Chapter 2

Shaw's eyes flickered open, her ability letting her know exactly where and when she was. Well as much information as latitude, longitude, elevation and local sidereal time gives you anyway. She'd have to find out the actual details the old fashioned way.

She glanced around the room, noting the state of the art medical equipment surrounding her. Clearly a private health care facility, given the size of the room and her lone occupancy. The glowing green liquid flowing into the IV line attached to her right arm was an unpleasant surprise though. Bone regrowth serum, a healing accelerator. Whatever had caused her to crash her bike, had injured her badly enough to break bones. Shaw lifted the sheet covering her and took stock of her body, noting the heavy bruising on her left arm and leg. The serum may have healed the bones but it didn't do much for soft tissue damage. She flexed her arm and leg, ignoring the sharp spikes of pain through the abused muscles.

Shaw forced herself to sit up, aware of the clock ticking on her exit window. Her vision swam and her limbs felt heavy and weak, like she was carrying a hundred pound weight in high humidity. All likely side effects due to accelerated healing. She would need to watch her calorie intake over the next few days to ensure that she replaced all the reserves her body would have burnt off healing her bones.

The bruising extended across her torso, so she'd likely cracked a few ribs as well. She inhaled deeply, clenching her jaw as her ribs protested, but was relieved to note no major impairment to her breathing. A little stiffness and pain she could work with, but a punctured lung would have been slightly more problematic.

She ignored the dizziness and determinedly yanked at the IV attached to her arm, before moving on to the other leads connected to her. The whine of an alarm from one of the machines she'd disconnected, made her grimace. Although she was pretty certain she wasn't in a hostile facility given the lack of restraints and armed guards, there might still be some resistance to her just up and leaving.

The door opened and a doctor entered, pausing in surprise as he took in the scene in front of him. "Ah Ms. Gray, I see that you're awake." He was a middle aged Japanese man, who spoke clear but accented English. "Your wife was right about your resistance to sedatives".

Shaw dismissed him as a threat, her attention entirely focused on the woman who had followed him into the room.

"Sameen, sweetie I'm so glad you're ok", Root rushed to her side and grabbed her hand.

Shaw was impressed at the actual tears that formed in her eyes as Root played the concerned spouse. She was dressed in designer clothes that screamed money and privilege. The leather coat alone was probably worth over two grand, not to mention the Manolo Blahnik boots. Well that explained the private medical facility and the bone regrowth serum. The serum especially, was not exactly a dime a dozen.

Shaw gritted her teeth and forced her lips to twist into a smile. "I'm okay, honey. There was no need for you to come all the way out here". She tightened her grip on Root's hand, but was frustrated when she couldn't get anywhere near the crushing pressure she wanted.

"I was worried about you, Sameen. Of course I had to come". Root's gaze flickered down to their joined hands and her eyebrows drew together in genuine worry. "Dr. Hashimoto, have you not started caloric replacement yet?"

"That's one of the reasons why I have advised we not move your wife yet, Ms. Gray." The doctor silenced the beeping machine alarm. "We haven't had the time to do any caloric replacement, bar the bare minimum accompanying the serum administration."

"I'll be fine", Shaw interjected before he could continue. "I'll grab something to eat on the way out".

"It's not going to be that easy to fix, Ms. Gray." The doctor gave her a disapproving look. "Your glucose stores are dangerously low."

"Don't worry, Doctor." Root smiled disarmingly. "Sameen is a paramedic, so she does understand the seriousness of her condition. She's just fulfilling the stereotype of being the worst possible patient."

Root started dragging the expensive looking carryon that had been propped up beside the window, closer to the bed. "We are also taking a private jet back that is fully capable of meeting her medical requirements. She'll be hooked up to an IV as soon as we get on board." She paused and tilted her head, fixing the doctor with a wide eyed stare. "Now as I've mentioned, we are on a bit of a timetable and really need to be on our way as soon as possible."

"Right of course. I will be back shortly with the discharge papers." The doctor flustered under the look and left the room hurriedly.

Root wasted no time in placing a scrambler on the wall beside the bed. A blue dome crackled over the room, ensuring that nothing could see or overhear them. "We've got three minutes". She reached into the bag and took out a set of clothes for Shaw.

"So what's the plan?" Shaw carefully swung her legs off the bed, her jaw clenching as even that small effort left her breathing faster than she would have liked. She reached up to undo the hospital gown, but gentle hands batted hers out of the way, as Root took over and removed it for her.

Root inhaled sharply as she took in Shaw's exposed torso. Shaw's entire left side was one solid mass of blue bruising. There didn't appear to be one unblemished patch of skin. "Oni Lee really did a number on you". Root's hands tightened briefly on the black pants she was holding, before she knelt and started helping Shaw into them.

So that's who was responsible for Shaw's current condition. Lung's right hand man was a teleporter, which made him hard to track. That was no excuse though. Shaw should have been more vigilant, instead of getting taken out like a raw recruit.

"And the reason I'm not currently enjoying Lung's hospitality is?" Shaw gingerly shimmied her hips and took over from Root, pulling up the pants the rest of the way.

"Let's just say he had better things to do, and move on to more interesting things like our new cover identities". Root's lips curled into one of her wide terrifying smiles as she held up two passports. She tossed them onto the bed beside Shaw.

"You're a paramedic. I'm a computer programmer. We met three years ago, got married six months later, and we live in Hawaii now". Root picked up a black shirt and it held it open for Shaw to slip into.

Shaw raised an eyebrow as she eyed the passports. "Ruth Gray. Sameen Gray. Cute. Who took who's name"?

Root paused in the process of buttoning up Shaw's shirt and gave her a look. "That's the part you have questions about?"

"What?" Shaw grumpily pushed away Root's hands and completed buttoning the shirt herself. "It's an important thing to know".

"Shaw, we're going to be spending at least the next six months with these identities, so please take this seriously". Root tossed a small item at Shaw who reflexively caught it, ignoring the pain that flared through her side at the action.

"What do you mean six months?" Shaw slid the ring she'd caught onto her left hand.

"Simurgh isolation protocols. This gives us a perfect opportunity to test how well our cover identities hold up".

Shaw's jaw clenched at the reminder of the magnitude of her screw up. She'd been compromised in a city about to be attacked by an Endbringer. Not only was Root now exposed to the same danger as her, but they were both going to be out of action for the next six months. That meant that Finch and Reese would be left to handle numbers without the two of them.

Root held out a dark gray coat, the light glinting off the diamond on her ring. "Please try to be more careful with this one. We're not going to have access to Harold's workshop to get a replacement anytime soon".

Shaw rolled her eyes and carefully got to her feet, with Root hovering annoyingly close. Black spots briefly flecked her vision as she slipped gingerly into the coat, and she could feel Root's hand settle against her hip, steadying her. She checked the special inner pocket and smiled as her fingers brushed against the familiar shape of a pistol. "A Nano, nice".

"I have a car waiting outside. It will take us directly to the airport, where our plane is prepped and ready for takeoff." Root handed over a hair tie and Shaw pulled her hair back in a ponytail, relieved to get it off her face. A couple of loose strands flopped over her eyes, but Shaw ignored them.

"Ten seconds", she said tersely, her ability keeping track of the time that had passed since Root had activated the scrambler.

Root nodded and reached out to adjust the collar of Shaw's coat. With a soft exhalation of breath, she slid her hands down the lapels and leaned her forehead against Shaw's. "I'm glad you're ok, Sameen".

Shaw allowed her own eyes to flutter shut, the familiar scent of leather, shampoo and something essentially Root, overwhelming her senses.

"And for the record, " Root's voice dropped a register into the sultry range. "You took my name".

Shaw reared back, only to get an eyeful of the gigantic smirk on Root's face. She opened her mouth to respond when there was a brief flare of light and the blue dome around the room collapsed. She jerked away, breaking Root's hold on her.

Root kept smiling that blood pressure increasing smile, and sauntered over to the bag, where she pulled out a pair of Ugg boots. "Need help putting these on, sweetie?" She motioned towards Shaw's bare feet, her expression set in a perfect simulacrum of helpful concern.

Shaw could only let out a frustrated growl as she snatched the boots from Root's unresisting hands. It was going to be a long six months.

TBC