Welcome back to From The Fairest. Last time, we learned a serial killer is on the loose in the Dragon Realms, and has already murdered three innocent dragonesses. Not having any other alternative, Cynder called upon an old friend, Agent Kate Callahan of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. And now the BAU is on the case. But what will they uncover as the investigation begins? Read on to discover...
(Our story opens on the sight of the BAU's plane flying smoothly over the Atlantic, heading for the Dragon Realms)
Kate: (In voice over) The German author von Goethe wrote, "Hatred is active, and envy passive dislike; there is but one step from envy to hate."
(With that, we transition to the interior of the jet, where the BAU is going over the case in more detail with Spyro and Cynder.)
Rossi: I've seen my fair share of strange cases, but this? This takes the cake.
Reid: It is bizarre, isn't it? Covering up an asphyxiation murder with freezing, crushing, and now immolation. I've never seen this in the FBI files. Or anything I've read for that matter. (Thinking of something) Well, save one thing.
Spyro: (Surprised) That being?
Reid: The Replicator.
Cynder: The Replicator?
Morgan: A serial killer who mimicked crimes we had solved.
JJ: I can see where you're coming from, Reid. The first victim greatly resembles the Forever People case in Nevada, the second looks like one of Leland Duncan's kills, and the most recent one was straight out of Chad Mills' playbook.
Cynder: Interesting MO. (To Spyro) Didn't we have a killer like that a few years ago?
Spyro: (Remembering something) Now that I think about it, we did! I think they even said he was a groupie of someone.
Rossi: Except these methods were used as a cover-up, as opposed to actual cause of death. And some of the details are missing. Glacia wasn't branded, and Terra was a successful musician from a prominent neighborhood as opposed to living on the street.
(At this point, a screen on one of the cabin tables springs to life, with Garcia displayed on it via video feed.)
Garcia: Huge update from the Realms. Finally got my hands on the victims' records.
Hotch: And?
Garcia: Aside from the manner of death, nothing. However, I've already expanded my search to their social media pages. And that's not all. The search on Shadow supremacists has turned up a potential suspect. (Pulls up an image of a Shadow drake with an eyepatch) Anyone familiar with a "Penumbra"?
Spyro: Familiar with him? This wouldn't be the first time we've run into him.
Cynder: He's one of the most prolific supremacists out there. The leader of the Umbran Sect, a Shadow commune. Never violent that we've seen.
JJ: Then how have you heard of him?
Cynder: A few cases we've solved involved investigating members of his group. He claims to not promote violence, we've just never been able to get him on anything.
Garcia: Guess what? You just did. He just got booked for tax evasion, awaiting trial as we speak. Well, currently he's being processed, but he's also being diverted for you guys to speak with him.
Morgan: Thanks, baby girl. We'll let you know what comes of it.
Garcia: I'll let you know if anything else comes up. Peace!
(With that the screen returns to its default state as Garcia signs off. But just as she does, Spyro's phone starts ringing.)
Spyro: (Seeing the number on his phone) Not again. (Shuts his phone off) That's the seventh call today.
Reid: (Knowing what's happening) What's going on?
Spyro: (Seeing Dr Reid's look) I take it you've already figured out.
Reid: (Stunned) How'd you know that?
Spyro: The eyes give everything away.
Reid: That... well... I have no words.
Morgan: That's a first.
Spyro: I... have a stalker. We're still trying to track them down. (Sighs) Their escalating. Its usually never more than three calls per day. This is number seven.
Reid: One major downfall of even small celebrity status. There's always someone obsessed with you.
Cynder: (Sensing something) You sound like your speaking from experience, Dr Reid.
Reid: (Suddenly depressed, as if recalling something tragic) Not personally, but yes.
(Seeing the sensitive nature of it, Cynder leaves it alone, which Reid quietly acknowledges)
Hotch: When we land, we need boots on the ground. If this UnSub keeps to their current schedule, they have their next victim as we speak.
Spyro: Agreed. We've already examined the other two scenes to death, so I hope you don't mind using documentation for them.
Morgan: We've worked with worse.
Cynder: Alright then, here's the plan of action. Kate, and Agents Hotcher and Morgan, go with Spyro, get set up at headquarters, check in with the ME, and see what Penumbra has to say for himself. Meanwhile, I'll take Agents Jareau and Rossi, and Doctor Reid to the newest crime scene.
(With that, we focus on Spyro's team, walking up to a tower of obsidian, surrounded by forests of crystals, stretching up as if to pierce the skies)
Morgan: That's your headquarters?
Spyro: Welcome to Concurrent Skies, everyone. Cynder's former lair, which the former inhabitants donated for use as a headquarters.
Kate: That was... an interesting result.
Spyro: (As the quartet walks into the building and heading to an elevator) We've got office space set up for you on the 17th floor. Elora should be waiting for you. Meanwhile two of you should head for the medical examiner's office. Its in the basement.
Hotch: I'll head upstairs and get set up. Morgan, Kate, you two head to the ME.
Spyro: Good plan. (Spreading his wings while the agents enter the elevators) I'll meet you up top, Agent Hotchner.
(With that, Spyro flies back out and up the building as the elevators arrive, one going up, and one going down)
Hotch: I'll admit, this is very strange.
Kate: Trust me, Hotch. It can get crazier.
(While Hotch heads up to the prepared headquarters and Morgan and Kate head down to the ME, we transition to outside what appears to be a prominent theatre, where Cynder, JJ, Rossi, and Reid are investigating the disposal site)
Rossi: So Terra was just left here, on the theatre steps. No care for who sees the body.
JJ: Willing to bet that was the intent. They didn't care about hiding her at all.
Cynder: Got that right.
JJ: So why here?
Cynder: Still trying to figure that out. Our best bet currently, the orchestra she was part of was set to perform here next. When she was found, we had the show moved to a black box down the street.
Reid: What about Electra and Glacia? Where were they found?
Cynder: Electra was left in front of her dormitory, and Glacia on the front porch of her home just outside of town. Found by their roommate and youngest child respectively.
JJ: Okay, Electra was a college student, Glacia was a mother working outside her home, Terra was a successful musician. Could that be the motive?
Rossi: Good theory. He may be punishing the victims for having lifestyles they deem not feminine.
Cynder: We checked that out. Electra was a culinary arts major with dreams of marriage and maternity, and Terra was planning her marriage to a flautist in the same orchestra. Glacia was the only one who fits that modus operandi. (Sighs) I'll never be able to forget the look on her children's faces when I told them what happened to her. That will haunt me until the day I die
Reid: I get that feeling.
(At this point, Rossi and JJ begin their own discussion, trying to figure out what's going on, while Reid turns to Cynder, examining the spot where the victim was found)
Reid: Thanks for earlier.
Cynder: (Slightly confused) What are you talking about?
Reid: On the plane, you didn't press further when you said it sounded like I was talking about stalkers from experience.
Cynder: Oh, that. I could tell it was a... difficult subject. A trauma you haven't fully processed, even though it seems you have. Something that will likely haunt you forever. Trust me, that is a feeling I get.
Reid: And given the populous of this Realm after Malefor's reign, they likely want to ensure that.
Cynder: You learn to ignore them after a while.
Reid: (Concerned) There's no way that can be healthy.
Cynder: I mean you learn to take it in stride. Realize there's better things to focus on, while simultaneously not forgetting it. It's about adapting to a new normal, not trying to get back to the old one.
Reid: It's not easy.
Cynder: Understatement of the century. (Stretching) But enough waxing philosophical, we've got a killer to catch.
(As Cynder and Reid rejoin JJ and Rossi, we transition to the 17th floor of the Knights' headquarters, where Hotch is stepping out of the elevator as Spyro arrives through an open window, leaving Hotch bewildered)
Spyro: (Noticing Hotch's look) The elevators are to accommodate for officers who can't fly. Otherwise people just fly up.
Hotch: Interesting.
(With that, Spyro and Hotch are about to enter the main room on this floor, when a female figure clad in green emerges carrying a couple of files. As she sees Spyro though, her gait appears to subtly change, appearing to become more... nervous? Is it though? Or is it nothing at all?)
?: (Seeing Hotch) You must be with this FBI unit Cynder called in.
Spyro: Agent Hotchner, this is Elora, one of our top agents. Elora, Special Agent Hotchner of the Behavioral Analysis Unit.
Elora: Good to be working with you, Agent Hotchner. I was just about to bring in the last of the case paperwork.
Spyro: Hope you guys don't mind working in a guest conference room.
Hotch: Any space we can get is all we need.
Spyro: Awesome. The conference room is down the hall, first door on the left. Matter of fact, the only door on the left.
(As Spyro, Hotch, and Elora head to the conference room that the BAU is being headquartered out of, we transition down to the basement, or more accurately, into a morgue, where Morgan and Kate are meeting with the medical examiner, a red dragon bearing a striking resemblance to Spyro)
Flame: I will admit it, this is by far the strangest case I've seen in years.
Kate: It's cracking the top of our list.
Flame: I mean seriously! One victim is frozen, another is crushed by rocks, and the third is immolated, but all of it was done postmortem! And all without leaving a single bit of DNA evidence. Leads me to believe we're dealing with a professional.
Morgan: Were you able to determine anything else about their deaths?
Flame: So far, not much. Other than whatever they were asphyxiated with was huge.
Kate: How so?
Flame: Their jaws were all broken, prior to their deaths. If I had to guess, this object was probably the size of a large baseball and forced into their throats with so much force that it snapped the mandible clean off the rest of the skull.
Morgan: Can you tell what it was exactly?
Flame: Not quite yet. But, there is some hope.
(With that, Flame picks up what looks like a petri dish, with a strange sample in it, and hands it to Kate)
Flame: Those were removed from the first and second victims' molars. More so from victim one. If I had to guess, victim three probably had something similar in her jaw before being burned. (Retrieves the dish from Kate) These are being sent to the lab straightaway. But if my hypothesis is correct, those are fragments of the murder weapon.
Kate: And what about the paint?
Flame: Now there we have something even stranger. (Turning the head of one of the victims) The paint is applied almost perfectly. A smooth coat, for the most part.
Morgan: For the most part?
Flame: (Pointing out a place on the victims heads) It wasn't easy to spot, but there's been some disturbance of the paint on the foreheads. Again, more prominent on the first victim, still there on the second, and burned away on number three. I've pulled samples to test for brush fibers or anything we can use to identify the source.
(Now we finally arrive in the conference room Spyro pointed out, where the BAU team is filling in their famous clear dry erase boards with information on the cases.)
Rossi: This is shaping up to be very bizarre. Three victims, each asphyxiated with an object large enough to break their jaws, but then their scales are painted black in a manner that would almost make van Gogh proud save for a spot on their foreheads for sure, and then their deaths are covered up with something that makes their deaths more obvious.
Morgan: Wouldn't be the first time someone's used another method of death to cover up a murder.
(And just as they've started their discussion, Elora arrives, looking for them)
Elora: Agents? Penumbra's downstairs awaiting interrogation, straight out of his sentencing hearing.
JJ: Let's hope we can get something out of him.
(Just then, a phone begins ringing. Elora, recognizing the ringtone, realizes it's hers, and takes it out to see what's up)
Elora: (Looking at her phone) There's been another murder. Just like the last ones. Asphyxiated, scales painted, method of death covered up with something else. Spyro and Cynder are already on scene.
Hotch: Morgan, Reid, JJ, join Spyro and Cynder at the new scene. Kate, Dave, and I will see what we can garner from Penumbra.
(With that, the team heads out for the new crime scene and to interrogate their prime suspect, as our story ends for today)
Well, that seems like a good place to conclude for now. Now, if you want to know more about the cases and killers mentioned earlier in the story, hers the episodes to see. The Replicator was all over Season 8, the Forever People are in "The Forever People", Leland Duncan was in "In The Blood", and Chad Mills was in "The Fallen". So, this case is shaping up to be very strange. Perhaps a fresh crime scene and an interrogation with the Shadow supremacist will provide some sort of evidence. Will it though? To see for sure, tune in next time! Same time... same channel!