A/N: A double whammy today. Hope you enjoy the start of the new story. This will be the last in this series. :)

The Man in the Iron Maiden

By 18lzytwner

Chapter 1

The Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab, Monday at 10:00 am

Seven weeks after "The Lady in the Lake"

Dr. Temperance Brennan paced back and forth in her office. There was something important she needed to discuss with Angela and she couldn't believe how long it was taking her best friend to get to her office.

"Sorry I'm late hun the guys are getting all excited about the new exhibit on the eighteenth century," the forensic artist explained.

"Can you close the door?" Brennan asked completely ignoring her friend's statement. The look on the forensic anthropologist's face made Angela slightly worried.

"What's wrong hun?" She asked.

"I don't know how to put this…" her friend started. That's when Hodgins pounding on the office door interrupted their conversation. Angela looked at Brennan who nodded for her to open it.

"You guys have to come see this. You're never going to believe what they found," the excited entomologist said. Angela rolled her eyes, expecting it to be something bug related.

"Lead on McDuff," she said. Brennan quickly followed the couple out into the lab and up to the platform.

"Why is there an iron maiden lying on the lab table?" The forensic anthropologist asked.

"And what is that God awful smell?" Her friend asked.

"The movers went down to the storage unit in the basement to pull up the items for the eighteenth century exhibit and that's when they smelled something nasty. They looked around and found the iron maiden sitting in a puddle of something," Hodgins explained.

"From the smell I'd say decomposing flesh but that isn't possible because when the iron maiden came into the Jeffersonian it would have been empty," Brennan said.

"Right, so what now?" Angela asked.

"Get on your jumpsuits and goggles. We have to open this thing up," her friend responded. Jack ran off to get Zach and their gear.

"Do I have to be here for that?" The forensic artist wanted to know.

"No, I'll call you if we need a face. We'll have to talk later," Brennan said.

"Ok hun. You know where to find me," Angela gave her a smile and then headed back toward her office. Brennan walked off the platform and into her office to fetch her jumpsuit, goggles, and a scrunchi.

Ten minutes later, Hodgins, Zach, and Brennan, stood next to the iron maiden. They weren't quite sure how to proceed, as they didn't want to damage the over two hundred year old artifact.

"So no one decided to call me when they got this discovery huh?" Cam asked as she approached the group.

"Well we don't even know if it's human. It could be a rat," Brennan said.

"Uh huh, well I'll stand back here while you open it," the Head of the Forensics department told them.

"All right, Hodgins, Zach we need to carefully try to pop the sides open. Can you try to move it?" The forensic anthropologist wondered. The two carefully tried to push the sides open. Surprisingly they popped right up.

"I guess we can just open it," Jack said. Brennan nodded for them to continue. Cautiously the two pushed the lid up and immediately found what was causing the smell.

"I think you'd better call Agent Booth," Zach told the senior anthropologist as they all peered into the torture device.

Booth walked up to the platform some twenty minutes later and was practically knocked back because of the smell.

"Holy… How long has our victim been in there?" He asked.

"It's hard to tell. The storage compartment is kept at a particular temperature to avoid the deterioration of artifacts. Decomp could have been sped up or even slowed down because of it," Brennan explained.

"All right well how about an age or sex?" The FBI agent wondered.

"Gauging by the pelvis or what's left of it, I'd say male approximately twenty five to thirty," his partner told him.

"And he definitely isn't from the Middle Ages," Booth noted.

"Actually the iron maiden was invented in the late eighteenth century despite its association with the Middle Ages and yes, our victim was definitely not from that time period," Zach answered.

"Thanks for the history lesson Zach-O," the G-man rolled his eyes.

"So no one has said it yet," Hodgins spoke up.

"Said what?" Brennan asked.

"Gormogon," the one word made everyone moan.

"Not Gorgonzola again," Despite the moan the group was quick to correct him.

"Gormogon,"

"Historically, the Gormogons were an eighteenth century group trying to dissolve the Freemasons and the Illuminati. How can it be a coincidence that a body is found in an eighteenth century torture device? Maybe they wanted to tenderize their meat before they ate it," Hodgins' conspiracy theory had already started.

"The point is there is no way that our cannibal friend is in involved. Have you found any teeth marks or missing bones? No, this is something completely different," Booth was quick to remind them.

"But this is the third murder at the Jeffersonian," Zach pointed out. This quieted everyone. Kirsten Reardon, Dr. Kyle Aldridge, and now this poor victim had all been murdered at the Jeffersonian. Dr. Evan Klimkew was currently serving a very long prison term for his role in both deaths. Unfortunately that still left all of the Jeffersonian as suspects for the new victim.

To Be Continued…