The Princess' Revenge

002

Emily looked up from her desk which was littered with neatly stacked paperwork, lifting her head from her hands. JJ dropped a manila file in front of her, Reid was at her side. "Please tell me, this isn't another case." Reid couldn't help but quip, a consequence of spending too much time with either Luke or Garcia. "It's not another case." While JJ shared a significant look with Reid, Emily gave a humorous laugh before JJ spoke. "Well, we don't really know, if this is a case. It seems as though there is an Angel of Mercy killer at Charity Grace Hospital." Emily's brows scrunched as she opened the file. "Seems to be, isn't something we can investigate besides we haven't been called in." Reid nodded and folded his lanky frame into a seat opposite Emily's desk. "The local cops and officials at the hospital have asked for our opinion." Emily tilted her head up with an annoyed expression as JJ took a seat. "Emily, they believe at least ten people have died due to this Angel of Mercy killer." Emily sighed, "How do we know that none of them died due to the illness or disease or the surgery they went in for?" Reid looked at her with a disbelieving look, "Ten people in two weeks, maybe if anything was contagious but, look, different diseases, different surgeries and different doctors. Some doctors do consult on some of the other cases, but they likely didn't have access to the patient." Emily drew a breath, "Reid, you can consult this case, get Garcia to do a basic background check on all the possible victims, and their doctors, check the doctor's notes and talk with them if needed." Reid took the offered file, stood and left the office. JJ turned back to her friend as the door closed behind him. She adjusted herself in her seat. "Don't think there's a case." Emily shrugged committedly. "I think it needs looking into." JJ nodded and stood, she stretched, "I have paperwork to finish and make a call to the New Orleans Police about a case they asked me to consult on." Emily smiled before waving back to her own stack. "Want to swap?" JJ chuckled before leaving the office with a shake of her head. Emily turned back to her paperwork and caught sight of Reid leave his desk file in hand heading towards Garcia's office. She thought back to the case, she hadn't meant to be so cynical but the notes from the responding officers hadn't really given much evidence towards the idea of an Angel of Mercy killer. Turning back to the paperwork in front of her, she knew that if anyone could find the connection that was missing, it would be Spencer Reid and Penelope Garcia.

Reid paced behind Garcia as she exhausted all attempts at getting him to sit. "I keep telling you, Boy Wonder, there's no crossover for doctors who worked on the case, occasionally those who consulted crossover but they didn't have access to the files or weren't near the patient at time of death." Reid inhaled sharply through his nose, "Can you access the doctor's personal notes?" Garcia nodded and tapped away at her keyboard, the sharp notes hitting the silent air around them. "What's N.F?" Garcia asked pointing out a common thread between six cases. Reid made a confused noise. "Nothing, medical that I know of, could be a person. Look others have said 'consulted N.F' or say 'consult N.F', it would have to be someone in the hospital if they are going to shorten the name." Garcia began a check on doctors and consultants with the initials, N.F when her phone rang. She tapped the speaker button with her purple fluffy pen so Reid could join in. "Speak O' fortunate one." Reid's lips turned up in a smile, there was a light-hearted huff was heard on the other side. "Round Table Room, we have officially been called in on the Angel of Mercy case." Emily hung up, Garcia turned to Reid, "Isn't us getting involved a good thing?" Reid stood and grabbed his messenger bag and file, "Usually, yes. It means now they have proof, that there could be a serial killer. In this case it could mean another dead body." Garcia nodded solemnly. She gathered her own gear and followed Reid to the rest of the group who she had affectionately nicknamed, the Avengers.

Once she had everything set up and files were handed out. Garcia turned to face her colleagues. "Get ready to release your inner Sherlock Holmes, because this one had more twists than the BBC series." At the confused glances sent her way, she quickly replied, "First off, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are adorable." The three other females on the team nodded, and Reid pursed his lips, giving a slight nod as well. Garcia then launched into an explanation about the case, and how eleven people had died due to mysterious circumstances in the past two weeks, and how the local police suspected an Angel of Mercy killer. Garcia then brought up how Reid and she found the N.F note. She sighed when Luke opened his mouth to speak, "Yes, newbie, I am already looking into people involved with those initials." Luke waved his hands about, and chuckled while apologising sarcastically to the analyst. "Sorry drama queen." Garcia squinted her eyes, pointed at Luke. "Secondly, he's a drama queen too." Emily smiled as she and the team gathered their files, told her with an affectionate tone, "Yeah, I know." Luke looked offended but sobered as Emily mentioned, "Wheels up in ten, it's a short flight." "Thirdly..." Garcia paused with and for dramatic effect, the team stopped at the door, turning back to Garcia. "The game is on, solve it." Her tone hardened during the quote. Most of the team looked confused at her reference, those who understood, mainly Reid, smirked.

The team settled into their seats on the plane and shortly after take-off, Garcia jumped onto the small screen, throwing a dash of colour onto an otherwise beige background. "Your mission should you choose to accept it..." Luke cut across the analyst, who really shouldn't be messed with. "We've already accepted this mission actually." Garcia turned her pointed look at the now shrinking agent, who had captured the rest of the team's displeasure. Garcia huffed, turning to face Emily while Matt leaned over and whispered to Luke. "That's your idea of flirting." Luke pouted, "I'm not flirting." Both men flinched as JJ kicked them under the table, she then turned back to the bubbly agent on screen, they followed suit. "Now I ran all eleven victims through my searches, and nothing. They didn't know each other, or worship at the same churches/mosques etc. or anything like that, they all had different diseases or went in for different surgeries. They had different doctors, some do crossover so there's that. Honestly all they really had in common was that they died at Charity Grace Hospital." The team raised their eyebrows, "This is going to make our job all the more harder." Rossi told the group dropping his file onto the table beside him. The plane ride took three hours, during this time the team discussed various ideas or took the quiet atmosphere to prepare themselves for the overwhelming case ahead.

The plane jolted as it hit the tarmac, once it had still the team gathered their belongings and made their way to the waiting SUVs. JJ, Reid, Luke and Tara got into one, while Rossi, Emily, Matt got into the other. The SUV carrying Emily, Rossi and Matt arrived at the police station, while the other continued on to the hospital. Emily and the others entered the station. Two people were waiting for them, one was a short, dark haired woman with Asian features, and the other was an older, rather tall, black man who had similar features to Idris Elba. The Police Captain arrived accompanied by his Lieutenant. "Captain, I'm SSA Emily Prentiss, this is SSA David Rossi, and SSA Matt Simmons." Shaking everyone's hands the chief made similar introductions, "I'm Benedict King and this is my Lieutenant, Jayne Wong. I do hope you can help us." His gravelly voice reminded them of a smoker, but it had a warm feel to it, reminiscent of safety. Rossi nodded sagely, "As do we." The Police Captain waved his hand, "Jayne will show you to the conference room, there are evidence boards as requested and unfortunately some really bad coffee." Matt snickered lightly at Jayne's reply to Emily's own snarky comment, "it's okay, and all the other stations we've been too has had worse." Jayne's lips drew up slighting on her left side, twisting her face, "Does it taste like a monkey peed in battery acid?" Her boss gave an amused/annoyed look before heading off. The four of them entered a conference room and began to set up the case files, spreading out the information as well as tacking crime scene photos to the evidence boards.