I decided to submit something for the-vampire-act's season 5 finale challenge. Can you figure out why this unsub is killing? Lots of twists and turns ahead.
It is a beautiful evening in Atlanta, Georgia. The sun is just setting, leaving an orange glow all over the city, the wind blows quietly past the trees as they sway lightly, and the roads are relatively empty as people sit on their front lawns or at movie theatres. Oh, it looks like a peaceful night.
Not for the BAU team though.
They all stand in the home of the latest victim, hopeful for another clue by the unsub being left. Another riddle, and another step closer to finding her.
The police cannot stop me BAU team. Neither can you.
A dead end. Her last clue left behind gives no indication on how to find her. They have to piece whatever they have together, but this is a difficult unsub to pin point. She is so precise, so careful. She is intellectual and powerful, with a wish to be a leader but not always present. A stubborn, authoritarian presence to her and is very seductive and manipulative. She is the worst and most difficult unsub since Foyet, and even Spencer Reid has doubts on catching her in the next couple of days.
Most of the unsubs like this are males. The female unsubs usually are weak or leave behind something that is easy to catch them. But this one, this woman (oh, they are positive it is a woman) is difficult and sneaky.
It is only a matter of time before she slips and they catch her.
They get a lead two days after the fourth victim since they start the case is found. There are three different locations she could be located at. Since they are pretty sure she is using the alias 'Rebecca Vogel'. The team splits up, under Aaron Hotchner's orders.
"Prentiss, Morgan, I want you to take the unsub's home. Rossi, you and I will take her boyfriend's house. JJ, you and Reid take the first victim's house again. She worked with the victim so she might have gone back there. This unsub tends to go back to the scene of the crime and she might go back to the first victim," Hotch instructs. A few comforting words, some jokes, and then they depart in three separate SUV's. They are going to catch her and they are going to stop her.
No pictures are found on Rebecca Vogel, no criminal records, nothing. She is under an alias and it is Penelope Garcia's job to discover who she really is. It's not too hard for her, just time consuming. Digging on Rebecca is hard because she has only been Rebecca for three years now, around the time the killings started. They are so brutal though. Most of her targets are middle age males, ranging from twenty nine to forty. The only victim outside of this criterion is the first victim, and this is only because she and Rebecca apparently have connections through work. She seduces these victims and makes them bring her to their houses. They have sexual encounters together and then she shoots them in the chest and then in the head, leaving them in their own houses for their wives, girlfriends or family members to find them. Thirteen victims, not including the first, have been found in the time span of two years. Garcia isn't even sure why she is going under an alias, but she has to presume it's to protect her identity in some way.
Rebecca Vogel knows who they are, and knows that they are on the case. Leaving notes and riddles are all a part of her insane plan and Garcia has a feeling it's a showdown for her FBI agents; one that they might not get out alive if she uses the element of surprise.
She types her fingers across the keyboard and hits enter. Once she sees what pops up, she lets out a little cry and her hand flies to the phone.
Emily Prentiss and Derek Morgan enter the house, their guns raised. She steps forward silently, cursing at the creak in the floor. Emily gestures to Morgan to go upstairs as she checks on this floor. He nods and silently makes his way up the stairs. He looks at a door down the hall and cautiously makes his way over to it, spotting a light illuminating under the crack of the door. He pauses, counts to three and slams his foot right in the center of the door, hearing the crack of the door as it bursts open.
Empty. Nobody is in it; however, the room is filled with articles, clippings and other sorts of their team.
Shit. "Emily, get up here!" he calls quickly, stunned and confused. This makes no sense.
David Rossi and Hotch enter Rebecca's boyfriend's house. Well, he is more like her partner who finds her victims and brings them to her, except, she is the one that performs the tasks and he does not participate. Roger Linus his name is. Hotch covers the upstairs and Rossi stays downstairs, his gun raised. Rossi creeps toward the kitchen, peeking in to find nobody there. He suddenly hears a voice from downstairs. He quickly gets out of the kitchen, whispering Hotch's name as loudly as he can before moving back to the door to the basement.
Hotch makes it downstairs and both look at the door handle. Deep breaths are taken before Hotch kicks down the door and they both move down the stairs, shocked at what, or who, they see with Roger.
Jennifer Jareau and Reid park outside the first victim's house and exit the car, moving swiftly toward the house. JJ silently opens the front door and the two move inside, as JJ feels an eerie and familiar sensation. It reminds her of the time with Tobias Hankel. The house in the middle of nowhere, dark outside, abandoned and quiet.
"Do not split up under any circumstance," she warns Reid quietly, who nods in understanding. It's a small house anyways so no splitting up is necessary. The two move through the main floor quickly. Nobody is down there. Reid lets out a frustrated sigh as the two turn to the upstairs.
A creak upstairs startles the two and they quickly move upstairs, their guns rose a bit higher as they move to the sound.
Morgan picks up his phone as he and Emily inspect the room.
"Hey babygirl, you won't believe what we found. There's a whole room in the unsub's house dedicated to all of us. Isn't that crazy?" Morgan asks into the phone. Garcia's tone of voice startles Morgan though, as he drops his playful tone.
"Derek, you won't believe what I've found. Surprisingly, what you just shared with me isn't so crazy and it makes a lot of sense," Garcia speaks frantically, her eyes widening as she reads what she finds over and over.
"Ok, slow down Pen. What did you find?" he asks as he puts the phone on speaker, so Emily can listen in.
"Rebecca Vogel is an alias. Four years ago, she worked under the government but something- something happened to her while working and she couldn't work there anymore so she resigned. She started getting death threats shortly after so she changed her name and moved to Atlanta to protect her family. Unfortunately, she became psychotic because of her experiences in the government office, as an FBI agent actually, and also with the death threats and she was admitted to a mental institution for a few months before they released her. Unfortunately, she was faking being better and got another job. However, the pressure made her crack and the first victim, Rachel Kelburn, made her reach her breaking point after it was discovered she was the one that sent the death threats through her husband," Garcia starts off shakily.
"Ok, so we found out her ammo for the first victim. But what about the other victims? And how about her obsession with us?" he wonders as Emily inspects the room.
"Derek," her voice shakes even more and he can't imagine what she is going to tell them. "She chooses these men because they remind her of all the trauma that she's gone through while an FBI agent. I guess she wants them to feel inferior or something. But I know why she's obsessed with you guys. It's not just because you're the best in the country," Garcia says, pausing.
And when she tells him why, his heart stops. He has to get to the rest of the team immediately before they are killed.
"Get in the car Prentiss and call Hotch," Morgan instructs once he hangs up on Garcia, racing toward the car, Emily quickly in tow.
"What the hell?" Rossi mutters as he sees a half familiar face in front of him.
Jason Gideon stands with Roger Linus, looking remorseful but confident.
"Hotch, it's nice to see you again. Ah, David is it? You must be the new me," Gideon says pleasantly, sending a shiver down Hotch's spine.
"Jason," Hotch says confused. Gideon smiles as bit as he fingers a button on his pressed shirt, facing the two agents as Roger looks nervous.
"I'm sorry for doing all of this. I mean, helping to kill innocent people. You don't know how remorseful I am," Gideon says softly. Hotch pauses, suspicions drawing as he takes one step toward him, raising his gun once more.
"Why are you helping then? What do you get out of this?" Hotch asks. Gideon pauses as he looks at Roger, who is practically shaking in his boots, and Hotch realizes that Roger could not have found these victims on his own. His personality is very shy and skiddish which means he had to have had help to find and corner these victims in the bars to lead them over to the unsub. Hotch never would have guessed that Gideon would be the one though.
"I've known the unsub for a while now Hotch. She's my friend. I had to help her," Gideon admits, looking defeated. That is all Hotch and Rossi can hear. Rossi steps forward more, grabbing the cuffs and hooking them onto Gideon's hands, as Hotch does the same for Roger.
"Where can we find her? What is her real name?" Hotch asks calmly. Gideon looks at his former friend, guilt spreading on his face as he realizes his predicament at last. His shoulders slump as he gives in.
"The first victim's house, to gather some things before she takes off again. But you already knew that. She's mentally unstable Hotch, so you have to be careful," Gideon warns. Rossi has enough of this crap as he pushes Gideon against the wall, the gun to his neck. Hotch makes a little noise of disapproval.
"Who is she?" he demands angrily. Gideon sighs, taking a look at Hotch before he answers.
And that answer sends Hotch into a state of panic as his phone rings.
They creep up the stairs, afraid to even make a sound. They hear a door closing at the end of the hall and JJ gestures to Reid, who nods as they quietly move toward the door.
One, two, three...
Reid opens the door and they both rush in, guns raised. The unsub is there, her back turned to them, as she is concealed in the darkness. Of course, Reid thinks as he says, "FBI, don't move."
"I knew you would come for me," she says, and her voice is eerily familiar. The two actually have to pause as JJ fumbles a bit with her gun.
"Hands up Rebecca, you're caught," JJ says sternly. Rebecca merely laughs as she turns, her face still in the darkness.
"I've been waiting a long time to see you again JJ. You've changed. I love your bangs," Rebecca continues mysteriously. Both agents have no clue what to do next, so they just stand there. "And Reid, you've changed as well. You know who I am and you know what I am capable of. I know the FBI's every move because I was one of you. This house is going to explode in approximately forty seconds. But you want to know who I am so you're going to stay until I step out of the shadows," she continues lightly.
Reid is the one who notices the explosives in the room and his eyes avert back to Rebecca's as it finally dawns on him, the pieces clicking into place.
"I know who you are," he realizes out loud as JJ figures it out too, a gasp emitting from her lips. And out steps Elle Greenaway, a smirk on her delicate lips.
"Welcome to hell agents. Good luck getting out of here in fifteen seconds. If I'm going down, I'm going out with a bang," Elle says cautiously, a laugh emitting from her lips as the two agents face each other with shock.
Without another second to waste, they turn from their former friend as they run out the door and down the stairs, a laugh coming from Elle's lips once again.
As Morgan and Emily drive down the road to the first victim's house, they hear an explosion coming from down the road, from the first victim's house.
So, what do you guys think? Was it suspenseful? Was it good? Did you figure out who the unsubs were? I tried to make it not so obvious but I've never been good at those kinds of things. BTW, Elle's alias 'Rebecca Vogel' comes from Rebecca Garner, the case where Elle got shot and everything started spiralling downhill for her, and Vogel from Elle's first case on the BAU. Thanks for reading guys!