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Pretty Boy: Reprise	By : Wagamama_hime Category: 1 through F > Criminal Minds Views: 5108 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds. It is the sole intellectual property of the CBS Corp. This is a work of fiction and I am making no profit from its publication.

Chapter List
- 8
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Chapter 9
A/N: As always, thanks for the sweet and supportive comments/reviews, for subscribing to my story, and all the ways you guys express that you're enjoying it! It means so much to me :D.
And, so, we are back into the cursory-case phase! (And, the story is also nearing its natural end!) I really enjoyed writing this chapter. But, it may also be because it's so fun to have all the team members at play. They're fun to write. It's also fun to have Derek and Spencer play 'keep away' (in re: to 'who knows about the secret relationship') at the same time too ;p. Stress for these boys. It's always stress. Anywho, since the 'team' will feature in this chapter, you will be treated to a few POV changes! Yay!
This chapter, unfortunately, is not beta-ed (which basically means I didn't get a chance to bounce my ideas off of anyone and ask 'does this sound crazy?), so please forgive any uncharacteristic craziness :).
xoxo

Aaron Hotchner groggily awoke to the sound of his landline phone ringing on the nightstand. He blearily reached over to fondly stroke his wife's back, as he did every morning, when he remembered that Haley was out of town. It was her sister's birthday and the two women had decided to celebrate it by spending a few days on the sunny beaches of Cabo San Lucas instead of having to battle Virginia's dreary winter. Aaron hadn't been able to get the time off to go with them, but he also hadn't begrudged Haley the time away. Things had been tense at home lately and the fact that he could rarely get time off (or, more accurately, was rarely willing to take time off) didn't exactly make things any easier. Haley would be back the day before Christmas Eve and Aaron already had a number of wrapped presents waiting to welcome her home—a few of them specifically from Haley's favorite jewelry store—hoping they would make her smile.
And Aaron also hoped that coming back rested and relaxed would get Haley back into a more lenient mindset, so that they could finally 'talk.' Talk about all the things that had been problematic lately. And maybe he would even talk about what Haley had asked him to give serious thought to. She wanted a baby. The thought of that still made Aaron nervous. It wasn't that he didn't want a child with Haley, he just wasn't sure what kind of father he would be. He couldn't help thinking about his own father and wondering (fearing) if history would repeat itself. He just wanted to be the best father he could be to whatever life he brought into the world, and, now, after having been given some time to really let that sink in, Aaron had decided that he probably could take that leap with Haley. There was no one else in the world he would want to do that with. And, having realized that, he now could hardly wait for her to get back.
Sighing, as his thoughts were pulled back to the incessantly-ringing phone that had awakened him in the first place, he reached out to retrieve it from its dock, wondering what time it was. The room was still dark, and while he usually got up at dawn to start preparing to head into the office, he wasn't usually up this early. Frowning as he looked down at the number on the display—unknown—Aaron engaged the call and brought the phone up to his ear.
"Hotchners," he said, voice gruff with sleep.
"Agent Hotchner," an unknown male voice purred. "Am I waking you up too early? I thought it'd be fun if we could play together, and I knew I'd catch you at home. Your schedule is a bit monotonous. It's not good to be so predictable, you know?"
"Who is this?" Aaron asked, the thick blanket of sleep quickly evaporating from his mind, as he sat up and flicked the bedside table lamp on.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out. I never thought it'd be so easy to get into the FBI's files. Talk about a breach of national security, huh? But, then again, there isn't much that could stop me if I really wanted to know something anyway. Getting information is kind of my thing. So I hear your team is one of the best in the country—David, and Emily, and Derek, and Jennifer—oh, but she likes to go by JJ doesn't she, 'Hotch?' So, can the prestigious 'BAU' solve this case? Can you find me?" the man asked with a laugh.
"What… Who is this?" Aaron asked again, anger flooding into his voice.
"I already told you. Find me. Figure it out. If not, there's no telling what I'll do. I know all about you. Everything about each and every one of you. I've seen all your files. I know what you do. And I know I'm smarter than you. And you'll never catch me. But, hey, it'll be fun to try right?" the man asked, snickering again.
And then the line went dead.
Aaron stared at his phone in shock. He didn't know what to make of that call. It wasn't that it was uncommon that someone wanted to 'challenge' the FBI—or any other branch of the federal law enforcement system—and play a game of cat and mouse. These individuals were usually low-level megalomaniac types who 'thought' they were crafty criminals but who were, in actuality, a little too big for their britches. They usually would be caught within an hour of contacting the FBI with some type of harebrained threat.
However, Aaron had never been contacted at home by an Unsub who wanted to 'play' before. It was alarming, in itself, that the caller had been able to do that. And it wasn't lost on Aaron that the man had been able to so easily list out the names of his team. He even knew how JJ liked to be addressed informally, as opposed to Jennifer, which was the name she would give out professionally. It was obvious that this caller knew personal information about them, as he had insinuated, and Aaron wondered what the man had accessed to know things like that. It wasn't like Aaron's personnel files listed that his friends and teammates called him 'Hotch,' or that JJ's specified that she didn't like being called 'Jennifer.' And it was even more problematic that the man had stated he had been through all their case files. If that was true, they were facing a serious breach of security. There was no telling what confidential information he could release regarding pending cases. Something like that could lead to numerous mistrials or dropped charges. Criminals could go free.
Face darkening in a deep frown, Aaron reached on to his nightstand and retrieved his cellphone, dropping the landline phone on to the bed next to him. He began scrolling through his contacts, searching for Garcia so that he could call her to see if she had noticed anything strange on her end, when his phone began to ring in his hand. Seeing Garcia's name show up, he couldn't help how his frown deepened in concern. It was 5:35 in the morning. Garcia calling him at this time could never be a good thing.
"Hotchner," he said as he answered.
"Sir, we have a big problem," Garcia said, not even wasting time to give a cheery greeting. "Something… someone's hacked our system. Well, just specifically the BAU's—it's not system-wide. At least not yet. But I was just contacted by our tech guys telling me that they were alerted that a virus has been downloaded into my system. I just… I'm freaking out. I don't even know how that's possible. They told me it's not anything that'll wipe my system, but it seems like there's a message or something. Addressed to us. They didn't want to open it because of the security protocols installed on my system, so I'm getting ready to come in but I don't know what to do if it's some crazy hacker-Unsub and, Sir, I need you to be there, because if this guy has destroyed my system I swear to God I'll-"
"Okay, Garcia. Calm down," Aaron said as he cut her off, and pushed himself out of bed, easily switching into his role as 'Unit Chief.'
"I just received a call and I think it was from whoever decided to hack your system. I'm not really sure what this guy wants, but whatever it is, he's hacked into federally-protected and classified files and there's no telling what he'll do with that information. As far as I'm concerned, this is our newest case. I'm on my way over, so just meet me at the Bureau. And I'll call JJ so she can tell everyone to come in," he said.
"Everyone?" Garcia asked. "Derek too? Even though he's on vacation?"
"I don't know what this Unsub knows. But he was able to find my personal number and call me at home. He said he has been through all of our files, so it's likely he knows where everyone lives. I don't know exactly what his end-game is, but I'd rather have you all at the Bureau than somewhere out in public where he can easily pick us off," he said sternly.
Garcia gasped over the line.
"Oh my God. Oh my God," she began saying, clearly imagining the worst-case scenario.
"Garcia," Aaron cut in again. "Don't worry. Just get ready to go to work. I'll see you in half an hour."
"Y-yes sir," Garcia said, but the panic and uncertainty remained clear in her voice.

When Derek was awakened by the sound of his phone ringing, he could only smile as he stretched languidly. Although no one liked to be woken up by the irritating sound of a cellphone's ringtone, Derek was in a good mood. He could feel the warm, solid weight of Spencer pressed up against him under the sheets, and his mind immediately returned to their passionate activities of last night. They had gone at it two more times—once in the shower—and needless to say, they were both exhausted, but pleasantly so. Yawning, Derek shifted a bit to pull his arm out from Spencer's head, numb from Spencer having used it as a pillow for most of the night. Reaching over to his bedside table, Derek quickly answered the call before it had a chance to rouse Spencer as well.
"Hey, what's up," he said quietly, seeing that the call was from JJ.
"Hey, Derek…" JJ began, voice sounding somewhat hesitant. "Sorry to wake you so early, but we have a case. Seems to be something with a hacker. Usually you could probably skip something like this, what with you being on vacation and all. But Hotch wants everyone to come in since he doesn't know what information this guy has on us. He doesn't think it's safe for anyone to remain at home."
"Oh, okay," Derek said as his brows furrowed, concerned over the note of tension in JJ's voice.
"Um, Derek… So, I didn't know Hotch didn't know Spencer was visiting," JJ blurted out, and Derek felt his eyebrows rise. "So, when he told me you needed to come in for safety reasons, I immediately asked him if that meant you should bring Spencer in too, and… whoa, it became immediately apparent to me that he did NOT know."
Derek felt his heart hammer against his ribcage. It wasn't like the fact that he had a guest was problematic; his personal life was personal. But needless to say, his boss, who hadn't been told that that guest was a past victim in one of their cases, probably hadn't liked being the last one to be informed of this. And Derek was sure Aaron Hotchner would definitely have a couple thoughts on the matter.
Sensing the tension in Derek's silence, JJ immediately made an effort to apologize.
"Derek, I'm really sorry I let the cat out of the bag, but you didn't think to tell Hotch? I mean, I think it's totally fine that you and Spencer are friends—I think we all are absolutely cool with it—but Hotch is someone who probably would've wanted to know that you guys were still close after the case," she explained.
"No, no, JJ. Don't worry. This isn't your fault," Derek immediately said, feeling badly that the woman was panicking on his behalf; it was his mess to deal with, not hers. "You're right; I should've let Hotch know. I mean, it's not like I have to run it by him when I have guests, but, I concede that, yeah, Spencer's special. I-I mean a special circumstance."
Derek cringed immediately after he said it, but JJ seemed as if she hadn't even picked up on it.
"Well, Hotch didn't say anything to me, really, other than just asking how long Spencer's been here. And, well, I guess it's pretty obvious after what I said that Spencer's staying with you, so he did say it'd be best if you just brought him with you when you come in. He can stay in one of the conference rooms. It's just safer for everyone to be in the Bureau," she explained.
Listening to her, Derek felt Spencer start to stir next to him, murmuring sleepily and he immediately reached out to press his fingers against Spencer's lips. He did not want to have to answer JJ's questions about why Spencer's voice was coming over the phone when it was obvious Derek had just woken up. He didn't need his teammate putting two and two together and realizing that he had woken up next to Spencer. But Spencer's brows just furrowed in confusion as he blinked sleepily up at Derek, looking like a question was already poised on his lips. Derek quickly motioned for him to 'shh' and pointed at the phone. He then mouthed 'JJ' and Spencer blushed. Ducking his head back down, so that only his eyes peeked over the covers, Spencer was now very much awake but he stayed silent as he listened to the rest of Derek's call.
"So, any news on what this case is about?" Derek asked, trying to get the conversation topic off of Spencer. "Is this something dangerous? Has this guy threatened anything?"
JJ sighed.
"Well, I don't really know the whole story. Apparently he hacked into Garcia's system—and believe me, your 'Baby Girl' is practically a wreck over this—and he left a message of some sort. But Hotch said he didn't want anyone to touch it until he arrived, just in case it's a self-destructing message or something like that. So, all I could really gather is that this guy knows everything about us—and I mean everything, even down to where we all live and our personal phone numbers. Garcia says that if this guy is a master-hacker-type he's probably not looking for blood; he's looking for glory and the FBI is pretty up there on the list of big targets to hit. So Hotch says it's likely he's non-violent, but we don't want to take any chances. In any case, it's not good to have this guy running wild through our confidential case files," she explained.
Derek nodded along to what the blonde woman was saying.
"Yeah, I agree," he said. "We need to find this guy, and quick. I'll let Spencer know and then we'll get ready as fast as we can. We'll see you soon, JJ."
As Derek ended the call, he couldn't help but notice how Spencer's attention had picked up when he mentioned they'd both be seeing JJ soon. Looking at Derek with confusion, Spencer waited to be filled in.
"Kid, we have a case involving some type of hacker and it seems this Unsub is threatening us with all our personal information. He knows where we live and Hotch doesn't want us staying home if this guy is still out there. We need to go in," Derek explained as he started pushing back the covers.
"We?" Spencer asked as he sat up. "As in… I'm going with you to the FBI Headquarters?"
Derek looked over his shoulder at the wide-eyed boy, amused that Spencer's reaction was half fear and half anticipation, as if he was excited about getting the opportunity to see the Bureau up close and personal.
"Yeah. If this guy knows where I live, and we don't know where he is, I don't want you staying home alone by yourself, in case he decides to pay a visit. And I don't want you 'exploring' the city by yourself either, as I know you're going to suggest," Derek said as he gave him a pointed look, which Spencer returned with an unimpressed look of his own. "Until we know more about this guy and what he wants, it's better for you to be with us at the Bureau. Where I can keep an eye on you."
Spencer looked at Derek incredulously, wondering if the older man knew how possessive he sounded. At this point, Spencer had learned that it was futile to try to talk reason into Derek when he was being 'protective,' so all Spencer could do was roll his eyes and try to hold back a laugh. But, then something else dawned on him and his eyes widened slightly.
"But wait… um… What about your boss…? Isn't it going to be weird for him to see me here?" Spencer asked, concern evident on his face.
Derek felt himself grimace at that. Yeah. Hotch. That was a problem in and of itself. Derek knew that his supervisor was not going to be happy to know that Derek had become so close with Spencer that, on top of keeping in touch with him post-Vegas, he had also invited the kid to spend his winter break at his house. Derek had had a hard enough time with Hotch getting on his case during their time in Vegas when Hotch had said, in no uncertain terms, that he thought Derek was getting so involved with Spencer that it was compromising his ability to do his job properly—that he couldn't be objective. Derek really hadn't liked hearing that. And he especially hadn't liked knowing that he had caused Hotch's faith in him to waiver. Ultimately, he had proven Hotch wrong, but he didn't know what Hotch would think now that Spencer's name was being mentioned again, all these months later.
And Derek knew that, if Hotch did take issue—which, after knowing that man for so many years, Derek knew he would take issue—it wouldn't be because Derek had 'connected' with a victim. In their line of work it made sense for them to feel a sense of connection with past people they had helped. They worked in law enforcement; if you didn't take enjoyment out of helping people, why do that job? It was commonplace, and generally acceptable, to receive thank-you cards or other simple expressions of gratitude from past victims. And every agent had two or three cases that struck such a chord with them, that that agent would 'check-in' with the victim every once in a while to see how things were. Even David Rossi carried around a number of mementos in his wallet to remind him of past cases. No, Hotch would take issue because it was specifically Spencer who Derek had kept in contact with, and because of all the concerns Hotch had had when they had been working the case in Vegas.
Calling a victim to ask how they were doing, or checking in with someone about a cold case, was about reminding a victim that you didn't forget about them and what they had been through—that you were committed to making sure something like this didn't happen again. But, that was different from becoming so involved with a past victim that you ended up inviting them to spend two weeks at your house. That definitely blurred professional lines. Derek knew he was lucky that, at this stage, Hotch had no reason to believe it was anything more than an innocent—albeit close—friendship. But, if Hotch knew that Derek wasn't just 'spending time' with Spencer—that he was, in fact, sleeping with him—well, that wouldn't be an issue of 'blurred' professional lines. That would be a case of professional lines having been downright obliterated. And Derek just couldn't afford for Hotch to catch wind of any of that. He just didn't know what he'd say. Derek wasn't sure he could give Spencer up, if it came down to that, but he didn't want to lose his job either.
Frowning, Derek shook his head and locked eyes with Spencer.
"Let's not worry about Hotch right now. You let me handle any questions he has, okay? And for the time being, we'll operate under the assumption that he thinks we're just friends," Derek said seriously.
Spencer licked his dry lips and nodded his head. He was nervous. During the case, while Hotch hadn't spoken much to him, Spencer had also felt a sense of confidence in knowing that Hotch was on his 'side'—that he was working hard to solve the case because he didn't want to see Spencer get hurt. It was clear that the older man, as a function of his position of leadership, wanted to keep his distance, but Spencer had put all his trust in Hotch's decisions, believing that he would never be in danger if Hotch was at the helm. And that was a sense of trust Spencer hadn't bestowed on many people. So Hotch didn't have to be 'friendly' for Spencer to like him. But Spencer also remembered that Hotch had a stern face and a piercing gaze, and he wasn't quite sure if Hotch were to ask him a question he would be able to talk his way out of answering it.
"Come on, Pretty Boy," Derek said with a sigh. "We've got a bit of a drive and Hotch wants us there ASAP. So let's get showered up quick. We'll be able to get something to eat at the Bureau."
"Should we shower together?" Spencer asked sheepishly, a small smile tugging at his lips.
Derek laughed.
"You know if we do that we'll never leave this house," he said with a wink.

When Derek and Spencer walked through the thick glass doors and into the 6th floor bullpen, they both had different thoughts on their minds. Spencer was looking around the bustling office, eyes wide and lips parted in awe. Even though it was barely half-past seven in the morning, there were already numerous agents at work at their desks, phones ringing, and people briskly walking from office to office. Spencer was clearly fascinated and trying to take in as much as he could in their brief walk through the bullpen. Derek, on the other hand, was looking out for Hotch. He hoped that by the time he ran across his Unit Chief it would be with the buffer of the rest of their team between them, as opposed to one-on-one. Derek had called Garcia once he and Spencer were on their way, so the team knew to be expecting them.
As Derek neared the middle of the bullpen, he glanced up to the second-floor and noticed Hotch and Rossi walking out of Hotch's office. Derek's step faltered and he grabbed the sleeve of Spencer's coat, dragging him to a halt. Having to face off with 'Hotch and Rossi' was still better than just Hotch, but not by much. Derek wasn't necessarily sure that Rossi would help avoid the conversation straying to the topic of Spencer's unexpected presence. In actuality, it was likely the senior agent would actually take pleasure in teasing Derek about it. He would keep it subtle, so that Hotch wouldn't be able to read into the undertones, but he would still enjoy watching Derek squirm. Frowning slightly, Derek watched as Rossi started down the stairs and when the older man's gaze fell on them Rossi gave Derek a smile and a wink as soon as his eyes took in Spencer standing next to him. Right after Rossi noticed them, Hotch did too, and Derek knew Hotch well enough to tell that the small twitch in the man's eyebrow meant he was not in the best of moods.
But, almost as if by divine intervention, Derek heard the telltale sounds of Garcia's voice, and glanced to his right to see Garcia walking briskly toward him, flanked by JJ and Emily. They were coming from the corridor that led to Garcia's 'lair.'
"Good timing, Morgan," Hotch said, once he and Rossi reached them. "We were all getting ready to convene in the roundtable room to discuss the case."
Derek watched as Hotch glanced over to Spencer, and saw the man's eyebrows twitch again.
"And, hello, Spencer. Nice to see you again," Hotch said as he reached out and shook Spencer's hand, giving him a small smile. Spencer looked flustered but enthusiastically returned the shake, smiling as well.
"I hear you're visiting on winter break from school? I'm glad to hear you were able to resume your education. I'm sure Morgan has updated you on what's been going on, so I'm sorry to have to cut into your vacation plans like this. We'll need you to stay inside the building, just until we figure out what's going on and can make sure everyone will be safe. JJ will get you set up in one of our conference rooms for the time being," Hotch said as he glanced at the blonde woman who was quickly approaching them.
"Good to see you again, kid," Rossi added as he also reached out his hand for a firm handshake. "You're looking well. I'm guessing the time spent in D.C. has been good for you, huh?"
Rossi said the last part with a smile, and Spencer smiled back although he heard a huffed sigh come from Derek, and wondered why the man sounded frustrated. But then JJ, Emily and Garcia reached them, and all three women smiled excitedly at Derek and Spencer, quickly cutting into the conversation.
"Hey, Spence. Long time no see, huh?" JJ teased with a wink, knowing that they had only seen each other last night.
Spencer smiled back as he waved at them.
"JJ," Hotch said, nodding towards her. "Can you walk Spencer over to one of the unoccupied conference rooms so he can be comfortable while we're doing the case briefing?"
JJ nodded and smiled as she gestured for Spencer to follow her.
"Sure thing, Hotch. I'll be back in a few minutes," she said, ushering Spencer in front of her.
"Sorry we had to drag you in here like this, Spence. And so early in the morning too! But, I made sure to stock the room with fresh coffee and donuts, so hopefully it won't be too rough on you," JJ began to say to him as she led him away.
Derek watched JJ and Spencer walk away, before he turned back to the remainder of his team, watching them as they spoke briefly with each other about the case. Looking over each one of them, Derek saw a multitude of different expressions. Garcia seemed anxious, hands moving quickly and bright-red lips turned down into a small frown—a rare sight to see on her face. Emily seemed far more relaxed, but her arms were crossed over her chest and her eyebrow arched in irritation, as if she took the Unsub's taunt as an offense, not a threat. Hotch, as always, had a stern expression, but there was an obvious tenseness in his face, and Derek wasn't sure if that could be attributed wholly to the threat their Unsub posed. And when Derek's eyes landed on Rossi, he was met with a smug smile from the older profiler. Derek knew he wouldn't be able to read much on Rossi's face regarding the case—the man had a world-class poker face. No, the look he was getting was Rossi's way of acknowledging Spencer's presence.
"Let's get started," Hotch announced, causing Derek to break eye-contact with Rossi.
The team murmured their agreement, and they made their way upstairs.

In the roundtable room, the profilers sat quietly, paying rapt attention to Garcia as she began explaining the situation. It wasn't often that Garcia led the briefing on a case. Usually, that was JJ's role. However, this case quite clearly fell into Garcia's area of expertise, because she was more familiar with the 'world' in which their Unsub operated, and she was assigned the task of apprising everyone of the situation.
"From what I've been able to discover so far, I think we're dealing with a cyber hacker who's seeking thrills," Garcia explained as she clicked a button on the remote in her hand.
"Thrill-seeker?" Emily asked, frowning. "I mean, I get that with a vigilante or something, but what thrill is this guy getting if he's sitting behind a computer screen? Hackers are the type of people who don't get their hands dirty—at least not in the real world. Right?"
"Well, yes and no," Garcia said as she shrugged her shoulders. "Being a well-known hacker is all about your credibility and your fame. You have to show the others that you can do something they can't do. That you've gone somewhere they haven't been. Often, hacking into extremely protected security systems is used as a test to see if you have what it takes to be allowed into some of the elitist hacker circles."
"A test?" JJ asked. "Well, aren't they known to like to act anonymously? Why would doing something illegal—like hacking a government agency—be a test for these guys? It's just reckless. There are probably a dozen other ways for them to exhibit their skill without also running the risk of going to prison."
"It's like graffiti artists," Rossi suggested. "Often they receive acclaim by putting their tag on the most outlandish—and dangerous—place. They tag bridges, government buildings, skyscrapers, train tracks, the list goes on. It's like whoever pulls the craziest stunt 'wins.' Kind of like planting your flag on Everest."
"Exactly," Garcia said as she nodded at Rossi, looking impressed by his knowledge. "If a hacker is being 'tested' like this, it's usually to do something so obscure that the hacker doesn't run the risk of getting caught. You know, maybe something like changing the colors of lights on a building, or adding a bit of code to make an official government comment say something totally ridiculous. They're often like 'pranks.' But, sometimes a hacker may also pull a stunt like this to impress a group. This is usually the case if he tried to get in and they wouldn't let him, or didn't think he was good enough."
"Okay, so we need to figure out which kind this guy is," Hotch said as he gestured toward the screen.
Nodding, Garcia clicked the remote again and a white screen appeared. Black letters, in standard Times New Roman font, appeared on the screen.
"This is the note he left us," Garcia explained.
"Members of the BAU," Emily began reading aloud. "You claim to be some of the nation's best crime fighters But are you really? Or are you all just narcissists? You promise victims that you'll keep them safe, but what does 'safe' really mean? What would you do if I released a victim's address to a convict they helped put away? What would you do if I made the material evidence in one of your cases just disappear? You rely so much on technology—technology you barely understand—but all of it can be altered and manipulated in the blink of an eye. You think you have power? You think you're in control? I'm the one who's in control. And you'll learn what I can do with it. So show me how smart you are. You have 8 hours to find me, before I start causing havoc. -X"
Silence descended on the room as the team absorbed the message Emily had just read.
Hotch then cleared his throat, causing everyone to look at him.
"Running a scan on it, Garcia determined that the message the Unsub left for us wasn't tainted with any type of virus or self-deleting software, so she was able to open this file and analyze it. He hacked our system, but it wasn't to derail us. He could've wiped everything; he could have made it so it was impossible for us to function. But he didn't. Instead, he left us this message. It was because he wanted to show us that he could do it. The message was untraceable, and he thinks it'll keep him safe—that he has the advantage. He doesn't realize he's already given us so much. So what can we conclude about him just from what he's told us so far?" Hotch asked as he glanced around at his team.
"Well… he is obviously power-hungry, and that must mean that he's feeling inadequate in some other area of his life," Emily offered.
"That makes sense with what Garcia said about someone trying to prove themselves to a hacking ring," Derek said as he nodded.
"And it's obvious it's a game to him," JJ said with a frown. "He's giving us time to 'find him,' instead of just using the information he has now to cause whatever 'havoc' he has planned. He wants to test us, merely because it's fun. He thinks he's smarter than us."
The other members hummed their agreement as they nodded their heads.
"And what about this signing his name 'X' thing?" Rossi asked as he motioned toward the plain writing on the screen. "What does that tell us about who he is? What does he want us to take from that?"
"X could mean anything," Derek said, sighing in frustration. "It means ten; it means 'kiss,' it means 'x marks the spot'…"
"'X' was also often used by those who were illiterate and were unable to sign their names," Hotch murmured, adding to Derek's long list.
"It could also mean the sign of the cross," Rossi added.
"X could even mean unknown," Emily offered. "Like 'X-factor,' or 'X-ray.'"
"It seems like a pretty inexhaustible list," JJ said as she sat back sighing. "Even if there was someone who knew all the different meanings of 'X,' there's no way of knowing exactly how this guy intended to use it. So why use it in the first place?"
Derek couldn't help thinking that Spencer would probably know one hundred different additional obscure meanings for something as innocuous as the letter 'X.' It just seemed like the type of thing the kid would be 'into.' And he wondered briefly if maybe he should ask him about it once the briefing was over. Then Garcia started talking, in answer to JJ's question, and Derek forced himself to push all thoughts of Spencer out of his head.
"Well, most hackers use handles—like a signature. It's how they identify themselves and get credit for what they've accomplished. I highly doubt 'X' is his actual signature. He really probably was using it just to distract us. I mean, it's actually pretty smart. If he had used his real signature, it'd be easy for me to find who he is by asking some of my…uh, former associates," Garcia said, flushing slightly.
Derek glanced at her, knowing that she was thinking back to her days of being a hacker very similar to the one she was describing now. During her time as the 'Black Queen,' Garcia hadn't been doing anything harmful per se, but what she had been doing had still been illegal. And it had caused her to fall into the sights of the FBI. Everyone knew she had been 'recruited' in a rock-and-a-hard-place type of situation, but no one treated her differently for it, and no one ever really brought it up.
"So… that probably means he's just fucking with us," Derek concluded, drawing the conversation back to the matter at hand.
"That might be," Hotch said, frowning at Derek's choice of words. "But, he's given us more to use against him than he thinks he has. We know he's probably been slighted and made to feel powerless in some other area of his life. He needs to prove himself. And he called us narcissists, but his actions clearly show that he's the one who craves attention and validation from others. He thinks he's smarter than us and wants to play a game of wit. He wants to see if we're capable of besting him, and I believe that he thinks if we fail he'll be able to prove to whoever has doubted him that he's really as amazing as he thinks he is."
The team murmured their agreement, confident that this Unsub was nothing they couldn't handle.
"So let's show him that he's not," Hotch continued as he stood to his feet. "Garcia, I want you to do some digging on recent internet-users who have posted about an unfair occurrence or personal slight on message boards and other networking sites. And when you've gotten that together, give them to JJ and Prentiss so they can apply the profile and start to narrow suspects down."
"That is going to be a long list, Sir. People on the internet always feel like they've been attacked or 'misunderstood,'" Garcia said, frowning slightly.
"I trust in your ability to filter through the ones who fit into the very specific parameters of who we're looking for, Garcia. It's a male; someone intelligent; probably young with either an impressive educational background or impressive natural skillset. And, like you said, he thinks he deserves to have recognition from these groups, but they didn't think he was good enough. They didn't acknowledge his greatness. I'm sure you can access some elite groups. This guy wouldn't settle for 'mainstream.' He would be demanding membership into something exclusive."
Nodding as she scribbled down Hotch's search parameters, Garcia smiled slightly, finally feeling more in control of what had originally seemed like an overly daunting situation.
"Dave and Morgan," Hotch said as he looked at them, "I want you to work on going through our archived files and pulling any you think may be a target of our Unsub. He specifically mentioned cases in which someone has testified or otherwise provided evidence that resulted in a conviction, and those in which we have evidence that might impact whether a current case may go to trial. So, you need to look at any files where someone was convicted but was released recently or is pending release, and any of our open cases with upcoming trial dates."
"And I know he'll be contacting us again," Hotch said with a frown. "He might have given us 8 hours, but I highly doubt he'll be letting us have that time without throwing a few wrenches in along the way. I'm currently working on having the tech team reroute all incoming correspondence for the whole Bureau through different servers, so the Unsub won't be able to access any new casework. And hopefully, as an added bonus, if he tries to contact us again, we'll be able to intercept it and narrow down where he's operating from."
Having heard their instructions, the rest of the team began to get to their feet and gather their files, preparing to get to work. Hotch glanced down at his cellphone and after nodding at the team, immediately turned on his heel and briskly walked out of the conference room.
"So, that means we're going to spend our day on computers trying to track down some brainiac who wants to talk to us in hints and riddles? Is it too much to ask for old-school criminals?" Rossi muttered with a sigh.
Derek could only smile at him and shake his head.

An hour later, Hotch's prediction had been proven true. Garcia came rushing into the bullpen, where JJ, Emily, and Derek had been working. Because they had to wait for Garcia to finish running her searches of hacker blogs, JJ and Emily had offered to help Derek pull possible casefiles, while Rossi did the same thing in the privacy of his office. They all looked up as they heard the sound of Garcia's heels clacking on the tile floor.
"We just got another message from our Unsub!" she said, slightly out of breath as she gestured toward her three colleagues with a white sheet of printed paper in her hands.
Grabbing the sheet out of her hands, Derek looked down at what was written there, as Emily and JJ crowded in around him.
"What is this?" Derek asked as his eyebrow rose in confusion. "Is this binary code?"
"Yeah, but it's coded binary code. If you look at it, as is, none of it makes sense. There aren't any words. It's practically gibberish. I think he developed some type of coding system which would require me to decode that before I could even begin to figure out what the message in his binary is supposed to mean," Garcia said with a frown.
"Jesus Christ," Emily said with a groan as she handed the paper back to Garcia.
"You better go show that to Hotch, Baby Girl," Derek said as he sighed and gave her an apologetic look. "But, I'm sure he's going to be tasking you with the job of cracking it."
Garcia looked at him determinedly.
"Well, you better believe I'm gonna try my damnedest, Derek Morgan. No wannabe-hacker is going to try to get one over on me," she said as she turned and began marching her way towards Hotch's office.
"This is going to be a long day," Emily said with a sigh. "I know lots of languages but binary was never at the top of my list."
Derek echoed her sigh in agreement as he shook his head.
"It's hard to look at this guy like one of our regular Unsubs. I'm used to someone who's holding a gun on some helpless victim, and I know all I need to do is tackle him or talk him down, and we can save somebody. But, right now, there's no real 'person' at gunpoint. Even knowing that, it's not like we can take him lightly. If he isn't taken down he could cause a lot of damage," he said.
"Absolutely," JJ agreed. "And knowing how serious this information is, I just hate that he's toying with us. It's cowardly for him to sit behind a computer screen and taunt us like this. Who's to say he's even in the country? When we deal with cyber criminals, the anonymity of it all is really our worst enemy."
Emily and Derek nodded, twin frowns on their faces.
"The fact that he's sending us 'coded' messages definitely means he's seeing this like game. He's like a little kid maneuvering toy soldiers, blowing things up left and right. I don't know if he really appreciates the seriousness of what will happen if he acts on any of his threats," Emily murmured as she began to chew on her nail.
JJ let out a huff of frustration as she tossed a half-read file on to the desk-top.
"I hate being strung along like this and being forced into playing his pawns. I feel like we're not getting anything accomplished here because we don't really know what he wants. And sitting here like this is making me antsy. I think we could use a coffee break. You guys want to go check on Spencer?" she asked hopefully.
Perking up, Derek and Emily smiled at her and nodded enthusiastically.

When Emily, JJ and Derek walked into the conference room they all smiled fondly at the sight they saw. Spencer was leaned back in one of the leather chairs, mismatched socked feet up on the table and crossed at the ankle, as he flipped through the pages of a thick tome. Spread out in front of him on the table was a number of similarly thick books, the opened box of donuts and the coffee pot. The box JJ had left him had been filled with a dozen donuts, and Derek had to hold back a laugh to see that almost half of them were gone. Not to mention that Spencer had made a serious dent in the coffee pot as well. The three agents could tell that Spencer was so absorbed in his reading that he hadn't even heard them come in through the slightly ajar door.
"You've obviously made yourself quite comfortable, kid," Derek announced from behind him, as he laid a hand gently on his shoulder, causing Spencer to gasp and spin around, unbalancing himself and almost toppling out of the chair.
JJ and Emily laughed at Spencer's guilty-looking expression as the boy blushed and shifted so that his feet were off the table and tucked underneath.
"Well, I've been here for more than an hour," Spencer said with a pout as he put the book down.
Emily raised an eyebrow as she glanced at the other books sitting next to the one he put down.
"Are you reading all these at the same time? Like for research or something?" she asked as she titled her head in confusion. She couldn't understand why Spencer had bothered to bring so many books with him, just to spend a few hours at their office.
"No," Spencer said with a shrug. "I finished the other one, and I'm almost through with this one."
"Uh… excuse me?" Emily asked, both eyebrows shooting up.
"I read fast," Spencer explained.
And when Emily still continued to stare at him—and he noticed that JJ was giving him a similarly incredulous look—he amended his statement by adding, "Really, really fast."
The two girls broke into laugher and just shook their head.
"We find out more and more fascinating things about you every day, Spencer," JJ said with a smile as she approached the table, taking a seat. Emily and Derek soon followed.
"Would you be willing to share the coffee or are you territorial about that, young genius?" Emily asked with a wink.
Spencer blushed but then pushed the pot and the paper cups in their direction.
"S-sorry I drank so much of it," he said
"Don't worry about it," JJ said with a laugh. "Believe me, the one thing this place does right is keep itself fully stocked with never-ending supplies of coffee. If they didn't, they'd have a lot of pretty disgruntled government employees on their hands. Our break room probably has three full pots waiting right now. We only decided to come here and leech off of yours because we're trying to escape from our work. And we wanted to visit you."
JJ smiled at him and Spencer couldn't help the bright smile he returned her. As JJ and Emily began pouring themselves a cup of coffee, Spencer's eyes quickly shifted towards Derek, who was sitting to his left, and his heart sped up a little when he saw the older man looking at him, with a warm smile on his face. Spencer had thought Derek would distance himself—in the hopes of appearing 'professional'—while in the Bureau, but he had been pleasantly surprised to find that Derek seemed to be his similarly protective and over-concerned self whenever he was in his presence.
When they first arrived at the Bureau, Derek had held on to Spencer's coat sleeve, and—Spencer wasn't sure if Derek had realized it—pulled Spencer slightly closer to him when Hotch and Rossi had descended the stairs. As if he was saying 'you'll be alright as long as you're next to me.' And it had made Spencer feel better. It had quickly dissolved the vice of nervousness that had clenched around his stomach when he saw the two older men approaching them. Hotch had been polite—and even friendly—and Rossi had been smirking at Derek, which had seemed to frustrate him, although Spencer didn't quite know what to make of it.
And after that, Spencer had even remembered feeling Derek's eyes boring into his back when JJ had walked him to the conference room, as if Derek didn't want to let him out of his sight. Derek was obviously tense—which wasn't surprising given that he was nervous about what his boss was going to say—but he also seemed focused on making sure Spencer was alright. And that had meant a lot to the younger man.
"How's the case going?" Spencer asked quietly as he swiveled around in the chair so he was more fully facing Derek.
Derek glanced over the top of his head to look at Emily and JJ, and saw that they were still preoccupied with preparing their coffees. He then dropped his eyes down to Spencer's again, giving him a wide smile and a wink, before settling for a more serious expression.
"Things aren't really progressing much. We're working on a pretty basic profile so at this point we're in more of a trial-and-error, process of elimination-type of phase. That is always painstakingly slow. But then the guy just sent Garcia some type of coded message and we won't really know how that'll change our plan of attack until we can figure out what he's got to say," Derek explained.
Spencer's ears perked up at the mention of a 'code,' but before he could inquire about it, the door swung open and everyone's eyes turned towards the door.
"There you are!" Garcia said as she flitted into the room. "I've been looking all over for you guys. I turn my back for one second and everyone squirrels away. Well, sorry to cut your coffee-break short, crime-fighters, but we've got updated orders from Boss-man."
"Derek, Rossi told me he's pulled about ten or so files he thinks might be on the Unsub's radar so he wants you to meet with him in his office, with the files you've already flagged, and see if there's any kind of overlap among them," Garcia said as she took a seat at the table with them.
"JJ and Ems, now that I've received this second message Hotch and I were able to talk in depth about the type of skillset someone would need to write code like this, and I realized that I could probably narrow that subject pool way down for you girls. So I have a stack of names for you guys to look into. Just come back with me to the lair and I'll set you up," she said as she looked at the two in question.
"And unfortunately I, as we expected, am tasked with figuring out what this psycho wants by decoding his little message here. So, I will be cooped up in the lair having my computer run some data analyses and algorithms as it tries to crack the code," she said with a sigh.
Mumbling to themselves, the three agents in question got to their feet. As they made sure to top off their coffees, Garcia patted them all on the shoulder giving them each encouraging smiles.
"You will all be rewarded for your sacrifices, my sweets. I'll make brownies for all of you once this case is over," Garcia promised.
Laughing, the three of them agreed that that sounded like a fair trade. Garcia laughed along with them until she glanced at Spencer and saw him looking at them all, seeming slightly out of place. She looked around the room, with a frown on her face, taking note of the books laid out on the table in front of him and the otherwise bare and drab conference room.
"Spencer, pack your bag. You're coming too," Garcia said as she pointed at him with one pink-manicured finger.
"Wha-" Spencer said with alarm at the same time Derek said, "Baby Girl…" as he glanced at Spencer.
"This place sucks. There's no action, nothing to look at but white walls and he can't talk to anyone. I know we have to keep him safe, but do we really have to keep him sequestered? He can come and hang out with me," Garcia said.
"I… I brought books, so I'm totally fine-" Spencer began, but Garcia cut him off with a wave of her hand.
"It wasn't a suggestion, my dear. I'm liberating you from this prison. My office has pretty things, like feathers and glitter. Oh, and I have the cutest new unicorn plushy. Do you like unicorns, Spencer?" she asked, giving him a bright smile.
Spencer stared at her with wide eyes—becoming even less enthusiastic, rather than swayed, by the mention of unicorns—as his hands twitched nervously in his lap. Noticing his hesitance, Garcia began motioning to Spencer's books and his open satchel, indicating that she wanted him to hurry and get ready. JJ and Emily glanced at each other, with eyebrows raised over Garcia's proposal, but ultimately shrugged in acquiescence.
"No time to dilly dally," Garcia said.
"Garcia," Derek said again, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he watched Spencer start shoving his books into the leather bag.
Derek didn't necessarily think it would be a problem for Spencer to spend time in Garcia's 'lair.' He had actually felt guilty that he had to keep Spencer cooped up in the conference room, but it wasn't like they could have him sitting in while they briefed the case or ran through suspects. But Garcia's office was a little different. She could be going over multitudes of confidential information, but no one would be able to tell because of the speed at which she crunched through the data and the fact that much of what she was working with was encrypted. It was like she was reading a language none of them could translate. However, what Derek was worried about was that Garcia wouldn't be able to keep a reign on herself and—with the fact that she was the only one who knew the truth about his relationship with Spencer—he didn't necessarily want her alone with him. On top of that, well…Garcia was sometimes somewhat of a loose cannon. He didn't need her to do something crazy while Spencer was there and have Hotch thinking Spencer was somehow involved.
Derek opened his mouth to protest again when Garcia cut him off.
"Shoo, shoo!" Garcia said as she literally made a shooing motion with her hands. "Sir Rossi has requested your presence and you should not keep that man waiting. We'll take care of the little lamb here."
Derek still didn't like it, but he saw that Garcia was going to put up one hell of a fight if he didn't give in. He gave her a meaningful look—which she knew meant 'take care of him'—and she smiled at him reassuringly. Derek shook his head and sighed, clearly defeated.
"Fine… but, just don't get him in any trouble, Garcia," Derek said
Spencer turned around to look at Derek with wide eyes, wondering (with just a bit of panic) what type of trouble Garcia could possibly get him into. And when Derek saw the look on his face he couldn't help but laugh.
"Don't worry, kid. She's not as bad as I'm making her out to be," Derek said with a wink.
"Please, Derek Morgan," Garcia said with an eye roll. "You wish you were as awesome as me!"
She then slipped her arm through Spencer's and began to drag him down the hallway. Eyebrows raised in alarm, Spencer glanced over his shoulder again and saw Derek waving at him and knew he would find no help in him. Giving up, Spencer let Garcia drag him down the stairs, followed by JJ and Emily as they watched on amusedly.

In the hallway outside of Garcia's 'lair,' Spencer waited, alongside JJ and Emily, while Garcia retrieved the printouts she had promised them. She had told Spencer he had to wait to get the 'grand' tour before she would let him in her office. When the door finally opened again, Garcia slid out, closing the door tightly behind Spencer and winking at him, making sure he didn't have an opportunity to peek in. Spencer furrowed his brows at her, wondering what exactly was behind those closed doors, but also feeling somewhat apprehensive to see it.
"Here you go, my dears," Garcia said as she held out a thick stack of papers.
"Wow, Garcia," JJ said as she took the pile. "This is narrowed down?"
"Unfortunately there are lots and lots of guys out there who think of themselves as 'master' hackers," Garcia said as she rolled her eyes at the thought. "This list really does only consist of the ones who I think would've had the skill-set to hack my system, though. And don't be put off: I added their background checks in there as well. It's not just a list of names."
The two women let out a sigh of relief.
"So, baby-genius," Garcia said as she turned to Spencer and smiled. "You can see Em and JJ have their hands full. And although Chocolate Thunder probably hates the thought of leaving you on your own, he's busy too. So that means you and Mama Garcia can spend some much-needed alone time together, ok?"
Spencer's eyes widened as his face flushed upon hearing the term Garcia had used.
"Ch-chocolate thunder?" he asked incredulously, not knowing what to make of that name but knowing immediately that Garcia was using it to refer to Derek.
JJ and Emily laughed from behind him.
"Don't read anything into Garcia's uh… 'colorful' pet-names for Morgan," JJ said, blue eyes twinkling with mirth.
"In reality, what goes on between Morgan and Garcia would probably be considered sexual harassment, but PG here gets special treatment from the higher-ups since she's such an invaluable asset," Emily said with a wink.
Spencer stared at Garcia, brows furrowed in concern, and it seemed like it dawned on her what had bothered him. Blinking in surprise, she then smiled, red lips quirking up at the corner.
"And everything I say about my Der-Bear is all in good-natured jest. Derek Morgan has yet to ride the Penelope Express," she said with a wink, causing Spencer to blush and look at her in shock.
"I don't think Morgan could handle you Garcia," Emily said, laughing, as she turned to head back to the bullpen.
"You bet your sweet ass he can't," Garcia agreed.
JJ followed after Emily, throwing Spencer a sympathetic smile and wagging her finger in a scolding fashion at Garcia.
"Don't rub off on Spencer, you hear me? We don't need him getting corrupted," JJ warned her.
Garcia laughed and shrugged her shoulders as she waved them away.
"I make no promises!" she said lightly.
Emily and JJ laughed and shook their heads as they walked away.
Once the two were gone, Garcia stepped back from Spencer and smiled at him reassuringly.
"Sorry if I said something that upset you," she said. "Really, there's nothing going on between me and Derek."
Spencer felt his face heat up again, and quickly averted his eyes.
"I… Well, it doesn't really concern me if there is something. I mean… I was just taken a little by surprise to hear you call him that. But, you don't have to explain anything to me," he rushed out.
He didn't like the knowing look he was getting from Garcia. Or that she was insinuating Spencer was 'upset' about what she had said. He hadn't been able to stop himself from reacting to Garcia's suggestive words, so he knew it was his fault that he had gained her attention in the first place. But he had promised himself that he wasn't going to let on to anyone about his and Derek's very 'tentative' situation. Although it didn't seem like he was doing such a good job of that at the moment. And he wondered if the reason Garcia seemed so assured in her conclusion was because she could read his feelings clearly on his face. He hated that he was so transparent, and started wondering if everyone would be able to tell how he felt about Derek.
"Spencer, seriously, there's nothing. There has never been anything and there will never be anything," she said, trying again to reassure him.
Spencer looked down, trying not to let her look into his eyes. Apparently his words had done little to dissuade her—in fact, it seemed as if they had convinced her more. He wanted to kick himself for making it so obvious that it bothered him that Garcia seemed to have such a close relationship with Derek. He didn't want Derek to know he had been so… petty. She was his best friend. It was totally fine for her to flirt with him and joke around. Spencer was embarrassed that he had even given her reason to have to explain any of that to him.
"I… I understand, ok? No need to keep talking about this. Just… don't bring this up with him, alright?" he asked as he finally looked up at her with pleading eyes.
Garcia threw an arm over his shoulder as she led him to the door of her office.
"Oh, boy-wonder, don't worry about that. I'd never give Derek anything he could use to inflate that already huge ego of his. Trust Mama Garcia. But it also makes me happy that you seem a little possessive of him," she said as she winked at him.
Spencer could only blush again as he hung his head in defeat, refusing to say anything else that would give this woman reason to confirm her suspicions about him.
Penelope Garcia was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

The 'tour' of Garcia's lair—while conducted in a relatively small and finite space—had been overwhelming for Spencer. Garcia had shown him every little knickknack, stuffed animal, light-up pen, and action figure she had. And there were a lot. Every time she opened a drawer, Spencer was shocked by how many things she had been able to pull out of it. She had made him touch everything and wanted to know his opinions on all her most treasured trinkets.
And although Garcia was hard to keep up with—talking almost a mile a minute—Spencer found himself relaxing around her. She was sweet, bubbly, and seemed genuinely interested in learning about, and hearing from, him. She was definitely not the type of person he had expected would work at the FBI. Last night, when he had met her and seen her colorful ensemble, he had thought that was just how she dressed casually. But he had been blown away to see her this morning, decked out in a bright blue dress with a yellow cardigan and what looked to be 4 inch yellow platform heels, to match.
She had been nothing he had been expecting, but at the same time Spencer liked that. For Spencer, it had been rare for him to be around people who didn't want anything from him. He was sure that Garcia—who had called herself, on more than one occasion, the 'Goddess of All Knowing—probably knew exactly what kind of life Spencer had come from. Over the course of the morning, he had been able to piece together that Garcia's job was information-gathering, and without her the team probably wouldn't be able to function. She had worked on his case, and Spencer knew that meant she probably knew what he did, where he worked, and the types of people he used to associate with. But she never looked at him with pity or disgust. She never asked him any questions about his past. She treated him like a normal person. And Spencer was immensely grateful for that.
And… well, he was starting to get a little used to the pet-names, and how she would get excited and squeal whenever she discovered that they had something in common. She would grin, eyes almost sparkling, and tell him how glad she was that he had been added to the 'family' because none of her other teammates were 'cool' enough to be able to hold an in-depth conversation about something like 'Dr. Who.' He wondered if this was what he would have felt like if he had had 'friends' back when he was in high school and college. It was almost unfathomable to him that he had found so many people he could like all in one place, and that that place just happened to be in an elite law-enforcement team. He suddenly felt like—in people like JJ, Emily, and Garcia—he could start to imagine what it would be like to have protective older sisters. And, of course, Derek… Well, that was a whole different story. A story that made his heart beat faster and his stomach do flips.
Shaking his head, Spencer forced himself out of his thoughts and back to what was happening in front of him. After giving him an introduction to her world and what she did, Garcia had sat him down at a chair at the back of her office and told him he could do whatever he wanted to keep himself busy. For some reason, she had thought he would've taken to entertaining himself with her array of treasures, or even with the tablet she had offered him, but instead Spencer had politely declined and resumed reading his book.
He had to admit, he felt way more comfortable in Garcia's lair—which looked and felt so different from all the other offices and rooms he had seen so far—than he had cooped up in the conference room. Intermittently, as he read and Garcia worked, he would hear Garcia remark to herself with frustration about something she was reading on her screen. Or she would print something out and run over to a whiteboard on one side of the room and paste it up. Spencer had tried his best not to be too curious about what she was doing—Garcia had warned him that although she was letting him into her lair she would still be working on a government investigation and that he should pretend to be 'blind and deaf'—but he could tell that she was getting worked up about whatever it was she was tasked with investigating.
He watched on as she made her way back from the whiteboard and huffed as she flopped down into her plush leather chair. She looked defeated. Frowning, he glanced over to the board and saw what looked to be about 20 or so different printouts of text surrounding one printout in the middle. Squinting as his eyes roved over the numbers on the middle sheet, Spencer tilted his head as he processed the numbers. Unconsciously, he placed his book down and got to his feet moving closer to the board and studying it carefully.
Watching him with an eyebrow raised in confusion, Garcia couldn't help but wonder what Spencer was doing. On one hand, she considered telling him he probably shouldn't be looking at that. It was the coded binary message the Unsub had sent her, and, surrounding it, were the computer's numerous attempts (over the past hour) to try to crack the code. Unfortunately, everything that had been printed so far were either complete gibberish or totally unhelpful. Tilting her head to the side as she watched Spencer standing in front of the board, she figured there was no harm in letting him look. It would just appear as meaningless numbers anyway.
Turning back to her computer, which was busy trying to decode the message, she let her eyes rove over the screens as thousands of alphanumeric combinations continued to be computed at lightning-fast speed. She cracked her knuckles and began to type, changing parameters and suggesting different factors the computer could use in its algorithms.
A few minutes later her focus was broken when she heard the whispered word, "Nostradamus," come from somewhere behind her.
"What?" she asked as her hands stilled and she spun around in her chair to stare at the boy who was still focused on the whiteboard, holding his chin with a curious expression.
"Hey, Earth to Spencer!" she said, waving her feather-pen in the air, after a few seconds had passed without him responding.
"Huh?" he asked as he turned around, looking at her with wide eyes.
"Did you say… 'Nostradamus?'" she asked, brows furrowed as she wondered if she had heard him correctly.
"Oh, yeah. The answer to this riddle. It's 'Nostradamus,' isn't it?" he asked with a small smile and a shrug.
"Uh," Garcia said as her eyes widened and she jumped out of her seat. "What answer, to what riddle?"
Spencer flushed.
"Um… this binary message," he said as he pointed behind him. "There's… uh… There's a riddle here, once you break down the first code, and the… well, I think the answer's Nostradamus."
"That… that's one of the messages left by the Unsub in our current case," Garcia said with awe. "You… you were able to break that code? How is that… Is that even possible? My computer's still trying to run an algorithm to break the code, and it's been at it for almost an hour. You…. You've been looking at that thing for like, what, ten minutes? You're telling me you're faster than my computer?"
Spencer looked nervous.
"Uh… S-sorry! I… I didn't know this was evidence. I didn't really intend to look at it, but, um… well, my brain… it just kinda… I guess it sees patterns really easily? Numbers and letters they…they just kinda stand out to me. I thought it was just some kind of… um… brain teaser, I guess?" Spencer explained, obviously flustered. "I really didn't mean to… well, pry into a federal investigation."
"Are you kidding me right now?! Pry? This is freaking amazing," Garcia said, eyes sparkling with excitement as she got closer to him, a grin on her face. "I knew you were a genius but… damn. Spencer, this… this is going to really help us. You have no idea."
"So… uh… you're not mad?" Spencer asked with confusion.
"No," she said as she rolled her eyes at him. "Well, I may be a bit miffed that there's a genius who's more 'genius-y' than I am, but, hey, it's good to have someone who will keep me on my toes."
She then winked at him, which caused him to blush and smile shyly.
Spencer couldn't deny the sense of pride that had surged in his chest at being told that he had in some way been able to help. That he had put his intelligence to use and it had been appreciated.
"Now, we need to go tell my boss-man what you were able to figure out," she said, as she reached out and grabbed him by the wrist. With the other hand she yanked the sheet off the whiteboard. Spencer stared at her in surprise, but quickly learned that she was not kidding. She threw her door open and dragged him out of the room. Destination: Hotch's office.

Twenty minutes later, Spencer stood stock-still at the back of Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner's office, feeling nervous anxiety churning in his stomach, as he watched the stern dark-haired man as he read over the paper in front of him. Spencer could tell that Garcia was obviously not at all intimidated, as she almost hovered over her boss's shoulder as she excitedly explained what Spencer had told her about the riddle encased in the coded message. Hotch had originally expressed displeasure (Spencer could tell by the way the corners of his mouth had turned down into a frown) when Garcia had mentioned that Spencer had been looking at evidence, but he had quickly acquiesced in letting the bubbly blonde fill him in. And now they were waiting to hear what he would have to say.
Setting the printout down, Hotch glanced at Spencer, noting his tense body language, then back at Garcia, who was grinning at him. Sighing, he rubbed at the bridge of his nose. He then addressed the tall youth standing near the door.
"Spencer," Hotch said, and he watched as Spencer jumped a bit. "This was really great work. Seriously. We can't thank you enough."
Spencer's eyes widened as he mumbled a soft 'You're welcome.'
Hotch smiled—a genuine one that reached his eyes—before he stood to his feet.
"Let's update the team," he said.

When Derek walked into the roundtable room, and saw Spencer there, along with Garcia and Hotch, he couldn't help feeling like his heart had jumped into his throat. Before he could ask any questions, he was tapped on the shoulder by Rossi who had been walking just a few feet behind him and had been barred entry from the door when Derek had come to a complete stop in the doorway. Having been prompted back into motion, Derek walked the rest of the way into the room, trying to catch Spencer's eyes and when those honey-colored orbs landed on him, Spencer smiled at him happily. That was somewhat of a relief. At least Derek could be confident that this wasn't going to be an 'I know about your relationship' chat. Soon after, JJ and Emily filed into the room and once everyone was seated and the door was closed, Hotch began to speak.
"There has been a new development in the case," he announced. "While in Garcia's office, Spencer actually took a look at the coded message sent from our Unsub and he was able to decode it, in his head, and figure out that the Unsub had sent us a riddle."
Rossi let out a whistle of appreciation as he smiled at Spencer.
"Now that's what I'm talking about. Technology today has got nothing on good old human elbow grease. Well, mental elbow grease," he said with a laugh.
"It also helps that boy-wonder here is a certified genius," Garcia said with a grin as she looked at Spencer proudly. "You wouldn't believe how fast he was!"
"That's amazing, Spence," JJ said as she nudged him.
Spencer looked down at the table, blushing from all the praise, but it was obvious to see he was trying to fight back a smile.
"Yes, very impressive," Hotch said as he continued. "Garcia responded back with the answer to the riddle—using the untraceable email address the Unsub used to send it to us—and we're waiting to see what he'll do with this."
"So, wait, can you tell us a bit more about this riddle and what exactly it's supposed to mean for the case?" Emily asked as she leaned forward.
Pausing for a second, Hotch glanced at Spencer.
"Spencer may be better able to explain the message," he said as he nodded towards him.
Spencer's eyes widened as he looked up, seeing all of the agents looking expectantly at him.
"Uh… Well, um… It was a riddle and a message. In the first part he asked about the 'so-called' great prophet who predicted mass disasters. So that's how I came up with Nostradamus. And after that he insinuated that your team thinks it has the skills to predict human nature; that you guys think you're prophets, as well. But he says he wants to prove you wrong—that you aren't capable of doing what you say you can do. That it's just luck. He says people buy in to it, but they're just sheep. It's like he's saying you guys are charlatans," Spencer murmured.
Derek frowned hearing that.
"This guy has got some balls," he said. "It's obvious he's over-compensating if all he wants to do with his time is have a pissing contest with us. "
"I agree," Emily said, a similar frown on her face. "He's taunting us and disparaging our profession. I'm sure this is connected to him not feeling validated in his own skills and feeling frustrated that we have the kind of clout that we do."
"He's projecting," Rossi agreed.
"Well, we'll continue with the investigation, armed with this new knowledge. Hopefully we'll be able to narrow our subject pool and stop him before he has a chance to do anything else," Hotch said. He then looked at Spencer. "But, in the future, it's probably best that you stay in the conference room. It would be unfair to involve you in a criminal investigation like this, Spencer."
Before anyone could respond, a dinging sound echoed from Garcia's phone. She glanced down and her brows furrowed as she began to read.
"Oh no… Oh no, no, no, no, no" Garcia said as she quickly scrolled down the screen.
"What is it?" Hotch asked as he moved to stand next to her.
"The Unsub. He responded and he's not happy," she said as she quickly reached for the tablet on the table and quickly set it up so that it would cast its contents to the large screen in front of them.
Hotch frowned as he read it.
"You are naughty. Naughty and dishonest. No one in your team could have solved that riddle as fast as you did. Yes, your technical analyst has impressive skills, but she's not a mathematician. It would have taken hours for the computers at the FBI to crack my code. And that was the POINT. You don't want to play by the rules? Fine. Then I will make it harder on you. I am going to send you codes that correspond to the names of cases the BAU has covered. For every one of these codes that you can't solve, I am going to release the confidential information that corresponds with that case. Have fun with that. –X"
"That's…not good," Emily said with a sigh, as she began to chew on her nail.
"Sir… I… well, you know my computer isn't equipped to decode this," Garcia trailed off as she glanced between Spencer and Hotch.
"I'm thinking we need to put Spencer to work," Rossi suggested, as he turned to Hotch.
Hotch looked around at each member of his team, the frown on his face making it clear what he thought about that idea, but it was also clear that they were backed into a corner. So all he could do was nod.

Derek sighed as he walked away from the conference room that had been set up for Spencer to work in. About an hour had passed since the Unsub's message and Spencer had been hard at work. He had deciphered three codes already, all of increasingly higher difficulty. Derek had wanted to talk to the boy—ask him if he was alright with having been recruited like this—but everything had been so busy that he hadn't been given the opportunity.
So far, Spencer had decoded information regarding an international child trafficking ring case that the team had worked on almost a year ago. The case was set to go to trial—in Prague—and the FBI's investigation into the ring's activities state-side would be integral in helping to establish the charges abroad. That case had been very difficult to build and they were all relieved to know that that would not be one of the cases the Unsub would be tampering with. Then, Spencer had decoded messages regarding an Unsub who had been embezzling money and using it to finance homegrown terrorists and a serial arsonist whose case was currently under appeal.
In addition, Hotch had been shooting Derek looks and had finally told him, in no uncertain terms, that he expected him to get back to work with going through the files with Rossi. Now that they had some actual specific cases to work with, Hotch needed them to run point on them, telling the tech specialists which information to pull from the servers and back up. And amidst all the commotion, Hotch had received a call informing him that he was expected to meet with Strauss, along with other higher-ups, to discuss the seriousness of the security breach and what their plan would be if they couldn't contain the Unsub. And as Hotch was walking out, he had made Derek leave the room with him.
"Spencer will be fine," Hotch said briskly as he ushered Derek toward the stairs. "I'm leaving JJ and Prentiss with him. And Garcia will come by whenever the Unsub sends a new code. Dave needs your help Morgan."
"I got you, Hotch, but the kid didn't sign up for this. I just… I want to make sure this isn't too much for him," Derek murmured.
Hotch sighed as he came to a stop.
"Believe me, I didn't want to have to do this either. Not again," Hotch said, and they both thought back to the Unit Chief's decision to use Spencer as a pawn during the Judgment Maker case.
"But, for right now, he's our best option," Hotch continued. "I want to nip this in the bud as quickly as we can. And with the least exposure for Spencer. So far the Unsub has only been giving case names and I made sure that Prentiss and JJ don't let Spencer know what the content of those cases actually are. As soon as we don't need him, I'll make sure to pull him out. But, in the meantime, I can't risk this Unsub compromising these cases like he is threatening to do."
Derek nodded, a frown on his face. He knew Hotch was right. And, being completely honest with himself, Derek knew Spencer wouldn't be in any danger as long as he was within the walls of the Bureau. Spencer looked like he was having a good time, too—as if the codes were math challenges and he wanted to test his abilities by cracking them. As long as that was all it was, Derek was content to leave him to it.
"Yeah, that's a valid point," Derek conceded. "I just hope this is over soon."
Hotch nodded his agreement, face softening a bit. He then glanced down to his phone screen, which had just illuminated and rolled his eyes slightly. Derek could only imagine it was another message from Strauss.
"The faster we all get back to work, the faster this'll end," Hotch said, before clapping Derek on the shoulder and heading down the stairs.

A/N: That's it for part one of the Hacker case, you guys! Please let me know your thoughts; I always love to hear from you! I will give a huge disclaimer right now by saying I know NOTHING about hacking and fancy computer stuff like 'coding.' I'm really just making this up. I didn't even spend any time on researching, haha. So, if it's all a little unbelievable, let's just suspend disbelief for the moment and pretend like the stuff I'm saying is true/makes sense, hahaha. Anywho, part 2 should be up a few days after this one! So stay tuned for more intrigue and BAU politics. :P
Also, I just moved to my new apartment in preparation to start my PhD program in about 2 weeks. I really really want to have this story completed before that (because, who knows what time I'll have once school starts). So, the end really is coming soon guys!
See you next chapter!
xoxo
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