Chapter Text
Another city, another case. The jet is already in the air by the time that JJ begins handing out the case folders.
"Six women abducted, killed and dumped. The latest of which was found yesterday. As you can see from the pictures, he has a very specific type."
You flip open the folder to find... Yourself, staring back at you. Well, nearly. Same hair colour, cut and eye colour. The only difference is the scars marring your face compared to the smooth skin in the photos.
"They were all found dumped in the woods, mutilated. Each of them had cuts all over their bodies and signs of sexual assault. They each have writing in pen on seemingly random parts of their bodies, though they have yet to make any sense of it."
"It's interesting that his type includes eye colour." Reid muses. "Hair colour is a classic common type between victims but eye colour suggests he is recreating a very specific person over and over again."
Prentiss nods slowly. "It could also explain the irregular time frame of the abductions. He has to wait until he can find the perfect woman."
You jump in to voice your ideas. "He seems to be getting sloppier with some of these latest victims, taken less care. Perhaps he's beginning to realise they will never be perfect?"
"That makes sense. Unsubs like these tend to devolve as time goes on." Morgan adds, looking down at the pictures. "You know, these look a whole lot like you (L/N)."
"Yeah. Weird isn't it?"
Hotch looks up at you. "You should be extra vigilant (L/N). You could easily become a target for this Unsub."
"Yes sir." You give a short nod.
"Right, when we get there I want you and Prentiss at the scene where the latest body was found. Reid, you start work on deciphering whether the writing means anything. Dave, I want you and Morgan to go to where she was abducted from. JJ and I will start by talking to the head of the police department." Everyone agrees easily. "Garcia is looking into any possible connection between these victims, aside from appearance."
The rest of the flight is spent putting together the most comprehensive profile you can from the information you have.
The ride from the airport to the scene is a short one and you meet up with the park rangers and uniforms at the scene. They can't tell you anything that wasn't in the report, so the you and Prentiss follow two of the park rangers out to where the body was discovered.
"Away from the trail, hidden in a gorse bush. It's likely he wanted to come back and relive the crime until he could take a new victim." Prentiss surveys the scene, making her observation.
You go straight to the gorse bush. "There's very little blood here, she was most likely dead a little while before being placed in here." You crawl into the bush, careful of the thorns. "This has been cut back recently to create a sort of cave in here. That suggests an element of care or remorse. This is almost a natural tomb for her. Was it the same for each victim?" There's silence from outside the gorse. "Guys?"
One of the rangers pipes up, "Uh... We don't know. I don't think anyone thought to look for that."
"Right. Could someone take me to the other dump sites at some point?"
"Sure, we can do that. It'll have to be later though."
You begin to crawl out of the gorse tomb but your hair gets snagged. You reach up and try to unhook yourself but that just makes it worse. The more you struggle the worse it seems to get.
"Uh... Prentiss? A little help?"
"What?"
"I'm... Well I'm stuck." You can hear the park rangers snickering. Well at least someone is getting something out of this frankly ridiculous situation. Emily comes over and attempts to free you, but that also makes it worse. Eventually you are freed from your spiky hair prison, by this point the three of them are practically crying with laughter. Your hair is an absolute bird's nest, you're pretty sure there are a few twigs in there somewhere. You stand with as much dignity as you can muster, admittedly that isn't a whole lot.
"I think we've learnt all we can from this scene." You walk purposefully back up towards the cars. A few uniforms give you strange looks but you ignore them. You just climb in to the passenger seat of the customary BAU black SUV, Prentiss is the one with the keys. She climbs in and with one more amused look at your hair, the two of you head back to the precinct to convene with the others.