The team was back the police station along with Reid and Mills, discussing the attack.
"I take it what happened to you and Mills was another one of Joker's schemes," Morgan asked Reid.
"I'm afraid so," said Reid. "It was based off of the comic Mad Love, which started off with the Joker disguising himself as a dentist so he could kill Commissioner Gordon, who went to the dentist for his daily check-up. Luckily, Batman was able to rescue him in time."
"Just like you did," said Rossi. "You're our very own Batman."
"I don't know. Judging by his size, Reid would probably be a better Robin," Morgan joked.
"Very funny," said Reid, rolling his eyes. "Let's save the jokes for later. Right now, he got to figure out the UnSub's plan and he went after Mills."
"I know him," said Mills.
The others all looked at the Sherriff.
"Could you repeat that," asked Hotch.
"I said I know him," said Mills. "When he held me captive, I recognized his voice. He's a kid I knew from my early years as a cop. He hasn't had such a good life."
"Can you remember his name," asked JJ.
Mills nodded before talking again.
"His name is Brandon. Brandon Price."
Morgan quickly took out his phone and called Garcia.
"Mistress of knowledge, at your service," she said.
"Hey, baby girl," said Morgan. "I need you to dig up some info on a Brandon Price."
"With absolute pleasure," said Garcia as she typed away on her computer. Sure enough, a picture of Brandon Price appeared on her screen. Without the make up and green hair, he looked like a normal young adult with short black hair and green eyes.
"Brandon Price, born March of 1995," Garcia said over the phone. "His mother died giving birth to him, so it was just him and his father."
Garcia then read something that made her blood run cold.
"Oh dear," she said. "You remember how I told you about that liquor store robbery that was held up by your theatre victims? Well, Brandon's father was the one they shot and killed. Young Brandon was waiting outside the parking lot and saw the whole thing from the window. He was only ten when it happened. "
As Garcia typed some more, she saw some other articles that she found quite coincidental.
"After all of that, Brandon was sent to a child therapist to deal with the trauma and that therapist just happened to be Thomas Thurston. Brandon was one of the poor boys he touched. Brandon was also taken into foster care by none other than Karen Oliver and he was one I told you about who got the broken arm when she threw him down the stairs."
"I covered those two cases," said Mills. "I remembered comforting Brandon both times, telling him that the people who hurt him would get what they deserved. I didn't say anything before because I didn't think they were connected. I just thought these were random killings."
"What about Rebecca Green," Reid asked Garcia. "How is she connected?"
"Way ahead of you," said Garcia as another article popped up on her screen. "Turns out Rebecca and Brandon were dating for a while. Three years in fact. They were even scheduled to get married, but Brandon caught her cheating on him with his best friend, Gary, the guy who got shot in the knee caps. And it was on the day before the wedding too. Poor guy."
"That's his plan," said Rossi. "He's going after all of the people who have wronged him."
"This also explains why he spawned the Joker persona," said Reid. "All of the people who hurt him are people who are suppose to protect and take care of you, but they didn't. He figures that if a hero can't help him, then maybe a villain.
"What about me?" asked Mills, "I didn't do anything to him?"
"He probably believes you lied to him," said Hotch. "You told him that the people who hurt him would get what they deserved, but Thomas Thurston got off scot free and Karen Oliver only got community service."
"Garcia, we need you to get us Brandon's current address," said Morgan.
"And here I thought you going to ask for something difficult," said Garcia. "Brandon Price is currently living in a dorm room at Los Angles State."
Location: Los Angles State University.
Hotch and Morgan, along with a group of SWAT members, stood in front of the door that lead to Brandon's dorm room.
"Brandon Price? FBI! Open up!" Hotch shouted.
When he didn't get an answer, Morgan kicked the door open and they all entered. The room looked like a regular dorm room, with a bed, a desk and a TV, nothing seemed unusual. That is until Morgan opened up the closet.
"Hotch? You might want to see this," he said.
Hotch went to the closet and took a look inside. He saw that the wall was covered with pictures of the Joker. Some were pages from comic books while others were pictures of the character in movies and cartoons. Also on the wall were photos of the past victims, Thomas Thurston, Karen Oliver, Duncan Lang, Steven Down, Paul Rose and Rebecca Green, all of them with a big red smile smeared across their mouths. There was also a photo of Sheriff Mills without the smile.
"Looks like Brandon is still after Mills," said Morgan.
"Which means we have to catch him before he goes through with his plan," said Hotch.
Back at the police station, Reid and Mills were sitting in the sheriff's office. Reid noticed that Mills had a look of fear and concern on his face.
"Don't worry, my team will find Price," he said.
"I kind of feel sorry for him," said Mills. "He had such rough life and it drove him to insanity."
"That's mostly the case with all the UnSubs we deal with," said Reid.
At that moment, a cop entered the office, holding onto a package.
"Hate to interrupt, Sheriff," he said. "But this was found in front of the station and it has your name on it."
The cop handed the package to Mills, which had the words TO SHERIFF MILLS written on it. Mills opened it up and inside was a CD with the words PLAY ME RIGHT AWAY on it.
Mills then placed the CD inside the disk drive of his computer and let it play.
On the screen was a video of a terrified man with white make up smeared all over his face. His hands were tied together and he was holding onto a sheet of paper. Despite the makeup, Reid knew right away who it was. It was Chad Down, Steven Down's brother, the one Reid interviewed.
Chad was seen quivering in fear as a hand appeared on screen and slapped him in the face.
"Read what it says," came a threatening voice. "Just like we rehearsed."
"This is a massage to Sheriff Mills," Chad said, still trembling. "If you want to see me alive and well, you will come to the old parking garage on Oak Street in one hour. You and Brandon have some unfinished business to take care of. "
Just then, the camera moved away from Chad and Mills and Reid saw a close up of Brandon Price wearing his Joker make up.
"You heard it here folks," he said. "Mills must come and meet me or else Chad will be joining his brother in the afterlife. I'm a man of my word."
Brandon then let lose with an insane laugh before the screen went black.
Mills and Reid just stood in silence at what they just saw until Mills stood up and left the room with Reid following behind him.
"I'm going after him," he said.
"You can't," said Reid. "This is another Joker scheme Brandon has made up. It came from an issue of the "Death of the family" saga. The Joker kidnapped the son of his first victim and made him read a message to Batman to lure him into a trap."
"I don't care," said Mills. "Chad didn't do anything to hurt Brandon and I am not going to let him suffer."
"Fine. But I'm getting my team to come with you," said Reid as he took out his phone. "I'm not letting you do this alone."
Location: Parking garage.
A group of squad cars laid in wait as Reid, Morgan and Mills entered the parking garage. There was nothing in sight until they both heard muffling noises just a few feet away. They made their way to where they heard the sound and found Chad lying on the ground with his hands tied behind his back and a huge piece of duck tape stuck to his mouth. Reid and Mills made their way to Chad and quickly untied him.
"Are you all right?" asked Mills. "Where's the guy who did this to you?"
"I don't know," said Chad. "He just left me here. Said that I did my duty and he didn't need me anymore."
"C'mon, buddy, let's get you home," said Morgan as he lead Chad out of the garage.
"I'm going to look around," said Mills. "Brandon might still be here."
Reid and Mills searched the entire garage and couldn't find anything. That is until they could hear a loud cackling echoing though the area. Then all of a sudden, Reid felt something hard and blunt hit him in the back of the head, causing him to fall to the ground. Mills turned around to see Reid on the ground and standing above him was Brandon wearing his Joker make up and wielding a lead pipe.
Mills was about to run, but then Brandon grabbed him and jabbed a syringe into his neck, injecting him with a clear liquid. Mills began to stammer a bit before falling down and going into unconsciousness.
Brandon then bent down towards Reid and placed a small piece of paper into his pants pocket and whispered something into his ear.
"Please tell the big man I said 'Hello'"
He let out another insane laugh before grabbing Mills by the ankles and started to drag him away.