Twisted Vengeance

Bright

Prentiss stood there, gun pointed directly at her. Her life was obviously in danger. Was she going to survive? At least she had gotten to say goodbye to JJ. At least JJ was safe at her own house. That was a reassurance amongst the obvious bad fate that awaited her.

Elle removed her ski mask, revealing herself to Emily. Emily stared at her for a moment, before finally realizing exactly who she was. Their paths had never crossed, but Emily had read the file of the woman she was replacing. It was Elle Greenway. the BAU knew that story.

Elle began to speak to Emily. "Agent Prentiss. It's so weird to have us in the same room. It's actually really great to meet you, despite our... circumstances. Go back to the couch, or let's just say, Jennifer Jareau might be brought into this. JJ, as we used to call her."

Prentiss muttered under her breath. "Elle Greenaway. The rogue agent..."

"Emily, I'm going to call you that, my friend. I'm a profiler. You can't escape from this, I'm sorry. I want to show Hotchner what I truly am capable of. Sit and listen to me. I don't want to hear your assumptions about me. I'm not letting my guard down. Never again."

Prentiss was sitting on the couch, silent. "It was never my intention to take your job. But, I belong at the BAU. I'll die to know that they'll catch you. And they will catch you, Greenaway."

"Don't call me by my agent name, Emily. We're here as friends."

"Elle,I know why you are here-" Emily began to speak. This could have been a tactic to negotiate with her, empathize with her.

"I was going to tell you. There's really no need for you to think about why right now. I'm here to get back at Hotchner. He wronged me, expelled me from this team. Now that Gideon is gone- that's my trigger, by the way, I wanted to get back at you. I can only get back at him through you. I'm sorry. I'm not killing out of compulsion. It's more of a bold way to express my anger."

Emily stared for a moment. "Ok, let's play your game."

"It's not a game."

Emily was annoyed. "You shot someone! Ok, for no reason. You failed to show up for your psych evaluation, look where you are now! Maybe Hotch could see your hidden insanity and couldn't risk it!"

"He got me shot. Shot. So I have to shoot someone. Maybe Hotchner will learn the rules." Elle paused after every word, to let the emphasis sink into Prentiss.

Prentiss almost empathized with her. Hotch had gotten her shot. And now she herself might have to be a part of the price he was going to pay. But this was a team. It was the unsub's fault Elle got shot. Not Hotch. Elle was psychologically unstable.

But how could she play into that? Despite Elle only being on the team a year, she was fully able to detect someone playing into an unsub's tendencies and profile. Elle knew whatever Prentiss had next, and she would quickly shut it down before Emily got in her head. What negotiation tactic could she use?

Narcissistic tendencies, no. Elle wasn't a narcissist. Vigilante, no. Elle wasn't killing to right wrongs, she was killing to prove wrongs, and not even wrong they had committed. Elle wasn't just a killer. Even though she had only killed five women, she wasn't like what the BAU had seen before.

One of their own had never been a serial killer before. It just didn't happen very often. And Prentiss wasn't prepared for what would happen if it did. Because the BAU let the others' lives rest in their hands. And Elle had now made it harder to trust members they used to.

Elle was a female, wronged by a male. Could that be a part Prentiss could empathize with? A hatred for Hotch could come from an imaginary standpoint of when she had first joined the BAU. Hotch did treat men better than women, and even he admitted to that.

"I know that Hotch does that. When Reid got kidnapped, he admitted to it. He let Reid get kidnapped. And he's about to let me get shot..." That's right, play off Reid and Elle's close friendship.

"No!" Elle was getting visibly angrier. "Stop negotiating. I don't want to hear this. I never knew that Hotchner-" She stopped herself. Elle saw her tactic. "Oh wait... You're just trying to empathize with me as a female. You aren't going to win, Emily. No overthrowing me. No negotiating your way out of this."

Elle picked up Emily's phone from her purse, opening the nightstand with the already jammed key and throwing Emily's gun across the floor. She had dialed Hotch. Elle was going to call Hotch. So Emily would have a chance. Maybe.

She put a voice modifier on, making her voice unrecognizable. "Hey, Hotch. Ask Morgan and Reid something. Ask how long someone is able to survive with a bullet to the stomach. They'll confirm what the coroner told them. 4 minutes. Think about what that means. You know who this phone belongs to. Do the math. That's how long you have before Emily will bleed out."

Emily cried out. "Don't do this. We're the same-" But she knew it was too late for Elle to empathize and save her. "You don't have to traumatize women just because you-"

Elle lowered the gun to Emily's stomach. "Bang," she whispered, a gunshot sounding a millisecond later.

Hotch frantically called an EMT, rounding up the BAU. Would they get there in time? Elle had one more thing to do. It would take only a minute. It was a message for the BAU. They would understand. It was certain.

By the time the BAU would arrive, Elle would be gone without a trace. Emily would be either alive or dead, and there was no guarantee she would survive at the hospital if they even made it on time. When the BAU arrived, they would probably piece a lot together. But the missing piece of the puzzle came at a price. Emily Prentiss was one they ended up wagering. Intentionally or not.

Author's Note:

I hope you guys enjoyed today's chapter, I certainly enjoyed writing it. I missed Criminal minds yesterday. It's been a year since the last episode aired. I'm even more excited to write tomorrow's chapter. Thanks for continuing to support my fanfiction, it means so, so much to me.