Alex considered not taking them. She kept the bottle of pills with her in case she needed them, but that need had to be an absolute necessity. She didn't pop pills just to get through the day. Yet, when her shoulder pain was too great, or when she needed to be beyond focused on a task for Division, she swallowed a performance enhancer. They helped her be the perfect agent to help her team. They gave her the power to save them and ensure their futures. If only the pills also helped Alex find the mole. That was causing the team the most stress. It was up to her to discover who was informing on them to Amanda. Except, she hadn't figured it out.
She hadn't saved Division from that threat, and it infuriated her. Birkhoff hadn't made any progress with his decryptions either, even with Sonya's help. Everyone was struggling with the mole hunt. Despite being a former mole, it wasn't all on Alex to solve that mystery. She carried the brunt of it, however. She was determined to eliminate that threat. Once she did, the team could possibly be led to Amanda. They could kill her, Ari, the army the two had curated, and it'd all be over. The rest of the Dirty Thirties were nothing compared to the bitch. Division's missions could be over soon, and the agents could all go home. They'd be free.
That all hinged on whether Alex could find the mole or not. Her team never said that, yet she knew. She had to work harder than ever to be able to save everyone. Maybe she should take more performance enhancers. She'd be focused, intense, and one thousand percent on mission. Her gunshot wound wouldn't be a problem anymore (it was almost completely healed anyway) and neither would any other distraction. Her thoughts and emotions wouldn't be confusing or jumbled. She'd be the perfect agent. And perfect agents got everything they wanted and more.
The team was working on other ways to get to Amanda, though. They didn't want to rely so heavily on just one thing. If the mole hunt wasn't working on any front, then there had to be another option. In order to find it, they utilized the same techniques they used to find other Dirty Thirties. After some time, they actually got a hit. They received intel about one of their rogues- Division's arms dealer, Cyrus- making deals with former Gogol agents. If he was acquiring weapons for Gogol, that meant he was working with Ari. Which meant Amanda was involved.
Bringing in Cyrus could lead the team to Amanda faster than their fruitless mole hunt. It'd also shorten their list of Dirty Thirties to deal with. The mission to grab Cyrus was the most active Division could be in their war against Amanda. So, the team took off and ran with it. Their intel helped them track Cyrus to an upcoming arms deal. Nikita and Michael decided they'd ruin the sale and bring in their Dirty Thirty. Other than help with planning and setup, the two didn't need their team for the op. It was fairly straightforward. The others could focus on the messages.
Birkhoff and Sonya managed to discover that the mole rotated their messages between different Division terminals before sending them. The communications were also on a time delay. It'd be even harder to track down the mole with that information. Yet Birkhoff was optimistic. They had gotten that far. If he and Sonya kept working together, they could find the mole before Nikita got anything from Cyrus. Though, she was doing so great handling the Dirty Thirty. Completely smug, she interrupted his meeting. His potential clients hated that. They wanted Cyrus to do something about Nikita. So he gave a simple order, "Kill her."
"Whoa, hey. I don't even have a gun," Nikita barely reacted to the two men pointing weapons at her. She kept her gaze on Cyrus. She couldn't care less about the criminals trying to buy weapons (well, she cared a little, at least enough to ruin the deal and hand them over to the authorities). Without much effort, she stole a gun from one of the men and knocked them both unconscious. Her smirk grew. Cyrus tried not to be stunned by her actions, yet his suave armor was cracked. With her new gun trained on him, she stalked closer, "Now I do."
"Six round Glock. Classic choice. But no match for an automatic," Shaking off his shock, Cyrus bounced back to his usual charming self. The weapon he had been selling to the criminals before they were unceremoniously taken out was an automatic assault rifle that could fire off hundreds of rounds all from a remote control. The arms dealer used that remote to swivel the gun towards Nikita and prepare to fire. Again, she barely reacted. Even as he made his whole spiel about how impressive the rifle was, Nikita was completely unfazed. She had faced the gun before, and lived. It wasn't that impressive.
"You sold it to Wade, who used it on us. Now, get the gun off my fiancée," Interrupting Cyrus as he stepped out of his hiding spot, Michael explained their lack of concern with the weapon. The first time they encountered a rifle that could be triggered remotely was terrifying. The second time, it didn't seem like a big deal. After all, Nikita and Michael were still able to surprise Cyrus, despite all the power he had in the situation. That really wasn't a mission the two had to be worried about. It was all the things that'd hopeful come after that stole their attention.
"Fiancée? Congratulations," Cyrus turned to Nikita with a genuine smile. Some of his charm still seeped through the seams. But he did seem somewhat happy for the couple. Nikita couldn't help but beam for just a moment; the fact that she was engaged always made her smile. However, she had to remain focused on the mission. She didn't have Cyrus just yet. He still had control of the automatic rifle, which he soon aimed at Michael, "So how about this: you let me walk, and you can keep the weapon. Consider it a wedding present."
Michael and Nikita had expected Cyrus to try and use the hightech weapon on them. He was selling it after all, so why not use it. Fortunately, the two were prepared for the assault. They had Birkhoff upload his previous hack of the gun onto Michael's phone. All he had to do was tap a button, and Cyrus would be the one in danger instead. Always one for a dramatic flair, however, Nikita had him hold off from doing that just yet. She wanted Cyrus sufficiently surprised. The more shocked he was, the easier it'd be to bring him in, "I don't know, Honey. Isn't there something wrong with the rifle?"
"Yeah. Birkhoff found it easy to hack," Michael copied his fiancée's proud grin. He pulled his phone from his pocket and swiveled the rifle towards Cyrus. Their Dirty Thirty gaped in stunned silence for just a moment. He was able to collect himself quickly. But when his remote wouldn't control the rifle like he wanted, he chuckled awkwardly. He raised placating hands and attempted to reason with the two agents. Deals were his specialty. He was certain he could find something to give Michael and Nikita so they'd leave him alone.
"About that wedding present," Dropping her pistol to her side, Nikita closed the gap between her and Cyrus. The light triumph reflecting in her gaze was quickly replaced with a fierce determination that made the arms dealer take a step away from her. He had no reason to fear her, however. Unless he was going to hide Amanda from her. If that was the case, then he should be very afraid. Nikita wouldn't hesitate to do whatever it took to get what she wanted most. And at that moment, she wanted to kill the bitch, "I want Amanda."
Cyrus didn't fight Nikita or Michael. He let them take him and the rifle to Division. He was dumped into an interrogation room to stew, while the agents briefed their team and had techs start working on the rifle. They might as well fix its hacking problem and use it in their arsenal while they had it. Unlike the cryptographic key, they weren't going to hand off the impressive weapon to the President. A device that could hack into anything was beneficial. A weapon, well, the government had enough of those. They didn't need any more dangerous ones, especially when they were trying to rid themselves of the human weapons made in Division.
With Cyrus' help, hopefully the agents didn't have to worry about their possible death sentence for long. They could defeat evil and clean up Division for good- as long as they knew where Amanda was. Cyrus didn't have that information. He hardly had anything on the bitch. Once Nikita got him talking, he admitted that he had worked mainly with Ari. The former head of Gogol was the one buying the weapons and trying to make black market deals. Recently, he had been interested in a specific weapon that was about to hit the market soon. Ari had claimed it'd make both him and Cyrus rich if the arms dealer could obtain it. That didn't seem promising.
Codenamed Sideswipe, the weapon could block any transmission or communication and take down aircraft. There was more to it than just that, as Nikita explained once she did her research. Yet those were the concerning bits. Ari and Amanda with a weapon militaries wanted didn't bode well. The bitch was already up to something evil with her attempts to kidnap Owen, the cryptograph, and hiring a bunch of rogue agents to do her dark bidding- like cause a gas attack. A weapon like Sideswipe could easily make whatever she was planning worse.
Obviously, the team had to stop her. Amanda and Ari couldn't have a weapon that'd allow them to be as powerful as an army. No one should have that weapon. However, having Cyrus go through with the sale could help Division track Amanda's location. They'd bug Sideswipe and have it lead them straight to the bitch's door. The rest could be a great victory from there. The team simply had to plan for it to all work out. They'd have to be prepared for anything that might be thrown their way. They couldn't just attack, they had to be smart about it.
As she helped plan the mission, Alex was positive they could pull it off. They had done stupider, and crazier, and far more reckless before. If they were taking their time, then Division had a chance. She believed the performance enhancers she had taken helped greatly with the planning. She was so focused, she was able to think of things the others hadn't. Although she was a little too intense about it, the first part of Division's operation against Amanda was planned for. All that was left was the execution. Alex instantly volunteered to go out into the field. Her arm was healed, and she was ready to save people, "I can go. I'm up for it."
"Alright. Michael and Alex, you're backup. Cyrus, you're with me," Nikita decided easily. Cyrus would still make contact with the Sideswipe sellers, she'd simply be tagging along with him. It was insurance that things would run smoothly. Alex and Michael watching from nearby would alert them to anything amiss. At the slightest sign of a red flag, the team would be on alert. The operation had to go as smoothly as possible. It was how the rest would all fall into place. The first domino couldn't crack before it could even fall.
"Why don't I like the sound of that?" Cyrus attempted to smile, but the thought of the intense team tagging along with him wasn't the best. It was too late to change anything, however. He was given a new tracker implant in case he made the inane decision to run. The team packed up their gear, changed clothes, and boarded Birkhoff's plane (that Alex promised to refuel) to jet out to the meet. Besides information on how he ran his business and who they were meeting with, Cyrus didn't have a say in what was occurring. He was just brought along for the ride.
Honestly, he was alright with that. Cyrus had his own goals in mind for the mission. The team could hunt Amanda as he did his thing. And a part of his thing was talking to Nikita as they waited for the sellers at their rendezvous. She wasn't exactly listening to him. She watched her surroundings, and made an occasional comment to Michael and Alex over the com. Nikita did respond to Cyrus from time to time. But it wasn't until he mentioned a modified weapon she had bought while rogue that he had her full attention, "I remember all of the special order weapons I sold. Like the assault rifle modified for your petite frame."
Nikita attempted to call Cyrus out. She figured he was bluffing- trying to sell something. Yet when she gave the wrong information, he quickly corrected her. She didn't know how to respond to that. Why was he even bringing all that up in the first place. The two hadn't known each other when they were in Division, simply heard of their exploits. They weren't friends. Yet, Cyrus moved close to Nikita, like they had known each other for far too long. He stared at her sternly as he admitted, "I knew where you were this whole time. But I never ratted you out."
"Why?" Nikita was dumbfounded. She stopped wondering why Cyrus was telling her all that, and became far more concerned with why he never told Percy he knew where to find her. He could've sold her out years ago and saved himself from the trouble he was in at the moment. There was no reason for him to protect her. She never had his favor. Doing something without getting anything out of it wasn't Cyrus' MO. he was gaining freedom and his continued business out of that mission, after all. So why would he cover for Nikita. Why hold her secret for so long.
He never answered her question. As soon as Nikita asked, Cyrus stood, gesturing for her to follow him; it was time to buy Sideswipe. She got herself to refocus and think only of the op. Everything was moving alright, for a moment. Offers were exchanged, and the device surpassed the demonstration. However, when it was time to just walk away, Cyrus kept Sideswipe turned on and began to back away from Nikita. She wasn't given a chance to follow him. He had decided then was a perfect time to end the mission, "Great. Now, as a professional courtesy, she's Interpol, and there's agents waiting for your arrest."
"Bastard!" Shouting, Nikita fought off her assailants and chased after Cyrus. She understood why he had told her about never giving her up then. He wanted her distracted. He wanted her so wound up, he could slip past her with Sideswipe. She refused to let him get far. Except, the men she had to fight were relentless. Even with Michael's and Alex's help, she couldn't reach their Dirty Thirty. He was long gone by the time they made it out of that mess. The only thing left was the modified gun he had which sparked conversation in the first place.
Meanwhile, Michael had to roughly pull Alex off one of the men so they could follow Nikita. She had beaten him enough. He was already unconscious. Any more strikes and she could've killed him. However, she didn't stop. Alex kept fighting. She was going to keep fighting until whatever rage had taken over her was spent. Michael recognized that look in her eyes. She was overwhelmed by something not entirely in her control. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to work that out. They had to go. The mission was blown, "Alex! Come on. It's over."
