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the-weirdos-mind · 4 months ago

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Madder Than A Peasant

The urge to write an Estella overblot fic had won.

@adrianasunderworld @mangacupcake @writing-heiress @fair-night-starry-tears @queen-of-twisted @achy-boo @abyssthing198 @fiendishfan

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It was now or never. Estella was going to ask Crowley how the progress of going home was going. Don’t get her wrong, she loves that she’s finally made friends for the first time in her life but she still worries about her family. She still remembers how the adult relatives had freaked out when her cousin went missing. That’s something that’ll be engrained in her mind. She took in a deep breath before knocking on Crowley’s office door.

“Come in.” Crowley said. She opened the door and stepped into the office. She closed the door behind her before walking up to the headmage’s desk. The masked man looked up from his paperwork. “Ah, Miss Garcia. What can I do for you today?”

“Hey Headmage, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“What would that be?”

She took in a breath, held it for three seconds before releasing it. “How’s the progress going on me going home?” There it was out now. Her heart started thumping in her chest in anxiety.

“Oh-Oh.” Crowley said, before clearing his throat. “I’m afraid I have nothing to report on the situation.”

Her heart stopped beating when he said those words. “What?” She asked, so softly like her voice was going to break. Her stomach jumped into her throat as tears started forming. She blinked to keep the traitorous streams from falling. “What do you mean there’s nothing to report?!” She raised her voice a little, feeling her frustration starting to broil.

“Miss Garcia, calm down. A lot of time is needed to get into this sort of thing. Interdiminsional travel is something that’s not familiar with mages.”

“But you had plenty of time! I’ve almost been killed several times in this place! I had to fight overblots left and right this year!” The tears started to fall as she began shouting. The frustration and resentment had been building up for so long that it had slipped out of her eyes. “I NEED TO GET HOME! I need to let my family know that I’m not dead!!” Crowley’s blood started to run cold as he watched the tears slowly turn an inky black and the magestone starting to shine a dark purple as she shouted some more. His golden eyes widened a bit and he stood up from his desk.

“Miss Garcia, you need to lower your voice and stop screaming.” He said. His hands were clenching his desk so hard that his claw like rings started to cut through the wood a bit. He knew where this was going and he didn’t like it one bit. Though he had seen a few instances where Estella had used magic, he never had a another thought about it. Her magic was something so strange to him. It comes and goes whenever it pleases so he never had any concerns about her developing blot. He should’ve known better than to brush it off as something non dangerous.

“ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!” She yelled. Her voice sounded disoriented and deeper. “After all this time of passing your work onto me and leaving me on my own, you now decide to act like a freaking adult?!”

“Estella—“

“I’m done with your excuses!”

Her skin became paler as the inky tears started to drip to the floor. The ink on the floor had begun to levitate and stick to her until she was completely covered. Estella had no idea what was going on. Everything was becoming hazy as she started to fight conciseness. Spots flashed across her vision before everything went dark for a moment. Crowley let go of the desk, unaware of the holes in it and took a step back as the ink dripped off her. Her skin was so pale, like she just died. Her clothes had changed to a dark purple gown with black, broken glass shard images on her gown. The ink covered her hands, from the fingers to her elbows. Her hair was in a small upwards bun, disheveled with strands of her hair sticking up, behind a black crown that was broken and glued together. Her glasses were shattered and pieces were missing from the frames. Her feet were in glass slippers that appeared to have been broken. The being that rose out of the ink will haunt his dreams for a while. It wore a similar gown to hers, but dark blue and looked torn and stitched. It’s glass like head was shaped like a pumpkin, and cracked as ink dripped down. In it’s hands it held a giant glass slipper that was cracked and missing a few pieces and a large rotting pumpkin in the other.

Never had an overblot had given him so much fear. The crazed look in her eyes made his heart rate pick up. He pulled out his whip and lashed it at her. He has to snap her out of this. There’s no telling how much damage the blot would do to someone who’s not a native of Twisted Wonderland. The whip came for her but the Phantom stuck the arm full of glass in front of her. The whip snapped with it contacted the glass. He gasped as the broken half fell to the ground. “You should’ve been working on a way.” She said. She made the Phantom raise the arm with the pumpkin. The vegetable smashed down on Crowley. The headmage looked around the inside in horror as sharpened seeds started shooting at him.

He did his best to dodge the seeds raining down on him but some stabbed him. Blood started to stain his clothes. The Phantom lifted the pumpkin up and threw it through the wall. A large hole was made, allowing her to see the abomination bounce on campus. Some students who were walking back to their dorms leapt out of the way so they didn’t get smushed. Some were wide eyed as they heard the headmage’s screams ring out as it bounced past them.

The group of first years and Ramshackle students were walking back to the old dorm, having a study session planned for upcoming exams. Fanner was going to put some of his past knowledge to use to help the others as he’s the only sophomore who wouldn’t try to exploit them or hand them textbook sized study guides. A notification popped up in Ortho’s vision, making him scrunch his eyebrows in confusion and worry. “What is it Ortho?” Oscar asked, noticing the look on his friend’s face.

“There’s something coming.” Ortho said as he looked around for the source. “There’s something radiating blot that’s coming this way.” Everyone else stopped walking and looked at him.

“Wait, what?!” Grim said, spooked out.

“GET DOWN!” Sebek yelled. He, Ortho, and Fanner tackled the others as the pumpkin bounced over them. They all looked up, hearing painful and horrified screams.

“Where did that pumpkin come from?!” Ace shouted. Out of everything that they had seen so far, this was the strangest thing they had ever seen.

“That sounded like the headmage!” Deuce said, recognizing the voice.

“What in tarnation is he doing in a pumpkin?!” Epel said.

“We gotta stop it!” Cass said. They took off running after it, with Ortho flying ahead of them. He reached the bouncing pumpkin and got behind it. By now, it had bounced its way to the woods behind Ramshackle, without damaging the dorm in any way. The others managed to catch up and were taken aback by its appearance. It was rotting with dents in the skin. What creeped them out the most was the black ink like substance dripping from the cracks.

“That’s blot.” Stephanie said, confirming the question that they all had now been asking.

“Headmage is that you?” Ortho asked.

“Shroud? Oh, I’m so grateful that you stopped me!” Crowley said when he recognized the voice.

“Crowley, what happened?” Romeo questioned. “How did you end up in that pumpkin?”

“It was Miss Garcia. She—“

“You shouldn’t have stopped him.” A voice said. It was familiar yet disoriented and deep. The air became heavy with tension and magic. The sky turned a dark violet and they all turned around to see Estella standing there with a ticked look. They all gasped when they saw her, with some gaining horrifying looks on their faces. They never even thought she would overblot.

“Henchman?” Grim said. “Hey! You’re not supposed to overblot under my watch!”

“I don’t think that’s the appropriate thing to say!” Epel said.

Estella scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Get away from him, and I’ll tell you live. Stop me and you can join him in that pumpkin and die!”

“I’m sorry, Housewarden.” Cass said, pulling her pen out. “I can’t let you kill him!” She fired a spell at her. The overblotted girl caught it and threw it at the group. Some dodged while Romeo, Jack, and Ace got hit. The impact flung them against the pumpkin. The stem started to grow and stretch out towards them. They were dazed a bit from the impact and didn’t realized they were tied against the vegetable until it was too late. Ortho came from behind and used his laser to cut them free.

Cass, Deuce and Sebek were firing attack spells to distract her. Some of them hit her or the Phantom but each hit only fueled her rage and insanity. She started to fire counterattack spells in a blind furry. Their distractions had given Epel, Grim, Fanner, Stephanie and Oscar the chance to sneak behind her and start attacking the Phantom. The beast turned around and started to smash the ground with the glass shard arm. Each smack against the ground sent glass shards flying right at them. There was no dodging them as the shards followed them and hit them. Fanner jumped in front of his friends, and used his metal arm as a shield from the shards.

As she fought against them, the real her was watching from inside the rage. From blurry glimpses she saw herself attacking her friends and tried to snap out of it. Inky black tendrils wrapped around her and dragged her back, giving her a glimpse of the monster that accompanied this appearance.

“You guys don’t understand!” Estella said as she stomped her foot, making the ground shake. Vines shot up from the ground and wrapped around the three attacking her. Once the vines tied around them, they pinned them to the ground. “All year he’s been making excuses and ignoring my concerns and questions!” She turned her gaze to the people attacking her monster. She made the beast swing its arm at them. Grim yelped in pain as a glass shard impaled him in the back. He blew fire at the shard heading towards Oscar.

The boys eyes were glowing as he used his Signature Spell. “On your left!” He yelled at the others. The arm with a new pumpkin was heading towards the three. Thanks to his vision they were spared the same prison Crowley was trapped him. Grim went and freed those trapped by the vines.

“Estella, snap of it!” Ace yelled as he cast his famous air gust to brush away some glass.

“Please, Stella!” Deuce said.

“Until he sends me home!” Estella shouted. She continues to fire attacks as her friends tried to snap her out of this state. No matter what magic they used, they barely did any damage to her. She seemed stronger in this form. She was stronger like this. They were all getting exhausted from the prolonged magic use and the injuries they received.

“What do we do?!” Romeo asked. “We’ll die if we keep going like this!”

“Sebek Zigvolt!” Ortho said. “On my count, fire lightning!”

“That won’t do anything useful for the human!” Sebek said.

“Just do it!”

Sebek sighed and conjured up lightning, the lightning used for his Signature Spell. Orthro turned his arms into guns and aimed them at her. “Now?!” The half fae demanded.

“Not yet!” The humaniod said. He glanced at the charge.

“Now?!” The lightning ball in his hands was growing bigger.

“Just a little bit more!”

“NOW?!”

“NOW!”

The two fired at the same time. The two blasts of energy and lighting was heading towards her at incredible speed. Jack noticed the flash from the corner of his eye. “DUCK!” He yelled, throwing himself to the ground and covering his head. The others followed his lead. Estella glanced up just to see the two blasts heading towards her. She had no time to react as they struck her. She screamed as the static and burning sensation overwhelmed her. She stumbled on her feet until her eyes rolled to the back of her head. She collapsed, making the Phantom shriek as it dripped and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. The tattered dress disappeared, leaving her in her uniform once more

“ESTELLA!” Grim yelled as he ran to her. He pushed her until she rolled onto her back. He climbed onto her chest and grabbed her shirt collar. “Wake up!” He yelled as he started to shake her. Everyone else stood there as they watched Grim desperately tried to wake her up. The girl’s head jerked from the creature’s frantic attempt to wake her up. “No.” He mumbled as he stopped shaking her. “HENCHMAN DON’T YOU DARE DIE ON ME!!” Tears filled his eyes.

Estella’s eyes jerked open, making him yelp and fall off her. She sat up and looked at her surroundings in confusion. “What?” She mumbled. She groaned as her head started to pound. “What happened? How did I get here?”

“You overblotted.” Epel said.

“What?”

“Afraid so.” Oscar said.

She gasped, placing her hands over her mouth as her eyes widened in horror. She remembered what she did to Crowley and felt like throwing up. She may have hated him for pushing his responsibilities on her for so long but she didn’t want to hurt him. “D-Did I…”

“I’m still alive Garcia.” Crowley said as he approached her. He kept his distance after what he went through. She was so relieved that the man was still standing. “I do have half the mind to expel you for harming a staff member but I won’t. It’s clear that you don’t have control over your magic.”

She looked at him, feeling dread start to boil. “As punishment for your actions, you will clean the statues on Main Street once you’re deemed healthy by the nurse.”

“Yes sir.” She said. She looked at the ground, not wanting anyone to see the shame in her eyes.

“Trappola, Spade, take her to the nurse.”

The two boys nodded and helped the girl onto her feet. Her legs shook from the aftermath of the overblot and her guilt that she almost committed murder.

#twisted wonderland #dire crowley #ace trappola #deuce spade #jack howl #epel felmier #ortho shroud #sebek zigvolt #grim #twisted wonderland ocs #estella garcia #cass oak #romeo oak #oak twins #stephanie alcayna #fanner igor #oscar maldición #estella overblot #overblot

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rainbow-universe · 7 days ago

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Steph Joins the BAU for Fun! And Gets Kidnapped for Her Troubles (Not So Fun)

like the title says. Criminal Minds x DC Crossover Week Day 3 - Wednesday, February 5th Kidnapping || Batskills Save the Day || Canon-Case, Hero Victim || "I think, deep down, we're all capable of unspeakable things." part of @criminalmindsxdc 's CM x DC crossover week!!

((context: Steph showed up at the BAU to see Reader for reasons (needed to escape to someone less involved but still trusted), a case came in, somehow (for plot reasons) Reader was able to convince Hotch to let Steph join them on the case, as like a (university) student observer, shadowing them kind of?))

cross-posted on ao3

wc: 2.8k

“Where’s Steph?” you asked as you entered the room when you didn’t see her.

There was a pregnant pause when no one answered, and everyone looked around. Your gaze snapped to Spencer as he had stayed behind at the precinct with her while you all had been out at crime scenes and interviews.

His eyes widened. “Uhh, she left the room … 20 minutes ago? Said something about … calling someone outside? I was so focused on the geographical profile, I wasn’t paying that much attention, I’m so sorry,” he sounded torn up.

“It’s fine, Spencer,” you said, not looking up from your phone as you pulled up the bat-tracking program Bruce had set up ages ago (paranoid bastard) and hoped Steph had one on her.

“I’ll go ask some of the officers, see if anyone knows where she went,” JJ offered and left the room.

“She might’ve just wandered off,” Derek said.

“No,” you frowned, this was Steph, she wouldn’t disappear without a reason, and she would’ve let you know if it was something important, if she actually left- you swore. “Can you call Penelope?”

“Do you think she went off on her own?” Hotch asked you seriously.

You shook your head. “Not without letting me know. She’s smart.”

“You think someone got her then?” Emily asked as Derek reached across the table for the console to call her, recognizing the tension in your voice.

“I am here to serve, my lovelies!”

“Can you tell me what’s at the intersection of Vaughn and 15th street North?”

“Of course, my fingers are flying … it’s a warehouse, unused, in the warehouse district, owned by Dover Industries, a shell, I can find out who owns it if you give me a moment…”

“That’s ok, thanks Pen.” You were thinking hard.

“What’s going on, what don’t I know?” Penelope asked, worriedly. You never called her Pen unless you were lost in thought or worried.

“Steph.”

Derek explained for you, “Steph’s disappeared, can you check the security cameras in the area, baby girl? Start around the precinct, … see where she went?”

“Give me a magical moment and I will find out!”

“How do you know she’s there?” Rossi asked.

“Tracker, phone,” you replied, lost in thought.

Hotch stepped closer to you. “Are you going to be ok for this?” he asked you quietly and seriously.

You nodded.

He studied you for a second longer before nodding himself. “Ok.”

“Ok, there’s an ATM, a couple stores, and the precinct, I’m getting the feeds now, when am I looking for, friends?”

“Anywhere between 1:30 and 2:30,” Spencer answered quickly. You nodded at him in thanks. That was the time when you left with JJ and Rossi to interview a family, Hotch, Emily and Derek already out reviewing crime scenes, leaving Spencer and Steph here alone to work other aspects of the profile.

“Hey, a couple officers remember seeing a young blonde woman go outside maybe twenty minutes ago?” JJ said upon returning.

“Oh!” Penelope exclaimed through the phone.

“What is it, mama?” Derek asked.

“Oh dear, I’m sending it right now.”

Emily pulled a computer towards you and pulled up the video.

The grainy feed showed the front steps of the precinct, the road in front and part of the parking lot. It was empty for a bit, until Steph walking into the frame, leaving the building. She walked down the steps and stood on the grass by the pavement, near the corner of the screen.

“She looks like she’s on the phone with somebody.”

Steph hung up a few minutes later, according to the time stamp on the bottom of the screen, but stayed where she was for a few more. She’d just started walking back when a vehicle pulled up next to her, two people jumped out and grabbed her. You watched her limbs flail as they forced her into the van and speed off.

“Plates?” Rossi asked.

“Too blurry, but I’m tracking the vehicle as much as I can.”

“Likely three people if there’s two jumping out and one driving,” Spencer commented.

“Can you rewind?” you asked Emily. “Just the part where she’s taken.”

She hesitated but you saw Hotch nod out of the corner of your eye and she obliged.

You watched Steph intently as the video played and she got taken by the unsubs. “Oh Steph,” you breathed at the end.

“We’ll find her,” JJ assured you, and you couldn’t tell her that you weren’t too worried about that part, she could handle herself.

“Penelope, were you able to get other angles of this? Or down the street?”

“Not that I could get the plate off, I’m sorry, but I have confirmed that the van headed in the direction of the warehouse.”

“Not what I’m after, no worries. Was there anyone else in the area? Anyone else outside, on the sidewalk or something?”

“Let me check.”

“What are you thinking?” Hotch asked.

“Steph … she’s taken self-defence classes, she knows how to defend herself, she could’ve gotten away from them.”

“You think she didn’t try to?” Spencer said.

“Oh dear,” Penelope’s voice came again. “Yes, there were some kids just down the street at a bus stop.”

“Ages?”

“School age? Teens? Could be up to Steph’s age?”

“You think she let herself be taken to protect those children?” JJ asked.

You nodded. “Yah.”

“Dave, call SWAT, get them ready,” Hotch said.

You thought about Steph’s blurry hand signals from the video that you were able to make out, mind working overtime. “I think it’s connected.”

“What?”

“Penelope, can you pull up all homicides slash suspicious deaths, open or closed, for the past two months before our first victim, Tanya Rousse?”

“Sure thing, what are you looking for? Shouldn’t you be going to the warehouse?”

“SWAT needs to get ready so I’m going to use that minute.”

“Ok. We have four suspicious deaths; a domestic assault resulting in homicide, someone found their neighbor dead in his apartment, coroner determined heart attack, ooh! And then we have … a stabbing in a park, perpetrator was never found and someone found dead in an alley, reported missing a week before.”

“C.O.D.?”

“Where are you going with this?”

“Uhh, coroner determined DKA, they were diabetic and hadn’t taken their insulin in two days.”

“When was this?”

“Two weeks before Tanya disappeared.”

“Who died from infection and heart complications, also two days after she was taken, and stabbed post-mortem,” Spencer continued.

“Then Iris the next day, taken and killed a few hours later, because of the defensive wounds, she fought back more, hit with a blunt instrument, stabbed post-mortem,” you said.

“Then a cooling off period, 7 days before the next victim is taken, Sandya, and found three days later,” Emily added.

“With her kidney cut out but still inside, post-mortem stabbing with excessive rage,” Spencer added.

“We know all this, what makes you think it’s connected?” Derek asked.

“SWAT’s ready, let’s continue this in the cars,” Hotch announced.

“Ok, bare with me, I’ll be as fast as I can.” You followed your team to the vehicles and put your vests on.

“It’s human trafficking. The first few, just that, but the unsubs’ luck sucks, and the start of their bad luck they have their victim died of lack of insulin, because they didn’t know she was diabetic.” You climbed into the SUV behind Emily. “The next, Tanya, dies from stress and infection, underlying health problems, not necessarily physically visible. And by this time the unsubs are so stressed and frustrated that maybe their anger gets the best of them.”

Derek started driving once all your seatbelts were on.

“So they accidentally kill Iris because they’re so emotional and tense,” JJ inferred, guessing where your train of thought is leading.

“Then they take a few days to cool down,” Penelope said over the speaker phone, still listening in.

“Maybe the dom of the team forces them to calm down, or there could be an outside factor,” Derek added.

“Or both,” Dave said from the other vehicle.

“Exactly, maybe they’re also taking the time to stalk their next victim, because now they’re not just after anyone they can sell, I think they’re after the organs. Organ harvesting,” you said.

“Except they’re not experienced, you think they’re desperate?” Rossi wondered.

“For the organs or the money?” Emily added.

“My guess? Maybe someone needs a kidney transplant. One of the unsubs themselves, a relative, friend, etc, and since they lost their kidnapped victims, they didn’t get money to pay for it, so now they’re gunning for the actual organ.”

“That’s speculation,” Hotch stated.

“I know,” you admitted. “Steph’s kidnapping might be an unrelated occurrence, or…”

“Or maybe not,” Penelope said. “It’s a stretch but since you mentioned kidney transplants, I did some digging. 20-40 year old white males, who own that type of van, related to someone on the kidney transplant list, it’s a wide open guess but miracles do happen, I have one Candace Sawatsky on the waiting list for a kidney and she’s not doing so well, took a turn for the worse right before the abductions started.”

“A likely stressor then,” JJ said.

“Candace’s family set up a GoFundMe, but it didn’t gain much traction, poor woman. She has two brother’s Walter and Friedrich Sawatsky, the older, Walter, has a wrap sheet a mile long, and is involved with some pretty suspicious characters, his cellmate from his stint in prison also lives here, and guess what company the younger brother worked for last year?”

“Dover Industries, the company that owns the warehouse,” Spencer guessed.

“You got it in one, boy genius, now that seems like a lot of coincidences to me to not be connected,” Penelope said.

“Look at you go, you’re a wizard, baby girl!” Derek praised.

“Thank you, my delicious hunk of chocolate thunder.”

“If they’re that desperate for a transplant…” Spencer started.

Steph didn’t have much time, he didn’t finish.

“We’re here,” Emily said.

“Good luck, my darlings!” Penelope wished before she hung up.

“And whether or not it’s connected, we go in smart,” Hotch said as everyone piled out of the SUVs. Reid JJ, with me, we’ll take the north entrance.” He pointed out the entrance on the map a SWAT agent was holding up. He said your name, “you’re with Prentiss, Morgan and Dave, you’ll take the west entrance.” He pointed to another section. “Ok, let’s move.”

Hotch pulled you aside as you walked towards the warehouse. “I need to know-“

“I’ll be fine, Hotch. Professional, won’t step out of line,” you assured him. You weren’t sure if any of your coworkers would believe you, what with the frown that hasn’t left your face since you realized Steph had been taken, but you hoped Hotch would trust that you could compartmentalize, you were bat trained, you wouldn’t act out of turn. Besides, Steph could handle herself, which eased your worry.

Hotch nodded, accepting your statement, and you let out a small sigh of relief. It helped to have your unit chief trust your judgement.

Your groups split up and you followed behind Emily, Rossi and Derek, following SWAT in turn.

SWAT knocked open the door and you moved in, efficiently clearing spaces and making your way to the centre of the warehouse, looking for signs of the unsubs or Steph. ***spatial details??***

You dropped back behind the group and into the shadows. These weren’t Gotham shadows, but they still wrapped you up in their embrace, hiding you further. You went around the boxes and crates, searching for Steph, and finding voices to follow to the centre of the building.

You spotted Steph, tried to a chair on the other side of the space, the three unsubs were at a table to your right, arguing loudly. You sensed your team and SWAT about to surround them. Good.

You slipped around to creep up behind Steph and whistled quietly to let her know you were there.

“Took you long enough,” Steph breathed, barely audible.

You huffed a silent laugh. “No trick?” you asked, checking if there were Steph was attached to any explosives or other traps.

“Nope, a little help?” she hissed, shifting her hands to fiddle with the knots. Surprisingly, the unsubs didn’t do a half bad job with the restraints, but with you there to help, Steph was able to free herself quickly.

“Put your hands up, you are surrounded!” was shouted through a megaphone.

“Oh shit!” Steph slipped out of the rest of the bonds and followed you out of the warehouse, escaping notice.

They were able to apprehend the unsubs quickly, and without casualty thankfully. As SWAT escorted the three unsubs out of the warehouse, Hotch and his team looked around.

“Where’s Steph? Was she not here?” JJ asked.

And where were you?

“Look, there’s a chair, the restraints are undone, maybe Steph already got out?” Spencer said.

“Before or after we got here?” Emily asked.

“Look around for both of them and any evidence that may tie them to the other crimes,” Hotch ordered.

Just then, your voice came over the comms. “I got Steph, we’re outside, sorry for disappearing on you like that,” you apologized. “We’re waiting for the paramedics, they’ve been called.”

“Copy,” Hotch responded.

“Go,” Morgan said, fixing him with a stare. “We got this, you check on them.”

Hotch frowned, surely he wasn’t that transparent? But he nodded instead, and left, confident in his team, and, well, you were part of team, of course he worried, and Steph was young, and your family, like Jack, besides it was part of his job to check up on his team…

The paramedics had arrived by the time Hotch got outside and he found you hovering by Steph, who was sitting on the back of the ambulance, getting checked over.

“Ok, I’d saw you’re pretty good, but watch out for the signs of a concussion-“

“I know what they are, don’t worry,” Steph said flippantly.

“I’ll watch over her too.” You smile was tight.

The paramedic nodded. “Alright. Lots of fluids, and try not to do anything to strenuous for a couple days, take it easy, ok?”

Steph snorted and Hotch thought he saw you poke her back, but from his angle, he couldn’t be sure.

“We’ll be careful, thank you,” you said, and the paramedic took that as a sign to leave you be for a bit.

Hotch couldn’t say how he knew, there was hardly any physical reaction he could put his finger on to point out, but as soon as they left, he just knew that the both of you relaxed. Interesting.

“How are you doing?” he asked softly.

Steph perked up. “Absolutely swell! I’ve had worse kidnappers!”

You face palmed and Hotch tried not to have a mini heart attack. He knew you were both from Gotham, but really?? What is that bad??

“Steph!” you hissed. “Audience! This is not … Gotham humour here.”

Hotch was … very concerned and very confused. Both of you were legal adults so he couldn’t call CPS or anything but … sometimes, not that he’d ever admit it out loud, Gotham confused and worried him. He cleared his throat. “So, you’re ok?”

Steph grinned again. “Oh yah, not even a three on my worst experiences scale,” she said cheerfully. “Barely a one on my worst kidnapping experiences scale.”

You started muttering in another language. Maybe swearing. Face still covered by your hands.

Steph laughed at his expression. “I’m from Gotham, Mr. Boss Man, this isn’t even an abnormal Tuesday! Just a regular one.”

“Somehow I’m not reassured,” he replied.

Steph gasped dramatically. “Mr. Boss Man has a sense of humor?!”

Hotch cracked a small smile, before hiding it again. “I’ll drive you back to the station.”

You nodded and Steph whooped, jumping up. She stumbled slightly, but you were already supporting her until she regained her back.

He was surprised how well you two have read each other since Steph joined you this case. You anticipate each other abnormally well. More than you do for other people, and Hotch wondered how long you’ve known each other, since you never gave a straight answer. He also couldn’t help the profiler inside him that said that that type of anticipation often forms in childhood when surrounded by unsafe and sometimes violent situations. He knew you both grew up in Gotham, but still, he couldn’t help but wonder.

As the team packed up later, Hotch couldn’t help but notice how you hovered around Steph, rarely ever touching her, but you practically orbited around her. Your eyes flicking over to her, taking in any movements, fidgets, winces, all while talking to her about mundane topics like her university classes.

You sat next to each other on the plane, Steph fell asleep soon enough, leaning on your shoulder.

“She’ll be ok?” Hotch asked you softly.

You gave him a small smile. “She wasn’t lying about the whole ‘been kidnapped before’ thing, as concerning as it sounds, but yah, she’s got a good support network, she’ll be ok.”

Hotch wasn’t sure who you were assuring, him, you, or both. “And you have us. For whatever you need.”

“Thanks Hotch.”

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thanks for reading!! feel free to rb and leave nice comments <3

#cmxdc2025 #gender neutral reader #criminal minds fanfiction #dc fanfic #stephanie brown & reader #stephanie brown #the bau team #batfam!bau!reader #crossposted on ao3 #criminal minds x dc crossover #my writing #writings by oak

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