1

Piper knocked on the door four times in morse code and waited for Poussey's response hoping that she was awake.

"Come in." Poussey called out.

Piper opened the door slowly, ushering Alex to go in first. She closed the door instantly. The room smelled like sanitizers and despair. Poussey's bed was there in the middle with her laying on it. Tubes were going in and out of her body. She was regarding the pair with utmost amusement. Alex standing as far back as possible, her shoulder resting on the window sill looking out into the parking lot. And Piper was not really sure what to say. Thankfully, Poussey took charge with a curious smile.

"Didn't think you would show up so soon," Poussey said. "That along with your girlfriend."

"She's not-" Alex began. .

"I am n-" Piper added at the same time. But they both shut up and an awkward silence fell in the room.

"Looks like you are here to kill me with weaponised awkwardness." Poussey chirped in. She chuckled instantly buckling as her sides hurt. "Jesus…" she muttered under her breath.

"Poussey," Piper came closer to the foot of the bed. "I am sorry. For what happened. I shouldn't have been so reckless. You wouldn't be there if it weren't for me. I am so-"

"Chapman, stop that apology train right there. You really think you're the centre of the universe," Poussey chuckled again. "I wasn't there to arrest you singlehandedly. I am not stupid like you. Hell no. Under normal situations, I would have reported your ass straight to Fig and they would've arrested you even before you could say 'escape'."

"Then, why were you there?"

"Here's the thing, alright." Poussey sat up a bit. "After you were gone, I was there thinking like who I should trust, ya know. The director or Caputo or Fig. Cause if I lay it down to the traitor, you would be in trouble. I am there thinking and then I hear Bloom talking to some junior techies."

"Larry Bloom?"

"Yeah. Bloom. So he is bragging to his juniors how he tracked down the most wanted terrorist in the United States Of America in seconds. And I am like, what an asshole. But then, he starts bragging about this party he will be hosting after this is over. On his fucking yatch. I am like, where the fuck did he get a fucking yatch on an agent's salary. So I asked and he just dodged the question. And I am like, bitch what? So, I pulled up his financial record that I already had. But everything is normal. But then I open his Instagram. He posted tons of pictures on his boat, his new Bentley, his new apartment. And I am like, where is he getting all the money?"

"You're saying he is the traitor?"

"Yeah. Cause that's not all, I pulled up his call records, emails and he has like tons of record heavily encrypted. I would have opened those if I had the time. And he never searched the system for Kubra Balik. Remember how he instantly said that Kubra never landed. He, in fact, searched right in for Alex. He directed all of our attention on Alex. And the tracking? I am guessing that he already knew where to look since Kubra was looking for Alex as well. So, I thought you need to know this and once you are off the place, I will never find you. I drove crazy fast to get there and I wanted to wait for you till you get out but this crazy sniper guy starts shooting and I backfire with my pistol and he shot me before I shot him."

"You were there to tell me this? Oh. God." Piper sat down on the end of the bed. "Do you think he is the only one? Are the others clean? How much did he share with Kubra?"

Before Poussey could answer, Alex interrupted frantically.

"Piper. They are here," she said moving away from the window.

"Who?" Piper rushed to the window only to see four men walking through to the entrance in black semi-combat gear. They were here for Alex.

"You said they wouldn't track us here." Alex whispered.

"They are not the government. They are from Kubra. And they certainly wouldn't take us alive."

Piper turned back to Poussey.

"You need to get Larry Bloom. He definitely has some answers. And getting him arrested would be stupid. Kubra will kill him even if he is in prison. You have to get to him before he gets you," Poussey added. "Call me if you need anything."

Piper nodded solemnly, one hand already on the door handle. "Thank you, Poussey."

2

The hospital hallway was busier than before as both the woman slipped through group of doctors and nurses towards the stairs. They had seen at least four men getting in. They would definitely draw attention if anything were to happen here. Hence, Piper decided to get out of the hospital as soon as possible.

They reached the door for the fire exit. Alex opened it and ran down with Piper in tow. Piper already had her gun out. As Piper closed the door behind her, the elevator in which the men were coming up was opening. And they sure as hell noticed Piper closing the door.

"Fuck." Piper cursed following Alex's lead. "They are here. And I think they saw me."

Alex cursed as well but didn't stop running down the stairs. They were on the second floor. They were not behind them. For a second, Piper thought it was a good thing. But as Alex was about to open the exit door, it struck her that they might be waiting just out here but it was too late.

Alex had already opened the door three inches. A gloved hand reached for her wrist and pulled her out. Slamming her to the ground. The man in black long coat stood over Alex, gun out and pointing at her. Piper lunged forward, grabbing the man from behind in a headlock. His friends however, started shooting at her clearly surprised by a second person. Piper used the guy in the long coat as a human shield, his mates sprayed him with bullets. Alex got to her feet immediately. They kept firing at Alex and Piper as they dragged the dead guy with them behind a car. Piper dropped his body and positioned herself behind a car window. She took one look at Alex, making sure they were okay at least for now.

The firing stopped momentarily. The only source of light in the outside parking was a flickering streetlight which made it immensely hard for Piper to locate the other guys. She counted the intervals of the light. It stayed on for three seconds and came back after every seven seconds. She kept the eyes and ears trained for any sound. There was none. These guys were well trained and were probably ready to wait it out, which meant they were betting that Piper will play the defensive game. But Piper wasn't in the mood to drag it out. The longer she waited, the more advantage they will be in. She took out her other gun and held it out to Alex.

"Have you ever fired a weapon before?" Piper whispered hurriedly.

"No!" Alex whispered back.

"Okay. So, just aim and pull the trigger at anyone that isn't me. You'll be okay." Piper reassured.

"Where are you going?"

Piper pointed her finger towards a red Mercedes. A silhouette was moving on the back of it. Alex nodded in understanding.

Piper crouched down and pulled the dead guy's body up to a sitting pose. She positioned him carefully against the car door where she was crouched minutes ago to make it look like she was still there. She crawled her way through the back of the cars to the figure behind the red car while the light was out. She stopped before getting too close. The man clearly wasn't paying attention to his 6 'O clock. Piper made sure there wasn't anyone watching his back before charging in.

Piper slowly crawled behind his back. He was too busy looking out. She kept her gun ready to shoot. Just as the man tilted his head a degree to see what was happening, she grabbed his head with her hand and smacked it right into the car door causing the car alarm to get off. He whimpered. She smashed it again as the glass shards stuck out of his head and it dropped in her hand. The rest of them (probably two) started firing her way in vain. She had already expected they would do something like that. One guy was just three cars ahead, behind an ambulance. The other was even closer, a few feet away from her hiding in the shadows of the flickering streetlight. She crouched down on the ground as they showered their own man with bullets. Eventually the shooting stopped.

She didn't waste a moment to aim at the guy in the shadows. It was hard. She could only she him when the light was on. Still she held the aim. Relax. She needed to relax. She exhaled deeply. The light came on. The man was standing. An assault rifle in his hand. The light went off, an assault rifle, Jesus Christ, these guys were serious. She would have to shoot him the next time the light came on. She relaxed her muscles and aimed by memory. This is okay. She was trained for this. She had done this before. It's okay. The light came back on exactly after seven seconds. She wasted the first second aiming for his heart. Pulled the trigger on the next second. And an ear-piercing scream was heard throughout the parking lot just as the lights went out again. Piper huffed out a breath. But the relief was short lived. sounds of struggle came from her left. Alex.

—-

Sitting behind the car with a body, Alex was not doing so well. She was close to panicking from the moment Piper left her there. She had never been good with blood and violence, let alone a dead body. The gun in her hand felt heavy and foreign. She had held guns before, seen people using them oh so easily but couldn't get herself to do it. Not even when Kubra asked her to. She was terrible at it. She looked away from the dead guy and tried to control her breathing. But suddenly, car alarms went off from where Piper had gone off to. Alex panicked. She grabbed the gun tightly and peeked out from her hiding spot. Gunfire had started in Piper's direction. Alex hoped that Piper made it out alive although it seemed highly unlikely.

Alex couldn't sit still even after the shots stopped. She had noticed that it came from two directions. One from the streetlight and other just from behind a few cars ahead of her. She could easily go behind the cars and get the guy. Blood thumped in her ears. And sweat trickled down her face giving a cool sensation as the wind collided with it. She collected every last bit of courage left in her, tucked the gun behind her and charged towards the man.

The man was entirely focused on something else. He had changed his position. A few feet away from where he was shooting from earlier. He must have done it for a reason, Alex thought as she hid behind him. Piper. Piper was in his line of fire. He was waiting for the light to come on. Shit. Alex scuffled to her feet abruptly. Making noise to get his attention. He turned around in a flash. Gun pointed at her face, her hands held above in surrender. He was fast but still taken by surprise as he wasted the seconds to shoot her, a gunshot came from where Piper was, followed by a scream.

—

A/N:

(Spoilers) I was thinking about season 7. And I thought it would have been awesome if we got a scene with Alex, Diane and Piper. Like just having dinner or something. Sitting around a table, chilling out. The interaction would have been precious 'cause we never really got to know Diane apart from that one scene. I personally imagine her as Will's mom from Stranger things. Kind and passionate and nourishing. That's all, folks. Have a nice day!