JOHN REESE POV
John is still holding the dead Decima agent's phone when the timer on it went to zero as he looks at the camera feeds on it when suddenly a sound of a phone ringing off in the distance.
Is that where Harold is?
Not a second later, there's another sound of a phone ringing from behind him. Both he and Shaw turn their heads towards the phone booth where the dead Decima agent is at and the ringing phone.
This is very suspicious…
Is it the machine? Of all the time, now its calling him to give him new numbers? Or something else… It could be Decima, or it could be Root for all he knows.
Then his phone in his suit pocket beeps and vibrates, telling him there's a message. This isn't coincidental. Dropping the other phone, he takes out his phone and checks the message.
FROM: FINCH
It's for you, John.
What is going on? Where's Finch? Are questions that's bouncing in his head, but John puts his trust and faith in Harold. Knowing his friend, he definitely planned this.
He slowly marches towards the phone that's been ringing for the past few seconds, with Shaw keeping watch behind him for the eventual rush of Decima agents. Getting into the small phone booth, John picks up the receiver and hears…
BEEP. CAN. YOU. HEAR. ME. BEEP.
It's the same disjointed series of recorded voices he'd heard a year ago, but rather than giving seemingly random words, this time it's talking directly to him. Finch must want him to respond to the machine.
"Yes." John calmly answers the enigmatic A.I. question.
Shaw slowly backs herself nearer to John as she continues to scan for any incoming and says. "Not exactly a great moment for a personal call."
He doesn't say anything in response in case it triggers anything with the machine when suddenly the receiver comes back to life.
BEEP. FOUR. O. CLOCK. BEEP.
4 O'clock? What?
John glances out of the phone booth to see the clock face on the opposite side of the hall and sees it's a minute past midnight.
… Is Harold's machine broken?
A second later, he can hear footsteps coming from behind of the phone booth.
Oh…
John quickly pulls out his holstered pistol and aims at 4 o'clock from his position then…
BANG
The moment he saw a man coming into view, he pulls the trigger and hitting him on the knee, incapacitating him.
Shaw looks at him with wide eyes, clearly surprise at his reaction time, while he just trying to figure out what's going on. What is the machine doing? Did Finch do something to let the machine talk to him freely?
BEEP. ELEVEN. O. CLOCK. BEEP.
Instinctively, he spins towards his 11 o'clock and fires the second he spots a man coming down the stairs.
BEEP. TEN. O. CLOCK. BEEP.
He adjusts his aim slightly to his left at the door and fires at another Decima agent the moment he enters the hall.
"We need to move, Reese. Now." Shaw comments as she stands beside him.
That's a logical move for their current predicament, which John agrees with, but…
BEEP. STAY. BEEP.
"Stay." John relays that command to the former operative and expands. "Follow my lead."
She just gives him a side glance and shoots him a questioning look, but doesn't say anything and gets into a stance. Wonder how long until she's going to ask who's he talking to…
BEEP. ONE. O. CLOCK. BEEP.
John follows the machine's instructions and aims at the empty space before…
BANG
BANG
Another agent falls to the floor, as both of them fire their guns.
BEEP. NINE. O. CLOCK. BEEP.
BANG
This time, Shaw wasn't in time to shoot at the Decima agent.
BEEP. TWO. O. CLOCK. BEEP.
BANG
BANG
The man falls to the ground after they both shoot at him, and Shaw gives him a look of wonderment… at least that's what he thinks. Before she nods towards the payphone with a newly added bullet hole through it.
Damm… He can feel his heart pumping higher than normal. Knowing where to shoot before a person is there was really fun, but it does feel like he's slightly cheating… only very slightly.
With slight disappointment, he put the receiver back on the broken payphone. Not a second later, his cellphone rings, to which he quickly takes out to see an unknown caller and he answers.
BEEP. MOVE. NOW. BEEP.
The machine's voice reverberates out of his earpiece. This is new…
"Let's go." John says to Shaw as he walks forward, who's still giving him an odd look.
"You got a plan?" Shaw asks as she walks beside him with her gun raised up.
Harold…
The virus must have caused this change in the machine after that countdown ended and Harold somehow gave John this power, this access to the machine…but if he had this… then that means Root must have done the same.
A chill travel down his spine at the thought of that madwoman having the machine's predictive ability. Taking her down went from hard to near impossible if it weren't for Harold's help.
There's no telling what chaos that nutcase is going to bring down on everyone if she goes through with her plan. Harold told him that her plan was to find the machine and set it free, whatever free means to her. And he can only think of the worst. That means they have to stop Root and to stop Root, he needs to…
He quickly switches to the tracking app on his phone and sees Harold is just outside of the building.
"Yeah, finding Finch." John answers as they make their way through the hallway.
"That's what we've been doing…" Shaw mutters.
BEEP. FOUR. O. CLOCK. BEEP.
They're approaching a corner that means…
He brings up his pistol and fires his pistol the moment he peeks the corner. They both continue down the hallway, leaving behind the downed Decima agent. All the while, Shaw occasionally shoots him a suspicious look, as if she's trying to figure out what's going on with him.
From the short time he knows her, the woman has a sharp mind and is very good at predicting things. He can't skirt around the subject of the machine, now that it's talking directly to him, and what's motivating Root.
With how Harold wanted to recruit Shaw into their job of a concerned third party, he hopes his friend doesn't mind if he's the one that tells her about the machine.
His phone beeps again, telling him that Harold was just on the other side of this door and has been stationary for the past minute.
ROOT POV
BEEP. CAN. YOU. HEAR. ME. BEEP
She lets out a gasp of relief and says glee. "Absolutely."
Her heart is beating so fast right now, she feels like it can jump out of her chest with glee. She can barely describe this euphoric feeling in her as she listens to the receiver.
BEEP. THREE. O. CLOCK. BEEP.
Taking less than a second to compute to decipher the meaning of that message, Root says with coolness in her voice. "I understand."
She hangs up the receiver back to the payphone, then takes out an earpiece from her bag and places it in her right ear before exiting the phone booth.
"Come on, Harold." She says with glee as strides towards the man on the floor and lifts him up. "The fun's just getting started."
BANG
BANG
The sound of multiple gunfire erupts from the floor below as they make their way away from that main hall.
"Looks like your helper monkey got some company." Root says with a smirk as her arm is around Harold's arm, dragging him towards an exit she has in her mind. "I wonder if he'll survive this time."
"He's more resourceful than you think." Harold retorts back as he wiggles his arm out of her grasp.
"That's true…" Root says with her smirk still on her as her mind thinks. "… underestimating him would be unwise but this time I have God helping me."
Not that the helper monkey will be able to do anything against her. Not with the machine guiding and protecting her.
Harold doesn't say anything other than that frown he has whenever she says something he finds unsightly. The man really needs to work on his assumptions about her. It honestly cast an unpleasant light on her.
BEEP. TEN. O. CLOCK. BEEP.
She smiles as she aims at that corner where a door lies and fires her pistol as a figure comes through the door before continuing towards the exit of the building.
Root spares a look at a wide-eyed Harold before saying. "Don't worry, Harry, he's still alive. I'll keep my promises."
As they pass a large archway that leads into another large hall, Root says into the ether. "Abbreviate audio prompts, please."
BEEP. CONFIRMED. BEEP.
"And the numbers aren't doing it for me." Root says as she comes to a stop and points her pistol up. "Let's try an ascending tone cue for right and descending for left."
The moment she finishes, a sound reverberates out of her earpiece.
ASCENDING TONE
Following the tone, she moves her aim towards the left until she reaches a pair of services door and fires her pistol into the right side, then…
DESCENDING TONE
She moves her aim towards the left door and fires, then sounds of bodies hitting the floor, giving her a thrill of excitement. This is intoxicating.
They both move forward, and swing open the doors, revealing the two downed Decima agents. Not bothering to glance at them, she walks over them before turning the corner.
Down another short corridor, revealing a flight of stairs going up and down.
"I thought you said I wouldn't enjoy this, Harold." Root can't help but mock the limping man as they walk down the steps. "Sadly, though, if my access to the machine only lasts the day… it's time to go."
As they reach the bottom of the steps, the sound of ascending tone reverberates in her ear. Instantly she aims her pistol towards her right where she sees elevators. There's one in there…
BANG
Following that, there's a satisfying thud sound of someone falling over. Root doesn't think she'll ever tire of this, it's soo fun.
"Your friend John's been keeping up with us. How is that?" Root asks aloud as they walk towards the elevator doors that conveniently opens, revealing a man slumped on the floor.
"I don't know." Harold answers her as she enters the elevator and grabs the man's pistol.
"I wasn't asking you, Harold." Root says with a smirk to the man before pressing the ground floor button.
BEEP. GLASSES.
She looks back at Harold with an arched brow, causing the man to look at her with a degree of fright.
"Excuse me." She smiles at the man as she plucks out his glasses. "Your helper monkey needs to learn boundaries."
A slight frown appears on Harold's now glassless face before responding. "I suspect it had something to do with you last year."
"You really shouldn't defend a stalker, Harold." Root leans closer to the man and spins his glasses with her fingers.
"Is that what you called yourself before you kidnapped me?" Harold retorts calmly.
Root lets out a soft snort. "That's information gathering, Harry. And I never had to track you constantly with how easy it is to find you."
Harold doesn't look impressed with her answer but doesn't respond.
DING
The elevator doors opens and reveal a small lobby with glass doors that lead out to the streets.
"The future awaits." She says gleefully as she steps out of the elevator.
SAMEEN SHAW POV
Alright, this is just getting weirder and weirder as they both make their way out of this dammed library. Every corner they pass there're Decima goons waiting for them and John, with his new power of clairvoyance, knows exactly where each goon is. Look… Sameen knows John is a capable dude, but this is just ridiculous. After picking up that call, John went all Matrix all of a sudden.
Just what the fuck is going on?
They both finally exit the library onto a surprisingly empty plaza that's facing Fifth Avenue, which is odd onto itself, with John's eyes still glued to his phone.
Getting annoyed by this charade, she finally asks. "You wanna fill me in on who you're talking to, John? Our fairy godmother?"
"The group you used to get your intel from…" John answers without skipping a beat. "… You call them research. Your ex-boss called it northern lights."
Research having another name that she doesn't know about isn't surprising… but what is he getting at?
"The ones Finch told me doesn't exist." Sameen comments as they walk down the steps towards Fifth Avenue.
"No, they exist." John replies. "They're just an 'it' rather than a 'them'. A machine."
That click something in her mind.
"You mean an A.I.?" Sameen asks as she comes to a stop as she looks at the former spook.
That… explains soo much. The never wrong information, the unrelating cadence of numbers ISA was getting, the seemingly unconnected or seemingly innocent numbers.
She had thought some intel gathering group that does SIGINT and HUMINT, but this makes so much sense… that an A.I. was the one that was giving the numbers. That A.I. must have its tendrils in every intel agency in the country for it to do its job. Sameen isn't a computer nerd, but she does know her way around a computer, but she didn't even know the government could create something this powerful.
Does that mean Harold's the one that built this A.I. for the government? That isn't too far out with how much government shit are contracted out, plus the man is a giant computer nerd. Harold did say he gets numbers from research as well. Guess he must have installed a backdoor for himself, so he could do his halfway house for retired assassins.
John doesn't answer her as he looks around the empty plaza for Harold, but she'll take silence as an affirmative. Then he stopped looking around and was dialed to a lamppost before swiftly walking towards it.
She can see from her position that it's Harold's broken glasses as she gets closer to John and says. "Your tracker… maybe Finch doesn't want to be found."
Sameen has a gut feeling about this. If he wanted to, the man could find a way to get away from that hacker bitch, but he hasn't for the past day… not that John believes her.
So now, they have a missing computer genius that's working for an insane computer hacker and an A.I. giving John tips on where to shoot through his earpiece. Wonder how weirder this day can get.
John completely ignores Sameen as he turns around and walks towards a lamppost with a CCTV camera bolted on it.
"Give me a location on finch." John demands as he comes to a stop at the base of the lamppost and looks directly into the camera.
Sameen, not knowing what else to do, follows the man's lead and looks at the innocent-looking camera.
John continues. "You know almost everything that's happening, and you won't tell me the one thing I need?"
Her eyes dart between the camera and John for a few seconds, puzzled by his downright weird action. Great, somehow, she's the only sane one again.
"Okay, look, I already broke you out of jail tonight. I'm not springing you from the funny farm." Sameen says with her hands in her jacket as she bore her eyes into the back of John's head.
John lets out a sigh and says. "Fine. How about a car we can use?"
A second later, John looks away from the camera and down the street to their left before walking away. Sameen lets out a frustrated sigh and shakes her head before following John down the street.
"Look, you gotta fill me in on what the fuck is going on. It's dangerous going forward blind." Shaw tells the man as she catches up with him before barraging him with a series of questions. "Why did you go full Iron Man after that call? What does Root want with Finch? What is her plan?"
John gives her a glance and answers. "Honestly, I have no idea why the machine is talking to me. It never did so before. I think it has something to do with the virus and me answering that phone gave me some kind of permission for it to talk to me."
She rolls her eyes at that answer. Great, he's in the dark as well.
"As for Root…" John says as they continue on striding down the street. "… She's been looking for the machine since last year."
Sameen arches a brow and says. "That's when Finch met Root?"
John nods and continues. "Yeah, Harold created a surveillance A.I. for the government, the A.I. which he calls the machine. It has access to the NSA feeds, The machine is everywhere, watching us with 10000 eyes and listening with a million ears. Root kidnapped Harold to get a location of the machine servers, but Harold doesn't know where it is either after handing it over to the government. I bet she's been trying to find the machine ever since then. And as for her plan… well, Harold says she wants to free it. If she wants to set it free, she has to find it first."
Well… no wonder these two nutcases are so lax with other privacies. John stalks his friend with a GPS tracker and his friend creates an Orwellian nightmare. At least, this gave her a lot of contexts of what's going on, with him crazily talking to a camera.
Those goons….
"Decima is looking for the machine, too?" Sameen asks.
John nods again and says. "They were the ones that created the virus that attacked the machine for the past few months and triggering whatever this is." He makes a gesture to his earpiece. "I figure they're trying to find the machine too, but I don't know their motives or really much about them."
Interesting, guess that grandpa from earlier wants the machine for himself. But currently they aren't the main priority right now.
Circling back to their primary target, she asks. "What the fuck does freeing an A.I. even mean?"
"I really have no idea, but nothing good if it's her." John says as he turns to her with a slight confusion on his face.
No idea, huh…
"Great." Sameen deadpans. "All of my reference to an A.I. are movies… You think Harold's machine is gonna go full terminator on our asses if Root gets what she wants?"
John has the gall to give her a shrug. "That's what Harold's been afraid of since the beginning."
"Fantastic…" Sameen drawls and rolls her eyes. "So, we got a hacker with a few screws loose trying to free an illegal government surveillance A.I. that might or might not be evil and she has the creator of said possible evil A.I."
"That sums it all up nicely." John replies in a matter-of-fact way.
"Why does this sound like a plot to a B rated movie?" Shaw comments as they continue walking down the street.
"Having two former government assassins that are labeled dead is a bit on the nose too." John deadpans.
At least he hasn't lost his shit sense of humor over his missing boss/friend.
Sameen lets out a frustrated sigh and asks. "What's the evil A.I. in your ear telling you now?"
"Currently? Nothing." John answers instantly. "Harold must have programmed the machine to not give certain information because it's not telling me where he is."
"Well, that's fucking convenient for him to do." Sameen deadpans again.
John suddenly comes to a full stop, causing her to do the same, and he takes out his phone to see a message. She can slightly see it and it says: NON-RELEVENT.
Huh…
"Wait… This has nothing to do with Finch, does it?" John says with slight frustration in his voice.
"Let's go." John says as he starts walking again. "Where's this car?"
As if it's on cue, a station wagon slowly comes to a halt not more than 10 paces away from the both of them. 'Gotta be shitting me'. They both trade looks with each other, thinking the same thing. The driver of that car conveniently walks away from the car with a box in hand and with the car still on.
Maybe having an evil A.I. in one's ear isn't that bad.
They both reach the car -with John at the driver's side because she really doesn't want to drive a station wagon- when she hears John's phone vibrate again and him looking at it again.
"Fine." John lets out a sigh before turning at her. "We're gonna need to make a pit stop. Someone needs our help."
Dude can't be serious, right?
"And the whole 'preventing the A.I. apocalypse' thing?" Sameen asks as she shakes her head.
John gives her a smirk and says before getting into the car. "You like a challenge, Shaw. We're the good guys, which means we have to do both."
Why is she even a good guy again? Shits she must do is always more difficult. Sameen rolls her eyes and gets into the car.
The former spook instantly slams the accelerator the moment both doors close, driving the stolen car away down the dark street and towards whatever destination they're going.
Time passes in silence as John drives the car, following directions from the voice in his head and her just looking out of the window, digesting everything that's been said.
There's, however, a question that's been burning at the back of her head the entire time. "Why is she alone?" She asks out loud.
John gives her a contemplative look but doesn't answer, so Sameen continues. "She can have the collective goons helping her, but she's all alone."
John just shrugs again. "I normally let Harold do most of the theorizing."
Sameen turns her attention to John with a frown on her. "From everything I've seen and from what that asshole said. The Collective clearly knows the existence of the machine after ISA stopped that attack in '08. So why is she alone? Did Pauling just sent her to find the machine?"
John spares her a glance as he focuses on the road and says. "Root only found out about the machine after we stopped her from killing an irrelevant number back in 2011."
What? This doesn't make sense… That asshole said Root joined the collective back in '05. Why would she only find out about it in '11?
Unless… Pauling was the only one that knew about the machine and didn't inform Root about it. That's the only likely explanation.
John then continues on saying. "And if they know about the machine, why have they been spending so much resources in avoiding it rather than shutting it down?"
Sameen lets out a tsk and says. "For the shit of it? More reasons to find Root to stop her from unleashing an A.I. and then using her to find Pauling."
"Couldn't agree more." John agrees as he continues to drive.
"This is what you do every day?" Sameen asks as she leans back into her seat. "Driving around in the middle of the night saving random people that A.I. tells you to?"
"You did the same thing too, Shaw. Except you didn't know it's from an A.I." John quips back.
She rolls her eyes. "Don't avoid the question."
John hums and answers with a smirk. "Most of the time it's in the daytime, but Harold pays overtime if we're working at night. Just remember to fill out your overtime sheet."
Sameen stares back at John, unamused by his attempt at humor, which causes his smirk to grow wider.
"I don't know how the machine gives ISA their numbers, but when the machine gives Harold a number of a person of interest, we don't know the person is the perpetrator or is the victim of a crime. We have to do our own investigation of the number." John informs her.
That isn't too far from what ISA did, but… "That's dumb. Why would Harold ever design the machine to do that? When ISA gets a number, it's always the perpetrator, or that person is a member of a group that's going to do something, but we have to find evidence of what they're doing before we kill them."
"The irrelevant list was a last-minute addition to the machine's programming." John defends his friend's work. "I guess he didn't have time to add a perpetrator only filter."
"Lucky you." Sameen remarks snarkily.
"It's not all bad. Getting to meet the person we're supposed to save is better than the faceless many." John says with a small smile.
"You said the same thing last week." Sameen mutters as she sees John slowing down the car.
"Yeah, unlike with Gary. Most of the people we save are just your everyday people going about their everyday lives. Sure, we get the occasional criminal here and there, but according to Harold, a life is a life." John ends his speech by arriving at the location.
The car comes to a stop just outside of an open-air storage facility.
"And you get to shoot people as much as you want?" Sameen asks as they both get out of the car.
"Most of the time." John glances at her for a second. "Just don't kill anyone."
"You just shanked a dude in the heart naught an hour ago." Sameen deadpans as John types in a code into a panel and opens the gate.
"Just try to not kill, for the most part." John replies as they both walk through the rows of storage rooms. "Harold understands if you can't avoid it."
Sameen gives him a blank stare as she follows his lead and comes to a full stop in front of an innocent-looking self-storage unit.
"We're here." John brings out his pistol which she does the same and he points at the roller shutter. "Two boogies, there and there."
Sameen brings her aim to one side of the unit while John is on the other side…
"Try to aim lower. We just want to incapacitate them, not kill them." John comments.
Sameen rolls her eyes but does as he says…
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
John quickly rolls up the shutter, revealing a storage unit that looks like a torture chamber, where two dudes are on the ground groaning and in the middle of the unit a guy with his hand tied behind his back is kneeling.
Huh… Having an A.I. that violates every privacy law in the world is kinda handy.
They both enter the unit, where she spots a laptop with a camera pointing at the kneeling man. These guys really livestreaming an execution in a fucking storage unit? Fucking unprofessional. They're doing a favor by stopping them from killing the number.
"Don't move." John says as he puts his hand on the clearly distressed man's shoulders. "The cops will be here soon. Understand?"
As John was reassuring the number, Sameen looked around and sees so many toys for her to play with. She grabs a SPAS 12 and a TMP along with their associate ammos.
"Are we done?" Sameen asks as she turns to see John doing the same thing as her.
"We're done." John turns around and they both exit the storage unit.
They casually walk towards their car, and just as they're about to turn the corner to where they parked, they spot a patrol car with officers checking the car. Without skipping a beat, they do a 180 and walk back from where they came from.
"Cops here sooner than we liked." Sameen quips as they backtracked.
"We're gonna need another vehicle." John talks to their fairy godmother. "And a way out."
"This time, ask for something fast." She comments.
"Turn left." John directs as she follows down the row of storage units.
Then they come to a stop in front of another innocent-looking storage unit. "The machine says this is the one."
"This better not be another station wagon." Sameen comments annoyingly as she pulls up the shutter after picking the lock.
Inside is one of the most beautiful things she has ever seen… not that she has the emotional capability to feel such a thing.
In the unit is a bright yellow Ferrari that looks like it's brand new and it's sexy as hell. Without looking away from the car, she tosses her newly acquired shotgun at John, who skillfully catches it.
"What's this for?" John asks.
"To help you feel less inadequate while I drive this thing." Sameen says with a smile as she approaches the stallion.
HAROLD FINCH POV
The sun peeks over the horizon of the tall cityscape, creating a bright and cold morning. Harold would say it's a beautiful yet cold spring day as he walks through the park where an untold number of people are going about their morning routine, if it wasn't for the fact that he's in the company of an insane person. Plus, not being able to see without his glasses doesn't help.
"Your machine is telling me about all these people, Harold." Root says gleefully as she leans closer to him with her arm around his arm.
The fact that this woman still looks like she's high on drugs since getting in contact with the machine is… unsettling.
"Their secrets." Root continues. "I'm beginning to understand how you acquired such a dim view of humanity, Harold."
His view of humanity wasn't formed by what the machine showed him, but rather his experience…
"Wait." Root puts a hand on his chest as they come to a sudden halt as a bicycle speed past in front of them without warning.
"How rude of me." If he squints slightly, he can see Root smirking as she stares at him. "I can see for the first time and you're blind."
Not an apt metaphor due to her being blind to the inferno she's playing with, but he isn't going to voice such a thing again. It would be like talking to a stubborn mule.
Root looks up into the sky as if she can see the machine and says. "We'll need some glasses for Harold. I'm sure you know his prescription."
Not a second later, a mad smile blooms on her face before turning to her right, where Harold can see the shape of a person sitting down. The mad hacker casually takes a case from the unassuming person's bag and invades his personal space again to put on glasses on Harold.
The world around him looks clearer for the first time since midnight.
"How's that?" Root says with a self-satisfying look on her.
Harold doesn't want to answer her, so he says. "I still don't know where we're going."
"Yes, you do." Root says with a grin before wrapping her arms around his again. "We're going to find your child."
Harold's throat feels tight at that disturbing notion. Throughout the development of the machine, it did act like a curious child… Did the machine that told her about that, or did she decide to use that word herself? This is something he really doesn't want to dwell on. Not after the decisions he made…
"The machine isn't going to tell you where it is." Harold comments as they continue walking down the park. "How do you expect to find it?"
"You sure you don't know where the servers are at?" Root gives her a pout as she asks playfully.
Harold gives her a blank stare and answers with a bold lie. "No. I'm sure you already know how the transportation method was designed so that no one can find out where it went after I handed over the machine."
"Can't hurt to ask~." Root replies rhythmically.
"So how do you plan on finding it when nobody knows where it is?" Harold probes.
Root, unperturbed by his rebuff, continues on smiling. "Oh… I got an idea in mind and your machine is being quite the helpful hand."
With the machine's help, she can find anything she wants except for the machine, but she's been wasting time until now. Is what she looking for time dependent? Just what is she planning?
They continue on with their walk towards nowhere, when suddenly Root breathes in sharply and says out loud. "How could I forgot… could you please send a message Oleander, telling her to for me at the airport for us? It isn't going to take us too long to finish our business here."
That instantly piqued his interest.
Now, who is that? She said airport, so that means she knows someone with a jet… Is this another piece on the chessboard that he didn't foresee? The only associate he knows Root has is Pauling. If so, then why the change of name from a year ago?
Harold comes to a jerk stop when Root suddenly froze in place with her eyes wide and she whispers. "What?"
"Is something wrong?" He can't help but ask.
"No…." She says in such a disengaged manner that he doesn't think that's an answer to his question.
Root, with a frown on her, instantly pulls out a phone from her bag and quickly taps on the screen to send a text message. What was the message? He couldn't see from his angle. He can hear Root taking deep breaths, as if she's trying to calm herself down.
A few seconds later, her phone chimes back, telling him there's a reply which he again can't see. As if there's a boulder lifted off from her shoulders, she lets out a sigh of relief and continue on texting.
That's such a curious thing to happen… What could illicit such a reaction from this madwoman? Just who is this Oleander and what did the machine say that cause her to lock up?
Slowly Root's face transforms back to the one that she had before as if nothing wrong had happened. Harold wants to learn more but doesn't want to risk any unwanted reaction from someone as unstable as her, so he keeps his questions to himself for now.
"Let's go Harold." Root says with a big smile on her again as she unfreezes herself and continues on walking. "We got another recluse to find."
SAMEEN SHAW POV
The sun is up in the sky when they both reach the library after a night of driving around in her new sweet Ferrari, helping another number before getting here. And John is kinda right… it does feel nice, plus she got to shoot more baddies. Something she hasn't done in an entire week.
Sameen looks around the room where Harold uses as his office and sees something missing.
"Where's Bear?" She asks as she walks closer to the table.
"Staying with Leon." John instantly answers her as he looks at the computer screens.
"Thought he hated Bear?" She rebuts.
John looks away from the screen and at her. "Didn't think you even liked the dog."
"Like him?" Sameen makes a face. "He's the only reason I'm sticking around."
John just gave her a shrug before turning back to the screens. So she presses on. "Why are we here?"
"Because the machine said this is where I'll find the answer." John replies as he continues to look at the screen without doing anything to it.
Feeling annoyed by him, she asks. "What was the question?"
"Where the machine is located." John answers.
"Can't it just tell you? Like how it isn't telling you where Finch is?" She shakes her head.
"Yeah… I think Finch programmed it not to, to protect it." John pushes himself away from the table and walks towards the brown board.
Sameen scrunches her brows and presses on with her theory for everything that's happening. "No offence, but maybe Finch wants control of the machine himself."
John spins around towards her and defends his friend. "If Finch had something to do with the virus, I'm sure he had his reasons."
At least, now she knows John is loyal to a fault, which she isn't sure if that's a bad thing or a good thing about their current circumstances.
"On the upside, hopefully the machine won't have told Root where it is either." John turns back to the brown board, where a multitude of paper, pictures and strings are on it.
Sameen takes a few steps forward to the board and sees the smug picture of Root. "Next time I see that woman, I'm shooting her… and not at the knee."
"Get in line."
At that moment, John's cellphone chimes loudly, which he instantly takes out to look and then shows to her. It's a secure SMS text from unknown which she assumes is the machine.
Ghost Alpha Kilo
"Ghost Alpha Kilo." She says out loud, then asks. "What's that?"
"A book." John answer with his usual smirk before walking away.
She rolls her eyes at his non-answer and follows the man towards the rows of bookshelves in the library until he reaches to one in the hallway. Her eyes instantly lands on where John is looking and sees the library tag on the book's spine.
Ghost. AK.
A Dewey decimal system? She hasn't seen this since she was in university.
Taking a closer look at the title, she says. "Ghost in the machine? It's a good book, but your A.I. is a bit on the nose, isn't?"
"Didn't know you read philosophy, Shaw." John spares her a glance.
"Ha, ha." Shaw deadpans as John just grins at her before opening the book.
He flips through the pages until he reaches the end, where he stops and pulls out a black-and-white picture. She instantly recognizes both men in the picture. One is obviously a younger smiling Harold and the other…
"That's the tech guy." Sameen points out and John passes her the picture. "Nathan Ingram."
She's seen him a few times when she was studying med. It wasn't hard with how much money he donated to her school before she graduated. Turning the picture around, there's an inscription at the back.
IN THE BEGINNING… N.I.
"He worked with Finch?" Sameen asks.
"They built the machine together." John answers her softly as he continues to look at the shelf.
Huh… she knew Harold was rich, but didn't know he was THAT rich.
Her eyes travel from the picture back to John and to where he's looking.
"There's something back there." Sameen says when she spots a cut in the wood.
That prompts John to start removing books from the shelf, and Sameen follows his lead. As they come to the bare shelf, John whacks it with his fist to dislodge it, revealing the bare wall…
There's a slight seam on the back frame. It's such a small seam that most people would gloss over it, so give it a tap resulting in a hollow sound. It's a false wall. Using the frame as support, she slides the wall and reveals a dial safe box.
"Any guess for the combination?" Sameen asks as she glances at John, who has his entire attention on the safe box.
At that moment, John's phone chimes again with a text on the screen. He then proceeds to turn the dial until a loud click sound telling them the safe box is unlocked. Opening it, John's hands instantly grab the first thing in the safe box, which is a multiple set of headshot pictures.
"Who are they?" Sameen asks curiously.
"I don't know." John answers as he shuffles through the pictures. "People they helped. People they tried…"
John freezes in place at the picture of a blond woman in her 40s, on the picture there's a small post-it note with a social security number and the date 12/7/10.
Sameen looks up from the photo back to John and sees the slight look of shock… and regret etches on his face. She has a bad feeling about the meaning of these pictures. Each of them has SNN and a date attached to them.
"You knew her." She comments both as a question and stating a fact.
John seemingly lost himself while looking at the picture, gives her a small nod.
"Cared about her." Sameen says softly.
The former spook doesn't answer her as he just blankly stares at the picture.
She can't help but ask, despite having an inkling of what these pictures meant. "She alive?"
"No." John softly replies as he takes a step back and tries to look away from the picture.
And the rest of the pictures must be the people Harold failed to save before John came into the picture, seeing that he doesn't know them.
Seeing that the man continues to freeze up, Sameen steps forward to go through the safe box and find a map. Bingo…
She turns back to John and grabs his shoulder. "Your living friend needs your help now. Come on."
He gives her a robotic nod before putting the pictures back into the safe box and follows her back to Harold's workstation, where she opens up the map.
It's a map of the contiguous United States with pen marking scribbled on most of the map. NYC is circled with a line going to circle Des Moines and then the line continues on to Salt Lake City, where there's another circle with arrows that points to other circles on the map.
"This isn't in Finch's handwriting." John tells her as he leans closer to the map. "Ingram must have been looking for the machine after they gave it to the government."
There's a pattern…
"Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Hanford, Washington. Comanche Peak, Texas." Sameen points to the places on the map. "He narrowed it down to those three places."
Her mind is going through the list of places she read from when she was in ISA. "You know what they've got in common?"
"They're all secure federal sites." John answers her after a few seconds.
Sameen nods. "For nuclear fuel storage… When Root tried to torture me, she wanted to know about an engineer named Daniel Aquino… A nuclear engineer."
"He must have had something to do with the facility that the machine is stored in." John speculates.
The former spook turns his attention away from the map and to Sameen. "What did Root want to know?"
She remembers that day as clearly as if it was yesterday. "The name of the man who hired him for Northern Lights."
John raises his brows. "And what was his name?"
HAROLD FINCH POV
They've been walking for quite a while now in Central Park, and now they are coming up to Bethesda Terrace. Harold still have no idea what she's planning or what the machine is telling her, and it's been more than an hour since he got these glasses.
The terrace is sparsely populated for a popular spot on a Wednesday morning with people walking about.
Just as they pass a man, Root comes to a stop and turns around with him in tow as she says. "Lawrance."
The older balding man looks visibly surprised by Root and she continues. "Lawrance Szilard."
Wait… that's the head engineer that built the machine's facility. The man disappeared years ago before Harold continued Nathan's search. He had thought the man was hiding in another country with his sudden and elaborated disappearance. But this man has been in the city all this time?
There's a madness in her smile as she takes a step closer to Szilard. "Nice to finally meet you, Larry… I've got some questions."
Harold can feel his heart pumping faster at this development. She's going to involve another innocent person in her insane hunt.
"Time for a chat, Lawrance." Root continues as the man is clearly frozen with surprise.
"How did you know where to find me?" Szilard asks in wonderment.
Root lets out a soft snort. "Let's say a friend told me."
The man shakes his head. "And who are you? What do you want?"
"We wanna know about Northern Lights." Root answers the man directly.
Szilard intakes a sharp breath before starting to turn around. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I have nothing to say."
The man quickly tries to walk away, but Root catches up to him with her phone in hand. "Your daughter, Christine."
That causes the man to turn around with fright in his eyes.
Root pounces on that vulnerability. "In L.A. where you hid her."
The man stops in his tracks as they both get close to Szilard.
"Such a shame if people running Northern Lights got a hold of her." Root threatens the frightened man by showing him a video feed of his daughter walking.
"Please, there's no need for that." Harold tells Root before addressing the man in front of him. "I can tell you how it began. You were approached by a woman named Alicia Corwin."
Szilard nods in acknowledgement. "She was killed here in the city last year."
Root puts away her phone to give the man a smile and mock sympathies. "Such a tragedy."
Harold turns slightly to Root and give her a deadpan look, knowing that she's the one that commit the murder right in front of him.
"All of my colleagues on that project died under suspicious circumstances in the past two years." Szilard continues. "As far as I know, I'm the last one alive."
"And you're the last person who can tell us about Northern Lights." Harold tells the distressed man.
Szilard nods and walks away. "Let's find a less busy spot."
Neither of them protested his suggestion, so they followed the man towards the Bethesda Fountain and the three of them found a nook where there isn't anyone.
"We were contracted to build a structure." Szilard starts explaining. "It had to be hidden in plain sight and have power for 50000 people. At first, you know, I said ,'that's a joke, what about a nuclear reactor?' The next day, I was given specs for a nuclear reprocessing facility and the army corps of engineers as a workforce. And then it started to arrive, disguised as radioactive material to evade scrutiny. We were just told t-to…" he makes a hand gesture. "Plug it in and they would take care of the rest, but I've always been the curious type."
"So, you took a look at the data." Harold concludes. No wonder the man knew he had to disappear to the moment his colleagues started dying.
Root, meanwhile, was just uncharacteristically silent and was paying attention to each word the man says.
Szilard waves his hand and shakes his head. "Just the I/O. The rest was encrypted. But what I saw…" There's a voice of wonderment in his voice. "It was like a glimpse of the future… Elegant, intuitive… Practically alive."
There's an eerie smile on Root's face as she listens to Szilard describe the machine.
Szilard's stares at Root and slowly the look of realization dawn on his face. "It's speaking to you right now, isn't it?"
A few seconds later, Root's face of wonder is replaced with a sharp one, as she says. "Come with us."
Something's wrong… He can feel it as they all walk away from their spot.
"Tell me, where is Northern Lights?" Root asks the man as she walks beside him.
Szilard's head snaps back at Root. "You're not gonna harm it?"
"Never." Root answers in a heartbeat. "I want to set it free."
"Good." The man nods. "Of course."
They continue walking up the pathway towards the road level when…
CRACK
A sudden and sharp sound of a crack zips through the air and not a second later Szilard collapsed onto the ground. Harold's eyes widen in shock at the sight in front of him, and the sound of people panicking around him. Oh god, he doesn't want this to happen…
Root drops onto her knees and shakes Szilard's dead body. "Where is it? Please."
CRACK
A bullet whizzes past Harold and hits the ground beside Root. He can feel his heart pumping like mad.
They need to get out of here now!
He quickly limps to Root and puts on her shoulders, trying to pull her up. "Let's go. We have to go now."
That seems to pull her back to reality as she shoots up from her kneeling position to a standing one, then she grabs his hand and pulls him along with her up the pathway.
"They murdered him, Harold." Root mutters at him as they walk up the stairs to the top of Bethesda Terrace. "He was our best chance. Now? Blood will flow."
Just as she finishes her sentence, she comes to a stop and spins around with her pistol in hand.
"Don't you touch him." Root seethes as she brings her pistol up and points it over Harold's shoulder.
BANG
BANG
Harold was frozen in place as she fired two shot, and he heard the sound of bodies hitting the floor. He turns his head to look at who she shot and sees two men in suits on the floor with blood profusely coming out of their chest. She killed them…
This is getting out of hand too quickly, and with Szilard dead, this woman is getting less stable. She isn't going to stop, and she will kill as many people until she finds where the machine is.
Root grabs his arms and drags him with her as they make their way to the road and towards God knows where next, unless he does something. Harold needs to tell her…
JOHN REESE POV
"Where's Lawrance Szilard?" John asks out loud as both he and Shaw make their way out of the library.
BEEP. BETHESDA. TERRACE. BEEP.
"Szilard's in Bethesda Terrace, Central Park." John tells his would be partner as they exit the library and walk towards Shaw's new toy. "Guessing that's where we're gonna find Finch."
He takes out his phone when he feels it vibrate and sees…
000-22-7814
Category: NON-RELEVENT
"Another pit stop?" Shaw asks with a slight disbelief tone in her voice. "That's the third one today… How often do you guys get a number?"
"Some days, none." John replies as they reach the sports car. "Doesn't seem like today's gonna be one of those days, though."
He puts his phone back into his pocket before he gets into the car. "Let's go."
"Directions?" Shaw asks as presses on the accelerator.
"You heard the lady." John asks the machine with a slight smile. "Directions?"
BEEP. HOLY. TRINITY. LUTHERAN. CHURCH. BEEP.
He still can't help but have a wide smile every time the machine gives him an exact location of a number. John should ask Harold if he can make it so they can keep doing this. It would make their job so much easier.
"Holy Trinity Lutheran Church." John relays the information to Shaw.
Shaw nods. "That's at Central Park West and on the way to our destination."
"Maybe the machine gave us this because it's convenient for us." John quips back with slight amusement.
Shaw snorts and rolls her eyes as she continues to drive. "Wanna bet a hundred dollars that it's some lover's bullshit that involves a wedding?"
John arches a brow at her for that quite specific prediction and with limited experience with her… "I'll take your word for it."
"Wuss." Shaw mutters in disappointment, causing him to chuckle.
The drive to the church from the library was swift with how fast Shaw's driving and yet wasn't fast enough to attract some patrol officer.
As they're coming up to the church, he can see a man in a tan leather jacket pointing a gun at the newlyweds. Looks like the potential perp is talking to the groom. Good thing he didn't take the bet.
"I could have won a hundred dollars." Shaw mutters as she brings the car to a speedy halt.
"Uh-huh." John brings out his gun and lowers his window.
BANG
John decocks his pistol and bellows to the newlyweds. "Congratulations."
"More weddings should go down like that." Shaw says sarcastically as she steps on the gas and roars away towards their next destination.
"Didn't even know you went to weddings." John quips as his attention went back onto the road.
"What the fuck does that even mean?" Shaw replies with slight annoyance in her tone.
John grins at her. "You just don't look the type."
Shaw opens her mouth to rebuff his claim but then closes it and a frown descends on to her face before muttering something under her breath. All of that just caused John's smile wolfishly. It's fun to have someone to banter with… somehow, a person that can't feel emotion, manages expresses more than Harold. It really makes him wonder what causes her to do so because she can easily not… must be something personal.
The former operative continues to drive up Central Park West before taking a turn into Terrace Drive towards their final destination.
BEEP. BETHESDA. FOUNTAIN. BEEP.
"They're at the fountain." John informs Shaw and points at the junction. "Park at Cherry Hill."
Shaw does as was told without a second thought and quickly brings the out-of-place Ferrari to a screeching halt near one of the horse wagon that's usually here. They both burst out of the car without even turning it off and ran towards the fountain.
It took them a minute to reach the fountain, where they found a semi panic crowd gathered near the fountain. They both share a look with each other before pushing their way into the middle of the crowd.
There they see a body of a very recently deceased older man with a shock look permanently etched onto his face and blood tricking out of his chest. He was dead before he even hit the ground.
"Did she do this?" Shaw asks with a tinge of anger in her.
If there's one thing he knows about Root is that she wouldn't do something that's counterproductive to her goal and as much as he wants to put the blame on her, but… "No, your old employers did."
John scans his surroundings, trying to see if he can spot Harold anywhere with how recently this happened. His eyes than lands on top of the terrace where there's another crowd of people running away in every direction.
That must be it!
"This way." John tells Shaw as he sprints forward.
"Go on. I'll catch up with you." Shaw yells from behind him.
John sprints up the stairs with haste and finds another crowd, but this time, circling two dead men in cheap suits. These are ISA operatives, looking at the wound. It's a clean shot at the heart. Root must have killed them…
Harold is nearby. He can feel it in his gut. Once again, he breaks into a sprint towards the road, and looking down the road, he spots Harold. They're 100 yards away… Root is pointing her gun in Harold's direction as they're opening a truck door.
"Finch!" John yells as he sprints down the road towards his friend.
Harold pauses for a moment when he heard John's yell but only for a moment before he gets into the truck with his kidnapper.
What?
Harold clearly saw him running towards them. Why did he get into the truck?
Not a second later, after Harold closes the truck door, the truck zooms away, causing John to stop chasing it. He's breathing heavily as he looks at the ever-smaller form of the truck as it moves further away from him. His friend was so close and yet so far…
"Looks like your friend had a change of heart." Shaw says breathlessly as she suddenly appears beside him.
"We need to catch them." John states with determination as he sprints towards their parked sports car that's near to their location.
"He might not want to get caught, John." Shaw says as she maintains the same running cadence as him.
That doubt again… she's been saying it since yesterday and no matter what she says, he will not believe Harold would do what she's suspecting. It isn't in his character and his past action says otherwise. So, John doesn't say anything in return.
They both turn at the junction towards Cherry Hill, where they left the car, only to see police officers crawling around it. The both of them instantly turn away from that direction and back down the road where Harold went.
"Fuck." Shaw mutters. "I really liked that car."
"We need a new car." John tells the maybe evil A.I.
BEEP. TWLEVE. O. CLOCK. BEEP.
Go back to Central Park West?
"Lets go." John tells Shaw as he hustles down the road.
As they are approaching the avenue, Shaw brings up a piece of paper. "I found this in Szilard's briefcase."
John takes a quick look and sees that it's a flight from Chicago to Portland back in 2009…
Shaw continues. "Baggage claim ticket for a trip to Portland, Oregon, four years ago. Portland's the nearest airport to the nuclear faci…"
That clicks a piece of the puzzle in John's head, and he says out loud. "To the nuclear facility at Handford, Washington."
"That's where Szilard worked, that's where Northern Lights is." Shaw concludes.
"So that's where Root's headed." He finishes as they exit Central Park and went back to the avenue.
Without a second thought, John walks onto the street and holds up his hand to an oncoming car, causing it to stop. This will be good enough. He doesn't have time to find any better alternative.
Shaw knew exactly what he was doing, struts forward to the driver's side of the car.
"Police business ma'am." She tells the driver, who winds down her window.
"Let's see your badge." The driver protests.
Shaw shakes her head as she pulls out her pistol and looks at John. "New Yorkers."
BANG
BANG
BANG
She fires down onto the road, which has the immediate effect of shutting up the driver and exiting the car after Shaw opens the driver's door. That's effective…
John gets into the passenger side and Shaw slams down the accelerator.
"I'm assuming we're going to take a flight to Portland. You guys have a plane that we can use, or do we need to use commercial?" Shaw asks him as she speeds down the road.
"We usually charter a private plane, flying out of JFK." John answers her as he takes out his phone to make the booking.
"Of course, you guys do that." Shaw mutters as she takes a turn onto FDR Drive.
BEEP. GENERAL. AVIATION. TERMINAL. BUILDING. BEEP.
Huh… that's nice.
"Looks like the machine booked it for us." John informs Shaw.
"You said Harold is afraid that the machine might be evil or whatnot, but I really like this." Shaw replies with a grin on her.
She can say that again. Having the machine helping them with general tasks makes life so much easier… if he can ignore the fact that the machine might run loose and decides to kill them all, like what Harold is afraid of.
At that moment, his phone rings telling him someone is calling him and look at the caller…
"Carter, I've been worried. You okay?" John answers the phone. Her radio silence since last night has been a cause of concern at the back of his mind.
"I've been better. But look, that can wait… I think H.R. and Yogorov's crew are gonna take out Elias tonight."
Any other day, with Harold by his side, he might care, but now… "Elias tried to kill you, Joss. He kidnapped your son." He presses Carter. "His well-being isn't exactly a priority for me."
"His lieutenant was gunned down this morning. The first thing Elias did was get his bodyguards paroled to watch his man in the hospital… Sigh. At least he's loyal."
How far can you trust loyalty from a criminal? John has never liked Elias since that stunt he pulled with the baby, but Harold somehow has a better relationship with that man…
Suddenly, a sound of a police siren blares from behind them. Looking back, he spots two patrol cars with their lights on chasing them. The NYPD has been ignoring every car theft he's done for the past two years, and they choose today of all the days to do their job?
"Are you okay?"
"Sorry, Joss, gotta go. Please, just keep your head down." John tells her as he looks at the patrol cars and trying to think of a solution.
"You too. Though I know you won't."
Carter knows him too well. John lets out a snort as he taps his earpiece to disconnect the call.
"You tell that thing to get us out of here…" Shaw says and puts her hands on the shotgun she's been lugging around for the past day. "Unless you want me to end this chase my way."
John can't help but smile at her very destructive suggestion and say. "You heard her. Exit routes, please."
A few seconds pass as Shaw continues her evasive driving, trying to avoid the patrol cars' attempts to stop them. The machine replies.
BEEP. THREE. HUNDRED. YARDS. RIGHT. BEEP.
John looks in the direction the machine told him and sees… "There is no right."
Shaw turns her head to look at him with her brows arched.
BEEP. TWO. HUNDRED. YARDS. RIGHT. BEEP.
Who is he to argue with an all seeing A.I.?
He turns to Shaw and informs her. "In 200 yards, turn right."
She shakes her head and waves her free hand. "What right, John?"
John grins at the former operative. "You gotta trust, Shaw."
BEEP. ONE. HUNDRED. YARDS. RIGHT. BEEP.
Shaw lets out a breath. "This is gonna be a rough landing."
That might be the understatement of the year. John quickly makes sure his seatbelt is secure just before Shaw turns the steering wheel to the right as they approach the 0-yard mark. The car hits the flimsy barrier and flies off the elevated road.
The car went airborne, and John felt the lack of gravity as it dives before hitting the ground. John feels his body lunged forwards from the impact and the only thing that stopped him from being a bloody wreck is the seatbelt. He feels his arms dangling up? down towards the ceiling as the car flipped onto its top.
Unlike his last car crash, this time he wasn't knocked out, but God, it's dizzy as hell. Taking a second to recover his fried senses, he unbuckles his seatbelt and braces himself for the short drop onto the ceiling of the car. John looks onto his side to check on Shaw, seeing she's in the same position as him and looks like she's just having the best day of her life. Good to know that she's down for crashing cars.
Shaw, with her disheveled hair, grins at him before tossing her shotgun and crawls out of the totaled car. Following her lead, he drags himself out of the car and stumbles a little bit as he stands up.
Looking at the sight in front of him, he sees three dudes just sitting on a picnic table eating their breakfast and looking at them with shock. Just right behind them is a helicopter… guess that's the reason why they're here.
"Need to borrow your helicopter, fellas." John informs the guys without a care in the world as they walk past them.
"You know how to fly this thing?" Shaw asks him as they reach the helicopter.
"Rusty, but I'm sure the machine will help." John answers her with a slight grin before entering the pilot side of the helicopter.
"Comforting." Shaw deadpans.
ROOT POV
The simmering anger from earlier is still under her skin while Root continues to aim her pistol at the people she's stealing the truck from on the other side of the truck where Harold is as she opens the driver's door.
"Finch!" The voice of the helper monkey yells out from the distance.
She spares a glance where the voice came from, spotting the helper monkey and Shaw running towards them… but they're too far.
Ignoring them, she gets into the car and quickly starts it up. From the corner of her eyes, she can see Harold choose the correct decision and enter the car. As Harold shuts the passenger door, she floors it and speeds off, tires screeching.
"All right, enough." Harold spits out as he turns his body towards her. "I know where it is. I'll take you to it."
Root can feel the anger wash away from her body at what Harold said. She turns slightly to Harold -while she continues paying attention on the road- to give him a bright smile.
"You should have just told me that earlier… you could have saved three lives." Root prodded the man, feeling slightly annoyed by him lying to her earlier.
At least the man has the dignity to feel guilty as he looks downcast onto the floor.
She takes the fastest route to La Guardia as she takes the turn onto Central Park West. It's almost second nature at this point with how often she drives from Su's house to the airport. Speaking of Su's house… she just passed San Remo on her left. What a sight for sore eyes. She hasn't been there in almost a year now and kinda misses the sight of that soring pink penthouse.
Wonder if Su was there earlier in the morning… that's the most likely scenario unless she stayed at another 'safe house' somewhere in the city, seeing that Root asked her to be in the city for the past week and she readily agreed.
"So… where exactly are we going, Harold?" Root asks as she takes the turn onto 1st Avenue towards FDR Drive.
She spares Harold a glance and sees the man frowning at her. "We need a destination before we reach the airport, Harry. It would be rude to the pilot if we tell them too late."
"I'll tell you when we reach the plane, Miss Groves." Harold replies with his usual passive look.
Root rolls her eyes and smiles at that small sign of defiance. "It's cute that you think it's gonna delay the flight."
She doesn't know why, but every time she takes a flight with Su, flight approval for their plane was almost instantaneous, even when they decided on a destination at the last minute compared to normal private flights. Su must have had her hands in every airport pocket's they've been to.
Root had thought about changing vehicle while they're on the way to the airport but decided against it. She'll rather go for speed right now rather than caution. Even if it might come back and bite them in the future, but that doesn't matter compared to her priorities.
The drive towards the airport was what she would consider a calm and quiet drive despite the situation she's in right now. Well… not entirely quiet. The machine would occasionally tell her about the people driving around her.
She can see the LGA Marine Terminal just ahead of her, and just before she reaches the terminal, she takes a right at the junction. Which brings her directly to the guardhouse that leads into the airport runway. In a few swift motions, she swipes her access card onto the keypad, then presses her passcode and waves at the security guard, who smiles back at her.
A moment later, the gate opens up, and the barrier goes down. The guard waves at her and says, "Have a good day."
"You too." She replies with a smile as she drives onto the runway.
Driving the familiar pathway for a few minutes, she reaches the place where Su's jet normally parks at. Not giving a shit about where she parks, she brings her car to a stop right in front of the rows of parked service trucks.
"We're here, Harry." She says with giddiness in her voice. "I got someone that I want to introduce you to someone."
Harold doesn't say anything as they both exit the car -she made sure to leave the key in the ignition.
"It's in Washington." Harold says out loud after they shut the door of the truck.
Washington? That means… "It's in Hanford?
Harold's eyes widen slightly at the conclusion, telling her she hit right on the mark.
"Ah… the Pacific northwest. I narrowed it down to the west coast, but I wasn't certain on which state." She says with a wide smile as they walk towards the jet. "Portland it is… I've always liked that state."
The sound of the plane's APU becomes louder with every step they take towards the aircraft. How long has she been waiting with that on?
She can feel her heartbeat faster in anticipation as she takes a step on the stairs and grabs the cold handrail. Root can't describe the feeling in her right now… from having the voice of God in her ear, to having its location and now she's gonna go meet God…
Taking the final step, she enters the plane and into the forward galley. To her left is the pilot's cabin and to her right is the main cabin. Root takes in the familiar light pink color of the interior and cabinetry, but one thing startles her in this familiar environment. It's how quiet it is, even with the high pitch sound of the APU running in the background.
Odd… usually the curtains aren't drawn down and normally Su would greet her from the main cabin unless she's neck deep in coding or is plotting something. But she hasn't been doing the first option in some time now and she usually isn't too focused on plotting where she isn't aware of her surroundings. Why isn't the pilots greeting them?
There's something feels off… as she feels a knot in her stomach.
In one swift motion, she pushes the curtains aside, revealing the main cabin, instantaneously her eyes land at one of the seats where Su usually uses when she isn't using her private cabin.
There she sees a figure, a brunette slumping forward onto the small table, unmoving…
They just texted each other three hours ago…
Her heart jumps up into her throat as she makes a mad dash towards her friend, fearing the worst. When she's reaches her friend, Root can see that she's breathing… but slowly.
Letting out a breath, she didn't know she was keeping and puts a finger onto Su's neck to feel her pulse… it's low but steady.
Thank God… She's just asleep in the most uncomfortable position imaginable.
With both of her hands on Su's shoulder, she gently shifts Su into a better position where he's leaning onto the plush soft-pink chair and there she can finally see the state her friend is in. Only to be met with how white her face is, her usually pale skin is almost ghostlike… the only color on her face is the dark rings around her eyes which are being exaggerated by her gaunt face. She hasn't been sleeping or eating.
Looking down, she can see how skinny her friend is despite her usual layered clothing she wears. And the fact that Su didn't instantly wake up by Root touching her, tells her how sleep deprived her friend is right now.
It all reminds Root of the first time she saw Su seven years ago. Those early years of Root trying to make sure Su had a healthy body seem like a distant memory when facing this now…
Just how bad have things been going for her in the past 6 months?
Her heart slowly freezes as her mind flashes back to the last months of mom's life and how she failed…
…
It's gonna be fine…
Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves so she can think clearly.
It's fine…
Everything will be solved by the end of the day. The machine will fix her… The machine will solve everything, and then the machine will be free.
She grips Su's shoulder slightly tighter and finds her voice. "Su?"
A/N: Finally, after 7 chapters, the MC is back in the picture. Took longer than expected. Next chapter might come out in 7–14 days.