The team agreed that they should continue investigating before they began a plan of attack. The more information they had, the better equipped they'd be in breaking Amanda's conditioning. That was where Sean's help would've been greatly appreciated. He was the only one Alex allowed close to her. Everyone else, especially Nikita, Michael, and Ryan, was pushed far away. Maybe Birkhoff and Sonya had a chance to get close, but it'd take a lot of effort. Saving Alex from what Amanda had forced into her mind wouldn't be the quick and easy process the team wanted it to be. They needed to fight to get her back to who she was.
Nikita decided that interrogating Jaden might shed some light on the situation. It was doubtful that she'd be able to get her to turn on Alex; the fact that she hadn't after the shooting to save her own skin said something. It was also telling that Alex hadn't crumbled and revealed the whole plot after her boyfriend had been shot. If anything, she had doubled in her efforts to free everyone from Division. Her desperation to save everyone had grown exponentially now that someone she loved was in danger. She believed that she was the only one who could save him, despite the fact that her actions had led to him getting hurt in the first place.
Taking a deep breath, Nikita tried to forget about Alex as she talked to Jaden. She couldn't let the captured rebel know that the team was on to the plot. Word might get back to Alex, and who knew what kind of trouble that would cause. Nikita's focus had to remain on Jaden and what she did to Sean. She didn't care that her anger boiled as she thought about it. In fact, she used that lividity to intimidate Jaden. Nikita soon stormed into the interrogation room Jaden was held in and slammed a picture of an unconscious Sean on the table, "Look at him! You say you're trying to help the people in here? That's all Sean was ever trying to do- help."
Although Jaden jumped when the door was opened, and she backed away from the table when confronted with an image of Sean, she didn't say a word. Nor did she cower away from Nikita. The former rogue commended the agent for that. People in Division still paused whenever she passed. She had been their enemy- their bogeyman- for so long, it was difficult to think of her as anything else. That fear could never completely go away. But despite the fact that she felt it, Jaden didn't show it. She remained strong and stoic. If she hadn't just attacked Sean, Nikita would've recommended her to go on more missions.
"Jaden, I know you're scared, but this isn't the old Division. Cooperate, and there's still a way out for you. Tell us who you're working with," Realizing that intimidation wasn't the right motivation, Nikita tried for a gentler approach. Jaden at least looked at her and didn't appear completely unreceptive. Nikita could keep trying to push her to talk, "We know you had help trying to blow the tracker array, and someone tried to get you out of interrogation when you shot Sean. So give us a name before anyone else gets hurt."
"You got me. It's over," Squaring her shoulders, Jaden crossed her arms and attempted to shut down the rest of the conversation. Her jaw was set and her gaze was firm. Nikita would get nothing out of her, which ignited the former rogue's anger like no other. Jaden could've just said Alex's name. If she simply named Alex, then the team could confront her with concrete evidence and begin to battle Amanda's conditioning. Nikita didn't care about the rebellion anymore. She had once escaped, so could the others- who cared. All Nikita wanted to do was help Alex and ensure no one else got hurt like Sean.
"Oh, this is nowhere near over," Lowering her voice into a dark, threatening mutter, Nikita warned. Although Jaden maintained her defiant attitude, the haughty look in her eyes was replaced with fear. She knew exactly what the former rogue would do to get the information she wanted. Everyone had heard what she had done to Ari; they knew what her anger and need for names had led to. Jaden should be afraid of what might happen to her if she didn't talk. Nikita didn't actually plan on torturing her, yet Jaden didn't need to know that. The idea was enough to have her questioning her stubbornness. Nikita simply needed to push on that until she broke.
Watching Nikita interrogate Jaden through the observation window, Michael began to doubt that Nikita's plans would bear any fruit. She had gone in knowing that Jaden wouldn't give up her comrades, but she had at least believed she would slip up and say something incriminating. Maybe with enough time, Nikita could talk that information out of Jaden; she was an incredible interrogator. Yet the team didn't have that much time. Their efforts would be better utilized on other avenues of the investigation. Michael wasn't sure what other avenues they had, though. He couldn't think of how they could make the situation better, "She won't break."
Ryan sighed in frustration next to Michael. Birkhoff and Sonya hadn't learned anything new about the situation with Alex either. The most they had discovered was that Sean had been looking into South Ossetia, but it was unclear if he had found anything. He hadn't regained consciousness yet- the doctors believed the shock and blood loss was keeping him under- so they couldn't ask him anything. The team was getting nowhere. Unless they did something drastic. Ryan knew there was one surefire way to make Jaden talk. Nikita simply needed to cross that line, "Well, maybe it's time Nikita used some enhanced measures. She did with Ari."
"Ari was an enemy. Jaden's one of us," Michael shook his head. He knew where Ryan was coming from. If Sean had gotten shot on Alex's mission, then who else would be injured; the team needed to stop the rebellion before it got any worse. But treating the rebels as the enemy was not the answer. Torturing Jaden would only lead more people to her side. The tipping point would be reached, and containment would be impossible. The best way to go about the situation was to be different than their predecessors. The team had to prove once and for all that they ran a new Division, a better Division, one that would eventually free them all.
"Not anymore. Jaden's just the tip of the iceberg," Ryan argued. The team already knew that Alex was also involved in the rebellion. They simply needed Jaden or someone else involved to confirm it. Once they could, they could then dispel the thoughts of revolt by discrediting the leaders. They could return order to Division and remind everyone that cutting and running would only lead to their deaths. The rebellion was gaining ground each new day. More people were losing patience and wanted to revolt. Unless the team took the drastic steps needed to end it.
"The only reason that she is in here is because a lot of other people feel the same way that she does. Even if we hunt down her friends, it won't solve the problem," Michael reminded Ryan. The whole reason for Nikita's interrogation was to get information on Alex. Anything they learned about the rebellion would be secondary. The main goal wasn't stopping the deserters; they just had to help Alex. If the rebellion ended as a result, then that'd be perfect. But there was a chance that things wouldn't end so easily. Things had to drastically change to calm people down. But even then, they might never calm until they were finally free of that hellhole.
"You're saying you agree with her?" Ryan glanced at Michael warily. He knew that Michael and Nikita had been in that fight longer than most; they had been running for years, and there was still no clear end in sight. But he had never thought that one of them would want to dissent. Nikita had expressed giving up before in dark moments, yet she had never gone against the war she had started. And Michael had always remained loyal by her side. He would never all of a sudden go against her. He wasn't a rebel no matter how appealing the other side was.
"I'm saying I understand her," Michael replied simply. No, he wasn't going to abandon the team and join the rebels. Their actions had led to Sean getting shot. Obviously, whatever they were doing was not worth following. But at the same time, the team hadn't always made the best decisions either. Michael's recent actions, after all, had led to Jason getting shot and dying. There wasn't necessarily a right and wrong side anymore. They all were simply doing the best they could in order to survive and make it to their promised happily ever afters.
Unable to completely agree or disagree with Michael, Ryan returned his attention to Nikita's interrogation. The two men silently watched as the former rogue pushed on the rebel's fear for her with little results. Both were beginning to think of something Nikita could use to leverage information out of Jaden when Birkhoff urgently called for them. The investigation had to end for the time being. Far greater problems needed their attention, "This is Ops. We're getting some flash traffic that I think you need to see. It's Danforth. He's dead."
Michael and Ryan called Nikita away from Jaden before they left for Ops; she needed to know about Danforth's death too. Although she didn't want to be pulled away from Jaden so soon, she recognized that the new urgent matter was more important. She left the rebel to think about what was said, and she left the picture of an unconscious Sean in plain view on the table. That should make Jaden think while Nikita was away. And, hopefully, by the time she came back, the rebel would be ready to talk.
Birkhoff had a news report playing when the three finally reached Ops. It was a breaking news bulletin covering Danforth's sudden death. The team's first thought was that he had been attacked. Either there were more terrorist attacks that they would need to help end, or one of the rebels went too far with their revolt. The latter wasn't something they wanted to consider. But with the timing, it was difficult not to think about. Fortunately, the reporter had a cause of death that calmed their fears about a violent attack. Unfortunately, it didn't clear any confusion. The cause of death didn't make sense. Ryan was absolutely baffled by it, "A brain aneurysm?"
After a few key taps, Birkhoff was able to confirm what the reporter had claimed. The paramedics that had arrived on the scene had listed the cause of death as an aneurysm; it was sudden and quick and completely blameless. To anyone investigating, the death was just a tragic medical incident- no foul play. To anyone in Division, however, they could glean the truth from that lie. Danforth's aneurysm wasn't random. Someone had caused it. Someone undoubtedly looking to hurt Division, "It's hard to diagnose. It's easy to fake. Right out of the Division playbook, which means…"
"Amanda," Nikita came to the conclusion easily. She didn't think for one second that Danforth had died of natural causes. The timing was too horrendous to be purely coincidental. As the team continued to suffer after what had happened in South Ossetia and after the CIA undercover list had been stolen, Amanda delivered yet another blow. Her entire focus was on destroying the team inch by fucking inch. And they kept letting her. They were always scrambling in reaction to what she had done; they could never actually get in front of her plans. And one more person suffered because of that.
"Amanda? Why would she kill Danforth?" Although Michael could agree with Nikita's assumption, he couldn't understand Amanda's motivation for killing Danforth. There was nothing for Amanda to gain by killing the advisor to the President. Unlike with Director Kendrick's death, there was no one to blame for what had happened to Danforth. Amanda couldn't pick the team off, make them suffer at the hands of the authorities. No one in the general public would even raise a brow at the Commander's death. So what exactly was Amanda thinking by killing him- what hellish tricks did she have up her sleeves now.
"Because he was shielding us from the President," Shrugging, Ryan speculated. It wasn't a secret that Danforth worked closely with the President. Anyone who was aware of Division would correctly assume that he knew of the black ops organization's existence. And if that person wanted to make the black ops organization suffer, they'd assassinate Danforth in a way similar to how they had conducted other assassinations. It was a daring move. But Amanda had done worse, and would most likely continue to do so until everyone on the team was dead.
"Only after Nikita blackmailed him," Birkhoff reminded the team. Danforth had been willing to kill them all only a week ago. He had only wanted Division open to serve his own self-interests. It wasn't until Nikita had the brilliant idea to blackmail him with the Batouala op that he changed his mind. Honestly, who was to say that he wouldn't have changed his mind again. Division was on thin ice with him; he wasn't their ally. Maybe it was a blessing that he was dead, then. There was one less person for Division to worry about.
"Nikita played the only card we had," Michael quickly defended his wife. He knew Birkhoff wasn't trying to insinuate that what Nikita had done was awful. However, he wouldn't allow that thought to float in the air. Short of killing the Commander, black mailing him was the best way to protect Division from his wrath. Without Nikita's idea to utilize the black box, the Seals could've rushed the bunker and none of them would've been left alive. The team had made a lot of bad decisions, yet they had good intentions. They just wanted to eventually make it home, even when countless others attempted to stop them.
"The point is that Amanda found out about this. She knows, by killing Danforth, it would turn the heat up on Division," Nikita moved the conversation along. It wouldn't do any of them any good to continuously dwell on the past. They needed to focus on the present and how they could save the future. Between Alex's rebellion and Amanda's latest strike, Division was being torn apart at all sides. There was going to be nothing left- no pardons, no freedom, no life- if the problems weren't addressed and fixed. Nikita had no idea how to address those problems, but not arguing would be a great first step. The team needed to keep working together and stay focused.
Nodding to Nikita's words, Birkhoff sought a way for the team to gain some intel on what had happened to Danforth. He had honestly been too distracted by the Alex situation to check the alert on Shadowbot that had come through about the death. It wasn't until Owen said something that Birkhoff looked into it. When he told the others that Owen, who had resumed his surveillance of Danforth, had reported the death, Ryan told the hacker to patch them through. Owen had to have seen something reporters and investigators had missed. At least, Ryan hoped so, "Owen, where are you? Did you see anything out of the ordinary?"
"I'm on site. They're taking the body out right now. And I didn't see anything. He was at the same place he had lunch at every day. Same table, same time. Just like clockwork," Owen reported. He had learned from his time as a Cleaner that there were many different ways to fake an aneurysm. Amanda could've used any one of them when she decided to kill Danforth. Owen suspected though that it was one of the ways that took time to go into effect. Otherwise, he would've noticed something.
Biting her lip, Nikita fought the urge to cuss. Wasn't Danforth supposed to be smarter than to have a predictable schedule. And wasn't Division supposed to be smarter than to take their eyes away from Danforth for too long. Maybe if their attentions weren't pulled in so many different directions, they would've caught Amanda red handed. They would've put an end to her schemes. And as a reward, they would've finally had their pardons and freedom, "Once she knew his routine, it was easy. Amanda saw the pattern, and she exploited a weakness. We dropped the ball on surveillance."
"Surveillance," Birkhoff perked up at the word, suddenly remembering what he and Alex had done only a week before. When they had been poking around in Danforth's life, they had left numerous pieces of equipment behind. The excuse had been that they wanted to keep him under constant surveillance. But between the black box and Owen, Birkhoff hadn't needed to tap into it. It just sat there, waiting to be discovered, "When Alex and I broke into Danforth's house, we left some surveillance equipment there: phone taps, keystroke loggers. The feds do a sweep, they're going to find it."
"Yeah, but they won't be able to trace that back to Division," Michael was far more optimistic than he knew the outcome would be. Just because the feds couldn't link the equipment back to Division didn't mean that someone else would. Honestly, Michael was simply hoping for one positive. There had to have been one good thing the team could cling to help them wade through all of that shit. Not everything had to be the worst thing ever. Unfortunately, whenever Amanda was concerned, it absolutely was worse than they could imagine. There was no optimism or silver lining to be had.
"If the President learns there's unidentified tech in Danforth's place, she'll know that we're behind it. She'll think we watched him, then killed him," Ryan gravely warned. It hadn't been enough that Amanda had killed Division's ally. She also had to make them look guilty for it, stealing from their playbook and leading to unidentified surveillance equipment. Division would once again be threatened by the Seals, and they wouldn't be able to find another miracle. The best they could do was act preemptively and pray, "Owen, I need you to get to Danforth's place and clean the scene."
"You want the quick version, or the full works?" Owen knew the answer to his question before Ryan even told him that he wanted both. The former Cleaner sped away from the scene and beat all the lights to Danforth's apartment. From previous nights of surveillance, he knew the layout of the place, so it should've been a quick in and out process. Most of the equipment was centered around the computer, anyway. All Owen had to do was grab it. However, once he did, something pricked him. He recoiled in pain and immediately felt dizzy. He attempted to fight the feeling and stay on his feet. Yet it was of no use.
Owen's dizziness was only broken by him regaining consciousness. He hadn't even been aware that he had passed out until he woke up on the floor of Danforth's apartment. That had somewhat been expected, however. He had felt the effects of the drug immediately and knew he was in trouble. What he hadn't known was how fast the drug would've been. Or, that once he regained consciousness, he wouldn't be able to move. Owen could see his surroundings, feel the floor beneath him, and hear the front door creak open. Yet he couldn't move a single muscle. Panic quickly began to set in.
Under normal circumstances, the adrenaline would've helped his muscles to move. But at that moment, his fear did nothing. He was stuck paralyzed on the floor, helplessly panicking, his heart pounding in his ears. It was the perfect scene for Amanda to walk in on (at least for her). Owen tried to get up and fight, but he couldn't even strain his muscles. The bitch smiled cruelly at his predicament and stood over him menacingly, "Don't worry. It's just a mild paralytic. I wouldn't want you to end up like poor Commander Danforth. Unlike him, you're far more valuable alive, aren't you, Owen? Or should I say, 'Sam'?"