FIC: Humanity (Crimin4l Numb3rs)
As promised, here is the next fic in the Crimin4l Numb3rs series.
The next prompt is 'learning.'
Title: Humanity
Series: Crimin4l Numb3rs
Author: Valerie Vancollie
Characters: Megan, Colby, (Don)
Rating: PG
Summary: Megan muses on the complexities of humanity.
Spoilers: Judgment Call, Protest, Longshot
Timeline: As before, while this story should be read as the third one in the series, chronologically it takes place shortly before Conversation and long after Starting Over.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Numb3rs characters, items or situations. I only lay claim to the original aspects of the fic.
Megan Reeves sighed as she looked at the file. She should be happy; she had more information than normal to compile a profile with, but the source of the intel bothered her. It came from the FBI databank, the personnel (or former personnel) databank.
"Eppes was a tactical instructor at Quantico."
"What?!" Colby demanded, shocked. "Let's hope he didn't know his material very well."
"No, let's hope he did. Better to have one well-informed criminal than a slew of poorly trained agents."
"True," Colby admitted, hesitating. "I guess you were right about the similarities in the backgrounds of agents and criminals."
"But that's just it, there's nothing in Eppes' past to even suggest this!"
"And in his father's file?"
"Alan Eppes was suspected of working to overthrow the government, though the group claims to have been peaceful protestors. It doesn't fit with Eppes' crimes."
"What's going on then? Why did he turn against the Bureau?"
"He's hasn't, not really. Yes, he's taken to crime, but he hasn't targeted the Bureau. In fact, the early crimes he's suspected of weren't in our jurisdiction. He seems to have been quite careful about that."
"So why kill the cop in Illinois?"
"I don't know. It doesn't fit his style. Something must have happened, something unexpected."
"More unexpected than an agent turning criminal?"
"Something," Megan mused thoughtfully.
It simply didn't fit; not the way it normally did. Don Eppes was one of those complexities that had originally fascinated her so about human nature. He fell outside of the normal behavior patterns for both agents and the criminals they normally saw. There was something she was missing, some critical pieces of information that would explain why such a promising agent who was rising so quickly through the ranks would suddenly abandon his career and principles.