CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR: BACKUP MAN !

11x01

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        EVERY TIME THEY GOT CLOSE, THEY WERE BACK RIGHT THEY STARTED. Another murder, another state, another murder, another state. This unsub had the team on their heels more often than not. And with two members out? This was hard.

         Casey sat at her desk, developing her research of the crime scenes when she had seen Garcia and Hotch making their way up to the conference room. Casey looked over towards her fiancé, Spencer and the two exchanged a look and nodded, both heading up to the conference room themselves.

        There, they were greeted with the rest of team entering.  "Is it the same unsub?" Spencer asked as soon as he and Casey walked in. "Two kills on two coasts in two days." Morgan told. "This guy's on a mission." Casey comments. "And he's not gonna rest until he completes it." Morgan nodded.

      "Then neither will we." Hotch tells and Garcia then speaks up, "But we're down three profilers." With Kate leaving, Vivian on a small sabbatical to see her son and JJ going on maternity leave after having her second born, Michael, it felt like the room was getting smaller and smaller. Hotch had been trying to get a new agent in the room but everyone was hesitant to let another person leave. And they could tell Hotch was, too.

      "Our six brains against his one," Rossi tells. "My money's still on us." Casey nods along, "Damn straight." The team sits down in their seats. "Let's get to work." Hotch orders and the team does what they do best — debrief and get to work. The unsub had been killing his victims and using face paint to cover their faces. It reminded everyone of clowns, which left Casey a little unsettled with her fear of clowns. After debriefing, Hotch told Morgan to figure out the MO, Rossi and Casey to stay on victimology and Reid to dig deeper into the ritual. Hotch had excused himself from the conference room and answered a phone call he received from Vivian, checking in.

        A few months had passed since Kate had sent in her letter of resignation. Things were changing all around. Especially with JJ having another baby. Things were changing for Casey and Spencer, too. Casey was spending more time with her half-siblings as well as Lennox, who in all honesty, they didn't get to see that often since she was placed in yet another foster care home.

         Casey knew that Lennox was going to go through a lot since nobody had hardly ever been in this girl's corner. Especially since her aunt up and abandoned her. And Lennox was an angsty twelve year old girl, could you blame her for acting the way she did? But it didn't help that Lennox often rebelled against her foster parents and was getting pushed away by them because she wouldn't open up to them. The only people that would be able to get her to open up had been Spencer and Casey. She has learned new things about them everyday. Like how Spencer loved reading and the wintertime and Halloween and how Casey joined the FBI when she was really young and how they both had a son named Christopher, who would be turning two very soon. And even when Lennox was being moved and rebelling against her new set of foster parents, Spencer and Casey never gave up on her and never lost contact with them.

       And even in tough cases like these, Lennox still managed to cheer Spencer and Casey up with her sarcastic wit. Casey had smiled down at her cell phone and Spencer and Rossi turned over to the woman as she chuckled. "I take it Lennox is doing good?" Rossi assumes. "As good as she can be." Casey answers and put down her cell phone to help Rossi with victimology. The three were currently at Spencer's desk, setting the board near there to be ready.

      "Well, this doesn't clear up much. Vic #1 was a divorced dad who got custody of his kids." Rossi said. "And number two was the local drug supplier." Spencer adds. "So if the question is, what connects these two guys, the answer is... nothing, nada, zilch, zippo. We're back at square one." Casey sighs.

"And we never would have made the connection if it weren't for the face paint. Which begs the question, why do it at all?" Spencer asks. "To taunt us, feel superior." Rossi lists.

Spencer looks down at his desk and grabs a book as he speaks. Casey takes notice of how messy his desk area is. Covered with dozen of books since the case started. If Casey didn't know any better, she would say that she was rubbing off on Spencer with her messiness. It was bound to happen.

"It's obviously a message, and my assumption is that it has something to do with the mouth, 'cause look at this." He flips through a page as Casey stands up from her seat and looks over his shoulder. "The colors of the pulcinella are oddly inverted. Traditionally the character has a black face but a white jaw. He's painting it the other way around." Spencer pointed and Casey had figured something out in her head. And she was waiting to see if Spencer had figured it out too, but from his eyes, he didn't.

"Don't you get it?" Casey asks as she looks down at the book. "Get what?" Spencer questions, looking at his fiancée. "You said that this character was the precursor to today's clown because he couldn't speak, right?" Casey asks.

Spence nods, "Yeah, that's right." Casey walks towards the board in front of her. "So... he was also the first mime, too." She finished, trying to see if Spencer got the picture now.

"Very much so." Spencer said and he thought for a moment before understanding where Casey was getting at with this. His eyes widen and his expression changed quickly. "Which means... oh." Casey nods towards her fiancé. "Oh!"

"You see my point now?" Casey asks and Spencer nods as he frantically searches for the crime scene photo on his desk and gives Casey a kiss on check but not before saying, "Babe, you're a genius." He said before heading up the stairs to the conference room.

"What was that about?" Rossi asks. "Sometimes, he just needs a little push." Casey sighs as the two follow Spencer up to the conference so he can tell Garcia, Morgan and Hotch what he had figured out with Casey's help.

"He has a feeding port in his stomach?" Garcia questioned once Spencer got to the point. "The nutritional supplement that Dr. Mertz found in both victims would be ideal for someone who couldn't eat normally. So if the unsub sustained an injury to the jaw, it would also suggest that he's unable to speak." Spencer explained.

"Hence the pulcinella mask." Rossi spoke. "It's his way of communicating." Casey nods. "Okay, so what is he trying to say?" Garcia asks. "Well, let's work our way back to that based on what we know." Morgan sits up. "We know this guy travels thousands of miles in two days. So, he probably doesn't sleep. He's able to sneak into a suburban house or a drug den undetected. He overwhelms his victims silently and then injects them. And then as they lay there dying over the course of an hour, he simply sits over them and leaves them a highly symbolic message, but it's a precise message. His victims are seizing up right in front of him, but this guy does not miss a brush stroke. This is a man who's been around death before. It doesn't faze him. Who else would leave this type of message?"

"Drug cartels." Spencer answers. "Cutting the tongues out of snitches and the hands off of thieves." Rossi adds on, "The mafia, sleeping with the fishes and all that." Hotch concludes, "He's a contract killer."

"Only a hit man would be this good. But his message--" Casey cuts Morgan off as she adds on to what he's saying. "It's not for us," She says. "It's for his customers."

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Another body had been found and Garcia had gotten stuck to a point where she didn't know where to look. But with Morgan's help, they'd found their next victim and where he would hit next. The team had delivered their profile to the agents that were practically competing to take over Kate's spot.

After finding out where their next victim was, working at a tire shop, Hotch had sent Rossi, Spencer, Morgan and Casey to go and get Al Eisenmund in for questioning. They had gotten there along with SWAT in under ten minutes.  Casey jumped out of the SUV, restrapping the Velcro on her vest as she and the others were met with SWAT.

     "Agents," One of them men greeted them. "Captain Wilson, Baltimore SWAT." Rossi shook his hand. "How do you want to do this, Captain?" He asks. "We'll breach and clear. When it's locked down, the site is yours. Sound good?"  Captain Wilson told and the team nodded.

      Upon checking the site, the team entered with SWAT covering them. "Police!" Suddenly, they were met with a man screaming: "Don't shoot! Do not shoot!" SWAT and the team had directed their guns towards the man, sitting on the ground. "Come out with your hands up." Morgan ordered.

     "That's gonna be real hard, real hard. Look!" Casey furrowed her brows as the man held his hands clasped together. "What's that you got in your hands?" Captain Wilson asked and as soon as Casey got a closer look at what was in his hands, Morgan announced: "Grenade!"

     "Drop it! Drop it!" Wilson told, aiming his gun towards the man. "I can't drop it!" Eisenmund yelled. Casey and Rossi stood beside the captain, shouting at everyone to calm down and to not shoot.

      But Spencer yells: "Weapons down! Weapons down!" And inserts himself between SWAT and Eisenmund. "Put your weapons down! Put your weapons down." He faced Eisenmund. "You mean that literally, don't you? You can't drop it."

     "Yeah!" Eisenmund nods and Spencer kneels in front of him as Morgan approached the man, "What did he use? What did he use?!" He questioned. Eisenmund nods his head towards the hood of a car.

     "It's dried and set and he glued over the pin. Do you have any acetone?" Spencer asked the man. Eisenmund shook his head, "It's not gonna work. It's not gonna work." He says. "Reid, he's right," Morgan spoke. "This is industrial acrylic. It holds car parts together."

      "Bomb squad's ten minutes out," Captain Wilson spoke. "I'm gonna take out my men and set up a perimeter. Maybe we can still box this guy in."
      "We're staying." Rossi decided and Casey puts her gun in her holster. SWAT exits the scene and Casey and the rest of the team members stay with Eisenmund.

      "You gotta do something, okay?" Eisenmund said as Casey stood in front of him. "We will, we will, but your best bet is to stay still. Stay still." Casey told, holding his hands in place.

       "He-- he pulled the pin. I'm holding down this clamp here, but my hand is cramping, so you--just do something, all right?!" Eisenmund was losing patience and at this point, so was Casey.

       "Morgan, four cars." Spencer spoke, making Morgan look at him confusion. "What about them?"
       "Each car has a battery, right? Each battery has an electrolyte solution of 62% water, 38% sulfuric acid." Spencer explained and Morgan looked towards the batteries and shook his head at the idea. "But, Reid, that's not gonna work." Rossi then chimed in, "Why not?"
       "Because the acrylic will still stay bonded to the metal."

       "Absolutely true," Spencer said. "But it will also create a saponification effect on his flesh. The grenade will literally slide out of his hand like a wet bar of soap. Of course, there will be an intense burning sensation on the skin, and the smell will be horrendous—"
        "Spencer, why would you say that?!" Casey questioned.

       "You can't-- you're not burning my hands! You're not gonna do it!" The man shook his hands and screamed and that further agitated Casey. "Look, I am trying to remove this bomb from your hand as carefully as I can so will you do us a solid and just shut up?!" She screamed at the man and furthermore silenced everyone in the room.

        Morgan exchanged a look with Reid, internally wondering if Casey's attitude was something he endured on a daily basis.

        Spencer had explained to the team what they needed to do and to wear rubber gloves to protect their hands. Casey held the man's hands together and so did Morgan and Rossi would be ready to get the bomb from under his hands so it wouldn't drop. Spencer would be placing the acid in his hands.

      "Someone's gotta hold the grenade while this thing is--right?" Eisenmund questioned. "That's my job." Rossi commented.

     Spencer holds a baster full of the acid and he looks at Eisenmund carefully. "This is gonna hurt, but you'll survive." He told. "Is everybody ready?"

     "Yeah," Rossi told. "Just watch your end, kid." Casey nods along, "Be. Very. Careful." She says sternly. "That's also gotta go for you too, Ace." Morgan tells.

     "All right, my hand's on the lever." Rossi tells and Morgan adds on, "All right, I need you to help us pull." Eisenmund nods as Spencer places the acid in his hands and Eisenmund begins to scream in pain. The acid is burning at his hands, foaming them up like a bath bomb and Morgan and Casey pull as Rossi removes the grenade from his hands.

      "I've got it!" Rossi announces and Casey sighs in relief as she lets go of Eisenmund's hands. Morgan places a rag for Eisenmund to hold in his hands. "We safe, Rossi?" He asks and Casey stands properly. "Yeah, we're good. The lever's st--"

      There's a pause from Rossi and the next thing Casey hears is Rossi yelling: "Run!" Casey nearly shrieks as Eisenmund runs first through the doors, everyone else in the room nearly pushing Casey out first behind him.

       Casey and the rest of the team duck behind a police car as Casey dives forward to safety. Spencer had made his way right behind her, diving towards her to shield her as the grenade explodes the shop. As soon as the explosion stopped, Casey coughed out and noticed Spencer holding her, Morgan and Rossi right behind him.

        "You guys okay?" Spencer asks. "Anyone hurt?" Spencer helped Casey up. Everyone else stood as well and the members look towards Eisenmund. "You okay?" Spencer asks and before Eisenmund can answer, he's puking behind the police car. "Yeah, he's fine." Rossi answered for him.

        "Anyone wanna explain to me why the hell we almost got blown up?" Casey questioned. Morgan looks towards the great ever puking man behind them. "He knows."

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       After Morgan had a friendly chat with Eisenmund, the team discovered that Eisenmund put a hit man on a hit man and the hit man didn't take so kindly to almost being killed. Garcia had now been explaining to them what she had found. "Okay, so, a week ago, this guys stumbles into the Atlantic City E.R., having been shot in the jaw. Can't give them his name 'cause of the whole shot in the mouth thing. But his fingerprints lit up the Rome police database like a Christmas tree."

      "Italian," Rossi said. "That explains the pulcinella influence." Garcia nods, "Yeah, they were able to get a name -- Giuseppe Montolo, but by the time Jersey PD got there, Montolo had been patched up and made his escape."

      "And now he's on some type of payback gig." Morgan spoke. "I Spit On Your Grave." Casey spoke, referencing a movie she'd watched back in her early 20s. "He has no idea who double-crossed him, so now he's killing every customer that he suspects might have done it." Morgan finished.

     "I tried to use Al's username and password to flush out other clients, but they don't call it the Darknet for nothing." Garcia stated. "Then we let it go. We're not going to catch him that way." Rossi told.

     "What other way is there?" Casey asks. "Montolo changed his MO drastically with the last victim." Hotch told. "He went from up close and personal to collateral damage." Spencer added. "Al blows himself up or we kill him." Rossi says. "Either way it's a win-win."
     "If he made that dramatic a shift, it was a mistake. That's how we catch him." Hotch told.

      "All right, then let's do this old school, Gideon-style," Casey spoke and looked towards Morgan. "Morgan, you have Al's confession. Walk us through it like you're the unsub."

       Morgan looked at the ground before thinking to himself, everyone impressed by Casey's words, taking after her uncle well. "I got my victim on the ground, and I have the syringe in my hand. I have total control over him. This is my moment. I'm gonna make him pay for what he did. But Al said he got a text. I don't like what I see. Now I have to change my plan. What was on that text?"

      "Someone tipped him off," Hotch told. "He wouldn't deviate that much otherwise."
      "But that would mean that--"
      "We have a mole."

      Casey looked over her shoulder to new agents around the perimeter. "Double-agent?" She asks. "There's a lot of new faces around here want to join the BAU." Rossi speaks. "I don't think it's a federal agent. I think it's someone in local law enforcement." Spencer explained.

      "Based on what?" Morgan asks. "The clock," Spencer says. "According to Al, the unsub left five minutes before we showed up. That's a narrow window. Too narrow for him to wait around for an embolism, but he had to figure out a way to deal with his last victim. Montolo changed his MO at the last moment because he learned about us at the last moment."

      "So the last on to hear the cavalry was coming in the Judas." Rossi tells. "That means a local cop." Hotch then comes up with a theory. "Or SWAT." He looks towards Rossi. "You said Wilson pulled his men off the scene?"

      Casey nodded, "Yeah, he said he wanted to box the unsub in. But maybe he really just wanted to ensure he got out."
      "We profiled that the unsub would have support and resources. An ally in SWAT would give him both." Spencer added.

      "We go after a captain, we need more than a profile, we need proof." Morgan tells. "The security perimeter they set up, they would have recorded every license plate-- Garcia." The woman nods and heads for her computer, "Yes, sir."

      "Okay, cross-referencing last name Wilson. Uh, okay. I got a Ford Taurus. It is registered to Betty Wilson, wife of Captain Phil Wilson." Garcia found.
       "Uh, unsub version of a third wheel?" Casey says in almost a question.
       "Quite a plan these three have." Rossi stated. "He waved his own wife through the checkpoint." Casey nodded, "And she secured the hit man's escape."

      "Montolo has them both working under duress. Wilson has to be a customer." Morgan concluded and Hotch concurred, "Which means he's also a target."

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      After talking to Betty on why she needed a hit man, Hotch had sent Morgan, Casey and Spencer along with some SWAT members to the address that was in his phone and was going to meet Captain Wilson along with the unsub.

      They had been hiding away and ready once they had arrived. Casey pulled her gun out, ready to shoot if she needed to. They had seen a car finally pull up and Casey ducked her head down a bit as the headlights shone in her eyes. Morgan informed Hotch that man had gotten there through his mic. The headlights turned off and Casey heard on Morgan's mic. "Morgan, do you have a shot?"

      "Do you have a visual?" Morgan asked a SWAT member, who shook his head at his answer. "Hotch, this is negative. Wilson's in the way."

       A moment later, gunshots are fired and the unsub is escaping from the car. "Go! Go!" Morgan told and he decides to chase after the unsub. The captain holds his gun to his neck, ready to kill himself but both Spencer and Casey hold their guns up to him. Casey's is through the windshield while Spencer's is aimed to the driver's side.

     "Drop the gun, Captain." Spencer told. "No," Wilson states. "It was all me. Betty had nothing to do with this." He said, trying to protect Betty but they'd already known the truth. "We already know it was both of you, Phil. But you did what you did... out of love." Casey looked Spencer's way as he spoke to him as calmly as he could. "And Betty's only hope for leniency is if you testify on her behalf. All right? So don't abandon her. Not when she needs you the most."

      "Captain, if you kill yourself, you're killing her," Casey spoke up next, Spencer looking her way as she spoke. "She needs you. And if you do this, she'll hate you. For the rest of her life, she'll hate you. And she's gonna need you in court."

      With that, Wilson surrendered and Casey had arrested him and Morgan caught Montolo. As the car lights shone, Casey took Wilson to a police car and Morgan took Montolo to an ambulance for his injury.

      Spencer had decided to call Garcia and Hotch to let them know what happened. "We got both of them," He announced as he looked back towards his fiancée putting Wilson in a police car. "Alive."

       Spencer hung up, looking towards Casey proudly and she looks his way and nods at him, indicating that everything's okay. He nods back, reverberating that everything is absolutely okay.

        Once they arrived back at the BAU, Casey had finished up her paperwork and was waiting on Spencer to finish his. She smiled sweetly at the sight, seeing his tongue stick out a bit in thought and his fingers tapping against the wood of his desk. She looked down at her desk at the photo of her and her son, thinking about how much she missed him and how she was excited to see him again.

         Casey's thoughts were paused when she noticed her phone buzzing on her desk. Lennox💛 was calling. She knew she was expecting a call due to the last text she'd sent. "Let her know I said hi." Spencer muttered over, already knowing Lennox was calling Casey. Casey smirked a bit as she answered and held the phone to her ear.

        "YOU HAD TO LAUNCH A GRENADE?! You stared at the face of freaking death today! Your adrenaline must've been pumping! Did Spencer really figure all of that out with a car battery?"

        "Hello, to you, too, Lennox."

hehehehee season eleven😈
the season of hell and the season of a LOT of originals
get ready for some soon!
also
lennox's faceclaim is isabella merced! idk why but she just fits this role in my head

(watching 'instant family' totally didn't inspire this plot of the story👀)

me watching y'all comment theories but i really know what's gonna happen:

anywayssss
lemme know what y'all wanna see more of this season!
-mya </33