Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.

Chapter Three.

The motley crew had gathered in Walter's basement laboratory; not exactly a familiar setting for the BAU, yet it somehow seemed more homey. But the cow certainly added to the already-strange atmosphere, as did the body that Walter Bishop was bent over as he nibbled on a piece of stringy red candy. The BAU team surveyed the scene with half-amusement, half-disgust. Peter, Olivia, and Astrid, on the other hand, were unaffected.

Hotch crossed his arms, settling into a wide-legged stance, as he prepared to speak. "Prentiss and I were unable to make any new discoveries. The latest victim's mother didn't provide us with any useful information, and there were no witnesses. What about everyone else?" He looked to his right at Rossi. "Dave? What did your group find?"

"Just more evidence pointing to the probability that we're dealing with a team." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing good."

Olivia nodded, and then stepped forward to add her own thoughts. "I'd say we're dealing with at least three people, though. Two people to carry the body through the forest to the clearing, and a third to keep watch. Perhaps a couple more back at their headquarters to watch over the remaining victims, if they're keeping more than one at a time." Hotch looked impressed. Peter noticed this, and rolled his eyes, before he said,

"Walter and Dr. Reid have some interesting information to share, I think."

Reid nodded, and glanced at Walter, but the older man seemed immersed in his current duties, and so began to speak himself. "Dr. Bishop gave me the names of the drugs that had been injected into the victims, and I sent those over to Garcia. The drugs wouldn't be easy for the general public to gain access to. She's going to see if she can find out who in the area has recently gotten a hold of them, and perhaps we can track our UNSUBs that way."

"They may be operating under a ruse," interjected Morgan, a pensive look on his handsome mug. "Maybe some type of pharmaceutical company. Where else would they be able to keep all of their equipment, along with their victims, without attracting unwanted attention?"

Emily did not take this question as rhetorical. "An abandoned warehouse?"

"Well, we may have an easier time tracking our UNSUBs, rather than the location they operate from," said Hotch. "At least one of them is comfortable with Boston; that's why they take all of their victims from there." His eyes darted to JJ. "Were you able to get a hold of the press? I don't want this case all over the news. It'll create a mass hysteria."

The liaison grimaced. "I tried, Hotch. Most of them agreed not to broadcast anything at all, but a few of the larger news stations weren't so understanding. They haven't done anything as of yet, but..we'll have to be careful about leaking anything to the public."

Peter was tapping his foot on the floor impatiently, and had been doing so for the last five minutes. "So, what now?" he asked, cocking a brow.

The members of the BAU seemed at a loss for words. Hotch's lips had pressed into a thin line, and he looked unhappy. Peter wondered when he did not.

"Our technical analyst will keep searching, and we can give our profile to the local PD, so they know what to look for as well," said Hotch finally, sounding as firm as always. He did not want to admit that they were at just as much of a loss as the Fringe division was at the moment. These UNSUBs were good. Almost too good.

#

"Some help that did." It was the first words out of Peter's mouth once the BAU had funneled from Walter's laboratory, some headed for the police station to give the profile, the others to the hotel to set up there.

"We're making more progress than we would've if we hadn't called them in," Olivia retorted, too optimistically for Peter's taste.

He shrugged. "That's debatable."

Walter shuffled toward them, a piece of candy still stuck in the side of his mouth. "On the contrary, I found Dr. Reid quite engaging to speak to. He's a very bright young man. Much like yourself, Peter."

Peter's brows rose at the comparison. "Sure, Walter."

The door swung open again, and in came Astrid, looking flustered. "I'm back, I'm back!" In her arms, she carried three large plastic bags, and Olivia wordlessly stepped in to help her. Astrid had been gone for a couple of days now, for some training, and it seemed as though even before she stepped foot back in the lab, Walter had already put her to work.

"More cravings?" said Olivia, with a small chuckle, as she set the bags down on an empty table. Walter was immediately drawn to them, and began rummaging through them without even a 'thank you'. Astrid nodded, and Peter sighed.

"It's nice to see you back, and I'm sorry Walter's already got you on the food delivery job again."

Astrid shrugged. "It's nothing new. It's nice to be back, anyway." She glanced around the lab, and spotted the extra chairs that had been brought up while the BAU had been visiting. "What's been going on in here? Another case?"

Olivia nodded, pulling up a seat. "Yeah."

And Peter added, "Not as if we're managing to do much good. Olivia thought it'd be a good idea to bring the BAU in, and—"

"The BAU?" interrupted Astrid, her jaw coming loose. "As in, the Behavioral Analysis Unit?" Olivia again nodded. "Wow, impressive. This must be a pretty important case, then."

"It is," agreed Olivia. "Human experimentation. Random people are being abducted in the city, and then turning up a while later. We have no idea who, where, or why."

"And the BAU hasn't helped much," said Peter.

"There I have to disagree, son," Walter said, through a mouthful of whatever he'd found in the bag Astrid had brought along with her. "Dr. Reid actually helped me make some progress in identifying the drugs in our victim's system. I believe that, in due time, they'll be able to help us catch these killers."

"I sure hope you're right, Walter."

#

"I don't think Mr. Bishop likes us very much." Those were Reid's first words as he, Morgan, and JJ clambered into an SUV. Emily, Rossi, and Hotch had taken a second. The latter group was headed to the precinct to give the profile to local police—albeit, with much of the details omitted. The only information they were giving the locals was that they were looking for a group of men abducting people from the city without regard to discrimination, and that they should keep an eye out for any suspicious activity, especially around secluded areas. The details regarding the human experimentation and the drugs had to be kept quiet.

JJ laughed from her spot in the back. "Yeah, why do you think that?"

"Well, you'd think that we should be skeptic of what they do," he said, "but, Peter Bishop seems skeptical of us."

"Kid, he doesn't seem like the type of guy that trusts anyone very easily," Morgan said with a smirk, as he steered them out onto the street. They watched as the second SUV in front of them made a right turn, then they went to the left, headed for the hotel. It was getting late, and it would neither them nor the case any good if they were all sleep-deprived while working. "I wouldn't be too worried about it."

"I'm not." Reid sounded like a stubborn child. "I'm just worried that we won't be able to catch these guys before they get another victim. We don't even know how many the UNSUBs already have, or how long this has been going on. They could've been travelling, doing this in other places—Garcia should be able to get back to us on that, though, once she's finished running the case details through ViCAP."

"Spence, I wouldn't worry about it so much." JJ's voice was soothing, though he knew her calmness was merely a façade. She was just as anxious as him, though she was doing a better job of hiding it. "We're doing what we can. We've had cases like this before—we'll get it eventually."

Morgan nodded. "JJ's right." He paused. "But, do you know what seems strange? None of them are even the least bit phased by all of this. I mean, human experimentation? Yeah, we've dealt with it before, but not like this. Not anything as organized as this. I think that's why we're having such trouble. But the Fringe division already seems to know exactly what we're dealing with, and I wonder if they're hiding anything from us."

"What could they possibly be hiding?" JJ scoffed.

Morgan shrugged. "I don't know. Some kind of conspiracy? Maybe these UNSUBs are part of some group that the Fringe division has been dealing with for a while, and now they've finally got us in on it too, only they're hiding the details from us because it's confidential." He sighed. "Listen, all I'm trying to say is: Do we really know what we're getting into?" He glanced at Reid, who sat staring at him, his brows raised. JJ's mouth was agape, and there was a long silence, until she said at last,

"Alright, Morgan, now you're the one sounding crazy. And remember, we're working with a guy that spent seventeen years in a psychiatric facility."

#

It would be an understatement to say that the detectives and officers they'd given the profile too were somewhat skeptic over the whole case. They had a right to be—the profile was vague, and when prompted, none of the agents were able to say anything further. As the three were leaving, headed to their SUV, Emily said,

"We've never had to do that before."

"Do what?" said Hotch, giving her an odd look, before strapping himself into the driver's seat. Rossi got himself into the front passenger side, and Emily slid into the back.

"Leave out details from the profile."

"Well, we've never worked a case like this before," Rossi reminded her. "But we have to play by the Fringe division's rules if we want to stay on the case. I mean, human experimentation? I don't think I'd want to know the truth about that anyway, if I were them."

Emily shrugged. "It's just..strange."

"You know, there's a lot of people that would say that about what we do."

"But," said Hotch, "I don't think there's anyone that wouldn't say that about the Fringe division."

Rossi pressed his lips together and nodded. Hotch was right; he couldn't think of anyone who wouldn't be at least somewhat perturbed by the cases the Fringe division dealt with. At least the BAU had some experience with crimes that were particularly gruesome and odd, though he was sure it wouldn't be able to compare to the cases he really preferred not to know the details of that their friends down in the basement of Harvard worked.

Author's Note: I cannot apologize enough for how long it took me to update this. I've had school, along with working on some larger, original projects, and it caught up with me, along with the fact that my muse kind of wandered away on this one. But, I promise you, it's back, and I'll have updates out much more quickly. This won't be a long story, and I'll try to get it finished up as fast as possible. And the story will begin to pick up in the next couple of chapters as well. Thank you to everyone who has been waiting [probably not-so-] patiently, and to everyone who read the last couple of chapters and reviewed.