In a real situation like the one that's about to be played out, obviously SWAT would be around and other feds and laa dee daa. But this is my story, so the team are stuck on their own ^.^ Enjoy!
Her blood curdling scream filled the room, bouncing off the mould riddled walls and echoing into the halls beyond. An agonising rush of unbearable pain seared through her body. Droplets of perspiration dotted above her brow whilst the stream of unstoppable tears gushed like a waterfall down her ever paling face.
She heard the ruckus from her team down the corridor come to an immediate halt. It was then, despite the pain, that JJ fully clocked on to what had just happened.
They'd used her as bait, just like Joseph had said.
It wasn't a coincidence that Alec, who was now nowhere to be seen, had placed her in this large room, in pain and alone. A room that just happened to be big enough to fit in her entire team and then some.
Her agonised cries were the bait to bring the lambs to the slaughter.
The damage had already been done and this realisation did nothing but make the tears fall faster.
Cradling her limp wrist, JJ pulled her knees up and rested her forehead on them, letting the tear drops fall without attempting to stop them.
It was merely seconds before the door crashed open.
She heard the intake of shocked breaths and the quick dropping of weapons followed by the one sound she didn't want to hear. Footsteps. Tentative, slow footsteps making their way towards her battered body.
Crouching down in front of her, he cautiously placed a hand on her shoulder. Hotch almost recoiled in horror when she lifted her head.
Emily gasped, her hand flying to cover her gaping mouth.
"Oh my God, JJ.." he started.
But JJ wasn't looking at him.
Behind him, JJ stared unforgivingly at the 5 males who had silently slithered into the room, each with a weapon pointed at a member of her team.
Alec winked knowingly at JJ.
"Nice job princess. Weapons down. Now."
Hotch looked behind him, then back to JJ, eyebrows knitted in confusion.
Finally locking eye contact with the man in front of her, fresh tears fell to the tiled floor below.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She choked out.
Unable to hold his gaze any longer, she dejectedly hung her head once more.
"I said, weapons down!" Alec shouted.
The door had been bolted behind them. They were all trapped. JJ knew that not everyone would be getting out of this alive. And it was all her fault. Every person in the room had a gun trained on someone else.
Despite Alec's previous demands, no one had released their weapons. Hotch had stepped backwards, resuming his position with the rest of the team.
JJ could feel his eyes burning into her. She knew how repulsed by her he must be. How angry and hurt he must feel. She couldn't blame him. She felt the same way about herself. All those times Alec had called her useless and worthless, he was right. He'd been right all along.
Alec's foot tapped rhythmically in agitation.
"Okay, let me make this easier for you." He said, walking over and positioning himself next to the blonde.
The gun he was holding which had previously been trained on Aaron now pointed directly to JJ.
"Weapons. Down. Now." He threatened.
She heard the fumble of moving bodies, followed by a couple of guns carefully connecting with the ground. Looking up to see who had gone way against protocol, she saw Emily and Reid standing empty handed before her. Only Rossi, Morgan and Hotch remained confidently in place, despite also having guns pointed at them from behind. They were now dangerously outnumbered.
"What part of weapons down don't you men understand?" Alec asked, clicking the safety off his gun.
Rossi desperately looked at Hotch for direction, but his eyes were locked on JJ.
Seeing no other option, Rossi too placed his weapon on the ground.
Chris and Eddie moved in, kicking the weapons well out of reach of the agents, whilst Joseph and his heavily armed body guard stood at the rear, readily positioned to strike if needed.
"Well, at least we know who suffers with authority issues." Smiled Alec, casting a look down at the broken girl beside him.
"Let me make this easy for all of you." Alec started. "All you have to do is leave this room, go back to wherever the hell you came from and leave us alone. We'll be long gone by sunrise. Scouts honour. It really is that simple. If you don't...well, you can stay and find out for yourselves."
No one else picked up on it. But she did. For the first time in her working life with Hotch, she saw him falter, saw the realisation that he was well and truly fucked flash across his stoic features. She saw him panic.
The grip on his gun loosened, contemplating the outcomes of all possible scenarios. But within seconds his grasp was again iron tight around his weapon, pointed steadily at Alec.
Knowing that he was covered, Alec bent down to grasp the straps of JJ's blood stained vest. Pulling her upright, an involuntary cry escaped her lips.
Standing, the full effects of the hell JJ had been trapped in were there on show for everyone to see.
"Oh my God." She heard Emily cry.
Hotch bit down on his lip in anger, the taste of copper seeping into his mouth. How had he missed this?
Almost every inch of the young woman before him was a shade of purple. Bruises, both new and old, patched their way up her skin. Cuts and scrapes also made their fair share of appearances.
He felt sick. Physically and emotionally sick. How had he let this happen?
"See what I mean, he doesn't give a shit about you." Alec started, snaking his arm around JJ's shoulders, pulling her close.
"Your life is in the balance here and he's far too conceited to even think about putting his gun down. I told you he doesn't care baby. "
Averting his gaze, she suddenly found herself feeling very claustrophobic.
For the first time, Hotch spoke.
"JJ, you know that's not true. Whatever he's told you, whatever he's said, it's all lies JJ, it's..."
"Now Aaron don't be so selfish. She could die any second and you're going to stand there and lie to her! Now I personally think that's just low, trying to turn me against her, that's just sick Aaron, you should be ashamed! You know I'd never lie to you, don't you pumpkin?"
Deep in her heart, she knew what he was doing. She knew full well Alec was trying to play her off against her boss. She knew it. But parts of what Alec said made sense. As much as she hated to admit it, she was beginning to believe more and more what Alec was saying.
Hotch looked disgustedly at the young man stood before him.
"You're sick." Aaron stated. "You're supposed to protect her. Love her. What kind of a brother are you."
A humoured laugh rumbled from Alec's mouth.
JJ watched Prentiss turn to their boss in shock.
"Hotch..JJ doesn't have a brother." She said.
JJ watched as Hotch's face fell, as every little piece of the puzzle suddenly fell into place. He got it now. The realisation of what he'd failed to recognize hit him like a tonne of bricks.
Her behaviour. Her avoidance. Her absence.
The incident with her wrist. The long sleeved jumpers. The pale features. The obvious weight loss he put down to stress.
On and on the list ran in his head.
All signs he was trained to look for as a profiler.
All signs that directly flashed danger.
All signs that he'd missed.
The others realised too. A mask of shock and horror worn by all.
"I'm so sorry." JJ repeated, eyes trained on Hotch.
"JJ.." He began.
"You're sorry! What the hell are you sorry for? It's this idiot that should be sorry. He played you like a puppet, can't you see that? You gave him everything, and what do you get in return? Nothing, that's what. Except extra unpaid hours and a bunch of case files no other idiot would be stupid enough to take. " Interrupted Alec.
Looking Hotch straight in the eye, he smiled before continuing.
"She loves you, you know. Every day, all I get is Aaron this and Aaron that and Aaron looked so nice in his new shirt today. And now you won't even drop your gun to save her? To you I guess she's just the pathetic little girl with a crush on her boss? How tragic." Alec laughed, pressing the barrel of his gun to JJ's already bruised temple.
Hotch's arm became stiff with anger, gun aimed straight at Alec's forehead.
"I swear to God..."
"You'll what? Shoot me? Good luck with that." Said Alec, nodding at the other men in the room.
"Don't you dare touch her." Hotch seethed.
Alec laughed.
"I think it's a little late for that, if you catch my drift." He winked.
"You sick son of a bitch." Morgan jumped in, stepping forward. The veins that ran along his tanned arms bulged from his skin.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did I make the hulk mad?" Bit Alec. "Take one more step and she's dead."
JJ wasn't sure what injuries she had, but she was certain she wouldn't be conscious for much longer. Her entire being was completely numb. The room had become fuzzy. Voices of those who were speaking were drifting in and out of hearing range. She hadn't even realised she was falling until Alec yanked her upright, pushing her into Chris arms.
"Hello?" Alec said, grabbing her chin and shaking her back into the present. "We're trying to carry out a hostage situation here. Can you please stop fucking things up for 5 minutes? It'd be greatly appreciated."
The second he let go of her chin, the room began to float again. Thankfully Chris was still holding her upright.
"She needs an ambulance. " JJ heard Rossi say.
"No. What she needs these two morons to drop their weapons so we can all go happily on our way. Now I'm sick of these games. You have 10 seconds to leave Aaron. 9. 8." He counted down.
Morgan looked at Hotch, as did the rest of the team. They didn't know what to do. Hotch wasn't sure he did either.
"5.4.3." Alec yawned.
Morgan relented and finally placed his weapon on the ground. Hotch stood confidently, arm still raised.
"1. Well Aaron. I didn't want it to come down to this, I really didn't. But you've left me no choice."
Placing his own gun on the ground, Alec reached into the inside pocket of his jacket, pulling out a syringe and small vile of liquid.
Placing the needle into the vile, Alec didn't bother addressing anyone whilst he spoke.
"Agent Reid. .sorry, Dr Reid. Please, enlighten us with the symptoms and consequences of a heroin overdose, even for a previous user."
When no answer was given, Alec looked up in annoyance.
"Now would be great."
"Urm.." Reid stuttered, "well, death. A lot of people, uh, a lot of people die from heroin overdoses. Statistically 15000 a year from overdosing in general. Uh, I guess, well, symptoms would be convulsions, laboured breathing, abdominal pain which would all lead to a coma and then, well, you'd die." Reid babbled.
"Thank you Spencer. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. And, say if someone overdosed and didn't receive the medical help that they needed..how long would it take for them to slip into a coma?"
"No less than 10 minutes." Reid replied quickly.
"Fantastic." Alec grinned.
JJ screamed in pain as Alec grabbed her broken wrist.
"Stop being such a baby." He retorted, holding her arm out flat under the dim lighting. Pushing the glimmering needle into her purple skin, she cried out again.
"Now Aaron, this is your last chance. Leave, now. Or she's a gonner. Those symptoms don't sound like much fun to me. And I predict it'd take at least 15 minutes for an ambulance crew to get all the way up here, wouldn't you agree Spence?"
Spencer silently nodded.
"Hotch!" Emily cried.
Aaron knew Alec was telling the truth. He could see it in the younger mans stone cold eyes. The second that syringe was pressed; he knew it'd kill her, especially seeing as though she didn't look entirely stable as it was.
He kept his eyes on the broken young girl before him, her beautiful face a mass of vicious bruises and fist issued cuts. Hotch knew if he didn't get out of there soon his dinner would be making a reappearance. But he couldn't leave JJ. Not after sitting back and letting her go through this torture alone when he knew, deep inside, that something was wrong.
He'd never forgive himself for this.
She wouldn't be able to stand for much longer. Her breathing had become shallow.
JJ was unable to breathe through her nose due to the numerous blood clots, but her mouth wasn't much help either thanks to the swelling of her cheeks and metallic taste she noticed every time she swallowed.
"She needs an ambulance now!" she heard Morgan bellow.
Alec's maniacal laughter rang in her ears.
Closing her eyes, she didn't even know if she was upright any more. She didn't even care.
Painstakingly lifting her heavy eyelids, she was confused to find herself sitting against the wall, Alec crouched besides her.
"Yo, you're freaking people out, stop it." He said to her.
She threw her head to the side as she felt the vomit rush up her throat. Her teams eyes widened in horror as pure, thick blood made its way from the young agents mouth.
Reid spun towards Hotch, now knowingly understanding the full severity of the situation.
"I'm waiting Aaron." Alec said in a sing-song voice, watching Hotch like a hawk with his evil eyes.
When Hotch remained still, Alec sighed.
"You did this to her you know." He stated, before pushing the plunger slowly.
The transparent liquid seeped in JJ's body. She felt it. The second it was inside of her, she knew. The intense craving she'd also been suffering from was immediately silenced. Despite her atrocious injuries, JJ was quickly soothed.
"STOP!" Shouted Hotch, but Alec continued to push on the plunger.
The rest of the team felt helpless, watching in horror as their closest friend was ultimately being killed in front of them. They all knew what Hotch was thinking. He'd have to end this. Right now. Regardless of the consequences it might bring.
But Alec wasn't stupid.
Due to the situation, Hotch's full time guard was down. He was an open book to everyone in that room, which Alec used to his full advantage. The second Aarons eyes flicked to the trigger, Alec pushed the plunger all the way down. The first shot rang out milliseconds after, closely followed by a second.
Just before her heavy head hit the stone cold floor below, she caught a glimpse of Aaron's body flying backwards.
Heard Morgan's frantic shouts.
Heard Emily's anguished scream.
JJ welcomed the awaiting darkness that lured her into unconsciousness, as all hell broke loose around her.