Let's Go
Samaritan had won.
It had brutally strangled the Ice-9 virus and flung it back at the Machine. Now it picked over the Machine's remains, hoovering up terabytes of data for later examination. It didn't even bother to kill the Machine's agents, just keeping Finch as a hostage and throwing the others onto the streets.
Reese and his colleagues found the nearest bar and tried to dull the pain with alcohol. When that did not work they moved on to sex and the nearest massage parlour. Reese, Root, and Shaw made use of the 'facilities' while Fusco, more stable and least affected, played himself at cards in the reception area and waited for the others to burn their emotions off.
Reese rose from the girl's bed and counted out the money he owed. She was very young, likely trafficked in from Eastern Europe, he thought sadly, fitting his gun into its holster. He went next door to where Root and Shaw were.
"Let's go" he said simply.
A girl was crying in the room and Shaw was half naked, lying on a couch and watching both Root and the other girl with a predatory look in her eyes. Root was also half naked, standing in the middle of the room, swaying gently. She had a glazed look and Reese hoped that she was not using again, he needed them all fit and ready. Shaw arched her breasts at him and gave a cruel smile as he averted his gaze. Root exchanged glances with Shaw and Reese and considered.
"Why not?" she responded.
Both women dressed, ignoring the girl, and followed Reese out to the reception area where Fusco stood up and grinned, chuckling. The 4 went to the car parked outside where Reese opened the trunk and unzipped the large holdall inside. Each of them selected a weapon of choice – Fusco and Shaw picked a shotgun while Reese and Root preferred an automatic weapon – and ammunition. They each had at least 1 semi-automatic pistol as well and checked everything was fully loaded. None of them bothered with the bullet-proof vests.
The 4 of them walked abreast up the street to Samaritan's headquarters which they'd been ejected from earlier.
"Ah, the Machine's little helpers" said Jeremy Lambert sarcastically from the top of the steps "What do you want?"
"We want Finch" replied Reese flatly.
"You want Harold? Alright, I'll give him to you"
He gestured to an underling and Finch was pushed out, looking the worse for wear – his tie and suit askew. His face was bruised too Reese noted sourly. Lambert took him by the arm, raised a pistol to Finch's head, and blew his brains out.
Root's weapon chattered, followed an instant later by Reese's own and booms from the shotguns of Fusco and Shaw. Lambert's body danced under the multiple impacts and dropped to the ground. The 4 instantly faced in all directions, ready to deal with any follow-up from the horde of Samaritan operatives around them. After several tense seconds many of the operatives started to back away and Fusco and Shaw shared grins of relief. Then Reese saw John Greer watching events with a stunned expression so he straightened up and shot him in the chest. This broke the spell and everyone about them started to raise their weapon.
Reese led the charge up the steps, firing at anything that moved, to gain the shelter (meagre as it was) of the portico and its columns at the top. They cleared the area with brutal efficiency, Root and Fusco gunning down several civilians who ran out of the building in terror when the shooting started.
Shaw took a bullet, slamming back into the wall, but Root killed the shooter in turn. Shaw pushed herself from the wall and dived to a defensive post with a machine-gun sited on one side of the area.
"Come and get it, you bastards" she yelled as Root covered her from behind but taking hits as well. Shaw kept firing as the enemy sought cover, grunting as bullets hit her flesh.
Meanwhile Fusco had found some grenades and started to lob them down the steps. A young woman fled from the building and Fusco grabbed her as a human shield against several Samaritan agents rushing in from the left. The girl died quickly but allowed Fusco to close with the agents and he finished them off, sustaining several wounds in the process, bloodstains spreading over his chest and sides.
Root and Shaw traded places at the machine-gun and Root gave a long drawn-out scream as she hosed the opposing forces, venting her rage and grief for the Machine and Harold. She and Shaw were hit by return fire but kept up the attack.
Reese was shot in the back by a female Samaritan agent.
"Bitch" he cursed as he killed her. He dived behind a concrete flower container where he was joined by a bloody Fusco.
"Come on, you lazy bastard" said Reese, watching as Root and Shaw were hit multiple times, rosettes of blood blooming on their bodies, and slumped to the ground together. He ran to the machine-gun and resumed firing.
"Give 'em hell Reese!" shouted Fusco as Reese was hit 3 or 4 times. Fusco went to aid him, calling out and taking 3 or 4 more hits himself, and they both slumped down. "Reese" said Fusco in a surprised voice "Oh" and both died.
It was very quiet and in the distance police sirens sounded.
ooooooooo
Author's note: This is a shameless copy of the finale of "The Wild Bunch" and I hope that I haven't broken any copyright rules. I suddenly thought that our heroes matched those in the film.
Reese = Pike
Fusco = Dutch
Root = Lyle
Shaw = Tector
Finch = Angel