There were so many ways that she could get caught, she knew that full well. But ever since her attempt at trying to have a career in law enforcement, after her partner of four years had been murdered and the police had done nothing to find his killer, and been denied due to her past, she knew that she had to come home to Quantico and fix everything that had gone wrong. After all, it was evident that since she had been railroaded into leaving that nothing had gone right.

Shaking her shoulders a little, Elle repositioned the camera in her hands and started to take a few more pictures of the incident that was unfolding before her. It was perfect, actually, that the BAU would be involved in something so chaotic, since it allowed her to go about relatively unnoticed by the people around her, also focused on the bank incident. It was even a bit fun to take pictures of her former section chief and David Rossi kissing, something that she knew would be frowned upon should it be discovered by the Director.

"Are you with the BAU?"

Elle looked up into the curious, open, face of a Capitol cop, and knew that he was half disposed to believe she was, since she still knew how to move like she belonged in the FBI. Giving him a slight nod, she held up the camera and then pointed to the scene. "I've been tasked to continue taking pictures of the area. If the group inside isn't working alone, they might have one of their partners hiding in the crowd, taking notes and passing information on to them. All these pictures are going to be uploaded to the Alpha team so that Penelope Garcia can analyze them and see if there are any known faces amongst them."

The subtle dropping of proper names seemed to further cement the belief that she was supposed to be on the scene, and the officer nodded before giving her a tight smile. "Very good. I just had to check."

"I completely understand. Now, if you don't mind, I need to get on with this."

"Of course." He moved off, and Elle let out a long breath as soon as he was out of earshot. It felt a little too close for comfort, and she pulled her hat a little lower on her brow in order to not be quite so noticeable to everyone. Bringing the camera to her eye once more, she focused in on the front of the bank, noticing that Will La Montagne was entering the building, and she tried to keep from smiling too gleefully when JJ had to be restrained from following after him. It was a bit of a shock that it took both Derek and Emily (her vastly overrated replacement, she couldn't help think) to hold the small woman back, but such was the power of love and stupidity.

A few more well-timed pictures, and then she allowed the camera to dangle from her neck as she took a look around the crowd gathered. There were more people leaving, since it was clear that this was going to be going on for some time to come, and she knew that this increased her likeliness of being discovered. Still, she wanted to stay and capture more images, to put together the pieces of who the team was now, so that she could better use that information against them in the future. They all thought they were so clever, that they were morally superior to anyone else in the world. Well, that all would change, and soon. She did feel badly, though, that Strauss would be caught in the crosshairs of this affair, since she hadn't really been in the middle of incident that had seen her leave the FBI. But, still, there were always bound to be some innocent bystanders caught in the middle of conflicts such as this.

Her phone vibrated against her hip, and she pulled it out, taking a look at the screen to see that her inside partner had gotten in touch with her, telling her that things were going well on his end. An almost wicked smile slipped across her lips before she slipped the phone back into her pocket and brought the camera to her face once more, taking a few more pictures of Strauss, Hotch, and Rossi as they talked. It was clear from the way they interacted that Hotch wasn't really listening to the woman, despite her being his boss, and that rankled her.

Elle frowned deeply as she zoomed in on Hotch's sanctimonious face, making certain to get a few close ups, in order to be better able to pick him out in a crowd while she was in the field with them. It was almost as if he felt the camera on him, though, since he glanced over her way, his sunglasses blocking his eyes. A small gasp slipped from her lips, and Elle ducked behind a pillar, holding her free hand close to her chest as she struggled to keep from hyperventilating. He hadn't really seen her, she knew, but her flight instinct was still so strong when it came to him.

Finally, she felt more in control of her body, and she stepped out again, finding that things had changed in the few moments that she had allowed herself to be distracted. There was a lot of activity now around the doors, and she wondered what had happened to bring about the flurry of motion. She wasn't prepared for the blast, but neither, it seemed, was Hotch, and Elle flinched as she tried to brace herself for the blowback from the explosion.

This seemed to be her perfect time to escape, to blend into the throng of people that were rapidly running from the scene, since it was now apparent that no one knew what was going to happen next. She stumbled a little, and a passing woman stopped to help right her. She gave her a small smile before ducking into a free alley, resting against the wall as she tried to catch her breath and remind herself that she was still alive, that nothing bad had happened to her. She just wondered if this would have any bearing on how her plan would come to fruition, or if she would have to readjust her endgame at all. The only thing she knew for certain in that moment was that Hotch was alive, and so her revenge could still be taken out on him.

Shaking her head to clear out the dust and lingering fear, Elle pulled off her hat and shoved it in the nearest trash can before pulling her hair out of its ponytail and then further blending into the crowd of people still making their way away from the epicenter. Her phone vibrated again, and Elle pulled it out, giving a small nod to no one before unlocking the device and bringing it to her ear. "I'm fine, I wasn't near enough the blast to be injured, and will be heading back to the rental to take a look at the pictures that I took today. If I need anything further from you, I'll contact you."

Hanging up before he could answer, she shoved the phone back into her pocket and carefully made her way back to the place she was calling home for as long as it took to see her plan through to the end.