Chapter Text
"How would you feel about a job change?"
That was not the first thing Alejandra Milani expected to hear from Erin Strauss' mouth after a year of silence.
----
“SSA Hotchner, meet Agent Alejandra Milani.” Strauss introduces them. “She’s the genius I told you about.”
“Honored to meet you, Agent Hotchner. I’ve read some of your case files in the Academy, they are fascinating.”
Agent Milani is young, around Reid’s age, with lightly tanned skin, brown hair pulled into a bun, a smart suit, and an inquisitive gaze. He read her file when Strauss plopped it on his desk, not even bothering with the illusion of choice. Recruited at seventeen, informant that broke the New World case, full FBI scholarship, double major in psychology and criminology, top of the class at the Academy, 95% success rate, high praises from the Profile Database and Undercover Ops units.
She could certainly be a valuable asset to the Unit.
---
“Have you heard about the agent Strauss is pushing into the team? Her recruit?”
“Not just any recruit, Milani was her informant during the New World sectarian investigation when she was seventeen, she planted the bugs and got intel out of the leader himself that broke the case.” Rossi recalls his conversations with Strauss from years before.
“Double major in Criminology and Psychology, graduated early summa cum laude, speaks three languages, IQ of 160 - she’s the Latina version of Reid.” Garcia notes as she reads the file then turns to Reid. “Have you met her before?”
“Not personally, but I listened to one of her lectures on interrogation techniques at the Academy and it was fascinating.”
“She impressed Doctor Reid? Should we be scared?” Emily jokes.
Their laughter dies down when Hotch enters the meeting room, a woman who could only be Agent Milani trailing behind him and nodding at the team.
"Team, this is Agent Alejandra Milani. This case is sensitive, so we can get to full introductions later - please begin, Garcia."
They quickly realize quickly why someone else was called in. Two teenagers and a young man found dead in Montana, with evidence of acute poisoning and, worse, disfigured beyond recognition by someone who was clearly angry at something. It was only because of their DNA that they were identified. The other strange thing was the vials of poisons found around the bodies, featuring an unknown DNA and the imprint of lips on the top. They start doing a preliminary profile of the UnSub while on the jet, passing around various theories.
“The UnSub is drinking poisons for the kick of it?”
“It’s a practice called Mithridatism, where an individual consumes small doses of certain poisons like belladonna and arsenic every day to develop a resistance to it. It’s named after the ancient Pontian king Mithridates VI, who is believed to have been the first overly paranoid ruler to develop the technique and the practice was upheld by others throughout history.” Milani adds without glancing up from her file, only looking up when she doesn't hear a response and fears no one heard her. The team is looking at her, with a mix of awe and surprise. “What?”
“Oh my God, there’s another one.” Emily gasps.
“You think the UnSub has training with poisons?”
“Fair working knowledge, at least. They know which poisons you can develop a resistance to and which ones will just kill you - so we are most likely looking for someone with at least basic biochemistry down. We should look at medical professionals, healthcare workers of every level, med school hopefuls and currents as well as dropouts, anyone who would have access to the equipment, knowledge, and chemicals required to pull this off.”
Hotch doesn’t even hesitate. “In that case, Milani and Reid head straight to the ME’s, get a full lab report. Morgan and Prentiss to the crime scene; Rossi, JJ with me.”
...
"Pobrecitos." Milani says as she looks at the cold bodies on the metal tables. They are waiting for the ME to come back with the test results, her and Reid taking the opportunity to examine the wounds on their bodies. "So the UnSub disfigures them post-mortem, meaning that torture is probably not his endgame. Why disfigure them if they are already dead?"
"Could be a forensic counter-measure, makes it harder for us to ID them." Spencer offers.
"In that case, wouldn't it be easier to just chop off their head and fingers? There are at least ten better ways to render a body unrecognizable." Milani says nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders when Reid raises a quizzical brow her way. "I have the utmost respect for the victims, Doctor Reid, but it's our job to investigate criminal minds - sometimes that includes thinking like them."
He purses his lips together, looking slightly like a frog. "I know." He stands up to his full height, standing next to her as they look at all three bodies. "So their deaths are cold and precise and then they are cut down with feral rage. We could be looking at a partner."
The ME enters the morgue with the lab results, listing and explaining the different substances found in the bodies. Arsenic, cyanide, belladonna. The classic murder mystery suspects. He may not be that knowledgeable after all.
Milani watches the ME write down something on the report, cursing as he realized he messed up something and crossing it out before crushing the paper into a ball and throwing it in the trash. "We are looking for one UnSub."
"How do you figure?"
"He didn't mean to kill them, he was using them as test subjects - they are just unfeeling bodies to him. The experiment failed and they died, his rage is at himself for failing - but he's too vain to take the knife to himself, so he cuts them instead. Like crossing out a word on a piece of paper."
..
“Reid, Milani, what do you have?”
“We are looking for a white male in his forties, God complex with delusions of grandeur, he’s trying to make himself invulnerable and using his victims as test subjects and when they fail he gets angry and destroys any evidence of his failure. He might feel invisible and looked down upon in his life and this is his way of trying to gain power.”
“He’s very successful and not used to failure or shortcomings - the complete lack of empathy means he’s most likely a high functioning psychopath.”
“He is highly educated but him mutilating the victims and leaving behind his research is a very strong deviation from the scientific method, that means his delusion is getting worse and overcoming his rationale.”
“If the next experiment fails, and they will, it’s only going to push him over the edge and from there, there’s no telling what he might do.”
…
“He’s a narcissist with a God complex - we can’t appeal to ethics and threats and sympathy, he’s way past that.” Milani points out from behind the glass, earning an inquisitive look from Rossi and Hotch. “We have to hit him where it hurts. I know just how to break him.”
“Do it.”
Milani nods and leaves, brushing past Morgan as he enters the other side. Rossi raises an eyebrow. “Why do I have the feeling we are about to witness a massacre?”
Milani sits down in front of Grant, plopping down the file with the crime scene photos. “Anything I can get you, Andrew? Glass of water, coffee?”
“My name is Doctor Grant and-”
“Are you? I ran your background, Andrew, you barely finished high school. Poor thing, all those years of teasing and bullying and being put down must have taken quite a big toll on you.”
“They’ll regret it. I’m stronger than all of them now, they will know what I’ve done and they will regret ever crossing me.”
Milani chuckles. “Is that what you think?” She places the crime scene photos in front of him, the victims contorted in pain on the floor. “Because I can tell you what everyone that watches tonight’s national evening news is going to think: Andrew Grant was a weak, pathetic coward who couldn’t even kill them with his own hands. Maybe your father was right after all.”
“No!” Grant slaps down the table, hard. Mila, to her growing credit, doesn’t flinch, only tilts her head. “No no no! This can’t end like this! They need to fear me!”
Milani does a full 180, her body language going from disinterest to sympathy. “This isn’t over yet, Doctor Grant.” She leans forward. “You tell me where Olivia and Caleb are, and I can make sure everyone knows who they messed with.”
Andrew Grant’s face is red and swollen as he spills everything. Where they are, how to get there, what toxins he used, how he found them. It matches their profile to a T.
“I like this genius, can we keep her?” Morgan jokes as he calls the others and tells them to get ready, leaving Hotch and Rossi as they watch Milani handcuff Grant and take him away.
“We better send a casserole to the database unit.” Rossi suggests. “Our condolences for their loss.”
...
Milani stands outside the precinct, putting on her bulletproof vest for the first time in a good while and rolling up the sleeves of her shirt when she catches sight of her arms.
She's always made an effort to hide the scars that cover her inner forearms, ever since she got them on that fateful night ten years ago. The blotches of dark red and purple had never truly gone away, mainly due to the fact that she couldn't exactly go to a hospital right after they were inflicted - but the raised dark lines that followed her veins were the worst of it. The skin had mostly returned to her original color, but the texture and looseness made it clear that something had happened.
Back when she worked in the database and those few times she did Undercover Ops, her arms were almost always covered - on those very rare occasions some saw her arms, her fellow agents would ask about them out of curiosity and concern, and she'd shrug her shoulders and say "old schoolyard incident, don't really feel it anymore", which paired well with other anecdotes about school back in Argentina. It felt a little rushed for her brand new coworkers to see her scars on her first day, but there was no time to waste and her vanity could take a hit. She's been stared at before and she's survived, her ego can wail and moan later.
...
They find the kids exactly where he said they would.
They are barely alive, curled up on the ground in an attempt to lessen the pain in their stomachs. The paramedics wheel them away, letting CSU in to start processing the evidence left behind. Then it's a short afternoon of organizing paperwork and putting away cases files before they find themselves back on the jet back to Quantico.
She sits with Prentiss, Reid, and JJ on the flight back, finally getting a chance to actually get to know her teammates. "It's great that we have another woman in the team - there was too much testosterone around here."
"If you have any complaints, Emily, you can start kicking doors!" Morgan's annoyed voice calls from the other seats, making them laugh.
JJ rolls her eyes at their childishness. "Calm down, kids, you're making us look bad in front of the newbie."
Milani raises her hands. "Eu, I'm not exactly a newbie."
"She's right." Spencer pipes up.
"Yeah, we read it. I was a handful, but even I didn't become a spy at seventeen."
"Handful like what?"
"We are not drunk enough for this conversation and JJ can't drink yet, so back off, Lady Genius."
Spencer looks up from his book. "Why does she get to be Lady Genius?"
"Because you will forever be our Boy Genius, pretty boy."
"Stay out of it, Morgan!"
Milani thinks on the nickname. "I like Lady Genius - there are worse nicknames."
"Oh, don't worry, Garcia and Morgan will come up with plenty. Give them a week and she's gonna have a dictionary made."
"In that case, you can just call me Mila. You Americans butcher my first name way too much."
Rossi exchanges a look with Hotch. "And here I was thinking we had enough immature children to deal with."
...
Milani walks up to Strauss' office, dead on her feet and eager to go back to her apartment, not even bothering to conceal the yawn as she closes the door.
"I heard the case went well." Strauss says without looking up from her files. "Rossi called me to ask why I hadn't placed you in the field before."
"Maybe because I am - what did the CIA say? Ah yes, a dangerous sociopath who has no respect for authority and should be shipped back to Argentina to mind her own fucking business."
The older woman looks up through her glasses. "You called them spineless cowards who sucked a cult-leader's dick for money."
Milani snaps her fingers. "And I was right." She settles in the chair. "What did you want to discuss?"
"The team, what did you think of them?"
Milani leans back on her seat, gathering her thoughts. "They work very well together; there's a clear trust in every single one of their abilities and skills to the job well and they never doubt it; and they are as serious on the field as they are relaxed outside of it. From what I've seen so far, I liked them."
"Good." Strauss says with a small smile before tossing the files she had previously been reading into the garbage. "Undercover Ops sent a request, but I guess they can find someone else." She hesitates. "Unless you want one last op?"
"No, I have done enough acting and lying. I really like making hardened criminals shake in their boots once they realize who they are dealing with."
"You get too honest when you're tired, you know that?" Strauss states. "Go home and rest, Milani. You're dismissed."
----
There is no case waiting for them in the morning, which means paperwork.
Mila catches sight of Spencer reading something as she returns from the kitchenette, a thermos of hot water under her arm and a prepared mate on hand. He's reading Frankenstein, quickly passing the pages as he reads through it. Hotch had mentioned something about Reid being a genius who could read twenty thousand words per minute, but being told and seeing it in action are two very different things.
"Was yesterday's Frankenstein not enough for you, Doctor Reid?" Mila points out as she sits down at her new desk, opposite the other genius.
"Seeing as humans have been trying to achieve power over life for as long as we've had gods, it was certainly worth a re-read." Spencer replies.
Mila lights up with an idea. "How many minutes until you finish it?"
"Not long - why?"
She reaches for her bag, pulling out a book. The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. "Wanna trade?"
Morgan and Prentiss watch on as the exchange happens, the two nerds discussing characters and mankind's unhealthy obsession with trying to achieve immortality and godlike powers. "Maybe having two geniuses won't be so bad. At least they can ramble to each other instead of us." Derek reasoned.
"As long as they don't join forces and start torturing us." Emily grumbles over her cup of coffee. "Which I'm guessing won't be too far in the future."
Indeed, it would not.