A League all its Own: Chapter Three
I have not yet begun to fight!~ John Paul Jones
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Chapter Three:
Erin Strauss was a formidable woman.
Director of the X-League, former BAU agent, and (quiet briefly) a part of the X-League herself, she ran her little part of the world with an iron fist. For the most part.
For you see, Erin Strauss had her secrets. And secrets were very hard to keep in an international espionage agency.
Very hard.
Very, very, very hard.
Very, very, very, very…ok, you get the point.
Nonetheless, Erin Strauss had guarded some of her rather more… dubious… secrets as fiercely as a bulldog. And it had worked, to a certain extent.
But every vault has a flaw, and every wall has a weak point. Erin Strauss's just happened to go by the name of David Rossi—her former partner.
He had coached a young, headstrong, arrogant, foolhardy and totally inexperienced Probationary Agent Erin Strauss into a mostly acceptable Senior Agent Erin Strauss (in other words, he had told her when it was appropriate to break someone's neck and when it was best to just blindfold them and dump them in Mexico).
They had long since parted paths… she had moved on with her life and he with his, and all of those embarrassing secrets and rookie mistakes had disappeared with him—until now.
Both a little older, a little wiser, they stood in the room face to face for the first time in nearly 20 years. And Rossi was seething mad.
Oh dear.
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Spencer Reid was having a spectacularly ordinary day. Ok, so the brightly-dressed woman who had spilt coffee on him had been rather unique, and the lady who had refused to give up her gun in the line for security was rather funny, and the fact that he was now due for a meeting with the Director of the BAU for a position on the X-League was rather extraordinary, but besides that, normal day.
Who was he kidding? His heart was in his throat and butterflies threatened to burst out of his stomach. This was no normal job interview. This was an audition for a spot on the X-League, and if he was a tiny bit nervous, then he could be excused, couldn't he? So he arrived in the lobby, gave a small smile to the other man in the…wait, was that David Rossi? The urge to go over and ask for an autograph was overpowering, but somehow he managed to maneuver his way to a seat without totally breaking the mask of professionalism he was straining to keep on his face. He needed to relax. A book! A book would calm his nerves. So he cracked open a dusty novel that he always kept in his possession, and started to read.
After what seemed like a couple of minutes, a voice intruded in on his thoughts. He glanced up. A woman in a severe bun and utterly militant pencil skirt was speaking. He snapped out of his observations just in time to pay attention to the last part of the lady's speech.
"…director asked to see all three of you."
He cast a glance around the room. There were three of them? Oh yeah, there was the dark-haired women he saw arguing with security earlier sitting in the corner.
"Will that be a problem?"
Wait! What would be a problem? Would it seem douchish if he asked? He gave another frantic sweep of his eyes across the room.
Oh no! The lady was walking away! What should he do? He glanced at the other around the room. The dark-haired woman was stuffing her phone into her purse and standing up as if to leave. Spencer followed her example and stuffed his book into his messenger bag (not a purse!) before standing up and following the other three.
They walked down a hallway, took a left, walked down that hallway, took another left, stopped at the elevators approximately three-quarters down the hallway, took it three floors down, exited right, walked down two more hallways, took a left, walked down half of the corridor, took a flight of stairs (there were 13 stairs… an omen?), walked down another hallway, took another right, and finally stopped at a metal door.
Spencer gulped.
Here it goes…
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"Erin Strauss." Rossi spat the words out of his mouth as if they had a bad taste to them.
"Mr. Rossi." Director Strauss managed to say his name in a way that sounded as if she had just uttered a curse.
She turned to the young man Emily had noticed reading a book in the corner of the lobby.
"Dr. Spencer Reid," Smiling, she reached out to shake his hand, "I have heard so much about you."
The doctor (really, he was a doctor?) smiled shyly and avoided the Director's handshake, giving an awkward wave instead. Emily didn't blame him. The woman smiled like a snake and acted like a cat who had just caught a canary.
Caught slightly off guard by Dr. Reid's greeting, Director Strauss turned to Emily.
"Emily Prentiss!" Strauss exclaimed, and went to hug her as if greeting an old friend. Which, in a way, they were. Surprised, but well coached to conceal her surprise, Emily accepted the embrace. As soon as the Director let go, Emily resisted the urge to go shower.
"It has been so long!"
"Yes," Emily agreed, letting a warm, easy tone (fake, but sounding 100% genuine) slip into her professional persona, "far too long."
Strauss sighed.
"Sadly, I have not called you here just to catch up on old stories."
"Oh, yes, because you would just love to relive the golden days," David muttered in a sarcastic tone.
Strauss's eyes flashed, and her smile became sharper on the edges, but she chose to ignore the comment.
"I have called you here because you are all exceptional individuals, with brilliant talents and abilities. As I am sure you have heard, the X-League has suffered some…losses, in the last month. The nature of these losses make the team…compromised for the job I have in mind for you."
Strauss paused and considered the words she was about to say.
"A few months ago, we became aware of a new criminal activity stirring in the Underground. He was powerful, relentless, and brutal. We knew that we had to eliminate him before he became a serious threat to the citizens. So we sent our best agents under. They lasted for three weeks each, then each one of them disappeared."
"Disappeared? " Emily questioned.
"Dropped off the grid. Stopped all communications. We have no clue where anyone of them are."
There was a small quiet as everyone in the room considered that piece of information.
"Then the attacks came. Small, sabatoge-like actions at first. A few hits on various outposts across the country, some attacks on weapon storages, fires in warehouses, explosions in factories, you know the type. But then the heists became bigger, until finally he hit the jackpot."
Strauss paused for dramatic effect.
"The Record's Vault."
A shocked silence filled the room.
The Record's Vault (or the Vault, as it was most commonly known as) was heavily guarded crypt located at who-knows-where in who–knows-what. It held all the information, documentation, evidence, research, history, identification, registration, and regular general knowledge that anyone and everyone knows about the various vigilantes, mutants, and super-humans who have inhabited the earth. This included an eye-witness account of the events of the Big Bang and a list with all the given names and addresses of every super-human on the planet. Emily Prentiss's own name was one that list, as was Erin Strauss's, David Rossi's, and (so she assumed) Dr. Spencer Reid's. It was the most dangerous and valuable list in the world.
And it had been stolen.
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In an unknown location…
"You stole it?"
Cue sarcastic eyeroll and smirk.
"That's what I just said. My, my, my, do those explosions damage your hearing?"
"No…I don't think so—but that's not the point! You robbed the Vault!"
"I robbed the Vault."
"Oh no, this is bad, this is very bad… we're criminals! I'm gonna go to prison, we'll never get out—I don't wanna go to prison!"
"We were criminals long before we stole from the Vault."
"We? We? I don't remember breaking into the most highly protected safe in the entire world! I'm sorry, but this is going too far. I was fine with the little things, blowing up a couple of building, snitching a couple of guns, but this… I can't deal with this stuff. I'm sorry, Teddy, but you're on your own."
The sound of a chair being pushed back and the muffled footsteps of a person walking away.
"Giving up so soon?" A sigh and a shrug. "Well, I guess that that's the problem of working with a coward."
The footsteps stop.
"I never knew what Annie saw in you. But it's ok, leave. Leave your wife's death unavenged. Leave your children's dead bodies without justice. Let them rot, without vengeance, without…gurg!"
The other man had crossed the room as quick as a flash and had his accomplice—Teddy –pressed up against the wall with a hand around his throat.
"Don't you ever talk about me, or Annie, or the kids in that way ever again. Is that clear?" The man breathed in an alarmingly deadly whisper.
A furious nod.
"I said, is that clear?"
The man eased up on his death-grip on the other man's throat.
"Yes!" the other man squeaked.
"Good."
A thud as the man was dropped to the floor.
Silence.
"Yes?"
"So… what did you steal?"
A cocky grin.
"Oh, Andy, I think you will be very please with my latest… asset."
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"Hey, Garcia, I've got some cross referencing Hotch wants to have by… Baby Girl, are you ok?
Penelope Garcia jumped up from when she had been slouched in her computer chair, weeping.
"Yeah…totally fine (sniffle). What was it that- ah- you…Hotch needed to get done?"
Morgan raised a dubious eyebrow.
Penelope could feel herself crumble. Her barriers fell down and her eyes filled with tears once more. Sobbing, she stepped into Derek's warm embrace.
"Sh, sh, it's ok Baby Girl, it's gonna be ok." Humming and whispering wordless phrases filled with comfort and reassuring calmness, Derek eventually calmed Garcia down until her sobbing had turned into an occasional sniff.
"I miss them."
"Me too."
Penelope allowed herself one more minute of contentment in Morgan's affectionate hug, then stepped out and gave him a bright and saucy grin.
"So what does my Chocolate Thunder need today?"
Morgan chuckled. "That's my girl.
A/N: Sorry for the wait, but updates will continue to be sporadic at best until the story picks up. Thanks for all the reviews and please click the shiny new button below!