come down soon | s. reid

iv ~ power trip

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

four:
power trip

❝ Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence. ❞
—Leonardo da Vinci

𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 3, 𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚍𝚎 20 (cont.)

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

SCOUT LOVED THE CITY. Growing up in rural Nebraska, any town with more than one church or school was practically foreign to her. She had been ridiculed for going to the east coast for college, constantly reminded by friends and neighbors how dangerous a place like New York was. As soon as she received her acceptance to Columbia, all she heard was You'll be transferring back by Christmas, or How do you think your mother feels about you leaving?! or My son/niece/cousin wanted to go out of state and hated it! You will too, just wait.

But the second Scout's mom and brother left after helping her move into her dorm, she felt like the world had been lifted off of her shoulders. In New York, she was just another face in the crowd. No one cared about how often she attended church or whether she played sports or not. They didn't know who her brother was, or her parents, or who she had been friends with. She could walk through the streets without anyone sparing her a second glance, her identity completely detached from her past.

The shadows of the skyscrapers and the glare of the city lights veiled the blood that stained her hands. And Scout intended to keep it that way.

Scout volunteered to ride with Cooper to the newest crime scene, offering to apply their preliminary geographical profile to the location while updating Hotch and the others on the work they'd been doing. Detective Brustin was waiting for them when they arrived, but Scout could see Hotch, Rossi, Morgan, and Joyner spread out speaking to different officers and scanning the surrounding area.

Cooper raised his hand in greeting to Brustin as he crossed under the police tape, holding it up for Scout to join. She heard Brustin sigh as they approached. "Didn't know you were bringing another one," he grumbled.

"She's been helping with the anti-geographical profiling," Cooper said, squinting in the midday sun.

    "The what?"

    "Fancy FBI tactics, I don't know."

    "It helps us determine where the unsub is from and why he attacks the places he attacks," Scout explained simply. Large crowds had already gathered on the other side of the police tape; if their unsub was watching, he melted into the masses.

    "Jesus," Brustin muttered, turning and starting towards the corner where the other members of the BAU were. "I already talked to some officers. They're doing what they can."

    "Which is what, exactly?" Scout asked.

    Brustin looked over his shoulder at her dismissively. "How old are you?"

    Scout glanced at Cooper, who gave her an apologetic shrug as he veered to the side to talk to one of the police officers. "Does it matter?"

    "Look, kid," Brustin stopped and fully turned to Scout. "I've been doing this longer than you've been alive, probably longer than your supervisor's been alive. I don't need any anti-geomapping mumbo-jumbo interfering with this investigation."

    Scout sighed and crossed her arms. "We're just doing our jobs, Detective. We all want the same thing."

    "Well, I want to catch this psycho without some teenager's ego getting in the way," he said, sizing Scout up and down with disdain. "But it doesn't look like I'm gonna get that."