Degrees of Evil [a the following fanfiction]

Chapter One

[obviously I don't own The Following or any other characters except Peyton Wills and her father Philip Wills. Thank you for reading this, and enjoy!]

Bureau asked Peyton Wills to get to the Joe Carroll case immediately when Joe first escaped and ended Sarah Fuller. She was flattered but the case was cold. She didn’t want to have a part of this little cult investigation. Carroll was famous of his cult, his followers. What had Debra called it? Carrollism. Peyton’s expertise was cults and killers in general. Peyton wasn’t happy about the bureau’s decision. She had been assigned to this only because she had visited Carroll in prison once. Only because she was interested in Joe’s obsession Edgar Allan Poe. Peyton had been under investigation by the bureau so she did not dare to question its decisions.

Like a good little agent she was, she obeyed. Surely Ryan was not happy about her intervening but what was she supposed to do about it? Besides Peyton had shadowed Ryan for the past few weeks and the nights he had encountered drinking; a lot of drinking. Only then had Peyton slipped herself. At the age 26 she had graduated to be in the FBI. She got picked with the firsts. Top scores from the tests all though her quick eyes and anger management were sometimes a problem.

She had dark combat boots, perfect to run with, great and airy in her feet. Her black and stretchy skinny jeans were also perfect. Her upper body had more convincing federal agent look; white buttoned shirt and black jacket with tiny shoulder pats. She wore pilot sunglasses as she entered her new work building. Her Glock 23 was firmly in her holster and her badge in her chest pocket. That was clearly a mistake. Every sharp glance directed at her came from her tough out core and bitchy look. Peyton wasn’t going to do anything about that; she was who she was.

Peyton had pleaded the bureau to let her wear those clothes. With the dumb reason of ‘it’s easier to work at the field with these’ went through. Surely that didn’t have anything to do with who her father was. Peyton didn’t waste much thought on her father anymore. Her light brown ponytail was tight and wavy.

When she got out of the elevator and on to her floor she pulled her leather briefcase closer to her body. The briefcase contained a file of the case and a water bottle with a sandwich. And her tiny laptop.

“Peyton Wills?” Peyton turned around and faced a young male, probably the same age as her. Mike Weston, Peyton recognized.

“Mike Weston,” Peyton raised her brows and looked the young man from head to toe. Mike seemed surprised but gestured Peyton to follow him. He had a very casual outfit. Peyton smiled; guess she wasn’t the only one. He led Peyton deeper into the office. They walked past the labs into a meeting room. There were only Debra and another man for her. Maybe this was the small group that really investigated the case. Now she had come to intrude it. Bureau and her father probably enjoyed this.

“No introductions needed, I’ve done my homework,” Peyton said before anyone had a chance to speak up.

“Oh?” Ryan said, it was more of a statement than a question really. Peyton’s storm grey eyes went straight to him.

“Ryan Hardy, born in 1966, dad was a NYPD street cop; now deceased. Former federal agent and 2003 caught Joe Carroll on the act trying to kill Sarah Fuller. But unfortunately Carroll stabbed you in the heart and now you have a pacemaker. Wrote a book about him; The Poetry of a Killer,” Peyton smiled at her own smartass behavior. Ryan rubbed his chin and smirked.

“You’re a fan?” his question made Peyton laugh.                                                                 

“No, ugh, god no,” she shook her head. Then her eyes went to Mike. “Mike Weston, you on the other hand are a fan of Ryan. You studied political science at Wesleyan and your dissertation was about Carroll. A true expert I see. You’re one of the youngest of your unit.”