BLUE.
season seven —— episode eleven
( part ii )
chapter ten —— if you need a drink
BEFORE SECRET AGENTS ARE ALLOWED INTO THE FIELD there is a profuse amount of 'in house' training that goes on - firstly there is the artistry needed to swap identities within a moments notice, agents are required and expected to blend into crowds with nothing but their words or stand out in shopping malls (because security focuses on your prominent features — whether that be a dark cap and glasses, or heels and a mini skirt, so changing outfits to stand out in a separate section of a store, airport or even on the street is incredibly important).
Secondly, and it's odd, but being prepared for the worst. Whilst training they have a mantra, repeated through the newest recruits to the ones that have failed weapons training three times over, (honestly the only reasons the weapon failures weren't let go was because they knew too much, and the CID in particular needed agents who could focus solely on paperwork). The mantra is simple; 'prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare, and go do your shit'.
Third is to fear for your life, and subsequently fear for your job. Not many people got placed into big cases, some were only lucky enough to get the odd drug bust — but if you were big time, im talking already having five years on the job almost losing your mind big time, then you got the good ones. Agents that had been in the game for more than five years were given the big guns, they were given the psycho big name killers, dealers, abusers, thieves, where one wrong move would be enough to have you lying face up, six foot under for the rest of your dead eternity.
The easiest of the training regimes (for most people that is), would have to be the physical and weapons training — and it wasn't just classical weapons or learning how to throw a punch either. Each trainee would be handpicked and placed into a specific training program; this program separates the actual candidates with the ones that got in because of a family name, it separates the weak from the strong, the tall from the short (actually the last one didn't do anything because Jude Levy had been shorter than fifty seven of sixty four applicants and yet she was the one who had come out with the top scores on every test and exam — oh yeah, Jude Levy set records for fieldword exams).
Programs like these teach the trainees how to recognise a glock 17L over a glock 34, they teach almost every martial art known to man, and a special group would learn four types of martial arts within their first year. They had done a poll the year before Jude completed her training, a poll organised by already graduated agents who had wanted to rile up the older agents; it had been very childish and humorous at the same time — as these things often were, 'what is the most crucial weapon to study'. The highest voted answer had been nunchucks, but Jude herself had voted for the longsword, finding the katana a precise and much more efficient weapon — regardless of the fact that no one had used swords or katanas in a very long time.
The fifth and final action of training was one that had taken place since the very beginning of the apprenticeship. The 'devil is in the detail' had always been the most appropriate summary of this criteria. When agents first enter the CID for training they are proposed a question in the form of a man sitting at a desk, they are required to answer the question 'happy or sad' within the first four minutes of looking at the photo of the man. The man has no smile, but he has no frown either, his eyes are closed and it looks as though he is breathing out — his shoulders are raised and feet propped up on a little stool under his desk, (now Jude had written that he was happy, however had made an offhand comment about how no one with a desk job was ever happy).
All in all, training was harsh. It was lengthy and tiresome and resulted in Jude Levy being unable to maintain any of the relationships she had made during school (how fucking sad, am i right), but she hadn't known what she was to do without her job — it was the only one she had ever known, she had been eighteen years old and on the fast track to being one of the pest secret agents the CID had seen. Because she had been eighteen with a traineeship, flying from state to state , Jude was unable to get that original 'college feel', she had never been blackout drunk until the age of twenty four, and by then her limit of 'seven before tipsy' had turned to 'three and ditzy'.
Jude hadn't known what she would ever do without her job at the CID, her life had become so twined around this web of false identities and lies that she used to wonder if she would ever escape — or if she would be consumed by the spider. She used to wonder what it would be like to have a normal job, a '9 to 5', hell she already had the house to match, but then she thinks about what Atlas had once said about her commitment issues and how the only person or thing she would ever be there for is Mason. So maybe it had been good to have a job where every few years, sometimes every few months, something changed.
And then the BAU had been thrown into the mix, an unrelenting force that wanted to break everything she had created for herself — but the strange thing was, she was willing to let them. It had been two weeks now, and the team were currently working on a case, but with the 'revival' of the zodiac killer, Jude had been forced back into her head, back to training and everything she had broken her way through.
Jude acknowledges that not everyone is going to like her — especially after the stunt she had pulled in Montana, and slowly but surely she would be losing respect from Aaron Hotchner and Jude (who has never been a people person) feels compressed inside of her body, she feels like every time she states an opinion that is a little off the rails or every time she announces 'fuck' casually during the investigation that she will be told 'dont bother coming back on monday'.
So once they arrived at the station (after the hot docs brilliant take down of some whacko who wanted his five seconds of fame — who wanted fame from being related to a killer anyways?) Jude had decided to 'dial it down to two from five', which is considerably hard to do considering that less than three weeks ago she had been sipping on Bacardi with Odessa Croft — the biggest weapons dealer in western europe.
The woman had been on the phone for the past half an hour, trying to contact the head of media companies to question if they had gotten any disturbing or unregistered mail sent to any P.O. boxes. So far the search had come up empty, however, Jude had learnt that if you said you were from the FBI rather than using the excuse 'im writing an article for a school paper', they gave out the information a lot quicker, (they also didn't ask to be cited after every three words, or ask to email photos of their dogs — never cats).
Her eyes watched as Agent Lin walked solemnly across the office floor, and after seeing her walk in the direction of Hotch and JJ, Jude had hung up the phone she was using and tried to stealthily rush over to hear the conversation.
"Lab results are back on the piece of fabric. The DNA doesn't match the original cab driver" Jude let out a small 'woohoo' given that she had been correct. "And the cloth is fairly new, it was distressed to seem old"
The agent let out a disappointed laugh "guess i was foolish to think it was the real zodiac", Jude had wanted to be rude and say 'yes incredibly foolish', but she bit down on her cheek, really forcefully, to stop herself from being too harsh to the saddened woman.
"It wasn't foolish" Jude promises, gaining a nod of appreciation from JJ who would have been the person to try and console the agent. "Whoever did this — killed these people, went to great lengths to make it believable that the Zodiac was back after forty years."
"And he was criminally sophisticated enough to pull it off"
"Question is, why?" Hotch titled his head towards Jude once JJ and Agent Lin had wandered off — Jude wasn't sure but she thought the two might have been going to talk to an old detective's wife once again.
"Anything from the agencies?" he questioned aloud, heading in the direction of Reid's set up.
"Uh, nothing yet. Honestly, it's just an abundance of people claiming that they hadn't seen neighbours in their driveways, or that there had been a commotion in the street — I was going to have Garcia run the names of neighbours, but those locations are all remote, and i've just got this feeling like its a local ya know, someone who can be in the vicinity but not be questioned" when Jude Levy has a lot to say she says it all, there is no structure it just becomes blurred words falling off of a cliff that so happens to be her mouth. Hotch paused for a moment, the bobbing of his head from front to back had stiffened.
"Focus on papers that haven't published anything about the zodiac, smaller ones"
Jude smiles widely at the unit chief who had continued his walk to Spencer, "will do Captain" she called out, raising her hand as a quick salute.
Scurrying back to her small set up by the window (the third floor did give an alright view), on a table with a wobbly leg, Jude was quick to pull out the comprised list of neighbours missing and or streets that had had complaints of noise or violence in the last two days — something had been a trigger.
Picking up her phone the redhead frowned at the sight of a missed call from an unknown number — Jude hated those, you could never ring them back, although she supposed that was why they were unknown in the first place.
"Green for go" is hear from the other side of the line after Jude dialled Penelope, she didn't really know what she was doing, not to the extent that Derek and Jenifer did, but Jude could bullshit a clown into studying law, she's sure she could bullshit her way into finding a killer.
"Fairy godmother help me" she mockingly cried, eyes creasing as she read over the case files she had been handed with slight displeasure — like how many times did someone need to call a noise complaint or call in a distressed domestic violence attack for people to actually do something about it?
"Anything for you, my devil in red" the clicking of computer keys from beyond the line allowed Jude the impression that Penelope would willingly drop everything and anything for anyone on the team within moments and without a shadow of doubt.
"The names i sent over earlier — the ones about the noise complaints, can you check to see if any of them have got a record of abuse, a genius level IQ, or if any had ever lived in a 40 mile radius to the original kill point? It might have been from when they were a child."
Penelope lets out an amused laugh, "it's not the can, it's the when — children's records are sealed by the state but i can get you that abuse list in a moments notice"
"Thanks Penny" Jude sighed, relieved that something she had thought of actually pad off
"Anytime Judy, anytime"
Penelope clicks off of the call first, and Jude is left with the ramifications of forgetting to ask for things she needs, meaning Judes got forty-three small business newspapers to go over and see if anything had been sent in by the wannabe astrology killer.
The calls are mostly pointless, there were seven papers that had had people come to place adds in their papers, but a majority of the companies she had spoken to had decided to be downright rude and nasty, especially when Jude had asked who shoved a stick up their asses — that had gotten a screaming from the other side of the line and Jude not being bothered to apologise so she had hung up on them.
It had been the commotion about ten minutes after her twenty fifth call that allerted Jude of the time, "what's happening" she had questioned Prentiss who was walking over to ask the exact same thing.
"The decoded message in the comments, apparently the UnSub is going to kill again tonight in Golden Gate Park" JJ stated, appearing out of thin air from around the corner and scaring the living daylights out of Emily.
"So they're all going tonight then?" The dark haired woman asked after her breathing slowed to a normal pace.
"They should be, considering it's their job and all" JJ jokes, watching in confusion as Jude walked back to her set up and began to collect all of her items and the files.
"Well it's my job to call these fucking agencies — which all close in an hour by the way, and I shall do so from the comfort of my motel room" Jude huffed and walked todards the elevator, not giving the brunette and blonde a moment to even say goodbye.
"She's literally the person most prepared for this" Emily pointed out, her coat long forgotten laying over the back of a chair.
"I know"
INTERMISSION.
Crime doesn't sleep; yeah well neither does Jude Levy apparently, unknown number calls that pended throughout the night seemed to plague her. The redhead had answered three of the multitude of calls to her phone from the hours of 1 am, and 5 am. The answers to the calls were always the same, heavy breathing and the ticking of a clock (something Jude wouldn't have been able to pick up on if it hadn't been for the motel's horrible grandfather clock in the corner of the room).
Sleep deprived, hungry and confused had never looked better as Jude stood within a cornered off crime scene with black sunglasses over her eyes, a steaming coffee in one hand, and four satchels of sugar in the other — as much as she hated the disgusting mixture, the rush of energy provided was nice.
"Tara Hanson was a teacher, Alec Wyseck was a lawyer. They had dinner at a nearby restaurant and were taking an evening stroll."
"The M.E. said Alec's throat was slit and he was stabbed twice in the back. Tara was stabbed 20 times in the abdomen and torso."
"Overkill on the female again."
"Whoever is doing this has some fucked up way of looking at 'kill your demons'" Jude jokes, pulling a face as she sipped on her drink. "What?" she asks innocently as Hotch and JJ raise their eyebrows at the exact same time, agent Lin sent a small smile her way but Jude just scoffed.
"I mean it literally, 'killing the demons'. It's obvious from the amount of stab wounds that they have a deep routed hated for this particular women, but for some reason they can't take their anger out directly onto this women, so instead they seek out other viable options — women that have the same hair colour, same nose shape, same height, and they do all of this until they work up the courage to finally face their 'demon'" ah, if only Vera could see her now, how she was solving problems with words rather than her fists, she would have been shocked.
"So sooner or later he's going to try and kill the person these women are surrogates for" JJ says following on with Judes idea.
"Exactly" the redhead agrees, waving her pointer in the blondes direction.
"He left this on the park bench" Agent Lin announced, handing over a forensic bag that contained a necklace coated in dried blood.
"It was Nicole's. Her nickname was Kiki"
Jude's attention was brought to Rossi and Morgan entering the warderned off area, "the courier said the envelope was left, with cash, in their dropbox".
"The messenger himself had a clean record. He's a star employee" Morgan adds, tilting his head in confusion when he spot's Jude wearing the sunglasses.
"This was a targeted message for an individual - very different M.O." Rossi continues, shaking his head.
"What if the reason the first crime scene was a resemblance of the Zodiac's was because the UnSub feels some sort of connection towards it?" Jude's brain is going a mile a minute and running on fumes has not helped her thought process speed up.
"He's gonna have a connection, it was a copycat kill" Morgan reasons.
Jude rolls her eyes, "When i was in highschool they introduced the Zodiac to my Chem class, it was a 'where would he have to have shot from situation', but after those lessons there had been ongoing bets to see who could solve the mystery — that's why i know why it's not the zodiac, because this kill is a ripoff of the ones we would reenact at school"
"So this person could have become obsessed with the Zodiac killer during childhood" Jenifer states, her eyes finding Jude's with a small grin.
"And this woman is both the stressor, and the reason that the motive was targeted, because while she's still here the killer thinks she is in the way of his obsession." Jude summorises quickly, turning her back on the team and walking towards the nearest trash bag to throw her drink away.
Only when she was a good few meters away from the others did she finally breathe. She felt like she was doing the right thing, but opening up about her life previous to being in the FBI was benign — it was like part of the world had been lifted off of her shoulder only for it to fall back down full force. She felt like nothing was going to make this feeling stop.
The buzzing of her phone however, was a cause for Jude to freeze.
"Who is this" she demanded hardly into the phone having noticed the no-caller ID pop up again, it was utterly frustrating, living without knowing, that is.
"Tick-tock Judy, times running out on your clock" a voice giggles, it's hard to pinpoint whether or not it is a male because it sounds so disjointed, but it also sounded like one of the clowns from a horror movie.
"What the fuck you creep" she spat shrilly, trying to walk further and further away from the team and any detectives or Agents that may overhear her conversation. "Who are you, and who the fuck is Judy?" she did this normally if something wasn't right, dissociated herself from her name — besides her phone plan had been paid for under a different name.
"Don't lie to me Judy" the voice taunts, she can imagine them swinging from a chair, throwing their head back and laughing.
"I'm not lying," she cries. See when Jude was younger all she wanted to be was famous, have a penthouse suit up in vegas and for everyone to know her name, and for a while it had been great! Then not so much, but thankful the acting lessons her parents had gotten her as a kid had paid off and not just been a waste of money and time.
"Yes you are Judy" the voice scolded, "and when people lie they lose their pups."
Jude was left paralysed when the voice hung up the call, all of five people knew what happened to her beloved pet — two were her parents, one was Jude herself, Vera was next and the other was dead. She didn't understand what was happening, why someone thought that it was a good idea to prank call her about something so horrible, but that was it wasn't it, other people found suffering funny and Juded won't lie and say that she's never laughed at someone tripping down stairs or falling over their own too feet, but she has never made a joke about dead pets, it was too sad.
"Agent Jude" a female voice called out from a while away. The voice had made Jude jump, unpausing time only to notice that she had allowed herself to cry.
"We're going back to the precinct now if you need a ride" Emily's voice trailed off at the end, having spotted the tear marks from under the other Agents glasses. The woman slowly places a hand onto Judes left shoulder, her eyes searching for something beyond the tinted glass.
"Are you alright Jude?" Emily questioned. It was earnest, something that Jude hadn't had in a while, an honest person come up and say 'you alright?', but Jude doesn't like help, she won't let other people try to piece together her broken pieces.
"No," she admits, fiddling with the silicone casing of her phone as a distraction. "But i will be fine" Emily's lips quiver between a sympathetic smile and a pitying frown at the woman's word choice, slightly confused that she had actually somewhat confessed that she was not doing too well — especially seeing as Emily had decided to disregard Jude's acceptance into the team just earlier in the week.
"Right," she says clasping her hands together in front of her black coat, "if you ever need to get a drink, call me". An odd gesture, but a gesture of goodwill nonetheless. Jude let out a small hearty laughed before nodding her head at the agent, let bygones be bygones right?
BLUE.
note ——— ahaha i love not
knowing what i'm doing. also this
is shit and i apologise.