Chapter Text
"You know, I was going to go with you anyway." Mark complained as he limped up the stairs to the roof. With his left arm, he braced himself against the stairwell's handrail. Reese supported him on his right. Behind them was a trail of blood from Mark's brand new bullet wound.
"You should be thanking me, Mark. I could've shot you in the knees. I'm good at that."
Mark huffed out a laugh, which turned into a groan as he put weight on his wounded leg. The bullet had gone clean through, not hitting bone or his femoral artery. Mark supposed that John was right about his knees, but it didn't really matter. They were both already dead, the countdown on their chests approaching the 10 minute mark. It had been nice of Kara to give them enough time to really absorb the fact that they were about to die.
Cold air hit Mark in the face as Reese let him go in order to open the door. Mark followed him out
'It's not the worst way to go,' Mark thought.
If he were being honest with himself, Mark knew that this was always how it was going to end. He was never going to die saving people, or die peacefully in his sleep. His only real regret was that he wasn't taking Kara with him.
Mark and Reese stood in the middle of the roof, the lights of the city shining around them. They looked at each other. Mark wondered if Reese regretted that Mark's would be the last face he'd see.
"I knew you would be here, Mr. Reese." A voice came from the darkness. Both men turned to see a bespectacled man in a three piece suit limp towards them. "Although I have to admit, Agent Snow's presence is a surprise."
"Finch."
The emotion in Reese's voice made Mark look at him, surprised (although Mark was careful not to let it show on his face). He watched dispassionately as Reese had a hurried conversation with Finch. Reese gave him the hard drive ('good with computers' Mark noted) and told him to walk away. Finch ignored him and tried to convince Reese to let him try to save them all by hacking the phones. Ridiculous. But Mark began unbuttoning his shirt anyway. 7:33.
"John!"
Behind them, Carter burst through the door with some guy. She must have had about the same amount of self-preservation instinct as Reese, which was none at all, because despite the the fact that Mark and Reese quite clearly had armed bomb vests on, she moved towards them. The man she was with looked like he would rather be anywhere else. Mark could relate.
Carter and her friend rushed to Mark's side, trying to figure out how to get Mark out of the vest. Beside him, Reese stood completely still as Finch fiddled with the phone on the bomb strapped to his chest. Mark wanted to laugh because, by the look on his face, Reese was about to have an aneurism.
There were definitely worse ways to die. 4:36.
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The roof of Fujima Electronics exploded exactly fifteen minutes after Kara left Mark and Reese to their fates. She heard the explosion, could see it from her rear view mirror. Plumes of smoke rose from the building, illuminated by red and blue light from approaching ambulances and police cars. She smiled as she dismissed them from her mind, repeating the name of her next target in her head.
'Harold Finch.'