Mellifluous {Spencer Reid}

THIRTY-ONE.

THIRTY-ONE; FAMILIAR FACES

Smiles set comfortably on their faces, Aurora Hearst and Spencer Reid walk hand in hand into the BAU, Spencer carrying his signature bag and Aurora hers, they take their seats at their desks, opening the case file that resided at the very top of their short stack of paperwork that was left over from the weeks prior. Hearing the urgent tapping of high heels walking fast along the shiny wooden floors, she looks up to see a very worried looking Jennifer Jareau, Aurora furrows her brow "everything ok jage?" using the nickname she and Garcia had created for the blonde mother, "we got a bad one" she says before speed walking up the stairs into the round table room. Rory and Spencer share a look of concern before closing their file and following after their friend and colleague.

in less than 5 minutes the entire BAU team sits around the table, frowns set on their worried faces, Penelope Garcia stands and begins to run through their new case "alright, so in the last 2 years, Twenty Five men have been brutally murdered throughout the country, the unsub has been travelling with victims stretching from Wisconsin to California to Texas, its bad...." she fumbles with the clicky thing for the board before continuing, "this unsub, um, well you can see, he completely emasculates them, the whole package, gone. as well as their hands, and eyes, it's a lot of icky stuff which I do not want to see, hence if you want to be scarred for life, those images are in your files." flicking through the file Aurora feels a small amount of bile rising in her throat, pushing it back down with a swallow, she would not be seen as weak.

"how has it taken the FBI this long to catch on?" Emily asks, Garcia merely shrugs "he is good, he hid it so so well, some of the bodies from years ago we've only just found who knows how many we are yet to find" Spence squints down at his case file and mumbles under his breath, "share your thoughts with the class spence" Rory grins as her boyfriend shoots her a look before filling them in "I wouldn't be so sure its a he" the smiles fall of their faces as they all take a closer look at their files, Spencer stands up and gestures to the board "see here, there is zero sign of sexual assault, and no claims of responsibility in the media, as well as the lack of rage in the killings" Emily raises her brows "Spence, I see where you're coming from, but they fully chopped off his junk, lips and eyes. if that's not rage i don't know what is!" Rory could see where Emily was coming from, but taking a closer look at the photos, she notices that the cuts are methodical, this was not rage, "I see what you mean em, but look at these cuts, they're not jagged, whoever did this knew what they were doing, the markings were fully intended but if there was rage it would be more overkill. I agree with spence, our unsub is a woman."

Hotch nods in agreement. "I think we all agree that we need to get onto this case as soon as possible. They have set up a base where they have been finding bodies, in the Texan river, nalos. I assume we all have go bags ready?'' The team closes their files and shares looks, nodding "ok good. wheels up at 30" Standing up and sharing a look of comfort Aurora and Spencer walk to their desks to grab their go bags which were in their places under their chairs.

Sending a brief text to Lexie, making sure her plants or cat wouldn't die in the weeks they would be away, and taking a deep breath, with a bad feeling in her gut, knowing this would be a rough week.

--

the team sits in their comfortable seats on the jet, clutching the files which were full of the horrors they would be engulfed in, for the week to come. Aurora who sat next to spencer and across from Emily and JJ, with the laptop screen sitting on the table, on which Penelope Garcia's face would pop up on every so often. taking a closer look at the crime scene photos she noticed somethings, something she hadn't noticed before. "um, hey guys, I'm just spit balling here but what if our unsub was sexually abused, she removes organs which men use to assault women, their genitals, hands, eyes... maybe she was abused and killed her abuser, but now she sees all men as abusers?" the rest of the team thinks through her ideas, nodding in agreement. with a whooshing sound, Garcia poses up onto the screen "Goodmorning crime fighters" Rory grins at her friends words "perfect timing Pen" The blond woman grins and readies herself "how may i assist thee" turning to Hotch's worried face Garcia awaits instruction. "Garcia, can you check if any of our victims have a criminal record?" she taps away for a solid minute while the team sits in silence, waiting for her response.

"ummm yes sir it seems they all do..... they were all accused of sexual assault and then exonerated, they got away with it" Rory frowns, the memories of that night so many years before springing to the forefront of her mind. Spencer seemed to notice her distress, grasping her hand tightly, pulling her out of her head and into the present moment, she sends him a thankful look, and gives him a small smile in response. "So maybe our unsub was raped and tried to press charges, the man wasn't charged and now she is finding men just like him and murdering them '' Emily concluded. The team nods in agreement, frowning, knowing that their unsub would not be stopping any time soon.

--

After an excruciating three hour flight to Texas, the team stands up, bags in hand and walks out of the plane to see the local police waiting with cars. "Hey folks, hate to be the one to tell you so soon, but we received a video, we think it's from our killer." Hotch frowned and they all shared a look, she was escalating, making contact with the police.

Arriving at the sheriff's station, the BAU team walks straight into the conference room they had been allocated, what they assumed to be the video in question was on a large screen at the front of the room. the sheriff pressed play and the team sits around the large table. and listens to her words.

The voice was clearly put through a voice changer, "Hello, Behavioural Analysis Unit, how have you been these past few years? Well, I hope you know you may never find me. I hope you can cope with that Hotch, or maybe Reid will be spinning in circles, I heard Agent Rossi replaced Gideon, let's all hope he is a good enough match for me. I've even heard you have some prissy Australian in your ranks, and poor little agent Morgan, we'll have to see how you manage when you can't kick down doors, or agent Prentiss, you do know by now how Hotch hates women right?  well as much as I'd like to stay and chat,  I've got someone here who needs my full attention... buh-bye now"

the team sits in silence, she knew who they were, all of them. "No.... " Hotch for the first time since she had me him, was speechless. "not.." Spence looks heartbroken, she looks up at him, confused, but he was looking over to Morgan "it's her" Rory couldn't take it anymore "Who??" she shares a baffled look with Rossi and Emily, JJ sat in silence, too shocked to speak. It was Hotch who finally broke and said her name.

"Elle Greenaway"