TW: gore, mention of post-mortem mutilation, mention of guns, mentions of mugging, mentions of PTSD and other mental illnesses, psychotic breaks from reality, police presence
true night, part one of one.
"we've all got light and darkness inside us. what matters is what we choose to act on. that's who we really are " - jk rowling
-
Genevieve and Derek had been dating in secret for just under a month, and so far, they'd managed to not raise the team's suspicions. Which was no easy feat, given how much time they all spent together. It had been especially difficult now that Garcia and Genevieve were living together - she'd had to dodge many a question from the blonde after coming home from Derek's place late at night.
They wanted to keep it the relationship a secret while it was in its newer stages - the two agreed that they wanted to get to know their new dynamics better before they had the whole team psychoanalysing them.
The team had been called in on a case of violent murders of gang-bangers in California. There had been seven victims in two weeks, and the police had drummed up no leads.
On the plane, they'd profiled that they're looking for one Unsub suffering from a psychotic break. Once they had landed, the team split up between the two SUVs and fought their way through the heavy traffic to the latest crime scene.
"You should have listened to me," Spencer said, as he, Genevieve, and Derek all closed the SUV doors.
"It wouldn't have saved that much time, Reid. Let it go," Derek said, a hint of impatience in his voice. Genevieve rolled her eyes as she walked ahead of the bickering pair.
"The interchange between the 405 and the 101 freeways is consistently rated the worst interchange in the entire world," Spencer said snappily, causing Derek to look at him with a look of disbelief.
"Why do you know that?" He asked irately.
"It's a government report," Spencer replied innocently.
"So what?"
"You work for the government. You don't read their reports?"
Genevieve fought back a laugh as a uniformed officer lifted the crime scene tape for the three agents to duck under.
"On traffic patterns in a city twenty-five-hundred miles from where I live?" Derek asked skeptically.
"Twenty-two-hundred and ninety-five miles," Spencer corrected him smugly.
"Don't make me smack you in front of all these people," Derek said through gritted teeth, gesturing to the crowd of onlookers that surrounded the police tape.
"If you don't shut up, I'm going to lock you both in the SUV and look at this crime scene myself," Genevieve whirled around on her heel to send them both a sharp glare.
"Sorry," They both mumbled, causing her to roll her eyes again.
"I'm Detective Brady, LAPD," A short middle-aged man ambled up to the three agents, his hand extended in greeting.
"Agent Taylor, this is Agent Morgan, and Doctor Reid," Genevieve pointed to each person in turn.
"The rest of our team's in an SUV behind us," Derek told him, seeing his surprised look at there only being three of them.
"Yeah, stuck in traffic," Spencer said, a small smirk playing on his lips. Genevieve pinched the bridge of her nose, while Derek clenched his jaw, biting his tongue to prevent himself from retorting.
"You had two more victims last night?" Genevieve asked, moving on before the two buffoons next to her single-handedly ruined the team's reputation.
"Yeah, they were found at about three-thirty by a cleaning crew finishing up in the building," Brady nodded.
"So that brings you up to seven victims in two weeks?"
"Yup. Bodies - or what's left of them, are down the street,"
"And the new bodies match the previous victimology?" Spencer asked.
"We don't have a positive ID on them yet, but from the clothes, I'd say yes," Brady cast a brief glance back at the two bodies, which were being photographed by crime scene techs. "You sure it's just one guy?"
"Judging by the amount of overkill, it suggests an Unsub in a violent psychotic break. Multiple Unsubs in a violent psychotic break operating in the exact same area is exceedingly unlikely," Spencer said, in his usual fast-paced and nonsensical manner, stopping only when Genevieve nudged him and shook her head, signalling for him to stop at the sight of the detective's confused expression.
"Yes, it's just one guy," Derek translated tiredly.
+++
Genevieve felt a little queasy looking at the two corpses in front of her. Knowing that they had been terrible people, didn't do much to put her mind at ease, because she felt that no one deserved the violent, gory death that the two had met.
They had been slashed several times with a large blade - one of the techs had speculated the usage of a sword. Exsanguination and extensive damage to their organs were the most likely cause of death, but even after their hearts had stopped beating, they still weren't able to catch a break. They'd been hacked so brutally it was a miracle that their bodies were still in one piece.
Derek had taken one look at the scene then gotten on the phone to Hotch, who was still, as Spencer delighted in pointing out, stuck in traffic. Spencer was in deep conversation with Detective Brady, and judging from the look on the poor detective's face, Spencer was pulling out every fact he could possibly think of about Unsub's that fit their profile.
She backed away from the body as the coroner team approached, plastic tarps in hand. She walked over to where Derek was standing - he had just gotten off the phone, and was shaking his head at the crime scene in front of them, his mouth downturned. She guessed he was thinking the same as her - how could someone do this to another human being?
"You ok?" She asked, as the coroner team lifted the now-wrapped bodies onto carts.
"I will be once we catch this guy," He said, pursing his lips. "You?"
"Yeah," She exhaled shakily. "I'm fine."
+++
There had been another murder. Actually, there had been six more murders. This time, their Unsub had gotten into a Glen Hill's house (the head of the gang who's members had been getting targeted by this Unsub), and slain the six that were there at the time.
"T.S.K?" Hotch asked, examining the painting on the wall.
"Twenty-third Street Killers," Brady explained.
"I got a casing here. Looks like they only fired one shot," Genevieve said, waving for a crime scene tech to come over and bag the evidence.
"Looks like they tried to fight back," Rossi said drily, picking up a gun from the floor, presumably the one that had fired the bullet.
"They failed," Spencer stated, looking around at the blood-spattered walls.
"Are we sure this isn't some kind of gang retaliation thing?" Brady asked.
"You're on the task force. Ever seen a street gang do something like this," Rossi turned to Benson, another detective who was part of the gang task force in the LAPD. Brady had called him in after the news of the six dead reached them.
"No. But one guy? Really?"
"One guy with a weapon, a psychotic break, and surprise on his side," Derek nodded.
"Yeah, just look at any school or workplace shooting," Spencer agreed.
"So what do we do now?"
"We're already doing it," Rossi answered.
"An Unsub in a psychotic rage stands out," Spencer told the two detectives.
"Agent Jareau has the media playing the press conference every hour," Hotch added.
"This guy isn't in the mindset to stay hidden. Someone's noticed him, they just don't know they have. We keep this amount of media coverage up, it's going to reach the right people," Genevieve assured.
"This man is in crisis, and the people in his life realise it. All we can do now is wait for one of them to recognise the description,"
+++
"I'm exhausted," Genevieve lowered her sunglasses from the top of her head to rest on the bridge of her nose and looked over her shoulder, double-checking that no one they knew was around, before interlacing her fingers with Derek's.
Hotch had given the team half an hour off - they'd been working since before the plane landed, and hadn't had a chance to relax. The local cops were manning the tip lines, and until they got a solid lead, there wasn't much for the team to do anyway.
So, Derek had been quick to volunteer himself and Genevieve to go to the cafe the locals frequented and do a coffee run for the team, giving them the opportunity to spend a little time together. They'd ordered and were walking back the long way, holding seven coffees between the two of them.
"When was the last time you slept, doll?" He asked, looking at her with a frown on his face, well aware of her habit of 'forgetting' to sleep. Whether it was because she was coming back to her apartment late after spending the night at his house, the details of a case keeping her up, or simply that she wanted to spend some quality time with Basil, Genevieve didn't have the healthiest sleep schedule. She also had a knack for functioning well on little to no sleep, which made for her going without sleep for sometimes days on end.
"Well, last night I only got back to my place around three because there was an accident the usual route I take from yours. And Garcia was just saying goodbye to Kevin - who's around all the time. Doesn't he have a place they can go to? I'm tired of walking in on their weird sexcapades. Those two have some weird nicknames for each other,"
"I can imagine," Derek winced theatrically.
"No. You can't. Not until you hear Kevin cooing at odd hours of the night calling her his sweet chook," She said bitterly.
"Sweet chook?" He repeated, shocked.
"That's not even the worst one. I've done my best to burn them all from my memory,"
"Ouch," He replied, sympathy in his voice. "You know... it wouldn't be the worst thing if you just stayed at my place some nights. You don't have to sleep in your apartment everyday. That way, I wouldn't be worrying about whether or not you're sleeping, and you wouldn't have to hear... y'know,"
"How'd I explain it to Garcia? It's hard enough to talk myself out of her interrogations when I get home late. Imagine what she'd be like if I didn't show up at all," She shook her head. "I love the idea, but I mean, it isn't practical,"
"Why don't you tell her the truth?" He suggested slowly.
"If Garcia knows, JJ knows. And if JJ knows, so does Emily. Those three are worse than teenagers," She disputed the idea immediately. "And you know I don't like keeping you- this a secret. But I'm not ready for every one of our interactions to be poked and prodded at by those morons,"
"Not the whole truth," He agreed, seemingly unnerved by the idea of their relationship being put under the microscope. "Just tell her you're seeing someone. She doesn't need to know it's me,"
"It's Garcia. You know she'll pry,"
"It's you. In your army days, you were privy to the most sensitive and confidential information this country has. And you're telling me you can't keep your secret boyfriend a secret from your roomate?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at her, causing her to falter.
"It sounds stupid when you put it like that," She muttered.
"Uh-huh,"
+++
As they'd predicted, soon, they had almost a dozen witnesses were pouring in, all claiming that the same man, Johnny McHale, was an exact match for the profile they had broadcasted to the media.
Johnny was a pretty famous graphic novel artist who up until six months prior, was an average guy with a loving girlfriend, Vickie. But when they were out for a walk late at night, they were mugged by none other than Glen Hill and his cronies.
Vickie was killed in the incident, and Johnny was left hospitalised and alone.
They had gone to bring him in, only to find him in a disoriented and confused state. The only thing he seemed to be sure of was his innocence.
But when they found his artworks, they had all the proof they needed that Johnny was their guy. Every crime scene they had discovered had been perfectly rendered in Johnny's art, no detail missed. Their most pressing concern, was that there was an extra drawing, with no crime scene to match up to it.
They'd never located Glen Hill's body in his house - he wasn't one of the six dead, but after a gentle interrogation, Johnny managed to organise his thoughts enough to give them a location.
And with that, one of their most brutal, and bitter cases, was drawn to a close.
+++
Genevieve was mere seconds away from closing her eyes and falling into a deep sleep as she and the rest of the team trudged onto the jet. Her mind was sharp, and eager to send her reeling into a spiral over the case, but her body was exhausted. She suspected that the herbal tea Derek had force-fed her wasn't helping much with her state.
Johnny wasn't a bad person. But because of a bad person, he'd been made into a monster that he wasn't. And the idea that he would spend the rest of his life locked up in a mental facility for something that was out of his control sent a chill down Genevieve's spine. But she couldn't think about it. Not when her body was so sore from the days without a proper night's rest.
She and Derek settled onto the two seater, and she rubbed her eyes wearily as Derek dug around his bag to find his headphones.
"Would it raise any alarms with the team if I used you like a human pillow?" She murmured, slouching in her seat so that she could rest her head on his chest, not waiting for an answer.
"I don't think anyone's awake enough to care, baby," He whispered back, chuckling lightly as she shoved her hands into his hoodie pockets to keep them warm.
"Good," She replied, yawning.
"Goodnight, Gen."
"Night, Derek."
author's note
this episode lowkey makes me so sad johnny didn't deserve this but i soso much fun writing this with their new dynamic omg. i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, stay safe, and happy new year <3