Title: Bandits Against the Underworld.
Disclaimer: Not mine, no profit made.
Rating: T
Pairing/Characters: Morgan/Reid, mostly a team fic.
Summary: The heroes of the BAU attempt to help the citizens of Virginia Metropolis when their arch enemy 'The Reaper' attacks.
Prompt: The BAU Team as superheros / with special powers
A/N: This is the beast that took over my brain. I didn't want to derail the story with too much character history so I've complied a list with a few short paragraphs explaining each heroes origin story here(- amy494walker. livejournal. com/10453. html - remove spaces. ) It may help the story to make more sense. Also, this is definitely the start of a series. I already have a great idea for a Morgan centric story that I'll do next :D
The large, full moon hung low in the sky, giving comfort to those who wished no harm, and illuminating those who did. The night was a cold one for the residents of Virginia Met. who where sleeping soundly in their beds, comforted by the knowledge that their city was kept safe from evil, from any enemy of peace lurking in the shadows.
The BAU, The Bandits Against the Underground, were always on the lookout for trouble. With their amazing abilities and strong sense of justice, they where the greatest Super Heroes the world had ever seen.
The Reaper hated them.
"Glarin!" He boomed, his almighty voice echoing through the dome structure of his lair. It was one of the most secure facilities on earth, hidden 20 miles underground. The crime lord however was not pleased by this, he loathed being forced to hide beneath the surface like a rat.
Entering the control room, The Reaper's man-slave; a creature created in his lab for servitude, hobbled over to his master looking appropriately afraid.
"Yes .. yes Master?" The beast stuttered.
Keeping his eyes on the view-screen, showing the horizon of the city that should be his, The Reaper asked, "Is the Janus project near completion?"
Looking extremely relieved he wasn't in trouble, Glarin enthused, "Oh yes Master. It is ready for deployment."
Finally turning to look at the slave, The Reaper was stunned, "So soon?"
Glarin nodded, "Yes Master, the scientists worked diligently indeed."
The Reaper smiled in delight, "Well, I may just let them live after all."
Flipping his black and read cape behind his shoulder, the villain moved closer to the control console and addressed the many technicians.
"Commence phase one." He boomed. Excitement bubbling, he loved when a plan came together.
The Reaper and his servant watched as the computers showed the weapon powering up.
"Look at that Glarin. Soon enough this city will be so overrun with crime and violence that the BAU won't know what hit them. And as soon as their lair is vulnerable, it will be ours."
Ignoring the look of awed devotion in his creations eyes, The Reaper pictured himself ruling the city, holding those troublesome heroes in his possession, and could no longer hide his glee. He laughed out loud, long and loud. Echoing into the halls.
"Mmmm."
Shivering at the feel of Derek's hand trailing up his side, Spencer arched his body into the touch and deepened their kiss. There was little in this world he enjoyed more than making out with his beautiful lover in the morning. He loved how slow, languid and amazingly hot it was. There was no rush, just pleasure.
When Derek pressed his erection against Spencer's own, the genius reached down and gripped the firm ass in his hands, pulling the other man as close as he could.
"Oh, Derek." Spencer moaned, kissing, licking and nibbling on Derek's shoulder. He listened with contentment as his lover panted, moaned and whispered into his ear.
"Spence, so good."
They both jumped apart when the alarm suddenly sounded.
Looking up at the display on the bedroom wall, they saw that they were being called for a code-red. That wasn't something either could even contemplating ignoring.
"Oh no." Spencer mumbled, jumping up to dress. The sheer idea of the catastrophes that could have triggered such an alert was enough to rid Spencer of his arousal and he was sure the same was true for his partner. When they where dressed they headed for the door but Derek grabbed Spencer's wrist to halt him.
"I love you." He said and kissed him sweetly. Spencer returned both the kiss and the words with a smile before heading to the meeting room.
When they arrived they found the rest of the team already sat at the round table facing the large screen.
"Spencer, Derek. We have a serious problem." Aaron Hotchner, or The Chief as he was known to the rest of the world, was sombre indeed. Not that it was easy to tell the difference sometimes.
Also sat at the table was Emily Prentiss/Mystic, Jennifer Jareau or JJ/Wolfheart, David Rossi/The Persuader and The Almighty Oracle, one Penelope Garcia.
Spencer, or Rapid, sat at his usual seat while his lover, Inferno, sat across from him.
"Last night, before I went to bed, the city looked like this," Garcia said, flicking a hand up to the screen, bringing up a video of a peaceful happy community. Just as they liked it.
"And when I got up this morning, I found Kevin freaking out about this."
As another video came up, the group where stunned. No longer was there peace but the city looked as though it had been the ground of a war. Smoke was billowing up from various buildings and alarms blared in the background.
"Who did this?" Derek asked, upset that their enemies where constantly trying to destroy his home.
"That's the thing, it was the citizens." Garcia sounded almost as though she was in shock, "They're all acting like crazy people, picking fights for no reason, looting, vandalism. It's all of them."
Prentiss shook her head, "How did this happen, this can't be them." she said, holding on to her faith. She knew there were bad people in this city, but they were mostly good.
"Well, I checked the logs and, sensors did detect an energy surge over the city just after midnight." Garcia said, sitting down.
Morgan frowned, "What kind of energy surge?"
Garcia, motioned again to turn the upsetting video off, before answering, "Electromagnetic as far as I can tell, the frequency was unlike anything I've seen before. But, it could possibly be used to to alter thought patterns in the human brain. I'm guessing it increased aggression levels too high for them to handle."
"Why weren't we affected?" Hotch asked, frowning.
"Well, our brain chemistry is a little different than that of ordinary people."
Flipping through the pages of technical data that Garcia provided with superhuman speed, Reid said, "I looks as though the origin point of this surge came from ... " He paused there. He didn't want to be the one to say his name. He looked up to see Garcia nodding sympathetically before they all turned their eyes to Hotch.
"The Reaper." The Chief answered bluntly. The Reaper, the same man who had made it his mission to destroy their noble leader, the man who had killed the love of Hotch's life, Haley. The whole team shared in his grief, Haley had been a frequent visitor to their layer - Hotch being the only one who had lived off base - and had been as much a part of the family as anyone. Though concern for her husbands safety took a toll sometimes, she handled the burden of being married to a Super Hero with more strength and dignity than should be looked down on. They each felt the burn of guilt at not being able to reach her in time, it made them doubt their abilities, their purpose.
Silence reigned over the room for a few moments before Hotch stood. "Okay," He started, in full business mode, "Oracle, I want to and Kevin to keep trying to find the true purpose of that energy surge, find out exactly what it's done and how we can reverse it. Inferno, you go with Rapid, Mystic and Wolfheart to the city, I know it's unlikely that even we would be able to do anything against such overwhelming numbers but just, help the police force as much as you can okay?" After receiving a round of 'Yes Chief's" he turned to The Persuader, "I think we're gonna need to visit an old friend if we want to find The Reaper."
"I'm game." He replied.
They all stood up and paused a second. They where all looking to Hotch, each of them wanted to say something along the lines of 'We'll catch this guy' but they knew they couldn't make that promise. They had been hunting this monster for 5 years and they where no closer.
Hotch lowered his eyes for a second, perhaps overwhelmed by the weight of the groups stares, before raising them again. He smiled as sincere a smile as he could manage these days and nodded. They took that as their cue to go change and head off to their assignments.
"Back off!" Derek yelled, once again shoving back the guy who was trying to tackle him to the ground. The street around them was a mess, littered with burnt out cars - many still on fire - broken glass and most disconcertingly, blood.
The guy, almost rabid looking in his anger, ignored his warning and instead growled, lunging again. Having just about enough of this, the masked hero raised his hand and, with trained precision, used his power to create a ring of fire around the altered man. He kept a keen eye on him, he wanted to make sure that if the man decided to brave the flames he could lower them. He was trying to scare the otherwise innocent citizen into stilling, not kill him.
It seemed to work and when he finally lowered the flames, the man, with wide eyes, ran in the opposite direction. Probably regretting, even in his altered state, trying to take on a member of the BAU.
Derek looked down at himself and frowned. The man had somehow managed to get grease all over his green and black costume and he dreaded to think what was on his cape.
'Oh Garcia's gonna kill me.' He thought with dismay, he knew that grease was particularly difficult to get out of leather and he would have no choice but to ask Garcia to work her non-super-power magic on it. He anticipated a neck rub in her future.
When a sudden gust of wind caused his green cape to flutter, he knew before he saw that his lover had arrived. His purple costume and cape where in equally as poor condition. Unlike Derek's mask, that covered the top of his head down to his ears and nose, Rapid, along with all the others, wore a simple eye mask, with straps worked under his long wavy hair.
"What have you got?" He asked, seeing from the way Spencer was holding himself that the answer was not a good one.
"It's everywhere, and it is literally everyone. They've been changed. They're not just more aggressive, they're coherent and sound of mind. They've just gone insane!"
Inferno knew that for Spencer to use that word in anger meant that the situation was dire indeed. The man's mother had, had her mind stolen by Kopper when he was young. It was the reason he had chosen to use his powers for good, and had, with the help of the BAU, defeated Kopper long ago. His mother was beyond repair though and was residing safe, under the protection of the whole BAU and the influence of mayor himself in a care home.
Spencer spread his arms and then lowered them, completely at a loss.
"I know, I'll check in on Mystic and Wolfheart." Derek said, then closed his eyes. When they were in 'battle' as Hotch called it, Wolfheart would keep her mind open, her psychic influence spread across the whole city so that, if any of them wanted to contact her, all the had to do was think really hard.
"Wolfheart, are you having any luck?" He asked.
Not long after came the response, "Not really, this is all a mess, me and Mystic are doing all we can but, this seems like closing the barn door after the horse has already escaped. Shouldn't we be helping The Chief find The Reaper?"
He understood the sentiment because he had been thinking the same thing, but they couldn't just leave the citizens of Virginia Met. alone, defenseless. They still didn't know what The Reapers plans where, as far as they know, he wanted them distracted so he could pick them off one by one. If by being here they could save just one life, they had to try.
Looking back at his lover as he was opening his eyes, having had joined in on the conversation, he felt vindicated to see him shake his head. Rapid agreed they couldn't leave.
"I know it seems pointless, but we can't leave. The Reaper could be coming for them any second, or they could kill each other. I know you want to help The Chief, we all do, but. We have our orders and we have a duty to this city."
Strangely enough, Derek actually heard JJ's sigh in his mind before she answered, "Yeah, I know. It's just frustrating!"
"I know JJ but it's for the best." Reid chimed in, before indicating to Morgan to turn around, when he did he saw a gang running towards them with weapons, "Good luck out there. You and Mystic be careful okay?"
"You too."
Hotch turned his nose up as he entered the small bar. One day he'd have to ask Reid if he knew why rats always chose to live in disgusting hovels like this. Of course this wasn't an animal they where hunting, no. This person was very much human, or as human as you want to consider those with powers.
When Rossi nodded his head towards the back, letting Hotch know that he had heard something, the two moved towards the room and slipped in unnoticed by the man sitting at his desk doing paper work.
"Hi, Ethan." Hotch said in a low, hushed tone.
Ethan jumped almost out of his chair at the sound of Aaron's voice, when he saw him his eyes widened with fear and he rose to stand,
"Oh god, Chief I erm .. What are you doing here?" Aaron had to suppress a smirk at the snitches nervousness. The last time he had tried pressing him for info, the man had lied and almost got Hotch killed by sending him into a trap set up by The Reaper. He had, after the fact, decided that Ethan must have been blackmailed, maybe even threatened into doing so and didn't really blame him.
But there was no reason he needed to know that.
"Take a seat." Aaron said with a small smile.
But Ethan was too edgy to do anything but talk, "Please, I didn't have a choice. He, he would have killed me."
Glowering as best he could beneath his mask, Aaron said, "I said," and without lifting his arm, he flicked his wrist and sent the man flying back into the chair with a thunk, "Take a seat." before crossing his arms over his chest, covering the large 'C' printed onto his black, padded leather costume.
Taking pity on the man, who had been reduced to shrinking back as far as he could into the chair and seemingly struggling to hold back tears, Dave stepped forward with his arms stretched wide, causing his silver cape to billow back over his shoulders.
"Calm down Ethan. We're not here for revenge, that's not how we do things. We just want info on The Reaper."
"Oh yeah, do you speak for him too." Ethan asked, gesturing to a still heavily glowering Hotch.
Giving Hotch a mildly reproving look, Rossi turned back to the scared man, "Yeah. Please. The whole city is in anarchy. There has to be something you know."
Shaking his head so hard his long hair whipped in a halo around him, Ethan said, "I swear man, I don't know anything."
Rossi sighed, glanced back at Aaron who was keeping a vigil by the door, before saying, "Listen, we know you go by his layer every now and then, got to keep up to date on all the major players if you're gonna make a living as a snitch. So you sneak in, easy enough for someone who can phase through solid walls. That means you know where his new base is." Clapping a hand on his shoulder, Rossi pleaded, "You are the best bet we have for finding him. Just tell us where he's hiding out now."
"You're wrong, I don't know." Ethan said.
"Really?" Asked Aaron in a dangerous tone, suddenly walking briskly forward.
Ethan in response scrambled to get as far away as he could, "Hey, you stay the hell away from me."
Continuing on, Aaron didn't stop until he was leaned over with his face merely inches from Ethan's, his lips next to the other man's ear. He loomed for a second, for maximum effect, before whispering deeply, "Do not make us force you to tell us."
As the other man shivered in fear, Aaron stood back up, towering over him. He meant what he said, they would force him to tell them the new whereabouts of The Reaper. Of course he would do that by having Rossi compel him to.
Again, there was no reason Ethan needed to know that. Aaron knew from personal experience that fear was a powerful motivational tool.
Looking like he was about to start crying, Ethan said, "He'll kill me."
"He'll never know it was you. I promise." Rossi said in a soothing tone.
The snitch rubbed a hand over his face and back through his hair, "I do this," He looked up at Hotch, "And we're even right?" Aaron titled his head in acquiescence and Ethan sniffed and said, "I need a map."
As the four men who had been trying to beat each other to death fell to the ground, unconscious from a psychic blast over-loading their senses, JJ sighed. This was beyond anything they could handle. Every single street corner contained some kind of chaos perpetrated by the normally peace-loving citizens of their city.
"Hey," JJ heard as Emily shimmered back into sight before her, "How are you doing?"
In response, JJ could only breath out heavily and shake her head.
"You too?" Emily said knowingly, "This is so wrong. I feel like we're turning against the people we're supposed to protect. Using our powers on them you know?"
"I do, but," JJ looked a little upset as she said, "They're the ones turning against each other."
Emily was about to say something when they heard what sounded like a small explosion from a few blocks away followed by shouting. Turning to JJ and sighing. Emily placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder before shimmering out of sight and heading in the direction of the trouble.
Just as JJ was about to follow she was halted when she felt a presence in her mind. Opening herself to it, she heard Hotch's voice.
"Wolfheart, we have the location. Can you let The Oracle know that he's hiding out beneath Shadow Mountain, see if she can hack the system and hurry up the search for a reversal?."
"Sure, no problem. What are you going to do?" She asked, concerned that given the villain in question, Hotch was thinking of rushing in there.
"I'm going to finish him, once and for all." Hotch said, confirming her fears.
"Chief, you can't. You're gonna get yourself killed." She knew it was useless pleading with him to think about this clearly, really, who could be asked to think rationally in these situations.
Hotch paused a moment before responding with a smile in his voice, "You worry too much Wolfheart. I'll be fine. I've send The Persuader down there to help you guys."
"You're going alone? No Chief, you can't do this please." JJ was desperate. Hotch was one of her dearest friends, he had been the one to assure her that despite the pain she had received in the past due to her abilities, they where something to celebrate, not hide. She couldn't loose him.
"Wolfheart, you are where you need to be, doing what you do best. I need to do what I need to do. No matter what happens. Remember that you, are truly a hero."
JJ felt him leave her mind before she could respond. She felt a burning coil in her chest. How could she just continue being mostly ineffectual here while a great man was walking to his death. Quickly coming up with a plan, JJ reached out to Reid.
"Rapid, can you hear me? I need you." JJ pleaded. She was waiting for an answer but instead got a strong breeze and suddenly Rapid was stood before her looking concerned.
"Wolfheart, are you okay?"
"I am but The Chief isn't. He's going after The Reaper on his own." She said, righting her hair and golden cape again after Rapids arrival had blown them around.
"What, why?" Reid asked, distressed.
Shrugging her shoulders, JJ answered, "Why do you think?"
Lowering his head and nodding, Reid asked, "Of course. What do we do?"
"Can you get us there, both of us?" JJ asked.
Reid winced slightly, "Well, I can. But it wont be pleasant for you."
"I don't care." She said with conviction. Hotch was all that mattered now.
Nodding and moving his cape back, he had a habit of covering himself with it, uncomfortable with being so exposed, Reid moved close and said, "All right, I'll have to carry you. Where is he?"
JJ wrapped her arms around Reid's neck and allowed him to lift her legs to cradle her in his arms, "Beneath Shadow Mountain. I'll let Mystic and Inferno know." she said, wriggling in an attempt to get comfortable.
"Okay. And ... JJ?" He said, sounding nervous. When she turned her face to his, he said, "For the love of god, hold on."
tbc.
