"Root," Shaw sighed. She wasn't certain as to what she wanted to say, and if she wanted to say something. Anything. She wouldn't even know how to convey in any words what was on her mind, let alone speak them aloud.
"Sameen." Root countered with hint of suggestion in her voice, but Shaw ignored her.
"What's going on?" The shorter woman inquired sharply. It took her a lot of self-control not to snap at Root, but she figured that if she desired from her to spill the beans on whatever was exactly wrong, getting angry wasn't the way to get the job done.
Root raised her eyebrows in surprise, expecting any question but the one Shaw had just picked. "Why, Sameen? Are you worried about me?" She retorted with a thin voice, but still sweetly as always. It wasn't a question. It was a suggestion. Root was desperately trying to turn the tables on Shaw, but it wouldn't work. Shaw knew something was up, but she decided to drop the subject for the time being. Root was on defense and she wouldn't get any valuable information right now.
"We have to get out." Shaw said as she rolled her eyes, supporting the sentence with an exasperated sigh to emphasize that she was positively done with their mission. That she was done with Root holding back whatever she was holding back. She tried the normal way. The way most people would handle this sort of thing. Not Shaw. It required a lot of energy and effort for her to attempt reaching Root. But she took a shot at it anyway, because even though she hated to admit, she cared. And for Root she was willing to look past her own ways in order to achieve the impossible. Root knew that. Root was all too aware of the fact that Shaw was trying so hard, but still she wasn't going to budge. A next step would be for Shaw to beg. But there was no way in hell Sameen Shaw would ever do that.
She turned to the door, brushing Root's arm as she made the movement. She felt the other woman's muscles tense at the swift contact, but knowing Root wouldn't tell her why she was so on edge in Shaw's presence, and it wasn't the time to pry any further, she just filed the information away for future reference and continued doing what she could do best: recon.
She took stand against the door, leaning close with her ear against the wood, listening to the sounds, or better, the lack thereof on the other side. When she had concluded the coast was clear for now, she turned to Root again. "You got a plan?"
But the other woman shrugged casually and smiled, so annoyingly amused with the situation that it ached Shaw to the point that she wanted nothing more than to wipe it off her face, but she let it slide for as long as she could. She just wanted to get the hell out of that server room. "Root." She added impatiently.
"To the left." Root said suddenly. She had the same look on her face as every other time She was talking to her. The Machine. In some sort of trance-like manner she got into position to proceed their escape. Root was in God Mode. "Two hostiles incoming."
Shaw quickly grabbed her gun from behind the waistband of her jeans, training her gun in the direction Root had gestured. Adrenaline was running through her veins once again, immediately being triggered by Root's behavior in the same way her appetite sparked at smelling steak. "If I'm going to shoot them, I'll tip the rest of them off." Shaw breathed gruffly, concentrating on the sounds in the hallway.
"I'm sure you'll find a way to get around that." Root retorted gleefully, again that annoying smirk on her face. Shaw decided to keep her quiet this time, her hand resting on the door handle, ready to strike.
Eventually, when she finally heard footsteps approaching, she swiftly opened the door, slamming it open wide. A loud thud indicated that at least one of the two guards that was searching for them had walked – or ran, depending on the speed – right into the door, and Shaw moved around the corner to take care of the other. When Root stuck her head around that same corner to check up on her grumpy company, she had the one that was still standing in a chokehold, the other already out like a light.
Root checked if the hallways were empty, waiting for further instructions from the Machine, who had finally decided that silence wasn't the answer that day. After the other guard dropped unconsciously on the floor, joining the other body, Shaw spurred Root onto action. They needed to move. They were running out of time, and sooner or later the other guards would find out what they had done to their colleagues, and therefore it would betray their location. Getting away from it had become an increasingly higher priority.
"That way." Root gestured in the general direction in which the guards had been running, starting to resume their path.
"You can't run." Shaw pointed out as soon as the movements of the other woman suggested she was going to do just that. "Root, it's dangerous. You have a hole in your side." She added when Root stayed silent, not indicating in the slightest that she was going to walk instead of run.
"I've had worse. It's nothing I can't handle." Root lied, trying to sound light and indifferent about it, but she knew the other woman was right. It hurt her more than she'd like to admit, and she had the feeling she could lose her balance at any moment. But she didn't have another choice. They had to get out of the building, and it'd be best if it went as fast as possible.
Shaw rolled her eyes, deciding that she'd let Root do whatever she saw fit, but making sure the other woman knew she didn't agree on her way of handling the situation. If her pride and back would have allowed her, she would have carried Root herself, but that was not an option. Nor in a hundred years; neither for infinite amounts of money.
So the two of them began running – well, more like jogging, much to Shaw's relief – through the halls. With the Machine as their guide they made it through a few dozen yards unscathed, until they had their next encounter with a hurdle of guards. No less than five of them. Shaw eyed them as she contemplated the best tactics. She knew there was no way she could take them out without alarming the others. Root was in no shape to fight, and Shaw couldn't handle five of them without the use of a gun.
She made eye contact with the taller woman, who nodded at her, apparently getting what Shaw was up to. Her hand slipped behind her back, wrapping around her gun. Root was almost hundred percent positive that she didn't need it, but kept her hand on the cold metal anyway, finding some kind of solace in it.
Shaw checked her magazine once more, and loaded her gun. After she had glanced over her shoulder at Root, she concentrated on her targets, assessing which ones to take down first. When she'd decided on her tactic strategy, she brought her arm up, taking her aim.
The first three bullets hit their targets, damaging their kneecaps and rendering them incapable of fighting back. The other two, however, found cover: one ducked behind some forgotten portable file cabinet only yards away, and the other fled around the corner at the end of the hallway, firing his own spray of bullets in Root and Shaw's direction. One advantage was that the guard furthest from them wasn't a good shot due to the big distance that separated them, so Shaw could focus on the nearest of the two.
At some point she thought she felt something shift next to her, but with the furthest guard reloading his gun, she was concentrating on the nearest guard. He was desperately taking cover behind the file cabinet, making it hard on Shaw to take him down. But she needed to take him out of the equation first before she could get any closer to the other assailant.
She waited till the next spray of bullets had died out again, and seizing the opportunity to take the guard out. She sneaked up on the cabinet, catching him off guard. A few swift moves and a well-aimed hit on the back of his head with her gun rendered her victim unconscious, leaving her with only one other guard standing. When she turned to him, she saw the barrel of his gun trained on her.
He was taking a few steps towards her, keeping Shaw and her reactions carefully under scrutiny. He tentatively put down his feet on the ground, as if he were weighing his options while he did so, never averting his gaze. He had the upper hand and he needed to make the right call. The smaller woman was a deadly one, and he doubted she'd let him handcuff her without a fight. He'd seen her just seconds ago, effectively taking out four of his colleagues, who were either unconscious or squirming in pain. Obviously, he didn't want to end up like them.
But pulling the trigger.. It was not something he did when the opponent was unarmed. Not like this.
"Get down on the ground." He exclaimed, trying to put as much confidence in his voice as he could, but failed miserably. His voice was shaky and so were his hands for that matter. Even if he decided to take the shot.. He didn't know if he would hit his target. He was only a few feet away from the woman, and normally it would be an easy shot. If only he could get his hands steady.
He inhaled deeply. Something he'd always done when he was nervous, and even this time it helped him a little. So when his hands stopped trembling, and the woman didn't budge, he positioned his finger on the trigger.. Ready to pull.
Then he heard a gunshot, followed by feeling a sharp pain in his knee. His leg wasn't able to hold him anymore, so he collapsed right down at the spot. His mind couldn't immediately fathom what had happened, but he knew it wasn't the woman he had just ordered to lie down on the ground. So he only had one explanation for it.
She had a partner.
Root emerged from behind the other corner the guard had been situated just minutes prior, holding her gun in her hand. She walked up to the guard, who was reaching for his own gun, but to no avail. Root kicked away his piece, successfully disabling him to fight back. It was best if he didn't try. She only needed a clean getaway. No one had to die.
"Took you long enough." Shaw said grouchily, but she was also smirking slightly. "I was about to take him out myself."
"Well.. You can take me out instead." Root flirted, the tone of her voice sending chills down Shaw's spine and she had that awful smile plastered on her face, as if nothing in the world could amuse her more than taunting Shaw. She knew better than to believe the act though. If it had been pre-Stock Exchange era, she would have. But not this time. Not when she had seen her face clouded with worry. Subtle but visible.
Shaw pushed a new clip into her gun with a loud click, shooting daggers at the other woman, trying to put as much force and suggestion into the movement as she could. If Root were going to keep playing this game, she could too. And she would sure as hell win it. Sameen Shaw did not lose any games. And certainly not from Root.
"Let's move." Shaw mumbled gruffly. She was twenty shades of done with this mission and the need to get it over with grew stronger the longer they stayed in one place. "Which way?"
Root appeared to be sunken in thoughts for a moment, but Shaw knew she was waiting for directions from the Machine. Root didn't put her gun back behind the waist band of her jeans this time. Shaw knew it was more of a tether to her than anything else. She had only two bullets left, and she had to be careful not to use them all at once. Only in case of emergency.
Shaw could have taken out the guard herself, but she would have caused much more harm, and might have even killed him in the process. Root could do it relatively harmless, and so she figured it was the better of the two options they'd had. But that meant that Root had only two-thirds of her initial bullet count left.
The woman walked up to the gun she had just kicked away from the guard, picking it up. She checked the clip, finding it empty. She repeated the same with the rest of the guns that were within reach; the ones that the guards had previously owned, but were Root's to rob. Eventually she had gathered one gun and two extra – all the guards were equipped with the same standard-issue weapon – almost-empty clips, stuffing them in her pockets, and putting the spare gun behind her waistband.
She had five rounds on top of the two she'd already had. She still needed to make sure she didn't use too many, but it would do. It was better than nothing to defend herself with at all. So compared to that, it was everything.
She gestured in Shaw's direction, encouraging her to follow as the Machine gave her the route belonging to the fastest – that is, one that involved as few bullets as possible – exit strategy. Shaw did what was asked, holding up her gun at all times. If she were to accompany Root on a mission, she would make sure she was safe. It was her job to do so, even when the people she was protecting were being reckless and didn't seem to care at all.
"She tells us we should split up." Root spoke quietly, seemingly wary of any guards in their proximity. When they were in the middle of the crossing of two halls, she listened for instructions from her God, looking in both hallways for any indication of movement, but she didn't spot any.
Root stayed still for a few moments, her eyes quickly flashing from hallway to hallway, concentrating on every sound she could hear – that being everything she could actually hear with her left ear, and the Machine in her cochlear implant.
"Root?" Shaw inquired, wanting to know what exactly the plan was. They were in the same place for far longer than she liked or considered wisely and she felt the need to move. Soon. "What..?"
"That way." Root interrupted her mid-sentence, pointing in the right hallway. "At the ending, go left."
"What's there?" Shaw questioned, turning to Root, who was already walking in the direction they had been headed minutes earlier.
"You'll see." Root lilted, turning to walk backwards to flash Shaw a smile. She spun on her heel and continued her journey to whatever mayhem was awaiting her, so Shaw decided to do the same, taking the hallway Root had appointed her to take. She walked in the directions the other woman had given her, and heard the muffling sounds of what she assumed to be another group of guards.