He could tell by the stares he garnered that he probably shouldn't have been in Ops. Not only were agents surprised by his sudden reappearance, word had already spread about his fight with Michael. Strange glances followed Sean as he moved further into the room. He tried his best to ignore them. He was staying in Division, despite everything screaming at him to leave. His sister needed him- the team needed him. Sean couldn't abandon them again, not when they were struggling so much just to make it through the day.
"Sean? What are you doing here?" Instead of casting her brother a strange glance like everybody else, Nikita almost seemed excited by his presence. Sean assumed most of that was because she didn't know about the fight in Medical. Good; he wanted to keep it that way. She had told him not to talk to Michael, and he had gone and fought him. Nikita would kill both her brother and her fiancé if she knew. After the conversation she had had with Sean, it was better that she stayed excited and in a good mood. The feeling gave her more hope.
And just seeing his sister in a far better mood than she had been lately made Sean feel hopeful as well. Working in Division could be a good thing- if the team continued to do what was right. That was going to take some effort, though. As soon as Alex saw Sean, she huffed and turned her back completely to him. She already shut down any conversation he could have with her. And when Michael finally joined the others, he avoided eye contact with his fiancée and glared at Sean. The Seal simply attempted to keep pushing forward. He had to believe that was how things were going to get better, "You said there was a mission. I'm here to help."
"Great. I have a task for you," Ryan dragged Sean away before he could say anything else. He wanted to talk to Alex. And he wanted to say something to Nikita that'd cover his ass incase what happened in Medical was eventually shared with her. But Division's latest Dirty Thirty mission was already underway. Ryan needed Sean to get in touch with his Special Forces contacts to see if anyone knew anything about their rogue; he was in the Army before Percy recruited him, so there was a chance some intel could be gained. The team needed all the information they could get. After all, their recent Dirty Thirty kidnapped his ex-wife.
As soon as the report of the kidnapping hit Division's radar, they attempted to find any connection to their rogue. The ex-wife's fiancé, who miraculously survived the attack, swore that the kidnapper looked like the Dirty Thirty; though, he was supposed to be dead. Division decided to join the police investigation, steering them off of the black ops group's presence and stealing their leads to find the target first. Owen and Nikita posed as FBI agents, and Birkhoff and Sonya hacked everything they could.
They didn't get a lot of information from that endeavor, but at least it was a start. Owen and Nikita's covers were involved in the investigation, so whenever there was an update they'd be notified. In the meantime, the two returned to Division to help with Ops' search for the Dirty Thirty and the ex-wife. Nikita tried to contribute, but she kept getting distracted. All that was running through her mind was her conversation with Michael. He was so very far away from her, and she didn't know how to bring him back. She might lose him.
She absolutely refused to believe that. Nikita didn't give up that easily. She could find a way to keep Michael by her side. Whatever it was she did, she figured it had to involve getting him a better prosthetic. That was why he wasn't with her in the field. If she found him a great replacement, it would make up for everything. It had to be possible. She worked in a place with hyper-realistic masks, killchips, worldwide trackers and coms. There had to be a better prosthetic out there. The technology had to exist, and she had to find it.
Of all the people to know if there was that kind of technology out there that they could utilize, it'd be Birkhoff. Except, for some reason, Nikita was almost too nervous to ask him. She didn't want to sound like she was complaining about something that shouldn't have been that big of an issue. Yet she needed to know. She needed to have the best option for her fiancé, "Hey, Nerd. Can I ask you some questions about Michael's prosthetic? Like, do you think there could be something better? Something more Division tech-like?"
Another agent shirking the search for the Dirty Thirty was Owen. Instead of trying to locate him and his ex-wife, the former Cleaner looked for Michael. He had ignored the agent's scathing comments about his performance in the field for far too long. He couldn't get away with saying those things to him; who cared if it was meant to make him a better partner for Nikita. If Michael wanted the perfect man for the job, then why didn't he just do it. No one was forcing him to stay in Ops except himself.
Owen soon found Michael alone in the garage. He was running his own search for their rogue on a laptop. His reasoning for that was completely lost on the former Cleaner; he didn't understand why he couldn't join Birkhoff's and Sonya's hunt in Ops. But, honestly, he didn't care. The rest of the team could focus on the mission. Owen needed to confront Michael about his attitude. If that didn't get fixed, who knew what other bullshit would occur. There was already too much as it was, "I would appreciate it if you stopped being a dick."
"Did Nikita put you up to this too?" Michael glared. A part of him seriously doubted that Nikita sent Sean and Owen to confront him. She had no problem talking to him herself. Besides, even if she had asked her Navy Seal brother to talk to her former Navy fiancé about wartime loss or whatever, she had no intentions of it turning into a fistfight. She always wanted to help him in any way he needed. Regardless of what Michael's rational thoughts were, however, he couldn't help but feel constantly attacked in the name of Nikita. There were more important things for the team to focus on; namely, the mission.
"No. I can just see that she's hurting," Slamming the laptop closed, Owen forced Michael to fully pay attention to him. It didn't take a genius to realize how Nikita felt about her current situation with her fiancé. She didn't even need to break down in front of a person for them to notice just how much she was struggling. The fact that she was drawing herself away from others and carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders was enough to know that something was wrong. Owen couldn't stand it any longer. She shouldn't be hurting because of her fiancé. Her engagement should've been the one bright spot amongst all the other hell they faced.
"Just stay out of it," Michael tried to move away. He didn't want to talk about his relationship with Owen. What could he have possibly understood. At least Sean had some idea about what Michael was thinking and feeling. Owen, as always, was clueless. Michael could work on his relationship alone. Yes, he was aware of the strain. But he was just trying to protect Nikita. Once she and everyone else realized that (or maybe once he made himself more clear) everything would sort itself out. It wasn't that detrimental.
"You gonna try to beat me up like you beat up your fiancée's little brother? Can you even form a fist? Or did Sean just hand your ass to you?" Before Owen could completely finish his degrading comment, Michael shoved him against the table. He did manage to form a fist with his prosthetic, yet it wasn't because of what the other man said. Michael couldn't stop thinking about what Sean told him. His fiancée sobbed because of him. He had made her feel like shit. None of his excuses about protecting her could make up for that. Michael had made Nikita cry. And yet, he still couldn't make himself stop being an ass. What the hell was wrong with him.
"We have something," Nikita's voice was uncharacteristically small as she grabbed the men's attention. Michael shoved Owen once more, then turned to his fiancée. All his anger drained out of him at the sight of her. She wasn't extremely upset or distraught about another fight in Division. Her expression didn't portray that kind of hurt. Instead, she was just blank- unreadable. So many thoughts and feelings were crashing on the surface, rendering her so overwhelmed she was left empty. Michael took a step towards her. He knew he had to say something. But she turned around before the words could leave his throat, and returned to Ops.
Birkhoff got an alert that the ex-wife had used her credit card at a storage facility. Owen and Nikita had to race to the location and try to discover where the Dirty Thirty was going next. Any argument that was occurring had to end. Once again, saving a life was more important. Especially, as they had discovered, since the Dirty Thirty was hiding with his captive in the woods. Nikita and Owen had to search on foot with the real FBI. That only lasted so long. Their cover was blown, and they had to run from both the police and the rogue. It would be impossible to find a hideout and a kidnapped victim then.
Alex, fortunately and miraculous, soon found the Dirty Thirty. She used the forest survival skills her father had taught her to find the camouflaged camp in the middle of the forest. She then wanted to lead the Alpha team on the rest of the mission. Yet Ryan denied her. Her blood pressure was still too high. Sean would take the team to meet with Nikita and Owen in the woods instead. Although the Seal tried to apologize to her for that, Alex shoved him away; he should just go and keep the others safe. He had to use his travel time to get his mind on that task. By the time he reached his sister, though, he was ready, "Hey, heard you needed backup."
Whereas Nikita was relieved to see her brother by her side, Owen stared at Sean suspiciously. It was an odd expression to cast a teammate, especially one who had the sole intention of helping them. They didn't have time for that kind of thing. Until, the siblings remembered that Owen had never seen Sean before. Although he had heard of him, he had never known what the Seal looked like. For all he knew, the person who had joined them was a complete stranger. Nikita sighed. They really had to get their team in check, "Oh, right. Owen, this is my brother, Sean. Sean, Owen."
"I've heard a lot about you," Sean would've held out his hand if he didn't want to keep supporting his rifle. Despite technically working together for years, Owen and Sean never actually met; they had always missed each other. Since they were finally face to face, they could've been the first people on the team to meet without trying to kill one another. Owen, however, didn't share in the Seal's warm greeting. He looked the other man up and down as though he was sizing him up. Whatever he seemed to assess, didn't impress him. Unlike Nikita, Owen couldn't care less that Sean had arrived to help them save the day.
"Really? I haven't heard a thing about you," Grinning condescendingly, Owen lied. He had to have heard of Sean. There was no way the team wouldn't have mentioned the Seal around the former Cleaner. He was so close to so many people to not be talked about. Owen was probably just trying to get under his skin by saying that. Sean had heard that he was almost as protective of Nikita as Michael was. The dickish behavior was more than likely a result of what Sean did to his sister. But Owen didn't have to ream him out for that. It was all over and moved on from. And even if it wasn't, Nikita could've taken care of herself.
"Let's just go," Nikita huffed and led the men away from their hiding spot. She had no idea what was going on between Michael, Sean, and Owen, and she had no intentions of exploring it. Not only because they were on a mission, but also because she knew that it would upset her. She already had so much on her mind- there was already so much weight on her shoulders. She knew she wouldn't be able to handle any more. Whatever the men were going through should just stay between them. It wasn't worth Nikita's already too-high stress levels.
Refocusing on the mission was great for the three anyway, especially with the turn it took. As Nikita, Sean, Owen, and the supporting Alpha team approached the hideout, hell rained down on them. Camouflaging his camp in a dense forest wasn't enough for the Dirty Thirty; he also had to line the area with boobytraps. Most of the traps were silent. They were activated by tripwires that led to agents simply dropping. Only those watching in Ops realized what was occurring. They saw the trackers blip out on the monitors, indicating the agents' death. Once they realized what was occurring, they hurriedly tried to warn the others in time.
The warning came just in time for the noisy traps, such as gunfire and explosions. The agents were being attacked. They attempted to stay in formation and continue advancing on the hideout, but the chaos was too much. Their Dirty Thirty knew their moves and knew how to seem like he was everywhere at once. Division scrambled through the woods, just trying to survive. But even if you weren't killed, you were knocked unconscious. That was what happened to Owen as he and Nikita made a break for the hideout. A blow to the head rendered him useless. Nikita had to regroup on her own. She decided to rush to Sean, who she hoped had a plan.
It all happened so fast. It wasn't a slowed down- time didn't even seem real- moment. It was second after second of confusion, pain, and horror. Sean led a handful of agents around the gunfire and the wires they knew to look out for. They were quickly closing in on the hideout and hopefully the ex-wife. Nikita rushed to join them, trying to draw out the Dirty Thirty so she could finally take him out. Yet her plan didn't work. None of their plans worked. Far too quickly, an agent stepped on a buried mine. By the time anyone noticed the distinctive click, it was too late. The pressure was lifted. The mine exploded. And Nikita's brother went flying, "Sean!"
