Prologue
"Tell us what we want to know!"
The punch to her jaw came when she didn't answer. It rattled her jaw and sent a wave of pain shooting down her spine. Her head snapped back and then rolled to the side.
"Tell us, goddammit!" When she still didn't answer, he struck her again- harder.
Emily hissed in pain and spat out a mouthful of blood. She was sure he'd loosened some of her teeth and given her at least one black eye, not to mention the countless bruises everywhere else on her body. The cold metal of the cuffs locking her hands behind the chair cut into her flesh. Her body was so sore, the slightest movement caused every nerve to light up like a Christmas tree.
Still, she looked up at her assailant defiantly. "I'm not telling you anything," she growled.
The giant mountain of a man leaned in close to her face; she leaned back involuntarily as the stink of his breath swept over her. "You got a death wish, fed?"
"You keep breathing on me and I might just consider that."
The man let out an abrupt laugh. "Cocky bitch, ain't ya?"
"That's what happens when you experience hell on Earth."
"Oh trust me," the man grinned. "You ain't seen nothing yet."
"Really?" Emily smirked. "I very much doubt that."
"Doesn't have to be this way you know. You could end this right here and now."
Emily chuckled humorlessly. "Where's the fun in that?"
"You know, I like the way you think." The man got right up in her face again. "I can think of a few ways we can have some fun. A few games..."
"I doubt that. I only like games that last longer than five seconds."
This time when he hit her, he did knock out one of her teeth. Emily's head snapped to the side and when she spat out more blood, one of her back molars went flying out, skipping across the metal floor.
"There's a lot more where that came from, fed." He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up as far as the cuffs would let her. Emily gasped and tried to get a breath of fresh air, but the man's hand completely cut off the flow of oxygen to her brain.
"I guess you think you're real fuckin' funny, don'tcha?" He released his grip just as darkness was starting to appear on the edges of her vision and dropped her back down onto the chair, where she quickly sucked air into her lungs. "You government people walk around all high and mighty with your badges and guns and think you're gods or something. Well, here, you ain't shit!"
"This coming from a man whose breath smells like he just ate some?" Emily retorted, completely ignoring the fact that this would only likely provoke another violent response.
The man reared back and struck her again, this time directly in the nose. Emily couldn't stifle her cry of pain as the force instantly shattered it, sending blood flying across the room. She could feel it run down her face and into her mouth. He grabbed her by the jaw and pinched down hard on either side, forcing her mouth open. "Since you like to talk so much, let's see how well you do it after I rip out every single one of your teeth."
He shoved the fingers of his free hand into her mouth, grabbed hold of one of her upper incisors and started pulling. Sweat rolled down Emily's face and pain shot through her nerves as the roots of the tooth in question begun pulling and straining under the man's strength. She could almost feel it starting to separate from her gums; the nerves began firing more intensely...
The door behind the man burst open and the man immediately let go of Emily. Her head, throbbing as though a sledgehammer had just done a number on it, dropped down to her chest.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Emily's well-trained ears immediately recognized the voice of the newcomer; she'd only heard it a few times before but there was no question- this was their UnSub.
No- her UnSub.
"The bitch was asking for it!" The other man was shouting. "Mouthing off to me!"
"And your way of getting information out of her was to make it so she can't talk?" There was a loud sigh. "Sometimes I wonder why I keep you around. Go to Room B- now."
The larger man hesitated for a moment, but then got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
"Sorry about that," the UnSub said. "Sometimes Rook can get a little... overexcited." He smiled as he approached Emily. "Well, well." He knelt down to face her and Emily lifted her head, finally seeing the man unobstructed in front of her. "Nice to finally meet you, Agent Prentiss."
"Nice to meet you to too." Emily spat another mouthful of blood, right into his face. "You son of a bitch."
Undeterred, the UnSub wiped his face and then delivered a vicious backhand to hers. Emily chuckled. "Is that all you people know how to do? How are you going to launch your glorious revolution if you don't try a little variety?"
"Trust me, Agent Prentiss, tonight, we're going to have all the time in the world to try some variety." The UnSub stood up. "I can guarantee you won't like any of it."
"Big surprise."
"Indeed, but I'm hoping it doesn't come to that. You're a smart woman, Agent Prentiss; you ought to know what's worth holding onto and what's not."
"I know that unlike some people, I actually know where my loyalties lie."
"Do you? You may not realize it, but you and I have more in common than you might think."
"Doubt it," Emily said. "The people I work with actually have something in their heads. It's called a brain; you might want to pass that off to your henchmen."
"Amusing. But utterly pointless. Your stalling tactics can't help you here. And neither can your team. Though I must give you credit for trying. Always trying to be one step ahead."
"Oh, you know," Emily shrugged. "I'm a girl who hates being tied down."
"Funny. But again, utterly pointless. Now, are you going to be a good girl and tell us what we want to know?"
Emily stared up at the man, all traces of amusement or sarcasm gone from her face. There was only anger; venom and fire literally danced in her eyes. "Go fuck yourself," she responded defiantly.
A smile spread over his face. "I was hoping you'd say that."
He slowly walked around behind her. Emily tensed and braced herself for another strike. But instead, he took hold of her chair and turned it in a semi-circle to face the other side of the room. The vast majority of the far wall was made up of a glass window, completely dark despite the light overhead.
"You see, Agent Prentiss," the UnSub was saying, "despite what you might think, I am a true American patriot. In fact, I'm more than that; I'm a businessman who believes in absolute fairness and equality. In opportunities. So because I'm so fair, I'm going to give you the opportunity to test how far your loyalty to your corrupt, destructive government truly is."
"You can take your opportunity and shove it up your ass," Emily growled. "I'm not telling you anything. It doesn't matter what you do to me."
"You?" The man sounded genuinely surprised. He chuckled, "My dear Agent Prentiss..." He leaned down so he could speak directly into her ear. "Whoever said we were talking about you?"
Emily's brows furrowed in confusion, but didn't get a chance to voice what he meant by that; at that moment, the glass in front of her suddenly lit up, revealing that it was actually a window into the next room. Much like the room she was in, it was made of solid steel with a single light in the centre and pipes across the ceiling. As her eyes adjusted to the sudden light, Emily's focus was drawn to the centre of the room.
The image was fuzzy at first. Then it grew clearer, sharper, more focused- until even a blind person could clearly see what it was.
Emily's heart immediately froze. Her blood turned to ice in her veins. Her stomach clenched and starting turning over. She could feel the bile travelling up her throat; it took a tremendous effort to force it back down.
The young man was hanging from a pipe in the ceiling; his wrists were secured to the pipe by heavy chains which hung down and suspended him almost in mid-air. He had been stripped completely naked; despite the cold temperature underground, his entire body was covered in sweat. A strip of duct tape sealed his mouth shut. His eyes fluttered unfocused; a trickle of blood ran down the side of his face from his temple. He seemed barely conscious and unaware of the situation around him.
"Hmm," the UnSub said in a mock thoughtful way. "Now what was that you were saying about not telling us anything? I think you may have to revise your statement, Agent Prentiss."
Emily stared in horror at the scene in front of her. She was suddenly aware that her heart had come back alive and was now threatening to explode out of her chest.
In the other room, the man known as Rook entered and walked up to the restrained man. Studying his captive for a minute, he suddenly reared back and punched him straight in his stomach. The smaller man's eyes jerked open and a cry of pain, muffled through the tape, escaped his mouth as his abdomen caved inward. The area around his wrists turned white as they strained against the chains which dug into his flesh.
"No," Emily murmured horrified under her breath. She leaned towards the window. "No!"
"Oh, I'm afraid that won't work," the UnSub was saying. "It's one-way glass, Agent Prentiss. Simply put, you can see and hear everything that goes on in that room, but he can't hear or see anything in here."
He leaned in close. "There's one thing you should know about Rook; the man may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he knows a hell of a lot more than just punches and kicks. He's become quite an expert in the art of physical pain and torture. And that's exactly what he's going to start demonstrating on that poor, unfortunate man. A friend of yours, isn't he? Or is he more?"
Emily couldn't bring herself to speak.
"You've got a choice here, Agent Prentiss. You can either tell us what we want to know about the BAU, spare both yourself and your boyfriend in there a lot of pain. Or you can maintain your loyalty to your corrupt friends and have a front row seat to the most horrific scene you will ever witness.
"So, Agent Prentiss, what's it going to be?"
A/N: Please review and give me feedback!
After searching through these fics and seeing so many Reid/OFC stories (which are probably written mostly by fan-girls), I decided to do something that seems to be rare here and do the opposite- a Prentiss/OMC story! As a young guy who happens to find both Emily Prentiss and Paget Brewster EXTREMELY attractive (is she really in her early FORTIES?), I decided to do this for all the fan-boys who probably drool every time she comes on screen (not that I'm one of them...)
Just FYI, there WILL be a few Lemon scenes in this story. I'll post a warning in the preceding chapter if that's going to happen in case if that's not your thing and you want to skip over them (though you may miss important information if you do that). They won't happen VERY often, but they will be there.
Also, just as a side note, this is NOT a self-insert (apart from the occasional opinion or characteristic if it makes it more interesting). Much as I wish I could say I own Emily Prentiss and/or Paget Brewster, I don't... Oh well, on with the story!
Please review!