All Michael and Birkhoff could do was listen as Alex set the rest of her charges and as Nikita searched the summit. Unlike the lab, the summit had cameras Birkhoff could hack into. But with the imminent attack, he didn't want to raise any red flags; there were already too many risks at play. Until Alex and Nikita had their individual situations handled, Michael and Birkhoff couldn't do anything but listen through the coms and watch the trackers. Alex stayed relatively still. Yet Nikita was all over the place. She eventually became rooted in one spot and shouted triumphantly. Michael quickly demanded an update, "What do you got?"
"A nice pair of C4 bricks rigged to blow outside the summit," Nikita responded excitedly. Obviously, she wasn't happy about the fact that an explosive device was there. But she did have it disarmed in only a matter of seconds. Also, she had ruined a major and disastrous component of the bad guys' plan. Everything was going smoothly on her end- just as she had said it would. Division would never know about the attack, and Alex wouldn't have to be pulled off her mission. She could still fake her death.
"What about the nerve agent?" Anxiously, Michael asked. It was great that Nikita had found one threat to the summit; however, there was still a deadly agent in play. If anyone else discovered that world leaders might be killed with a horrific nerve toxin, Division would be notified and they'd put Alex and Jaden onto the threat. That wasn't going to work for the rogues. Though, Michael couldn't see how Division on the scene could be all bad. Yes, Alex needed to blow the lab and be free. But innocent people needed to be saved as well. In the grand scheme of things, that was more important. After all, the young agent had other opportunities to escape.
"Nothing yet. And no contact with the woman. The van is the same one I saw outside of the target's place. This has to be part of the plan. I've already disabled it, so why don't we let Alex do what she needs to do?" Nikita responded quickly, searching around the van for any signs of the woman who had taken the toxin from the laboratory. She had hoped to find the woman as soon as she had arrived at the summit, but of course she never had that kind of luck or ease. As long as Alex had her chance to escape, and as long as people were eventually saved, though, then Nikita was okay running around a bit more.
"Not until you've located the toxin," Michael continued to argue his position. It was always better to wait than to rush into the action. As much as they all wanted Alex to escape Division, it couldn't be at the expense of the innocent people inside the summit. Alex understood that as she waited for the all-clear. Michael needed Nikita to understand as well. Too many red flags could make the already terrifying situation worse. If Birkhoff could hold off from hacking for that reason, then Nikita could realize that they needed to take things one at a time.
"I'm here. You know I can stop this," Nikita wasn't arguing; she was doing. She understood Michael's point loud and clear. She simply didn't think that making Alex wait was the best play. Yes, having her blow the lab before she could find the toxin could accelerate the attack. Yet it needed to be done. The target's power needed to be eliminated. People needed to be saved. And Alex needed to be free. If all of that occurred at the same time, perfect. If not, then the rogues were used to things being messy. It would all be okay. They had the skills necessary to pull it off. Michael could at least understand that part of her argument.
Although Michael was well aware that Nikita was capable of stopping the nerve attack even if she didn't have the element of surprise, he wasn't the risk taker she was. At least not when Nikita's life, the life of a teammate, or the lives of innocents were at stake. The rogues weren't fighting against Division agents that time. They didn't know their enemies; they were fighting against unknown odds. People were going to get caught in the crosshairs. Michael couldn't allow that to happen. And he knew Nikita wouldn't want that to happen either, "You're asking me to risk innocent lives?"
"No, I'm asking you to trust me," Sighing, Nikita leaned against the van for a moment. It would've been so much easier if Michael was in the field with her. Then he could've seen what she did. They also wouldn't have argued so much; they just would've acted. There wasn't time to debate. She had to find the nerve toxin. She should also move from the van full of C4 before anyone else found it. Which made her think why there was an explosive anyway. It wasn't attached to the toxin, so there was no need for it. It just seemed like a waste, "This car bomb makes no sense. This is supposed to be a nerve gas attack."
A part of Michael assumed that Nikita was simply changing the subject. Except, as he also thought about the C4, he realized how odd it was as well. What point was there in a bomb outside the summit if the intent was to gas them inside. Unless the explosives weren't meant to harm anybody; they were meant to be a distraction instead. Michael and Nikita had seen something like that years before. The situation could be similar, "Frankfurt. Years ago. Remember we stopped that attack by the Volksfrei Movement?"
"Didn't the Volksfrei do an armed assault?" Although Nikita remembered the long ago Division mission, she needed a few more details to comprehend what Michael was getting at. She couldn't think of any similarities between then and Frankfurt. After all, facing an armed assault with a team was an entirely different ballgame than stopping a nerve toxin alone. She could do both successfully, yet she was already having problems with the latter. Thankfully, she and Michael had stopped arguing. They could start problem solving and he could start leading her towards the toxin as quickly as possible.
"Yes, they did. But like this summit, it was in a large group in an even larger space. So, what'd they do? They blew a car and made it seem as if the terrorists were attacking from outside," Michael explained why he brought up Frankfurt. They were dealing with an intelligent enemy. The woman knew how to make her attack far more lethal- just as the Volksfrei Movement did. It was all about misdirection. Yet, as long as the rogues could see through it, the threat would be neutralized, "They timed it to go off so that security could herd them all in one place. In a smaller area where they could easily gun them down."
"Or gas them. I'm going inside. Get Alex back on," Pushing off the van, Nikita sprinted towards the building. She could find a way past the security guards posted at the doors, or she could find a way to sneak in. How she got into the building didn't really matter. She simply needed to find the toxin and take out the woman. She should still be discreet. But the time table didn't necessarily allow for that. If she wasn't aware of that already, then Michael's lack of argument clued her in. The bad guys were going to wonder why the bomb didn't go off soon. Nikita had to stop them before then.
"I'll let you know when it's done," As Michael informed Nikita, he motioned for Birkhoff to pull up blueprints for the summit. It was still too risky to start hacking the security cameras- if security panicked, then the bad guys panicked, then it'd be too late. But the rogues could at least have a map to work off of. Nikita could remain in the shadows as she took out the threat. No one would know what was occurring until after it was all done. That was the hope anyway. And the surefire way to keep people alive.
"Alright. I'll call you after I take this bitch down," Nikita promised Michael before he jumped off the com to inform Alex of what had been occurring. She could listen to Birkhoff's directional instructions in the meantime. Then she could be radio silent as she fought the woman. She didn't need voices in her ear distracting her as she engaged her target. She also didn't want to worry her team- especially her boyfriend- if things began to sound like they weren't going her way. That kind of anxiety wouldn't help them then. They shouldn't be overtly worried about each other's safety. They had to trust that they'd find their way back home soon.
Michael really should've gone with Nikita. Maybe he had made the correct call to stay in the safehouse with Birkhoff. He could run the mission and oversee things. Also, only one rogue in the field was safer at keeping Division blind and Alex safe. However, Nikita wasn't as safe as Michael would've liked. She could handle herself, yet that wasn't everything on a mission. It was always better to have a partner. He couldn't think about it then, though. He had to refocus on Alex, give her an update, and let her do her thing. It wasn't fair to keep her in the dark for long, "Alex, this is Michael. Are the charges set?"
"All charges are set. So I should proceed according to the plan?" Alex hurriedly whispered into her com. She had been patiently waiting for Nikita to find the toxin, yet that had quickly run thin. She needed to blow the laboratory immediately, or else it wouldn't be the only thing that exploded. Fortunately, Michael radioed her before she lost her mind. He told her what was going on at the summit and to go ahead and blow the charges. She was so relieved, she nearly smiled as she moved to detonate the explosives. However, before she could, she witnessed something else that made her freeze in terror, "Wait. We have a problem. Do you hear that?"
"No. What's going on now?" Birkhoff sighed, exasperated. After getting directions and guidance, Nikita cut him and Michael out of the coms at the summit. So not only did the two men not know what hells she was facing there, Alex quickly added to the drama. It was made even worse when she didn't respond to them right away. She had to contact Division first, see if they knew what was going on. She never received an answer she liked. She was the only one who knew that something was wrong, which meant she had to be the one to fix it.
"I think it's Jaden. Her com has been damaged," Alex informed the rogues before she tried Division again. Ops couldn't get in contact with Jaden, and they still couldn't see inside the target's compound. They were as powerless as the rogues were in that situation. A part of Alex just wanted to leave it be. Maybe it was nothing. But if something horrible was going on, she had to stop it. What she wanted wasn't always the most important thing, even if it felt like it at times. Helping others mattered too. Which was why, despite her better judgment, she tried to talk to Jaden, "Jaden, do you read me? Are you in the lab?"
It took a while for Jaden to respond; though, Alex soon understood why. She could hear commotion in the laboratory. The target was back, and he was yelling something. Alex knew it had to be Jaden. Their cover had been blown somehow. Maybe Nikita was spotted at the summit. Or a charge was found. Or maybe they tipped their hand too much. Regardless, Alex had to know how bad the situation actually was. Was the target going to kill Jaden, or could Alex still blow the charge. Could she still be free, "Yes. Yes is the answer."
"Can you get out of there? Keep talking," Alex immediately asked. Jaden in the laboratory with their target was definitely bad. No one was supposed to die in the explosion except Alex. Although she didn't care if she took a couple bad guys with her, Division wouldn't be very happy and that might ruin her clean getaway. Also, Division might send Cleaners after all if more than one agent died on the mission and nothing was truly finished. At least one of them had to survive. It was the only way it all worked. After the delay and how crazy things had gotten with the nerve toxin, at least her escape had to go right.
"Only thing I'm gonna do is blow you away. Blow you away. Now," Jaden seethed. She was disguising her answers to Alex as responses to their target. But the young agent still read the recruit loud and clear. Jaden was willing to die for the mission- as long as the toxin and the target died too. Alex could blow the charge, and they'd both die heroes. They got trapped, but they continued the mission like the loyal soldiers they were. Jaden had made peace with that, so Alex should too. Blow the charge so Division could still win.
Alex thought about it. Their conversation on the coms was recorded. Division would know what had happened, and they wouldn't suspect a thing. Alex's lie that she had gotten trapped was still plausible. There'd simply be casualties when she killed herself. She was okay with that when it came to the target. But when it came to Jaden, she hesitated. Sure, she hated the recruit. However, that didn't mean she deserved to die. Especially if Alex had the ability to save her. She could have other opportunities to escape. Hell, she still could afterwards. But she only had one chance to save a life. It was clear to her when Michael asked, "Alex, what's going on?"
"Jaden's been captured. I'm gonna save her," Scrambling out of her hiding place, Alex refused to think about her actions anymore. The more she thought, the more she wanted to argue with herself. She should just be selfish. She should just blow it, go into hiding, finally kill Semak, and try to live. However, being selfish wasn't the right thing to do. People better than her would risk everything to save others, even if it meant sacrificing a chance at freedom. Alex knew she had to emulate that, not just pretend to for deception sake. She'd get what she wanted later. In the meantime, she'd be a goddamn hero.
Hope everyone had a happy holidays!