CHAPTER 121

DEVIL WITH AN AGENDA

"I am telling you, this little Devil has a plan. She's coming for us!" One of the Academy trainers confided in Dan after a class.

"Do I even want to know what she's up to now?" Dan rolled his eyes, knowing that whenever she was the topic of a conversation, trouble would follow. It was inevitable.

"She's been going around with her "Yes, Sir" and "Okay, Sir" and "Copy that, Sir" all day long!" The man said, sounding scandalized.

"Okay…and what?" Dan urged him to spill the rest. This hardly sounded like she was out for blood.

"It's creeping me out, okay? She's never been so…obedient! Come on!"

"So, you're reporting her, based on her good behavior?" Dan raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly! She has it out for us. Mark my words!"

"I think you're being paranoid. And I also think you should let her keep training, however she might please. If she wants to be the good girl now, let her be. Is she providing results?"

"Well, yes. She was one of the first Trainees to finish her assignment earlier and she had some pretty good observations about the case I had presented to them."

"So, what's bothering you? Maybe she had a change of heart. Maybe she doesn't want to act like a brat anymore." Dan shrugged. He could never understand this girl.

"Doubt it." The trainer spat out before he left the room.

He was going to keep an eye on her, at all times.


Combat was the next training on the schedule. The guy who followed them during those classes had told her, right from the beginning, that he knew she was holding back. She had played dumb and then she had sprawled him on the floor in two seconds, when he had tested out his theory by approaching her from behind. And then he had seen her hold back in every class afterwards. She'd play dumb, putting the wrong glove on the wrong hand before boxing training and she'd let a girl, skinnier and smaller than her, overpower her during a mock fight scene.

He just sat there and watched. He knew how to spot a fighter and he had spotted her from day one. It was only a matter of time until she'd show her true colors.

"90 degree kick, Hunter!" He called out, watching her destroy a dummy, kicking and hitting it with her hands too.

"Yes, Sir!" Angie called out and took a second to let his words sink in.

This training put them against a dummy and a series of commands would then be yelled at the Trainee, and they'd have to react quickly.

"Right punch…Low left kick…left punch, high left kick…" The Trainer was now standing next to her, following her movements and shooting out his commands.

"Duck, right punch, left kick, block it out, counter attack, left kick low, block, counter, right punch…" He kept on narrating and she was on it, in less than a second.

"Twist your fist a little sideways, like this…" He grabbed her left hand and showed her a technique that usually worked for him.

"Thank you, Sir!" She said silently.

"This gives you more strength in the punch and less bounce back in your arm, after the punch. Also, it doesn't hurt your knuckles as much as a normal punch would. Now, from the top…" He continued with his commands after his short briefing.

She held her head high and kicked and punched that dummy like her life depended on it.

He noticed how she had her own little technique going on and it really did seem to work for her. The body positioning was good, the way she retrieved after a punch was good and her kicks were stable, not once has she felt unbalanced after a kick, which was what usually happened with most inexperienced Trainees that decided to overdo the kick, overestimating their powers.

"Very good, Hunter." He could not hide how impressed he was, when her training time was over.

"Where have you trained before?" He asked curiously.

Her technique reminded him of something, but he just could not put his mind on it.

"My uncle's back yard, Sir." She replied shyly.

Yes, she might have been all new and reformed, but the liar in her was never going to back down.


"What's going on with you?" Bryan asked her at lunch.

"I'm not sure what you are asking here…" She replied vaguely, because she only had to be good with the teaching staff. Bryan was fair game when it came to lies, deceit and being secretive.

"It's like you found Jesus, all of a sudden. I'm not sure how I feel about this…"

"Trust me, I haven't." She smirked devilishly.

"But you're all fired out to do this and just days ago you were ready to leave. I don't understand. And please don't tell me you're on drugs!"

"I've been fired out to do this since I was eight years old. What is it exactly that you still don't get about that?"

"It's just that…you're weird now. Something changed."

"Yes. I realized that I am an idiot, the only idiot on Campus that is not fighting as hard as they should be. So I switched things up. We're halfway done with the Academy and I guess this next half is for me to shine and let the haters hate, let them also bite my ass. I don't care. I'm here with one goal and I am not a disappointment!"

"Nobody said you were a disappointment…" Bryan found that statement to be a bit odd. Then again, he had no idea about Dan's little yelling monologue to her, just recently.

"I was letting people down…people who are fighting for me to have a chance at what I want." Angie elaborated and that's when it hit Bryan.

"She told you, didn't she?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

Emily had been very careful not to let Angela even suspect a thing about the petition until after the meeting with the Director. But then, and given how it ended, she did not mind sharing everything with Angela. She had the right to know. Maybe reading all the wonderful things that people said about her would cheer her up a little, after a yet another disappointment.

"Yes and she also let me read all the things that people have written about me. Including your note…"

"I meant every word of it." He smiled at her, while playing with a piece of corn in his plate. He wasn't hungry that day.

"I know. I'm a profiler. I've always known. But it felt good to read it. Thank you."

"It sounds so normal, you know, when you say you are a profiler. Rolls off your tongue naturally."

"I've been a profiler since I was born. I grew up studying behavior and I specialized in criminal profiling. And, one day, I am going to work as a profiler. Maybe not now, maybe in the distant future, but I know I will and I cannot wait. But for now, I have to kick ass in the Academy and let everyone bite my dust, because I'm so sick of pretending to be an airhead who doesn't know shit. Let them call me names, I don't mind being the class nerd. We are all here to do our best and to excel in as many fields as possible and I plan to bust my ass, day and night, in order to achieve just that!"

"But you've been busting your ass since the second you arrived on Campus anyway…"

"Oh, poor sweet gullible Bry-Bry…" She put her hand on top of his, on the table, and gave him the most innocent puppy eyes.

"You haven't even seen half of the real me yet!" She added with a smirk and, for a second, he could swear he saw something in her eyes…something that made his blood freeze.

On different occasions, he had witnessed her switches – from sweet and innocent to downright cold and intimidating. He had never brought it up, because he knew enough about human behavior, to know that he should not confront her about such a delicate thing. And yet, he was starting to wonder whether it would be a good idea to tell someone. She really did creep the Hell out of him whenever she flipped that switch and it only ever lasted for a couple of seconds before she was back to sweet and innocent, bubbly and cheerful again.


"Thank God you're here!" Matt's warm welcome put a smile on Emily's face when she finally landed and saw he was her designated driver back to the Police Station.

It was the day after the BAU had been assigned to this case. Emily had to stay behind, because of the Director meeting, after which she was on the first commercial plane to go join the team.

Matt drove off quickly. They had a lot of work to do and he knew that the team needed their Chief.

Half an hour later, Emily received more warm welcomes from the entire team, who was already working on a strategy.

"Let me just rip the band aid first – Angela is not joining us." Emily said with a sigh.

She knew that JJ would have surely told everyone about it already. It was useless to dance around the topic and continue the day as if nothing had happened. Big pieces of news like this had the power of screwing up their better judgment during a case.

The response she received was six pouts and a lot of sighs.

"I'm so not done yet. Now shut up and put that bitter feeling aside. We have work to do!" Emily stated and busied herself with all the papers she had to now read to get up to speed with the investigation.

"Oh? What's the next step in your…plan?" Reid asked naively.

"Not a plan. A scheme. And I'm filing a disregard, neglect and unfair treatment complaint against the Director!" Emily said, completely calm.

"Oh my God! This is basically suicide, Prentiss!" JJ noted.

"I'm not scared. Been dead twice, it wasn't all too bad, considering the outcome. I'll take my chances." Emily spoke, with her eyes firmly set on the papers in her hands.

It seemed like she had absolutely no doubt in her mind. She was fired out to get what she wanted.

"A complaint, like…with HR?" Rossi asked.

"HR? You mean the people who work under the Director? No. I'm not that dumb." Emily allowed herself a second away from the papers, so she'd smirk when replying to Rossi.

Nobody could figure out what the Hell she was saying.

"I'm taking this to the Senate and House of Representatives. The Government. Let's see what they have to say about the man who works under them." Emily sounded so sweet and innocent. If anyone had known Angela better, they would have surely seen the undeniable similarities between the two of them – seemingly cute, but so cold and manipulative when they needed it.

"Wow, Emily…the Legislative Branch of the U.S. Government is not something to mess with." JJ knew, first hand.

"I'm a Prentiss! Come on, what's the worst that could happen? Mommy dearest is going to pull some strings, worst case scenario."

"Wow, it's serious if she's letting her mother get involved." Tara whispered to Luke. She knew how tense things between the Prentiss women have been for the past…forty-five years or so.

"You cannot be serious…" Matt spoke up, since literally nobody else was willing to put their lives on the line and tell her how dumb that decision was.

"You've never done something so…" Reid was at the loss of words. It bothered him. He was usually very eloquent.

"Risky? Ha! You never knew Lauren Reynolds then." Emily smirked once again.

Maybe, just maybe, it was kind of a good thing to have kept some of 'Lauren' deep inside of her. Emily was known to be a badass, but Lauren was ruthless and she would have stopped at nothing, in order to get what she wanted.

"Case, please?" She urged them, sounding a lot like the kick ass Unit Chief they knew and loved.


"Metamphetamine, also known as N-methylamphetamine, N,α-dimethylphenethylamine or desoxyephedrine; is a potent central nervous system (or shortly just CNS) stimulant. Mainly used as a recreational drug; less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Discovered in 1893, it exists as two enantiomers: levo-methamphetamine and dextro-methamphetamine. Methamphetamine properly refers to a specific chemical, the racemic free base, which is an equal mixture of levomethamphetamine and dextromethamphetamine in their pure amine forms. It is rarely prescribed over concerns involving human neurotoxicity and potential for recreational use as an aphrodisiac and euphoriant, among other concerns, as well as the availability of safer substitute drugs with comparable treatment efficacy. Dextromethamphetamine is a much stronger CNS stimulant than levomethamphetamine…"

"What the f-…" Bryan muttered, listening to everything, not understanding a word. This better not be in their final toxicology exam.

"Trade names for it would be Desoxyn and Methedrine. Formula is C10H15N, in it's pure original state. Boiling point is 212° Celsius, that's 414° Fahrenheit. Melting point is 170° Celsius, that's 338° Fahrenheit. Bioavailability , now in terms of oral it would be 70%; IV however hits a 100%..."

"In the United States, dextromethamphetamine hydrochloride, under the trade name Desoxyn, has been approved by the FDA for treating ADHD and obesity in both adults and children…"

"Alright, that is enough, Trainee Hunter. Thank you. You can now go back to your seat." The teacher said after hearing her speech.

He had simply asked if someone could give an example of a recreational drug that is legalized, up to a certain point.

Angela had a few things to say and, if he hadn't stopped her, he better believe she would have continued speaking for a long time.

"You are such a nerd and I am both scared and proud of you! Damn, Hunter!" Bryan whispered to her when she sat back down.

"Like I told you earlier – you haven't even seen half of me yet, Bry-Bry." She winked innocently and continued paying attention to the class.

She knew things. She was not a genius, but she was proud of all the other little things she had been able to learn through the years and as much as she had tried to dumb herself down so far in the Academy, it was time for her to shine now.


"Your aim is to figure out the situation and, in teams of five, try to eliminate the enemy. He is holding a hostage at gun point. Two of you are staying by the car, guns pointed at the perpetrator. One is approaching the scene, disarmed, trying to negotiate for the victim. Two snipers out on the rooftop. Talk to your team, you have two minutes to come up with a strategy. In the real world, nobody is going to give you two whole minutes – you have to be ready to react right away. Good luck. First team is up…" The evening training officer explained the exercise.

Angie's team went first. She was in a team with four guys and they all said she should be the hostage negotiator. Everyone knew she was good with words. But there was so much more about her that they had to yet figure out.

"No, I'm put to better use as one of the snipers. Now, I need the two guys by the car to be ready at any given time. The negotiator has to buy us some time. Try to hit the guy with something personal. Here, put this in your ear, I'll be guiding you during the negotiation. Just repeat after me and speak slowly and calmly. Do not enrage him. We need him to relax and that's when he will make a mistake. If, at any time, either one of us has a clear shot, we don't wait for a command – we shoot. Is that clear?" Angie stepped up as the team leader once again. She had done so numerous times during the Academy. She just had it in her, to lead, to inspire, to be the voice of reason.

"Alright. Get out there and let's kick ass, guys!" She smiled and fist-bumped each one of her team. She might have turned into a good girl nerd all of a sudden, but she couldn't resist her geeky side – it was bound to come out and play.

They resumed positions and she was now on top of the training building at Hogan's Alley. The sniper rifle she had in her hands felt like it was twice heavier than her. She took her time to analyze it – it was a realistic recreation of a real sniper, but this one was laser, for training purposes. Her hand trailed up and down its length, like she was just getting familiar with it.

"Hey baby." She whispered at the firearm. "You and I are going to have lots of fun today."

"What the heck, Hunter?" The hostage negotiator groaned and that was when she realized she was hooked to him with an ear piece.

"Crap, I didn't…it wasn't…not for you…ugh." She rolled her eyes. Yes, she most definitely could not contain the inner geek.

After taking a deep breath, she assessed the situation. The perpetrator was a huge guy, an actor for the sake of this training, holding a tall woman in front of him. She was almost his own height, which didn't really allow neither the snipers, nor the shooters by the car, to have a good angle to shoot. Had she been any shorter, the perpetrator would have towered over her and they might have had a clear headshot to consider. However, they now had no obvious options to choose from, so they had to get creative.

"Make him talk. Ask him something. Ask why he chose this woman? Why not someone else? Does she remind him of someone?" Angie said to the negotiator and he started speaking slowly, like she had commanded him to do during their briefing.

"Good. This is good. He chose her because she looks like his sister. And he speaks highly of his sister, so his primary aim is not to hurt the woman, it's to gain something from this situation. So he's not driven by rage, but by greed, possibly. Now ask him what his requests are." Angie spoke while steadying the sniper and aiming at the perpetrator, remaining calm and collected, without making many movements, other than when she'd speak. Her breaths were slow and dragged out, as she tried to steady her emotions and not let the adrenaline cloud her judgment.

She most definitely did not have a good shot. Her angle was very bad and she had nowhere to move, to make this any better. She was stuck there, thinking to herself: it is what it is, work with it, boo.

The negotiation continued for about five minutes before the actor started being more rough with the hostage. He was growing impatient, as the FBI Agents were unable to comply with his demands. Headquarters denied half of those demands, so the negotiator had little-to-nothing to work with. It didn't look like they were getting the hostage back, well, not alive anyway.

The perpetrator pushed the gun against the woman's temple and it was more than obvious it was a matter of seconds before he'd shoot. He had already been denied everything he wanted, so he had nothing to lose. He looked and sounded desperate and it didn't take a profiler to know what would happen next.

Angie steadied her breathing once again and remained calm and collected.

"What do I do?" The negotiator said over the ear piece.

"You trust me, that's what you need to do." Angie whispered back.

She narrowed her eyes and assessed the situation once again. Still the same angle that did not really work for her, still the same unclear shot.

It was now a battle of 'who can shoot first' and she was at a huge disadvantage.

The perpetrator was getting annoyed and much more nervous than before. He started swaying left and right, bringing the woman's body to accompany him, to block any attempts of the Agents to shoot him.

Angie stood still and calm. She was laying on the ground, on the rooftop, with her small frame hovering on top of the sniper and her finger on the trigger.

She whispered something to the negotiator, wanting him to repeat it.

"Look man, we have your sister on the phone. She would like to talk to you. And if I was you, I'd be smart enough to know this is a dead end situation. If you pull the trigger, four Agents are going to turn you into Swiss cheese in an instant. Either way, you're not getting out of this alive. So, be smart about this and don't skip on the opportunity to hear your little sister's voice one last time…" The negotiator spoke softly, as if he was speaking to a friend.

It was a tactic where an Agent would try to give a desperate perpetrator some hope, even when everything seemed lost already. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it only helped speed up the inevitable. Angela knew this was a risk, but it was a risk she had to take. They had no other option.

"My sister…" The perpetrator repeated, all of a sudden feeling vulnerable.

For just a split second, he loosened his grip on the hostage and the woman was quick enough to turn sideways.

At that same moment, the perpetrator's forehead lit up with a bright red light.

A siren followed.

"Congratulations, Team One. You have successfully released a hostage and eliminated the threat." The trainer said, walking over to the team, clapping his hands.

Angie was now on her way down the stairs, joining them a minute later.

"Who shot?" He asked curiously.

"That was me, Sir." She raised her hand.

"From that angle?" He raised an eyebrow, mentally drawing the trajectory from the rooftop to where the perpetrator had been standing.

"Yes, Sir. I had a clear shot for a second and I had no time to waste. The hostage would have been dead in a matter of seconds, as we most certainly bluffed about that incoming phone call. I may not have had another chance, so I shot." She replied calmly.

"The hostage was still in his arms. The gun was still pointed at her!" The trainer challenged.

"Yes, Sir. The gun was pointed at her upper shoulder at the moment when I shot. So, even if the perpetrator would have managed to shoot back, although I doubt it since I aimed for the head and he would have dropped dead immediately; he would have hit her shoulder. Upper shoulder, at that! This reduces the chances of the bullet hitting a main artery and causing any major damage to the hostage. And the angle he was aiming at her went sideways, so the bullet would not have entered her body, it would have not gone anywhere near the heart or any other vital organ up there. Plus, the guy was using a pretty standard gun, but at close impact it is very powerful, so the bullet would have perforated her shoulder, exiting from the other side. She wouldn't even need surgery. Just tons of painkillers and some bed rest. Considering the alternative, I suppose she wouldn't even file charges if she got hurt in the process of having her life be saved by my team." Angie was most definitely not holding back.

Weeks ago she would have replied, a little more contained. But now she was giving it all she had. She was not afraid.

"And you came to all those conclusions during that one second window you had, to take the shot?" The trainer found that a bit…suspicious.

"Yes, Sir. I clearly did." She kept her head held high and she replied politely, and sure of herself.

"Well done, Trainee Hunter." The man nodded at her, impressed at her judgment abilities, given the high adrenaline and high risk mock up case.

"You also guided the unskilled hostage negotiator brilliantly, finding a personal angle to this perpetrator's story and exploring it until you managed to break him down, just enough to be able to place your shot." The man added.

"Yes, Sir. That's what criminal profiling does. Guns and muscles are not enough, on the field." She smirked.

This was a low blow to all the people in the world who did not believe in the power of profiling. She felt great about herself, for saying it out loud and backing it up with fresh evidence.

"Yo, Hunter, you killed it, man!" The four guys from her team jumped at her right after the trainer started to guide the second group that entered the field, for the same exercise.

"You guys were great, too. You kept your cool and you did not lose focus. And you, wow, you were pretty damn good as a hostage negotiator! Good job, all of us." She replied before they were asked to sit on the sidelines and watch the second group on the field.


"Seriously? After the day we had, you still have it in you to read?" Bryan raised an eyebrow.

They had finished a whole bunch of different trainings that day and they had just gotten back to the dorms. Bryan had walked in the shower first, as usual, and he had found Angie sitting on a chair, reading something, when he got out.

"Is it on profiling again?"

"Oh, Bry-Bry, you're smart enough to have already figured out that I am a profiling genius." She smirked.

It was just to tease him. She knew there was so much more she still needed to learn about profiling. But it sounded cool to be so openly confident about herself.

She closed the book and let him read the title.

"Quantum chromodynamics…" He read slowly, wondering if he had pronounced it right. "What the heck is that?"

"In theoretical physics, it's the theory of the strong interaction between quarks and gluons - the fundamental particles that make up composite hadrons such as the proton, neutron and pion-…"

"Please stop your mouth from moving!" He blocked his ears with his hands.

She sure had a lot of information stored in that pretty little head of hers.

"You asked!" She smirked at him, tossing the book aside and walking in the bathroom for a shower.


Emily was now pacing around the room at the Police Station. They had eliminated two possible suspects, both of whom had solid alibis for the nights of the kidnappings. The day had been long and everyone was tired.

"Agent Prentiss." She picked up her phone and walked out to the hallway, to have some privacy.

"What did you do to her?" A male voice demanded his reply.

Emily smirked. She knew exactly what this was about.

"I just gave her some good guidance in life. That's all. The rest is on her." She replied smugly.

"Well, the entire teaching staff thinks she's the Devil and that she's out there to get them."

"Oh, do tell?" Emily perked up. Who knows what Angela was up to now.

"She's been going around Campus with her 'Yes, Sir' and her sweet smile, but she ain't foolin' nobody! You hear me, Prentiss?"

"Wow, Dan, and here I thought I was the one in need of a drink tonight. Loosen up, man!" Emily laughed. She loved pushing men's buttons by being smug.

"You know, you are just like her - The Devil! That's what you two are, two pots in a pie. Like, you were made of the same dough. Ugh. Unbelievable! I don't even know why I called you, thinking you'd be mature about it. Clearly, I was wrong. You two are just…uuuuughh!" He groaned loudly and it made Emily laugh even more.

"And you should be smart enough to know that if we're the Devil, you should not be messing with us."

"Oh, excuse me, are you saying that to me or to the Director? Because, last time I checked, you got your ass dominated by his final words, so…"

At that point, Emily was no longer laughing. Of course Dan would know – he worked directly under Ben, who was the Director's assistant. Plus, Emily's request had been strictly connected to one of Dan's Academy Trainees, so h had every right to know what had gone on during that meeting.

"Look, jokes aside, but I'm really sorry your plan backfired." He added after a short moment of silence, during which he regretted smacking Emily with such a low blow, on the phone nonetheless.

"This is not where it ends, Dan." She stated calmly, feeling nothing like it on the inside.

"Please don't get yourself fired. As annoying and weird as you might be, you're actually pretty damn good at what you do."

A smile creeped back on her face. She loved compliments, although she would never admit that out loud.

"Don't worry. Prentiss women have their back in times of crisis." She said mysteriously.

"I thought she was the Devil, until I placed that current phone call…" Dan rolled his eyes.

Of course Emily Prentiss would have a back-up plan. And her back-up plan most probably had several back-up plans, just in case. Could he really expect anything else from Emily Prentiss?

"But that's clearly you, Prentiss!" He added, as if his point about who was the original Devil was not clear by now.

"Devil…with an agenda!" She smirked and cut the call short when her team called out for her to go join them back in the meeting room.


REVIEW REPLIES:

"rmpcmfan" Well, I do agree that Garcia's emotions were out there and she should NOT have been so vocal. However...how does it look if someone is willing to go against the DIRECTOR, to defend someone they love and support? I mean, this is a double edge sword - Will it cut Garcia's head off and really demote her down to some tech geek? Or will it, maybe, speak to Emily's integrity later on and have the Director see (once again!) how great of a support bubble she has created around her, hence, how good of a Unit Chief she is? Hmmm... :)! However, I do like to torture my characters randomly, so you never really know what you're getting with me, hehehe! And you best believe the Director has an agenda, too! That sneaky old man has been getting on Emily's last nerve for a while now, but she still hasn't lost her cool...completely...yet, lol! And yes, Angela kind of weighted the options and decided that getting into the BAU would have been awesome, but not getting that job did not necessarily mean not having Emily in her life...and she's cool with what she gained, you know, despite her saying how she hates human contact and she doesn't ever get emotionally attached to anyone. As for Richard - you will start seeing/hearing more of him from this point on. And so will Emily. As for the person Angie spoke on the phone with (whoever they might be!), well they sure care about her and will do whatever it takes, so she'd be happy. And yes, come on, our girl is a born profiler, we all know she's BAU material hehe :)!

"sweetkid45" One thing is for sure - Garcia will be super stressed, now that she is literally awaiting her reassignment at any given time. And she may not even want to tell the team about it, so it would make it harder for her to go through this, emotionally, on her own. Oh, Emily traveled to go join the team - remember how in the previous chapter they all went somewhere to start working on a case and she had to stay in Quantico for her Friday morning meeting? Well, after that she flied to join them. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well :)!