It is the year 2058 and America has changed. A second pandemic, civil war, and domestic terrorism involving the destruction of Quantico have left deep scars. Associate FBI Archivist Beth Stone is sent to chronicle the life of former Director Reid and his role in keeping the nation whole with the help team associates.

Lengthy Author's Note:

First of all, if you don't like the politics of what I am writing, please don't read and don't review. I am choosing a timeline of danger and chaos.

So, Sunday morning while working as a caregiver to an old lady who slept most of the shift I sat and mapped out this story on printer paper. I want to prove I can write and COMPLETE one more fan story before the revival airs. I appreciate stories where Reid enjoys domestic life, but I want to do one more story where he is gets to be a hero.

When I started writing fan fiction here, I was sitting on a bed with no room to write elsewhere. Now I write from a desk in what was once the scariest room in my house. This is me, writing as the person who sought a happier life and finally achieved it with siblings busting in and interrupting me and I just sigh with contentment.

OLD MAN REID

Chapter One:

2058 New Quantico

Beth:

The current FBI archives did not feel like enough people died of boredom here. Archivists by trade did the most tedious work of any field. We do it with a smile while ignoring the bone-crushing sense that no one would notice our rotting corpses among the stacks of documents about body decomposition for years. Some of that changed when the nonsense with Trump started, and that is what partially led to the destruction of the big dusty old complex. The new facility was fortified to survive even some levels of nuclear annihilation. It felt more like a place to escape to if the end times ever came again.

I scanned the latest notes from the narcotics task force into the computer. Most work was done digitally, but when wireless networks were down, notebooks were still preferred. The notebooks would be stored and a digital copy would be accessible in a database. It was tedious work that required steady hands and patience.

There was a soft knock on a wall behind me. I tried not to jump. But then I gasped when I turned around and saw Director Callahan.

Callahan smiled. "I've been warned to knock as this place can be dead quiet. I see that I still managed to make you jump. I'm sorry."

"No, it is just unusual to see the FBI Director down here," I said as I recovered.

"Then I need to make a habit of visiting more often. I do appreciate what you and Archer do down here."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

She clapped her hands once. "But I'm not here for such a social visit. I have a special assignment for you."

"What can I help with?"

"The president is celebrating the first peaceful transition of power to a new party in January. She is requesting profiles of all the key players in keeping America together. I'd like you to profile Director Reid."

Shock didn't begin to describe my reaction. It took me a moment to regain myself.

"Ma'am I'm honored, truly. But are you sure there isn't someone more qualified than me?"

"You were born at the end of the first pandemic, correct? Beth, I am choosing you because I want someone who has few memories of America before it became unstable. To uncover the origins of the heroes who brought hope back. This is for your generation to learn from."

I pulled out a notepad. "How would you like the profile done?"

"I want in-person interviews recorded. There is also a survivor network I'd like you to meet with. Congress has given an allotted budget for these celebrations so you have all the resources to meet people and document everything."

"This sounds like quite an undertaking," I said.

"Beth, you remind of me," she said with a softness I hadn't heard before. "I read up on you. You wanted the truth of what happened to your father and raised hell starting as a teen to get it. It feels safer down here, doesn't it? It's time you get out of the bunker and meet the key players."

Callahan's mother had died during nine-eleven. A lifetime ago. She really had done her homework as my dad was killed during the Quantico bombing. They blamed it on Antifa, but I knew differently.

"Don't open your eyes," Reid said.

All I saw was darkness. All I had known was darkness for God knows how long.

I felt cotton tighten around my eyes. It was the arm of someone's shirt.

"We'll get you someplace darker so your eyes won't be as shocked," Reid said. "Beth Stone. You're safe."

"Don't lie to me!" I screamed. "I know you killed my dad! I'll die shouting that from the rooftops."

"I know Beth. The Iron Patriots in coordination with the Salles administration did. Everyone knows now."

"Is this some kind of trick? I won't fall for it."

"Beth, you're safe. I promise I will protect you."

I didn't know what to believe. I hesitated.

"You're going to be okay Beth."

I reached forward in the darkness. I fell into a thin chest as arms enveloped me.

I broke down and cried.

Callahan seemed to suspect I was reliving the memory as she watched me.

"Are you ready to create the biography of your hero?"