The Dark

I've been waiting
I don't understand what you want me to be
It's the dark you're hating
It's not who I am, but it is what you see

-"Not What You See" By Savatage

The team assembled at the small table 30 minutes after the raid. Rossi started the "meeting" by telling everyone what he had found. A few ideas were shot around. Reid sat in silence as the team talked. Alone when they had worked through everything they had did he speak up, them having yet to propose his idea.

"I think," He said softly with no emotion, "he might be a vigilante." And that was all that needed to be said and thus he didn't say anything else.

"It makes sense!" Emily blurted out before Reid was fully done speaking, most likely a little embarrassed that she hadn't thought of it.

"Why kill him less then an hour before we show up, though?" Morgan asked, always having to be the one against the new idea.

"Maybe he didn't know we were coming?" Rossi put in.

"He was stabbed over 10 times right?" Jordan said, "Wasn't that Greenwood's signature?"

"Maybe he's using their signatures to kill them..." Hotch said.

"Karma?" Morgan said with a laugh.

"Do you think he's killed before?" Jordan asked. Morgan was already calling Garcia.

"Hey Baby Girl, we need you." He said.

"Ah, how you need Hot Stuff?" She answered.

"Can you see if there has been any serial killers killed in the same way they killed?" He said "dumbing" it up for her, not that she needed it.

"What?!... Ooookay... Its going to take some time..." She said and you could already here keys clicking in the background.

"As fast as you can." He said then hung up.

It was then that a man appeared at the door. "Delivery for Aaron Hotchner?" They heard him say to the nearest policeman. Hotch was out of his seat and next to the guy before the policeman could say anything.

"I'm Aaron Hotchner." he said sternly.

The delivery man made him sign his name, then handed him a small box about the size of a jewelry box. Hotch went back to his seat and looked at it for a moment. There was something about it. A feeling he could quite explain. Then he opened it and found a smaller wooden box inside.

"Stop him!" Hotch turned and pointed after the delivery man realizing what it was. It must have been what the vigilante had taken.

Turning back to the box he slowly opened it and found a piece of paper. On it was written:

Tell me if you win would it show - in a thousand years, who would know?

As a million lives come and go.

Its time we took the stage.

And let them from their cage.

Love Batman

Hotch read it out loud. Then looked to Reid, expecting him to have something to say, or maybe hoping, but he just stared back. His face was blank of all emotion and for a moment Hotch wondered what he was trying to hid.

Deciding Reid wasn't going to say anything he Picked up the note he reviled ten wedding bands. Hotch flagged down a passing cop and handed it to him to have processed with the CSIs

"We? Does that mean their's more than one?" Emily asked almost immediately.

Hotch turned to Reid. He didn't make like he was going to say anything though. Hotch knew that he had already read more into the note then anyone else. He also knew that he had also figured all they had gotten on the vigilante angle before bringing it up, and most likely more. Hotch really didn't like this 'new' Reid.

Even under his boss's stringent stare Reid didn't say anything.

"Reid!" Hotch said almost making him break his mask into a frightened glare.

"No." He said plainly answering the question.

Furious now Hotch stood and muttered, "Can I talk to you."

Reid stood and followed him to the side.

"I know your in pain." Hotch said, trying not to be to mad. "But this is your job. You can't just shut yourself off. If you have something you need to share it with the group."

"I..." Reid started but stopped. There was something about the way his eyes looked that was different. There was a lot of pain, but not just that. There was also anger. What had happened to him?

"Reid... Are you sure your okay?" He asked loosing his will to be mad with the kid.

"Yeah..." he whispered sounding, and looking more like himself, but some how it wasn't him. Hotch wondered if he would ever be the same again.

"Just know you can always talk to me." Hotch said.

Reid nodded and then walked back to the table. Upon sitting he said, "The use of 'we' suggests that he's referring to every. It might be just us, or it might be the word." His voice was plain, lifeless. "By saying Tell me if you win would it show - in a thousand years, who would know? he's saying that it doesn't matter if we catch them or if some one else does. Thats why he killed Greenwood right before we showed up. When he says that we need to let them from their cage I think he means the people in prision...."

"So they can be killed?" Morgan asked.

Reid shrugged then added, "He calls himself Batman meaning he sees himself as the ultimate vigilante killing the joker..."

"Okay, Jordan call a press conference. We need to try and draw this guy out into the open. Morgan call Garcia see whats she's found. Tell her whats going on. Reid when we get the note back do a closer analysis of it. Rossi, Emily come with me to talk with our delivery man." Hotch said and everyone was off to work in a flash.

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A Week And One Day Ago

The shock of what still hadn't set in yet. In his mind his mother was still alive, even though he was at her funeral. Reid knew that he was experiencing the denial stage of grief and in a few days he would either be extremely depressed or really angry. He could never just skip over all the unpleasant emotions and go straight to acceptance.

There weren't that many people in the small church. Only about 10 people. Reid knew just about everyone of them, if not by name by face. There were doctors, and nurses, and even a few patients that they had agreed were sane enough to leave the hospital to pay their respects to their friend. Then there was William Reid and even one of Dania's old friends from the university that Reid hadn't seen in years.

At the front of the small room was a colorful arrangement of flowers. Including a few dozen white roses, Dania's favorite flower. In the center was a casket, and inside was Reid's mom. It was open, but he didn't go and look in. The cold dead face was already glued in his mind. All he saw at night was her dark eyes looking up at him. All the sorrow. The pain. Instead Reid focused on one of the many pictures of her when she was alive.

The priest was saying something, but Reid only heard half of it. He know, though, that at night he would be able to recall every painful word, and a new nightmare would haunt him alone with the eyes.

"Now her son, Spencer Reid, would like to share a few words." The priest said and it was the first thing he heard fulling.

It took a few moments for him to stand and walk the short distance to the stand. He kept his eyes down and away from his mother. Turning he looked to the small audience.

"My mom..." Reid started out and could already feel the tears starting. "My mom was an amazing women. She was smart and loving. As a kid I didn't have a very normal life." He said looking around at the different people, but avoided looking at his father. "She wasn't the traditional mother. But she still loved me more than anything else. I could tell her anything. And I still can... could... before she died. I remember her telling me that I was the knight of her world, and kept her safe from the monsters in a way she wished she could have done for me..... In the words of David Sarnoff, 'We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death.'"

Slowly Reid walked back to his seat in the front row and began to cry.