Chapter 2: Meeting the team

Hephaistion followed his new supervisor, SSA Hotchner, in to a rather large room with three tables surrounding a screen, this was obviously the conference room. Looking at him expectantly was 'the rest of the team' that Agent Hotchner mentioned, of course he was perfectly aware of who exactly they were, he did his research, it was rather obvious where they wanted to send him when they gave him access to previous BAU cases to study. Sitting in front of him were the best behavioral analysists in the country, he had to be careful here, they probably were already busy profiling him, he was a private person, the rest of the FBI did not know what to make of him so they send him here to be profiled, hence the bloody report agent Hotchner had to file in. He was sick and tired of the government trying to 'figure him out' like he was some kind of rare finding they dug up and have yet to find a use for, it was sickening and extremely annoying but he couldn't do anything, if he protested he would lose his partially emancipated status and he would have to go back to the orphanage or another fucking foster family who freak out because he was smart, fucking idiots. Even these people, supposedly some of the smartest people in the world were gawking at him like he was some kind of freak. Of course he was careful to keep the distaste of his face when he came to this conclusion, he would have to keep these people happy, otherwise they would probably complain in that bloody report like the spoiled children they probably are, and then of course it would give the FBI ample reason to exercise even more control over him, displeasure of his employees would only give more reason to give him more restrictions, though they would be hard pressed to find restrictions that he didn't already have. The idiots were still staring at him like some circus attraction, seriously you would think these people have better things to do than stare at a kid the whole day. Well better not keep the lordships waiting, he sneered internally:

"Hello, my name is Hephaistion Athean Winters as you probably know." He stated simply, no reason to give these people more information to profile him. He was already pissed at himself that he had to answer all of agent Hotchners questions, these people probably will ask even more bloody questions, nothing like a good bloody puzzle to keep them busy he thought with spite.

"Hello Hephaistion, we appreciate you being here and helping us in whatever way you can." One of them said, SSA Gideon was the name if he remembered correctly, what was he talking about of course he remembered correctly, he remembers bloody everything, just another reason to gawk at him of course. At his words Hephaistion only just stopped himself from snorting, right, they 'appreciate' is help, they didn't appreciate him, they clearly did not like the presence of 'a little kid', for profilers they sure were easy to read, it was written all over their faces that they thought he should still be in school with the other good little sheep.

"We have a new case, guys, it's a local case." With these words a blonde haired woman walked in, Jennifer Jareau, nicknamed JJ, the BAU's liaison, their connection to the outside world so to speak, perhaps he could feel a bit more comfortable in her presence, she was not a trained profiler, she would hopefully not try to 'figure him out'.

JJ was just about to continue briefing the team when she saw the kid standing next to Hotch. The boy looked quite peculiar: he was very short for his age, from his height you would say he was 13 or so but his build was that of a 15-year old. Also the teenager had long hair, if you saw him from behind a less observant person could mistake him for a girl. The teen was wearing some kind of silk Chinese shirt which only added to the change to be mistaken for a young, flat-chested girl though if you 

looked harder you saw that the teenager had some muscles beneath the clothes he was wearing, she would bet that he could stand his own to most people, especially if he is as agile as he looks, he might not win against someone like Morgan with brute strength.
"Hello, my name is Jennifer Jareau." She stated not really knowing what to say to the effeminate teen.

"Hello, I'm Hephaistion Winters, I will be working here from now on." He answered smoothly.

JJ could not help but look in confusion to Gideon as to why they were now working with the strange teen.

"Hephaistion was assigned here as a general assistant, he has a 5 PhD's, one of those psychology specialized in forensic psychology, so he is qualified to work here JJ." Gideon answered before she asked the question, by now she was used to the fact that profilers seemed to know what you were thinking, sometimes it was rather annoying but at times like this she was grateful for it.

"Very well, there were three murders, they were found at three different locations but were wearing the same, it is obvious that the killer dressed them up before dumping him, though he made no effort to hide the bodies, that means that he wants them to be found. They were all female and were wearing a red dress with symbols on them when they were found, they did not look alike so that can't be the reason why he chooses these victims." While she was talking she was showing them pictures of the woman and more detailed pictures of the symbols. "Experts have looked at the symbols but have yet to find what they mean or from what language they are."

"Well Read, genius boy, tell me please that you know what they mean." Morgan asked Reid playfully but hopeful at the same time.

"Sorry Morgan, I have no idea they look like the Sumerian script." Reid answered mournfully.

"It's Linear Elamite script, it looks like the Sumerian script because it was, for a large part, based on the same original Mesopotamian Cuneiform script, though Elamite is also based on another script which they invented themselves. The language has been extinct since 331 BC, it was spoken by Elamites they are also known as Ilamids." Hephaistion said quietly. Everyone was looking at him in surprise, what couldn't he even make an observation without having them gawking at them?

"How do you know?" Agent Prentice asked, doubtful that the kid would just recognize the symbols while experts could not.

At these words Hephaistion could not help but sneer while answering: "I have a PhD in ancient languages so I am trained to recognize archaic symbols, the 'experts'" ,sneering even more at this word, "would not recognize it because it is not taught at any university, it is to be considered a completely dead language, there are hardly any remnants of this language."

"Then how the hell do you know kid?" Agent Prentiss asked, not happy that some kid was trying to best them, though the rest of team was looking on in apprehension at their conversation, obviously not happy that they were arguing and ready to step in if something got out of hand.

"I would appreciate it agent Prentiss if you would not call me kid, I find it rather degrading, and I am aware of Elamite because I read an article about it published by Professor George Starostin of the 

Russian State University for the Humanities. There were pictures of tablets in Elamite and I recognized the structure of the language, ask another expert, who knows Elamite." He said, now thoroughly annoyed at the contempt agent Prentiss was showing, but he did not dare to make an objection, any misbehavior would probably be reported he thought bitterly.

"Then you know what it says kid?" Prentiss asked, fully aware of the fact that he said he just recognized it but wanting to take the kid down a peg or two, she also deliberately repeated the word kid to get a rise out of the boy so he would throw some kind of tantrum, to prove to the rest of the team who were looking at her with clear disapproval that she was right and that the boy was just some arrogant, stuck-up kid.

"No, Agent Prentiss, I do not know Elamite, like I said, I recognized it, you will need an expert on the language." Hephaistion said, keeping his calm though he had every right to be disgruntled, he refused to give Prentiss the reaction, he was not some child, he had self control.

"So you don't know everything do you kid, are you going to whine to your mommy now?" she mocked. The team was now looking on in shock that an adult like Prentiss could act so juvenile.

"My mother is dead, Agent Prentiss. I have no doubt that you are aware of this fact, it was certainly mentioned in the file." Hephaistion answered calmly, used to this kind of behavior from other people.

"What? Couldn't bear the site of you? Did she die of shame? Did she kill herself when she saw your face?" Prentiss continued to try and provoke him.

"That is enough, Prentiss!" Gideon interrupted, he was furious at Prentiss, she was acting like a spoiled and jealous child.

"Meet me in my office later agent Prentiss." Hotch said, clearly he too was extremely mad at her behavior.

Hephaistion was surprised at their actions, he needed all his attention to keep his emotions in check because of agent Prentiss so he did not notice that everyone else was mad at Prentiss. He was happy that they did not seem to agree with Prentiss' opinion of him but mainly he was relieved that he did not have to tell how his mother died. He did not want them to know that she was right. It was probably not mentioned in the file but his mother did commit suicide when he was 4, my father always said it was my fault, I don't know why she did it, I remember her a bit though, after she killed herself, things only got worse and it wasn't exactly sun shines and daisies before she died.

"What about the kid? You're taking his side?!" Prentiss shouted.

"There no side to take Emily, he has only made an observation and answered your questions." Reid said trying to calm her down.

"Prentiss, my office now!" Hotch said forcefully.

While Hotch and Prentiss walked out, the rest of the team turned to Hephaistion who was now standing in the corner trying not to get noticed, he really did not want another inquisition.



"Why don't you sit down, Hephaistion, don't mind Emily, Hotch'll talk to her, she didn't mean it." Gideon started, trying to appease the youth who was trying to disappear in that corner.

"There is no need to apologize on her behalf, agent Gideon, she merely asked a question." Hephaistion answered, it was not like he was not used to this or that it would not happen again, it always does. Though he did sit down, no need to aggravate anyone who could influence his report.

"So, Hephaistion, what you think?" Gideon asked.

Hephaistion blinked, wondering what he was talking about: "Think of what, sir?"

"The case of course" Gideon said with a smile.

"You want my opinion, sir?" Hephaistion asked hesitantly, finding it hard to believe that they actually thought he knew anything.

"Of course, we could use some help, perhaps you have any idea as to why the unsub would use Elamite symbols or why he chose these victims?" Hephaistion was even more surprised, he actually seemed sincere, like he honestly wanted to know what he thought.

All of them were now looking at him with interest "Well, s…s…sir, the Elam emp..p…pire was in the current s..southw…west Iran, since the un…unsub left an Elamite message, he c…c…ould have a religious or po…political cause." Dammit why did he need to stutter now, this was much easier when the people he was talking to weren't actually interested, he always stuttered when they didn't despise him for some reason or another, he could smoothly answer to an insult but now these people were trying to be nice to him and he started to stutter, way to go Hephaistion.

"Continue" Agent Morgan said mildly, Hephaistion now noticed that he stopped talking for a while and that they were still looking at him expectantly, perhaps they did not mind the stuttering he wondered hopefully.

"S..since there aren't a lot of p…people who know Elamite the unsub is probably well e..ed…educated. In Elamite religion the most important goddess was Kiririscha, though if the killings are because of a re..religion it is more pro…probable that it concerns Islam and that the killer simply chose Elamite be…because it is one of the o…old…oldest languages of Iran. Beside the gender the v..victims have n..nothing in common, perhaps they we…were opportunity victims." Hephaistion continued hesitantly, after saying this he went back to looking through the victims files trying to find a connection, though they could be opportunity victims, it was unlikely because the unsub took so much time preparing them before he dumped them, he thought there had to be some kind of significance to it.

"Very good, Hephaistion." Gideon said, impressed at what the boy had deduced.

Hephaistion's head shot up at these words, did the man just compliment him?
"T…t…thank y…you s…s…sir."Hephaistion stuttered more than ever, these people were messing up his entire image, as far as the FBI knew Hephaistion Athean Winters just did not stutter, but he was not used to these kind of things: people listening to what he had to say, people liking him, People actually complementing him! No, he was not used to this at all.



--

Meanwhile in Hotch's office:

"Prentiss! What the hell was that out there?" Hotch all but yelled, Emily had never seen him this angry.

"The kid was asking for it, he's just a snotnosed little kid, he does not belong here." Prentiss exclaimed haughtily.

"He made a good observation, without him who knows how long it would take us to figure out what language it was, you heard JJ, they didn't know what it was!"

"So what, he knew one little thing, the kid thinks he owns the place 'cause he thinks he's smart."

"Mr. Winters saved us a lot of time, in the time that it would take to figure the symbols out, the unsub could have killed another woman."

"That's an excuse for acting like an arrogant prat?"

"He was not arrogant in any way, in fact, he seemed shy and hesitant. How can he be arrogant, you saw his file, you know just as well as I that those records does not exactly lead to a happy childhood, god only know what the kid went through before he got emancipated and even now he has a bunch of restrictions which we do not know the details of but I doubt they allow him much freedom, he seemed bitter about it."

"Oh no, let's a pity the kid 'cause he can't do whatever he wants." Prentiss mocked.

"Prentiss! That's enough, if you do not improve your behavior to Mr. Winters there will be consequences." Hotch said, furious that Prentiss was acting so immature and unprofessional.

"I'll give the kid the respect he deserves, which isn't much right now!" Prentiss answered rudely and walked out of his office. Hotch too walked back to the conference room, they had a case to solve, Hephaistion has to be a mystery for another day.

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What do you think? Let me know in a REVIEW!
My apologies for those who like Emily Prentiss, I know I made her a bitch but it was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I needed someone to be the skeptic and deliver a contrast to the behavior of the rest of the team, to prove to Hephaistion that the team is just and does not take each others sides against him when he is right.
My apologies if I made a mistake with the whole Elamite thing, I just got my info of Wikipedia, feel free to mention it if I made a mistake and I will correct it. Be gentle with your flames against spelling and grammar, English is not my main language.
I know it's not very believable that he's actually that smart, but just look at Artemis Fowl, he supposedly has an IQ of 300 or so while the highest IQ ever recorded was 228, this is my story, just remember, it's fiction-reality balance, like the book 1984 about Big Brother, the government has more power than you think, creepy. You'll see in later chapters how Hephaistion is controlled.



Oh yeah, let me know which you would like best and why: Hephaistion/Reid, Hephaistion/Morgan, Hephaistion/Morgan/Reid or perhaps another one.