"Nikita wants to know where we are," Birkhoff was ripped out of his thoughts by the sound of his phone chiming. He sighed as he glanced at the text, contemplating how to respond to Nikita's question. They should probably tell her the truth. Keeping things secret really wasn't helping the team. However, Alex ripped the phone out of his hands and shot off a quick lie about where they were. Before he could stop her, it was already sent and the outlandish lie was cemented, "Outlet shopping? Come on, who's gonna believe that?"

"I spoofed our cell signals before we left Division. They think we're in Elizabeth," Alex shrugged and resumed her surveillance. She had already ensured that the team wouldn't know where they were. She and Birkhoff could do what needed to be done without any interference. After all, no one would truly question their whereabouts. They were too distracted by Bataoula and their presidential mission. They'd easily swallow the lie and return to what they believed to be important, completely missing the danger right in front of them.

"We should probably get back. It's gonna be all hands on deck," Reading Nikita's taunting text, Birkhoff changed his mind about the stakeout. Amidst her annoyance about him and Alex shopping, Nikita urged multiple times for the two to return to Division. Something must've happened on the mission. Birkhoff didn't have to guess if it was anything horrific or not. Things always went bad for the team. Even when they won, they lost something.

"They have plenty of hands. They don't need ours," Alex urged for Birkhoff to put his phone away. Division had plenty of agents. The team didn't always have to be present; they didn't always have to risk their lives. There could be other things that they fought for while Division handled the rest.

Cautiously, Birkhoff glanced at Alex. She didn't show any concern for what could've been going on in Division- despite the fact that her boyfriend had been on the mission that had probably gone badly. That wasn't like her. Nothing about what was going on was like her. Sure, she was hyper-focused on missions and on getting what she wanted at times. But ignoring Nikita and Sean didn't seem right. There was something going on with her. Birkhoff didn't want to label it as wrong, but it definitely wasn't right, "You've got to tell me what happened in South Ossetia. Ever since you came back, you've been all, 'I am Alex, hear me roar'."

Sighing, Alex tore her eyes away from the emptiness she had been staring at. Why was everyone so obsessed with what happened to her in South Ossetia. Nothing had happened to her. She was fine. There was no need to talk. The greater concern should've been on Division. The team and the agents were suffering everyday. Nothing was changing or getting better. Each new day they slipped further into their war and further into hell. There was no end in sight- no happily ever afters. Not unless they began to think differently, "Birkhoff, you ever think maybe we're not changing Division? Maybe it's changing us?"

"Everyday. You know, say what you will about Percy. At least the guy was actively evil. He made a decision to cross the line. We just keep letting ourselves get pushed over it," Birkhoff responded morosely. He hated what was happening to the team because they continued to fight for a war that they could never keep a victory in. However, he hated it more that they had no power to stop it. No matter what they did, they couldn't stop themselves from making terrible decisions. It was as though they were fated to die in Division one way or another. There was never any real escape from that hellhole.

"Nikita thinks it's the only way to protect all of us. Just these four missions," Alex hadn't trusted the blue file missions when they had appeared after Kosovo, but she especially didn't trust them then. Complying with a blue file mission would be exactly what Percy and Amanda would've done. And they were supposed to be better than those two. Or so Nikita had claimed as she had yelled at Ryan about Ari Tasarov's killchip.

"It's not gonna be just four," Birkhoff echoed what he had stated when he had first seen the files. If the team completed the four missions, then more was simply going to come their way. The government was going to keep giving them missions until they were done with them; then they were going to be wiped away for good. The only way to save themselves was to not do as they were ordered. Though, who knew how long that would actually last.

"Exactly. That's why we can't go back just yet. We need more on Danforth. More than just his tax returns and the contents of his sock drawer," Alex nodded in determination. The only way to make things change in Division was to force it to. The only way to have control again was to forcefully take it back. Alex was going to do just that. So no more sitting in the car waiting for Danforth to make a move. She was going to look for all his dirty secrets and expose them to the light before the day was over.

Surprised by Alex's sudden movements, Birkhoff had to scramble after her to keep up. They had a higher chance of getting caught by Danforth if they were seen actively following him rather than remaining in hiding. Yet Alex was far too determined to real back. Birkhoff just had to go along with the ride. Though, he wasn't able to do that well. Not even a few steps out of their hiding spot and he was tripping and falling. Alex glanced back at him in surprised annoyance. Birkhoff grumbled as he awkwardly got to his feet, "I'm beginning to think life in the field isn't as glamorous as it looks from Ops."

"At least you haven't been kidnapped or arrested yet," Rolling her eyes, Alex huffed. She had used to think that being an agent was the best use of her time. She had used to think that she was helping people, doing good, saving the world. But nothing had changed. The only person who had been affected by her efforts was herself. She constantly damaged herself and for what. The world definitely wasn't a better place. If anything, it was all so much worse.

"Don't jinx it. We're not out of the woods yet," Birkhoff matched Alex's irritation. He had been arrested and kidnapped before while on a mission (well, the arrest happened afterwards when he had been pissed off). He knew exactly what was at stake if they messed up. Alex didn't have to talk to him as though he didn't know. She should've known, after all. The fact that she hadn't thought of it was another thing that Birkhoff was alarmed about.

However, he didn't have the chance to address it. As he and Alex treaded forward, they discovered military trucks driving to and from their location. That didn't seem right. There was nothing around them. So why were there equipment and soldiers, "I didn't see anything on the map about a military base around here."

"No, this can't be a base. So what are they doing here?" Alex echoed Birkhoff's confusion. There was nothing around their area that could excuse a military presence. More was occurring than they were seeing. That must've been what Danforth's secret was. He was making a dangerous move with the military. And Alex had the feeling that with all the secrecy, it wasn't a normal operation.

"Looks like they're building something over there," Nodding towards where most of the movement was heading towards, Birkhoff commented. He and Alex could probably set up surveillance from where they were and figure out a way to discover what Danforth was up to. Getting any closer might expose them. And if they were caught and linked back to Division, he didn't want to think about what might happen.

"Doesn't look guarded, though. Come on," Still determined, Alex continued forward. Birkhoff had to take a couple extra seconds before he could follow her lead. She hardly noticed his hesitancy. If they could slip into the building, they could find out exactly what was going on, and then they'd have all the answers they'd need to expose Danforth and change Division.

As the two silently marched on, Alex took a moment to comment on Birkhoff's camo scarf; it was fairly fitting for their mission. He rolled his eyes as he thanked her. Though, that little aside seemed more like her than she had been acting recently. Maybe things weren't as off with her as he had been thinking. On the other hand, things were absolutely wrong with the building the two had snuck into. Alex had been right; it definitely wasn't a military base. They were somewhere far more confusing- and concerning, "What is this place?"

"This is a kill house. They must be planning a mission," Alex recognized the layout of the place from stories Sean had told her about some of his Seal missions. Soldiers practiced drills in a simulated environment of where they were going to deploy. The environment that Birkhoff and Alex found Danforth and the soldiers in wasn't a strange or foreign place. It was completely recognizable. It was Division.

The team found the original buyer for the list of undercover CIA agents on their own. They confirmed that she was going to some club in downtown New York, and that was possibly where she'd meet Zoe. If the team got there quickly, they could stop the sale, capture Zoe, and clean up the giant mess they had found themselves in- that Amanda had once again dropped them in. The only problem was they had to be at a club, somewhere Sean didn't really want to be, "Ugh, I guess we're going clubbing."

"Except for you. Dead men can't make page six," Michael tried for a light tone as he reminded Sean. Posing as an ambulance driver in Paris was easy for a dead man. He wasn't as recognizable in another country. But partying it up in a crowded place where tons of photos were bound to be taken, someone was going to spot him. He couldn't go on that mission. There were too many risks at play as it were.

"I hate being the dead guy," Sean also tried to be light. He didn't want the team to take any unnecessary risks. They were constantly finding themselves in trouble; they couldn't cause more. But with Alex and Birkhoff off that mission, that only left Nikita and Owen to deal with Zoe and the buyer (really, Nikita; she could blend into a club scene far easier than Owen). Sean didn't like leaving them alone. What if Amanda had more tricks up her sleeve than just Zoe. The team seriously couldn't afford to be fractured then.

"Hey, a couple more months, the world won't even know you existed," Owen couldn't stop himself from interjecting. He was aware of the annoyed glances thrown his way, but at least some of the tension involved with the mission was off their shoulders. They could truly focus and start to fix things.

Not for long, however. Before the team could even begin to prepare for their next mission, Alex and Birkhoff stormed into Ryan's office. Alex appeared as though she was hellbent on something. The team was going to stop and listen to what she had to say whether they wanted to or not. But after glancing at the look on the two's faces, the team was already enthralled. They had to know what was going on, and why Alex claimed, "We may not have a few more months."

"Hey. Where have you been?" Nikita demanded first. Clearly, the two hadn't been outlet shopping. Birkhoff and Alex had lied; they not only texted her the wrong information, but they also spoofed their cellphones. Nikita couldn't comprehend why. What could those two have been hiding from the others. Especially when they hated all the lying they had been doing.

"Witnessing our impending doom," Birkhoff replied bluntly. He knew it wasn't much of an explanation, but that was the most his thoughts could be put in order. Watching a trained military unit prepare to kill him for hours wasn't the best thing for his already damaged psyche. Even if it never came to fruition, he would have nightmares about it forever. He really hated field work. From then on, he was sitting exclusively behind his computer.

"We were following Danforth," Alex clarified. She knew that the instant she shared her plan, the team would be all over her for how reckless it was. Yet if Nikita was allowed to pull reckless stunts in order to protect or help others, then so could Alex. What she had done was going to save Division- literally. If she hadn't discovered the kill house, they would've had no idea that there was a target on their back. Division had the chance to fight back because of her. They had the chance to regain control and actually have a say in what happened to them.

"Are you insane? What would happen if he had seen you?" Nikita snapped, staring at Alex and Birkhoff incredulously. Division was already on thin ice with Danforth and the President. Hell, they had always been on thin ice with Danforth. If he had discovered two agents following him, he would've gone ballistic. Alex and Birkhoff had almost risked everything with that stupid stunt. Were they not thinking of the consequences. Were they not aware that Division was so close to destruction that one little push could send them over.

"We followed him right to his secret training facility where they've been planning an attack on Division," Alex continued as though Nikita hadn't spoken. They didn't need to worry about what could've gone wrong because nothing had gone wrong. Alex knew what she was doing. And what she had done was find Danforth's dirty secret. Ryan and Nikita had to listen to her then. They had to finally see reason. They had to finally let the Division agents know the truth, so that they could all be saved.

"What do you mean, 'attack'?" His feelings about Alex pulling a reckless stunt aside, Sean was curious about what she had discovered. He could talk to her about what she had been thinking and how she could've possibly rationalized her actions later (not much later, since he knew they needed to talk at length). For the moment, the attack on Division was more pressing. After all, there might never be a later.

"They built a kill house, a replica of this facility in the middle of the woods," Alex continued to explain. The soldiers were well prepared to storm Division and kill everyone in sight. Even those that managed to escape would be shot down eventually. The goal was to wipe out everyone, just like Clean Sweep. There couldn't be survivors. There couldn't be liabilities.

Ryan shook his head at the information that Alex and Birkhoff had found. Although he didn't doubt that there was a group of soldiers preparing to execute Division, he did doubt that it would happen any time soon. They hadn't done anything that they couldn't clean up and fix. What had happened in Paris wasn't detrimental. Division could still remain a secret, and they could still live and operate another day, "We know that the President has a contingency plan, but it doesn't mean that she's going to execute it."

"No, no, no. We saw them. They were packing up, taking their show on the road," Birkhoff finally found his voice again. He and Alex had stayed to watch the military train and practice drills until they began to move. That was when they finally left to warn the others. Things were getting worse and worse by the minute. The team might not be able to find their way out of the hopeless situation that time.

"They must have a staging area closer to Division. They're getting ready to move against us," Sean was able to assume. The only reason the soldiers would move from the kill house was if they were ready to strike. What had happened in Paris had sealed Division's fate. The contingency plan was going into effect immediately. Unless the team managed to find a miracle. After all the bad luck they had had recently, and all the miracles they had managed to scrape by with, Sean wasn't certain they could do so again. They might not get another chance.

"Why would the President order this? She's the one who asked us to kill Batouala," Still trying to wrap his head around the turn of events, Michael wondered. The team had been in Paris under the President's orders. Yes, things had gotten messy. But shouldn't she give them a chance to clean it up before she called in the hit squad. After all, Batouala was dead, like she had wanted. She couldn't be too upset with them about the results.

Wondering the same as Michael, Ryan decided that he should call the President. He couldn't get a hold of her, however. He could only talk to Danforth, and the man kept stonewalling him. That answered at least some of the questions in Ryan's head. He ended the call and turned to the team gravely. He had made a mistake; they all had. They had let themselves believe a lie, "I don't think she was. The President didn't hand me those files, Danforth did. Given the conversation we just had, I doubt the President has any idea. This was all him."

"He set us up. Now he's gonna let us die," Owen summed up with a grimace. None of them should've been that surprised by the turn of events. Almost every authority figure they worked for and against made the same choices. Of course Danforth wasn't any different. He would use Division for his own purposes, then cast them aside. It wasn't anything they hadn't seen countless times before.

Alex had been trying to think of a solution since she had watched the soldiers train. A million ideas and possibilities rang in her mind. Yet nothing had struck until then. Danforth was going to kill all of them unless they found a way to stop him permanently. The best way to do that was for Division to do what they did best. They needed to perform one more assassination, "What if we kill Danforth? He's the only one the President briefed about Division. If he's gone, that buys us some time. We can shore up our defenses, tell people to run. Something."

"Alex, we can't," Nikita immediately negated. Yes, they were facing a dangerous and severe situation; there weren't a lot of ways out, and there weren't a lot of solutions that would save them. But killing Danforth was definitely not the answer. That would just make things worse. At the moment, the President was in the dark about what was going on. It wouldn't stay that way if they killed Danforth. A war would come to their doorsteps, one worse than what they were currently fighting. Death could not be the answer. They couldn't take that route.

"The life of one really bad guy versus three hundred people's lives. Remember?" Alex threw Nikita's words back at her. When she did, Sean glanced at her, concerned. The only other person he could remember Alex advocating to kill was Semak. And she didn't want to assassinate him; she just wanted to kill him for what he had done to her family. Wanting to kill Danforth wasn't a conclusion she would've come to normally. There was something odd about the way she was thinking. Sean didn't think he could put off talking to her.

"It's not the same thing. You're talking about declaring war against the United States government," As Nikita replied, however, Sean had to accept that talking about anything else had to wait. There was another war on the horizon, and there was absolutely no way they could survive it. They had to make sure it never happened.

"I don't know if you've been paying attention, but the government's already declared war on all of us," Alex believed the war had already started, though. It was too late for Division to find peace or try to talk their way out of anything. The only thing they could do was make certain that the casualties didn't grow. Division agents couldn't keep dying. They also couldn't keep running and hiding. It was time things ended so that they could be free. Danforth's death meant that everyone could be saved for once.

"No, they haven't. No shots have been fired. There's still time," Nikita didn't know why she was arguing with Alex all of a sudden. Not that long ago she was arguing against an assassination, and now she was planning one. It didn't make any sense, especially since Danforth's assassination would harm Division, not save it. Violence was absolutely not the answer then. They needed to find a peaceful approach. There had to be another way.

"To do what? Plead for mercy?" Alex was sick and tired of doing things another way. Nikita's attempts to do things another way had gotten Larissa killed. How many more people were going to die because she refused to sacrifice the bad guys for the good guys. Alex refused to let that happen. She was going to find a way to keep her promise, and she was going to save everyone. She couldn't escape while everyone else died, not again. If she was going to be free, then so would everyone else.

The safety and freedoms Alex wanted would happen; Ryan was sure of it. But it would happen without resulting to murder, "To do what Division does. 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 maybe she'll stand down. I think this is our only chance of surviving this."

"You thought we were working for the President. Maybe it's time you let someone else do the thinking," Alex snapped. Division had been listening to Ryan for months, and it hadn't gotten them anywhere. They were nowhere closer to their freedoms then they had been when the team was rogue. Maybe Ryan wasn't an effective enough leader for them. Maybe someone else should step up and take charge. Then, things could finally get done around the damn bunker.

"Hey, hey. He made a mistake," Nikita stopped Alex from directing her anger towards Ryan. The young woman could be angry at Danforth, the President, and her all she wanted. But Ryan hadn't done anything wrong by trusting Danforth and the President. As he had once told Nikita, he had come up in government. Trusting the institution was all he knew. They couldn't hang him with that mistake. The team should just focus on how they were going to save themselves and move forward.

"Not his first. That was lying to every single person in Division about the danger that they were in. Including us. We didn't deserve that. Neither did they," Alex had had enough. No more lies, no more arguing, no more trying to remain in the dark. Everything Ryan and Nikita wanted of them wasn't working. They just kept making things worse. It had to change. Alex tried to convince them of that, but they wouldn't listen to her. So she wouldn't listen to them. She'd have to make the change happen herself.

So before anyone could stop her, she marched into Ops and finally told the agents everything they needed to know, "You can all stop worrying about Zoe. We have a much bigger threat to deal with. It's time you all learned the truth about Division. And the men the government is sending to kill us."