Be my savior
And I'll be your downfall
Chapter 1
Shaw slid in the booth first. Of course Root sat right next to her and Shaw didn't even roll her eyes anymore. John seated himself across from them. While Root's head still hurt and her body ached, the two ex-operatives didn't dissemble that they just were in a car crash. Well, other than John's face looking a little scratched.
"Are you sure we're safe here?" Shaw asked while Root was eying the content of her coffee mug and couldn't decide whether it was dishwater or coffee.
"We need to find Grace," John insisted.
"Still the faithful watchdog," Root just couldn't keep herself from insulting John who narrowed his eyes but kept his composure.
Shaw pondered if she should kick Root under the table, but what good would it do? She probably wouldn't even stop if she stabbed her in the leg.
But Root already had a plan, and therefore, it wasn't necessary to keep those two from butting head.
Chapter 2
The ride to the harbor was pleasantly uneventful. Root and Shaw stood in the back of the delivery truck between the empty shelves and Root got instructions from the Machine and passed those along to John, who was driving. Now and then, Root would glance over but she didn't speak unless it was a new direction and that unnerved Shaw. If Root wasn't flirting, they were in serious shit. And it wasn't as if she was missing it.
Maybe a little. Shaw had to admit that she had liked the way Root had looked at her the other night. This wasn't some stranger who didn't even know her. This was Root, the hacker who had read every detail that ever had been filed about her life. And who probably had watched her on camera feeds over the last months. Since the time they met, Root wasn't shy poking the bear with a stick. And Shaw was the bear.
"We're almost there," Root turned around grabbing the handle next to Shaw's head. Despite the fact that it was bitterly cold in the rear of the truck, Shaw didn't feel chilled. The look Root gave her made her skin tingle and she was pretty sure she was high on adrenaline yet again.
"You ready for some action?" She smirked at Shaw.
Damn, that woman! Shaw thought, this is getting way out of hand. She picked up the fragrant scent of body lotion or shampoo and memories flashed in her mind. Images that were very out of place right now. But tempting nonetheless.
Of course she had known that Root was beautiful, she'd have to be blind not to, but she'd shown such damn gracefulness and was radiating desire that stirred something in her.
Shaw adjusted her beanie and didn't look up again until the truck came to a halt. She was getting distracted and distraction usually meant dead in her line of work.
Chapter 3
Shaw knew better than to shoot anyone, especially if you needed intel, but the moment she spotted the red dot on Roots head, she acted on impulse. Fortunately, Root was able to pull some information off the guys tablet, even though it had a bullet hole.
Their next move led them to split up. John and Shaw went back into the city while Roots orders were to stay behind at the harbor, doing God knows what.
When John and Shaw found Samaritan, or what they believed was the systems headquarter, things really got out of control. It all resulted in Harold offering his life for Grace's and he betook himself in Decima's hands.
Shaw's eyes filled with tears when she watched Harold limb over that bridge. She blamed the cold wind but deep down, she knew it was because she was deeply worried for Harold's safety. He had saved her life, she wouldn't be alive today. He gave her a purpose and guidance. She had never met anyone with a higher code of honor and morality than Harold. He was a truly exceptional person and it was so incredibly hard to stand there and not be able to do something.
Chapter 4
Things really went downhill from there. Their numbers got kidnapped, Control was in the hands of Vigilance and somehow, Harold ended up in the same courtroom with her and the other numbers.
Shaw couldn't care less what they did to Control, but it was bad that they held Harold and nobody knew, how much intel they had on him.
The blackout that paralyzed the city didn't help either and to team up with Hersh hadn't been the plan, but if Root and the machine said so, so be it.
"Goodbye, Shaw," Root wanted to end this call as quickly as possible. She figured it was a suicide mission the moment she heard her orders. Her chance of success though was high, but her survival rate was practically non existent.
And saying goodbye wasn't as easy as it should have been. Root knew this day would come, that her life was expendable. She was serving solely to protect the Machine. Her hacking skills were one factor to be chosen, the other probably that she didn't care about other people and nobody cared about her. Only now, she did.
But she was loyal and knew what was at stake and she would give her life. Still, she would have loved to have an extra day or hours even.
"Wait, Root! Is that all? Where are you?" Shaw knew something was wrong.
"Right where I'm supposed to be."
"You found it, didn't you? Samaritan."
"Maybe."
"Did you find Harold? She's worried about him and so am I." Root changed topics.
"We're working on it, but seriously, are you about to kamikaze into a Decima fortress with a bunch of nerds?"
"Didn't know you cared, Shaw. And it's just me now."
"The machine has your back, right?" Pause. "Right?"
Shaw stopped dead on her tracks. "Root's going to get herself killed."
"Go! We'll find Harold," John didn't need to think about this.
Chapter 5
"You either give me your damn location, or I will come over and kill you myself!" Shaw called her back after John and Hersh had left and Root felt relieved. Maybe it wasn't her turn to die just yet. The machine didn't intervene and so she complied.
"Don't do anything stupid until I get there!" Shaw warned and hung up. It would be fun to get out of the city but at least her former chief had provided her with some sort of transportation, even if it was just a bicycle.
When she was past the traffic jam, Shaw helped herself to a car and followed the directions she got from Root. And she showed up at the server farm just in time to take out a security guard who was coming for Root.
"Looks like someone crawled in under the fence," Root was happy to see her, wiping a smudge of dirt from her cheek and Shaw let her. "Admit it, you were worried about me."
"I'm worried about the mission. Trying to save Finch won't matter if Samaritan kills us all."
"Then let's get to work."
"Oh, it's gonna be that kind of party, eh?"
"Decima tags it's people. Anyone who doesn't have an RFID chip will stick out like a sore thumb.
"Ready for your shot?"
"You almost got caught," Shaw scolded her.
"That guy?" Root chuckled when she injected the RFID chip in Shaw's wrist. "I was prepared." she grinned and patted her coat pocket.
"Let me guess, Taser?" Shaw moved her wrist and eyed the little nub under her skin suspiciously.
"Lend me a hand?" Root hopped off the truck and took a second chip from the guard, cleaned it and loaded the syringe gun.
Chapter 6
"We need to leave," Root had successfully installed all seven servers when the Machine warned her that their location was compromised.
Fortunately, even Decima reinforcement was stuck in traffic and they managed to escape the farm without getting caught. Unfortunately, Root got stuck on the barbed fence and tore a piece of skin of her arm.
"Great, another scar," she grumbled.
"Nothing wrong with a few scars, gives character," Shaw slapped her on the back and shoved her in direction of the car. "Let's move!"
"Do you have an emergency plan?" Root asked when she climbed into the car. "We don't have much time."
Shaw bit her cheek and nodded. Back into the city then.
"She says we have less than five minutes before a team arrives," Root followed Shaw into her apartment. The ex-agent didn't own many personal belongings, she merely grabbed a chair and smashed in a fake wall to retrieve a duffel bag.
Root went into the bathroom and came out with an yellow envelope, throwing it at Shaw. "Keep this!" They were out and about in three minutes and back on the road.
"Where to, now?" Shaw asked, one eye always on the rear view mirror and Root gave her directions.
"Cover me." Root got out of the car and they entered a town house.
"Who lives here?" Shaw inquired when Root bent down to pick up a key which was hidden in the mailbox.
"No one. The owner died last month in the Caribbean, diving accident. I've been paying the bills and used this as a safe house." Root led them into the living room, where she went to the living room and opened a closet door, revealing a safe.
Chapter 7
"These are our new identities," Root took her own yellow envelope from the safe and explained to her why they had to become someone new and how to stay off Decima's radar.
"And she's asking me to tell you something," Root listened to the voice in her head again, a painful expression crossing her face which might not have to do with the wound on her arm and she turned away.
"There's nothing wrong with you. You're just the way you're supposed to be."
Shaw didn't move, just stood there.
And suddenly, Root felt as if someone had pulled the floor from beneath her. She had been preparing for this moment for weeks, but now it became real. They would have to scatter in the wind, start a new life, each on their own.
But, as she would later tell Harold and John later, it was never about winning, it was about surviving. A single tear ran down her cheek.
She crossed the living room in two long strides, encircling one arm around Shaw's waist and guided their faces together with her hand, pressing their foreheads together.
"Be safe, Sameen." She kissed her lips softly, lingering.
Shaw froze, things were happening too fast. It wasn't supposed to go like this. They were fighting to win, not to surrender and run away with their tails between their legs. And she wasn't supposed to feel like she was falling apart. She was trained for situations like this, it had never troubled her to move from mission to mission, even after her former employer had tried to kill her, she'd brushed off and landed back in her feet, searching for a new occupation.
It took her a heartbeat until it all sank in and she returned the kiss as if her life depended on it. Her arms went around Root's slim waist and she held on to her.
"We need to move." Root smiled sadly when she pulled back.