"Hotch, this is a bad idea" the lanky, floppy haired agent known as 'Reid' followed his boss through the dimly lit prison that he desperately wished he didn't have to be in.

It was safe to say it was grim surroundings; a dark place full of no light in any sense of the word- a perfect setting for the criminals stuck in there like diseased flies in a web of their own creation.

But Reid didn't feel as safe as he should in the high security prison, not with the imminent doom that was bound to come after each step he took down the hall with his co-workers.

"It's the only option we have left" the stern boss, known globally as Aaron 'Hotch' Hotchner from his stellar reputation, with as much of an expression reflected only in the cold concrete around them spoke as the three men approached the door, their shoes eerily clanking on the floor that alerted their presence into the silence, and although they weren't sneaking anywhere, Reid walked as lightly as possible to avoid that inevitable noise.

"We can't just let her out Hotch- it took the FBI over 2 years to track her down, what if she escapes? She's a literal murderer, not some sort of teammate" the man on the other side of his boss barked; Derek Morgan, the tallest of the three, spoke with no attempt to hide that the only reason he was walking into this prison was the fact he was still trying to talk Hotch out of going through with his plans.

"We always say that unsubs make the best profilers, she may be a psychopathic killer but she is proof of that theory down to a t- and she is our last resort, we have no choice, trust me" Hotch sighed before they came to a halt at the prison door that opened with a buzz  to reveal the very person they were talking about; the biggest threat to the FBI, the person who had tried to murder every single member of his team- and now, their only hope.

"Hello again boys" the surprisingly overly relaxed red haired woman smiled from the other side of the metal desk she was chained to, making Reid frown as she winked at him with the same level of cocky casualness that she had always had in the brief moments she had physically met the team, all of which ended with said casual cockiness laughing through an escape- well, all bar  one that led her into these shackles she seemed unbothered by.

"Glad the black eye has healed sweetheart; I was afraid I damaged your pretty little face forever" the woman teased, referring to the time they tried to catch her after a raid that ended with Reid beaten up with a polaroid of her stuck to his head just to taunt him.

"Good afternoon Miss Adams" a smartly suited Hotch nodded reluctantly, not liking this anymore than the others sat beside him.

"Oh please, my darlings, I think we're all close enough now to go by a first name basis" she winked, her gaze lingering on Hotch longer than the others with a wickedly smug smirk as he spoke her name that somehow still sent chills down Reid's spine every time he heard it.

Athena.

Athena Adams was the most dangerous type of unsub that the Profiling group in the FBI had dealt with.

She was smart; smart enough to not seem like a threat at first or even second glance.

The team realised all too late that she had all the skills to be a expert level profiler, and she absolutely used that against them when they were asked to track her down from the higher ups in the FBI- a big mistake on their part, a bigger mistake when they underestimated her the first time... something they would learn only fuelled someone like Athena more.

"Thank you for agreeing to talk to us Miss Adams" Hotch deliberately ignored her first name request, sitting opposite the young woman who shrugged in response with the ease of a person without a care in the world, not one serving five life sentences.

"Did I really have a choice? You guys are like my own little stalkers."

Reid found an audible scoff escape his lips at her remark, a snark of anger bubbling out in the only way he could let it.

"Oh I'm sorry buddy, I guess that's a pretty sore subject for you" Athena smirked at him even before the scoff arrived, knowing what would come from her words, knowing it would make him wince at the memory.

Just two years prior, Reid's girlfriend was murdered by her stalker who managed to escape the FBI during their raid, of which Reid and the team was apart of. 

The team then spent months trying to track Diane Turner down to no avail, Reid begging Hotch not to pull the plug on the operation when new cases piled up but it was no use- that was until Diane's dead body was placed on the FBI steps a day after the case was dropped with a letter, a taunt of sorts for their incompetence to catch the killer, on purple paper; from an 'A. Adams.'

That was the first time that the team heard from Athena, but certainly not the last.

"We've come here to offer you a deal" Hotch interrupted Athena and Reid's staring match that felt as if it could burn a hole in the universe.

"How kind of you" the sarcastic voice responded, eyes still locked onto Reid before she turned her attention lazily to Hotch, "and why would I want your deal?"

"For one it means you'll get to leave here, not that you deserve to" Morgan spat from the corner of the room with a steady level of seething in his voice alone.

Derek Morgan wasn't the type to be quiet with how much he didn't like Athena during their chase for her, which of course made her taunt him more than the others when she was on the run, leaving quite an understandable hatred towards her.

"Who says I want to leave sweetheart? Despite what you may think given the everything about me, I'm doing pretty well in here" Athena shrugged, referring to her 5'3 frame and seemingly non-threatening demeanour.

"We know about the fights" Hotch revealed, almost being able to see her body react with a flinch for a split second, but it went so fast that he couldn't be sure.

"Then you should know that I won all of them" Athena smiled as she leant forward towards him with a quiet whisper, "that was always you agents problem; you underestimate women in my field of work, no matter how many times we kick your asses."

"She's not going to take the god damn deal, let's just go and save our braincells" Morgan shook his head with a quickly burning fuse that Athena wanted to fan more, but Hotch stayed put in her way, he was not the type of man to back from a challenge- especially when he had no other choice.

"Athena, we're asking you to join the BAU" he spoke bluntly, his words forcing her cocky demeanour falter slightly, almost scaring the three men with how unmasked it was for that brief moment- but only for that moment.

"Is this some kind of an attempt at a prank? Or are you all actually that stupid?" She spoke mockingly once again.

"Despite your endless list of crimes and offences, our head office have agreed that when you were sending us letters was when our cases finished the fastest. We originally thought it was because you were doing the killings, but now we know it's just because of your skills as a profiler and..." Hotch took a sigh at what his boss was forcing him to ask, "the FBI want to take you onto the team."

Athena paused for a moment with a suspicious eyebrow raised at him, an interest that he was quick to cling to.

"It would be a temporary case to case basis and you would be under my supervision at all times" he continued before sliding a single piece of contracted paper over the table, "you would be serving part of your jail time on the team, and your charges would be lessened to transfer you to a prison to live out the rest of your life sentence if you proved a valuable asset on this temporary case- which means none of your usual antics." 

The silence of the room grew to an uncomfortable level even for the split second that Athena dipped her gaze to the paper before it met Hotch's still strong gaze once again with a less than impressed expression.

"Do you really think I'm as much of an idiot as you so clearly are? This is obviously a trap; the paper is far too short to be anymore than just a contract saying I won't kill you guys on this clearly fake case- and that loser of yours, Dr Reid, has been changing how he crosses his arms every 5 seconds which means he knows you're lying about the paper and-" Athena started listing,  pushing the paper back to him with her somehow perfectly manicured nail, going to explain how she knew more before pausing at Hotch's slight smile that earned a realisation of an eyeroll from her.

"Ahhhh- but you knew I'd figure that out, right? That was some kind of test I assume?" Athena prompted, turning to mock Reid once she got her nod of confirmation from Hotch.

"You should be an actor sweetie, almost had me there- it's a shame you aren't a good agent or you might just have been able to save your little girlfriend" she teased the most bashful member of the group who had been trying to create tells to throw her off, making him uncross his arms and force himself to ignore her, hating how she so easily got under his skin.

"I don't think you or your agents would be too happy for me to join their Scooby doo missions-" Athena swapped her attention from Reid to the rigid agent across the table before dropping her tone as she  lent towards him with a growing sinister smile, "-so that means I obviously have to do it."

Derek Morgan's eye roll was almost audible with how frustrated he was as he turned and stormed out of the room with no attempt to hide his burning anger, an anger that Athena clearly took great amusement in before Hotch nodded for the guard to take off her cuffs and they began to leave too, already regretting his decision to go along with what the higher ups had ordered as Athena began spouting seemingly endless throw away taunts and 'witty' remarks.

"Does this mean that I get a gun?" Athena asked with a relaxed ease to her voice as Hotch, Reid and her walked through the cell hallway to Morgan.

"Absolutely not" Hotch spoke sternly, not bothering to look at her as he did, ignoring her shrugged response and wickedly teasing smile.

"That's fine, I'll just get my own gun my way."

Hotch suddenly stopped mid stride with a dagger like stare down at her that only invoked laughter instead of the fear and occasional dampened pants that most people responded with when met with that look from him.

"Woah! Calm down Mr suit, learn to take a joke; it'll stop those icky frown lines of yours, you know you'll never get a second wife with those" she smirked as she continued to walk, a walk that was intercepted as Hotch grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him quietly whilst Reid joined Morgan ahead of them.

"This isn't some sort of joke Athena; you are a murderous criminal that I am being forced to trust with my team. I have no problem sending you back here the moment that you even think about stepping out of line. You need to learn to shut your mouth and do as you're told or you will be right back to rotting behind bars and picking fights to get your nails done- do you understand me?" His stern rage was controlled, but boot-shakingly scary to any person who it was directed at, any sane person that was since Athena seemed very much unaffected by it- more amused if anything, nodding dramatically with a smirk still lingering on her lips that she mockingly locked and pretended to throw the key to away.

Hotch let go of her arm but not his lingering anger as they continued to walk, catching up to Reid and Morgan quickly as they waited at the end of the hall with a clear lack of enthusiasm.

"Now that was hot" Athena teased Hotch, earning a grossed-out expression from Reid.

"Oh don't worry sweetheart, you're cute too" she winked at him, making him shake his head and tried to ignore her many teases she was more than ready to throw but was too distracted by something far more urgent to do.

"Do I get a change of clothes or is this jumpsuit a new team uniform you'll all be wearing too? Because I really don't think orange is any of your colours- I, on the other hand, look undoubtedly terrific in this" Athena gestured to her outfit, unable to help adding a quick quip as the group reached the front gates she hadn't seen in months.

"I'm not going to miss that one or her cocky attitude" the guard manning the door insulted as he passed Hotch the outfit that had been brought in for her.

"Now, now, don't be telling fibs my dear Bradly, we both know that you liked to be around me; peaking into the shower on your shifts, sitting outside my cell, getting your hand 'caught' in the bars when I saw you- how is the hand doing now by the way?" Athena turned her attention to him, blowing a mocking kiss and gesturing to his casted hand as she half teased and half threatened through a heightened version of her natural Irish accent that Hotch profiled would come out when she was hiding her anger.

"Athena, go get changed, Morgan; stand outside of the bathroom door to make sure she doesn't do anything she's not supposed to" Hotch ordered before leaving with the now sheepish guard to see the head of the prison for the finale signing of her removal.

"No peaking" Athena winked at Morgan as she shut the door "or do- I wouldn't blame you."

He rolled his eyes and turned his back to the door as Reid stood next to him, shaking his head, "this is insane, right? What are the chances that this doesn't end with her killing all of us and escaping? Working with criminals never has historically gone well."

"0.021%" Athena called out from the cubical before Reid could respond, he nodded reluctantly in agreeance.

"But that is going off some bullshit statistic from the 1920's and women weren't even used in those tests so who knows, you might have a fighting chance boys- but I doubt it, you guys are shit at fighting, historically" she teased as she came out in her new clothe consisting of a navy strappy bodysuit tucked into a pair of straight legs black mom jeans with an oversized, open button-down work shirt thrown over and a pair of black heeled booties.

"Ta da! Almost looks like I haven't been locked up for months" she let her hair down and smiled at the two.

"It's alright fellas you can have a peak at me, calm down- we're basically besties now."

"We most certainly are not" Reid said, trying to sound stern which made her laugh as they walked over to Hotch.

"I like this one's new attitude- it's so much more interesting than his lame 'ouch, my girlfriend died, woe is me' one that he had" she mocked, getting into the back of the SUV and sitting next to Reid who shifted awkwardly away from her.

"Oh come on sweetie, I don't bite... unless you want me to."

"That's enough" Hotch ordered "don't make my agents uncomfortable."

"Her being here does that on its own" Morgan said from the passenger seat as they drove.

"See? Even muscles for brains gets it; if my very presence makes you all uncomfortable, why can't I have a little fun?" Athena teased making Morgan roll his eyes at her comment, recalling the time she sent him on a wild goose chase to catch her that ended with him trapped in a bathroom for 7 hours with a recording of her terribly singing to him before the team found him only because she sent them a note with his location on it.

Athena was known known for many things; terrific hair, a heart stopping wink and enjoying teasing the BAU team as she tried to kill them.

And now that they were going to have to 'work' with her, they all knew she was going to be so much worse. 

"You are a temporary member of this team now and you will learn to behave like one, that means behaving accordingly and not sexually harassing my agents, or bringing up anything from before you were put into prison to be able to mock or taunt them; do you understand me?" Hotch ordered over his shoulder, the SUV coming to a stop outside of the FBI building.

Athena paused, reading his 'cold, professional, distant and serious' face with a whiff of something else she almost laughed at when she realised what it was.

"Oh my- you haven't told them, have you?" There was a hint of a smile in the corner of her lips, he shifted awkwardly but kept his firm gaze forward.

"Told us what?" Morgan asked but Hotch just got out of the car, Athena shaking her head and smiling with amusement whilst she followed them out.

"She's with us" Hotch gestured to the guard who nodded and let them through, grimacing at Athena as she passed.

All the agents of the FBI knew her face, all of them shared a similar low opinion on the woman who had at one point in time tried to kill most of the people in the building either on purpose or by proxy.

"Bye bye Gomez darling, see you in your dreams" she winked at him as they stepped into the elevator.

"Stop that" Hotch ordered, ignoring her fake pouty face up at him.

"You're no fun anymore."

"Anymore?" Reid noted as they stepped out onto the BAU floor, Athena smiling to herself as she followed.

"That's for Mr Hotchner to explain."

"Oh my god you really got her?" Emily Prentiss, an ex Interpol turned FBI agent, exclaimed, watching them walk into the briefing room with Athena in tow, doing a twirl at the almost disgusted faces.

"We didn't think you'd go through with it" David Rossi, Hotch's oldest friend on the team, shook his head in shock.

"I like the new salt and pepper hair there Rossi, is it a style choice or just because you're like 200 years old now?" Athena winked at him before the room fell into a deep silence that made even the quietest of men like Reid uncomfortable.

"Aw come on guys! We're co-workers now- let's meet at the water cooler and talk about office romances behind each other's backs" Athena mocked in an over the top fake American sitcom accent, making eye contact with newly agent promoted JJ who knew that Athena knew her secret and quickly looked away.

"We are not co-workers" Morgan snapped, marching over to her, "you are a psychopathic killer who we happen to need because you're disposable enough to do whatever the FBI tell you to- you are bound to mess up and when you do I will personally throw you back into that jail cell myself."

Athena barely blinked up at the fumes coming from his ears, mockingly smiling in response, "aw Morgy, I missed our little dynamic; you hate me, I love that you do- this is so us right now, but you should step away from me now before you start something that you can't finish with that tone darling."

"Don't call me darling" Morgan found himself automatically stepped back, shaking his head with anger at the fact he was being made to work with the woman who had been tormenting him and his team, his friends, for almost 3 years- not to mention how annoying and petty she was to seemingly him the most.

"O-oh!" A clearly terrified voice squared as she walked into the office and froze seeing the woman who terrified her to her core in person for the first time.

"Hey babe, I like the new hair style" Athena winked at the resident computer genius, Penelope Garcia, as she sat down in fear, avoiding eye contact.

"You guys are really bad at taking compliments" Athena shook her head.

"Be quiet Miss Adams."

"Yes sir" she smirked at Hotch's order which made everyone more than uncomfortable.

"Garcia, please begin" he continued as she started the presentation, knowing that it was going to be hard working with Athena.

"Y-yes of course" Garcia stammered trying not to look at Athena who had boots up on the table and was playing with her hair, not paying any attention to the briefing she always mocked them for having.

"This is sergeant A. Crowell; he was found dead in his home by his wife after she was away for the weekend; his throat slit and he repeatedly stabbed with an unknown, slim, cone shaped object. This is a similar attack to the 4 that have happened in Texas the last 3 months" Garcia explained the powerpoint that made her stomach turn just thinking about the crime scene photos she refused to look to at the projector.

"All Military personnel?" Rossi asked, trying not to look with confusion at Athena who had gotten up and was staring out the window of the briefing room into the offices, clearly gathering an internal look at the BAU office's and plotting multiple plans to escape like they all knew she could.

"Negative, it's only sergeant Crowell" she responded casually over her shoulder, seemingly not paying attention but still listening in, Hotch glancing at her in response.

"Sit down."

"Some of us need to move to think, not everyone is a stoic wacko like you."

"Care to share what you're thinking then? Or do you just want to write it on a piece of paper and leave it on a dead body again?" Morgan mocked sharply with an eye roll that made Athena smile smugly.

"Oh Dery, I thought you idiots would never ask" she mockingly gushed, waltzing over to Garcia and the projector.

"If you wouldn't mind going on your little laptop there sweetheart and confirming that the other 3 victims were either CEO's or high up executives; one must be involved with wall street in some way, you know, classic asshole jobs-" she nodded to Penelope who shakily typed before looking up at Hotch with surprise.

"She's right."

"Of course I'm right, I always am- And it's also so incredibly obvious that this- what do you call them again?" Athena looked at Hotch who sighed in response to her less than professional approach to everything.

"Unsubs."

"Ah! Right, like Aliens" she nodded, Morgan hating that her comment made him hide a small chuckle in his throat, fighting it like he seemed to find himself always having to do around the woman who made his blood boil.

"Anyway, this 'unsub' clearly has an intense hatred of men in power. I get it, they're all dickholes" she winked at the 'boss' in the room, Hotch trying to give no reaction as she continued and spoke to Garcia, "I'd bet you anything that if you did your little typy thing that you'd find all of them have had some kind of sexual harassment complaints or charges."

Penelope nodded, typing faster than humanly possible before showing the screen to the group that indeed confirmed what was being said.

"Thanks doll- This is why I think that our unsub is, drum roll please-" Athena said but nobody did, earning an eye-roll.

"-A woman! I know, how shocking!" She mocked with a fake gasp.

"What else makes you think that? It could be a male victim of sexual harassment going after them" Morgan pointed out.

"That's a good point Mr 'men need more rights'-" she spoked to him sarcastically "-but how many men do you know who wear 6 inch stiletto heels and are into women?"

"What?" 

"The mysterious weapon looks awfully similar to these" she placed her foot on the table and dramatically gestured the group to her pointy heel of her boots.

"By the way it's dumb you make your female agents wear heeled boots on cases, the amount of times I've been able to out-run those two because I was wearing sneakers is insane" Athena mocked Hotch as JJ folded her arms in defence.

"We aren't made to wear anything that we don't want to."

"Oh so you just don't have any fashion sense then?" Athena mocked towards JJ's pantsuit before turning back to Hotch.

"The woman is probably just a tad taller than boobs for brains over there, probably had a negative interaction with one or all of these men; my money is on this one, he just looks slimy- oh, and he has the most signs of anger in his throat slice of course. If I were to guess I would say maybe she works at a bar or 'gentleman's' club, somewhere these assholes would all go to gawk at women who had no interest in them but were forced to give them the time of day, or were too drunk to see what uglies they really were" Athena sat back down casually as the team stared.

"What?"

"How did the murderer just single handily create a coherent profile and get us halfway through this case within the first 5 minutes?" Emily shook her head in frustration.

"Yeah no offence but it takes you guys waaaaay too long to figure out the staring obvious stuff" Athena shrugged smugly, "or full offence, I really don't care about your feelings."

"We would have figured that out if she gave anyone else a chance to speak" Morgan rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself to make you feel more of a man doll face, it's not my fault you're all incompetent idiots."

"'Idiots' who put your ass in prison" Morgan reminded.

"Only because I let you, maybe my ass liked being caught by you" she mocked with a wink, leaning on the table towards him.

"Wheels up in 10; Athena, sit down and don't leave this room until I come to get you" Hotch interrupted before the two could erupt into a full argument that was brewing.

"I'm not a dog" she rolled her eyes as he left, Reid watching her from across the room whilst everyone else left.

"Stop trying to study me, it won't work" she suddenly turned to him, he frowned at her comment as she got up and walked over to him, earning a guarded stance, "oh don't worry sweetie, I won't kick your ass... again."

"You had a gun to my head and had pretended to be one of the hostages, since we hadn't seen your face before I didn't think you were much of a threat" he pointed out.

"Because you thought 'A.Adams' was a man, right?" She raised a judgemental eyebrow at him before cocking her hip and whispering closer to him, "I want you to know, Reid, that even though I am here, and I am complying- I am most certainly still a threat. Do you wanna know who I'd kill first?"

"You're insane" he stepped back in disgust.

"I'm kidding! I wouldn't kill any of my new best friends" she laughed sarcastically, hands on her hips.

"We are not your friends" he brushed her off, going to walk past her before she whispered once again, making him pause his stride with two simple words.

"Maeve was."

"She didn't tell you about me? You weren't her only phone pal" Athena tilted her head, sitting down in a chair as he turned to her.

"You're... you're lying."

"You've been studying my face from the moment you entered that prison, you wouldn't know if I was lying, right?"

She was right; he had been trying to find tells and ticks to be able to tell what she was really thinking but he couldn't find anything. 

Everything she said was purposeful and structured to seem casual that even her most outlandish lies were believable- so believable that he wondered if everything she said could be a lie, of which it mostly was. 

"We're ready to go" Hotch interrupted at the door, sensing the tension in the room immediately.

Athena gave a simple smile to Reid and whispered one finale taunt as she walked past him, "you were't the only one who she said 'I love you' to."

Before she could make it to the door, he suddenly grabbed her wrist in anger and tugged her back, anger being an emotion Reid didn't often have.

To his surprise, she stepped close to him in response, obviously enjoying the unusual emotion she managed to get out of him, enjoying seeing her taunts work, enjoying seeing herself succeed in the cruelest of ways.

"Reid, she's lying to get a reaction out of you" Hotch sighed when he saw her smirking.

"Uh oh, boss man's right- I'm too interesting to be boring little Maeve's type" she winked and pulled her arm, "touch me again and you'll either find yourself in the ground or in my bed sweetheart."

Reid stood in anger from her endless taunts watching her leave before grabbing his bag and following with one thought in his mind for the trip ahead;

This was going to be a long car ride.