B for Beck

by Assbitch67

Beck has had her life planned for her whether she liked it or not... But for some reason it all just keeps going to shit. Maybe it has something to do with her ability to kill a full grown man with a paperclip and snipe a grape inside a shot glass from nearly 6 miles away. But, hey, the cute Doctor at the BAU that doesn't know how to carry his Revolver seems to tolerate her.

3. Bullet

Bullet

•••

"A promise made is a debt unpaid." – Robert W. Service, The Cremation of Sam McGee

—

ONE YEAR LATER

—

Run. Run. Run. Run. Run.

Don't stop.

You can't stop.

Keep going.

Run.

Run!

RUN!

Jason Gideon kept telling himself as he pushed through the mental and physical exhaustion from the past two hours of non-stop running after previously stopping at his bloody and broken apartment.

God, there was blood... so much. And Sarah... Oh, God, Sarah...

She was innocent. A nobody. Just a friend he was trying to reconnect with, even try to...

No– he couldn't think about that now. She was gone. There was nothing he could do to bring her back. But there was something he could do to help bring the man that did this to face the justice he so badly needed after decades of non-stop killing and mutilations.

Frank's long reigning freedom needed to come to an end. And who better to stop him than his team, only... he knew they needed something more. Someone more.

And he knew just who to tip off.

–

Rebecca Ryder shifted in her seat behind the handles of her motorbike as she pulled up to the lovely cemetery just a few miles away from the beach in Tampa, Florida. There were already several other fancy cars parked along either side of the road that cut through the large field of grey, white, and black headstones covered with flowers, wreaths, and other gifts left by their closest families and friends. A daily reminder of who and what they're missing after they're gone. And today, that field added yet another body buried within it.

Olivia Hopkins.

Beloved mother, wife, daughter, sister, and American hero.

1975-2006

It felt surreal for Beck. A year ago, the biggest loss she'd ever truly faced was a distant family member of her foster parents. This was... different. This was the first close friend (if she could even call Olivia that) that she'd ever lost.

And it was all because of one greedy, power-hungry bastard.

Beck clenched her fists as she stood beside a large group of people there at the burial for Olivia. She was surrender by her real friends, her close family, and acquaintances. Across the large tent set up in front of dug hole where the closed casket sat ready to be lowered down, Beck had spotted Sanchez and a guilt-ridden Kruger. They hadn't spotted her yet, though. Gina would've looked less relaxed in her presence and Kruger would've already tried to talk with her. After all, she had disappeared off the face of the Earth after everything...

After her abrupt resignation following Bruno Hawks' arrest and the entire incient with Hassan Nadir, John Summers, and the Behavioral Analysis Unit, Beck took some time for herself.

She decided to pack up her shit from her apartment (which wasn't a lot) and hit the road. Her first few days away from DC, Beck managed to make it to Los Angeles. Out of spite, she booked a flight to Vietnam where she spent her second week on a lost path just taking in the scenery of the jungle she was found, wondering if she would've been better off just staying at that camp to be massacred. Maybe then Bruno Hawks wouldn't have been able to use her blind loyalty as a way to make her do his dirty work for years.

But, she eventually had to return and out those demons to rest for good.

So, she took a free-lance job with the CIA one last time to fake Hawks' death. She knew he knew too much to just be locked away at any old prison. Now Bruno Hawks' ghost sat in a hard cemented prison cell buried deep in some mountain, while Beck Ryder's shell of a body longed to have another purpose now that her's was officially gone.

Now she wandered aimlessly, searching for something– anything, to help her feel... secure again.

"You worked towards this job– this life, not because you wanted to better yourself or your country, but because you found security in something familiar," that was what that BAU agent had told her. The tall Dr. Reid that had assisted in finding Hassan Nadir and helped her realize who the mole really was...

Something familiar.

War. Death. Killing.

That was what was so familiar about the Counterterrorism Unit Hawks had gotten her into. Maybe she just needed a change of pace.

So now here she was at the funeral of a work acquaintance-slash-somewhat-friend. It had only taken a year for it to finally take place, but the family had pushed it back for so long due to complications with the children and their father that had separated from Olivia. A part of Beck wanted nothing more than to tell her kids just how much they meant to her, how she looked at that little picture she had of them on her desk almost every day and on hard days when she missed them, she'd play their favorite songs to herself by herself in her car and cry just a little bit during her lunch breaks. But... it wasn't her place, so she didn't.

She did, however, stick around for the food and drinks that were provided at the nearby venue.

All around her, Beck was surrounded by men, women, and children dressed in formal black attire, the occasional person wearing a splash of color. Beck stood out for once as she sported blue jeans, a white blouse, and a black blazer. It wasn't too formal, but none of her formal clothes could exactly be worn on the back of a motorcycle.

Around her third mojito refill at the open bar, Beck finally out herself in the line of sight of one Gina Sanchez who had been talking with who Beck assumed to be a family friend. It didn't take long for Sanchez to make her way to Beck's side at the marble counter where the bartender set down her third drink of the day.

"Day drinking, Ryder?" Sanchez prompted as she took a seat on the stool beside her. "You're really going all out for your retirement, huh?"

Beck scoffed. "Who said I was retired?" She retorted as she took a sip of her drink. "You must really enjoy it, though." Sanchez furrowed her eyebrows at her words, clearly confused about what she meant. "Not being in constant competition with me anymore," Beck elaborated.

"Competition with you-?" Sanchez scoffed when Beck cut her off swiftly.

"You can stop trying to pretend like you weren't threatened by my presence at the CTU for five brief seconds. The only thing you're accomplishing is making yourself look more like a brat," Beck stated. "Everyone in that unit knew how much you hated me... And all because of what? I knew a few more languages than you? Had better aim? Better training? Had better tactical skills? You were like a high school bully, Sanchez. It was kind of pathetic."

Sanchez shifted uncomfortably in her seat as Beck finished off her beverage with a final gulp.

"Look, I'm sorry about all those years of..." Sanchez trailed off.

"Being a bitch?" Beck offered.

Sanchez gave her a small glare that softened into a guilty frown. "Yeah... That," she replied. "I never meant to make your life a living hell, and... truth be told, I never realized just how much we really needed you until you were gone."

Beck's nails dug into her thigh as she slid her empty glass back over the bar counter, tapping the edge to signify to the bartender that she wasn't leaving anytime soon, and neither was Gina.

"Let me guess," Beck signed. "You're short staffed after half the unit was either killed by Bruno Hawks or stabbed in the back by him. What, does Kruger need a new assistant to replace Olivia already?"

"Kruger has a new assistant already," Sanchez explained as she pursed her lips and clasped her fingers together in her lap. "What we need is a new Associate Director of Operations..."

Beck's eyes shot up to meet Sanchez's. "But that's your position..."

"Actually, I got promoted to Bruno's old spot," she stated.

Beck blinked in surprise at that tidbit of information. They replaced him quick. "Well, congratulations. You deserve it," she muttered as she reached for her newly refilled drink.

Sanchez let out a heavy sigh as she watched the former CIA Agent before her chug down an entire mòjìto in three large gulps and slam the glass back into the counter. God, where was her mind right now? She looked like shit.

"I know you only had the position for a few days, but I'm willing to work with you some more, give you a bit of leniency-"

"I'm not going back," Beck abruptly stated. Sanchez stiffened at her words. "Thanks for the job offer, Sanchez, but I'm not going back to CTU." With that, Beck slid a ten dollar bill to the bartender as a quick tip before slowly standing from her stool. She needed to get out of that place and away from Sanchez. Besides, it was about time she left anyway.

She was on her way out when Sanchez caught her arm.

Beck spun back around to face her after almost immediately ripping her arm from her grip. Sanchez looked her dead in the eye as she stated with her whole chest, "You can't just keep running from your future because of some screw up your boss made."

That was it. Proof.

Proof that still no one had a clue about what Bruno Hawks being the mole in the CTU meant for Beck. Proof that they really had no clue just how much he used her, how much he used the team, how much he put them through. Proof that she should have never been there in the first place.

Beck scoffed in Sanchez's face. "Good luck making it anywhere in this line of work with your ego, Gina. Maybe eventually you'll realize you're not the smartest person in the room."

"And you are?" She prompted her.

Beck let the smug smile she'd been holding in finally show as she glanced up at the Hispanic woman through her eyelashes. "Yes," she answered simply before spinning on her heel and leaving the agent standing in the middle of the crowded venue alone and slightly shaken by just how arrogant and cocky someone could be. Maybe then she'd understand that she wasn't the only one with a big ego, but at least Beck's was well-placed.

She eventually made it out of the venue in one piece. Her confrontation with Sanchez aside, Beck intended on coming to simply say goodbye to an old friend. But now she had every intention to go get shit-faced at the nearest bar and maybe take someone home with her afterwards. Honestly, she just needed a distraction. Something– anything to make her feel something other than completely and utterly lost.

She was on her way to her bike parked in the back of the building when her phone suddenly rang in her back pocket.

Beck pulled out her cell and read the number... It was Bureau number.

The last time she'd spoken to someone in the Bureau it was Gideon. Gideon. That was a decent distraction, she figured. She opened her phone and hit the answer button.

"Ryder."

"This is Section Chief Erin Strauss of the Behavioral Analysis Unit with the FBI," came a feminine voice on the other line, catching Beck off guard momentarily. Beck had every intention of hanging up on her until she said something that caught her attention. "I hear you're a free-lancing ex-CIA agent in need of a job."

Beck glanced back at the venue behind her. Two job offers in one day... Hm. You go to one funeral and suddenly there's more job opportunities than at a fair. Who would've thought?

"What do you have in mind, Chief Strauss?" Beck prompted.

"One of our own is currently on the run after being involved with a gruesome homicide in his own home," the Section Chief explained. "I'm afraid my team won't be able to find and bring him in with an unbiased mindset. I need someone on the outside to hunt him down in order to bring him to justice. I've been told you're the person to call if I'm in need of an extra pair of hands and a good eye."

One of their own...? Who from the Behavioral Analysis Unit committed homicide and was dumb enough to try and run? Wait... why was that what she was focusing on after what the Chief just told her?

"Who told you that?"

"Quite a few of my team members gave stellar reports about what occurred last year with Bruno Hawks. Not to mention, I've done quite a lot of digging of my own on your past... projects," came her reply. Beck shifted herself on the seat of her parked bike, her eyes drifting across the parking garage as if someone would hear about some of those so called 'projects' the Section Chief was hinting at.

Her curiosity got the best of her. "...What do you mean by needing a good eye?"

There was a heavy sigh on the other line before she got a reply. "Things are moving fairly quickly and I need an answer now. If you'd like more details, the team I've compiled for you is waiting to brief you on the plane in the Bureau Terminal at your discretion wherever you may be."

Beck couldn't help the brief smile that ghosted her lips. "You're really sure I'm going to take this assignment, aren't you, Strauss?" She teased.

Beck could practically hear the Section Chief's frustration growing on the other end of the line. "I think you will," Strauss continued. Beck furrowed her eyebrows in curiosity.

Okay... She'd bite. "Why's that?"

"Because it's about Agent Gideon." Beck felt her chest constrict at the Chief's words. "I've been told you two have a history dating back from before you joined the Agency. In fact, it was his suggestion to interview you for a job here at the BAU."

Now this was a development if there ever was one. Beck sat in the middle of the venue parking lot with a million questions running through her head in this single moment: why would Agent Gideon be on the run from the Bureau? Why would Strauss want her of all people to help bring him in? And why was the Section Chief offering her this job on his request? The entire situation was one jumbled mess, a scattered puzzle if she ever saw one... And Beck would be damned if she didn't want to hop on that plane and race to DC to put the pieces together.

"I'm in Tampa, Florida," Beck relented. "How long can that team get here?"

"The plane can be at Tampa International in two hours." Beck could practically hear the Section Chief's smile from the other end of the line.

There was a beat of silence where neither of the women spoke. Beck was the one to break the silence with the one question she'd been dying to ask since getting this offer: "You sure I'm the one you wanna call in for this?"

There was long pause followed by a sigh and eventually Strauss' answer. "I'm not sure of anything right now. This is the only option I seem to have and I'm inclined to take it."

Beck frowned down at her shoes tapping impatiently against the asphalt. The distant sounds of more people leaving the post-funeral venue to get to their cars was nothing but white noise as Beck replied, "Fair enough."

And with that she shut her flip-phone and slid it back into her jacket pocket. In one swift motion, she was on her bike placing her heavy helmet over her face. The bike jerked to a start once she started the ignition and hit the acceleration. She imagined she probably pissed a few people off still inside the venue but she didn't care- she was back in the game again. A very deadly game she just couldn't get enough of.

—

It was quick to get from the funeral venue to her hotel to the Tampa Airport. She was dressed in less than twelve minutes, packed in twenty, and pulling up to the Bureau's private hangar in thirty. She was early and watched from the seat of her bike as the Bureau jet finally landed from DC nearly 45 minutes after that.

They were definitely expecting the little Asian woman in all black because she barely took five strides towards the plane when the stairwell detached from the side and extended itself down to her. Beck faltered momentarily when a large, burly man in a navy blue Kevlar vest appeared in the jet's doorway.

"Credentials, ma'am?" He called down to her.

Beck rolled her eyes and adjusted the strap of her bag on her arm. "Seriously?"

He shrugged, but she could tell he was probably enjoying giving her a hard time. Men like him with the over-sized arms that looked like legs and a superiority complex with a need to reaffirm their power over anyone and everyone they meet tended to do that. She just didn't feel like putting up with it today.

Beck waltzed up the jet stairwell, her hand slipping into her back pocket to pull out her old CIA badge. She flashed it at him and watched as his smug smirk slowly dissipated to a more tame and serious frown. He let out a heavy sigh, cocking his head to gesture for her to go ahead. "Nice to finally meet you, Agent Ryder... or should I say 'Captain' since you are technically in charge here now?" He prompted as she brushed past him to get inside the jet cabin.

Inside, it was cooler than the humid Florida air she'd just walked in from. The cabin was fairly large even for such a small aircraft. There were five other men already seated inside, manila folders with pictures and files inside in front of them and large bags of equipment and weaponry at their feet. A few of them glanced up to study her as she entered, but a few of them kept focused on the files.

"It's just Agent Ryder," Beck corrected Mr. Muscle behind her. Speaking of, she probably couldn't be calling him Mr. Muscle in the field. "And what do they call you?" She asked from over her shoulder as she took a seat among the other members of her new team that didn't look exactly comfortable with having a short little Asian girl as tall as only one of their legs being their new team captain.

After closing up the jet door, Mr. Muscle came to take a seat across from Beck. "I'm Agent Reece Waters." Beck nodded, her eyes trailing away to the other men around her.

They were silent until Agent Waters slapped the burlier man with a short beard across the aisle with his eyes glued to his dismantled gun in front of him he'd been cleaning. "Watch it," he grumbled. He reluctantly glanced up at Beck and gave a half-hearted smirk. "My name's Buckley Reynolds, but I go by QB."

Beck nodded her head. "Quarterback?"

"The one and only," he replied smugly. "And that there is Glenn Monroe-" Beck followed his pointed gaze the a ginger man with a buzz-cut and clear-rimmed glasses in the back of the jet who briefly nodded his head to her in acknowledgement. "-Beside him is Joseph Johnson, but everyone calls him Jo Jo-" Sure enough, seated across from Agent Monroe was a smaller uniformed man with a hard facial expression and a scar just above his left, furrowed eyebrow. "-And finally, we got our very own tech wizard, RJ Willis." It looked as though QB was pointing to his leather seat behind him until a man with a file in his hands turned the corner and gave his new Captain a stiff wave.

Friendly. Beck thought to herself as she shifted in her cushioned seat just as the sound of the jet's engine starting up sent chills down her spine. Great, she let out a soft hiss beneath her breath as she mentally began to prepare herself for this quick trip through the air.

Agent Waters, seated adjacent of her, must've noticed how her fingers shook ever so slightly as she quickly pulled on her seat belt over her middle by the way he smirked at her. "Afraid of flying, Agent Ryder?"

Beck's jaw clenched. It was no question; Beck was terrified of flying and had been since a near-death experience she had at the age of 12 when her foster dad and former Air Force pilot, General Ryder, had taken her and her older foster brother, Jacob, for a quick flight over the Northwest Texas planes in a single-engine plane he'd owned since he graduated officer's school decades before. It had been going fine until something had gone wrong with the propeller at the front of the plane and they ended up having to make a crash landing in some random corn field.

Beck only remembered tidbits of the memory. The therapist she'd had to see the following months after the accident had took note of the fact that she'd somehow suppressed the gruesome experience from her mind as some sort of coping mechanism. But... every once and a while, Beck would wake up in a sweaty heap from her bed crying after having the same repetitive nightmare of that day. The memory of her blood-curdling screams and cries for help in a burning field of corn, her leg throbbing from the piece of metal lodged into the back of her calf, the sweat, dirt, ash and blood mixed with the tears falling down her cheeks, and her throat sore and lungs exhausted from all her screeching into what felt like a void of nothingness as the world burned around her seared into her mind that still kept her away from planes and jets alike.

Agent Waters looked almost pleased to see he'd hit a nerve with his new Captain as Beck's fingers clawed into her armrests when the jet gave a good shake as it began to gain speed, launching itself across the runway.

"Leave 'er alone, Waters," QB has grumbled from across the aisle. "You didn't give RJ trouble about his thing with caves after what happened in Washington." Beck wasn't paying attention to whatever conversation was ensuing, her mind too focused on maintaining a level head as she felt the solid feeling of ground beneath the metal death machine fade away as they took off into the sky, but she thought she heard some huff something from the next few seats over. "Exactly," QB continued. "So stop being a prick because we've got a girl in charge now."

"Whatever," Waters grumbled beneath his breath as he turned from QB back to the files on the table between him and Beck.

Beck though that would be the end of it until Monroe chuckled from the seats behind Waters. "And stop being a whiny bitch, Reece," he shouted from over the cushioned seats. Beck couldn't help the stiff smile that escaped from her lips as the jet shook the higher they went. She didn't even wanna look out the window to her right.

"Yeah," Jo Jo piped up as well. "Let's not forget that of the people here, she's the only one that was personally asked by the Unit's Section Chief. That's gotta hold some weight behind it." There was a hum of agreements across the cabin, and while Waters could only begrudgingly glare at her from over the manila folder, Beck was too busy trying to keep count of her breaths until they would eventually land in DC.

While she waited through the agonizing hours in the air, Beck decided to try to take her mind off things by reading through the information packet that had been thrown together for them.

Senior Supervisory Special Agent Jason Gideon of the Behavioral Analysis Unit at the Federal Investigation Bureau.

Suspected of Homicide in the first degree.

Victim: Sarah Jacobs.

Found in the master bedroom of Gideon's DC apartment, laid out on the bed brutally mutilated in the chest, stomach, and neck area.

Cause of death: blood loss and major organ failure.

Gideon is on the run from the law and cannot be found.

Beck frowned.

These were the puzzle pieces she was given. They just didn't seem to fit together. Something was wrong... or missing. Aside from Gideon, that was.

Beck didn't really know Gideon too well. Then again, she also thought she knew Bruno Hawks well enough. Maybe there was something she could salvage from who he was as a person.

She knew Gideon had seen some shit. The files had listed a few other incidents and psych evaluations he himself had to go through that even she thought sounded pretty brutal. She figured someone damaged as much as either of them was capable of anything really. But... apparently, Gideon knew this woman. Sarah Jacobs. Old school classmates, according to the files. They seemed to be close, she was at his apartment for a reason, Beck had to assume. But what would be the factor in Gideon wanting to murder this woman? He had to have a definite reason, he wasn't some loose cannon no matter how much shit he'd seen in his years. He wasn't a psycho killer, but he had the potential to be. And apparently his Section Chief thought the same thing when she hired Beck.

"We're landing in ten," QB exclaimed as he settled himself back into his seat, buckling his seatbelt. Beck had kept hers on the entirety of the flight, but still felt the need to fasten it before shoving the files back into the bag that they'd come in.

Waters had noticed the way she had discarded the files and raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You don't wanna keep those in case you missed something important?" He prompted her.

Beck glanced up at the Agent and gave him a smug smile. "I never miss," she replied simply.

Eventually, the plane came to a halting stop against the concrete runway of the Ronald Reagan Airport. It was still the middle of the night and the lights of the city below were as bright as could be, but Beck couldn't bother to look out the window.

After waiting on the runway for a few minutes following the landing, they eventually pulled into the plane hangar. The team was out of the plane cabin and into two separate cars within minutes. As she made her way to the two large black SUV's, Waters halted her briefly with a hand on her arm.

She turned on him quickly. "What?"

She was a bit surprised when he handed her a large case. "I was told you may be needing this." Beck carefully took the case from his hand and held it up to inspect. "A little big don't you think?" She couldn't help but roll her eyes at his remark before turning on her heel and continuing the walk to the car. She was starting to understand where Gideon might've been coming from if he had killed this woman. People were annoying and maybe one day she too would just snap.

When she got into the backseat of the first SUV, she set her case on her lap and carefully opened the latches to glance at it's contents. Inside there sat two large pieces of her iconic M95 rifle she'd first been assigned when she joined the CTU. She'd affectionately named the rifle Alice after her favorite character in her favorite childhood movie her brother had watched with her many times when she'd gotten sick or just to pass the time. And, boy, had it been some time.

"So, where to, Captain?" Monroe called to her from the driver's seat.

Beck carefully shut the case again and locked the hinges. "Jason Gideon's apartment. Step on it, will you, Monroe?" She answered.

Beside her, Jo Jo took notice of the large gun inside the case she'd held onto. "You planning on using that, Captain?"

Beck turned to him and shrugged. "Can't be too careful."

There was only mild traffic as Monroe sped through the streets of Metro DC. Unlike the plane ride, Beck took the time to look out the window as they sped through the city. The way to Gideon's apartment was going in the opposite direction of Beck's old apartment, but the city itself was still familiar. The historical street names Beck had memorized within her first week of living there, a few familiar coffee shops she'd visited during her weekend vacations between cases at the CTU, the museum she'd accidentally broken into on one of her benders a few years back, even the old drug store she used to jog to in the early hours of the day that was run by an almost equally as old Vietnamese woman who always loved gossiping about her other regulars. It was all too familiar to be back in the city. Nostalgic even.

"We're nearing the crime scene, boss. What do I tell the local badge?" Monroe asked as they approached the barricade of police cars blocking the street going towards the apartment building.

Beck peeked her head out from behind the seat and shrugged. "Show 'em yours."

He chuckled beneath his breath. As they pulled in, he rolled the window down and flashed his FBI badge. "Tactical Team sent by the BAU Section Chief Erin Strauss. Special orders and clearance to investigate the murder of Sarah Jacobs," he explained to the officer that stopped them at the yellow tape.

The officer seemed to speak with someone on his radio momentarily. He eventually nodded for them to go through, even moving the yellow tape to let them in. Monroe slowly drove the car through the maze of other cop cares until stopping just outside the bustling entrance of the building.

Beck was the first one out of the car. She left her case, but made sure to fashion the pistol she always carried just beneath the jacket on the back of her right hip. She took it out of it's strap to examine it, taking out and putting the magazine of bullets back in as the rest of her new team exited the other SUV to gather around where she was.

"Alright," she began slowly now that she had their attention. "Keep your distance from one another, we don't want too much attention drawn to ourselves. If local badge gives you any trouble, tell them to go fuck themselves- you've got a job to do and I don't feel like having any petty territorial arguments with beat cops tonight."

QB snorted. "I think I'm starting to like you, Little Dragon."

Beck gave him a pointed look before turning back to the rest of the team and continuing her directions. "It's in and out. We're just here to check out the scene, talk to any witnesses there might've been, maybe go interview his team to see if there was anywhere Gideon might've gone. If anyone knows, it has to be one of them."

That was going to be a little awkward, not to mention difficult. Also, now that she was thinking about it, pretty ironic considering the fact that the last time she'd seen or spoken to anyone from the BAU, they had been the ones investigating her and her team... Oh, how the tables had turned.

"Alright, Captain," Waters uttered the title in disdain. "Any idea of who's doing what?"

She rolled her eyes at his antics. "Well, Waters, since you want to continue acting like a bitter toddler, you've got babysitting duty. Go check with any cops and find out who the witnesses on the street were and what they saw." He looked like he wanted to say something back, but bit his tongue. Satisfied with the reaction, she moved onto the rest of the men around her. "Willis, check any and all security or street cameras that might've caught Gideon coming or going from off the street. There aren't a lot of back alleys around this part of DC, so you're bound to come up with something. Jo Jo, Monroe- you've got canvas duty. Pack up any other physical evidence that might reveal the nature in which Jacobs was killed or any clues Gideon might've let slip that could lead us to where he's headed."

All the men nodded collectively before gathering their own sets of gear and walking off in their separate directions to perform their tasks. QB, however, stayed put right beside her. "Guess that leaves us, Captain," he stated.

"Guess so," she cheekily replied as she began walking towards the entrance, QB loosely following behind.

"Any idea of what we're getting into?" He asked as they walked past all the cops at the door and through the yellow tape to get to the elevator.

Beck let out a heavy sigh as she hit the third floor button. "Not a clue..."

"You've never done this kind of investigative work before? I'm shocked, especially after that debrief back there."

"Well, I wouldn't say it's my first time investigating anything," she replied as the doors began to close and the elevator jerked upwards. "This is just... my first murder case. Like- basic, cut and dry murder."

QB furrowed his eyebrows. "There's more to murder than just the basic kind?"

Beck couldn't help the humorless laugh that escaped her lips as the elevator dang and the doors slid open. "You've got no idea, QB."

When they entered the hallway leading to the apartment, it was even more crowded than the entrance and the street down below. There were cops with cameras, baggies of evidence walking in and out, a few more cops just standing around or talking with other neighbors that seemed to be itching for details about what happened. And they weren't the only ones.

Almost immediately after entering the bustling apartment, her eyes seemed to find the BAU Unit Chief sticking out in the sea of navy blue and black as natural as a flower turning towards the sun. It was kind of hard not to. The guy and his team were really the only ones not in uniform. Beside SSA Hotchner (as she recalled his name to be) were a series of other agents, some familiar, others not.

There was a blonde and a brunette Beck had never seen before, and she vividly remembered that colorful (bitch) Agent Greenaway. Neither of these women were her, thank goodness. Beck probably couldn't take another case with her involved.

Despite the two women not being familiar, the two men beside Agent Hotchner were however very familiar. On one side of him was the balding and muscular Agent Morgan. The same agent that was with her when she'd held Hassan Nadir at gunpoint only to shoot up at the sky instead of murdering a key witness to Bruno Hawks' crimes. And, finally, on the other side of him was the Revolver Kid- 'Dr. Spencer Reid of the Behavioral Analysis Unit'.

"Agent Ryder," the name left his mouth as if he had never forgotten it. Which was surprising, she barely remembered what he had looked like in the year that they had last seen one another. All she recognized about him was the ridiculous way he held his revolver on his hip and how prominent his cheekbones were. Only this time, instead of a revolver he actually had a pistol. Progress, she figured.

The team turned in the direction he was looking, turned to look at her. Hotchner narrowed his eyes at her as if he was sizing her up. She figured he had been in this line of work long enough to know why she was there. "Agent," he greeted her shortly. "We thought you were with the Counterterrorism Unit still."

"I quit. Call me a freelancer," she replied, equally as stiff and short with her answer. She turned to QB. "Go see what they have on evidence from the body." He nodded, giving a weary glance at the team in front of her before reluctantly leaving her side.

"Freelancer?" Agent Morgan's face was scrunched up in confusion. "Who hired you?"

Beck was taken aback by his question. They didn't know. "Your... Your Section Chief gave me a call," she answered. "Erin Strauss. Name sound familiar?"

She watched the agents all share a look of agitation. Hmm. Apparently they did.

"So, anything you can tell me about... that?" She pointed in the direction of the bed a few yards away splattered in blood and chunks of flesh around the human body lying on top of it in the center of the room. God, that was a mess... She'd seen worse.

"Gideon didn't do this, Ryder, you have to believe that," Hotchner stated matter-of-factly.

"Actually, I only have to believe what's in front of me and what's in front of me is a dead woman on Jason Gideon's bed. So if you can't give me anything other than what I'm seeing, then- excuse me, but I have a job to finish."

"Captain." Beck glanced over her shoulder at the sound of her new title being called. Waters and Willis both stood at the apartment entrance, a tablet raised in Willis' hand. "We've got something for you."

Beck turned back to the BAU agents in front of her and grimaced. Agent Morgan smirked, "'Captain?'"

She rolled her eyes. "It's temporary," she vaguely explained before walking off towards Willis and Waters. "What do you have for me, boys?"

Willis handed her the tablet. "Got this on security feed."

Beck took the tablet and pressed play on the video footage she'd just been handed. The camera was pointed on the dimly lit street corner that they'd pulled into earlier to get to the apartment. A few moments passed before an odd man approached a young boy on a skateboard, he whispered something in his ear before walking off. A few minutes after that, another man came dashing down the street, blood splattered on his clothes and hands. "Gideon..."

"Yeah, he ran off in a hurry. On foot, too," Waters noted. "Probably hasn't gotten very far. I sent Jo Jo and Monroe to go help the local badge set up a perimeter-"

Beck's eyes shot up to him in a deadly glare. "You did what?"

"I sent them to go hunt the bastard that did this," the agent replied nonchalantly. "What? Not used to things being so fast-paced?"

Beck clenched her fist, fighting the very strong urge she had to punch that smug look from off his oval-shaped face. She took a careful step forward and leaned up on her toes to try and close the almost two foot height difference between them. "If you ever go above my head and give orders to people under my command, I'll kick you to the fucking curb," she whispered to him in a calm and collective voice before backing away again. She turned to Willis. "Run facial recognition on the two other people in those frames and widen your search to any other cameras going that direction. And you-" she pointed to Waters. "Go with him and stay the hell out of my sight before I take away yours."

Waters clenched his jaw. He looked like he wanted to punch her just as much as she wanted to punch him. But after a pointed look from both herself and Willis, Waters caved and turned on his heel to walk out, Willis not far behind him.

Beck stood there for a moment, just staring after them. The frustration still boiling her blood from Waters' action. That bastard. If there was something she hated more than being disobeyed- it was men disobeying and discrediting her because they had a problem with authority- specifically female authority. He would be lucky to get out of this case without at least one black eye because she was certain that if he kept this behavior up, he would be the next dead body on their hands.

She took a deep breath to try and calm her thoughts.

"Captain." QB was hesitant to approach her, he could clearly see her anger and frustration. "Everything alright?"

"Fine," she replied. "You got anything?"

"Yeah. This." Beck narrowed her eyes at the small baggie he held up for her. Inside was a bloody mess... "Is that...?"

"A rib bone? As crazy as it is- yes," he answered her unspoken question. "Found it in the lady's left hand."

"She was holding her own rib? It was placed there? Purposefully?"

QB nodded. "Seems that way."

Beck spun around, her eyes scanning the room for the BAU agents, but unsurprising- they were nowhere to be seen. They'd left... Oh, they definitely knew something. "Gideon didn't do this," she stated, turning back to QB and handing him back the baggie.

"How can you be so sure?"

"That-" she gestured to the rib. "Is a signature. The signature of a murderer who knows what he's doing and to who. It's not Jason Gideon- it's someone trying to frame him. Or send a message to him."

"Well... message received, I guess... What are we gonna do?"

Beck began walking out the door, QB quick on her trail. "You are going to give that back to forensics. I also want a toxicology report on Jacobs as soon as you can."

QB paused at the apartment door. "Alright. What are you going to do?"

"Make a few calls- first to Jo Jo and Monroe about a little thing called 'chain of command,'" she called from over her shoulder as she disappeared down the hall and turned the corner to the elevator.

—

After rallying her troops back to her, she had them meet her at the local precinct where the cops and detectives there had already set the team up with their own office and conference room.

Beck had had QB, Waters and Willis drive her there and they all sat and waited patiently for Jo Jo and Monroe to get there. While they waited, Beck had Willis scavenge the web and the FBI database for anything he could find on the signature of the rib being ripped out of a mutilated and drugged woman or man.

"It's going to be a recent case. Specifically one the BAU dealt with," Beck was explaining to him as she herself sorted through physical files the local badge had provided for her, though she doubted she'd find anything she needed from them. It just gave her something to do. "Gideon must've pissed this guy off pretty well for him to come back and get some kind of twisted revenge. We just have to find out who he is and what he wants."

"Well, what he wants is revenge. Didn't he already get it by killing this Gideon guys girlfriend?" Waters suggests.

Beck glares at him. "I'm going to assume you've never actually had to put much thought into anything other than how to gel your hair in the morning, so I'll excuse the blatant lack of any real intelligence in that statement for the time being," she bluntly stated, going back to her files in front of her. "But to answer the question- no. This man is a serial killer and from the manner of death Sara Jacobs suffered, a very psychotic and experienced one. Whoever this man is, isn't afraid to kill, and since he's on the run still, probably won't just stop at Sarah Jacobs. He didn't kill her for revenge, he killed her to get attention. He killed her to send a message."

"Which is why he left the rib in her hand," QB piped up. "He knew the BAU team would see his signature and know who is he."

"And what he wants." Beck shook her head as she aimlessly flipped through more files.

The silence in the room was suddenly broken when Willis threw a fist up in victory. "Got him!" The rest of the agents immediately perked up. Beck leaned forward in her seat, the file in her hand discarded as Willis made his way around the table to place his laptop screen in front of her to see. "Frank. No last name, but they've got footage of him in a diner in Golconda, Nevada a few months back. That's where the BAU intercepted him, but never actually caught him due to an incident with him abducting a bunch of kids in exchange for some woman. Jane Hanratty," he explained as he scrolled through the screen. He previewed the footage of this man, Frank, in a diner sitting across from someone she recognized to be Gideon, then the picture of Jane Hanratty.

"His signature?"

"Mutilated bodies... I mean- shit- cutting them up into pieces, dumping them across the desert. The BAU found that he'd been saving a piece and sending them to this lady, Jane since '77."

"'77?" Waters asked in disbelief. "You mean to tell me this sick fuck has been murdering people since the 70's?"

Willis nodded. "Before that, too. He's, apparently, one of the most prolific serial killers in the U.S."

Beck zoomed in on the picture of Frank in the diner some more. He looked oddly familiar. "Lemme guess... Frank here was the same guy we saw on the surveillance footage talking to that kid outside of Gideon's apartment, isn't he?"

"I just ran facial recognition."

Beck glanced up at him. "A match?"

He nodded. "99.6 percent match."

"And no clue about what this guy's last name is? Where he's from? How old he is? Any direct family members?"

Willis shrugged. "Zip. Zilch. Nada. Nothing."

"Alright," she sighed. "What about Jane? You got anything on her?"

"Actually... I do," he replied, taking the laptop back and hitting a few buttons. "Bingo- I found her."

QB leaned forward in his seat. "Where is she?"

"Downstairs," he answered with a grimace.

Beck, Waters and QB all glanced at him with looks of confusion. "She's... downstairs?"

"Yeah, beat cops picked her up a few hours ago. Facial recognition puts it at a 98.4 percent match that the woman they have in lockup downstairs is her."

Beck, Waters and QB were abruptly up from their seats and out of the room. It was a short jog downstairs from the conference room to the small jail cells that they kept the arrested.

The beat cop at the door stood up when he saw them running towards the cells, his eyes wide and his hands up. "Woah, woah, woah, woah- you guys can't be down here-"

Beck slapped her FBI clearance badge into his chest, her other hand coming up to swipe the cell keys from off his belt in the same swift motion as her and her team passed. When she got to the first few cells in linked fences, she couldn't see the messy blonde head of hair she'd seen in the pictures of Jane Hanratty. Then she heard the shouting from down the hall.

"Hello?! Help! Agent Gideon! Agent Gideon!"

"That sounds like our lady," QB remarked as they grew closer, Beck and Waters breaking out into a sprint to make it to the cell.

Beck slid to a halting stop in front of the last jail cell full of other women, but one stood out. Literally and figuratively. She stood in the middle of the cell, her ragged clothing more fitting to a grandmother than a cell inmate. Though, to be fair, she was probably around the age that a grandmother would be. Crazy blonde hair and all.

"Jane Hanratty?" Beck greeted her in a soft, tentative voice.

The blonde turned to her, her pale blue eyes narrowed in curiosity. She must not have been used to being recognized. "Who are you?"

"My name is Agent Ryder... I'm a friend of Agent Gideon's," she explained. "Can you come with me so we can talk about Frank?"

She nodded frantically. "Okay."

Beck nodded back, her fingers swinging the keys into her grip to unlock the cell gate. The gate swung open and Beck held her hand out for Jane to follow as a guide. She did.

"Where's Agent Gideon?" She asked as Beck led her away from the cell and down the hall towards the interrogation rooms.

"He'll be with us when we get to the room," Beck lied with ease. "Is there something you needed to tell him, Jane?"

"That he was right."

Beck turned to Jane, her face contorted with confusion. "About what?"

"That Frank can't feel love," she answered in a shaky voice. "He wants to, but he can't..." Beck threw a concerned look over her shoulder at Waters and QB as they made their way to the interrogation room just up ahead.

Once Beck was able to lead Jane inside, she led her to the chair just beside the table. There were handcuffs on the counter, but Beck figured she wouldn't be needing them. Jane was clearly deranged, but she knew enough to prove useful and was smart enough not to try and escape. In fact, she seemed eager to help. Desperate almost.

"Alright, we're gonna seat you right here, ma'am," QB exclaimed as he held the chair out for Jane. She was hesitant, but took a seat, watching both QB and Waters with wide and weary eyes, scared that they might do something to her. Unsurprisingly, she didn't react the same way to Beck.

"Ryder." She turned to see both Jo Jo and Monroe at the door. "You got BAU agents here," Jo Jo explained.

"We saw them on our way in," Monroe added.

Beck glanced back at Jane who was calm enough to stay seated and not react. She was good where she was, Beck figured before turning back to her team. "Waters, QB, standby in the lobby. Jo Jo, Monroe, go help Willis with gathering anything and everything on the serial killer Frank upstairs."

"Yes, Captain." The chorus of them said before going their separate ways like they had at the apartment.

Jane didn't speak until the last of the team had shut the door behind them. "Can I get my bag and cigarettes, please?"

Beck turned to nod at her. "Of course. I'll go get those for you right now. Just sit tight, please." She quickly turned to leave the room, but halted when she heard Jane utter, "He'll come for me."

The brunette turned back to face her. "He's already here."

Beck quickly left the room after that, turning to Waters and QB that were waiting outside. "She wants her bag of belongings and some cigs. You mind getting those while I deal with the BAU?"

Waters and QB simultaneously nodded. "Knock yourself out, Little Dragon," QB said as he left. "Holler if you need a hand dealing with the agents or the nutjob, yeah?"

Beck snorted slightly, watching them as they disappeared down the hall and then crossing her arms when she spotted the BAU Agents approaching. It was Revolver Kid- Dr. Reid- and the brunette that she hadn't recognized from Gideon's apartment.

"Agents," she greeted them curtly. "Thanks for filling me in on evidence and recent developments in the investigation. Really helped me figure out who actually killed Sarah Jacobs."

Dr. Reid grimaced. "We wanted to give Gideon time," he told her honestly.

"Time to what?"

"Figure out where Frank was. How to stop him," the brunette answered for him.

Beck worriedly glanced between the brunette and the doctor. "Stop him from what?"

"He's taken a girl... One of the saved victims from another case," Dr. Reid stated. "We think Jane can help us figure out where he could be keeping her, but..."

Beck bit the inside of her cheek. "You need my clearance to speak to my material witness where I have jurisdiction over the investigation," she finished for him. His eyes silently pleaded for her to agree. She couldn't help but think back to the incident with Hawks. How much he helped her... She sighed and jerked her head in the direction of the door. "She's all yours, but I'm gonna listen in, if you don't mind."

"Thank you," the brunette said, brushing past her to get inside the room.

When she had left Beck glanced up at the doctor again. "Next time you have important information to relay about a case we're both working on, it'd be nice if you told me, Doctor."

"Well, I doubt we'll be working on many cases after this one," he replied, matter-of-factly. "But if we ever do, I'll keep it in mind, Captain."

Beck fought the urge to roll her eyes. She knew he was probably just doing what he was told when keeping her in the dark. Besides, she didn't actually blame him. He was only covering for one of his fellow team members. Not that she understood the concept of risking your ass for a team member. She wasn't programmed that way, to think for and about others close to her. But she couldn't deny that Dr. Reid had a strong bond with Gideon and probably had a closer bond than she ever had, maybe even rivaling how her and Hawks were in the beginning.

"So... you left the CTU?" Beck raised her eyebrow at him in skepticism. Was she a suspect or something? "Sorry. Just trying to make conversation while we wait for Hotch," Dr. Reid grimaced.

Beck turned back to face the double-sided mirror where Jane was talking with the brunette inside. Jane was up and pacing now, demanding for her belongings and something to smoke. "Yeah, I left the night you put Hawks away," she answered his initial question. "You stayed with the BAU, I see."

"Uh, yeah..."

The shorter woman had to crane her neck to glance back at him. "That wasn't a vey enthusiastic answer," she noted. "I'm assuming we had a very different year apart."

Dr. Reid stared down at his feet, his hand coming up to scratch the back of his neck. A clear tell. "I guess so."

She didn't push much after that. Not that she had to anyway, because coming down the hall towards them were the blonde from the crime scene, a brown bag and a pack of cigarettes in her hand. "Is she in there?" The woman asked the pair.

"Yeah... The only things she's been asking for are her smokes, her belongings and Gideon, of course," Beck replied. "Where'd you get those?"

She shrugged. "Your guys gave them to me. They said they got a hit on something and they'd check in with you when they got back." Fucking Waters, Beck wanted to curse. She was going to wring his fucking neck when they 'checked in with her' again.

The blonde nodded to the pair before walking into the room. Inside, Jane quickly snatched the cigarettes and her bag from the blonde agent. Beck chuckled. Jane was an irony in herself, wasn't she. Innocent, almost childlike. Yet, associating herself with such a sick and twisted person like whoever this Frank was.

"Tell us something good, Reid." Both the doctor and the agent turned at the sound of Agent Morgan and Agent Hotchner entering the hallway coming towards them. The minute Hotchner's eyes landed on Beck, they hardened. Her gaze quickly turned to a glare. He was the one to give the orders to keep her in the dark, of course.

"Well," the doctor began. "We have Jane." He gestured to the scene behind the mirror.

Hotchner nodded, his gaze leaving Beck to glance at his agent. "That's good," he remarked.

"Not exactly," Beck chimed in. "She's not making much sense, nor is she being cooperative." She glanced over her shoulder at Hotchner. "She's insisting on talking to Agent Gideon."

"You found her?" Agent Morgan prompted.

"Yeah. Cracked everything wide open after my guys found the rib in Jacobs' hand. Wasn't too hard to piece things together after that- thanks for the help, though," Beck retorted sarcastically, throwing a pointed look to the Unit Chief before turning her attention back to Jane behind the glass once more.

Hotchner ignored her jab and took the time to go inside the room, going almost unnoticed by Jane whose attention was solely on the blonde and brunette in front of her. "Frank hasn't hurt anyone, has he? He wouldn't do that. Not while he has me," she insisted to the two agents as Hotchner entered the room.

"He doesn't have you. We do," the blonde told her matter-of-factly.

Without taking her eyes off the people behind the glass, she whispered to the two BAU agents beside her, "So, what's the relationship between Jane and Frank? It was all kind of vague in the files. Something about him gifting her rib bones...?"

"Jane was originally almost a victim herself, but for reasons not completely known, Frank spared her and came back to visit her every year after that. Sending her the rib bones from his other victims as tokens of affection for her," Dr. Reid explained to her.

From beside him, Morgan summarized, "They're in love."

"Yeah, but... from the looks of the crime scene and the way all his victims were killed... he's clearly a psychopath," Beck noted. "Is it really love at all if he can't feel anything?"

Both Dr. Reid and Agent Morgan turned to look at her. "You got all that from the files?"

She shrugged. "You tend to pick up on certain behaviors over the years with the CIA."

They began talking on the other side of the glass again and Beck couldn't help but give this interrogation her full attention once again. "Why did you leave Frank?" The brunette agent asked Jane, her voice soft and calm just like Beck had used on Jane to coax her out of the cell with ease. "What... changed?"

Jane, who had now taken a seat across from her, seemed to deliberate the question for a moment before glancing back up at her, her eyes filled with concern as she answered simply: "He did. Frank changed. He changed just like Agent Gideon said." Or he was just always the same and used her as a scape goat for something... But for what- Beck couldn't quite figure it out. "And he was so angry with Agent Gideon because he knows Frank better than anyone else and Frank knows that, too."

"Would explain a second motive for killing Jacobs," Beck muttered. "He wants Gideon's full attention. He wants to get under his skin like he did with him."

Back inside the room, Hotchner finally decided to speak up from where he stood leaning against the wall nearby. "Frank wants Agent Gideon to stop him, doesn't he?" Apparently, Beck and Hotchner were on a similar wavelength. Beck wasn't sure if she liked it.

"Well, if anyone can, Agent Gideon can," Jane exclaimed.

"Not without you, Jane."

The blonde turned away from the brunette agent to glance up at Hotchner, confusion written all over her face as her eyebrows furrowed beneath her messy bangs. "What do you mean?"

"We need your help to stop Frank, Jane."

She contemplated his answer, but was suddenly very focused on going through her bag of belongings. Clearly, she wanted nothing to do with this. She didn't want to betray this man she thought she loved, but she also didn't want him to continue killing. Beck had to wonder if maybe it was because of her own accord or his... What were her intentions when it came to Frank? And what were his attentions when it came to Jane? They were both so... complicated.

"Tell me about Frank. Where's he from?" Hotchner asked her in that same emotionless, monotone voice.

Jane ignored him at first, continuing to unpack her shoes from her bag and slamming them on the table in front of her. When she was done, she pulled another cigarette from the pack she'd been given earlier. Her lips were drawn in a thin line as she reluctantly gave him an answer. "Manhattan."

Hotchner furrowed his eyebrows. "Manhattan? You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" She snapped at him. Her attention then turned back to the woman in front of her, her tone changing to more of a light-hearted and informative one as she recalled her time with her psychopathic... boyfriend? "He talked about it all the time. He told me where he lived and how he grew up- everything. He wanted me to know everything," she beamed.

"Did he ever say where in Manhattan?" The blonde agent asked her.

Jane's expression fell momentarily, but she was quick to go right back to talking with the brunette, acting as if no one else were in the room, just them. "He lived with his mother. She was German," she stated matter-of-factly. "Breitkopf. Mary Breitkopf. And Frank never knew his father."

Beck quickly pulled out her phone and pulled up Willis' contact she'd added hours ago on the plane ride over. She texted him the name Mary Breitkopf with the note: find where she lived.

"So, he uses his mother's name?" The brunette prompted her.

Jane nodded. "Mmhmm. And she would take him every Sunday to the fair on Long Island," she exclaimed as she stood to her feet, a smile gracing her face once more. This woman was like a rollercoaster when it came to Frank, it seemed. "He talked about her constantly. And they would have dinner parties, and- and Frank would dress up, and he would be the barman, and he would serve all the guests cocktails." She laughed as she made a gesture as though she herself were carrying drinks on a tray. She almost made it sound as though she were the one reliving the memory... As if she were Frank's mom...

"That's it."

Dr. Reid and Agent Morgan turned towards her again. "What's what?" Morgan asked.

"She's his scapegoat..."

"What do you mean?"

"He does love her... Just not in that way," Beck explained. "He spared her, he visited her, he gave her gifts, he escaped with her not because he's in love with her, but because he loves her as if she were his mother. She's his substitute. His scapegoat."

Agent Morgan and Dr. Reid exchanged similar looks. "That... actually makes sense."

Beck rolled her eyes, turning her back to the pair and turning her attention back to the interrogation where Jane was sitting back down now.

"When you were with Frank, did he ever hurt anyone else?" The blonde asked her.

Jane didn't answer. Only lit her cigarette, letting the smoke simmer around the room. She let her eyes travel back to the brunette across from her and she was back to telling her random stories. "Being on the run can be very romantic, you know," she told her in a whimsical voice.

"Did Frank try to kill anyone else?" The brunette repeated the blonde's question. Damn, Beck really needed to learn their names.

Once again, Jane didn't answer. She looked down then back up, her eyes wide with concern and a hint of regret. "Is it wrong?" She asked.

"Is what wrong?"

"Loving Frank." But did she... Did she really love him? He didn't really love her.

"Uh, you don't choose who you fall in love with," the brunette answered her. Beck rolled her eyes. What a load of bull.

Jane must've felt the same way because she turned her head and decided to take a hit from her cigarette just as Hotchner chimed in. "Maybe you thought you could change him. And you did, too, for a time."

She nodded in agreement. "Yes," her voice cracked.

"Until the desire to kill overwhelmed him," Hotchner continued. "And you saw that, didn't you, Jane? You saw it in him."

She nodded again. "Yes."

The brunette across from her leaned forward again. "Who did he try to kill?"

Beck didn't need to hear the answer, neither did anyone else in that room or even in that building. It was clear from her behavior and her light-hearted answers recalling all these good things about Frank what the answer to that specific question was.

"Me," Jane whispered to her. "But he stopped himself. We had an argument... And I screamed at him, and I said that Gideon was right, and he became so angry. And I had to run here... But as long as he's trying to find me, he won't kill again."

"He has already," Hotchner informed her.

Jane turned to face him just as the blonde beside him added, "And he's not gonna stop until he gets you back."

Jane looked so hurt as she gasped, "Oh-"

The brunette across from her shook her head and apologized, "I'm sorry." Jane hid her head in her hands as she turned away to cry silently to herself.

Beck sighed. She really was so blind to who Frank really was, once again proving her point. She didn't really love him. She had no perception of what love was. He had just manipulated her to feel something for him so he could continue his sick façade with her, and he lied and told her it was love.

"I've gotta go see about an address," Beck muttered, turning on her heel to head out the hallway to find her team. She shouldn't have been as surprised as she was to find them not waiting for her there, but already unpacking and loading up their tactical gear and weapons.

Waters, QB, Jo Jo, and Monroe were all in full tactical gear, their weapons out of their cases and in front of them on the table they had been using to sort through files earlier. Willis was off in the corner, typing away on his laptop and also in tactical gear.

No one seemed to have noticed her entrance until she made it known.

"What the hell is going on in here?"

The team all turned to look at her, QB seemed to shy away from her death glare, as did most everyone else except for Waters... of course. "We're getting ready for the raid," he calmly stated as if he were talking about the weather or some shit.

"Raid? What raid?" She asked. "Did Willis find Mary Breitkopf's address already?"

"What? No," he replied. "We got a hit on Gideon. Security cameras at the Smithsonian caught him and a blonde accomplice from the BAU sneaking inside and haven't been seen leaving since. We're on our way to apprehend the bastard since you're too busy playing Sherlock with the BAU."

Beck couldn't see anything but red. Oh, she was definitely going to kill this motherfucker now. "Excuse me, did the words 'commanding officer' just leave your internal brain encyclopedia or do I need to remind you whose orders you're to follow- all of you. In case you're so daft you're unable to guess the answer- it's mine. My team, my orders. Yet, you felt the need to go over my head and come up with your own completely incorrect crusade against an innocent man. Something you failed to understand because you don't actually care about accuracy, all you care about is being the one in charge. Which explains the little incident you had a few years ago that got you discharged from the Marines."

Waters immediately dropped his gun and took a threatening step towards the short woman, but she didn't budge. She didn't even flinch when QB and Monroe quickly stepped in to hold him back. The door behind her swung open then as Agents Morgan and Hotchner rushed in, clearly assessing the situation before them as one that was about to turn violent quickly.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah!" Morgan shouted as he helped QB and Monroe to hold Waters back from Beck, Hotchner using himself as a human shield between them. Beck wished they hadn't stepped in. She would've happily kicked Waters' ass.

The rest of the BAU agents were right behind them as they entered the conference room, unsure of what was going on but clearly too invested just to leave it alone.

Beck ignored them. Her eyes on Waters as she smiled up at him. "Yeah... I read up on you. All of you. Next time you get pissy about who's in charge, just remind yourself there's a reason why it isn't you," she taunted him.

"Whatever," Waters huffed, pushing away from QB, Monroe, and Agent Morgan, turning back to his rifle on the table. "We're finishing what we were hired to do: bring in Jason Gideon."

Beck made a split decision then and there as she ripped her gun from behind her back and aiming it directly between Waters' eyes. There were a series of shouts of protests. She could see Jo Jo, Monroe, QB, and Willis pulling their own guns out, aiming it in her general direction which resulted in the BAU agents brandishing their own weapons in retaliation. It was a stand-off.

"Drop it!" Agent Morgan ordered Jo Jo, who had his gun aimed at the back of Beck's head.

"Not until she drops hers," Monroe retorted, Dr. Reid's gun aimed at him while his was pointed at Hotchner.

"I'll drop my gun when Waters- and the rest of you- remember whose orders you're supposed to follow," Beck spat, her eyes boring into Waters' as she spoke. "You're my bitches, whether you like it or not. I think you forgot that during your failed attempt to the top, Waters. Because you were hired as the muscle and the muscle only." She pressed the barrel of her gun beneath his jaw, she could see the fear in his eyes as he lifted his head up at the motion. "Remember who holds the real power here. I will see to it that your career in private security is dwindled down to mall security. And let it be known that after this moment, the only reason you are still alive is because I was the one who let you stay that way."

"So let it be known to you and every other member of this team that we are going to find Mary Brietkopf's home address and find out where Frank Brietkopf is from there. Fail to do so and I won't hesitate to put a bullet through any of your brains and make it look like an accident," she stated, her eyes traveling through the room and glanced at every single member of the tactical team. "Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," a series of voices chimed in unison.

She heard the sounds of guns slowly being lowered, but she kept hers to Waters' jaw as she turned back to him. "Understood?" She repeated in a low voice.

He swallowed. "Yes, ma'am..."

Beck removed the gun from his neck and put it back in it's holster. "Willis," she called to him. "Anything on Brietkopf yet?" She asked him as if they hadn't just been about to shoot one another.

"Uh... I got three names. One more likely than the other," he explained.

"Why's that?" The BAU brunette asked.

"Because she was arrested over 63 times, was an immigrant, and had a son named Frank Brietkopf," he said in a rush of words. "No death certificate."

Agent Morgan glanced at his boss beside him. "So, she's either dead-"

"Or alive and is being kept a secret by Frank," Hotchner finished his thought. "That's where he's keeping Tracey."

"Where did you say he wanted to meet to make the trade for Jane?" Beck asked the agent beside her.

"7 a.m.. Union Station," Dr. Reid recalled.

Beck turned to Monroe, Jo Jo and Willis. "You three, go to Breitkopf's last known address."

"JJ, Reid- go with them," Hotchner ordered the blonde and the Doctor.

"Waters, QB- with me at the station," she ordered before turning to Hotchner. "If... that's cleared with Agent Hotchner...?" Please say yes, she silently pleaded.

Hotchner pursed his lips as he deliberated for a moment. He sighed. "You're welcome to come along."

Beck nodded in gratitude just as Hotchner's phone began to ring.

The team watched as he answered, an unreadable expression crossing his face at whoever was on the other line. "I'll patch him in now," Hotchner told whoever it was on the other line. He pulled the phone back and dialed a second number. "Garcia, get me Jason. I have someone who wants to talk to him." Beck, confused, glanced around at everyone else in the room who seemed to be just as equally confused. That was until he put the call on speaker.

"Jason?" A soft, fragile little voice came from the other line.

"Who's this?" Came a more raspy answer. Beck recognized it as Gideon.

"It's Tracey Belle," the little girl cried, followed by a deep male voice that definitely wasn't Tracey.

"Go ahead, Tracey. It's okay." Shivers traveled up Beck's spine at the voice of Frank Breitkopf being heard for the first time. She couldn't imagine that voice being the last thing anyone heard before being killed. And to think he'd killed dozens... hundreds...

"Please, Mr. Gideon," little Tracey whimpered. "You saved me once. Don't you remember?"

"Of course I remember you. How could I ever forget you?" Gideon replied, his voice remaining calm and collected as he tried to reassure Tracey that she was going to be alright. "Tracey, everything's going to be alright." Beck was going to make sure that he was right.

She turned to her three team members and silently gestured for them to go. "Go. Now." The three men immediately grabbed their weapons and gear and started to head out, Dr. Reid and the blonde- JJ- following right behind them. She hoped they would make it in time to wherever he was keeping that little girl. The issue with the last time Frank had escaped was because he had the upper hand- no one knew where those children he kidnapped were, only he did. But this time, they were two steps ahead of him thanks to Jane.

Ironic, Beck thought to herself. The woman he thought would be the answer to all his problems turned out to be the key to his demise.

"Please." The little girl sobbed. "I'm scared. I just want my mommy. Please. Please!"

"Jason..." the deep voice returned. Beck clenched her fists.

"You son of a bitch," Gideon's voice changing drastically from when he had been speaking with Tracey. "I swear to you I will find you and I will stop you."

"Ssh. Ssh. Ssh. Jason," Frank hushed him. "I chose the station because I know how much you love trains. I saw the toys in your apartment." There it was again. That taunting to Gideon because he wanted to let him know that he knew as much about Gideon as he did about him. He wanted to prove he was better, that he had the power. Just like Waters had with her. But... he was wrong. He was faking it because deep down he knew he would never be better than Gideon. He wasn't anything special, especially to someone who hunts serial killers for a living. To Gideon, he'd always be just another name on a file of a closed case when he brought him down. But to Frank, he'd be the man that locked him away forever. And there was no coming back from that.

After that, the line went dead and the agents in the room sprung into action.

Beck spun to face QB. "Where's my case?"

—

The Union Station was crowded, even more so than the bustling apartment building where this had all started.

Beck, Waters and QB all filed out of their SUV in tactical gear, similar to that of the remaining agents of the BAU that had allowed them to tag along on their own miniature army of tactical officers from the police department.

Beck had been paired with Morgan during their initial arrival, the pair running down bustling hallways and busy corridors of the station as they searched for their target. It reminded her of the last time they'd been paired off in search of an Unsub (as the BAU had called them). Apparently, it reminded Morgan of that night as well.

"Hey, you're not gonna hold me at gunpoint when we eventually find the guy like you did last time, are you?" He jokingly shoved her arm as they stood off to the side, their eyes separately scanning the crowd for any sign of the psychopath.

Beck chuckled, her hands nervously adjusting the strap of her rifle she had pressed against her chest. "Well, considering my choice of weapon is a bit bigger than last time, I'd say the chance of me holding you directly at gunpoint is a bit far fetched," she replied.

Morgan glanced down at her and chuckled. "Yeah, that's for sure. It's almost the same size as you, kid."

She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the people at the station... Beck had to think: if she were a psychopath hoping to trade in a young girl he had hidden away in exchange for a woman he thought of as his mother... where would he wait? He mentioned the trains, hence the train station. There was always more to the plan with this man, it seemed. But... what was his escape plan?

"Frank wants Agent Gideon to stop him, doesn't he?"

His plan...

"...he loves her as if she were his mother. She's his substitute. His scapegoat."

His escape...

He wasn't anything special, especially to someone who hunts serial killers for a living. To Gideon, he'd always be just another name on a file of a closed case when he brought him down. But to Frank, he'd be the man that locked him away forever.

... And there was no coming back from that.

There was no coming back from that...

There was no coming back from that.

She knew what his escape plan was.

"12 o'clock. Platform 11. Target. Target East side. I have eyes on the target-" As soon as Beck process the words being broadcasted into her ear, she was off in a mad dash in the opposite direction. She heard Morgan shout after her, but she didn't have time. She had to get somewhere where she could stop Frank from fulfilling his plan... Always two steps ahead.

Beck ran and ran and ran. She pushed through the crowds of people, manuevered her way through the bustling corridors and jumped her way up flights of stairs until she had made it to the roof of the station. She mad-dashed across the way until she reached the edge. Sure enough, down below was Platform 11 and standing in the center of a legion of armed officers and agents alike was a man standing alone beside a bench. Frank.

Beside him was Gideon, aiming a loaded pistol to his head. Behind him was Jane, the brunette agent holding her arm. And across the way behind Frank was Agent Morgan. Between them all was her target.

Quickly, Beck lowered herself down to the edge of the roof, propping Alice against the edge and angling her just right. It was fairly windy, so she made sure to angle it just slightly further to the right. Carefully, she pressed her eye socket against the scope. Frank's head directly aligned with the red dot in the center, she tilted it again. The perfect shot... only, that would've been his escape plan. She didn't want that for him. So, instead she lowered the aim from beneath his neck. Oh, this was going to be a tricky shot... Too tricky.. Too risky.

"I never miss..." she whispered to herself. "I never miss."

—

"You're not a rare bird, Frank. Nothing special about you," Jason Gideon mocked the psychopath in front of him as he took a step closer, being sure not to let up on the aim he had on him with his pistol raised high. "You're common, pedestrian... boring."

This, surprisingly, didn't seem to both Frank as much as he thought it would. His eyes softened when he turned his attention back to the woman a few yards behind him. "Jane," he held his hand out to her. "This world- we don't fit in it. No one understands what we are."

Actually...

"Jane, he sees you as his mother," Gideon told her matter-of-factly without breaking his eye contact with Frank. "Nothing more, nothing less." He smiled at the thought of ripping everything away from this man. His power, his self-righteous image he had of himself that he thought he was so special, his secrets, and now the woman he loved- the only person he could love, apparently.

Still, Frank persisted. "Have you ever been happier than when you've been with me?" He prompted her.

"Never," Gideon heard her whimsical answer. Oh, this wasn't looking good after all. He fully expected Jane to refuse to accept this crap he was spewing to her, but apparently she, like he, had nothing else in this world but one another. She was so desperate for his love- someone to love her- she was willing to look past everything else.

"Didn't we have fun?" Frank continued.

"So much!" Gideon could hear her getting closer, but he still didn't let up on his aim.

"Come with me now," Frank beamed. "It doesn't have to end here." What did that mean? He had nowhere to go... maybe he still believed that despite what they had told him about his mother that they hadn't thought to look for Tracey Belle in her old apartment. Maybe he still had hope they could make it out of there alive like they had the first time... Gideon couldn't let that happen either.

Gideon's arm was pushed down suddenly by the force of Jane rushing forward towards Frank. "Jane!" he shouted to her, but she was already so caught up by Frank, it was as if he weren't even there.

"I love you," Frank told her affectionately, though it sounded forced to Gideon.

"I love you, too," she told him back.

Everything happened all at once after that.

The horn from an approaching train suddenly blared. It hit Gideon a little too late about what Frank's plan was when he and Jane took two large steps towards the platform edge where the train was headed. He had no intention on leaving alive, he wanted to be stopped. But he wanted to be stopped by him and he wanted to end it all with Jane. He should've seen it coming- why hadn't he seen it coming?

"Jane! Jane!"

They were five steps off the platform.

Four steps.

Three steps.

Two.

One-

BANG!

"Agh-" The shot, followed by a blood-curdling cry of agony echoed across the platform, nearly drowned out by the sound of the train passing by just before either Frank or Jane could jump in front of it's full force.

Gideon couldn't believe his eyes.

Lying on his back against the floor of the platform was Frank, a bloody spot that was growing directly in the spot where his heart would've been if Gideon believed he had one.

"Frank!" Jane wept. She moved to bend down beside him, but was quickly rushed away by Agent Prentiss and a few other officers. Hotchner stepped forward to stand beside Gideon as they hovered above Frank's dying form.

"J-Jane..." he moaned, watching from the corner of his eye as his only reason to live was taken away from him. His escape plan was now falling to pieces and there was nothing he could do about it. A man that once had so much control, not dwindled down to a man dying due to someone else's show of mercy- or, rather, lack thereof. He was dying now on someone else's terms. Someone who clearly had seen his plan before Gideon figured it out himself.

"Jane!" Frank cried out again. For the first time ever, Gideon actually saw a flash of fear in his eyes. He was scared. "...you... you..." he attempted to curse at him, only he couldn't gather the strength to formulate the words.

Slowly, Gideon lowered himself to get closer to Frank as he told him the one thing he'd been dying to say to him since he had first arrived at the platform. "I told you I'd stop you."

Frank looked absolutely furious with a mixture of fear and agony. That was the last thing Gideon saw from Frank before watching the life slowly leave his eyes. He choked on his own blood in his final moments and Gideon couldn't help but wonder who took such a shot...

He wasn't alone.

When he glanced in the direction that the shot had been fired, he noticed the short figure of a brunette woman holding up a gun that was almost the size of her.

Beck... he should've known.

Beside him, Morgan chuckled into his radio microphone. "Nice shot, Captain Ryder."

She smiled and replied over the comms. "Grateful it wasn't you this time, Agent Morgan?"

"Maybe next time, kid!"

"Nice shot, Captain," an unfamiliar voice called to her from over the radio.

Gideon heard her chuckle. "Told you I never miss," she replied smugly.

—

She found him sitting on a chair in the middle of the now nearly empty lobby of the station. Gideon sat slumped, his head hanging low... She thought she could see the steam escaping from his ears from just how hard the gears in his head were turning.

"This seat taken?" Beck asked.

His head snapped up to look at her as she gestured to the empty chair beside him. He smiled. "It's all yours."

She returned the smile and sat down next to him. She sighed, relishing in the fact that she could finally stretch and relax after the strenuous past couple of hours. "How are you holding up, Gideon?" She tilted her head to the side to get a better look at him.

He tilted his head in the same manner to look back at her. "Could be better..."

"Come on," Beck pressed. "One of the closest things you had to your... happy ending... was just killed by a man you think you failed to catch the first time. How are you really doing, Gideon?"

A ghost of a smile graced his lips. "You know, you could make a pretty good profiler if given the chance."

"Is that a job offer or are you deflecting the question?" She retorted, a smile behind her words.

He cheekily grinned back at her. "Who said it had to be one or the other?" Beck snorted, an unintentional giggle escaping her lips. "... I'll talk to Aaron and Chief Strauss about your performance here today. You did good today, Agent Ryder."

Beck coughed. "Oh, please- just Beck. None of this agent crap."

"Hopefully not for long," he remarked as he made the move to get up.

"Hey," she called after him before he could leave. He spun back around to face her. "How did Erin Strauss get my number? I could've sworn... only you had access to my personal cell for emergency purposes only..."

Gideon smirked. "Guess I just tipped off the right people who I knew would make the right shots." He winked, leaving her behind with a lot to think about.

One thought that just kept whirling around in her head was whether or not she actually had a job offer... and whether or not she wanted to take it...

Agent Ryder.

Had a nice ring to it...

---

A/N: Wow, I didn't expect this much feedback only a prologue and the first chapter, but thank you for all the support so early on. Sorry it takes some time for me to update, but as you can see these chapters are each their own complex monster. Anyway, I hope to hear some more feedback, comments, or little headcanons/tidbits of info you guys pick up on. The more you leave thoughts for me, the more I have the motivation to write for you guys, so thank you so much for helping me get this chapter out. :)