A/N: I guessed everyone's age. If I'm wrong, please just kindly say so (though I won't be able to change it anyways). Barely edited. I wanted to get it up- what can I say?
House of Mirrors-Fun and Games
Aaron Hotchner wasted no time responding. He should have trusted his gut instinct, and now he would to have risk his life-and more importantly, the lives of his son and his team-as a consequence of that. As he ran for the door, his team trailing behind him, the cast of characters on the stage descended up them. A man with short, white hair and an almost army-styled jacket wrapped his strong arms around Hotch and threw him to the ground. He grabbed the gun Hotch had been grabbing for and then whipped him over the head with it. Almost immediately he was knocked out. Jack let out a scream, but a petite woman with bright red lips and cherry-colored cheeks hushed him and whisked him away from the scene.
"Will, take Henry," JJ whispered, her eyes motioning to a small crack in the door. "Get him out of here!" If she could find Jack she'd tell him to run out with Will and Henry. Unfortunately her boss's son was no where to be found.
"No, you go-" Will argued, but he was effectively cut off by a sharp shake of the head.
"Go!" JJ ran out in front of her husband so that the other circus freaks wouldn't see him. Unfortunately a smaller boy with shaggy, dirty hair noticed and screamed at someone to stop them. The larger man who had taken Hotch down immediately jumped on the task, but Rossi was faster. He threw himself on top of the man, effectively allowing enough time for Will and Henry to escape. "Rossi, go! Get help," JJ hissed at him. He had enough time to make a run for it-the more people they got out the better. The blonde watched as Rossi made it out, grimly thinking that they were lucky to have gotten that many out. Faster than she could react, however, someone came up from behind her and threw a cloth against her mouth. She wasn't even awake long enough to feel her own body slump to the floor.
"JJ!" Garcia gasped, her eyes lighting up in horror. "No!"
"Get down!" Cole yelled. "Don't fight us-you're not going to win." The remaining members of the team- Reid, Garcia, Prentiss, and Morgan along with Jack- knew that he was right. There were easily over eleven men and only four left of them, one of which wasn't even a trained field agent. Fighting now would just add to their pain, and it was obvious that there was no escaping now that the entrance had been completely sealed off. "Good," Cole grinned. "It's good you won't make me kill you…Yet, anyways." The ringmaster watched as the agents dropped to the floor, the circus members then crowding around them with ropes and gags. As they proceeded to tie up the BAU members the other members of the team started waking back up. Only then did Cole smile again and carry on.
"Hello, everyone, and welcome to the circus. There will be six acts today, not including our special finale. The length of the acts and the order in which they appear will be entirely randomized. Each one of the adults here today will pick one of these cards in my hand." Cole stopped to show them the front side of said cards. "On the back of these cards lay one out of ten possible scenarios. If you're lucky, you won't chose one of the more, well, dangerous acts," Cole smirked. "The acts will be in age order- oldest to youngest, and the only way to get out of this miserable place is by successfully completing the acts. My friend, Benjamin, will be the one delivering the cards while I start setting up the events. Good luck everyone- I truly wish you all the best." Cole then dropped the ten 'fate cards' in a neat pile before he started heading toward the left exit. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, however, and turned back to the group.. "Oh, and when I said you have to successfully complete the acts to leave, I meant all of you have to be successful to leave."
Without another word he swiftly moved across the circus grounds and exited the BAU's field of vision. In his place walked in a dirt blonde with the deck of cards in his hands. He didn't smile or smirk lie Cole had preferred to, though. His face remained straight and emotionless, as if he was practicing some sort of poker face. The team immediately became fearful when the young man approached Hotch, and only then did they realize the graveness of their situation. "Pick a card," Benjamin instructed. The profiler hesitantly reached up at the cards with his bound hands and chose the middle card. He found it hard to focus on what his decision might bring to him or his team, though, because he was still trying to figure out what would happen to Jack. His son's fate hadn't been mentioned once, and it was starting to make him worry. He was jolted back to reality when Benjamin moved on to the next person, however, and as he waited for each and every team member to take a card he closed his eyes and prayed for the best- even if he couldn't help but mentally prepare for the worse.
"I wish you all the best," Benjamin repeated before recollecting the cards in age order. As he went along he added everyone's initials just in case he dropped them. "Cole will be with you shortly." Then, after quickly taking in every team member's expression, the blonde tip-toed back out of the room.
It was all Spencer Reid could do to keep the fear out of his eyes. He knew that he had taken one of the four cards Cole had warned them about. The good news was that someone on his team hadn't picked it, at least. A moment of relief washed over him as a result of that revelation, but fear was still present. Reid knew that he'd now have to successfully complete his 'act' if they were ever to escape, and there was still the chance that someone on the team got a worse card from him.
Shaking off his thoughts he sighed and looked around at his team members. Hotch remained as emotionless as ever, giving no tell-tale signs of what his card held. Both Morgan and Garcia stared blankly at the floor. He hoped that they had gotten easy acts, and that they were embarrassed and upset about it when they were positive the rest of the team were screwed. JJ was studying the team just like himself, leading him to believe that her card might even been harder than his. Prentiss was still staring at her card, almost looking confused. Finally she just sighed and turned her card around in her hand. Everyone in the room peered over to look at the card, and they exchanged looks similar to the one Prentiss had of confusion. Prentiss put her card down and motioned for the team to do the same. One by one they revealed their cards, and soon enough everyone knew who had what acts- and knew who had the most challenging ones.
The door suddenly opened and everyone quickly hid their cards again. JJ and Reid exchanged worried looks before Benjamin pointed at Hotch. "You're up," he said calmly, "I hope your ready."