Author's Note:
Action can be hard to write, but it can also be fun. Especially when magic is involved.
Chapter 11
Morgan rubbed his fingers together as they sat in the waiting room lounge where Rose was preparing tea.
"So how exactly does this work?" he asked. "Can I throw fireballs?"
"I am not sure exactly," Rose replied. "This magic is designed to magnify and transform the abilities you already have."
"That is not much of an answer," he said.
Rose bit back the agitation that was growing. "There was nothing else in prophesy about what the magic will do. And frankly for prophesy that was fairly specific."
Hotch was sitting with his finger bridged. "So where exactly do we go from here? There is an UNSUB on the loose and we still don't know much about him in his current state."
Rose began serve tea. "We rest," she said. "I think we have all been working so hard and for so long that we'd only be looking at information with tired eyes."
Rossi took a sip of the tea. It wasn't as horrible as he thought it would be and it actually helped the headache that had been growing since he entered that van. "Do you have a place set up for us to stay?"
Rose smiled her broadest smile. "As a matter of fact I do. It is a secret floor of the Eifel Tower that we in the magical community own."
"Wow," Rossi said, "that sounds like a place even I couldn't afford."
This earned a few laughs among the team and Rose smiled also.
"It is actually intended for the use of Reid as the Council's rather pathetic attempt at courting him to rejoin the magical community."
Emily had finished her tea and was getting some more. "I'm not sure I could say no to that."
"If that was all the council was offering I wouldn't either," Rose said. "But the council is eager to have him back to manipulate him to do other things on their behalf."
"Such as-"Emily began to say when the door exploded open and the windows shattered. The agents took for cover.
Cesar Coyle dressed in frayed duster and beaten-up dark cowboy hat appeared. Underneath he wore dirty patched jeans and a long dark shirt with rips and what looked like blood stains. He carried thick a wooden staff that had black jewels carved into it. His face looked like it was chiseled out of wood and there was along scar across his scraggly face. His hair long hair of was dirty mix of black and gray. The look on Rose's face said it all; this was indeed the Cesar Coyle mentioned with fear in her voice.
He stomped his staff to the ground again and Rose was suddenly hanging from the ceiling by her feet covered up to her mouth in chains. Ignoring the other agents, he walked right up to her.
"You really thought you could break hundreds of rules without me finding out?" he said with a slight southern twang. He was practically shaking with rage. "You'll pay for this woman!"
He prepared to strike her with his staff when suddenly Hotch came between them holding a red metal shield.
"That is enough!" he said while trying to suppress the shock of actually holding a shield when he wanted to try to stop him from hurting her.
Coyle grinned and slapped the shield away and smacked Hotch to the ground.
Morgan suddenly found that when he reached for his gun he found himself holding a sword. He lunged at the staff try to knock him off balance. Coyle laughed and easy dodged and proceeded to kick him next to Hotch.
"Stop hurting my babies!" Garcia screamed and suddenly moved her fingers as if she were at keyboard and tried to present an image or Reid's smiling face after being healed.
Coyle never stopped smiling. "That is no reason to involve pathetic creatures like you." He slapped back at her an image of children being burned to a stake during a recent witch hunt.
Garcia fell to her knees and burst into tears. J.J. touched her shoulder and managed to absorb the pain away. She then looked to Emily and realized they were on the same wavelength. They pulled out their guns that became swords and approach him from different directions.
He merely stomped the staff to the ground and both agents went flying. J.J. barely missed the hot kettle and Emily was slammed under a pile of chairs.
Rossi was the only one left standing. He had his arms crossed and settled in for business. "Okay I'm not going to try to use my 'magic skill' to fight as clearly, even with Diane's magic you have us beat. So what do you want? Killing some high-ranking agents doesn't seem like a good strategy."
His smile grew broader to reveal some broken teeth and a few replaced with gold as he slowly approached him. "Oh if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already. I am just trying give little Miss Clara a lesson on what happens when you bring outsiders in."
He sauntered back towards Rose whose hair had fallen down and tears were dripping down her forehead. Rossi considered trying to attack him then but he knew he wouldn't have any luck. He tried another idea.
"She is a member of the FBI you know," Rossi said. "Anything that might happen to her will be thoroughly investigated."
Coyle turned his head briefly. "And I thought you were the smart one. I possess magic! I can make her severe head injury look like anything I want and none of you would no better especially after I wipe your minds of this whole incident. The only reason you're still conscious is because I want to make the lesson personal."
Rossi tried to remain calm. "Aren't we getting a little off track though?" he said. "There is a man in charge of an organization dedicated to destroying lives on the loose."
"He is nothing," Coyle said. "I can take care of him in a minute. Little Miss Rose has been mishandling the investigation. She should have been using more aggressive methods for gaining information instead of playing with maps."
"That doesn't exactly sound legal by either governing worlds," Rossi said.
"The council will do as I say!" he shouted and the ground shook. "They do not care about methods! They will just know the great Cesar Black-fire Coyle killed the threat to their livelihood!"
Coyle began to approach him and suddenly Rossi found himself in up off the ground gasping for breath.
"I do not think highly of men who try to talk their way out of situations," he said menacingly. "Even those pathetic women tried something but you only depended on stalling tactics and didn't even try to use your gift," he said. "So I think I'll make your last memory of this place the most painful."
He kept choking Rossi as he began to turn blue when a ball of lightning hit Coyle square in the chest. Rossi fell to the ground gasping for breath to see Reid dressed in a robe and hospital gown approaching Coyle.
"You really think you could attack my friends like that and get away with it!" he shouted angrily and threw another lightning ball at his chest just as he was recovering from the last one.
Coyle buckled but then put up a shield to control the remainder of the last one. "They never should have been invited to the show," he snarled, "and you should have burned for your stupidity." He then launched blast red light straight at Reid's face.
It merely bounced off of him. More bandages were dissolving off his arms and legs to reveal fresh skin as he walked. "You do not know what it is like to be a valued-loved by a group of people," he made a pulling motion with his hands and flickers of light appeared around Coyle, suggest shields were ripped off.
"I am valued by a group of people," Coyle snapped "people who are strong and willing to make sacrifices." He stomped he raised staff to the air and ceiling tiles began to fall.
Reid easily formed a shield and flew off the ground. He swooped towards and Coyle and grabbed him by the throat. "I don't think you're much better than the monsters you hunt," he said tightening his grip on Coyle's throat. "I don't think you can help us apprehend the UNSUB without further death."
As Coyle struggled as he pulled the man through the pane-less windows. "Come back before this ends you will not get off so easily. You will see the magic I inherited from my mother as it was used against you to thwart your unwanted advances." Reid then simply dropped him out the window. There was an enormous cloud of gray smoke that agents' senses were heightened enough to know that Coyle had not died from the fall but merely teleported away.
"He won't be coming back until this is all over," Reid said simply as more bandages melted away from his neck. "He knows better than to trifle with a very angry descendant of a powerful Mordred."
Reid rushed to Clara who was still hanging from the ceiling. He stroked the metal column and she instantly fell free and landed in Reid's arms. She pushed herself out and onto the ground breathing heavily and massaging her neck. Tears were leaking down her face.
"I did not intend for that to happen," she said breathlessly.
"No, but you knew it was a possibility," Reid said in a gentle tone, "and that was the best choice." He rubbed the back of neck and the bandages on his arms had dissolved away completely. "Few things motivate me more than when my team needs me."
Emily finally freed herself from the chairs. "And we certainly needed your help in that fight."
There were grumbles and moans of agreement from everyone else.
"Its' okay guys," Reid said soothingly. "We'll fight better next time especially with Rose's training.
Rose let out a moan louder than she intended. "If I can get on my feet," she said as tried to get her to push herself off the ground and fell on all fours. "I don't think I can even teleport those guys to the Eifel."
"That's why I am coming with you," Reid said with a grin. "AMMA, Against magical medical advice."
Rose laughed a harsh laugh. "You know I did consider the possibility of Coyle coming and you emerging to save the day but even you can't teleport all of us. I can barely-"
Reid grabbed her by the shoulders to an up-right position. "Rose I use my genius intellect to profile the UNSUB. When I am the field though, my job typically does not involve apprehension. I am the one who takes care of the victims," he said thinking of child in he'd found in Vegas. "Let me take care of you," he said and then hugged her deeply.
Rose let out a small hiccup then began to adjust her rings. She was still in Reid's embrace when she teleported him and all of the agents to their place of respite.