Criminal Minds One Shots

Potential?

Note to Readers: This is one of my early Criminal Minds pieces, so apologies for the subpar writing.  As always, please comment and vote. :)

"What happened to you?" I asked the serial killer who had kidnapped me. And yes, I did know he was a serial killer. For one thing we had been trying to bring him to justice--thus why he kidnapped me--and for another, I had seen his most recent victim stretched out on a table in the back room of this warehouse. Yes, the poor girl was dead. Bethany Wilson was her name.

Let me just clarify, I had only been with the BAU for a week. I was the rookie, so of course I had the least chance of surviving if I was the one that got kidnapped. We had profiled this guy as preying on the weak, young women between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five, so I fit his profile, being only twenty-two and new at the job, but I was by no means weak.

"Aren't you supposed to be able to read my mind?" the man sneered, stepping closer as he loomed up in front of me.

I was getting really sick of explaining this to people who weren't in the FBI.

"No, we profile your behavior based on the type of victim, the style, and the method of your killings. We use it to predict who you're going to kill next. Though I must say, I wasn't on that list of potential victims," I pointed out sarcastically.

Aggravating him wouldn't make him kill me faster, though. As seen by the immaculate warehouse, he had a major case of OCD, and he wouldn't change his M.O. now. He couldn't, it went against what felt 'right' to him.

"Looks like you aren't as good at your job as you think," he mocked me, and I glared at him as he circled around me, a long thin metal rod in one of his hands that basically worked the same as a taser, with a larger contact point.

My hands were tied behind my back, my arms looped around the back of a chair, but I still had both feet free and launching one of my feet right between his legs was becoming more and more appealing to me, regardless of the wand he was going to use to electrocute me in mere seconds.

I could take it, though.  It would take a lot more than a bit of electrocution before I would break.

"You're right. We're better than you think," I replied with a smirk. "You suffered either physical, emotional, or sexual abuse when you were younger. I'm betting on sexual. Someone close to you abused you, and then blamed you for it, saying it was your fault, that you were a filthy, sinful boy that only knew how to make a mess," I said calmly.

I honestly had no idea if he was sexually abused, I didn't even know the guy's name because he had managed to kidnap me before the team figured it out, but most serial killers like this suffered some form of abuse as a child.  Judging by his reaction, I was right on the money.

"Shut up!" he growled, jabbing the wand into my shoulder and zapping me, and I gritted my teeth to deprive him of the satisfaction he got from hearing me scream. The guy was also a sexual sadist, he found sexual release through other forms, such as electrocuting, torturing, and then killing young females.

It wasn't even that bad of a shock, around 50,000 volts, the average for your basic taser, but it still hurt. And no, I am not Reid, I just know random things such as that that everyone else deemed useless.

"You must not want me to shut up; the only reason you electrocute people is so you can hear them scream," I told him flatly.

Hotch had already warned me that talking like that is what got agents killed, but I knew I'd be just fine since I could see the door at the back of the warehouse inching open over the guy's shoulder. The 'front door' was a garage door, and since Morgan can't kick those down, they had to go in through the back.

Reid was in the lead, but then of course he had to trip on a neat stack of boxes piled by the door, sending them tumbling to the ground and alerting the unsub.  He whipped around and pulled a gun from his belt. 

Though I had seen that, I'd failed to warn them because I'd been busy distracting the unsub so they could get in.

"Drop your weapon!" Rossi barked.

The man's hand shook, and I could see the tension in his arm as he moved to pull the trigger, but I swung a foot out and got him right in the elbow, sending the gun flying out of his hand and skittering across the floor before he could shoot. I wanted to kick the guy again, but JJ, Hotch, and Rossi had already rushed forwards to detain him, leaving Morgan and Reid to untie me.

"Are you okay?" Reid asked worriedly as he finished undoing the ropes.

I stood up, tossing the rope that had been laced around my hands to the floor and answered curtly, "Great considering I got knocked out, stuffed in a trunk, dragged here, tied to a chair and electrocuted."

"You've got to be the only twenty-two-year-old kid I know who can make a kidnapping and potential murder sound fun," Rossi said.

"Well at your age, I'm sure it's lost it's glamour.  And don't call me kid, I'm not that young," I snapped.

"At my what?" Rossi asked, offended.

"You're the same age as Reid was when he started," JJ pointed out.

"And you're not even a genius, McDowell," Morgan added.

"You're just bitter cause you didn't get to kick any doors down," I told Morgan.

"Do you hear this, Hotch? She's insulting everyone!" Morgan exclaimed.

"All right, let's get out of here. And nice job, kid," Hotch said, giving me a look that meant I wasn't allowed to argue with him calling me kid.

Outside though, while I was sitting by the ambulance to get checked over even though I'd already told everyone I was fine, I asked Reid, "How come they let me in so young?"

"Cause you showed potential," he answered.  I wasn't sure if that was his opinion or if he was just reciting what Hotch or Rossi had said, though.

"Potential? I have good grades, I know martial arts, and I graduated second in my class only cause I punched the guy who was making fun of me having been nominated valedictorian in the first place. I wouldn't call that outstanding potential," I answered.

Reid shrugged and responded, "I don't really call the shots on who gets added to the team, or why, but so far you've proven your worth."

"I got myself kidnapped," I said flatly. "I'm on the team and I managed to become one of the victims."

"Yeah, that was a bit of surprise, same as when you didn't show up for work this morning," he said.

"Well I did fit the profile.  It'd be just as easy to kidnap Morgan or Hotch if they got hit over the head with a crowbar, though," I couldn't resist commenting right as Morgan strolled over by us.

"He really got you with a crowbar, rookie?"  He choked back a laugh.

"Would you like me to illustrate for you?" I asked, grabbing one of the steel legs for the gurneys that was in the ambulance and raising it above my head.

"Enough," Hotch snapped at me before continuing, "Let's go home."

"You know, I have a feeling Hotch doesn't like me," I mused as all three of us followed Hotch to the car.

"Trust me, you take more getting used to than Garcia," Rossi remarked, and I smirked.