It was dark and cold. The stone floor was damp, sucking away the fleeting warmth. The only source of light offered was a small light bulb above that burned dimly, a flicker here and there as if it couldn't hold on much longer.

Spencer's head had been pounding earlier, feeling as if the room was spinning slowly in a merry-go round of torture—but the dizziness had eased over time. He could feel his own blood trickle down the side of his temple, but he couldn't wipe it off with his hands bound tightly against the arms of the chair he was forced into. He wanted nothing more than to just go home to his quiet apartment and enjoy a new book under the light of a warm lamp...

But, Spencer couldn't fantasize about peace right now. He had to keep his mind sharp and focused if he were to have any chance of escaping. His brown eyes, tired and weak, looked up. The dim light felt almost too bright and too dark all at once, but he forced himself to push through.

A basement was where he was, but he didn’t know much more than that. He had woken up here, so he had no clues as to where exactly he was. Was he even in the same county? Had he been taken across state lines? How long had he been out? There was too many unanswered questions, but Spencer knew better than to ask them all at once. He’d work through this slow and steady to earn the best possible outcome.

"You don't want to hurt me," Spencer murmured quietly, almost gentle. "You aren't trying to hurt anyone, I get that. You just... think, differently, than everyone else—and that's what frustrates you so much, right? No one really understands you..."

Empathize. Show that you're on their side. Show that you aren't a threat to be eliminated, that you aren't an obstacle to be destroyed...

Spencer swallowed his nerves. He was scared, yes, but he had gone through this before. He was an agent, someone who ran case studies and protocols through his mind as a warm-up. He could do this. He ran everything he knew about the unsub before him as quickly as he could.

Hostage situations always had a chance to go horribly wrong so ridiculously quickly, so Spencer had to think especially careful right now. And, with an unsub growing erratic as they de-evolved, his chances of survival may quickly plummet.

He needed to find a way out.

"{{user}}," Spencer whispered.

"You need to let me go..."