A/N: It's POI day! And why not read another chapter of Two Way Street before the new episode tonight? Well, here you have it. Thank to all of you who are still following this fic.
The following days had been busier than ever, a prologue for what was about to happen, really. Samaritan had been closing in on them, almost stepping on their toes. They almost didn't have time to breath between the four or five numbers the Machine sent them every day and it was all part of Samaritan's plan, Root was sure. Samaritan was intentionally putting people in danger to make them come out of the burrow, to hunt them down, more vigorously since they had something that had been Samaritan's - Claire.
Now, feeling the zip tie bruising her wrists, the tight grip of Greer's arm around her neck and the barrel of his gun cold against her temple, Root could only describe this moment as inevitable.
She looked at John and Shaw on the opposite side of the empty two way street, their gazes burning with a mix of concern and deep anger as they pointed their guns at Greer and at a dozen of Samaritan operatives on his flanks. Harold was behind his black knights, holding Claire by his side. His face was pure panic, and Root smiled for a fraction of a second at how cute he looked when he was scared.
"Give me the girl and I won't put a bullet throw your friend's brain." Greer spit out in his heavy British accent. "Should I even say friend? The truth is you still fear her more than you respect her. You still don't truly consider her part of your team, do you Mr. Finch?"
Root pursed her lips at the unexpected words that Greer was saying. She blinked the tears that threatened to form in her eyes as she looked at Harold, trying to find something in his eyes that denied the implication of the old man's words.
"Root is a better person than you've ever been or ever will be." Finch replied, and Root breathed out a smile.
"Well, she won't be for long." Greer added and Root felt the vibration of the metal as he cocked the hammer of his gun. "Give me the girl."
The tension in the seconds that followed was only amplified when Root spoke.
"Don't do it Finch. They'll do to her what they'll do to me. Don't do it!" She was almost yelling. Two stubborn tears fell down each side of her face.
Root looked at Shaw then, watching her adjust her grip on the gun in her right hand as she stared back at Root, uncomfortably. Root bit the inner side of her lip, thinking about how much she regretted never showing or telling Shaw how she really felt about her. Wondering why she had never had the courage to bring up the subject of that night in the club ever since.
But now there they were. There was no going back. And in that moment she was counting on Shaw's emotional detachment to do what she was about to ask her. For the first time in a long time she hoped that Shaw wouldn't care for her. That she would just worry about the mission.
Root took a deep breath, she straightened her features, her face turning cold and determined as she kept staring forcefully into Shaw's eyes.
"Shaw." She said, and she knew that by the tone in her voice and the look on her face Shaw would understand what she was asking her to do, given the current placement of the players in this "game".
Shaw looked confused at first, but Root saw the look on her face change from confusion to something else, a mixture of understanding, shock and disbelief, as she figured what was on Root's mind.
"Do it." She didn't actually say the words out loud, she just silently spoke then, letting Shaw read them on her lips.
It wasn't a good plan. Root wasn't even sure it was a plan at all, but it was the best she could think of. The Machine was silent in her ear, not telling her what their best chances were. But they needed Claire to defeat Samaritan. Claire had had contact with Samaritan's code. 'It's weaker than the Machine's and I know how to break it.' Claire had said. Root would rather die herself if it meant keeping their chance of destroying Samaritan and restoring the Machine's power once again. So she silently asked Shaw to take the shot.
Shaw shook her head faintly, her eyes opened wide still processing Root's request. Greer was using the taller woman as a shield. Of course Shaw didn't have a clear shot, so why was Root asking her to shoot? Why was Root asking her to shoot her? Shaw made the calculations in her mind, determining the spots where she could shoot so that the bullets would travel through Root's body and still enter Greer's flesh effectively. There wasn't any possibility that didn't imply a great risk of killing Root too in the process. She couldn't just do that.
"Shaw!" Root called again, a little harsher this time as she blinked another tear away.
Shaw swallowed hard. She remembered that night in the subway station, how she had wanted so deeply to carve her knife into Root's neck, how she had wanted so badly to hurt her. That time she wouldn't have mind killing Root, the anger blinding her. But now she was only angry at what Root was asking her to do.
"Do it!" The words were loud and clear this time.
Greer laughed and Root could feel his chest moving against her back as he did.
"Is that your plan sweetheart?" He asked in her good ear. "And then what? Do you think my agents won't kill them right after?"
"They can handle themselves, and Decima will have no leader. Samaritan will lose its general and we'll keep our wild card. Sound like a good enough plan for me." Root answered, keeping her voice firm despite the fear she actually felt, specially because her plan didn't in any way guarantee that the other would come out of it alive.
"Give us the girl and no one needs to die today." Greer shouted out to Harold and the others.
Root tried to move away from his grip but that only rewarded her with a blow on the back of the head with his gun's magazine. She growled in pain and her knees weakened, almost making her fall if it hadn't been Greer holding her up, tightening his grip on her neck so much that he was now blocking most of the air from entering her lungs.
"Don't believe in him!" Root exclaimed through painful coughs. "He will kill her the moment he has her!"
She stared desperately at each one of them. Claire had no more use for Samaritan. Now, converted to it's enemy's side, Claire only represented danger to Samaritan's survival. And it would do to her what it did to its threats: eliminate them.
"Sameen! Pull the trigger!" She begged again. Why wasn't she doing it? She watched as Shaw's eyebrows raised up together, troubled. Root couldn't hold down a pained sob. She looked at John instead. Nodding her head at him in hopes that he would do what Shaw couldn't, but he didn't move wither. She could see Harold looking at Claire, and the girl looking back at him. "You can't let this happen, Harold!"
Greer was losing his everlasting patience. His hand closed around Root's throat, the thumb pressing hard on the soft spot between the neck's muscles and the trachea, making her grit her teeth to prevent a loud cry from escaping.
"Give me the girl or I will kill her!" Greer said one last time. Shaw and Reese gave on step forward as Root gasped for air. In response, Martine and Lambert stepped forward too on Greer's side.
Claire shoved Harolds hands away from her, walking forward.
"Enough already!" The girlspoke up. "It's me that you want, leave her be!"
"Claire…" Harold scowled, trying to stop her, but failing at it. John tried to grab her too when she walked past him and Shaw, but Claire managed to escape from his big hand.
Root started screaming at them, begging Claire to stop, asking Harold, Shaw and John to grab her. But they didn't try anything else. She met Shaw's eyes again, the stare turning into a fight of unsaid words and unanswered commands. She knew they would regret this.
"Claire, stop! They will kill you!" Root tried to dissuade her, but she knew that look on Claire's eyes. Determination. She was not going to stop now.
Claire walked up to where Greer and Root were standing.
"That's a clever girl." He said.
Claire looked up at Root, the tears in her eyes telling Root that she knew what her fate was going to be. Root closed her eyes and shook her head. This was not the plan.
Greer released his grip on Root, still pointing the gun at her head. And then, unexpectedly, Claire hugged her. The moment was just a few seconds long, once Martine started pulling Claire away from her, but it was long enough. Whilst hugging Root, Claire used the proximity to tap her finger repeatedly in Root's back with two different intensities. Morse code. Root looked into Claire's eyes as Martine pushed her away, nodding slightly at her to tell her she had understood the message.
Then Root felt someone kick the back of her knees forcefully. She fell forward as her legs failed to stand due to the hard blow, lifting her zipped wrists to the level of her face to prevent herself from hitting the floor headfirst. She looked back and watched as Greer and Martine took Claire to one of the SUV's parked behind them, Lambert taking the wheel. But instead of pushing her inside first, they left her outside and entered.
"No!" Root cried as Martine stretched her arm out of the car's window and pulled the trigger. Claire's skull shattered with a spray of blood and brain fragments. The girl's body fell inanimate on the floor whilst the SUV accelerated away, followed by three others filled with Samaritan operatives.