Chapter 2: The Game
Day 2.
With shaky eyes and a racing heartbeat, JJ forced herself to a seated position on the frigid wood-laminate floor. She didn't notice the lack of windows or doors, but she did see six familiar people confined to the same dull room.
Morgan held his hands on his hips while facing Hotch who had his arms crossed against his chest. JJ couldn't help but notice the tears in the pant leg of his new suit.
Penelope limply laid the closest to JJ with her eyes still closed. JJ could see the rise and fall of her friend's chest and decided she didn't need to panic just yet.
Rossi sat next to Penelope, he gently held her hand and rubbed circles with his thumb but JJ couldn't decide if he was trying to soothe himself or an unconscious Penelope Garcia.
Reid, sitting down, leaned against the furthest wall away from anyone with his eyes fixated on the ground beneath him. His shaggy hair covered most of his forehead but not enough that JJ couldn't see a red gash marking the outer side of his head.
And Emily. Emily was pacing and biting her fingernails, she had a faint bruise under her left eye that JJ was sure would turn into a gnarly sea of black and blue but that didn't worry JJ the most. What worried her was their panicked expressions and matching dog-like, black collars around each of her friends' throats. Not to mention how none of them seemed to notice she had woken up.
A soft groan crashed through her lips as she reached for her head and fought the pulsing inside the walls of her skull. Her consciousness felt hazy, like the things she saw were a movie or a figment of her imagination. Unsettling didn't begin to describe it.
"JJ?" Morgan asked and rushed to kneel at her side. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." JJ brushed the fatigue from her eyes and gazed around the room at everyone staring at her. "What? What is it?"
JJ peered down at her attire and felt a similar collar around her throat, but nothing else on her seemed to be out of the ordinary. The deafening silence somehow managed to get louder with each excruciating second that passed. "Someone tell me what the hell is going on?"
Morgan ignored her question and turned to Hotch with the same panicked expression.
"Why is her collar a different color?"
"It could mean a number of things." Reid interrupted from the back of the room and stood up to join the circle around JJ and Penelope on the floor. "Whatever it is, it's important."
"What? Why?" JJ questioned, immediately feeling defensive with everyone staring at her. She stood up and tugged on the collar. Vaguely she could see the color was a light blue and unfortunately like she had expected it was secure and only served to rub painfully on her neck, despite her pulling.
"This unsub is organized, he managed to kidnap seven federal agents in the span of 24 hours. Everything he does is calculated." Reid answered.
"Okay genius, where's the door?" Morgan asked with a bite to his tone.
Reid glared and glanced around the dull room. JJ followed his eyes and scoured her surroundings. It was no larger than an average living room size, but the ceiling was much taller than standard. Auburn-covered walls encircled them all like a giant box and lying on the floor were seven grey mats with a few blankets tossed around. One of them had blood on it.
Fresh blood.
Probably Reid's.
The back left corner had a dingy curtain halfway covering a toilet and a sink. But the oddest part of their prison was the screen on the opposite side and a hanging projector from the middle of the ceiling.
"You figure it out, tough guy." Reid snapped back.
JJ meticulously wrapped her arms around her body and clenched her jaw taught.
"Okay, take it easy," Hotch instructed and held his arms out between the two. "I know emotions are running high, but taking it out on each other isn't going to get us anywhere. Now, did anyone see this man's face?"
"JJ and I did," Morgan said and JJ shot her eyes to meet his before quickly returning them to the floor. "He was white, average-looking, but he was strong and trained in martial arts."
Rossi massaged his temple with a sigh. "That matches the unsub I saw. Did anybody see a partner?"
The group shook their heads and examined the surrounding facial expressions of crippling despair and defeat.
"We can't rule that possibility out," Hotch replied.
Garcia started to mumble and Morgan fell to his knees at her side to greet her as she finally opened her eyes.
"Hi, baby girl."
Garcia sighed in relief. "Oh thank goodness, it was just a bad dream." But her eyes started to focus on her surrounding team and everything that so plainly presented evidence to the contrary. "Someone tell me this is a dream."
No one said anything as Hotch knelt to help Morgan pull her to a standing position.
"Okay, so this is not good. Wha-why do we have these ugly things around our necks? And who took us? What's going on?" Her eyes welled up with tears and Morgan pulled her into a side hug.
"We're trying to figure it out. What do you remember last?"
Garcia closed her eyes and the tears burst through their barricade. "I remember a man with a gun and something sharp in my neck. Then I remember… here."
"He used the syringe with me too," Emily added as the rest of the team nodded along.
"So he's got access to sedatives and the training to administer through force," Rossi added. "It's also not likely that it's someone we've dealt with before based on the fact that none of us recognize him."
"Was anyone awake when he brought us in here?" Reid asked.
Again everyone shook their heads.
JJ suspected Morgan laid his eyes back on her but she refused to take her leer off the floor or remove the white knuckle grip she had wrapped around her torso.
"What else do we know?" Emily questioned.
The room fell into an uncomfortable silence.
JJ finally spoke up with an unyieldingness in her jaw. "No one wants to talk about the collars?"
"We don't know-" Morgan started but JJ cut him off.
"We know they're not good. And we know what they look like." JJ paused and waited for anyone to say something. "They look like shock collars."
"We don't know that for sure." Morgan tried to reassure her but JJ knew the whole team was thinking the same thing.
"Well, it's not gonna do us any good to pretend like it's jewelry."
Morgan's eyebrows furrowed. "JJ, what the hell is going on?" He let go of Garcia's shoulders then strode towards JJ. He stepped directly in front of her and put his hand on either shoulder while meeting her shimmering eyes.
JJ's eyes scanned past him as the rest of the team began talking to each other about possibilities and more preliminary profile questions. Ultimately, she looked back to Derek with a glare.
"What's going on is that we all have been taken by a psycho. And I don't need you to come save me."
JJ swept past Morgan as his mouth fell open in surprise and confusion.
"Let's all spread out and see if we can feel the walls for an opening. He got us in here one way or another right?" JJ suggested then promptly turned around to start on the closest section behind her.
Her hands shook despite the way she tried to control them and she could only hope none of her friends would notice. Something was going on with her, the whole team knew it and they could all see it.
The only problem was, JJ didn't know what was going on with her either. But something was awfully wrong.
Reid had found a part of the wall protruding differently than the rest of the room but between the whole team they couldn't figure out how to open it, whether that be by force or not.
As if on cue, the lights dimmed and a deep voice echoed through the room.
"Welcome to the game."
"An intercom?" JJ asked turning to Hotch but he only nodded and turned the other way.
A humming sound filled the room and the projector abruptly turned on illuminating the screen in front of them. A man appeared on the screen and JJ instantly recognized him as the man that had taken her. And by the expressions of her friends' faces, they recognized him too.
He grinned and stared directly towards them, almost as if he was looking straight at them himself. He clasped his hands on the table in front of him as his grin spread even further across his face.
"My name is Arlo Triplett and you all have just entered the game." He chuckled somewhat maniacally and kept going. "The rules are simple, as are the consequences. You break a rule you get a consequence."
Emily turned to Rossi "Is this live?"
"My dear Emily, it very much is live. I can see you and I can hear you. Always."
Emily crossed her arms against her chest and glared towards the projector screen, evidently searching for cameras.
"Don't be so glum, it's not a good look on you." He chastised before sitting up straight in his chair. "Now, shall we go over the rules?"
Morgan whispered to Hotch, but JJ still heard him say, "Is this some sort of joke?"
If their unsub, Arlo, had heard he didn't mention it, he just kept going as if nothing else in the world mattered but him and his narcissism.
"The game is called One Hour in Hell. You've all earned yourself a spot here, but thankfully I'm giving you a chance to escape. Each one of you has your own special hell and you will be given one hour to beat this hell. Fail and you die, succeed and you'll leave this alive."
The room fell silent while each team member studied his mannerisms and features.
"What? Nobody's going to ask what happens if you don't do it?"
A piercing scream ripped through the hushed air as JJ immediately fell to the floor and began writhing in pain. She reached for the electric device around her neck causing so much pain but the convulsions kept her from moving any further.
"STOP! Stop, we're listening!" Morgan shouted while crouching at JJ's side and cradling her head until the electric shock finally ceased.
"Ever so chivalrous, Agent Morgan." The man sneered and stood up from the desk he had been sitting at. "That won't last for long. I promise I will break each one of you. You won't even remember what life was like before I'm done with you."
Morgan scoffed and helped JJ up. She glared towards the projector while heavy, labored breaths left her body.
"You're going to wish you never took us," JJ spat.
"Come on, there are seven of us and one of him, he can't take all of us, not even with the shock collars, so let's make a plan," Morgan whispered.
"No plan is going to work if he can hear us." Reid offered somewhat solemnly.
"You're right..." Emily started then turned to Rossi. "Pensi che sappia l'italiano?"
Rossi slowly smirked. "Scopriamolo."
The two began exchanging sentences in Italian while the rest of the team fought to keep up with the few words they knew.
As soon as they stopped, Emily turned to Reid and began speaking in Russian.
"это план."
"ты думаешь, это сработает?"
Emily shrugged then finally turned to JJ.
"Por el momento puedo comunicarme contigo, Reid y Rossi. Entonces este es el plan."
JJ nodded her head, it had been far too long since she spoke Spanish, but luckily the two had communicated this way before. It was genius of Emily to come up with this, but now Emily was the middle man of communication and it still left Morgan, Hotch, and Garcia out of the loop.
"¿Cómo sabemos que incluso vendrá aquí?" JJ asked.
"Nosotras no."
JJ pursed her lips and eyed the part of the wall the team deemed to be a hidden door. JJ suddenly turned to Morgan and pulled his hand out. She started to draw letters across his hand.
?
Morgan gaped and met her eyes with a smile before nodding his head. JJ let out a deep breath and began spelling out what she and Emily had discussed. It took a long time and JJ made sure to use her body to block their hands as much as she could. It wasn't efficient by any means but maybe they could still use it to their advantage.
Surprisingly, only a short amount of time passed before they saw the hidden door push out from the wall and slide to the side. Arlo Triplett ducked through the door with a cocky bream coating his face. In one hand he held a knife and in the other, he held a black box resembling a remote.
JJ shot from the ground as did the rest of the team, they all moved to stand next to each other. The tension between them ached as they awaited the perfect moment.
Strength in numbers. Remember the plan.
"I thought it was time I made an appearance."
He was taller than JJ remembered. And now she noticed the stubble smothering his cheeks and chin. His ora reeked with the outrageous size of his ego and matching delusion. He wore a loose polo with acceptable pants. Not typical attire for the abductors the BAU dealt with.
Her heart began to sink as she remembered their plan. Their plan that was basically nothing but a meager chance at freedom.
JJ took a subtle step forward. The team right behind her. "Well you didn't need to show your ugly face, we've already seen it." She purposefully egged him on, his reactions and behavior would be the key to their survival.
He laughed but it seemed forced and a grimace shortly followed. But JJ took another step forward, while each one of her teammates subtly did the same but in intervals. As soon as they saw the recognition hit his face they all charged towards him.
Like flies, the team dropped and JJ flinched as the buzz of electricity flew through the air and incapacitated her friends with only the click of a button. But her collar hadn't zapped her like the others. She whipped her head around to meet Arlo's eyes.
"Well you all did exactly what I thought you might do, and for that, you must be punished."
He shoved the remote into his back pocket and rushed towards JJ with his evil glare reflecting off the knife gripped so rigidly in his hand.
JJ widened her stance and balled her fists. But she heard Penelope offer a substantially longer scream barely taking JJ's attention away from their captor, but it was long enough for him to tackle her to the ground and press his knife against her throat.
"I've been waiting for this." He whispered roughly.
JJ screamed and fought as he began to drag her from the room. But he held her firmly by the hair in one hand and with his other he pressed the knife directly against her throat. Once outside, he dropped her to the ground and violently kicked her in the stomach before pulling the remote back out. By pressing another button, JJ watched as the door slid back into place.
"Now listen, it would be no fun if I had to kill you this early on, but if you cause me too much trouble I will do it."
She struggled to catch her breath as he dropped back down to where she laid on the floor. His fist connected with her left temple faster than she could blink, then the next hit came against her opposite eye. After that she lost track, one had found her nose, another her chin and lip. Actual stars dazed her vision, but she still grappled for consciousness as he began yanking her away from the room holding her friends.
Half dragging, half carrying, he pulled her around the corner and up a flight of stairs. Each stair hit a different part of her body she was sure would bruise, but she could only focus on making it through the pain.
Finally, he brought her to a room and dropped her on the floor once more. He closed the door behind him and JJ struggled to get up. But very swiftly he came over and propelled her onto her stomach with his foot then leaned down to her face pressed against the carpet.
"Thank goodness your team did exactly what I thought they would, now you and I get to spend a little quality time together."
JJ tried to jostle him off her but he kneeled on her back and pulled her hands in front of him. He must have grabbed something from his pocket, but JJ wasn't sure what it was until she felt the cool metal around her wrists with a familiar click as it locked.
He stood up and JJ immediately rolled to her back, then to her knees, and finally, she managed to get herself standing and facing him, her hands still painfully restrained behind her. She resented his face and the exuding cockiness, but now was not time for her stubbornness, now she needed to get as much information as she could.
"Why is my collar blue and everybody else's black?"
He shrugged. "Random assignment."
"Bullshit."
He studied her skeptically but his reaction was one of pride rather than anger at her for her errant words.
"Where are we?"
He boisterously chuckled and forcefully directed her towards a wooden chair in front of a camera and a TV. There was a desk in front of the camera and JJ realized this is where he had first introduced himself.
"Well I mean, if we're not going to get out, what's the harm in telling us?"
He pushed her down into the chair with unnecessary roughness then reached for her handcuffs- likely to unlock them and then lock them again against the chair. JJ figured this and knew it was her chance. So as soon as she heard the lock click, she swung her arm around and punched him in the eye. He stumbled back and JJ reached for his shoulders to knee him in the gut. He coughed out at the impact but then instantly recovered by wrapping his arms around her waist and sent her back to the floor where she landed flat on her back, knocking the air out of her lungs in one sweep. She sputtered and hissed as he grabbed her by the hair, again, and pulled her back up to the chair. Panting, she started to feel him go to grab her wrists to lock them behind the chair, but instead, he placed one hand against the back of her head and slammed her forehead against the desk.
Instantly JJ felt as though she was going to vomit, but he pulled her head back and locked her wrists behind her and around the chair. Her head hung limply to the side while she focused on evening her breathing and not releasing what little was left in her stomach.
After a while, she couldn't quite place where he was in the room, but she figured he hadn't left. Finally, she was able to raise her head and see him standing in the corner with his arms folded over his chest and a dirty smile plaguing his symmetrical face.
"If this is about me, then why take all of us?" She asked between heavy breaths.
"I guess you'll have to find out."
She roughly swallowed. Those words confirmed a fear she wasn't ready to face, but she tried again. "Why not tell me?"
He sighed. "Well, you talk far too much."
To his right and diagonal from JJ, he moved to open a closet locked with a standard push lock. He entered the digits and the door swung open. JJ couldn't help but see weapons and tools among other things she didn't want to think about. Luckily, he only pulled out a cream cloth and strolled back to her side.
"This should help."
He tied the gag around her mouth and between her teeth then grinned at her as she glared back.
"This is a good look for you." He teased then went back to lock the closet.
Afterward, he once again pulled out his magic remote and pressed a few buttons. The TV lit up and a red blinking dot showed JJ the camera had turned on.
"Tell your friends I say hi. Oh wait-" He laughed and pulled the door shut behind him, but JJ only saw her six friends standing around the room she was just taken from.
JJ's face popped up on the screen. Blood leaked from her nose, Morgan could see a cut on her lip, and the left side of her face was already starting to swell up. She had a cream-colored gag forcing her silence.
Morgan began fuming as he clenched his fists and stared directly into one of the cameras the team had located.
"You are a son of a bitch. And you will pay for this."
Rossi put his hand on Morgan's shoulder and turned him around from the screen to face himself.
"It's psychological, he wants us to see her so he can get in our heads." Morgan faintly nodded as Rossi continued. "Focus. She might have seen something that can help us and he doesn't want to take any chances, that's why he won't let her talk to us."
Morgan shoved out of his grip and scrutinized the screen again.
"Okay, let's try this. Maybe she can see us too. JJ can you see me?"
She nodded gently.
"Did you see an exit?"
Her exterior dropped as she shook her head no.
"Did you see anything that might help us?"
JJ ogled her new confinement before deliberately and vaguely nodding her head yes.
The team kept their expressions blank, they knew Arlo was watching and any advantage they got they needed to tread softly.
"Are you okay?" Morgan asked quietly as the guilt oozed from his words.
JJ nodded insistently, only causing Morgan to believe the opposite.
A/N: Hey besties, sorry I'm the worst, I had to get another surgery. I hope you enjoyed this update and i plan to see you again soon!