"I'm trying to protect young CIA agents, and if some had to die then that's too bad, but sometimes lives need to be sacrificed to do the right thing. Your life included-"

"Spence!" JJ screamed as the shot suddenly rang out and Spencer fell to the ground, the bullet hitting him straight in the chest.

The shot echoed through the air and JJ screamed, tears rolling down her face as she struggled against her binds to get to Spencer.

The man laughed, "Finally! All this running around has been tiring."

He looked at the gun in his hand, "I should consider shooting people more often, it's faster and cleaner, but then again it's less enjoyable."

He seemed deep in thought and completely ignorant that JJ was still there, staring at Spencer's body in disbelief. Her hair stuck to her face where her tears had fallen, her face was black and blue and her body was beaten and cut, but none of that seemed to matter. The only thing that seemed to matter was the crushing agony that had hit her when that shot rang out, looking at the man she loved more than anything and realizing that she had never gotten to tell him she loved him. She started to gasp for air through her sobs because she felt like her lungs had been crushed, and her body shook with a feeling she couldn't quite identify.

"No," JJ cried, over and over again because she was unable to believe it.

The man became aware of her presence again when he heard her sobbing loudly.

"Don't worry JJ, you'll be joining your beloved Spencer soon enough. As sorry as I am about having to kill you, it's necessary. I can't have my victims walking around free. That's too dangerous for me besides, based on your reaction to his death I'd say you-"

"Don't," JJ interrupted, "don't you dare apologize for this! You don't mean it! You're just a sick freak that gets off on murdering innocent people and ruining lives! There's no excuse for what you've done and I don't even think it was about revenge at all! You ch-"

JJ stopped yelling at him when he slapped her in the face and growled, "you're just a stupid blonde bitch that doesn't know what she's talking about! I was helping people by showing everyone the truth behind John and what he fails to do! I was saving lives by trying to make him understand that he had to protect us!"

JJ was shaking her head and staring at him with a look of pure hatred, "no, Spence saves lives! You're one of the guys that he hunts down and he would've if you hadn't played dirty by kidnapping me! What kind of man would do what you did, huh? Use someone to hurt another like that? A cowardly one, it's that simple! You're a-"

The man screamed and grabbed her upper arms, pulling her up as much as he could considering the fact that she was tied to a chair.

"Shut up! You've got no idea what you're talking about! I've spent years proving a point so that this wouldn't happen again!"

"The only point you proved is that you're a monster, and a cowardly one at that!" JJ spat back defiantly.

She didn't care if this man beat her or killed her because she was so angry that any trace of her training was gone. She just wanted to scream at this man for what he had done, just wanted to tell him the truth despite knowing he wouldn't listen.

"I was going to give you a fast death," the man said, letting go of her and speaking in a dangerous tone, "but I think I'll go back to my original plan."

JJ's breath was slow and shallow as she sat there watching the man look at her, and she was wondering what the original plan was, but realized that it didn't matter. She was filled with defiance and hatred and over anything else, pain because of what had happened to Spencer.

The man advanced on JJ again, his hands about to grab her throat to choke her when she gasped.

"What is it?" The man asked.

He was confused because he hadn't even touched her yet and her expression wasn't a look of terror, but rather surprise and... happiness.

JJ smiled and the man asked her again why, but then he noticed that she wasn't even looking at him. She was looking behind him.

He turned slowly, a feeling of dread and anger filling him at what he saw next.

"Step away from her or I'll kill you."

Spencer was standing there with only a little blood coming from the side of his mouth, pointing his gun straight at the man.

"How-?" He started asking, taking a couple steps away from JJ and putting his hands in the air.

Spencer kept his gun trained on the man while his other hand unbuttoned a few top buttons of his shirt. About five buttons down he pulled it open a bit, far enough to reveal a bullet proof vest.

"This wasn't on the list of demands," Spencer said with a smirk.

The man looked at him with fury, "you- I had you-!"

He sputtered for a few moments before saying, "you think you're so smart, don't you Doctor Reid?"

"I don't need an IQ of 187 to think about putting on a vest when I'm going to meet with a serial killer. Now, why don't you just come over here and let me arrest you? This doesn't have to end with you having a bullet in your head."

The man stayed silent for a few more moments, just staring at Spencer with a confused expression before laughing.

"It doesn't, does it?" He asked, his laughter filled the warehouse and sent chills down JJ's spine again, "I disagree! This isn't going to be over until one of us is dead Agent."

"It doesn't have-" Spencer began repeating, but before he could finish or react the man had lunged at him, tackling him to the ground to get the gun from his hand.

The two men struggled with each other; landing punches wherever they could and kneeing each other trying to throw the other off. They rolled around on the ground for a few minutes struggling before Spencer managed to get the man off of him by hitting him over the head with the gun.

He stood up quickly and ran over to JJ, pulling the knife that he had also gotten off the table out before cutting one of her binds loose.

"Spence!" JJ screamed, as the man had gotten up and was advancing on them again.

Spencer turned, "just stop! It doesn't have to end like this!"

"Yes, it does! I need to prove my point, I need to make John see!" The man screamed.

"This isn't proving a point, this is murder! You're a murderer, that's all you've ever been and if you don't stop this that's what you'll die being!"

"No, you and your little girlfriend are the ones dying tonight!"

The man went to punch Spencer, but he blocked it and grabbed his arm, throwing him against the wall and pulling the gun out on him again. Spencer accidentally dropped the knife when he did this.

"I will shoot you!" He said, but he found that his hand shook for some unknown reason as he spoke.

"You won't shoot me," the man replied once he had gotten up, wiping his lip and starting to walk over to Spencer, "you won't shoot me because you don't have it in you."

"You tried to kill my JJ, and I will shoot you if it means protecting her. Anyway, this wouldn't be the first time I've shot someone."

The man had picked up the knife and lunged at Spencer again. JJ screamed and the gun went off as Spencer tried shooting the man, but the bullet only grazed his arm and he was so full of adrenaline that he barely noticed as he tackled Spencer back to the ground.

The knife went directly into Spencer's side, exactly where his stitched up gun wound was and he let out a cry of pain.

"How are those stitches Doctor?" The man asked with an evil smirk.

He pulled Spencer up while he was distracted by the pain and pushed him up against the wall beside the chair that JJ was sitting in, punching the same area again and again before throwing Spencer to the ground.

He hit the ground hard, but despite the serious wound he had to the side of his abdomen he got up quickly and stopped the man from stabbing JJ, who he had been advancing on.

"I won't let you hurt her," Spencer screamed, pulling the man by his hair before spinning him around and punching him squarely in the face.

The man fell to the ground, the back of his head slamming against the concrete floor. Spencer stood above him, his breathing shallow. He started to sit up, but Spencer leaned down, grabbed him by shoulder and punched it with all the strength he could muster.

The man let out a cry of pain as Spencer had purposely re-injured his shoulder, which he had stabbed back in his apartment only a couple days before.

"How's your arm?" Spencer asked, his voice full of anger.

JJ had been watching all of this with horror, but despite the severeness of the situation she couldn't help noticing how Spencer had called her his JJ. She sat there with one of her hands free, watching as Spencer and the man began struggling with each other again.

During all this struggle the gun that had been in Spencer's hand had been dropped, and had slid over to JJ's chair. She noticed this and tried to get it with her free hand, moving herself out of the chair as much as she could considering the fact that her other hand was still bound.

Spencer screamed and JJ looked up to see that the man had gotten on top of him and was strangling him.

"I'm not losing this game Agent Reid! I need to at least kill you! It's the only way John will understand!"

Spencer's vision began to get blurry and the hands around his throat only got tighter, blood had risen to his throat due to the reopened wound and the pressure around his neck. He attacked the man's face, driving his finger into one of his eye sockets.

"Fuck!" His hands were gone and Spencer saw him a couple of feet away, moaning in pain with his hands over his eyes.

Spencer rolled over and breathed in as much air into his lungs as he could before pushing himself up, resisting his bodies urge to stop moving through the searing pain.

He ran over to JJ once again and finished untying her, grabbing the gun that was still beside her chair.

"Spence!" JJ embraced him and he returned the embrace for only a moment before turning around again.

"This is done," Spencer said, exhaustion was clear in his voice and he couldn't ignore the agonizing pain he was in.

The man had started standing up, but seemed weak and almost too exhausted to fight anymore.

"No," he moaned, "it can't end like this..."

Spencer had the gun raised and pointed directly at him, JJ was holding onto Spencer's arm and was behind him.

"Please, I don't want it to end with you dying," Spencer was sincere as he spoke, "I understand how angry and hurt you are. I can't deny that I was angry with John myself for not protecting me, but this isn't the answer. You've been murdering innocent people, becoming the monster that you wanted John to protect us from."

The man stopped and seemed to be thinking about this for a moment. As he stared at Spencer and JJ, he looked over the two and took in the injuries that he had caused.

Spencer had two bruises on his face from a couple days ago, bruises around his throat, a cut on his neck, blood coming from the side of his mouth and blood already soaking through the bullet proof vest and his shirt from his side. Underneath his clothing he had several more injuries; cuts on his back, bruises that were slowly forming on his abdomen and an unseen bump on his head from a couple days ago.

JJ had cuts on her hand, bruises on her face and underneath her clothing she had bruises on her back and stomach, as well as her upper arms.

The man looked at his two living victims and suddenly realized what he had done. He had attacked two innocent people; Spencer had wanted to be free from the CIA life and he had tracked him down and done this to him, and the woman he loved who had nothing whatsoever to do with the situation.

Tears began rolling down the man's face and he fell to his knees, putting his head into his hands and beginning to sob uncontrollable.

JJ looked at Spencer with surprise at their assailants change in demeanour. Was it a trick?

"I was only trying to do what's right... I just wanted John to understand... I never wanted to kill anybody, but I couldn't resist the desire to and I thought it was okay if it was proving a point... I've killed so many people... I'm sorry, I never wanted to hurt you..."

He sounded sincere as he sobbed, but Spencer knew better than to let his guard down.

JJ watched and waited for Spencer's instructions, "get the handcuffs from the table."

Spencer finally said as he kept his gun pointed at the man. JJ started walking towards the table, passing the man as she did so.

"There's no way out of this, is there Dr. Reid? I'm going to prison for the rest of my life..."

"Yes, you are," Spencer answered.

"They won't really make a deal with me, will they?"

"No, probably not. You've killed too many people, but they may not give you the death penalty."

"I'd prefer the death penalty... will you kill me Agent Reid?"

Spencer was surprised by this request. It was obvious to him that the man had finally grown tired of fighting, and wanted to die.

"No, I don't believe you deserve to die," Spencer said sincerely, "you'll go to prison for your crimes the way you should. Listen, I really do understand why you did this. I'm trained to understand, and I understand why you're angry at John, but this wasn't right. Now, you need to pay for y-"

"For twenty seven years I've been doing this. I swore I'd never fail, that no one would ever get away and I wouldn't end up in prison for the rest of my life. I'm a coward Agent Reid, I'd rather die and if you won't kill me then I have no choice, but to make you."

JJ had gotten the handcuffs and had been cautiously walking back to Spencer, but the man got up from his knees unexpectedly and pulled out the knife that had been forgotten during the struggle for the gun.

The man grabbed JJ and raised the knife, and without thinking, Spencer pulled the trigger.