Evolution, a Spencer Reid/Criminal Minds Fanfic

Chapter 18. Avatars Amok

Reid didn’t know what would happen when they landed in Quantico. As Rossi’s dire predictions had hinted, it might be the end of life as they knew it. Hotch might end up imprisoned or simply terminated. The team might undergo some very unpleasant transformations. And as for him?...He tried not to think about life as a lab specimen. He’d rather die. He wondered if, in the last, most extreme moment, if maybe, maybe, his mind was powerful enough to stop the life force beating within him.

Die on command…that’s what he’d choose rather than life incarcerated as a test-subject, a lab rat.

Spurred on by the thought of what might await them on the ground in Virginia, Reid dove into the task at hand, applying his considerable powers of focus and concentration to what might be the last pleasant taste of life that he would be able to savor. He watched Garcia’s fingers flash across the keyboard. She was giving everything she had to try and make things right. Every so often, she would glance at him. Once she leaned close and pressed her lips against his cheek. With his new abilities, Reid felt that simple touch embodied affection, fear and apology. He couldn’t ask for more. He never had.

As much as Spencer Reid had wished for love to bless his life, whether parental, platonic, or romantic…there had been so little, he’d learned to appreciate whatever was given. So even if Penelope might have contributed to destroying the fragile, special creation that was their team, Reid couldn’t reject what he knew was a true expression of love and regret. He would never reject sincere emotion. He wasn’t built that way.

He threw himself into the project at hand. And after a while, he was truly enjoying himself.

xxxxxxx

Predictably, Garcia chose Morgan as her first subject for super-avatar-ism. The results were drawn from the classic labors of Hercules with just a sprinkle of Marvel Comics tossed in. It gave Penelope the opportunity to display Morgan’s abs and biceps in ways that made Morgan’s eyes widen and planted just the tiniest seed of performance anxiety in regards to her expectations of her ‘chocolate god.’

Prentiss was credited with all the magnificent attributes of a cross between Wonder Woman and Amazonian warriors. Dark hair and lithe muscles were prominent. When Prentiss saw how well-endowed her avatar was, she laughed and thanked Garcia.

The tech analyst hesitated when J.J. was the subject. Reid grinned and whispered ‘angels’ into her ear. The results were truly biblical; beautiful and terrible at the same time. J.J. felt unworthy, but flattered, nonetheless.

The subject was Hotch. Looks were exchanged. Eyebrows were raised. Again, Reid’s perceptions delved beneath the surface and provided a suitable palette from which to paint their leader as a superhero. “Shape-shifter. Shaman,” he said. The Unit Chief would never understand why he’d been depicted as a fox-faced, wolfish creature with unsettlingly sad, human eyes. But neither did he complain about the team’s choice.

Rossi was easy. Roman gods provided the inspiration. And even if Prentiss made some ribald comments about toga parties, the avatars were  splendid representations of ancient Italian wisdom and power.

Where Garcia really had trouble was with her own depiction. Morgan suggested an odalisque…an opulent, seductive creature whose hedonistic call could tempt men to their own doom. But Penelope shook her head. Prentiss and J.J. asked her to consider femme fatales of luxurious proportions, like Mae West or Marilyn Monroe. No. It was Reid who found a combination of attributes that appealed to her. With a gentle smile and a slightly mischievous glint in his eye, he pointed out how he sometimes thought she’d missed her calling; he believed vintage circuses like Barnum and Bailey or the Ringling Brothers, would have hired her on the spot once confronted with her sartorial splendor. Garcia became a cross between a clown and a fairy princess. Reid felt the odd combination perfect for the quixotic techie. Apparently, Penelope felt the same. Her rendition was humorous and strangely ethereal. Perfect.