Prentiss

A long while passed before three new men came in. None of us had seen these ones before. One untied JJ and the other two stood watching us. As soon as JJ was free from the rope, she jumped up and round house kicked the one behind her. The other two pulled guns when she turned back to them. She stopped momentarily, making them think she'd stop fighting because of the guns. The one closer to her took a step forwards to grab her. She dodged his hand and pointed the gun he was holding up. She kneed him in the stomach and ducked when the other shot at her. She kicked the one near her in the crotch and took his gun from his hand, shooting the one standing closer to the door. The bullet went straight between his eyes.

The one whose gun she had taken was lying on the ground in pain and the other had hit the wall off her kick. I think he blacked out. She tucked the gun into her waistband and ran to Morgan, the strongest choice. She started to try and untie the knotted rope binding his hands behind him. She made a frustrated noise as she struggled with the tie.

"Right!" I warned her. Her head shot to her right where the man that had been kicked approached her quickly. He punched her hard when he reached her and pulled her up by her hair. He took the gun back from her waistbelt.

"Back up!" He called loudly. The open door soon welcomed three more bodies as JJ was placed in the middle of the room. He threw her to the ground and when she tried to get back up, he punched her down again. Will struggled against the rope and chair. I saw the anger and guilt in his eyes; he wanted so badly to be able to help her. I saw Morgan and Hotch both trying to move the rope and loosen it. I assumed Rossi and Reid were doing the same, both looking behind them where their hands were tied. Garcia sat motionless, still looking at the ground. She was traumatised.

I didn't bother trying against the rope on my wrists. I knew it was too tight and I'd never be able to break free to help her. I tried my ankle instead, the one I had loosened by twisting my ankle again and again for hours. I looked away after he punched her a few more times and she fell to the side, coughing as she tried to keep herself up.

One of the men was standing a step back from me, against the wall. He noticed Morgan working at the rope and went to walk towards him. I threw myself in the chair to the side and kicked him with the ankle that I broke free and tripped him over. My boots had a rather high heel and I put it over his neck, keeping him pinned to the ground. He pried my foot away and another guy behind me pulled my chair back to where it was before, away from him.

I heard the sounds of punches and kicks to JJ stop and I looked back towards her. She lay on the ground, rolling away from him slowly, coughing and struggling to breathe. The guy who had been beating her up gripped her hair and pulled her to her feet, "That wasn't the fun I had in mind." He said menacingly before pushing her towards the door. The others followed them out and the door was closed again, the locks in place again.

"So much blood…" Reid said quietly, looking at where JJ was previously.

"Get off of me!" I heard JJ scream. Will made a sound of anger and frustration and looked away from anyone of the team. I used my untied ankle to pry the rope around my other down and off my leg. Once I freed both legs, I closed my eyes and tried to think of strategy rather than JJ's pain filled cries.


JJ was placed back with us, sitting on the chair with a black eye, busted lip and a split on her forehead that would probably require stitches. Her face was bruised, her arms were bruised and I was going to guess her thighs were too. She had a clear hand print marked on her left arm and it looked painful. Will sat looking at her, not knowing what he could say that could possibly make anything better. There was nothing he could say.

The man stopped at the door and looked at me, "Anything else to say to Doyle? He likes to hear the messages you pass."

"If that door opens one more time and it isn't him to untie me and face me like a real man then he's as good as dead because they're coming to rain down on him like the Holy Ghost unless I tell them otherwise."

"Who is?" He asked me, his eyes narrowing.

"You'll know soon."

He didn't question me further. He walked out quickly and locked the door behind him. I looked at JJ. There were a few tears on her cheeks but she didn't look as bad mentally or emotionally as Garcia did, who still hadn't said anything or looked at anyone.

"JJ?" Will asked quietly. She turned her head and looked at him. He didn't know what to say then. He shook his head as he looked over her injured skin.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly to him.

"I think that I should be sorry more than you." He said. She looked forwards again and Will looked at Garcia.

"So…who's they, exactly?" Reid asked.

"No one," I shook my head, "No one is coming and if someone was, they wouldn't get far enough to reach us or Doyle, but I had to find something to intrigue him enough to come in himself."

"And what are you planning on doing if he does come in?" Rossi asked.

"I know every possible way to manipulate him; I just have to pick the right approach first or he'll realise what I'm doing before I get to do it. If I do it right, he'll untie me."

"But he'll have back up in here." Hotch said.

"No one will shoot if he's in front of me." I looked at my boss.

"You're not taking any risks." He shook his head.

"I'm sorry; did you want to see Jack again or not?"

"Do not try and use him to convince me."

"Whether you want me to or not, I'm going to do what I can to get all of you out of here."

"Fine; we'll get JJ and Garcia out and the rest of us will stay with you." Morgan said.

"It doesn't matter what you plan right now, guys, because you know it won't work and you'll have to think differently on your feet." JJ said.

I realised that I had been moving my wrists around vigorously for a while now and I felt the rope start to loosen. I had been doing it so often over the past hours that I didn't even notice. I stopped when I felt nothing around them and heard something hit the ground. I put my hands in front of me and stretched my wrists out before standing and running to Morgan. I worked at the rope around his wrists as JJ had done and I was so close to untying him before I heard the locks on the door again. I stood back up and picked up the rope that was around my wrists previously. I stood against the wall beside the door and as soon as an unknown man walked in and past me, not noticing my motionless self behind the door, I stepped forwards and put the rope over his head and around his neck. I held both ends in my hands and yanked hard. I turned myself and him around as I heard two other Irish voices. Two men ran into the room with guns pointed at me. Morgan had worked the rope the rest of the way off his wrists and was now getting the second ankle free.

I pulled the rope harder around this guy's throat as he struggled for air, flailing his legs around, trying to get away from me or draw attention; I wasn't sure which one.

One of the men pointing guns at me cocked his and put his finger on the trigger. Just as I thought he was about to pull it, Morgan crashed into his side, taking him down. I smiled to myself and loosened the rope from the man's neck. I threw myself around and punched him hard.

I figured the groans of men as the breath was knocked out of them and the punches being thrown were all controlled by Morgan.

"Enough." The unmistakable voice said sombrely. I froze at the sound. The man underneath me noticed and took advantage. He punched me and pushed my backwards, off of him. I felt his hand tighten around my throat tightly and he lifted my head before crashing it back into the ground. I struggled to breath and the hit to my head gave me a pounding headache instantly. I tried to pry his hand away but it was not so helpful.

"Conner, stop." Doyle ordered. His hand left my neck and I turned to the side, putting one hand to the back of my head and the other to brush over my neck. I caught my breath back as I pulled myself up and looked towards Morgan. He stood with four men holding him still. There were three more men standing behind Doyle and the one that I had choked joined them. My eyes landed on Doyle and fear shot through me. My eyes locked on his. He appeared with no emotion and I knew that I was the complete opposite.

"How nice to see you again, Lauren, although this is unfortunate circumstances."

"You could have just called me like any other person and asked me to meet you somewhere. You didn't have to do all of this."

"But this was more fun, love. But do you know what was even more fun? Stabbing him." His eyes turned dark and threatening. He was inciting me. He was referring to Declan, and why the team may not have known straight away, he knew that I did. They caught on when I looked down to my left and bit my lip.

"He was your son." I shook my head and looked back to him.

"You made me do that. You took him away from me and you made me hate him."

"I took him away from you so he wouldn't have to go through everything that you did. The amount of deaths that boy had seen before he was even a teenager," I shook my head, "You cannot blame me for giving him a chance at life."

"And look where it got him. Hell." His lips stuck in a small smirk as he looked into my eyes. It was terrifying and I wanted to look away but his were holding mine there. I was able to look away when he did. "Tie him back up." He said to the four men holding Morgan. He struggled against them again but two of the four behind Doyle went to assist them. The other two moved towards me but Doyle stopped them, "Not her."

After Morgan was tied, he looked back at the men, "Make him regret getting out of the rope in the first place." He said to them. They nodded and one threw a hard punch to Morgan's abdomen, starting the rally of punches, kicks and whatever else they could do to him while he was sitting down that would cause injury but not death.

I didn't know what to do. Did I stand here without moving, did I approach Doyle or did I try to stop them from hurting Morgan any more than they had?

After a short while, Morgan was left battered and beaten, his head hanging, although he was still conscious.

"Leave us." Doyle said to them. The eight men walked out and closed the door behind them, leaving the tied team, Doyle and I. I didn't know what to do now either so I just tried to steady my breathing. He kept his eyes on me as he stepped towards Morgan slowly. I went to move and pull him away from him but he held his hand up, "Lauren, do you remember the last time the two of us fought?"

I swallowed hard and readied myself to move if he did anything. He crouched and looked at Morgan as he lifted his head slightly to him. He snickered and shook his head before standing again. He walked past Hotch and stopped at JJ. She looked at him and then spat to the ground at his feet. He tilted his head slightly, "Well wasn't that polite, let alone lady-like." He kept walking past Will and Reid and then stopped at Garcia, "I assure you, I did tell them to go easy on you." She looked up from the first time since she came back into this room and her eyes met his. Tears dripped down her cheeks and she was too scared to move even her eyes, let alone drop her head.

"What did I tell you about coming near my team?" My voice was steady, but you could hear the emotion in it.

He stood straighter and turned to look at me, "You said that I if I went near your team, you would end me, yet here I am, standing closer to them than you are." He walked back around them, standing in front of Hotch, although facing me. I saw him turn around and pull a switchblade from his pocket. Before I could do anything to stop him, the knife was in Hotch's leg above his knee. He sat forwards slightly and bit his lip to keep his reaction in.

I stepped forwards quickly and grabbed Doyle's arm. I turned him around and punched him across the face. He wasn't expecting it, so it affected him more than any others would from now onwards.