#march 2006 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gryfflepuffinthetardis · 8 months ago

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Somebody's Watching

Season One Masterlist

A Real Rain

Charm and Harm

Summary: While in Los Angeles conducting a profiling seminar with the LAPD, Gideon and Reid are brought in to consult when someone commits a series of murders occurring around a young Hollywood actress, who becomes attracted to Reid.

Warnings: Stalking; Killing; J.D. Zoe being mean to Spencer; Spencer being mean to Zoe; Spencer cursing; Zoe is being a bit shady when it comes to her photo being taken, Obsessive Love

Note: *Although I have recast Lila, because she’s played by a real life UnSub (someone on Archive of Our Own said “she wasn’t but okay” but come on, look what she tried to do) and a genuinely awful person who tried to ruin a good man’s life, there will be passive-aggressive comments about her because I hate her that much because I love Johnny Depp so much. My mom actually wouldn't let me watch Aquaman because she didn't like Herd and this was before the scandal broke, she didn't trust her. I kept being reminded of different actresses because she looked so different or more likely, my brain was trying to replace her with someone I actually like rather than a terrible human being who can't act. She is now cast by Claire Holt from the Originals and H2o*

"When you have seen as much as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love." — J.K. Rowling

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Diane Arbus once said, "A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know."

March 26, 2006

Zoe's suspension was up and she was in California with Spencer and Gideon to give a lecture and Spencer had brought them to an art gallery that a semi-friend from high school was hosting. He hadn't been a friend exactly but he hadn't been one of the cruel ones to Spencer and defended him a few times which Spencer had appreciated.

"Spencer! Spencer Reid!" The man was older than Spencer, obviously and hugged Spencer who awkwardly tried to return it. "Dude, dude, dude. Look at you. You look just the same. Look at you, dude, nothing changed. Spencer was the only twelve-year-old in our graduating class. Just the same."

"Thanks." Spencer said.

"This is Special Agent Jason Gideon and this is Doctor Zoe Noble-Valdez." Spencer introduced, "This is Parker Dunley. We went to high school together, as you can probably gather."

"Yeah, I gathered." Zoe said.

"Hi. How are you?" Gideon introduced.

Hey." He said and then he looked at Zoe and Spencer didn't miss how he eyed Zoe. "You work with the FBI?"

"Yeah, Spencer was the youngest before I came along." Zoe said and she looked at her hand still in Parker's hand too long and she pulled it back as Spencer shifted, uncomfortably.

"It's a beautiful gallery." Gideon said.

"Oh, thank you, thank you."

"Uh, Jason's a big contemporary art enthusiast." Zoe said.

"Well, we're exhibiting four up-and-coming artists in this show. Everything's for sale." Parker said.

"Yeah, birds are his favorite. You got any of those" Zoe deadpanned.

Parker looked at Spencer who just shook his head with a fond smile like, she's always like that.

"And I could definitely swing a nice discount for a friend of..." He spotted a pretty blonde woman enter the room with a brunette friend. "Lila." He turned back to them to bring them to introduce them. "Hey. Guys, come on." He walked to the woman.

Spencer turned to Zoe and Gideon, "Do I look twelve-years-old to you?"

"Basically." Zoe deadpanned with a smirk. Not that she

"Fourteen?" Gideon said.

Spencer looked away and shook his head and followed Parker.

"Spencer, you ever meet a real movie star?" Parker asked.

"Movie star? Please. She has a supporting role on a television series about beach volleyball." Lila's friend said, "Totally blue-collar."

"I'm Lila." She introduced to Spencer.

"Hi, I'm uh, Doctor Spencer Reid. Um... I'm Spencer. You don't have to call me doctor." Spencer stammered.

"I won't."

"Doctor Zoe Noble-Valdez, M.D." Zoe said and then started to turn to make her leave before turning back around at such a quick pace that something was clearly wrong and standing stiffly as someone started to take pictures of Lila.

"Excuse me." Parker said and turned to confront the photographer, "Hey, you. I told you no photos in the gallery. All right? Out!

When the photographer moved as Parker made him move, still taking pictures of the group, Zoe ducked and reemerged with her leather jacket hood over her head but she wasn't sure if she had kept herself hidden enough.

A waiter offered them champagne, Lila took one and Spencer declined, Zoe immediately took it, rather annoyed with the situation but unable to leave without risk of getting her photo taken.

"So, you're not from around here, are you?"

"No." Zoe said, blankly.

"Me? No, no. I'm... We're running a training service about profiling for the Los Angeles Police Department." Spencer explained.

"Profiling?" Lila asked.

"Yeah, we're with the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. We psychoanalyze crime scenes in order to gain a better understanding of the criminal who might have committed the crime." Spencer explained.

"Psychoanalyze, huh?" Lila said and Spencer nodded and glanced away awkwardly.

Zoe stuck her tongue out in disgust. Barf.

"Are you doing that to me right now?" Lila asked

"What? No. I'm not psychoanalyzing you. I'm just..." Spencer stammered.

"I'm kidding." Lila chuckled and Spencer pressed his lips together, nodding.

He noticed Zoe, giving him a rather annoyed look as Lila was clearly charmed by Spencer's awkward nature.

"You're an idiot." Zoe said.

"What?" Spencer asked but she then spun and getting on her phone, deeming possibly being caught on camera was worth getting away from these two.

"Hey, J.D." He caught her say before she disappeared into the crowd. Spencer bit his tongue. "Hey, uh, I know this is just a message but I might have been captured on some paparazzi photos and I'd really appreciate it if you could search for those to make sure they don't reach anyone who may have seen me. I'm at an art gallery actually, I know you don't have many pleasant things to look at other than computer screens, I can look for one something that you'd like as a thank you. And if I wasn't, just... I can't say I'm sorry because I was doing my job but you are where you are because of me. Bye, J.D. I hope you get this soon."

Zoe was examining a piece of art that was closest to JD's taste but still not to it. It was gothic enough. He was dark. When she got the call from him.

He spoke to her with his usual... JD-ness, only she ever understood him. Zoe knew she shouldn't smile when she talked to him but she still did which Spencer noted bitterly.

"I don't think any of these are to your liking. Too modern. You're both. You're classical and modern." Then she spotted Gideon looking deeply uncomfortable. "Uh, Gideon looks like he's freaking out, I gotta go but I'll call you later. Well, Johnson can say that to my face, if he wants. We both know he won't."

"Zoe, let's go. Where's the kid?" Zoe led Gideon to Spencer.

"I can't tell you how to feel." Lila said.

"Right now I feel pretty good." Spencer said, awkwardly.

"We're leaving." Gideon told him

"We're still looking at the exhibit." Spencer protested.

"Now." Gideon said but Spencer hesitated, "Now. Now."

"Uh, yeah, yeah, I guess we're leaving." He shook Lila's hand, "Nice to meet you."

"You too..."

"Reid, now." Gideon said.

"Bye, Spencer." Lila chuckled and watched as he awkwardly weaved his way around the caterers, meeting up with Zoe who was downing a last glass of champagne and not looking at him, determinedly.

——————————————————————————————————

March 27, 2006

They gave the lecture to the LAPD in the morning, "Today, we thought we'd focus on what is probably the most important component of profiling... or, for that matter, any investigative technique, victimology. The word victim stems from the Latin word, 'victima,' which means sacrifice. Victims of violent crimes are brutalized by a subject who takes it upon him or herself to decide life or death over a fellow human being."

Zoe jumped into her work as usual. "There are around sixteen million people in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Every time a person is killed, robbed or raped, the most important question you will ask yourself is why. Why did your UnSub choose this victim at this time? Was there anything done which provoked the criminal to act or was the target available or weak? A casualty of circumstance?"

Spencer had never seen Zoe be so focused on a lecture, she didn't give one sarcastic comment, and she seemed to be ignoring him.

The detective who had invited them walked the three to their car, Detective Owen Kim.

"You know, we really can get ourselves to the airport." Gideon said.

"I didn't invite the FBI here to let them make their own way around town." He said.

"We really appreciate it." Spencer said.

"Hey, I can't thank you guys enough for conducting the seminar." Kim said.

"Well, don't hesitate to call if there's anything we can help with." Gideon said.

They started to pack up their things when Kim got a call and stepped aside to take it. His body language seemed to change as he got off it.

"Everything all right?" Zoe asked.

"Double murder at a Hollywood bungalow. A celebrity. A young movie star, Natalie Ryan, and her fiancé apparently shot to death. It's going to be a major pain in the ass." Kim said, "Hey, you guys care to take a quick look before I drive you to the airport? It's on the way."

"Absolutely."

Zoe unattached her motorcycle, not wanting to sit next to Spencer and drove off at once.

Kim, Spencer, and Gideon met up with Zoe at the crime scene as she examined the bodies. The woman was on her couch with a bullet to the head, eyes open

"No sign of forced entry." Spencer noted.

"Same weapon." Gideon said.

"Natalie was shot execution style, once in the head. Jeremy Collins, her fiancé, three times in the torso." Zoe said.

"So, you have two different MOs." Gideon said.

Kim approached them, "We have an image on the video surveillance camera. Looks like a messenger of some kind wearing a motorcycle helmet. He's unidentifiable."

"There's no sign of a struggle between the girl and the UnSub from the door to the couch. He most likely forced her at gunpoint." Spencer said.

"He told her to trust him, 'Do what I say. I won't hurt you'." Zoe said.

"Fatal mistake." Kim said and Zoe hummed in agreement.

"He asked her to sit on the couch and then shot her in the head."

"Fiancé wasn't expected. His killing's messier. It's less controlled. It's less organized." Gideon said and looked at Kim, "What do you think?" "I've had a couple other cases recently, past few months. Same type of weapon, .22 caliber handgun, both shot in the head. The first was an established film producer, Wally Melman, and the second was Chloe Harris, another young actress. Though not as well-known as Natalie here." Kim said.

"Sounds like a pattern." Zoe said.

"Any forensic evidence?" Spencer asked.

"No, and the guys have been going through this place all morning and haven't come up with anything."

"So, he clearly knows how to cover his tracks." Zoe said, walking around.

"Like a professional hit man?"

"Maybe." Zoe said and then she suddenly ducked and reemerged, looking annoyed and with her hood back over her head.

"Gideon, there are people actually taking photographs of us from the next yard." Spencer said, looking at what made Zoe duck.

"Yeah, welcome to LA." Kim said.

"Well, some of us don't want their photo taken." Zoe grumbled, turning away from the paparazzi.

Zoe made her way back to the bodies and turned her back to the windows.

"Twenty-two's are small, but efficient. They bounce around inside a person like a pinball." Zoe said.

"Preferred weapon of the Mafia." Spencer said, "You know, there's no obvious sexual component to these crimes, which is usually the case with serial murders."

"So, you are thinking this is a serial killer?" Kim asked.

"Well, it's certainly a series of murders. We don't know enough yet to call them serial." Gideon said.

"Would you consider hanging out in LA a little while?" Kim asked. "Let me lean on your expertise until we do figure out what we've got?"

"As long as I don't get my photo taken." Zoe deadpanned.

"Yeah, just cancel the flights. We'll have the rest of our team out here ASAP."

——————————————————————————————————

Kim listened to what the team had come up with so far once the rest of them arrived.

"This guy is an assassin?"

"When you look at the victimology, there's no obvious links." Morgan said, "All the kills are clean, except in the instance of the last victim, Jeremy Collins."

"There's absolutely no evidence left at the crime scene. There's no DNA. No manifestation of psychosexual release and there's no detectable signature of any kind." Elle said.

"Remember, our profiles are formulated not just by what's present at the scene, but also what's absent." Gideon said.

"From all the evidence that we've gathered, we believe that you're looking for a Type Four Assassin." Alexander said.

"Type Four?"

"Type One's are political assassins like John Wilkes Booth." Spencer explained.

"Type Two's are egocentrics looking for simple recognition." Zoe said.

"Type Three's are psychopaths, cold-blooded killers who leave far messier scenes." Hotch said.

"And Type Four, our UnSub, suffers from a major mental disorder and is frequently delusional." Alexander said.

"The closer we come to figuring out that delusion, the closer we'll get to finding the UnSub." Spencer said.

"Well, what's he going to be doing until we do?" Kim asked.

"Finding other victims." Gideon said.

A man entered, "Excuse me?" He knocked on the open doorway, "Hi. Is there a Detective Kim here?""

"Right here.

"You're heading the investigation into the Natalie Ryan murder?" The man asked.

"Yes."

"Um... My... I have a client, she's... Is there any place we could be private?" He asked.

"We're all working this murder." Kim said.

"Well... She received a note. My client did and she freaked out. I told her not to worry about it, and..." He explained.

"Where's the note?" Morgan asked and the man handed it to him, it was an article about Natalie Ryan's death with three words written in red: You owe me.

"Where is your client?" Hotch asked.

"She's waiting in the other room."

"Reid, Zoe, let's go." Morgan said.

Zoe, Morgan, and Spencer walked through the precinct and... you gotta be kidding me.

"Lila." Spencer recognized her. Why wouldn't he? "Hi."

The team came to interrogate her.

"How well did you know Natalie Ryan?" Hotch asked.

"We spoke when we saw each other in public, but we were never friends." Lila said.

"How about Wally Melman?" Hotch asked.

"What?" Lila asked.

"Wally Melman, he was a producer who was killed a couple months ago." Zoe clarified.

"The-the paper said that was a robbery." Lila stammered.

"Well, the paper was wrong." Zoe said, somewhat curtly.

"Did you know him?"

"Well, we met a few times about a project, but I didn't get the part. They went a different way." Lila said.

"Which way?" Elle asked.

“He cast another act..." Realization came to her face, "Oh, my God."

"What is it?" Spencer asked.

"He cast Natalie Ryan." Her agent, Michael said.

"You owe me." Morgan held up the article with the note.

Lila sighed, devastated in guilt and put her head in her hands.

"I guess that's one way to ice out the competition?" Elle said.

"Don't look at me. I brought her into the police station." Michael pointed out.

"Have you ever had a sense that someone is watching you, following you?" Gideon asked.

"From the moment I get to work," Lila said, "I have hair and makeup, and wardrobe people, producers, writers, my agent, my manager, publicist. Not to mention photographers. I..."

"It's part of the life." Michael said.

"Anything that seems odd, out of the ordinary, happens on a regular basis or a semi-regular basis?" Gideon asked.

"What do you mean?" Lila asked.

"Repetitive phone calls with hang ups? Gifts left anonymously?" Spencer suggested.

"I receive flowers on the seventh of each month they just appear in my trailer. Never a note. Just a plain glass bowl. Red anemones. My favorite." She said.

"And you don't want to know who they're from?" Zoe asked.

"Celebrities get anonymous gifts all the time." Michael said, "She has fans, you know."

"You remember meeting anyone on the seventh day of the month?" Gideon asked, "Or in July, the seventh month of the year?"

"No."

"Wally Melman was a producer who considered hiring you but didn't and Natalie was a rival."

"And Chloe Harris, she looks a lot like you. Don't you think?" Elle asked, showing a picture of her.

"Who?" Lila asked.

"A potential rival." Elle said.

"She was murdered, too." Hotch said.

They doing a real good job at scaring this girl.

"So, all these people are being killed because of me?

"It's possible." Hotch admitted.

Lila put her head in her hands, briefly, this was too much for her. "I'm sorry. I can't. I have to go."

Spencer hurried after Lila, calling her name. He ran awkwardly out the station after her.

She turned to him, "What's happening, Spencer?"

Spencer brushed his hair out of his face as he explained, "Well, it's still rather speculative, but it appears there's a delusional assassin who's killing people to help further your career. It probably started as a stalker. An erotomanic stalker. There's a psychopathology of the evolution of these types of stalkers and the fact that he's contacting you indicates that he believes you owe him something. This model frequently concludes itself with one of two possibilities, either the stalker will kill himself or he'll kill the object of his affection."

——————————————————————————————————

When Spencer left, Zoe shifted and grabbed the file from Hotch aggressively and sat down, going through it.

Morgan did a full turn and walked away, not stupid enough to tease Zoe at the moment.

Alexander came up to her and sat down, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" She asked, shortly and hostilely.

"No reason. No reason." He sighed. "Just a father worries when his only daughter who he knows where she is faces heartache over the boy she's smitten with."

Zoe slammed her hands on the table. "I am not smitten!" She growled out.

"Of course not." He said, blankly, being sarcastic.

"He's twenty-four, he's a great guy, he's smart, single, and still a virgin. I don't get a say in his love life."

"You get a love life too as much as it pains for me to admit." Alexander said.

"No, I don't. The Satanists and the serial killer who paid them to kidnap me made sure of that. Because of them, I can't trust people and I can't let myself feel. Emotional detachment, remember? The last boyfriend I had now has multiple life sentences in jail because of me.”

She looked outside, seeing Lila walking away from Spencer who watching her go and tilting his head, obviously checking her out.

She groaned and dropped her head on the table.

"You're going to have to hit your head harder if you wish to induce a concussion, sweetheart." Her father deadpanned.

“I hate everything.” She groaned.

——————————————————————————————————

March 28, 2006

They gave the profile in the morning.

"With this UnSub we're looking at a compound profile. A Type Four delusional assassin with an erotomanic fixation on the actress, Lila Archer."

Zoe didn't like Lila. She was aware of that even if she was vehemently denying the possibility on why. But she knew what it was like to have an erotomanic stalker with murderous tendencies. Every time she got a package, she feared it would be another bouquet of white lilies covered in blood. She couldn't look at any kind of lilies without seeing them. Sometimes she felt like he was still watching her.

"Erotomanics are a form of stalker who possess the delusional belief that another person, usually of a higher social status, is in love with them."

Zoe's hand went to her biggest scar, all of them aching.

"This phenomena is commonly just thought of as another stalker case to many but they are quite dangerous. Famous erotomaniacs include John Hinckley Junior, Margaret Mary Ray, Michael David Barrett, and John Robert Bardo." Zoe said.

"In the United States, at any given time, there are over two hundred, thousand people being stalked." Elle said. "Our UnSub is having a fantasy love affair with Lila Archer. The way John Hinckley did with Jodie Foster."

"Miss Archer was not aware of her stalker until yesterday." Hotch said, "He wasn't trying to impress her. He was more like an unwanted, very violent guardian angel.

"When the stalker feels as if they've been in some way betrayed by their love object, this often leads to violence against the target." Gideon said.

"In the case of John Robert Bardo, when actress Rebecca Schaeffer took a role where she had to have a sexual relationship with another character, it was enough to force him to snap and seek her out to kill her." Spencer said.

"Though stalkers can be either male or female, it's most likely we're looking for a single male. A loner in his late twenties to early forties, very intelligent with ample time to follow his victim and study her habits." Hotch said.

"As of yet, the UnSub has not directed any violence towards Miss Archer, but he has shifted his focus from those around her to her directly." Spencer said.

"This doesn't preclude the fact that anyone who has the vaguest association with Miss Archer is a potential target." Gideon said.

——————————————————————————————————

Lila had gotten another note that said: Lila—I've always been so good to you. Why would you go to the police?

They were in her trailer looking at the note in the evidence bag now

"I'm intrigued by this particular version of the verb 'to be." Gideon said.

"Past participle." Spencer said.

"Steady state of being. Preceding adverb." Gideon agreed.

"Always."

"In English." Kim requested.

"That is English. We're discussing the verb tenses..." Reid started.

"Reid. Reid." Morgan cut him off.

"No offense but now not the time for a vocab lesson." Zoe said.

Gideon turned to Officer Kim, "Our stalker sounds like someone she knows."

"Based on the tense of the verb." Spencer continued as Lila tilted her head back in exasperation.

Zoe looked at her and gave her a sympathetic smile like, sorry about this.

"Maybe it's time to get her off the street." Morgan suggested.

"You know there's been no physical threat to her. She might be safe just staying put as opposed to anywhere else." Spencer countered.

"I'm standing right here, guys." Lila complained.

“If we did remove you, we’d have to take you to an undisclosed location. I’m sure your stalker knows where you live.” Gideon said.

“I’m not having the whole show close down. I only need one more scene to shoot. Look, last night I decided I wasn’t gonna be afraid of this lunatic." Lila said, reminding Alexander of a rather defiant pair of girls he fathered.

Lila looked at Detective Kim, “Am I safe here?”

“The set’s cleared of everyone except essential personnel, and we have increased security at the gate.” Kim relented.

"But if the stalker sees that she's moved then they may feel more betrayed and try to find her and that never ends well. We don't know how much they know about her." Zoe pointed out.

There was a knock and a young woman with blonde hair around Lila's age stuck her head in. Zoe couldn't get a read off her since she was looking at Lila with the back of her head facing the law enforcement. “Lila, they’re ready for you.”

“Thanks, Mags. I’m staying at work” Lila said and left the trailer.

“Well, she’s one tough girl,” Derek stated the obvious.

“Yeah,” Spencer agreed.

Zoe showed no reaction, putting on her usual apathetic facade.

“I didn’t want to say anything in front of her, but his anger about her going to the police suggests he might alter his agenda." Gideon said.

"It’s typical for a stalker,” Morgan said.

“She didn’t go alone to the police.”

“Her manager took her.” Zoe recalled, "the stalker could perceive him as guilty for getting the police involved.

“You, Morgan, and Reid stay here. Keep an eye on her,” Gideon instructed.

"Awesome." She muttered.

She both didn't want to stay and watch Lila flirt with Spencer while he remained painfully oblivious to it but stay to make sure they didn't cross any lines, not that they likely would with Spencer's utter inability to interact with other people, especially women.

"I'll hang back, too." Kim said.

"Where are you going?" Morgan asked.

"To talk to her manager." Gideon said.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Zoe remained on set of this painfully dull set about beach volleyball. God, she hated the beach. She was on her phone searching for a painting to send to J.D. that he'd actually like or maybe she'd get him a book, but the problem was finding on he hadn't read yet.

Zoe looked up, seeing Spencer bump into a camera and try not to knock it down as he made his way to speak to Lila who had put a robe over her bikini.

"Sorry, if I was, um, insensitive last night." Spencer apologized to her.

"You're only doing your job, right?" Lila asked as Spencer drank some a coke bottle.

"Yeah."

"Then there's no need to apologize." She said, giving a doey-eyed look as she sipped her tea or coffee but apparently it was one of those drinks she had to drink to keep her figure or something or she saw another opportunity to flirt because she made a disgusted face. "Ugh." Then she took Spencer's coke. "You don't mind sharing, do you?" She drank it without a reply but he answered anyways. Spencer shook his head.

"No." The germophobe said.

The bell rang, signifying her break was over, so she took off her robe and moved past Spencer who was drinking from the soda again, trying and failing to appear as if he wasn't looking at Lila's body and watching her walk off.

Morgan walked up to Spencer and mimicked Lila, teasingly while Zoe hit the buttons on her phone harder than necessary. "You don't mind sharing with me, do you?"

"Shut up." Spencer told him, sharply.

"Go get 'em, lover."

Spencer went to walk after Lila before realizing he was going in the wrong direction.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "I didn't think you had it in you to be jealous."

Zoe sharply brought her head up from her phone and glared at Morgan. "I am not jealous."

"Then why are you upset?"

"I am not upset. Spencer's just a friend and I don't have any feelings for him and he doesn't have any feelings for me."

Are you blind? Morgan thought.

"Even if he did, he can do much better than me." She said.

Morgan's teasing smirk fell, "You don't really believe that do you."

"My last boyfriend... wasn't totally dissimilar from Spencer. High IQ, Neurodivergent, book lover, but he was... he was homeless when I met him, and I was in a bad place. We clicked because we had similar traumas, but we never really labeled it. I let him help in the cases I was working on when I was Maze's apprentice and we both ended up being kidnapped for six months. What he saw in that prison... it was my fault. And what he did after that led to him being arrested was my fault too. He was survived so much only for me to finally break him."

"You didn't break him, those men did."

"They hurt us but me more than him because I volunteered to be tortured instead of him."

"You volunteered to be tortured."

"He had been hurt so much, if I could keep him from feeling more pain, then I would. And I did. I can take it. That's something you learn when you're being tortured just because." Zoe said, "I'm too broken for someone like Spencer. Even if we did have those feelings, he could do so much better than me." She stiffened up, "If anyone asks, I never said a word."

Morgan saw he had something in common with Zoe. They had both been hurt by men who took advantage of them, even if they weren't aware of it in each other's past yet but they had ways of refusing relationships because of it.

——————————————————————————————————

Michael Ryler, Lila's agent had been shot in the head. They were too late.

Zoe left the studio with Morgan and Kim while Spencer had taken Lila to her house when Elle called, he put her on speaker phone while Zoe pulled her hoodie over her head.

"Morgan, it's Elle."

"Yeah?

"We just found a manila envelope on Michael Ryer's desk. It's full of photos."

"Okay."

"Well, they're candid shots of Lila Archer nude. I'm guessing he was probably paying someone off to keep them out of the press." Elle said as they got in the car, a groan rumbling in Zoe's throat.

"Do we know who?"

"The name on the envelope was Joe Martinez."

"The paparazzo?" Kim asked.

"You know him?"

"Yeah, I deal with him a lot."

"So the creep kind?" Zoe asked.

"You could say that."

"Elle, we're on it."

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Spencer entered Lila's house which was more lavish than his apartment that could be mistaken for a mini-library.

"Wow. I like your house."

"I rent it." Lila said.

"Nice. You should also probably change all your phone numbers." Spencer said.

"I'm unlisted." She told him.

"Anytime you call an 800 number or an 888 number your phone number's put into a data bank that's then sold to telemarketers. If someone gets your cell phone number, they can go online and research all your records." Spencer explained.

Lila looked at him with the usual look.

"Hanging out with you could be really depressing." She said, walking to a different part of the house.

Spencer could practically hear Zoe's remark: He gets that a lot.

"You should also probably carry a piece of paper and a pen with you where ever you go in case you see any suspicious license plates that often reappear." Spencer said, following.

Spencer saw a piece of part that seemed to be randomized bits and pieces.

"Photographic collage." Lila said, "I like it because it's like life, you know? You know, like obscure, difficult."

Spencer nodded and then said, "You should also get a dog. Like a guard dog of some sort."

"Allergic." She said. "Earl Gray or Chamomile?"

"What?" He asked, still oblivious to her attempts to flirt with him and she walked off to the kitchen, "What..."

"Would you like some tea?" She clarified.

"Yes. Yes, uh, sure." He said and then mouthed to himself, scoldingly.

No wonder he had never had a real date-date.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Zoe beat Morgan to the door and kicked it down with her hood still up.

"FBI! Come out where ever you are, creep!" She shouted.

"Martinez?" Morgan shouted.

"The creep's not here. Probably on the prowl." Zoe sighed, coming upon what seemed to be practically a shrine to Lila Archer due to the amount of photos of her "Come look at this!"

"See? This guy's a real scumbag." Kim said.

"You got that right." Spencer said.

"Oh, this creeper." Zoe said, finding a picture of the first paparazzi, "He was taking pictures of her at the gallery we were at the other day. The owner had to kick him out. Morgan, do me a favor. If you see any photos of me, burn them. I'm not being sarcastic, I have a lot of enemies who know what I look like but don't know my name or where I actually live. If they know I'm in America now, it could cause a real problem."

Morgan spotted a piece of paper, "What's this?"

"It's a call sheet." Kim recognized. "It's the shooting schedule for a film or television show."

"That's Lila's show." Zoe recognized.

"Yeah."

"He's not supposed to have that, is he?" Morgan asked.

"No.

"So, at minimum, we can charge him with stalking because this," Zoe gestured around with a finger, "Goes beyond paparazzi to just plain stalking."

Zoe walked to a table and shifted through the photos. She stopped when she spotted a photo of Lila talking to a man. She knew the back of that man.

"Morgan, it's Spencer." Zoe called.

"There's a whole bunch of them." Kim said, shifting through the photos, some directly on Spencer, and some had Zoe in them, turning away from the camera. "He a target now?"

Zoe looked at him, "Not if I can help it. Let's go." Zoe headed to the door, leaving all the pictures of her behind. Who cared if any of those terrorists saw her in the paper, she had to go get Spencer.

"You and me both." Morgan agreed, right on her heels.

"You call him." Zoe said once they left.

Morgan rolled his eyes and called the second youngest agent in the team, "Reid, it's Morgan. Listen to me. You got to watch your back over there. We just found a bunch of close-up photos of you at this guy Joseph Martinez's studio. It looks like he could be the UnSub. He had a ton of photos of Lila and Natalie plus a call sheet for Lila's show. We're on our way right now," Zoe froze, "but I need you to be real careful until we get there, all right? All right."

Zoe had stopped and there was a motorcycle revving up.

"GET DOWN!" She shouted but before they could react gunshots went off at the car, hitting Kim.

Zoe and Morgan pulled their guns and shot at the motorcycle but they were too far away.

Zoe broke away and ran to Kim.

"You hit?" She asked.

"Yeah. It's just my shoulder." He said and Zoe went to applying pressure to the wound.

"All right. I'm calling for help." Morgan said, "Officer down. We need an ambulance at La Brea and Wilshire."

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Gideon, Elle, JJ, Alexander, and Hotch came upon them as they had Kim in the ambulance, it wasn't critical but he did need a hospital.

"How we doing?

"He'll make it." Zoe said, "Caught one in the shoulder and shattered his collarbone.

"You okay?" Alexander asked.

"We're fine." Morgan confirmed.

"Yeah."

"No sign of this Martinez, the photographer?" Gideon asked.

"No."

"Whoever took a shot at you followed you from the set."

"I'm sorry. I should've noticed." Zoe said.

"You can't notice everything." Alexander told his daughter.

"I'm going to head to Lila's to provide extra cover." Zoe said and headed off.

She took out her phone and called Spender.

"Yeah?" Spencer said into the phone.

"Hey, there's been another shooting, Officer Kim. Don't worry, he's still alive but it was only the shoulder and since you know you can barely shoot, I'm heading over to Lila's."

"Alright." Spencer ignored the jab, "You have her address?"

"Yeah." Spencer overlayed the message to Lila who seemed indifferent but when Spencer went back to the phone, Zoe had hung up.

"Huh? She must've gone out of service." He said, oblivious as ever.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Zoe's motorcycle shot off at top speed but barely any noise.

"Martinez has a bunch of paperwork in the studio that says where Lila's going to be every day." Morgan said as Gideon's phone rang once Zoe was long gone.

"Gideon. That's what I thought. Thanks." He hung up, "Garcia's gone through every article written about Lila. She never says anything about red anemones being her favorite flower."

"Well, we're looking for someone pretty close to her." Elle said.

"This list gets shorter every day." Morgan said.

"He's circling in. We need to get to her house." Gideon said.

"I'll make sure the press doesn't get out of hand with this mess." JJ said and Kim held up a sign with his fingers.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Spencer stared at the college when Lila came up behind him. "Feel anything yet?"

"There is something definitely appealing about this one." Spencer said, not being able to tell what.

"That's a start." Lila chuckled and headed towards her pool in the backwards undoing her robe.

"What are you doing?" Spencer asked.

"Going for a swim." She said, dropping the robe to reveal her in a bikini.

"What? No, Lila." Spencer ran after her.

Zoe unlocked the door with Lila's spare key that she had found rather easily and walked through the house, not finding them when she heard a loud splash.

She followed it and saw that Lila had rebelliously jumped into the pool with Spencer stuck between his normal awkwardness and his duty to be responsible towards his job.

Zoe had stopped, watching from inside the house where she was unnoticed by both Spencer and Lila.

"Lila, you cannot do this!" He complained.

"Five minutes." She told him and pointed at her house, "go get a suit in the house."

"What!? No! I don't want to grab a suit!" He exclaimed, his voice going more than a few octaves higher as if she had asked for something else, he had yet experienced.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Join me."

"No, I'm not gonna join you." He said.

"Why not?"

"You're being pursued by a psychotic killer who shoots people in the head!" Spencer exclaimed.

"I'm not gonna stop living my life. I'm just not." Lila said, words Zoe had said all too often to her dad.

Zoe had to admit, there were some similarities between her and Lila. They were both tough and rebellious, refusing to just submit to whatever people told them to do. They both had a way of teasing for what they want while never actually making a grab for it, hoping someone will take the hint (but he never will). They were determined not to let a little trauma stop them from living their life. The difference was Lila was a tall, beautiful blonde actress with blue eyes, Zoe was a short, tomboyish noirette (black hair) with at best amber-brown eyes. Lila had no scars that littered her skin unlike Zoe's. Lila was full of light while Zoe's had been snuffed out a long time ago, in her opinion.

"Lila, I'm begging of you. Will you please get out of the pool?" Spencer sighed, exasperatedly, feeling like he was babysitting or hanging out with Zoe.

"Really, Spence," Lila said and Zoe flinched; she was the only one who called him Spence.

"You should live a little." She had a point. He was way too uptight.

"Live a little!? I've known you forty-eight hours; I feel like I've aged ten years!" Spencer exclaimed.

Don't we all feel like that when spending time with or watching her?

"Oh. I can't be that bad." She teased.

"Yes. No, you-you are that bad." Spencer exclaimed.

Preach! Truer words have never been said.

"Oh." She said and Zoe could recognize her tactic at once: to pretend to submit to tease some more. "Fine, can you help me out at least?"

Spencer bent down and reached to grab her hand but predictably, she pulled him in with all his clothes on with her laughing. Spencer came back up, now soaked in pool water, brushing his soaked hair out of his face.

"Yes, very funny. Laugh it up, Lila. Hilarious." Spencer said, sarcastically. "You and Zoe would really get along. My gun's wet. Great." He took his holster off and placed it on the side of the pool, not noticing Zoe watching, unable to look away. He looked down at himself and he actually laughed—a beautiful, beautiful laugh but it caused a small hurt in Zoe's chest that it wasn't because of her. "My clothes."

"You should have worn the suit." Lila flirted, getting close to him, and as apparently nothing less would cause him to get the hint, Lila placed her hand on the back of his head and kissed him and to his better judgment he started to kiss back. Zoe couldn't move. She wanted to flee. She wanted to do what she did best and run from her emotions but she couldn't move. Guess it was just the masochist in her.

Realizing how unprofessional this was, Spencer pulled away, "This is completely inappropriate."

"This?" She asked, "What this? And she pulled him back in for another kiss, this one brief as he kept pulling away to protest yet continued to kiss her with every other word. "This is..." Kiss. "I can..." Kiss. "But I..." He gave up, running his hands through his wet hair and fully leaned in for another kiss, this one was open-mouthed which even Zoe could see from her angle which had shifted since she was now standing outside, watching solemnly for reasons she could not (or would not) understand for the life of her. Spencer cupped her face and deepened the kiss before he pulled away with another logical explanation why this beautiful woman was kissing him.

His first kiss with Zoe had been preceded by her drunkenly (while underage in America) telling him, it was merely for the purposes of him losing his kiss-ginity though Spencer had seen and still saw it as one of the best moments of his life as it continuously appeared in his more pleasant dreams, she had no memory of it and he still didn't want to embarrass her further.

"No, there's this thing called transference..." He insisted, apparently under the impression Lila was redirecting her feelings on someone onto him or it was just because he was supposed to be (and failing to do so) protecting her.

"You don't like me?" Lila frowned, completely unaware of Zoe frozen to the spot in front of her house as Spencer's head blocked her.

"What?" He asked, shocked she would even think that.

"You don't like me." She repeated.

"No. Are you cra—I-I-I do." He stammered.

"I like you." She told him.

"I like you too." He reassured her. "Just I'm a federal agent, you know, and I'm supposed to protect you." He explained.

Yeah. Right. With his aim? Said the sardonicism in Zoe's head.

"Then keep me close." Lila said, getting in close to him again.

"I'm just, uhm I'm a little bit worried." He said and she leaned in. "You know, we're..." She kissed him and he kissed back, not wanting to stop it, no matter what his words said, "we're in a pool." Another kiss. "and it's a—we're..." Another kiss. "Pretty much exposed. They kissed passionately some more before he pulled away and waited for her to answer.

"We have cops posted out front." Lila said, kissing him again. "There are coyotes out back. And right here, it's just you and me." Lila rested her head against Spencer's and they gently rubbed their noses but not in that nauseating couple way, but more of the we-were—just-making-out lips hovering above lips way.

"Ahem." Zoe finally managed to clear her throat, startling Spencer and he lost his footing and went back under the water before popping back up to see Zoe, looking as closed off as he had ever seen her, she wouldn't meet his eyes. How long had she been standing there? "If you're not too busy, trying to lose your virginity, Reid. We should get the target of the psychotic shooter inside now." She said with a noticeable icy cold sharpness in her voice. "We wouldn't want them to shoot her like they did her manager, Michael."

Lila seemed to be in a brief state of shock as Spencer's eyes widened.

"Zo..." Spencer looked at her and then back at Lila, "I was going to tell you. I swear I was."

She turned back to him, "How could you—how could you not tell me?"

"I was afraid you'd be upset." He said.

She started to get angry, "You...! You knew what you knew, and... how could you not..."

"I'm so sorry." He said.

Lila pulled herself out of the pool and Spencer swam after her. "No, don't-don't touch me! Don't touch me!"

Then she stormed off past Zoe back into the house, leaving Spencer in the pool and Zoe feeling guilty.

"Spen... Reid..." She struggled whether or not she should call him by his surname which she only did when she was mad at him or to call him by his first name to apologize to and comfort him.

"Why would you do that!?" He cut her off. "I get what I was doing was unprofessional but... you... she's really upset now. She cared about him!" He pulled himself out of the pool and continued to yell at her, "You know, this is the first time in my life a girl is interested in me." Oblivious. But they both were. She was oblivious to her own feelings for him. "And while I don't understand why she would be interested in someone like me, that gives you no right to chase her off. You're not exactly the most professional person here, you know! You were hired by your dad at nineteen. You're whole family's in the FBI. You're just... you always bring your own bullshit into this. You just bring it up, casually and ignore it when I try to talk to you about it because I'm concerned but you refuse to deal with it and then I'm left standing alone like a jackass! Sometimes you can be such a... such a..." He seemed to calm down and swallowed the insult he didn't mean at the hurt look in her eyes that mingled with the coldness.

"You think I got hired because of nepotism? You think Shyster was right?"

It just now hit him on what he had said. He could barely believe he had said them.

"No. I didn't say that." He backtracked. He was so bad as talking to women. Why? He grew up with one. He grew up without a father so why did he just act like a jerk. Why did he never know what to say?

"Little traumatized Zoe, still very much a child. Unable to move on from her past." She said with cold mockery in her voice, clearly deeply hurt and Spencer was aware people with ADHD usually had something called RSD or Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, meaning she didn't handle rejection or criticism well, especially not from people she cares about, feeling severe emotional pain when they feel they are shunned or criticized and according to a study he read one in three referred to it being the hardest part of living with ADHD, this was what likely led to her shutting down her emotions during her months of captivity along with the expected trauma, "So traumatized that she numbed herself of all basic emotions without her twin who very well could be dead but she hangs onto this absurd belief that she's still alive, no matter she was just starting to trust again. Trust a man of all things after what they did to me. I thought you were different than all the other boys but you're just like them all. You're willing to string along any girl who'll slip you the tongue and get into your virgin pants."

"No! That's not... I am different. I don't..." Spencer felt near close to tears at how badly he had screwed up and hurt her.

"Am I interrupting something?" Elle asked.

"No!" Zoe said.

"Yes." Spencer said.

"No. What do you need, Elle?" Zoe said, sharply.

"Well, we found him in the bushes." Elle said, taking a towel and handing it to Spencer as Morgan brought a handcuffed Martinez to them.

"I told her she should cut those." Elle looked at Spencer, waiting for an explanation for why he was all wet. "I, uh, fell in."

"Yeah and I'm sure there's plenty of photos of it." Elle remarked.

Morgan pushed Martinez in front of them. "Stop shoving me, man."

He turned to them, "You're a suspect in the murder of Wally Melman, Natalie Ryan, and Jeremy Collins." Morgan said.

"Murder? What? Whoa! Whoa, whoa." Martinez said with his eyes bugging.

"Just shut up with the 'whoa'!" Morgan shouted. "We know for a fact that you have hundreds of photographs of Lila Archer and Natalie Ryan on the walls of your studio. You have Miss Archer's daily schedule on your desk. You've been stalking her."

"Look, guy, look, hold up." Martinez said, "Every paparazzi's a celebrity stalker. If you don't stalk them, you don't get the shot, and if you don't make the shot, you don't sell no pictures.

"You're not supposed to have that schedule or take dozens of photos of her in her personal home in her personal bedroom. That's not being a paparazzi, that's being a pervert." Zoe said in a rougher deadpan than usual. She looked at Elle. "Give me that."

Elle handed the camera to Zoe who looked at Spencer as he looked at her with sad puppy dog eyes and she ripped the film out.

"Whoa. That's just wrong."

"So is stalking, you pervert. Taking photos of people like that is a crime. You're trespassing and you're stalking and now..." She threw the camera on the ground and stomped on it, never breaking eye contact with the man.

"Whoa! Whoa! That thing's expensive."

She got closer in his face with an intense death glare in her eyes. "Should I bill your widow?" She growled and he gulped. "Get this ass out of my sight before I do some digging and find out what else he's done." She snarled.

"I'm still being locked up?"

"At the very least, you're trespassing." Morgan said and pulled him away. Zoe held up the film and handed it to Spencer, "You're welcome, Reid."

"Zoe..." He said with pleading eyes.

"I have to call my dad." She brushed him off and walked to the other side of the house, disappearing around the corner.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Spencer knew Lila would be easier to apologize to... he didn't even know how to apologize to Zoe.

"Lila?" He asked as she cried, mourning her agent's death, "Are you still... Are you okay?"

"Michael was like family." She cried.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's just so hard to trust people out here. You don't know who to believe." Lila said as Gideon entered the house from behind them, "Everybody wants something from you."

"That's why I thought you were different."

Zoe's words rang in Spencer's head. "I thought you were different than all the other boys but you're just like them all."

"I know I should have told you..." Spencer said.

"I told him not to." Gideon said, they looked back to see him as Alexander and Zoe reentered. Spencer immediately noticed, Alexander giving him the evil eye, like nothing would give him greater pleasure than to empty his clips of the many, many, many guns he had on him into Spencer and then beat him into the ground. "He was only following my orders." He patted Spencer's shoulder and walked off. Then he came back and pulled Alexander away before he actually did shoot Spencer.

"You know the last time I was able to fully trust someone was at Juilliard? Before I was a somebody."

"Lila, sorry, but did you just say Julliard?" Zoe suddenly asked.

"Yeah, why?"

Spencer saw she was looking at the college and he looked at it and he spotted something, a piece of what looked like the front of a street sigh name: Hous"

"And didn't you say you used to live on Houston Street?"

"What?" Lila asked.

"You were a waitress, you lived on Houston?" Spencer clarified.

"Yeah." Lila said and got up as both the young geniuses looked at the college.

"I need to take this thing apart."

"What?" Lila asked, still very confused.

"I'll-I'll put it back." He promised, "I think I see images of you."

"Guys!" Zoe called.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Zoe and Spencer took the college apart, spreading it on Lila's kitchen counter and put the strips of arts together, forming a full picture, all of which related to Lila's life, having several pictures of Lila in it.

"Lila, it looks like someone's been stalking you for years." Morgan said.

"Yeah, this tells your whole life story." Elle said, "Movie premieres, theater playbills."

"Everything since college." Spencer said.

"That's our country house. Right here." Lila said, pointing to a suburban house.

"Who gave you this collage?

"He did." Lila said, pointing to a picture of Spencer's high school semi-friend, Parker.

"This guy? Who is he?" Morgan asked.

"That's the guy I went to high school with, Parker Dunley." Spencer said.

Morgan took his phone out and called Garcia, "Garcia. Parker Dunley. E-mail me a sheet on him, all right?"

——————————————————————————————————————————————

The rest of the team went to question Parker while Zoe stayed with Spencer and Lila.

"You don't seem to like me very much." Lila said as she handed Zoe a mug of tea.

"It's nothing personal." Zoe said, "there's nothing wrong with you. I just have issues.”

"With Spencer?" Lila guessed.

"No." She said, sharply. "We're just friends..."

"Why are you here?"

"I know what you're going through." Zoe confessed.

"How?" Lila scoffed.

"When I was twelve, a serial killer held a gun to my head. He gets off on control and the fear he inflicts in others, and I knew that so I didn't show him fear. I was first person to not do that. It fascinated him. He kidnapped me for five days. I have no memory of what happened. But once he got what he wanted, he let me go... barely. I was comatose for a week and that when I got the first bouquet of flowers... white lilies. Every time I'm near that place, I get white lilies but for a while now, they're covered in blood. It's a taunt. I can usually manage to use their logic against them but not him. He's the only one who has ever had full control over me. He's gonna kill someone one day and it'll be my fault."

"I'm sorry." Lila said.

"Yeah." Zoe sighed and drank some of her tea. It was more bitter than she preferred but she just let it burn her tongue.

Lila wasn't a bad person. She was bold and independent. She didn't deserve this.

Across the room, Spencer's phone rang, and Gideon spoke to him without saying hello.

"We have a name. Maggie Lowe. She's the UnSub. She's on Lila's show. We're on our way."

Spencer hung up and turned to Lila and Zoe.

"Lila, do you know someone named Maggie Lowe?" Spencer said.

"Mags? Yeah, of course I know her. I've known her for years." Lila said, "I got her a job on my show."

Lila's phone started to ring, and she looked at it. Zoe looked at it too and looked at Spencer.

"What?"

"That's her calling right now." Lila said.

"Is she calling from a cell phone?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah."

"Lila, we think Maggie's the UnSub." Spencer said.

"The what?" Lila asked, being unfamiliar with the term.

"The stalker." Spencer clarified.

"No way." Lila said.

"Answer the phone." Spencer said.

"That's-that's crazy." Lila said, standing up.

"We assumed that the UnSub was a man but it's not unheard of that an erotomaniac stalkers are women. Both David Letterman and Story Musgrave were stalked by Margaret Mary Ray." Zoe said. "Answer the phone. Act completely natural. The longer we keep her on the line, the more likely we'll be able to trace the call." Lila looked at her. "I'm doomed with mine, he's going to torment me until one of us dies or I can redeem myself and help arrest him but I can still stop yours. Trust me."

"You can trust her." Spencer nodded.

Spencer went to call Garcia while Lila answered the call.

"Hello? Hello, Maggie? Maggie, is that you? What's wrong?"

Garcia picked up Spencer's call. "Oracle of Quantico, speak if you deign to hear truth."

"Garcia, I need an emergency trace on a cell phone call to Lila Archer's cell phone." Spencer said into his dinosaur phone.

"Sure. Go ahead."

"(323) 555-0129." Spencer recited Lila's phone number to her.

"Okay. Keep her talking. Keep her talking.

"Maggie?" Lila asked.

Zoe put Lila's phone on speakerphone so they could all hear it while Zoe went to Spencer to hear Garcia on the other end too.

"Oh, I am so tired." Maggie sighed.

"Tired?" Lila asked.

"There's been so much upset in the world really. I think it's just so tragic. All of it." Maggie said, so far she didn't exactly sound stable which fit the profile, "I miss you. I just do."

"Mags, I saw you today." Lila said.

"It's never going to be the same as it was. It's just never going to be the same."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lila said, choking slightly as she started to realize that they could be right about Maggie being the "unsub".

"I'm talking about that time in college! When the heat in your apartment was off and the two of us stayed in my dorm room. Don't you remember?" Maggie asked, sharply as though angry that it wasn't as important to Lila as it was to her, "You were playing Ophelia on the mainstage."

"I remember." Lila recalled, uneasily.

"That was the happiest time of my life." Maggie breathed.

"Maggie, sweetheart, that was only for a weekend." Lila told her.

"The happiest time... And you don't know anything about me at all." Maggie's voice broke. "And I did everything for you."

"Reid, is Lila's address 6028 Pike Street?" Garcia asked

"Yeah."

"She's calling from inside the house. I'll get you two some backup." Garcia said.

"Oh, it's Black Christmas. 'The calls are coming from inside the house'." Zoe said and she took out her holster gun which altered from her usual preference of revolvers and was a Glock. A Glock 19 to be exact. Of course, she would be quoting a horror movie from 1974.

"Lila." Spencer whispered.

"You... you... YOU!" Maggie shouted and then there was a thud from upstairs that echoed through the phone as Maggie brought the phone down from her ear.

"How'd she get in the house?"

"She has keys." Lila said.

Zoe lifted her leg up and pulled her ankle holster gun. It was a revolver

"Alright, Lila, I'm assuming you don't know how to use a gun?"

"No."

"All right. This is Glock 19. It's easy to shoot. The most commonly bought gun. There's no manual safety, so all you need to do is push this secondary trigger and when she pull the main trigger it'll shoot. There's fifteen rounds plus one in the chamber. Careful, it's heavier than it looks. But as long as that secondary trigger isn't pulled, it won't go off, even if you drop it." She handed Lila her hip gun. "It's not my preferred gun but I always try to prepare for the unlikely. I figured worse came to worse, you'd need to defend yourself. Only shoot if Reid and I go down. Only then. You're not experienced, only as a last defense. She's sick but she's still a person. She's still Maggie. She's still Mags."

Spencer's eyes watched Zoe as she explained all this to Lila who tried her best to understand.

They crept through the house with Zoe taking the lead, both she and Spencer holding their guns up.

They crept into Lila's room but saw nothing but then Zoe spun around just before Maggie revealed herself, holding a gun to Lila's head.

"Why'd you have to bring these people?" She demanded.

"Hey, Discount Billy. The only reason we're here because you killed a bunch of people to help her career which could've gotten her arrested, you batty loon. Now we really should calm down before we get a new Agnes."

"Put down the guns or I will shoot her." Maggie growled.

"Maggie." Spencer said, lowering the gun as Zoe did the same.

"Don't call me Maggie. You don't know me. Come on, Lila, let's go." Lila stared at the two, shaking her head, pleading with her eyes. "We really got to go, baby."

"Maggie, don't hurt her." Spencer pleaded.

"You don't need to hurt her." Zoe said.

"Why? I saw the look on your face while these two were..." She growled. "This way I get her and you get him."

"I don't want him!" Spencer flinched at her cruel words, "But you don't get her. You can't force her to be with you. It's not real love. If you hurt someone you love, that's not real love. That's toxicity. That's obsession. That's abuse."

"You don't know anything." She turned back to Lila, "I would never do anything to hurt you." She brushed back Lila's blonde hair, "No. I created you."

"No, you didn't." Lila shook her head. Maggie narrowed her eyes, gesturing at Lila with her gun,

"Yes, I did! I know I did. God. You stupid... ungrateful.... God. I can't believe I loved you."

"Maggie..." Zoe started.

"SHUT UP, BITCH!" Maggie screamed, pointing the gun at Zoe. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"Maggie, Lila, she loves me now." Spencer said.

"What?" Maggie demanded, pointing the gun at him now.

"She told me so. We were in the pool. She kissed me. Now she loves me, okay?" Spencer said.

"No." Maggie said, pointing the gun back at Lila.

"Zoe saw. Tell her. Tell her Lila and I kissed in the pool."

"Yeah, they did. It was full-on making out. Closest he's ever gotten to a woman since he came out of one." Spencer gave her an offended look and his surrender turned into an exasperated come on gesture. "I mean, he's known her for like two days and he's a nerd. I mean, look at him. He graduated high school when he was twelve and look at his hair. He practically screams virgin. To him, that's practically confessing his undying love."

"Zoe!" Spencer hissed.

"NO!" Maggie shouted, pointing the gun back at Lila.

"Is it true? Are you in love?" Lila looked at Zoe and Spencer who nodded.

"Yes. It's true. We kissed. We-we're in love."

Zoe decided to both twist the dagger in Maggie's heart and add salt to the wound. "That's gotta sting. Years of friendship and you get outdone by a nerdy virgin who looks like he's twelve who's known her for forty-eight hours. I mean, come on."

"Stop it." Maggie growled as she walked backwards, pointing the gun at Zoe. Zoe was walking forth, "At least, Morgan's athletic, Reid looks like a toothpick.”

"Shut up!"

"Then why don't you do something about it, Mags. You never did anything. Never. You're all alone."

Maggie pointed the gun at Lila and shot.

"NO!" Zoe jumped in front of the bullet, hitting her in the chest, making her hit the floor.

"NO!" Spencer screamed, he lunged and grabbed Maggie, tackling her to the ground and taking her gun, pointing it at her as Lila hurried to Zoe who landed in front of her bed.

"Don't move."

"PLEASE! PLEASE KILL ME! COME ON! SHOOT ME, PLEASE! I'D BE SO MUCH HAPPIER, PLEASE!" Maggie screamed.

"Is she okay?!" He called to Lila, his voice cracking with fear.

"I'm okay." Zoe coughed out, getting up and sitting up next to Lila who was trying to assess the damage even though she had no idea what she was doing.

Spencer breathed in relief and uncocked the gun.

"We're gonna get you help. It'll be alright." Maggie started to sob and Zoe went to comfort her, soothingly shushing her.

"How..." Spencer asked her.

Zoe pulled at her plaid shirt, making it unbutton and revealed a bulletproof vest. "You didn't think my dad was going to just let me walk around here with a shooter on the loose with no protection, did you?"

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Bernard Shaw once said, "An American has no sense of privacy. He does not know what it means. There is no such thing in the country."

Spencer and Lila parted ways and Spencer sat on the plane ride alone. Just the day after, a magazine published a picture of Lila and Spencer saying goodbye with the oh-so original headline: A Mystery Man in Lila's Life? As opposed to anything about her almost being murdered or stalked. Old news, I guess.

Spencer looked at the magazine as work wrapped up for the day or rather night, most of the BAU had left.

"Night, Hollywood." Morgan laughed.

"Come on, man." Spencer sighed.

"You know, Reid, you're lucky they didn't get a shot of you next to the pool trying to dry your gun. You looked like a wet rat." Morgan teased

Spencer shook his head, looking down.

"Hey, I was playing." He reassured him.

"Did you know that she... uh... I kissed her in the pool? It's so weird. It doesn't even feel like it really happened, you know?" Spencer said.

"Sure, sure, she's a beautiful young actress." Morgan said.

"Yeah. Yeah, you know, I kept explaining to her about transference and the fact that, you know, she probably only liked me because I was there to protect her..." He said.

"Reid. You were her hero." Morgan said.

"I wanted to think that." Spencer said.

"No, no, no, don't go selling yourself short, kid. You took down an armed subject without firing a shot. You saved her life. It's pretty much a hero in my book." Morgan reassured him.

"Let me ask you this, have you ever crossed professional boundaries with a victim of a case you were working on?" Spencer asked.

"No." Morgan admitted.

"It's pretty bad, right?"

"There's some things you can't control even with that big old brain of yours. No harm, no foul." Morgan said and he turned to get his stuff. "Let it go."

"Hey, Morgan?" Spencer asked and Morgan turned back to him, "Has there ever been a girl that you wanted to be with for more than, you know, just one night?"

"Excuse me?" Morgan asked.

"I've never seen you with the same girl twice." Spencer said.

"What, are you calling me a dog?" Morgan asked.

"No, no, no, not at all. I'm just trying to figure out if this feeling I have is ever going to go away?" Spencer said.

"Reid, what we do for a living, it takes up all our time, and a relationship's hard enough even in the same city." Morgan said.

"So, I mean, you're saying it's probably wise that I don't call her, right?" Spencer asked.

"I can't answer that one for you. Here, I'll tell you what I do know. You don't need to come up with that answer tonight" Morgan said. "I'm out." Then Morgan went and started to leave.

"Have a good weekend." Spencer said.

"Yeah, you too, Romeo." Morgan said before he left.

"Reid, no offense but Morgan's never had a relationship that's last more than twelve hours at most." Zoe sighed, making Spencer jump, he hadn't seen her in the darkness. "I wouldn't take his advice. It's not exactly fulfilling

"I know you're mad at me. But can I ask you something?"

"Sure." She said.

"Did you break up with J.D. because of the job?"

Zoe's jaw clenched. "No. It wasn't because of our job or because of the long distance with being not in America is as much as I can say and me flying around the United States every other week. It was what I pushed him into doing. Otherwise, we'd still be together. Long distance was most of the relationship, time-wise. I can do long distance. I can even deal with him being in prison for the rest of his life. Morgan's relationships are more about physical affection, sex, and fulfilling a temporary desire. J.D. and I... we met at a vulnerable time. It was about emotional connection, being understood, having someone to tell our trauma to, and most of all loyalty. It's why we're still friends. I couldn't cut him out completely. Not for me, but I couldn't do that to him."

"So, what do you think I should do?" Spencer asked tentatively.

"Just... think. Do you really see you and Lila going anywhere? Are you willing to wait for a day that may never happen?"

——————————————————————————————————

Gif Sources: @criminalmindscaps, @thisiscalmanditsdoctor, @onscreenkisses, @islandellis, @tobias-hankel

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gryfflepuffinthetardis · 8 months ago

Text

The Tribe

Season One Masterlist

Unfinished Business

A Real Rain

Summary: When a group of college students are brutally tortured and murdered and one is kidnapped, the BAU is led to believe that their UnSub has an extensive knowledge but impractical understanding of Native American ritual which leads them to consult with the reservation policeman who is also an activist, then they start to suspect that a cult is involved.

Warning: Blood, Mention of torture, Mention of Main Character's Torture, Mention of Acid, Cult, Mention of Native American Culture being used against them; Hate on Christopher Columbus (he was not a hero. It's a fact. Look it up. Many historical figures were not as noble as they seem.)

Notes: I am a very white, very pale Caucasian from Irish descent and (possibly) Italian descent (my granddad was adopted but we think his parent(s) were Italian, but honestly I think he spoke to me once in my life while my mom all but had to get a restraining order against his wife with me), however if memory serves me right I am descent of a Native American tribe very distantly across many generations but last I heard of this I was 13, however I feel that doesn't really mean much in terms of... whatever, I can't think of the right word nor do I really want to talk much about it, while the OC is half American/Scottish, Half Mexican and from Aztec descent which was a Native American tribe, this is just because the Aztecs were in central Mexico and it's surrounding areas. I "canonically" (if you can refer that to fanfic) made Zoe a descent of the Aztecs because the Aztec culture is still a significant part of the Day of the Dead celebration. The tradition is a blend of Aztec beliefs about honoring the dead with Catholic practices introduced by Spanish conquistadors, in fact the Aztecs celebrated a similar holiday focused on the Goddess of Death in their culture, Mictecacihuatl. I did some research on this, and I think what the Aztecs were known for fit Zoe quite well but please correct me if I'm wrong because I did short-ish Google searches.

The Aztecs were known for their fearless warriors and pragmatic builders. They had a powerful military which includes elite warrior units like the Jaguar Warriors (who were full-time soldiers considered to be the knights of the Aztec kingdom known for their ferocity in battle and serving as peacekeepers and law enforcement when not at war) and the Eagle Warriors (but I'm not sure what they did as oppose to the Jaguar warriors but from what I've read they protected and policed the city, served as leaders, captured enemies to sacrifice to the Aztec gods which they seemed to actually be known for and I'm ignoring what I read about cannibalism but they were awarded the titles for acts of exceptional bravery in combat)

They are lesser known for their doctors or "ticitl" (If that's spelled wrong let me know) but still known for it, they were skilled in herbal medicine and surgery, even having their own kind of anesthetic using narcotic plants, they used obsidian knives to remove tumors, drain wounds, and agave thorns for eye surgeries.

The Aztecs were known for human sacrifice, especially during troubling times (like pandemics or other crises) and they were performed to honor the gods. The most common was heart extraction, they believed that the heard was both the seat of the individual and a fragment of the Sun's heat (not sure what that means though)

I think these unintentionally lead to Zoe quite well with the fearless warrior and doctor part and even the specification of the heart, I didn't actually know that, I just knew that the modern Day of the Dead culture had roots in Aztec traditions so that works quite well. Let me know if I'm missing anything and let me point out, I have great respect for other cultures, I have great interest in the beliefs that they have and find it fascinating. Just as I have great interest in Mexican culture of the Day of the Dead.

Note 2: I did change most use of the word "Indian" to "Native American" except when used by Blackwolf (because he is Native American and he can use that word while it's distasteful if others do but still don't feel good about it!) or any explicitly racist characters. Zoe's reservations towards Blackwolf are more for his attitude towards the FBI and violence and it's more annoyance for what she feels Blackwolf and Hotch are being rather... well, I can't quite think of the word other can "testosterone" and I think that feels like an exaggeration of what it is. Arrogance, maybe.

“There is a battle of two wolves inside each of us. One wolf is evil, representing anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, lies, inferiority, and ego. The other wolf is good, representing joy, peace, love, hope humility, kindness, empathy, and truth. The wolf that wins is the one you feed.” — Native American Proverb

March 6, 2006

Penelope Garcia was heading back to her batcave with cleaning supplies when she spotted Sean Hotchner enter the BAU. She stopped and handed the cleaning supplies to a random person and followed him.

"What are you doing out of your bunker?" Elle asked, coming up to Garcia, Zoe looked over, shaking her head. She honestly didn't see it.

"I was on my way to file the things that I... file." Garcia said, staring at Sean.

Sean spotted them and went to ask them where he wanted to go.

"Excuse me."

"Hey." Elle said, playing cooler than Garcia.

"I'm looking..."

Zoe stood up, "Hey, Sean."

Sean looked over to see Zoe who he had known from his brother working at the BAU. "Hey, Zoe. I heard you were working here."

"Yeah, your brother finally cracked from his workaholism and was briefly crazy enough to hire me. Follow me." She said and nodded before walking off and Sean followed.

Elle looked at Garcia and asked, "'Brother' as in... That's Hotch's brother?"

"Maybe Hotch is adopted."

"So, gonna tell him now. That'll be fun for us." Zoe snarked as she walked

"How'd you know already?" Sean asked her.

"I know everything Sean." Zoe said, "You're not the lawyer type. Top of the stairs. Good luck."

Zoe went back to her desk where Garcia had gone to badger her with questions and didn't get answers.

About five minutes later, there was a muffled shout from Hotch's office and Sean stormed out.

"Here he comes." Garcia said.

"That's Hotch's brother?" JJ asked.

"Uh-huh."

"I don't see it." JJ said.

"Eh." Zoe shrugged.

Hotch went after his younger brother, "Sean, listen to me. All I'm saying is you're twenty-five years old and it's..."

"You know what? Don't profile me, Aaron!" Sean shouted, pointing at him and then he stormed off.

"Now I see it." JJ said.

"See ya, Sean." Zoe called after him. "Be careful not to crash!"

——————————————————————————————————

They gathered in the briefing room where JJ presented the next case, handing them the files, "Terra Mesa, New Mexico. Five dead. All from Mesa University. No signs of sexual assault and no sign of theft."

"Five nineteen-year-olds. Minimal defensive wounds? One of them was impaled on a six-foot wooden pole." Morgan read from the file.

"Who'd want to torture five college freshmen?" Elle asked.

"They weren't tied up and no one escaped?" Morgan asked.

"No single UnSub could have exerted this much control over so many people." Spencer noted.

"So, you think there was more than two?" Elle asked and Spencer nodded.

"I think we're looking at a pack." Gideon said

"A pack?"

"Three or more that kill in unison. As in nature, the group dynamic dictates that the pack's survival is dependent on their ability to hunt successfully." Spencer explained.

"And, as in nature, a pack will keep on killing until it runs out of prey or is stopped." Hotch added.

"Stopped by what?" Elle asked.

"A stronger pack." Zoe said.

——————————————————————————————————

Nietzsche wrote, "The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe."

Hotch, Gideon, and Spencer met Zoe at the crime scene who drove on her motorcycle and waited for them.

"Sheriff, I'm Special Agent Hotchner. These are Agents Reid and Gideon."

"I thoughtany Doctor Noble-Valdez said there were more of you." Sheriff Jimmy Rhodes said.

"The other agents went straight to the station house to look at the victims' files." Hotch asked. "Has forensics had any luck?"

"The county CSU went through for prints and trace evidence. They said with all the workmen tramping through here, looking at footprints would be a waste." Rhodes said, "Come on." He lifted the police tape.

"The bodies were almost completely skinned. Yet, there's so little blood." Hotch said.

"Well, this explains why." Zoe said, looking through the photos, "The UnSub avoided areas of skin on the wrist and throat, areas where the veins and arteries are closest to the surface."

"Why would they do that?" Rhodes asked.

Zoe hesitated to tell him but Gideon did it for him. "They didn't want them to bleed out."

"These kids were skinned alive." Spencer explained.

They entered another room, "Two cases of beer. Two sleeping bags." Gideon stated.

"There's a third sleeping bag upstairs." Rhodes said.

"Everything you need for a night of teenage romance."

"It's unlikely that two couples brought a fifth wheel to take notes." Gideon said.

"Sheriff, it's possible there was a third girl here. A sixth victim." Zoe explained.

"I'll get my deputies to canvass the area. See if anybody saw a girl." Rhodes said.

"You said there was another one outside?" Zoe asked, referring to before the team arrived.

Rhodes showed them where the other victim was killed, a bloody wooden pole was stuck in the ground.

"He was like the others. Coroner said from the amount of blood he was alive when they impaled him."

"I know this is going to sound strange, but the way the victims were flayed alive, mutilated, and now the impalement display of this last victim..." Spencer listed but trailed off.

"What?" Gideon asked.

"These were all war rituals of the Native American Plains Indians." Spencer explained.

"Does that mean something to you, Sheriff?" Hotch asked.

"I'll say it does. Everything you see around us is Apache land. This whole basin is a sacred burial ground and was the site of a number of massacres as I understand." Rhodes explained.

"So, this development is on their land?" Hotch asked.

"It was their land, but they didn't have the money or the inclination to build on it. So the town seized half of it."

"Yeah, last year the Supreme Court ruled that cities can use eminent domain authority to seize and repossess undeveloped private land for private development." Spencer explained.

"And now the town is looking for investors to build on the other half. The Apache are fighting it, of course, in court." Rhodes said.

"There been any violence until now?" Gideon asked.

"Nothing like this."

"You know anybody on the reservation capable of this?

"I don't know. Reservation's federal jurisdiction." Rhodes said.

"Sounds like where we need to go."

We'll call Garcia. See what she can find." Hotch said.

"If she's done drooling over your brother." Zoe muttered.

"What?" Hotch asked, haven't heard what she said.

"What?" She asked in faux obliviousness.

——————————————————————————————————

When Hotch got off the phone with Garcia, he turned to Rhodes and said, "Blackwolf?"

"John Blackwolf?" Rhodes asked.

"You know him?" Gideon asked.

"Native American activist. He's been in a little trouble related to his activism, but nothing violent. And not around here."

"Should we call the reservation police and alert them?" Hotch asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Rhodes said.

"Why not?" Zoe asked.

"Blackwolf is the reservation police." Rhodes said.

——————————————————————————————————

Zoe was forced to ride in the car until they got to the reservation school.

"Jane Bear, these are FBI agents. Gideon, Hotchner, Reid, and Noble-Valdez."

She shook hands with Gideon and Hotch. Spencer just waved and Zoe shook her hand. "Just call me Zoe." Zoe insisted.

"Miss Bear is the president of the tribal council and principal of the reservation school."

"A president and a principal? Must be a busy woman." Gideon said.

"We're out here on our own, Agent Gideon. We all do our part." Jane Bear said.

"Is, uh, John inside?" Rhodes asked.

"This about the Terra Mesa killings?" She asked.

"They just want to talk to him." Rhodes said.

"John Blackwolf has done more to help his tribe than anyone. Hell, Jim, how many times have you called him in to find lost hikers? How many drunken campers has he tracked down for the park service? John is a peaceful man..." She defended,

"Who would not hesitate to defend this tribe with force if attacked." Rhodes added.

"What does this have to do with Terra Mesa?" She asked.

"Well, a lot, if John considers the building of the Terra Mesa development on Apache land to be an attack." Hotch said.

She sighed and turned to lead them towards and inside the school, "The developers have paid a lot of families to leave the reservation. So many families have gone now that we can barely fill a single class."

They entered the class as Blackwolf taught the class, "Forcing the Dene, the Apache nation, to abandon their homes and live in government controlled internment camps. Does anybody know the last tribe to surrender to the American government?

"Chiricahua." Spencer whispered

"It was the Chiricahua Apache." And does anybody know the name of the last leader of the Apaches?"

Some kids raised their hands as Spencer whispered, "Geronimo."

Blackwolf pointed to a boy and he said, "Geronimo."

"That's right. He was caught by the US army five times. But the Ga'he had given him so much strength he escaped each time." Blackwolf said, "Samuel.

"Yes?" The boy from before asked.

"Tell the men and woman from the FBI who the Ga'he are."

Spencer spoke instead, eager to share his knowledge. "The Ga'he are mighty spirits who dwell in desert caves."

"Reid, is your name Samuel?" Hotch scolded and the children and Zoe giggled.

"Sorry." He apologized.

"Are the Ga'he good spirits or bad spirits?" Gideon asked.

"They're both." Blackwolf said, "Like men."

"I'll take over for you, John." Jane said.

They met Blackwolf outside as he put on a coat, holding a giant dagger in a sheath.

"Mister Blackwolf, I'm Agent Gideon. These are agents Hotchner, Reid, and Noble-Valdez."

"You look like a college professor." Blackwolf said to Gideon and then looked at Spencer, "You look like his student." Then he looked at Hotch." You, you look like FBI." Then he looked at Zoe, "You look like a misbehaving student." Zoe shrugged.

"We're with the Behavioral Analysis Unit." Zoe said.

"Profilers should know better."

"How's that?"

"We don't do massacres. You do." Blackwolf said.

"Me, personally?" Hotch asked.

"Your government."

"We don't want massacres. Not any more than you do." Zoe said. "It's not fair to base us off our government." Then she thought for a moment and said, "Though to be fair, 'national hero' Christopher Columbus committed mass rape and genocide, among other things."

Blackwolf looked at her, narrowing her eyes as if trying to get a sense of her vibe. She just stared back, unwaveringly.

"Mister Blackwolf, we'd like for you to take a look at these photos and help us figure out how these kids were killed.

"You're not asking because I'm a cop." Blackwolf said.

"No, we're asking because you're an expert on Native American culture, particularly Apache Culture." Zoe deadpanned and handed him the photos, still never breaking eye contact.

"I don't base my opinion on pictures, Mister Hotchner. I have to walk the ground."

"Makes sense." Zoe said.

——————————————————————————————————

They approached the crime scene.

"We should start inside. Forensics says the outside's been contaminated from all the construction traffic."

"Of all the Native American tribes, the Apache were most renowned for their tracking ability." Spencer said, "It was said they could track a man or animal through any condition by simply noticing the slightest disturbance in the environment."

"It's profiling the dirt." Hotch said.

"It's more than that, Hotch." Zoe said.

"I notice you don't carry a gun." Spencer said.

"Twenty-one feet." Blackwolf said.

"What?" Spencer asked.

"Ask Agent Hotchner and Agent Noble, there. They're the real gun hands."

"Why do you say that?" Hotch asked.

"You carry two guns and I don't know how many you have but it's more than two."

"I like to be prepared." Zoe said. "And it's Doctor Noble-Valdez."

"Any relation to the Valdezes?"

"Yes. The maximum distance an attacker with a knife can close in the time it takes to react, draw your side arm and fire is twenty-one feet.

"Inside twenty-one feet, I win. Outside 21, I have other options besides shooting a man."

"Like negotiating." Spencer said.

"Like running."

"I have more than just guns. It's not just one or the other. I only use them to protect myself and others. I've had more guns held to my head than you'd think. I was trained by Maze Valdez. She taught me to always be prepared. Always have a plan to kill everyone you meet in case they're planning on killing you first. And in my case, they usually are. I taught myself to be a weapon so the odds are usually in my favor." Zoe said. She wasn't following Blackwolf, she was walking with him, tracking with her own skills.

"You have other options."

"Of course, I do. Just because I have a plan to kill if I need it doesn't mean I'm going to. I'm a doctor. I try to save as many lives as I can. Some people just don't give you that choice." Zoe said. "And they're usually men."

"Why do you say I carry two guns?" Hotch asked.

"Your right instep print's heavier than your left. And since you don't appear to have a club right foot..." Blackwolf said.

"You can't tell that from my footprints." Hotch said. "There's no perceptible difference between them."

"Your problem isn't with your prints. It's with your perception." Blackwolf said.

"Hey, can we get back to tracking or am I going to have to do it all myself?" Zoe asked. "Am I going to have to solve the crime myself too?"

They went to the blood-soaked in the ground. Zoe was obviously annoyed with being with this company as Blackwolf observed the ground.

"What do you see?"

"There's a saying, 'Once too much blood has been spilled on the same ground, that ground develops a thirst for it'. This is all consistent with Native American warfare rituals. But it's not Apache." Blackwolf said and he stood up and handed Zoe the photos back, "Whoever did this carried out the most brutal practices of the Apache—Navajo, Comanche, Pueblo, and Sioux."

"No one tribe ever did them all. Not like this." Zoe said, her knowledge wasn't as extensive but she did know that.

"Real Indians would know that. This wasn't Indians." They started walking again, "And if you want to figure out who did this, it might help to know there was a sixth person in the house.

"Why do you say that?

"What did Maze Valdez teach you?"

"How to survive." Zoe said and then she spotted something and started walking forwards with intention.

"Female. Ninety, 95 pounds. Size six shoe. Fallen arches. She was walking alone when she was ambushed by two men." Blackwolf said as Zoe walked a good distance around the footprints.

"We also believe there were at least three suspects." Hotch said.

"Three? Yeah." Blackwolf scoffed. "Two over here plus at least six over there." He pointed behind them. "Because while these two carried this girl struggling to their vehicle to the east, at least six others ran single file to hide their numbers, from the west."

"So, you're saying that there were eight?" Hotch asked.

"At least."

"And one hostage."

——————————————————————————————————

They walked through the police station and Blackwolf spoke to Hotch, "Doctor Noble-Valdez trusted my ability, you didn't. You wanted to see how I'd behave at the scene of the crime. You can at least tell me how I did."

"Your lack of an emotional reaction at seeing the carnage leads me to believe you're innocent." Hotch said.

"A guilty man would have feigned disgust?"

"Exactly."

"You know what counting coup is?"

"No."

"The Apache knew they could easily prove their superiority by killing many of the enemy tribe. But they also knew killings would start a fierce blood feud which would result in the waste of lives and resources." Blackwolf explained.

"Makes sense." Hotch replied.

"So the Apache proved their superiority by counting coup, stealthily stealing property, usually horses, from right under the nose of their enemy. To the Apache, killing, unless absolutely necessary, was a sign of stupidity and weakness."

"If this is your way of saying you're not the killer, we already know that." Hotch said.

"So why am I still talking to you?" Blackwolf asked.

"Hotch." JJ approached, "So, if there was another girl out there, no one's reported her missing. None of the papers have received any claims of responsibility or ransom demands."

"We'd like for you to stay and help with the profile briefing." Hotch said.

"If it'll keep the FBI off the reservation, I'll stay."

——————————————————————————————————

They gave the profile with Spencer starting first, "Each torture ritual had specific religious significance, but only to the tribe that practiced it. It's highly unlikely that any one tribe would mix them all together like this."

"Meaning?" An officer asked.

"Whoever did this obviously had knowledge of Native American culture, but they had absolutely no practical understanding of it." Zoe explained.

"What we know is this pack shares a singular vision. Whether they share a religious faith, racist ideology, or political manifesto each member of this unit has surrendered its individual identity to the group." Morgan explained.

"It's the act of kidnapping that reveals the nature of this pack." Hotch said.

"From the German Red Brigade, to the Munich Olympics, to Iraqi insurgents, the act of kidnapping is a characteristic of political terrorist groups." Elle said.

"We could be looking for a domestic terrorist organization like the Symbionese Liberation Army that kidnapped Patty Hearst." Alexander said.

"But these are Native Americans, right?" The officer from before asked.

"I seriously doubt it. The torture and mutilation you see here are very confused imitations of warfare practiced by Native American tribes."

"You trying to tell us that Indians wouldn't be so brutal?

No. Zoe was descent from Aztecs who were known for having fearless warriors known for their ferocity and bravery in battle and they were known to sacrifice animals, but mostly humans, including children to their gods, most typically by slicing the heart out of the sacrificed and spilling their blood on the temple alter.

"No." Blackwolf said. "I'm saying that Indians wouldn't be so confused."

——————————————————————————————————

The team went into Rhodes' office with him.

"Can we really be sure he's right?" Rhodes asked.

"Well, I'm fairly certain Blackwolf wasn't in on it. But you don't need to be Einstein to realize these people were Native Americans, or they were people who made it look like Native Americans." Gideon said.

"Why would anyone want to frame these Native Americans?"

"Possibly to turn public opinion against them." Zoe said, "Jane Bear said that the developers had paid so many families to leave the reservation that they could barely fill a single class. Sheriff, you mentioned the Apache were fighting the land grab in court. Public opinion would be a significant factor."

"Is there anyone besides the developers who might be vehemently opposed to the Native Americans getting the land back?" Hotch asked.

"The ADU." Rhodes said.

"Who's that?"

"The American Defence Union. Founded by a local businessman named Roy Minton. They're like the Minutemen who patrol the borders. Only these guys blame everything on the Native American."

So like a certain politician [(and unfortunately future president-slash-future candidate for presidency for some reason) on everyone who isn't Caucasian or male.

"Who are the members?" Elle asked.

"Minton's people are mostly white, construction workers, building supply vendors, working class people that believe Native Americans are standing in the way of progress and commerce." Rhodes said.

"Well, that makes sense." Zoe deadpanned. Unfortunately the most common thing about Americans is that a White person that blames other races is usually not too far away.

"Whether they feel the Native Americans are standing in the way of progress, or profit or they're just genuine racists." JJ said, "I think Minton and the ADU are strong suspects.

"Let's bring Minton in." Hotch decided.

——————————————————————————————————

Hotch decided Zoe being from Aztec descent should come with them to interview Minton, though she didn't seem too enthusiastic about it as she met Hotch's usual deadpan gaze with her own deadpan gaze.

"Mister Minton, any idea who might be behind these killings?" Hotch asked Minton.

"The Indians have a history of violent behavior, especially the Apaches." Minton said as if it was a modern fact.

Native Americans. Zoe mentally corrected, hiding her distaste with her usual stoic (semi-)professionalism.

"Did you know that they used to kill white settlers? Decapitate the bodies. Put their victim's heads on wooden pikes outside their houses?"

“Yeah, and Christopher Columbus actually killed so many Native Americans that historians have stated it’s difficult to pinpoint but due to the combination of violence, enslavement, and disease following Colmbus’ arrival, it can be estimated that up to ninety percent of the native population died. Doesn’t make every Caucasian responsible for that.” Zoe said in her usual deadpan voice but there was a noticeable coldness to her tone. “It was a long time ago. You still seem pretty upset about it.”

Minton ignored the info about "national hero" Christopher Colmbus.

"That was the other night. My family has been dealing with the Apache for one hundred and fifty years." Minton said.

"You know, your rhetoric sounds just hateful enough to justify violence." Morgan said.

"We don't need to stoop to their level. We're fighting the Indians in court." Minton said.

"Is that right? Then why all the guns, Roy?" Morgan asked. "Our records show that your two hundred members carry over four-hundred-and-fifty firearms."

"We're simply exercising our constitutional right under the Second Amendment. We have the right to defend ourselves."

Zoe refrained from scrunching her nose as she had said something similar earlier. Only she had reason to carry firearms. She had been attacked so many times. So many people wanted her dead. Actively and in the past. She had been hurt by men who took advantage of owning guns and weapons that she

"Four-hundred-and-fifty guns, Roy. I don't think so." Morgan scoffed, "That's not self-defence. That's plain paranoid."

"Not anymore."

When they were done, they regrouped with the team at the police station.

"If Minton's as fanatical as he pretends to be, he wouldn't file lawsuits." Morgan stated.

"Or organize labor unions." Elle said.

"The Native Americans are keeping Minton and the members of the ADU from making a lot of money on the development and construction of the Apache land."

"I agree. He's using racist ideology to cover simple greed." Gideon said and turned to Rhodes, "Sheriff, I'd like you to put Minton under surveillance.

"You think he's guilty?" Rhodes asked.

"Not likely, but we've just given Minton reason to believe that some faction of the ADU may have taken matters into their own hands and Minton may lead us to them." Hotch explained.

Morgan's cell phone rang. "It's Garcia." He unclipped the phone from his belt and picked up, "Hey. What do you got? Okay. Nice job." He hung up, "Think we might have found our sixth victim."

——————————————————————————————————

Alexander, Zoe, Hotch, JJ, Morgan, and Elle went to Ingrid's father's house and he let them in. There was something off about him that Zoe just couldn't shake. Morgan went to look through Ingrid's old room.

"How old was Ingrid when your wife passed away?" Zoe asked Peter Greisen.

"Fourteen." He said.

"And then you raised her on your own?" Elle asked and he nodded.

"Why didn't you report your daughter as missing, Mister Greisen?" Alexander asked with a slight edge to his tone.

"I didn't know she was missing. She has her own place. She has her own life at school. Her own friends." Greisen explained.

"When was the last time you spoke?" Elle asked.

Griesen thought about for a second and said, "A couple weeks ago." And then he explained, "She's been going through a phase the past couple months. Distancing herself."

"Has anyone threatened Ingrid?" Elle asked.

"Not that I know of." He said.

"Have you received any menacing phone calls or seen anyone in the neighborhood? I mean, anything that's been unusual at all?" Zoe asked.

"No. Nothing like that."

"We have reason to believe the people who kidnapped your daughter may be politically motivated." Hotch said, "They killed those kids and they kidnapped Ingrid in the name of their cause."

"We think the first thing, or, the best thing, you can do to help your daughter is for you to go on the news."

"How will that help Ingrid?" He asked.

"If we can personalize Ingrid to the public, the public will take any harm that comes to her at the hands of the kidnappers personally." JJ explained. "Hurting her would hurt their cause."

"It will stop them from killing her?" He asked.

"It might."

——————————————————————————————————

They met up with Morgan in Ingrid's room.

"Hey."

"So?" Morgan asked.

"Fathers' blame themselves when their child is kidnapped. As irrational as it is, it's typical." Hotch said and Alexander and Zoe looked at him. "This guy didn't do that. Why not?"

"Well, in these situations, innocent parents, they don't hide their feelings of guilt, while guilty parents do." Alexander said.

"So we're thinking this guy's guilty?" Morgan asked.

"Of something." Hotch said.

——————————————————————————————————

While Greisen went on air, they continued to look through Ingrid's room for clues when Elle came in saying, "We've got a caller on the line."

"Has Greisen been prepped?" Hotch asked.

"The caller doesn't want to speak to Greisen. In fact, he doesn't want Greisen to know that he's even calling."

Hotch took the phone, "This is Special Agent Aaron Hotchner."

"Yeah. We have Ingrid Greisen. We'll turn ourselves and the girl in under one condition." The man on the other end of the phone said.

"I'm listening."

"You don't tell Greisen about it."

"What does it matter to you what I tell Greisen?" Hotch asked.

"Because he paid us to kidnap her."

——————————————————————————————————

Alexander, Hotch, Elle, and Morgan brought the kidnappers in and got the girl to the hospital. Zoe heard she was nonresponsive. Morgan, Spencer, and Zoe went to the hospital while the rest of the team interviewed the kidnappers and the father.

As the three approached Ingrid's room, Morgan's phone rang. "It's Garcia."

"We got this." Spencer said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Yeah." Spencer nodded.

"Yeah, believe it or not, I have some experience with kidnapping trauma." Zoe said.

"Okay." Morgan said and answered his phone, "Yeah. Talk to me." He walked off and Zoe and Spencer went to Ingrid's room.

Zoe looked through the window on the door to see the young blonde woman in the bed. She was awake, just staring in front of her.

Zoe mentally flashed back to the following days at the hospital after she escaped those eight months. It was a blur to her but she could remember seeing the pictures of her, she didn't look at the camera but past them, just into space.

Spencer opened the door and held it open for Zoe. She approached Ingrid, muttering a thank you to Spencer.

"Hello Ingrid. I'm Doctor Spencer Reid, this is Doctor Zoe Noble-Valdez. We're with the FBI and we were wondering if you could..."

"Griesen, Ingrid. nine-four-three-two-three-nine-four-eight-seven."

Spencer and Zoe looked at each other to confirm that they both heard this insanity that sounded like it came from a computer.

"Excuse me?" Spencer asked.

She looked at them and spoke more slowly, if it wasn't for the utterly blank look in her eyes and tone in her voice, she almost would've sounded annoyed that she had to repeat it, "Griesen, Ingrid. nine-four-three-two-three-nine-four-eight-seven."

"Can I see your hands?" Zoe asked, she didn't wait for a response and took Ingrid's hand, examining her hand. Zoe stroked her hands over Ingrid's palm and then her fingertips, feeling the grooves of Ingrid's fingerprints under her own fingertips. She didn't find what she had been fearing to find... to both her relief and disappointment.

She gently placed Ingrid's hand back on the bed and looked at Spencer, gesturing for the door.

Spencer still confused nodded and they left without another word.

"What's up?" Morgan asked, approaching, confused as to why they were out so soon.

"She's brainwashed." Zoe said at once. "Cult, most likely."

"Why'd you ask to see her hands?" Spencer asked.

"It's not the same cult as the one they built around me." Zoe said.

"How do you know?" Morgan asked.

Zoe hesitated, her jaw clenching, then she sighed and held up her hand, “She still has her fingerprints.” She held up her hand, “one of the first things they did once the cult was built was that they burned off my fingerprints with acid. It was a long shot, anyways."

Spencer gently took Zoe's hand and saw she had no fingerprints.

"I..."

"Don't." She pulled her hand back, on guard, "Just call Hotch." They didn't move. "Call Hotch!" She snapped.

Morgan took his phone out and turned away from them as Spencer gave Zoe puppy-dog eyes.

"Ingrid isn't catatonic anymore, but she's answering every question with only her name and Social Security number." Morgan told Hotch through the phone. There's more. Garcia did some checking. Ingrid hasn't been enrolled in school for over a year. She had good grades. Just suddenly dropped out and vacated her campus apartment. She left no forwarding, Hotch. We have no idea where or how she's been living."

——————————————————————————————————

Ingrid had been in a cult and the Greinsen intended on bringing Ingrid to a deprogrammer and he feared that the cult had been responsible for the killings but didn't want his daughter to go to jail. During the night Minton and his family was attacked and the police officer patrolling them was killed.

They went back to the police station to update the profile now that they knew a cult was involved.

"We're looking for the cult leader. Typically men between the age twenty-five and thirty-five with a high level of intelligence." Zoe said as cults were her specialty. "A sociopathic underachiever with an extremely abusive childhood. And obviously someone with an interest in, and an affinity for Apache culture and rituals."

"Look for males with criminal records for lesser type crimes." Morgan said as Zoe crossed her arms, she had put her motorcycle gloves on now because Spencer kept looking at her hands in sympathy. "Drug possession, petty theft."

"What about school records?" JJ asked, "The victims from the first crime scene went to Terra Mesa University? Maybe the leader was there, too."

"That's great." Elle said, standing up, "Look for students who studied Native American cultures extensively."

"We need to do it all." Morgan said, "With this second strike it could be a spree."

Zoe had to excuse herself now that her part of the profile was done, she had to meet up with Blackwolf, Hotch, and Ingrid at the house where the family was killed.

——————————————————————————————————

Zoe got off her motorcycle, glancing at the house. She went to take off her gloves before stopping and changing her mind. She approached Rhodes, Blackwolf, and Hotch who had just arrived too.

"Sorry about your man, Jim." Blackwolf said.

"I appreciate that." Rhodes said.

"That her?"

"She won't give us anything, but her name and her Social.

"Thanks." Blackwolf said."

Okay. They're ready. Everybody out." he called to the officers and went to the car and yanked Ingrid out, "Come with me! My friend wants to show you something." He pulled Ingrid to Hotch, Zoe, and Blackwolf

"Ingrid, my name is John Blackwolf.

"I know who you are." Ingrid said, the first words other than her name and social. "You are the son of Benjamin Blackwolf of the Chiricahua Apache.

"Come with me." Blackwolf said and turned to head into the house.

They walked through the hall of the house, next to a cluster of pictures of the kids was smeared with blood as the family had tried to escape. They walked past it and into one of the daughter's room.

"What do think happened here, Ingrid?"

Ingrid looked around, the books and trophies had lines of blood on them when the girl had been stabbed, blood was splattered on the white curtains, lots of blood was stained onto the bed, on the girl's paintings. Her name had been Nicole.

Ingrid looked back at Blackwolf and said, "I think three little trespassers met the vengeful blade of the tribe."

"What tribe would that be?" Hotch asked.

"There are only two people. The Apache, and those who trespass against us." Ingrid said.

"You're not Apache, Ingrid." Blackwolf said.

"No. You are not Apache." She argued, "Not anymore. Grandfather tested me. He sent me to the desert mountains to be blessed by the Ga'he. The Gahe have brought Grandfather back to us, build his new tribe to reclaim the sacred land for the Apache."

"Where is Grandfather?" Hotch asked.

"Did Grandfather ever tell you where the name 'Apache' comes from? It comes from the Zuni word 'apachu,' it means 'enemy'. And if Grandfather knew the first thing about the real Apache he would have taught you to refer to us as the 'diné'. It means, 'the people'."

"Grandfather said that you and all the living Apache are like the Jews of old, lost and wandering the desert in search of their Messiah. And he has come..." She argued but Blackwolf cut her off by speaking over her.

"The diné don't believe in a Messiah."

"You were lied to, Ingrid." Zoe said.

"The Ga'he..." Ingrid started.

"Don't use a word you don't understand. The Ga'he are not magic fairies. They are not gods as you understand them." Blackwolf said and he grabbed one of Nicole's shirts covered in her blood and held it up to Ingrid and he grabbed her harshly with her other hand, having her squeak in fear. Zoe refrained herself from jumping in as Blackwolf shouted, "This is not the blood of an enemy! This is the blood of a little girl just like you are. You've been fed bits and pieces of a culture you don't understand."

"You don't know." She said when Blackwolf let her go."

"What we do know is that you've been manipulated and exploited by a very disturbed individual." Hotch said.

"You are a liar!" She cried and she turned back to Blackwolf, "You have disavowed your ancestors. Only those who dwell in the dead lands deserve to live!"

Blackwolf looked at Hotch and Zoe.

——————————————————————————————————

Zoe was helping Garcia find potential cult leaders while Spencer looked through the paper files while the others figured out where the cult may be.

"Stop looking at my hands." She said, without looking up.

"Sorry. It's just... they should've grown back."

"Minor burns or injuries usually don't permanently change them. They didn't understand that. Within a few weeks, they were growing back and they burned them again and again. Until I stop screaming. I finally explained it to them. It would take a third-degree burn or other serious injury that affect all the layers of skin that the fingerprint is encoded into. At least five. Three months in and they had burned nine layers and, they're gone." Zoe explained.

"I'm sorry."

"I know you are, Spencer. I don't need your pity. I don't want your pity. It's been five years. I've accepted it. I just..."

"How were you never converted?"

"I wasn't a victim of the cult. I... I was the inspiration for it. Because I refused to break. If I was ever innocent, they took it from me but I still refused to break and I continued to fight, when they would've broken. They were broken and my fight confused them and so the cult formed. Even if they tried, I knew the truth." Zoe said, "Here's someone. Jackson Cally."

Spencer moved his chair to look at her screen.

"He was expelled from TMU six months before the others for drug possession and there was a string of colleges before. Every single one, he studied religion and Native American culture and he was in a seminar on Native American culture with Ingrid Greisen and look, John Blackwolf guest lectured." He read.

"Send it to Garcia. "

——————————————————————————————————

Zoe went with Hotch, Elle, Morgan, Blackwolf, Rhodes, and other officers to an abandoned motel off of Route 29 that Blackwolf speculated might have be where the cult was.

They kicked the door down and went through the darkened motel until Hotch found someone. A man with his back to them his arms behind him

"FBI! Don't move! Put your hands out to the side and turn around very slowly." Hotch said and Cally held his arms out. "Jackson Cally?" Zoe, Morgan, and Elle entered the room behind him. "Grandfather?"

Cally finally turned around.

"There's no one else here, Hotch." Morgan said.

"Where are the others?" Zoe asked.

"Hunting." Cally said.

—————————————————————————————————

Zoe was on the phone with Spencer as he read the paper file that he printed of what Garcia had pulled up. "Jackson Gordon Cally, thirty-two years old. Spent most of his childhood moving from foster home to foster home."

"Hang on a second. I'm going to put you on speaker." She said and pushed the button, "Go ahead, Spence."

"Simply another sad, but unremarkable statistic aside from the fact that he had an IQ of 189." Spencer said. Zoe was unimpressed.

"Any criminal record?"

"At eighteen, he spent twenty-two months in prison for auto theft. I just spoke to the warden at the prison. Said when he was there he found religion and began preaching to his fellow inmates. And that he once convinced a mass murderer he was doing time with to beat to death an inmate that was threatening Cally."

Zoe was still unimpressed. That wasn't surprising. Cult leaders were known to be rather persuasive.

"Ever since he was a child, this guy just survived on cunning, force of personality." Gideon said.

"He spent twenty-two months in the clink. Was released and then bounced from university to university studying, you guessed it, Native American cultures." Spencer said.

"Okay, thanks, Spence." Zoe said and hung up.

Cally reminded her of an unremarkable version of her ex-boyfriend. High IQ. Highly persuasive. Abusive childhood. Underachiever. Criminal record.

"What's his connection to the Apache?" Blackwolf asked.

"Aside from taking your class? Nothing that they could find." Zoe said. "With sociopaths like Cally, there is no connection."

"If it hadn't been Apache he would've found some other culture to attract and manipulate his followers." Hotch said

"Like Manson, Cally's been forced to become an expert profiler of sorts. He reads the people around him. He finds a way in, and then he brainwashes them to serve his needs." Zoe explained.

"And the only way to figure out his game is to play it." Hotch said, "I'm going to give him exactly what he wants."

"What's that?" Elle asked.

"An audience. Zoe, you have experience with cult leaders?" Hotch asked.

Zoe stared at him, unamused at Hotch-levels.

"Alright, but I have a suspicion. Give me a moment."

——————————————————————————————————

Zoe sat in a chair in front of Cally, the moment she sat down, his eyes flickered to her necklace, a Day of the Dead necklace, she didn't have her leather jacket on and had her shirt sleeves rolled up slightly, revealing her alebrije wolf tattoo on one shoulder and her tattoo of Santa Meurta on the other.

"Hello Mister Cally, I'm Special Agent Doctor Zoe Noble-Valdez with the FBI." She said.

"You know, I've spent my whole life talking to cops and doctors. There's something different about you. You're not just a cop or a doctor. Are you?" He said.

"You're very perceptive." She said, only barely meaning it.

"So what are you?"

"I'm a profiler."

"So am I."

"You're not the leader, are you?"

"No. That'd be the suit back there, Special Agent Aaron Hotchner."

"But your colleagues still respect you a great deal. They think you're very smart but you also scare them a little. You worry them. You're a mystery to them that they can't quite profile."

Zoe raised her eyebrows.

Cally looked at Hotch, "And they look at you to find all the answers. Leadership is a grave responsibility."

"Well, they don't call me Grandfather." Hotch remarked.

"Well, in my tribe, Grandfather is simply another word for 'teacher'."

"Did you teach your tribe to murder?" Zoe asked.

"No, I don't teach murder. I teach love. Love of land. Love of ancestors. Love of the tribe. These trespassers poison the land. You know the Day of the Dead stems from Aztec beliefs."

"I did know that. I'm from Aztec descent from my mother's side." Zoe said.

"Not many do. The remaining Aztecs have forgotten who they are. But the Apache will soon remember who they are and they will hunt these trespassers off their land until no one but the Apache remain."

Blackwolf stepped up, "You think you speak for the Apache, but you're nothing, but a coward and a killer."

"I haven't killed anyone." Cally chuckled.

"Your tribe killed a family last night. A mother, a father, and three little girls. Ages, five, eight, and eleven." Zoe said, "Do you think that your little tribe is going to wage a war with all the white people in this state?"

"Pretty soon, we won't have to." Cally said

"Why's that?" Hotch asked.

He turned to Blackwolf. "What's going to happen when the angry white men come to the doors of your children blaming you for the killing of their people? What are you going to do? Call the cops? No. You're going to string them up. You're going to put their heads on poles and rape their women just like the savage animal you really are. Like the savage animal your father was before they shot him down."

Blackwolf grabbed Cally by the front and slammed him against the wall. Zoe only looked mildly interested in what was happening while Morgan shouted, "No, Blackwolf."

Morgan pulled him off as Zoe got up and stepped up to Cally.

"And you! You're just like your ancestors. Who sacrificed children by cutting out their hearts while they were still alive. By eating their flesh!"

"I'm a vegetarian." She remarked and walked past him with Hotch outside to Blackwolf.

"Let me in with him, alone." Blackwolf said, "I'll get him talking."

"You've done more than we could have hoped for." Zoe reassured him.

Hotch turned to Morgan and Elle, "You guys take Cally down to the Sheriff's Office."

"You tell that man he's welcome on my reservation any time." Blackwolf growled, pointing.

"Cally's a racist. That's why I took my jacket off. To show my tattoos. Not all Mexicans are from Aztec descent but I just happen to be and he could make that assumption if he studied Native American cultures. You just tipped him over the edge." Zoe explained. "It was never about the Apache. It's just about power and control."

——————————————————————————————————

It turns out a bunch of guns were missing from Minton's house. The cult was going to stage an ADU attack against Native Americans since the ADU didn't actually attack anyone.

"The school's our most vulnerable target." Blackwolf said.

"Cally likes killing kids." Zoe scoffed.

They got out and walked through a dark room of the school. Blackwolf heard Hotch taking out his gun.

"Put that away."

"What?" Hotch asked.

"You don't need it." Blackwolf turned to them. "Use your baton. There are many paths to the same place. Trust me."

"Just so you know, you sound like a fortune cookie." Hotch deadpanned.

"You asked what Maze Valdez taught me. It was how to be the ultimate weapon. I don't need a gun. The Aztecs have fearless warriors known from their ferocity and bravery but they did it to protect their tribe. Our best bet is stealth. Pick them off one by one. My cousin is a modern ninja. Stealth is my specialty." Zoe said.

——————————————————————————————————

When the cult members arrived, the one classroom was empty. Zoe slammed a door shut, bringing one closer and she punched him in the carotid sinus, a pressure point in the front of the neck. When pressure is applied it can trigger carotid sinus syncope, a response that causes fainting, it can happen even if someone were to wear a tight collar. If this pressure point is struck, the body’s receptors are confused into thinking the body’s blood pressure is too high and the body attempts to correct this by suddenly dropping blood pressure which can lead to insufficient blood supply to the brain and then fainting.

Zoe led a few away while Hotch took out one and then pulled another into a classroom. Blackwolf pulled the rifle from another and the cult member took out his knife, Blackwolf took out hers.

Zoe had three following her, not sure if they had someone. She circled around a shelf and grabbed one, pulling behind it and hitting their head against the wall.

"Who's there?" A member shouted but Zoe was gone.

She grabbed another's rifle, kneeing them in the groin and kicking them away. He and the other member watched as without looking she pulled the ammo and threw the gun aside.

Then there was a gunshot. Hopefully, by Hotch, Zoe looked away and the last member holding their gunshot at her but she rolled out of the way and she spun when she shot again, dodging the bullets until the gun went click, click, click.

The first member she had disarmed lunged at her but Zoe simply grabbed his hand, twisting it to just to the point of intense pain, making him shout in pain but the most terrifying part was the intense look of hatred in Zoe's eyes, that they would attempt to come and kill children. The other member ran at her and Zoe pushed the first member into them, making sure to hit their heads together.

Hotch and Blackwolf showed up, having heard the shots and had become concerned but Zoe was still standing unhurt.

"You took out three at once?"

Zoe just shrugged.

Zoe tied up all the members, tightly so they would have no chance of escape and applied pressure on the woman's wound that Hotch had shot to keep her from shooting Blackwolf

The rest of the team arrived as the three were sitting in front of the school.

"The children?" Gideon asked.

"They're fine." Hotch said.

"Did you actually think I'd let any of them get hurt?" Zoe asked.

"We got them out before they got here. We took down these six." Hotch said.

"Without firing a shot?" Spencer asked.

"Captain America here shot number five." Blackwolf said, looking at Hotch.

"You're welcome."

"And one of them shot all their bullets at Zoe and missed." Blackwolf said.

"They're not exactly a sniper with a gun." Zoe dismissed.

"Number six is cut up pretty bad. I don't think he's going to make it." Hotch said.

"At least I didn't shoot him." Blackwolf muttered.