Chapter 11Chapter by Rhino (RhinoMouse)Notes:Hey! Sorry for not replying to any of your comments yesterday. I read them and was delighted but didn't have time to respond. But in excellent news I got a job! And quite frankly it's a job I'm going to enjoy way more than my last one. So just so much excellence. But I'll be working with children with learning disabilities and god I prefer kids to adults any day of the week. Also way more personally fulfilling than cellphone tech support. But I had a final interview and an on the job working interview today. Got to help with some school work, learned about a snowman math game and was informed my attempt at 'the floss' was very silly. Also apparently my ability to wait a tantrum out without blinking an eye is impressive. An eight yearold having a fit because he wants a snack and not to do his word search work sheets has nothing on a grown man screaming at you for an hour because he can't find the speaker phone button on the call screen. So now I just get to do new hire paperwork and wait on a background check to come back. Also update my CPR licence.
Chapter TextJJ waved as she spotted Emily and Garcia already sitting at a table outside the little breakfast place. "Sorry I'm late!"
"It's alright sweetie we haven't ordered yet." Garcia giggled into her mimosa.
She pulled out her chair while taking off her blazer. "Daisy isn't here yet?"
"Not yet, but she was working on a cold case and said something about 'stupid, idiot cops who couldn't turn on a light if you put their hand on the switch' when I called her this morning." Emily was amused as she tapped her mimosa against Garcia's. "I almost feel bad for the officers whose cold cases we've been handing her."
JJ sighed as she accepted her own mimosa from the waiter. She shared a look with the others. "I see why we're trying this place this week."
"What can I say, good food, and some nice eye candy on the side." Garcia wiggled her eyebrows while sipping at her mimosa.
Emily was relaxed, one arm outstretched. "Don't worry, I made her check the latest health inspections."
"It's an algorithm of brunch love." Garcia puffed up. "And have I led you wrong yet?"
Emily laughed. "No, and eye candy appreciated. I've begun my future as a cat lady."
"There was a stray cat on top of my car. I think they sense I'm without a man." JJ took a slightly morose sip of her mimosa.
Garcia let out a long, beleaguered sigh. "I think I might be joining you both soon. Things with Kevin have been…."
"No! Not you too?" Emily reached for the pitcher and started topping them all off. "What happened?"
Garcia pushed her glasses up. "Daisy keeps pointing out that I'm settling. And she's right. He turned off the electricity to my apartment so we could have a romantic dinner but didn't tell me. I almost had a heart attack and he blamed it on stress but… he knows what we do."
"Cutting the power is a typical marker of an organized unsub." Emily pointed out. "If it had been one of us he'd have gotten shot."
JJ pushed her hair back. "You deserve better than that." She slumped slightly, it was nice to be out of the office, to be social with other women who got it. "The dating pool at the bureau is more of a lukewarm kiddy pool."
"Amen." Emily intoned solemnly "God, and Micheals is practically enough to ward one off forever. I had to turn him down four times."
JJ smirked. "It was good to see Daisy suplex the man."
"He's definitely on the shallow end of the gene pool." Garcia sipped at her drink. "If I could dream, I'd want someone just capable of being thoughtful. Bring you lunch, make you dinner, sweet things like that."
"Cheers to that." JJ sighed considering the thought. "Someone who is willing to understand our work schedule."
"Emotional maturity higher than a grade schooler." Emily added before huffing. "And you know if we're describing the unicorn of men, confidence is hot."
JJ laughed as she finished her second mimosa. "I was always too worried about image, but bad boys always did it for me. Like the leather, devil may care attitude. I had posters in highschool."
"No! Pray tell whom did you have posters of on your walls?" Garcia leaned forward clapping her hands.
JJ shook her head with a laugh. "Nope."
"She's got a point, I've dated a few 'bad boys'." Emily sighed. "So hot, so little emotional maturity, no responsibility." She let out a wistful sound. "Why do men have to stop growing up in high school….."
Garcia sniggered before perking up. "Speaking of bad boys." She looked pointedly down the road.
JJ and Emily followed her gaze and they spotted exactly what she was talking about. A motorcyclist in a leather jacket, distressed jeans, and riding a truly sexy motorcycle was driving up the road towards them. JJ paused in her admiration as the bike pulled up curbside and the rider parked, and then pulled her helmet off.
Daisy shook her hair out as she sat straddling her bike.
"Why did god curse me to be straight?" Emily groaned. "I mean look at her. No wonder half the single population of Quantico has taken a pass. She's even voluntarily in therapy, and we all know she can cook."
Garcia nodded solemnly. "She's the dating unicorn." She giggled suddenly. "She's even got abs, and like when she sweats she glows. It's not fair. I look like a slime monster and she looks like a goddess."
JJ kept staring at Daisy, her friends' voices fading into the background because Daisy was beautiful. She was deeply attractive now that she thought about it. And she'd been...well she was everything they'd just mentioned. Thinking back she did feel warm around the other woman.
She barely managed to smile and wave as Daisy rolled up on their table, confidence practically oozing out of her. Jesus, had she always been that hot? JJ didn't take in much as the conversation shifted to Daisy cracking her latest cold case and how stupid it was that no one had put it together ages ago.
In fact it washed over her as JJ found herself noticing the way the light hit Daisy's hair, the cadence of her laughter, how her eyes squinted ever so slightly when she laughed. Fuck, she was actually physically attracted to her coworker and friend. A woman. But she wasn't into women…. Well until this moment apparently.
A voice that sounded suspiciously like Reid pointed out that fluidity of sexuality and that being attracted to men didn't mean an absence of attraction to women. But really? That was… no…. right?
If JJ almost bit her tongue off when Daisy hugged her, as they were all preparing to head their separate ways, well...probably only Emily noticed that. Hopefully not even Emily. Because fuck. What was she supposed to do with this information? This was...fuck.
////
Morgan had never been so glad for a case in his life. Hotch's absence had made everything feel wrong, and without him they'd all been stuck cooling their heels. To make it worse JJ had been just...off for the last two days. It was frankly weird, and if anyone let Daisy spend another day in the kitchen she was going to bury them under tupperwares of Italian food. Also the DC cops were politely begging she stop sending snarky letters along with the evidence needed to solve cold cases.
Somehow the weirdest thing wasn't Reid who had been dating a curator at the Smithsonian. Just hearing about their weird dates made his brain haze over in boredom. But Hotch was back, they had a case, the weirdness was going to fizzle out now that the team was back. "What's that?"
Everyone on the team looked to Daisy who'd just pulled out what looked like a toothpaste tube. Considering the foam from New York, they all looked at it dubiously.
"For Hotch's tear in his ear." Daisy looked between them, her face painted with 'duh'.
Hotch cleared his throat. "How do you know about that?"
"I hacked your medical files to see if you were going to need anything to help heal." She glanced around. "What? And this will feel funny but will help give your tear protection so it can heal and loud noises won't cause permanent damage."
Morgan stared at Hotch. "Hotch? No loud noises?"
Hotch glared before grabbing the tube from Daisy. "How much do I put in?"
"Like just goo it." Daisy flopped down next to Morgan.
JJ cleared her throat and started in on the case briefing as if nothing had happened.
Morgan stared at the prison guard as he shuffled through the fanmail the original killer had received while on death row. "What about male fans?"
"Some yeah, freaks." The guard derided. "This one kid would come by. Musician I think. Black clothes and eyeliner and all that. He sent Ryan his demo tape and some sheet music he wrote in his own blood."
He looked back at the dozens of photos of attractive women that had been mailed in. "Did you ever catch Ryan trying to smuggle anything out, to this kid or anyone else?"
"Usual problem we have is stuff being smuggled in, not out." The guard replied unhelpfully.
Morgan could sense something being held back. "His DNA was found at a fresh crime scene in lower Canaan."
"What kind of DNA we talking about?" The guard expressed some mild surprise, not enough for it to be out of nowhere. But then he'd be aware of how porous the walls of a prison could be. It wouldn't be surprising honestly.
Morgan kept watching. "Type of DNA that cats in lockup don't have occasion to use." He let out a breathe as he accepted this would be a bust based off the dumb blank look on the guard's face. "All right. Well, listen thank you for all this, but I want to look at all your visitor logs, all right?"
////
Emily couldn't get the seemingly random puncture wounds on the victim's stomachs out of her head. There was just… something about it. She set a bottle of water down in front of JJ. "You doing alright there?"
"Yeah, it's just been a long day." JJ pushed her hair back as she looked up at Emily. "The media on this one is taking a life of its own."
She nodded. "Have they found out the body is missing?"
"Two hours ago. The Anglemaker's body missing from his grave, the semen in the victims, the letter. This unsub is creating a media nightmare." JJ twisted the cap off of the bottle of water with some prejudice.
Emily nodded slowly, copycat cases could do that. "We'll prove it's not him. It's not him and we're getting closer."
"That can't come soon enough." JJ sipped at her water. She shifted slightly. "Don't mention the other thing."
She didn't blink. "Of course, it's none of our business, it'd be fine though." Emily pushed her hands into her pockets. If JJ wanted to have a sexuality crisis in private, it was no one else's business. "Get some sleep."
JJ nodded before pausing. "Hey Emily? Thank you."
Emily just gave a short nod of acknowledgment and made her way out of the house of the latest victim. It had been a long day, they'd been running scenarios while canvassing the house. They should probably have sent JJ back to the station so she had more equipment for her job. The door stayed open as she walked out, box of more evidence in her hands. She'd have to drop it off on her way to the hotel.
Morgan was leaning against one of the supports of the awning over the small front porch. "Sky's so clear here huh? Never see stars like this in DC." His head was leaning back, looking up at the sky.
"It's beautiful." She murmured looking up at the sky. It was one of those things, finding beauty around them while dealing with the ugliest parts of the world.
Emily let herself enjoy the stars, her eyes falling to familiar constellations. Her brow pulled together. "Oh my God."
"What?" Morgan looked over at her.
She couldn't move her gaze now that she'd spotted it. "The puncture wounds on the victim's stomachs represent constellations."
Emily walked a step behind Hotch as the Sheriff led them to the latest crime scene, the victim still alive this time.
The sheriff briefed them as they made their way past the ambulance. "Said the suspect approached her in her driveway. Asked to use the phone to call a tow truck."
"She let her in the house?" Hotch asked.
The sheriff waved a deputy off. "That's when the suspect jumped her."
"That's not our unsub's MO." Hotch's mouth tightened in that frustrated expression that said he had hoped this was the end of it, but it wasn't.
Emily considered the facts. "Maybe she was rushing it, trying to finish off the last victim of the constellation series. Finish off the last victim." She cut herself off, frowning as she saw the suspect in the back of the patrol car. Emily sighed. "That's Shara."
"You know her?" Hotch looked over at her.
She just felt disappointed. "Shara Carlino. Rossi and I already interviewed her. She's Ryan's number one fan. Her alibi is solid. She's not our unsub."
Emily walked away from the men, they could work out the rest. Stepping to the patrol car's door she opened it bending down. "Shara….why?"
"It worked for her." She looked pitiful, the information she'd given had helped. But the cost seemed to be the cracking of this woman's psyche. "Why not for me? I just want us to be together again"
Emily stared at her in horror. What was there to say to that? She pulled back and shut the door.
Emily sipped at her coffee while reading the translated letters between Ryan and 'his Dove'. It was informative, and she wasn't able to do much while JJ bullied the media and Garcia ran birth records. She looked over at Daisy. "What are you typing away on?"
"Running alibi checks on every female visitor Ryan had during his time on death row. I may be a 'better' hacker than Garcia but I'm not better at what she does. I'd get in her way." Daisy blew a bubble of gum.
She frowned slightly. "What does that mean?"
"I'm one of the best in the world at getting in where people don't want me. Means I'm pretty good at finding information. But that's not what I focus on. Garcia, she's the queen of finding every shred of evidence a person has left behind. And finding someone within a set of filters. You know she wrote those programs that find the unsubs herself? It's impressive as hell. Her name wasn't the Black Queen for nothing." Daisy grinned. "You wouldn't send Reid to wrestle an unsub but you sure wouldn't translate those letters while he was there would you?"
Emily gave a half nod. "So same field but different specialties. Makes sense."
"Us hackers come in all different flavors. Garcia's been with the FBI so long she's better at her job than anyone else in the world." Daisy looked over to where JJ was on the phone with Garcia on the other side of the police offices. "Hey is JJ ok? She's been staring at me more than usual and has been avoiding me I think?"
"She's going through something outside of work. Don't worry about it, she'll be fine." Emily kept her tone even and light. It would be the worst option if Daisy decided solving JJ's issue was something that needed to be done. "Any hits on the list of suspects?"
"Nada." Daisy's shoulders slumped. "Sorry I can't be more helpful."
Emily tossed a pen at Daisy. "None of that. We can't all have multiple moments of insight in every case."
"Fuck you." Daisy huffed.
JJ called out across the room. "We have something!"
////
Morgan velcroed on his vest as he looked up at the Sheriff as the man approached.
The Sheriff reported to Hotch. "Well my team's ready. Let's get in there."
"Sheriff, we didn't recover a gun at Chloe's house. We have to assume she's armed." Hotch was serious but clearly already making plans.
The Sheriff looked mildly confused. "Well so are we."
"If you storm in now she'll shoot, and chances are she'll start with the innocent woman in that house." Rossi cut in.
Morgan looked around the police gathered here. "What do you think Hotch?"
"I think you should look for an open window. And take Daisy with you." He turned to the Sheriff. "Sheriff, I need you to bring all of your vehicles around to the front-"
Morgan unholstered his gun and moved away, he knew the plan from that. Get in, get the house owner so she couldn't be the next victim or a hostage. The team would distract their unsub long enough for that. He grabbed Daisy's shoulder. "Come on, we're going around back."
"Secure the unsub while the others distract?" Daisy asked, falling into step as they moved away from the rest of the group.
He considered that. "Once I get the girl out go ahead. She's probably got a gun though and she isn't the type of unsub you can talk down."
"I can handle her." Daisy didn't bother to touch her service weapon...or any of the other weapons he knew were squirreled away on her.
Morgan nodded. "I know."
Chapter 12Chapter by Rhino (RhinoMouse)Notes:Thanks for all the well wishes!
Chapter TextDaisy was bored. So bored. "Why!"
"Because you insisted on coming with us." Emily tossed a granola bar back at Daisy's head.
The local officer looked relatively confounded but kept driving.
Reid cleared his throat. "Tell us about the 911 call."
"I believe the 'he' they referred to is the church's leader, Benjamin Cyrus." The female cop shifted, they'd been in the car for over two hours.
Reid flipped through the file Garcia had prepared, completely missing the three women in the car were all hot, cramped, and desperately wanted out of the car. "No criminal record. No record at all, really. What else do you know about him?"
"It's rumored that he's practicing polygamy and forced marriages." The cop didn't look convinced.
Emily spoke up. "Any idea who the caller is?"
"Uh, Jessica Evanson is the one who the age fits, but...we can't be sure." The woman shook her head slightly. "So I negotiated interviews with all the children. It wasn't easy."
Emily clearly read the clear disgust on the officer's face. "Well considering their view on outsiders, it would be best if you didn't identify us as FBI." She passed her gun and badge into the backseat to Daisy. "Just use our real names, and introduce us as child victim interview experts."
Daisy slipped the gun and badge away. She looked up. "It's better for me to stay in the car I'm guessing?"
"There's a high statistical probability that Cyrus and the other individuals in the compound have racial prejudices that would affect their behavior." Reid rattled off.
Daisy slumped slightly more in her seat. "Good thing I brought my phone."
"If we need backup we'll radio you." Emily shot her a sharp look.
The local frowned looking back. "Wait, backup?"
"She's the muscle on our team." Emily snorted. "I know, but she's special ops. If we need to get out with a kid, negotiation and her are our best options."
Daisy smirked, but stayed slouched in her seat. Why had she tagged along on this one? She spotted the religious libertarian compound. That was why. Religious, libertarian, compound sounded like a terrible location for just two of the team to go into. So angry birds in a car while Reid and Emily made sure the weird compound people weren't also creepy pedophiles.
By an hour of boring hot car app games and Daisy was ready to scream. How many kids did they have to interview?! Her head thunked back. She yawned, god it was so hot. Sliding down she stretched across the backseat, all the windows were down. She closed her eyes. Next time she wasn't following them to interview children. Just no. It didn't take long for her to drift off.
Daisy snapped awake at the sound of the first bullet. She was up and out of the car, gun drawn, and looking for the threat. Her eyes widened as she took in the situation.
Coming up on the side were police humvees. And based off the militarized look it was a SWAT team. Guns were going off and fuck, the people inside the compound were shooting. She snarled and took off at a run for the command group of officers. "HEY!"
The cop in full body armor got up, turned and fired at her.
Daisy barely managed to slide to the side fast enough to avoid the bullet. As he went to fire again though she was ready. Throwing her arm up she sent the man flying. She pulled the trigger four times as the other cops by the commander turned towards the noise.
Four fully kitted out cops hit the dirt, blue veins from dendrotoxin spreading across their faces.
She grit her teeth. "Fuck." She'd gotten complacent. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the gunbattle going on just down the hill in the compound. Her team was unarmed in there with children. She was going to kill someone.
Daisy slung one of the automatic rifles from the cops over her shoulder and marched down the hill. Several bullets disintegrated from her vibrations as she closed the distance. She didn't bother trying to pacify the cops she was now coming right up on. They went down easy, one tried to ram the butt of his gun into her face. She flipped him over her head and shot him in the neck with dendrotoxin.
Her teeth ground as she saw the three cops pinned down against the front door of the compound. Fuck everything. She threw her hand up towards the top of the building where compound members were shooting and sent them flying, likely off the building with how hard she tossed them. Too bad for them.
"POLICE! STOP FIRING!" One of the pinned downed cops yelled at her. His eyes were wide as he realized every member of his team besides the two besides him were down.
Daisy shot him in the face. And then she was on the last two. Two pulls of the trigger and she paused to load a new clip into her pistol. Last of her dendrotoxin rounds. She'd gotten too comfortable. Slipping the can of trauma foam Simmons was working on patenting, she shoved the head into the single injured, and now unconscious cop's bullet wound.
She looked at the large wooden doors in front of her. Peaceful libertarian's her ass. Daisy touched the door.
It shattered into thousands of pieces. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as she saw the local cop they'd come to the compound with. She cracked her neck as the flannel clad assholes in front of her gaped like morons. Daisy grinned. "Hey assholes, today is not your day."
Daisy tossed the now empty automatic gun to the side, pulling out her dendrotoxin handgun. It was easy enough to kick down the door into the basement. She raised her gun firing. Six shots, six unconscious men hit the ground. Sexist how there were no gun toting female idiots. Her eyes scanned the room taking in the fact the individuals left standing were unarmed. She snapped her eyes to Reid and Emily who had put themselves between the kids and the door when she'd kicked it in.
She breathed out. "The standoff is over. The police are incapacitated, Cyrus and the other armed men are either dead or incapacitated."
Daisy's eyes were sharp as she watched the hoard of law enforcement that had arrived. "Don't touch their handcuffs." She ordered as she saw a state trooper head for where the SWAT team was zip tied to a fence.
"Ma'am they're ours though?" The man offered, a slight waver in his voice.
She didn't yield. "And they opened fire on a civilian building killing one of our own while three of our own, children, and other non combatants were inside. They can stay there and think about their stupidity in blindly following dumb orders without question, until their boss gets here to bring them up on disciplinary charges or be written up himself."
"Right uh…" He winced and shuffled to go help with the clean up.
Daisy stepped to where the local Sheriff was supervising the seizing of the frankly alarming amount of guns and explosives out of the compound. "Sheriff, report."
"Your fellow FBI agents are conducting interviews with the families. I was notified the plane from Virgina with the rest of your team landed ten minutes ago. So far we've retrieved eighteen crates of semi automatic weapons, and six crates of explosives. We're moving it all to the chapel since that's where the explosives were concentrated and we don't want the risk of moving them." He touched his hat in respect.
She nodded. "Good, the bodies?"
"We moved them into the school. Those individuals you tranqed are awake and will be bussed to the station as soon as the vans get here. Is there anything else Ma'am?" His hands were settled on his belt.
Daisy shook her head. "No, continue the good work. Once my team arrives Agent Hotchner will be in charge. But you've done well." She gave him a sharp nod and walked towards the families and individuals rounded up from the compound.
"Daisy." Emily looked up and walked over. "What's the situation?"
She checked Reid was doing alright with where he was talking and taking notes. "The site is secure, Hotch and the others will be here shortly."
"You did good." Emily looked around the field outside of the compound turned into a command center. "The amount of deaths is dozens below even a best picture in this type of situation."
Daisy's jaw tightened. "I've gotten sloppy." She paused as she saw the expression on Emily's face. "Not like that. I got lazy, let my guard down." If it wasn't a serious situation she'd have shrugged. "Yes, I'm mad and disappointed in myself for falling asleep while running security. I let my edge dull. But I can fix that."
"You took down this entire compound in under five minutes. Look at all these families? A lot of them probably would have died if you hadn't acted as you did." Emily had her profiling face on, not that Daisy was going to mention it.
She looked towards the school where they had moved the bodies. "There would be two dead if I'd been on my guard. But I didn't bring enough dendrotoxin rounds. I won't make that mistake again. Who knew retirement did that to you?"
"You can't be hyper vigilant 100% of the time, you won't be able to function. Be careful." Emily touched her forearm lightly.
Daisy's eyes snapped to the dust of vehicles driving towards the compound. "There's the rest of the team."
Daisy's head snapped around as she saw a man who had politician written all over him huffing and puffing as he talked to the locals, clearly trying to understand what happened. "Who's that?"
"State Attorney General Wells, it was his weapons bust." Morgan scoffed. "He'll be looking for someone else to dump the blame on."
Her eyes narrowed. "That won't be happening. Why isn't he under arrest for lying to a federal officer and negligent homicide?"
"Because he's an elected official?" Morgan looked between her and the man who was now making his blustery way towards Hotch. "You're not going to go arrest him are you?"
She considered that. "Good idea." Ignoring his yelp of alarm, she marched straight towards the man who'd caught sight of her and had paused.
Daisy reached him and grabbed him by his wrist while pulling cuffs out. "You're under arrest for lying to a federal officer, negligent homicide, and I'll find some corruption charges to add to that." She hooked and spun him, locking the cuffs around his other wrist.
"You CAN'T DO THIS!" Wells cried out, futilely trying to struggle. It wasn't even worth noticing frankly.
She shoved at him as she moved him towards the nearest patrol car. "I can do this, and I am. People died, you almost got dozens more killed, and all for a publicity stunt."
"This won't stand! You! Come free me this instant!" Wells glared at Hotch.
Daisy kept frog marching him towards the patrol car. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to have a lawyer. If you cannot afford a lawyer one will be appointed for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?"
"I'm THE ATTORNEY GENERAL! Of fucking course I know what you just said you insane bitch! You will let me go right this instant! You cannot do this! I DEMAND you release me right now! I will have your badge for this!"
Daisy opened the patrol car and shoved him in. "You are sorely mistaken if you think you have any authority now." She snapped before slamming the door, cutting off whatever it was he might say.
She turned and looked at the confounded expressions on the local police officers' faces. "Anyone who even thinks of helping him will join him on charges of aiding and abetting."
"Indeed." Hotch's head tipped ever so slightly in acknowledgment.
////
Morgan paused as he pulled up at the location he'd been texted for their morning workout. It was a Saturday so maybe something new? "Is this the right place?"
"I entered us as a team." Daisy chucked a duffle bag at him.
He looked at the posters. "Teams are made of twenty?"
"Well it is a tournament." Daisy grinned, rolling her shoulders. "It's popular with veterans as a way to keep their skills up. Thought I could use a non lethal shoot out."
Morgan took in the groups of large beefy men and the occasional beefy lady. Though he supposed it made sense in a way. He'd heard paintball helped ease tension in individuals with PTSD. But just the two of them against teams of twenty? "You owe me a drink for every ball that hits me."
"I'll pay for the drinks after we win that stupid trophy." Daisy rubbed her hands together. "It's been too long."
He sighed in resignation that this was a thing they did now. "We're bringing Emily next time, and you're an adrenaline junkie. You do know that right?"
"Duh." She pulled a paintball gun out of her own duffle. "That's the only sort who end up agents."
Morgan chuckled as he felt an excited hum in his chest at the thought of the day. "You're not wrong."
Morgan popped up giving firing cover as Daisy slid under a spray of green paint to shoot a member of team BlackHawk. She rolled over him, shot his teammate, grabbed their third and dragged them into the open using the poor sod as a human shield. The tough guys had to be regretting the fullcontact part of the tournament rules considering Daisy.
He dropped back down and in a crouch ran for the next bit of cover. Coming around the corner he fired into the chest of the BlackHawk already using it. He rolled off, nearly missing blue paint splattering the wall he'd just been using as cover.
This was insane!
He fired in the general direction the blue paint had come from only to stop as Daisy came vaulting over a raised pile of tires, firing down behind it, while she was using someone else's gun to shoot behind her.
Morgan shook his head at the sight and booked it for the wooden tower that could be used as a perch. Sweat was running down his face into his eyes, down his back, his shirt sticking to him. It was some of the best fun he'd had in ages.
Chapter 13Chapter by Rhino (RhinoMouse)Notes:Christmas is so close guys....my family is planning an outdoor bonfire so we can do socially distanced christmas in the snow. It sounds like a disaster. Something that shouldn't be on fire is definitely going to catch on fire.
Chapter TextHotch set his fresh go bag by the door of his office. It was good to be back.
"Hotch."
He turned to where JJ was standing in the doorway into his office. "Already?"
"No, but I have some cases for you to take a look at." She hefted a stack of at least twenty case files into his hands. "It never ends."
He sighed accepting it. "Thank you. Anything else?"
"Haley called, Jack has a doctor's appointment tomorrow at ten." JJ looked at him with that painful understanding.
He kept back his shudder at not even knowing what his son was going to the doctor for. "I'll call her back."
JJ started to duck out of his office.
Hotch spoke up. "JJ. I don't know what's been bothering you lately. But if you need anything, you only need to ask."
"I'll take care of it." JJ paused slightly. "And Sir, thank you."
He shook his head slightly as he made his way to his desk. It was exhausting, but it was time to get to work.
"Give me the kid, he likes going to the lectures." Rossi was looking out the window into the bullpen.
Hotch signed the needed paperwork. "I'll need you back after the weekend."
"We might stop for some pie on the way back." Rossi chuckled. "The kids are doing good."
He set his pen down. "Straus was furious we had an Attorney General arrested."
"Do you think she'll do something about it?" Rossi queried.
Aaron gave the slightest of snorts. "She wouldn't dare, our agent Coulson outranks her. It would be career suicide." He was deeply amused that Straus had created her own headache by assigning them agent Coulson. "Speaking of Daisy, why is there one of those ridiculous wrestling award belts hung over her chair?"
"It's MMA actually. She's undefeated at the moment, but in her last match Bridezilla almost had her." Rossi's eyes had lit with a surprising glee. "I'd never been but you remember the black eye from last week? I was curious."
Hotch frowned. "It wasn't just from some gym accident?"
"Well if an accident is ElectricFist's fist." Rossi chuckled. "You should come with me to watch, I'm fairly sure it's only partially legal. But I'm starting to think the next Mrs Rossi can crack a man's head with her thighs."
He couldn't help picturing that and then snorting. "No?"
"Oh yes, I think Rodio Diva has been eyeing yours truly." He shoved his hands into his pockets, his face warm and amused. "Which was only slightly marred by Garcia making 'Terminator' t-shirts for us."
Aaron smiled at that, it was something their tech analyst would do. He looked at Rossi and wondered if the other man knew the answer to his real question any better than he did. "It's not just falling asleep in Colorado. Any idea what she's preparing for?"
"No idea, but I don't think we'll miss it when it comes." Rossi looked down into the bullpen where Reid and Daisy were talking, Morgan and Emily pretending to do their work while listening in. "Whatever it is, I wouldn't bet against our girl."
Hotch glanced at the paintball trophy on Morgan's desk. "No, no I wouldn't either."
////
JJ watched as Daisy gently helped Garcia with a throat punch. She smiled at it, it had been good for Garcia. Especially after she'd been shot.
"You gotta really go for it, the Dummy isn't going to get hurt." Daisy corrected, laughter in her voice. "Just imagine the dummy is the worst 4-chan obsessed, incel troll you've ever-"
Garcia punched the dummy in the neck so hard the whole thing rocked. "Ow!" She shook out her hand. "Holy guacamole! Why do people punch each other?"
JJ clapped as she walked over. "That was really good Garcia."
Garcia grinned. "It was, wasn't it?"
"It was." Daisy laughed, patting Garcia's shoulder. "Come on, we should call it if you want to type for the rest of the day."
Garcia glanced at the dummy. "That still seems a bit….violent?"
"You punch someone in the throat hard enough and you'll have more than enough time to run away." Daisy picked up a water bottle and tossed it to Garcia. "Now let's go check out that new taco truck. I haven't had a good taco since I left LA."
JJ spoke up. "Actually I was wondering if I could talk to you about something first?"
"Sure." Daisy's eyes flicked back and forth before settling on Garcia. "Grab me some tacos and bring them back for me?"
Garcia lowered the water bottle. "Sure thing Terminator." She paused to loudly kiss JJ on the cheek, before making her way to the locker rooms.
"So what's up?" Daisy rolled her weight to her toes, her hands sliding into the front pocket of the loose sweatshirt, she was wearing over her workout gear.
JJ was reminded other agents were in the gym by the sound of someone setting a weight down too fast. "Talk about it over coffee?"
"Sure, just let me get cleaned up." Daisy grinned and then bounced off for the locker rooms.
She sighed, well this was horrible. How did men do this? This was ridiculous.
Daisy sipped at her disgusting grass latte. "So what did you want to talk about? If this is about the trophy incident that was 50% Morgan's fault."
"No." JJ brought her actually, delicious coffee, up to her mouth. "I wanted to talk to you about something personal."
Daisy's eyes softened. "Of course, what's going on?"
"Am I wrong that you've been flirting with me?" JJ pressed her fingers against her mug so hard that they went white.
Daisy's eyes widened, her voice pitching up. "Yes, but mostly in the beginning before I realized you were straight?" She set her coffee down. "I can stop completely if you want though."
"Did you mean it?" JJ asked.
Daisy blinked. "I'm not gonna go creepy stalker on you." She twisted her fingers. "I'm an adult, it's not the end of the world."
"So if I asked you to dinner?" JJ asked, christ this was ridiculous. Liking Daisy was exhausting, this was not convenient.
Daisy's eyes lit, a stupid grin showing on her face. "Are you asking me out Agent Jareau?"
"If you say yes." JJ could feel herself relaxing as she realized Daisy looked delighted.
Daisy grinned. "How do you feel about a grown up date? I have to admit I've never done the fancy dinner thing before. Well if we don't get a case, if we get a case I'm down for plane peanuts and whiskey bottles in a shitty motel."
"No telling the team, I'm not…" JJ winced, god this could get so messy.
Daisy spoke up. "I'm a spy, and I was there when you broke up with Will. I get secrets. And dating in team can be...dramatic." She rolled her eyes. "Like so dramatic if it goes wrong. Besides, I may spill info all over the place, but what's my rank?"
JJ's shoulders had unclenched at the easy acceptance of just giving them some time. But then Daisy mentioned her rank and JJ realized she didn't know. She didn't even know her actual job title. "You give dozens of pieces unconnected information and give nothing that's actually important."
"It's a gift." Daisy shrugged, taking a sip of her grass, green tea, latte. "I have to say I had you pegged as straight. Well not initially, you stared at my ass the first week."
JJ spluttered on her coffee. "No I didn't!"
"You so did. It's good, I got a great ass." Daisy grinned. "So dinner?"
JJ huffed, but she felt light. "Dinner sounds good."
////
Emily's foot bounced as the plane came in for their next field case. This was going to be an up and moving case, traveling by car one. Spread out cases and traveling unsubs were exhausting but quick. She glanced over the file at Daisy who was stretched out, eyes closed, though her mouth turned up into a smile that gave away she wasn't sleeping. "So am I invited to the next paintball tournament? Cause the way Morgan is talking about it sounds kind of fun."
"He'd know, how many people did you shoot? Five?" Daisy's smirk grew as she spoke, though she didn't open her eyes.
Morgan looked up from crime scene photos. "Who gave you covering fire, all weekend."
Emily snickered. "So not the badass manly event we were hearing about."
"Hey, I only got hit twice!" Morgan protested, though he was laid back, good humor on his face.
Daisy giggled. "You did very well for being off against former black ops teams and seal teams."
"You weren't just stomping on a bunch of twelve year olds?" Emily prodded.
Rossi cleared his throat. "Let's go over the case one last time before we land."
Emily shared a look with Hotch as they came around the corner into the farm worker's temporary collections of homes. "Having two ICE agents could make this go very badly."
"We don't let them arrest anyone." Hotch's hands tightened on the wheel.
Daisy made an odd noise from the back of the SUV. "You know I don't think I'm actually a legal citizen. But maybe being an Agent makes me a citizen?"
"Wait, what?" Emily turned to look at their teammate.
Daisy shifted uncomfortably. "I was born in China, american dad, chinese mom. Stuff happened, got smuggled here and left on a catholic orphanage's doorstep. Classic story really."
"How is your life real?" Emily shook her head. "Later. You'll keep the ICE agents from doing anything stupid?"
A truly mean look came over her face. "I can do that."
Emily paused as she saw Daisy sitting in with the brother of their unsub. She was just sitting with him, a cup of sweet tea in his hands. And then she started talking.
"I'll take him in alive. I promise." She reached over and touched his hand. The two of them made eye contact for a long minute. And then Daisy was up. She gave Emily a slight nod as she passed her.
Emily came squealing into the trainyard. She barely managed to rip the keys out of the vehicle before she was sprinting towards Hotch and Morgan. It was already done. They were standing over a now familiar shape of a tranqed unsub. "You've got him?"
"Yeah, Daisy is running a perimeter check." Morgan rubbed at his arm. "It was close there for a second."
"You're hurt?" Emily holstered her gun.
Morgan shook his head. "Naw, just some bruises. Honestly Daisy's workouts hurt more… which climbing on a moving train should not be that easy."
"It's how thousands of vagrants travel in this country." Hotch was holstering his own gun. "You're lucky Daisy took the shot before I did."
Emily punched Morgan lightly in the shoulder. "Locals should be here any minute." And sure enough she heard the sound of sirens.
Hotch glanced at his wrist watch. "Once he's in holding we should all get some sleep. We can conduct the interview and finish up our paperwork in the morning."
"Not going to argue that." Emily breathed in relief. They had their unsub, the team was in one piece, and they didn't have to sleep on the plane.
Emily yawned as she made her way back to her hotel room. She had a bag of take out in one hand, she doubted she'd be awake enough to remember to eat it. It took her a second, and several blinks to recognize what she'd just seen.
It was really just the back of someone, specifically not JJ disappearing into JJ's room. Huh, that was a very familiar elbow and brown hair.
She smiled, huh, well good for them.
Emily shut and locked her room's door and then face planted on the bed. She'd eat cold takeout tomorrow. Just sleep. Sleep was good.
Chapter 14Chapter by Rhino (RhinoMouse)Chapter TextJJ stared at the pretzels and tiny vodka on the rickety hotel table. "You were serious?"
"Well I couldn't find peanuts and I have a feeling I'm getting kicked out so you can sleep in like an hour tops. But better than nothing?" Daisy smiled, genuinely pleased with herself.
She couldn't help herself, smiling back. "Does this mean I'm taking you to a fancy restaurant? I'm not sure on the rules for dating women." Which was irritating. Why hadn't her life prepared her for this?
Daisy laughed. "No idea, but sounds good to me."
"Any experience with dating a girl?" JJ asked hoping one of them wasn't going into this blind.
Daisy pulled out the two chairs that looked like they were from the sixties. "Unless you want to count making out with Becky Voss in the sixth grade, not really." Daisy poked a finger at her. "Stop talking yourself out of it. I got a promise of a date."
"You're ridiculous." But she smiled as she sat down. "So pretzels?"
Daisy shrugged. "I mean I could have gotten dry burgers like Prentiss was heading for, but I would rather have a kind of crappy date."
"Crappy already? And you're the one planning it." JJ hissed at the taste of vodka. "This is terrible."
"I know, it's so bad." Daisy took a long sip of her tiny bottle and somehow made that look attractive. It was unfair. "So, does first date mean I get to know more about your family?"
She softened, this was just them really. Well she could do that. "Rural, boring, there's not much to tell."
"Now I know that's not true." Daisy's head tilted to the side slightly. "If you don't want to talk about it's fine. We all have things that are hard to talk about. And parents are hard."
JJ opened up a bag of pretzels. "I had an older sister."
JJ accepted her order of coffee being slid into her hand. "Thanks."
"No problem," Daisy replied, easy as anything. "Hotch if I got the whole team tranq rounds do you think that would be approved?"
Hotch lowered his post solve novel. "You can do that?"
"I'll put in the order." Daisy dropped across from Morgan and Emily. "You two are going down."
Emily pulled out a deck of cards. "Oh don't be so sure. It's your one weakness. And we have a Reid."
"Poker isn't a team sport." Daisy dropped her spare change on the table, they'd been betting pennies for the last few flights.
Reid grinned, chest slightly puffed in pride at his last win as he half swaggered over, taking the seat next to Daisy.
JJ smiled looking away from the round of teasing and jocking that was about to start. She pulled up her book. This was good. She was just starting to relax in for a good flight, drinking her favorite coffee order, when her phone went off. She pulled out her phone, ignoring how the whole team was staring at her expectantly.
"We're turning the plane around, we've got one in Las Vegas." JJ could feel the groan the team gave out. So much for a proper date when they got back.
////
Morgan paused as Daisy shoved her gun into his hand. "What?"
"She's crazy not evil. I'll be in a perch. But if you have the shot don't fear, it's non-lethal. And it won't get you worse than a bruise." Daisy held his gaze.
He took the gun, leaving his holstered. "Alright."
"Good."
Three minutes later he didn't blink, or agonize over the unsub threatening to toss the child into a fire. Instead he just pulled the trigger.
He hit the ground by her side just seconds later, pulling the blanket off the kid. "HOTCH! It's not him!"
-"I've got Wil!"- Reid's voice came through the radio.
Morgan sighed, eyes closing. They had the kid. He opened his eyes and reached out feeling the unsub's pulse. He hadn't had to kill a mentally ill woman to save a pile of blankets over a teddy bear. He pressed the back of his hand into his forehead. Reaching up he hit the radio. "Can I keep your tranq gun?"
-"All yours Morgan. Good shot."- Daisy's voice crackled over the radio.
"You alright?" Hotch asked from where he was holstering his gun.
He looked up at his boss. "Yeah, never had to fire and not have the unsub die. It's… I get it now."
"I'll fill out that paperwork Daisy dumped on me for that ammo." Hotch gave him a sharp nod.
Morgan straightened, it was a win. A good one. Now to go convince Reid that his nightmares didn't mean anything.
Morgan caught Daisy's arm and pulled her aside. "I'm gonna stay behind with Rossi. There's a cold case here that's important for Reid."
"Is that why he's been so twitchy?" She pushed some of her hair behind one ear. "Is it dangerous?"
He shook his head. "It's over ten years cold, and it was a pedophile case. Low risk, I can protect the team. Go back with the others. We'll be fine."
She rocked on the balls of her feet. "If you think it could be dangerous you call me immediately."
"Yes ma'am." Morgan winked. "But I got this one."
She bit her lower lip. "Take care of Reid."
"I got him." Morgan slapped her shoulder.
////
Daisy grabbed Emily and JJ's bags. It wasn't heavy to her anymore, shitty knock off super soldier serum did that. Not that she'd had a full does of the Centipede serum like Mike, but she had had an injection of it. She tried to not think of the moment Coulson changed the history of the world.
"I can grab my bag!" Emily protested.
She slung two of them over one shoulder. "I didn't get to do anything useful for this one. Let me at least get the bags."
"Not going to try and grab Hotch's?" JJ asked, brows slightly raised, and clearly amused.
Daisy threw a look at Hotch who was heading for his SUV. "HOTCH! Burgers?"
"Oh I could go for a burger," Emily moaned.
Hotch looked between the three of them and then sighed. "I could use a burger."
"I'll call Garcia." Daisy whistled as she made her way to an empty SUV and dumped their go bags in the back. "I don't know about all of you but I could use a shower, but meet up in say two hours at Dick's?"
There was a chorus of agreement.
JJ looked like she was barely keeping from sniffing herself. "Back to back cases in the heat."
"Should I look into stocking the plane with extra go bags from everyone?" Daisy considered, they'd all run out of clean clothing yesterday.
Hotch shot her a look that she realized was silent laughter. "You'd have to get rid of the rocket launcher."
"Fine, was worth considering." She shrugged before climbing into the driver's seat. "Anyone need a ride back to Quantico to pick up their car?"
Daisy hummed in glee as she bit into a giant, juicy, burger. This was so the right decision. She could feel herself relaxing, well as much as she could relax in diners after getting kidnapped out of one. Still, they were homey and god was the food good.
"I'm so glad Morgan found this place," Emily said as she pulled her own burger closer while examining it for the best method of approach. A futile attempt, they would fall apart and smear all of their faces.
Hotch wasn't even pretending he could stay neat and was tucking a napkin into the top of his shirt. It was always odd to see him in anything but his typical suit.
Garcia purred as she picked her burger up. "My Chocolate Thunder has strokes of brilliance."
"Not arguing that." JJ shared a look with Emily and then both of them were laughing.
Daisy felt smug, this was good. This team had the misfortune of being asked to be agents and civilians. It left the horror they saw as an unending sludge that stayed with them as they tried to live civilian lives. Because they weren't surrounded by people who got it in down time as well as mission hours. No wonder SHIELD strongly discouraged family or relationships outside of the agency. So what if this place made her skin crawl slightly, this was a good thing. They needed down time with people who got it.
"You're checking the door a lot, even for you Terminator. You ok?" Garcia asked.
She tilted her head slightly. "I am?"
"You are." Hotch lowered the burger he'd been working on. "We can get our orders to go and eat elsewhere if you want."
Daisy waved him off. "Please, I'm fine. And we're in a booth. It's all good."
"You still owe me one uncensored honest answer." Garcia looked at her pointedly. "What's going on?"
Daisy blinked. "You remember that, and want to use it cause I'm a bit jumpy in diners?"
"Yes." Garcia held out her hand in an open offer. "You're important Sweetie."
She set her burger down and leaned back in her seat. "Last time I was in a diner my team was grabbed at gunpoint and sent...well it wasn't a good place. It was weeks for us to escape and we all had scars from it. I was lucky, I was valuable to them because of my skill set and they knew that as long as they had my team I would do what they wanted." Her hand involuntarily reached up to touch where her inhibitor had been surgically implanted, the familiar ridges of the scarring from having it ripped out comforted her. It was gone.
"They did that to you?" JJ asked carefully, her hand touching Daisy's leg under the table.
Daisy could feel herself wanting to tense up. Instead she laughed. "No, the scar is from removing what they put in." She could see the looks on their faces. "It was a while ago, I'm really fine. Just a bit jumpy. But I get jumpy at a lot of things. Really, I'm fine."
JJ raised her arm summoning the waitress over. "Hey, can we move to one of your outside tables? It's such a nice evening."
"Oh." She murmured. This was...oh they weren't just her's, she was theirs too wasn't she?
Daisy laughed as she walked JJ to her house. "How are you scared of the woods if you grew up in a rural area?"
"You have a shameful fear somewhere under that tough agent face." JJ elbowed her lightly.
Daisy considered that. "I really don't like octopus's...it's all the arms."
"I knew it!" JJ laughed. "But octopus's?"
Daisy pulled them to a stop as they reached JJ's door. It was a cute house. "It's the arms, I see the arms. But how many octopuses run around on land?" She wiggled her eyebrows. "Unlike someone's fear of trees."
"I'm not afraid of trees, it's forests." JJ corrected, though her good humor remained.
She grinned. "I'll protect you from the big bad forests."
"I'll shoot your octopuses." JJ glanced at her door. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Daisy found she liked being the same height as the person she was dating. No tipping her head up, just easy somehow. She leaned forward and kissed the corner of JJ's mouth. "See you tomorrow."
JJ rolled her eyes and pulled her back in.
Daisy dropped coffee off at Emily's desk. "Any news from the boys?"
"Nothing good. Garcia might need help with the research." Emily smiled as she grabbed the coffee. "You know you don't have to bring coffee in as much as you do right?"
She stepped back from Emily's desk. "I know." Daisy tilted her head towards JJ's office. "I'll drop off JJ's coffee, let her know I'll be helping Garcia with tech today."
"And Daisy, be careful if you talk to Reid, he's spiraling on this one." Emily cautioned.
Daisy paused. "I'll call him. I get the monstrous parent thing."
"If you do be careful." Emily picked up a case file.
She'd have made a salute if she had two free hands. "Got it."
Daisy picked up her phone and dialed.
-"Do you have something?"- Reid's voice was sharper than usual.
She leaned against the wall in the hallway. "No, but I get that you need to know what happened. Even if it turns out your dad killed that man. Even if he did it to protect you as a kid. I get it."
-"No offense no you don't."- Reid snapped. -"I don't have time for this, I'm busy on the case."-
Daisy pulled the phone away as the dial tone echoed. Well, that went well. She sighed, he was going to crash hard. Pushing off the wall she made her way to JJ's office. As she stepped into the room JJ looked up.
"Did the fingerprint come back?" JJ asked.
She shook her head. "Not yet. I tried to talk to Reid, he's wound tight as a drum."
"Are you ok?" JJ stood from her desk, stepping around her desk.
Daisy caught JJ's hand. "I'm fine, he's not actually mad at me. He's upset and isn't willing to be talked off the cliff."
"Morgan and Rossi have him." JJ pulled back, her eyes flicking to the camera.
Daisy smiled, she got it. And now wasn't the time. "Dinner tonight?"
"I think I can pencil that in. If this case is still going on though…" JJ bit at her lower lip.
Daisy relaxed. "Of course, if the fingerprint doesn't end all of this we're staying here till we break the case."
"How do you feel about French?" JJ asked, a slight smile pulling up her lips.
They both froze as her phone rang. Daisy sighed. "I have a feeling our next date is going to be in another crappy hotel room."
JJ held up a finger while picking up the phone.
Chapter 15Chapter by Rhino (RhinoMouse)Notes:Some accidental consequences of time-travel. Oops.
Chapter TextEmily was really starting to hate California. She paged through the crime scene photos. The police in Sacramento couldn't catch a break. Not even two weeks since they'd last been there and they were flying back in. "The unsub ripped these people to pieces."
"Drug fueled psychosis?" Hotch suggested as he held up a picture of someone with their arm literally ripped off. "PCP could account for the strength being displayed."
Daisy hummed. "I've seen this kind of thing before, but it was a nearly lethal injection of testosterone and gorilla testosterone along with several other chemical agents. Failed attempt at recreating the Captain America serum."
"Chance this is related?" Emily looked up from the gore.
She shook her head. "Not possible, there's an entire CIA team chasing down the individual and he was last sighted in Venezuela." She frowned. "Could it be more than one person?"
"Unlikely." Emily sighed as she went back to the crime scene, two cops and an as of yet unidentified man all ripped to shreds. "Whatever happened here had to have happened fast. They didn't even manage to radio for help."
"Blitz attack, no one this far into a psychotic break could manage to lure them into the alley." Hotch agreed.
Emily looked up expecting one of the other boys to weigh in. But no, they were driving from Las Vegas to meet them in Sacramento. She straightened. "Whoever this is someone had to have seen them."
"I'll talk to the locals, they might have missed an earlier case if it wasn't as violent of a scene as this one." JJ brought up.
Daisy pulled out her phone. "Garcia and I will start looking into other jurisdictions and see if our unsub's been busy elsewhere."
"Once we hit the ground it's all feet on deck. Emily go to our crime scene, take Daisy with you. I'll catch up with the other's on what they've missed. JJ the locals." Hotch shut his folder.
Emily turned towards Daisy. "You might want to bring some extra tranq rounds, just one might not take down an unsub in a psychotic break, especially one high on something like PCP."
"Don't worry, these rounds will take down a rhinoceros." Daisy grinned.
She paused. "How does that not kill people?"
"Fitzsimmons are brilliant and I have learned not to question the toys they make." Daisy shrugged. She frowned looking at the photos. "This third victim, look at that tattoo on the arm, it's flash art. That means cheap."
Emily looked up and down the alley. "No surveillance. If he was laying in wait this would be a good place."
"I think the cops were the targets then." Daisy kicked at some of the trash. "Look, someone was hiding their stash, and didn't take it with them."
She walked over and nodded. "And that's heroin. So our third victim's stash, not our unsub's." Emily frowned as she looked around the alley. "Look at the blood smears on the wall. One of the victims got tossed into this wall, but for the directionality to be from that angle…"
"The unsub followed them into the alley." Daisy frowned as she walked over to the ground and looked down. "Look at this blood splatter. It's layered. He was torturing this one."
Emily's head snapped around. "What?"
"The splatter layers, that's repetitive injuries while the victim holds still. With how ripped up the corpses were it would have been easy to miss. But look at this. The others got ripped up across the alley, this one in one place."
She opened the case file and flipped through. "Officer Jenkins. So possibly a personal agenda."
"Maybe." Daisy rose from where she'd crouched to look at the blood spray. "That's knife work for that type of blood spray. Never got the appeal, it's easier to just break bones. And less chance of killing the person you're questioning."
Emily shuddered to a halt. "Do I want to know?"
"Probably not." Daisy didn't bother to look ashamed or even sorry. Which spoke volumes of the situations she'd been in.
She just nodded. From what little Daisy substantively mentioned, she was fairly certain Daisy had been undercover for a long time, with deeply evil people. "Do you think any of this blood is from our unsub?"
"No, not unless he cut his knuckles on the victim's teeth. Neither cop got their guns out. That means no time to fight back." Daisy moved to the entry of the alley. "So he gets here, kills officer Marks with a stab to the jugular, literally ripping the man's throat out."
Emily looked at the crime scene photos and then back at the scene. "He stabs into the armpit of officer Jenkins and physically throws him into the wall. Once on the ground he proceeds to tear the man apart with a small knife and his bare hands. While holding him down, likely to demand answers."
"Which leaves victim three, the drug addict trapped, and cowering…" Daisy stepped to the back of the alley, her nose scrunching up in disgust. "Where he pisses himself." She looked at the next bit of blood spray. "He drags victim three out of hiding and caves in his chest with the trash can, and stomps on his head till it cracks."
Emily moved closer to the entrance into the alley. "And then comes back to officer Marks and beats him with the trash can lid till he looks like this before ripping his arm off."
"I'm not a profiler, but that's a lot of rage." Daisy closed the case file.
She sighed. "This is going to be a bad one. If he was interrogating officer Jenkins then he's not done." Emily felt her heart sink as her phone went off.
////
Morgan pulled the SUV up at the latest crime scene. Climbing out of the vehicle he took in the location, this one was a warehouse. He shared a knowing look with Rossi, they'd barely had time to drop Reid off at the station before getting here. "Less than twenty four hour cool down."
"I don't need to tell you how not good that is." Rossi slipped his thumbs into his belt loops. "Let's go see if there's signs of interrogation at this one."
He made a low noise of assent and made his way under the yellow tape. The bodies were still at this one. The heat had made the smell nearly unbearable as he made his way into the warehouse. Six dead here, and again they were ripped to shreds, some more than others. Looked like some of them had at least managed to put up a slight fight. "Gangbangers this time."
"I think I know what our unsub is looking for." Rossi stated, frozen, looking down at the blood spread across the floor.
Morgan walked over and read the single word painted in blood. "Fuck."
"Fuck indeed." Rossi looked up. "We can't let Daisy onto this crime scene. This is why Sacramento, she helped JJ with the press release two weeks ago. She'd have been in the background on camera."
Morgan nodded. "I'll go stop her and take her into the station. You and Emily can meet us there after you've examined the scene."
"Stop me from what?" Daisy's voice called out as she stepped into the warehouse, Emily right beside her.
He quickly moved his hands up. "Daisy you need to go back to the station right now. The unsub is looking for you."
"What?" Daisy strode over, circumventing him easily. She froze as she looked at her name painted on the ground of the crime scene. Her whole face went blank.
Rossi spoke slowly. "Do you know who did this?"
She ignored him, grabbing her phone and hitting a speed dial number. Daisy didn't move, or try to prevent them from shamelessly listening to her side of the conversation. She just spoke. "Fury, we have a problem."
Daisy looked over at one of the bodies. "You told me you had it. The case is mine now, forget your special Strike team. He's here, Sacramento." There was a long pause. "You didn't want me to have to kill him, well guess what I might have to because he's killing cops to find me. No you can't come here, you have to go grab Skye now. NO!" Her face turned truly furious. "She's in danger if he's in Sacramento, she's a teenager and in LA. If he finds her we both know exactly what he'll do to her. I'm a monster, she isn't."
Morgan flinched at the way she said 'monster'. It was unquestioning, and certain. He shared a deeply concerned look with Emily.
"Fine, send the Strike team here. I'd be happy to remind them of how to do their jobs. But it doesn't matter how close to this one I am, I'm finishing it." Daisy's eyes narrowed. "You owe me."
There was a long minute of silence. And then she hung up her phone and turned to face them. "I know who our unsub is."
"Care to share with the class?" Morgan asked cautiously.
Daisy looked down at the bodies. "My father."
////
Daisy kept her arms crossed as she sat, slouched in the chair in the small conference room. The rest of the team, sitting around the table. She looked up. "He'll come in if we give me to him. He won't hurt me, but he'll hurt anyone he sees as standing between the two of us."
"How do you know that for sure?" Hotch asked sharply.
Her jaw clenched slightly, but she needed them to not try to get between Cal and her. He'd kill them if they tried. "You can't...it's classified. It's so classified I can't say a lot. He's a monster, but he'd never kill me. I can talk him down if you let me. Any cop you put between him and me he'll rip to shreds."
"Why is it so classified?" Hotch asked, his face unbreaking.
Daisy hated this, time travel made everything so complicated. But..well there was a single root to everything. "My mom, she's a bio-terrorist. I cannot say anything else, people have died for knowing more than that."
"You said you started out as a terrorist who was caught?" Morgan asked slowly.
She shook her head. "No, I believed in freedom of information. I was a stupid kid, but I always wanted to help people. And I was a pissed off foster kid looking for purpose. The group I ran with was very different than her's. My mom… she had her reasons, but she hates humanity. Maybe if she'd found me before I found her. But no, I'm who Coulson and May trained me to be, not who Cal and Jiayang gave birth to."
"His name is Cal?" JJ asked slowly.
Daisy nodded. "Calvin Johnson, he's a doctor and insane. But I can talk him in. I promise."
"I say we set a trap." Rossi spoke up. "Let Daisy talk him in, and if it goes badly we have a SWAT team on stand by if she can't."
Hotch's lips thinned. "How do we get him to come in?"
"If you put me on the news." Daisy frowned as she considered it. "Say I'm a tech support for the unit. We ask for the unsub to come in, and give him a location that isn't the precinct. Has the media figured out where the last crime scene was?"
Daisy carefully pulled on a soft flannel over a white t-shirt with a scoop neck. She looked at herself in the station's bathroom. It was funny, she was dressed just like she had when she was Skye. But looking at herself she knew she didn't look like she had. Not really. Close enough Cal wouldn't question why she was older than she should be. He must have heard her name in one of the press conferences and put her resemblance and name down as a chance she was his. He wasn't wrong, but it was terrible.
"You don't have to do this." JJ closed the door behind her as she came into the station's restroom.
Daisy looked at her and just felt tired. JJ would never want to continue their tentative steps towards a relationship after all of this had shaken out. "Yes I do, he's my dad."
"No he's not." JJ stepped forward touching her ever so slightly. "Coulson is your dad. It's not typical but he's whose name you carry. He's who you talk about. I know he's why you have a Captain American bobblehead on your desk."
She sighed considering how to explain. "I love Coulson and May, they found a kid in a van in a back alley and helped shape the person I am. But it's not that simple. Cal and Jiayang are.. They're in my bones. And in really important ways I inherited a lot from them."
"You're not a serial killer Daisy." JJ's fingers curled around her wrist.
Daisy smiled, it was more bitter than she meant it to be. But she didn't have it in her to lie. "No, I'm not a serial killer. But I've done terrible things."
"Don't push us all away over this." JJ held onto her wrist.
She suddenly didn't care that JJ was probably going to be going running into the hills after this arrest. She cupped the side of her face and pulled her in and closed her eyes. If she was going to lose it, at least she still had this moment.
Daisy stood in the middle of the warehouse. The bodies were gone, but she couldn't help letting her eyes trail to her name on the floor. She looked up as she heard the door opening.
"Daisy?" Cal shuffled in, his eyes flicking around for signs of others.
She'd chosen right to have them be outside of the entire block. It would keep Cal calm, the wire was going to make this tricky though. She took in her father. Fuck, he was clearly already in that desperate state where he stopped being rational. He was probably a single stressor away from going full Hyde. Which was going to make talking him in hard. "Hi dad."
"You know who I am?" He asked, looking at her with wide hopeful eyes. "We have to leave before they come. They'll take you. We need to go."
Daisy held out her hand. "I know who you are. You're Dr. Cal Johnson, my dad. And we're safe."
"You know who I am." His head tilted to one side as he stepped closer, eyes full of tears. And then he moved forward in a burst, taking her up in his arms. He hugged her, as tight as he could, and sobbed into her shoulder. "I found you, I finally found you."
Daisy hugged him back. He knew her. "I tried to find you too."
"I won't let them take you again." His voice held that thread of madness to it.
She held onto him. "I know, I'm safe. You found me."
"I killed them all! How dare they try and take you from me." His arms tightened further.
Daisy carefully separated them so that she could watch his face. "Dad, dad I'm safe. They're not going to take me again."
"You don't know how special you are." He reached up cupping the side of her face. "My girl."
"I know about Afterlife, I know what made mom so special. Why people were chasing us." She held onto him. "I promise I'm safe now. I found the Doctor. He's dead."
His eyes looked crazed as he processed that. "Whitehall? You killed him?"
"I killed him. He's dead, I put a whole clip into his head." Daisy held on, if he could just stay calm like this she could get him to surrender himself.
Cal pulled her closer, his nails biting into her arms slightly. "He cut your mother, pulled her organs out. I tried to save her. I tried…"
"I know. I know what you did to yourself. The drugs you took so you could save us. And you did, you got mom." She held onto him. "Those agents in the village, they didn't know I was yours. They brought me here to keep me safe. I was safe. You took care of your family. You don't have to fight anymore."
He half dragged her three steps towards the door. "No, you don't know what they'll do to find you. Whitehall wasn't the only one. It's not safe. You don't know who's looking for you. They took Afterlife."
"No." Daisy pulled back and held onto him as she did so. "Jiayang is alive. She's in prison, but I visit. She's been weaving a lot. I promise she's safe. No experimentation."
Cal shook his head stepping back. "You work for them?"
"She was going to kill everyone who wasn't like us." Daisy spoke slowly. "Everyone else, even you. She needs help dad. You do too."
Cal brought a hand up to his mouth. "How can you.."
"I went through terrigenesis dad. I know my inheritance from mom. I promise you I'm safe. They couldn't hurt me if they wanted to. You need to come in." Daisy could feel his fractured psyche fighting through.
"You're going to arrest me?" He pulled back shaking his head. "You don't… you don't understand."
Daisy grabbed his forearm, letting her vibrations flow through him. Just enough he'd feel it all the way to his teeth. "I'm not lying. Dad, I'm trying to help you. You've hurt a lot of people. I know it wasn't your fault. I know you were just trying to protect our family. But you need help, real medical help."
"No I.." Cal's face started to twist up.
She knew how that ended up, she'd seen what he transformed to when he let his fury rule him. So she pulled out her smallest handgun she'd had in the back of her jeans. Daisy pulled the trigger four times.
His eyes widened, before his whole self went slack. Blue veins spreading past the collar of his wrinkled shirt.
Daisy caught him before he could hit the floor. Holding his frame she slowly lowered him to the ground. Brushing the hair out of his eyes she held him to her. Because he was a monster, but he was also her dad. She looked up at the camera, knowing they'd hear her with the wire she'd been wearing. "Clear."