It starts when Root is in Tokyo, pulling Daizo behind a conveniently placed dumpster to avoid being shot. Their pursuers are a couple of angry men who are real police officers if Root is an avid fan of country music, which she most certainly is not. She tells Daizo to stay behind her and he nods, all too happy to let this frighteningly cheerful woman with more ammo than is reasonable take care of the men who want to kill him.
Their aims are atrocious, and if the Machine hadn't already verified that they, despite their uniforms, are not listed in the Tokyo PD's employment records, she would have made a disparaging remark about the quality of police officers these days. As it is only 24 seconds pass before Root has shot both men, one in the right shoulder, the other in his leg (she can almost hear Harold lecturing on using non-lethal means). Daizo looks suitably impressed, turning to her with an almost reverent gaze and profusely thanking her in Japanese while the Machine translates almost instantaneously.
Root is about to reply when a door further down the alley opens and a heavy man with at least six inches on her peers out. He has a gun held firmly in his hand and the way he does a sweep of the alley before his gaze rests on Root and Daizo has her pushing the young man behind her as the Machine feeds her information about angles and predicted response times.
"What happened here?" the man asks. He speaks Japanese with a noticeable accent (American Northwest, Root thinks before she receives data on the FBI agent, Andre Camel, in front of her).
"They disagreed with me on whether Daizo here should live or die," she says glibly in English (she really needs to work on somehow making it possible for the Machine to download languages in her brain without the unfortunate consequence of frying her brain or driving her mad. Well, more than she already is). "Agent Augusta King, FBI."
Agent Camel's brow furrows. "How do I know you're telling the truth?" he asks, speaking English now.
"Well I could show you my ID, but in a situation like this when firearms are so dangerous, well..." The corners of Root's lips turn up in a patronizing smile.
Agent Camel's eyes narrow and his gaze flickers towards the inside of the building. "Take my phone and call Jodie-san," he says quietly in Japanese, probably thinking that Root doesn't understand him.
A split-second of warning is all she gets, her free hand darting out behind her and tightly gripping Daizo's arm. "Running now will not help," she tells him in a voice barely above a whisper. "I didn't come all this way just to get you killed right under my nose, so stay put."
"Those men, there might be more of them!" Daizo hisses.
"I will know if any of their friends come within a five block radius of us," Root assures him, confident in the Machine's information as well as her own capabilities to protect him. She turns back to Agent Camel with a widely insincere smile. His eyes narrow a bit before he turns back to the room.
The mic of a laptop on a desk picks up a small and calm voice saying, "Her story checks out. Jodie-sensei says Agent King is currently bringing Shimizu Daizo-san in for witness protection so he can testify against his former employers." The voice's way of speaking is that of someone much older than the little girl the laptop's webcam can see, and the information - or rather lack thereof, as this false identity is good, but not up to Harold's standards, or even Root herself - on her is intriguing.
Agent Camel still looks suspicious, but he lowers his gun and opens the door further, an unspoken invitation. Root likewise holsters her's, though it is still in easy reach if she needs it. She pulls Daizo in front of her and they enter the building.
Haibara Ai watches Agent King and her companion with no small amount of wariness and distrust. Jodie Starling may have cleared Agent King, but there was something about her that set Ai more on edge than usual. Not a member of the Organization, no, she didn't exude enough bloodlust for that, but she was definitely dangerous. Shimizu-san looks about as nervous as Ai feels, though that may have been from having people who wanted to kill him.
"Sit down," the woman tells Shimizu-san in English. "You know I'll keep you safe." He nods and follows her order even as he bites nervously at his bottom lip. Agent King smiles at him and Ai has to hold back a shiver as she turns and looks at her because there is no mistaking that this woman is a predator.
"That's a nice laptop," Agent King says, looking at the one piece of Ai's life that she'd been able to bring with her from (her) Agasa-hakase's home. "Is it your's?"
Ai nods. "Yes," she replies in English. "I play games on it, among other things." Agent King smirks and tilts her head slightly, as though listening to something only she can hear.
"What kind of other things?"
Ai stares at her for a moment, gauging her words before asking, "Why?"
Agent King's smile widens and it is borderline terrifying. "Well, sweetie," she says in a confidential tone, "computers are something of a specialty of mine." She grins at Ai like they're sharing an inside joke, and it takes all Ai has not to run, because this is coldfeardarkdanger and something must show in her eyes because then Agent King lookssorry and she's reaching a hand out to place on her shoulder, crouching down so she's at eye level. "Hey, it's okay," she says soothingly. "We're going to protect you, all right?"
Ai almost believes her.
A/N: so I got into Person of Interest because of justjoy on AO3 (presumenothing on tumblr) and we both LOVE dcmk so we came up with several AUs including this one and I just HAD to write something for it bc it's awesome also I used the actor's last name for Daizo bc the character does not have one :P
Little background, the Bell Tree Train plan goes awry and so Ai is awaiting being put into witness protection when Root happens upon her. PoI-wise, Shoot is already a thing, Joss is not dead/in a coma, and they kill the senator so Decima is not as imminent a threat.
It is my birthday today so I give you all a gift! Also please review ^_^