A/N: New story, following on from the end of the mid-season finale! Very quick dive in here just to kick things off, and we'll get into the nitty gritty next chapter!

Please leave a review if you enjoyed!


"We're at the coordinates, do you copy?"

Cool air swirled around them, specks of dust still caught up in the gentle breeze from the dirt track they had come in on. Staring out into the darkness surrounding them, JJ waited for the response to come back over the two way. They were out in the middle of nowhere, the dark of night seeming to press in that much harder in Whitfield County.

"Copy that. Satellite imaging found two doors sticking out of the ground. Back-up is on the way"

"Copy," she replied, reaching through the open passenger window and dropping the two way on the seat as Luke came up beside her with a tablet in his hands. "I don't really feel like waiting," she mused, looking up at him with a smirk. "You?"

"Thought you'd never ask," Luke said with a grin, holding out a small black object to her. "Put this on. Whatever we're walking into, the team's gonna want to see it too"

Taking the device, she lifted it up and clipped it to the front of her vest, her eyes focused further down the track into the darkness. She felt like she was in a strange state of limbo; something in her gut wasn't sitting right. But at the same time, she wanted nothing more than to unearth Benjamin Reeve's treasure trove and find yet another link to the evasive Sicarius.

As Luke walked back over to the SUV, she pulled her phone from her pocket, moving to the front of the car as she hit Will's contact and lifted it to her ear. She'd promised to call him, and she was intending to make good on that promise. They were both working hard on communication, but she knew she still had a lot of picking up to do.

The line rang only once before it cut to his message bank. "Hey, it's Will, leave a message"

"Hey, it's me," she said softly, a smile creeping onto her face. "Um, I was just gonna…," she started to say, but just as quickly as she started, the words faltered. She'd promised to tell him what she was walking into... but the reality was, right now, she didn't know. And somehow, telling him that seemed worse than not telling him anything at all. "... say... I love you. That's all. I'll uh… I'll talk to you in a little bit. Bye"

Hanging up the call, she slipped her phone back into her pocket.

"You ok?" Luke asked as he came back to stand beside her.

"Yeah," she said, giving him a quick smile as they clicked their torches on. "Let's go"

Treading lightly, they began walking down the road to the coordinates they had been given. Their torches danced dimly ahead of them, seeming to do very little to break up the engulfing darkness that surrounded them. The air seemed heavy, almost sinister. And just like every other time she had had to walk through remote areas in the dark, she couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.

The beams from their torches suddenly slid across a pair of metal doors half concealed in the ground. "There they are," Luke said softly.

"Looks like a storm cellar," JJ replied, steadying her torch as Luke reached out and gripped one of the handles.

"We're going in," he said, his voice ringing clear through the satellite link they knew was being watched in the BAU round table room. The doors creaked open, revealing a set of stone stairs leading down to another door. Luke went first, positioning himself by the door with his gun held firmly towards it, while JJ reached out and gripped the edge of the door with her left hand. A quick glance at each other was all they needed to go ahead, and with quiet strength, JJ tugged the door open in a burst of dust and dirt. Somewhat apprehensively, they crept inside, guns and torches held aloft, the tiny beams dancing across the contents of the tiny space. Shelves lined the walls either side, each containing a variety of sinister looking objects.

"God. It's just like the other shipping container," JJ muttered, her eyes darting from object to object, not knowing where to look next.

Luke's torch suddenly landed on a strange contraption at the other end of the structure. It appeared to be constructed from a series of jerry cans, crudely rigged together with wires.

"What the hell is that?" JJ said.

"Get out of there now!" came Emily's voice over their earpieces. Barely a second later, there was a click, followed by what sounded like a dial tone and the sound of something whirring to life.

"JJ, IT'S A BOMB! RUN! RUN!" Luke yelled, turning and immediately shepherding JJ back towards the stairs. Not needing to be told twice, JJ moved as quickly as she could, her breath suddenly coming in ragged, fearful gasps as she rapidly tried to close the distance between herself and the stairs.

Then her world obliterated, her vision flashing orange before seeming to white out completely. There was no sound… no air… nothing. There was nothing.

"Luke, JJ, come in!"

Debris was raining down, hot and fiery. Surely a hole had been ripped through the very existence of time and space.

"I repeat, Luke, JJ, come in!"

Above the ground, chunks of concrete and metal had been blasted through the surface of the earth. But for all anyone knew, nothing had occurred. For if a tree falls in the woods, and no-one is around to hear it, did it fall at all?

"Come in.. please"