As always, I hope you enjoy reading.
"Comfort is no test of truth. Truth is often far from being comfortable."
Hindu philosopher Swami Vivekanada
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Hotch was following Teldy's movements through the glass panes that separated them. After her surprisingly impulsive reaction to "Steropes Bioengineering Inc." the Lt. Col. had excused herself to 'have a quick talk with D.C.'. Now JJ, Rossi and he were waiting for whatever solution that 'quick talk' would eventually bring. He affixed his eyes on Stevenson, who stood firmly in the middle of the adjoining room, waiting, same as them, for whatever conclusions the orbiting Lt. Colonel would deliver from Washington. He exchanged another set of looks with Rossi. In the, non-negligible, amount of cases that they both, some together, some individually, had handled over the course of their careers, the one at hand had proven to be the most troublesome in regard to inter-agency cooperation. Most agencies would play ball when confronted by the generally well-regarded FBI. Some, a recent example was the CIA, decided to establish clear boundaries from the beginning. But this one, the agency posing as the DCIS and most certainly being connected to this newly established 'IOA' had simply blocked any attempts at gaining just a tiny bit of information from the beginning. Them referring their troubles with the FBI to the White House, and thus causing a disturbance between the White House and Justice while doing so, was a move Hotch had never experienced in his career. Neither had Rossi, who was a lot more experienced than he was and had 'grown up' as an agent in a time when raids like Ruby Ridge had sown a general and universal mistrust towards the Bureau – both in the general populace as well as in other law enforcement agencies. He noticed that Teldy had finally stopped circling Stevenson and the two women were now talking to each other. Probably figuring out on how to present whatever D.C. had deemed to be okay to leak to his team. At least, they might for the first time receive a glimpse into whatever new organisation the hydra of U.S. government bureaucracy had created now. If only a tiny.
With a noticeable squeak the door to their meeting room opened and the two women entered. Teldy looked at Stevenson. Stevenson nodded back at her and began: "We have been authorised to disclose the following: Steropes Bioengineering Inc. is known to us and is as of now considered a target of our investigation." "And what exactly is 'your' investigat…" Rossi immediately interrupted. Stevenson simply lifted her hand. "I wasn't done yet, Agent Rossi. As a formative gesture for our current partnership, an olive branch if you will," she looked back at Teldy "we have been authorised to share part of our information with you, with the understanding that this information is considered classified." She sighed. "Now, normally we would ask you to sign an NDA, but given your security clearance and your relative expertise in handling sensitive cases for other agencies, we will refrain from that." Stevenson let her eyes drift over them, first JJ, then him, then Rossi. "Now as both SSA Hotchner as well as SSA Rossi should remember from their own lectures at the academy, it is a common decency to wait with further questions until the end of a lecture, unless otherwise directed by the lecturer herself." She continued, her eyes still resting on Rossi. "This isn't kindergarten, Agent Rossi, and I don't like to be interrupted by a man who still believes he basically invented the concept of modern criminology." Rossi simply stared back in a manner that would have looked unfazed for any other bystander, but what Hotch would cautiously classify as 'annoyed'. It did not matter for Hotch at this point. Something else had become very clear to him just now. He knew Stevenson. She had specifically referred to Rossi and him teaching at the academy as if she had been there. And he knew her behaviour, not simply as a behavioural pattern, but as the habitus of an individual he had actually met. Hotch filed this information in his head. For the meantime, there was nothing he could do to investigate this thought. He refocused back on Stevenson.
"The Pentagon has been conducting certain programmes in the realm of bioengineering that for the recent years have required the use of third-party firms to conduct a certain amount of experimentation and production. Compartmentalized information that in itself could neither be used for nefarious purposes nor tied to the original programmes." She paused for a second as if to gather a breath. "Now, somebody in the NID decided to leak the information to a few of these companies at some point however, and they decided to do a little business on the side with the, now pooled, information that we had initially provided them. That circle of treachery called themselves the Committee, ironically." As she had noticed their inquisitive looks, Teldy quickly added "Yes, the same one that tried to murder then Senator McKinsey in '03 and wanted to pin it on General O'Neil." Stevenson continued: "Now as Lt. Col. Teldy has inferred, this much is public knowledge. More or less. What isn't is that from the ashes of the Committee rose another organisation, mostly made up of lower ranking members that we never quite managed to grab, calling themselves the Trust. And while the Trust was severely weakened after the dissolution of the remaining rogue elements of the NID, we still never managed to fully illuminate the extent of the underlying corruption." She shook her head. "So that brings us to Steropes. We handed them a part of our research back in '03 and they completed their assignment about a year later. There was no reason to flag their work in any way and most of their discoveries had already been made redundant by our own advances. So, they were forgotten. But based on what we're seeing now we have reason to believe that they not only received a broader spectrum of information from the Trust, but also continued further testing." Her look grew more serious, her face changing from that of a professional to a worried and emotional human for just a second. "Further – now possibly human – testing. The original research was gene based, something concerning stem cells. The details are unimportant, really. And while we would never experiment on unwilling suspects, it seems as if Steropes has decided to regard ethics in general and the Nuremberg Code in particular as optional." And as if to clear the question that was building up on Hotch's side of the table, Stevenson added: "We have reason to believe that the murders we all have been investigating are the side product of a deliberate attempt to grow genetically modified human subjects. Most certainly with the idea that manipulation of the embryo or the fetus will enhance the effect of the therapy itself."
The last sentence hung in the room like a dark and overpowering thunder cloud. Hotch gathered his voice. "Now let me repeat that: The Pentagon decided to hand biological research off to third parties and now one of these third parties decided that they could use Detroit as their own personal petri dish?" "More or less." Stevenson answered with a nod. "I cannot…" now Rossi had found his voice, too "Did you try to breed super soldiers?" Teldy replied hastily, "No. No, no. Of course not." And yet that answer did not seem to satisfy Rossi fully, Hotch saw. The old man still looked both puzzled and startled at the revelations he had just witnessed. "While we're talking heart to heart here" he heard JJ speak out on his right, "where did the radioactive trace elements come from?" Hotch saw a shadow of annoyance wander over Stevenson's face. "It isn't ours." she stated matter-of-factly. 'Which doesn't exactly exclude the idea that she knows where they came from. Guess, they aren't actually entirely truthful' he thought to himself. But there was nothing he could do about it at this point. If they couldn't talk about that, there was no reason to press them for more information. Truth to be told, he was happy about what his team had received up to this point. He cleared his throat: "How do we proceed from here?" looking at Teldy, then fixating on Stevenson. "Well, from what I gathered we don't have enough to actually conduct a search at Steropes. No judge is going to issue a warrant on a four-year old case and a chest full of undisclosable information. We may have no choice but to…" she smiled at Rossi, "as Agent Rossi put it so eloquently in one of his books 'kick the hornets' nest and see what comes flying out'." Her voice again growing more serious she added, "I'd of course like to keep Mr. Slater in the dark about the involvement of the DoD. Perhaps it might be possible to accompany you to Steropes in the morning? See what Slater has to say for himself?" She looked at Teldy seemingly seeking her approval, with Teldy simply nodding at her proposal. Stevenson then looked back at him. "I don't see why that would be an issue." Hotch answered. "Well, once you two are done dividing up the world, what are the rest of us supposed to do?" JJ interjected, "We have basically run dry on interviewing the transient population. I'd suggest we start pressing the suppliers of Steropes, see if there is any information there that might supply us with enough due cause for a search warrant." "That seems reasonable" Rossi grumbled. "Maybe we'll press Herzog again on known suppliers and see where we land from there?" "Then Garcia can work her magic and maybe get us something real." Hotch continued. From the other side of the table Teldy threw a glance at Stevenson, then added "Better yet: I'll contact our people again and see if we have any records left from our Steropes deal." And that was that. With one collective look at the clock, everyone decided to head towards their respective hotels. 'Teldy and Stevenson really are an odd pair' Hotch thought on the way back. The two were working together in the way that only seamless teammates could, but they were obviously still rookies in their new roles. 'Professionals thrust into the deep end of a new job' he surmised. Lt. Col. Teldy clearly had a lot of military experience under her belt. Stevenson, this much had crystallized over the day, had been at the FBI at some point. Even so, she had deliberately decided to strike said FBI career from her record. Hotch couldn't put a finger on why he knew her, specifically. It was something he'd hand off to Garcia after this whole thing ended. Sort of a bargaining chip if they ran into each other again.
:::
Tabitha had let Teldy sort out the data request to Homeworld Command and retired to her room, just as the rest of her team had done. Last time she checked, Martinez and Wells were playing a round of Poker, Porter had hurried to her room to look over some data from the god knows which off-world mission and Moore had left to call Nathan, just as he had done every night that they had spent away from home over the last couple of missions. Tabitha massaged her temples. She had taken some pain killers just as soon as she had stumbled into her room, but the throbbing headache just didn't seem to let up. 'That's because the headache isn't caused by anything, other than your stress.' her subconscious whispered to her. And it was right. She was clearly in over her head. Anne was as well. They all were. They weren't ready yet to do actual investigative work when it came down to it. But there was no one else that could do their jobs either. 'Maybe…just maybe, the BAU interfering with your work is actually helping right know.' her subconscious whispered again. And she agreed, even though she hated herself for it. The BAU represented everything she had left behind. When Woolsey had come up to her and offered her a job building some shadowy Pentagon investigative agency, she had laughed in his face. She didn't work her ass off in law school and the FBI academy to join the FBI's top investigators, just to be pulled off at the last second by him, or anyone else for that matter. Even if Hotchner probably didn't remember, due to the amount of qualified applications they probably received each year, the day she had handed in her application for the BAU had been one of her happiest days thus far. And then Woolsey had come and opened her eyes to the greater universe. At that moment, the thought of hunting a few earthly serial killers had seemed so insignificant in the stark contrast of Earth amidst an ever-changing intragalactic political landscape that had used Earth as their playground up till now. So, she had accepted. Everyone would have. There was no regret in her, even now. But the feeling of struggling to stay afloat in the deep end of the pool while the Olympic Swimming Team that was the BAU was doing laps around her – it was infuriating, and it was stressing her out. At least working through these thoughts had somewhat dampened the throbbing behind her temples. She lay down on her bed, soon to be welcomed by a restless sleep.
:::
The next morning, Dr. Alison Porter was again sitting in that conference room off the bullpen, now with Wells and two of the FBI people. Several heaps of files were kept in place by their laptops, the files themselves having been gathered this morning by a couple of 'house-calls' to various companies across the U.S. And under the threat of facing the governments ire when it decided to protect some 'Interests of National Security' these companies had decided to give them some files. A lot of them, actually. And while some of those had already been faxed and e-mailed to them, forming the basis for the heaps in their midst, Moore and Martinez had driven off with Agents Jareau and Morgan to fetch yet another heap of paper from somewhere in the city. That left Agent Prentiss and Dr. Reid with them, the latter of whom was currently reading files like Col. Sheppard would have read a mission brief, yet actually managing to retain the information inside in stark contrast to the actual Col. Sheppard. Truth to be told, she kind of envied his ability. Wells and her on the other hand had struck up a professional chat with Prentiss, sharing titbits of information they'd found here or there. They had no idea what they were looking for, though. It came down to finding anything that might tie Steropes to genetical experiments on live human subjects. Maybe they had decided to buy an abnormally large supply of tranquilisers at some point. Or correspondence hinted at ongoing or future clinical trials. 'Or maybe a giant picture of a needle in a haystack' Alison thought to herself. She let out a frustrated groan and picked up the next folder. And then she stopped. The folder she had put down was from Pearson Biologicals out of New Hampshire, a company that, based on the expense report that was filed at the Pentagon, had delivered stem cell cultures to Steropes. And yet, their invoices didn't list these cultures. 'That's odd' Alison thought. Based on the expense reports, there was only one other company supplying stem cell lines, Argus-Finn Research Inc. out of the Bay Area. 'Maybe it is an accounting error?' she thought. "Hey, has somebody already checked a company called Argus-Finn?" she asked the rest. "Nope." Said Wells. "Me neither." said Prentiss. "Wait, I have it here, just a couple of pages left." said Reid. "What do you need?" "Based on the expense report we received from D.C., Steropes should have bought stem cell lines from Pearson Biologicals. They didn't, though, I just checked." She continued: "Maybe it's a mistake. Did they order them from Argus-Finn, instead?" Reid flicked the pages. "They didn't. Wait. How does a company conducting stem cell-based research experiments without actually using stem cells?" he asked. The realization hit all of them at roughly the same time.
:::
Meanwhile, JJ was on her way to pick up another couple of boxes of documents from Devon Med Tech, a maintenance service for medical devices servicing the greater Detroit area. They had called ahead to schedule a talk with the company's owner, Mark Devon, to quickly interview him about any unusual experiences with Steropes. Walking across the half-filled parking lot of a run-of-the-mill industrial park, she found herself next to Moore, whose demeanour she could only describe as silent. Not abrasive, but silent. Twice she had tried to strike up a conversation with him this morning, but he had limited himself to short, to-the-point answers. She had therefore labelled him as 'just another soldier' type and accepted that their interaction would ultimately be limited to professional conversation. Speaking off 'just another soldier' the same could not be said about Martinez, however, who was currently somewhere behind them and joking with Derek about some occurrence in the College Football Leagues. If she hadn't known his service record, she would have guessed that Martinez had flunked right out of boot camp due to playing one to many pranks on the drill sergeant. The entrance door to Devon Med Tech had one of these annoying doorbells, alerting the reception staff, and probably everyone in the building, to their arrival. Alerting the reception staff was not needed, however, as they were welcomed by the sight of a middle-aged, salt-and-pepper haired man in a sports jacket and jeans that screamed 'Work in the morning – golf in the afternoon'. Alas, the man extended his hand and with a smooth sounding voice introduced himself as Mark Devon himself. They exchanged a few courtesies on the way to the small conference room in the back of the open plan workspace. Devon offered them water, but Derek, as usual, cut to the chase immediately. "Sir, as we already mentioned, we're investigating a company called Steropes Bioengineering Inc. for possible health and ethics violations. If there is anything you want to add to the files you're already providing us with, now would be the time." Devon blinked. "You're really stepping on the gas there, Agent." "Well, the whole situation might be more pressing than you might think." JJ retorted. "We aren't talking about some missed documentation here, but rather the possibility of unauthorised medical experiments, possibly on non-consenting subjects." Devon's eyebrows rose, his face tensing up for a couple of seconds. JJ saw her chance, "To echo my colleague's question: Is there anything you remember that you want to share with us." She saw the gears grinding in Devon's head. He turned around and looked out towards the parking area. Then, with an audible sigh, "No, Agent Jareau. There is nothing I can add." "You are aware, Mr. Devon, that obstructing a federal investigation…" "Yes, I am aware of that. There is nothing more I can say." Devon replied, his eyes showing an inner conflict that he was obviously unwilling to share. In an instant, they flicked downwards, his hand reaching into his pants for his phone. "I'm sorry, agents, I have to take this. My people will gather your files." And with that, he left the room.
:::
Tabitha exited the black unmarked SUV together with SSA Hotchner and Rossi. They had set an interview with Anthony Slater for noon and thus found themselves in the middle of a rundown industrial park that housed the Steropes Bioengineering Inc. offices. The building in question was one of a series of partially run-down chemical lab type buildings, with the Steropes building being the only one that looked like it was kept in a decent shape. 'Well, to be honest, the buildings left and right look abandoned.' she thought to herself, 'so keeping up a good appearance is kind of a cake walk.' The trio moved towards the glass-paned entrance door and rang the bell. A young man in his twenties approached with a rapid step and opened the door. "Hi, my name's Alex. You're here for Mr. Slater, right?" Hotchner simply nodded. "Okay, then follow me. Would you care for something to drink?" "No, thank you." Hotchner replied. "We'd just like to talk to Mr. Slater." "Of course, this way." The receptionist led them into an atrium, then off to the right into a hallway that, judging by its low hanging ceiling and general aesthetic, clearly held the administrative wing of the building. Down the hallway and one turn to the left, they stood in front of a small, unassuming door. Anthony Slater opened: A man in his late forties, with a receding hairline and a fake smile greeted them. And after a quick introduction, he cut right to the chase: "The FBI in my humble company. What can I do for you?" Rossi opened:" We are investigating a series of suspicious deaths in the area. Prostitutes having ODed under similar circumstances. They had all been pregnant fairly recently before dying." He let the sentence hang in the room for just a couple of seconds, then continued: "We have identified a former employee of yours as a suspect. Thomas Herzog." He slid a photo of Herzog across the table. There was no movement in Slaters face. If he recognized the picture, if he felt any kind of relief that they had identified Herzog as a suspect, there was no sign of it. "Now, we believe Herzog is experimenting on the recently born children. We can't really pin it on him, though. So, we thought of his previous employer – you. Maybe there were signs when he was still working here. This still is a bioengineering company. Maybe there was an off-hand comment about 'taking the work to another level'? Or a sudden interest in prenatal experimentation?" Slater's face still looked like a solid wall. He rose to his feet and stated matter-of-factly: "I hope you are not accusing my company of tolerating even the slightest bit of an ethics violation." Hotchner replied: "Of course not. We know the reason he left the company was because he went to prison for another death. We were only wondering if, in the days leading up to it, there were any comments that might explain what happened to the four women we found recently." Tabitha added: "This isn't an investigation into your company, sir. Steropes Bioengineering Inc. has an absolutely clean slate." And to drive the ruse home, Hotchner once again spoke up: "Even if there were incidents of wrongdoing, we are only interested in Herzog. The FBI wouldn't want us strutting into a reputable company like yours and throwing accusations around. We simply need information to build the case against Herzog." And there it was. A very slight grin in Slater's face, visible for just a second. Arrogance. He was sure that he had outsmarted him. That they couldn't investigate him because they were too stupid. Tabitha was sure the others had seen it, too. With an overly dramatic sigh, the CEO sat down. "I wasn't sure there for a moment. You must understand, Agents, Steropes is on the very forefront of progress." He paused, then smiled his fake smile again. "Ethical progress, of course. But we wouldn't want to be hindered by an absolutely unnecessary compliance process." He let his eyes glide across the three. "No offense, Agents." "None taken." Hotch answered. Slater continued: "I'll see to it that you receive a copy of Herzog's HR file. You might find something there." "Thank you, Mr. Slater." Rossi answered. "Now, we wouldn't want to keep you any longer." "No, thank you, Agents, for making this city a safer place." Slater answered. It didn't sound sincere. "Let me see you out." They all rose from their chairs and turned around towards the wall. And then Tabitha noticed something. At the back of the office hang a small print of sorts. Two men, naked except for loincloths, standing on atop a stone platform and raising their hammers. Others behind them, seemingly working on a fire. And three of them had another eye on their forehand. Intrigued, she turned around to Slater once more, who had started moving around his desk. "That's an interesting print. What's it depicting?" Slater laughed a deep laughter, and for the first time it seemed genuine. "Oh, the 'Forge of the Cyclopes'? It isn't genuine of course. The cyclopes Steropes, Brontes and Arges, working since the beginning of time in shaping the future. You might guess where the name of this company came from." His eyes met hers and he grinned. That grin wasn't friendly anymore, though. "We are working on shaping the world's future, just like them." Where his behaviour had seemed odd, possibly suspicious before, now it seemed downright sinister. Her head spun for a second as somewhere in her mind she remembered something from college. The Cyclopes? Odysseus. Greek mythology. And then it clicked for Tabitha. The name of the company. The print. The seemingly absolute control over his face where normal humans would have maybe shown a second of doubt. The borderline maniacal laughter. The arrogance. She had never personally met one, but at this moment, she was sure. Slater was Steropes. Literally. He wasn't the company. He was the actual mythological figure. A goa'uld.
Fear creeped into her mind, and she concentrated every fibre of her being on not showing it. "Do you like it, Agent Stevenson?" Slater asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. "I do. I have never seen the corresponding art." she replied, still tense. She hoped he – they – didn't notice her hesitation. They walked out, rounding the corner, back into the hallway. "The original art is by Titian, a renaissance painter from Venice. He painted it for the city of Brescia. With Brescia supplying the weapons for Venice expansionist dreams, the theme of the cyclopes crafting heavenly weapons for Zeus and the rest of the prime gods seemed fitting." Slater continued lecturing. They re-entered they atrium, forming a loose ring while Slater kept talking. "Ironically, the painting was destroyed in a fire. It only survived by the way of a copy made by some Dutch." He chuckled, "Sometimes, copying the great masters pays off, one might assume." He paused. "Well, anyway. It was a pleasure, Agents, but I have to continue working and I believe you do too." They exited the building back onto the parking area and made their way back to the car. Rossi spoke up first: "If he doesn't know more then he lets on, I am handing in my badge." Hotchner nodded in agreement. Tabitha, still rocked by the sudden realization, did too. Rossi added: "It's still not something we can use to get a warrant, though."
:::
Back at Devon Med Tech the team was finishing loading up the files into their car. JJ was dissatisfied with their results of their little visit. After receiving the call, Devon had stolen himself away from their interview. She had briefly considered simply bringing him in and repeating their questions in a real interrogation but had eventually dropped the idea. Interrogating Devon might take even more manpower from them, with no discernible benefit for the investigation itself. He clearly knew more then he let on. But if he wasn't ready to share it now, prying it out of him would be a bigger effort than they could afford at the moment. Or so she thought. Mark Devon was actually making his way across the sunlit parking space in a hurried manner at that same moment. "Agent Jareau" he shouted. "I'm sorry for brushing you off like that. There is something about Steropes that might be of interest to you." He fidgeted with his hands. "I need a concession, though. A promise that whatever happens with Steropes, you'll honour if a person steps forward as a key witness. Both in terms of criminal prosecution as well as possible witness protection." Now he had JJs curiosity. She replied: "I can't promise that. But I'm sure that the DA would appreciate someone speaking out if it came to a trial. In my experience they always manage to work out a deal." Devon looked unsatisfied, so she added. "As for the protection, we can arrange that. There isn't anything else I can give you. But you, and that person, might help us find the killer of four women and rescue probably the same amount of children. That's enough in my book, if I'm being honest, Mr. Devon." He sighed. "I just got off the phone with my daughter… She is working for Steropes. You might understand my dilemma." Martinez spoke up: "I get it. You want to shield your family from harm. But, man, no one shielded those women from harm. Someone has to make it right by them, too." Devon looked downtrodden. "I know. I know. It's just… It's my fault she is in this mess. Selene was fresh out of med school and wanted to sharpen her scientific profile. Work a bit here and there before heading off to a residency program. I offered to hit up Steropes, since I knew they were working on genetics and all off that. She…" He stopped to wipe a tear out of his face. "They were supposedly funding a clinic for homeless women that they had organized in conjunction with local doctors, though the clinic itself is located somewhere in the inner city. A friend of Selene from med school, Mira, worked there. So, one night, that friend calls her up, saying she can't talk over the phone, but that she had witnessed something horrible. Then that friend vanished, leaving simply only a text message about how she had moved back to her parents down south. After that whole thing Steropes officially rescinded funding for the clinic." He gathered his breath. "Or so she thought. Because one night she was working late and noticed a van pulling up in the parking outside. Four obviously pregnant women entered the building, accompanied by some co-workers of hers. Of course, her first thought was that Steropes had restarted the clinic and relocated it to their offices. But there was no memo, no press release. Nothing." He shook his head. "So, my daughter does what she always did. Be way too curious for her own good. She tests the stem cells that are given to her. You must understand, after some amendment last year, stem cell research is legal, but only on non-embryonic stem cells and legacy stem cells lines. Hers were neither, even though she had been told they came from a legacy line the entire." He now started openly crying. "Of course, after Mira vanished and all of that, she didn't feel like it was safe for her to go to the police. She only told me. And I swore to her that I would never endanger her." He looked directly at JJ. "So not only did you come to me today, but she also saw your colleagues at Steropes. She is afraid that this whole thing will fall back on her. But now there is also a chance for her to help. To right the wrong." He started crying again, this time even more. "But you have to help her. Keep her safe. Steropes must burn, but please not for the sake of my daughter." JJ took pity with Devon. He was clearly torn apart by what his daughter had told him and the desire to keep her safe. So, she said: "Mr. Devon, I promise you I'll do anything to keep your daughter from harm. You can tell her that. If possible, she should leave her workplace. Now. Maybe hide for a couple of days." She turned around and saw Derek as well as Moore and Martinez standing behind her. She nodded to Derek "I believe that's enough. Let's call Hotch and head back to the precinct."
:::
Back at the station both teams started preparing to raid Steropes. The data that Alison and the others had recovered from the files had proven that, even though they were billed in the expense reports for the Pentagon, Steropes had never actually ordered stem cell lines for their work. That combined with the statement they had gathered from Mark Devon in lieu of Selene Devon was enough to secure a warrant. The legal proceedings were already underway. That hadn't been the only revelation for Tabitha's team, though. In a quiet moment she had gathered them all in the second conference room and laid out her suspicions concerning Slater. It made their mission that much harder. They would have to snatch what the BAU considered to be their prime suspect right from under their noses, preferably without anyone telling stories about glowing yellow eyes, superhuman strength and surprisingly deep voices afterwards.
:::
Sooooo, this one came in at a staggering eight pages in Word. In any case, I hope you enjoy where the story is going. As always, I promise to upload the next one in due time. Pinkie promise. I just have to find my box of pinkies, so that I don't have to sacrifice one of mine – again. Primarily because that would be detrimental to the speed at which I can type up additional chapters.
(Oh and just one small thing: I'm having a lot of fun here, so this won't stop where Beatrice Otter stopped it. There is more than one cyclope. And there is more than one Greek God in need of a good ol' fashioned SG-1 style shanking. I'm currently planning to end this series after building three interconnected stories, the first of which is this, and then continuing with another piece set more on the Stargate side and based on the cannon that I build here, some loose ideas and post SGA/SGU cannon. Okay maybe I'll disregard some of the SGU cannon since they decided to make the Lucian Alliance incredibly overpowered technology wise for no real reason. I have another idea how to manage that.)