Title: The Clockwork Boy
Rating: R
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Universe: Creatures of the Night (Part 2)
Pairing: Reid/Austin, Morgan/Prentiss; JJ/Hotch
Genre: Supernatural/Drama
Summary: Reid is searching for answers. JJ, Hotch and Morgan are searching for Reid. Prentiss and Rossi investigate a series of deaths that are related to an old case. Things are much more twisted than they seem. AU.
Chapter Twenty
Rossi's head jerks up when he hears the footsteps returning. There are two sets, one's almost hesitant, and the other is much more authoritative, as though the second is guiding the first along.
The first person is Emily – she looks dazed, but uninjured. It's almost zombie-like, but he's not feeling any of the magical energy that's usually associated with the undead. The second person is the wizard who hasn't even had the decency to reveal his name yet.
'My name is not important,' he says, as if reading Rossi's mind, and he takes the opportunity to strengthen his shields.
Instead of unlocking the cell door and tossing Emily back inside, which is what Rossi expects, the sorcerer steps inside, and reawakens Jordan with a wave of his hand. She's groaning – whatever spell he'd used to reawaken her (and Rossi can't recognize it, which kind of terrifies him a little) it hasn't done anything for the pain.
'As promised,' the sorcerer says dramatically, gesturing towards the open cell door. 'Your freedom.'
Rossi's hand is on Jordan's shoulder, but his eyes are on Emily. She hasn't moved an inch. 'What did you do to her?' he asks angrily, because whatever carries enough weight to get them out of this place unscathed is definitely not good news.
'That's between me and her,' is the reply, given with a wide smirk. This guy isn't just evil, Rossi thinks – he's an evil jackass, and David Rossi knows about jackasses, being that he is one a good percentage of the time.
Not entirely convinced by the thought of their freedom, he's in offensive mode as he helps Jordan to her feet. He doubts it'll do much good, considering this man could kill them all without a second thought, but if he's going down, then he's going to go down fighting.
He doesn't get the chance, though. There's a blinding flash of light, and he finds himself in another place entirely, which in itself is mindboggling, because teleportation of oneself uses up a whole lot of energy. Teleportation of three people needs some serious juice.
They're all groaning now, and it takes Rossi a few moments to clear his head and sort out where he is. Green. Trees. Woods.
Just outside of the city then. It's edging in on darkness, which means that they should probably make their way back into town, lest they run into the rogue 'wolves in the woods. Dealing with wizards is bad enough.
'Everyone okay?' he asks, just to make sure.
'Yeah,' says Jordan, still groaning.
Emily nods, but says nothing. Her face is even paler than usual. 'What happened?' she asks him, her voice a little shaky.
'He teleported us out.'
'Who?'
She can't remember anything, he realizes. Whether that's something her own brain had pushed upon her, or it's an amnesia of magical origin, he's not sure. At the very least, she's bursting with some kind of energy that isn't hers, but that could just be leftovers from the battle.
'What do you remember?' he asks her, not quite able to hide the concern from his voice.
'We were going to check out the crime scene,' she starts, trailing off. 'And after that, it's blank.'
'We should get moving,' he says decidedly, pulling his phone out of his pocket, surprised that it had survived their incarceration. Hotch really needs to know about this.
* * *
'I'm coming with you,' Garcia announces, shutting off, and then attempting to lift her laptop off the table. The thing is at least three times the size of her, and Morgan manages to steady her before she knocks it to the floor.
'Easy there, baby girl,' he says. 'It's too dangerous,' he adds, in response to her demand. Fairies rarely leave the office, and even then, it's usually with forms signed in triplicate; in the big wide world, there's just too much risk for the small creatures.
But then, Penelope Garcia is larger than life in some ways.
'Wasn't a question, sweet cheeks,' she retorts, from the palm of his hand. Her hands are on her hips, and she's as intimidating as one can be at six inches tall. 'They're using computers, which means that you will need a hacker, and like it or not, I am by far, the sexiest hacker in the building. Sorry Kevin,' She turns to the other white blur in the room, who is apparently disheartened by her statement. 'You're very sexy, but you ain't no P.G.'
'She has a point,' JJ says, the hesitance in her voice telling Morgan that she's no more comfortable with it than he. 'And it's not as if we'll be sending her into the field with Kevlar strapped on.'
'It's Hotch's call,' he relents finally, and it's the closest to agreement that he's every really going to get; he doesn't want to lose anyone else.
As if on cue, Hotch walks in, phone pressed against his ear. The expression on his face is somber – more somber than Morgan has ever seen him, and that's saying something. Morgan's heart skips a beat – has something happened? Is someone – Reid, or Emily, or Rossi – dead?
Are they too late?
'That was Rossi,' he says, hanging up the phone with a click. Morgan frowns – if they're alive, that's good news, right? Unless Rossi's the only one that's still alive…
The fear must be evident in his eyes, because Hotch assuages his fears quickly. 'Emily's fine. Rossi's not so sure how they got out – he says he'll "explain later." But he did find out who was killing the members of the extremist groups.'
This, then, is the news that has him so up in arms. Morgan holds a breath as Hotch speaks;
'Elle Greenaway.'
A/N: Many thanks to whomever nominated CotN: Power Play for best AU fic. It totally made my day. Total self-pimp here, but you should all go and check out the nominations. Peace.