Cht 21

Perspective (Part 1)

Fusco squawks as shots ring out beside him, three men instantly falling down in front of him, groaning and clutching at their legs. Flustered he protests, "you really need to tell your psycho partners I'm not a shield!"

Reese is approaching him at the end of the harbour, clearly suppressing a laugh.

"Nah, you're just in my way", muses the Shooter as she peels away from Fusco to zip tie the perps, before straightening up again and finishing, "all yours Detective", and walks away into the night, zipping up her hoodie.

Fusco snaps his head back to Reese who only shrugs before following her out into the darkness leaving Fusco to fume as he calls in the bus to pick up the latest cracker jacks.

Past, N. Korea:

So close, the other end, across the borderline to freedom, and yet as he turns around, he finds his friend struggling to get across the heavily barbed wire fencing as border guards and hounds close in on them, sirens blazing and spotlights moving in all direction to try catch the shadows running in all directions across the open field. In an organised effort, the group had decided to split up and try to cross the border, every man for themselves.

And yet Han couldn't do it, ignoring the dog barks and the threats in the background, he turns back and helps to drag Park over the first barbed fence, causing his caught trouser leg to tear. As Park hits the ground with a thud, Han was already digging in the dirty to allow Park to crawl under the last fence. As Park regains his composure, Han indicates for him to crawl under first, urging him on. Han then follows, crawling, the abrasive dirt grazing his arms as his ignores the stings. He stands up and follows Park, running across the now clear open field in front of them, no man's land between the two countries...

Sounds of guns firing, and screaming as people are caught or shot, maybe even both, and dragged back across the originating border. Every runner knew that if they were caught they would face indefinite imprisonment with torture, failure wasn't an option, but now was not the time for fear as adrenaline coarse through their bodies pushing them on.

"Umph", as Han falls into a ditch so deep it reached his chest. The thud knocks the wind out of him, also managing to twist his ankle as he lands. Wheezing, Han grabs at the grass around the top of the ditch to haul himself back out. Upon hearing the grunt, Park freezes and turns his head over his shoulder in time to see Han's head peering out of the ditch, soldiers firing from behind and hounds nearly close enough to pounce on him. Another glance of Han... Park closes his eyes and holds his breath as he turns back to face forward, and runs, not looking back.

Park imagines the screaming as the dogs pounce, fearing Han's demise it pushes him to run faster and harder. Park doesn't look back again.

Present:

Back at HQ, Reese is in the training room with Shaw, both standing in the middle of the mats. Reese uses Danny as the aid to show the other recruits some more offensive and defensive manoeuvres.

Shaw smirks as she hears a smack, followed by a faint whine before catching a glimpse of the curled up recruit on the mat. "Questions?" Enquires Reese, spotting the Shooter as she approaches them laughing a little but joins them nonetheless.

As the recruits break up into smaller groups to practise, Shaw finds herself smacking Goose on the back of the head as he does it wrong again as he goofs with Mill.

Sighing 'why am I here' as Shaw rubs her head, she moves on after to instruct Reina. Standing in front of her, Shaw grabs her wrists and shows her how to parry effectively, moving her arms in the right direction and correcting her stance. As she does so, the Shooter wanders into Shaw's peripheral vision. Shaw ignores her and continues with Reina, only stopped by the Shooter pretending to lunge at Shaw with her sudden movement. This makes Reina instinctively bounce out of the way leaving a gap wide enough between her and Shaw, which the Shooter then leaps into and throws a combination of punches at Shaw. Shaw jumps back in a defensive stance.

Laughing, "see, that's how it's done", speaking to the recruit but looking straight at Shaw.

Shaw shakes her head and drops her stance, only for the Shooter to lunge at her again, making Shaw stumble back and growl in agitation.

The Shooter's mischievous smirk only expands as she lifts her left leg and pivots it to the front. As she remains standing on one leg, the Shooter lifts up the material from her left pant leg revealing a still red and healing 7cm long gash along it.

Shaw smirks when she sees the gash, her own arm having faired much better as it had now healed fully. Shaw finishes the gloating by running her fingers over her once injured arm, and then lifts it for the Shooter to see herself, no mark in sight.

Smirking at the gloat, "we have unfinished business you and I" the Shooter challenges further, "and this," pointing at the training session, "is lame", finishing by lunging forward at Shaw.

In surprise Reina had backed into Danny and Ausman.

"Whoa" surprises Danny as he catches Reina, stopping her from toppling over from the collision before realising what was going on. As he does he turns and lifts a brow at Ausman who was also now watching the fight.

As a crowd gathers in, Reese frowns as he catches Shaw backing into him. "Shaw" he warns as he moves and ducks as Shaw parries and blocks another of the Shooter's round of attacks. She lifts her expression in exasperation at him clear for everyone to see, Shaw was not initiating this, 'but man was this woman quick', Shaw was unconsciously impressed.

With a flurry of kicks and a sweep Shaw finds herself on her back, but not without first pulling the Shooter with her to the ground. As the Shooter smashes into the mats Shaw has already rolled backwards with her momentum and back onto her feet in an offensive stance, waiting for the Shooter to stand back up. As the Shooter recovers from the knock she moves to stand, a little less gracefully, and is greeted with a strong arm wrapping around her torso, "that's enough," and is lifted away from the training room.

Root in the corner of the training room is standing rigid as she tenses from her shoulders all the way down her arms and balling her hands, 'who does she think she is', having seen the attack on Shaw unfold. Root had been standing in the corner for a while now adoring how her little firecracker was training the new recruits with all the patience of a restless teenager. Her face straightens and her eyes narrow slightly as Reese walks past still holding onto the Shooter. Spotting Root, and reading her subtle expression, he glances at her, 'don't'.

The crowd chattering starts to die down and the bodies dissipate away from the mats and back to what they were originally doing. Joey, having also witnessed the incident rises from the bench he was sitting on and walks towards the recruits while towelling the sweat off his face and neck.

"Right recruits, who said you could stop?" He commands as he steps in, motioning for them to continue practising.

The recruits seeing him approach stop gawking at Shaw and the now empty space around her, and get back to training.

Finally regaining herself, Root focuses her gaze back on Shaw, who is now sitting up on the mat and dusting herself off clearly agitated and confused at what just happened. Spinning round, Shaw finally spots an agitated Root, and quickly strides towards her. As soon as Shaw is close enough, Root grabs her wrist intending to pull her in for a kiss. Shaw allows Root to pull them closer together, however just before Root could connect with Shaw's lips, Shaw had already grabbed at the brown bag from Root's other hand and stalked away to the nearest bench. Root is left pouting at the loss of contact. Or more accurately, the failure of contact. Even Bear has now abandoned her as he runs and jumps around Shaw, eyeing the sandwich now in her hand. Still standing, watching Shaw now eat, Root wasn't sure whether to be amused or continue to be agitated. Amused as Shaw only notices food, and seemingly not her. Agitated because she seems to continually keep pushing Shaw. Sighing, Root walks over to Shaw...

Reaching one of the meeting rooms next door, Reese drops the Shooter so quickly from his grip she doesn't have the chance to brace herself as her legs fail to stand and her butt connects with the floor.

Exhaling a puff of anger and recollecting himself, Reese simply states, "if you plan on joining us, you have to learn to play nice."

She looks up at him with an innocent face and shrugs as she rubs her butt, still sitting on the floor.

Reese shakes his head, snorts in amusement. "At least give us a name to call you..." before leaving her there to think about it.

Present day, next morning:

It's a cool and damp early morning in NYC as the markets start to open up for the day. Standing casually in the commercial district under a canopy in the distance, the Shooter watches on through the heavy rain, allowing the sounds of the pitter pattering of the drops hitting the surface soothe her. Tired but determined, she watches an equally tired man go about his usual business organising his drivers for loading and deliveries.

After a while, like clockwork, the chores for the morning wrap up and he walks the four blocks back to the front of his apartment where he collects his two bounding young children who run eagerly down the steps to greet him. His wife not far behind peeks him on the cheek and waves them all goodbye as the children make their way to school with their father. The Shooter watches until the family disappear into the distance, sighing in deep thought and sadness.

Unbeknownst to the Shooter, a small dark figure was also following her, watching her, also like clockwork.

Shaw fumbles, and then stumbles through her apartment door, dropping her keys on the way in as she pushes the door wider open with her foot while trying to stabilise the swaying grocery bags in her full arms. Bear unhelpfully, and playfully, continues to dance around her in circles barking for her attention. As Root looks up from her laptop, sitting on the coach of the living room, she can't help but giggle to herself lightly at the sight.

Shaw looks up as she dumps the bags on the island in the kitchen, and her mouth drops open as her eyes ask Root the question.

Smiling at Shaw in her dark grey tailored pristine trouser suit and high heels, "I have a number to attend to" answering Shaw's eyes as she walks towards the island. Root reaches her hand out and runs it along Shaw's jaw, teasing her until she suddenly drops her hand, grabs her satchel from the island and heads out the door. Just as she exits she couldn't help herself, "have a good day honey" and shuts the door quickly before Shaw could react. Imaging Shaw's stunned and annoyed face, Root smirks all the way out of the building.

Past, N. Korea, city:

Uncle and the little girl were sitting at the dining table of their small apartment, Nana busily going back towards the stove and placing plated food on the dinner table. The little girl picks up her spoon about to tuck in,

BANG...

As they all jump and then watch the front door fly open. A group of uniformed soldiers walk in and create chaos, knocking over furniture, tearing and smashing anything they could get their hands on before one approaches the dinner table and flips it over.

As Nana cowers and backs into the counter tops of the open planned kitchen dining area, two soldiers continue to tower over her shouting threats, spit and wave their guns at her. Scared, the little girl starts screaming before she is slapped hard across the face, which sends her crashing from the seat and onto the ground along with the now smashed dishes and uneaten food. The little girl instantly stops screaming and curls into a protective ball, unmoving, silent tears streaming down her face.

Uncle in all his fury stands up quickly to confront the invaders but with the advantage of shock, he didn't even make it past his own chair before another two soldiers grab him by either side of his arms and drag him to the floor, punching and stomping on him. As Uncle struggles to shield himself the best he could from the attacks, a kick knocks him unconscious, and is then dragged out of the apartment.

Silence, eerie silence, now drifts over the once happy evening, the silent sobbing could now be heard from the ground as Nana snaps out of her daze and goes to the little girl, wrapping her in her own arms to comfort, and for comfort, in equal measures.

Present day, later that morning:

"What kind of a name is Nox?" Snipes Jenna.

Danny looks on laughing at Jenna's confusion, and shrugs in response.

The Team snap back into attention when someone fires a shot.

Shoulders hunched and curling up, Shaw tries to make herself as small as possible as a gang member fires his machine gun in her direction, taunting her as he does it. As the Team fire back, it was notably obvious how unevenly matched in weaponry the two sides were. But then no one in the Team realised what was exactly in the crates that were being exchanged, until they were flung open and used on them.

Holding their positions, but pinned to it at the same time, each recruit tries to retaliate the best they could without getting shot themselves.

Running out of ideas quick Shaw spots Nox behind the parked car just in front of her to the left, and in this garbage ridden place that was the scrapyard. Mill was hunched over in agony beside Nox as he supports his shoulder and arm, clearly having caught two to his right side, as four gang members were closing in on them fast. Shaw catches the attention of Ausman, Danny and Goose, and indicates for them to go round the back while she caused a distraction. They nod in acknowledgement and wait for...

BOOM...

Shaw had shot at the gas tank just behind the four gang members, and the four are thrown out into the open for the Shooter and Shaw to pick off with ease while Goose manages to hit the machine gun operator, and Ausman and Danny take out what's left of the gang.

As Shaw approaches the Shooter and Mill, she instructs the Shooter to keep a look out while motioning for Mill to let her inspect his injuries as she swings her black backpack to the floor in front of her and unzips it, quickly laying out the contents of the medical kit and snapping on some surgical gloves.

"You're lucky day kid, through and through on the shoulder" as Shaw peers further into it, she continues, "just missed the rotator cuff, no major ligament damage" and presses down around the hole to assess the tissue around it. Mill winces, but Shaw ignores him, continuing to focus on the wound. She then moves to the arm. Quickly assessing it, Shaw pulls out the pliers to Mill's horror.

"Is that... Really necessary?" As he grimaces, stutters and then winces in pain as Shaw plunges the pliers into his injured arm.

"Well if you get shot then, YES! Stop moving" as Shaw stops momentarily to glare at him. Mill instantly stops moving.

At this point the scrapyard had been cleared, and Goose has ran over to Shaw and Mill while Ausman and Reina access damage control. After they're satisfied, they take some of the fire arm inventory from the crates for their own cause, but not so much as to make it look suspicious, and calls Fusco to arrange to pick up the gang members.

Unknown to Shaw, the Shooter had been watching her intently while she worked on Mill. The precision, the skill, the confidence, it was alluring.

Goose's movement catches Shaw's attention as she finishes with patching Mill's injuries, "wrap up, we're gone."

Buzz buzz...

Nodding, Goose goes to help Ausman finish up while Shaw slips away.

Nox watches on in curiosity as she watches Shaw placing her phone back in her pocket and disappears.

Past, N. Korea:

Nana is seen outside a prison shouting at the guard to let her see her son. She demanded an explanation, crying, shouting, sobbing. She drops to her knees pleading, but the guard stood unmoved and kicks at her, motioning for her to leave. She continues to plead, 'where's the justice?'

Weeks pass by and there continues to be no news. Now numb, Nana concentrates on packing her granddaughter's small back pack as she sits on the bed obediently, quiet. Handing the little girl the back pack, she stands up and puts it on over her jacket. Her shoes already on. Nana takes her small bag and the hand of the child and leads her to the now open front door. With a final look over her shoulder and a sigh, Nana closes the front door lightly and doesn't look back again.

Reaching a small village, it was now pitch black in the still of the night. In the distance Nana spots the truck and moves faster towards it as she also catches twenty other families trying to push their way onto it. It was obvious that everyone wasn't going to fit into the truck as the smugglers begin to heckle for more money, jewellery, possessions, anything, out of these desperate people.

One too old, with one too young, Nana and granddaughter were at a disadvantage as the rabble collectively push forward, and them out of the way, almost stomping over them in the panicked chaos. The little girl stays quiet but looks at Nana, confused, too young to understand. Staring at her grand child she regains her strength, and with determination pushes to the front of the crowd. Conviction allows her to shove and elbow and remove any barrier out of her way. Reaching the front of the rabble, Nana demands the attention of the leader, who looks threateningly at her. Seeing pure determination in Nana's eyes, the smuggler backs down a little. To help the situation, Nana rips her small gold chain off her neck and dangles it in front of the smuggler. Smirking, he reaches out to grab it, but Nana pulls it back and stares at him. He growls and yells at the old woman to get in the truck before taking the child and then helping Nana into the back of it.

Inside the dark, confined, and already crowded truck, Nana makes a space for her and her granddaughter to sit. It wasn't long after that until the engine started and they were on their way.

Present day, that evening:

Needing to stop by her apartment to change her clothing, Shaw ends up running the last two blocks as her phone continues to buzz intermittently. Annoyed she thinks 'what can be so import...' Shaw stops in her tracks peering in through a corner of the window.

Inside, she sees two nerds trying to balance their spoon on their nose, followed by giggling and crashing of metal as they try to out do each other. Shaw watches as Gen is about to complete the challenge before Root, sneakily, moves in and tickles her. There it was again, the laughter, that smile on Gen's face, something that Shaw knew she could never give Gen.

"Shawkat!" Gen shouts as she spots her through the window, instantly snapping Root away from their moment to look up and find Shaw watching them, watching her.

"Shawkat, Shawkat, Shawkat!..." As the sound gets louder, and Gen is now pulling Shaw into the ice cream shop. All the while Shaw gazes intensely at Root, who suddenly finds herself blushing, squeezing her lips together in sudden self consciousness.

As Gen pushes Shaw down onto a seat at the table, Gen crashes in beside her and proceeds in telling Shaw of all her stories like canon fire; exploding all at once with her arms flailing like an overly melodramatic actress on stage, and occasionally punching Shaw for effect.

As Shaw listens on, finding amusement at Gen, she leans back in her chair continuing to hold Root's hand as Root continues to draw circles on the back of hers.