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Morgan rests his head on his hands. The members of the BUA are a mess. The remaining members that is. Reid went missing two months ago, and his teammates are running themselves into the ground trying to find him.
The higher ups, particularly Strauss, tried to tell them to stop wasting resources, they think Reid is probably dead. Morgan and the rest of his teammates know the statistics, they know the chances of finding Reid alive after all this time are impossibly slim, but they can’t give up. Reid is their teammate, their baby brother, they just can’t accept that he is dead.
He had gone missing while on vacation. Everyone had been trying to make him take some time off, but he was resistant. So when he had excitedly told Morgan about some frankly sci-fi sounding science investigations happened in New Jersey, and how he wished he could see the research first hand, Morgan had practically forced him to go there.
And now he is missing.
Morgan’s musings were halted by the ringing of his cell phone. He turned it over so he could see who was calling, and his heart skipped a beat. With trembling hands he swiped to accept the call, and brought his phone to his ear.
“Hello?” He barely manages to keep the shaking out of his voice.
“Morgan?” He hears a painfully familiar voice, and also shaking voice say. “It’s me, Reid.”
“Reid? Is it really you? Where are you?” Morgan feels faint, and probably should sit down, but he hastily gets up and dashes towards Garcia’s office, distantly noticing Emily following behind him.
“I umm, I’m not really sure where I am.” Morgan hears a stifled sob on the other end of the line and his heart practically breaks.
“I missed you guys so much.” Reid was clearly sobbing now. “I thought I’d never escape.”
“Hey hey, it’s ok buddy, your safe now, and Garcia is going to have your location in moments.” Morgan had put his phone on speaker, and Garcia was furiously pressing keys in her keyboard to track the call, the tears running down her cheeks not hindering her in the slightest.
Morgan was man enough to admit there were tears running down his cheeks as well.
Hotch, Rossi, and JJ burst into the room, and after catching their breaths, Hotch hesitantly speaks to the phone sitting innocently on the desk. “Reid?”
“Hotch?” A voice thick with tears came over the line.
JJ let out a strangled sob. “Spence?”
“JJ?”
“I found him!” Garcia exclaims triumphantly. “He’s in New Jersey, I’ve sent local LEOs to his location.”
Speaking to the phone she said. “Reid, our baby genius, we are coming to get you!”
“Wheels up in ten! We’ll be at your location in a hour Reid.” Hotch says.
“We can stay on the line with you until we get there, if you want Reid.” Rossi says.
“It’s ok guys, I can hear sirens approaching. I should be safe now.”
“Are you are sure? It’s really no problem to keep the phone on.“
“Wait until you are sure you are safe, we don’t want to lose you again.”
“I don’t want to lose you guys again either.” Reid says shakily.
“You won’t. I promise. Are we meeting you at the police station or the hospital?”
The team holds their breaths, they know the chances of him being injured after being held captive for so long are high, but they had temporarily forgotten in their exuberance that he was alive.
“The police station should be fine. Doc Thompkins patched me up recently.”
They all file that name away in their heads, except Garcia, who starts a search for doctors named Thompkins in New Jersey.
“Alright, as long as you are sure. But we are going to have to take you to hospital at some point.”
Reid sighs. “Yeah, I know.”
He then hangs up, and the rest of the team stand frozen for a moment, in shock.
Garcia moves to the door, declaring she is coming with them, and like a spell is broken, everyone follows her.
They make it to the plane in record time, and wait in silence for the pilots to arrive.
Sometime after the plane is in the air, the silence is broken by JJ as she whispers. “He’s alive, he’s really alive.”
They devolve into conversation, reassuring each other that Reid really is alive, and then the conversation turns towards who could be responsible for this.
Garcia shares her information with the team, which isn’t very informative. She can’t find any Dr. Thompkins in New Jersey, so she expands the search to the whole of the United States.
After what felt like one of the longest hours of their lives, the team disembarks and is driven to the police station Reid had been taken to. Garcia is a goddess for organizing transportation during the flight.
They walk into the station, as bundles of nerves, and a detective directs them to the room Reid is in. He tells them that Reid has been given some water and a granola bar, and an officer has been keeping him company, but he hasn’t spoken much.
It’s a comfortable looking room, a couple of couches, a table, a vending machine and a large picture window. When they walk in, Reid is staring out the window, unnaturally still. He’s dressed a bit oddly, in a suit that looks like it came from the 1920’s, and his hair has grown.
Morgan didn’t know hair could grow that length in two months, but he’s not an expert on hair growth, and the length of Reid’s hair is insignificant compared to the fact that Reid is here. Alive.
Reid turns around to face them, his eyes filled with tears. The team is so overjoyed to see him that they brush away the feeling of something is not quite right that they are slammed with when they lay eyes on him.
He launches himself at Morgan, and begins to sob into his shoulder. Unsure what else to do, Morgan rubs his back, and sways them side to side. Garcia speaks softly to him, telling him that he’s safe now, and how much they love and missed him.
After a couple minutes, he tears himself away from Morgan, and hugs everyone else, nearly crumbling into sobs again when he hugs JJ. There isn’t a dry eye in the room.
They all sit on the couches, Reid sandwiched between Morgan and JJ. He’s practically sitting on their laps, and tries to pull them closer to him.
Everyone speaks over each other, telling Reid how much they missed him, and that they never believed he was dead.
Once everyone is settled down, Hotch speaks. “Reid, we are so glad you are back with us. But now we have to find out whoever is responsible for taking you, and bring them to justice.”
“I’m not sure that is possible.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s too powerful.” Reid laughs humourlessly. The team ignores the shivers that the laugh sends down their spines. “You can’t arrest her.”
“We can certainly try!” Morgan exclaims. “We’ve arrested powerful people before!”
Reid shakes his head, his eyes hard. “You just can’t.”
Morgan opens his mouth to say something, but is cut off by Rossi’s hand on his shoulder.
Prentiss takes over the conversation. “Who is she Reid?”
Reid looks at them with badly hidden fear in his eyes. “She’s the Lady Gotham. You can’t fight her and win.” He whispers.
“But you fought her and won, right? You said you escaped.”
Reid goes still and silent, and the team hesitates, not wanting to pressure him to soon, but after a few minutes JJ gently nudges him. “Reid? You alright?”
He nods. “I managed to escape, but that doesn’t mean she can be beaten.” He shivers. “She’s much to powerful.”
“How did you escape?”
Reid hesitates. The room feels like it’s temperature has gone down a few degrees. Maybe there is a draft somewhere.
“Do you want less people around to talk about this?”
Reid hesitates again. Then nods.
“Who would you like to talk about this with?” Reid shrugs and burrows into Morgan’s side. Morgan ignores the chill that goes through him.
After some silent conversation between Hotch and Rossi, It was decided that Morgan stay as moral support for Reid, and Prentiss to ask questions.
The rest of the team files out of the room, and once out, Garcia no doubt immediately starts researching Lady Gotham.
Back in the room, the three remaining people get comfortable. Reid is still clinging to Morgan, and while Morgan is rearranging himself on the couch, he accidentally elbows Reid in the ribs. He tries to hide a wince, but fails. Concerned, Morgan asks. “Reid? Are you injured?”
“I’m fine.”
“Why didn’t you say anything earlier, we would have taken you to hospital already!”
“I told you, I’m fine, Dr. Thompkins already patched me up.” Something akin to annoyance fleets over his face, but he quickly schools his expression.
Morgan and Prentiss exchange looks.
“Reid, you know how this works, you have to go to a hospital and get your injuries documented by a doctor after a kidnapping.”
“Fine. But not yet, please?”
Morgan and Prentiss exchange another look.
“I’d rather you see a doctor sooner than later, but we can wait a few minutes. You were telling us about how you escaped?”
Reid nods and takes a breath. “I convinced her to let me go.”
“That’s good, you always could be convincing. How did you manage to convince her?”
Reid takes another breath and starts fiddling with his hands. He becomes still as he starts to speak, and his voice is slightly unnatural, emotionless. “I threatened her. I told told her I was going to escape one way or another. That I was going to escape, or die.”
“Die?”
“I threatened to kill myself.”
Morgan and Prentiss both take in sharp breaths.
“Reid…” Morgan starts, but isn’t sure how to continue.
Reid speaks again, his tone hardening. “I’m fine now. But I would rather have died than spend another day in that cursed place.”
“I’m glad you are ok now. But how did threatening to… to kill yourself help you escape?” Prentiss asked.
“She would have lost me either way, but by letting me go free, she won’t have to deal with her favourite children hating her for my death.” Reid says coldly.
“Her children?”
Reid nods. “They got attached to me.”
His voice turns fond. “They loved me. They tried to protect me, and make me one of them.”
“Can you tell us more about these children? We will do everything we can to get them to a safe place.”
“You can’t. She’d never let go of her favourite children, and when they leave her, they always come back.”
“Is there anything you can tell us about her or her children that we can use to bring her to justice?”
Reid shakes his head sadly. “Please don’t try, I don’t want her to take you too. She’ll destroy you.”
Realizing that they had gotten all they could from Reid for now, they decide it’s time for the hospital. Prentiss leaves the room to brief the others, and Morgan convinces Reid to go to the hospital more or less willingly.
Reid and Morgan pile in one vehicle with Hotch, and the others share another vehicle. Reid doesn’t talk during the ride, just stares out the window. And when they get to the hospital parking lot, he stares at the sky.
Morgan tries to lighten the mood. “You look like you haven’t seen the sky in months.” He winces after the words come out of his mouth, that’s probably not a good thing to say to a kidnapping victim. Especially one who is so pale. Reid has always been pale, but in the bright sunshine, Morgan can he he is even paler than usual. Unnaturally pale even.
Reid smiles wryly. “I haven’t seen the sun or blue sky since she took me.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
Reid shrugs. “It’s not that big a deal.”
They walk into the hospital, and Hotch asks if Reid wants to see the doctor alone, or with someone. He wants Morgan with him, so they go into the examination room together, and are met by Dr. Singla.
She’s a nice doctor, does what she can make Reid comfortable by talking softly and making no sudden movements.
She asks him what injuries are currently causing the most pain, and he replies his broken ribs, so she asked him to take off all clothing above the waist, and turns around to give him some privacy, busying herself with notes or something on a clipboard.
When Reid’s bare skin is exposed, Morgan can’t stop the gasp that escapes his lips. Reid is completely covered in injuries and scars.
There is a neat line of stitches across his forearm, like he used it to stop a sword or knife, and another line of stitches on his side. He has bruises in various states of healing, and scars from lacerations, as well as what look like a few gunshots scars. There are a few other scars Morgan can’t be sure the cause of, and disturbingly someone had carved words into his chest. Possibly more than one person judging by the difference styles of writing, and the various states of healing. The words were Scarecrow, Joker, and Black Mask.
But most disturbing of all was the various ages of the injuries. Reid had been missing for two months, but the oldest of the scars looked at least 6 months old, maybe more.
Morgan felt sick. Who could do this to sweet, innocent Reid? To his baby brother?
What was going on with the older than expected scars? And come to think of it, the longer than it should be hair? Reid was only gone for two months, right? And Morgan knew for a fact Reid didn’t have any of these injuries before. They had shared a hotel room on their last case together, and Morgan had seen him getting changed, his skin was unblemished. Something is not right here.
Dr. Singla was more professional than Morgan, but to those who knew how to look(like behavioural analysts experts), she was also shocked and disgusted that someone do all that to a fellow human.
She poked and prodded his ribs a little, before declaring they were most likely broken, and needed an X-ray. She then asked if there was anything else she should be concerned about.
Reid stills and then says. “I had a few more fractured bones. They got set properly, and healed well, but I suppose you’ll want to take a look at them.”
“How many fractured bones?”
Reid looks at the ground. “Ummm. 15? It’s not that big a deal, really.” He shrugs.
“Reid.” Morgan tilts Reid’s head so he could look at his eyes. “You’ve been through something awful. It is a big deal.”
Morgan takes a deep steadying breath. “Did Gotham do all of this to you?”
He tenses, going still. “Yes and no.”
Morgan and Dr. Singla stay silent, sensing that now was not the time to press.
After a some heavy silence, Reid speaks again, in a low voice, clearly trying to pretend he wasn’t bothered, but some fear and pain leak through. “She kept me there, wouldn’t let me leave, but it was some of her children who did this. Who hurt me. She mostly let them do whatever they wanted, especially if it was entertaining to her.”
“That’s messed up man.”
“The Bats tried to protect me, but she didn’t always let them. The rouges took me. They took me and they, and they tortured me.”
Reid was shaking at this point, a huge change from his unnatural stillness. His voice had risen a bit, but now dropped back to a painful whisper. “They tortured me, and they enjoyed it. They carved their names into my skin so I’d never forget what they did to me. Not that I’d ever be able to forget, even without that reminder.”
Morgan was shaking as well, but doing a pretty good job at hiding it. He was angry, so angry at those who did his to his friend, but now wasn’t the time to show that anger. He didn’t want to frighten Reid. Instead he sat next to him, and put an arm around him until he stopped shaking.
“It was a game to them.” Reid whispered.
“A never ending game that will never be won.”
He chuckles humourlessly. “Cursed with insanity forever. Both sides play to win, but neither realizes they have both lost.”
He chuckles again, and Morgan and the doctor exchanged looks.
Then he laughs harshly, and strings together a series of curses Morgan didn’t know he was capable of.
He looks up at them, fear in his eyes and a manic smile on his face. He laughs again, harsher this time, and both Morgan and Dr. Singla take a step backwards. Something is not right.
His laugher becomes uncontrollable, and they watched, frozen in place as his shaking hands reach into his pants pocket. He pulls out an inhaler, it looks just like one prescribed for asthma, and gives himself two puffs of whatever is inside. His laughter calms down, and then stops, as he collapses on the exam table, shaking, and gasping for air.
“What the hell? Are you ok? Reid? Reid?”
Reid nods his head, still gasping for air. Dr. Singla is taking his vitals. His heart rate and breathing are high, and he’s covered in a thin sheen of sweat. She puts an oxygen mask on his face.
Once he has recovered enough, Reid pulls off the mask and starts to explain, prodded by the concerned looks he’s being given. “They. They didn’t just do physical torture.”
His eyes stray to the floor again. “Some of them liked psychological torture, and some. Some liked experimenting with poisons and drugs and toxins. Some of which have horrible side effects. Like uncontrollable laughter.”
Dr. Singla makes a note on her clip board. “What can you tell me about the substances they gave you?”
“I could write down their chemical compositions for you. That would probably be easier than trying to tell you since a much of that stuff was experimental. I can also write down what was in the antidotes the bats gave me.”
“Alright, that sounds good.” Dr Singla gives him a clipboard with some papers and a pen.
“Reid?”
“Hmm?”
“What do you mean by the bats? You said they tried to help you.”
“The Bats and the Birds. They took me in, made me one of them. Sparrow. I didn’t go out with them much, mostly stayed in the clock tower with Oracle and The Birds of Prey, but the rouges still managed to get me.” His voice is fond, almost wistful.
Morgan files the information away, making a mental note ask Garcia to look up clock towers in New Jersey that could be used to hold kidnapped victims.
He wasn’t sure how much of what Reid had said was accurate, it was very clear by now that the ordeal had left some serious damage. It was very possible the trauma had caused Reid to remember things incorrectly, or differently than what had actually happened, despite his eidetic memory. Morgan could only hope that with enough therapy and support from his friends, Reid would be able to live a somewhat normal life after this.
Reid suddenly gasps and exclaims. “Oracle! Garcia! I have to speak to Garcia!”
“Woah, whoa. Calm down Reid. What is it?”
“Oracle tried to contact Garcia a bunch of times and tell her about me, but Gotham wouldn’t let her! I have to speak to Garcia!”
“You can speak to Garcia as soon as we are done here.”
“No! I want to speak to her now! Please Morgan?”
Morgan looks at the doctor and she shrugs. “Are you alright by yourself here with the doctor while I get her?”
Reid hesitates, but nods in confirmation.
Morgan starts walking towards the door, but stops and turns around. “You uh, you should probably make sure you are dressed before you talk to Garcia, you know how she is.”
Reid glances at his chest and nods.
Morgan gives him one last glance, and then heads out the door. He starts to make his way to the waiting room the rest of the team is in, but on the way he makes a detour to a restroom in order to gather himself and wash his face. The sound of the running water isn’t enough to drown out the memory echoing in his head of that horrifying laugh.
He makes his way to the waiting room, and is greeted with worried faces.
“How is he?”
Morgan takes a steadying breath, and sits down. The team becomes even more concerned.
“He’s…” he rubs his face in his hands and takes another breath.
“He’s been tortured. Badly.” He can’t keep his voice steady.
“Physically and psychologically. And he’s been drugged and poisoned with who knows what.” He shivers as the memory of the horrifying laugh hits him again.
“He had some kind of fit, said it was a lasting side effect of the drugs. It was scary. It’s bad guys . It’s really bad. He…”
Morgan sighed wearily. “He’s saying some things that don’t make a lot of sense. About bats and birds helping him. I’m worried about him.”
There were more tears on the team’s pain filled faces, and Garcia sobbed into JJ’s shoulder.
“Prentiss told us how he escaped.” Hotch said. “Do you think we should be worried?”
“I don’t know. I really hope not.” After a pause he spoke again. “He wants to speak to Garcia.”
“Me? Why? Not that I don’t want to see him, I really want to see our precious boy, but why me of us all?”
“Do you know someone named Oracle?”
“Oracle? Of course I know her! If I’m a queen of hacking, she is a goddess! Oh no, is she involved in this? Please tell me she isn’t involved in this.”
“Calm down baby girl. I’m not sure how she is involved in this. Reid said she tried to message you about him, but Gotham wouldn’t let her.”
“Oh no! Is she being held captive too? She would have sent me a message somehow if she was though, wouldn’t she?” Garcia gasps. “That must explain those weirdly corrupted messages she sent me, she said it was hardware malfunctions. She’s in trouble, isn’t she? We are going to take down this Gotham b*tch! She hurt my baby g-man, and she has my friend!”
“Hey hey baby girl, it’s going to be alright, we are going to bring her to justice.”
Garcia wipes her tears. “Good. Now take me to our baby genius.”
Garcia marches off, and Morgan rushes to catch up with her. When they reach the exam room, Morgan knocks on the door, and Dr. Singla opens it. Reid is still sitting on the exam table, but now he has a hospital gown on along with his pants. Morgan can still see some scars and wounds since the gown has short sleeves, but most of it is covered.
Garcia hides her discomfort from seeing the visible injuries, and Morgan knows she’ll be crying on someone’s shoulder, probably his, later.
“Reid?”
“Garcia! Did you bring your laptop?”
“Of course, who do you think I am?”
Something close to a smile appears on Reid’s face for a moment. “Can I borrow it quickly?”
That stops Garcia in her tracks. “What? But you don’t like computers.”
Reid shrugs. “I was bored and Babs wanted a pupil. Tim as well.”
“Babs and Tim?”
Reid winces, like he didn’t mean to let that slip. “I mean Oracle and Red Robin. They taught me the basics of computer stuff. Can I please borrow your laptop? I want to let them know I got out safely.”
Dr. Singla choose that moment to interrupt. “We should probably get some blood work and X-rays done first, and I assume that evidence pictures will need to taken. Do you think we could get those things done first?”
Reid hesitated, and Garcia spoke. “It’s alright baby g. I can contact Oracle, and you get the things done that you need done.”
“Fine. Tell her that Sparrow is safe.”
“I will. In fact, I’ll go do that right now.” With that, Garcia walks out the door.
Dr. Singla draws some blood, a lot more than Morgan has ever had drawn, and then sends Reid for X-rays. Getting the X-rays done, and looking at them all took long enough that the blood work was done afterwards. She declares that the blood work was clean, nothing to be concerned about, and that all his broken bones had healed well, but he should follow up with his doctor if he had any concerns about anything.
Then a crime scene tech comes in to take pictures of all Reid’s injuries and scars. It takes a while do to the sheer amount, and it is emotionally exhausting for both Morgan and Reid. They both understand how important these are to investigations, but they have never been on this side of it.
Once that is done, they meet up with the rest of the team. There is some debate as to whether they should stay here at a hotel, or go back home. In the end, they decide that Morgan, Garcia and Reid should go home, and the rest should stay for a few days to investigate.
Reid falls asleep on the plane, and the rest of the team use that time to interrogate Morgan about anything useful Reid might have said. He tells them all he can.
Reid got settled into Morgan’s spare room, no one would even consider letting him return to his apartment alone, even if Rossi had been paying rent while Reid was gone.
The rest of the team stayed in New Jersey for a few days, but their investigation didn’t turn up much. They spoke with some scientists who told them stories of other people disappearing, and stories of some of those people reappearing and saying that the date was wrong. Sometimes they said they were gone much longer than they were, and sometimes much shorter. They reported these people also had strange clothing, outdated by decades, or oddly futuristic. These people were pretty closed mouthed about what had happened to them and were they had been. The nearby hospital confirmed that some of them had come to get injuries treated, but none had injuries to the extent Reid did.
Morgan and other team members tried to get information that would be useful for the investigation out of Reid, but he didn’t give much useful. He alternated between talking fondly of bats and birds, and telling horrifying stories about rouges.
Eventually the team had to admit defeat, and they returned home. They all spent a lot of time with Reid, and they all noticed the changes with him. He was quieter, sometimes making you forget he was in the same room as you. He frequently snuck up on people, saying it was an accident when asked. He wasn’t scared of the dark anymore, instead often preferring it. When he asked to spar with Morgan one day, Morgan was surprised, but accepted. He was even more surprised when Reid showed he now had serious skills.
Morgan nearly had a heart attack the first time he found Reid on the roof, and another the first time he saw Reid standing in a shadow, unnaturally still. He was surprised the first time Reid asked if he could crawl into bed with him after a nightmare, but of he let him, anything for his little brother. Reid’s nightmares were really bad, but he refused to talk about them. The team sent him to see a therapist, but they weren’t sure it helped much.
The team did all they could for him, they never all left for a case, always leaving one member behind to keep him company. They made themselves available if he ever wanted to talk, and kept him silent company when he wasn’t interested in speaking. They took him out for meals and activities, and JJ frequently let him spend time with Henry. They bought him lots of books(usually using Rossi’s credit card), and watched his favourite tv shows with him.
But no matter what they did, no matter how hard they tried, they could see him slipping away. Sometimes when he talked about Gotham, he couldn’t hide the longing in his voice. He was still certainly traumatized by what had happened, but he talked about that bats and the birds with fondness.
Sometimes, he would look into the distance, and tell them that he could hear her calling him. That she wanted him back. They tried to remind him of what he said about not wanting to spend any more time with her, and reason with him when he let it slip he wanted to go back. They reminded him what he had said about her children being cursed with insanity, but when they did, he smiled a smile just a little too wide, and asked them if they really thought he was still sane.
One day Morgan woke up to a note on his kitchen table, and Reid nowhere in sight. It was a goodbye note. He told them that he was sorry. That he loved them and would miss them, but he couldn’t resist her call anymore.
They never gave up their investigation, never let anyone declare the case a cold case. They searched for many years, never giving up. But no matter how hard they tried, no matter what they did, they never found him.
He was Lady Gotham’s child forever. No matter how far her children go, they alway come home.