The Warehouse looked deserted. Guns drawn but low by their sides they swept the perimeter. Shaw was so close behind Root that when Root stopped Shaw was pressed against her. Root stopped often, mostly out of necessity.
"What are we here for?" Shaw whispered from behind Root, and Root could feel the words she couldn't quite catch drifting over the scar tissue behind her right ear. Root motioned Shaw into silence.
"Whatever it is, it's inside," Root whispered directly into Shaw's ear. "And if you're going to whisper, other side." Shaw looked away; it seemed she'd forgotten that Root's right ear was functionally useless to anyone except The Machine. Meeting Root's eye, Shaw grasped the handle of the door they had come to, and nodded three times before opening it a crack.
Nothing happened, so she pulled the door open a bit more, peered in with her gun.
"It's empty," Shaw breathed out. "I'm going in."
Root followed, of course.
They found nothing in the first room, nothing in the next. Root could see the tension in Shaw's shoulders. Root watched Shaw open the next door; it was the last door left. Shaw looked more alive, more like the woman Root had known and fallen for, the fire in her bubbling under the surface, the face still but Root could feel the anticipation coming off of her in waves.
It was always an honour to watch Shaw in action, but Root had gone for the safe option. Shaw's shoulders sagged, and she walked into the room.
"What is this?" Shaw asked, picking up something metal from the only table in the otherwise empty room, turning it over again and again, looking for an edge, a SUB port, anything that would indicate its purpose.
"Something she wants." Root said cryptically.
"I can make it back on my own. You take it to her," Shaw stepped back out of the room, handing the device to Root carelessly, all interest deserting her. Root tossed up leaving Shaw on the loose against asking Shaw to escort her to The Machine.
"John's still close. He can take it to her." Root made a quick call, and they met him in another alleyway, handed over the metal stub.
"What's it for?" Reese asked, turning it over. "What does it plug into?"
"Call me sometime after you get there," Root said, and John understood that to mean he would need to obscure the travel time. Shaw nodded, impressed. "I'll walk you through it."
"No more trips for the night?" Reese asked, eyebrow cocked toward Shaw.
"Just pizza," Root said flippantly. "Then home."
"We had pizza last night," Shaw grumbled.
"Your call then. We're going home through the shadow zone though."