Chapter 3:

Reid took a few steadying breaths. He tried extremely to not let tears well up again. The Fisher King! How he had been stupid to think that the Order had taken the hint that-

"Dr. Reid," Rose said in a more authoritative voice. "My agents don't know much about the BAU incident," she said gesturing to the group agents trying to stay as concealed as possible behind the shelves of Katherine Ravewood's equipment. "I think it is best that they hear the whole story from you. Then I'll get you up to speed on what happened afterwards."

He really hated the thought of discussing what he had been trying to bury for the last six years. "Do we have to do it here?" he asked. He didn't like seeing his name along with the others. "Why not at the FBI office?

Rose shook her head. "There are security cameras surrounding the office and even FBI agents get suspicious of fellow agents there at all hours," she said. She gave him an assuring look. "Just give your case summary and we can go on from there," she said.

Reid nodded and Rose called her agents to the center of the room. He made sure to stand carefully in front of where his name was even though it was written in an older language not taught class. All eyes were on him as he spoke.

"In the May of 2006 Randal Garner arranged to have sent a series of items connected to the past of the members BAU team I work with. There were some body parts also sent or left with some members such as the head of one of his associates to my mentor and his body was found in bed next to one of the agents vacationing in Jamaica. He also sent a cipher for team to decode."

He gulped and looked away for a moment. He hated describing his missteps and his mother's involvement. "Eventually I figured out that the message was part of a version of the tale of the Fisher King encoded in Chaucer poem my mother read to me when I was young. At this point I speculated that my mother might be a possible target. I finally realized how Garner learned so much about my team: He spent time in the sanitarium where my mother lives and whom I send letters chronicling my work at the BAU."

He paused and glanced over at Rose. She was staring daggers at her agents. She wanted them to know as little as possible about his mother as he did. She threw him a harsh glance, urging him to continue.

"When my mother arrived at Quantico she revealed she had received a postcard revealing where Garner was living along with his kidnapped daughter. I personally confronted Garner and tried to prevent him further harming my team- he had already shot one of the agents when we 'broke the rules.' I tried to convince him that he needed to let go of the guilt he harbored for not being a good father to his daughter and putting her up for adoption after being traumatized by the fire. But he begged me to finish one of the poems associated with Fisher King and I refused because I wanted to break his delusion. Instead he chose to blow himself up using a series of explosives that destroyed the house. My team was barely able to escape with the girl," he said.

Rose nodded. "Now please explain what made you think that this might be magic-related."

He hated this part even more. "As I escorted my mother to the sanitarium, she revealed a number of interesting things about Randal Garner. She mentioned how she would see people visiting him at strange hours. How some of his ramblings sounded like Old English. He was sometimes found telling himself that he must follow orders so that he could reclaim his princess. I was tempted to believe that the majority of my mother's observations were actually delusions. But I also had some understanding of how my mother processed information. I decided to contact the Guardians while in Las Vegas."

"I presented my findings to The Guardians and was shocked to learn that they had been monitoring what was thought to be neo-order under the name of the Fisher King. With some further research and my assistance we came to the conclusion that the Order was a terrorist group and Randal Garner was their suicide bomber." He heard some gasps among the agents. "The order had sent a man who was already mentally unstable to destroy the BAU. Though one of my team members was ultimately harmed, I was the target-" He stumbled a bit. He hated how arrogant he was about to sound. "I was considered the agent with the strongest magical heritage of in the FBI. A message to those who forsake their magic to work in the non-magic community were enemies."

His voice was growing hoarse. "I requested a three-day leave from the BAU and further assisted in tracking the series of attacks connected the Fisher King's Order. They were able to locate and destroy their headquarters. Unfortunately several high-ranking members including their unidentified lord escaped. I hadn't heard anything about the Order's revival until today," he said.

It appeared that several agents wanted to ask him questions, but Rose was quick to move the presentation along. "Thank you Dr. Reid," she said respectfully. "Now let's combine that with what we know:"

"After the attacks, the Guardians immediately implemented measures to further monitor the actions of magic-related groups might pose a threat to the non-magic and half-inherited practitioners whose dominant vocation was not magical. After three years of exhaustive and expensive monitoring, the edict was modified and the guardians who weren't released was absorbed by my department."

Reid couldn't believe the level of mismanagement of the Council. "How many are left?" he asked.

It was hard to read Rose's expression. It was a mixture of embarrassment and disgust that quickly vanished. "Enough to address what had been the current threat level for the last two years. In addition we were receiving multiple complaints from the community over what they thought was an invasion of privacy."

He sensed that there was great deal that Rose wasn't telling him. Even the agents had strange looks on the faces when they looked at him.

Rose continued. "Over the last year, hints were being dropped in odd locations. Elements of medieval sorcery were being discovered at more crime scenes. Criminals mentioned heavily-veiled references to old Merlin quotes during interrogation. A great deal of it was dismissed as part of the medieval magic obsession caused by the Harry Potter event. But some things seemed to sophisticated to used by amateur dark wizards. So we had recently increased our tracking work and we have some idea of where the order might stage a message with their next murder. But we weren't prepared for something of this magnitude."

One brave agent spoke up. "So where do go from here Madame Guardian?"

"We leave to get some rest," she said conclusively. She saw the looks of surprise on their faces. "Many of you have not had more than three hours of sleep in the last twenty-four hours. Energy potions can be extremely harmful to comprehension when used excessively. I am ordering everyone to get some sleep and prepare to come at seven o'clock assist Dr. Reid…"

Reid suddenly felt his watch vibrating. He looked noticed it was flashing green. It was his team.

Rose suddenly noticed that he hadn't been paying attention. "What is that?" she asked.

"I set up a charm that enabled me know when my team was trying to reach me," he said. "Where is your magic clearance point?"

"Mount Charleston," she said. "You're going to have to run to get the surface. Ravenwood has set this up as a bunker so there in no way of teleporting in or out of here."

Reid didn't need to be told twice. He dashed across the room.

"Teleport to the Eifel! That is where the Council is housing you!" Rose shouted as he began to climb the stairs.

…

"Hey Reid what took you so long?" Morgan asked. "This is second time we tried to call you."

"Reception is poor here," Reid said as he tried to breathe normally.

And of course the team didn't buy it. He heard J.J.'s voice next. "Are you okay? Why does it sound like you've been running?"

He was glad he had managed to come up with an answer for this one as he climbed. "We got a lead, and I had ended up chasing the suspect when he exited the side door I was covering."

Rossi was "Kid you do seem to have the worst luck at times," he commented.

He looked around down and could see part's Ravenwood's neighborhood. "I won't argue that Rossi."

"Well that's a first," Emily said. "Our genius agent actually acknowledging that someone else is right."

He felt himself turning a little red, but it felt good to hear his team teasing him. Something dawned on him. "Hey what are you guys doing up this late?" he asked. "It must past midnight right now."

The calm and controlled voice of Hotch started. "We're monitoring the tip-line we set up. We think the UnSub is on the verge of a psychotic break and we believe he will be calling us with information that will lead us to him in during his next murder as he wants his fate taken out of his hands during his final thrill."

He suddenly felt hungry for information. Desperate to help his team. "When did you activate the tip-line?"

"Six o'clock, why?" Hotch asked.

"Then he's not going to call tonight," he said feeling some of his old confidence returning.

"Why not?" Rossi asked with a slight note of agitation that was his signature tone when he was annoyed with him for making a sudden conclusion.

Reid almost wanted to cry. "I was reading up on the case before Garcia presented it. The newspapers reported that the victims who lived someone were always discovered midnight. I then also calculated the television news report gathering times based on the employment numbers. The bottom line is: The UnSub killed so that the crime would make the 11:00 news or become promotion piece for the morning show at the latest. So the UnSub has either killed someone whose body wouldn't be found until the next day. Or most likely, his psychosis has overloaded his ability to function but not his desire to kill. So essentially, the tip-line has induced a cooling-off period."

There was very long period of silence. He thought he heard Emily groan. "Reid, you just provided another profiling theory based off news announcements and an abbreviated profile description. You have also been working jet-lagged for the last three hours on another case. Do you ever stop thinking?" she said with an enormous note of exasperation.

"I have been asking myself that every single day since I started working with him Emily," Morgan said with mild amusement.

Reid began to laugh. He laughed so hard he felt himself choking up. Hotch came back on the line. "Reid, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine you guys," he said as he tried to relax. "It has just felt so weird working with a different team. They look at me like I'm from another planet when I provide fully-formed theories after looking at the evidence for only five minutes."

He suddenly felt very tired. He had spoken about things he had locked away in his mind for years. His mind was forcefully opened to experience power that was suppressing his understanding of scientific principles.

Hotch seemed to have picked up something. "Reid, go get some rest. And based off your profiling theory, I'm inclined to order the rest of the team to do the same."

He had no desire to question his boss's orders. "I will Hotch. The Vegas Agents are signaling me to go head to my hotel right now."

He and his team exchanged good-byes and then hung up. He looked at the small portion of The Strip he could see and felt a feeling of rage boiling to the surface. He hated this place. He hated the council. He hated what they had done to him and his mother almost twenty years ago.

He took a few strides away from the cell tower and found a clearing. He balled up his hands and let them turn purple with rage. He let raised them above his head and thrust them down creating a set of long tall purple lines of fire. The heat of his power was intoxicating. To his annoyance the flames weren't going as far as wanted. He noticed a force field being held up.

Clara Rose was standing there with her hand raised in front of her. The power of her shield wore down the flames along with his energy. He fell to the ground, too tired to even react.

Rose walked over and knelt beside him. "Come on Dr. Reid. Let's get you to the tower before you burn down the mountain. And I believe you do have enough mostly justified rage to do so in less than an hour."

She touched his shoulder and felt her prepare for teleportation. "And I can't say wouldn't mind that much except for the fact that I would roped into covering up," she said lightly. "If only preferred a nice shade of red," she said as they vanished from the mountain.