Owen and Nikita weren't quite sure what to do with the vengeful agent. He wasn't working for Amanda. He wasn't a threat. He didn't have to be eliminated. But his actions couldn't go unpunished. The gas leak could've hurt a lot of people. So, for the time being, Nikita and Owen just left the agent in a holding cell somewhere in the bunker. That should've been sufficient enough. It let Owen go check his knife wound in Medical, and Nikita was able to rush back to the rest of the team. They had to band together to find the best solution to all their problems. They had to keep fighting.
Except, the team had stopped arguing. They had debated what to do. But unable to come to an agreement, they just sat and thought. Birkhoff and Sean had considered running. With all the odds stacked against them, it might've been better just to run. Michael and Alex, on the other hand, argued that they had to find another way. They couldn't give up, no matter the threats Division faced. They hadn't given up before; then couldn't be their breaking point. Ryan stayed silent. He didn't sway one way or another. He didn't think he could. He had tried to fight for all of Division, yet maybe that wasn't possible. They were always fated to die.
Nikita bursting into the silence stirred the team out of their sullenness. They continued to doubt and be negative; however, they couldn't walk away without a decision. Nikita returning helped them see that. She wasn't leaving just yet either. Before the team could start discussing what to do, though, Michael became distracted by his wife's appearance. She looked far more disheveled than when she had left. Her eyes were also brighter. She had experienced something in her time away. Michael was worried about what that was, "Hey. Are you okay?"
"We are not giving up. There has to be a way to appease the President and kill Markov without that video releasing," Nikita barreled over her husband's concern, instantly getting to the point. She probably should've told the others what had happened in the interrogation room and what she and Owen had discovered. It'd help them understand her; it was also important for them to know. Yet Nikita was on her warpath. She was ready to dive right into the action, even though she had to refrain from the field. Letting Markov and Amanda run around unchecked was worse than any video revealing Division's secrets. The team had to rally together to stop them
"That's what we've been trying to figure out," Although he wanted to hop onto Nikita's sudden and intense determination, Birkhoff was stuck in pessimism. He was trying to think of ways to delete Markov's video without it being blasted all over the internet and sent to news stations. Between that obstacle and the encrypted mole communications that wouldn't break, Birkhoff was losing his grip. Running Division was supposed to have been easier than being rogue. They were just shutting the place down. Except, there they fucking were, in another war.
Sighing, Alex continued to try and find a solution. She had been doing her best to stay positive- that wasn't the worst situation the team could've been in. Yet it was difficult to think of the best when death was right around the corner. She ruffled her hair out of her face, needing something she could control. As she did so, her eyes drifted to the cryptographic key on Ryan's desk. It kept drawing her attention during the team's discussion. It just sat there while they argued. The cryptokey was some of the most advanced tech Alex had ever seen. Shouldn't the team be able to use it, "What about the cryptograph? Can you use that to hack into the video?"
"It'll help," Birkhoff glanced at the piece of technology kept in Ryan's office. The hacker had run diagnostics on the cryptokey when Alex first brought it to Division. He was well aware of the power the device had. He just hadn't had the chance to try it out. Ryan had made him lock it in his office so he could keep his eyes on it. The cryptograph was too dangerous to be left lying around. Birkhoff didn't doubt the fact. However, the team was at a point where they needed something dangerous. The more absurd the plan was, the better chance they had at succeeding.
"Then afterwards, you can give it to the President as a distraction," Nodding, Nikita thought she was beginning to think of something. It was vague, and the idea wasn't anything more than a snippet of what ifs. But the more she considered the cryptokey, the more a plan began to form. Alex was smart in considering the cryptograph to hack the video. The team should get their use out of the device they stole from Amanda. Maybe Birkhoff could also use it to decrypt the mole's communications. And after the team got their use out of it, they could involve it in just one more scheme.
"A distraction from what?" Ryan didn't want to know what Nikita was thinking. Actually, he did want to know; she constantly had great plans the team could follow. He simply didn't want to do anything insane. Their success rate on crazy missions might have been incredibly high, but sooner or later their rash decisions were going to catch up to them. They couldn't afford for it to catch up to them when the President was involved. There were Hail Mary plans that saved their skins, yet not that time. That time they'd surely get killed.
However, Nikita refused to be that pessimistic. Looking at Alex's and Michael's determined expression helped to embolden her further. The team's original plan to replace Markov before he went to the Whitehouse was obsolete. They couldn't do anything to him until his video was out of play. But if the cryptokey let them delete it while their Dirty Thirty was meeting the President, they could cause a distraction and make the switch then and there. Nikita knew how reckless it sounded. Yet they couldn't wait any longer than that. The Whitehouse was their last option, "Well, we can't switch Markov now…"
"You want to do it in the Whitehouse?" Catching onto his wife's thoughts, Michael was bewildered by the idea. Though, he wasn't sure if he was more bewildered by her plan, or by the fact that he actually considered it. Markov couldn't return to Uzbekistan- that much was clear. If that meant the team had to grab their Dirty Thirty right under the President's nose, then they'd have to do it. Their lives were at risk anyway. Failure on any mission could guarantee Division's death, not just that one. They shouldn't let their fear control them. They should just dive right into the fray. It was how they had been operating, and they got that far.
"Does anyone have any better ideas?" Before Ryan could completely negate the idea, and fight with her at lengths about it, Nikita snapped. What else was there for Division to do. They had to take out Markov without anyone knowing, including their President. It was the same stipulations they were working with before things fell to shit. The team simply had to modify their play. Did that make things more difficult- of course it did; it always did. Yet that just meant they had to be smarter.
Twisting her wedding ring around her finger, Nikita sighed. She understood her team's hesitation. That wasn't an operation to mess around with. But there were more options than running away or cowering. They could always find another way, "Look. The agent who blew up Medical wasn't acting under Amanda's orders. He was trying to kill Owen because of something he did in his past. But Owen has proven time and time again that he is more than just the Cleaner Division made him. We all are better than our past selves. We deserve a second chance. The President can't take that away from us. We have to keep fighting."
"What exactly are you thinking?" After a brief moment of thought, Sean asked. Nikita was right. The team was full of fighters. They survived everything else thrown their way; what was one more thing. Besides, running just meant they were delaying the problem. They'd always have to fight sooner or later. Getting ahead of the problem immediately was for the best. It meant the team could have longer and freer lives. And it meant the other agents in Division wouldn't be left behind to suffer once again.
Taking a second to calm herself and collect her thoughts, Nikita laid out the scheme she had in mind. Birkhoff would use the cryptograph to hack into Markov's system. Once the video was deleted (and a more effective program to decrypt the mole's communications was in place) Ryan would bring the crypto-key to the President. She'd be too distracted with the high powered device to deal with Markov. That would then allow Sean and Alex to sneak into the Whitehouse and make the switch. Laid out like that, the idea seemed plausible.
The only problem was sneaking into the Whitehouse. Nikita was working on an idea that involved her and Michael doing some elaborate spy tricks, but Ryan cut her off before it went too far. Although he wasn't completely on board with the scheme, he wouldn't allow his team to rush into danger without him. He knew a way Sean and Alex could sneak into the Whitehouse and discreetly extract Markov. The same tunnels the two agents had run around in to catch Roan months ago led to a secret entrance to the Whitehouse. That was where Ryan entered for his secret meetings with the President. The team could use it then for their mission.
As the planning became more intense, Nikita excused herself. She claimed she was going to check on Owen and continue searching for Amanda's mole. There was no doubt that she was actually going to do those things. But the team suspected she was simply trying to stay out of the mission. She couldn't join Sean and Alex as they replaced Markov. Ryan could only approach the President alone. And Michael and Birkhoff had the security videos and observations handled. Nikita wasn't needed. To keep herself from going insane over the fact, she left to do something she could be active in. The team couldn't fault her. After all, they were fine without her.
Well, they were fine until Birkhoff ran into a problem on his computer. Integrating the cryptokey with Shadownet worked almost seamlessly. The hacker had new and amazing ways to run his decryptions. He could run intrusions on programs as close to perfect as possible. And that was where he ran into a problem. While deleting Markov's video, he found another embedded in his laptop. The new film wasn't as shocking as the Dirty Thirty revealing Division secrets; however, it was just as disastrous.
Markov planned on killing the president of the United States. That was one of his reasons for becoming the president of Uzbekistan. He wanted to lead the ultimate power move and plunge the world into war. It was all laid out in the confessional video Birkhoff found. Markov had to be certifiably insane- after all, he did still idolize Percy. The world was going to plunge into absolute chaos if the Dirty Thirty succeeded in his plans. Division didn't have to worry about dying then. During World War III, everyone would die.
Unfortunately, by the time Birkhoff discovered Markov's plans, Sean and Alex had already brought him back to his hotel. They couldn't hold him in Division forever. The last thing they needed was his security becoming suspicious. It was too late to stop Markov before his meeting with the President. He was well on his way to kill her. His video damning Division set to be released upon his death didn't matter anymore. The team had to stop their Dirty Thirty immediately. The threat of Division's destruction wasn't nearly as important as stopping WWIII. Even Ryan could agree with that.
Throughout the night, the team did everything they could to prepare for their increasingly important mission. Sean and Alex worked on the Markov disguise and the Seal's Russian. Birkhoff hacked and hacked and hacked. Ryan mapped out the secret entrance and the areas of the Whitehouse they had to stick to. And Michael worked out possible ways they could smuggle Markov to Division where he could be killed discreetly. Eventually, Nikita and Owen joined the party. They were confused about what was occurring at first. Yet once the two were updated, they did everything they could to help. They were just as determined to stop the disaster.
It took a lot of effort, but the team soon had what they needed to take out Markov. It all came down to getting the timing just right. Ryan led the charge, bringing the cryptograph to the President as the ultimate distraction. Shortly after, through cameras and coms, Birkhoff and Michael led Sean and Alex into the Whitehouse. The couple said their sweet goodbyes before parting ways. They tried not to think of all the negatives of being separated for weeks. What they were doing was for the greater good. That should be where all their attention lied.
After all, handling Markov once he was in the Whitehouse wasn't easy. Although the team was able to occupy the President and confuse the Secret Service, their Dirty Thirty caught onto their diversion. He tried to attack Sean and Alex, causing the biggest disturbance he could. It was a miracle that the agents managed to get on top of the situation. It was possibly due to their determination and desperation. Division needed that mission to be a success. They needed it more than Markov needed to dissolve the world into chaos.
Which, when it came down to it, was how Sean and Alex got the drop on him. Markov was unconscious, and the Seal was free to replace him. Before he did, the couple shared a lovelorn glance, silently promising to find a way to stay in touch. He then stepped into his fake Markov role, and she dragged the real man away. Ryan quickly joined her and helped as soon as he was able to leave a very pleased president. Once back in Division, the team could erase the videos and kill the vile man. Everything had worked in their favor. After all that hell, they did it. When they wrapped a bow on everything, they could relax. At least until the next misadventure.