They did not win.
The missions started out well. Sean, Alex, and the Alpha team raced off to intercept Ari in Romania. Michael and Ryan hurried to stop Amanda in Spain. And Nikita and Birkhoff kept an eye on what they could from Ops. There wasn't much they could observe, however. Amanda and Ari had picked decent safehouses and meeting places surveillance wise. Satellite coverage could only pick up so much. Birkhoff and Nikita had to rely on old blueprints and what they could hear over the coms to help. It was alright for the time being. But once things exploded into a massive shitstorm, the two's help was useless.
As soon as Ari turned on Sideswipe, communication with the Wolf team was nonexistent. They were able to communicate with one another in the field, yet no one else could hear. With how disastrously things spun out of control, maybe that was a good thing. Division should've had the element of surprise on their side. Ari and his army of former agents should've been handled before Sideswipe could even come into play. However, Ari was expecting Division. He was able to turn on them while they got into position. They hardly had a chance to return fire.
A hail of bullets rained down on the Wolf team so harshly and so quickly, they were stunned still. The agents ducked and covered. But returning volleys of bullets didn't work out for them. There were so many gunmen working for Ari. And they were far better prepared for the onslaught. They were able to kill more than they could even be injured. That made it all the more worse for the Wolf team. Each loss of a life sent them spiraling further. It was almost as though they couldn't handle it. The mission was too much, and they were shutting down.
No one wanted to shut down. But any call for help was unanswered. What were they supposed to do. Alex had no idea. She knew they had to fight. But what could they do when they were outnumbered, outgunned, outmaneuvered, and the enemy had the high ground. She had never been in that kind of situation before. She had been surrounded by that much death and destruction before, though. It was more than just an awful feeling. Alex wasn't able to shake it off and refocus on the mission. She was struck in horror.
Fortunately for everyone, Sean wasn't. His Seal expertise kicked in at the sight of the destruction around him. He managed a way to get to higher ground and turn the tables on Ari. He aimed for Sideswipe more than the gunmen. Once the weapon was no longer a threat, the rest of the battle could turn the Wolf team's way. After all, Ari and his army weren't expecting the Seal's triumph. They began to falter, allowing the agents to pick up the pace. They continuously fired back until Ari took his men and scattered. That could possibly be seen as a victory in some eyes. But not Wolf team's. They stared at the dead bodies and shuddered.
On the other side of the mission, Michael and Ryan didn't fare any better. Yes, they were able to rescue Cyrus from the bomb he was strapped to. But Amanda had never even been at the safehouse for them to capture her; she was just on a video monitor. She had played them. She had wanted to lure them into a trap and play some twisted mind game. Well, not Ryan and Michael specifically. Amanda had wanted to fuck with Nikita. Apparently, the bitch had more lessons to impose on her former recruit. When Nikita didn't show, however, she became pissed.
Amanda almost took that aggression out on Cyrus, Ryan, and Michael. Nikita had to pay for not responding to the call. After all, the former rogue had to learn that not everybody could be saved. She was going to lose everybody she loved in that war, including people she cared about just a little bit- like Cyrus. Before Amanda, detonated the bomb, however, she stopped herself. Her almost victims couldn't figure out why. Maybe it was the desperate look on Michael's face, maybe she couldn't bring herself to kill her old comrade Ryan, or maybe she had come up with an even worse plan. Either way, she let the men go and disappeared.
Neither Ryan, Michael, or Cyrus dared to question the decision at the moment. They just got out of there. While they flew home, the men briefly informed their team what had happened. Clinging to each other on their own plane home, Alex and Sean did the same. No one would pressure for more at the moment. They could fully debrief once they were all together. In the meantime, they could breathe and attempt to move on. The latter wasn't possible, however, even with Birkhoff's and Nikita's comforting words through the coms.
Ryan, Cyrus, and Michael returned to Division first. Ryan took Cyrus to Medical, so he could receive treatment and so the two could discuss what came next for the arms dealer. Michael could've joined them. Yet he had no desire to. He had to rush to his wife. She was pacing around an emptied out Ops when he had returned. Agents were scattered around Division, and Birkhoff was continuing to work on the mole hunt. Nikita was alone. Her husband took full advantage of that. The instant he reached her, he scooped her up in his arms, kissed her soundly, and held her like his life depended on it.
"What? What is it?" Startled, Nikita demanded in her husband's ear. He pulled back from the embrace, yet he didn't move far. His prosthetic remained wrapped around her waist, while his hand gently cupped her cheek. He caressed her soft bronze skin, and studied every inch of her. A part of Nikita wanted to rip away from Michael and demand more sternly to know what had happened. Yet the look in his eyes held her still. He was desperate- scared. He needed to know that she was right there above all else. She couldn't deny him that knowledge.
Michael continued to silently drink his wife in until Ryan joined them. He let Nikita go, yet he remained within easy reach of her. He refused to let her out of his sight. Amanda's newest threat had a vice-like grip on his rationality. He couldn't think straight knowing the bitch hated his wife so much. Nikita's life and happiness was at stake, and there wasn't much he could do to stop it. They had tried and failed to kill Amanda and Ari. Things were only going to get worse. The only thing the team could do was stay informed. But even that they were failing at. Michael couldn't tell Nikita what exactly Amanda wanted to do to her, "Amanda has plans for you."
"I have plans for her too…" Nikita began to reply. She had all sorts of plans on how she wanted to kill the bitch. She simply had to figure out how the hell she was supposed to implement them. However, one look from Ryan and Michael shut her up. A lot more had occurred on the missions than the agents said. Nikita knew that. What she needed to know was what exactly went down. One glance at her husband and friends, and she was able to figure at least some of it out. Amanda wanted her dead, "How does she want to kill me?"
"By killing everyone you love first," Muttering, Ryan wouldn't meet Nikita's eyes. He glanced awkwardly at Michael, yet his gaze was mostly focused on her lower abdomen. There was no hint that Amanda knew about the baby. Yet as time went on, it wouldn't be difficult for her to figure out. Her sights were already narrowed in on Nikita. Everything the former rogue loved, including her secrets, would be destroyed. In a feeble act of defense, Nikita crossed her arms tightly over herself. Her palms pressed into her abdomen, as if holding tightly to her baby.
Noises from the elevator soon captured Nikita's attention. Her hands remained in their intense hold, but she gladly ripped her eyes away from Ryan and Michael. She couldn't stand their expressions, especially her husband's. She was already in hell; she didn't need to sink lower. A distraction would do her good. Except, the people exiting the elevator weren't a distraction. Alex, Sean, and the remainder of the Alpha team stumbling back into Division only added to the problem. Destroying Sideswipe had been a miracle. Everything else, however, had been a complete disaster. Ari lived, many agents died, and they had failed. There was no release.
Nikita still abandoned her position in Ops to run over to Alex and Sean. At least the team was together. Maybe that could be the positive thing they clung to. Once Nikita reached her friends, she wrapped Alex in a powerful embrace. She reached a hand out to Sean too, yet he moved the Alpha team to Medical and Ops. The agents needed to heal and debrief, and the women needed a moment. They had embraced their significant others after their horrific incidents. That moment was for the friends to find solace in one another. It couldn't have been all bad if they were alright. If they even were alright, "You guys okay?"
"Yeah," Alex answered Nikita quietly. She didn't want to discuss what had happened. She was constantly thinking about what might have happened had Sean not been there. It had been so bad; Division could have lost more than they could have afforded. Sean saved them. He led the charge, he destroyed Sideswipe, he got them out. Everything would've been ruined had it not been for him. Alex was forever grateful. Yet, she couldn't stop imagining the worst. It was right there. It could've easily happened. There was still a chance the world would burn down around them. The team obviously couldn't win everything. They could fail just as easily.
Alex held Nikita with all the strength she had left. She couldn't think or feel her overwhelming anxiety anymore. Couldn't she just be. Nikita absolutely believed that. Division should go home and try to forget that night. Yet they couldn't. And they wouldn't. Even terrible missions had post-op protocols to follow. They had to debrief and plan for whatever hell came next. According to Ryan and Michael, that hell was going to be brutal. Division had to be prepared for an even worsening war.
Keeping her arms around Alex, Nikita soon brought her to Ops. The remnants of the Alpha team were either sent to Medical, or they were sent home. All of Division was sent home. The team were the only ones that remained. They should rest and take it easy as well. Their stress and disappointment would only increase if they didn't give themselves a break. But they couldn't just let it go. Not yet. Not when they could find some way to keep saving themselves. They simply had to get the weight off their shoulders, and maybe just talk, "What's going on?"
Sean's question was answered immediately. There was no use in holding it back. The team should be aware of the target on their backs. Amanda was coming after all of them, and her mole inside Division was definitely going to help her. They had to watch out for one another, and stay on high alert as much as possible. There could be no real rest for them until Amanda was dead. Who knew when that other chance could be. Possibly, when the mole was captured. Though, after everything, that might not be promising.
Honestly, the team could spend all night in Ops attempting to determine their next play. But they had to go home. They had told the other agents how important rest was. They should follow the same advice. Sleep would do them good; it'd help them think in the morning. They might not be able to sleep, though. Hand in hand as they left, Sean and Alex believed they could fight the nightmares together. Birkhoff returned to his cave to hack, and Ryan slinked off to his office- both claiming they'd crash on the couch. Only Nikita remained exactly where she stood. Michael closed the small gap between them, needing her to follow him home.
"Maybe this was a mistake," Nikita sighed instead. She grabbed her husband's hands in hers, played with their interlocked fingers, and examined the lines of their hands- his prosthetic included. He flinched in her hold. For a second, she thought he was being self-conscious about his prosthetic again. Yet when she gazed into his eyes, she realized it wasn't her touch that had Michael skittish. Her choice of words had stung. Immediately, Nikita began to backpedal. She didn't mean it the way he thought. She could never, "Not you or the baby. I meant, what if staying in Division was a mistake. We should've gone home when we had the chance."
"And leave all these people behind? No. You were right. This is the right thing to do. We have to keep fighting. Besides, Amanda probably would've found us if we ran anyway," Arguing, Michael squeezed his wife's hands. He was relieved that she hadn't called starting their lives together a mistake, yet he was concerned that she wanted to take back her earlier conviction. She was right to want to defend Division. The other agents deserved a life just as much as they did. Sticking around was difficult, but it was worth it. Saving people always was.
"We should start working on that special deal with the President now," Nikita wouldn't keep arguing. She and Michael had other things to worry about. Namely, they were more than likely going to have their baby before Division was shut down. They should start planning for that instead of their happily ever after. The two had to do everything they could to ensure their child was healthy and safe, including pandering to the President- and maybe even pushing back some of their plans to kill Amanda.
"If we even can," Michael muttered bitterly. The President wanted Division dead just as much as Amanda did. The reasons were drastically different, yet both believed the agents shouldn't have their happy endings. Michael didn't believe he and Nikita could receive a special pardon anymore. After learning the secret Ryan had kept from them, the former analyst was certain that the baby wouldn't provide them extra breaks. The expecting parents were stuck. They really didn't have any options.
Collapsing her head against Michael's shoulder, Nikita tried to breathe. A migraine had steadily grown over the past few hours. It pounded in her skull, making her eyes blur and her stomach rock. The nausea she had already been plagued with didn't appreciate the added pressure. Nor did her cramps. She felt like shit. Her husband tried to remedy that with a hug, yet it wasn't enough. Sleep and being at home were the only things that'd fix her- hopefully. She couldn't think while she was sick. She just wanted to melt away, "I don't feel good."
If she was actually admitting it, then she must have felt sicker than sick. Michael wrapped his arms tighter around his wife. He cradled her head into his shoulder and rocked her gently. Nikita's grip on him was fierce. It lessened the longer he held her, yet she remained tense and a tad shaky. They should definitely go home. A break from Division would do them good. A break in general would be fantastic. But that wasn't on the table. The two had to take what they could and hope to survive, "Let's just go home and not think, okay?"