What gets at me with a lot of PoI fanfics is that John is often depicted as completely submissive to Finch's will, and / or losing his calm whenever something happens to Finch (do you know how hard it is to find a fanfic that's not entirely about Shoot, thus almost erasing John out of existence, or Rinch, where he's almost always completely OCC? I do.)

And I'm like, have we watched the same show? Sure, he gets a bit more tetchy when something happens to his friends (not only Finch, btw), and yes, he mostly follows Finch's direction, but John is hardly a whining useless little soldier.

THE CONTINGENCY

John Reese: "I have a lead, but I need you chasing down every other angle."

He's slightly aware that he may be focusing a bit too much on Root right now. That, perhaps, he's experiencing tunnel vision. It can't not help to have someone else look at the problem... or rather, at the parts of the problem he can't focus on right now, because he's the one going after Root. If anything, he's focused on that. A bit too focused, yes, but he can't help it. It's personal. Still doesn't mean he's wrong.

John Reese (quoting Harold Finch): "'I gave you a job, Mr Reese. I never said it would be easy.'"

He apparently works better with Finch's snide remarks, even if the man himself isn't there.

Lionel Fusco: "Frankly, I'm not sure I want to find out what you're like without his direction."

Only slightly more murderous, he promises – no, seriously. He only goes along with what Finch says when he actually agrees on some level with the older man, Finch could testify. He admits that he isn't always right, which is why he allows Finch to "direct" him. But he also knows that Finch isn't always right either. But that's not the matter here. The matter is that Finch has been taken, and deserves help just as much as any other number. The matter is that Finch is his friend, and what kind of friends don't even try to save each other?

John Reese: "He didn't want me to find him if anything went wrong. He just wanted me to keep rescuing people. People like you."

What about Finch? Isn't the man a person, too? Shouldn't he get rescued, too? Or at least, shouldn't he be given a chance, too? What had the man been thinking, when he had encoded-or-whatever the Machine, telling it not to even try? Scratch that, John knows what Finch had been thinking. The older man had thought saving everyone meant not saving him in particular, as if he wasn't part of "everyone". For the genius he is, Finch sure has no grasp of the concept of nuances – of the various levels to react given a specific situation. Always, black and white. Even while playing in the grey areas of about everything.

Reddy: "So who are you?"

The answer's kind of obvious, really. Got a cop's badge, but not a cop. Able to spot the weapons in the room, the suspicious behavior, and to deduce correctly what was going on. He's obviously someone who knows shit. Someone they shouldn't want to have to deal with. But they're also obviously idiots, so...

Leon Tao: "Look, you seem – well, crazy, but highly capable. I just need you to take me to my car. You owe me that much."

"Owe"? What was it with people, always thinking everyone and the world itself owed them something? If at least it was about having the decency to help, but no, it's always about an imaginary debt somehow giving them all the rights possible! Normally he'd be a bit more accommodating, but not today. Today's he's angry, worried, and on a schedule. So pardon him if he snaps back a little.

Leon Tao: "8 million. Hey! Look, I didn't plan on stealing, at least not at first. I had a legitimate job at Bear Stearns. Then the recession hit and we all get axed, so I take a job at this little startup. Took me six months to realize I was working for the corporate arm of the Aryan Nation, laundering profits from their meth business. You wanna call that greedy? I call it payback."

He doesn't call it anything, but if he called it something, it wouldn't be "greedy". It'd be "idiotic". You don't try anything like that unless you know you can make your way out if things turn sour, which is clearly not Leon Tao's case. John, perhaps, could have pulled it off – never mind that he wouldn't even be in this situation – because he's able to defend himself, to disappear in a whisper. But not Leon Tao. This is not greed. It's sheer stupidity.

Lionel Fusco: "You know, I'm thinking about charging you overtime."

He'd probably have something to say to that, if it were a normal day. It's not.

John Reese: "Like I told your associate, I just want to find my friend. See, I don't have many friends. Just the one, in fact. Okay, maybe two. So here's the deal. You give me Leon and Detective Fusco here – you can even leave the gag on – and I'll go peacefully."

See, Lionel was worried about him being a terror without a finch on his shoulder to tell him what not to do, and yet here he is, offering a peaceful solution – that he knows they won't take, but, hey, that's hardly his fault. Trying to save – relatively – innocent people yet again. Even when he doesn't have the time for this.

John Reese: "I guess I get my workout in for the day."

He knows the blow is coming, and he could probably do something about it, but he saw the malinois, and there's a better way. A way that's less likely to end with the Aryans assholes having the time to react and to fire at Tao, Lionel, or John. And if that's at the cost of a bruise-to-be, well... John knows his choice.

John Reese: [Whistles]

Well. Three friends, he guesses.

John Reese: "You're a sweetheart. You just need a better name."

If Kara was here, she'd probably make a joke about John being a sweetheart too, despite the threatening exterior – bleeding martyr and all that, she used to say about him when she tried to get a rise out of him.

John Reese: "I'm running out of time to find my friend, and I've only got one lead left, so you're gonna try very hard not to get killed while I look into it. Do you understand?"

He's really, really not in the mood. Leon Tao should even be grateful that he's saving him at all.

John Reese: "Yes, he's dead, Leon. Very dead."

Maybe that will get the man to finally realize what could happen to him very soon – even if Root isn't his personal enemy – what could happen to John's friend, and why he doesn't have time for complaining.

Leon Tao: "There is no one better, except maybe this hacker. She's an artist. There's nothing to track her, there's nowhere to even begin."

John knows Finch himself has had no results tracking down Root, so he can believe Tao. It doesn't make him any less irritated.

Joss Carter: "Corwin's case file is missing. Digital records have been corrupted and the ballistics report. Tech support says the system has a bug."

John knows that kind of sabotage too well not to be almost absolutely certain that it wasn't a "bug".

John Reese: "Do the math, and figure out a way to bend your rules, 'cause he's my friend. He saved my life. Understand? And I won't do this without him."

He's slipping, he's aware. But Finch's own rules are being ridiculous, and the older man certainly won't be saving himself anytime soon. And it's not even John being selfish, it's him assuring himself some stability – assuring that he'll be up to the task when the next number comes up. He can't do everything alone, and he needs his friend. Why? Simply because everyone needs some kind of stability, some kind of reason not to fall back into depression – and his friends are all that John Reese needs here. But he needs that. It's not being selfish – it's being fair to Finch, and to himself, for once.

John Reese: "Pick on someone your own size. Or someone a little closer to it."

Yeah, about that...

Titus: "You're an embarrassment to your race."

He'll take it as a compliment, thanks. Now, if he could just find a way not to get murdered by a ridiculously overgrown neo-Nazi, that would be perfect.

John Reese: "Yeah, I wasn't losing. I was just resting."

He might be lying a bit here. Just a bit, like, he could probably have found a way to get rid of the bastard... but not without suffering even more of a beating beforehand.

Leon Tao: "Your friend... I hope you find him. He's lucky to have you."

He hopes, too. And he can't help but notice that while Leon is firstly concerned with himself and his own problems, it doesn't stop him from acknowledging John's problems – that, yes, Leon Tao is a little bit selfish, but not entirely egocentric.