Aug 06 – Mercy

Chapter Summary: A girl is rescued by the BAU, but is it too late? **Part of the 2018 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** challenge.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2018 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: During Season 4 'Bloodlines' for CM; about 2 ½ years after Daddy Ben chapter

Warning: upping the rating on this chapter because it's darker than the other chapters in my opinion

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Criminal Minds characters belong to Jeff Davis, The Mark Gordon Company and CBS. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.


Voiceover by Rossi

Joseph Conrad said, "The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."


BAU Offices

"We got a missing 10-year-old girl, home invasion. Parents were killed in their sleep. Eight hours and counting," Aaron briefed Dave and Emily. "Wheels up in 30."

The team moved quickly because they knew the stats for an abduction were that most kids didn't survive past 24 hours. The ones that did…weren't necessarily luckier.


Harvest, Alabama

As the case progressed, they realized that it was a team who abducted her. The evidence and autopsy both confirmed there had to be at least two killers.

In the motorhome where the kidnapped girl, Cate, was being held, the Family renamed her Elena and began the courtship between their son and his bride-to-be. While they were getting used to each other, only the Mother and Father were with them. Their other two Sons and the eldest's bride-to-be were in a nearby tent. Once they were sure their Middle Son was content with Elena, she'd be introduced to her Sister, Mercy, who joined their group two years prior.

Unfortunately, Elena proved to be unworthy because of her epilepsy and they had to start over with a new girl.

It was good news for Cate, however, because they didn't kill her first and she was rescued. Plus, she was able to provide the team with some vital clues about her abductors. It was a family in an RV. Since she only knew about the parents and the boy her age, she couldn't tell them about the other three.

Emily recognized the term the Mother called her son as a Romanian word.

At the RV park, they found out there was more to the family. An older boy, another girl and a baby boy. With some deductions by Spencer, they determined that the Family were gypsies who perverted the Romany culture for their own twisted goals. While the team gave the profile, Penelope broadened her search for similar killings/abductions in small towns with petty theft and other misdemeanor crimes.

Once the profile was given, Morgan grabbed the others to show them what Garcia found, a string of killings/abductions going back a hundred years all over the country. Each crime was far enough apart in space and time so that it didn't show up until now. The most recent was in New Jersey, just days outside Garcia's original search window.


Shopping Mall

When Mercy saw her 'Mother' - Kathy/Silvia – get captured by the police, she felt it was finally time for her to make her move. For two years, she played the part these wackos wanted her to; she knew from Daddy Ben that it was her best chance of survival.

Heck, it was how she survived those monsters who raised her after their own 'family' killed her Daddy. She found it a twisted sense of justice that they would be killed themselves while she was kidnapped again. It couldn't have happened to more deserving people – except these monsters.

While her 'Father', 'Brother' and husband-to-be were using the distraction of the arrest to slip away, she used her good, subservient behavior as the means to slip her leash. All she had to do was get the attention of the police. Once her 'Mother' was led away, she pushed the stroller over to the men in charge – or who she guessed were in charge – and asked in an innocent voice, "Why did you take my husband's mother away?"

Aaron looked at the girl, remembered the latest case in New Jersey, and asked, "Are you Katrina?"

She looked confused for a second, then replied, "That was my name before I became Mercy."

"I'm Aaron Hotcher, and I'm with the FBI. Who's this little guy?" he inquired, gesturing to the baby.

"That's Stefano; the youngest of our Clan," she replied easily. Pointing in the direction the others took the Mother, she warned, "You can't make her give up the Family…not entirely. Even if she tells you something, it won't be the whole story. She's one of them now."

"We're pretty good at getting answers out of somebody," Aaron assured her.

Katrina/Mercy shook her head, "They lie and mislead as easily as they pickpocket. Don't let your guard down with her."

"Will you lie to us?" Aaron asked, wondering how indoctrinated she was after just two years.

"About them? Not a chance. They are monsters who deserve to be thrown in the darkest pit you can find for them," she responded coldly, ignoring the fact that she was willing to lie about her true identity if she could get away with it.

She had her own plans for the Romani monsters, and the FBI weren't a part of that. While she wasn't stolen from a nice family, she was willing to bet that most of the other girls were. She just needed to get bigger and learn some skills of her own before she could go after them.

But she would give the FBI this family…if only to keep them off her scent.


Jail Cell

They thought they managed to trick Kathy into giving up the Family, but they only managed to get the Father and the Middle Son. Like Katrina warned, she wouldn't tell them everything.

Luckily, they didn't tell Kathy that they had Stefano and Katrina, who told them where her 'husband' would be waiting for the Father to return after fencing the goods…assuming they didn't change their MO when she went missing with Stefano.

So when the translation came in that Kathy warned her Son not to tell them about his Brothers, it didn't matter because the police already had them in custody.


Plane ride back

"What's bothering you, Aaron?" David asked. "Is it the other families?"

Aaron just shook his head. "Actually, no, because now that we're on the lookout for the MO, we know what to expect from them. It's Katrina. There's something dark in her eyes. If she isn't already a future unsub, I'm worried that she's close to it."

Nodding his agreement, David replied, "Yeah, she was old for her age. Did you hear that Penelope found out more about her family in New Jersey?" When Aaron shook his head again, David went on, "Turns out the dad was a low-level hitter for the Russian mob up in New York City. She probably had a very harsh life, even before this happened."

"Oh god!" Aaron breathed in horror. When would she show up on their radar again? And which side of the story would she be on that time?


Voiceover by Hotchner

Mario Puzo wrote, "The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other."


A/N: Okay, it's official now…Buffy's life sucks!