Alright, so, for this one, I'm taking a lot from crossover headcanons that are canon-compliant, but obviously not canon. You can find most of them in my OSs collections Missing Books ( long story short, John used to be a cop for a few years by the name John Sullivan before he found his mother's killer and ended up in WITSEC, before the army. He has a non-identical twin brother, and never went back home to keep him safe ), and the one about the trumpet is me crossovering PoI with yet another Jim Caviezel movie, "Angel Eyes", considering it could be an alternate universe where John's WITSEC identity went another way. So yeah, it's not canon. But it's canon-compliant.

WOLF AND CUB

Harold Finch: "Only the paranoid survive – sage advice."

It's always fun how Finch seems to think John isn't paranoid enough as he is – though he has to admit he isn't on Finch's level of paranoia.

John Reese: "Even with the library offline?"

Another piece for the puzzle, then. Finch doesn't receive the numbers through the Library. Though the man has kept his official access to almost everything, the Machine isn't connected to the Library anymore... Or was it programmed to use other means should the network here be compromised?

Super: "What it looks like – one of my tenants got shot... About a week ago. Older kid – Travis McGrady. Damn shame. Real good about paying rent on time."

John's not sure if that's a way to say the super is only sorry that the rent might not be paid on time with the next tenant, or if that's the man's way to compliment a young man he didn't really know.

Harold Finch: "Why would they want to talk to you?"

First, because he can't land them in any official trouble, considering he isn't an official anymore. Second, because a large part of his job is to make people want to talk to him even when they don't, and he's really good at that. The trick is to find the right incentive.

John Reese: "You don't have to give me a name. Just point me in the right direction."

Never ask for too much. If the subject doesn't seem willing to go that far, downgrade it a bit. Make it look less like snitching. More like giving directions, for example. If someone asks, she just told you about that particular place, where the guys you're looking for coincidently tend to hang out.

John Reese: "Never said I was a cop."

Granted, he hasn't exactly said he isn't one either, and even that last sentence doesn't say anything for sure, but people love to jump to conclusions. And that's downright useful in a number of situations.

John Reese: "Saw you play the trumpet. I'm guessing you pawned that too. You any good?"

John used to play the flute, a long time ago. Kids all have their hobbies... until something happens, and either they stop, or they decide to go on living with what they used to love doing before. John stopped when his mother died, and never went back to it. He doesn't want Darren to be forced to stop too.

John Reese: "And here you are, mixed up with the thugs. So you tracked down that Brick kid. You think that's what your brother would have wanted you to do?"

Not that John's brother hadn't wanted him to stop obsessing over their mother's killer, or that John had listened to him. But John was the older brother, if only by a few minutes, and he had waited to be an adult before going on a hunt. Even if he had let revenge consume him... He hadn't been reckless about it, not like Darren is. Besides, the kid wasn't like John. Getting revenge by killing the killer wouldn't make him better again.

John Reese: "Darren, this is Detective Fusco. He's a... friend."

It's not necessarily false – more complicated than that, surely, but kind of true all the same – but it's the first time he says it out loud. And Lionel is here to hear it too. Not that the detective will think it true, not with their actual relationship. But still.

Darren McGrady: "Yeah, a ronin. It's like – it's like a samurai with no master. Technically, you should have killed yourself. That's the code. But instead you're out wandering the land, helping people. So now I'm paying you to help me."

For something the kid found in a comic, it's not so far from the truth. Not exactly it, but not far.

Darren McGrady: "You can't stop me from going after them. But I have a better chance with you there."

When John said the kid was clever... Children who can figure that out right away are a problem, because they don't actually give him a choice, except knocking them out and locking them away while he takes care of the problem, which he'd rather not do. John hopes the others will be able to see that – they won't, because they never do, but it's not like he cares much about their misguided judgment. They aren't the ones trying to handle a kid who's too intelligent and stubborn for his own good.

Darren McGrady: "The cops know about this, or they just don't care?"

Some don't, some do, and those take a share. It's not difficult hiding a discreet criminal activity when you have the right dirty cop working with you.

Harold Finch: "I'm not sure I'm in favor of your troubling arrangement with young Darren."

Well, Finch should have been there when said arrangement came up, ready with another solution, but he hadn't been. So John had had to get by. If Finch doesn't like it, then he'd better be available next time.

Darren McGrady: "That means your master tricked you, told you to kill bad people that really weren't. A lot of ronin ended up that way."

John's not sure he was actually given missions like "killing bad people that really weren't", because even the CIA had standards. They could make mistakes occasionally, of course, but they tried not to go too far... Yet, he's almost certain some of his missions were killing bad people that weren't really that bad. They deserved something to happen to them, probably... But maybe not death. Maybe not what he had been ordered to do.

John Reese: "The higher up you go, the harder it gets to tell the good guys from the bad."

Mostly because the higher up you go, the more intelligent they become. They don't display their less pleasant tendencies. And also because, in the end, no one is only a terrible person. Some killers are perfect family men. Some corrupt politicians genuinely want to fight against cancer. Just like good guys aren't perfect.

Joss Carter: "That boy is a minor. You're responsible for his welfare."

He's not going to tell her that if he doesn't help the kid, the kid will help himself, and get into trouble nonetheless. Without anyone to protect him, to be "responsible for his welfare". She wouldn't want to hear it anyway.

John Reese: "Do you really think Andre would believe your story? If I were Andre, I'd assume you stole every dime. I'd send people in to find it, then kill you. So the only way you're gonna survive is if you come back with every last dime. So who killed Travis McGrady? Right now your life is worth half a million dollars. $20,000 of it... Up in smoke. Where's the gun, Curtis? $50,000 of your life up in smoke."

Kara was always the one doing the torture. Doesn't mean John can't get what he wants. Right now he's not even hurting the guy, physically or psychologically. He's simply making sure that the thug's situation can only get worse... unless, of course, John takes Andre out before that.

John Reese: "Then what, hmm? Go after Andre's bosses... The corrupt cops and the politicians that let them operate? You won't be able to stop until you destroy everyone you blame for taking your brother's life. It won't bring him back. You'll just wind up in jail or dead. Do you think that's what your brother wanted for you?"

One of John's biggest flaws is revenge. But even so, he never made the mistake of blaming people for things they didn't do. He always knew exactly why he was going after someone, and how far that allowed him to go, not to get lost in his vengeance. It's a part of why he's not exactly like everyone else, why he's so efficient... Why he's still alive and free. Why Darren won't make it if he continues on this road.

Harold Finch: "In other words, the idea of letting a 14-year-old hire you to avenge his brother has backfired?"

He'd argue that he tends to forget how not-like-him people can be. How they let their feelings eradicate common sense, when he always knows if he can do it or not, with his level of skills – notwithstanding his continued survival, which doesn't matter much anyway. He thought, for a time, that Darren would get it. That, if the kid wouldn't let it go, he'd still choose a clever way to go at it. Not with a gun, when he never even shot someone; something clever, slower, maybe, but still efficient. But evidently Darren isn't John. Which is a good thing, except that it'll get him killed.

Darren McGrady: "Someday you'll find a home too."

He smiles, and doesn't say he already has one. Even if he can't, even if he won't go back.

Lionel Fusco: "This guy spent so much time being someone else, he probably doesn't know who he is anymore."

It strikes a chord, obviously, because Finch's not the only one in that case. Except John never hid behind his aliases; they are him, but he isn't only them. A name doesn't mean that much, not to John. But to Finch, whom he suspects never to have really allowed his aliases to completely be a part of who he is, and yet allowed himself to live through them, it's certainly another story.

John Reese: "You know, Lionel... You could have been a good cop if not for a few bad choices."

The man can still be, he suspects, but it's not what he needs right now. Which makes him remember his own past. He could have been a good cop too, if not for a few bad choices, he guesses. But revenge has always been his worst flaw, and he doesn't regret it. Even if it hurts, sometimes.