John was glad that Harold had entrusted him with his creation. He just wished Finch hadn't been forced into it. Believing that John would be a better choice to control the Machine than Root really wasn't all that much of a compliment.

At least Root had been dealt with once and for all.

And with full access to the Machine's intel it had been relatively easy to foil Greer's nefarious plot.

The Machine had also provided a list of government agents who had gone bad, and Shaw had happily accepted the task of cleaning house as a means of payback for what her organization had done to her.

But all of that had taken time, and now John's time as Admin was drawing to a close. In a few short minutes the Machine would revert to its previous setup, and life could go back to what passed for normal for them in dealing with the irrelevants.

After all he had suffered and sacrificed, John couldn't resist the lure of using his Admin powers for a personal matter. He wasn't sure if there would be any other means of getting to the truth. So although Finch would be dismayed and disappointed, John put the receiver to his ear and asked the question that had been haunting him for a while:

"What is Harold's favorite color?"