Ooh, okay! Sorry it's a bit late, as usual, ha. But hope you do like it! Things are getting interesting!


An excited laugh escaped his lips. It just made the girl cry harder. A sweet young thing. Pretty, too. About seventeen. She'd been in the paper for doing loads of volunteer work. He still had her picture in his pocket. She looked a bit different now, though. She didn't have the big grin on her face, the proud expression. Her hair and makeup weren't perfect. Instead, there were tears streaming down her cheeks, fear clearly shown on her face.

He preferred her this way.

Her mother wasn't bad looking, either, to be honest. He could have fun with her too. Although, he wasn't quite sure what kind of fun yet, really.

He'd never done this before. He hadn't ever shown up before the six hour mark, done anything except the quick and easy murder. But who knew? Depending on what came of this little… experiment, he might have a new routine.

"Well, I suppose I ought to introduce myself, hadn't I? Where are my manners," Nikolas said. "I'm The Gentleman."

"You're no gentleman," the mother spat at him. "No gentleman would do what you're doing."

"Ah, dear lady," he said, brushing her hair out of her face with the tip of his knife. "I'm not a gentleman. I'm The Gentleman. That's what I'm known as. At least, to the FBI."

He's moved a bit carelessly, letting the tip of his knife leave a thin red line along her scalp. She barely twitched, though. He almost laughed again. She was trying to stay calm and strong for her daughter. How… touching.

"Why are you doing this?" the girl said through her somewhat pitiful sobs.

"Because I'm being paid to, my dear. I've been hired to kill you."

"Hired to kill… But who the hell would want to kill Tess?" the mother asked, looking stunned.

"Oh, that's none of your concern. Nothing personal, I can assure you. Though I do hope that you've realized by now that I'll have to kill you too." He felt a sense of pride as fear crossed her features for a moment.

This was better. Much better. Instead of watching from afar, he got to see the moments of fear that he otherwise would have missed. And the pain… he wanted to see the pain again. Here, stuck in the basement of these peoples home… he'd be able to see it as much as he wanted.

Nikolas crossed the room to where Tess sat. He brandished the knife in front of her. Fear. As he moved to draw blood from her shoulder, she sobbed, "No! Please don't! Please!" That was new, too. Begging. He laughed as he ran the knife over her skin. She sobbed louder than ever.

A few more minutes passed, and they were both bleeding freely. Why had he never done this before? He'd killed so many, yet he'd never really taken the time to enjoy it.

A sudden noise overhead made him freeze. Footsteps. "Shh!" he whispered, quickly walking back over to where Tess was sitting and putting the knife next to her throat. She gasped and fell silent, tears continuing to roll down her cheeks.

The footsteps started to cautiously walk down the stairs. He could see Tess's mother looking at the stranger with wide eyes. After a second, she nodded, communicating something to them. He held the knife closer to Tess's throat as a warning, and she looked down to her knees.

Then came the sound that changed everything. A quiet voice crackling through a sort of walkie talkie. "Clear."

His eyes widened and a grin spread across his face. "Come, why don't you join us?" he called out. The footsteps started down the stairs again. A police officer? No, the vest of the man who stepped down and pointed a gun at him said differently. FBI.

"Agent Hotchner. How nice to meet you! I'm sorry I couldn't stop to introduce myself last time. I was a bit… preoccupied," he said, grinning. The Agent barely faltered. "I suggest you drop that gun you're holding, or else this girl is going to die. And don't forget your second weapon, either. A big-shot Agent like you is bound to carry one."

He grinned as the Agent slowly did as he was told. This was almost too easy.


Rossi checked the bedrooms upstairs, figuring that there was no one there. He announced it through the walkie talkie he carried and waited for a response from Hotch, stepping back into what was obviously the girl's room.

It was colourful and tidy, several pictures on the walls showing her with friends, and what could be a boyfriend. But the most conspicuous thing about the room was the desk chair, which was tipped on its side. A laptop stood open on the desk, the screen black. He touched the mouse pad gently with one of his knuckles and the computer sprang back into life, displaying a Facebook page. There was a chat open in the corner (he only knew what it was called because of Garcia), the last messages being from a girl called Lucy.

Hello? Where'd u go?

They were dated about a half hour ago. If he had to take a guess… had the UnSub changed his mind and come earlier than he ever had? The thought occurred to him that he still hadn't heard Hotch clear the basement. Rossi slowly raised his gun back up and crept back towards the basement door, peering down the stairs.

He was halfway down when he saw the woman, bound to the chair and bleeding.

"Agent Rossi," said a silky voice. "We've been waiting for you."

Rossi froze for a moment, before taking one more step. He slowly moved to look over the railing and spotted Hotch, who was also sitting, bound to a chair. His heart sank.

"I suggest you don't try anything, Agent Rossi. Or else the knife over this girl's throat might just slip."

For a few seconds he debated what he could do, but nothing came to mind. This guy was good, and extremely dangerous. How else could he have gotten Hotch? He wouldn't hesitate to kill Tess, Rossi was sure. And her mother, sitting right there…

"Alright," Rossi said, holding up his gun and walking down the rest of the stairs. He set it down on the floor and kept his hands up. It bothered him that he was left unprotected, but what choice did he have?

"Good decision, Agent Rossi," the UnSub said, smiling eerily at him, knife pressed to the young girl's throat just like he'd said. There were several cuts on her, similar to her mother. "Now, why don't you kick that gun over towards me?"

Rossi grudgingly slid it towards him, and he picked it up, setting it on a table to what he identified as Hotch's weapon. Both of them. "So. You're the infamous Gentleman, then," Rossi said, hands still up.

"See? I told you, ladies. That's how the FBI knows me," the UnSub said, looking back and forth between them, grinning. "Now, Agent Rossi. Over by the wall next to your dear team leader. And I don't think you should try anything like he did, or you might end up in a similar situation."

Rossi noticed for the first time the gash on Hotch's forehead, and the thin trickle of blood running down his temple.

"Oh, so you know how to fight, then," Rossi remarked.

"Of course I do. I'm not daft," the UnSub said smugly. "Are there any more of you coming?" He was greeted by silence. "That surely means yes? Of course, they wouldn't send just two Agents for me."

Rossi went to sit by Hotch, whispering a quick, "You alright?" Hotch nodded once in response, before the UnSub walked over and quickly bound Rossi to his chair as well. He had to fight every instinct in his body to not reach out and punch him in the face.

"I'll be back in a minute," the UnSub said. "I've got a few things I need to prepare. After all, an entire FBI team is going to be here. Well… almost," he said with a nasty grin, disappearing up the stairs.

"Are you two alright?" Rossi asked quickly, looking to the two women. They both nodded, Tess sniffling.

"They're all shallow wounds," Tess's mother said. "Listen, what is going on here? He said he was hired to kill my daughter?"

"He's a hit man," Hotch said. "One who is recently becoming more violent. We believe he was hired by a schizophrenic or otherwise mentally disturbed person."

"Oh, oh god," she said, for the first time letting a sob escape. "Why her specifically?"

"She was in the newspaper. That's how he picks his victims," Rossi answered. He turned to Hotch and said, "I saw he took your backup piece."

"Yeah. And he is good, Dave. Fast."

"I knew he had to be, to get the jump on you. I can assume you've been working on getting your bonds loose?"

"He's good at that too."

Rossi swore under his breath. "So do we wait for Morgan, Prentiss and JJ? And hope they can get him?"

"That's unlikely, though," Hotch said quietly, trying not to let the women hear. "He's just going to pull the exact same thing on them that he did on us. Threaten a life if they don't cooperate."

"This isn't a good situation."

"No, it isn't."


Morgan pulled the SUV up behind the other one, parking a few houses down. "You ready to catch this guy?" Prentiss asked.

"Way past ready. More like determined," JJ said. Morgan nodded as he got out of the vehicle, beginning to walk up to the home and leaving the two female Agents behind. "Yeah. And so is he."

They shared a look, before hurrying to catch up with him, only accomplishing it when he was knocking on the door. After a few seconds, it opened to show Hotch standing there.

"Hey, Hotch. So what…" Morgan started, before he noticed the dried blood on his boss's forehead. "What's going on?"

Suddenly, a man just a few inches shorter than Hotch stepped out from behind him, grinning like a Cheshire cat. The gun he held tightly to Hotch's back was clearly visible. The three Agents on the doorstep all moved to grab their own weapons, but the man said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Unless you want your leader to get a bullet in his spine."

"Just put the gun down," Morgan said slowly, moving his hands away from his belt.

The man, presumably the UnSub, started laughing. "That would be no fun, would it? Why don't you come in and join us. Just make sure to drop your weapons and phones in that bush there before you walk in."

None of them moved until the UnSub tightened his hold on Hotch and pressed the gun farther into his back, making him wince. Then they filed in slowly, each showing the man their guns and phones before they dropped into the bush.

"Excellent. Now, go down the hall and take a right down the stairs to the basement. That's where the fun is," the UnSub instructed. "And don't try anything."


Reviews are always appreciated, if you'd please!