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Years had passed since Edward Nygma became Spencer Reid. It had been so long and Reid was so different from how he used to be as Nygma, that he could almost forget about his time as the Riddler. But that all changed when Jason Gideon returned.

Gideon left the BAU a few years ago, unable to handle all the death and violence anymore. So, when Reid saw him appear in the precinct, he stood up with surprise.

Gideon headed straight toward him. He didn't bother with formalities or even a polite greeting. "I need to talk to you," he said, urgency in his voice as he grabbed Reid's arm and pulled him away from the rest of the team, who were sitting at their desks with surprised expressions. Once they were alone, Gideon released Reid's arm.

"What's going on?" Reid asked.

"Enigma," Gideon said.

Reid froze. That was a code word they made up years ago. If they needed to talk about anything relating to Reid's past as the Riddler, they would say Enigma so the other would know they needed to speak privately.

"What happened?" he asked, a dark tone entering his voice as his expression morphed to match it.

"There have been many disappearances in Arkham Asylum," Gideon said.

"Wait, disappearances in the asylum, and you're sure the inmates aren't just breaking out?"

"It's not just the inmates, Reid," Gideon said. "It's the guards too, even one of the doctors is missing. The building's been searched; there's no sign of any bodies, nor have any of the missing people been spotted outside of Arkham Asylum."

"So, you think they're still in there," Reid said.

"There isn't another explanation," he replied.

"Why are you telling me this?" Reid asked, though he was sure he wouldn't like the answer.

"Because," Gideon said, "Arkham's warden, Quincy Sharp, contacted me about it. Because I'm the only one who has contact with you."

"Contact with me… they don't think I have anything to do with this, do they? Because that would be absurd; I've reformed and even if I had slipped back to my old ways, breaking into Arkham wasn't my MO; breaking out of it and stealing things was my MO," he said.

"No, Reid," he assured him, "they don't think you have anything to do with this. But Quincy Sharp has been pressured by ARGUS to solve this problem fast. So, he thought about calling in the FBI, but then he got a better idea. Why just call in the FBI, when he could also have the only patient from Arkham to have ever been cured?"

"What exactly is he requesting, Gideon?" Reid asked.

"He wants you to go undercover, Reid," he replied. "You're the perfect candidate for going undercover in Arkham. The inmates already know you, they know you were a criminal, and as far as they know, you still are. They'd trust you."

"Trust me? Gideon, no one in Arkham really trusts anyone else," he said. "Even someone you think you're close with could betray you. Look at Joker and Harley for example: Joker would leave Harley for dead if he had to. Hell, he's even tried to kill her before."

"Well, they'd trust you to be on their side of the law," Gideon said. "They'd answer your questions. You wouldn't just be some newcomer they don't know and you wouldn't be a cop. You'd be the Riddler."

"You said he wanted to call in the FBI, but also have me go in undercover," Reid said. "Gideon… did you imply what I think you did?"

"I never wanted this to happen, Reid," he assured the ex-criminal. "I never wanted the Team to find out who you were unless you wanted them to."

"Gideon, if we tell them, they'll only see me as a criminal anymore," Reid protested. He could already see their faces: horror, disgust, anger, loathing... he never wanted too see them look at him with those expressions marring their features.

"I doubt that; they know you too well. Besides, Garcia was a hacker, and they still trust her," Gideon said.

"Yeah, but she hacked for a good cause; I was a psychopath," he exclaimed. How could Gideon even compare the two situations?

"You weren't a psychopath; the Joker is a psychopath," Gideon said. "You're nothing like him and participated in different crimes."

"Maybe so, but the Joker has hugged me before*," Reid informed him. Gideon had to realize, that Reid was a psychopath and had teamed up with the Joker before or even asked for his help. Sure, the Joker had always been worse, but that didn't mean the Riddler wasn't crazy and a villain too.

Gideon looked appalled. "He has?"

Reid nodded.

"That still doesn't make you a psychopath," Gideon said. "And regardless of what your mental status was back then, you're fine now. What you're doing will be helping people; the team will realize that."

"And if they don't?"

"They will," Gideon insisted.

"And why does Sharp want them there?" Reid asked. "Couldn't I just do this job on my own? They wouldn't have to know then."

Gideon shook his head. "I'm sorry, but he wants the FBI to pose as security guards. After all, he's running short on them. And he decided ones you're familiar with would be best rather than a completely new team. Trust is important."

"You think they'll trust me once they find out who I used to be?"

"Maybe not at first," Gideon admitted, "but they will. And you trust them, don't you?"

"With my life," he agreed.

"Good," Gideon said. "I think it's time we told them."

Reid and Gideon made their way back out to where the entire team, including Hotch who left his office when Prentiss and Morgan told him Gideon was back and had pulled Reid off to talk in private.

"Jason," Hotch greeted him. "What are you doing back here?"

"It's good to see you, Aaron," Gideon said. "I have a case for you."

AN: I know it's been a while, but I have been really busy with school and haven't had much time to write anything really. But right now I'm on break and I'm trying to make it one of my New Year's resolutions, even thought it's not New Year's yet, to write more. Plus, my friend really wants to read more of this story, so I've decided that I need to spend more time updating it. I'm sorry if you feel like this chapter has too much dialogue, but I was really trying to get it typed and it was kind of a hard chapter. I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted Reid's conversation with Gideon to go and decided to delay the team learning about Reid being the Riddler until the next chapter. I feel like the chapters will flow better once the fact that Reid was the Riddler is common knowledge for the team and I'm still deciding on exactly how I want them to react. Learning that Reid was once a criminal mastermind is going to be a big shock to them, and I'm not sure if I want them to react with distrust or anger that they didn't know. If you have any input on how you think the team would react, I would love to hear it.

* I don't know if the Joker has ever hugged the Riddler before, but I think it would be funny if he did at some point just to be creepy, and as Reid is afraid of germs and doesn't like hugs, he wasn't at all creeped out by the Joker hugging him, but rather wanted him to stop because of the germs. This may also happen at some point in the story.

Anyway, thanks for reading,

-DragonsintheMoonlight