Chapter 5: A criminal past?
"Come along now, Hephaistion, let's go back." Hotch declared, there was little chance that they could convince the kid to open up any more for now so they should focus back on the case. Hephaistion's theory was a large break-through in the investigation: now that they knew what connected the victims, they could find the unsub.
"I'll be right there." Hephaistion replied, clearly wanting some privacy. He really needed to get home soon, to get back to his privacy, where he could cope with things in his own way, he needed… release, he needed the sharp bite of his blade, but he could not, not with these people around. He gathered himself, erased all evidence of him crying and calmly walked back to the rest of the team.
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"We now know that the victims are all gay, this could lead us to our unsub." Hotch began, trying to get the team to share their own ideas with the rest of them.
"It could be someone picking these kids up at gay bars, intending to kill them." Morgan theorized.
"All of the victims disappeared in the day, they probably weren't in a bar at that time." Reid said.
"The unsub could be a predator, observing its prey, and taking them when they are alone." Gideon suggested.
"Then that would mean the unsub is a professional, try looking for criminals who were recently released. With a record for homophobic offences." Hephaistion observed quietly.
"Yes, good idea Hephaistion, Morgan get Garcia, have her look at possible suspects." Hotch said enthusiastically.
"I've found three people who have been freed in the last two months on those charges in the area." Garcia's voice began when they were all looking at her. "The first two moved away, and the last one… I… I don't know." She said stunned.
"What do you mean Garcia? You know everything, you're the tech goddess." Morgan said.
"The last suspect, he's in witness protection, he testified for the ATF in a huge case and in exchange all charges were dropped against him, I can't break their system." She said, clearly still stunned.
"You can't break into their system? But we don't have time to request that file, it would take weeks, maybe months to get permission." Hotch almost shouted.
"I know… what do we do now?" Garcia said looking up at Hotch.
Suddenly there was a quiet dammit from Hephaistion and everyone looked at him in surprise, it was the first time they had heard him swear, they thought he didn't know how.
"C… can I u… use your e… equip…equipment for a m… moment?" Hephaistion asked Garcia, clearly not looking happy at the prospect of using it.
"I… yeah sure, but why? What do you need it for?"Garcia asked unwilling to let the kid touch her stuff but he didn't look as if he would abuse it.
"J… just, let m… me please." Hephaistion insisted.
"Very well." Garcia said while moving from her seat. Hephaistion sat down and, from the moment his hand began typing, they saw him clearly suppressing pain.
"What the hell!" Hotch exclaimed while Hephaistion was still typing away.
"What? Hotch? What's wrong with him?" Morgan asked, looking bewildered between Hephaistion's pained expression and Hotch.
"I don't know really, but last time I saw him on one of the victims computer, it was hurting him too and the sister of one of the victims said that the computer was hurting him.
"But… then stop him… look at him, it's only hurting him more and more." Reid said and they all looked at Hephaistion and indeed the boy was looking more and more pained but was still typing away diligently.
"What is going on?! You're saying that computer hurt the kid?" Morgan asked in disbelief.
"No… not the computer." Garcia whispered.
"What do you mean 'not the computer', what do you know about this Garcia?" Morgan asked.
"I… I've heard of this but I thought it was just a rumor." Garcia exclaimed still whispering.
"What was a rumor Garcia?" Morgan asked, getting annoyed that the child was hurting by using a computer, for god's sake!.
"It's… It's a sort of bracelet that monitors if you come close to computer equipment that the wearer wasn't supposed to go near. It essentially sends pain waves without causing physical harm to discourage the carrier from going near a computer that isn't approved of by whoever put the bracelet on. The pain seems to continue increasing." She replied shocked.
"You mean… someone put something on the kid to make sure he did not go near a computer?" Morgan asked skeptical, but not able to deny the evidence right in front of him. "Why?!"
"They… they use it on hackers they see as dangerous but that they need… to make sure they don't hack without the governments permission. Eventually…" Garcia was interrupted by a slight groan of pain from Hephaistion, suddenly everybody focused back on Hephaistion, they have almost forgot about him because of their astonishment.
"Make him stop!" Reid shouted sounding panicked.
"'m fine, 'm almost there." Hephaistion mumbled, clearly in pain.
"My god…" Garcia exclaimed. "He's actually breaking in their system without them noticing it."
A few seconds later Hephaistion literally flinging himself away from the computer and falling to the ground: "There, your last suspect." He said clearly still in pain.
Everybody quickly looked at the screen, indeed seeing the last suspect's file and then quickly looked back at Hephaistion.
"I hope you don't need any more information, I don't think I can do that again today." Hephaistion said sounding even more pained now when he was trying to get up. Finally succeeding in standing up, he quickly had to support himself on the door.
Gideon came forward: " Hephaistion, why don't you sit down." He said indicating at a sofa backed up to the wall.
"Yes, thank you, sir." Hephaistion said while sitting down.
"Now, what was that all about?" Gideon asked gently.
Suddenly Hephaistion looked incredibly scared, he temporarily forgot that these people would have to deliver a report every month.
Gideon seeing the sudden fear on the youth's face said with a soothing voice "It's alright, Hephaistion, we're not angry or anything."
"I… I… please don't… don't tell them." Hephaistion stuttered, still panicking.
"Don't tell who, Hephaistion?" Hotch asked.
"The report… please don't mention this." Hephaistion begged."Please, I'll do anything just… don't mention it."
"Why not Hephaistion?" Gideon asked curiously.
"You heard Ms. Garcia, I'm not technically allowed to do this…" Hephaistion said.
"Why not?" Reid suddenly asked.
"I… like she said, they think I'm dangerous." Hephaistion said bitterly.
"It's why you were not allowed a normal emancipation, isn't it?" Hotch asked.
"I… yes, they thought, think that I needed supervision, so the FBI supervises me now." Hephaistion said while looking at the bracelet in disgust.
"They can do that?" Morgan asked disbelievingly.
"Yes, I… I agreed, if I wanted a partial emancipation I had to do whatever they thought was needed to keep me under control." Hephaistion answered resentfully. "They didn't give me a choice, I would do anything to get to live on my own so I consented to whatever they wanted." He continued, looking down at the floor in shame and resentment.
"Why were you so desperate to get that partial emancipation?" Morgan asked, hoping that Hephaistion would tell them more, they weren't profilers for nothing, they all realize that Hephaistion did not have a happy life so far but hopefully the kid would learn to trust them.
"I… I j… just didn't l… like t… t… the or… orphanage." Hephaistion mumbled, not wanting to discuss it further. He just kept looking to the floor, hoping that they would stop asking questions. He didn't want to talk about the orphanage or his earlier childhood, he just wanted to forget it, he wanted to get free of the FBI influence too, the way they controlled his life.
"Okay, where did you learn to do that?" Garcia asked, immensely curious.
"When I was young, I learned it because I wanted to access files and documents on the Internet, I just wanted to learn new things, read books that weren't available in a library." Hephaistion answered honestly.
"But how did you become so good?" Garcia asked, not satisfied with that answer.
At this, they saw the corners of Hephaistions mouth curl up slightly and then he said: "When I do something, Ms. Garcia, I do it well."
"You can say that again." Morgan mumbled, thinking about all of the kid's titles, he truly didn't leave things half way done.
"What happens if you continue working on an unauthorized computer?" Gideon asked, dreading the answer. "How exactly does that bracelet thing work?"
"Well… eventually I pass out from pain, they monitor how often I go near an unauthorized computer, if you pass a certain limit they… come visit." Hephaistion said hesitantly. "It doesn't do any damage, it just hurts and when I stop using the computer, the pain disappears after half an hour or so. It doesn't cause any physical harm. It just… hurts." He ended, unable to find a better explanation.
"And what happens when they visit? And who are they?" Hotch continued questioning.
"Last time they came; they set the bracelet to increase the pain faster and gave a few more restrictions on what equipment I could use." Hephaistion said, ashamed of the whole debacle. "They are just people who work here I guess, they probably monitor other people."
"Isn't that torture?" Reid asked incredulously.
"No, it does no real harm and I agreed to the regulations of the emancipation. It's like a criminal bracelet which does not allow you to leave a certain boundary." Hephaistion asked, surprised that these people seemed to think that this was unjust and that they did not blindly agree about the fact that he must be kept under surveillance.
"Anyway, don't you have a suspect to investigate, I hope my effort was worth it." Hephaistion said, trying to divert the attention from himself.
"Indeed." Gideon said, fully realizing what the kid was trying to do but deciding that they would let it rest for now.
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That's chapter 5, please REVIEW. And please, let me know which pairing you'd like, I still haven't decided yet.
With thanks to my beta: Victoria.