Author's Note: First, while the original character is "mine" as much as a fictional being can be (and I thought of the case myself) nothing else in the story is. This is my first attempts at a Criminal Minds based fan-fiction piece and it's self-beta'd so, please, be kind! ...This is really just the start of a fanfiction piece I'm working on. If there's interest in the piece (both from myself and others) and posting it goes well I'll continue it, haha!
------
"Trust is trusting someone without knowing that you can." ~ Anonymous
*************************
"I want to make it very clear, Agent Mercer," Erin Strauss said almost blankly, "I don't think you're qualified for this transfer. You haven't paid your dues yet. But, as it were, there's a spot open and I'd rather it be filled by a man who doesn't hero-worship anyone in the team."
"You mean someone who doesn't hero-worship SSA Hotchner or Rossi," SSA Logan Mercer corrected with an even tone. "You picked me because 'disregard for authority' and 'disobeys orders' is sprinkled throughout my file like confetti and you think I'm the perfect candidate to throw them off their game…that way you have a more legitimate reason to pull at least one of them off the team and rebuild the BAU how you see fit."
Strauss stared at the junior agent not sure if she should confess or deny. She settled on a third option, avoidance via insult. "As far as I can tell you're just dumb muscle."
"Well, lady, you can kiss my dumb muscle." He didn't wait to be dismissed, he just left. What Strauss seemed to forget, or failed to realize, was that she was just the type of authority that Logan had issues with. Those that tried to run agent while having never actually been in the field themselves, the ones that thought they knew better simply because their rank was higher. Those types drove Logan up the wall and, generally, drove him to either ignore or actively disobey orders. He knew better. He'd been in the field. He had experience. He had paid his dues, not her.
Logan grabbed the elevator door just before it closed and ran his fingers through his hair. It was still long. When he ran his own team in the violent crimes division he found it helped him to fit in better on the streets. No one expected the slight built guy with greasy long haired to be a Fed. He missed his team. He hadn't wanted this transfer but his superior put him in for thinking he'd be a good fit…Logan couldn't blame him, the guy thought he was doing Logan a favor. The BAU was elite. A step up in the bureau. But it required concessions that Logan wasn't yet willing to make, like leaving his own team and giving up his authority as team leader…Giving up his control.
In attempts to look more professional he'd opted to wear a suit and tie but now, looking at himself in the reflection of the glass covering a painting in the hall as he stepped off the elevator, he reminded himself more of a mob hitman. He fixed his tie a bit and sighed before pushing on through the glass doors of the BAU and into the bullpen. Not many looked up to note him and so he pressed on…through the bullpen, up the stairs, and past a door or two until he reached the one that was marked "Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner". He knocked even as he entered.
Hotch glanced up from his file preparing to give permission for entry only to see a young agent already inside his office. The senior agent's eyes widened just a touch before narrowing to show his displeasure at the intrusion. "Come in," he stated even though it were completely unnecessary now…at least, for practical reasons it wasn't needed. To establish his dominance, reclaim the office as his, and let this new being know that entrance without permission was not to be accepted, Hotch's verbal statement was absolutely required.
"Special Agent Logan Mercer reporting for duty, sir." Logan stated simply as his eyes scanned his new boss's office trying to get a read on the man outside SSA Hotchner's need to stake his territory.
"Papers," Hotch requested firmly, not letting up the business-formal tone yet. Logan handed them over as he waited for permission to sit. Permission he never got as Hotch read over the transfer papers and a brief summary of Logan's history within law enforcement and then set them aside to be filed. "Very good. There's an empty desk in the bullpen you can use and we have a briefing in about a half an hour. You can meet everyone then." He stated simply as he looked at his new team member. Then he added. "Dismissed."
Logan gave a nod and headed out and back down to the bullpen. He barely got to find the empty desk before Hotch stepped out of his office, a pretty blond following close behind with her hands full of files, "BAU members, conference room, now." Logan paused half a second to see who got up…A thin awkward looking young man, a black man who looked more suited to be on a football field, a slightly aristocratic looking woman, the famed profiler David Rossi, and racing through the glass doors after them was a heavy set, brightly dressed woman in glasses. Something of a motley crew at first glance but that only peaked Agent Mercer's interest. …Where would he fit in? Would he fit in at all?
"A series of home invasion rape, murders have occurred in Boston, we've been called in on the fifth," JJ started her briefing as she moved about the room, settling files down and then grabbing the remote to turn on the display screen, "All the victims are Caucasian women with red hair aged 22 to 29, some lived with roommates or boyfriends, others lived alone." She clicked a button and the women's faces showed up along with their basic stats. "There were no signs of forced entry. All the women were beaten, raped, then strangled though there was no murder weapon found at any crime scene…nor was anything declared as missing from any of the victim's homes." Another click and crime scene photos showed up, "After their death the women were left, nude, in sexually suggestive positions in their beds and, tied to their wrists with a bit of red yarn, is a homemade tag with a certain dollar amount."
"Different amounts?" Dr Reid asked curiously.
JJ gave a nod as Rossi spoke up, "Like he's grading them."
"Or their, um, sexual prowess," Reid suggests, "You know in ancient times prostitutes in brothels were given dollar amounts according to how proficient they were at certain acts. Although, ironically, virgins were actually priced the highest, but that was more for sanitary and sentimental reasons than anything."
There was a moment of silence from the group before Hotch turned to their newest member. "What are your thoughts?"
Logan, who'd been relaxing in his chair as he listened, finally sat up some. "He's giving them the only worth he thinks they have…as a piece of meat."
"And?" Hotch pressed, making it a little more clear that, for Logan, this was something of a test…at least a preliminary one.
"And so we're looking for a misogynist that likely thinks women are whores or, at the very least, exist to service him and that they aren't worth anything unless he says they are."
Hotch gave a nod not so much in agreement but in vague approval…At least the agent knew something about an offender's mind. Then he turned his attention to the others. "Okay, team, be ready to board in 15 minutes."
Logan stayed behind watching Hotch gather the files as the others began to exit. He gave Hotch a smirk, "Did I pass?"
"Excuse me?"
"You're little test. Did I pass?"
"Not yet." Hotch said bluntly before heading out.
