"I think someone was following me," Alex stormed into the beach house, interrupting Nikita's and Michael's sparring- or lack thereof. Michael had Nikita pinned to the mat after she had attempted a risky move. She didn't mind, however. In that position, she could easily reach up and kiss her fiancé. It was all going blissfully well, until Alex barged in. The couple quickly separated and hopped to their feet. She appeared more distressed than her statement let on. She continued to look over her shoulder as if whoever was following her was still there. Instantly, the others were on high alert as well.
"Did you shake 'em?" Nikita moved towards the entrance, grabbing a weapon along the way. She pulled Alex further into the safehouse to keep her from the windows. Although she voiced that she thought she was in the clear, Michael quizzed her about the precautions she had taken and when she spotted the tail. The young woman took in a deep breath to settle herself. Startled by the commotion coming from the other room, Birkhoff and Ryan rushed in. Nikita's headshake told them not to panic, however. Alex's tail was gone.
"Who do you think it was?" Michael asked, once Alex had calmed further. Nikita kept her weapon in hand as she scanned the windows; she wanted to ensure no one could've been peering in. Ryan and Birkhoff, on the other hand, double checked the security measures on the computer. They didn't doubt Alex's ability to spot then lose a shadow. They were simply uncertain about who would want to follow her. Her identity remained a secret, no one should've known who she was. If she caught a shadow, however, her secret must've been exposed.
Alex fought back the anxiety that clawed at her chest. It could've been an overreaction. She had been paranoid since Clean Sweep. She seriously needed to relax and breathe. There was no need to worry with her team nearby. But she didn't imagine the man that had followed her from Senator Pierce's office. She had spent enough time on the streets to know when someone was watching her every move. Fortunately, she had training that allowed her to break free of prying eyes. She just didn't get a solid glimpse of the man. She had been so focused on losing him, she didn't spare more than a few glances his way. Maybe that was a good thing. His image wouldn't linger in her nightmares, "Division looking?"
"Did you say or do anything that could've compromised you?" Ryan wondered. He knew sending her to Division was a terrible idea. In the short term everything worked out fine; they were able to take Clean Sweep offline and save agents. Yet they were still reeling from the long term effects. They had managed some kind of deal with Senator Pierce, which would give them freedom once they destroyed the black ops group. However, Percy was still in the wind. Who knew what his next move would be. It was possible the tail on Alex was a part of his plan.
"No. I only talked to Sean," Alex negated. She hadn't said a word inside that hellhole, other than informing the team. Neither Division nor Amanda should've discovered who she really was. To everybody in the world she was simply a senator's aide. That didn't stop Nikita, Michael, and Ryan from sharing a look, though. Sean might've been working with their team, but they were still building their trust in him. He continued to be a liability to them. Alex didn't appreciate that fact. He had made mistakes in the past, yet he wasn't going to hurt them anymore, "He wouldn't reveal who I am to anybody."
"I don't think he would either. But he could've done it inadvertently," Gently, Michael expressed his thoughts. Sean had already accidentally alerted the Guardians to Percy's escape plan. He was digging for information on Nikita and her team, when the bastard gave him an electronic file to dig through. Once he pulled it up, the Guardians were given an alert to go and break Percy out of his cell. No one faulted Sean for what had happened. How was he to know how manipulative and calculating Percy was. There also wasn't anything then could've done about that then. They had new problems to focus on.
"Maybe Amanda bugged him," Birkhoff sarcastically huffed. The Seal had worked closely with the bitch for months. Considering how suspicious she was, she probably bugged him. Although the nerd, Ryan, and Alex didn't buy much into that thought- either they or Sean would've caught onto it- Michael and Nikita shared another look. The two had been trying to survive that war for years; they knew that even the smallest chance had the possibility to be true. If Birkhoff could make a reasonable quip about it, it probably already happened.
Quickly, Nikita called the burner phone they had given Sean. it was to ensure they could have a secure and untraceable line while talking to him. As she told him what was going on, the rest of the team came to the same realization. They checked anything else that could've been bugged, hoping they really were as safe and sound as they had thought. Nothing appeared amiss, even for Sean. Nikita shrugged, just because it wasn't obvious didn't mean it wasn't there. When it came to the people they dealt with, it could've been something no one would've thought to look twice at, "Check your molar too."
Birkhoff didn't have time to fully retaliate for that reference. All he could do was glare, before Sean found a listening device in his cellphone. Instantly, he was ordered to come to the safehouse so they could turn it off and the nerd could mess with it. Ending the call, he did just that. While the others began to contemplate their next move, Alex struggled not to freak out. She and Sean had talked frequently about their mothers and her past. If he had been bugged the entire time, then Amanda would've known all of that. She knew who she was. Nikita seemed to sense her panic, and moved to comfort her. Even Birkhoff offered some way to calm her, "Hey. If it's in his cell it probably only picks up phone conversations."
"Did you ever talk to him about it over the phone?" When Alex told Michael that she hadn't, the team was able to reassure her further. Ryan suggested her tail might've been in connection to her job with a senator, and not Division related at all. That caused light teasing to float around the room. Their lives were so insane, they had problems coming at them from every angle. At least they had one another. And they were getting substantially better at talking. Anxiety couldn't drag them down for long. The team had one another's backs.
However, Nikita soon became quiet. A stupid idea sprang to mind and wouldn't leave her alone. Things were going steady for the moment. She didn't need to rock the boat. But what if in doing so, they could regain the edge they once had with the black box. They shouldn't split their team again, and they had already been through one too many wild gambits. However, they had all paid off in one way or another- no risk, no reward. Even if the risk wasn't the greatest thing she had ever come up with, "What if they did know Alexandra Udinov was alive?"
"Zetrov and Gogol already know I'm alive, and they want me dead," Alex's immediate rebuttal quieted Birkhoff's, Ryan's, and Michael's surprise. Nikita was the one constantly reminding her to keep her real identity a secret. She had far too many enemies at her age to just trust anyone. It would've been incredibly dangerous to simply start revealing who she was then. Especially since she was still trying to save her mother. She'd lose her advantage if Semak was to learn where she was and what she was doing. Working from the shadows was her best option.
Despite all of the danger, however, Nikita was sticking to her idea. The more she thought about it, the more she liked it. The team could gain so much ground with Alexandra Udinov alive and kicking ass. It would at least be a solution to half of the troubles they still faced. Michael had said it was just a checklist of things they had to do before they were finally free. They could clear so many checks with that stupid plan of hers, "Yeah. But Division also wants Gogol gone. We can pit the two organizations against each other. Recover the black box from Ari. And use the element of surprise and instant fame to help you kill Semak and save your mom."
"So what? I announce to the world that Alexandra Udinov lives?" Alex couldn't believe she was coming around to the idea; Michael couldn't believe he agreed either. Nikita was always remarkable at making insane points sound reasonable. There was a lot of work and risk involved. And if they didn't plan perfectly, more could be lost than any of them could imagine. Yet with the goals in mind, it all seemed worth it. They could shove aside anxiety for the chance of destroying their enemies in one strike. As they had learned in their crusade, even the smallest chance had the possibility to be true. The team could do it together.
Ryan had his reservations, however. Although he liked having Alex on their team, they had involved her in enough schemes. They needed to train her more- take more time between Clean Sweep and their next objective. The unknowns were counting up, and they weren't going to stop coming. He tried to find support in Birkhoff, but he had learned long ago to stay out of it. The nerd would focus on bugs and technology while the agents hashed all that out; he'd roll with whatever they planned. Ignoring Ryan's possible better judgement and grateful for Birkhoff's silence, Nikita focused on Alex. Everything was going to fall on the young woman. She had to be the one to decide. The rogue was trying not to make the choice for her. She couldn't make those mistakes again, "It's up to you. It's your choice."
"If you really think it can help me save my mom, then I'll do it," After a moment of thought, Alex nodded. Her hurt hadn't completely healed since her first encounter with her mother and Semak. But that wasn't going to stop her from doing the right thing. She'd pursue the danger for the chance of glory. She did have her team at her back (and Sean once he arrived at the safehouse and she told him everything he had missed). It was going to be alright. Taking in a deep breath, she squared her shoulders. No more running from shadows and hiding from the truth. It was time the monsters became afraid of her.