Alex and Birkhoff stayed at the kill house until the Seals began to move. Then, they rushed back to Division to tell them everything they knew. It didn't matter that they were interrupting a meeting in Ryan's office where the team was discussing what their next moves involving Zoe were. The information they had to share was for more important- and deadly, "We're not gonna have a few more months."
"Hey. Where have you been? I've been trying to call you," Whereas the rest of the team was shocked by Alex's and Birkhoff's sudden appearance, Sean immediately asked his girlfriend for an explanation. He needed to know why she had been ignoring all of his attempts to contact her. She was clearly alright; she wasn't hurt or anything. So why was she icing him out. What was she doing that she had to keep him completely in the dark.
"Sorry. Our phones were on silent as we were witnessing our impending doom," Birkhoff only somewhat explained. He owed the team more than that, yet his mind was still racing with what he had seen. He couldn't form the words to express his horror. All he could do was replay the image of a Seal team practicing to kill him and his friends over and over again.
"We were following Danforth," Alex clarified. She felt as though she was wasting time by doing so, however. The team had to start tackling the problem immediately. No debating what to do, no discussing what the consequences might've been. On the way back to the bunker, Alex had thought of a million different things Division could do in response to Danforth's threat, and only one thing worked perfectly. The team needed to start implementing it now, before the Seal team caught up with them.
"What? Are you insane? What would have happened if he had seen you?" Nikita instantly berated Alex. Division was already in deep shit because of the blown mission in Paris. If one of their agents had been caught tailing the President's top advisor, they'd be dead for sure. What had Alex even been thinking dragging an inexperienced Birkhoff with her and putting them at risk like that. It wasn't like her to endanger other people's lives so recklessly.
"He wouldn't have seen us. We managed to follow him right to his secret training facility where they've been planning an attack on Division," Alex rolled her eyes at Nikita. Even with Birkhoff creating too much noise behind her, she was too good at tailing people to get caught. She had spied on Division as her mole without ever being suspected, after all. Nikita didn't have to get on her about stupid shit like that anymore. Alex had it well taken care of. And it was because of her skill that the team could begin to do something about the threat coming their way.
Except, upon hearing Alex's news, the team stood in stunned silence for a moment. They weren't able to imminently jump into planning how to survive the day and save Division just yet. They needed time to process what was occurring. They also needed more information, which Michael eventually asked for, "What do you mean 'attack'?"
"They built a kill house, a replica of this facility in the middle of the woods. And Navy Seals were running the course," Alex was growing more and more agitated as she took the time to update the team. Couldn't they just listen to her and move forward with the plan she had in mind. Once they began to plan and execute it, they wouldn't have to worry about Danforth or the Seals anymore. Everything would finally be fixed.
"Okay, we know that the President has a contingency plan, but it doesn't mean that she's gonna execute it," Ryan shook his head. Yes, the Paris op had been blown because of a Dirty Thirty's involvement. But that did not mean Division was instantly going to pay for it. They still had time to fix the situation and absolve themselves from any wrongdoing. They had already found the original buyer for the CIA list, and they knew where Zoe was going to sell it to her. All Division had to do was plan a mission to stop the sale and retrieve the list, and everything would be fine. The crisis would be averted, and the contingency plan would never happen.
"No, no, no. We saw them. They were packing up, taking their freak show on the road," Birkhoff got his thoughts in enough order to blurt out. The Seals hadn't just been training to train. They were getting ready to strike as soon as possible. There was no time left for Division. They had to cut and run immediately.
"They must have a staging area closer to Division. They're getting ready to move against us," Sean confirmed Birkhoff's thoughts. The only reason for the Seals to leave the kill house was if they were going to strike very soon. Division had a few days at most to stop the contingency plan from going into effect. Or else they were going to be completely wiped out by an elite team of trained and secretive killers with skills that matched their own.
"Why would the President even order this? She was the one who asked us to kill Batouala," Confused, Michael tried to understand how the contingency plan could've been put into place. Yes, things looked bad at the moment after the disaster that was Batoula's assassination. However, the President had wanted them to kill him. She knew the risks and trouble she was getting into by having Division recover the stolen CIA undercover list. So why would she react so harshly to their mistakes. Why wasn't she giving them a chance to turn the situation around in their favor.
Ryan attempted to get in touch with the President to see what was going on, yet he was stonewalled by Danforth. The commander wouldn't let him say a single word to the President, and that finally clued Ryan in on what was truly going on. He felt like an idiot as he realized it, though. He had Division had been played, "I don't think she did order the assassination. The President didn't hand me the blue files, Danforth did. And given the conversation we just had, I doubt the President has any idea what's truly going on. This was all him."
"He set us up," Michael expressed in disbelief. Maybe he shouldn't have been so shocked to be betrayed by a member of the government. No one in that room would've been there had it not been for the corruption of power. However, to have that pattern continue, to not pick up on the signs despite having constantly gone through that situation, was disheartening. No matter what they did, they couldn't have better. It was the same old shit over and over and over again.
"Now he's gonna let us die," Just like Michael, Sean was shocked, yet he knew he shouldn't have been. Danforth was no different than Oversight. Everything was just a means to an end. And once that blew up in your face, it was time for a clean sweep. The team had fallen for the same thing past leaders of Division had. They weren't as different as they had thought.
It was time for Alex to share the plan she had come up with after watching the strike team prepare to kill everybody. The team's confusion was out of the way, and they were finally ready to hear her solution. She was certain that they would go along with it. There was no better plan, or one more final. Also, in all their years of fighting, they had killed for less, "What if we kill Danforth? He's the only one the President briefed about Division. If he's gone, that buys us time. We can shore up our defenses, tell people to run. Something."
"Alex, no, we can't," Bewildered, Nikita attempted to understand how Alex had come to that conclusion. Besides Semak, Nikita couldn't think of anyone Alex had wanted to kill. In fact, she still clearly remembered when she couldn't kill that man at the pharmacy to get herself recruited into Division. Alex wasn't a killer. She preferred doing things another way, like what she had argued with Batouala. So why would she all of a sudden change her mind. Why would she want to assassinate someone whose only crime was lying to them.
"Why not? You're the one who said it's the life of one really bad guy versus three hundred people's lives. Remember?" Alex threw Nikita's words back at her. Before leaving for Paris, Nikita had tried to get Alex to agree to the Batouala op; she had claimed that his death could save all of Division's lives- one bad guy had to die in order to save three hundred people. If that had been true for Batouala, then why couldn't it have been true for Danforth. His death would've saved all of Division's lives. It was that simple.
"This is not the same thing. You're talking about declaring another war against the United States government, and we barely survived the last one," Shaking her head, Nikita argued. If Danforth died, Division died. The President would wipe them out before they could defend themselves. With Batouala, they were invisible and they could figure out a way to pass blame to someone else. With Danforth, Division was fucked. They'd have to start digging their graves the second they pulled the trigger.
"But we did survive. And I don't know if you've been paying attention or not, but the government has already declared war on all of us," Alex snapped. Danforth and his Navy Seals had already delivered the first blow against Division. They had to fire back. If they wanted to prove that the government didn't control them anymore, that they were in charge of their own futures, then they had to fight. The team of rogues had fought, and they had managed to win against Percy, Gogol, and Oversight. They could keep fighting. And they could keep winning.
"No, they haven't. No shots have been fired. They're just planning. There's still time for us to fix what happened in Paris," Shaking her head, Nikita stood her ground. There was no war, not yet. If the team could stop Zoe, steal back the CIA list, and control the narrative, they would be perfectly fine. There was no need for rash actions. There was still time for them to think.
"And what are we gonna do exactly? Plead for mercy? I'm not doing that," Alex wouldn't attempt to beg the United States government for anything. They had been complacent in her father's death and in all the hell she had gone through in Division. No pardon for the crimes she had committed as a rogue was worth that abuse. She refused to turn to them in her hour of need. Instead, she was going to take what she wanted as forcefully as she needed to.
Before Alex's and Nikita's argument could escalate, Ryan stepped in. He had recovered from his shock about being misled by Danforth, and he was ready with a solution to their problem, "No. We're gonna do what Division does best: we control the narrative, stay invisible. If we get Zoe, we can build a cover story and tie up all those loose ends. The President doesn't know what we were doing in Paris. She thinks we've gone rogue. If we can prove to her that we haven't. Then she'll stand down. I believe this is our only chance of surviving this."
"You believed we were working for the President. Maybe it's time you let someone else take over," Alex refused to let her idea get shut down by Ryan or Nikita or anybody. Too many times the team had done things their way- specifically Nikita's way- and look where that had gotten them. It was time for things to change.
"Hey. He made a mistake," Nikita stepped between Alex's wrath and Ryan. It wasn't his fault that he had been lied to by someone he was told he could be able to trust. They had all made that mistake once or twice. As long as they took steps to correct it, then it would be okay. Alex didn't have to attack them to make them learn that lesson. Their own guilt was enough.
"Not his first. That was lying to every single person in Division about the danger that we're in. Especially us. We didn't deserve that. Neither do they," Alex refused to take any more excuses. Making excuses for their mistakes was why they were in that mess to begin with. They had to own up to them and start actively changing for the better. Since no one else on the team was going to step up and do that, it was all left to Alex. She rushed to Ops before anyone could think about stopping her, "You can stop worrying about Zoe. We have a much bigger threat. It's time you learned the truth about Division and the men the government is sending to kill us."
Once it became undeniable that Alex had just dropped a bomb on Division and was going to lead to their absolute destruction, Nikita stormed out of Ryan's office. She had no clear plan in mind. However, she did know that she was going to stop Alex from making things worse, no matter what it took. Before she could get too far, however, Michael chased after Nikita and tried to make her think. Someone on their team had to slow down and consider the consequences. Or else it really would be too late, "So you're going to walk into Ops and then what?"
"Stop her. With force, if necessary. Or even unnecessary. If she won't talk to me, then I won't talk to her either," Nikita continued to march down the hallway. She had tried talking to Alex- they had all tried talking to her. But she refused to listen. The only solution then was to violently force her to stop. She'd undoubtedly get the message then.
"Hey, no, that's gonna make things worse," Michael reached for Nikita's arm and pulled her back. If she stormed into Ops and beat the shit out of her best friend, everyone would freak. The chaos Alex had created would grow exponentially, and there would be no chance of containment. Nikita couldn't escalate the situation. She needed to think of a calm and effective way to diffuse it, "Nikita, it's done. They know. But if you and Alex start fighting, it's gonna make everyone panic. You need to remain calm."
"I need to remain calm? She has them planning the assassination of one of the President's top advisors. They're gonna kill him, and they're gonna run. Unless, of course, Alex's rebellion doesn't cause a mutiny first," Roughly, Nikita ripped her arm from Michael's grip. Why did she have to calm down when Alex was causing far worse problems. Why did Alex get to overreact, and Nikita have to stay in control and in command. She wanted to yell and act out too. She wanted to unleash her anger and frustrations. So why couldn't she. Why couldn't Nikita lose her composure for just one second.
Despite the dangerous territory he was crossing into, Michael attempted to near his fiancée. She was right to say that it was unfair to expect her to be calm when the others weren't. The entire team should be calm. That was the only way they could actually fix the situation. Though, Nikita was wrong to assume that the situation was some kind of rebellion. Alex acting out was more than that. Something was going on with her. Sean's earlier concerns came back to Michael then, and he began to seriously worry about Alex. What exactly was going through her mind, "I think there's more to this than a rebellion. A lot more."
"I don't. Ever since South Ossetia, she has been impossible to talk to. She blames me for everything that happened, especially Larissa's death. Because saving her wasn't enough. I had to break a promise, and I had to let Ari die," Nikita had thought that Alex ignoring all her texts and calls had been enough punishment for what had happened in South Ossetia. But the young woman's resentment only grew, turning into heated arguments and a refusal to listen. If all that had hurt was Nikita, then she would've been fine with it. But Alex was hurting everyone with her anger. She was causing damage with every irritated step she took.
"She's upset," Michael tried to reason. It was the same explanation he had given Sean for why Alex could've been acting differently. Being trapped so long with Amanda and losing someone you had promised to save deeply affected a person. Of course Alex wouldn't be able to bounce back and be her normal self again. That only excused some of her actions, however. What she was doing then, planning an assassination that could get them all killed, was above and beyond her reacting to a traumatic situation. There was something else going through her mind that the team couldn't make sense of, not even her boyfriend or her best friend.
"She's punishing me," Nikita argued. It probably wasn't all about her. But Nikita couldn't help but think of it that way. How Alex had refused the Batoula op and how she had gone after Danforth seemed like it was in direct response to what Nikita did. She was only finding ways to make things worse, like she had to be an antagonist or something.
Maybe Nikita was right- maybe Alex was seeking revenge. Or maybe Alex was only doing something the team should've been doing from the beginning. Not plan Danforth's assassination; they shouldn't be doing that. But they should be telling Division the truth, and they shouldn't let the government control them. Nikita had once thought like that. It was why she had gone rogue. Alex was only acting like her. Which meant Nikita was acting like the women she hated, "Willing to destroy Division just to spite you? After everything you've done for her, she should be grateful. I'm sure Madeline and Amanda would agree with that sentiment."
"Take that back," Nikita trembled as she seethed. Although she knew Michael would only say that to her to make a point- what he had expressed in the past contradicted what he had just said- she didn't care to figure out what he meant. She only fought the urge to punch Michael. How could he ever compare her to Madeline and Amanda, especially after all that had happened. Nikita had done everything she could to not be like them; she had made choices to escape their mistakes. So how could her fiancé of all people throw those words at her.
"Why? It's true. That's why Amanda sent Zoe to Paris. This is exactly what she has wanted all along, to turn us against each other," A part of Michael regretted what he had said. He and Nikita were going to have a long talk about it when they went home that night. Though, he hadn't exactly compared her to Madeline and Amanda. He was only pointing out that she was going down a similar path. Which was exactly what Amanda wanted. She wanted Nikita and the others to become what they hated so the team would fall apart. They wouldn't be able to survive her attacks if they were imploding. In fact, they might destroy themselves first.
"I know that sounded crazy at first, but just stand here right now and tell me that it's not working," Slowly approaching Nikita, Michael hoped he at least got her to think. She let him reach for her hand, so something he had said struck. He was right, after all. When Amanda had threatened to paint targets on their backs, they had taken her seriously, but they hadn't thought that it'd break them apart like the bitch had gloated. They had never been more wrong. The team was falling apart at the seams. And if they didn't start to pull themselves together, they'd never have to worry about Danforth's strike team. They'd end up killing themselves.
