𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 — kaboom!

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 𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 quite taken to the feeling of a gun within her hands — the cold metal sending shivers across her flesh, the weight making her fingers ache, the way she had to peer down the barrel as she swung it to and fro. She'd been cleared a long time ago to carry, a pristine permit with her name in bold letters snug within her arsenal.

 The test had been jarring — to hear those sounds echoing within her ears, stinging her eardrums until her head became fuzzy. She'd always wear a single ear plug whenever she could, anything to drown out that incessant BANG. Having grown up in a country that scowled at guns — and rightfully so — it was impeccably unsettling to land within America only to find bulges in jeans and jacket pockets in the shape of a weapon that could end a life instantaneously. It was backwards, and Selena was never shy in admitting that, after all, the statistics backed her up.

 Still, as Selena planted her back against a wall within the old and rickety storage building, feeling each seam of the padded FBI vest digging into her, she held the gun steady and silent. Her fingers never wavered, not a single tremor to be seen even despite the way her fingers could never seem to sit still.

 They crept through the building together, first Agent Hotchner, then Selena, then Elle Greenaway who was as silent as a mouse even despite her short ventures as an agent. The SWAT team were paces behind, each of them slow and steady, ready and waiting for Agent Hotchner's signal.

 Doors had been flung open, guns aimed inside as eyes scoured for their man, but thus far, it was empty. They had crept up the staircase, knowing that Walker would have found somewhere with a perfect view of the station, and when Selena slinked along the wall upon quiet toes, she heard it — the sound of panting, the sound of a man knowing that the breaths he was taking could turn out to be his very last. Selena held no sympathy.

 The sound made Selena all too aware of her own breathing, of the way her heart thudded like a pendulum within her chest. She was calm, collected, the perfect statue lining the wall of a museum. Selena met Hotchner's eyes and blinked; it was enough to know that the man they'd been chasing was right inside.

 Hotchner crept forth, flanking the other side of the door. He paused, listened and nodded, stray black hairs brushing against the dull beige wall. He glanced at Elle, his newest team member — she had the least amount of experience in cases such as these, and yet when Hotch looked her way, he could only find that Agent Greenaway mirrored Selena; silent, calm, and more than ready to wrap up this damned case.

 Selena watched as Hotchner wove his hand through the air, SWAT following the movement with ease as they trudged forth to clear out the reaming areas — Walker was left to the three of them.

 Selena was the first to move, her fingers creeping along the wall like a spider, coiling around the door handle like a serpent — someone needed to fling the thing open. It creaked as she added pressure, and then, in a swift movement, she pushed it forth without inching her shoulders from the wall. She remained still as silence encased them, for while bullets could have spilled from behind the door, she knew Walker too well; bullets weren't his style and even if he'd had a gun snug within his waistband, Selena would bet with certainty that the coward would be far too afraid to shoot.

 "David Walker." Hotchner called, his voice louder and yet that same indifference remained coiling within his words — he put on a good show, but the whites of his knuckles made it obscenely obvious that he was just as frustrated and ready to take Walker in as the rest of them, "Federal agents."

 Silence echoed down the vast corridor, only Walker's heavy breaths left to be heard, and so Hotchner repeated himself, "Federal Agents!"

 This time, when nothing and nobody responded to him, Hotchner's eyes landed upon Selena and the gun sng within her stable fingers. He nodded once and then offered the same for Elle, "Three... Two..." and on the unspoken one, the three of them burst through the door.

 Hotchner, Selena noticed, was a step ahead with his finger trained on the trigger of his weapon. He held it steady, veins almost bursting through his skin as he kept a vast amount of pressure. Selena was a step behind him and to the right, leaving enough room for Greenaway to peer through the middle of them.

 Above the sight of her gun, Selena surveyed the room; it was about as standard as anyone would think a storage unit to be — rows upon rows of bolted storage shelves laden with boxes and odd stacks of miscellaneous items. Crates and storage boxes were piled against walls and blocking a vast majority of the walking space between the aisles... unfortunately, this all meant that it was a physical minefield; obstacles blocking every which way that could possibly lead to a snivelling David Walker. If they wanted him to exit the room... they'd have to approach single file all the while meandering over everything stationed in their way.

 Through one of the aisles stacked mercilessly with an odd assortment of metal tools and wooden planks, Selena finally caught sight of the man who had been evading them for the entire case. There, a few aisles away, was Walker. His eyes widened as she cocked her head and narrowed her eyes without a word. He whimpered and ducked like the coward they'd already profiled him to be.

 "Walker..." Selena dragged, her voice low, "Freeze. Stay right where you are."

 Selena didn't need to glance to the side to be made well aware that her fellow companions had copied her actions, shifting their gazes and stances to face the man hidden within the room.

 "Okay!" His voice bellowed, each word cracking like a thin sheen of fragile glass, "Please, don't shoot!"

 "Well that all depends on you, doesn't it?" She called back with a particular edge to her voice that often sent people scuttling. Something cold had creped forth — it was one thing to face a man that stood tall and admitted to his actions with some kind of decorum... but to watch was Walker ducked and sniffed, hiding like a petulant child despite having taken lives, despite having injured and harmed. Hell, he had a damned hostage smothered within a noose made of wires and metal back at the station, and still David Walker hid, "Show yourself, or we'll shoot up this entire room."

 "Okay!" He cried, shuffling to his feet as he heaved a great breath. The top of his head appeared over the storage shelf; the lines on his forehead were deep, cracking further like an ice-pick as he frowned and snivelled like a baby. His balding head was littered with the odd grey hair and his brows were curled inwards, as though he hadn't been the one building bombs and stealing lives, as though he was just a kid being caught for stealing a cookie, "Okay..."

 Selena glanced at Hotchner — he hadn't said a word since entering the room. Had Gideon truly spoken of her so much that he was willing to let her speak for him, for the entire team? He didn't even glance her way as his mouth remained sealed like a zip... he was waiting for her, for her direction to either continue onwards with coaxing Walker out, alive, or for her declaration that they had to leave before they became nothing more than charred bones.

 "Put your hands where I can see them," Selena said, maintaining the same chill within her words.

 But Walker didn't oblige. Instead, he cleared his throat as if that would help rid him of the wobble in his tone. I didn't work, "I can't do that."

 "Then I'll shoot." And Selena took a step forth, level with Hotchner while the barrel of her gun became perfectly level with the centre of Walker's forehead.

"My hand's on the remote!" he countered, "I told you what I want. The passport, the helicopter, the flight!"

 Selena truly couldn't stomach the thought of appealing to yet another sorry excuse of a man. Pretending to be kind and sweet and all things lovely for Adrian Bale had sent her stomach swirling until she had truly believed her next destination would have been a toilet — Selena let her eyes stray from Walker for the barest of seconds. She met Elle's eyes and blinked.

 Greenaway might have been their newest agent, she might not have had as much experience as the rest of them when it came to such cases, but she was brilliant and she could twist her voice into dollops of honey; she could appeal to Walker.

 Elle didn't once move her gun, it didn't stoop or lower even when her voice blossomed with a sugared edge. She let her eyes soften, her body relax just enough for Walker to see — she pretended as though it was a victim before her, it was the only way to rid her mind of the fact that the pathetic little man who had killed and injured was standing before them all.

 Elle was gentle as she spoke, "You're at the top of the FBI's Most Wanted list... I know you're smart enough to realise there's no way we can let you go." Walker dipped back behind the shelf, cheeks burning red, eyes glazed, "But... Here's the counter-offer, a chance to get outta here alive, a way to make sure nobody else gets hurt; all you have to do is give yourself up. Slide the gun across to us, you have until three. One, two —"

 "You wouldn't let the hostage die!" He bellowed, but amidst the facade of rage and control was nothing but blistering terror.

 Selena allowed the fingers upon her left hand to flex before cupping her right once more. It was enough of an action to draw Walker's gaze back to her gun, to the way light bounced from its obsidian edge with every breath she took.

 "Want to find out, Walker? Okay. Don't give yourself up." Selena let her lips twitch with malice; it wasn't entirely crafted, no, it truly resided within her. Perhaps if she'd gone about things the 'normal' way, she'd have never been allowed to step foot into the building, maybe she'd never have been welcomed onto crime scenes and begged to solve a case... for right now, Selena knew that if there were to be no consequences, if the case would have been tied up perfectly without another death... she'd have shot without warning.

 Walked seemed to at least have enough sense to know she wasn't lying, that she really would squeeze her fingers against the trigger until the gun coddled in her hands shot until he was lying on the ground.

 "Okay! Okay!" He dipped to the left of the storage shelf, placing his gun on the ground. With a push, it was sent hurtling towards Selena who merely stopped it with her foot and kicked it behind her for Elle to scoop up. Walker watched the entire thing, his eyes soon clamping shut, his throat bobbing before he said, "I'm coming out. Don't shoot!"

 But Walker had already been crouching, there was no need for his head to dip below the shelves once more... yet it did. Selena watched it disappear. He made no noise, no indication that he was staying true to his word... but, of course, that was a given, wasn't it? This man idolised Bale as though he was a celebrity to fawn over. He had made it his mission to craft his bombs to look and act exactly as Bales once had.

 David Walker was selfish. He was a coward, and he had absolutely no regard for human lives. So, really, why would he bother to come out of the shadows when he could die like his hero? What was the point of trailing out like a wounded dog with his hands held before him? No matter what deal he made, Walker had to know that prison was the only outcome — and there was no chance in hell that Bale wouldn't have warned him that jail wasn't an option.

 If they were truly communicating, if it really was Walker and Bale speaking behind codes and false names over the internet... Then Walker would know to go down in a blaze of glory, to take as many people with him as he possibly could. For dying with notoriety was better than living behind metal bars.

 But the biggest fact of all... was that David Walker was not a bomber, he was a forger.

 Selena's palms began to sweat, her heart thudding, stomach churning. That was the feeling, the one that Hotchner was now relying on.

 Selena shook her head, arms finally lowering as she grabbed Elle's arm and hauled her towards the door, "Get out!"

 Officers had already filed into the room, having completed their sweeps of the rooms remaining throughout the storage facility. They turned on their toes, legs pumping as they sailed through the exit with Selena, Elle and Hotchner on their heels.

 Selena felt the burn in her legs as she pushed onwards, she could feel the distant discomfort as she kept her fingers curled around Elles's wrist, ensuring she continued onwards. She could just barely make out the sound of Hotchner behind her... and then the ringing came. That shrill sound that invaded her mind whenever music bustled from anywhere outside of her control, or whenever people spoke and yelled without any regard for those around them. This time, it wasn't inside of her head, echoing to her ears.

 The bomb within the room they'd darted from detonated. The shelves laden with boxes and keepsakes rattled upon bolted legs, throwing their contents to the ground only to be swept up within a vortex of fire. Flames burst from the room, the entire building shaking before Selena and the two agents by her side could seek the exit of the building... Gideon's voice rang in their ears, trailing through their earpieces. He yelled in a panic, warning them just seconds too late of the very same thing that Selena had pieced together.

 Selena swallowed the bile at the back of her throat when Hotchner seized her arm, tugging her behind a wall. The heat that passed them by in a tidal wave was obscene; Selena could feel it brush against her cheeks, heating them until they were pink. The blond hairs that hung over her temples jostled as though chasing after the billowing sensation. Debris poured from the room Walker had lit up like a Christmas tree, spilling over the ground as desperate embers chewed at their edges.

 But the flames that clawed at the walls and crawled over the floor like scattering cockroaches ended just a pace outside of the room in which they were made. Selena let her head topple backwards until her skull pressed against the wall. She had been right. She peered through cracked eyes; Elle Greenaway panted beside her, lungs burning from the smoke in the air while Hotchner did the very same. Both of them were unharmed. All of the officers that had followed them were without scorch marks or wounds. The SWAT team were all... fine.

 Everyone was alive — Selena peered around Hotchner, around the wall they rested upon even as Hotchner shook his head in gentle retaliation. Judging by the flames still stretching out of the room, and the scorch marks burnt into the ground... and the unmistakable waft of burnt flesh cycling through the air they breathed, David Walker had been the only one to lose his life...

 It would have been a good day, a bow to tie up their case... had there not been a man back at the station smothered in wires while a timer for his life ticked away at his chest.

 Selena felt something against her arm as she peered through the smoke-laden haze without seeing a damned thing. She turned to find Hotchner staring, his elbow settling back to his side — His formerly pristine-white shirt was now smudged with smoke, "You made a good call."

 "Good... Is that what you'd call it?"

 "You made a great call." Elle breathed, forgetting herself for a moment as she bumped into the blonde at her side.

 "The thing is..." Selena muttered, properly securing the gun within the strap at her waist. She slumped, head tipped back once more as she thought about the bomb back at the station. Nobody knew how to tear it apart, nobody except Walker... and Adrian Bale. Of course everything would circle right back to him once again. "I wish I'd been wrong... because now there's only one way we're gonna get that bomb dismantled."

 "There is?" Elle blinked, coughing through the smoke.

 "Yeah, a man who isn't going help without some kind of deal — Adrian fucking Bale."

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DATE: 13/01/2024

:･ﾟ★ selena slay count: 3648392653 <3

there's a LONG chap next to wrap up this episode!! 

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