"Root had a theme song for you, you know."
Shaw clenched her jaw at the purr of the voice coming from her earpiece. "How many times have we talked about this." She hissed cuddling closer to the sniper rifle to keep from having to listen to the computer.
"I know you don't like the voice I've taken…" the Machine chirped in a rather good imitation of Root's playfully pouting tone.
"Got that right," Shaw grumbled pressing her eye closer to the scope as she swept the street across from her vantage point wanting the guy she was waiting for to show up already.
"Sure Sweetie." Big Sister teased but it was all wrong. The nickname didn't hold the same power over the volume dial on Shaw's emotions as when the real Root said it. "I just finished integrating the rest of the data files my previous version saved before self-destruction…." The machine explained "and I thought you'd want to know about that particular data file." The voice sulked still in the warm bright tone Shaw missed dearly.
"Still have her timing problems." She whispered not meaning to say it out loud as she spotted her target. The guy had managed to make it all the way to the front door while Root.02 was distracting her.
However, as rattled as she was by the phantom pain in her chest at the voice her bullet never missed its mark.
"But don't you want to hear it?" the Machine's poor copy of Root's voice cooed in answer while the Persian watched the would-be hitman dropped to the pavement killed with two shots to his head.
"No, I don't." Shaw rolled her eyes noticing that the chill from the wind finally managed to set into her worn out body.
"Liar." The computer answered. "I can tell by your heart rate you want to know what it is."
"You need to run a better scan. I'm standing in the middle of a snowstorm of course my heart rate is higher." The Persian growled, "They good?" She asked teeth chattering together but her tone emotionless as she addressed the all-knowing computer with the stolen voice of her other half.
"Fusco will be on the scene in 3…2…." The Machine sighed in reply
Shaw started packing up her gun once she saw her former teammate in the frame of her scope. "Got anything else for me?" She waited blowing into her hands to get feeling back into her fingers while the Machine ran the numbers.
"Nope. All safe and sound thanks to my angel. You can come back to Bear now."
"What was that?" Shaw questioned confused when the computer hadn't said 'Asset Bear' like it normally would.
"No, all critically endangered numbers are safe. You can go back to Asset Bear now." The Machine repeated while Shaw dragged herself down the steps leading from the roof to the lower floors.
"I'm not liking the look of your internal temperature Sameen." Root's annoyed voice scolded in her earpiece. "Well waiting around on a rooftop in the middle of winter does that to a person," Shaw answered dully nearly tripping down the steps in her haze.
"You seem to be in between mild and extreme hypothermia." The Machine diagnosed "I have a car already on the way to you." The computer promised while Shaw struggled to remember how doors worked when she'd reached the last step.
Shaw hugged her arms over her chest keeping herself warm as she kicked the front door out of her way when she finally reached the basement door to the ally just as a sleek black sport looking car pulled up beside the curb.
As soon as the Persian half fell half climbed into the passenger seat she felt a pair of warm something's probably water bottles being put under her arms then a blanket was being tucked around her shaking frame.
"You're safe now Sweetie."
If she wasn't already struggling to keep herself from going into shock Shaw would have sworn that Root's apple tasting lips had just been pressed to her cold ones before the car peeled away from the curb and sped off down the alley then skidded out onto the street.
The last thing Shaw was sure of was that the song about an Angel and a Shotgun was playing through the sound system of the car.