Haha, yeah that last chap was pretty ridiculous. But I figured I might as well go for broke if I was going to go down that road at all. Also toyed with the idea of it being a failed simulation but decided that was too much of a cop out. Anyway, things should be getting less insane from here on out. Which I guess is a good thing. :D
Sure he was about to kick the bucket, Lionel tried to squirm away from her, but didn't get very far before Shaw reached him. Then she knelt down and pinned him on his side, like she was about to skin him alive.
"Hold still would you," she barked as he continued to be a bother. "Do you want me to slit your dumbass wrists or what?"
Some part of his logical brain kicked in. "You're gonna untie me?"
"Somebody's got to help me carry these two idiots out of here."
The moment he stopped struggling she sliced the plastic ties off and he immediately felt a painful, yet welcoming warmth spreading back into his fingertips. She pulled him upright, muttering something about laying off the burgers, and then she was in motion again, heading straight for Wonderboy, who was looking anything but.
Attacking her didn't seem like a good idea given what she did to his partner (he wasn't exactly Superman) but he didn't exactly trust her at the moment either and looked for a weapon to use.
She seemed to sense his intent before he even moved from his place.
"Don't even think about it Fusco," she said as she ripped out yet another computer cable and knelt down in Reese's growing pool of blood. The pool that she had created.
He watched as she fashioned a crude tourniquet above the worst of the bleeding on his left thigh. "That'll hold for now," she said, pushing herself up into a standing position, pants stained in a deep red. "Good thing I aimed away from the major arteries or he'd already be dead." Shaw looked to him, the usual indifference firmly in place. "Which one do you want to take?"
Let's see, Miss Crazy Pants who'll probably wake up and try to bite my face off...or a hundred and eighty pounds of pure muscle.
Though his back was feeling close to kinking, he said, "Partner's stick together."
She nodded once, completely missing the intended irony, and went over to Root, hoisting the crazy lady up and over her shoulder like a roast pig, except instead of an apple in her mouth, there was a bloody and disconcerting gag.
Lionel didn't relish the idea of dragging Reese all the way through the complex but there weren't any other alternatives. The thing that bothered him the most though was having Shaw with the only weapon, protecting all of them as she saw fit...or didn't.
"What about that thing?" he asked, cocking his head towards the massive screen. "Shouldn't we destroy it or something?"
Shaw rolled her eyes, as if he had just suggested something incredibly stupid. "This is just the interface, Lionel, the actual hardware is scattered all across the country."
"How the hell we gonna beat it then?" he said incredulously.
"We aren't." She shifted Root slightly on her shoulder. "Now come on."
As they were slowly making their way out of the control room he looked for Greer amongst the analysts but didn't spot his body anywhere.
Figures. Samaritan probably saved his hide just in the nick of time.
The sight just outside the control room was not pretty and nearly made those beers and nachos from the night club come up. Shot and mutilated bodies continued to litter the hallways at every turn.
"Root did all this?" muttered Shaw. "Impressive."
Not the word he would've used.
A thought occurred to him then.
There's no way Cocoa Puffs made it here on her own.
"Hey, hold up a minute, Shaw."
She turned around to face him, clearly not in the mood to be stopping already. "Need to use the little boys room, Lionel?"
He ignored that as he stretched out his back. "The professor must be around here somewhere. We can't leave without him."
Shaw glared at him in response. "And what's your brilliant plan for finding him?"
"Call him up? Ask him where he is?"
"How? You don't have your cellphone and I don't know the latest encrypted code to reach him."
Oh yeah.
An injured Samaritan agent stirred on the floor. She shot him without blinking, without barely even looking. Lionel jumped at the suddenness of the violence. At the same time he felt slightly more safe around her, shooting the enemy and all...for a change.
"Anyway, Reese needs a blood transfusion. And soon. We'll be lucky to get him to the med station alive at the rate you're moving." Lionel bristled but didn't retort because he knew it was true, even if it was her fault. "We don't have time to go looking for Finch. Besides," she said carelessly, gesturing around at the two bodies nearest them, "if he was dumb enough to come in here with this psycho, he's probably already dead."
"You're a real piece of work, you know that?" he said with a scowl.
"Let's go," she said stonily. "And move your ass."
In near silence they headed down the next two hallways. A gung-ho agent greeted them in one and she seamlessly shot out his kneecap.
"You know where you're going?"
She didn't bother responding to that, just kept getting further and further ahead of him, ever vigilant for any more threats. He was doing his best to keep up even though his arms were searing.
"I can't figure you out, Shaw," he huffed. "One minute you're kicking the crap out of Reese, the next you're trying to save him."
"Your point?" she grunted, again shifting the weight of the wrapped up parcel on her shoulder.
"Well, who's side are you really on? Team Machine or Team Samaritan?"
He didn't see the next eye roll but knew that it had occurred. "Would I be listening to your whiny ass if I didn't have to?"
Fair enough.
Still, he didn't get her at all.
"If Root hadn't come along when she did...would you have done it? Killed him I mean."
She groaned and turned around to face him, "What's it going to take to get you to shut up?"
"The truth."
"Okay, Lionel," she said, advancing on him, "here it is. I joined Samaritan because it was the only way to save my team."
He blinked a few times in confusion. "Come again?"
"After they patched me up they said I had a choice. Come and work for them...or they'd persuade me to give up the location of HQ and everyone's cover identities." Lionel just stared at her. "Like I said before, it was a tactical decision."
"I don't remember that."
"Oh that's right," she said with the hint of a smile. "You were still taking a nap." Subconsciously Lionel touched the side of his head., feeling the dried blood there as he did so. The almost smirk vanished. "If you morons had just left well enough alone, Samaritan wouldn't have wanted to meet so badly and I wouldn't have had to do what I did."
"Sure, blame us for trying to save a friend."
Mid glare she looked past him and shot out two people from behind. They were still yelping when she said, "You got your truth. Now no more talking."
To his surprise she handed him her gun and then took hold of one of Reese's arms. They nodded at each other and together made swifter progress than before.
A minute or so after this they reached the elevator.
"It's two floors down. We're almost there."
Couldn't you have helped me earlier? he irritatedly thought, wincing as his back spasmed again.
After kneecapping a few more agents on this new floor, they arrived at the state of the art medical centre.
The on-call doctor didn't look too pleased to see them there but when the gun was brandished in her face, she decided to do as she was told and attend to their friends.
"Keep an eye on the doors," Shaw told him, tossing him another gun she picked up from the last guy he downed. "We're bound to have more company sooner or later."
Then she grabbed some medical supplies, sat down on the nearest examination table and began prying the bullet out of her arm.
The doctor looked appalled. "Don't you want something to numb the pain first?"
"No," she replied with a strange smile, as the blood leaked down her bicep. "I like this sort of thing."
Shaw has such great chemistry with everyone. No wonder Lionel calls her Miss Congeniality. :p
P.S. I can't believe they're making us wait until Feb for the next ep! Gah! :/