CHAPTER SIXTEEN: BELIEVER !

13x22

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        AS FAR AS CASEY WAS CONCERNED, SPENCER REID HAD ALWAYS HATED E-MAIL. Always has, probably always will. So, it was a little odd that he received an anonymous email regarding an old agent that quit over a year ago whose whereabouts were hidden... until now.

         Of course, since Casey was now Spencer's boss, he had to ask her send a SWAT team for the location to find the missing agent. So, Casey had that taken care of. She waited outside of the location, letting Emily know what was going on via texting. This would be both Casey's and Spencer's first case back from their thirty days off for their reinstatements.

Casey had then received information that Owen Quinn's body was found in the storage unit. Spencer watched as they were taking his body to the hospital. And Casey then approached Spencer.

"Hey." She greeted and Spencer turned around to face Casey with a disappointed look on his face. "We were too late." He told. "We tried," Casey said with hope in her voice. "Now we need to tell the team."

Before they could continue their conversation, some scuffling is heard and one of the EMTs is thrown towards the concrete. Casey and Spencer rush over to the ambulance and they see that Owen Quinn is alive and he's holding one of the EMTs with a scalpel in his other hand.

"Owen!" Spencer shouts and Casey looks at Owen, "Owen, hold on!" The SWAT officers are holding their weapons up to Owen. "Drop your weapon!" They threaten.

"Everybody, stand down, hold your fire. This man is on the job." Casey orders. "FBI Special Agent, Owen Quinn, badge number 2310-niner-5." Spencer reminds Owen. "Owen, look at me."

Owen opens his eyes and notices Spencer in front of him. "Reid?" He says it like he's in disbelief. His eyes then trail over to Casey. "Willows." He stated. "Yes, Owen." Casey nods. "You're safe now. You're home."

Owen lets go of the EMT and looks at the two agents in front of him. "How long?" He asks. "Don't worry about that right now. We need to make sure that you're okay." Spencer told.

"What year is it?" Owen asks.
"It's 2018." Spencer tells.

Owen holds the scalpel to his neck but before he can pull, Spencer and Casey stop him from doing so. "No!" Casey gets the blade out of his grasp as Spencer assures to him, "You're safe now. You're safe."

"No, I'm not!" Quinn yells. "I'm not!"

Casey and Spencer exchange a glance and there was definitely something bigger at play here. They just didn't know what it had been just yet. But they know they had to tell the team and they would get to that the next morning when Casey stated to them the importance of this gathering she was calling.

          Casey had started with the FBI photo of Owen's on the screen. "Sorry for the pop quiz so early in the morning but does anybody remember this agent?" Casey asks.

         "I do not." Matt answers. "That's Agent Owen Quinn. He worked here until he quit a year ago." Garcia answered. Tara followed with, "He worked in the violent crimes apprehension program on the 5th floor, but he aspired to be a profiler."

         "So, why'd he quit?" Matt asked. "He was convinced there was an unsub we missed working up and down the Northeast corridor. He named him 'The Strangler.'" Luke explained. "Naming the unsub. That's exactly what we don't do." Matt comments.

        "That wasn't his only mistake." Rossi stated. "Yeah, we reviewed his report. He started with a single victim... a woman in Maryland who'd been strangled and had the hyoid bone at the front of her throat removed, but she was his only confirmed victim." Tara told.

         "Well, one murder doesn't make you a serial killer." Matt said. "Yeah, we told him that." Tara said. "But he was convinced so he started forcing missing persons into his victimology to fit his profile." Casey added. "In the end, five of his seven victims showed up alive and unharmed, two were inconclusive." Tara finished.

        "First sin of profiling. Trying to fit the evidence to match a theory." Rossi said. "Quinn took the criticism personally and quit, said he'd pursue the investigation on his own." Luke told.

         "That's a little impulsive." Matt comments. "So, how did we find him in the storage unit?"
        "I got an e-mail." Spencer answers. "Got an e-mail?" JJ asked. "You hate e-mail."
         "I do," Spencer nods. "I was even more surprised when I saw that it was an anonymous sender. Garcia, can you put the message on the board?"

        Beside Quinn's photo had been the e-mail Spencer was sent. And that message was sent for Spencer to find his body in Unit 299. "That's Quinn's FBI ID badge. That's a big piece of bait. I mean, the unsub knows we have to take it." Luke told.

        "Someone left us breadcrumbs to a former federal agent, who sure as hell looked dead. So did the unsub think he was dead when he left him there for us, or was he leaving us some kind of witness?" Matt wondered.

         "Or to put it another way, is this guy trying to help us or taunt us?" Rossi wondered himself. "Right now, Quinn has all the answers. It's our duty to find them." Emily said.

         "Yeah, so Spence, you'll interview him. Luke, Tara, go to the storage unit, see what you can uncover there. Matt, JJ, I need you to reach out to Quinn's wife and son. They might wanna know about this." Casey ordered.

          As everyone set out what they were ordered to do, Casey had found Spencer before he'd gone ahead to talk to Owen in the precinct. She had to talk to him about this. "Hey..." Spencer turned once Casey had reached him. "Tell me not to worry?"

         Spencer furrowed his brows. "About what?" He asked. "Well, considering that I am your boss, you kinda had to tell me about your email but why didn't you just call the rest of the team? And why ask me to take a SWAT team to a storage unit in the middle of the night so ominously. You're keeping secrets, okay? And when you keep secrets, I get nervous. Because the last time you kept secrets, you—"

        Spencer stops in his tracks and turns to Casey. "I went to prison for a murder that I didn't commit." Casey nods, "Yeah. And last time I checked, it basically destroyed us. So... tell me not to worry. Not as your boss... but... as your friend." Casey told.

         Truth be told, she really was worried about this situation with Spencer. She didn't want this whole thing to land him in imminent danger again and she wanted to be there for him, regardless of whether he wanted her there or not. Spencer knew Casey cared, but he wanted her to care in an entirely different way. But he'd actually been making progress getting over her. It was just too hard when she'd talk to him like how they used to be back before they were officially together.

       "Whoever did this wanted me to find Quinn, and I needed to know why." Spencer stated. "Do you even know him that well?" Casey asks and Spencer shakes his head. "No. I mean, I've seen him in the building occasionally, but that just made the whole thing weirder."

       "You're lucky I got Emily to sign off an extension on both of our sabbaticals." Casey told. "So, tell me not to worry because I need to do my job and I can't do my job unless I have a weight lifted."

         Spencer nods at Casey and he takes a breath. "Don't worry." He tells and Casey takes a sigh of relief. "All right." With that, Spencer walks off to go and chat with Owen.

         When Casey had gone back to her office, she'd noticed Emily and Rossi already in her office and Spencer had soon explained the people that were holding Owen captive and Rossi and Emily started spewing out their theories to her as she got settled down at her desk.

        "You think we're being played?" Casey asks Rossi after he's finished with his own tangent. "You tell me if you buy this... a husband-and-wife killing team raising a sun in the middle of suburbia like Ozzie and Harriet." Rossi told.

       "Faking trauma," Emily started. "That's a dangerous game to play against profilers. What's he trying to hide from us?" Rossi continued, "He could be covering for whoever locked him in that storage unit. My mind goes to The Strangler. And there's more going on between them than he's letting on."

          "Believe me, I think there's something else that's deeper than this, too. Since we've had Owen, he hasn't been giving up pertinent details, he's holding stuff back." Casey explained.

         "You know where my mind goes... to serial killers like Tony Costa, Israel Keyes, Fred West." Emily listed and Rossi nods, "Suspects who killed themselves once they were taken into custody." Casey nods in realization. "Like Quinn tried to do last night."

       "You think maybe he's The Strangler?" Rossi wondered. "I think we leave all theories on the table until we verify his story. And I think we verify his story by going back to where it started." Emily decides to call Luke and Tara back at the storage unit.

       "Luke, what have you got?" Emily asked. "So far, we can tell you that the unit was rented in Quinn's name two days ago, all paid for in cash. Security camera footage caught footage of a hooded male hefting Quinn and everything else into the unit on that same day. We sent it over to Garcia, but it's too grainy to ID." Luke explained.

      "What else have you found in there?" Rossi asked. "Looks like someone stuffed an entire girl's dorm room in here... linens, clothes... reads to us as young and female." Tara informed.

       "So, someone with the physical strength to carry Quinn around also packs up his daughter's... or his girlfriend's college dorm room." Emily concludes. "But what's the pattern here?" Casey wonders. "We're asking ourselves the same question." Luke stated.

       "Keep us posted on what you find." Casey tells and Luke finishes before hanging up, "All right. Will do."

After that, Spencer had come back to relay back info that he found out from Owen. Owen had been close with the son of the duo that kidnapped him and constantly asked him questions about his coursework, things about profiling. It was then that Spencer came up with the conclusion that Theo was taking his classes and he had soon informed Emily and Casey about when they walked into the conference room to get Garcia to find out what she could about him.

"Theo was in my class at Marbury University. That's how he got my e-mail. I included it in the syllabus." Spencer informed Emily as they both walked into the room. Garcia worked her magic. "Okay... there are nine Theo and Theodores enrolled at Marbury. None of them are enrolled in your class." Garcia informed.

"Too much of a paper trail. He was most likely just auditing." Spencer looked at the board, studying the nine Theos on the board until he finally pointed to one. "Him." Garcia nods, "Theo Holston. On it."

"Okay, let's talk this through. We need to make this make sense." Casey told. "Well, one theory is that Quinn has been the killer all along. Theo somehow trapped him, left him in the storage unit for me to find, and Quinn's post-traumatic decompensation act is just that... it's an act. His behavior doesn't match someone who's been traumatized for a year." Spencer explained.

"Or Quinn's telling the truth," Emily spoke. "Theo put him in there to frame him, probably under his parents' orders."

Garcia had finally found something, "Okay. Theo Holston's parents are Jerry and Donna Holston. Jerry is an insurance salesman, just got "employee of the month" Donna's a housewife, no criminal record." Garcia explained. "Not exactly the psychopathic team that Quinn painted." Spencer stated.

Casey takes a breath, "Alexandria's a short drive. Spencer, I want you to stand down on this one. Luke and Matt will lead on this." Casey decides to make a call to Luke and Matt to rummage through the house from the inside out and had found the Holstons' bodies down in the basement and used Quinn's gun to do it.

Casey had gone back to her office to take care of some things of her own, like paperwork and going over this case when there was a sudden knock on her door. "Come in." She tells.

"Hi, uh, Agent Willows? I'm Special Agent Meadows. From ViCAP? I have Owen's..." The woman corrects herself. "Uh, Agent Quinn's file on The Strangler that you requested." Meadows holds the file towards Casey.

"Thank you. It's Mary, right? Right there is fine." Meadows places the file on Casey's desk but before she can walk out, she stops herself. "Um, I'm sorry, but I have something to say, and it's not just me."

Casey looks up at the woman and then nods, "Close the door." She offers the seat in front of her after she does so. After having a conversation with Agent Meadows, Casey decides to call a gathering since everyone seems to have a theory going back and forth and after what happened with Quinn reuniting with his son and wife and calling his son 'Theo', Casey knew the team had to talk.

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"Okay, we all want a profile that explains everything, wraps everything up neatly, but we don't have that here. All we have is a bunch of disgruntled theories that I'm confusing each and every one. So, instead, I'd like to hear everyone's best theories, and we're gonna rebuild this case from the ground up. Anyone can have the floor." Casey offers.

"Well, Quinn as The Strangler still gets my vote. I mean, start with how he treated his wife. It's textbook precursor behavior." Matt started. "Okay, then when he worked here, he did his best to throw us off. And when he felt confident he could get away with it, he quit to kill with impunity." Tara followed. "Until Theo caught him for us." Luke added.

"That's where I tap out," Rossi starts. "A 19-year-old kid gets the drop on an experienced FBI agent? The agent's also a serial killer who just killed the kid's parents? No."
"So what's your theory, Rossi?" Emily asked.
"I don't have one." Rossi tells.
"Seriously? You're the reason I called this conversation." Casey told.

"Let's consider this. Quinn just called his own son 'Theo'. Classic example of parapraxis." Spencer stated. "A Freudian slip." Tara added. "Literally defined as an unconscious wish or subdued desire. So, why, in the middle of an emotional reconnection with his own flesh and blood would he call out someone else's name?" Spencer questions.

"He built a bond with Theo," JJ told. "That may be born from Stockholm syndrome?"

Casey checks her phone. "If you guys could follow me downstairs, please?" She asks and leads them to the floor to meet with the ViCap team speaking on Owen's behalf and putting their own theories out there.

"You all know the ViCAP team from the 5th floor? Once they heard about our investigation, they asked us to consider some new information about Owen. Take it away, Mary." Casey offered.

"We just... we wanted to say we worked with Owen, side-by-side, and..." Meadows starts and another agent follows with, "He wasn't a killer. Eccentric, maybe obsessed, but not a killer."
"I sat next to him for three years. He was a dedicated public servant. He believed in what we did here."

"Well, if he was so dedicated to the FBI, then why did he quit?" Matt asked, curiously.

"He thought he could save lives," A woman speaks. "He couldn't just let The Strangler keep killing."
"And the victims he thought he found, they were college-age kids, a little older than his own son. He couldn't stand the idea of those parents not knowing what happened to their child."
"You have to admit, the unsub's hunting ground... New Haven, New Rochelle, New Brunswick... he was right on."

Meadows chimes in finally, "And we get it. We're not the profilers. You are. But if he was a psychopath, we would have noticed."

Emily nods to them, "Thank you." With that, the ViCap team walks away and the team is left to debrief after the interaction. Casey and Emily both sit at the edge of a desk. "Any more theories after that?" Casey wonders.

"Well, let's just say for the sake of argument we take Quinn's story at face value. What does that leave us with?" Rossi asks. "Theo," Luke answers. "Maybe he's not a killer, but he's involved and he's gone out of his way to stay off our radar."

"Garcia, look at Theo's classmates and focus on the name 'April'. According to Quinn, that was his girlfriend's name. They may have met on campus." Spencer tells as Garcia works on the tablet she tapping on.

"Hello, gorgeous. April Pearson took a linguistics class with Theo. She lives in an apartment just off-campus... which she just moved out of." Everyone exchanges a glance. "Well, that would explain the additional belongings we found at the storage unit with Quinn." Tara tells.

"Okay, we need to find her." Emily stated and Casey looks and sees Spencer walking away. "Where are you going?" She asks. "I need to talk to him." Spencer answers, walking away and Casey scrambles out of her seat to follow Spencer.

Casey watched from the outside of the interrogation room as Spencer had talked with Owen and Owen explained how Theo's parents were putting him to the test to either kill Owen or April. Spencer had concluded that Theo had killed his own parents to spare both Owen and April. Owen had been telling them the truth the entire time. And when two men who had been watching Theo were found dead at the subway with their fingerprints burnt off, like Owen's, they knew they had more to deal with, Theo wasn't hiding from the team, he was hiding from somebody else.

Casey had decided to sit in on the conversation between Owen and Spencer. When she entered the room, Owen was surprised to see Casey standing there. "Willows." He started. "Hey, Owen." Casey greeted.

Owen's eyes went to Casey's left hand. "You're not wearing your ring anymore." He pointed out. Owen, of course, was around when both Casey and Spencer were still married. Both Casey and Spencer exchange a look but Casey changes the subject to avoid awkwardness. "No, I am not. But we're here to ask questions about you. Not my marriage."

Spencer sits in front of Owen and speaks softly as Casey stands in the room, watching as the conversation goes down. "Help me profile this. Let's start with April. Tell me everything you can about her." Spencer tells Owen.

"I can only tell you what Theo felt safe telling me. That was that young love, you know, the kind you only feel when you're nineteen or twenty." Owen stated and both Casey and Spencer look down at the sentence. Casey remembered feeling young love like that and how heartbreaking it can get. "Made me wonder if I'd survive to see my son that happy."

"That's why she was a threat to Theo's parents. She showed him that there was a world outside of their insanity. To do that, she..." Spencer stopped himself in thought. "What?" Owen asked.

"When we found you in the storage unit, you were surrounded by her things. That tells me that Theo didn't just do this for you." Spencer told. "I suppose. I don't really know." Owen tells.

"I mean, think about his state of mind right now. He has no resources, he has no place to go, except someplace where he knows he'll never be found." Spencer stated and Casey looks over in her own theory. "A place she showed him." Spencer nods, "He saved her life. Now she's gonna save his."

With that theory and conclusion in mind, both Spencer and Casey bring it to the team in the conference room. "If they're on the run from some group that's hunting them, they wouldn't go to a place tied to his history." Spencer started.

"No. They'd go to a place tied to hers. Garcia, what direction was that train going?" Emily asked. "Uh, the blue line... South." Garcia told as it popped on screen.

"It terminates in Springfield. Look for any connection to her in that area... a second apartment, a family home. If you can't find anything, keep going South." Spencer told and Garcia immediately found something, "Booyah. April's grandfather owns a cabin on Lake Accotink."

"Good place to hide out from whoever's still after them." Rossi tells. "We can get to them first."

Spencer nods, "We can, but we have to keep SWAT outside the door. Theo and April are paranoid, believing correctly that they're being hunted. We have to defuse them."

"What do you have in mind?" Casey asks.

When Spencer told Casey his plan, Casey had decided follow along with this and they brought Owen, since he was a part of Spencer's plan.

They'd driven on down to the cabin and arrived when SWAT had stated that the place was clear. Casey had let Spencer enter first and when he would nod to her, she'd bring Owen in.

Spencer opened the door and held his arms up in surrender. "Theo, it's me." Spencer started. "You got my message?" Theo asks and Casey peeks in to see Theo holding a gun and April standing beside him. "I did, yes." Spencer nods to Casey and she and Owen walk in the room.

"You made it!" Theo greets Owen with a hug and April then speaks up, "Did you get them, all of them? That's the only way we're safe is if they're all gone." April stated.

Both Spencer and Casey furrow their brows. "All of whom?" Spencer asks.

April has a look of disbelief on her face. "Oh, my god! You don't know. Theo, they don't know!" Theo then joins in on his girlfriend's panicking. "How could you not know? I left you all the clues in the storage unit."

"We know your father was The Strangler and that he killed seven victims, and we know that your mother helped." Spencer explained.

Theo shook his head, "No, no." April then chimes in, "How can you not see this?! How could you miss this?!" She questions.

"Hold on. Rewind for a second. What did we miss?" Casey questions.

"My father didn't kill them. He abducted them, and then he handed them over to The Messiah." Theo stated.

"The Messiah?" Spencer and Casey both ask in unison. "And then The Messiah would kill them in front of us, his followers, to inspire us. Don't you see? This isn't one serial killer or a couple."

"It's a cult." Spencer stated and Casey decides to call the team to tell them what they had found out from Theo. On the way back to the BAU, Spencer and Casey had decided to question Theo and April about this cult.

"Give me a sense of how big this cult is. How many people are in it?" Spencer questioned. "I never saw more than a handful of 'em at a time. The faces always changed. That's how The Messiah liked it." Theo explained.

"And this Messiah... who is he?" Casey asked. "His name is Benjamin Merva." Theo answered. "And what about this group? What do they call themselves?" Spencer asked.

Theo looks down and April then answers for him, "The Believers, because they believe they could inherit the Earth."

Spencer looks over at Owen beside Casey. "You know about any of this?" He asks and Owen shakes his head. "No. Nothing."

Owen looks over towards Spencer. "Could you do something for me, when this is all over?" He asked and Casey watched as they interacted. And then called the team and found out Benjamin Merva had bought a warehouse and they were heading to him now.

Soon enough, they'd had Benjamin Merva in custody. And the team was back from the case, packing up for the night. After they'd brought him in, Casey still felt like this case was unfinished. She could tell by the pit in her gut that always told her something was wrong.

"May I have everyone's attention?" Emily pulls Casey's attention at the top of the stairs where her, Rossi and Emily are all standing. Casey leaning over the rail in thought.

"Metro PD and the Bureau have been made aware of The Believers and possible activity following their leader's arrest, but taking Theo at his word..." Emily began.

"Well, we arrested three. There's probably more out there. But if they follow cult dynamics, they'll break down without The Messiah." Matt told.
"Typical cult," Tara stated. "You think it's a cast of thousands, when really it's just four wackos sitting around in the dark."

"I think we deserve some decompression time, and Rossi is kind enough to host." Emily tells and Rossi nods, "And I have some top-shelf wine picked just for the occasion."

"Yes!" Garcia cheers. "Okay, I have to do a systems check. Please do not have too much fun without me. I will meet you all there!" She sings and everyone gets ready to leave.

Casey exchanges a look with Spencer downstairs and Casey decides to go and speak with him since he looks like he has something to say. Spencer approaches Casey as she gets closer. "Unfortunately, I don't think I'm gonna be able to make it tonight." He tells.

"Ah, tell me not to worry? Again?" Casey asks. Spencer shakes his head. "Don't. I'm good. I'm really good. I think I'll, uh, pick Chris up tonight from your dad's place and probably spend some time with him, build a pillow fort, watch that Treasure Planet movie he likes so much, that sort of thing." Spencer explains.

Casey smiles, "Sounds like a nice night. Okay, then. Well... I'll let everyone know you said hi. It's not family without you there."

Spencer's cell beeps and he checks it. "I know. There's another family that could use my help right now." And before the conversation can end there, Spencer pulls Casey in for a hug and Casey is nearly taken aback at the motion. She chuckles, realizing it's been a little bit since he'd voluntarily gave her a hug. At least a hug for no reason, usually she was the lovey one and he'd just follow along.

When Spencer pulled away, Casey asked, "What was that for?" She wondered. "It's for all the times you worried about me. I never said thank you. Thank you." Spencer tells and Casey smiles, "You're welcome."

With that, Spencer walked away and Casey watched as he walked away, wondering to herself where it all went wrong with them. They were so happy together until she had to go and call it off. But she had to remind herself that this was for a good reason. She was doing something for herself and she'd already made that promise to keep to herself. And of course, she still loved him. But would she ever admit that to him? Probably not. Maybe one day, we could be normal again, she had hoped.

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"Okay, the both of you need to let it go." Rossi told Casey and Emily since they had both assumed this case had been left unfinished. "I know. I know." Emily sighs.

"You know, maybe it's the curse of being team leader, but something in my gut is bugging me about this. And you know my gut never lies." Casey stated.

JJ speaks up, "Well, I'll tell you what bugs me. We found a cult leader but no cult."

Casey hums to herself in unsureness. "That's not it." She tells. "I mean, that's it, but that's not it. Do you think that's it?" Casey turns to Emily, who shakes her head. "It's not it."

"Well, what is it, then?" Rossi wonders.

"In the warehouse where we arrested The Messiah, there were these Petri dishes on the floor filled with hydrochloric acid." Emily explained. "Perfect for burning off fingerprints." JJ stated. "I mean, that's what the drug lord El Chapo did in Mexico."

"And based on the two dead guys in the subway, maybe that was their initiation. You want to join, you burn off your fingerprints." Emily tells and JJ and Rossi exchange a look and look back towards Emily. "Where you going with this?" Rossi asks.

"It's just one nagging question. Why did they burn off Quinn's fingerprints?" Emily asked.
"Well, they tortured him." Rossi stated.
"With their initiation rite? It just doesn't make sense." Casey told. "Maybe we somehow misread Quinn all this time." JJ stated.

"There's something wrong here. Maybe there was cult programming Theo didn't know about. What if they did convert Quinn?" Casey wondered, panicking now.

Rossi continues, "And we left him in the building where The Messiah is being held in custody."

"Oh, this is bad." Casey comments. "All right, I'll call Spence and Garcia." JJ pulls her cell out. Casey looks towards Matt, Tara and Luke conversating. "Guys, we need to get back to Quantico right now." She tells and everyone begins to head to the BAU.

But what the team didn't realize was that this was a whole lot bigger and plot-twisty than they realized. Because the person that had really been working on all of this wasn't Quinn, but someone else within the bureau and that person now had more ammo — aka Spencer and Garcia — in their midst and it would only be a matter of time before all hell broke loose and more of the past would come back to haunt them.

THATS A WRAP ON S13!!!
WE'RE ON SEASON 14 NOW AHHH

let me tell you so many things are about to happen, so many new characters, so many new plots, so many heartbreaks- fasten your seatbelts because i counted and y'all are getting 8 ORIGINALS IN A ROW FOR THIS PLOT I HAVE PLANNED😭
and 11 originals in total for season 14- y'all buckle up fr

horrible meme but yeaaaa

i've also got big plans for this next episode hehehehe👀

thank you for reading
i love you all
-mya </333