A.N: So hi guys. Wow I did not expect the overwhelming response I got from the last chapter! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read, follow, review, and favourite. You all made me smile :) I forgot to mention (and I apologize for that) but this will be slightly A.U for many reasons. I have also changed the story rating for safety reasons. I am not placing this story in any season category but I can say that J.J and Will never happened (this will be mentioned later- I really don't like Will just as a heads up, oh and no Henry sorry :( I have no way of incorporating him in while keeping to the story) and Doyle has not happened...yet ;) Also I have introduced an O.C who will be quite important to the story. I hope that you all get a feel for the character as she will be here for a while. On a side note I am currently visiting a family friend in Virginia (hi to all my readers from the states!) so it took quite a bit of work getting this together. Also most chapters wont be anywhere near as long as this. I will try and post twice a week if I can but no promises.

Ok A.N done, hope you enjoy.

Carpe Diem


There is silence in the round table room as the team digests what Reid and Prentiss suggested.

"Let me explain. This unsub is following a game. A video game." Emily says after a moment

She goes on to to explain that in the game Assassins Creed, there were two factions: the Assassins and the Templars. The assassins were essentially the good guys who quote " work in the dark to serve the light." The unsub seems to be using the same weapons and techniques as the iconic Ezio Auditore da Firenze. The assassin's main weapon is the hidden blade; it rests in a mechanism strapped to the wrist which releases and sheaths the blade. Since the blade is strapped to the bottom of the wrist, the blade is parallel to the ground when someone stabs with it.

"So wait how does the way Scheckter was posed fit into all of this?" asks the now slightly amused Morgan

"Well," starts Emily "one of Ezio's signature moves was to sit on a bench near his unsuspecting target, then when they got close, he would stab them with his blade, masking his movements by making it look like a hug, then place them on the bench he was sitting on to avoid drawing attention as he got away."

"I didn't think you were much of a gamer Princess." laughs Morgan

Emily blushed slightly at this but then got serious

"Hotch, while this person is imitating a fictional Renaissance assassin, he or she is not a novice when it comes to killing. All three of these kills are too skilled, to precise for it to be their first. We are talking about someone who is in a sense, a professional."

Hotch nodded grimly then thought for a moment

"Let me make a call. Prentiss, Reid good job on making the connection. We should get familiar with this game or at least some aspects of it. Garcia, I want thorough background checks on these people. Assassins kill for a reason, I want to know why these people were killed and who would want them dead. The rest of you get a general profile together."

"Wait Hotch- if we are dealing with an actual assassin, this could be a lot bigger that we know." Morgan says with a slight frown

"I know. Until we know for sure, we have to tackle this like any other case."

With that Hotch leaves the round-table room, the sound of Reid beginning a "short" history lesson on assassins reaching his ears as he walks to his office. He reaches for his phone and dials,

"Hello this is SSA Aaron Hotchner of the F.B.I's Behavioural Analysis Unit. We have a situation." he pauses to listen for a moment " Of course Director, we will wait until they are here. We are going over the information now. No sir, that will not be an issue. I trust them all completely. Yes sir."


"We are dealing with at least two unsubs." J.J says after Reid and Prentiss have filled in the rest of the team on what they knew about assassins. "One who does the actual killing and another who provides the targets and is probably the one who fuels the delusions of the killer."

"Well until Garcia comes up with a connection between our vics we have very little to go on. Assassins are mostly influenced by outside forces, unlike the typical serial killer who is motivated by some inner sadistic force." Rossi comments

"How does someone even find an assassin to hire? I mean its not like its going to be advertised in the local paper or anything." says J.J

Emily replies to the blonde agent "Money. Those who have money will have the resources. When I was with Interpol, we had several suspected assassins on our most wanted list. Assassins are normally contracted by crime lords to eliminate other crime lords and rarely make the public assassinations that we associate with the word today."

"Why is that?" J.J asks, now intrigued by the knowledge that Emily seemed to have on the subject.

"Simple really. It draws too much attention and assassins live on anonymity. Even the ones that caught the attention of Interpol are only known by their aliases so it is nearly impossible to track them."

" That doesn't mean you can't." says an unfamiliar voice

The team turns around to find Hotch and a girl standing in the doorway. Hotch pauses before addressing his team.

"This unsub operates in a world that we are unfamiliar and unequipped to deal with on our own. As well this unsub has gathered the attention of some of our superiors, including the Director himself. They have sent over someone who is somewhat of an expert when it comes to what we are dealing with." He turns to the girl "I will leave the rest of the introduction to you."

While Hotch was speaking, Emily took the chance to observe the girl. She couldn't have been more than 25, about 5'5 and had an athletic build. Her hair was brunette, straight and shoulder length, framing a face that had deep brown, almost black, eyes. She was wearing a black leather jacket over a white t-shirt and dark wash skinny jeans. When Emily looked closer she could see the faint outline of a scar running through her right eyebrow. She found those deep mahogany eyes staring back at her now as the girl sported a slight smirk. The girl seemed amused at the fact that the rest of the team had spent the majority of Hotch's brief intro trying to profile her.

I know those eyes. Who is this girl and where have I met her before?

She glances at the rest of her team and found them mirroring her expression; curiosity and apprehension but none had the flicker of recognition that she seemed to have. J.J looks at Emily, eyebrow raised slightly as a silent question to her friend. Emily shrugs a little to express her lack of knowledge on their new guest.

All of a sudden, the back door bursts open and a certain colourful tech-analyst barrels in

"Sir my babies have started digging but this may take a while since the search parameters are so large because we are looking for any overlap between our victims and I am literally looking for ANYTHING, like if they ever bought milk from the same grocery store or used the same public bathroom, I mean if there is anything on record anywhere I will find it like-" she stops,

"Oh, did I interrupt something? I interrupted something didn't I? You all have your I'm a serious F.B. I agent face on which you usually use to try and intimidate new people but is completely pointless against me cause its me and oh." Garcia stops, finally spotting the stranger in the room " Hi I'm the resident tech analyst, Oracle , and goddess extraordinaire but you can call me Penelope Garcia" she says with a wave and a smile.

Morgan smacks his forehead lightly trying to hide a laugh at the analyst's antics, while Emily has to try and suppress a giggle herself, pointedly avoiding J.J's who was also suppressing a laugh by biting her lip, knowing that if they made eye contact she would probably lose it. Hotch mumbles something about a drug test, while the girl who had yet said had a slightly wider smirk on her face.

"I am aware of who you are Penelope Garcia," she says with the slightest of chuckles, "and what I have heard doesn't do you justice. It is an honour and pleasure to meet you." she said with a slight bow of her head in Garcia's direction.

Garcia beams at this and takes a seat.

"With that I would like to say that it is an honour and pleasure to meet you agents David Rossi, Derek Morgan, Jennifer Jareau, Emily Prentiss, and Dr. Spencer Reid." she says, nodding and bowing slightly at each agent as she said their names, " It is a privilege to be able to work with some of the finest agents the F.B.I has to offer." she pauses before continuing "I must say before I reveal anything further that I am placing a great amount of trust in this team and it's members. None of what you are about to hear is to ever be discussed in public and must remain confidential. If it wasn't for the honour and integrity that this team has displayed and clearly embodies I wouldn't have considered contacting the Director with my offer to aid him. With that in mind do you still want to take this case? If you wont adhere to the level of confidentiality that I require, I will walk out and you will never hear from me again."

Again she pauses, looking to every member of the team, her nearly onyx orbs boring into the eyes of each agent, testing their resolve. Each member held the eye contact, silent confirmations of their willingness to take on the case. Onyx met chocolate brown and again Emily felt that flicker of recognition that she couldn't place.

With the team's cooperation, the girl steps into the room with Hotch following, closing the door behind him. She goes to stand in front of the monitor and clasps her hands behind her back.

" Let me start off with my name. While my real name is no longer on any records and is unimportant, those who know me call me Ace. I am not directly associated with any government agencies or private companies but I do take contracts from both if necessary."

Emily realizes what she was saying

Ace answers her silent question

"To put it simply I am an assassin."

A brief flash of fear courses through Emily for a brief moment. That dissipates as quickly as it came however and then she began to wonder.

So young, how much experience could this girl possibly have? A real assassin? She is taking a huge risk by revealing herself. Why? What is her story...

This girl, Ace, seemed to sense the questions and even slight disbelief at her revelation.

"I cannot answer many of your questions for obvious reasons but I will do what I can while we work together over the next little while. The most obvious question I can guess you all have is regarding my age and experience." she looks down before continuing "Age is not important when it comes to the job I do as for experience."

To Emily's surprise Ace turns to her and says to her even greater shock "Je suis le Fantôme."

Emily sat there stunned. She could feel the questioning gazes of her teammates but was trying to wrap her head around this new information. She stares at Ace, with a slightly awed expression. "Ce n'est pas possible."

"C'est vrai." she says "Cent yeux."

Emily's eyebrows rose.

"I hate to break up this little bonding session but can someone please explain what the hell is going on?" asks a confused Morgan

Emily turns to her colleagues

"Remember how I was telling you about that list that Interpol has? Well one of the names on that list was of an assassin who had taken down some large crime bosses all over Europe- or at least we assumed that they were killed but there was no proof since the bodies have never been found. The person responsible was never caught and never left any evidence. One of the brief instances that Interpol actually came in contact with the individual was when an agent was working undercover for an organization known as "Hundred Eyes"- a black market information broker which the assassin infiltrated and undermined. The agent undercover received an unmarked note asking him to bail his investigation for his own safety as within 48 hours Hundred Eyes would cease to exist. The agent presented the note to his superiors who bailed him immediately. Sure enough the organization crumbled without any evidence as to how someone could have done so. After connecting this case to some others, Interpol gave them the name le Fantôme, quite literally 'the Ghost'."

The others sat there, now as stunned as she was. They were just beginning to realize the sheer depth of this girl with striking eyes could possibly have.

Ace then spoke " I cannot and wont go much further into detail, all I can say is that I am here to do a job and that is to catch this bastard. In this business anonymity is not merely a skill, its a rule. To be so obvious and public is putting himself and others in unspeakable danger. Catching him before this gets out of hand is my number one priority."

The sudden sound of a phone vibrating stops her from continuing

"I have to take this." she says without looking at the screen. She walks out of the conference room closing the door behind her.

Once the door closes, a thick silence settles in the room.

"I realize that this all is quite overwhelming but we still have to keep our focus on this case. " Hotch says, breaking through everyone's thoughts.

"Hey Hotch, how can we trust her? And what are her motives for doing this case? Why put yourself in as much danger as she has insisted she is when all you are going after is one loony assassin? Something doesn't add up here." Morgan says with a slight frown

"I think we have to trust her. She is our best chance of catching the unsub" J.J says quietly "and even if I could I don't think she is trying to deceive us or anything. I think she needs our help as much as we need hers."

Emily turns to J.J "How so?"

J.J looks up at Emily and then her team, noting the confused looks she was receiving. "Did you guys not see it? Her eyes?" to everyone's surprise only Garcia nodded in understanding a sad smile on her face.

"Oh come on guys, for a bunch of profilers you really miss the obvious." Garcia says

J.J turns to her dark-haired friend, her piercing blue eyes meeting Emily's rich brown.

"She has the saddest, most haunted eyes I have ever seen." J.J states, her voice tinged with slight sorrow.


Thoughts? Any mistakes are mine especially the parts written in (Canadian) french. If you need any parts clarified please let me know and I will do my best.