DISCLAIMER: I do not own Criminal Minds, or any other recognisable characters/programs. I am not making any money from this story.
A/N: Oh my! Thank you so much everyone who reviewed and added! I don't think I've ever had so many people add a story to their alert list from one chapter! Glad you enjoyed chapter one, hope I don't let you down! I got the ideas for peoples abilities from various comics, TV shows and movies. Sorry if they're not all that original! Reid's was in fact based slightly on Rouge from X-Men. But there's a reason I gave it such a big flaw (not being able to touch anyone). You'll find out why!
Things written in italics are thoughts, just so you know!
Heroes – Chapter Two
Reid sat on his bed, head resting against the wall, knees still drawn up to his chest. Everyone else had left him alone, for the time being, and gone to see what lay beyond the door. He closed his eyes and sighed. Everyone had turned to him for answers, as if he knew what was going on. How was he supposed to know? He didn't even understand what had happened to him, let alone anyone else.
He rested his forehead on his knees, trying to block out the sound of arguing coming from the next room.
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"I don't care!" Garcia said, stubbornly. "You can't just expect him to be ok with this and reel off a list of stuff you can do!" The team, minus Reid, had all left the bedroom to explore what was to be their home. The door had led to a lounge area, with three large sofas assembled in a 'U' shape facing a fireplace. There was a kitchen in the corner of the room with all the usual appliances.
There were two doors to the right of the fireplace. One led to a large bathroom which had a shower, bath tub, sink, and a toilet. The other led to what looked like a dressing room, and contained seven single wardrobes, each with a team members name on it, and a dressing table in the corner.
The door to the left of the fireplace led to a room which looked a little like a work out studio. There were mirrors along one wall, a punch bag in one of the corners and another door at the top end of the room. This, however, was locked.
"It may be the only way we find out." Rossi said, sounding calm. "Buxton said..."
"I don't give a crap what Buxton said!" JJ said, crossing her arms. "He just found out he can never touch another person again. You think he's up to working out what you got?" She raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"If we could work it out on our own, we would." Morgan said, "But how do we do that? Trial and error?"
"Ok, that's enough!" Prentiss shouted, fed up of the bickering. "Everyone stop!" She put her open hands up next to her face to emphasise her point. "This is getting ridiculous, we need to figure..." She looked around her and stopped speaking. "Ooh..." She said to herself.
Everyone had stopped, quite literally. They were all frozen on the spot.
"Reid?" She called, slowly walking backwards away from the frozen group towards the bedroom. "You ok in there?" She asked.
She jumped when she bumped into something. She turned around and let out a small sigh of relief when she saw it was Reid. "What's going on?" He asked, looking around the room at his frozen team members.
"I don't really know." Prentiss said, turning back to look at the team. "Everyone was arguing and I shouted at them to stop and, well." She shrugged. "They did."
Reid walked over to Hotch and waved his hand in front of his face. "That's kina cool, I guess." He said, turning to look at Rossi.
"No it's not, Reid!" Prentiss shouted. "How do I unfreeze them!"
"Look at the clock." Reid said, pointing at the clock on the wall in the kitchen. "It's stopped."
Prentiss looked confused. "What does that mean?" She asked.
"I don't think you just froze them," he said, turning to face her. "I think you stopped time."
"Wha..." Prentiss scoffed. "Yea, ok. And I can fly, too." She joked.
Reid shrugged. "Maybe." He smiled for what seemed like the first time in ages,
"How do I undo it?" She asked again. A puzzled look came across her face. "Wait, why aren't you frozen?"
"Huh?" Reid said, not looking away from Garcia, who he was pretty sure he'd never seen looking so mad.
"I mean, if time is frozen and everything in it is frozen, well, why aren't you?"
Reid looked at her and shrugged. "I just found out I can't touch anyone because if I do I get given all there memories." He smiled again a little. "This is not that weird for me now." He looked back at Garcia. "Why don't you just try to think about them moving again?" He suggested.
Prentiss sighed. She may as well. What else was there to try? "This is too weird." She muttered to herself before concentrating on the team. She imagined Garcia about to shout out whatever was on the tip of her tongue, JJ shaking her head disapprovingly...
"That's exactly what we..." Garcia began, but yelped when she saw Reid in front of her. "Where the hell did you come from!" She almost shouted at him.
Reid turned to face Prentiss again. "You did it." He said simply.
"Did what?" JJ asked.
"How come you're over there?" Morgan asked, looking from where Prentiss had been standing to where she was now. "What the hell?"
"You guy are not gonna believe this..." Reid said, walking and sitting down on the sofa. The rest of the team turned to look at Prentiss.
"I, erm..." She laughed, nervously. "I just kinda stopped time."
The team just stared at her wordlessly. "Except Reid," She said, pointing at him. "He was still movong about and talking to me."
Morgan looked from Prentiss to Reid. "Seriously?" He asked. Reid shrugged. "So you can stop time?" He asked the brunette.
"It appears so." She said, feeling uncomfortable with everyone looking at her. Now she knew how Reid felt earlier when everyone was asking him questions. She moved to sit next to Reid on the sofa. The rest of the team followed suit.
Garcia went to the fridge and pulled out seven bottles of water. "Oh," She said, as she found a small package next to the fridge. The label on it read 'Spencer'. "Hey, Reid!" She called. "I think this is for you!" She walked back to the sofas, handing out the water and giving Reid the small box.
He let it drop in his lap so that he didn't touch her again accidently. He carefully opened the box and smiled.
"What is it?" JJ asked, intrigued.
"It's a pair of gloves." Reid said, pulling the black leather gloves out of their packaging.
"Gloves?" Rossi asked, sitting across from Reid.
"I guess so I can touch stuff." Reid suggested.
"So you've gone all Rouge on us?" Morgan asked, chuckling a little. What the hell was going on? Reid could sense people emotions and not touch anyone for fear of absorbing all there memories, JJ could read minds and now Prentiss could stop time. This was ridiculous.
"Rouge?" JJ asked, looking confused.
"Yea," Morgan said. "From X-Men?"
"Enough with the X-Men already, ok Morgan?" Prentiss said, sighing.
"Ok," Hotch said, bringing the group back to order. "So, we're getting somewhere now." He said, taking a sip of water. "Reid, any idea yet as to the rest of us?"
Reid shook his head. "I honestly don't even know what I can do yet," He shrugged. "Emily only found aout when she got mad."
"I was not mad!" Prentiss protested.
Reid smirked. "Yes you were." He said. "Like right now, Morgan's jealous that you found out what you can do and he hasn't."
"Hey!" Morgan shouted, although the Kid was right. Odd as it seemed, Morgan was curious as to what he'd be able to do. He still couldn't believe the situation but at the same time the idea of having 'superpowers' was something everyone dreamt of as a kid, right?
"Wait." Reid said, looking down at the floor. "Buxton said that abilities were related to one of your traits and something you always wanted."
"How does that help us?" Rossi asked.
"JJ," Reid said, looking at the blonde woman. "JJ's always be careful of how other people would react to things, what they would think." He said. "That's why she can, you know..."
"Read minds?" Garcia said. She sounded almost sarcastic, but in truth it was just the reality of the situation sinking in.
"Yea." Reid said, as if it were obvious. "And, Garcia," He turned to face her. "You've always been able to understand things. Computers, codes." He looked around the room then back to Garcia.
"So what does that mean?" Garcia asked, looking worried and confused.
"I think..." Reid furrowed his brow, thinking. "As the lights to dim." He said , looking up at her. "Trust me." He said when he saw the look on her face. "Ion your head, though. Not aloud."
Garcia shrugged, feeling stupid. Dim down, lights. Please. She let out a squeal when the room went darker. "What the hell!"
"You're a Technopath." Morgan said, understanding. The group looked at him surprised. "What? You never read a superhero comic!" He shook his head as he continued to be stared at. "It means she can manipulate technology using her mind." He explained.
"Huh." Garcia said, simply, not sure what to make of it. Not sure what it meant.
"Garcia," Hotch interrupted her thoughts. "Can you turn the lights back up?"
"Oh," Garcia said, "Sorry." A few seconds later the lighting returned to normal.
"So why can I stop time?" Prentiss asked. "And Buxton said there were two things."
Reid shrugged. "I don't..." He stopped talking and turned to face JJ. "When you were younger, you lived in a little town, right?" JJ nodded. "You wanted nothing more that to just disappear, be somewhere else, right?" JJ nodded again.
"How does that help?" Morgan asked.
"Think about it," Reid said, looking at the older man. "You want to get away from somewhere fast, how do you do it?" He looked around the team. "And think comic book." He added. "I don't want to sound flippant but they seem a lot more realistic at the minute."
"I'd teleport." Rossi said, leaning forwards to look at JJ.
"What?" JJ asked, looking horrified. "That's ridiculous. Nobody can..."
"Like nobody can read minds," Morgan interrupted. "Or stop time, or tell lights to turn down with a thought?" He scoffed a little. "Look, I'm having a hard time excepting this but I think we just gotta face it. This had happened. Maybe one of us will wake up in a few hours and it'll all have been a freaky dream. Maybe not." He shrugged. "But it can't hurt to try, right?"
JJ sighed. He was right. Maybe this was all just a dream, but it wouldn't hurt he to suspend belief for a while. "so how do I know if I can?" She asked looking at Reid.
"I dunno," Reid said, looking as confused as JJ. Why did everyone expect him to have all the answers? Didn't they realise he was jsut as confused as them?
JJ sighed again and closed her eyes. I want to be in the bedroom. She told herself. She felt her entire body go weak then opened her eyes. She was in the kitchen. "Damn." She said.
"That was awesome!" Garcia said, looking at JJ in awe.
"Not really," JJ said, walking back to the sofa. "I wanted to go to the bedroom." She laughed a little, as did everyone else.
"Alright," Hotch said once they had all settled down again. "What else do we..." he looked at Reid. "You know."
"After her parents crash, Garcia wanted to disappear." He looked at her. "Just vanish."
"Vanish?" Garcia asked.
"Invisible?" Rossi suggested. "It's worth a try."
"I don't know how to do that!" Garcia said, looking embarrassed. "Telling alight to turn on and off is one thing, but to vanish?" She felt awkward under the gaze she was receiving from the team. She wished right then and there, for the first time in a long time, that she could just disappear.
"Erm, Garcia?" Prentiss said, looking amazed. She pointed at Garcia's lower body.
"Oh my God!" Garcia cried. Her lower half had, well, disappeared. "No friggin' way!" As soon as it had vanished, her body returned. She laughed. "That is awesome. Weird as hell, but pretty awesome."
"And I stop time, because?" Prentiss asked.
Reid shrugged. "I don't know." He said, quietly.
"Come on, Man," Morgan said. "You were getting it."
Reid shook his head. "I have no idea about you guys." He looked at Morgan. "Sorry."
"We touched you." JJ said, softly. Reid looked at her confused. "Garcia and I both touched you. Maybe that's why you know what we can do."
Reid sighed, closing his eyes. "Maybe." He looked back p at JJ. "Can't we just try Morgan's trial and error approach?" He asked hopefully. Nobody answered him. "Thought not."
"You ok to do this?" Morgan asked, looking worried for the younger man.
Reid shrugged. "Guess so." He said. "And you guy don't need to worry so much," he said, looking around them. "We're all going through this. You can stop feeling sorry for me." Rossi went to speak but Reid stopped him. "Don't pretend that you're not," he said, "I know, remember?"
"Ok," Prentiss said. "As I'm sitting next to you guess I'll go first." She looked at Reid. "You ready?"
Reid nodded and held out his hand for Prentiss to hold. She took it gingerly, closing her eyes. Reid closed his too.
The second they made contact, Prentiss let out a gasp. Reid bit his bottom lip again. After a few seconds, Reid let go of her hand.
Prentiss fell back into the sofa. "Oh my God," She said quietly. "That was horrible." She said rubbing her temples with her hands. "You ok?" She asked, turning to look at Reid.
Reid nodded, opening his eyes slowly. "You can stop time because, when you were younger and moving about with your Mom, you wanted nothing more that to slow everything down. You just wanted everything to stop, just for a minute." He looked at her. "And, you're strong minded." He smiled a little. "You're telekinetic." He said, as if it were perfectly normal.
"Sorry, what?" She asked. After several of the team member urged he to try it, she gave it a go. To her amazement, she was able to lift a water bottle off the floor and land it in Hotch's lap. "Oh my God." She muttered to herself.
Morgan was next to take Reid's hand and the whole process was repeated. "Ok," Reid said, after a few seconds. "You're a strong person, physically and mentally. You're just, well, strong."
"Like the hulk?" Garcia asked. She hated watching Reid have to go through whatever it was he was going through time after time. She knew it was taking its toll on him. But she also knew he wouldn't admit it.
Reid laughed a little. "You can shape shift!" he exclaimed, looking at Morgan, who looked stunned. "When you were a teenager you wished you could be someone else." Reid shrugged.
"No way, man." Morgan said. "And I'm not trying that in front of you guys either!" Garcia and JJ protested but Morgan cut them off. "What if I end up butt naked! I'll try later, on my own." He sat back and folded his arms.
"How come you know so much faster now?" JJ asked. It had taken a while for him to figure out her adn Garcia, now he was doing it almost instantaneously.
Reid half smiled. "I guess I know what I'm looking for now." He theorised.
"Guess I'm next." Hotch said. He moved to kneel in front of Reid. He noticed that Reid was looking tired. "You sure you can carry on?" He asked,.
Reid nodded and took his had. A few seconds late he let go and closed his eyes. "You've always been a strong person; you don't let anything get to you. You can solidify your body mass." He waited to be interrupted but wasn't. "And you wished you could let the things you've seen, what you know, pass through you without leaving a mark." He opened his eyes. "You can phase aswell."
"Like walk through walls?" Hotch asked, his voice full of disbelief. Reid nodded. Hotch tried this out a few times, banging his hand off the edge of the sofa. After several attempts, his hand passed straight through. "I'll be damned." He said. He tired massing his body also, with similar results. Except this time the sofa tipped slightly with the force of movement and almost through the occupants off.
"Just me, then." Rossi said, standing when Hotch moved back to his previous position. He knelt in front of Reid and took his hand. Reid looked at him strangely.
"Why aren't you both..." Prentiss shrugged. "You know?"
Rossi and Reid were just looking at each other, confused. "I don't know." Reid said after a moment. "I can still feel stuff." He continued. "But it's not as strong."
"I feel fine." Rossi said, turning to look at Prentiss. He let go of Reid's hand.
"What was that?" Morgan said, looking from Reid to Rossi.
"I can apparently touch Reid." Rossi said, still standing.
"Did you pick up on what he can do?" Hotch asked.
Reid nodded, still not understanding. Rossi could touch him? Did that mean other people could too? "Erm, Rossi always tried to protect people." He said after a moment. "You can make force fields, barriers and stuff." He said. He suddenly felt so tired it was hard to keep his eyes open. "And when you were a Marine, you wanted to be able to save all those who were injured or killed." He looked up at Rossi. "You can heal people."
Garcia and JJ gasped. Hotch waited a few minutes for the information to sink in for everyone. "What about you, Reid?" He asked. "We all got a trait and a want."
"Reid's always had a lot of empathy." Morgan said, suggesting that as a reason for his ability.
"So what about you're want?" Prentiss asked. "What did you want when you were little?"
Reid smiled sadly. "I wanted to be like everyone else."
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So – what else do you reckon Reid can do? Hope you enjoyed! Bit rushed cos I have to go out now :( |Sorry if it's mistake ridden. Hop not. Just wanted to update today.