Disclaimer: Anyone from "Universe II" in this story does not belong to me, and they belong to Person of Interest. Anyone from "Universe I" is original character. It's like inserting new character into the original story. It is pretty much a new version. AND, I SUCK AT GRAMMAR. So if you see any problem, please please please correct me… I had to start somewhere… It's either this or essays, and I'd much rather write this than essays.

Universe I:

2011 March

"Professor! Professor! We've got a transmission! From, well, not our planet!"

"What? Is there any read on the transmission?"

"Yes, we are on it. It looks like a distress signal, but there are something hidden in between the lines. So, there may be another hidden message, but we are unable to decipher it for now."

"I'm on my way."

2013 March

"Got it! It's an image! Look, there are three people on there!"

"Find them! The other messages? Find any patterns?"

"Not right now, but Professor said the two of those messages his working on might have a result very soon. Well, he has been working on them for two years."

"Tell him to work harder."

2013 May

"Sir, we can only find one person from that picture. As for the other two people, none of them matched any of the known databases we can get our hands on. And the two messages that the Prof. said his getting close to decipher two months ago has been translated. There has been a particular 'thing' that might have caused the distress signal. It was referred to as "the Machine". The other message looks like a coordinates of some sort, since there is a lat. and long. but there are some other things in the front doesn't make sense, at least for now."

"What is the coordinate beside the unexplained… prefix?"

"It is New York city."

"…Try harder to figure out what the 'prefix' means. And brief the Prof about the developments, tell him to focus on the other messages and don't fixate on the prefix. May be the answers are in the other messages."

"Yes, sir."

2013 June

"Lynn Wu, is it?"

"Yes? Is there something I can help you with?"

"I am from the International Research Group, and I have been told that your interest is in Astronomy and World Origins. Are you interested in a special assignment?"

"Why me?"

"Heh… Because, we have been watching you, and you fit the profile."

Universe II:

2011 October:

"Mr. Reese, we've got another number."

"I'm still working on our doctor case, Mr. Finch."

"I told you, the number never stops, Mr. Reese."

"Alright, who is it?"

"Lynn Wu. Twenty-six, single, has been an American citizen since eleven, no known families, and currently working at St. Luke hospital as Radiation Therapist. Address is 456 West 110 Street, room number 207."

"I'm on my way."

Finch once built a system, extracting digital information from everywhere to track down criminals. This system is built after 911 for finding terrorists, though not all criminals are terrorists, so he taught the machine to separate the criminals into two lists: relevant, and irrelevant. The relevant list goes to NFS, and the irrelevant list… every midnight, it is deleted.

Once… he thought it was enough. He needed to save everyone, not someone… But the list made him lose his very best friend, maybe the only friend he'd ever had. That list was eating him away. Fortunately, he found John Reese. Actual name is John Normans (*1), thirty-eight. He was former special force, former CIA, and currently employed by him.

John let him have the chance to change things around. And to think that he is able to have this chance, he is already more than satisfied. His guilt seems to subside since. And his mind… is finally at peace again.

On the other hand, John is looking at this woman through a pair of spectacles. He has already looked for suspicious things in her room, nothing special. This woman doesn't like any outdoor activities, doesn't like social activities , the work she does also has no chance of giving her any trouble, no digital footprint provides information about a double life. Although, there are massive data on different kinds of information, some sort of Encyclopedia, in both Chinese and English. He just can't find any ways to get this woman in trouble!

The one anomaly of this woman is every night this woman has an unknown outgoing call. The source of this call is untraceable. Finch did a little more digging, and the surprise came back: this number does not exist. From spying on her, John figures out that she is calling her mom. But… How?

While John patiently watches this woman, some strangers come into John's sight. A familiarity starts to develop. John immediately knows: they are from CIA. He questions himself and Finch, "Hey, there are CIA involvement, what's she gotten herself mixed up in?"

Finch stares at the screen, being shocked, "CIA? Isn't that your old pals? I'm still sorting her data, half of them in Chinese, half in English, takes a bit more time."

John tilts his head slightly and tightens his lips a bit, "looks like I'm going to find out first."

"Alright, just in case you need it, the closest safe house's address is sent."

John calculates the distance between this building to and one across. He doesn't have much time. If those people were CIA, he had to jump. The only tool he has is a rope, doesn't even know if it works. Thankfully, the buildings is closer than most, and his jump is not that hard. John suddenly smiled when he is on top of the other building, and he is reminded of a sentence Finch once told him: I gave you a job, never said it's easy.

The knocking sound pierces through the quiet atmosphere, Lynn is reading online. She wonders who's knocking. She doesn't know anyone around because she's only been here for about two months. Insurance? She smiled. Not likely. So she grabbed a gun from the backpack she came with.

Lynn hides the gun behind her, and opens the door, she sees a tall guy, wearing a suit with gray hair. That is the man!

She almost bursts into laughter, but soon calms down, and puts on a phony smile, "May I help you?"

John notices her strange behavior, and the arm behind her body. He raises his eyebrows, "So you do know you are in trouble."

Lynn's smile widens, "Trouble? I'm a good girl. Why should I be in trouble?"

If it were under another situation that didn't involve CIA, he might have spent a little more time to make her talk. But, the condition is urgent and dangerous.

"If you want to live, come with me."

Lynn knows who he is. He is her target, one of them at least. The other one must be close. She has been waiting for them. She grabs her backpack and without hesitation, starts to walk out with John. Though, it is too late, John can see those CIA's heads and the way they are holding their guns. It's now too dangerous to go through those stairs. He slams the door and waits beside the door, one hand holding the gun close to his face, and the other shoves Lynn to his back.

The heat irradiating from John is very… warm… Lynn can't resist but feel that fluffy feeling in the heart. She hasn't been "protected" since she joins that training two years ago.

"What is your name?"

John's head stays focused on the door, and his mouth is tightly shut.

Lynn is also not giving up, "Mine's Lynn, Lynn Wu."

This time John replies, "This isn't the best time to have a conversation, Miss Wu. Now, when I open that door, you're going to stay down and hide behind me, got it?"

Lynn nods at first, and then realizes that he can't see her. Her voice shakes a little bit but still tries to remain as calm as possible, "Okay. Just call me Lynn if you want."

John notices but has no time to "comfort" her. The door is not opened by him, it is kicked open. Two men showing up with extremely good fighting skills have made John very busy. Lynn on the other hand gets to observe. John is outmatched, though he still has the situation under control.

Lynn grabs something nearby, and swings it at one of the agent. She has a lamp in her hand. The agent's attention is attracted, and he turns to her. John catches this window of opportunity, and strikes. One man down, another to go.

Now, one on one, that man is no match for John: experienced ex-CIA versus current CIA. Which one wins? No doubt, it's John.

After he finishes knocking the man down, he turns and gives Lynn a smile, "Not bad."

Lynn tilts her head, surprisingly similar to John's normal posture, smiles and all, "It's time to go, sir."

John shows a sign of confusion, and then quickly suppresses it.

Though slight, Lynn still notices that expression: he doesn't trust her.

She tries to make the atmosphere more friendly by bring up a joke and requests another introduction, "Relax, I don't bite. By the way, what is your name?"

Lynn wants to put her hand on John's shoulder. John steps back. She raises her both hands up, as if surrendering, "Like you said, this is not a good place to talk, can we leave first?"

John turns and starts to head out, Lynn shrugs her shoulders. As they are walking out, she finally learns his name.

"My name is John."