A/N: I did get written (well, Twitter) permission for Derrick Prince of MasterChef USA Season 2 to use his name. I posted the tweets of it on my FaceBook page 'the vampire act'. And also, please don't throw 'animals don't have fun in circuses' in my face. I am very aware of that, as are many others. ONE more thing-sorry- the tricks preformed in this chapter? I've seen them all done in a real circus. Sadly.
House of Mirrors- Not a Domestic Pet
Benjamin quickly undid Aaron Hotchner's ties and removed the duck tape that had been strategically placed against his mouth. He waited for the older man to stand before escorting him out onto the stage. "Good luck," Benjamin said again before leaving the agent's side. Hotch's eyes scanned over the single bench that had been placed in front of the 'stage'. Not thinking much of it he looked up at the blue and red circus decorations thrown up on the walls. Finally he looked at the stage and his stomach fell. There was a large cage with a curtain over it, and only then did he realize what exactly his card meant.
'Lion trainer.'
Damn.
Suddenly the back of the room opened up,and out from it appeared his team. Benjamin stood behind the group with a large, very pointy knife in his hand. Hotch sighed; even if they wanted to fight him they'd be dead before they could even turn around. Quickly and silently they made their way to the single bench and sat down. He'd have an audience.
Double-damn.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Cole smiled as he made his way on to the stage, "welcome to Hell. My name is Cole, and I will be your ring master for tonight." He stopped in his speech to smile at the audience and observe their behavior. 'They're afraid', he thought, 'Good.' As he started pacing the stage, he began to speak again. "I have planned for you six acts. Don't worry, though. Over the course of the night there will also be two special events and of course the grand finale. Right now, however, we begin at the beginning."
Hotch watched Cole parade around the place with a grim look. He knew nothing about lions. How was he supposed to 'train' one? "You're on," a voice whispered from behind him. A lean man with reddish hair smiled nervously at him. He could tell by his more 'normal' attire that he wasn't apart of the show. 'Lighting?' Hotch guessed at. He seemed to be the more 'technological' type. Maybe he did the special effects and what-not. Before the section chief could fully profile him, though, he was being whisked away on the stage by a finely-built man wearing a pair of Capri-length pants and a black, tight-fitting jacket. By the whip in his hand Hotch deduced he was their lion trainer.
"Ladies and gentleman," Cole announced with pride, "here come the lion trainers, Alec and Aaron!"
"Thank you, thank you," Alec beamed as he took Cole's place on the stage. "My friend here, Aaron, is going to assist me in my performance today. In fact, I'm going to be assisting him!" He paused so he could take the curtain off the lion cage and start setting up for the act. "My other friend, Oliver, will be showing off some tricks for us. Isn't that grand?"
Derek Morgan watched from the audience in horror. What in the world was going on? He couldn't tell if Alec thought there was an actual audience of if Cole had told him to act like there was. The lion trainer didn't pause for applause or anything, leading Morgan to believe that he was doing it for Cole. 'So Cole's the psychotic one, and the rest of them are just playing along? But why?' Morgan put his eyes back on Hotch for a minute; he seemed just as confused as he was, a fact that made Morgan just a bit more worried.
The profiler looked around the stage to see if there was anything that could help him decipher anything at all about the circus or the people in it. He was about to give up when he saw a red-headed man standing behind the curtain. Luckily Morgan could see past the curtain from where he was seated, so he could get a better glimpse of the man than the rest of the team. The man was frowning unlike the rest of the staff. And he wasn't dressed in the 'costumes' that everyone else was. At a second glance Morgan spotted the bag around his shoulders, similar to Reid's own bag. 'First aid', Morgan concluded before turning back to Hotch. Part of him begged him not to look back, though. Did he really want to see what might happen? No, but he knew Hotch needed the team to be confident he could complete the 'performance'. That was exactly what he planned on giving Hotch. He looked his boss straight in the eye and nodded, knowing that the gesture wouldn't go unnoticed by the older profiler.
"For our first act, Aaron here is going to make Oliver jump through the rings of fire." Alec then proceeded to light the rings on fire. "Now," he added as he sat the last ring on fire, "keep in mind that Oliver's no domestic pet. He could decide to 'go rouge' without a second's notice."
'That's reassuring,' Hotch thought grimly to himself. How was he supposed to successfully do this? He knew nothing about lions, let alone how to make them jump through a freaking fire ring. Suddenly, as the whip was tossed to him and Alec gestured for him begin, a thought occurred to him. Like he had deduced earlier, the 'staff' of the circus were pretending there was a huge audience for Cole. Alec was doing that now, too. He had profiled them- that's how he knew what they were doing. Why couldn't he profile the lion and play along with the act to do it? It's what they wanted, anyways, and Hotch knew that if he didn't play along there would be hell to pay. He sighed before he paced around the lion's cage, finally ready to begin.
"Good evening, everyone," Hotch started, though his eyes never left the lion's. He watched as the lion followed him- but not like pray, like he could help him. The dark-haired man could guess that Oliver didn't like being in a cage all day and only being let out to entertain humans. Maybe he could gain its trust and get it to do its tricks not because of his command but because of past training and memory. "Oliver here is about ready to perform." Hotch could tell that the lion didn't much care for Alec. Perhaps he'd do the tricks for him just to show his 'trainer' that he wasn't the reason why he still did the tricks.
Suddenly the lion's cage was opened, and Oliver darted straight out of it. The lion immediately sat down, however, and waited to be told what to do. Lucky for Hotch, Oliver had been very well trained, apparently. Hotch then took his whip and lightly tapped the animal's behind. The creature stood up in response. Unsure what else to do he hit him again, and this time the lion started pacing around the first ring. "Jump, Oliver!" Hotch tried. At first the lion seemed confused, but when it saw Hotch point to the ring, it understood. Without further instruction he jumped through the ring of fire. Hotch couldn't help but smile; it was working. Again he hit him and gave him the command 'Jump, Oliver', and he did just that. Finally he got through the last ring and Alec applauded.
"Well done, well done!" he praised. "Come on, Oliver, how about one last stunt?" Obediently the lion came to his master. "Maybe we should have our new friend perform the last trick! You agree, don't you Oliver?" Alec stated it more than he questioned it, though, and Hotch couldn't help but think that PETA would have a field day with this circus.
Out of the corner of his eye Morgan saw the red-head get nervous again. This time he almost looked afraid, though, and that sent him a little bit over the edge. What the hell was Alec doing? He turned his head around so he could look at his team members, all of them looking almost as worried as the kid was. Reid suddenly locked eyes with Morgan and motioned behind the curtain that the older profiler had just been staring at. So Reid had seen it to? That was almost reassuring, until he realized what it truly meant. He wasn't reading to much into things- in fact, he was spot on. The red head was preparing for the worse, and so Morgan did too. He closed his eyes and looked away. Whatever was about to happen wasnt something he wanted to see. Suddenly Garcia leaned on to Morgan's shoulder and shut her eyes tightly. Morgan wished he could undo his binds and hold his Baby Girl; she had to be just as scared as he was. 'Sorry Hotch,' he thought to himself. 'I just can't watch whatever might happen.'
Suddenly Alec bolted to his feet and motioned for Hotch to follow him. The agent did, and so did the lion. A few seconds later a stool was brought out and the lion was sitting on it. "Open wide, Oliver!" he said with a loud whip. The lion compiled. Hotch's face fell as he saw the animal's teeth, dread washing over him. He had a bad feeling he knew exactly what Alec wanted him to do. "Come on Aaron, put your head in there already!"
If Hotch's team hadn't been tied and gagged, the section leader was more than positive he would have heard them gasping and screaming. Even now he could tell they were trying to make noise. The gags were too effective, though, and their sounds went hollow in the air. Thus far he'd been lucky, though, and profiling the lion had led him to discover what Oliver was comfortable and uncomfortable with. He could tell the lion didn't necessarily enjoy having a human's head in his mouth, but he trusted the lion more than he did Alec. Hotch decided to try and use that to his advantage as best as he could.
Without another word he leaned forward and slowly made his way to the lion. Finally his head reached the lion's mouth. When his head was completely inside it he started to feel the lion squirm. Luckily it instantly stilled itself once it realized he wasn't 'leaving' yet, and it behaved a bit better. The entire time Hotch kept his eyes closed. There were just certain things that even a seasoned profiler like himself shouldn't experience.
"All right," Alec laughed, "you can come out now."
Hotch didn't hesitate to get his head the hell out of the lion's mouth. Unfortunately he hadn't been very careful and scraped his head against a few of the lion's teeth. Oliver spat the human blood out of his mouth, obviously not caring for it. That made Hotch take a long, deep breath. It seemed the lion didn't much care for the taste of humans.
"Go back stage now," Alec instructed. "Derrick will clean you up and get you seated for the next performance. But first, take a bow!" Hotch leaned forward, blood now seeping from his wounds due to pressure, and hurried off stage.
"In just a moment my lovely friend will join us for round two. I hope you're all ready." Then Alec too bowed and scurried off stage.
When the curtains were closed the red-headed man Hotch had spotted earlier came dashing to his side. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly, almost as if he was afraid someone would overhear him.
"Other than the lion teeth marks on my head? I'm fine," Hotch sighed.
"Sorry," he said grimly. Then, he added, "This might sting a little bit, but I need to clean it before it gets infected." And it did indeed sting- a whole lot. He seemed to catch onto the profiler's discomfort, and he attempted to help distract him from the pain. "What's your name?"
"Aaron Hotchner," he replied, although he was almost positive he already knew that. "And yours?"
"Derrick- Derrick Prince," he smiled kindly as he threw away used wrappers and put a band-aid over one of the scars left by the lion's teeth. "It's not much, but it should hold out for now. If I see it get worse I'll try to figure something else out."
The young man, Derrick, wasn't like the other members. He seemed almost shy, and more than a bit on-edge. He was obviously uncomfortable with what was going on, so why was he with them? "Why are you here?" Hotch let slip off his tongue. At first he didn't even register that he had spoken it out loud, and he almost felt bad for asking. It was obvious that Derrick was uncomfortable; he didn't want to push him over the edge and make him feel even more uncomfortable. "I'm sorry," he quickly said. "You don't have to answer that…."
"I didn't have a choice," Derrick sighed. "I was-"
"That's enough," Cole sneered as he snuck up from behind them. "We're ready for Miss Prentiss to perform."
"Right, sorry Cole," Derrick frowned.
"Just don't let it happen aga-"
"Shall I escort Mr. Hotchner back to the audience?" Benjamin cut in, saving Derrick from being scolded even more. The worried look that he shot Derrick too didn't go unnoticed by Hotch, but he darted his eyes away from Benjamin and Derrick so neither of them would get into any more trouble.
"Yes," Cole nodded. "Bring the black-haired girl back with you."
Benjamin just nodded as he waited for Hotch to stand up again, an act that was done gingerly and pain-filled. Derrick hid his face as he stood up, not wanting his sad facial expression to get him yelled at again. Hotch frowned as he was walked out of the room, his thoughts racing. So far Derrick seemed like the only one uncomfortable with the 'acts'. Why were they being forced to perform, anyways? It was obviously being done for Cole, but why? Hotch just shook his head and sat down next to his friends, watching as Prentiss was whisked away to the back of the stage.
What the hell was going on?