When Ari refused to respond, Nikita dragged his sorry ass out of the interrogation room and down to sublevel twelve. It was the lowest level in Division. And it was formally Amanda's torture room. A person only went down there to spill their guts and then die; it was a torture room no one escaped from (unless you were Ryan, Owen, or Birkhoff). Since Amanda had been on the run, no agent dared to go into that hell. Birkhoff and Sonya had only chanced it so her killchip could be permanently disabled. Besides that, the dungeon remained isolated. Which was perfect for Nikita as she continued to pummel Ari.
Rationally, she knew that the former head of Gogol and former KGB agent wouldn't cave after a few punches. However, Nikita stopped being rational the instant the second attack had occurred. She didn't care what she had to do to make Ari tell her the name of Amanda's terrorist. As long as people were saved with the information she could gather, then nothing else matters. She'd even let her own fist break and bleed as she broke and bled Ari's body. If he refused to speak, then she refused to give up. All that violence would end if he just told her what she wanted, "Just give me a name. That's all it takes."
"Just pay me fifty million dollars, and countless lives will be saved. That's all it takes," Breathless, Ari spat the blood out of his mouth. Nikita wasn't the only one who could persist until she got what she wanted. Ari was just as determined. Although he was receiving the rougher end of the ordeal, he'd hold out for the money. A few punches, a few broken bones, they were worth withstanding for fifty million dollars. Knowing innocent people were dying was even worth ignoring for millions. Just like Nikita would do anything for a name, Ari would do anything for that money.
"Yeah, right. There's no way you win," Walking away from her bloody captive, Nikita huffed. Violent punches and broken fingers obviously weren't getting her anywhere. However, she didn't know Ari enough to successful psychologically torture him. She also didn't have Amanda's fucked up talent for finding psychological weaknesses. She did have the Inquisitor's old torture instruments, though. Nothing of Amanda's had been cleared out of that room- no one had wanted to touch them. A part of Nikita didn't want to either; she didn't want to be connected to her in that way. But what other choice did she have.
"What about Amanda? She'll win if you don't pay. And if she wins, Division dies," Ari spat again, offering Nikita her other choice. So what if he won. The bigger picture dictated that Amanda couldn't win. Innocent people couldn't keep dying because of her twisted schemes, and a terrorist group couldn't keep running around under her orders. Yet, if Division paid Ari, then it would all stop. All the pain, all the heartache, would end after a simple bank transfer. Ari wasn't the only one who'd win. As long as Amanda lost, the whole world would win.
While Nikita struggled with Ari, Ops managed to gain some ground. Alex's idea to scan cell towers for the encryption found on the terrorist's ghost phones actually worked out. Once Shawdowbot had been tapped into all the different cell towers around the country (which took more time than Division probably had), a break finally came. Birkhoff received an alert of the encryption's signal in a random suburb in the middle of nowhere. That had to be the Crimson Resistance. Instantly, he called Michael over to his computer, "Mikey, I found our encryption on a cell tower. If the terrorists are talking to each other, it's here."
"It's too soon for another attack. They must be planning for the next one," Michael crowded into Birkhoff's space and looked over what he had found. The first two attacks had been spaced at a specific interval. Judging by that, it was too soon for a third. The terrorists must've been planning and staking out their next target. If Division agents managed to converge on their location, they'd be able to stop them. Unfortunately, just as Michael thought that, he became distracted. His mind kept being pulled to Nikita and Ari, and then was no exception. He had to know what was going on in the dungeon, "Do we have surveillance in sublevel twelve?"
"No cameras in the dungeon. No one wanted to see the Inquisitor at work," Birkhoff informed Michael. He didn't need to wonder why he had asked about the dungeon. The hacker wanted to know how Nikita was fairing against Ari as well. She hadn't gotten a single word out of him yet. If she had, she would've updated Ops. But she had been in hell for hours. If she hadn't escaped it, then things were going horribly with Ari. Someone should probably go down and check on her- or save her.
As Michael remained distracted by thoughts of his fiancée, Ryan started issuing out orders. Although Birkhoff narrowed the Crimson Resistance down to a singular neighborhood, it was still a large area to search. Division had to scramble their teams out to that suburb and have them search for any suspicious activity. It was going to be difficult; all hands had to be on deck. However, Michael still wasn't paying attention. Sean couldn't blame him. He was worried about Alex facing terrorists that had been trained like she had been. So of course Michael was worried about his fiancée trapped in a dungeon with Ari, "You're worried about Nikki?"
"I'm worried she's going to kill him, and we won't have any leads." Michael mumbled, staring down the hall like he could suddenly develop the x-ray vision required to see his fiancée. Honestly, he was only partially worried about Ari. He did suspect that he would rather die than talk and Nikita could bring him to that point. However, he was more worried about Nikita reaching that point. Michael had seen the kind of darkness she could fall into when she tortured someone. He didn't want her falling into that again. She shouldn't even have to. There could be other ways to make Ari break. And there could be other people that broke him.
"Go. I'll help coordinate teams and shrink the haystack," Sean urged Michael towards the elevators. Ryan could make due with just the former Seal's help; the two of them should be able to send the teams in the field to different parts of the neighborhood just fine. Michael had to go to Nikita. She couldn't be alone torturing Ari forever. Who knew what those hours had done to her. Her caprice might not be close to breaking, yet she could be. Someone had to pull her out of that hell, and that someone needed to be Michael.
After more unsuccessful beatings, Nikita walked away from Ari again. She searched for another torture tool to use and removed her engagement from her busted knuckles. She probably should've removed it before she started her torture. She had tied her hair back and had stripped to a tanktop and leggings. But, for some reason, she hadn't thought to take her ring off until then. Maybe she hadn't wanted to take it off. She always hated when she had to for missions. She couldn't bear being separated from it. Ari seemed to be able to read her thoughts as she put down her ring because he soon scoffed, "Forever? Is that what you think that ring means?"
"Are you starting to get delusional on me? Come on. I thought you were stronger than that. I can do this all day," Nikita snarked in reply. She wasn't going to let Ari goad her into talking about her relationship with Michael. She knew where they stood and what the future had in store for them- at least, she had hope for their future together. Ari didn't have to make comments about it or try to sow doubt. She was supposed to be torturing him after all. He should be the only one in the room in pain and uncomfortable.
"Your sad attempt to build a life with Michael, that's how Amanda and I started out many years ago. But there's no forever in this business. There is no home," Ari muttered past a swollen jaw. Nikita froze. She had expected scathing remarks and bitter attempts to get under her skin, but she was surprised by Ari's broken admission. He actually seemed upset that Amanda had betrayed him and that the forever he had once believed he could have was gone. Nikita almost felt sorry for him. Almost. He deserved that heartbroken outcome after all the pain he had caused others. He brought that all on himself, especially his further torture.
"Someone once told me that in order to beat a monster, you have to be a monster. So let's get started," Stalking back towards Ari, Nikita sneered. A part of her was screaming at her to not stoop that low. She had hated when Percy called her a monster after what she had done to Brandt; it had twisted her up inside, and had made her hate herself for far too long. She couldn't revert back to that person. She couldn't fight fire with fire again. She had to be the person she knew she could be- the one Michael, Sean, Alex, Birkhoff, Ryan all believed she was. Nikita shouldn't be a monster. But with what they were facing, it was hard not to be.
Before Nikita could slip and fall into that darkness, Michael entered the room. He arrived at just the right time. He interrupted Nikita's actions and saved Ari from whatever twisted thing she was thinking. Despite the fact that her back was still turned to him, he knew he had saved Nikita as well. She would have regretted whatever she had almost done. Even if it got her the name of the terrorist, she might not have been able to live with herself- like after what she had done to Brandt. It was about time she stepped away, "That's enough, Nikita."
"Why? Are you afraid this will end up like Sierra Leone? We broke our target that time, remember?" Although she didn't look back at her fiancé, Nikita stepped away from Ari. There had to be a reason Michael interrupted her. Either he had an important and probably horrific update, or he was giving her the chance to take a break. When they had been in Division together, the two had established a method of torture that usually helped them break their target. Whenever they had implemented it without others knowing, they said a code word. Nikita tested out the word then, wondering what Michael's reaction would be.
"But at what cost. You gotta stop," Michael responded to the code word. That was a relief to Nikita. Ops hadn't heard of any other terrible developments. Crimson Wave hadn't struck again, giving her more time to torture the name out of Ari. Though, if Michael was coming to tag into the torture session, then that meant there hadn't been any good developments either. Division was stuck. The terrorists were just as much like ghosts as they were. They really needed Ari to break or else more attacks would keep coming.
Ari knew that. Michael and Nikita didn't have to say anything. He knew based on body language and the fact that they were all still there. Although he was being tortured, he held all the power. They couldn't do anything without the name he provided them. Which meant, he could continue demanding the fifty million dollars. Or he could keep torturing the agents in return. The latter seemed more fun. Maybe that was because he was delicious like Nikita had said. Or simply because he didn't have a lot of other options, "Thank you, Michael, for lending a hand."
What Nikita did next wasn't exactly in her control. Of course Ari knew how Michael lost his hand; Amanda would've told him after she had witnessed it. So he knew the emotional toll the engaged couple had gone through. His taunt was meant to harm, and Nikita wouldn't have it. She grabbed the saw from the table full of torture instruments and brought it to Ari's wrist. He flinched against his restaurants. But that didn't stop her. She began to saw off his hand, finally making him shout in pain. Michael didn't let that torture last long. Once he realized how far his fiancée was willing to go, he shouted, "Nikita, that's enough!"
Michael was frantic that time. Unlike his other warning, he wasn't trying to switch off with her and let her cool off; he was trying to save Ari's life. He yanked his fiancée off of the bloody man and shoved her towards the door. She was a ball of rapid fury, but she managed to listen to Michael. She dropped the saw, stormed out of the room, and slammed the door closed behind her. Her fiancé tried not to think too much about what he had witnessed. He needed to regain control, and he needed to continue forcing Ari to talk, "You better start talking, Tasarov. I won't be able to hold her back any longer."
"Cute. The couple that tortures together stays together. Your good cop, bad cop routine is tired. What was the code word? Sierra Leone?" Wincing through his pain, Ari continued to taunt. As soon as Michael walked into the room, the former head of Gogol suspected he knew what the couple was doing. It wasn't confirmed for him until he heard their strained conversation. Switching torturers wasn't going to work on him. He had done that enough to know all the tricks. He still wouldn't break; he could continue holding out for the money.
"How do you know which cop I am?" Michael clamped his prosthetic down on Ari's knee. He had quickly realized that his prosthetic hand was stronger than normal. He could throw harder punches and inflict further pain. With a simple squeeze he popped Ari's knee out of socket and made him nearly shout in pain again. However, that also wasn't enough to make him talk. Michael doubted that even if he had let Nikita cut off his hand. Ari still wouldn't have given up the terrorist's name. He would never break. That fifty million meant far too much to him. Or, more likely, he was holding out for something else- something that meant far more to him.
"When's the wedding, Michael? If your relationship meant anything to either of you, you wouldn't be here. You should marry her now while you still have the chance," Ari mumbled through harsh breaths. Michael let go of his knee and fell silent. He couldn't argue that he didn't have a point. The engaged couple had let their war get in the way of their relationship before. Too many things had pulled them apart. However, they always found their way back to each other. They always wanted to be together. But maybe there were some things they couldn't come back from. Maybe, at some point, their war might succeed in breaking them apart.
Although Ari wasn't talking, the rest of Division was doing all they could to stop the Crimson Resistance. Owen and Alex followed Sean's instructions to scan a neighborhood for suspicious activity. They drove to the area and slowly took in the sights. Silence stretched between them, but Owen didn't last long. He talked to Alex about a couple of things. Then, he blurted what had been on his mind since the bomb scene, "Thanks, by the way, for what you said back at the elevators. Emily used to say stuff like that all the time. That I could change. That's why I got my butterfly tattoo. She said it was proof that…"
"People can have a second life. A girl I knew used to say the same thing," Alex smiled softly. Another girl in the brothel used to talk constantly about butterflies and the life they meant; she believed so much in her words that when high she thought she could become one. Alex didn't want to talk about it with Owen then, however. The positive side of butterflies was all that was needed. Besides, there was something happening down the street that stole her attention and stopped all thoughts of tattoos, second lives, and butterflies. She was fairly certain she had spotted one of the terrorists staking out a house, "Ops, we may have something. I'm gonna look."
Alex had Owen drop her off at the corner then continue driving. She slowly approached the van she had noticed, keeping her eyes on the person in the driver's seat. They didn't notice her. They were too busy spying on a family and talking into their cellphone. Alex didn't doubt that the person was one of the terrorists; she simply needed to think of a way to approach. Whatever she was thinking, however, soon had to be forgotten. The terrorist saw her and drew their weapon. Alex instantly sprung into action, ripping away the gun and slamming her assailant to the ground. There went any form of subtlety. She just had to scream, "Where's your boss?"