Jemily(Unexpected Love)

Deep Down

JJ POV 

The number one rule we have between us as agents is not to get too close to the case. In order to find an unsub we try to get into their mind, the problem is making sure you don't get stuck there. When we got our case, we were called in to Mount Vernon, Virginia. 

This unsub was difficult to maintain. No pattern, no MO, no clear concise determining factor that would lead us to who was doing this. Our unsub killed men and women, abducted them off the street, held them hostage. The unsub would have two victims at a time, and from the electrical burns we saw on all the bodies, it seemed like he used them to torture each other using electrical shocks. One would be strapped down while the other pressed a remote that would then send heavy shocks to the first. 

At first we thought that he got off on watching people hurt each other, but it seemed unlikely as time went on. It's like he was looking for something and used the two people he abducted as case studies. 

We got a call that another body had been found, but the victim was alive. When speaking to her she explained what happened. She said our unsub was a young male, tall, thin. He was white with longer hair. He was erratic and would quickly lose his cool if they didn't do what he told them to. She and another victim were both strapped down into chairs in separate rooms. He told her that she was to press the button on a remote and that would hurt the person in the other room. The only way she would live is if she continued to shock the other person. She said she only pressed the button twice, that the screams and begging was too much. She couldn't do it. She had told the unsub that she wouldn't continue to hurt another person, that he could do it himself. He hit her over her head and dropped her off in some alley.

After leaving her hospital room the team reconvened.

"He let her go because she wouldn't hurt the other victim." I said.

"Maybe that's what he is trying to figure out. How far people would go." Derek added.

"He's testing their obedience." Reid said. 

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"This seems a lot like the Milgram experiment. It was created by a psychologist, Stanley Milgram, in order to test obedience and human nature. He would have two people put in separate rooms, one shocking the other to see how far people would go when being told to continue. They weren't forced, and the experiment was used with a shock generator, not heavy electrical shocks but the two seem similar."

"What was the outcome of the experiment?" Asked Emily.

"65% of the people producing the shocks went up to the highest voltage because someone was in the room telling them what to do. They were nervous and unsure but continued on because an authority figure was there. They realized that obedience decreased if the authority figure wasn't in the room or if the person receiving the shocks was."

"Then why would our unsub redo the experiment? If the outcome has already shown that people would ignore their general good habits based on the situation." Added Hotch. 

"Because he wanted to see the difference between someone who would do anything to save their life in comparison to someone who wouldn't. He let her go because she said no, she didn't want to hurt another person even if it meant saving herself. What if he let her go because she showed goodness?" I said. 

"You think he sees anyone who put themselves first as bad?" Rossi asked.

"I think he sees them as evil. If you're willing to torture another person in order to guarantee your safety and your life, then he doesn't think you deserve to live."

We looked through any connection that could help us find our unsub. We were able to narrow it down to one possible unsub, Jeffrey Collins. Emily and I drove to his apartment and waited for confirmation from Morgan and Reid that he was the unsub from having the victim ID him.