, all because he hadn't protected her like he had promised. Who knew what could happen while she was running around under Amanda's conditioning. He had to find her; he had to uphold his promise and protect her.
There were no updates from the young agents, however. That shouldn't have been the case. The team had been separated for two days. Something had to have been communicated. Though, wasn't talking the one thing they were all terrible at. Pj's conditioning probably could've been handled better if they talked. Hell, a lot of things would've been better if the team actually spoke to one another. The kids were pissed about their parents not communicating about their recent mission. Blaming stubbornness wouldn't get them far. It was more than likely a misguided attempt at safety. Not discussing complicated things could save someone from hurt. But that couldn't be the case forever, especially then. The silence from their children was deafening. Alex could barely take it, "They should've called in by now."
"Maybe they're still looking," Even Sean didn't believe his own defense. There was a chance Max, Kara, Oliver, and Felicity were still looking for James and Pj. However, they at least would've called to check in. It didn't matter that their parents were on a mission tracking down other potential doubles (gathered from the stolen black book) like the BND officer. They could've left a message, or a ping on their location. Reaching out to the young agents didn't help assure the older rogues. No one responded. They were left in the horrifying dark.
Yet Nikita refused to give up. Although the amount of intel and promising leads on Shop plants around the world was enough to initiate crushing operations against Amanda, her only desire was to locate the kids. Ryan was more than likely right about Pj's conditioning being used as a distraction, but she didn't care. Her daughter was all she could think about. James was with her, at least. Despite his insane decision to follow her escape, it was great that someone was there to watch her back. But that small comfort couldn't sustain Nikita for long. She needed answers. Unfortunately, a notification on one of the computers caused Sonya to rip the keyboard away from her. Confusion and concern overcame her, "Uh. Seymour. Somebody accessed an old code of Shadownet."
"I thought the only people who could access Shadownet was you," There was a bit of a tease in Alex's voice from all the times Shadowwalker had bragged about his system. The hacker claimed to be so good, that only he and his wife could get into his network. Over the years, the team knew Birkhoff wasn't exaggerating. The Shop came close to beating his encryption once, but he simply updated his code. That eventually became a habit of his. Routinely, he and Sonya would recode Shadownet into something better and stronger than it had been. So the fact that someone accessed an outdated version of the system was odd. It wasn't terrifying or possibly detrimental, just weird.
"Or your daughter," Nikita replied more to Alex's quip than to the situation. Felicity knew her way around Shadownet extremely well. There was a chance she could outhack her parents; she was the best version of both of them, after all. Small smiles rippled between Nikita, Michael, Alex, and Sean at the thought. They used to joke about how much their children took after them. They'd point out a facial expression, or a habit, or some silly thing their kids would do and tease each other about who they could've gotten that from. It used to feel as though the team was raising younger versions of themselves at times. Their kids might have grown into their own persons, but they were still very much their parents.
Which was why it shouldn't have been surprising that they were in the situation that they were. The team only regarded their children as perfect, and far better than they could've ever been. Yet that didn't mean they didn't go seeking the danger they found themselves in. The young agents involved themselves in their parents' war, despite knowing all the heartache and pain that came with it. They were just as bound and determined as everyone else to save the world and earn their family's freedom. The older rogues would've been proud if they weren't so worried. Birkhoff's deepening concern when he moved back to his computer after debriefing with Ryan only made things worse, "This is too old for them to access. Unless…"
"Unless what?" Michael didn't have time for Birkhoff to drop off his sentences and go into hacker mode. They were only assuming it was Felicity and the others accessing Shadownet. They couldn't afford to make any guesses when they weren't sure what was happening with their kids out there. They were capable young agents, but they still shouldn't have been out on their own. That wasn't even considering Piper's mind control or whatever. The team separating should've only been temporary (just like a lot of things). They couldn't make the same mistakes over and over again. They were supposed to learn and improve.
"This dates back to Division," Sonya threw a wrench in things however. Felicity possibly accessing an older version of Shadownet was no longer weird; it became downright awful. The Division Shadownet servers were only accessible from that hellhole. The network was wired through the bunker's system so it couldn't be hacked from the outside. A person would have to be on a Division terminal in order to poke around in its version of Shadownet. But that wasn't something the older rogues were willing to consider. No one should've been able to find that place. No one should've been there.
"How could Felicity get into it then?" Wanting to believe it was one of their children hacking into the system instead of one of their enemies, Sean wondered. The young agents barely knew about Division. Of course they knew the basics, and how their parents met and became a team. But they didn't know enough specifics to find the place. It was buried underground, all routes into the place disabled or destroyed. Maybe the team should've destroyed the entire bunker. But they had been too preoccupied with their escape to set up the multiple charges. In hindsight, they really should've made the time.
"I told you we should've destroyed that fucking place," As much as she wanted to believe the kids couldn't find their way to the hellhole, Nikita snapped. Every single one of their children involved themselves with the Shop. They were seriously going to sit back and think they wouldn't discover Division as well. Though, the thoughts of Piper roaming those walls sent horrific chills up her spine. First Amanda, then Division- how did her daughter keep stumbling into her old tormentors. Nikita had to put an end to that. She had to put an end to all of it.
"Wait. They're actually in Division?" Her husband's confusion stopped her from rushing off just yet. Michael glanced around the team incredulously. Was that seriously the conclusion they were coming to. Their children followed their footsteps so much, that they were back in the place it all began. It didn't seem possible. But considering the alternative was that the Shop finally managed to beat Shadowwalker at his own game inside a hellhole that shouldn't have been a factor anymore, that was the only conclusion. Felicity, Oliver, Kara, and Max- and maybe James and Pj as well- managed to get inside Division. What they hell were they up to.
"It's the only way they could hack into that line of code," Birkhoff didn't have an answer for why they were there, only that they were. He didn't appease anybody. Alex and Nikita were the most fired up. All their gear was still ready to go from their mission, so all they had to do was grab their bag and take off. It was the only plan they had for dealing with the situation. The two were going to drag their kids out of Division and force them to explain just what the fuck was going on. They weren't angry- they honestly didn't have the right to be after holding back their own information. Yet they were scared. Division might've been buried but its horrors weren't. Someone was bound to get hurt.
"Where are you going?" Sonya's question didn't stop Nikita and Alex. In fact, it spurred Michael and Sean into action as well. Even Birkhoff began to furiously type, trying to see if he could discover what exactly Felicity was digging into. A face to face conversation with their kids had to happen. Things had become too ridiculous. Though it wasn't all coming from the young agents' side. Their parents had to collect themselves. They couldn't keep hopping from one mission to the next and pretend as though it didn't affect them. Adrenaline continued to pump through their veins after the double's op. They were feeling too much and thinking too little.
"Splitting up was a terrible idea. They're going to get hurt poking around in that shit," It wasn't clear if Alex was talking about splitting up then or ten years ago. But it didn't matter. Both had turned out to be horrible decisions. Trying to make up for it only led them into worse situations. It was almost as if they weren't learning. Or maybe they were so focused on Amanda and their pain, they didn't notice anything else. None of those things had a simple fix. They had to work together to figure it out. Stubbornness and overprotection couldn't guide their actions.
That was easier said than done. The team's need to protect their children was causing them to rush off into the unknown then. They were thinking, but only barely. How many times had they fallen into that awful habit before. Sure, their hearts were how they found one another, how they started their family, and how they survived that long in the war. Yet it was also how they kept sprinting head first into heartache. The older rogues needed to slow down. Sean's anxiousness expressed just how much that wasn't possible, however, "How'd they even get there? What the fuck are they thinking?"
"They're trying to be heroes like you," Finally joining the conversation, Ryan halted the team's movements. He had let them reach out to the young agents, while he figured out their next move with the doubles. They were going to need all hands on deck for the next phase of their war. And they also needed to resolve their internal drama. They had to be on the same page, understand one another. His comment at least got the older rogues to stop and think, but only for a moment. Across the room, Cassandra's burner cell rang. She had been distracting herself from her anxiety by feeding Missy. Yet she was drawn into the conversation then as all eyes frantically turned towards her.
"Max? Where are you? What are you doing?" Immediately, Cassandra answered the phone and, upon hearing her son's voice, demanded he tell her what was going on and why he hadn't reached out sooner. He didn't give a clear answer, however. The rest of the team moved closer to keep themselves in the loop as much as possible. But the phone call ended too soon for that to happen. Confusion rippled through them. Cassandra stared at the disconnected cell for a moment, collecting her thoughts. She couldn't make sense of what just occurred. All she could do was relay the half message she was given, "They think they have a lead on Amanda."
"Good. We're going to meet them there, and we're going to talk," Nikita left no room for argument with her plan, not that anyone was going to argue with her. Ryan was going to make the team think it all out at first, though. The head and the heart had to work together, just like the team- just like their family. No more separation for someone's safety, or for missions sake. It was all or nothing. That was how they were going to survive.