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The man fell face forwards in front of her, blood spilling over the carpet from the hole in his forehead. She passed the kitchen table, snatching a bottle of wine and smashing it over his head. The wine mixed with the blood running lazily across the floor, and she watched until the mixture reached the baseboards. She pulled the plastic mask back onto her face, an unfortunate extra step she shouldn’t have to take for a (now dead) child molester.
They might slip through federal cracks, but in the end, they land right in my lap.
Getting out of the apartment was easy, walk out the door, disappear into an alley with no cameras, flip her plain black hoodie inside out to reveal a muted green lining and take off the mask, get out of the alley.
BAU
“Okay guys, this one is… weird. We have a serial killer, nothing strange right? Wrong. All of the victims are convicted rapists, or domestic abusers. So far there have been identified 12 victims, spaced out over 1 year, one every month on different days every month, and all over the country. Every victim has been in different states, except for these last two, both in Virginia, which lead to all of these being strung together.” Garcia looked around the briefing room to check and see if the others were keeping up with her.
“All of the vics were shot in the head, from the front, with a bottle of wine smashed over their heads” Reid furrowed his brows together,
“Sounds like a classic vigilante case”
“Which is why we need to get moving, wheels up in 30” Hotch’s voice had its usual cadence but his face looked confused.
Arriving at the scene, Reid and Morgan were unnerved.
“So no signs of a struggle, however blood splatter on the wall tells me that this vic was kneeling when he was killed”
“So the vic was kneeling, and shot in the forehead. This guy wants to watch them die.”
“So, why the wine? I’m not seeing any dinner, or drinks laying around.”
“Wine is often used as a symbol for transformation and cleansing, I think this unsub might be… I’m going to call garcia” the phone was already in Reid’s hand, sounding off the dial tone
“Good morning from the office of sugar spice and everything nice, how may I help you?” chirped Garcia from the other end
“Hey Garcia, can you give me the rap sheet of the latest vic?”
“Can I? That’s a borderline insult…” a couple of clicks sounded out “he was single father who… ohhhhh… oh- oh no”
“What is it babygirl?”
“Convicted of 33 counts of child molestation, and he impregnated his daughter 3 times according to the police report and by the looks of it greased some palms to get the minimum sentence. 4 years served and 50 hours of community service” her voice was quiet.
“This unsub is definitely trying to both physically and symbolically cleanse the streets of these men, thanks Garcia” said Reid looking to meet Morgan's eyes.
“No problem boy wonder” and the line droned a flat tone.
Hotch sat heavily at a chair next to the table in the borrowed conference room while Emily paced up at the front of the room
“No signs of robbery, nothing else out of place. This unsub was just in, kill, and out. No evidence, no… anything.” she looked at Hotch, a cross between annoyed and confused
“Couldn’t just make it easy and leave something traceable” she huffed, looking up in tandem with Hotch when the local police chief knocked on the door.
“Mr and Ms Porter are here”
“Thanks” Hotch's voice was monotone, face the usual levels of inscrutable. The interviews were quick. Mr. and Mrs. Porter had completely cut off their son after the court proceedings, and his daughter was quick to say if she had the guts she would have done it herself. Emily and Hotch thanked them and walked out to give them all a minute.
“Well… now we know that he was very disliked” Emily said quietly, Hotch hummed in agreement. As soon as they got into the conference room Reid bustled in with Morgan in tow.
“Hey do you guys have the footage of the unsub? Here let me see it” Reid snatched the laptop, and rewound the footage, watching it carefully before pivoting it so the rest of the team could see it.
“Guys… I think we are looking for a woman”
“Are you sure?” Morgan’s brows furrowed together
“Yes I am, look at the footage, smaller stature, a gun to keep control, and the wine, and I can’t keep The Mourning Bride by William Congreve out of my head”
“What is the mourning bride?” asked Hotch
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” Reids voice was grave.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Kicking back on her couch glass of wine in hand, she opened her laptop to scope out her next victim. Vaguely she was aware of the news playing on the tv in the background
“And next up we advise caution as a serial killer known as the Man Eater is on the loose, an national vigilante who appears to only be going after child molesters, and serial rapists” her eyes flicked up and locked on the tv. While the new anchor was talking a surveillance photo of her in her mask popped up in the background, just a simple dollar store doll mask she dug out of her closet from 1995.
Man eater, I could get used to that,
the thought came with another sip of wine. The red wine left a slight spice and traces of cherries on her tongue.
She flicked through the files, files which had been generously given to her by a multitude of friends on the dark web. She stopped on a man from kentucky, he had a lawsuit filed against him for sexual assault with several victims all with proof but the case was dismissed in the name of “not ruining a bright young man’s future”. She printed out his information, trying to tamp down her boiling rage. Waves of fury crashed against the cliffs of calm revenge.
I have to start surveillance right away if I want to get him on time
.
I only have 2 weeks left.
BAU (2 weeks later)
Reid looked at the map again and the red pins on the map.
“Hey guys, this unsub is creating a conscious or unconscious pattern. I can't tell which yet, but she keeps working in squares, and if she keeps to her pattern she's trying to close this next square, and if I’m correct this next square should close in this 50 miles in the kentucky virginia border” Morgan grabbed his phone and deftly punched in Garcia’s number
“Greetings to my rolling cloud of chocolate thunder, what can I do ya for?”
“Hey baby girl, can you give me a list of people that match our victimology in this 50 mile radius? I’m sending you a picture of the map”
“Okay I got the picture, and I have- oof, 2,328 people, can we narrow it down?”
“Cross out women” suggested emily, looking at the board
“Okay so now we are down to 2,310 people, anything else?”
“Try crossing out open cases”
“1,372”
“Try crossing out anyone over 70”
“1,019”
“Try crossing out anyone under 20”
“948”
“Anyone else got anything?” asked Morgan looking around, Hotch rubbing his temples, Emily looking back over the caseboard, Rossi was writing something down, and Reid was flipping through papers. Resounding “not really”s came from the team. Reid suddenly looked up, and shot over to the phone
“Hey Garcia, can you look at the files of the victims and see if the local precincts were hacked between now and the start of the killings?”
“Ooookay, um looks like they… were. How’d you know that?”
“Can you see if they were hacked by the same person?”
“Not really but I can see if… looks like the hacker is part of the oracle network, spelled 0-R-4-C-L-3. Huh would you look at that”
“Look at what?” Morgan jumped in
“Back in my not so legal days the oracle network was just starting for new hackers”
“What is the networks goal?”
“They advertised themselves as fighting to do what the law failed to do. But by the time I was out they were still trying to get on their feet”
“Can you find the oracle network?”
“What am I? Chopped liver? Of course I can, try as they might, they could never protect themself from me. Give me a minute sweetcheeks and I will hit you back” the phone beeped in Morgans hand
“Guys we have less then a week to find this unsub before someone else dies” Morgan's tone was somber, matching the downcast energy in the conference room. Emily turned back around and looked between Morgan and Reid
“Now the question is, is the oracle behind all of this? Or are they simply a means to get information?” Rossi looked up at emily’s question
“this unsub thinks too far ahead to be used like this, I think that the unsub might be using their mission to manipulate the oracle network to get information” he closed his notebook. Hotch looked around
“We need to get over there, wheels up in 30”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Kenny Hobbs groggily stepped out of his trailer, bending down to grab his newspaper, plumber's moon on full display. She sat patiently and watched his every movement. With this guy she wasn’t too worried about getting caught for lack of concern he seemed to have for anything, ever. She followed a couple cars behind his loud work truck, following him all the way to his jobsite. She had been following him for just under two weeks and had his routine committee to memory. This needed to happen asap. She drove back to her hotel, ready to get a good couple hours of sleep.
BAU
They landed the jet near the Bowling Green field office, who had generously agreed to let them set up a home base there. They had been hurriedly setting up their board, knowing that they had a couple hours to a whole week before this unsub killed and was once again in the wind. The urgency weighed heavy in the air, time seemed to freeze while they waited for the call of another body. Rossi paced in front of the case board, occasionally glancing around.
“Alright, I’m sick of just waiting. We are going to have to look through all of these files like and unsub to fall into our laps” he dialed Garcia's number
“Sir i was starting to get lonely, whatcha got for me?”
“From those 948 files, rule out anyone with less than 3 charges or accusations. This unsub has gotta be prioritizing, all of the previous vics are high crime.”
“OOh good on you sir, down to 152”
“Okay now rule out just abusers. This unsub seems to only be killing rapists and rapists with abuse charges.”
“46 keep it coming” Garcia’s voice had a creeping sense of hope as she watched the numbers slimmed down on her screen.
“Unfortunately I can’t, but we can deal with that number.” Rossi’s mouth quirked up just a little at the possibility of maybe catching this unsub.
“We can but this unsub is still 2 steps ahead of us, we know she's sending a message but we don’t know what she wants beyond justice. Which reminds me, Garcia, where are we with the oracle network?” Hotch said into the phone.
“Most of its encrypted, but I did manage to break some of the higher profile stuff and it looks like the oracle is getting inside information if you catch me drift”
“They have a man on the inside” Morgan's voice was quieter than it usually was.Emily exchanged a glance with Morgan.
"So she’s not just a lone wolf," Emily muttered. "She’s got help. And that makes her more dangerous."
Reid was silent for a moment, his mind running through patterns like a waterfall.
"The Oracle Network. They think they’re helping, but if the unsub is manipulating them… she’s using them as a tool. She could have access to any database she needs to find her next target."
“So let's think of this like our unsub and go through those files by hand to slim that down” suggested Rossi, gesturing to their tablets
After a while of going over files Reid jumped up from his seat
“Guys I think it's this one, it’ll complete the square perfectly and he's a prime target. Multiple rape allegations most of which with foresic proof, but the conviction was thrown away as to not ‘ruin a bright young mans future’”
“Who is it?”
“Kenny Hobbs”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
She parked a block away, taking her time to saunter down the unlit street. Relishing the feeling that overcame her, knowing that all of these people were oblivious to the reaper walking down their street. The sense of power, knowing that she could catch and punish where the law could not. Kenny had no clue an angel of death and justice was about to descend upon him and force him to meet his maker. She pulled her mask over her face, finally reaching the trailer. She took her time walking around the trailer several times, letting her feelings wash over her in waves big enough to drown her.
Approaching the door she stood on the top step, listening to the corroded metal creak under her weight.
“Who’s there?” a rough voice yelled from inside the tiny metal box. She tapped the muzzle of her Glock 17 against the flimsy tin door.
“Your victims deliverance” she let her voice sink into its lower register, trying not to disturb the neighbors more than necessary. The man ripped the door open,
“Now who the fuck-” his rough voice trailed off when he caught sight of her gun.
“Awh, big guy ain't so tough when he's looking at a glock is he? Aren't you going to be polite and let me in?”
“Um… come in” his voice oozed terror that sounded like music to her ears. She stepped into the trailer, the smell of beer and piss hitting her like a brick wall. She narrowed her eyes as if that would help the smell, but still kept him right in front of her gun.
“So much for a bright young man” she said looking around
“Who are you?”
“That’s not important, you should be asking what I am”
“Okay I’ll bite, what are you?”
“I am for today and today only, your personal gateway to hell”
“Oh my god, you the…”
“Maneater? I think lady justice sounds better but you get what you get. Now get on your knees”
“No.” his words unlocked a boiling pit of acid in her that was going to vaporise him.
“Get on your knees.” her voice rose in volume. And when he still didn’t go down she yelled
“GET ON YOUR KNEES” and then she fired a warning shot into his foot. He yelled and whimpered in pain as he scrambled to get on his knees.
Oh here come the waterworks, look at this fucking guy, bet he didn’t care when those girls cried.
She leveled her gun at his head and he blubbered past the tears and snot now bubbling out of his nose.
“Now start praying” the man wasted no time putting his hands up
“Dear lord, please stop this…” Kenny’s eye wandered up to hers
“Keep. going” she started looking around for his alcohol stash, eventually finding it in a beer stained cabinet. She reached way in the back and pulled out a cheap shitty bottle of wine. He blubbered half hearted prayers while she turned around.
“Pray like those girls did when you assaulted them” she waved her gun at his head while he started praying with a renewed force. The next time he met her eyes she put a bullet right In between them. The satisfaction rolled over her while she switched her grip on the wine bottle to bring it down on his head. A strong vinegar smell wafted up from the body, she took a seat on the booze stained single chair. She just sat there, the thrill fading quicker than it had with the others. The adrenaline left her hands shaking when she peeked out of the blinds, watching the red and blue lights fly down the streets getting closer. She opened the door, trying to misdirect them and climbed out the window, darting in between the other trailers. Briefly she caught a peek at the procession. Her eyes landed on an FBI van.
Shit.
BAU
They had gotten a call about gunfire coming from the exact trailer park where Kenny Hobbs lives and he wasn’t answering his phone. They pulled up through the thin roads of the trailer park, peoples blinds briefly cracking open before slamming shut. They pulled up to a dilapidated trailer, the door swinging gently on its hinges. A tantalizing invite, Hotch and Morgan pushing the door all the way open and quickly clearing the small tin box.
“Looks like this guy wasn’t exactly a big loss on the community” muttered Emily, disgust writing itself across her face.
“You can say that again” said Morgan, turning over the body
“Shot in the head, execution style. Again” Reid sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.
“Hey” Emily called out, motioning for the others to come look “Back windows unlocked” Hotch turned on his heels, barking orders to the cops
“Lock everything down in a mile radius” the cops hustled to follow his orders, cruisers speeding out to create checkpoints.
“This unsub has to be close, we should split up and find her” Morgan said
“Agreed” Hotch then turned and started jogging through the trailers. The BAU went in all different directions.
Reid slipped in between the trailers, the darkness and strange shadows unsettling him. The smell of cigarettes and cheap beer floating on the still air. Faintly he heard music, and right in between a couple of far away trailers he saw a figure slip into the darkness.
“FBI STOP WHERE YOU ARE” he yelled into the night. The person disappeared behind an outside wall. Reid ran towards the person, but by the time he got there panting and out of breath, the person had disappeared. The faint smell of wine lingered, gently wafting across Reid's face. He spoke into his earpiece rattling off what he had seen, and where he was. He pressed on, eyes straining in the dark to find the woman, but turning up nothing. They searched the area Spencer had seen her but she seemed to have dissipated into the hot night air. They were hurriedly walking back to the car when a lightbulb went off in Reid’s head.
“Hey guys, if you think about how sophisticated this unsub is and combine that with the utter lack of knowledge we have of them, I think we are looking at a government trained killer.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
She stepped into the plane, quietly reading whilst everyone got quickly settled on the almost empty flight. She held this book near and dear to her heart, as it had been gifted to her by a close friend, he even got it signed by the author for her. A man sat at the aisle seat opposite to her, his eyes lighting up when he saw the book.
“Hey, I love that book. Have you read it before?”
“Um, yeah a couple times, I have a friend that knows the author”
“Holy crap, you know someone that's friends with THE David Rossi?”
“Yeah”
BAU (days later)
Penelope rushed into the round table room to show everyone something on her computer.
“GUYS, guys I found something and it's not pretty”
“What’s going on baby girl?” Morgan glanced over, knowing Garcia was prone to working herself into a tailspin.
“So, I tracked the number that was used to contact the oracle, but then I discovered it was a fake number and I had to run like a million versions of this tracing software, to get to the phone through the 78 fake servers it was run through, and then-”
“Cut to the chase” Hotch cut in
“Right, okay well I could only get ahold of the phones serial number in the end but I tracked that number and it turned up in my system as an FBI purchase, but that's not the weird part”
“So what is?” questioned Morgan
“I tracked it farther into the bureau and found that that specific batch of phones were issued to the BAU in 2005” total silence overtook the room.
“Could you find out which agent it was assigned to?” Reid’s voice was quiet
“Unfortunately no, it looks like the oracle network was able to get into our system undetected and delete that info, but I did get that it was the only phone unaccounted for when we got new ones” the room was silent, no one daring to speak for fear of further shattering their ignorance.
“Maybe they stole the phone” Emily’s voice betrayed her hopefulness at the prospect that the unsub was not one of their own.
“Not likely” muttered Reid, his voice rising in volume a he continued “if you think about it the unsub has erased all of the evidence we look for first, she knows what we are going to do next, she clearly knows exactly what we are looking for an how we get it, so she directly counteracts everything we do.”
“Damn it!” Morgan almost shouted, clearly frustrated. Hotch cast him a sympathetic glance before speaking
“This is bad, but we need to split up and head to her home and work, Garcia can you get that for us?”
“Yes sir” she skittered away, head down
“Wait, what? Did I miss something? Who is it?” Emily cut through the somber cloud that seemed to settle in the room. Everyone got up in unison grabbing their various bags, once their phone pinged with addresses from Garcia.
“We will fill you in on the jet, wheels up in 5” muttered Hotch
The team hurriedly sat down in their seats, barely taking the time to grab their go bags. Hotch passed out files, Emily opening her copy as soon as she got it.
“Who is… Elle Greenaway?”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Elle grabbed the keys to the air bnb that was going to be her homebase for the next 2 weeks, and all it took was a photo of the body.
Damn the network knows how to pick a nice place
she thought gazing around the modest albeit very modern chic rental. Every kill earned her a place to stay and 3 grand in money stolen from shitty fortune 500 companies that made their killing stepping on their employee’s necks, and all they wanted was a photo and a video of the body. She brought the mask to the bathroom sink, gingerly scrubbing the dried blood off of the worn plastic. Laying down across the couch, she sighed when her phone rang.
“What?” internally she winced,
that came out way harsher than I intended.
“Excuse me? Is that any way to talk to an old friend?” the voice was like softened honey in her ears
“Heyyy, that didn’t come out howI wanted it to.”
“Doesn't matter sunshine, I got some bad news” Elle sighed heavily
“Already?”
“Sugar, I told you not to use an fbi phone”
“You did, you did. I mean it’s not going to matter, they’re not gonna find me”
BAU
As far as the team could track, Elle had moved back to back to seattle and had supposedly had a solid career being a guest lecturer at schools across the country. The plane gently bumped against the tarmac, Emily still reeling from the info she had been given.
“I still can’t believe this” she said
“What?” Reid’s eyes snapped up
‘Did you guys ever check up on her after she left?” The question was simple but a resounding silence met her ears.
“I called her” mumbled Spencer
“She shot a man in cold blood,” JJ piped up.
“Talk about a grade A stressor” Emily’s tone was now grave with no room for argument. She looked down at the file
“Me, Emily, and Spencer will go to her apartment and Rossi, Morgan, and JJ will go to the company she works for.” Hotch cut through the tension.
When the door of the apartment under Elle’s name creaked open, it was empty. Pieces of furniture sat covered in protective plastic sheets, a thick layer of dust coated everything. Most of her belongings were still there, save for a couple of things clearly missing.
“She hasn’t been here for at least 8 months” Reid said, looking around
“She wanted to be found” Hotch turned to face Emily and Reid
“Why?” Emily questioned. Hotch took a deep breath before speaking again.
‘She used an FBI phone on purpose, she knew Garcia would crack it. She definitely moved out in preparation for us finding out. She knew that the reveal of her identity would force her message to be heard. That it would force us specifically to hear it” Spencer just stared at him, quickly mumbling something about checking the bedroom and shuffling out.
Spencer stared at her bookshelf that spanned the entirety of her window wall, save for a space that the window shone through. Spencer scanned the shelf, a couple spots clearly missing books. Deft fingers dialed Garcia’s number.
“Hey, sugar, spice, and everything nice here, dazzle me.”
“Hey Garcia, you’ve been doing some digging on Elle, right?”
“Bingo boy genius, whaddaya want to know?”
“Can you see if there are any full pictures of her book shelf?”
“Let me work my magic and… oh yes here we go, Just sent”
“Thanks” his voice was flat as he hung up, waiting for the message to come through. When it did he scanned the books in the picture and compared it to the books missing. There were only four missing
-Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
-Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
-The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
-Compulsion: Understanding Criminal Behaviour by David Rossi
The last one caught his eye. That was a special edition that he had sent her via mail for her birthday, he’d even got it autographed. Facts and statistics ran through his brain like a river, but he couldn’t focus on them, she had taken the book he had gotten for her.
She took the book I got her.
He vaguely heard footsteps, but he couldn’t latch onto them, so he slipped around until a voice broke through.
“Find anything?” Spencer latched onto Hatch’s voice as hard as he could.
“Um, yeah, four books missing, Pride and prejudice, Death on the Nile, The Hobbit, and umm Rossi’s Compulsion” he hesitated on the last book, apparently catching Hotch’s attention.
“What special about that last book?” his voice softened as he scrutinized Reid’s expression.
“Well… I… That was a signed special edition I got her for her birthday, but I didn’t give it to her. Not really anyways, I sent it through the mail. What would have happened if I had actually given it to her? Would she…”
“Reid there’s no way to tell what she would have, or would not have done. You know that”
“I know”
“So profile the missing books, what does that say about her at the time she left?”
“Well she’s obviously trying to escape her reality, trying to shut herself out from the world. At the same time she’s gotta be trying to reassure herself that she’s not completely changed. It seems like she’s trying to keep herself from completely spiraling away from who she thinks she is” Spencer’s mouth spat out the words while his brain slowly came back to earth.
“Good”
The team met back at the Seattle field office where they had a temporary station set up in one of the conference rooms. Morgan strode in a couple minutes after Hotch, Reid, and Emily, and immediately started talking.
“Well her boss said she hasn’t put her name in for a lecture in months, so…” Emily looked up at the rest of them.
“She’s a ghost”
“I gather you found nothing at her apartment then?” Rossi sighed dejectedly
“Not exactly, she left almost everything but took a couple of those things. Among those were a couple of books. Pride and Prejudice, Death on the Nile, The Hobbit, and Rossi’s Compulsion” Reid stated, turning to face the room. Rossi’s nose wrinkled, although by what? Reid couldn’t tell.
“Our problem is, that she completed her square and we don't know where she is going to start her next one” Hotch cut in.
“So we have to wait?” asked JJ
“Unfortunately we have nothing that can tell us where she’s going next.” Rossi said
“We're on her clock now”