"It's magic, man," Staring at his computer, Birkhoff muttered. Ryan had woken him up at the ass-crack of dawn just to plug some information he had dug up into Shadowbot. The hacker didn't even know what it all meant. He did as he was told, too exhausted to argue, and watched uselessly as streams of information unfurled on the screen. The analyst really needed to learn how to hack. Then he could do all the crazy mind boggling stuff while the rest of them slept. It had been so quiet the past couple of days; strangely quiet, but the team was able to rest. Birkhoff wanted to get back to that.
"It's just analysis," Leaning across the hacker's chair to get a closer look at the computer monitor, Ryan shrugged. He had just done what he normally did as he found viable information. He scoured through newspapers, reports, and files until something strange popped out at him. It wasn't that different from what others have done. Most analysis came from noticing patterns. That was how he had picked up on both Division's and Oversight's activities in the first place. He spotted anomalies, and pieced the incomprehensible puzzle together. Or, at least he tried to make sense of it.
"Yeah, when we do it. What you do is sorcery," Birkhoff quipped. The team had their own skills in pattern recognition and picking up on their enemies' trail. That was how Nikita and Alex started their war against Division, after all. However, no matter how great they were at intelligence, none of them could approach Ryan's skills- not even Michael who had been a Naval intelligence officer. The CIA analyst could make the data speak to him. The most random things jumped out at him. How he made intel out of that was unreal.
"What did Ryan enchant?" Stretching as she came out of her bedroom, Nikita wondered. She wasn't expecting Ryan and Birkhoff to already be awake as she stumbled into the room. She thought she could get a jump on her own research and analysis, and attempt to figure out what Percy was up to. Yet if the others were awake, she'd just hop onto what they had. It was good to know that she wasn't the only one who thought it had been too quiet. If all of them were cautious, then they could be prepared for whatever was about to strike next.
"Three former military scientists died under mysterious circumstances," Ryan informed her immediately. Birkhoff only shrugged. He still didn't understand the significance. He was also a little distracted by Nikita's skimpy pajamas, but he didn't linger on her appearance for long; he knew better than that. Able to ignore the nerd, she joined the men at the computer. She still felt a couple steps behind and was trying her best to catch up to the analyst's thought process. She had nothing, however.
"Three old men died? Oh no," The sarcasm slipped past Nikita without her fully meaning it to. She could blame her exhaustion and the nightmare that had so rudely woken her. But honestly, she was a bit impatient to get to the point. Ryan wouldn't have brought up the deaths if he didn't think it meant something. So why not just spit it out. The team didn't know how much time they had until everything went to shit again. They had to get on top of things immediately. Maybe they could shut down a disaster before it happened for once.
Unfortunately, truth be told, Ryan wasn't certain what the scientists' death meant yet. He knew it was Division related, and possibly had something to do with Percy's plans for his nuclear material, though. Whatever it was, it wasn't a coincidence. Something was occurring, and the team needed to figure it out. That was why he had woken Birkhoff so early. It wasn't just so he could see the information cohesively laid out in front of him. He hoped the intel would spark ideas in someone else. They knew Percy's thought process better than anyone, "An expert swimmer drowns? A man with no allergies has an anaphylactic shock?"
"That last one sounds like a Division staple," Finally joining the others (he needed a longer moment to wake up and leap out of bed than his girlfriend had) Michael commented. He moved past them, heading straight to the coffee machine. He'd need as much caffeine as he could to decipher what Ryan found. Just glancing at the computer made his sleep-addled mind think too much. All they had was scant pieces of information that possibly led to Division. The rogues needed so much more before they could plan for an op- if all of that actually did lead up to a countermission.
"Why would Division go after retired scientists?" Birkhoff stifled a yawn as he asked. Why did Percy do anything; it was all a power play. What did aerospace engineers have to do with his ultimate power grab, however. It probably involved the bastard's nuclear material. Since he had obtained the destructive power that could level the whole world, all of his aims had been nuke related. It just kept spiraling into more madness, danger, and urgency. The team was doing all they could to keep up. But what use was it if they had no clue what was occurring.
"Could it have something to do with this attack on an Air Force base?" Pulling up the alert Shadownet pinged, Nikita had the sinking feeling that the quiet from the past few days had completely disappeared. She knew a storm was coming, but sometimes she hated being right- especially when the rogues had no control of the situation. No matter how quickly they acquired the intel, they weren't quite up to speed with Division. In the field they could be, yet their limited resources were taking a toll on them. Percy had lost his money and the team had an ally in Kendrick, except it still wasn't enough. Things had to start changing.
At least Division was the same- if that was a good thing. When Birkhoff did some hacking magic with the alert, Michael, Nikita, and Ryan were able to know instantly that the black ops group was behind the destruction. What other organization could only send one agent and still manage that amount of death and theft. Percy had been bold before by attacking the CIA, staging political coups, and helping a prisoner escape a government blacksite. But there was something different about him attacking the military. He was unflinching and unyielding in his quest for power.
With more of the puzzle to go off of, Birkhoff dug into the lives of the three deceased scientists. Michael handed Nikita a cup of coffee, and the two attempted to think about the connection between all the information. Ryan was a few steps ahead of them, pacing the floor. A dastardly plan was unfolding, with military equipment and nuclear material. It really was becoming as bad as they feared. They couldn't give up hope just yet, though. Soon, the hacker had intel for them, "All three engineers worked at the base in the 80s on a project called 'Cross Bow'. And our guy stole old harddrives. Definitely not a coincidence."
"Call Sean and Alex over here. We've got work to do," Nikita directed instantly. As she and Michael got dressed, Birkhoff called their missing teammates (who had decided to crash at their own apartments the night before), and Ryan went to inform Kendrick. Hopefully the CIA was on top of things, and they might have some information to share. For the meantime, the team had to do something about the break in at the base. Maybe if they intercepted the agent, they could steal his intel. That'd be a positive in all the hell thrown at them that morning.
Or, maybe not. Once Alex and Sean arrived at the safehouse, Alex was able to inform the team that the Division agent that had attacked the base was her old friend Robbie; she thought he had been canceled when she was a recruit, but apparently he became a cleaner. Percy using a cleaner on a mission was not good. He was alone too, which made it even worse. Ryan suspected the agent was meant to kill the last two remaining military aerospace engineers. With all five scientists who had worked on project Cross Bow killed, Percy could go unchecked.
To do what, though, Michael thought he finally knew. After taking a second to read up on Cross Bow and its intended purpose to utilize satellites for offensive measures, the agent was able to realize what Percy was after. The bastard had enough plutonium for a warhead. And if he had control of old military satellites, he could use them to direct his missile anywhere his sick, twisted mind wanted. The rogues had to do something immediately to stop his plans from horrifically coming to fruition. He couldn't control those satellites.
Saving the two remaining engineers was the team's best shot at getting ahead of Percy. While Ryan continued to inform Kendrick and Birkhoff searched his computer for more intel, Michael and Nikita and Sean and Alex split up. The former Division agents would handle the scientist that had gone off the grid, as the Seal and young woman followed Robbie. Maybe Alex's connection to him could serve them. A cleaner turned guardian was swayed to their side before. It was a long shot then, but they had to do everything they could.
Sean and Alex tracked Robbie down to an energy plant. The engineer they thought he was aiming to kill hadn't popped up on their radar. Either he was in hiding, or something else was going on. The young woman was leaning towards something else. She had a bad feeling about what they were sneaking into. None of it seemed right. The team didn't have all the information, and that was going to bite them in the ass, like it had so many times before. Who knew if they could get away with their lives that time. Despite her anxiety, or maybe because of it, Alex didn't share her apprehensions with Sean. Instead she said, "So. Spaghetti was fun."
"Yeah. We should have more nights like that," Sean didn't want to seem overeager. The two hadn't confirmed if their dinner was a real date or not- they remained in the safehouse, after all. They also still hadn't discussed their kiss. He didn't want to come off too strong in case she wanted to take things slow. They were also actively on a mission at the moment. Although he could relax with a calming goal in mind- such as a date with Alex- he couldn't become too distracted by it. He needed to be calm and focused. That was always difficult with her around, though. She just made him so excited and unsure. He seriously had to get it together.
"Okay. This is getting ridiculous," Alex sighed, halting their movements in exasperation. She and Sean had to stop dancing around the point. What good was that actually doing them. If one of them truly wanted to take things slow, then they should just say something. Talking couldn't bring them any harm by that point. They had kissed for God's sake. Not talking about that was going to make them implode, explode, whatever, more than addressing the affection would. If they continued to keep their feelings to themselves, they were going to ruin what was between them before it could even get off the ground.
"What is?" Despite knowing what Alex was talking about, the question was the only thing to cross Sean's lips. No wonder Nikita always wanted to kill him; he'd kick his own ass for his stupidity if he could. He just had to swallow down whatever fear and panic that was in his throat and just go for it. Wasn't that what his kiss and declaration of admiration was about. So why did he stop himself after. He should've just kept pushing forwards. His sisters had advised him of such, after all. And he knew it was the best thing for him to do.
"Robbie's over there. He's got something," Before either of them could accurately express their thoughts, movement out of the corner of Alex's eye captured her attention. She spotted Robbie across the yard. Instantly, she took off in his direction. Sean had no choice but to follow. The cleaner soon spotted the rogues, dropped whatever was in his hand into a grate, and sprinted away. Sean and Alex ignored the device and focused only on Robbie. They were more certain of him being able to talk and give them intel than a piece of technology.
The two continued to be not so lucky. They eventually caught up to the cleaner, and Sean managed to rough him up and handcuff him. He didn't have anything damning on him, just a remote. Although Alex was able to appeal to Robbie as an old friend, he didn't tell them anything they didn't already know. It was useless. Through the coms, Michael and Nikita echoed the same sentiment from their side of the mission. Division had crashed the party and both the black ops agents and the scientist were dead. The rogues didn't have anything new.
While Sean and Alex were distracted, Robbie slipped from his bonds and attempted to escape. He didn't get far. Alex knocked him down and Sean drew his weapon. The cleaner was just a bit quicker. In the scuffle, the remote he had had dropped. He grabbed it, pressed the button, and smirked all before the Seal could shoot him. Nothing happened immediately. The rogues thought that whatever he intended to do had failed and they were in the clear. Then, alarms blared and Birkhoff yelled at them to get out of there. They didn't need to be told twice.
Robbie's device and remote had apparently set off a dangerous spike in radioactive energy. The plant was going to explode, there was no hope in stopping it. Hopefully, others were able to escape the blast like Sean and Alex had. If not, then Percy had become far past out-of-hand. He was beyond an egotistical monster. He just became a supervillain. Once they knew their friends were safe from the bastard's dastardly deeds, Michael glanced cautiously at Nikita. He couldn't hide the anxious shake in his voice; it was entwined tightly with his lividity, "This has to end now."
"That's an understatement," Nikita huffed. The storm had arrived, and it hit the team dead on. Nothing they could've done would have prepared them for the onslaught. Nukes and satellites were too much for them, even with CIA support. They were fucked.