Unedited, sorry folks.
House of Mirrors-A lot of Weight
The two men nodded grimly at each other before they revealed the knives they had hidden behind their backs.
Before anyone on the BAU team knew it, their ties and duck tape were being ripped off. "The rule is simple," Benjamin started, "don't be an idiot." He then threw the ropes and tape into a bag that he had brought with him and nodded toward Derrick. "He's going to be watching over you and feeding you as you to your break. Use the bathroom, get medical attention, talk to each other now. Derrick has strict instructions to find me if there's talk of an escape, however, so keep your conversations to a minimum. You have an hour as of now." The assistant then walked away, leaving Derrick alone with the BAU.
"Is…Is everyone alright?" he asked nervously, obviously quick to fill the vacant air.
"We're fine," JJ smiled- the same smiled she used when dealing with families and friends of a victim.
"Thank you for asking," Hotch added quickly. "I do believe that we are a bit hungry, however-"
"Of, of course!" Derrick nodded with a sudden burst of energy. "I'm sorry. It'll be a bit longer- I'm just about to finish the meal for you guys. I hope you like it."
"I'm sure we'd love anything right now," Morgan joked. "Thanks, man."
"It's no problem," Derrick nodded nervously. Then, a bit less happily, he added, "I hope my food will make your stay here a bit less terrible. I'm…I'm sorry that you're in this situation."
Reid smiled sadly at the red-head. He obviously wasn't 'pleased' with the circus, so why was he here? How had he been forced to be the medical advisor-turned-cook of the circus? Reid pushed the questions aside, however. He still hadn't successfully profiled Cole or even Benjamin yet. No one was wearing a mask, so either his team was going to be killed anyways, of the circus staff had another way to disappear without being able to be tracked. Either was, something wasn't adding up- Reid just wasn't sure what it was.
"Excuse me," Derrick suddenly said, interrupting Reid's thoughts. "I'm going to go finish up your meals. I'll be back in a moment's time." As soon as he was out of hearing range, the BAU immediately started talking.
"How are you all?" Hotch asked first, breaking the silence. The only response he was given was a series of head nods, and Hotch mentally noted that he had asked a very stupid question. He was with profilers- of course they wouldn't answer anything but 'we're fine'. "If this was any other case, right now we'd be building a profile. The fact is that this isn't a regular case, though, and we don't have time to profile everyone."
"Which is why we're going to profile them by ourselves," Morgan sighed. "We profile whoever the hell we're given to help us with our 'act', and we use it to our advantage as soon as we can."
"Exactly," Hotch nodded. "But we all know the odds. We're not getting out of here until everyone completes their act…."
"And whatever events they give us in between," JJ murmured.
"I think we should consider planning who's going to go next," Prentiss sighed. "It's going to happen- and if my guess is right, it'll happen after the next two acts. I mean, I guess there's always the chance we won't need to, but we need to be prepared nonetheless."
"I think she's right," Garcia nodded. "I might not be a profiler, but if we don't pick someone right away next time to 'volunteer', I think that Cole might pick for us."
"Whoever goes cant be someone whose already preformed. We have to be prepared with a plan a and b…at the minimum," Reid supplied.
"All valid points," Hotch said, effectively cutting anyone else off from talking, "but we don't have much time. We need to find our plans quickly."
"I'll go next," Morgan volunteered.
"Then I'll go," Reid seconded.
"Me next," Garcia nodded.
"Good," Hotch nodded. "But in case any of you perform-Reid, Garcia, Morgan- be prepared to step up. If we need more volunteers after that, we'll go in the order-"
"Food's on," Derrick came back with a smile. Trays of food were in his hands, as were drinks and eating utensils. The red-head placed everything down on the table and motioned for the team to dig in. "If anyone needs in the bathroom, I can take you there."
"I wouldn't mind going, actually," Garcia admitted with a sigh.
"Me either," Prentiss nodded.
"Better now than never," Derrick nodded sadly. "Anyone else?" Reid and Hotch nodded their heads and quickly stood up. "Alright, let's go." The group of profilers followed Derrick toward the bathroom stalls, the circus 'employee' waiting outside the doors.
As their friends went to the bathroom, Morgan and JJ waited at the table. "The food looks good," JJ offered half-heartedly.
"The guy seems passionate about his food," Morgan nodded. "Think that might be how the circus met him?"
"I have no clue, Morgan," JJ replied, shaking her head. "All I know is that if we don't get out of here soon, I'm going to lose my mind."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Morgan scoffed. "And I'm never going to a circus again."
"Seconded," JJ murmured.
A few minutes later the group reappeared and finished up their meals. Soon enough Benjamin reappeared and nodded his head toward Morgan. "You're next," he said. The BAU agent sighed, but nonetheless he got up to join the man. He glanced at his team one more time before he turned around and followed Benjamin off toward the backstage area.
"Your friend will be fine," Derrick smiled, trying to be reassuring. His fake smile was immediately seen through, though, and it did little to comfort them. Immediately sensing the change of mood Derrick frowned and just sighed. "I have to take you back to the audience now," he added, disdain ever so present in his voice.
"Thank you for your kindness," Hotch nodded, his voice betraying his confident stance.
"It's the least I could do, unfortunately," Derrick replied grimly.
Seconds later the BAU was seated in the audience staring at a stage with their friend, Cole, and a large-built man along surrounded by equipment.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Cole smiled, "what we have next for you could be summed up with the phrase 'a lot of weight'. Our strongman, Nicholas, will be helping an audience member lift weights that are equivalent to an elephant. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the next act!"
Nicholas smiled as he lifted the weight opposite of him as if it were a piece of paper. "This weight, combined with the weight opposite of Derek Morgan, equals the amount of an adult elephant. Today I'm going to teach Derek here to lift them at the same time." As if to prove his point- and to show off, the BAU presumed- he lifted both the weights and flexed his muscles. Suddenly he tossed one of the weights at Morgan, and the agent stumbled as he tried to catch it. He cursed as he finally gained a hold on it- unfortunately with two hands.
"Good catch," Nicholas laughed, obviously not impressed, "but how will you fair with both weights? Because I'm nice, I'll give you a minute to figure out how to carry that with one hand before I throw this one at you. Ready? Go!"
Morgan's mind started panicking as he tried taking his one hand away from the weight. The first time he nearly dropped it, but seconds before his 60 seconds were off, he managed to hold it. It hurt like hell, obviously, but he was confident his grip was firm enough that he wouldn't drop it.
"Time is up, Derek Morgan," his companion announced. Then, without warning, he threw the weight at him. It nearly knocked Morgan over, but he caught it. "Pick them up- over your head!" The agent struggled to do so, but he very slowly completed the task. "Very good- applause, applause!" he chuckled cruelly. Morgan then threw the weights on the floor, almost certain that he had pulled or strained something…or a few somethings, really.
Cole slowly made his way onto the stage, a strategically placed smile on his face. "Very good, very good! Now go rest, you two. That didn't look like much fun at all! Thank you, audience. We will be back shortly with the next act."
Morgan was immediately escorted to Derrick, who was already waiting with ice packs, bandages, and cooling creams. "I'm sorry," Derrick mumbled as he motioned for Morgan to sit down. Morgan just sighed, but offered a small smile at Derrick. The younger man was just trying to help; the least he could do was cooperate.
Out to the audience walked Benjamin as the curtains on the stage closed. He smiled at the audience- duck-taped and tied again- before pointing to Garcia. "You're next."