Title: Transhuman
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Characters/Pairing: Garcia-centric, team - gen
Genre: Science-fiction/Drama
Summary: In a dystopian future, hacker Penelope Garcia finds herself being hunted by a corrupt organization. Fearing for her life, she must search for help in the strangest of places.
Author's Notes: Betaed by Windy City Dreamer.

Chapter Ten

Garcia's heart felt like it was beating a thousand times a minute. They'd been here less than a day, and already they'd started letting their guard down. In the slums, if you stopped paying attention to the world around you, it was tantamount to the death sentence.

She eyed the barrel of the gun, noting the shiny metal of the barrel. There were no scratch marks, no imperfections. It was a weapon that was well made, and well maintained.

Her eyes travelled along the barrel, taking note of the well manicured fingernails and smooth skin of its holder. The hand was steady; not wavering. Dark eyes bored holes into Garcia. She was attractive in a way. Clean professionalism that screamed Corp. Not the kind of Corp agent that just wanted a paycheck. This was a Corp agent that believed in the mission statement. Of course, Penelope Garcia had been wrong before.

The dark eyes didn't leave their target, as the Corp agent lifted her non-dominant wrist. The gun lowered slightly.

'Control, this is Greenaway,' she said. 'Targets have been apprehended. Requesting containment van at the Bandeet building, down Fourth.'

Targets. That was them. But wait – that meant the Corp knew where they were, which meant that either Derek had betrayed them, or something hinky was going on. While she didn't want to believe the former, the latter made things so much more confusing; if it wasn't Derek that had betrayed them, then who was it? His source? One of the members of his resistance group?

The source knew about the two of them, but she wasn't so sure about the resistance group. Derek seemed like the kind of person that kept secrets even from those he was closest to.

'By the order of the city of Lassiter-'

Garcia and Kevin shared a split second look before breaking into a run. Their lives had been defined by running, and they weren't about to change things up because they were in a new city.

'Stop.'

The voice was almost like a bolt of lightning striking her spine. She felt her whole body convulse; every instinct that was telling her to keep running wasn't worth a damn, because her brain wasn't listening.

What the…?

The Corp agent hadn't even fired her weapon.

Shaking with pain, Garcia turned her head slightly to the left, only to see Kevin in a similar situation. On the ground, unable to escape from whatever had sent them down in the first place.

'As I was saying: by the order of the city of Lassiter under the command of the Corporation, I hereby place you under arrest for acts unbecoming to the furtherment of humankind. You will be taken into custody and interrogated; your fate will be decided by a representative of the Corporation. Any further attempts to avert the course of justice will be met with termination.'

Oh jenkies.

This was it. It was all over. All this time on the run, and the Corp had finally caught up with them. But how? Garcia didn't know of any manner of technology that would take a person to the ground with a single word.

She felt the tears creeping to her ducts. Everything she'd heard led to the conclusion that death was a better option than Corp imprisonment, but that wasn't exactly viable right then.

It was several moments before the feeling started to edge its way back in, by which time the Corp agent had already cuffed Garcia's hands tightly behind her back. It wasn't permanent. That was something.

'You shouldn't have run,' the woman whispered softly, and her voice sounded almost human. As though there was really a heart – a soul – behind the agent.

'You know, you could just let us go, and we'd be on our way,' suggested Kevin, his words slurred by still numb lips.

There was a moment of silence, as if the agent was almost considering his words. 'I can't do that,' she said eventually.

'And why not?'

It wasn't Kevin's voice that spoke, but Derek's. In her limited field of vision, Garcia saw the man, his weapon directed towards the Corp agent.

She felt her heart soar. It was not only the fact that Derek had chosen to come after them, but that he wasn't in league with the Corp. At least as far as she could tell, anyway.

'Derek…' The agent's voice was hesitant; for what reason, Garcia was unsure. She knew Derek, though. That was unexpected.

'Elle. You don't have to do this. You used to be one of us.'

'Yeah, Elle, listen to him,' said the voice to Garcia's left.

'Shut up, Kevin,' she hissed. This wasn't their fight.

'I'm sorry,' the agent – Elle – said, and for one fleeting second, Garcia was glad that she couldn't see what was going on behind her. What she did see was Derek dodging the bullet fired in his direction, and firing his own shot in return. She heard the sound of a body falling to the ground.

'Is she…is she dead?' Garcia asked, as Derek uncuffed her hands. The body looked dead, but with Corp agents, it was hard to tell sometimes. They were a little hardier than regular citizens, probably something to do with the rigorous training the agents went through.

'Not quite,' replied Derek, his gaze staying on the agent's unmoving body. 'She should live.'

'Who was she?' asked Kevin.

Derek didn't answer.