Author's Note: Hello, wonderful readers! There are a few things to say before I get on with the story.

First, the unsub is a shameless rip-off of a certain superhero character. I don't want to say which one so I don't spoil it, but once you finish reading, you'll probably know which one I'm talking about. I just couldn't help myself; the character is just too inspiring and I thought the character would fit in well with the Criminal Minds storylines.

Second, although I have been observing the Criminal Minds vocabulary, I am still not an expert on law enforcement jargon or procedures. Since it's only a fictional story meant purely for entertainment, I didn't worry about it too much. If you have some expertise on law enforcement and see any mistakes, feel free to let me know in a review and I will do my best to fix it.

Third, since this is a story about a crime show, you can expect some violence and strong language.

Fourth and finally, I have no idea where the idea for this story came from. It just popped into my head one day and I wrote it down. Anyway, that's all and I hope you enjoy it. Now, on with the story!

"We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones." - Stephen King

Jennifer Jareau sifted through the piles and piles of cases that came across her desk. Murders, abductions, rape. All the worst things human kind could do. She had seen it all, she told herself.

None of these cases seemed like worthy candidates. They were all horrible and in need of justice, yes, but she thought that local law enforcement didn't need the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Then she came to the last file. She ran her eyes down the paper and suddenly her weary yawns stopped. Nothing like this had ever come across her desk before, and the team needed to see it right away.

"Local fishermen discovered remains of an unidentified male in a river three days ago," JJ said in her presentation to the team, "And then, more remains were found in another location in the same river. The reason local authorities want us on the case is the condition of the remains when they were found."

She pulled up the photos of the remains and the entire team raised their eyebrows in shock.

"The victim's bodies were burned, cut into pieces, and dumped in a river in separate locations. Coroners are currently trying to piece the bodies together. Right now it looks like we have at least three victims."

"If this method of disposal is the unsub's way of trying to keep us from identifying the victims, that could mean he knew them," chimed in Prentiss.

"Or it could simply be a forensic countermeasure, which suggests that the unsub is criminally sophisticated and organized," added Rossi.

"The method of disposal is interesting. Using fire and water to dump the victims could also have some kind of symbolic meaning to the unsub," informed Dr. Reid.

"Whatever the reason, the unsub shows no sign of stopping these killings. We need to help before more bodies emerge. Wheels up in thirty, and Garcia, I want you to come with us on this one," ordered Hotch.

The man had his eyes locked onto the young girl. He loved the stupid ones. She should have known not to be wandering alone at this time of night. She looked like a good girl. Scarlet cardigan. White dress. White gloves. She must have been lost. She rubbed her arms to create friction heat in the chilly night air. He loved the good girls.

A few other men had been whistling at her as she walked down the street. He stepped out in front of her, startling her at first, but once she got a better look at him, she relaxed.

"Miss, is there somewhere you're going tonight? You look like you could use some help. Can I take you home?" he knew that with his looks, he could probably charm her into getting in a car with him.

"Oh, that would be very nice of you," said the girl in a timid voice, "I took a wrong turn somewhere, and now I don't know where I am."

"Not to worry, miss. I know this town like the back of my hand. I'll have you home in no time." He outstretched his arm for the girl to take and he led her into his car with ease.

After a few minutes of driving, they came upon a secluded road. No houses. No other cars. No one else around.

"Excuse me, sir. My house is the other way. Sir?" The girl said nervously as she reached into her purse for something, probably her cellphone.

At this point, he knew he would have to silence her. He stopped the car.

"Sir what are you doing? Wha-"

He grabbed her firmly by the wrist, but with her other hand, she pulled something out of her purse: a knife. Narrowing her eyes, she plunged the blade into his stomach and he quickly released her. The girl, with a surprisingly calm demeanor, put her dark brown hair behind her ears and pulled something else from her purse: gauze and medical tape. She covered the man's wound before any blood could get on the car. Then, she pulled a gun out of her purse.

"Get out of the car!" she shouted at him.

Now with tears dripping from his eyes, he managed to stand up despite his injuries.

"In the passenger seat!" she ordered him and he obeyed. "Make a sound and you're dead, you fucking pervert!" And they drove off somewhere into the night.

"According to the police, there are currently three missing people in the area who might be our victims," Hotch said to the team on the plane. The rest of the team looked at the photos of the man in their files.

"The first man's was black. We could be looking at a hate crime," said Morgan.

"Probably not since the next missing person is caucasian and he went missing just a day before some of the remains were found," corrected Reid.

"It says here that a woman went missing just two days before other remains were found. If these people are out victims, we're dealing with an unsub who crosses racial lines, gender lines, and socioeconomic status. From what I can tell, these people couldn't be any more different," said Emily in a concerned voice.

"They could just be victims of opportunity," said Rossi.

"With this much effort put into each victim, I doubt it. There's something that connects all these people; we just haven't found it yet," said Hotch. "Garcia," he called for her, "Please tell me someone was able to ID the victims."

"Uh, no sir. See, that's going to be extremely difficult," Penelope answered.

"Why? Haven't any jaw bones been found yet? Then they can be identified with dental records."

"I'm afraid that's impossible, sir."

"Why?"

"Because the unsub smashed the victim's jawbones into pieces."

The man had passed out from the pain at some point, but now he woke to find himself in what looked like an abandoned warehouse. He was on his back on the hard floor. He looked around to see if there was anyone or anything to help him, but all he saw was a woman in a black and red frilly dress and a white and red jester mask. His vision was blurry, but clear enough for him to see the knife in her hand. He tried to crawl away in his feeble state, but didn't get very far before her shoe pinned him down.

"You wanted to take me home. Well, here we are," she taunted him. Then, she removed her mask to reveal her face, a face that was ghostly white with black circles around her eyes, and blood red lips. "Let's have some fun." And then the screaming began.

"Okay, my lovelies. You told me to dig up whatever I could find about our missing people, and I kind of regret doing it now because I didn't like what I found," Garcia began to the whole team, "The man who went missing first had done some time in prison for molesting children. He got out on good behavior and because prisons are crowded. The second man wasn't so clean, either because apparently his ex-wife had just filed a restraining order against him and police reports say he violated that order on more than one occasion. According to the wife, he had become aggressive and she had to call 911 on him, not before he gave her a few bruises, though. And now, because I am a genius, I am sensing a pattern here. Our female had several visits from child protective services for allegations of child abuse. They never had enough hard evidence to take her children away, but the social workers on her case say that they didn't want to make those kids stay under her roof for another minute. Now, I know this isn't my job to say, but if I had to put my money on it, I'd say our unsub is a vigilante," said to the team once they had arrived at the police station.

"You're probably right, Garcia. If we're dealing with a vigilante, the unsub won't stop until he's either caught or dead. Search for people in this area who have had a recent loss as result of violent crime. This unsub feels that the justice system isn't doing enough to punish criminals," said Hotch.

"Okay. I'll get back to you when I've got something."

"Reid, Rossi, you go to examine the bodies. See if you can tell if the burning and severing of the limbs was done post or pre-mortem. The rest of us will try to form a strategy of how we can catch the unsub. This type of ubsub won't try to inject himself into the investigation, but he will probably be following media coverage and the actions of the police."

"Speaking of the media," JJ began, "We've got a small swarm of cameras and reporters outside, so brace yourselves and remember: all we have to say is 'no comment.'"

After she scrubbed the remaining blood off her body, the woman stepped out of the motel shower and put on a pair of yoga pants and a red tank top. She turned on the small TV in her room just in time to catch the late evening news. There was a small segment on the murders occurring in the area. Word had just got out that the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit was working on the case. The BAU team members stepped out of the police station into the small frenzy of reporters. The woman chuckled softly under her breath while she watched, until she caught a glimpse of one face in the BAU. Dr. Spencer Reid. She stood directly in front of the TV and followed him with her eyes until the clip was over.

"So I did a search for victims of violent crimes and families of victims, but none of them could be our unsub. I went back ten years, searched all around this area and beyond, but most of them have moved away or died. A few of them are young children, bless them. I even searched for deaths involving fire or drowning, but got the same results. Looks like we're back at square one," said Garcia.

"Not entirely," said Hotch, "Look for murders with similar MO's nationwide. This unsub has probably been killing for a long time, possibly across the whole country."

"Fret not, my loves, I will work my fingers until they break and find something for you."

"Thanks, Garcia."

Meanwhile, Reid and Rossi were examining the bodies, or what was found of them.

Spencer leaned over the table and eyed the charred remains of the first victim carefully. "Were you able to determine what was done pre-mortem and what was done post-mortem?" he asked the ME.

"Well I can almost certainly say that the body was burned post-mortem and the remains were scattered afterwards, but everything else..." she answered.

Rossi raised an eyebrow in interest. "Everything else?"

"There is evidence of other wounds, although the water made it difficult to say exactly what. Damage to the arms suggests that he might have been stabbed several times with a knife, and there were a few broken ribs, cracked skull. God only knows what happened to this guy. The other man's remains were in a similar condition, but the woman's remains were different. No signs of stabbing. I can't tell for sure, but if I had to guess, I'd say that the COD was blunt force trauma to the head, while the other two were probably from blood loss."

"So the unsub tortures the male victims, but kills females quickly. This could mean that he sees women as defenseless, so he lets out all of his rage on the men," stated Rossi.

"Maybe the victim of the crime that caused the unsub to lash out was a woman, like a daughter or wife," added Reid.

Just as he finished speaking, his phone rang. He put it on speaker.

Aaron Hotchner's voice flowed from the speakers. "Reid, Dave, you're going to be on the move again. There's been another murder."

As they arrived at the latest scene, two things stood out: one, it wasn't a river, and two, Spencer found something on the ground. In the filthy alley, there was plenty of trash scattered all over the ground, but something stood out to Spencer: a small red and black hair bow. After it was put into an evidence bag, he held it out for Rossi to see.

"This unsub is too organized to leave anything behind. This was planted here for us to find," he said.

"But why? He's been getting away with murder so far. Is he trying to taunt us?"

"I don't think so. I think there's something the unsub is trying to tell us." Rossi could see the little wheels spinning inside boy wonder's head. "The only female victim we know of didn't wear any bows in her hair. She didn't have any clothes like this at all. I think this bow belonged to the unsub. The unsub's a woman."

After a few phone calls to team members, Hotch ordered them, "Get back to the station. We're ready to give the profile."