Just outside the parking garage, Reid was sitting inside an ambulance with an ice pack on his head. Morgan went up to him to see if he was okay. Reid could tell by the look on his face that he felt guilty about what happened.
"Reid, I am so sorry," he said. "I should have stayed with you."
"Don't blame yourself, Morgan," said Reid. "You did the right thing. You had to take Chad to safety."
Hotch then walked up to the two.
"We need to figure out where Brandon has taken Mills," he said.
That's when Reid remembered that Brandon placed something in his pocket before he left him. He placed his hand in the pocket and pulled out the item, a small folded piece of paper. Reid unfolded it and saw the words, "I VOTED FOR DEATH" written on it. Reid then quickly went up to one officer at the scene.
"Do you know if there are any abandoned warehouses in this area?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah, there's one just a few blocks from here," the officer said. "It use to be a toy factory."
"What do you got, Reid?" asked Morgan.
"I think I know where Brandon is," said Reid.
The team were driving towards the old factory while Reid explained what he found out.
"Brandon is recreating one of the biggest Joker stories of all time. It was in the comic story "Death in the Family." In it, the Joker kidnaps the second Robin, Jason Todd, and takes him to an abandoned warehouse where he beats Jason with a crowbar before leaving him to die."
"How does the note Brandon leave you have to do with it?" asked Rossi.
"Before the comic even came out, the creators made up a contest where fans got to vote wither Jason lives or dies. They all voted that he died. Also what Brandon said to me before he left, 'Please tell the big man I said 'Hello,' is what the Joker said to Jason before leaving."
The team drove up to the old warehouse. It was covered in broken windows with a large faded jack-in-the-box sign. As the team exited the vehicles they tried to think of a way to get in there without Mills getting hurt.
"This won't be easy," said Hotch. "Brandon won't listen to reason. He actually believes that he's the Joker."
"Wait, that's it," said Reid as he came up with an idea.
He quickly went to one of the vans and popped open the trunk revealing his Bat Box. He then took the lid of it and removed his rubber Batman mask.
"I think I know how to talk to him," he said as he showed the mask to the others.
Inside the warehouse, Mills was lying on his side with his hands handcuffed behind his back as he eyed Brandon walking towards him, welding a large crowbar.
"Brandon, please," Mills pleaded. "You don't have to do this."
Brandon didn't say anything. He just looked down at Mills with a huge smile on his face before whacking him with in the side with the crowbar.
"Oh, that looks like it hurt," he said before whacking Mills a second time. "Oh, wait, that looked like it hurt more."
Brandon then dropped the crow bar onto the ground and pulled out a small knife from his pocket. He then bent down towards Mills and placed the blade in his mouth while using his other hand to point at the sides of his lips.
"Want to know how I got these scars?"
Just then, Brandon heard the sound of a door opening. He quickly got to his feet and moved around the room to see where it was coming from.
"Who's there?" he said. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."
Brandon then saw something that him stop dead in his tracks. There in the shadows, he could see an image of a man with pointy ears. Brandon was so shocked that he dropped his knife.
"It's over, Joker," the figure said in a gruff voice.
"Batman," Brandon said. "I was wondering when you were going to show."
While this was going on, Reid snuck behind Brandon and quickly un-handcuffed Mills.
"You are going to pay for your crimes," said 'Batman.' "All the people you murdered. Their families are going to get their justice."
"Oh please," said Brandon. "We all know how his work. You arrest me, I escape and then you do this whole thing all over again. It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic. Oh what the heck, I'll laugh anyway."
Brandon then let lose with a long maniacal laugh before he turned around and saw Reid and Mills trying to escape. Brandon ran towards them, but then the Batman figured pulled out a gun and shot Brandon in the leg, causing him to collapse.
As Brandon lay down in pain, clutching his leg, he looked up at the figure in shock.
"Batman doesn't use a gun," he said.
That's when the figure came out of the shadows and revealed that he was actually Hotch wearing Reid's Batman mask.
"That's because I'm not Batman," he said as he removed the mask.
Back outside, the team watched as they saw Brandon handcuffed to a stretcher and about to be hauled into an ambulance. Before he went in, Mills went up to him a look of guilt on his face.
"I'm sorry, Brandon," he said. "I know you wouldn't have been like this if I had just helped you."
"Well, maybe I am a bit batty," said Brandon. "Blame it on the bats in my belfry."
Brandon then let out another crazy laugh as the paramedics placed him in the ambulance and drove off.
Mills just looked at the ground in shame knowing full well that Brandon Price was long gone.
In the comic-book world, there tends to be an overblown sense of tradition. Bad habits die hard. There are ways I think the form could work more effectively if we lost the bad habits that were created before we were born.
-Frank Miller
In the jet, Reid and Hotch were talking about the stand off they had with Brandon.
"I gotta say Hotch, you played a pretty good Batman," said Reid.
"Thanks. I bet Jack will be pretty surprised to hear that his dad was Batman for a day," said Hotch.
Reid then turned to see Rossi sitting beside them reading one of his comics.
"Rossi, I didn't know you were a comic reader," said Reid.
"Well, Joy's son has a huge collection of these and I took a peak at a few of them," said Rossi. "Although, I don't think he's old enough to read this one. I'm at the part where the Joker kills a bunch of boy scouts by giving them poison cotton candy."
"I'm sure glad we didn't have to do a case like that," said JJ.
"Or how about this one," Morgan said as he walked by reading anther one of Reid's comics. "In this issue, the Joker steals a baby gorilla from a zoo and trains it to become his bodyguard."
"Now that would be quite the adventure," joked Rossi.
Location: Dental office
Hotch was in the waiting room with Jack for his annual check-up.
"How have been brushing right?" Hotch asked his son.
"Of course, Dad," said Jack, a little annoyed. "Believe me, I don't want a needle in my mouth."
At that moment, Hotch looked up and saw a patient leave the dental office. To his shock, it was Reid.
"I thought you hated dentists," he said.
"Well, I figured that if I can handle a guy who thinks he's an insane clown, I can handle someone poking inside my mouth," said Reid.
Jack noticed that Reid had a small dinosaur sticker on his shirt.
"You like dinosaurs too?" he asked.
"Who doesn't," said Reid as he left the room with a smile on his face.