Author's Note: Hello, lovely readers! Here is the sequel to "Outsider."
Warning! This story is much more graphic with much more mature themes than the last one. Read at your own risk.
Also, if you are a big fan of Reid with Maeve, I wouldn't read this story.
I'm also going to leave here a sort of soundtrack of some songs I've been listening to for inspiration. I confess, I stole many of them from Suicide Squad and many others are my guilty pleasure songs. If you're not a fan of Suicide Squad, don't worry, the plot of this story has almost nothing in common with the movie. I just got some inspiration from the style of the movie.
"Soundtrack," which I recommend listening to while reading if you want to set the tone:
Black Sabbath- "Iron Man" Jodi Benson- "Part of Your World"
David Bowie- "Ashes to Ashes" "DJ" "Moonage Daydream" "Queen Bitch" "Suffragette City" "Time"
The Eagles- "Desperado" "Lyin' Eyes"
The Guess Who- "American Woman" The Hollies- "The Air That I Breathe" Lesley Gore- "You Don't Own Me"
Lou Reed- "Perfect Day" "Vicious"
Idina Menzel- "I'm Not That Girl" Queen- "Love of My Life"
The Rolling Stones- "Satisfaction" "Sympathy for the Devil"
Santana ft. Rob Thomas- "Smooth" The Talking Heads- "Psycho Killer" TWENTY ØNE PILØTS- "Heathens"
And pretty much every song by P!nk ever.
Thank you and now, on with the story!
"My only love sprung from my only hate." - William Shakespeare
The police chief stood over the young woman's mangled body. In all his years of service, he'd seen brutal murders, spoken to rape survivors, and the families of those who didn't survive. He'd heard of killers psychologically torturing their victims before they killed them, but nothing, nothing like this had ever happened in his jurisdiction before. What kind of sick, twisted mind would it take to do something like this to another human being? He wasn't trained to understand the minds of the criminals, only to catch them. He was going to need help, and a lot of it. He needed the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI.
"I'm not saying that people who watch Doctor Who are smarter, I'm just saying that a lot of very intelligent people are Whovians, like Stephen Hawking," Dr. Spencer Reid argued with Agent Derek Morgan. Derek should have known not to ask Reid about Doctor Who. It was like opening Pandora's Box.
"Okay. I get it, but I think I'll stick to watching hockey."
Then Penelope came in with her heels clicking on the floor. "Ooh! Are we talking about Doctor Who? Did you see the last episode where the Doctor—"
Morgan cut her off, "Talk to him about it."
"Sorry, it's going to have to wait," said Hotch, "We've got a case."
"Looks like you get to spend some time with your family, Morgan, because three prostitutes and exotic dancers were found dead in Chicago and the surrounding area. The total body count so far is eleven. The victims were killed across county and state lines. No one realized that the cases were connected until both Chicago and Gary, Indiana PD's contacted us. The women were sexually assaulted and tortured, but this is where it gets extra weird. Their faces were painted to look like clowns and they were dressed in costumes ad displayed in very public places with circus props left all around them. Chicago PD has asked for our help on the case. They deal with violent crimes all the time, but the unique nature of these crimes has left them baffled," JJ presented to the team as they sat at around their round table.
Hotch cut in, "And because of the unique nature of these crimes, we've also summoned help. This is going to be… ah, unconventional, but working with us will be someone who knows more about the case than anyone."
"Hey, guys. Miss me?"
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No, Hotch. This can't be happening. You can't be serious.
This is what most of the team members were thinking when Ellen Rivers stepped into the room. Sans the elaborate costume and makeup, she only wore clown-themed office clothing: a black bow on her blouse; red lipstick, shoes, and nail polish; and a diamond-shaped hairpiece.
Hotch broke the team's stunned silence. "This is Miss Ellen Rivers. She'll be assisting us with this case. She says she knows who the unsub is, and we're going to confirm that."
As the team was still unable to speak, especially not Spencer, Hotch gave them the explanation they deserved. "Miss Rivers has agreed to help us with the case in exchange for a clean record. Rest assured, she's only here to help. Miss Rivers, if you would like to lead the presentation from here"
Ellen smirked briefly. "Thank you, Agent Hotchner. Your unsub really isn't an unsub at all. His name is Vincent Bauer, but on the streets he's known as 'Pierrot.' I have met him in person and studied his behavior until he was caught and taken to an asylum, from which he escaped 10 weeks ago."
By then, the team had recovered from the shock enough to continue with their jobs. Morgan went first. "Well he's clearly a sexual sadist, and possibly delusional, judging by the theatrics with the kills and the admission into a psych hospital."
"That's very possible, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was able to fake his way through a psych evaluation to be transferred to hospital instead of a prison. He's organized, plans ahead. He's also charming and manipulative. He once talked a guard into giving him a pencil, which he then stabbed the guard with."
The newest addition to the team, Alex Blake, spoke up next. "These women were probably surrogates for someone, maybe someone who rejected him. Most of the victims were brunettes, and the rest had their hair dyed. The question is: who are they surrogates for?"
"Me," said Ellen. "He knows I was the one who got him locked up in the first place. I flirted with him for a couple weeks to get close enough to gather the evidence needed to put him away."
"This man will be armed and very dangerous. Do not try to apprehend him alone. He's probably a sociopath and will stop anyone who gets in his way. Wheels up in thirty. Garcia and Miss Rivers will be coming along with us for this case," Hotch said before the team exited the room in silence.
Just before boarding the plane, Spencer pulled Ellen aside. "How did Hotch find you?"
"He didn't. I found him. I knew two of the victims."
"I'm sorry."
"Thank you, but I'll I want to do is to catch the son of a bitch before he hurts anyone else. Before he was caught, he was a gangster who treated girls as disposable entertainment, but now he takes his time with them. His goal is to make them suffer."
"How did you find him in the first place?"
"I'll explain everything on the plane, but what I want to know is, how's my pretty boy? I haven't seen you in so long. You probably have hundreds of cases to tell me about."
"I'd like to focus on this one now."
"Okay. Also, your mother says 'hi.'"
"You've seen my mother?"
"Oh probably a dozen times since I saw you last. She's such a wonderful lady, and she tells the funniest baby stories about you. I didn't know you used to walk around the house in your mother's heels and lipstick."
"Why didn't she tell me she was seeing you?"
"I guess she's been a bit confused."
"I guess so."
As Ellen to a step towards the plane, Reid grabbed her arm to stop her. "Why did you come here?"
"What do you mean? We have a case. We can't just let all those girls die."
"That's not what I meant. I mean, why didn't you just go take care of it yourself?"
"You mean, why didn't I just kill him? Well, since it seemed so important to you, I thought I'd try things your way."
"You knew you could have been arrested the minute you contacted Hotch. I told my team everything I knew about you. You could've been risking your freedom by coming here. Why did you take that risk?"
"I knew I'd need help to find Pierrot the second time, plus, I wanted to see you again." She pulled at his tie seductively.
"Please don't touch me. You know I have a problem about germs," he said, irritated.
"I know. That's why I always carry hand sanitizer. And who's the new girl? She seems cool."
"That's SSA Alex Blake, our linguistics expert."
"I'll bet she's great at her job," said Ellen, secretly very relieved that Prentiss's replacement was too old to be romantically involved with him.
"She is."
"I can't wait to get acquainted with her." She took his hand and pulled him up the steps to the plane, "Now let's go catch a killer!"
Simultaneously, there was another conversation going on from the other end of the plane.
"So who is she? She's certainly not part of the Bureau," Alex asked Morgan.
He sighed, still trying to swallow the fact that he was being forced to work alongside a killer. "She's an unsub, or was. About two and a half years ago, we were investigating a string of murders where the victims were burned with their limbs cut off and dumped in a river. We concluded that the unsub was a vigilante, killing rapists and abusive parents and things like that. We never had any physical evidence to prove it was her, but we all know it was. She kidnapped Reid and took him to the location where she tortured her victims. She never hurt him, but apparently they knew each other as kids. He says that she came from a rough home life and she stuck up for him when the bullies picked on him, even if she was being bullied herself."
"And you never caught her, for over two years?"
"She's good at covering her tracks. She uses aliases, pays in cash, never leaves DNA behind, never stays in one place for very long. She's the perfect killer, I just wish Reid could see that?"
"What do you mean?"
Morgan suddenly found himself spilling his heart out to Blake. "I mean that I understand that this girl's been through hell, but that doesn't give her license to torture people, even if they are scumbags. Reid says he's staying objective on the case, but I know that isn't true. How could it be? They were childhood friends. I know he wants to protect her, but he needs to do his job, or else he could lose it. And it's frustrating to see him in this position. I can't stand seeing him feel so conflicted."
"I see. Well he's a smart kid, I'm sure he knows what the right thing to do is."
"I know, I just don't like the idea of having a killer working so close to us. Watch your back, just as a precaution. If our profile is right, then she won't hurt any of us, but we can't take any chances. Keep your guard up."
"Will do, but they way she looks at him, I think she's in love. She wouldn't hurt us if she knows we're his friends."
"I hope you're right."
She skipped girlishly and held her hand out to Alex. "Nice to meet you, I'm Ellen. My enemies know me as Columbina."
"You mean like the character from the Italian Commedia dell'arte? Now it makes sense. I can see why Bauer took a liking to you. Columbina was the wife of Pierrot."
Ellen stood motionlessly for a second, then said, "I love you. I thought only Spencer would know what my name meant."
"Well your real name means light."
"Wow. That's not what my parents called me." She turned to Garcia, "Excuse me, is that a vintage TARDIS bow in your hair?"
"Um, yes. It is." No one besides Reid had ever appreciated her Whovian accessories before. Where had this girl been all her life?
"Oh my god! Where did you get it?"
"I had to do a lot of digging, but my skills are unparalleled, so it couldn't hide from me for very long. You know, they say Jon Pertwee actually held this in his hand once."
"No way!"
"I know, right?"
"Have you seen the new season yet?"
"Of course I have! I heard that next season, the Doctor is going to-"
"Alright, let's review what we know about this case so far," said Hotch.
As Ellen turned around to look at him, Penelope mouthed to the rest of the team behind her back, "Let's keep her!" while wildly pointing at Ellen.
"Okay, Miss Rivers, we've got a few hours until we get to Chicago. Would you please fill us in on everything you know about Bauer?" asked Hotch as they all took their seats.
She took a deep breath, for she knew she would be speaking for quite a while. "Okay, where do I begin? I first heard word of Pierrot from some friends in the Chicago area. Now, Chicago is known more for gang-related crime, and I usually let the police handle that since a whole gang is too much for one girl to handle, but when I heard that dancers, prostitutes, and sometimes just girls wearing high heels were getting killed, I knew that there was something... different. Something was horribly wrong. So I went to Chicago myself and spied on him by going to his nightclub called The Masquerade. I observed him from a distance until I worked my way up to flirting with him and going on a few dates, gaining his trust. Us both being clowns, he fell for it pretty easily, and during my time with him, I gathered evidence and handed it over to the authorities. I was there when he was arrested and I was present for his whole trial. I did everything in my power to make sure he was locked up in the highest-security institution possible."
"If you had to give rough profile, what would it be?" asked Hotch.
"He gets off on power and control. He enjoys hurting and manipulating people, which he's good at. He thinks he's a big crime boss, but in reality, he just pays a few people to help him execute his plans. In fact, I don't think they even knew the full extent of his crimes until he was caught. And because he's so good at manipulating people, he's got his men staying loyal to him, even though he kills them at the first sign that they're betraying him. He's almost paranoid, always convinced that somebody's going to betray him. In my case, he was right. Like I said before, he's organized and plans ahead, but he's not as intelligent as you'd think. It was pretty easy for me to fool him, especially since I shared his affinity for clowns. Also like me, his affinity for clowns has taken up his whole life. He dresses in clown-themed clothes all the time, gives his men clown aliases, uses decorated weapons. His nightclub is decorated to look like a masquerade ball.
Now, I haven't seen him in person since he escaped. Some of this profile may have changed since then. It would seem that now his crimes are more revenge-motivated. I assume that he wants revenge against me. There's just something... different about him and his behavior now. I can quite put my finger on it yet, but if my intuition is correct, he's working towards some kind of master plan, and I'm afraid to find out what that plan is."
The man in white sat motionlessly and watched the dancer run her hands up and down her body. He stared her down and waved a generous amount of cash at her, making a mental note that he would pay her a visit later.
The girl continued her dance, completely unaware of the danger she would soon be in.
"Put on the dress! I said put on the damn dress!" he screamed at her. He made her change into the rainbow polka dot dress right in front of him, and there was nothing she could do since he had a gun pointed at her.
Such heavy tears were flowing out of her eyes that her makeup ran all the way down her cheeks.
"What do you want with me? I haven't done anything to you!" she cried.
"Oh no, sweetheart. You had me locked up in a cage for 10 months."
"What the hell are you talking about? I don't even know you!"
"I thought I knew you. I thought you were my friend, but then you turned on me!" he slapped her across the face. "But there is one way you can make it up to me."
He turned around and left her for a moment, not even long enough for her to get away, and he returned with a tray. On the tray was a set of face paint, makeup, and other costume necessities.
"You're going to be my doll," he said with a sinister chuckle, and he got to work painting the girl's face. "You're going to look so beautiful."
He started with a white cream as the base, then put a red dot on her nose and spread a red smile across her face, and finally, the eyes. The eyes would be the masterpiece. With his applicator, he delicately drew colorful diamonds over her eyelids and smacked her whenever she fidgeted or her tears messed up the makeup. Then all that was left was the hair. It was already dark enough, so all it needed was some curling, glitter, and a few bows.
When he was all finished, he kissed his work of art on the lips and said, "Now you're already."
"R-ready for what?"
"For me. When we're through, I wanna see your lipstick all over my body." He started unbuttoning his shirt and took out a knife from behind his back. The girl started screaming.