𝕬𝖓𝖙𝖎-𝕳𝖊𝖗𝖔 - [𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗶𝗱]

𝐯𝐢. 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦?

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗 — red or blue?

━━━━━━━

 "𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍, 𝐀𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍."

 Selena's words were oozing with sarcasm, with a certain smugness that had Adrian Bale's fingers curling inwards atop the table, knuckles as white as snow as he scowled with all of his measly might.

 It appeared that once more Selena Hayes and Jason Gideon were one and the same — Selena had known that their last option in getting the bomb dismantled laid in the hands of Adrian Bale, and much to his chagrin, Gideon knew it as well. So within minutes of arriving back at the station, Selena had been dragged away by Jason; he declared that it would be time for her to meet with Bale once more.

 'You've met him, you've lied to him. You pretended to be somebody you're not just so that you could profile him better than the rest of us. That alone saved you. It saved Hotch, Greenaway and countless officers... I want you in there with me. You'll negotiate with him... we both know what he'll ask for.' Jason said the moment a door closed behind him. He had taken a seat after that, hands clasped upon his knee as he thought of the many possible things Bale would request in exchange for his knowledge — only one thing was front and centre; an acknowledgement from Gideon, a confession.

 So now Selena found herself sitting before the bomber once more, only this time, she was herself. There was no sickly smile painted on her lips in a pretty shade of pink. There was no soothing voice laden with syrup and sugar to rot Bale's teeth until he had nothing holding his words back.

 She teetered closer, inching over the table on her elbows just as she had in their previous meeting. Just as before, Bale was orange from head to toe, a garish colour that all of his fellow inmates were forced to wear during their confinement. His wrists clattered with every movement he took, the shackles coiled around him rattling like snakes.

 It was rather fair to say that Adrian Bale, did not look happy. He might have, before Selena had trailed through the room as though she lived there; but now, as he faced her, he couldn't keep back the ferocious frown from overtaking his thinned lips.

 He seemed to snarl like an unkept dog, "You lied."

 "Did I?" Selena hummed, her voice light and airy, and yet it was entirely her own. She spared a look at Gideon, for her next words were to come at some expense to himself. She echoed the words that Bale himself had spat at Gideon, "You trusted me."

 She could see the struggle within his endlessly black eyes. The way his pale skin stretched over his face like a thin wrapping of cling-film. His skin was now flushed in frustration, the first splotch of colour on his features in months.