As promised, here's another chapter!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Criminal Minds nor Kamen Rider Fourze nor the characters of either.

WORD COUNT: 2490

Thursday, February 19th, 2015

Ryūsei frowned down at the dead body crumpled against the brick wall of the alley. Bruises and cuts covered every inch of exposed skin, his clothes were torn and bloody, and his neck was twisted at an unnatural angle. They'd just watched him walk out of the FBI Field Office less than twelve hours ago, and now he was dead.

"He's been dead roughly ten hours," the medical examiner approximated, "I'll know more after the autopsy, but cause of death appears to be a broken neck. The marks around his neck appear to be braided, possibly from a rope."

"So was he strangled or was his neck snapped?" Ryūsei asked, then paused, considering another possibility, "Is it possible that he was hanged?"

"Yes, it's possible, but like I said, that'll have to wait until the autopsy."

Ryūsei nodded and let her go back to her work, and walked over to the FBI agents. "The medical examiner's put time of death around the same time we let him go."

"His apartment's in this direction," Reid commented, "He probably was on his way home, and took a shortcut through here."

Kate looked at their surroundings. "Sketchy. I wouldn't walk through this place at night, and I carry a gun."

"Well, he is one of the kind of guys you'd be worried about running into," Morgan pointed out, "He probably thought he had nothing to worry about."

"And obviously he was wrong." She looked over at the body. "This murder was more drawn-out than the others. Even if the killer was using a Zodiarts Switch, it takes time to beat someone that extensively. This feels personal."

"Well, two Seaimpíní members and the wife of one were killed in the past two weeks. Even if he didn't kill them himself, Lamberti'd still be a target for anyone seeking revenge."

A few hours later, they got a confirmation from the medical examiner; Jacopo Lamberti had a hangman's fracture to his spine. Traces of leather with an odd radiation level were found in the wounds on his neck, and it was noted that he had to have been moving at high speed when his neck was broken, in order to account for the severity of the damage.

All the agents were scattered, doing their own tasks. Garcia was combing through Lamberti's phone and email records and those of the other suspects. Kate, JJ, and Hotch continued to interrogate their prisoners while Ryūsei and Reid went through the Fortunato case files and Morgan and Rossi revisited the scene to look for any other connections.

"Ka-Ching!" Garcia suddenly cried, "Guys, I've got something!"

The two agents present gathered around her. "What have you got, Garcia?" Reid asked.

"Okay, when I went through Lamberti's calls, texts, and emails, I found a lot of communication between him and the other three in the last couple months. There's a lot of talk about their boss, Bertoldo De Luca, and how he's getting too old to lead the Jackknives, and that someone should take over."

"That's why Fortunato was killed," Ryūsei realised, "He was De Luca's right-hand guy, he must have been too loyal and wad considered a threat to their takeover."

"And the other murders were probably to get the Seaimpíní involved," Reid guessed "to put the blame for Fortunato's death on them."

"But wait, there's more!" Garcia interjected, "I found a few interesting emails between Arnaldo Aita and one Siobhan Mahoney, who is the daughter of Teague Mahoney, leader of the Seaimpíní. They're discussing a possible alliance between the two gangs, since she's in a position to influence her father. This woman's hard-core, I'm telling you; she's only twenty-four and she's got a rap sheet longer than some of her gang's known enforcers. And she still somehow manages to be Daddy's Little Girl."

"Did she know about Acqua and the others conspiring to overthrow De Luca?"

"Yes. In fact- holy moley! She forwarded him an email address as part of their deal, and there's a deleted email from that address with nothing but a time, date, place and a price." She tapped some more keys, and huffed. "It'll take time for me to figure out where it was sent from, whoever it is, they know their stuff."

"I'll tell Hotch," Reid said, "We should probably check that place out; it's likely where they bought their Switches."

Half an hour later, Ryūsei was pulling up to a side-alley in a rental car, meeting Agents Morgan and Rossi. They were already probing the area. "Find anything?" he called as he approached.

"Got some tire treads here," Morgan said, "But since Aita and his people were here nearly a month ago, so they could be from something completely unrelated."

Ryūsei sighed. "I guess I expected that."

Rossi then noticed something, pointing to a nearby gas station. "There's a security camera on the corner of that building. It's not pointed directly at the alley, but we might be able to get something from it."

Morgan nodded. "I'll go and talk to the manager, see if they still have last month's footage."

The two remaining men looked over the rest of the alley, but came up with nothing. "So, what was with you, after Tuesday's fight?" Rossi eventually asked, "You seemed almost… disappointed."

Ryūsei sighed. "Partially. Pretty much every Zodiarts I've ever fought was tougher than those three combined. It was too easy. I think it was that way for a reason, but I don't know what."

Rossi frowned, not liking the implications of that at all.

It was just after sunset when they got another lead, but it came at a price. A pair of police officers, along with animal control, responded to a 911 call about a 'wild animal attack'. When they arrived on the scene, one cop was savagely mauled by the escaping creature, and was now in critical condition. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and identified as Nicomede Orlando, another member of the Jackknives.

Based on the fact that this Zodiarts was described as having fur and claws, Ryūsei was able to narrow the constellation down to possibly seven, ten if one counted the Zodiarts that he and the Kamen Rider Club had already faced*. It didn't quite narrow the list down enough, but it was better than nothing.

Orlando's phone and email records showed no sign that he'd been involved in Aita and company's conspiracy. What troubled the agents was that it was the second killing in as many days. The other murders had taken place at four- or five-day intervals, and the victims had alternated as to which gang they'd belonged to. This was two Jackknives in a row, and while that was to be partially expected since all their known Switchers were in jail, the decreased cooling-off period was still worrisome.

"I'll bet the Seaimpíní are changing their tactics," Morgan threw out, "They've decided enough is enough and are taking one Jackknife out a day, and it'll probably get worse from there."

"Garcia, I want you to go through the security tapes Morgan pulled and see if you can identify anyone going into that alley," Hotch instructed, "Then go back further and try and find when the Seaimpíní bought theirs; it's possible they used the same location. Aita was in contact with Siobhan Mahoney; I'll try and get something about that from him. Morgan, Rossi, go talk to De Luca, see if he knows anything about the plots against him. Agent Sakuta, I'd like you to go with them, in case another Zodiarts pops up."

Ryūsei was unimpressed with Bertoldo De Luca. He was clearly intimidating to an ordinary person, even in his advanced age (he was pushing eighty), but to someone who'd faced down Zodiarts on the moon as a high schooler, he was rather harmless in comparison. Rossi and Morgan seemed less than impressed as well, which was unsurprising considering the psychos they'd met through their own line of work. They'd already met with him once before, when they'd first arrived in Boston, to ask about the first four murders.

"So, you're here to talk to me about Jacopo and Nico, aren't you?" the elderly mob boss asked, "Or the fact that you're holding two of my people?"

"Both, actually," Rossi replied easily, "Did you know that Arnaldo Aita, Cirino Acqua, and Rosalinda Cavallo were responsible for the deaths of Brady Powers and Daley and Erin Whalen?"

De Luca took a deep sip out of his wine glass. "They were, were they? I wasn't aware." Ryūsei got the feeling he was lying.

"Well, that's got to be bad for you," Morgan commented, playing along with the lie, "Your own people acting without your orders. It sort of gives the impression that you're no longer in charge, doesn't it?"

That had De Luca leaning forward, and the nearest of his men cracking his knuckles. "You'd better watch your tone there, young man. I am in full control of my organization."

"Are you sure?" Ryūsei asked quietly, "What if I told you that Aita may have been responsible for the murder of Elmo Fortunato?"

"He was your lieutenant, right?" Rossi added.

De Luca scoffed. "Impossible! That was those Irish bastards in the Seaimpíní!"

"No, it was Aita." Rossi's tone made it sound like he was telling a toddler that two and two did not equal three. "He went and got those Switches behind your back, too, didn't he?"

Ryūsei slid print-outs of Aita's emails to and from Siobhan Mahoney. "He's been in contact with Teague Mahoney's daughter. She gave him the contact information for the people that sold him the Switches, and they've even discussed an alliance between your… organisations. Oddly, there was no mention of consulting you on any of this."

De Luca's face turned an unflattering shade of red as he read the papers before him (once he put on his reading glasses). "You haven't written these yourselves, have you?" he asked suspiciously.

"No, sir," Morgan replied, "And there's something else you should know. Acqua, Cavallo, and Lamberti were all in on it." He leaned forward. "They were trying to overthrow you, De Luca. Tell me, how much control do you think you have, that something like this can happen right under your nose? You got played by your own people."

In De Luca's enraged expression, Ryūsei thought he saw a flash of the younger cutthroat the man had been in his prime.

Friday, February 20th, 2015

In the early hours of the morning, two groups met in a shipping warehouse. Tensions were high as they stood facing each other in the centre of the building. Siobhan frowned when she didn't see Aita or Acqua in the crowd. It lent credence to the rumours of their arrest. Lamberti's absence, she knew, was because of Carbrey Powers. Her father had demanded revenge for Brady, Daley, and Erin getting killed, and she didn't blame him in the slightest. She and Erin had been best friends since high school, and the other woman had even met Daley through her. They'd only been married eight months when they were killed. Now Siobhan was feeling guilty for getting her involved with Daley, involved with their world, and for setting this whole thing off.

When she'd been contacted by Arnaldo Aita with a proposal for a truce between their gangs, she'd been skeptical. Not the least because while she was Teague Mahoney's daughter, she had no official authority within the Seaimpíní. But still, she did have her father's trust. She'd grown up in this world, she knew how to run things, and he knew better than to ignore her perspective. She could have convinced him to consider a truce with Aita once he took over the Jackknives.

And hadn't that blown up in her face? De Luca had sent Aita and his crew after her people, her family, in response to the death of his lieutenant. Even worse, Aita had gone along with it. She'd anticipated some sort of betrayal, which was why, when he'd enquired about the Switches (as Connor had used his to intimidate – but not attack – a group of Jackknives encroaching on their territory after receiving it), she'd requested that their benefactors produce lower-powered Switches. That way, if Aita and his people turned on them, she and the others could easily overpower them.

"Bertoldo," her father greeted De Luca coldly.

"Teague," the older man replied in the same tone, "It seems there's been a gross misunderstanding between our groups."

"Your people killed mine, and blamed us for somethin' we didn't do," Daidí snapped, "What's there to misunderstand?"

De Luca sighed. "It's come to my attention that some of my guys… well, I guess they aren't really my guys anymore. They went behind my back and tried to unseat me. They were the ones who killed Elmo, and I apologize for blaming you."

"Do you apologize for having Brady killed?" Teague growled, not appeased by this revelation as well, "For Daley? For Daley's wife? She was innocent!"

"I lost another man! Did you or did you not have one of your subordinates kill Gabriele Innocenti?!" He did, Siobhan knew. Carbrey had been grieving his little brother's death, and her father had been more than happy to let him vent that grief. "And what about Nicomede Orlando?! What was he killed for?!"

"Your people started this! Whether they were loyal to you or not!"

It was quickly degenerating into a shouting match, so Siobhan stepped in before things could get any worse. "Who was it?" she asked, "Which ones are responsible for killing our people? If they're trying to take you out, you have no reason to shield them."

De Luca glared at her. "Arnaldo Aita, his girlfriend Rosalinda Cavallo, Jacopo Lamberti, and Cirino Acqua. You killed Lamberti, and the others were nabbed by the cops. But you already know that, don't you, la signorina?" Siobhan felt a jolt of panic. "I know you were in contact with one of them."

How had he known? Siobhan immediately turned to her father, who was looking at her in surprise. "That's not true, Daidí," she insisted, "I'd never go behind your back like that." It was a bald-faced lie, but she knew he'd believe her.

*Canis Major, Canis Minor, Leo Minor, Lupus, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, and Vulpecula are the seven unused constellations associated with animals with fur and claws. Canes Venatici was the Hound Zodiarts from Episodes 7 and 8, Lynx is from 17 and 18, and Leo was a high-ranking, recurring Zodiarts and the closest thing Ryūsei has to a personal nemesis. Another recurring Zodiarts, Scorpion, evolved from Canis Minor prior to the beginning of the series, but they did technically face her, just not as Canis Minor, only they wouldn't have any way of knowing what her original form was.

And here's a preview for the next chapter. I think you guys will like this one...

Ryūsei shook his head and pulled out his cell phone. Eight more people had died since he'd arrived, more than doubling the original body count. This was getting way out of hand. "That's it," he declared, "I'm calling in backup. I'm not losing another person to this."

He dialled the number for his immediate supervisor in Interpol. "It's time," he told the man, "Call in the consultants. I need them in Boston as soon as possible."