Here ya go, peeps.
Title: When Anger Rises
Fandom: Criminal Minds
TW: Graphic depiction of torture.
"When anger rises, think of the consequences."
-Confucius
"Julia Warren. Twenty years old, working student at McDonald's. Roommate reported her missing at August fifth, body found three days later. Heads up, guys. This is,,,"
A picture of a young woman, eyeless, filled the screen. Spencer, who was facing the screen, paled. Emily sucked air between her teeth, swearing viciously under her breath.
"What happened?" Morgan asked.
"It looks like she literally clawed her eyes out. Look at the scars around her eye sockets. Jagged, as if fingernails instead of a sharp object was used to remove it. And there's the scratches around the eye sockets." Spencer said.
"That's not all." JJ continued. "Eighteen hours ago another woman went missing. Elain Mavis, also twenty years old. Her girlfriend said she was supposed to be home by six, never made it home."
"Let me guess: Working student." Rossi said. "How long does the Unsub keep them?"
"No more than three days."
"Which means we have two-and-a-half days to find and rescue Mavis and catch the Unsub." Hotch said. "Wheels up in twenty."
"Well, one thing is for certain," Emily remarked as she and Morgan studied the corpse. "the pictures don't do this justice. Reid was right: nail marks around the eyes from where she clawed her eyes out. "
"Most likely caused by whatever she saw under the influence of numerous LSDs. Look at the toxicology reports. A mix of LSDs were found in the victim's bloodstream."
"Wait," Emily said, "if the victim clawed her eyes out, doesn't that indicate that she's free? Why-" Just then her phone rang. Reid.
"Yeah? All right, on our way."
"Who was that?" Morgan asked.
"Reid. The police found Mavis."
"We are looking for a white male, probably in his forties, "Hotch began, "and based on how clean each crime scene is, it's most likely he had long mastered his craft. He knows how to wipe clean every place where he does his torturing and murder."
"Due to the levels of the multiple LSDs on the victim, it is clear that the Unsub has a vast array of knowledge in chemistry and have easy access of any psychedelics." Spencer added.
"He ix meticulous, has a lot of time in his hands to learn more of his...art." JJ finished.
"Hello, my lovelies. Tech Analyst Garcia here. Ask and ye shall receive." Garcia said.
"Garcia, I need you to pull out records of any employees that have been fired in Newhaven General Hospital." Morgan said. "Narrow the search to 'laboratory' and go back a least two to three years."
"Okey-doke. Let's see... Huh, Newhaven must be a very good hospital. Based on your specifications, the list I have contains no more than ten employees. And since I love you, I did the initiative and searched for the naughty ones. Peter Davis, forty-three years old fired six months ago for violent misconduct and theft of drugs most of which are, you guessed it, LSDs."
"Thanks, baby girl." Morgan replied, then to the team. "Garcia found our Unsub."
"Remember," Hotch warned, "Davis is armed and dangerous, and he might be with Williams. Reid, JJ, you two take point. Morgan and Prentiss, you cover the back. Dave and I will search the rest of the area. Go."
Spencer kicked the door open, JJ right behind him.
"FBI!" Spencer yelled. "Davis and Williams, if you're here, you're surrounded." Silence. Just then Emily rounded the corner.
"Where's Morgan?" Spencer asked.
"He-"
"Guys, I got movement." JJ interrupted, before running upstairs, Spencer and Emily following suit. A yelp, and JJ vanished.
"Jen!" Spencer shouted, then froze. JJ was held against Davis, a gun pressed to her side while a knife threatened to cut her carotid.
"Drop it." Davis snarled. Emily skidded to a halt beside Spencer, gun out.
"Drop it!" Davis repeated. Spencer's hands trembled, but JJ shook her head.
"It's all right." She whispered. "Do what he says."
Growling, Spencer complied, Emily joining him. Still holding JJ, Davis backed up in a room and vanished.
JJ woke up to a massive headache. And apparently chained to a stone slab, barefoot and (much to her horror) was wearing only her tank top, her dress shirt nowhere to be found , The room was dark, and she was shivering. Before her eyes could adjust to the darkness, the door of wherever she was opened, and she groaned
"Where am I?" The blonde asked as she saw who entered. He was pushing a cart, the contents rattling.
"Peter Davis, I presume?" JJ said, but met with silence. Rude. The stone table elevated as Davis pressed something underneath, bringing JJ to eye level with the tray. Her eyes widened as she saw the contents: Vials and syringes.
"Do you know what these do, Agent Jareau?"
"Well, it certainly made Julia Warren and Elain Davis rip their eyes out so I'm guessing nothing good." JJ said.
"Reactions differ but..." Davis grabbed her arm, before plunging the needle none too gently.
Davis wasn't even out of the door when JJ began screaming.
Emily paced her hotel room, seething. She hated it. Hated it. But Davis was right. Emily was at a disadvantage at that moment. No matter how fast she was, how fast Reid was, Davis was still faster. In a fit of rage she grabbed a pillow and hurled it across the room. Someone knocked then. Still raging inside, she yanked open the door. Anger turned into confusion.
"Reid Why are you here?" Only then did Emily notice the red eyes.
Then Reid was hugging her, body wracking with sobs.
"Hey, it's okay. I got you." Emily murmured. "I got you."
The two of them were on Emily's bed, the latter stretched out while Spencer lay down beside her. Subconsciously Emily began to rub circles on the back of Reid's hand with her thumb, a movement that calmed the doctor further.
"We'll find her, Reid. We'll find JJ and bring her home alive."
When Spencer looked up, there was unfathomable, almost terrifying, rage burning in his eyes, but they weren't aimed at Emily.
"But that Unsub won't be."
When JJ came to, she was free. Weird. She looked around her, but Davis was not in sight. Swinging her legs off the table, she unsteadily got to her feet. The latest LSD dose she got made her saw spiders, which surprisingly didn't faze her that much, unlike what she saw on her initial dose. She was in a room, she realized, empty save for the bed she was in, She went for the door and got out. From what she gathered, she must be in either a condominium or apartment building, given the doors. Curiosity taking over, she explored the hallway, She tested each one, finding them locked. When she reached the last door, she found it unlocked. Cautiously she opened it-and froze. In the middle of the rom was Davis, working on a self-made gallows. But it wasn't the device that made JJ's heart stop. It was the person hanging from the noose. Spencer.
"Spence!" JJ shouted, then grunted as she slammed against and invisible barrier. Davis finally took notice of her, and grinned.
"Good afternoon, Agent Jareau. You're just in time."
"No," JJ stammered, "please, don't. I'll do whatever you want, just please cut him loose."
In answer Davis tightened the noose.
"No, no. Please, don't. Please. PLEASE, DON'T! Please- SPENCE, NO!" JJ screamed as, right before her eyes, Davis kicked the box under Spencer's feet. JJ was sobbing, weakly banging against the partition as Spencer's neck snapped with a brutal crunch-
JJ jolted awake. Just a hallucination, she told herself. Spencer is alive, and the team are looking for you. JJ curled up into a ball, whimpering as the horrible visions filled her mind. The door banged open, and JJ let out a shriek. Davis stood by the doorway, a belt slung around an arm while holding a cattle prod.
"Let's amp up the ante, shall we?"
JJ gasped as the belt struck her spine with a crack, She was now held up an inch off he ground by manacles, the strain of being held aloft for hours starting to take its toll.
"What. Do you want. From me?" The blonde asked, panting through clenched teeth. Another strike, and this time JJ couldn't hold back the cry of pain.
"Do it." Davis hissed. "Beg."
JJ glared at the man. "Never."
Wrong answer. JJ screamed as the cattle prod was pressed against her stomach for a good five seconds.
"Beg for me."
"Fat chance-" Another round of the cattle prod. Davis went behind her.
"For your insubordination..."
Davis jammed the prod against JJ's tailbone, and JJ screamed as she was electrocuted. Without pausing Davis began to strike her between the shoulder blades with the belt. JJ was a mess, babbling incoherently as the excruciating pain threatened to drive her to insanity. Distantly she heard someone pleading, before realizing it was her, begging for mercy that would only come in the form of unconsciousness. Fortunately it did. Davis released her, and JJ fell to the ground, embracing the darkness.
The team finally tracked down Williams, but they couldn't get him to open up.
"Any luck?" Spencer asked Emily, who glared at him. right.
"Looks like he won't be talking anytime soon." Hotch said, sighing.
"If I may," Spencer began, "I'd like to have a go. I've gone over some history of his and I might be able to use it to my advantage."
So that's why, a few minutes later, Spencer and Williams were facing each other.
"Hi, my name is Dr. Spencer Reid." Spencer said, smiling. "Mind if I ask you a question?"
Williams shrugged.
"All right. I know you've been aske before but, where is Agent Jareau?"
Williams grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know."
"And he speaks." Spencer chuckled. Immediately he dropped the inquisitive facade, giving Williams a condescending smirk.
"You see, Williams, I figured you out. No, Williams is to formal. May I call you Albert? Maybe Al?" At the second name Williams flinched. Good, Spencer thought. He doesn't like it.
"Right. Like I said, I've figured you out. You think that attacking women, killing them the way you do-which, by the way, is extremely disturbing even by my standards- makes you strong. But that's not the case, Al. If anything, it shows how weak you are."
"Don't say that." Williams snapped.
"Say what, Al? Weak? All right, how about cowardly? You attack women because they are physically weaker than you, they can't fight back. But you see, Al, physical is not the only kind of strength."
"Stop calling me Al!"
"Why? Did your dear Mummy call you Al?" Spencer sneered. "Huh? Does the woman who loved you just a wee bit much, call you Al? Oh, I know all about it." Spencer said, grinning. "The abuse. Every day for five years? that must have been traumatic. Maybe she tells you "don't worry Al, Mummy's going to take care of you" before touching you? Or maybe when you feel sore after all that soccer practice, maybe she comforts you by saying "Al, baby, let me take care of that'."
"Don't call me Al!" Williams yelled, but there were tears in his eyes.
"Tears? Really? Pathetic." Spencer hissed. "Well, Al, until you tell me what I want, I won't be leaving."
"Stop saying Al!" Williams was sobbing now.
"Then tell me!" Spencer roared, banging his fist on the table as he go right in Williams's face. "Tell me where Agent Jareau is, Al! Where. Is. She?!"
"13TH AND 241H, OKAY?!" Williams screamed. "They're at an abandoned apartment building, probably one of the rooms."
"Thank you." Spencer said as he stood up, giving Williams a small, cold smile.
Hotch kicked open the door of the fire exit door.
"FBI! Spread out. Check every room." He ordered. They dispersed, and Spencer went for the room to his left. Empty. For a few minutes they searched the entire hallway, but every room was deserted. When they got to the third floor, they heard it: A scream. JJ.
"JJ!" Emily yelled as she and Spencer raced for the direction. Spencer went ahead, leaving Emily
"Reid! Reid, stop-'
"He's mine." The doctor snarled, glaring at Emily. He charged ahead, finally reaching the room and bashing it. In the middle of the room, dangling from the ceiling and barely recognizable, was JJ. Davis was behind her, holding a belt Spencer already knew how the blonde was being tortured. Davis looked up, genuinely surprised.
"Ah, I see you found me. Enjoying the view?"
Spencer stayed silent, instead locking the door and barring it with a table.
"What are you doing?" Davis was confused now.
"You might think, 'what is this kid doing, trapping himself inside with me?'. But here's the thing, Davis," Spencer said, taking out his gun, "I am trapping you with me." With that he shot Davis in the knees. With a shout of pain Davis fell, the belt flying out of his grasp. Spencer picked it up, studying it. It was soaked in blood. JJ's blood.
"Oh, we're going to have so much fun." Spencer chuckled. He reared back his arm, before striking Davis's face.
"I bet this is how you treated Agent Jareau." Another strike. "Hmm? Probably a strike here," a hit on the stomach, "or maybe here," a strike to the shoulders, arms, and hands. "Or maybe....here."
Davis screamed a Spencer brought down the belt with all his might between the man's legs. Another. Another.
"Quiet!" Spencer growled as he rolled Davis over with a kick.
"An eye for an eye, is it not?" Spencer smirked, before whipping Davis's back. Over and over he did this, going harder and faster for a few minutes. He rolled Davis over on his back again. a crack as the belt fell on Davis's face. For five minutes Spencer struck him until JJ's torturer's face was bruised and bloodied. Spencer spied on the table a cattle prod. Picking it up, he made his way back to Davis.
"Open your mouth." Spencer ordered. Davis, delirious, weakly parted his lips.
"Wider." Spencer snarled. When Davis's mouth was wide enough, Spencer jammed the cattle prod between Davis's mouth until it was wedged firmly.
"Rot in hell, you sick fucker." Spencer growled. With that, he flipped the switch. Distantly he can hear the others calling him, but he ignored them and rushed straight for JJ, who was balled up on the floor, trembling and whimpering.
"Jen?" Spencer said. "Jen, can you hear me?"
JJ's head snapped up, then looked away.
"Fake," she mumbled, shaking her head adamantly. "Not real. Not true. GET AWAY FROM ME!" JJ screamed, kicking at Spencer.
"Reid! Open the door!" Morgan. Spencer finally did before returning to JJ, this time with Emily while the others stayed back.
"JJ! JJ, it's us! It's us!" Spencer said as he and Emily tried to grab ahold of JJ, but still the blonde thrashed like a feral cat, almost hitting Emily with her foot.
"Fake!" She yelled. "Not real! All is fake! All is fake! Nothing's real! Not true! Not true, not true, not true..." Finally JJ collapsed in Spencer's arms, sobbing.
"Shh, shh." Spencer murmured. "I got you, love. I got you."
"Here."
Spencer raised his head. Morgan was in front of him, holding a cup.
"Thanks." The doctor murmured, wincing as the the poor quality of the coffee left an unpleasant aftertaste.
"How are you feeling?"
Spencer glared. "I just tortured a man to death. What do you think? Where are the others?"
But Morgan was cut off by a nurse, telling them that JJ was awake. Spencer shot to his feet, so fast he almost dropped his coffee. After saying a quiet 'thank you' to the nurse, he entered JJ's room.
"Jen?" He said. JJ, whose gaze was directed to the ceiling, slid to his. Immediately the look turned wary.
"Are you real?" JJ whispered. "Please tell me: are you real?"
Spencer knelt down beside the bed and, taking JJ's hand, kissed her palm.
"I'm real." Spencer assured his friend. That did it. JJ closed her eyes, shoulders shaking as she began crying.
"You want me to call the others?" Spencer asked, but JJ shook her head.
"No," she mumbled, "stay..."
So Spencer did.
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