A/N: Hello there readers, it's been a while. First I wanted to thank everyone for all the alerts and favouring, it just makes my day so much better every time I see one of those emails. Exams start tomorrow for me and what am I doing right now? Updating my story. That's how much I love you guys for reading. My next update might not be for a while, as this week I have exams (5 of them, oh joy) then the week after I start all new classes and I don't know if I'll get much writing done, but never fear, I certainly will try. Like before let me know if there are any errors with anything, I will fix them. I hope you enjoy :)
Disclaimer: they're not mine.
As Hotch pulled up at the next crime scene, the group of three agents allowed themselves to be hopeful. When they got the call, the cops had said they had arrested a woman who they found poking around the scene. Although a woman didn't really fit their profile, it was certainly a start.
The profilers got out of the SUV and made their way over to the car where the newest body was found. It was a woman; she was sitting in the driver's seat covered in her own blood. The car was in the owner's driveway, parked in front of the victim's house.
"This UNSUB is all over the map," Prentiss mumbled.
"That's actually true also regarding the geographic profile I constructed yesterday." Reid said. "The UNSUB doesn't seem to have a comfort zone, he, or I guess she, started in the next town over which is two hours away, he or she attacks people on the street and in their homes or near them. It's really quite weird and it's almost impossible to give an accurate profile of this UNSUB."
Emily was examining the knife wounds and noticed something that was different from the last victim.
"Hey Hotch, come take a look at this," she said and waved him over. "The slash across this victim's throat goes from right to left, but I'm pretty sure that on the victim from the alley this morning the slash went from left to right. Could our guy be ambidextrous?"
"That's a good question. I'll call the morgue and have JJ go check out the other victims," Hotch replied.
"Agent Hotchner?" Hotch and Prentiss turned around and saw that the cop standing by the car holding their suspect was waving them over. Hotch and Reid walked over while Prentiss stayed and examined the scene more before they removed the body.
"Is there a problem Officer?" Hotch asked and glanced at their suspect who was sitting in the back of a squad car. The window was rolled down and she was staring at Reid. She had beautiful, straight black hair and mysterious brown eyes.
"Yes just a small one," confirmed the officer.
"The only problem is that the bobby here won't listen to me!" butt in the suspect. She had a British accent, something Hotch, nor Reid was expecting. Hotch looked at the officer with a questioning look of his face.
"She says her name is H.G. Wells."
"I'm sorry but I don't see the problem," Hotch replied.
"H.G. Wells was an English author who died in 1946," Reid supplied. "He was famous for his work in science fiction and is referred to as 'the father of science fiction' along with Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. Although there was some speculation that he got his ideas from his sister Helena, it was never proven."
"He got more than just his ideas from me," H.G. grumbled as she looked around at the gathering crowd.
"Right, and you just happen to know how to time travel?" the officer asked sarcastically.
"Well, if I did, I certainly wouldn't be here, now would I?" she snapped back.
Hotch looked at Reid. "Dissociative Identity Disorder?"
"Looks like it," confirmed Reid. "You know, maybe if we wait long enough she'll return to her real identity."
"Excuse me, but She is sitting right here!" H.G. exclaimed.
"I'm going to call Garcia," Hotch announced and walked a few feet away.
"You've reached your tech goddess, how may I assist you in finding your way, oh lost one?" Garcia answered cheerfully for six am.
"Garcia, we've got a suspect in custody and she's claiming that her name is H.G. Wells."
"Wait, H.G. Wells... as in the author from the 1900's?"
"That's what she says. Can you run that down for us?"
"Okay... well I don't have much on a woman, just a bunch of theories that says H.G. was indeed a woman, her brother was just how she got people to read her work. It was never proven. It says here that he died in August 1946."
"Okay, thanks Garcia," Hotch said and hung up the phone. He walked back over to the car where the suspect and Reid were having a conversation about murder.
"Do you still not believe me?" she said, changing the subject.
"No not really," Hotch replied.
"Fine. Why don't you ask her then?" H.G. said and motioned her head toward someone standing in the gathering crowd. "Claudia!" she called out suddenly. "Claudia!"
Hotch and Reid had heard that name just a few hours ago and in the crowd they saw a flash of red hair with a hint of turquoise.
"Reid you go get her, I'll see if Prentiss has found anything new," Hotch said.
Reid nodded and went in the direction Claudia had gone off in. After he scanned the crowd, he heard someone mumbling behind a car and when he looked behind it, he found Claudia talking into an odd contraption. When she saw him standing a few feet away she quickly closed it.
"You're Claudia Donovan, correct?" Reid questioned.
"That depends on who wants to know." she replied.
"Dr. Spencer Reid, I'm with the FBI."
"I had a feeling you'd say that."
"Would you mind answering a few questions?"
Claudia sighed. She knew that this was bound to happen as soon as she saw H.G. in the police car. She was in the middle of talking to Artie about what she should do when Dr. Reid had found her.
"Do these questions involve the woman who's handcuffed in the back of the police car?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, she says you can help us identify her," Reid replied. He had had a feeling that Claudia could somehow be involved in the case from the moment they told her that they were FBI back at the Bed & Breakfast. She had been acting very strangely before and now they sort of knew why.
"What do you mean by identify? Does she not know her own name?" Claudia asked, trying to stall.
"Look, could you please just come with me?" Reid asked, getting a little annoyed.
Claudia looked from Reid to the crime scene, trying to figure out if she could make a run for it. Probably not, they already know where I live, she thought.
"Do I have a choice?" she asked one last attempt to get out of there and back to the Warehouse.
"No not really," Reid replied and they both made their way over to the police car H.G. was sitting in. During the time that Reid was getting Claudia, Prentiss had joined Hotch and they were talking to the suspect.
"Claudia! Thank God," H.G. exclaimed. "Will you please tell them that I'm not crazy?"
"The jury's still out on that one," Claudia mumbled under her breath.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Prentiss asked looking up from her notes.
"Nothing," Claudia replied quickly.
"She said, 'the jury's still out on that one'," Reid said.
"Dude, really?" Claudia said and glared at Reid who was standing between her and the police car.
"Well I could be saying the same thing to you Claudia," H.G. interjects.
"Okay that's enough," Hotch said, clearly annoyed with their antics. "Ms. Donovan, do you know the woman in the car or not?
"Do I know her? No. Do I know who she is? Yes." Claudia clarified.
"So what's her name?" Prentiss asked. "Her real name," she added for good measure.
"H.G. Wells."
The three agents look at her, clearly tired of what was going on. They all exchanged glances, each one trying to decide on whether or not Claudia was lying. Prentiss looked from H.G. to Claudia, trying to figure out if they might have escaped from a mental hospital somewhere.
"I know that look," Claudia said to Prentiss. "You think we're crazy and that we're escaped mental hospital patients," she said with a grin.
Prentiss simply looked at her, completely dumbfounded.
"Well, in your case that's sort of true," H.G. said to Claudia, which made the three FBI agents rethink the situation.
"Hey, I'm perfectly sane," Claudia replied angrily to H.G.
"Yeah, now."
"Okay, you know what? Have fun in the psych ward and just a tip, don't eat the pudding. I'm outta here," Claudia said and stormed out of the crime scene.
"Oh come on Claudia!" H.G. called after her. "Could you at least call Myka?"
Claudia's sole response was a raised middle finder in H.G. direction.
Hotch, Reid and Prentiss and shared surprised looks, unsure on how to proceed.
"Wait, Myka Bering?" Prentiss asked, recognizing the name from the earlier crime scene.
"Yes," H.G. replied.
"Prentiss go after Ms. Donovan, Reid watch her," Hotch ordered and gestured to H.G. "I'm going to call Garcia."
Emily headed off in the direction Claudia had gone in. She found it odd that all these people were connected to the case in different ways. Myka and Pete were the ones who found the body of the earlier murder victim and they had said that there wasn't anybody else around. If Emily hadn't been rushed off to the next scene she might have thought about that fact earlier. Emily caught up with Claudia just as she was turning down the next street. She didn't seem to have a car with her, although Univille was a small enough town that you didn't really need one.
"Excuse me? Ms. Donovan? Could I have a word with you?" Emily called to her.
Claudia groaned internally; Artie was going to kill her. He had specifically told her not to get involved in the case; she was just supposed to be a town's person interested in what was going on. It seemed like Artie's Law of Artifacts had certainly taken affect: the worst thing that can happen with an artifact will happen with an artifact.
"Look," Claudia snapped. "It was only for four months and I checked myself in and out. No biggie."
"Actually, I was wondering if you knew Myka Bering." Emily said consulting her notes.
"Why?" Claudia asked warily.
"Could you just answer the question?"
Claudia opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by a vibrating sound coming from her bag. Emily recognized it from earlier when she had heard it coming from Myka's pocket.
"I do," Claudia replied, while acting like she didn't hear the noise. "Why do you ask?"
"And how long have you known... Ms. Wells?" Emily asked, avoiding Claudia's question.
"Not long," was Claudia's reply. The vibrating had stopped.
"Does she have any mental conditions that you're aware of?" the older woman asked.
"There's something wrong with her that's for sure." Claudia voiced. Mentally she thought, She's a freaking super villain, of course there's something wrong with her! Out of the corner of her eye, Claudia saw Pete and Myka walking down the street perpendicular to the one her and Prentiss were sanding on. Artie had probably sent them to check out the next crime scene or to find her since she wasn't answering her Farnsworth.
"Hey! There she is!" Pete exclaimed from across the street. He and Myka had been trying to find her for the last twenty minutes, since she had hung up on Artie. "Pete, can you not see that she's talking to someone?" Myka asked a little annoyed.
"Yeah, and it's Agent Prentiss. Sweet! I can work a little more of my magic on her." Pete said excitedly.
Myka rolled her eyes. "Pete, you have like no chance with her."
"Says you," Pete said. He put a huge smile on his face and started to cross the street.
Myka followed reluctantly. Artie wasn't happy about how involved they'd become in the case but Myka thought that it might be better as they would be able to get more information.
"Hey Claud," Pete said and looked to Prentiss. "Are we interrupting anything?"
"Actually, yes," replied Prentiss.
Myka looked from Prentiss to Claudia. "What's going on Claudia?" she asked.
"Uh..." was all Myka received as a reply from Claudia.
"We have a suspect in custody," said Prentiss. "She seems to know Claudia and she wanted us to call you as well."
Uh-oh, thought Myka. There weren't many people in town that knew both Claudia and herself, that could only mean one person. Myka narrowed her eyes and looked at Claudia, in response, Claudia gave a slight nod. Mentally, Myka screamed.
Pete looked from Myka to Claudia, trying to figure out what was going on. He had no idea why everyone had stopped talking so suddenly, as he wasn't following the conversation. Pete cleared his throat and looked at Myka; he was seriously confused.
Behind them, a police car drove by. Claudia spotted it first and motioned for Pete and Myka to look at it as well. What Pete saw angered him. Sitting in the back was H.G. Wells. Prentiss' phone began to ring and she walked a few feet away to answer it, giving Pete, Claudia and Myka a chance to discuss the recent events.
Myka was the first to speak. "What happened?"
"Artie asked me to come check out the new scene," explained Claudia. "I got here and Saw a police officer putting her in the car. When the FBI got here, they went to talk to her. I guess she saw me and called me over."
"Why?" questioned Myka.
"They don't believe she's H.G. Wells, so she wanted me to tell them she was."
Myka could hear in Claudia's voice that there was more to the story. "Well what happened then?" she asked.
"Well, we started bickering about.. Well that's not really important. Anyway, so I walked away and she told me to call you," Claudia finished.
"Okay, so she must have found the scene first and started looking for clues or something when the police arrived," deduced Myka. "That's why they arrested her! So... What do we do? We can't leave her there at the station."
"Why can't we?" exclaimed Pete. He really didn't trust H.G. and prison seemed like the best place for her. She couldn't hurt anybody in there and if they put her away for the murders then the FBI would have a reasonable explanation of what happened and she would no longer be the Warehouse's problem.
"Pete, they'll probably lock her up in an asylum or something," Myka attempted to reason with him.
"Again, that's a bad thing?" he still didn't see why she was their problem; she had gotten herself into this mess.
Prentiss made her way back over to the group. Hotch had called to let her know the whole team was meeting back at the station to discuss the newest victims and latest suspect. She had told him about her theory that Claudia, Pete and Myka were all somehow connected to the case so they decided that they should come down to the station as well.
"Would you three mind coming down to the station?" Prentiss asked the group. Pete was staring at her again, so she directed her attention to Myka, hoping he would get the point that she wasn't interested.
"No, not at all," replied Myka. "We'll take our own car; we can be there in five minutes."
"Okay, thank you." Prentiss smiled and headed back around the corner to meet Hotch at the SUV.
As soon as Prentiss was out of earshot, Pete exclaimed, "What? Myks are you crazy?"
"I too am a little curious as to what's going through your mind," Claudia said sceptically.
"Guys, if can get in the station we might be able to see what they have for evidence and what they think is going on. If we get on their good side, they could help us find the artifact without them even knowing it." Myka glanced between Claudia and Pete.
"Devious, I like it," Claudia replied with a evil smile.
"I guess you have a point," Pete admitted reluctantly.
"And you know," Myka said with a shrug. "It might help to see what H.G. found."
Pete sighed and nodded. The three made their way down the street to Myka's car.