Chapter Text
They weren't supposed to have a case that day, for the majority of it they hadn't. The day was spent doing paperwork, it was as boring as it was relieving. No one's life was at stake and they weren't working against the clock, but paperwork was a boring task to Morgan, Rossi, and Emily. JJ was used to it with her job as the media liaison and Hotch would prefer it, as tedious as it was, and of course Reid didn't have a problem with it.
Whether or not it was boring, it was an overall nice day. It had been a while since they were able to just be in the office and talk and laugh without something deadly or traumatizing happening to anyone. No one was dealing with anything personal, at least nothing that anyone could tell. Which meant this was the happiest they've been able to be in a good while.
Morgan shouldn't have ignored the lingering feeling of doom in his stomach and acted on his plans of wrapping Reid in bubble wrap. He should've held him down while Garcia planted a tracker in him too.
He had known it was all too good to be true. He also knew his boyfriends luck was just that to get kidnapped when everything was fine.
It was the evening, almost time for them to clock out, when Reid had left due to an emergency with his mother and he needed to get a paper from his house to confirm with the sanitarium. He luckily didn't need to fly out to Vegas and he had already long since been done with his stack, he was just doing extra. So he was granted his leave easily.
He hadn't come back.
“I mean he's done with work and depending on what happened with his mom, he may not feel up to coming back. He might need a break” JJ suggested,
Morgan had a bad feeling though, Reid had said he would come back and they knew he didn't like leaving work before them. It was something that had been established years ago when Reid was countlessly told he could go home when he finished his files. The young agent-doctor explained that he didn't mind the extra work and preferred to leave with the rest of them.
He didn't completely buy it. Not to blame JJ but she had a track record of suggesting nothing happened when in reality the person was being tortured. He had to be sure, seeing as Reid wasn't picking up his phone, he went to the almighty Garcia.
“Last known location is.. at home. Or mostly at least. It looks like he's not yet home but a block or two away. He's been there for twenty minutes” her voice became one of worry, Morgan couldn't say he didn't feel the same.
“Thanks, Garcia. I'll be back if I have anything, I'm going to let Hotch know,”
“Do you think something happened to him? Being so close but just standing there for so long seems bad. Like ‘I got kidnapped but my kidnapper left my phone in the spot they took me’ type bad”
“I don't know.. knowing him, maybe he's just trying to befriend a raccoon or something. Hopefully it's nothing. I'll let you know though”
He told Hotch his concerns. Hotch found it just as suspicious and decided to go with him to check it out. If it ended up being nothing then it was good they took the precaution, if it ended up being something, then it was best they came in numbers than let another person get hurt if the unsub was still there.
Garcia guided them to where the phone was, they found it but no sign of its owner. They checked Reid's apartment next. Maybe it fell out of his pocket.
The apartment was void of anyone.
They had a case.
Reid was the only one not awake yet. In his defense, he was the one most recently knocked out while the others already had plenty of time to adjust and wake up.
A few voices greeted him when he woke, all talking casually or worriedly in the background to each other. A female spoke directly to him though, trying to wake him up, someone warned her in the background,
“He said he'll start once he wakes up, do we really want to see what we're starting? It probably won't hurt to keep him asleep longer’
“Maybe but sleeping might put him in a coma or something” the person in front of him said.
He slowly opened his eyes.
The room was concrete but decently lit. There was a window that let them see into another room, it was empty but lit. There was a large screen in the room they were currently in. A door that he assumed was locked or else no one would be in here. There were five people, six including him, they didn't look anything alike so features weren't a part of the victimology.
The screen turned on on its own before he or the female could say anything. Reid fought to sit up, holding most of his weight up on his hands.
None of them were restrained in any way, he noted offhandedly.
“Welcome, you can call me Rhadamanthus. I have chosen all of you for a reason, yet only one of you deserves to live. Most of you deserve to rot, but here I am, giving you all a chance to repent. To the FBI agent in the room, your life shall be spared if you try. Amongst you are the greediest people known, their instincts will tell them one thing, but I implore them to do the other. You’re lives depend on it”
“What is this? Some horror movie bullshit? Let me out! I’m not entertaining you” Reid tried not to flinch at the female’s harsh words. She was aggravating the unsub, she likely wasn’t intentionally trying to get a reaction, it was just in her nature to start a fight.
It made sense what the unsub said then, the greediest people.
“This isn’t a game” the unsub was upset now, his voice lowered as though he lost all his patience. He likely did because he said that they may as well just get right into it and rambled a bit more, not with anything useful.
Reid’s mind went back to the name he gave himself, Rhadamanthus. Rhadamanthus, in mythology, was a king who became a judge of the dead. He was known for his strict decisions, once his mind was made up there was no changing them. The name couldn’t be by chance, the unsub found himself in a similar role. He deemed the greedy dead, he was doing their final judgments of them. He saw himself kinder by giving them another chance at redemption.
“Spencer, go into the room with the window”
His thoughts faltered and he waited to see if anyone else was coincidentally named Spencer. Of course, they weren't, after the armed man shifted, Reid compiled and hesitantly went to the room. Two of the masked men followed.
As well as being a threat to them if they didn't listen, they also seemed to work as helpers. The unsub explained the rules of the game. There were two groups apparently, another set was being held in another room and someone was being put in the same position as him. A bat full of nails was placed in his hand and a pinata was brought from somewhere he hadn't seen.
The directions were simple. Destroy the pinata and get the most candy out. He would of course be blindfolded and to make things more difficult, he would be fully sensory deprived. Music would play. Reid didn't see how that would affect a physical task like the one he was being asked to do but he supposed having even one sensory deprived could affect the others, so having them all would be even more effective.
One of the helpers blindfolded and spun him as loud music blasted through his headphones and the speakers. It made his brain throb. He did his best to focus though. A person would get hurt either way, he was sure. Someone on either team was going to lose, the unsub, the Developer, never said it was the loser, just someone from the loser's team. While he didn't know his team, he didn't want to risk any of them getting hurt.
He tried his best, he didn't know how he was doing.
The silence was loud when the music suddenly ended, Reid froze, hesitant to grab the blindfold.
“You can take it off” the Developer confirmed, a pleased tone in his voice.
Reid did so and paled at the sight.
The pinata had been replaced. Someone he hadn't seen before was hanging from the spot it used to be in. Blood was everywhere, Reid thought he had just been feeling things land in his hair, like other pieces of hair moving around due to his movement. He hadn’t thought it was a person.
He looked to the window in the room and found the people were just as horrified. They saw him murder someone after all. He wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t trust him. The guards gestured for him to exit the room as the unsub spoke.
“This is not a game. I encourage you guys to take this seriously. Lives are at stake,” he was still teaching a lesson. The girl who had questioned him earlier was horrified, she looked like she knew the person hanging. He wondered if she did and if the unsub knew that. Though his curiosities were drowned out by the taunting voice saying that he just killed someone.
He sees dead people every day. He’s the reason some of them are dead. It was his fault some people got the death sentence, it was his fault that a victim died because he wasn’t quick enough, he’s had to shoot a few people himself. But those were all bad people or situations that couldn’t be avoided. This.. he didn’t know that man, he didn’t know if he was a criminal and has done something worthy to get struck to death many times.
He felt terrible, He didn’t mean to kill somebody, he genuinely hadn’t known. He could tell his ‘teammates’ were already growing cautious of him.
They were told that that was just a warm up, a threat, an introduction. However they wanted to see it, it was just getting started. It was just so they knew none of this was fake and to take it seriously.
It only made everyone panic.
“Sidney” the girl from earlier who disrespected the unsub, “and Veronica, go into the room” his orders were calm, he had no reason to fear. Behind the screen nothing could be done to him, and with two methods of death, his subjects were properly motivated. Sidney put up a small fight, grumbling about not wanting to go into the blood splattered room where her.. acquaintance was hanging beaten and bloody. A click of her collar made her jump.
The door was locked by one of the masked men.
“Veronica, your son lost his life in a hit and run, it was a case that went cold due to the lack of evidence pointing at a suspect,” he paused, “Sidney was there during that time though. She saw the whole thing happen, but she kept driving because she thought it would be bad publicity for her company if she was involved with something like that. Her selfish act left you and your family with no peace for your youngest. A child of seven years old, who wandered onto the street while his mother went inside just for a quick second to get him a water bottle” the guy with glasses gasped softly. “You can avenge your son, you have a gun in your possession, Sidney has a mere butter knife. Or you can forgive her and Sidney can atone for her actions”
They were all bad people but Rhadamanthus wanted them to learn a lesson. The right answer was obvious, he wanted them to choose the pacifist route. He was testing Veronica by giving her the things to kill, a masked man had given her a gun, another one had given the other girl the said knife. Both had left the room swiftly.
By Veronica choosing to kill her…
“You.. Do you know what it’s like to know your son’s murderer is still on the loose? That they're off living their life normally when our son could’ve been doing the same had they not ran him over!?”
“You left him alone! Don’t blame your poor choices on me”
“For less than a minute to get him water! You bitch-” Reid expected her to shoot her at that moment, but she didn’t. She got close, Sidney struggled against her but Veronica had a plan in mind. She wasn’t just carelessly attacking her, she was purposely prolonging her death. Rather than shooting her, she relished in the way her bones cracked under the strike of the gun.
She was pistol-whipping her. Reid grimaced and looked away.
A few of the others cheered, clearly wanting Sidney to die. Whether for a personal reason or the knowledge that she let a small child die and didn’t do anything. The girl from earlier, he never got her name but the one who woke him, looked as disgusted as he felt. One of the guys seemed uncaring really, more so in awe. Maybe that was his way of shock.
It felt like the screams of the blonde girl went on for hours. Reid was sure her pained screams would show up in his nightmares eventually when his mind felt like torturing him. He tried not to look because he didn’t want it burned into his mind too.
Veronica stood heavily breathing. There was a sufficient blood puddle beneath them and clearly one of them wasn't breathing. She made the spontaneous decision to shoot her just for the hell of it. Reid, and many others, flinched at the sudden loud noise.
She was done though. She was satisfied with her revenge and her life was gone.
“Well done, you liked that didn’t you? Was it nice to get it out of your system?” the unsub spoke calmly, not revealing the way he felt about it just yet.
“I did,” she clearly didn’t see a problem with admitting it, they were with a sadistic kidnapper after all.
“Of course you did,” he agreed, “that’s why you’re here, because you’re no better than that stuck up company owner. Would your seven year old son be happy that his mommy is a murderer?”
She suddenly felt cold. “Wait, wait, it wasn’t like that. You told me-”
“I said you could forgive her too. But some people never learn, and you didn’t choose the right option. Maybe it was a bit unfair of me, I didn’t let you guys talk to the FBI agent, you still don’t know any better. But I know that neither of you would’ve changed your ways. And for that, you shall suffer the fate she gave your son and you gave her”
As if with a soundless, sightless cue, her collar exploded.
…they both would die.
“Oh my God!”
“Fucking..”
“Learn, and learn well. You may go to the next room, you have a few minutes before the next… game starts”
They were ushered by the noiseless men.
Three guys and one girl were left. Four people.
There was a glass beaker in the room on top of a table, guards stood motionless in the corner but he supposed none of that matter yet, they weren’t doing the game yet.
“So which one of us is the FBI agent? I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not it” the female who woke him said.
“I am” all three of the others said. Reid felt foolish. Of course they wouldn’t be honest. It was almost comical, in fact, the short round man laughed.
“I know it sounds like a lie, it would no matter who said it, but I am an FBI agent. I work with the BAU, I have..” he searched his pockets, his badge would settle the arguments.
His pockets were empty. He knew he had it with him when he left the building, the unsub must’ve taken it. Unfortunately, it didn’t look good for him.
“He took my badge,” he admitted,
“Same here” the man was tall and muscular, around the same as Morgan, just taller. Reid hadn’t heard him speak at all since he woke up.
“Yeah right, you’re a daddy's boy from a rich company, Richard, you’re not the FBI agent” the short round man said
“How do you know me?”
“How do you know him?” the female echoed,
The man seemed caught off guard by the questioning, “his dad owns a large company, I see news about it all the time. It’s only expected that I see about the heir to the company too.” It seemed like a lie but none of them pressed him about it.
“Well then.. I already said I’m not it, and he’s not it. You haven't confirmed or denied so I think it’s safe to say you’re not it. Meaning you are” she said to Reid, he nodded but the short man interjected.
“Not quite. I don’t like the way the criminal is talking about the FBI agent, maybe it’s for my safety that I don’t say anything”
“Unsub,”
“What?”
“The FBI calls the ‘criminal’ unsubs. Unknown subjects”
An argument broke out over this. Reid tried to defuse it, he tried to relinquish his title as an FBI agent but it was too late. He didn’t participate in the argument much, only when things got dangerously heated. “Guys, he wants this to happen. He’s been putting us against each other from the start. By arguing, your proving his point that we’re helpless”
The short man was Leonard, based on the amount of information he knew, Reid profiled his job to be in the stock market. It made sense considering how much he knew about Richard. Finally, they settled on the agreement that Reid was in fact the FBI agent. But they only did so because they all agreed that being the FBI agent couldn’t have been good news. It made him unsettled, he didn’t see it that bad but maybe that was because he was the FBI agent so he was hopeful and blocking out the dangers.
They had a few minutes after their conclusion before the masked men finally moved and the TV turned on.
“In front of you is a beaker with measurements. This game is one about sacrifice, something none of you have made in your lives. You’re used to people sacrificing on behalf of you, but you would never do the same for someone else. What better way to offer a sacrifice than in blood? It’s a loyal way of doing so, showing how far you’re willing to go. The beaker must be filled to the marked line, it can come from any of you and in any amount. The door will unlock when it’s filled”
The beaker was marked at five pints. Five pints was half the human body.
“There’s four of us, the three of you can give one pint and I’ll give the remaining two, if you’d like,” Reid offered.
“I don’t think I can give that much. I have my period and I’m anemic, but I’ll give half of one”
“Liar,” Richard muttered not so subtly. She eyed him but didn’t want to start another argument. A time limit was never given but it felt like there was one. All of them wanted to go home already and back to their lives, they didn’t want to waste time.
“Don’t look at me, I’m scared of needles” Leonard said, it was clear Richard wasn’t going to do it either. Reid suppressed his sigh and nodded instead.
“That’s fine, I’ll give the remaining half”
Three and a half pints wasn’t deadly, but he would definitely feel the effects.
He was the first to go. The men had placed the knives and first aid kit on the table beside the beaker while Rhadamanthus spoke. He cut deep into a calculated part of his arm that he knew would bleed quickly but not fatally. The blood poured into the beaker and not many minutes later he was done. He felt a bit faint due to the non-existent resting period in between the blood loss but he recovered while the others did theirs.
Reid had bandaged his own and theirs because they found it difficult to do it themselves.
The door was unlocked.
A knife was stolen. Leonards collar exploded as they stepped through the door. Reid jumped. The current wave of nausea was no longer due to blood loss but because of the horrifying realization of what the wetness he felt was.
The collars were to enforce rules. Stealing a knife to try and murder one of the workers was definitely against it,
Reid was grateful that they didn’t immediately get forced into acting the next one. He was dizzy and woozy, he felt his vision darkening. It stayed like that for a moment before it came back. The nameless girl and Richard spoke, bickered more like, but his audio slowly came back out from the cotton it was enveloped in.
“You can use the help of your team. After all, finding a needle in a haystack would be hard. Finding a needle within needles is the same concept. And that is the task that must be done” The square that had caution tape around it on the ground moved remotely and opened. In it was a pit of syringes.
It kept getting worse, Reid was sure. Too many overwhelming things had been happening so quickly after another. A pit of needles was not what he needed. For a moment, he wondered if this was his fault. If the needle pit was made for him. The unsub clearly somehow knew things about the victims, or at least the others. It wasn’t too surprising if he somehow knew something about him. Selfishly, he felt grateful when he realized it wasn’t.
Richard looked guilty. Leonard was good at getting him to admit things, something that no longer could be done.
Caroline, he finally found out her name, pressed him on it. Richard became defensive, Maybe the blood loss was still having affects or maybe his body was finally giving into the exhaustion.
How long have they been kidnapped?
Reid was thrown in,
“Hey, this was made for you” Caroline argued, Richard didn't seem guilty though.
“You see his reaction? He clearly has a history too. And isn’t he some FBI agent? He can handle it”
He could handle it. He should. He was an FBI agent.
He quietly cried as he searched through the pit. He didn’t want his vision to be too blurry and prolong the process but he couldn’t help the tears that fell. He tried to ignore every pinch of the cold metal scraping his skin. None of them were full of anything, you don’t just get injected unless you push down too, he was fine. It wasn’t like before. He didn’t want it and never did.
He found the needle. He climbed out of the pit with Caroline's help, he showed the needle to one of the masked men, he nodded and opened the door for them.
Another room. Another test. Another unlearnt lesson.
Reid wanted this to end. In the uncertain moment, not knowing when he could escape or leave, the certainty of the collar on his neck seemed like a good enough way to go.
“It’s easy to do something but it’s much harder to mean and learn from it. If you see someone touch a hot stove and hear them say ‘ouch’ would you touch the stove right after?” Rhadamanthus didn’t give time to reply, “many of you would say no, it’s basic common sense. But in reality, in that moment, two of you would. It’s all you two have been doing this whole experience, it’s all the others were too. Why can’t you learn? What’s wrong with your guys' brains that make you incapable of basic human decency? It’s a real problem, one I see occur everyday. There’s so many good influences, but you all choose to belittle them because they don’t fit your selfish ways. Meet one selfless person and you walk all over them, not thinking about the consequences. How maybe that person notices your cruel interactions because outside of their quiet, nice, compassionate personality, they’re a person, with feelings and likes and dislikes. You’re so oblivious to how that person may plan your murder”
Huh? Reid thought everything had been very fitting for the most part. Selfish vs greedy, all that. But planning someone’s murder? Now it started to seem like it was becoming a personal experience for the unsub.
“You have thirteen minutes, come up with a person to get rid of,” Rhadamanthus suddenly said and the TV turned off.
“So we can agree on the FBI agent, right? I mean we don’t even know his name and our kidnapper has been talking on and on about the FBI agent being a good influence and now he’s talking about the good influence being a murderer. Yeah, anyone with brains would vote him out”
That hadn’t been the point of the speech but Reid found his mouth too heavy to open.
“I mean..” Caroline seemed like he was actually going to agree. Reid made a noise, finally getting words out.
“This whole time the unsub has been trying to get you guys to learn a lesson. Between you two, who's done the worse? I think it’s supposed to be one of you, he wants you guys to learn a lesson. Choosing the person who's done the worst thing will most likely satiate him”
“Oh, so you’re not a part of this? Now it’s ‘you guys’” Reid had noticed that he was using general terms earlier, including himself when he definitely didn’t need to be, but now he was getting very tired and he was very tired of being roped into this when he had nothing to do with it.
He gave up. If people had died in front of them and they still hadn’t learnt the lesson the unsub literally said many times, then there was nothing he could simply say that would make them change their minds or ways of thinking. He didn't understand why they couldn't even just pretend. Pretend to be better humans so they all could get out.
He didn't care anymore. He didn't want to live anymore.
So many lives were lost, what was his to the count?
He zoned out, internally accepting his fate.
Thirteen minutes passed.
“Who's your choice?”
“C'mon man.. don't make us say it, you had to have heard” Caroline said, Reid wondered what she did to get here. She seemed like one of the only ones with sense and some moral compass. Rhadamanthus feigned oblivion
“It was me,” he wanted to get it over with. There was no point, it was two against one. The other two nodded in confirmation.
Had they been able to see Rhadamanthus, they would've seen his incredulous expression.
What remained of the team had voted to let agent Reid die. The unsub was pissed at this, the whole point of the games was to teach them to be kinder people. Yet they sacrificed the one person who deserved it least. The unsub pressed the button that made their collars blow up.
All but Reid's.