❝ is he alive or dead? ❞

         IT WAS SATURDAY, the BAU's day off. the beautiful morning sky welcomed those around on the fairly warm weekend. a gorgeous day where the team could finally have time with themselves without being reminded of the appearance of deceased corpses, and instead the admirable fresh air. as rosie and oliver went to a friend's house for a sleepover, olivia used her time living up to the promise she made to emily, where she guaranteed her and morgan will help her look for a new home as the house in dupont circle wasn't as great as she hoped it'd be. after thanking the realtor who showed the three around the apartment, they stopped outside to share each other's thoughts. "i don't know." emily commented.

"emily, what's not to know?" derek questioned, "it's a beautiful place."

"there are cracks in the foundation." emily told them. "cracks can be fixed." olivia spoke. emily disagreed, "no, they can only be hidden. they're still there."

morgan looked at the building beside them, "what, are you afraid the place is gonna fall down?"

"i'm afraid it's never gonna be as strong as it was." she admitted.

"okay, somebody's heart isn't into it." derek teased. "what's going on?"

she sighed, "i don't know. when i first came here, i felt like i was home. and now, it's just an uphill battle. people kill for opportunities like this. am i crazy to walk away?"

"well, you gotta do what's best for you, em." olivia voiced. to which morgan added, "follow your gut. what's it trying to tell you?"

when the three friends were going to look through the next home that emily would consider living in, they received a call from hotch. he had explained to them that there's been a hostage situation in Colonial Liberty Bank and despite their day off, he was told they needed to come in to work. the three circled back around, meeting up with the rest of the team at the bank. when they arrived, they were already met with the FBI's mobile command center, multiple helicopters surrounding them, SWAT, and many bystanders who were barricaded out of the area.

jj's husband, will, was the cop who had come across the hostage situation at the bank and when jj caught up with the team, she embraced will in a hug. "you okay?"

"yeah." will answered. "it's definitely them. i only saw the king and the jack, but i figure the queen's inside, too."

"the media's calling them the face cards." hotch informed the group, "7 bank robberies in 7 months. they've killed one person at each robbery."

"MO?" rossi asked. hotch responded, "single gunshot wound. each of the victims has bled out."

"serial killers with a 30-day cooling-off period and we're only just hearing about this now?" emily questioned. "well, headquarters has always characterized them robbers first and killers second." hotch told her. "no one kills 7 people without serious psychopathic tendencies." spencer mentioned.

"i disagreed with the original assessment. i was overruled." hotch replied.

"so, why are we here now?" rossi asked him.

"because crisis negotiation is overseas."

"what more do we know about them?" olivia questioned. "they're organized, they're efficient. each strike lasts about 2 minutes." hotch answered.

derek suggested, "they gotta be scouting the banks in advance. why haven't we been able to I.D. them off of surveillance footage?"

as hotch answered, the team and will entered the mobile command center, where penelope sat in front of her laptop, "they hack the security feed and turn off the cameras, both during the initial canvass and during the robbery, until the masks come back on, and then we're allowed to watch."

they watched the security footage as one of the unsubs paced around in the bank and the other one tended to another partner who was previously shot when encountering will. "they're using the hostages as human shields." rossi acknowledged.

"this is the first time they've been interrupted. what went wrong?" jj questioned.

"it's a big bank. it's possible they weren't about to round everybody up before someone triggered an alarm." olivia stated.

"why haven't they cut the feed now that they've been cornered? letting us see inside gives up a tactical advantage. they gotta know that." derek pondered.

"they don't seem to care." hotch commented. "they're overconfident. arrogant, even." jj said. spencer voiced, "the face card masks add to their narcissism. their personas are the royalty of poker."

hotch started giving out orders, "jj, liv, reid, and prentiss, look at past robberies. that's gonna be our victimology. pull another analyst if you need to. . ." the four exited out the command center and drove back to the BAU as hotch continued giving out orders.

while looking through files upon files, they used kevin lynch as their technical analyst to substitute for penelope as she was still needed at the bank. "in 6 robberies no one's been able to build a sketch of the unsub before they put their masks on. these witness descriptions are all over the map." olivia told.

"probably because of the trauma suffered inside. they've been zig-zagging north and south, but in a relative straight pattern from Washington D. C." spencer read from his geographic profile.

"this is the largest bank they've hit. before today, it's just been small branches in rural communities." jj noted. "so today was always a part of their plan, but why the nation's capital? to make a statement?" prentiss guessed.

kevin lynch walked into the room, "i pulled schematics from the previous banks. this is the first one with metal detectors. maybe that's what went wrong?" he placed the large paper in front of them.

"no, they cased the branches too well in advance. they'd know to be ready for them. these are takeover robberies. no faces, no passing notes, no prints. they're professionals." olivia thought.

"hey, there is something all these robberies have in common. the queen's the only one who pulls the trigger." jennifer noticed. "the woman chose a different type of victim each time. it's not just the security guard. it's been a mother, a manager, and a young child." spencer realizes.

          "she shoots them in the gut. they bleed out while they rob the bank." liv added.

          "she's sadistic. she gets off on her victims' pain and the fear it incites in those around her." emily concluded.

         spencer began, "it also appears the king is in charge of the money-grabbing operation while the queen keeps track of time making sure they're in and out in under two minutes."

         "she's more in control of the operation than they let on." olivia remarked.

         "turning the king and queen against each other could be the key to disarming them." reid suggested.

         "he's not a killer. that could be our in." jj stated.

         "only if the jack doesn't die." emily reminded. "if he does. . ."

         from that, the events back at the bank only got more heated. the queen and king removed their masks, the jack died, and they killed an EMT. they had identified the king as chris stratton and the jack was his brother, oliver. they couldn't identify the woman, which they knew would only just feed into her confidence and arrogance.

         on the screen in the conference room back at the BAU, emily, spencer, olivia, and jj watched the news broadcast. agent anderson stood at the doorway, "agent prentiss, there's a call for you from interpol." still watching over the broadcast, she answered, "take a message please."

         "it's clyde easter." hearing the name, caused the dark haired woman to turn around, facing anderson with her eyebrows quirked. "your old unit chief?" spencer questioned her.

         "he says he has information about the queen of diamonds." anderson continued. emily walked out, going to her desk and calling clyde easter as they discussed further.

after learning the queen of diamonds apparently never had any accomplices until now, emily turned back to spencer, jj, and liv, questioning why have partners now while the rest of team were listening from the bank in D.C. "all right, okay, so let's look at it." olivia spoke up, "up until now they've been highly organized, striking only on deposit days, when the most amount of cash is on hand."

"but today's different. it's their first saturday hit, where families are present, more foot traffic throughout the day." spencer continued.

"it's a riskier attack." will remarked from the other end. "we should consider the media attention, too. it's the first time they've had an audience." hotch added.

"that might be why the female unsub is so vain. she wants to look good for the cameras." emily guessed.

rossi followed onto their conversation, "she searches the bank, but doesn't actually look for a means of escape. she appears to be almost enjoying the situation."

"we know the brothers are in it for the money. what's she in it for?" hotch asked.

after, rossi and chris began negotiating, the unnamed woman demanded to travel to Chad. this information reached the four agents at the BAU. "okay, so what's the significance of Chad?" jj thought.

"a 2008 coup attempt plunged them into political instability. they're currently in the middle of a civil war." spencer explained.

emily pulled out her phone and dialed a number, "there's gotta be more to it than that." once the other end picked up, she began saying, "our ghost wants to go to Chad. i'm figuring you're my best chance of finding out why." emily called clyde easter as the other three waited for a final response.

in the middle of the conversation, emily's face developed a blank expression. olivia, spencer, and jj shared glances with one another, noticing this detail, but never really spoke a lot of it. "work for interpol again?" emily repeated, the three looking up at her. "that'll be the day." she turned her head, facing away from the agents as she continued speaking on her call, "it's a hell of a time to bring that up." she said before speaking up again, "you find me a connection and maybe we'll discuss it."

         the three sat there with a look of dubiety in their eyes. they knew emily was offered a job at interpol. but it's been a year since she faked her death and left. was she really going to leave the BAU again? on the other hand, a huge job opportunity in interpol was a big accomplishment. she has to take it, right? it'd be good for her and her career. everyone on the team knows emily has been struggling looking for a place to live, which was absurd seeing as she had been granted the ownership of many homes. emily shook her head at them, implying it was nothing, but they all knew it was something.

hotch had called liv, jj, and emily back in as spencer stayed behind with kevin at the BAU. the three women went towards morgan and will, "garcia caught us up." emily announced to them. "why instigate a hostage situation?" olivia asked.

         "what's a narcissist without attention?" morgan responded, "she thrives on it."

"she must have something bigger in mind." jennifer muttered.

"we need to separate chris and the female to find out what that is." emily spoke.

         looking at the building in front of them, "it's not going to be hard. they're already on edge." morgan said.

         as rossi and chris were negotiating over the phone, emily and olivia watched and listened on the whole call. chris stated he would kill individuals in the bank one by one every minute until they sent out the cop who shot his brother. olivia could only imagine the anxiety coursing through jj and will's veins knowing they want will. in the mobile command center, the two women informed jj, will, morgan, and hotch about the new circumstances they were put in. "he's threatening to shoot more hostages unless he has will." emily told.

         "screw this, i'm going in." will got up, jj refusing to let him go.

         when talking outside to discuss an alternative plan that didn't involve will risking his life, he walked passed the group in the direction of the bank. "no. no, no, no. what is he doing? morgan-" jj mumbled, immediately going after him. morgan held her from the waist, as jj fought through her restraints. emily and olivia stuck their arms out, calming her down and stopping her from following will. "let me go please!" the blonde kicked and tried hitting her way out of derek's grip, but was no use as the other two women refrained her from doing so. "will!" she yelled, but he didn't turn back. once he opened the door to the bank, jj stopped fighting.

a woman and two children exited the building with a few SWAT agents leading the way for them. they were relieved for a second when the unsubs released a few people, but that few seconds of ease quickly evaporated into thin air once the sound of two gunshots were fired. morgan, jj, olivia, and emily had no way of knowing what exactly happened, but panic surged through jj as she pushed her way to the sounds, but morgan was even quicker to stop her. tears developed in her eyes as her hand covered her mouth, her eyes never looking away from the bank. olivia watched with her mouth slightly agape, eyes opened wide, and eyebrows raised as jj held onto her arm for stability.

in the mobile command center again, the team remained silent, stunned at the recent events. everyone was waiting for jj to say something, or to just react in general. she was awfully quiet, until very calmly she asked, "did you see where he was shot?" penelope hesitated to speak. "is he alive or dead, garcia?"

"i don't know." she told her softly.

"he was wearing a vest. he might be okay." emily positively encouraged. jj repeated her words, "might be."

"they're not answering." rossi reported.

"all right, we need to get inside." jj stated.

derek stopped her, "jj, it's too risky. we don't have eyes in there anymore." the blonde shifted her gaze towards hotch, shooting him a pitiful look, "aaron. . ."

"let's go in." he nodded. the team followed him out of the center.

hotch and the team stood with other members from the SWAT team, his gun aimed at the entrance of the bank. one of the SWAT agents voiced, "we've got movement."

"somebody's coming out. be ready." morgan spoke into his earpiece. "it's hostages."

all the hostages from the bank exited as police officers helped them out. once nobody else came out, the team made the decision to go in. jj, olivia, and morgan walked behind SWAT agents as emily and other agents went to the back entrance.

as they were about to step inside, the glass windows blew out. instinctively, the profilers covered their faces with their arms as they fell backwards onto the concrete ground due to how close they were standing. fires blared through the now empty windows of the bank, clouds of grey smoke wafting around. pieces of broken glass and other debris from the building flew out as the once beautiful and harmless saturday off from work transitioned into a day of chaos, the unpredictability of two serial killers, and in this case, the uncertainty of a few lives.

ANGIE'S NOTES ☺︎︎
next chapter is gonna be a long one besties🤞