Nikita couldn't find her husband in Division. He had come in with her that morning, but she wasn't able to find him when she had wanted to leave for lunch that afternoon. She asked around, and Sean told her that he had seen him packing to leave somewhere. Rather than let it be, Nikita went digging for where Michael could've disappeared to. She checked through his phone and found a conversation between him and a woman living in Cincinnati. For a split second, Nikita panicked about what that could mean. But then rationality took over. Michael wouldn't cheat on her. Though, he would hide things from her.
So, Nikita waited in the carport for whenever Michael returned. She was determined to know what was going on (and tease him a little for his online dating profile). When her husband stepped off the elevator and saw her, he instantly looked guilty. Again, a quick surge of panic about what that meant coursed through Nikita. Yet she stamped it down. He was probably only guilty because he had lied to her. Nothing could've actually gone on between him and the other woman, "You know, I'm not normally the jealous type, but did you want to tell me who Darlene643 from Cincinnati is?"
"I can explain. You remember Heidecker, the guy with the plane full of kids?" Michael quickly answered his wife, bringing her with him to Birkhoff's office. Since Nikita had discovered Bachiraj's advanced prosthetic, Michael had been half considering searching for one of his own; he believed that it'd finally make him the agent that could protect his wife in the field. Though, when he didn't have any immediate leads, he had let it drop. Until he had found the parking stubs while packing away the evidence from Heidecker's plane. That was what pushed him to finish the mission his wife had started in Kosovo months earlier.
"Uh, yeah. How could we forget him and his psycho science friends?" Nikita shuddered at the thought. Although she continued to search for a better prosthetic for her husband and make up for her mistakes, she hadn't followed any leads that involved Heidecker. The plane full of orphaned and abandoned kids haunted her nightmares. She didn't want to delve into an organization that did such evil things. Nothing good could come from it, not even something that could help her husband better survive their war.
"The Shop," Birkhoff called out as Michael and Nikita entered his nerd cave. He didn't know why the two were coming to him; there weren't any active missions or drama at the moment. He hoped the two weren't going to start anything. He wasn't up for any dangerous heart-racing stunts for a while. Especially if it had to do with The Shop. They were far too sinister to fuck with, even with Michael's and Nikita's skills. It'd be better if they left the evil organization alone. Division had enough enemies, after all.
"That's what they call themselves?" Nikita questioned the nerd. Apparently, he and Michael had done a lot more research into the group than she had. Maybe that was why Michael had led her to Birkhoff's cave. She could get caught up on all they had found and there finally wouldn't be any more secrets between them. Though, honestly, she didn't want to know more about the so-called Shop. The plane full of kids was enough.
"No, that's what I call them. You know, like the place in the Stephen King books? They make cool stuff that kills people," Birkhoff explained himself. He had absolutely no idea what The Shop actually called themselves, and he really didn't want to know. It was better to keep that distance. Though, based on the look Nikita passed her husband, not all of them were staying away from that group of evil scientists. Michael had been up to something. Birkhoff hoped it wasn't nearly as awful as what Nikita had done in Kosovo. Though, with that couple, he was never lucky, "Mikey, please tell me you haven't been messing around with these guys."
Once more, Nikita glanced at her husband expectantly; she was still waiting for the full explanation for why he had spoken to another woman on a dating app. Michael would get to that eventually. At the moment, he had to lay out the groundwork for what he had been doing and how he had gotten there. He could assure that nothing had happened, though. He had only gathered intel, "I've been following every lead I could find. One finally paid off."
"I really hope you're not talking about Darlene," Nikita flashed a brief smirk at her husband. She could definitely tease him if he had chatted up another woman for information. There was nothing for her to worry about- there never was with Michael. Unless, Darlene was involved with The Shop. In that case, Nikita didn't want Michael to be in any type of contact with them. They already knew so much about Division and their agents. Michael couldn't supply them with more information. Who knew what kind of pain that could bring.
"I found parking stubs in Heidecker's plane, and I followed them to a building in Cincinnati. Darlene got me into the surveillance room," Michael appeased his wife that Darlene had nothing to do with The Shop (he didn't know how he felt about Birkhoff's nickname for the group catching on); she was only a means to an end. Except, the way he had phrased that made Nikita hitch up her eyebrows in surprise. Michael had to quickly correct himself before he accidentally put his foot in his mouth, "Her I.D. card got me into the surveillance room."
Continuing to smirk at her husband, Nikita thought of a million jokes she could throw at him. Michael quickly drew the information he had gathered on his recon mission from his bag and placed it on the desk; that should halt the quips for a moment. He had learned a lot of things worth exploring in the surveillance room. He was finally making progress on getting a better prosthetic, "Now, this is Heidecker in Kosovo. And this is him in Cincinnati. He visited the same floor twice a month for six months…"
"Bellfar Systems. What does Bellfar do?" Noticing the name of the company that owned the floor of the building Heidecker frequented, Nikita interrupted. Did that company have anything to do with The Shop (she guessed they were calling the group that now). Was it some kind of front. Was there some kind of criminal organization tied to it. What exactly would they be dealing with by infiltrating The Shop. Would it be more scientists, or more weapons.
"I don't know. I can't find anything on them," Michael shrugged. He tried scoring the server room for any information. However, all he had been able to find was useless information. Either the company required some kind of clearance to understand, or it was a front. Michael was leaning towards the latter. There was no way Heidecker or The Shop did anything legal; they had trafficked children and had worked with Division and Kosta Bechiraj, after all. They were undoubtedly an illegal organization. The question then was how many illegal activities did they actually do- how far was their reach into the world.
"You could be barking up the wrong tree," Birkhoff shrugged. If Michael hadn't been able to find anything on Bellfar systems, then maybe there was nothing to find. He could've just been following trails that led directly to deadends- a misdirection created by The Shop. At least, that was what Birkhoff was hoping for. Then, Michael would stop involving himself in that mess. He could move forward and look at other avenues for a prosthetic like Nikita had.
"That's what I thought, until I found military-grade encryption on their servers," Showing Birkhoff what he considered incriminating evidence, Michael further proved his point that he was following all the right leads. Bellfar Systems was undoubtedly a part of The Shop. How exactly didn't matter. All that did was that Michael could raid the place and demand a prosthetic like the one Bechiraj had.
"Well, what do you want to do? Walk up to their door, knock on it, and ask them for a new hand?" Bewildered, Birkhoff asked. No way Michael was stupid enough to try and make a deal with The Shop. Only people like Percy and Bechiraj benefited from such a thing. Normal, good, innocent people always suffered at the hands of corrupt and evil people. Even if The Shop was just scientists, they were up to no good creating so many things that killed so many people. They didn't actually care about the world, only their own advancements.
"More like knock it down and take what I want," Michael argued. He wasn't going to make a deal with The Shop like Percy or Bechiraj. He was just going to steal and burn the place in his wake. With Birkhoff's help, he was certain that his plans could be possible. After all, The Shop was just a group of scientists. They weren't an army like Division and Gogol, or a governmental group like Oversight. Michael could raid them and knock them down in a few hours, "Birkhoff, if you hack their security, I could be in and out tonight."
"You mean we can," Nikita amended. She had led Michael towards The Shop and the possibility of a better prosthetic. She wasn't going to leave him to deal with all of that on his own. They were partners- in crime and in life. Wherever he went, she would follow. Especially if she was the one who had set it all in motion. From that moment on, the two were going to work together to get what they wanted. No one was going to be left alone again.
"Okay. I'll start mission prep," Michael gave his wife a quick peck on her lips in gratitude for her help. Then, he hurried to put all the information he had gathered into action. Nikita and Birkhoff shared a wary look as he did so. Yes, they would follow him and help him. But they still didn't like the idea of The Shop. Hopefully, Michael was right and there would be no real involvement. They'd just take what they wanted then leave. They wouldn't be making things worse for themselves. Only good things would come their way. Again, that was Nikita's and Birkhoff's pleading hope.
"Hello? Is someone there? Hello?" Sonya had only gone to the server room to check on an anomaly she had found. She hadn't expected anyone else to be working there. So when she saw a hooded figure huddled next to a server, she moved to investigate. If someone else was there, then they could help her. Or, maybe, they were the source of the anomaly. Either way, she had to talk to them. And she probably would've too, had it not been for the explosion.
It was a small explosion, it hadn't even damaged the server. But it definitely freaked Sonya out- and Birkhoff by extension. He dropped what he had been doing when he heard about the attack and rushed to her side. They took a walk to calm down and discuss what could've possibly happened. The rest of the team (sans Michael and Nikita, who were still planning and preparing for their infiltration of The Shop) met in Ryan's office to talk about what had happened. Alex was the last to rush in, completely panicked and seemingly out of breath as she demanded, "Is Sonya okay?"
"She's fine. The explosive was just a diversion so she couldn't get a look at him," Ryan quickly assured. Sonya was more spooked than injured. After all the attacks and threats on Division lately, no one could blame her. The only thing the team had to worry about was who had set the charge and why. What could the hooded figure possibly have been doing that needed to be covered up. Was there another mole in their midst. Had Amanda managed to sink her claws into someone else. Or, was far worse than that occurring, "He tried to take out a server array. The charge was small enough that it could have sat undetected for weeks."
"Do we know what the target was at least?" Sean wondered. He was tech-savvy enough to know that there were multiple things a charge on one of the servers could knock out. He was also tech-savvy enough to know that any one of those things could hurt Division if they were destroyed. The attack wasn't just some misguided prank or even a case of sabotage. Whoever had set that charge had meant to destroy Division for good.
Ryan didn't want to think of it like that. He didn't want to consider that Division was facing even more threats from the inside. They wouldn't be able to save themselves from that and Amanda. But it was difficult to ignore. That one single action could've caused so much damage, "Not yet. I need to check through the logs to see if any of them had their diagnostic L.E.D. activated- that little green blinky light anyone who's not Birkhoff can use to find what they're looking for. This is Division's brain. I mean, you could cripple key systems, erase files."
"Then that's our priority, to find out what the target was and why," Sean gave them a mission to follow. Although Ryan readily agreed with him, Alex hesitated for a moment. Of course she nodded along with her boyfriend's plan. Yet she seemed distracted. She hadn't managed to catch her breath since she had entered the office, and she occasionally looked over her shoulder. Sean could've explained her actions away as fear over another attack on Division. However, he was going to take Michael's advice and not let the weird reaction go unnoticed. Something was off with Alex, and Sean was finally going to figure out what.
It wasn't long before Michael and Nikita were breaking into the office building he had investigated earlier. They had made sure Sonya was okay, Sean and Alex were set to solve the new mystery, and Birkhoff was able to focus on a new mission before leaving Division. There was nothing for them to worry about there for the moment. The two could pour their entire attention into dealing with The Shop. Well, most of their attention. Some of Nikita's drifted towards Darlene and Michael's attempts at seduction. She couldn't let her husband off the hook for that. He needed to consistently be teased, "So this is where you met Darlene?"
"This very spot. I told her she could be the one," Michael played along with Nikita. During the drive to Cincinnati, he had explained further how he had purposefully matched with Darlene on the dating site and how they had briefly exchanged pleasantries before he showed up at her work. He had only done all that to get her exact location and to have a reasonable excuse to show up and steal her access card to get into the server room. There had been no flirtation or desire for more. In fact, just talking to another woman for a mission made Michael feel guilty. He never wanted to be in that kind of situation ever again.
"On the first date? You moved too fast," Nudging her husband, Nikita beamed. Honestly, in their relationship, she had been the one who had moved too fast. It had only taken her a few months of dating him to ask him to run away with her; she had to escape Division, and she had wanted to do that with him. It had all worked out for her in the long run, though. The two had worked together to burn Division, then they had finally married. Their happily ever after was close at hand as well. They were going to be together forever.
"Ah, it's probably for the best. Her favorite movie is Mac and Me," Michael shrugged. When he had read that fact on Darlene's profile, all he had wanted to do was make fun of it with Nikita. But since he had wanted to keep her out of his investigation until he had something solid, he had refrained from saying anything. He didn't want his wife to have to deal with the evidence from Heidecker's plane while she continued to have nightmares about those poor kids. The least he could do was save her from that stress.
"Creepy puppet Mac and Me?" Nikita asked in utter bewilderment. She had forgotten that movie had even existed until then. In fact, she was certain that she had never seen it, only the weird commercials that had freaked her out as a kid. How could anyone actually sit through that movie, let alone consider it one of their favorites. It had to have been some kind of joke or perverse sense of irony that neither of them could understand.
"Makes you shudder at the thought of date night," Birkhoff muttered over the com. He could admit that he had his fair share of strange movie opinions, but none were that strange. To each their own, he guessed. It wasn't worth thinking about. Especially since hacking into military-grade encryption took up most of Birkhoff's brain power. He eventually broke through, however. And of course, as soon as he did, he proudly exclaimed, "Also, bow down before ShadowWalker, for not even The Shop is a match for his might."
Rolling their eyes, Michael and Nikita got onto the elevator Birkhoff had called for them. As much as they wanted to, they knew they couldn't taunt the hacker too much for bragging. He did deserve to at times. So, the married couple let the quip slide for the moment. They could instead focus on their mission- or on their conversation. Nikita wanted to circle back to what they had been talking about. She liked being able to joke around with her husband even while they were out in the field. It helped ease some of the anxiousness off her shoulders, "Okay, so what's your perfect date night?"
"Are you kidding? We're on it. Sneak and creep into a high-security building run by a shadowy organization," Wrapping his arm around his wife's waist, Michael brought her closer to him and kissed her cheek. He was mostly joking. He was certain that a perfect date night involved a home cooked meal and a walk along the beach. Yet Nikita knew that already. What he needed to consistently remind her of was that he was so glad she had decided to help him and join him on his mission. Things were always so much easier with her around.
"Wow, you really know how to spoil a girl," Nikita fought the urge to turn her head and kiss her husband. Later, she'd have to treat him to his real perfect date; they deserved to bring some normalcy back to their relationship after the war and other heartaches had driven a wedge between them. In the meantime, though, she could continue to tease him about his seduction tactics. It drew a chuckle from Michael that she wanted to hear again. Maybe if she let him kiss her, he would laugh again. Unfortunately, that wasn't the moment to test the theory out.
"Ugh, if I'd known shmoopies was gonna be part of this op, I definitely would have said no. Thankfully, you guys are almost there," Birkhoff scrunched his nose in disgust at watching Michael somewhat hug and kiss his wife. He had thought he had escaped the excessive PDA when they had stopped sharing a safehouse. But he was dead wrong. Just like he was wrong about Michael and Nikita being almost there. All of a sudden, the elevator stopped moving. Birkhoff tried to get it going again, yet he had no control, "Maybe I spoke too soon."
"What's going on? What happened to the might of ShadowWalker?" Nikita instantly called into the coms. Then was not the time for the nerd to be messing around or losing control. However, soon, the lights went dark in the elevator car and the sounds of Birkhoff frantically trying to get back into the system were silenced. Nikita shared a worried glance with her husband. Neither wanted to consider that they had seriously underestimated The Shop. So, they called out to the hacker to save them, "Birkhoff?"
"Guys?" Birkhoff called out to silence. Not even a second after the lights went out in the elevator, Birkhoff lost visual on Michael and Nikita. And Not even a second after that, their coms were completely shut out. There was nothing he could do to get them back online. His might of ShadowWalker had been rendered completely useless, and he was left completely stunned, "I think I lost you."