"Alright, Nikki. You're a go," Birkhoff commanded into the com. Nikita didn't respond with her usual quips. She made no attempt to lighten the situation. Birkhoff probably would've thought it was suspicious if they weren't going after Amanda. Nikita couldn't be distracted. That mission could have potentially been their last. As long as everything went perfectly, Division would be over. The agents would be free. The team could go home. Amanda just had to die first. And that would only happen if Nikita stayed focused and had Birkhoff's expert help.
That was where everything went wrong, however. Nikita stayed focused, yet Birkhoff made a mistake. He wasn't as smart as his expertise should've made him. He never dealt with the Sonya issue. He never told anyone she was forced to be the mole. The team never solved the problem. So while Birkhoff tried to lead Nikita successfully through her mission, Sonya turned to tell Amanda what was happening. She'd be killed if there was an attempt on the bitch's life and she didn't warn her. Sonya had to sabotage the mission. Birkhoff didn't save her life, so she had to do it herself, "I'm sorry."
Except, the second Sonya sent the message to Amanda, her killchip was activated. Birkhoff watched horrified as blood trickled out of her nose and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. He tried to catch her as she fell, yet it was too late. Sonya was already gone. And the mission was already dissolving into chaos. When Birkhoff brought his attention back to it, he watched Amanda stalk after Nikita on the Division monitors. There was nothing he could say to stop it. His warnings fell on deaf ears. Amanda struck from behind, and Nikita faltered.
There was so much blood. From Sonya lying limp in his arms and Nikita struggling on the monitor, there was so much blood. It was too late to stop the bleeding in Sonya's brain. Yet Nikita could be saved. The blood spewing from her slit throat could be staunched. Birkhoff knew it. If he could get to her, he could save her. He just couldn't move- no one could. Because he never said anything about Sonya, no one was around to help. Nikita was left to die just like the tortured hacker. Her burning eyes met Birkhoff's through the monitor as she faded. It was all his fault and she knew it, "Why didn't you tell me?"
Birkhoff snapped awake violently. It took him far too long to catch his breath and steady his erratic heartbeat. His mind wouldn't believe it was all just a nightmare. The fact that he had fallen asleep at his computer in Division didn't help. He was trapped in hell. Just when the team thought there was an escape, they were dragged into more horrors. Despite their best efforts, there was no relief. Amanda kept upping the ante. She threatened everyone- enemies and innocents. She killed agents left and right. And she continued her psychological torture through the killchips. It didn't end. It only would when she died. And who knew when that would be.
Once the dreadful fog of his nightmare cleared, Birkhoff knew he had to talk to his team. Although Sonya was afraid of who to trust, Birkhoff couldn't sit in silence. Ignoring the problem would only make it worse- so much worse. They had to solve it immediately. Standing from his cramped desk chair, the hacker considered running to Ryan first. But with the pressure from the President he was dealing with, things wouldn't go well. Birkhoff needed to rely on someone else. Nikita was the best choice. She had experience disabling killchips without anyone noticing. She also had so much rage directed at the bitch. She was willing to kill her without hesitation.
Nikita didn't answer her phone when he called. Birkhoff assumed that meant she had gone to yoga that morning. At least, he hoped it was something mundane like that. She had confessed to the team that she felt like someone was following her. There was no reason to doubt her suspicion. She had someone stalking her; most likely, that someone worked for Amanda. Birkhoff prayed that Nikita's lack of response didn't mean whoever had been tailing her had caught up to her. She was simply trying to be normal. Regardless of his pleas, Birkhoff felt the need to check that fact out for himself. He had to know that his nightmare wouldn't become real.
Thankfully, the hacker was right about the rogue going to her neighborhood yoga studio. He had no idea about the stalker, however. They could still be around. Birkhoff should watch after Nikita to ensure she was alright. As soon as he knew that, he could tell her about Sonya. It'd be the perfect time. The two were out of Division, and they were alone. Everyone could be safe. Except for him. In his worry about his team's life, Birkhoff forgot that Nikita had a strong reaction to people following her. She caught onto him almost instantly. She just waited until they were alone in an alley before she attacked.
As far as Nikita knew, that moment was the first time she had seen her suspected stalker. She wasn't going to let him get away from her. She led him to an isolated alley, waited until he was close, then she sprang into action. Utilizing her yoga bag, Nikita swung the strap around her assailant. She trapped his arm and his neck, whirled behind him, and pulled. He choked. She kept pulling. When he rapidly tapped her arm with his free hand, however, she finally recognized who had followed her. She ripped off his hoodie and let him go, "Nerd? What the hell?"
"Fuck, Nikki. When aren't you armed?" Birkhoff coughed and spluttered. Honestly, he should've expected her to attack. Owen had once said that she had struck and choked him with a towel when he had surprised her. Nikita was always ready to fight, a weapon at the ready or not. However, she normally didn't go straight for the kill when she was surprised. She tried to understand the situation first before she decided if her assailant needed to be killed or not. That time, though, she was so prepared to kill whoever had followed her.
"Why are you following me?" Nikita stopped Birkhoff from thinking any more about her actions. Her voice was strained and cracked as she demanded. Yoga wasn't as relaxing as she needed it to be. Sure, her muscles were loose- the tension was gone from her shoulders. But her mind had been able to run unchecked as she silently flowed through the different positions. She hated the anxiety that screamed so violently in her head. She couldn't do anything about it. The white noise just kept humming. Eventually, it was going to just drown her out.
"You said you felt like you were being stalked. I just wanted to make sure you were safe. And alone," Glancing around them, Birkhoff explained. Being honest would appease whatever Nikita was going through. Getting everything out certainly helped the nerd. Yet it would never be enough. The only time Division could ever truly relax was when it was dismantled. Lives would actually have to start for them to know what peace was. If they had the right amount of intel, they could find their peace soon. It really had to be soon. By the rate their stress was eating at them, they might not even make it to their future.
"What is it?" Softly, Nikita neared Birkhoff. He actually seemed far more distressed than she felt. He fidgeted, glanced rapidly around the alley, and refused to stand still. He was spooked. She probably should've gathered that from the fact that he had followed her. He normally wasn't the one paranoid about her safety. That was her fiancé's- and sometimes her brother's- job. Birkhoff simply let her do her own thing. Something drastic must've happened to make him change. Nikita almost didn't want to know what it was. But she couldn't just let her friend suffer. There had to be some way she could help.
Attempting to settle his nerves, Birkhoff took a deep breath of air. The time to panic and be worked up had passed. He had to stay rational. Clearing stating the facts was the best way for the team to be able to help. They couldn't do anything with misinformation. However, it was so hard to keep his thoughts clear and his heart steady. He couldn't be calm and rational when it came to Sonya, "Sonya's the mole. But. She was forced to do it. Amanda turned her killchip back on and spied on her. There's another mole, ensuring Sonya talks. Or she dies."
"How long have you known?" Nikita lamely asked. She had a million other questions spring to mind, but she didn't think Birkhoff knew the answers to them. She could only ask if he had been holding onto that intel for long. He and Sonya had been working together on the mole hunt for a while. Did he know right away, or was it a recent development. Nikita wanted desperately for it to be the latter. The team couldn't afford any secrets at the moment. The one Ryan had finally told them almost ripped them to shreds. Another hidden bombshell could break them more than they already were.
"I told you as soon as I could," Birkhoff admitted just as lamely as Nikita had asked. He was well aware that he should've told the others the instant he discovered Sonya as a mole. They could've been well on their way to saving her. However, Birkhoff didn't want to do anything without discussing it with Sonya first. It was her life on the line. She was the one being controlled by Amanda. She should've had a say in what was happening. She should have a voice in how she was saved.
"We gotta get rid of the killchip. Message the others. We're saving Sonya," Rather than get hung up over all the details, Nikita squared her shoulders and took charge of the situation. She could spend forever thinking about the implications of Amanda being able to turn back on the killchips. She already had a black box, an army, and Ari. Moles and killchips just made it all the more worse- especially when Nikita felt like she had been in that situation before. Yet she couldn't drown in that like she was in her anxiety. She had to force her emotions away and think. Sonya needed her to. And so did Birkhoff.
It didn't take long to have the entire team meet in Ryan's office- the entire team minus Sean and Owen, of course. No one bothered to text Sean, and Owen should continue to stay away from Amanda until they figured out what was wrong with him. They had to make it work with their dwindled team; though, Michael wasn't certain how well that would work. He believed Alex shouldn't be in the field while she recovered from the effects of the performance enhancers. There was no telling what kind of dangers those could bring. Which was why Alex had to tell the team, "You have to be the one to tell Nikita."
"Michael…" Alex tried to protest. The two hadn't said anything on the way to Division. He made her think about everything on her own, possibly because he needed to think as well. Yet, despite the time she had to think about how she was going to tell her friends that she had messed up, Alex didn't believe she could bring herself to do it. She didn't want to discuss how weak she was for relapsing, especially when she had taken the drugs to seem so strong. It didn't seem possible to talk about. Alex would rather take the coward's way out. Michael would never let her, though. So, she found another excuse, "Now's not the time."
She was right, of course. Alex's and Michael's whispered conversation was soon interrupted by Birkhoff. He revealed what happened to Sonya and that there was a second mole in Division, and the team was off chasing that danger. All other concerns and anxieties were pushed aside. The former rogues tried to think and plan together, come up with any way out of that situation. They didn't get far. Yet even if they did, Birkhoff wouldn't let them come to a conclusion. They couldn't just pick a course of action and rush off. There were other people to consider, "We shouldn't make any decisions without Sonya."
"Bring her in here. But make it discreet," Nikita nodded. Sonya had to be a part of that conversation. But not just because it was her life they were discussing, she had vital information that could help them. She didn't know who the mole was; however, she knew what Amanda wanted. That alone would be fantastic to know. Most of their struggles originated from not knowing what Amanda's endgame was. There had to be a reason she was building an army and trying to destroy the team of former rogues. She must've had huge plans. Even if Sonya only knew a part of them, it would still be momentous to the team.
"Tell me you have something," Ryan turned towards Nikita. Although he had gripped about them in the past, then was time for one of her crazy ideas. He had helped her with the previous one that had disabled a killchip- no one even knew about it for months. She had to have had something else up her sleeve. There had to be a way the team could save Sonya, stop the other mole, and get to Amada in one fell swoop. Their other grabs at the bitch weren't successful, yet the third time had to be the charm. They couldn't let her terrors continue.
"Same as before. We bait Amanda with information, then strike," After a moment of thought, Nikita voiced. It wasn't much, but she was trying to change their original plan for when they found the mole. The basis of what they had didn't have to be scrapped. Division could still use Amanda's mind games and hubris against her. They simply had to think of so many other contingencies and facts first. The killchip was the major issue. Nikita couldn't think around her. What she had done in the past wouldn't work again. They were against greater odds.
"And the killchip?" Alex asked quietly. She attempted to keep her hand at her side and not reach for the faded scar on the back of her neck. Her killchip had been disabled for good. When Amanda had stopped her heart for those too long of seconds, her killchip was rendered completely useless. No one could ever use it against her again. But the other agents in Division didn't have the same fate. They thought turning the devices off would've been enough. Tragically, they had been so very wrong.
Watching Birkhoff lead Sonya to the office, Nikita's anxiously clouded mind started to clear. Sonya kept her head high the entire time she walked. Even with her life on the line, she wasn't letting Amanda get to her. She could still be in control. Nikita's head lifted higher as well. The team could work things out. It wasn't all lost, "I think Sonya has some ideas."
