Disclaimer: Same as other chapters, i own nothing
Summary: takes place sometime around season 3ish, Emily is still settling into her own life and life at the BAU after years of undercover work, but a case related to her past reminds her that she can never get too comfortable. Emily is super queer, potential jemily explored, past relationships explored. Polyamorous/open relationships described. LGBTQ Relationships described. Mostly it's a heavily Emily focused case fic.
The next thing Emily knows she's being wrestled into a vehicle of some kind with her arms and legs held painfully immobile with thick zip ties. She hears a deep voice muttering about infiltration and conspiracy and her blood runs cold.
"I should have seen it" Aaron Hotchner is not usually one for self doubt or professional regret. He knows there's better ways to use his time and his determination to see his team brought back safely. David Rossi knows this, but allows his younger friend this moment of guilt. "If finding out about Prentiss' kidnap and torture was what set him off, her reappearance in Clarke's life would have been like a beacon for his delusion"
"Particularly since she's part of the investigation" Rossi agrees. Not to pour salt on the wound but because he values honesty and respects Hotch enough to provide it. "He likely sees her involvement as proof he was right all along".
Emily has been missing 12 hours and no one wants to think about how each moment passed is one moment closer to Ben's ultimate devolution and loss of control that will surely end the agent's life. JJ is practically despondent, having been the one to let her partner out of her sight for the 10 minutes in took her to disappear, then stumbling upon the watch Emily left as a breadcrumb for the team. Morgan and Reid are canvassing in the direction they think she was taken, Garcia is running facial recognition on all local traffic stops and combing records for another location Ben would take Emily since his original torture chamber was discovered. Hotch and Rossi are coordinating with local PD and trying to calm frantic calls from Sam Clarke. Another call from Ambassador Prentiss to Hotch's personal line is what triggers something nearing desperation in the unit chief. There doesn't seem to be any hope at all until Penelope Garcia bursts into the briefing room where the unit chief and the veteran profiler are sitting, a stunned JJ on her heals.
"You need to see this sir" the analyst squeaks "it's him, Ben Simmons, he's talking to us" she connects her laptop to the large screen on the wall and taps a few buttons until a dark image appears. His face is in shadow but it's clearly Ben, addressing the camera with cool detachment.
"The mole has been found and I will not stop until I find out who she works for" he is saying "it is in the FBI's best interest to allow me to work, as a show of faith I share my findings with you". The man moves and the viewers gasp at the sight of Emily, pale and ghostly in nothing but her nude-coloured underwear set. She's bruised, wet, and shaking, attached by a zip tie on each wrist to a construction scaffold. "Who are you" Ben demands as he moves the camera closer.
"My name is SSA Emily Prentiss with the FBI, behavioural analysis unit" the agent's voice seems impossibly strong for how tired and beaten she looks. Ben steps back into view with a long instrument in hand, he holds it toward his captive. It's a cattle prod.
"The truth" he demands "who are you"
"My name is SSA Emily Prentiss with the FBI, Behavioural Analysis Un—" she is interrupted by the cattle prod connecting with her abdomen and her body seizes.
"You are a mole" Ben says "a spy!" He yells. "You're assigned to bring down Sam Clarke, to stop him before he can gain more power"
"No" Emily says "I love Sam, but I haven't been with him in a long time" the cattle prod connects again and this time Emily gasps in pain when her muscles relax. Garcia is sobbing as she works at the keyboard, trying desperately to track the signal while the profilers watch for any clue that may tell them where their colleague is being held. JJ starts pacing as they hear Emily start to babble in what sounds like Arabic. Hotch and Rossi are whispering search parameters to Garcia based on what they're seeing. Which admittedly isn't much.
"You've been tortured before" Ben comments. He takes Emily by the chin and forces her face up to look at him. "You think you can bare it but no one is coming to save you this time. The FBI knows who you are - I told them. You're a spy. So tell us who you work for" Emily laughs and pulls her head free of her torturers grasp. The laugh is a cold hollow sound that sends shivers down the BAU team's spine. It seems to enrage Ben and for the next several minutes his fists connect repeatedly with her already bruised ribs.
"I don't need to be saved" Emily grits out when he's done, her head rolling to the side and more foreign words spilling over her lips before she snaps back to reality "I don't need to be saved because I'm going to kill you like I killed the last small pathetic man who tried to break me" their audience can see how this enrages Ben but instead of lashing out he walks off camera. A pipe screeches to life and a forceful stream of water hits Emily's shaking body. This time she screams.
That's all JJ can take. She finds herself leaning over a toilet in the ladies room dry heaving her empty stomach realizing she hasn't eaten since breakfast with Emily and her enigmatic ex-husband. When she re-emerges Hotch is waiting for her with a mint and a comforting pat on the shoulder.
"You don't have to go back in" the unit chief tells her "no one would blame you for not wanting to see this, just know that Emily is strong and she will get through this"
"Like she did before" JJ nods. Her mind takes her back to a dark musty house in the middle of nowhere, to growling dogs and so much blood, to another psychopath torturing another friend and she can't help but doubt her own ability to get through it again. "I knew she couldn't have come off a desk job" the liaison laughs coldly "she's never flinched because it wasn't ever near the kind of horror she'd faced first hand". Hotch nods in understanding. Remembering the same conversation in Tobias Henkle's house. "It hurts but I feel like I need to be there, I want her to feel I'm there with her, that she isn't alone"
"She can't see you" Hotch reminds her but he looks as though he understands regardless. After another quiet moment they move back toward the briefing room where Garcia is still furiously typing through tears and Rossi white knuckles the edge of the table as though it will keep him from being overwhelmed watching a woman he dearly admires suffer so needlessly. On the screen, the water is still pummelling Emily's over-sensitive skin but she's silent and shivering. Nearly 20 minutes pass and suddenly she is looking up around the incessant spray of water at the binding around her wrists while twisting and pulling. Blood runs down her pale arm, bright red mixing with the spray and adding a pinkish mist to the camera's image.
"He must have left the room" Rossi says. They watch as Emily seems to come to a decision and twist again. This time she manages to pull her hands close together enough that she can grasp the thumb of one bleeding battered hand in the other and with hardly a second thought she twists again, pushing her hand at an unnatural angle against the scaffold she's tied to. There's an audible pop and Emily growls a long moan.
"Did she just…" JJ asks, nausea returning.
"Dislocate her thumb to get out of the binding" Rossi confirms "clever girl". Sure enough they watch Emily's right hand slip free. JJ gags as the Agent brings the hand to her mouth and uses her teeth to push the thumb back into joint with another groan. Emily sags under the brutal spray of the water from above and seems to be gathering her strength when Garcia's desperation finally pays off.
"I've got it" she cries "I've got the signal, Reid and Morgan aren't far away - I'm sending them the address and a SWAT team" Hotch rushes to the door, as does Garcia, but Rossi and JJ stay glued to the screen. They know there's nothing they can do. They won't make it in time, but the others might.
On screen Emily stops her twisting and working at the second binding and casually lifts her free hand to look as though nothing's changed. They know Ben must have returned and it's confirmed when the water finally stops. Emily's pale bruised body shivers violently but they can see her trying to stand firm despite her body's reaction.
"Who are you" Ben demands, then strikes her with his fists before she can even respond. "Who do you work for" he continues. Emily grunts with every blow that lands. "This will not end until you tell me what I want to know" Ben insists, producing something from behind his back, a large knife that reflects what little light there is in the room. JJ gasps when it slices through the air and leaves a line of red blood across Emily's shaking thigh. It doesn't look to be a deep wound, Ben is still in control but they know he won't be for long. Each of his kills escalated from meticulous torture to rage when the knife was introduced. For now he drags the flat side of the blade over Emily's stomach as he walks around her. "I'd hate to scar all this beautiful milky skin, Spy, tell me who you are and who you work for" he demands again.
"Make a move" Rossi urges under his breath, the helplessness of their position making him pace and mutter as his eyes stay glued to the screen. JJ finds herself repeating the same thing in her mind, imagining that if she combines this thought with her adoration for the woman on the screen Emily will surely hear her.
"You've been sent to stop Sam Clarke from becoming president" Ben says, his voice calm but his bulky body is becoming restless "Tell me why, tell me who you work for" Emily shakes her head in denial and feels the blade moving over her body again. She waits, breath shallow and heart pounding for a window. She thinks about the feeling of holding Sam again, then of kissing JJ. She remembers life outside of this room, where touch can be soft, caring, and pleasurable. This will stop, because she is going to stop it. She just needs one chance. There's a bang somewhere in the distance, the sound of a door breaking and the familiar sound of boots moving all together. Emily sees Ben's attention stray, the knife held forgotten on her chest and makes her move.
For a moment her world blurs again and when it comes back into focus she drops the knife and let's her resolve crumble when she sees Morgan striding toward her with his gun trained on Ben Simmons body at her feet. Emily barely recognizes her own voice as she sobs at him to free her other hand, to get her out of this room. Reid is the one who moves forward first, cutting the tie that is holding her up and hugging her shivering body to keep her upright when her knees give out. She looks back at Ben Simmons one last time. He's laying motionless with empty eyes staring into space, his wide open neck draining his lifeblood to the floor of this nightmare.
There's a blanket and a gurney and EMTs, strange voices calling out vitals. Emily is stunned at the amount of blood she sees when she looks down at her battered body. She doesn't remember being cut aside from the superficial wound on her thigh. She thinks she asks where all the blood came from but no one will look her in the eye. Reid leaves her side when she's lifted into the waiting ambulance and she feels suddenly panicked and alone. She asks for JJ or tries to but her voice feels far away and out of her control, she searches desperately for a familiar face but she's surrounded by strangers. One is telling her to try and relax, that she's safe and headed to a hospital. The stranger tells her that her friends will meet her there and Emily feels consciousness slip away.
TBC
