The Tale of a Man and the Monsters

Disclaimer: The characters portrayed are owned by DC Comics, and The Mark Gordon Company, respectively. I earn no money writing this, just happiness.

-JCxSR-

They both stood awkwardly in their respective corners, much younger than the majority of the experts in the field of psychology. Spencer Reid, however, is even younger than Jonathan Crane. Dr. Crane holds no spite over Spencer Reid, just curiosity. Dr. Reid was a timid boy in Crane's eyes, he was completely out of his element when dealing with people. Then again, so was Dr. Crane.

-JCxSR-

The next time Dr. Crane would see Spencer's face would be in a news article in a psychology magazine, sent to him by Jason Gideon. He hummed, 'So this boy is Jason's lackey.. And working for the FBI, how cute.' Dr. Crane respected Gideon, there was no doubt that he was one of the best in the behavioral analyst field, but in Crane's eyes, he was weak; he had risked the lives of those agents, and mourned them greatly, despite the fact those agents had known that there were dangers to the job.

Unconsciously, Jonathan reached for his scissors to cut out Dr. Reid's picture. He smiled softly, cutting the picture out to add to his ever growing collection on the awkward boy genius. He didn't care for him, no, he was just interested to watch how Dr. Reid progressed, despite his ever growing fear of suffering at the hand of schizophrenia.

-JCxSR-

The next time Spencer Reid would see Jonathan's face would be in a news article in the Gotham Daily, sent to him by Jason Gideon. He glued the picture, and the article, admiring the young, yet older, man for achieving to be the youngest head psychologist at the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Despite his eidetic memory, Spencer felt the nagging need to save the article. It gave him hope that Dr. Crane wouldn't be consumed by his dark childhood, and would use his knowledge for good.

"New case kid," called Morgan. Spencer flailed, while shoving the binder in his desk drawer.

"Got it," he called, grabbing his sugary coffee with thoughts of a dominating blue eyed man in his head.

"Twenty women in three months, all centralized in Gotham City," JJ walked in quickly, sticking up some pictures on the board. Young girls filled the board, all of them almost looking alive in the crime scene photos.

"The unsub's posing them," began Gideon, "which would normally imply remorse, but this.. This is beyond just posing them."

"There's no connection between these women, there isn't even any similarities, other than they're young women. Some are married, with children, some are single, some are even still living with their parents." stated Reid, looking at the photos. Some of the women had similar hair colour, but that was it. They were slim ones, not-so-slim ones, red-heads, brunettes, blonds. His type was just young and female.

"The unsub is obviously a male, this attacks are too vicious to be a woman serial killer." added Morgan.

"But what's his trophy? What does he gain from these attacks besides the fulfilment of his fantasy?" finished Gideon.

-JCxSR-

Heavy files landed on Dr. Crane's desk, as Detective Gordon looked down on him. Dr. Crane flipped through them quickly, seeing brief pictures of the crime scenes, as well as the names of the victims.

"You recognize this work, Dr. Crane?"

"No officer. You should know that I am not a behavioural analyst. A team from the FBI's BAU is coming in shortly, the Commissioner requested them. Twenty women in three months, this isn't the sort of publicity that Gotham needs," Dr. Crane picked up the folders and handed them back to Detective Gordon, with a small, mocking smile.

"Of course. Thank you for your time," replied Detective Gordon curtly, pulling the files from long fingers. Dr. Crane turned back to his desk, to continue his work. He had better things to do than help police department.

-JCxSR-

"Thank you for coming so quickly," Detective Gordon shock their hands, as each on entered the police station.

"It's no trouble," began Hotchner, "we're just wondering why we weren't called in sooner."

"Well, the murders were pretty scattered, the only thing similar was the posing," replied Gordon quietly. "Please, here's the room you requested."

Inside, there was a large table, and a board covered in the photos of the women in order of death. A large map of Gotham was placed on the table, along with the a two towering piles of folders surrounding the murders. As soon as they entered, the team began forming a profile from what they could.

"Despite the fact that these attacks seem random, it's likely that he has some sort of safe zone, somewhere he either lives or works. He doesn't want attention, he just wants to fulfill his fantasy, and bringing to police to the areas where he lives or works would go against what he wants. Considering, however, the ferocity of these crimes, he'd have to live close by to the crime scenes, or at least own, or drive, a car," said Reid, while extracting a marker, and creating circles around the addresses of the murders.

"The fact he's so vicious, means he's young and he's fit. And he's confident, he's killing some of these women with their family in the home," added Morgan.

"You can get all that just from the photos?" asked Gordon, leaning on the door frame.

"Yes. Elle, Morgan, go to the last crime scene, see what you can find. Reid, you continue finding his safe zone. Gideon, we're going to go talk with the families. There has to be more to his victimology than just young female," stated Hotchner.

"The last two victims, their parents are here," Gordon directed the two agents to the grieving parents, while Elle and Morgan left the station. Just as they left, Dr. Crane walked in, carrying his usual brief case.

"Excuse me, Detective Gordon? I accidentally handed you a file of my own earlier," Jonathan interrupted the conversation unintentionally, nodding toward Gideon.

"Oh, Special Agents Hotchner, Gideon, meet the head of staff at Arkham Asylum, Dr. Jonathan Crane," introduced Gordon.

"We've previously met," said Gideon, letting Hotchner shake Crane's hand. "Congratulations on the position Dr. Crane."

"Thank you. Now, Detective, the folders?"

"They're in that room with.. -" Gordon pointed toward the briefing room, while looking to Hotchner and Gideon for help with the name.

"Dr. Reid," said Gideon, smiling. He knew that an interesting conversation would take place in the briefing room, it wasn't difficult to see that Jonathan Crane had more than just a friendly relationship with Spencer.

"Thank you," Dr. Crane returned the gesture, but it seemed almost cruel when he smiled.

-JCxSR-

Reid continued to flick through the folders, and reading the addresses of each of the victims. He quickly got to the twenty-first folder, which boggled him. There were only twenty victims, why were there twenty-one folders? He pulled it closer to himself, and saw that his name written on the folder, in tight clean writing. When he opened it, he saw many articles about him, and photos of him, both taken from magazines and newspapers, to blurry shots from college.

Whoever made this was slightly obsessed with him, for whatever reason, and had contact with the police in Gotham City. It could possibly have been Gordon, but he didn't react any different with Reid than he had with the rest of the team. So who could have it been?

"That's mine," whispered a voice, from the door which had just clicked shut.

"Oh. Dr. Crane, it's nice to see you again... But, why do you have a folder concerning me?" Reid jumped up from his seat, and shut the folder. He watched the other doctor at a slight downward angle; he was taller than the other doctor, by a few inches.

"I'm interested in you. A young doctor, achieving things unheard of before. We're quite similar in that way," said Jonathan, taking the folder from the table.

"But, just because you're interested doesn't mean you have to keep a physical folder on me; keeping a folder on someone you're interested in suggests obsession, especially when you have photos unreleased to the public," Reid quickly tucked some fallen hair back behind his ear, replacing his glasses after he did.

"Forgive me doctor, but I am not obsessed. It's just nice to know that someone else is out there, pushing similar boundaries that I am. You know as well as I do that it is nice to be able to relate to someone, despite your fear of people," Dr. Crane seemingly appeared next to Reid, crossing the entire room in what seemed like no time at all.

"Excuse me? I do not fear people, I -."

"You fear their reaction to your.. Abnormal behaviour, just as you fear becoming a paranoid schizophrenic, like your mother," Dr. Crane smiled carefully at Reid, who licked his lips in a nervous habit. Dr. Crane lay the folder back down, onto the folders of the fifteenth and sixteenth victims.

"That information isn't any of your business, Dr. Crane-," Reid was quickly interrupted.

"Dr. Reid, it's public information, easily found by anyone with access to the Internet. You don't have to take it quite so personally," blue eyes quickly consumed Reid's soft brown eyes. Reid quickly dodged Jonathan's gaze, and moved to the other side of the table. Dr. Crane smiled. "I'll be on my way. It was nice seeing you." He nodded, before leaving through a heavy wooden door. Spencer held the chair tightly, Dr. Crane was definitely still just as cold as he was the first time they had met.

-JCxSR-

Men with bald spots, and greying hair, discussed various psychological topics, while Spencer kept to the back. He twisted the strap of his bag, while looking about, trying and find a fellow young psychologist that his mentor had told him would be there.

"Hello." Spencer turned to the new voice, seeing a young man, compared to the others, who looked to be in his mid twenties. "Jonathan Crane. It's a pleasure to meet you, I've heard about you from my professors. A boy genius they called you." Jonathan reached out his hand, Spencer returning the same gesture.

"Spencer Reid. Gideon said you would be here. He spoke highly of you concerning your specialty in biochemistry, and how it affects your outlook psychology. I'd love to discuss, in depth, your thoughts on studies concerning chemical depression where the patient lacks the proper neurotransmitters responsible for emotion: dopamine, endorphins and epinephrine."

"So, you're Gideon's lacky?" He completely ignored the question.

"I wouldn't say that," replied a flustered Spencer. He twisted his bag's strap once more, and bit his bottom lip.

"I didn't mean to sound insulting, please forgive me for using such a rude term. Concerning your question, chemical depression, in my opinion, is easier to treat. There's less mental reasoning behind the depression, thus there's no confusion as to why the person is feeling 'sad'. However, it can be difficult to treat, as every individuals chemical imbalance varies from a minute amount to large amounts. Just as with regular depression, it's required that the patient speak of their problems, but the treatment isn't nearly as required as it is with as with the patient suffering from regular depression."

The conversation continued along these lines, retorts going back and forth, until Jonathan broke the pattern.

"Let's go to dinner," Spencer, who was talking fiercely on his perspective on sociopaths, stopped suddenly.

"Um, actually, I mean, yes?"

"Excellent. Is Indian good with you?"

"Indian sounds wonderful."

-JCxSR-

"So, I'm a ripper. I enjoy cutting my victim's throat," Morgan stood in front of the chair where the last victim was posed, "And then I pose them. Why? It's definitely not remorse. This guy doesn't care about his victims, he'd choose them more carefully if he cared in the least about who he killed. "

"Maybe he's mocking them?" added Elle, flipping through the girl's magazines.

"But why? Why would he mock them?"

"You're the expert in obsessional killing. You can figure it out," she sighed, tossing down some overdue bills. "This girl was a financial mess."

"He'd mock their life, because.. He feels that death is a savior. He's saving them, he feels he's saving them."

"Saving them from what?" Elle crossed her arms, looking at Morgan, who was holding a picture of the last girl in his hand. She was a regular girl, with lengthy chocolate curls. Her pose was simple, reading her Cosmos with a warm black coffee. The killer didn't care enough to see if the girl even liked coffee.

"From being alive."

-JCxSR-

Reid twisted the fabric of the chair, before returning to the map and colouring in the area of overlap. It wasn't an extremely large area, barely two miles squared. He pinned the map on the board, and heard the door open once more.

"Those families couldn't be anymore different. The Brooks cared more about the bloody furniture than for Victoria, and the Reynolds couldn't stop their crying the entire time," stated Gideon.

"We're no where closer to finding his type than before. It's still just simple a young female," Hotchner sat down.

"Well, according to the geographical profile, this killer doesn't strike anywhere in this," Reid traced the closed pen across the boundaries, "area. It's his safe zone."

"He's disorganized, he doesn't find out their likes or dislikes, but he's organized enough to know when the families spend time together. He's organized enough to not leave any clues," Gideon paced back and forth. Elle and Morgan walked in.

"He's mocking their lives. He's posing them because he thinks he's saving them from life," Morgan glared at the posed photos under the regular profile shots of the girls.

"This guy doesn't care if about type, his fantasy is giving these girls salvation."

"But, what is he saving them from? What problems could living pose?"

"That's it! Living is the problem. He's saving these girls because they are living. As long as they are alive, they're consumed by their ordinary lives, going to work, and paying their bills. That's what similar between these girls, they all worked, around the same area. This area." Reid once more pointed to the established safe zone drawn on the map.

"He was rich once, he obviously wasted all his money, either paying bills or debts, and watching these women do the same frustrates him to no end. He just trying to save them," Gideon stopped pacing. "We're ready to give the profile."

-JCxSR-

"Are you able to create enough toxin to consume the city?" asked a voice from the darkness. Ra's al Ghul was a mysterious figure, never given any other inclination to what he looked like, or where he came from.

"One more shipment is all I need to complete my end of the deal. I trust you'll keep your end," two blue eyes shone brightly in the dark room

"Don't worry, you'll get your shipment. I'm personally making sure this new.. Vigilante doesn't do a thing."

"Vigilante? I wasn't aware of any vigilante," Jonathan placed his hands on the table, looking toward Carmine Falcone, and his goons.

"I've got my sources," Falcone leaned forward, with a dangerous smile on his face. "Let's just say, this guy is a whack-job if he thinks he can save this city, my city."

-JCxSR-

"He's young, early twenties, yet he's organized enough to not leave any clues," began Gideon. "He was once rich, but his funds have run low. He spent it all on paying debts, bills, something. He wasted whatever money he had on someone, or something else."

"This unsub isn't going to leave Gotham City, it's his territory. However, it's likely that he will not kill anyone in this area," added Reid, encircling a small working district where the victims all worked, "as it's his hunting grounds, so to speak. He chooses them, and then follows them home in a stolen car."

"His fantasy only involves a young woman, he'll kill any woman, as long as she's trying to earn enough to pay her bills. In his mind, he's saving them from the fate of being stuck in a never ending financial circle," Morgan pointed at the photos.

"Considering the amount of time he takes posing his victims, and how much time he spends waiting in the shadows to silt their throats, it's likely that he won't have a job. Especially since he doesn't want to have to start paying bills once more," Hotchner stated.

"He's posing them, to mock their lives. He doesn't care about feelings, or empathy, he's a pure sociopath," finished Gideon. The cops in the briefing room nodded, before heading off.

"I wonder if the Commissioner even realizes that this is completely useless," stated Detective Gordon, remaining behind with the BAU team.

"Excuse me?" asked Gideon.

"This city is beyond redemption Agent Gideon. The majority of those cops won't even leave the station, let alone look for anyone responsible. How do you think a man covered in blood is able to get away for three months?"

-JCxSR-

Author's note: I've had a strong urge to write a proper Batman X Criminal Minds cross-over (As there is, surprisingly, almost none!), while also achieving my special ship of Jonathan Crane and Spencer Reid. Thus, this story. It correlates the beginning of Batman Begins, as well as the early BAU team on Criminal Minds (Main differences: Less JJ, and Elle was still a member).

This prologue is ridiculously long, but I felt the need to make it so. I wanted to get all the majority murder out and move toward Jonathan and Spencer's relationship. That's the main reason for this story.

If you couldn't figure out who the murder is, then I, as a Batman fan, am ashamed. It's Zsasz! I gave him more reasoning behind his murders, as I based his character from the Batman: Arkham Asylum rendition, as well as adding my own musings as to why he kills and poses these women. If my reasoning doesn't satisfy you, I apologize. It's only my interpretation as to the question "why" in this situation.

As with any other properly written fanfction, I apologize for any misspellings, and for any improper grammar. I'm only human.