Patron Saint of Falling Over Things

Title: Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
Fandom: Person of Interest
Rating: Teen
Words: 52k
Characters/Pairings: Root/Sameen Shaw, Harold Finch/John Reese, Harold Finch/Grace Hendricks, John Reese/Mark Snow, Michael Cole, Robert Hersh, Joss Carter, Kara Stanton, The Machine, Bear
Warnings/Content: Sentinel/Guide AU, mind-bonding, show level violence, show level torture, emotional hurt/comfort, canon character death (Michael Cole). Some Mark/John dubcon in chapters 4 and 5. Follows some events from Ep 1.10 Number Crunch, Ep 1.23 Firewall and 2.16 Relevance.
Notes: Written for wipbigbang 2017.

Thank you to my amazing betas: lilacsigil and musyc. You guys were awesome and got me from "I want to write POI Sentinel/Guide fic with soft face touching" to actually getting it posted.

Title is from the Elton John song. ("Subway's no way for a good man to go down.")

Summary: In 2001, Harold advised on a project called Cascade, not knowing he was a Guide himself. Years later, he and John, a Sentinel on the run from Cascade, must help Shaw, who has just lost her own Guide when the Project turned on her. Complicating matters is Root, searching for Harold's Machine and interfering with their rescue of Shaw.

Also at the Archive

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Epilogue

Title: Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, Chapter Ten
Rating Teen
Notes: References to S1 ep23: Firewall

( Standing beside Alicia Corwin’s body, John experienced one single moment of whiteout panic before focus came back to him )

Title: Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, Chapter Eight
Rating Teen
Notes: CW: In this chapter there's a fire - John suffers a minor burn, a teenager and a dog are briefly in peril, but are rescued.

( John could do worse than working a number at a country club )

Title: Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, Chapter Five
Rating Teen
Notes: Show level violence in this chapter: John and Kara torture a man, John kills him rather than letting Kara torture him to death.

( John and Kara moved through the shadows of the world like two wolves with ears pricked and tongues lolling )

Title: Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, Chapter Three
Rating Teen
Notes: Canon character death (Michael Cole)

( John came out of the surgery into a world that swirled with colour and sound, even in the sterile white of the infirmary )

Title: Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters Chapter One
Rating Teen

( In 2001, the mood of the government in the wake of the attacks reflected the desperation of the country. )