Just as Amanda had claimed, the Romania side of the mission fared worse than the Spain side. The Alpha team crept into position under Alex's orders; however, instead of the surprise attack they were hoping for, Ari was more than prepared for them. He had an army of former Gogol snipers reign down heavy fire on the agents. Division was the ones soon caught unawares. They tried to take cover, yet they were surrounded. And with Sideswipe active, their communications were rendered completely useless.

That was when Alex was supposed to step up and lead her team. However, she couldn't do it. The performance enhancers she had swallowed before rolling out should've made her focused and ready for everything. They didn't work. She was stuck frozen in her position, watching the destruction around her helplessly. The Alpha team was calling out to her for help. They needed her. She wanted to rush to their aid. But she didn't know what to do. It was all so awful. And it was all her fault.

There wasn't any debate on that last point. The Alpha team was dying around her because she couldn't lead them. She was doing nothing to save them, and they were all going to suffer. Ari was going to get away as well. No one was stopping him. He was well protected. While Division died around him, he could make off with Sideswipe. The few bullets the Alpha team were able to squeeze off didn't make much of a difference. It wouldn't be long before they were completely wiped out, and Ari and his army would have everything they needed.

Alex needed to do something. Before Ari escaped, she had to direct her team and make the kill. But she couldn't. She knew she had to, yet something was holding her back. Maybe it was the drugs; though, she doubted that. Something deeper within her was holding her back. Watching the people she was supposed to care for fall dead at her feet made it all the more worse. She couldn't save anyone. She wasn't a hero, or even a great agent. Everyone around her died because of who she was. And who she was was a person not worth dying for.

With those thoughts distracting Alex, she missed the commotion at the entrance of the building. She couldn't register that there were different gunshots. Then, almost all of a sudden, Sean appeared. He killed the snipers that were giving the Alpha team the most trouble, allowing them to erupt from their hiding spots. Division could have an actual fighting chance on that mission. Their bullets meant something, and Alex was finally able to shake herself out of her haze. She brought the team back to point and led a charge.

Sean became the real leader, however. He destroyed Sideswipe, he made a shot at Ari, and he eventually found a way for Division to escape the situation. Ari and his army didn't face the full wrath they should've, yet the Alpha team couldn't risk going after them. The enemies had to escape so that the agents might live. After destroying Sideswipe, that was Sean's only focus. He had to return the remaining agents to Division. Their survival meant everything. A part of Alex agreed with that. However, she was so focused on her need to kill Ari, she couldn't be torn away. Sean had to forcefully snap her out of it to be able to drag her back to safety.

The trip back to the bunker was harrowing. The loss of all those agents was even more evident then. The empty seats and injured agents were striking and painful. Failure quickly set in. It didn't let up once they arrived back in Division. Sean, Alex, and the Alpha team had to debrief with the others. They couldn't easily admit their defeat. Nor could Nikita and Michael. Although Cyrus was saved and resting in Medical, Amanda and Ari remained out of their grasp. The two would continue to cause destruction, and there wasn't much the team could do about it.

They had to try, but not at that moment. Division had to spend their time cleaning up, healing, and resting before any new missions. It was a difficult transition to make, yet they had to try. Sean didn't know what to do with himself after the debriefing. He should help with the other post-op activities. However, he felt so out of place being back in Division after abandoning it. The team didn't know what to do with him either- including Michael, who had called him. It was simply awkward. But seeing his sister walk towards him down the hall made Sean want to fix that. There were things he could do, and he had to do them immediately.

"Nikki…" Reaching for Nikita, Sean tried to talk to her. He had had time to think since he had run out of Division. Although he stuck to his decision to leave, he had said some terrible things. He needed to apologize for it. He wanted to apologize. But as he reached for his sister, she continued walking. She didn't stop; she didn't even acknowledge him. Nikita acted like her brother didn't exist. He was simply an obstacle in her way. Staring after his sister, Sean knew he should fight for her to pay attention to him. Except, he only watched her go.

He deserved that. After what he had said, Nikita had every right to ignore him. Sean should let her go until she was willing to forgive him- if that ever happened. He wouldn't allow himself to think about that; it'd only make him feel worse than he already did. Besides, Sean had other problems to deal with. He had said some terrible things to Alex as well. Making up with Nikita was a failure, but that couldn't be the same with Alex. he soon caught up with her near the armory. She didn't look at him as he approached. He knew she had heard him, though. She was tense while he moved towards her. Stopping short of touching her, he breathed, "Alex…"

"Just leave. That's what you're best at," Abruptly, Alex quit whatever she was doing and stormed away. Again, Sean knew he should've chased after. If he really wanted to apologize, really wanted to be in Alex's and Nikita's lives again, then he had to fight. Standing stock still wouldn't get him anywhere, yet he did that anyway. Sean could fight Ari and his army. He could fight enemy combatants and experience the horrors of war. But he wouldn't chase after the women who were mad at him. He just sulked in his poor decisions and went back home like Alex had instructed him to do.


Although Nikita had been the one to find Michael and drag him to the carport, she didn't seem like she wanted to go home. She wouldn't talk. After she had ensured her team was safe, Cyrus would be taken care of in Medical, and Ryan had enough information from her debrief, she stopped talking- running into Sean hadn't helped. Michael didn't blame her. Too much had happened that night. They'd go home, rest, regroup, and tomorrow they'd start dealing with the fallout. They were allowed to settle and breathe before continuing their mission. After all, if they didn't, they could burnout before it was truly over.

Whether that was what made Nikita silent or not, Michael didn't know. She kept herself turned away from him in the car. He tried to put a hand on her knee, sweep his thumb along her thigh in an act of comfort, yet she brushed him off. She also shifted as far away from him as she could in the passenger seat. Michael tried not to think anything of it. It had been a long day and a bad mission. Nikita probably just wanted space while she tried to process it all. However, she remained distant from him the entire journey home. She didn't even make a sound as they entered their apartment. She was simply still.

"You called Sean," Quietly, Nikita finally spoke. Whereas Michael had removed his shoes and jacket and had moved towards the kitchen, she stayed rooted by the door. He had to turn around to look at her. She stared directly at him; except, he couldn't read her expression. It was rare whenever he couldn't read her thoughts. She had to be actively hiding her expression from him. Yet even then, he could pick up on some things. Not then, however. She was a completely blank slate. Honestly, that scared him a little.

"I had to," Eventually, Michael replied. He tried to match his fiancée's empty tone. He simply stated. After all, he didn't have to actually defend why he had called Sean for help. Division was in a shitty situation. They needed any assistance they could get. A Navy Seal was the right call. Because of him, they didn't lose everyone. Ari still got away, and many agents had died. But Sideswipe was destroyed, and not everyone was tragically lost. Some victory could be seen in that. Sean had saved them.

"Don't do it again," Nikita warned. She continued to not move from her spot. She didn't remove her shoes or jacket either. She only stood and stared. Michael debated whether or not he should approach. Her expression remained unreadable. Her voice was empty as well; the words were threatening, but there was no anger behind them- there was absolutely nothing. The longer that went on, the more frightened Michael became. Something was wrong, yet his fiancée wouldn't let him in. After what had happened with Amanda and the bomb, he didn't like that.

Slowly, Michael moved towards Nikita. Maybe she was only upset that he had contacted Sean while they were still fighting. He doubted that was exactly it. Much more had to be weighing on her shoulders. Except, she wouldn't let her fiancé past her suddenly built walls, so how was he to know. He just had to respond to what she had said. Despite what Nikita warned, Michael would call Sean for backup when Division was in deep shit. Survival was the only option. It shouldn't matter how they got there, "He saved Alex. He protected all those agents. He got us Sideswipe…"

"Which is great. We needed him and he stepped up. But now Amanda is hunting down everyone I love. And if you ever put my brother in danger again…" Nikita stopped herself short. She finally stalked closer to Michael, yet she didn't finish her sentence. She didn't like ultimatums; she didn't like robbing people of their choices or backing them into things they didn't want to do. But she wasn't leaving things up to chance when it came to her family. It didn't matter that putting Sean in danger never was Michael's intention. Nor did it matter that Nikita was warning her fiancé against something he'd never do. Her family couldn't be at risk.

"He's a Navy Seal, Nik," Gently, Michael tried to soothe Nikita. He should've realized that was what had upset her earlier. Amanda had threatened everyone important to Nikita. If that only involved her Division family, maybe she would've been calmer. She would've still been upset, but she'd know the team would find a way to survive. Her brother, on the other hand, made it difficult for her to stay rational. Regardless of the fact that he was a Navy Seal, Nikita constantly worried about him. His life being threatened by one of their greatest enemies had her spiraling. She spiraled so much, she essentially shut down.

When Michael's hand landed softly on her bicep, however, Nikita shoved it off her. She pulled away from her fiancé, cracks finally appearing on her unreadable surface. For a brief second, tears swam in her brown eyes. They were quickly replaced by the fear and rage inside her. Everything she had tried to hold back erupted out of her with a sharp shout, "That doesn't excuse him from death! Nor does it protect my sisters and their families. It's not just you guys in Division that Amanda's going after. People who shouldn't even be involved will die too."

Oh. Of course her concern was about more than just Sean. When Amanda threatened everybody, it wasn't only the people she knew. Jill and Sandy were targeted as well. Nikita's family would always be caught in Division's crosshairs. Whether it was her mother, her brother, or currently her sisters, her family was going to get hurt. Sean and her team were agents, so they could be alright. But her sisters were ignorant innocents caught up in something they'd never know. Nikita and Sean couldn't rope them in. If they did, the President might see them as the same security threat Division was. There was no way around it. Jill and Sandy might die.

She had snarked before that all the people she loved carried guns. But that wasn't true. Of the ones that did, although Nikita was still worried, she wasn't scared for their lives. It was her innocent sisters that made her want to scream. Michael had no solution to that besides hunting down Amanda and killing her. It wasn't as concrete as the team would've liked it to have been, but they'd get there eventually. They had to, "So, we find the mole. We trace them back to the bitch. We kill her, and we're all saved."

"Don't. Not tonight," For one last time, Nikita pulled away from Michael. She didn't accept his soft hold or kind words. She didn't want to be comforted by the hope he believed in. Too many times she had been disappointed. She couldn't set herself up for that again. She didn't want her heart to lift and shatter over and over again. Once was enough, yet she had gone through that more times than she could count. Nikita was tired. She wanted to curl under a blanket and never resurface. However, as she moved to do just that, her fiancé followed her. He wouldn't let her be alone. She needed someone, and he'd always be there for her.


Birkhoff should've gone home like everyone else had- well, everyone but Ryan, who probably crashed on the couch in his office again. Going home to sleep would refresh Birkhoff's mind. He'd be able to think clearly, work clearly, and feel clearly. However, he couldn't stop hacking. That moment more than ever, the team needed the identity of Amanda's mole. The bitch couldn't keep escaping death and sending the team through emotional tailspins. They had to one up her, finally win. Yet Division was stuck in place. The only way they could get themselves out was if Birkhoff finally found the damn mole.

Realizing the mole sent messages on a time delay and by pinging the encryption through multiple servers should've been a breakthrough. Yet the star hacker couldn't get much farther than that. He tried and tried, but all he narrowed it down to was a central terminal in Division anyone could use. He was right back to square one; the entirety of Division was a suspect. Right then probably should've been when he gave up and finally went home. However, he just had to try one more thing. He cross referenced the terminal's logs with the original times the messages would've been sent. One name popped up, causing his blood to go cold.

Sonya was the mole. "No."