Short Skirts and River Rides
“The skirt is short on purpose,”
Shaw continued assembling and loading her gun near the locker in the subway car, completely ignoring the incredulous look on John’s face. He averted his eyes and ran a hand over his face before getting up and moving to the computers on the other side of the subway car.
“It says here the guy is a subway maintenance worker, why does that require a skirt so short it may as well be a shirt?”
Shaw sighed in exasperation, “Well, Fusco’s been following him for three days. The only place he frequents is some shady strip club called the Pretty Kitty.” She shoved her gun and a few extra clips into her purse and began heading out of the station. “And since Root is out of town, we need someone to get close to him. Hence the short skirt.”
John stood up to follow her “Hey Shaw...”
Shaw stopped as John strode over to her. “It says this guy is into some pretty bad stuff, you need backup?” She shook off his worried stare and turned to go, tossing a quick “Don’t worry, I’ve got this sleazebag” over her shoulder as she headed up the stairs.
Three hours later, John was camped out in front of Finch’s computers as he listened to the gunfire coming in over the comms. Apparently Mr. Sleazebag owed a hell of a lot of money to a particularly unforgiving group of Russians. The same group of Russians that Shaw was now attempting to keep from killing him.
The clacking of heels on the stairs and a lilting voice carrying through the station brought him out of his reverie.
“She says to take the back exit and head to the river. Good luck Sam.”
Root switched off her comms and strode over to the computers Reese was currently occupying.
“Don’t worry Lurch, she’ll be fine” she chirped before bumping his chair out of the way with her hip and taking over the keyboard. John stopped his chair from rolling past the end of the desk and watched as Root’s fingers flew over the keys, a series of prompts and scripts appearing and disappearing more quickly than he could track.
“Good to see you too Root. Haven’t seen you all week.” Reese looked her over, taking note of the glasses perched on her nose, the deep blue blazer, the business satchel slung over her shoulder. “Who exactly are you supposed to be this time?”
Root didn’t look away from the monitor, fingers still rapidly building…..something.
“I’m not quite sure yet” She muttered. “She only told me to dress nicely and build her another self-replicating worm. I just needed to finish and load it onto this” Root held a small silver flash drive up to John’s face before sticking it into the computer and loading whatever virus she had just finished.
As she turned to go, John called out to her.
“Need any help?” He was almost pleading, playing tech support was just so boring now that Shaw was out of danger.
“Sorry Lurch, I’ve got this one covered” Root tossed over her shoulder as she headed out into the Autumn crowds.
“Why should I bother?” Shaw was cold, tired, hungry, and covered in river slime. Apparently Root’s stupid Machine had meant to literally head into the river. All she wanted was a shower.
“I ordered your favorite for takeout. Please?” John was so bored. And so hungry. Was it so much to ask that his teammates share a meal once in a while?
Shaw groaned before getting up and grabbing Bear’s ball. She tossed it down the platform and watched as he bounded after it. “Fine. But how the hell did you order takeout to a secret underground subway base?”
Reese smirked and spun around in Harold’s chair “I didn’t. I just asked Root to pick it up on her way back.”
Shaw just grunted in response and watched Bear run back with the ball. A crash from the stairs drew their attention quickly to station’s entrance. Where Root was currently standing, heels in one hand and several boxes of takeout on the floor around her. She was staring straight at Shaw, mouth hanging open.
“You’re lucky those boxes didn’t split” Shaw smirked as she sauntered over to Root, closing her mouth with one finger before leaning down to pick up their takeout.
John looked on from the desk as Root shuddered, then bent down to whisper something in Shaw’s ear. She slowly reached for the takeout boxes before grabbing John’s and practically running towards him.
“SorryJohnweneedtogohomerightnow!” Root set his food on the desk before nearly racing back to Shaw. She threw her heels on before yanking Shaw up the stairs.
John chuckled. He could count on one hand the number of times he had seen Root that flustered. To be fair though, it was a really short skirt.