Hey guys, welcome back. I don't think I have anything to address directly, so let's get this show on the road.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Criminal minds nor do I own any characters from either item or anything else I add in just to give more context or background for Naruto.
"Speech"
"Thoughts"
"Radio or altered voice"
"Book, Computer, Letter, Text Message"
* see bottom for explanation
[Translation]
Chapter 7: Popularity
Season 1, Episode 10: The Popular Kids
Episode Quotes: Sir Peter Ustinov said, "Unfortunately, a superabundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares."
Playwright Eugene Ionescu said, "Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together."
BAU
Naruto grunted as he came into the BAU feeling stiff that morning as he was popping and stretching his joints. He also was rubbing his eyes to try and get some of the sleep and tiredness out of them. Looking around he saw the bullpen being busy as usual, but what caught his eye was Reid pouring close to a quarter container of sugar into his coffee. Looking him over, Naruto saw he was tired, to the point of exhaustion, and seemed fidgety.
Naruto sighed to himself and walked over to Reid, "Sugar wears off eventually, then you're going to be forced back to sleep." Naruto stated making Reid look at him, "Everyone gets them, kid, it would be weird if you didn't." Naruto stated making Reid frown, "Dreams, they are something wonderful and something frightening at the same time. Eventually, they'll either stop or you'll get used to them. It helps though if you focus on the people you save from the horrors, because then embracing and facing those horrors seems worth it. Another way to help, talk about it, get it off your mind so you can focus and move past it." Naruto stated patting Reid on the shoulder before making his own cup of coffee.
Reid merely looked down and kept stirring his coffee as Morgan came over, "Easy kid, have some coffee with your sugar." Morgan stated as he got his own cup.
"I need to wake up." Reid stated as he kept blinking and closing his eyes tightly.
"Ooh, someone had a late night." Morgan stated and Naruto smirked.
"Very." Reid stated adding some creamer to his coffee.
"Nice!" Morgan stated and Reid scoffed with a smile.
"Not that kind of late night." Reid stated as he drank some of his coffee.
"If it were any other time, I'd say he was watching different Sci-Fi shows and laughing at the errors or extremely low probabilities." Naruto stated drinking his coffee and still working his shoulders and neck.
"So what is it then?" Morgan asked still grinning and Naruto sighed.
"The nightmares have started." Naruto started making Morgan lose his playfulness.
"Oh." Morgan stated while looking at Reid, who was just looking at his cup. "Reid, it's not uncommon, hell it's extremely close to being as common as seeing someone breathe. But I don't think I'm the best person to talk to about this. Have you told Gideon?" Morgan asked and Reid shook his head. "You should, it helps." Morgan stated before Elle came over.
"Hey, Hotch wants us all in the conference room." Elle stated walking up to the back door before looking at them and seeing the serious faces. "Something wrong?" Elle asked and Naruto shook his head.
"Nah, we're all good." Naruto stated sipping his coffee as she nodded and went into the conference room with Morgan right behind her. "Reid, he's not wrong, talk to Gideon, talk to Hotch, even talk to me, but you need to talk to someone. Morgan's just not comfortable because then he has to go over his own nightmares and memories that he's seen and he doesn't like letting his vulnerability show. Gideon and Hotch have been around long enough to be able to move past the nightmares and get it out of their way." Naruto stated as he tossed his cup in the trash.
"What about you?" Reid asked and Naruto snorted a bit.
"Reid, the only nightmares I have are about some things that happened to me before I was the Hunter. Nothing these guys do phases me because I've seen and done much worse at times. However, it also helps me to remember that every one of these guys I brought down, that's at least one more person that wasn't going to suffer whatever they were doing. That's one more person that can maybe grow old, have a family if they are young enough or don't have one, or even become a cop or FBI agent that will help stop the next wave of psychos and killers. The dreams aren't ever going to go away, but you can accept and move past them so they aren't bothering you anymore and you can sleep." Naruto stated making Reid frown before Naruto motioned for them to go into the Conference Room.
The two walked in just as JJ and Hotch were with Gideon a little ways behind, "McAllister. Western slope of the Massanutten Mountain and Virginia. Two bodies were discovered out in the woods, both with apparent blunt trauma to the head." JJ stated putting the files on the table.
"Skeletons?" Reid asked seeing the picture of a skeleton that was almost fully bare.
"One of them. The second victim was just killed this morning." JJ clarified as Naruto flipped through the folder looking it over intently.
"Connection?" Elle asked since it could be just two bodies in an area.
"Bodies were found 75 feet from each other with nearly identical head wounds." Hotch stated and Naruto frowned at the small file.
"Sheriff has no idea how to handle something like this does he? Or is there some other big thing that isn't in the file?" Naruto asked knowing it should be a simple job for a sheriff so there had to be something to spook him or the guy was new at the job.
"There's something else, he and his department are waiting on the scene for us. They're only a half hour away by plane." Hotch stated making Morgan raise an eyebrow.
"Why the rush?" Morgan asked in confusion as Naruto grabbed the stack of photos and flipped through them.
"There's evidence at the scene that could cause some public uproar." Hotch stated before Naruto paused at a photo.
"Aw shit." Naruto stated before tossing the picture to the middle of the table.
Said picture was of a tombstone shaped rock with a pentagram and "Satan Lives LOD." The pentagram and message seemed to be written in blood.
"I fucking hate this Satanic bullshit." Naruto groaned wishing he had more coffee and some heavy duty aspirin since this was going to be an annoying case.
"You've dealt with this before?" Elle asked in curiosity and Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, the fake wannabes and the "true believers" as they are so eloquently called." Naruto stated while using air quotes around the true believers part.
"Good, we'll add what you've encountered to what we already know and go from there, wheels up in 20." Gideon stated before he walked to his office and Naruto sighed before he went to get some more coffee.
Pouring himself a bigger cup, he glanced back to see Elle there with her arms crossed, which pushed her breasts up more, "You ok?" Elle asked knowing he seemed more agitated than usual.
Naruto sighed, "Yeah, just not a day I enjoy that much." Naruto stated drinking some of the coffee. At Elle's questioning gaze, Naruto grunted, "It's the anniversary of me becoming the Hunter." Naruto stated causing Elle's eyes to widen.
"Naruto, I'm sorry I… I didn't-." Elle stated not sure how to address the fact this was the day his best friend not only betrayed him, but tortured and killed his father, tortured him, and raped and tortured his girlfriend.
"You didn't know, Elle, so you have nothing to apologize for. I'm not going to be very upbeat today, but I'll be professional and keep my annoyances in check when needed." Naruto stated as he downed his cup of coffee and got another cup before walking off to see if his things came.
Elle merely watched him go with a worried look on her face, she hoped he was as all right as he seemed to think he was.
LATER ON THE JET
Hotch was standing with his notepad and placed the picture of the writing on small table in front of JJ, "JJ, we obviously need to keep this out of the press for as long as we can." Hotch stated making JJ nod.
"I'll do what I can." JJ stated knowing that sooner or later someone was going to spill the beans and cause a lot of problems.
"Why is that so important?" Elle asked and Naruto snorted.
"A huge scare in the 1980s involved satanic ritual killings and abuse. Cleverly called "The Satanic Panic" and it started after a book was published that talked about repressed memories being recovered through hypnotherapy. As you can no doubt guess, it didn't go that well. Supposed memories of growing up with devil worshippers who use children in their rituals and ceremonies and most of those claims were false because of the mind fabricating something to explain what was happening to it. The rest were because different therapists "guided" their patients to the memories and kept prodding them into accepting the different scenarios, regardless of how implausible or impossible they were. Not the first time therapists used therapy to push patients into believing things that didn't happen. People ended up ruined for shit that never happened." Naruto stated annoyed at these so called "professionals" doing this.
"You sound like you have personal experience." Morgan asked and Naruto shook his head.
"No. But a friend of mine did. They're a detective in New York and got a case where a girl was claiming her father had raped her every day since she was 6 and she was currently 17 and even stated times and number of occurrences with her therapist backing her up. Only, when they did a medical exam to ensure she had no STDs or permanent damage, they found that her hymen was still intact and there was no evidence of any kind of trauma to her body at all. However, the girl took a polygraph and passed which raised a lot of questions until they started digging just a bit deeper with their own forensic psychologist. Apparently, the therapist saw "clear signs of sexual abuse" and decided to help her patient connect the dots in her own way, but it also opened up a whole other can of worms as the cops had to go through every single patient she had to find any other cases of "rape" or "abuse" occurring. The shrink is serving time now and is beyond bankrupt. The father though left the family afterwards because they all turned him on him when the daughter made the accusation. Only his mother didn't turn on him because of what his daughter said before any real evidence besides her statement came in. I don't know if he ever went back to them or not." Naruto stated since he never liked shrinks that didn't have any real reputation to them.
"Geezus." Elle stated knowing that was horrible and things could get bad for different subjects.
"Yeah. For the current situation though, the sadder part is that despite the clear evidence in the 1980s, numerous therapists accepted the assertions as true and began searching for similar signs in their own patients which then caused the event to spiral even further. In one year, thousands of people started reporting the exact same "repressed" memories and different lives were nearly ruined or entirely ruined." Naruto stated and Hotch nodded.
"The Bureau conducted an investigation and concluded that most of the ritual killings or abuse were more urban legend than anything else. The first patients had apparently been interested in some old myths of their neighborhood and when the psychiatrists began pushing on them, the legends became memories to them." Hotch stated making Naruto nod knowing it was a pain in the ass to figure out what was real reports and what was fake.
"So, what? You're saying there's no such thing as devil worshipping?" Elle asked and Naruto laughed a bit.
"No, not at all." Naruto stated with a smirk as Gideon spoke.
"Most of the satanism we've seen is juveniles damaging property, desecrating churches, cemeteries. To my knowledge, there's never been a proven case of a satanic ritual killing in the United States." Gideon stated as Morgan looked at the pictures.
"Well, maybe we got the first one." Morgan stated knowing they had to account for everything.
"Unlikely." Naruto stated looking over a few photos.
"What are you seeing?" Gideon asked and Naruto hummed a moment.
"First victim is relatively hidden and has been a long time, maybe with the pentagram and wording. Second victim is left out in the open with no indication of wording or satanism besides what's by the first body. The only reason the decomposed body was found was because the authorities did a search for any other evidence and stumbled across it. So, either these two cases aren't connected or something happened that caused the unsub to not have time or the chance to hide the second body and prepare the scene." Naruto stated making them frown since he had a point, why hide one and not the other?
"What could have interrupted him?" Hotch asked and Naruto shrugged.
"Hard to say. Though my gut tells me we should check to see if anyone else is missing or maybe was supposed to be out running with the second victim, the unsub may not have planned on anyone being there when he struck so he panicked and had to improvise. Means we aren't dealing with a pro or someone who has been doing this a long time." Naruto stated making them nod. "There's also the fact that if this is a cult, why would only one person be involved in this killing? If there was someone interrupting the kill, one or two people can overpower them while at least another one moves the body to wherever it is they want it moved to not be found quickly. So, are we looking for the world's most panicky cult or are we looking for one person who's hoping to inspire terror or cover his tracks by making people think it's a satanic cult? Or the most unlikely, but not impossible scenario, is there a cult that has a one member in it that's more violent than the rest?" Naruto continued making the group frown as those were possibilities.
"We'll get a better grasp of the situation when we land, for now what do you know of both sets of possibilities?" Gideon stated as they went over the bit of information that they had, plus Naruto's experience.
"The wannabes are the usual things: vandalism, animal killings, desecration of religious sites, the usual teen rebel "give me attention" stuff that doesn't need to be taken seriously per se especially since they don't quite recruit so much as offer people a place to hang out and have no rules. The supposed true believers are the more dangerous ones. They fully go into the brainwashing, you only trust us and no one else, Satan is the ultimate power in the universe. Their methods and practices vary, but the constant is that they follow many of the witch, wiccan, and nature based occurrences, days of power, prime nature days, and festivals. None I encountered reached the point of murder, but they were still extremely violent and dangerous to a number of people and some were approaching murder and sacrificing humans." Naruto stated while rubbing his eyes.
"How bad we talking?" Morgan asked and Naruto sighed.
"I once stopped a cult from conducting a mass rape during a full blood moon that happened at the summer solstice because they thought impregnating women on that day would imbue the children with the power of the Devil and siphon power from the Earth to further strengthen them. They furthered this by covering the women in different animal sacrificial blood, carved pentagrams into their bodies above their wombs and hearts, all the while doing the cliché of robes, candles, sacrificial circles, and so on and so forth. Their future plans were to cut the children out of the mothers using the mothers' sacrifice to even further bolster the children's so called powers. To add even more cruelty to this, they had women ranging from ages 8 to 50 years old hoping that the diverse ages would yield a multitude of results as they had virgins, prostitutes, housewives, mothers, and children who knew nothing of sex or the cruelty of the world." Naruto stated horrifying the others as he drank some water and took some aspirin.
"That's…" Reid started but couldn't find the words.
"Cruel? Inhumane? Insane? Barbaric? Atrocious? Sadistic? All of the above and more? Yeah. I freed the victims and then paid personal attention to the people involved as both men and women were involved in the cult and the women were all for it, but couldn't be the ones to give birth because their prayers were needed to ensure each of the victims were to be impregnated and then when the children were old enough, the cult would then breed with them to further increase their power and praise to the devil, then they would mate with those children and occasionally bringing in new blood to further bolster the odds of impregnation and growth." Naruto stated with a frown and sigh..
"And you know that because?" Elle asked and Naruto just looked at her making freeze at the look in his eyes.
"You'd be amazed the information you get when people start to fear you over their supposed god. After the first few interrogations and kills, the cult turned to worshipping me thinking I was some avatar or chosen champion of Satan that was punishing them for their pathetic practices with the women wanting to entice me to give them offspring by literally tearing their clothes off and presenting themselves. I killed most of the populace, but left quite a few members since the cops arrived and I wasn't interested in getting caught." Naruto stated making Elle swallow a lump in her throat, both because the look in his eyes unnerved her slightly and because she was imagining a small army of women all presenting themselves to Naruto for his enjoyment, with her being among them ready to be taken and bred.
It was taking all her willpower not to blush.
"What does your experience tell you about this?" Gideon stated while feeling this was one of those times he didn't mind Naruto killing as much, death penalty come early in one sense. He didn't approve of it, far from it, but he could understand it since if he were in Naruto's shoes, Gideon couldn't say he'd let them all live and keep them that way until the authorities arrived. It was easy to say he would, but another matter to actually be in the situation.
"This isn't a cult matter. If it was, they would have kept the body to continue to desecrate it and add to their cult's powers. There's also the fact we don't know if the first body is even a victim or just some poor sap who fell down the hill and clunked his head on something and died there before someone found the body later and decided to commit the murder we know for sure happened. Even then, to be fair, we don't know if the most recent death is a murder since the guy could have tripped on the path and slammed into the rock head first. It's also possible the first body was an accident and someone moved it because they wanted to watch the body deteriorate and then they or someone else decided to use the body as part of a scare tactic and then killed the new person if he was killed at all." Naruto stated making them all nod since he had a point that they wouldn't know if either was murder until they investigated, even then they had no real way of knowing if the first body was murdered.
Naruto sighed again as he closed his eyes and leaned back against the chair, "The purpose of the cult is whatever the cult leader wants, so if they wanted bodies placed in locations that they could put the markings at, then why didn't they move the body off a path that it could be found on? The area is too wild, confusing, and twisting to be an outsider so it's a local, though the locals may not know it since the cult doesn't exactly make itself known or use public places if it can help it. Usually abandoned areas or places that people rarely go so they can do whatever they want and not risk being found out. The woods in general is unlikely due to the fact I'm sure many use the trails and the like for exercise or just to clear their heads, plus different animals could interfere in any so called rituals or practices the cult performs, so it has to be a building, shelter, or some form of those two to be effective and work. Could be an abandoned building, an old mine, or a number of things that could be used for meetings and protect the people from the elements and local fauna. The typical thing would be teenagers, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be some members that are beyond their teens, in fact it may even entice some teens to join them as the adults would be "cool" and more open than the parents are, thus alcohol, music, drugs, and other things they couldn't have normally can now be obtained while hanging out with people who can understand them. It's even more effective if the leader is a woman as she can lure teenage boys in with sex and seduction and get any girls that are part of the group to seduce and gain more followers too. So taking a look at the local teenagers and maybe talking to the teachers about any troublemakers currently in the school or that graduated within the last… 7 years or so, the biggest outcast that the town would be happier if they moved away. Of course getting volunteers to talk to us about anything we could need is also a good idea as this unsub wouldn't be able to stop from joining the investigation to dangle bait or direct us in a certain way that they want us to." Naruto stated as he sighed heavily. "All of this is just conjecture with no current substance until I can see the scene and get a feel for it all." Naruto added making them nod since going off a few photos and a small file wasn't that useful, and Naruto worked better on scene than just straight up theory.
"Who's our contact on scene?" Hotch asked as he looked at JJ.
"Uh, Sheriff Bridges. He's been the sheriff for about 10 years now and he was pretty shaken when I talked to him." JJ stated and Naruto snorted.
"I'm sure, small town means close knit community and small religious options, so finding a possibility of a satanic cult in his territory probably shook him to his core. Especially since there's the fact it could easily be a local and thus someone he knows could be capable of this, which a part of him will never want to accept. Thus he's in conflict with himself as he knows he has a duty to protect his community, but he can't fathom someone he knows being capable of this since at least 10 years of being in a small town means he knows everyone and everyone knows him. Basically, we may need to alienate him a bit until we know fully well what we're dealing with because he won't let us do anything that puts targets on the backs of his friends and neighbors. There's also the fact the sheriff could be involved and is using this to drum up publicity and gain attention or he wants to try outsmarting the FBI." Naruto stated knowing the sheriff would be an obstacle for a while until they could gain his trust and clear him.
The others all nodded knowing they had to tread carefully until they knew better what they were dealing with.
MASSANUTTEN MOUNTAIN: HIKING TRAIL
Driving up to the scene, the team saw five different vehicles all parked outside yellow tape. A few deputies were still searching the area or trying to look busy since they had no idea what to do at the moment. The latter told Naruto they were locals who hadn't ever handled a murder or anything close to it before. Maybe some poor saps who died from an accident or were victims of animals, but nothing like this.
Hotch showed his identification and declared who they were as they entered the area and Naruto began looking around and noted it was unlikely the most recent body was an accident. The area, the positioning of the body and rock were FAR too unlikely to be a natural/accidental death.
Turning, he walked down the nearby slope with Reid, Gideon, and JJ as they were introduced to Sheriff Bridges, and Naruto immediately could tell the guy wasn't involved. The fear, shock, and horror of the situation was too real for him to be faking it, he obviously had never seen something like this and never wanted to see anything like it.
Naruto squatted down and looked over the supposed ritual site and immediately saw red flags to the supposed ritual space of it. Turning to look at the sheriff, Naruto spoke, "Have your crime scene guys taken samples from around here?" Naruto asked and the sheriff nodded, "Good." Naruto stated as he pulled out his knife and wedged it under a large pool of wax before twisting it a bit and loosened the whole pool.
Picking it up, Naruto looked it over and smelled it, "Well, this is near brand new." Naruto stated holding it up to Reid, "There's no layers of wax, it's just one large brick, and they still have the different scents in them, meaning they haven't been here anywhere near as long as the body has been." Naruto stated as he sheathed his knife and began looking at the pentagram and frowned. "Any of you have a tissue or something disposable?" Naruto asked the four and they dug in their pockets before Reid produced a tissue and Naruto nodded before pressing it against some of the red areas and held it there a minute before pulling it back showing some red spots on it. "This blood hasn't fully dried out either, so either someone did this with the other victim's blood, or this isn't human blood, which means it hasn't been here as long as the body either." Naruto stated as he held the tissue carefully knowing he couldn't drop and leave it.
"So what does that mean?" Bridges asked in confusion.
"Someone took the time to drip wax all over this spot to make it seem like a shrine, ritual site, or grave, but given this dry brush and location, lit candles here would have started a fire." Reid supplied seeing what Naruto was getting it.
"Basically, someone may have killed both these people, but it wasn't, at least originally, a satanic cult that did it. Whether the killer converted or someone else found this body and then put this stuff here before killing the other victim is unknown though." Gideon stated making Bridges nod.
"Doesn't mean there's not a cult here, just means that they weren't responsible for this body." Naruto stated as he stood and started going back up the slope and began looking around the second spot after dropping the tissue in an evidence bag courtesy of one of the other deputies.
"The kid was kind of a local superstar, leader of the football team and was looking at a major scholarship." A deputy named Harris stated as he talked with Morgan and Hotch while Elle was up a slope near them looking around.
"So he was pretty strong?" Morgan asked as Naruto looked over the ground.
"Ran this trail everyday, that's no easy feat." Harris stated making them nod.
"Did he usually run with anyone?" Naruto asked as he knelt and examined the ground.
"No, usually runs solo. From what I heard he did to clear his head and just be alone." Harris stated as Naruto frowned and moved some leaves.
"I don't think he was running alone today." Naruto stated as he looked over the area.
"What makes you say that?" Hotch asked as Naruto pressed his hand against the ground.
"Pair of tennis shoe tracks that come up to the body followed by knees. Someone, my guess a female judging by the weight distribution on the tracks and the shoe size being a woman's size 8, came down that hill and knelt by the victim's body. Then from behind comes a pair of hiking boots, size 9 men's, before there's a struggle, body hits the ground here, and then was dragged away." Naruto stated motioning further along the trail.
Harris merely looked up the path before looking back at Naruto with a raised eyebrow, "You some kind of tracker?" Harris asked and Naruto smirked.
"Let's just say I've done a lot of hunting and tracking for hunting." Naruto stated as he looked over the area. "Does the victim have a girlfriend?" Naruto asked looking to Harris.
"Uh… what was her name? Cherish… Cherish Hanson." Harris stated and Naruto sighed.
"Someone should get one the phone to her parents and ask-" Naruto started before he was cut off by a woman.
"Sheriff! Sheriff!" An older blond woman shouted as she came up.
"It's all right, let her through." Bridges stated as he looked at Gideon, "Veronica Hanson, a local." Bridges informed as the now named Veronica came up.
"Was Adam Lloyd killed up here?!" Veronica shouted and Bridges frowned.
"Who told you tha-" Bridges was cut off as Veronica continued.
"WAS HE?! MY DAUGHTER WAS WITH HIM FOR THE RUN THIS MORNING AND I CAN'T FIND HER!" Veronica shouted as she broke down into tears, "My daughter is missing and I can't find her." Veronica stated as Bridges caught her before she could fall.
Naruto sighed as he stood up, "And that makes it harder." Naruto stated with a sigh as he looked at Elle, "Care to follow the girl's tracks back a ways? Maybe find some sign of the unsub following them or if this was opportunity or he was lying in wait right here knowing the vic had to come through here at some point." Naruto asked and Elle nodded before the two trekked up the hill as Naruto followed the tracks that were still in the ground.
Morgan merely watched the two go before looking at Hotch, "You ever think there's something going on there?" Morgan asked motioning to the duo.
"She's got an interest in him, haven't decided if it's romantic or something else yet." Hotch stated making Morgan frown.
With Elle and Naruto, they were walking through the woods as Naruto followed the trail the girl left. "So, you doing all right?" Elle asked not sure how to approach the subject really.
"'Bout as well as can be expected given the circumstances." Naruto stated following the trail as Elle walked with him.
"Is there anything I can-" Elle started before Naruto just looked at her. "Right, stupid question." Elle stated as she knew there wasn't anything she could do.
"No problem, now do you want to keep worrying about me or maybe learn something?" Naruto asked as he squatted down near a spot and waved her over as she looked at a patch of ground that was covered in leaves, but if you looked hard you could see two foot sized depressions in the leaves and a bit of a trail through them too.
"Okay, I see a lot of leaves." Elle stated making Naruto laugh slightly.
"Come on." Naruto stated making her squat down beside him, "See these two impressions here at the base of the tree? Tells me that she stopped here and planted her feet to keep herself upright as she was out of breath from running to this point, but then that trail through them shows me that she hurt herself as she's dragging a foot now and not taking time to fully take a stride in her step. So, she must have gotten separated from Adam Lloyd and then got spooked and started running to find him, only she got more than she bargained for when she did." Naruto stated showing her the two traces and she nodded.
"Okay, so was this crime of opportunity or was the unsub aiming to kill Adam and/or abduct Cherish?" Elle asked and Naruto frowned.
"Adam ran the trail every day, it was his pattern, routine, and schedule. Cherish didn't, so unless someone was heavily stocking her or she mentioned she was going to be running with Adam, there's no way the unsub could have known she would be here." Naruto stated making her nod, "However, only a local would know Adam ran that trail every day, which means someone was targeting him unless there's some recluse or outcast around here that isn't kept up to date on things and then ambushed whoever came by. There's the unlikely possibility that someone going by saw Cherish and Adam come in and wanted Cherish, but to keep up in these woods and then be able to circumvent and get ahead of them to ambush Adam is not likely unless it's someone who comes through this area enough that they could be familiar with the forest." Naruto stated making Elle nod since she couldn't make headway of the correct direction to get back to the trail from the different turning and twists they took following Cherish' fleeing run.
"So the Unsub was likely ambushing Adam, meaning he didn't have to follow or stalk him because he always ran the same trail, so the Unsub would know exactly where to ambush and get away without having to worry too much on the planning." Elle stated and Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, there's no signs at all that someone was chasing her, no doubt being alone in the woods just spiked a physiological and psychological response and she bolted before coming across Adam. So Adam was definitely the target and Cherish got in the way." Naruto stated making Elle nod.
"That narrows things down, now can you take us back to the trail? I don't want to spend the day out here if I can help it." Elle stated and Naruto gave a mock hurt face.
"What? And here I thought I was going to make out with a beautiful woman in the woods while we were alone." Naruto stated making Elle shove him as she had a bit of pink on her face.
"In your dreams." Elle stated as Naruto laughed stood up.
"Not quite, in my dreams we do a lot more than kiss." Naruto teased with a grin as Elle dropped her jaw and blushed a bit. "Careful, wouldn't want to get any bugs in your mouth." Naruto stated with his grin still in place as he started walking while Elle half glared at him on the way back.
Along the way, Elle stopped at a tree to adjust her shoes and Naruto stopped by her, "Elle, do you trust me?" Naruto asked and Elle looked at him with a frown.
"Yeah, I mean you haven't given me a reason not to. So, of course I do." Elle stated as she stood up straight.
"Close your eyes." Naruto stated making Elle raise an eyebrow as a bit of pink came back to her face again.
"Why do you want me to trust you with my eyes closed?" Elle asked and Naruto just looked at her.
"Close your eyes." Naruto stated as Elle bit her bottom lip and nodded before closing her eyes with her lips slightly pursed.
Naruto, however, wasn't looking at Elle as his eyes moved to the left of her and saw a large snake open its maws to bite her. However, before it could, Naruto lashed out and caught it by the neck gripping it tight before pulling it towards him as the body dragged on Elle's shoulder and made her open her eyes.
Doing so made her freeze in fear as she watched Naruto pull the seven foot snake over her shoulder before it ended with a rattle at the end of it. Said snake was hissing and angrily thrashing at being held like it was before Naruto promptly grabbed the head and snapped the neck killing the snake instantly. For good measure, he pulled his knife out and gutted it just to be safe before tossing the carcass away.
Naruto saw Elle just staring at the now dead animal, "Timber Rattlesnake. They like trees and shrubs that shed their leaves in a cycle especially in terrain that's not often traveled." Naruto stated rubbing her shoulder a bit to calm her down.
"Deadly?" Elle asked as she hugged herself.
"Not as much as other snakes. Antivenom given within 2 hours has a chance of success above 99% and fatality usually doesn't come till at least 12 hours if not treated." Naruto stated making Elle nod. "Hey, it's okay, it didn't bite you and we're heading back now." Naruto stated rubbing her back soothingly.
Elle just nodded not saying anything before Naruto ushered her forward. "Come on, let's head back, shouldn't be anymore of those for a while since they're territorial and don't care for any others being too close." Naruto stated knowing he was bending the truth a bit, but it would make Elle feel better for it so it was fine.
Elle nodded and Naruto led her back to the path with her shivering slightly at the thought of the snake, but pushed it down knowing it was a circumstance of being in the woods.
Plus she could ignore the fact she was actually preparing for Naruto to kiss her right then and there.
LATER
Naruto watched as dozens upon dozens of people came out for a search party for Cherish Hanson. While unlikely she was still in the woods, it allowed the team to get the names of many members of the town without being conspicuous since they needed to keep track of all the volunteers and where they were going to be, so they needed to sign the list. Naruto had tried to track the trail from the girl, but whoever it was that took her crossed through quite a bit of thick brush and rocky terrain making it hard to pick what was disturbed by a person and what was from an animal. The unsub was evidently strong enough to carry the girl though since her drag trail disappeared but the boot prints got deeper before he hit the rocky terrain.
Either someone knew enough of tracking to take the rocky terrain to make it hard to follow or they took that path because they knew it well enough to get through with little trouble.
However, none of that mattered right now as Naruto noticed one of the local teen girls looking questioningly and suspiciously at the site of the first body. "Gideon, that girl there. She keeps looking at where the first body was as if she knows it should be there. She's also nervous, anxious, and looks like she wants to talk to someone, but not anyone in town." Naruto stated quietly since some of the locals would react negatively towards singling one of their own out.
"Any idea on her name?" Gideon asked JJ as she flipped through the sign in sheet.
"Uh… Brandi Dreifort." JJ stated making Gideon nod.
"Head on back to the office and get Garcia on the names. Our unsub is still here somewhere." Gideon stated making JJ nod.
"Have her check the teens too, they may have some history that could point us in the right direction." Naruto stated making Gideon nod at JJ to do it.
They needed to cover all bases after all.
A short while later had them all divided into grids and search areas with Naruto being placed with Morgan and the two were moving through a denser part of grass. "Watch your step, one wrong move and you find an angry snake or an animal trap." Naruto recommended as they combed the area.
Morgan merely hummed at him as he kept looking with their group being dispersed around them. "You want to talk about it?" Naruto asked as he kept looking for any tracks or signs.
"Talk about what?" Morgan asked looking around for anything out of the ordinary.
"The fact that me knowing about your childhood bothers you a great deal." Naruto stated and noticed the subtle tensing of Morgan's body. "You don't like others knowing, I get it and if I could control being able to read people then I'd apologize. But you know as well as I do it's not something you can just turn off and ignore when interacting with others." Naruto stated making Morgan sigh.
"How long have you known?" Morgan asked as he walked.
"Which part: the abuse or your father being killed in front of you?" Naruto asked making Morgan look at him. "Your abuse was since I first met you, I could see it in the way you walk, move, talk, and act, your father I didn't know about until the Karl Arnold case. The way you reacted to the fathers and everything showed clearly, at least to me. Your father died obviously, but your zealousness to be a cop means he was too and it's not that big of a step to he died in the line of duty, your reactions to dead fathers in front of their kids told me he was killed in front of you." Naruto explained making Morgan click his tongue.
"Fine, just go telling others about it." Morgan stated before Naruto grabbed and pulled him back, "Hey!" Morgan stated looking at Naruto as said blonde held a hand up before grabbing a stick and jabbed it right where Morgan was about to step.
A clang was heard before a loud SNAP occurred as a bear trap snapped up and crushed the stick making Morgan raise his eyebrows in surprise. "I did say watch where you step." Naruto stated as he tossed the twig in his hand away and patted Morgan's shoulder, "And don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone unless there's truly no other choice." Naruto stated as he turned to their group, "Hey! We're in bear territory now, watch your step for traps, grab a good sized branch or stick if you have to and tap around just to be safe. It also means careful how far you stray from the group and be mindful of your surroundings, the last thing we need is to piss off a Black Bear." Naruto stated getting different nods and agreements from the group as they kept trekking.
It was a couple hours later that they were getting ready to wrap up as the volunteers were heading back and Morgan and Naruto were doing one last once over before doing the same. However, Naruto stopped him as he started looking around. "What?" Morgan asked looking and seeing nothing.
"Do you hear that?" Naruto asked and Morgan frowned.
"I don't hear anything." Morgan stated and Naruto nodded.
"Exactly, no birds, no squirrels, no insects, absolutely nothing. There's something near us that's not friendly and the other animals are trying not to draw attention." Naruto stated making Morgan frown as he reached for his gun until Naruto stopped him. "Don't. Worst case scenario it's a Black Bear and all you'll do to him is piss it off, best case it's a couple wolves or a cougar and it's just passing by." Naruto stated as he kept looking and Morgan frowned.
"Him?" Morgan asked and Naruto nodded.
"If it was a mother bear, we'd already be getting mauled. The fact that we haven't means it's a male." Naruto stated making Morgan nod and move his hand away.
It was only a few moments later that they heard heavy panting and saw a large Black Bear a couple dozen yards from them and it hadn't noticed them yet. "Move slowly away back towards the hiking trail, if it sees us, don't hesitate and just run as fast as you can and don't stop." Naruto stated as he and Morgan began backing up slowly.
The bear ignored them it seemed as they moved into the tree line before moving faster. After five minutes of running, the two stopped to catch their breath panting a bit before they started laughing. "You all right?" Naruto asked as they caught their breath.
"Yeah, I'm good." Morgan answered before Naruto motioned him to follow and the two made the trek back to where the others were and hoped the others had better luck in their search than they did.
LATER: SHERIFF'S OFFICE
The team was in the office of the sheriff talking alone for a minute before they presented the profile. Reason they were talking was because Elle found torn off sleeve of a hoodie and a bloody note in her area. "Satan demands the virgin be sacrificed at the next full moon." Naruto read before snorting, "Well clearly the unsub doesn't know Cherish that well or is in denial." Naruto stated making Elle and JJ look at him.
"That's a bit stereotyping don't you think?" Elle asked disapprovingly.
"I'm not saying she's not a virgin because she's a cheerleader, I'm saying giving the statistical probability of the area and teenagers in general, it's unlikely that she's a virgin." Naruto stated making them look at him in expectation, "You got two hormonal kids that get pumped up on adrenaline every game and no doubt celebrate together which no doubt contains booze in some form, they've been together close to year, they live in a town where Christianity and its virtues are shoved down their throat while they're in the ripe years for teenage rebellion and hormones, constant peer pressure about their status that it is a "given" that they're having sex, and then you add in cliché yet accurate circumstance of teenage parties with alcohol? It's not unlikely in the slightest that she and Adam were sleeping together. I bet if we went to her house and found her diary or talked to her friends, we'd probably find some mention of it, the mother may have even gotten her on the pill since she didn't seem that religious or overly strict." Naruto explained making the two women have to concede his point since hormones enhanced a sex drive and sex being an act of rebellion would only further spur it, especially if alcohol was involved.
"There also the fact the note in itself makes no sense." Naruto added making them look at him again while Gideon was already nodding. "Why put the note and sleeve so far away from the crime scene where it may never be found? Unless of course…" Naruto casket and Gideon continued.
"He knew the search party would be sure to find it, meaning he made up the note and put the sleeve there after we announced a search or even during the search." Gideon stated making the others nod.
"Which means Cherish is most likely already dead somewhere." Hotch stated while rubbing his face.
"Couldn't she be alive though?" JJ asked and they shook their heads.
"Adam was targeted, he wasn't getting out of the woods alive meaning the Unsub likely didn't wear anything to hide his identity and Cherish would have most likely seen his face, meaning she couldn't be spared. So it's more than likely her body is out there somewhere." Morgan informed as JJ nodded with a frown.
"Somewhere that the Unsub is probably waiting to leave a breadcrumb trail right to when he's ready for her to be found. He's getting off on the control and power it gives especially since the town is practically terrified of him and who could be killed next. If not for the fact the pastor was truly shaken by the murder and Cherish being missing, I'd almost think this was a scare tactic of a stunt to make people flock back to church, but on top of the pastor not being a suspect, this town is too small and religious for such a thing." Naruto stated making them nod slightly.
"Well, we're ready to give the profile." Gideon stated as they nodded before Naruto paused and looked to the main office area and saw the Sheriff's son Cory looking around at everyone, not seeming to be disturbed at all by the situation or worried about Cherish.
"Well, that's interesting." Naruto stated making the team pause and look.
"What?" Reid asked in confusion.
"It's interesting that Cory showed up at the station just after the FBI arrived and could help rally the jocks, then he'd be part of the search while being able to see every area that's going to be searched including where he'd go and know how to get to each area, and now he's here to listen to the profile, no doubt under the guise that he may know or seen someone that fits the profile. He seems to be inserting himself into the case every step of the way. There's also the fact Reid mentioned he's read all the profiler books, meaning he knows what we look for, what to leave behind, what to make sure he hides till the last moment.." Naruto stated making them frown seeing where he was going with this.
"We say nothing to the Sheriff until we can be certain." Hotch stated making them nod as they went out to the main area as the officers gathered in front of them.
"Contrary to popular belief, there has never been a proven case of satanic ritual killing. Never a verified human sacrifice. Having said that, there have been isolated cases of animal sacrifice... and many, many cases of vandalism in the name of Satan." Hotch started off as he wanted to get the basics done.
"Now, that doesn't mean that ritual satanism is impossible. And more importantly, for our purposes, there have seen cults that killed, just not in ritual fashion." Morgan stated before motioning to Reid.
"One example is the reverend Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple... his followers killed a U.S. Congressman and three people before committing mass suicide, leaving over nine hundred people dead. Another example, and perhaps the most widely-known of the killer cults: the Manson Family, under the direction of Charles Manson, killed nine people in a four day period in an attempt to initiate a race war." Reid supplied as he wanted them to understand that cults could be very dangerous.
"Killer cults do exist, and they all have one thing in common: invariably, they're headed by charismatic megalomaniacs. You're looking for that leader. He's who will stand out. He'll be memorable to somebody; people who aren't in his group will see him as strange, weird, scary. A recluse, someone who won't follow the normalcy of the area regardless of what it is." Elle stated knowing they needed the sheriff and deputies to be on the lookout.
"Since we're dealing with professed satanists, which is often practiced by younger males, we may be looking for teenagers or at the very least people in their 20s. Heavy metal music is often associated with satanism, and these kids and their leader may reflect that in their look. Most likely, there'll be sex, drugs, and alcohol. Now, the leader, he'll be older. It's part of his charm as he presents himself as an authority figure that really does understand them. The main thing to remember here though is that while the culprit may be a satanist, it doesn't necessarily mean the entire group are killers or even know about the deaths being done by a member." Morgan continued since using that one of their members is killing could shake the group.
"And he is from this area. He's definitely local." Hotch stated makes the officers look at him.
"You think one of our own people is doing this?" Sheriff Bridges asked and they nodded.
"These woods are too thick and confusing for a visitor to get around in without getting lost, you'd need months if not years of being around and in them to get through them with no difficulty. Plus the fact that Adam was ambushed suggests someone knew his routine and knew exactly where they could lie in wait and attack him, maybe even get us to find the other body and the satanism markings." Gideon stated making the officers frown.
"Why would they want that?" Deputy Harris asked.
"Because one murder isn't even a blip on a radar. But two murders with a satanic cult link to them? That's front page news." Naruto supplied looking over them. "This killer likes showing how smart he is, how much better than others he is. Killing Adam doesn't show much, but connecting his death to a satanic cult that may or may not exist gets much more attention. I mean, look at what happened: the entire Sheriff Department showed up, the FBI showed up, people in the town are scared and shaken, a search was instigated because of what he did, and now there's a rush and need to find the girl before she can be killed all because of his actions. He's playing puppeteer with the town and everyone in it to see how long he can have them dancing to his tune and doing what he wants while the whole time he gets to bask in the fact that he's outsmarting everyone around him because no one thinks to point the finger at him." Naruto supplied making them frown further and Naruto noted a subtle eye twitching and slight frown on Cory's face.
"Look, I just can't believe there's be anyone like-" Bridges started before Cory spoke.
"Dad." Cory cut in making everyone turn to him, "I know someone like that." Cory continued making his father frown.
"We'll talk in my office." Bridges stated as he, Cory, Gideon, Hotch, Naruto, and the pastor went to the office.
"His name is Mike Zizzo, he graduated five years ago, in his 20s but still hangs around teenagers. He's got a crew, both from here and a couple other towns. They hang out, listen to loud music, drink, get high, and basically party all night. But…" Cory stated before stopping himself.
"It's all right son." Bridges stated and Cory sighed.
"He has pentagrams painted everywhere. He talks about how God is just a set of rules that force people to conform to social norms rather than being who they are while Satan has no rules and you can be whoever you want. He calls himself and the followers the Lord of Destruction." Cory stated while Naruto shared a look with Gideon since this was just too convenient.
"How do you know this, Cory?" Bridges asked and Cory sucked on his lip a minute before answering.
"I've been there once, it was a party after we won the championship. I never went back and I figured so long as no one got hurt, I didn't have the right to make the others stop going." Cory stated making his father nod with a sigh.
"Where is it?" Gideon asked as Cory looked at him.
"On the other side of the mountain. The old Jenson House." Cory supplied making Bridges sigh.
"It's out of my jurisdiction." Bridges stated looking at Gideon.
"But not ours." Naruto stated as they got up to get the rest of the team ready and have JJ call the Sheriff's office that was in charge of that jurisdiction as well as get the State Police ready to roll.
"I'm sorry dad." Cory stated as Bridges nodded and left with the pastor patting Cory's shoulder.
As Naruto and the team were getting in the car, Naruto and Gideon saw Brandi Dreifort there, watching them and looking nervous. "Guess her conscience ate at her too much." Naruto stated making Gideon nod before closing the car door.
"I'm not going, I'll fill you in when you get back." Gideon stated as he followed Brandi and the team took off for the old Jenson House.
Pulling up, they could easily hear the overly cranked up metal music booming within the house and light shining out from the windows. Getting out, they approached both doors and nodded to each other before going in, "FBI/Sheriff's Department/State Police, nobody move!" Each of them shouted as they entered and the partying kids all stopped and had their hands up before Naruto and Morgan went to the back and found Zizzo standing there with his arms up while smiling at them all.
Hitting the stereo to make it turn off, Naruto looked at Zizzo, "Come on down, we need to talk." Naruto stated as Zizzo scoffed before hopping down and putting his hands behind his head and looking at the ceiling.
"Look at me." Naruto stated as Zizzo ignored him before Naruto grabbed him, "Look. At. Me." Naruto ordered as Zizzo did and felt a chill go down his spine. "Are you a Satanist? And I mean a real one." Naruto asked and Zizzo shrugged.
"Depends on what you mean by a real one, man. Do you know what Satanism is?" Zizzo asked and Naruto nodded.
"Satan comes from ancient Hebrew meaning Opposer. Satan opposes and rejects all the statutes, fundamentals, and creeds of the Christian church, which often is filled to the brim with hypocrisy, and living in this small town getting God crammed down your throat would make anyone oppose it." Naruto stated as Zizzo blinked owlishly before nodding. "You have no idea why we are here, do you?" Naruto asked as Zizzo shrugged. Naruto just looked him over before snorting and pushing him to Morgan and shaking his head. "He's not the guy, but he may know something that can help us. He's just an atheist, hitting all the buzzers to piss off anyone from the church." Naruto stated as Zizzo blinked at him and Morgan cuffed Zizzo.
"All right, all of you head home, now!" Bridges ordered making the kids start to clear out of there.
Naruto sighed as he rolled his neck before thinking of something, "Hey! Hold on." Naruto called before going over to Zizzo, "There any other buildings here?" Naruto asked and Zizzo just looked at him. "Hey, you're being set up for two murders and a kidnapping which is most likely turning into a third murder, you may want to cooperate a bit since my team and I are the only ones that don't think you did it." Naruto stated making Zizzo widen his eyes.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! We draw stars upside down, drink, listen to metal, and have sex. We don't hurt anyone or kill people." Zizzo stated as Naruto nodded.
"Agreed, but if someone wanted to frame you, they'd need to put the third body closer to you. Now they couldn't get it in the house without being found, so I'll ask again, are there any other buildings here?" Naruto asked and Zizzo sucked his teeth before sighing.
"There's a building around back, some kind of sluice structure. We tagged it a few times but never use it. No point." Zizzo stated and Naruto nodded before looking to the team.
"Find the kid, my guess is Brandi Dreifort is telling Gideon about the skeleton and everything right now. I'll hang here in case he shows up since he probably doubts Zizzo will tell us anything." Naruto told the others making them nod as the cops started clearing out while Morgan and Deputy Harris hung around with him.
"I'm gonna take a look around the area, see if there's any other buildings." Naruto stated playing dumb for Harris since if he knew they found the body, he'd call in crime scene and more officers, which would tip Cory off and they couldn't do that yet. All they had was circumstantial and the profile, nothing concrete to arrest him on.
Trekking into the woods behind the house, it only took a few minutes to find the building and saw a large pentagram with LOD under it. Climbing the stairs, and being careful to ensure he wasn't going to fall through them, he entered and looked around with a flashlight before finding the girl. She was cut up badly and was obviously dead for quite some time evidenced by her being pale and her eyes already turning foggy. Naruto sighed tiredly, he hated those kinds of eyes, the ones that seemed to be staring into your soul asking "why?" It wasn't pleasant, but far from the worst thing he'd seen or experienced.
Still, it always unnerved him slightly to stare into the soulless of an innocent person.
Sighing to himself, he trekked back to the house and saw Morgan was alone. "Where's Harris?" Naruto asked as Morgan looked at him.
"Had to go file the report, asked him to come back with some coffee when he was done." Morgan stated making Naruto nod, "Was she there?" Morgan asked and Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, cut up and eyes wide open and soulless." Naruto stated with a sigh that Morgan mirrored.
"Damn." Morgan muttered as they stood there a few moments before a car came towards the house.
"Late partier or did Cory decide it was time for us to find the body?" Naruto asked as Morgan shrugged.
The car pulled up and out came Cory looking to be in a panic, "Did you find her?" Cory asked in a hurry.
"No." Naruto stated as he calmly stood there.
"Did Zizzo say anything?" Cory asked and Naruto shrugged.
"We don't know, we've been here. We searched the house and there was nothing." Naruto stated as Cory was panting and looking around.
"What about the out building?" Cory asked and Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, searched there too, she's not there." Naruto lied as both he and Morgan saw Cory falter.
"What?" Cory asked in obvious confusion.
"We checked the sluice structure around back. They tagged it with a pentagram and LOD, but there's nothing else there." Naruto stated as Cory was trying to think of something.
"No, no, she has to be!" Cory shouted and Naruto raised an eyebrows
"Why's that?" Morgan asked and Cory didn't hesitate.
"Because where else could she be if she's not in the house?!" Cory shouted and Naruto shrugged.
"Disorganized killer, kid. Zizzo may have just gotten impatient and killed her in the woods somewhere. It could be months or years before she's found, not like she was the target of the original attack anyway." Naruto stated and Cory was becoming frantic.
"No! She's here! I know it!" Cory shouted looking more agitated and Naruto knew it was because his plan and his control was slipping away.
"Calm down kid, I mean it was a forgone conclusion that she was dead. The one comfort for her family is that she will not have been raped since the Unsub can't get it up that way. He needs to get off on the control, the power, and the fake authority he gets. It's why he doesn't have a girlfriend because he has to control them and the girl won't put up with it. So he's left impotent and feeling ashamed and emasculated because he's lacking in all the areas a man shouldn't be." Naruto stated before Cory whipped towards him with a revolver drawn while Morgan drew his own weapon on him.
"SHUT UP!" Cory shouted as he glared at Naruto while Naruto just stood there.
"Oh? Did I strike a nerve Cory? Well prove me wrong, will we find signs that Cherish was raped? Will we find any evidence at all to show you haven't been getting off on leading the cops and us around, following your little breadcrumb trail right where you want it? Please stop me if I'm wrong." Naruto stated as Cory glared, "Oh, this was never about getting off, this was about getting daddy's attention." Naruto stated making Cory grit his teeth, "Spends all of his time at work and hardly ever pays attention to you, bet that's why your mom left, she couldn't stand being second place to a job. So you joined the football team, but that only got you some attention because you weren't the super star. That's why you killed Adam, he had it all: the looks, the brains, the hot girlfriend, the skills, and the prestige of being the ace of the football team with a big scholarship coming his way. Meanwhile you get the shaft despite being smarter than him and daddy just keeps ignoring you, saying you should be more like Adam and then maybe you'd finally get a girlfriend." Naruto analyzed making Cory roar and put the gun right near his face.
"I SAID SHUT U-" Cory didn't finish shouting as Naruto grabbed his arm and forced it upward making the revolver got off before Naruto twisted his arm back making him scream in pain as he dropped the gun.
"Cuffs?" Naruto asked as he held the kid down with his arm twisted hard behind the back.
Morgan reached back and grabbed a pair of cuffs he got from Elle when he handed Zizzo over and tossed them to Naruto as he kept his gun on Cory. Naruto promptly cuffed the kid and made him sit on the ground as Naruto got the revolver and put the safety on just as the cops and team were arriving.
"Better late than never." Naruto stated making Morgan laugh slightly as the others got out and came up to them.
LATER: ON THE JET
Naruto looked around and saw the team was relaxing as Hotch was laid back in a seat, Morgan was laying across two seats, JJ was curled up on one seat, Elle was next to him laying on the couch asleep, and Reid and Gideon were sitting at one of the small tray tables looking at nothing. Gideon no doubt lost in thought since Brandi Dreifort confessed that all the teenagers except for Zizzo's group knew about the first body and watched it decompose for a year up until Adam's murder. He was no doubt still trying to come to terms with those teens treating a person's body like it was some kind of toy.
As for Reid, he was sitting in thought after a talk with Naruto. The reason for the talk was because Reid found out that he told Gideon and Hotch about his nightmares, which understandably made Reid upset before Naruto gave his reasoning.
Reid, did you honestly think you were fooling them? They know more about profiling than you do and were seeing the signs of your insomnia and knew it wasn't natural since you would have said as much. They knew you were having nightmares before I even said anything because you're the only one on the team who hasn't dealt with it like this. Gideon was watching for if it started to affect your work or if you were going to come to him. I didn't sell you out Reid, I just confirmed what they already suspected. You need to trust them and us that we have your back, we're not going to betray you or your trust, they've dealt with this before. You think they don't have nightmares? JJ? Morgan? Elle? It's normal, it's expected, talk to Gideon he'll help you cope and learn to handle the nightmares.
Those had been Naruto's words to him and Reid couldn't refute what he was saying, mainly because it made too much sense.
He broke from his thoughts as Gideon spoke. "Reid." Reid turned to look at him as he pulled his wallet out and pulled a picture of a blond woman with a man and two kids before showing it to him, "Deborah Louise Addison. Her husband Tim. Kids are Amber and Keith. Eight and six. 1985, Deborah Louise was walking home from school. She was abducted. She was 13. We profiled the unsub, and we were able to locate her before he harmed her. She writes a letter to the BAU every year. She updates us on her life." Gideon stated with a fond smile.
"It's nice, but…" Reid started not seeing the point of the discussion.
Gideon looked at him with sympathy, "We all have bad dreams. Everyone on the plane. Who wouldn't? We hunt the worst of humanity, we see the depths of depravity, we dream of monsters that we know exist and that there's more for every one we bring down." Gideon stated as Reid sighed.
"In my dream, there's a baby in the middle of a circle, and there's, uh, someone on the other side. And I can't get to her before..." Reid didn't finish and he didn't need to.
Gideon held the photo up again, "Every night, I look at Deborah and her family. Helps me... helps me go to sleep thinking of the victims we've saved, the lives they get to have now. We don't always beat the monsters to the babies, but we do enough to make the job worth it, keep the nightmares bearable. Like Naruto's said, how many more monsters and victims would there be if we didn't do the job." Gideon stated as he handed the photo to Reid, "The real way to tell when you need to stop the job, isn't when you have nightmares or the cases bother you. The time to leave is when the nightmares stop, nothing you see can affect you, you've killed yourself so much your numb to it all, and I promise you, if I ever see you heading that direction I'll pull you back and get you centered again. We all will." Gideon stated seriously as Reid smiled and looked at the photo before closing his eyes slowly, not fearing what may come as he dreamed.
Gideon smiled softly before leaning back and saw Naruto reading a book as he combed his fingers through Elle's hair. It wasn't hard for him to do since Elle had her head on his lap and saw the peaceful smile on her face as he did.
Gideon merely smiled and shook his head before he began his own reading. He didn't know what the two were going to do, but so long as it didn't affect the work, he had no reason to speak on it.
He just hoped Elle was prepared for the complications involved.
Over by the two, Naruto turned his attention to his phone as a picture came in showing a naked Kurenai with a pair of equally naked red heads with one wearing glasses and the other not. All three were bent over with their asses and pussies spread wide for him to see. Beneath it was a text, "Missing you love. It's just another day. We'll see you soon." Followed by kiss marks, hearts, and winks.
Naruto smiled at the message and gave the pic a light kiss before sending back a heart and smile before he turned the phone off and removed the SD card before breaking it. He wasn't about to have one of the marshals jacking off to the pic or anyone else trying to get the phone and use the contact information.
"Stay safe girls. They're still hunting." Naruto whispered with a sigh before putting his phone away and going back to his book.
He was too focused on his girls being safe, he missed that Elle had opened her eyes when he shifted to pull his phone out. Meaning, she saw the message and heard what he said and frowned wondering just what the girls needed to be safe from?
Just what was he hiding from the team?
Furthermore, why did he join the team? Even if his deal worked out for him, it would still be decades before his sentence was reduced enough for him to get even a slight chance of parole.
So, why did he decide to get on the team?
Why did he seem to trust all of them?
What exactly convinced the director to sign off of on this or even come up with the idea?
There's a lot of questions concerning Naruto and what he was and why he was there.
She'd have to watch him a bit more carefully, though she suspected Hotch and Gideon felt the same way. She hoped this wasn't some con, stunt, or sick game, she was starting to feel something for him and didn't want it to end up with him betraying them all for his own amusement or enjoyment. She didn't know why or how, but she felt comfortable and at peace around him, it made the job bearable and helped keep her own nightmares away.
However, right now, she was going to relax and let him keep combing her hair with his fingers. She'd enjoy a peaceful sleep and keep enjoying them as long as she could have them.
DONE!
Hope you all enjoyed it. This should have been done before New Years, but life decided that wasn't going to happen. So happy late New Years!
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