This is a character death story, I'm warning you in advance. And it starts off with extremely dark and terrifying stuff happening to our favorite BAU agents.
I actually got the idea from something one of my friends said, they said that the NCIS agents couldn't bear to lose Abby, a forensic scientist (from the show NCIS) because she was supposedly safe, closeted in her lab all day and she never went into the field like the other agents. Kate (from NCIS) once said that there was a chance one of them would die the moment they walked out of the door and I used that too. And then I started to think, Abby's kinda like Garcia, what if they had to watch her die? How would it affect them? And then I brought the idea to my friend (who doesn't write fanfiction) and together we came up with this idea! I liked it so much I halted (temporarily) my other Criminal Minds story so I could write this. I hope you like it!
Enjoy!
Hotch woke up with a pounding headache and an extremely dry mouth. As he tried to move he realized that he was currently tied to something and he couldn't move his arms or his legs, and then he realized as his eyes adjusted to the dark that he was in a circular room and he was tied to the wall.
As he kept blinking, he saw that he wasn't the only one tied to the wall. He was the furthest to the left, next to him was Emily, then Rossi, then JJ, then Reid and then Morgan. He didn't see Garcia there and it was all he could to not let out a yell when he spotted empty chains between Reid and Morgan.
He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to remember what had happened the night before. They returned from a case and Garcia had a bottle of wine for them. They were about to drink when they got called away to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Unit Chief Strauss, as it was her birthday but she had strictly forbidden any parties in her honor, so someone had gotten her a cake and they all sang to her.
Then the team had gone back into Garcia's room, drank their single glass of wine and then they all left, going to their respective homes. Hotch had fallen asleep instantly, and now he was awake, locked to a wall.
Morgan started to stir and when he realized he couldn't move, he started to yell. "Shut up!" Emily hissed at him and JJ moaned,
"Oh, my head,"
"Mine too," Emily said, and Hotch added,
"I thought I was the only one awake."
"No, Reid's the only one not awake," Rossi commented and they all looked over at the genius.
"I'm awake now," Reid mumbled, shaking his head a few times.
"Wait, where's Garcia? Was she here?" Morgan asked frantically, looking at the empty chains.
"I don't know. When I woke up, they were empty." Emily said with worry lacing her voice.
"Yeah, the same with me. I bet you anything it was that wine last night," JJ swore, glancing around.
"You're saying Garcia spiked the wine?" Morgan challenged, and Rossi said,
"No, but do you remember? We left the wine and our glasses in Garcia's room while we all went and serenaded Strauss. Someone could've slipped something in it by the time we got back to her office,"
"It's possible, but who would want to?" Emily asked, and the room fell silent.
"I don't know, but Garcia drank the wine too. Where the hell is she?" Morgan said, craning his head around the room to try and see if he could find her.
Suddenly, the lights flared on and all the agents squeezed their eyes shut and ducked their heads away from the ceiling. "Good evening, agents," A voice said, and Hotch called,
"What do you want with us?"
"A very good question, Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner, I suppose what I really want is to see you all suffer."
"Why? What did we do to you?" Rossi questioned.
The voice laughed coolly, saying, "Well, Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi, you and the others ruined my childhood, for starters. My parents were murdered by what you call an unsub because you were too slow. The next kid got to keep his parents, but I didn't. I've suffered for years, and now it's your turn."
A screen that was positioned so all of the agents could see it suddenly flickered to life. As the image focused, Morgan swore and both Emily and JJ gasped in horror.
Penelope Garcia was sitting in a chair and bound to it; her head slumped on her shoulders as she was still unconscious.
"Don't touch her you son of a bitch!" Morgan yelled, and the voice tsked.
"Well, Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan, you do have the temper I've heard about. Relax and calm down, Agent Morgan, Penelope Garcia has a choice on whether I'll hurt her or not,"
Emily opened her mouth to say something when Garcia's eyelids flickered and she slowly lifted her head, saying, "Oh God, I have the motherboard of all headaches," She looked around and the gravity of the situation she was in started to affect her. "Where am I?" She whispered, pure terror filling her eyes as she tried to move and found it impossible.
"You, my dear, are somewhere no one can hear you scream, if you feel the need to," The voice said, though this time it came from the TV screen.
"Scream? Why would I? You're not going to hurt me are you?" Garcia asked quickly and the voice chuckled dryly.
"Only if you choose it. Now, let me introduce you to some familiar, friendly faces," A hand came in front of the screen and touched something. The BAU agents knew that he had flipped on Garcia's screen by the way her eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open and a whimper came out.
"Don't hurt them," She whispered, and Morgan yelled,
"Penelope!"
"Derek?" She called back, and they realized they could hear each other.
"Well, I'll just leave you alone for a few minutes, give you some time to catch up," The voice said pleasantly and they all heard a door shut.
"Are you hurt?" Derek demanded, and Garcia shook her head.
"Are you guys okay?"
"We're fine. Just major headaches," Emily said, wincing.
"I agree. Now how the hell are we going to get out of this one?" Garcia said, glancing at her restraints and trying to figure out a way to undo them.
"I've already tried to figure something out, but I just can't," Hotch said, clenching his jaw.
"Even if we get free how are we going to get out?" JJ questioned, and the voice said from the TV screen,
"You can't, Media Liaison Special Agent Jennifer Jareau. There's no way out unless you're me, and since you're not, well, you won't be getting out of here, even if you managed the miracle of getting free."
"You said I could choose whether you're going to hurt me or not," Garcia said quietly, and the voice replied pleasantly,
"So I did. Well, we might as well get on with things. You're the driving force behind the BAU team, Penelope, they wouldn't be able to do anything without you as fast as they do it,"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Garcia mumbled, and the voice said earnestly,
"Because you're the one they're not prepared to lose. Any of those agents could die the moment they step out of Quantico, but you, you're safely ensconced in your computer room, no chance of danger for you,"
"That's not true, I got shot once," Garcia corrected him and the voice replied,
"Yes, but that was a freak turn of events. Now, for your choice, you get to choose between losing your own life or watching all of your friends in there die. Give me your life, or watch your friends die."
"Wha-what?" Garcia gasped, her eyes going wide.
"Either way I'm going to be a killer. You get to choose whether the victim will be you, or Agents Hotchner, Rossi, Morgan, Reid, Jareau and Prentiss."
"What kind of choice is that! You know what I'm going to choose!" Garcia yelled, anger flaring up in her eyes.
"Humor me, tell me anyways," The voice said, and Garcia set her jaw, saying,
"Go ahead and kill me, but you have to let them go, without a mark on them,"
Immediately all the agents in the other room yelled, "NO!"
"Listen to me!" Garcia demanded, angry tears glittering in her eyes. "You guys can get along without me, you can heal after I'm gone. You have each other to lean on, if he kills all of you not only will I have to live with the guilt, I will have to deal with it on my own! I'd rather be dead!"
"Baby girl, please, don't,"
"Don't what, Derek? Don't let you live?" Garcia said desperately, and JJ felt tears pouring down her face.
"What about Henry?" She asked through the tears and Garcia felt a tear drop down her cheek.
"Henry still has Reid, and make Emily an honorary godmother," Garcia replied, sniffing as more tears cascaded down her face.
"I could never replace you, PG," Emily said, though her eyes were wet there were no tears falling down. She was working on getting all of them out of there.
"So don't try. Just be a good godmother to Henry, and make sure Reid at least gets him into Cal-Tech with that one phone call, if not Yale," Garcia said, and the voice said,
"I suppose it's time for you to say your goodbyes, Penelope. I'll give you some privacy." When the doors shut again, Garcia took a deep breath.
End of chapter 1! Yes I realize you all probably hate me for leaving it at that, but I try to use cliff-hangers whenever possible. The next chapter will have Garcia saying her goodbyes to everyone on the team, and then maybe they'll figure out a way to save her. Thanks so much for reading and I'll post the next chapter as soon as possible!