Lilac (Criminal Minds Fanfiction)

Arrival

[Agent Hotchner and Morgan enter the room while technical analyst Penelope Garcia enters behind them. They are approached by detective Montgomery and his partner detective Hastings.]

"Aaron Hotchner? Thank you so much for coming. We really do appreciate it. We're losing kids fast and I'm not sure how much more loss this city can handle."

"It's no problem. This is SSA Morgan and our technical analyst Penelope Garcia. The rest of our team will be joining us later. Where can we set up?"

"We have a room fully equipped for you and if you need anything else just let us know."

"Okay thank you."

[Hotch, Morgan, and Garcia all proceed to the room. Garcia immediately begins to set up her laptop and a few other devices while Hotch and Morgan start setting up their murder board.]

"Garcia go ahead and look at their system here. If hackers are turning up dead there's a good chance they're already involved or going to try to be."

"Ayey captain."

"Baby girl did you get a chance to see if there are any hacker groups in the area?"

"Oh hot chocolate there's so much I need to teach you."

[Hotch laughs slightly.]

"What?"

"Derek Morgan, most hackers don't want to be found. We typically hide in groups and trust each other to have our backs so all of us can stay hidden. Even once I was recruited to the FBI I didn't give up all my Hello fun meow meow secrets. I looked for the ones that I can find easily but I still have to do some digging if you want the full list-- woah."

"What is it Garcia?"

"Sir, you were right. Somebody already hacked into the system."

"We figured they would've so what's so 'woah' about it?"

"Whoever did is really good? Not better than me obviously but better than most. It's strange though because they did really good over coming the firewall undetected but it's almost like they're asking to be found now. But anyways, whoever did this was looking for something."

"Can you find out what they were looking for?"

"Yes sir but it'll take a minute. They have a computerized trip wire. If I'm not careful they'll know we know about them and files might get corrupted or they might find another way and we might not be as lucky the next time."

"Just do your thing baby girl."

[Scene fades out and switches to SSA Rossi and Doctor Reid approaching the morgue. Reid speaks first.]

"Three kids in 2 weeks is a lot Rossi. Whoever this unsub is doesn't have much of a cooling of period."

"Or heart for that matter. Killing three kids just point blank is crazy. But then again aren't all psycho killers?"

[They approach the M.E.]

"Hi, I'm doctor Lancaster. I've performed the autopsy on the last two victims but I also reviewed the first body in anticipation for your arrival."

"Great. Were all the CODs the same?"

"COD was the exact same every time but there was a signature. On each victim he carved a little robot-like image on the back of their arm with a either a star or a moon."

"Does that mean anything to you Reid?"

"No, but it might to Garcia. Where they held at all before they were shot in the head?"

"Yes they all had ligature marks on their arms, legs, and necks."

(Reid) "The unsub could have been trying to get information out of them."

"Yeah but what. These type of kids are like Garcia, if she can't get the information from you, she'll get it from your computer."

"Rossi, it's a whole group of hackers. They're prepared for people trying to hack in and they have things to help stop that. When it comes to stuff like this, sometimes they just have to work old fashioned."

[Scene fades out and moves to JJ and SSA Prentiss. With the two agents is the mother of the recent male victim. They are in the family's house.]

"Thank you for speaking with us Ms. Shadow. I know this must be hard and I'm very sorry for your loss."

"As much as I hate that he's gone it isn't a loss Agent Jareau. Josh was always causing some kind of trouble. Most of it was outside the house but I've had my fair share of his shenanigans myself."

"We know Josh was into technology. Was that the source of his behavior or did he act out in other ways as well?"

"Josh was a hacker first and foremost but he also wasn't afraid to beef up somebody if he felt he needed to. He'd been arrested a few times for cyber crimes and once or twice for typical rebellious teenager things. At home he usually stayed in his room and if he did come out it was either to get food, watch TV, or leave. I never really saw much of him "

(Prentiss) "How did he get along with others at school?"

"He was pretty well liked for the most part. He didn't hang out with a lot of people but everybody kinda knew him and were okay with him."

"What about in the hacker community? Was he liked?"

"I can't be sure really. He's a hacker, aren't those types of people made to dominate and become better than the others?"

"Typically that's the goal, yes."

"He was a good kid Agent Jareau. He just had a passion for technology but trouble seemed to follow him."