Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.
"So, what, a third Unsub?" Morgan asked upon hearing a voice that wasn't the first Unsub or Raphael. They were watching the video that Garcia sen to them as soon as they all got back to the station.
"It could be a pre-recorded message, from a sermon or something," JJ suggested.
"Punished 7 times," Prentiss quoted. "Four more victims."
"What could the first victim do?" Rossi asked.
"He could manipulate metal," Hotch informed him. They still had no idea how the victims were being targeted.
"You know what's bothering me about this?" Rossi mused. "Why did none of the victims defend themselves?"
"What do you mean?" Prentiss asked from where she sat. Reid, who was sitting slightly away from them working on the computer they found at the latest scene, looked up.
"I mean… Why wouldn't wife teleport away, or the husband do anything with his mind? You can't tell me that the knife at the first scene wasn't metal, so why didn't the kid manipulate it?" Just then the computer pinged, and they all looked over at Reid, but he wasn't paying attention to them.
"From as far as I can tell, this computer belonged to the Kyles, but Garcia could do a better analysis."
"So, it wasn't what recorded the murders?" Morgan frowned.
"Not necessarily, the camera could be accessed remotely if they activate the camera…" He trailed off, eyes widening. "Detective, does this building have wireless internet?" The Detective nodded. "That camera is on right now."
…
The camera being on led the team to the conclusion that the Unsub was activating the computers remotely after planting a trojan horse. They deduced that he was probably someone who worked with other peoples electronics for a living- probably tech support, as Garcia put it. Still, they were no closer to catching the Unsub.
"So, the officer was right about there not being any open knife cases that fit," JJ said, and Hotch looked up.
"I'm sensing a 'but' here." He said, and she nodded.
"I looked at it a different was, and looked for unsolved home invasion cases instead. Turns out that there was a prowler called in about three months ago outside the Kyles house. The witness walking his dog reported a man in dark clothing going over the back wall and sneaking up the side of the house. By the time the police got there, the prowler was gone."
"There was only one?" Hotch asked, and she nodded.
"Was the witness able to describe the man?" Reid asked, taking a bite out of the rice Krispy treat he was eating.
"If he was, it's not in this case file."
"It's a long shot, but he might be able to give us a description. Why don't you and Reid go out there and see if he remembers anything," Hotch ordered, and they both nodded. After they left, an officer approached Hotch, a grim look on his face.
"They've just responded to another murder."
Reid and JJ drove for hours, and Reid was dozing off by the time they reached the Hankle residence. It was dark out, but the headlights illuminated the old house well enough.
"Nice place," JJ muttered as she turned off the car.
"Yeah, no kidding." They opened the doors and were hit with a blast of cold air, and… something else. JJ checked her phone and frowned when there was no service. Reid shivered, suddenly wishing he had brought his coat. As they walked closer, the more Reid was sure that he wasn't just imagining the feeling creeping up his spine. He felt… different somehow, like he was missing something. He would have asked JJ if she felt it too, if they hadn't reached the door.
"Wait, wait," The lead detective said as someone was about to turn off the video of the latest murder. Torn to shreds by dogs was an awful way to go, which only strengthened their resolve to catch this guy.
"You haven't seen enough?" Morgan asked, feeling slightly sick himself.
"I've seen those dogs before," he said. "They attacked a local man, but he knew the owner and didn't want to press charges."
"You're sure?" Hotch asked, serious as ever.
"Yes, they belonged to… Hankel. Tobias Hankel." Hotch's eyes widened slightly, and his phone rang.
"Hello?" Hotch asked upon seeing who was calling.
"You need to find Reid!" Gideon all but yelled. "It's going to happen, he's not answering his phone."
"You saw something a few months ago," JJ was saying, trying to get the witness to let them into the house.
"I did?" He asked.
"Uh, yes, you saw a man in dark clothing trying to break into a house while walking your dog." All she got was a blank look. "You called the police?"
"Me?" He asked.
"You didn't?" She asked, and he shook his head. After a bit more persuading, he basically shut the door in their faces, and they turned and began walking off the porch.
"That was weird, why would you call the police if you were just gonna say you didn't later?" JJ asked rhetorically, and Reid's eyes widened as if a light bulb just went off.
"To gauge response time." He said.
"What?"
"If you were going to kill somebody, but you wanted to call the police first,"
"You would need to know how long it would take them." Reid took off running before JJ even finished her thought. "Reid!" She called out after him.
"He's the Unsub!" He hissed as the witness-turned-suspect took off running, Reid and JJ not far behind. "He's in the barn,"
"Are you sure?" She asked as they paused at the door, drawing weapons. He nodded.
"Call Hotch,"
"Reid, we are in the middle of nowhere, there's no service."
"Dang it, look, he knows we came here. You stay here, I'll go around back, and we can wait him out!"
"Reid, wait," But he was already gone. She heard him hiss something and frowned. "What?" The door to the barn blew open, and she stood, walking stealthily into the dark. The flashlight in her grip didn't do nearly enough to cut through the thick darkness in the barn, but she kept going. She stepped in something wet and looked down. She knew blood when she saw it, but that wasn't the only thing under her boot, and she wanted to throw up. Suddenly, growling could be heard from the dark, and she looked up into the face of three vicious and probably diseased canines. Holding as still as possible, and knowing it wouldn't help her a damn bit, she reached for her fire. It would be easier to hit the dogs with the element that with a bullet, but… it wasn't there. Her mind went into a panic, and the dogs leaped forward and she screamed.
Reid ran as soon as he heard his partner scream, followed by gunshots.
"JJ!" He cried but didn't get much further as a fist lashed out, catching him across the face. He felt his gun being taken from his hand and put his hands up while propping himself up on his elbows. He tried to will the gun out of the Unsubs hand, and… nothing happened. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't feel anyone either. That's why he didn't know where Hankel was, or that JJ was following behind him. Hakel then proceeded to scold himself, and Reid soon realized two things. 1) There was one Unsub with multiple personalities, not a team and 2) None of the victims fought back with their powers because Hankel was a nullifier. He knew he was in trouble even before the shovel met his skull and everything went black.
A/N: For anyone who wants to know, a nullifier is someone with the power to suppress other powers. Anything supernatural around them becomes 'null and void'.