#morgan hearing kill bill sirens

[tricoufamily]

good.

prev | next

[crossoversfics]

Boy Genius (Chapter 1)

(Spencer Reid x Malcolm Bright)

Reid pushed open the clear glass doors to the BAU offices. There was a hurried air about the place, which was quickly made even more so when Garcia appeared at the top of the stairs waving him down.

“Reid! We have a case! Hotch wants us to meet him in the briefing room ASAP!”

“Coming!” He called back.

She nodded and shuffled/walked in her trademark fashion into the briefing. Reid noted that she was wearing her fuchsia pink lipstick as well as her most over the top dress with the sequins. Penelope liked to compensate for the evil that paid their bills with her extremely ‘vibrant’ wardrobe. The more she stood out the worse it was. He frowned to himself, the case must be bad.

Almost the moment he was through the door, Morgan grabbed his shoulder and leaned in, “Kid, we found him”. 

For the second time that day, Reid frowned, but he knew exactly to what Morgan was referring, “Dr. Arthur? How? We haven’t had a lead in almost five years.”

“NYPD just called,” Hotch answered for Morgan, “two new bodies were found in Grand Central”.

To be precise, the remains of two bodies were found,” Garcia wrinkled her nose as she clicked through the slides, “Two hours ago NYPD was called to Grand Central Station for a bomber threat. The caller did not identify himself but gave explicit instructions on the location of a bomb. When police arrived, they did not find a bomb, instead-.”

“They found two bodies that had recently been in an explosion,” JJ said softly looking at the images on the screen.

It was all Garcia could do to nod in reply.

Was there any sign of pre-mortem torture before the explosion?” Prentiss asked, a thoughtful expression came over her features.

Yes, and the ME was able to determine both victims were males but they are still waiting on ID’s”.

Reid noticed Garcia peeking at the plasma but quickly she closed her eyes again. He flipped through his paper folder, and noticed a small detail he hadn’t recognized previously, “This says that the teeth were removed?”

Yeah, I saw that too,” Rossi replied twisting his signet ring around his finger, “It says that the ME noted the teeth had been removed pre-mortem as well. What’s that about? Is this a part of the torture?”

“If this is Dr. Arthur it would go against his previous MO. He always left the victims’ faces untouched when he tortured them”. Morgan’s eyebrows knitted together as he spoke.

Hotch chimed in, “That’s the first thing we need to rule out. Five years is a long dormant period for any serial killer so this could be a copycat trying to impress him or is too inadequate to come up with an original MO. Wheels up in twenty.”

Everyone began exiting the room, but Garcia’s voice stopped them.

“Wait, wasn’t this the guy that alternated between bombing buildings and then torturing two men before blowing them up somewhere else? Isn’t that this guy?” She gulped a little as she spoke.

“Yes,” JJ nodded slowly, “Which means copycat or not we don’t have long before an actual bomb goes off.”

She locked eyes with Reid, and he saw the tension in her jaw. “I’m fine JJ,” he said as they walked out, “He won’t get away this time.”

“No he won’t,” Morgan agreed squeezing both of their shoulders, “This time we will bring him in.”

“You sure about that?” JJ’s voice held some very thinly veiled skepticism, “He completely fooled us last time around and it nearly got Spence killed.”

 “That was before,” Reid made sure his voice projected confidence, “Morgan is right. We’ll get him.”

“Atta boy,” Morgan clapped him on the back.

Reid smiled and separated from them to swing by his desk. He waited a moment and watched the others enter the elevators. Once the doors closed, he grabbed a key from under his desk and unlocked his filing cabinet. His fingers flew, knowing exactly what he was looking for. A thin envelope brushed against his fingertips. He pulled it out and stuffed it into his bag. After re-locking the cabinet and returning the key to its hiding place, he glanced around one more time as he stood and made his way to the elevators. It took a minute for an empty one to open. Finally, one did, and he stepped inside. Reid blew out a long-held breath once he was inside. No one had seen the envelope and it needed to stay that way for now.

                                                                ~

It had been almost three hours since the call about the bomb had come into the department. He could not understand for the life of him why the hell he was sitting in Gil’s office and not out at the crime scene. Malcolm felt a tingle in his right hand. He looked down and sure enough his tremor was back. Not noticeable to the untrained eye but to him it might as well have been a siren. He had been doing so well for months and one case was derailing all of his progress. He looked around, worried his mother might show up at that exact instant. She had an unnerving way of doing that. 

Closing his eyes, Malcolm focused on his breathing. He needed to relax, or he just needed a case. That always did the trick and one had landed so conveniently in his backyard. A soft click behind him alerted him to Gil’s presence and he shot out of his seat.

“Gil! Finally! Why didn’t you have me meet you at the crime scene? It looks like Dr. Arthur, which makes this a serial killer case. That’s my specialty.”

“Bright!” Gil held up a hand, “Calm down. We’ll head over to the scene in a minute. I just needed to talk to you about something first.”

Gil looked him over with one of his I-am-constantly-worried-about-you looks. Malcolm focused on controlling his hand. He couldn’t afford a tremor right now. Eventually, Gil seemed satisfied and walked around behind his desk and sat down. 

After a moment he spoke, “The brass caught wind that this could be Dr. Arthur and they called in the FBI.” He paused briefly, “I had no say in the matter.”

It was a while before Malcolm replied. He clenched and unclenched his jaw multiple times. At length he spoke, “Is this a matter of whether our team can handle the case or whether I can?”

“Kid, we are still working the case. That’s better than being taken of it entirely” Gil intertwined his fingers, “All I know is what they told me. The Behavioral Analysis Unit is the one we will be working with.”

“Gil, they couldn’t be more clear if they had written it on the wall. That’s an entire team of profilers!” He glared at the window overlooking the rest of the office. If he thought he needed to control the shaking before he had been sorely mistaken. “This is just their passive aggressive way of saying, how did JT put it, that I’m wack.”

Gil leaned forward and rested his arms on his desk, “They are working with us, not against us.” 

Malcom sighed and rubbed his left temple, “Gil, all due respect, you don’t know the FBI like I do. They probably already know about my unfortunate relations, and if they don’t they’re profilers.” He glanced sideways at his mentor.

Gil didn’t reply.

Malcolm felt a massive tremor coming on which was just what he did not need right now. He stood up and thrust his hand in his pocket, walking to the door. Before he opened it he looked back at Gil, “If you could not mention Dr. Whitly I would appreciate it. I’m tired of having to defend my sanity for the hundredth time.”

Gil nodded, “Kid-”

“I’m good.” Malcolm gave him a tired smile and walked out.

                                                                 ~

David Rossi smiled as he walked into the NYPD office. Aaron was right behind him as they stood in the entrance looking for someone in charge. Rossi had spent many hours in this building back when the BAU was just getting started and there was one face in particular that he was looking for.

“David Rossi?”

He turned to meet the voice and to his immense pleasure it was exactly who he had been hoping it was, “Gil Arroyo! It has been too long! How have you been?”

Gil smiled, “I’ve been good, and better now that you’re here. I had thought you’d retired?”

“Yes, but I found that writing about solving crimes doesn’t quite do the trick.” Rossi laughed, “It’s good to see you old friend.” Then he remembered why he was there, “Oh, forgive me, this is Aaron Hotchner our unit chief and a good friend of mine.”

Aaron stepped forward and shook Gil’s hand, “It’s good to meet you, I’ve heard many stories. I was told you are the leading investigator on the case?”

Rossi’s lips twitched upward slightly, leave it to Aaron to get right down to business. Gil was leading them to a conference room and relaying what he knew about the case.

“This is where we usually do our briefings, it should be big enough, although I had thought there were more of you.” He said looking at Rossi.

“There are. Agents Prentiss and Jareau are heading down to talk with your ME and Morgan and Reid are headed to the crime scene.” Aaron answered.

“Ahh well I have Detective Powell with the ME and Detective Tarmel at the crime scene so they should be introduced here shortly.” Gil said nodding.

As he was speaking, Rossi remembered something, “Hey, Gil didn’t you tell me you had your own profiler? I thought I remembered hearing he was some sort of prodigy.”

Gil smiled, “Yes, that would be Malcolm Bright. He’s our resident genius you might say.”

“Well maybe I can convince him to join the agency then.” He laughed.

Gil smiled again but this time it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Rossi wondered at that but now wasn’t the time to ask. It was time to get to work.

[theimpossiblescheme]

The Jellicles of Britain, as seen by Victoria: 1937-1939

(A.K.A. The Schemer’s massive canon-welding project between the 2019 movie and the stage musical... everybody buckle in, things are about to get hairy...)

Victoria first came to the Jellicle Tribe of Great Britain in 1937 after being abandoned in the street by her owner--she was a small, runty kitten with partial hearing loss, which made her impossible to breed and difficult to keep as a pet.  When Munkustrap, Mistoffelees, and Cassandra brought her into the fold, she finally felt as though she had found the family she’d always longed for.  And as she came of age among her new loved ones, she would be witness to three important Jellicle Balls...

The Ball of 1937 was a massive sprawling affair that spanned London, from King’s Cross Station to Piccadilly Circus.  The guests of honor, as had been the case for many previous Jellicle Balls, was Old Deuteronomy’s only surving mate--a queen named Esther who had formed her own “mini-Tribe” of sorts.  The cats of Esther’s clan included Augustus, Noilly Prat, Victor, Sylvani, Bill Bailey, Faber, Stearns, Bengaleera, Vickiprickitass, Mirringo (a cousin of Skimbleshanks), Quaxo, Cumberleylaude, Carbucketty, James, Morgan, Lillie, Socrates (Plato’s brother separated at birth), Syllabub, Grumbuskin, Valerie, Genghis, Gilbert, Murad, Wiskuscat, Jonathan, Edgar, Marina, Olivia, Edgar, and Parsifal. 

(Pictured from left to right: Mirringo, Vickiprickitass, and Bengaleera [I came up with them after I posted that initial character concept post, RIP me])

They adored the chance to mingle with their cross-country friends and celebrate both new lives and old ones.  However, this year there was a dark shadow hanging over the ball: it was the three-year anniversary of Macavity’s exile.  He had already taken a number of cats into his service and recently abducted Demeter as his own prize... all while her own sister, Bombalurina, still worked as his right-hand cat.

This year, Macavity’s plan was to kidnap the other candidates for the Jellicle Choice and “take them out of the running”, as he put it.  To facilliate this, he dispatched Bombalurina, Mungojerrie, Rumpleteazer, and Chatalune--daughter of Growltiger and Griddlebone--to sprinkle catnip across the Egyptian, an old theater that the Jellicles had adopted as their base, to render the other cats helpless.

Meanwhile, Macavity’s other henchcats--Zampalesta, Jokaste, Fantazia, and Sparetta--were helping him with the much more grisly part of the plan... which was to have the kidnapped cats executed by Pushdragon, the last surviving member of Growltiger’s Raffish Crew.  In a moment of hubris, after thinking he had done away with all of the candidates, he revealed this plan to the Jellicles... and horrified Bombalurina, Mungojerrie, and Rumpleteazer, who had no idea that the plan had involved murder.  And while Chatalune still supported the plan, thinking it would mean she’d have a part in her parents’ bloodthirsty legacy, the other three staged a mutiny, helping Munkustrap and Alonzo fight off Macavity and track down Pushdragon before it was too late.  Unfortunately, it was too late, and whie Pushdragon was driven away, a night of joy and dancing had turned into a night of mourning... but there was still one candidate left...

When Chatalune deserted the Tribe, she left behind a daughter, Pettipaws.  Pettipaws’s one wish ever since her mother--the only parent she had left--abandoned her was to start over, to escape her family’s toxic influence, honor the cats they had killed with love and respect, and live a better, happier life.  In light of everything that had happened, she was a very ironic Jellicle Choice, but Old Deuteronomy thought it fitting that after so much selfishness had torn the Tribe apart, Pettipaws’s selflessness might serve as a reminder.  And so she ascended to the Heaviside Layer.  All the while, Victoria had been stranded on the sidelines, distraught at all the suffering these strange new cats who were not her family had inflicted.  She encouraged Pettipaws to make her voice heard and helped Mistoffelees and Munkustrap in cleaning up the mess left behind, but she knew very well now that the life she’d chosen wasn’t at all safe...

The Ball of 1938 was significantly quieter, and a new kind of gloom overtook it as Tumblebrutus’s two brothers--Dionysus and Fleuryfling--were banished from the Tribe and recruited by Macavity.  But it also marked the redemption of Macavity’s three former agents.  While Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer had always been harmless petty thieves who had fallen in with the wrong crowd, Bombalurina’s list of crimes was much longer and more dire.  She was missing for most of the Ball, prompting Esther and a couple of her cats to comment on her absence.  When she came back, however, she not only had Demeter with her, but also two kittens--Electra and Jemima, their daughters--having snuck them out from under Macavity’s nose.  All three were welcomed back with open arms; Munkustrap danced the night’s Mating Dance with Demeter and took the two kittens under his wing (meanwhile their respective old flames, Alonzo and Cassandra, discovered they were more than happy with each other).  And while Bombalurina still had some more atoning to do, her good deeds inspired the other cats to be more patient and accepting with her on her road to redemption.

The night’s Jellicle Choice was a tom named Fleckenfell, a loyal tom who had been Bustopher Jones’s good friend and Maitre D’ for many years.  He’d once been an Ebenezer Scrooge type who never cared much about the less fortunate, but as he got older and wiser he realized how many opportunities he’d missed to help cats in need and went out of his way to be kinder and more community-minded.  His new Jellicle life would be a way he could put the lessons he’d learned as an older cat into practice much earlier so he could make more of a difference.  Once he’d ascended, his son Cumberleylaude was left behind, but Victoria practically dragged him over to Bustopher Jones and urged the Cat About Town to take the younger tom as his new Maitre D’ so he would have a family again.  Bustopher accepted, and Cumberleylaude was thrilled.

The Ball of 1939 saw new strife hitting the Tribe.  War was coming to Britain, and the air-raid sirens that were just starting to go off made it extremely unwise for small, vulnerable creatures to travel across the country, making it impossible for Esther and her family to attend this year.  To make matters worse, the Great Pet Purge had many human families driving their cats away into the country in hopes they might survive the bombings, leaving many Jellicles lost and scared.  The Jellicle Ball was more important than ever now--it meant the Tribe could still go on amidst the chaos.  And so it did--new life was emerging.  Pouncival and Etcetera were born early in the year.  Mistoffelees summoned seven newborn kittens from certain danger and gave them a new home.  Victoria came of age that year and took Plato as her mate, but most importantly she was the one to accept the wayward Grizabella back into the Tribe just in time for her ascension to the Heaviside Layer.  The coming years would only have more trouble in store for all parts of the Tribe, and any new kittens would be raised in a bomb-scarred shell of London... but the Jellicles would still survive.  Victoria and her family would survive.  And even with the smoke in the sky and Macavity still at large, they could still find a way to be happy.