tfm dared me to do a particular type of fic...I have no idea if it's good, bad, or horrendous...
So, if this is seriously bad, you can blame her! She asked for it.
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TV Prompt Challenge
Heroes: How to Stop an Exploding Man
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Bad idea...bad idea. He thought, as he silently ran through the bleak corridors.
Watch the puddles. She thought, skidding through the wet marks on the cement floors.
Dust mites, so many mites...don't breathe in. He thought, the statistics were trying to worm their way into his frontal lobes. He couldn't afford to be distracted by them. He watched the figures darting sporadically in front of him. They had a goal to achieve.
Where'd Hotch go? He thought, rounding the corner to see the UnSub barrel up the make-shift a second thought he bounded up behind him.
Where are they? She thought. She'd been right behind Morgan. Well, a few meters behind him. They were following the UnSub, Hotch and Emily were circling around the left and Spencer and Dave to the right. Garcia was outside somewhere monitoring them with the special heat signature equipment she'd 'borrowed' off the terrorism unit yesterday.
JJ? Where's Morgan? He thought, moving over the stand slightly in front of her. He reached out a hand and tapped JJ on the shoulder. She spun quickly, relaxing when she saw it was only Dave.
They nodded to each other. She looked around for Morgan; she had no idea where he'd gone off to.
"Morgan?" Rossi whispered.
She shrugged. That's when Reid turned around the corner, gun drawn in one hand, sniffling into his sleeve with the other. He waved his hand through the air, dispersing little golden flecks of dust.
"Morgan?" Reid asked, slightly loud for their covert operation.
Both Rossi and JJ shrugged.
They were actually standing just in front of the staircase Morgan had run up a few minutes before.
Hotch tiptoed closer to the gap in the ceiling. He was being careful. He had heard scuffling coming from above. He hadn't known there were any working openings from this section of the third floor to the fourth. Emily was behind him, shadowing him in case the UnSub appeared to their rear.
He could see a figure lurking above. Its frame was familiar. He nudged Emily, nodding upwards.
"Morgan?" She whispered, her eyes tracking the movements of the maybe-Morgan.
Hotch looked at her. They couldn't be sure. They would have to find a way up there.
Garcia was trying her hardest not to fret. She was watching the team through the walls of that decrepit building. They had gone in after they had placed the call to the bomb squad. The UnSub they were currently tracking had a penchant for dynamite, TNT, explosives...etc. She had immediately set up her equipment, using the technology to track her team. She thought the cluster of three was JJ and Reid, but she wasn't sure about the third. It could either be Hotch, Rossi or Morgan. There were two of the team on the south wall of the building. They were probably Emily and Morgan, or maybe it was Hotch. They had the SWAT vibe going with their movements. Whereas the other grouping...yeah, that was definitely Reid, all that useless waving of the arms...no one other than Reid would do that at this moment in time. Garcia grinned, he really was a cutie.
One of the team was on the upper level...with the UnSub. She wished they had their radios; well...they did have their radios she just wasn't allowed to call them because any sounds would tip off the UnSub to their locations. She wished she had a means to communicate with them; she would just have to hope someone knew what to do in there.
"We can't just wait here Rossi. We have to do something." JJ hissed. Their team needed them, they couldn't just loiter about.
"We don't know which direction to go in, JJ. We have to wait. When we hear something, then we can move. If we go off at the slightest thing, we're going to miss something important." Dave replied. He understood her sentiment, but going off half-cocked was what got many agents into danger.
JJ sighed in response.
"Hotch," Emily gasped, her hand grabbing his arm. Her eyes were still focused on the figure above them. There was movement upstairs. There was a shadow approaching the figure. But the figure hadn't seen the shadow. Which one was their team member and which one was the UnSub?
The Shadow lifted its arm, and a dark weapon silhouetted itself against the cool, white wall.
Emily grasped at Hotch's arm tighter. She wanted to call out, but they couldn't actually be sure whether the figure or the shadow was the UnSub. She flicked her eyes toward his, she would follow his lead. He was the boss, it was his call.
Hotch was running through the possibilities. If the shadow was a team member, they were in the right position. And soon they would identify themselves and call for the figure to surrender. But if the figure was the team member...that meant he was allowing the UnSub the upper-hand. Hotch hated these situations. He couldn't be sure who the figure or the shadow was. He couldn't advise a course of action with a clear conscience. They were going to have to wait.
He shook his head slightly.
Emily understood. She hoped the shadow was Morgan or Rossi. It couldn't be JJ and Reid; neither of the figures was built like that.
Without any indication, warning or movement; the Shadow squeezed the trigger of the gun. The crouching, oblivious figure slumped.
Headshot, Hotch noted.
One level down and thirty meters to the right, JJ, Reid and Rossi startled at the noise. They knew what that meant...They raced toward it, especially since they couldn't hear any of the normal voices yelling out, 'clear'.
The Shadow immediately checked the surrounding area, pocketing the dead figure's weapon.
Emily choked with realization.
Hotch heard her small noises. She was trying desperately hard not to make any sound, but it was too much. He grabbed her almost viciously, pushing her backwards into the wall, out of sight of the Shadow man...the UnSub.
When the Shadow (the UnSub) had shot the figure, the resulting force had moved the man backwards. His head had tumbled out of the darkness above and into a shaft of light.
It was Morgan.
The UnSub had shot Morgan.
Tears started to fill Emily's eyes. Morgan was dead.
Hotch placed his hands beside Emily's face, making her look straight at him. "I need to you to focus." He said, locking gaze with her, "I need you to be here, not up there...okay?"
Her eyes flicked up to where Morgan's dead body lay, she looked back at Hotch, at his unwavering stare. He needed her to be an FBI agent; she could be a person and a friend later.
"Okay..." it came out shakier than she would have like, but it was a choice. It was the answer Hotch needed.
Just as Hotch was prepared to release her, he heard a pounding of feet through water and debris. The rest of the team. They were racing toward the gunshot.
Damn. He had no way of letting them know the UnSub was heading in their direction.
The UnSub heard the six feet too, he crouched by another wall. Listening intently. There were three separate stairwells he could use. The first, which he (and Morgan) had ascended, was not an option. He knew there would be more police down that side of the building very soon. But that still left two other options. Did he want to confront these new targets or did he want to leave?
He had come this far, why not have some more fun?
JJ slid into the open area. She looked around quickly for any signs of a struggle. There was nothing. Nothing to indicate anyone had been shot.
Reid and Rossi surveyed the area too. There must be some sign. Unfortunately for them, the UnSub's second exit strategy was directly behind them. They had walked into a bottle neck.
Emily and Hotch were caught in the next room. They couldn't see anything but they heard.
The UnSub couldn't believe his luck. Three targets in one area. He made his decision carefully.
Take down the strongest target first.
He was about to take the shot, that would end the life of the older male, when something stopped him. It would be so much more interesting if the ceiling fell on them. He remembered which section of the building he was in. This was the wing he had dedicated to structural analysis. He had rigged these walls like a Christmas tree, a C4 Christmas Tree. With one flick of his thumb, he could bring the entire room collapsing inwards. He grinned to himself. This was going to be fun. He needed a better vantage point, and time to get to the switch.
JJ called out to Morgan or Hotch...to somebody. "Guys, you out there?"
"JJ what are you doing?" Rossi hissed back at her.
"Trying to find people." She replied.
"That's why we have our radios?" He said.
"Sorry, I'm..." JJ tried not to seem too flustered. She was always worried one of them was going to get shot. She just wanted to know upfront, immediately. She would be able to handle it, she was sure. Just not the unknowing. She needed to know, one way or the other.
JJ's distraction was exactly what the UnSub needed. While they tried to contact the rest of their team on the radios, the UnSub crept to a better place, retrieved his detonator and decided on the best way to start.
Garcia was paralysed. How could they be so close the UnSub and not know he was there? And while she was at it, what the hell was he doing?
Garcia gave up on the pretence of secrecy. She grabbed hold of one of the spare radios.
"Hotch, can you hear me? It's Garcia." She said, holding the button down. Nothing happened, not even static. Cursing she opened the back, no batteries. She quickly searched for more, or another radio.
By the time she found one, it was too late for JJ, Rossi and Reid.
The UnSub detonated the C4.
Rossi was the first to die. A piece of steel reinforcement burst out of the concrete wall. It pierced his throat. He bled out shortly after losing consciousness.
JJ and Reid were caught under large chunks of concrete slabs. But they had been on separate sides of the room. They couldn't even see each other. Well, they wouldn't have been able to see each other, if they had been conscious.
JJ was knocked unconscious by the same steel rod that had killed Rossi. It hit her across her temple. She had been directly in line for a nice puncture through the skull, Rossi had, by dying, saved her. If Rossi hadn't have been standing in front of her, the steel rod would have had an unencumbered trajectory straight into JJ's head. So for the short while that she survived, Rossi had saved her life. Unfortunately, the particular slab of concrete resting upon her and Rossi's dead body was lying precariously upon another concrete pylon that had fallen in the explosion. Within five minutes, about the time it took for Rossi to die, the pylon slipped and the concrete slab reached a horizontal level.
Jennifer Jareau was crushed to death.
Reid actually survived the explosion. A quite impressive feat. He was slightly pinned under another slab. Of course, he didn't know that because he was unconscious.
This was the scene that Aaron and Emily arrived at within fifteen minutes. When the room had fallen, they had been knocked back by the force of the explosion. They were mostly alright, a few bruises, a couple of scrapes, nothing serious. But they were horrified when they finally managed to get closer to the room they know the rest of their team where occupying. They couldn't see JJ and Rossi at first, the concrete slab being flat upon the ground. They immediately started picking their way to Reid, hoping against hope that he was okay.
Garcia knew differently. She could see the warmth starting to ebb from the two bodies. It wasn't a huge blooming of blue; it was just a less red/orange depiction of the two. She knew what that meant. Garcia started to cry. She tried the radio again; she had finally found the batteries.
"Guys?" She asked shakily.
"Oh my god! Garcia!" She heard Emily's panicked voice reply.
"Can you see the others?" She asked immediately. Why hadn't they checked them, they might just be losing some blood, they might not be dead.
"What others?" Emily replied, "Where are the others?"
Garcia looked at the screens before answering, "To your left, I think. I'm not getting a great picture, they look kind of smooshed."
"Smooshed?" Emily asked Hotch, forgetting to direct the question across the radio. While Hotch finally made it to Reid's body, Emily started scoping out the surrounding areas for the others. Garcia was pretty reliable, she wouldn't be sending them on a frivolous journey, especially now.
Emily saw something seeping from beneath a concrete chunk. It was red. Oh no.
"Hotch?" She said softly, too scared to bring his attention to it. She knew what that was. She'd seen blood enough times.
Suddenly, a spray of bullets arced across Reid's body, piercing his uncovered torso. Hotch had to make a mad dash away from the area lest he be shot too. Emily ducked behind another loosened chunk of ex-building.
Hotch managed to move around so that Emily could see him.
"Give up now!" Hotch called out commandingly.
Emily looked at him weirdly. As if that's ever going to happen, she seemed to be saying.
He shrugged; you never knew what might work. He could hope right? This case had been horrific.
He still didn't know she'd found Rossi and JJ. Emily tried not to think about it. Tears welled up again. She couldn't block this kind of emotion. But she needed to hold it together, they weren't out yet. And Garcia was still waiting for news...God, Garcia...half her family just disappeared today.
DON'T THINK ABOUT IT! She scolded herself.
Garcia saw something warmth-looking creeping toward the last two standing members of her team. She made herself believe the others were merely playing some deranged form of Hide and Seek.
"Prentiss!" She hissed into the radio.
"Yes?" Came the garbled reply.
"Movement to your right." She held her breath as she waited to see what would happen next.
Aaron heard Garcia's warning he couldn't reach Emily though. She was pinned down behind that measly chunk of wall. He was in a better position, but not by much. If the UnSub was still around they were going to be hard pressed to get out of there. He contemplated telling Emily about Reid...there was no way he could survive five bullets to the chest. Not at that short of a distance with no medical help on its way. He frowned and focused back on the task at hand; getting Emily out of here alive.
"I give up!" A voice suddenly called, surprising them.
Emily looked over at Hotch questioningly. Why would the UnSub be giving up now? He had the upper hand.
Hotch was worried too, no one gave up that easily. He motioned for Emily to move toward him, slowly though.
Emily stood up carefully, wincing as her leg scraped past another broken shard of steel and concrete. She knew cement was hard, but really...when you see it break into littler pieces because of some explosives, you just start expecting it be soft.
When Emily finally made her way over to Hotch, he instinctively moved in front of her. He had figured out from which direction the UnSub was moving and wanted to make sure he was the first person the man saw.
He descended his second staircase, watching the movements of the two FBI agents, or Police, or whoever they were. The people with guns that had been chasing him, had been because he was winning on that tally now. He was chasing them now. One against six was pretty good. Well, one against two now.
The UnSub stopped about fifteen feet in front of Hotch, he had both his own and Morgan's gun. He was wielding them expertly. Not a surprise, they had known this UnSub would be familiar with weaponry.
"Put your weapons down." Hotch ordered. If this guy was surrendering, he was going to put his weapons down first.
It was two weapons against two. One each for Hotch and Emily, two for the UnSub, but he knew the terrain better. This run down building was his nest, his domain. He knew every nook, every corner, every stairwell and doorway. He'd blown up a whole room without causing undue stress onto the surrounding rooms; this man knew what he was doing.
Emily took a steadying breath. This was going to be hairy.
Hotch slid a foot forward, ready to take the first available shot.
The UnSub smirked at their stances. He had everything under control. He slowly moved his hands, feigning surrender. He loosened his grip on the guns, clearly showing his trigger finger was nowhere near the trigger.
"I have to show you something." He said.
The two agents/police tensed, they separated so they could get a better view of him, but allowed him to continue. Idiots, always trying to give people second chances. He unzipped his jacket, slowly pull the teeth apart, he showed them his torso.
Aaron bit his tongue to stop himself from cursing. The man had a bomb strapped to his chest. If he had taken a chest shot, the bomb might have gone off.
Emily swallowed...what did they do now?
While the man and woman stared at his chest, the UnSub was making preparations. He was calming his mind, and trying to remember exactly where the wall bomb was. He had renovated one wall in the building to explode inwards. He was pretty sure; he had it right, that if that one particular wall was moved, the entire building would come down. He just needed to make the right calculations, he needed to be far enough away to survive the blast, and still make it out alive. He thought he remembered where it was, he guessed he would just have to take the chance.
Before Aaron or Emily had a chance to do anything, the UnSub suddenly changed his mind. He was surrendering anymore. He gripped the handles of the guns, bringing them back down so that one each was pointed at Aaron and Emily. He fired off a few shots, uncaring about who exactly they hit.
He would later find out, he hit Aaron twice, Emily three times. Aaron managed to clip his shoulder, but the weight of the woman falling on him caused his shot to slip. He had been aiming for the neck.
As he ran behind another wall, and down a corridor, he set off the final explosion. He was lucky. It was right behind the two police/agents. They were cut off from their only known exit route. He laughed. They would be hard pressed to find a way out now, especially if his predictions were right and the building collapsed.
Garcia was shrieking into the radio. She'd heard the explosion, and seen the bodies moving strangely in the building. She immediately got onto her laptop, bringing up the schematics she'd found ages ago.
Finally, the radio crackled.
"Pen..." a deep voice groaned.
"Hotch? Oh my god. Okay, okay, I think I have a way out for you."
"Good." He replied, but he didn't sound too happy about it.
Garcia thought he was just upset that the UnSub got away. She couldn't see him on the thermal monitor, because the explosion had caused too much damage and heat, her visuals were one big fuzz of red and orange, they were even white in some sections.
After many lefts, rights, veers, turns, yes sirs I know what I'm doings, Hotch finally reached the outside.
He was carrying Prentiss.
Garcia wailed. She was limp, bloody and not breathing.
"Hotch...what happened?"
Hotch never answered. He was unconscious before he even managed to put Emily on the ground. Thankfully, Garcia had had the foresight in all of her freaking out to call for ambulances. The bomb squad showed up at roughly the same time.
Hotch died on the operating table, one of the bullets was lodged in his ribcage; every time his heart beat it tore more of the organ.
Garcia didn't cry. Not once. She refused.
The FBI gave her two months leave. She didn't need it, she was quitting. They refused, made her promise to not make any decision until the two months, and the counselling, were over. She played along.
But she had made her decision. She used her hacking skills to track down the UnSub. She knew who he was now, and nothing was going to stop her.
After the building collapsed, the UnSub went on a spree.
A gun and bomb spree.
An across country gun and bomb spree.
He was too flighty for the police to track him, not having the resources to track him outside of their jurisdiction.
The FBI has lost their BAU...all of them. Garcia was the only original team member left. And she was refusing to work with anyone, she let them have the preliminary profile, she couldn't avoid that, but she didn't tell anyone that she was still tracking the UnSub.
Garcia was alone and in Texas. She was waiting for the UnSub, Gregory Pecks to exit his cabin so she could get in there and wait for him to return.
She was waiting for several hours, he'd gone to see another hooker, it was the one and only thing she had managed to find out about him that seemed like a ritual or a tradition. She had been hard pressed trying to get contact information out of the prostitutes on the street, but once she'd told them her story, they had all started pitching in. At least, when all this was over, their names wouldn't be forgotten, of course it was going to be a hooker folktale, but Garcia was fine with that.
Officer Grant, a Texan policeman, found the remnants of the cabin. Forensics had informed him that an explosion had gone off, killing the two inhabitants. A male and a female. They never really did find out what happened in that cabin.
The FBI were astounded when they lost track of Penelope Garcia, perhaps they had grown complacent when she had joined them. They hadn't kept as close of an eye on her as they did when she was on their watch-list. She seemed to have proved herself, joining the BAU almost exclusively. But now she had dropped off the face of the earth, and even they're other watch-listed employees couldn't find her. The only good thing about Penelope Garcia disappearing...that 'G&B Killer' seemed to have disappeared too.
You hate me. I understand.
I just figured, they're really, really lucky for people who work with serial killers, abductors, serial arsonists, etc, on pratically a daily basis.
And I also thougt, well...if I'm going to try my hand at killing someone (a member of the team) I might as well go all in. And my reasoning for Garcia's actions...come on, after all that woman has been through, I reckon, having the entire team killed in one day, is enough for her to go a little haywire and go get the bad guy... at least those are my thoughts...
Arc, would really appreciate knowing what you think, thanks for reading...