﹙ GUEST STARRING . . . ﹚
Barry Sloane  /  CMDR CHRISTIAN GRAVES
Monica Barbaro  /  OP VANESSA LOPEZ
Boyd Holbrook  /  OP MATTHEW SULLIVAN
Jack Quaid  /  SA COLIN MILLER

♯ La Plata County, Colorado

The team immediately crowded around the small communications box set up in the middle of the FBI encampment, pairs of headphones scattered around on the table surrounding it to listen in without any outside interruptions.

Luciana, along with Morgan, Rossi, and Hotchner, grabbed the sets of headphones with urgency, Luciana gesturing to her former technical expert to open up the channel linked to the bugs they had gotten inside the compound as she placed them over her ears.

"I told you not to put me in this position."

They were instantly met by Cyrus' voice chorused with Prentiss' apparent struggle before she let out a grunt, clearly having been thrown to the ground as the sound from her lips was in time with the slap of her palms against the cement floor.

Cyrus continued his assault, now laying his hands on the agent, the loud smack of skin against skin echoing through the headsets the team on the outside were wearing. Luciana listened while she watched her coworkers' reactions. Hotchner seemed to be having the most challenging time listening in, even removing his headphones at one point as if he could not listen to it any longer.

"We've got to go in."

"No, we're risking everyone else in there if we go in now," Luciana responded to Hotchner's emotionally charged decision, her voice firm as he looked over at her, obviously frustrated with not being able to do anything to help Prentiss.

She understood why he wanted to throw a wrench in the plans Luciana had carefully started to lay out and piece together to save as many lives as possible. Prentiss was a part of his team, a team he was supposed to lead but also protect. To be stuck on the outside, to only listen to her crying out as she received punishment for attending to a case that he approved, had to sting.

But that's why Luciana was here in the first place. As someone leading the operation with little emotional involvement. Someone from the outside who understood what was at stake for innocent civilians while also trying to save the agents that she would hopefully get to work with if all went the way she wanted.

She had to focus.

A single cut-off cry from Prentiss after the sound of shattering glass is the only time Luciana offered a physical response, flinching at its sound. Her hands, wrapped around the edge of the table, tightened slightly, making her knuckles go white as she took a deep breath, continuing to listen.

"I can take it," Prentiss spoke aloud, struggling to catch her breath after a momentary lapse in the beating.

"Oh, you can take it?" Cyrus taunted back to the woman, and they heard the back of his hand meet Prentiss' cheek before she cried out again.

And then it hit Luciana as Prentiss repeated the same statement.

"I can take it."

"She's antagonizing him," Morgan sounded frustrated, pulling his pair of headphones off one of his ears while keeping them in place with the palm of his hand on the other.

"No, she's not. She's not talking to him," Luciana responded, earning a look of confusion from Morgan.

"She's talking to us. She's telling us not to come in," Hotchner agreed with Luciana's statement before she could explain her thoughts, causing her to look back at him, earning a nod as if he could read her exact thoughts.

"Pride comes before the fall."

Cyrus' voice had been eerily calm through the whole ordeal, not a flicker of change in his tone noted as he landed one final punch into what Luciana assumed was Prentiss' abdomen as she heard the breath get knocked from her lungs with a winded gasp.

Morgan threw his headphones onto the table, running his hands over his head as he walked away. Luciana pulled hers off next, looking between Rossi and Hotchner, who stood on either side of her, both silent as they processed everything they had just heard.

"Good catch," Rossi praised Luciana, who only nodded in response. Any words she wanted to say felt like they would get caught in the lump in her throat that was indiscernible to anyone but her. "They won't kill her. She's just another pawn now, another upper hand for Cyrus to have on us."

"He doesn't know we know," Luciana finally found her voice, but it came out strained, earning Hotchner's attention. She met his gaze and noticed the gathered wetness along his bottom eyelids, but it was gone as soon as he blinked again, and the stony look his face naturally rested in was back. She swallowed around the lump, hoping to push it down, to push down any emotions that had suddenly emerged for someone she didn't even know.

Remember how you got yourself here in the first place.

She outwardly frowned at the voice in her head, but it still enabled her to sober up and return to the role of the negotiator. A role that saved countless lives, past and present. People were trusting her, even if they didn't know it.

But why did they trust her?

⭑

Luciana emerged from the mobile command centre that evening after hearing her name called by her new unit chief. She jogged over to the communication box where he and Rossi were standing, already listening to the audio radioed from the bugs. He held out a pair of headphones as she approached, and she took them with a muttered thanks as she pulled out a chair from under the table and sat down.

"Did you know she was FBI?" Cyrus asked another person in the room as Luciana settled into her seat, a prolonged silence following the sect leader's question.

"Nancy told me the woman was a child abuse interview expert from Denver, and the four years I worked with her, Nancy'd never lied to me before," Reid responded to the inquiry, his voice steady as the lie slipped from his tongue.

Hotchner leaned onto the table next to where Luciana was sitting, and she watched as he dropped his head down. She could practically feel the worry radiating off his person, stressed at the chance that Reid would be the next caught in the act of deception. Prentiss confessed earlier to protect the younger man, and Luciana had a feeling that Cyrus' punishment would be worse after more lies if he happened to find out Reid was also an FBI agent.

While Cyrus tried to defend his crimes against children to Reid, as if he knew he was passing off judgment for the reason child services had come to the compound in the first place, the agent had been quick to soothe any ruffling of misunderstanding.

"I can't tell you the number of times I've investigated abuse charges against small religious groups. Almost all of them turn out to be false."

Luciana nodded to no one in particular at Reid's ability to maintain rapport with Cyrus. Empathize, sympathize, understand had been drilled into Luciana's head since the day she started with Hostage Rescue, a common negotiation tactic to initiate and maintain a link to the perpetrator of the crimes. It was a way to lure them into a false sense of comfort, of trust. Reid was familiar with the tactic.

She spared a glance in Hotchner's direction.

"What do you think of that?" Cyrus asked Reid, his tone finally shifting into one of curiosity rather than the monotone quality it usually had when he had been speaking to those outside of his congregation, including Luciana.

"It doesn't really matter what I think."

"It does to me."

"Why?"

His attempts at profiling were unmistakable to his team and would likely be to anyone who knew of the Behavioural Analysis Unit and their contribution to cases, including this one. But Cyrus didn't know. Or at least, he didn't seem to.

"Because God wants to save you," Cyrus responded. "I mean, that's why he sent you here. That's the reason."

"On the next call, you should test them."

Luciana sat up straight in her chair at Reid's suggestion. He knew they were listening to the conversation, giving them an advantage that Cyrus wouldn't know they had.

"Test the negotiator. Make her prove that she isn't a liar," Reid continued, met with the response of silence from Cyrus. "Ask her for the identity of the FBI agent."

"No, we already know her identity." Another male voice had joined the conversation, one that Luciana was unfamiliar with but who she assumed was a close hand to Cyrus based on him being present in the room with such sensitive information about their plans.

"They don't know that," Cyrus defended Reid's suggestion, and Luciana knew that the agent inside the compound had already hooked him into the plan.

"Yeah, but the FBI would never tell us."

"They keep on asking you to release people. Tell them you'll release a kid and you won't harm the agent. And, if they really care about the children, they'll have to tell you," Reid proposed to the men, a simple solution to Cyrus' debacle that would simultaneously aid Reid's team on the outside.

"You're trying to get us to release a child," the unknown man stated, his tone annoyed.

"I-It's one kid. If they don't hold up on their end of the deal, you'll know they can't be trusted."

"He has a point," Cyrus spoke after Reid had finished reasoning, silencing the discussion with his input to the conversation.

"Reid has him," Morgan spoke aloud, voicing the thoughts in everyone's heads.

"He's had him since the initial mention of the test," Luciana added, pulling her headphones off one of her ears. "Cyrus wanted me to earn his trust; he wanted to put me to the test since we first spoke. It's too good of an opportunity to give up."

"What is it, Christopher?"

They listened again to the audio feed intently as Cyrus spoke, referring to the other man in the room.

"Some have been talking about leaving."

"Leaving?" Luciana assumed Christopher had silently nodded in confirmation before Cyrus continued to speak. "Wake the baby. Let's let them meet the orphan that they've made."

⭑

Rossi and Hotch looked at the woman between them when they heard an audible yawn. Hotch's eyes remained on the brunette as she pulled off her headset and gently set it on the table ahead of her before stretching her arms over her head.

The reality of their job was almost frightening. They were all trusted with the lives of those at risk and to discover, in the worst cases, what had happened to the victims before being called into crime scenes. But they were also human. There were times when Hotch would have to force the rest of his team to take a break into the early morning hours, wanting them to get enough sleep to feel refreshed with a new energy to take on the case.

He didn't always take his own advice. Often, he found himself up through the night at the small desk in the corner of the hotel room they had been placed in on the Bureau's dime, working on the case until a knock sounded at the door, and he realized the sun was up and it was time to go back to work.

With how much coffee the team went through for their multi-day cases, he figured he wasn't the only person not heeding his advice.

But, it never stopped him from continuing to suggest it.

Even tonight.

"We should get some sleep so we can be prepared for Cyrus' call tomorrow," Hotch announced, earning a nod of agreement from Rossi across the table. He spared another glance towards Luciana, who had given him a moment of her attention as he spoke. She didn't argue with him like she had earlier that day on the call to infiltrate when Cyrus had faked a test to weed out his false followers, instead opting for a murmured goodnight before she got up and walked towards the abandoned building next to their command centre. She had stopped when Graves called out her name, waiting for him to catch up before they both disappeared through the door, conversing quietly.

His eyes lingered on the doorway before they redirected to where Rossi was still standing, having purposefully coughed to earn the unit chief's attention.

"What's on your mind?" Rossi asked, rounding the table to sit on its edge adjacent to where Hotch stood, turning his torso to face the taller man.

"She has no respect for authority. How do I trust her on this team if she can't follow basic commands?" Hotch responded, his tone quiet so those still lingering around wouldn't hear the topic of conversation.

"Reyes is a very dedicated agent. You can't blame her for struggling to fall back when all she's known is leading her own team for a decade," Rossi defended the woman, and Hotch felt frustration seep from his skin, prompting him to cross his arms over his chest. "We threw her into a hell of a case for her first day back, and we did make her lead negotiator; that comes with some influence on decision-making."

"You made her lead negotiator."

"You didn't say no," Rossi retorted, and Hotch didn't have it in him to argue back that he hadn't had much of a choice since Rossi had actively refused and also failed to offer any other alternatives. "You want my advice?"

"I feel like you're going to give it to me anyways," Hotch answered, the right side of his mouth tilting upwards slightly as he looked towards Rossi, who smiled at the attempt to lighten the exchange.

"Give her a month. If she's still struggling to follow orders and continuing to act out of line, you can suggest to Erin and the higher-ups that this isn't the right place for her. You can at least say you tried," Rossi advised, watching as Hotch's mouth settled back into its usual frown. "You read her file. So have I. I don't blame you for your hesitation, but she didn't have much choice on where to go. We can help her here before she heads back to Hostage Rescue, though."

Hotch didn't feel like outwardly admitting to Rossi that he was right. While Hotch didn't believe he was intentionally being cruel to the newest temporary member of the team, he didn't feel the need to pamper her back into duty as much as Rossi was suggesting he should. She had been in the FBI for over a decade before her file had been placed on his desk with a strong suggestion (more like demand) to take her in after her year-long leave. But, he understood that their unit was the closest she would get back to HRT without the high stakes of many of their operations and that they probably would be able to help her gain confidence in her abilities again, which had settled on the back burner.

"A month," Hotch agreed, earning a clap on the shoulder by Rossi's hand.

"Great. Now that that's all settled, I'm going to follow your advice and get some sleep," Rossi announced as he stood up from the table, starting to walk away before stopping and turning his head back in Hotch's direction. "I have a feeling this is going to end soon."

Hotch nodded, prompting Rossi to continue his path to the building Luciana had entered earlier, the door clicking shut behind him.

Hotch also had the same feeling of a conclusion coming, but he wasn't sure what the outcome would be.

⭑

While Luciana had taken her superior's advice to rest up for the next day, she had found it difficult to fall asleep. Between the firm and uncomfortable cot assigned to her and the racing thoughts in her head about the next steps in the operation, any form of rest had evaded her until the sun rose.

She didn't rush to contact Cyrus that next day like she had the day before when she brought supplies to him. They had promised those supplies at sunrise; there was no promise for contact here, but everyone was keenly aware that it would eventually happen if they wanted to make any progress. Cyrus didn't know just how much the FBI knew.

Shuffling through the contents of her hastily packed go-bag that she had brought from home, Luciana found a fresh set of clothing and her small toiletries bag, taking some time to herself in the run-down bathroom in the building.

As she finished brushing her teeth, she heard the bathroom door squeak open behind her when she spat the remnants of toothpaste in her mouth into the grime-covered porcelain sink in front of her. She stood up straight, looking at the newcomer in the mirror.

Jennifer Jareau, the BAU's media liaison who preferred to go by her nickname "JJ," leaned against the door frame, her hip holding the door open. She met Luciana's eyes in the mirror, and her features softened immediately. With a comforting smile on JJ's lips, she spoke aloud, breaking the silence Luciana had enveloped herself in.

"They're ready to go when you are," JJ announced, her voice as soft as the smile still tilted the corners of her lips. Luciana nodded in response, wiping the back of her hand across her mouth to collect any remaining foam from her toothpaste before she rinsed the same hand under the cold water. "Are you alright?"

In the back of her head, Luciana knew that JJ only meant to ask out of kindness, out of genuine concern since the liaison was well aware of how difficult this case was, not only for Luciana but for her team, who knew those stuck inside and could never be certain of their status until they heard on the bugs inside. But, the thoughts in her head ran faster than the beating of her heart, and all she could think about was if she confessed her real feelings to the blonde woman behind her, that JJ would just as quickly turn around and report it to Hotchner, who already detested Luciana. It would only give him more reason to doubt her.

"I'm fine," Luciana responded, and she immediately felt her stomach drop at how cold her tone was. She watched the smile JJ wore quickly disappear as she nodded in understanding, excusing herself quietly. Luciana focused back on herself in the mirror, focusing on her tired features. The bags under her eyes, which had been there since before her leave, seemed to worsen since she arrived in Colorado, and her tan skin seemed more pale. As Luciana pulled her curly hair into a loose ponytail, the brunette thought back to sessions with her therapist, who had told her that she had been ready to return to this. But was she?

Everyone watched as Luciana approached the communication box after exiting the building. The woman quickly grabbed a set of headphones and placed them on her ears before anyone could speak to her, motioning for Miller to initiate a call to Cyrus. Hotchner opened his mouth to speak, likely to ask her to wait a moment to discuss their plan, but had quieted upon hearing the sound of the line ringing a few times before there was a click. Hotchner, Rossi, and Morgan quickly picked up their headsets to listen in.

"How are you today, Benjamin?" Luciana greeted the man before he could get a word out, her tone mismatched with her expression.

"I will release a child if you tell me the identity of the FBI agent," Cyrus immediately offered, almost as if he was trying to catch Luciana by surprise. She would have to act that way to make him believe she thought he was doing this out of his kindness. "I promise no harm will come to them from this point forward."

"Are you trying to tell me you've already harmed them?" Luciana questioned, and she felt a nudge on her arm. She looked over at Rossi, who shook his head before using his hand to motion for her to carry on with the present negotiation for the release of one of the innocent children. "Besides, I can't give you that information."

"I will send the child now."

All of the teams' heads turned towards a monitor nearby where they watched a live feed of the front door actively streamed by Luciana's former surveillance operator, the woman having positioned there that morning. They all watched as Lopez zoomed in on the front door, focusing the shot just as a small girl walked out of the open door, making her way down the front steps.

Hotchner silently motioned for Graves and Morgan to go and collect her from the front of the compound, the two quickly discarding the weapons on their hips before jumping into a nearby Sheriff's Department truck and speeding down the dirt road.

Luciana focused her attention back onto the video feed, seating herself on the table's edge as she watched Morgan get out of the truck once they arrived where the little girl had been standing in wait, coaxing her quickly into his arms to bring her to safety. Morgan's voice emerged from the walkie-talkie in Hotchner's hands next to Luciana, confirming that they had successfully collected the girl as they had just observed on the monitor.

"This is a big risk that I'm taking with you, Ben," Luciana spoke aloud again, reminding everyone around her that she was still actively on the phone with the sect leader.

"Trust is earned."

Trust. Eve should have made the Serpent earn her trust before biting the apple.

"Her name is Emily Prentiss," Luciana confirmed Prentiss' identity after a moment of silence, of false hesitation on her part that would hopefully continue the illusion of Cyrus thinking he has the upper hand. "She came in with two child service workers to talk to the girls."

Maybe she was the Serpent in his story. He was unaware of the lies she continued to spew to get him to trust her.

"There's a good chance we can work this out, Luciana. I'm going to provide another sign of good faith," Cyrus told her before he hung up the call. Miller quickly changed from the phone line back to the bugged lines inside the compound, cycling through until he found a clear source.

Cyrus' voice sounded through their headphones again, this time more distanced as he wasn't speaking directly into the phone. He was rattling off names, and Luciana had realized that the names were likely the ones who had failed his loyalty test the day before. When he finished the list of names, he informed those called upon to gather their belongings and meet at the front door.

And when those same individuals were released from the sect less than an hour later, Luciana felt her stomach turn at the thought of what was next. While Cyrus claimed it was "good faith," Luciana knew there was an ominous underlying reason for him to do this. These were the ones who were unwilling to follow him down the path he believed God intended. And he was ridding himself of them, only leaving behind those who would follow him.

Luciana was startled when the communication box started to ring. She looked to Miller, who had been watching her over the laptop screen, waiting for directions. She nodded, and he connected the call.

"We will surrender tomorrow at noon," Cyrus announced before Luciana could greet him, similar to how she had acted on their earlier call. "I want the press there to ensure that we're treated fairly. We'll discuss the details at our seven a.m. call. I'll see you then, Luciana."

"Can't wait," Luciana replied, holding back the sarcastic tone she desperately wanted to use.

"Oh, and one more thing. Could you send some food in?"

"Sure. What do you want?"

"Fried chicken. All the fixings."

"Mmhm, it'll be there soon," Luciana answered, hearing a click shortly after she finished speaking. She looked up just in time to see Morgan roll his eyes as he briefly pulled the headphones away from his ear before replacing them to listen in on the bugs.

"I don't understand. Why did you let them go?" The voice from earlier, Christopher, had questioned his leader. He sounded more upset about being left out of the decision-making, indicating that he was likely Cyrus' right-hand man, the same one who had patted Luciana down at the door when she had brought supplies the day before.

"They weren't prepared to do what needs to be done."

"You're not one of us!" Christopher exclaimed at Reid's interjection into the conversation. "You don't know what it takes to be prepared."

"Listen to him," Cyrus had then requested. "Tell him."

"They failed the test. They had a chance to prove their faith when Cyrus told them that they'd sacrificed themselves for God. But, instead, they showed they weren't worthy," Reid explained, confirming everything Luciana had assumed when Cyrus released some of the sect members only moments before their most recent call. "That's why he wants the media to bear witness to your true final act of sacrifice."

If Luciana hadn't known that Reid was an FBI agent, she would have assumed that he was a part of the sect or, at least, someone who sympathized with them. He handled the conversations with Cyrus and his followers with seemingly effortless confidence, protecting him from being discovered as an FBI agent.

"How do you know that?"

"I'm always looking for signs of things to come," Reid answered Christopher's query with a different infliction in his tone, and Luciana noticed Rossi suddenly tensed in his seat next to where she was standing.

"Reid's talking to us. He wants a sign when we're coming in," Rossi announced, and Luciana realized that that's what she had heard when Reid had spoken. Reid was no longer talking to Cyrus. Instead, he was talking directly to the outsiders he knew were listening to every word, similar to how Prentiss had spoken to them when she was facing Cyrus' wrath. "He's telling us this is it. Time has run out. We've got to go in."

"We need to find a way to warn both him and Prentiss before we breach," Luciana stated, calming the sudden energy that had burst into effect around her at the indication of a breach. "If they don't know when we're coming, we risk them making their own decisions to save themselves and others, which could be dangerous for everyone."

⭑

A couple of deputies from the Sheriff's Department were tasked with ordering and picking up enough food to feed the sect while both of the departments from the FBI brainstormed on how best to infiltrate the compound with the least amount of casualties.

"Drugging the food's not an option because of the children," Hotchner had stated when the food showed up at the mobile command centre, a few individuals from the Sheriff's Department divvying up the large portions into individual containers while simultaneously bugging the boxes. "We have to go in."

"Best time to hit them is when they're least mentally prepared," Rossi remarked from where he sat on the edge of one of the desks at the far end of the room, looking towards Graves, who had his team monitor the activity of the sect overnight.

"At three a.m. Biorhythms are at their lowest point then," Graves announced, and no one disagreed with the chosen time. Now came the most vital part of the operation: finding a way to let their agents on the inside know what time they would be coming to rescue them and everyone else inside.

"We need a diversion," Morgan suggested from where he was sitting on a chair near Rossi, a set of headphones around his neck as he had offered to listen in to the bugs for any sign of planning on Cyrus' part to rush into an assault or an actual mass suicide event. "Something that plays into his expectations."

"Cyrus brought up Waco," Graves cited from the conversations Cyrus had with Luciana on the phone and inside the compound when she brought the bugged supplies. "I know exactly how to use that. We just need some humvees."

"The plan depends on Reid and Prentiss separating the diehards from the followers," Hotchner informed the rest of the team as Graves stepped aside with his cell phone pressed to his ear, attempting to locate the vehicles he needed to stage the distraction. The BAU unit chief drew a long line with an expo marker on the small whiteboard that Morgan had drawn the pyramid on the first day of the stand-off, dividing the section between the diehards section and the pyramid's base, which marked the followers.

"And delaying Cyrus' diehards from reacting to our assault."

"No, that's not my main concern." Hotchner shook his head, staring at the whiteboard on the wall. He seemed lost in thought, and Luciana knew his concern was probably similar to hers.

"We need to make sure that they both know when we're coming," Luciana responded to Morgan's confused look, making Hotchner turn in place to look over at her, nodding in confirmation. Her lips turned upwards slightly, an attempt at a comforting gesture to let him know that he wasn't the only one thinking of ways to do that. "Ensuring they're ready for us at three o'clock is vital to a successful rescue."

Graves had quickly urged the team packing the food to hurry up once he was off the phone, earning Hotchner's attention as he looked over at the packed boxes. His features softened as he walked over to the counter, picking up a lid from one of the containers and holding it up.

"Perfect."

Morgan got up from his seat as Hotchner picked up a red marker, placed the lid down and began to write on it. Both Morgan and Luciana crowded around him to look over his shoulder, watching as he wrote the words "New owners! New hours! Open till 3 am!!!" on the lid around the label as if the employees themselves had done so.

"Let's just hope it's that easy," Morgan stated, patting Hotchner on the shoulder in approval of his idea.

As two deputies brought the containers of requested food to the compound, the rest of the team reconvened outside the mobile command centre. Luciana had been sitting with Morgan, discussing what she had seen of the interior of the building and a possible pathway if they had to infiltrate through the front entrance, when Graves rushed up to them, holding a walkie-talkie in his hand.

"Prentiss. She's talking to us. Lopez has clear audio coming from an upper-floor window," Graves stated, turning the volume knob on the two-way radio up.

"If you can hear me, I know you're coming. I can try to get the women and children down to the tunnel, but I need to know when you're coming."

Graves and Morgan immediately raced to Lopez's position after hearing the message, wanting to take advantage of the chance to communicate the time and put the final piece of the puzzle into place. If Prentiss knew, their operation had a better chance at success. Luciana breathed a sigh of relief when Morgan returned and reported that Prentiss was now aware of their infiltration time after using the laser sight on a rifle to communicate with her, which immediately stirred a new buzz of confidence amongst the team.

As Luciana was loading the weapons she would be bringing with her, having been designated, along with Morgan, to go in with HRT, she noticed Rossi and Hotchner chatting quietly at the edge of the tent facing the compound. Rossi had patted Hotchner on the back before walking away, catching Luciana's eye as he walked in her direction before he turned to speak to Morgan.

Luciana placed her gun down on the table after making sure the safety was flipped back on before making her way to where Hotchner still stood. He glanced at her briefly as she took up the space beside him, staring forward but seeing the movement of his head out of the corner of her eye.

"I know it's hard for you not to be able to go in," Luciana voiced after a brief moment of extended silence. She turned her head, watching the side of his face as he focused on the compound in the distance in front of them, the lights turning out one by one as most of the members settled down for the night. "I'll make sure to get your team out. Trust me."

"Trust is earned," Hotchner responded, echoing the statement that Cyrus had said to her in their earlier phone call. She hummed in agreement, unable to find the right words to respond, even if his hesitation in not only trusting in her but also in her proven abilities irritated her. "Good luck."

As the clock ticked closer to three, Luciana, Morgan, and HRT dressed up in preparation for the infiltration. She and Morgan, along with Rossi and Hotchner, pulled simple navy blue FBI-tagged kevlar vests over their day clothes and strapped their weapons to their waists. Meanwhile, the Hostage Rescue Team had changed into standardized navy-green jumpsuits paired with their matching colour "HRT" labelled kevlar vests and helmets. Luciana felt her heart beat faster in her chest as a pin-pricking sensation started behind her eyes.

She was supposed to look like them. But HRT was in the past, and while she was still so close to her old role, she felt so distant.

"Ready?" Morgan called out to Luciana, lightly touching her arm when he realized she was distracted, pulling her attention away from her old team. She blinked as she looked towards him, silently nodding in acknowledgment and confirmation. He reached out to her with a fist, and she couldn't help but smile, meeting his knuckles with her own in a fist bump. "Let's go get 'em."

The humvees Graves had been able to secure were sent first, trailing slowly down the dirt road, their headlights bright to hopefully catch the attention of those inside as the light bounced off the windows. While the vehicles provided the distraction out front, Luciana, Morgan, and the Hostage Rescue Team made their way around the building at a distance before closing the distance to a side door of the building. Graves and Lopez entered first, clearing the room before locating a stairwell that led downstairs and hopefully brought them into the basement where they would meet Prentiss.

The group made their way down the wooden steps quietly, stopping when Graves held up a hand to hold their position as he glanced around the corner at the bottom of the stairwell, holding his hand behind him, which was responded to by Lopez with a flashbang in his palm. He tossed the activated device around the corner, and a few seconds later, an explosion sounded, allowing him to fully emerge into the room and take out the man inside with silenced gunshots.

While he and Lopez dragged the man into a far corner, Sullivan peered down the hallway from which the man had emerged and nodded his head to indicate that it was clear.

A few moments later, the team heard a confused chatter of voices from the same hallway, and Prentiss emerged through the opening, her face swollen and bruised but relieved. Her gait was off, the woman stumbling on even ground as she spotted the FBI agents waiting for her. Morgan rushed forward, calling out her name and quickly grabbing her arm to help steady her.

"They've wired explosives," Prentiss announced to the infiltrating agents as Morgan led her towards the stairwell that they had entered the basement from, followed by the dozens of women and children that had gathered to escape. The explosions were Cyrus' final act and proof of his devotion to God.

Graves called out to Sullivan from the other side of the room upon hearing about the explosives, ensuring that his demolition expert was mentally prepared to defuse any of the homemade explosives they came across.

"Prentiss, where's Reid?" Luciana questioned the woman before she could leave, holding a hand towards Morgan to stop.

"He's in the chapel with Cyrus," Prentiss answered, pointing back to the hall she came from.

"Okay. You and Morgan need to get out of here. Make sure that everyone else gets out," Luciana ordered. While Chris was in charge of HRT, Luciana was still the head negotiator and somewhat of a lead for the BAU when Hotchner wasn't present in this circumstance. She wouldn't risk having Prentiss and Morgan here, out of concern for their wellbeing but also out of knowing they could act dangerously to protect one of their own if things went wrong.

"No, we gotta get Reid!" Prentiss exclaimed with concern etched on her features at the mere thought of leaving the younger agent behind. Luciana placed a hand on Prentiss' bicep, pulling her attention.

"Prentiss, I promise I will get Reid. You need to get to safety now."

Morgan pulled Prentiss with him as Luciana focused back on herding out the rest of the women and children still filing through the room. She heard a commotion from the stairwell, watching a woman and a teenager, who she assumed was her daughter, argue with each other. The younger girl then pushed her mother away, racing back up the stairs, crying out about being unable to leave her husband.

Luciana and Morgan, who had fallen back when he heard the arguing, raced over as the woman started to chase after her daughter. Morgan held the woman around her waist, pulling her back while she screamed for her daughter.

"You can't go back up there; I will get her! You need to go!" Luciana shouted over the woman's screaming, looking towards Morgan and tilting her head towards the exit. "Morgan, get her out of here. Graves, we need to go now."

Luciana and her former team made their way up the stairs as soon as the last woman had descended the steps, guns drawn. Sullivan took out the gasoline canisters rigged as bombs as they made their way up and down the back halls of the compound, clearing each room as they went.

Graves, who was leading the group, stopped at an open doorway at the end of the long hall, peering around the corner and gesturing to indicate that this was it. Luciana was directly behind him, pistol in one hand, while her other pressed to his back, letting him know she was ready to breach.

After Graves had rushed around the corner, setting off the first shot, Luciana followed directly behind him, spotting Cyrus standing over Reid, who kneeled on the floor.

Luciana didn't hesitate to put two bullets directly into Cyrus' flesh, her hand steady as she precisely hit the left side of his chest, sending him crashing to the floor. She quickly cleared the rest of the room before lowering her weapon, rushing over to Reid and crouching next to him as Graves called out the all-clear to the rest of the team.

"Hey, Reid, you okay?" she asked, her tone wavering with adrenaline as she assessed him for any visible injuries.

"I'm fine," Reid answered, taking Luciana's extended hand once she had returned to a standing position, allowing her to help him to his feet. "Where's Emily?"

"We got her out of here," Luciana replied, seeing Reid visibly relax upon hearing the information. Luciana looked up when she saw movement, spotting the teenage girl from a few minutes earlier walk into the room with a panicked expression. "Honey, we need to get out of here. Come with me, and we'll go find your mom."

The girl's gaze dropped down, and Luciana followed it to Cyrus' dead body by her feet. She then looked to Reid, whose eyes widened as he continued watching the girl in front of them before he grabbed Luciana's arm, dragging her towards the door while yelling out that they needed to run. Luciana looked back just in time to see the teenager had picked up the remote detonator that Cyrus had been holding; pain and anger laced through her features as she pressed the button with shaky fingers.

The explosion sounded behind them as they pushed through the wooden doors, the shockwave knocking both the agents off their feet and down the stairs, landing roughly on the pavement. Luciana used her body to cover Reid's while covering her head with her arms as flames licked through the shattered windows and open door before settling back, leaving smoke hanging heavily in the air as the fire continued to ravage the inside of the compound behind them.

Luciana pulled away when she felt it was safe enough, kneeling on the ground next to Reid as he sat up, looking at her with an unreadable expression. They both looked back towards the open front doors, watching the flames dance where they were only moments before.

"Thanks for saving my life," Luciana stated, coughing after the words left her mouth as she inhaled some of the thick smoke surrounding them. If Reid hadn't noticed the girl reaching for the detonator when he did, they probably wouldn't have made it out alive. The teenager had been made blind to reason by the religion Cyrus had shoved down her throat for who knows how many years and brainwashed by the so-called love she found with the sect leader. Luciana knew she couldn't have known how far gone the teenager was, but she still felt like she should have.

Before Reid could respond to Luciana's gratitude, they heard a female voice call out his name.

"Reid?"

"Reyes?"

A male voice this time.

Prentiss and Morgan.

Luciana and Reid pulled themselves onto their feet, coughing with the exertion. Luciana stumbled slightly on debris, which caused Reid to reach out towards her, offering an arm to steady herself. They found a way back onto the stairwell from where they had been tossed to the side by the explosion, spotting the BAU team at the bottom of the steps.

"We're good," Luciana called out, watching as Prentiss covered her mouth with her hands out of relief. Hotchner, Rossi, and Morgan stood a few paces behind her, watching as she rushed up the steps to meet Reid halfway, pulling the younger agent into her arms in a tight hug, crying in relief.

Prentiss wrapped an arm around Reid's waist as the three made their way down the rest of the steps, meeting with the rest of the team. Luciana looked towards Hotchner, who nodded at her out of appreciation for getting both agents out of there alive like she had said she would.

Another person stood nearby, and Luciana recognized her as the teenager's mother. She had been looking towards the compound with a terrified expression before she looked at the individuals standing ahead of her, her daughter not included among them.

Luciana stayed behind with Prentiss, who spoke to the woman while the rest of the team brought Reid to get checked out by one of the ambulances on site. Nothing Prentiss said seemed to console the woman, tears streaming down her face before she walked away without another word, her hands to her chest as if they were the only thing still holding her heart in her chest.

"You should probably get checked out by the paramedics," Luciana suggested from where she stood behind Prentiss' unmoving figure, her head turned to the left slightly as she watched the mother walk away. Prentiss turned around, nodding in agreement before taking Luciana's extended arm, which supported her as she limped towards the ambulance.

"I'm glad you got my message," Prentiss spoke aloud as the two women walked down the dirt path to where the ambulance's flashing lights pushed back the darkness of the night that surrounded them like a beacon. Luciana glanced over at Prentiss with a furrowed brow at the statement, which compelled her to explain. "I read up on you when Hotch told us you were joining the team. The work you did was impressive. So, when we saw you come into the church the other day and Reid mentioned your name, I knew you would be listening and able to pick up on what our team couldn't. At least, I hoped you would when Cyrus found out one of us was an agent."

"Sacrificing yourself for Reid, that was admirable," Luciana redirected the conversation away from herself and her past. Hearing the past tense used on the career she had dedicated her life to stung. Prentiss shrugged at the praise as they reached the ambulance, a paramedic coming over to help her the rest of the way to the rig. Before Prentiss pulled away, Luciana squeezed the woman's forearm with a gentle smile. "I hope every case we work on isn't this intense. But, I'm happy it turned out the way it did."

"Me too. I'm glad you decided to join us."

"I'm glad, too."

Luciana watched as Prentiss smiled back at her before she allowed the paramedic to lead her away, leaving Luciana alone again. Luciana turned on her heels, looking back towards the compound, which was still engulfed with flames, only just starting to be put out by the local fire department as they had arrived on the scene.

Lying to Prentiss' face about her sentiments about joining the team left a bitter taste on her tongue.

She coughed again, clearing her lungs of any remaining smoke she inhaled as she breathed in the fresh air a distance away from where the fire blazed.

Trust. Trust me. Trust is earned.

The earlier conversations continued to sound in her head as she had only begun to process the past few days.

But how can a liar be trusted?

⭑

♯ AUTHOR'S NOTE !

babygirl worked her first* case with the bau!! so proud of her!!

this was so much longer than i was meaning for it to be but i am pretty happy with how it turned out since it introduced some of the relationships that will be very important to luci in the future (good luck babe but its alternate universe emily and luci...)

also sorry for the long wait, i will try to be more consistent with updates especially with the opportunity to prewrite on my vacation next month but i am simply a girl (overworked nurse) with an aaron hotchner obsession who makes it everyone's problem online.