A/N: Here we go, I'm off to a running start with this new multi-chapter story! Hopefully it's as good as I want it to be :) Enjoy, my pretties!!

-o-o-o-

"Please, please stop!"

The desperate cries from the young woman pierced the otherwise silent night air. The park was deserted, except for a few drunks and hobos roaming around, rummaging through some garbage cans. They heard the young woman screaming, and they saw what was happening, but had no intention of stepping in between the two. They had enough trouble as it was. Why get involved in something that doesn't change your life to the better?

The young woman fought furiously with the man dragging her by her hair into the bushes. Kicking and screaming, she tried to get attention from the people only a few hundred feet away.

"Help! Please, help me!"

But no one moved. No one even looked up.

A hard punch to the side of her head reduced the young woman's cries to mere whimpers as her body went limp under the hands of the assailant.

"Don't..." she whispered meekly as she caught the hazel eyes staring back at her.

Without a single word the young man knelt beside the woman lying beneath him on the dirty soil. With a slender hand he stroked the mussed strands of hair out of her face.

"I'm sorry."

The punches hailed over the young woman's head and torso and after a few moments all that was left of her once very attractive and feminine features a bloody mess. The young assailant only stopped as he felt his hand crash through the battered jaw of his victim, and he yanked his arm back sharply.

"Damn."

Looking at the blood-drenched hand, he clearly saw a gash where the broken teeth had ripped his skin. Throwing a glance at the woman on the ground, the young man came to the quick conclusion that his work here was done. As he got to his feet, he took the scarf the young woman had been wearing, and bound it around his injured hand.

Looking around, he knew he didn't have much time. The average patrol interval of the police in this park was 13 minutes, and he had used up a good nine. Wiping his bloodied hands on his t-shirt, he zipped up the slightly stained coat and calmly walked away, leaving the woman in the bushes.

He needed coffee.

-o-o-o-

"The victims so far are Terri Alexander, age 22, Maggie Harper, age 24 and Joanna Swain, age 20."

Pictures flashed over the projector screen as JJ clicked the button on the remote control.

"They were all found brutally beaten to death with what appears to be bare hands."

Another slide appeared on the screen, showing the horrific injuries of one of the victims. JJ shuddered.

How could someone do this?

She cleared her throat and continued. "The victims were found on three separate locations in Tulsa, Oklahoma within a four day period."

"Any apparent connection between the victims?" Emily prodded the case file with her pen as she raised her eyes to meet with JJ's.

"Apart from attending the same college, no. They didn't have a single class together, and weren't in the same sororities. As far as we know, these girls were complete strangers to each other."

"Bare hand assaults are almost always personal and emotional. It suggests that the UnSub either has personal issues with the women in question, or that it is a very intense hate crime." Hotch took a few steps towards the screen, eyeing the practically smashed women's bodies.

"You're suggesting a misogynistic assailant?" Rossi turned his chair to face Hotch.

"There are no traces of sexual assault on any of the victims, suggesting an either impotent UnSub or one that has a serious issue with women."

"All three victims were from the upper class. Their parents were doctors, lawyers and vice presidents of larger companies. At least it's not a housecleaner." Morgan dropped the case file on the table and rose, walking slowly around the table. "Jealousy?"

"Something connects these women, and..."

Hotch was interrupted by a loud slammer at the door. Stumbling through it came the youngest member of the team, holding his trademark tall, sweet cup of Starbucks coffee.

"I'm sorry I'm late!" he blurted as he squirmed out of the raggedy satchel hanging over his shoulder. With a sigh he plopped down on a free chair.

"Where were you?" Rossi looked at his young subordinate, the irritation in his eyes more than apparent.

"I got stuck in traffic. Some moron double parked on Fulton and held up traffic for 40 minutes." Taking a sip of the all too hot coffee, Reid leaned over the table to grab a case file. "What do we have?"

"You can read the file on the plane, Reid. Wheels up in ten." Hotch nodded to his subordinate and left the room, closely followed by Emily and Rossi.

JJ began gathering up the files and papers spread all over the table, and Morgan walked over to his young colleague, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Take the subway next time, genius." He gave Reid a sly smile and patted him slightly on the head.

"Yeah, the thought crossed my mind..." Rising, Reid took the file and pushed it into his messenger bag.

Something white flashed in front of Morgan's eyes as the young agent threw the bag over his shoulder, and he frowned.

"Reid, what happened to your hand?"

The young man lifted his bandaged hand to look at it, and gave Morgan a nervous smile. "Oh, this? I was just... I was cutting up some carrots for a stew and accidentally nicked my hand." He shook his head. "It's not as bad as it looks."

"Have you seen a doctor?"

"It's just a little cut, Morgan. I'm not that fragile. Even though you might think so."

"Hey, I don't think you're fragile." Morgan frowned again. "I was just wondering what..."

"Never mind, Morgan. It's nothing. Just leave it. Thanks for asking." Reid lifted his hand in a halting motion towards his older counterpart, and nodded, then turned and left the room.

The older agent watched Reid leave and furrowed his brow. Those short, snappy answers weren't something that his junior colleague normally shot at him. Perhaps he was just having an off day. Morgan shrugged and went to collect his things and fetch his overnight bag from his desk. It was going to be a long flight.

-o-o-o-

Despite the time being 8.30AM on a Monday morning, the entire team was awake and alert on the flight to Tulsa. The photos and reports from the case files were spread over the two tables as the BAU were deep in discussion over the possibilities concerning the UnSub's motive and identity.

"Male, age 25-40. White. Lower middle class."

"Possibly with a physical or mental deficiency."

"Socially awkward and unable to sustain relationships."

Morgan leaned back in the chair. "We really need to talk to the detective in charge of these cases. These files are way too empty."

"Someone has not been taking notes properly." JJ looked through a few pages of a police report. "This is only half filled out!"

Hotch reached to take the file from JJ. "There's not even a responding officer's name on it."

"Hopefully they'll remember who took the report and responded to the scene."

"There are no witnesses recorded at all." Reid flipped through the pages of the file he held in his hands. "But according to the coroner's report, Maggie Harper was murdered at somewhere between 9.30 and 10.30PM on the 9th of September. That's a Saturday, it doesn't make sense."

"No. They were all murdered in public areas. At that time of night the streets should have been crawling with people." Hotch tossed the file on the table. "There has to be witnesses. At least someone who heard something."

"You don't beat someone to death without making a sound." Reid crossed his legs and leaned on his elbow while reading the file once more, making sure he hadn't missed anything.

"We'll do a thorough investigation of the vicinities once we're settled in. Reid, map out a comfort zone and prepare the victimology. I'll help you. Emily and Morgan, you go with Dave to the scene. See what you can make out." Hotch faced his subordinates as he gave them the directions.

"I'll talk to the detective and try to get the rest of the notes", JJ said while collecting a few scattered pictures from the table.

"Good. We should all get a little rest before touchdown. We have a lot of work to do." Hotch rose to get himself some coffee, nearly tripping over Reid's outstretched legs. "Reid!"

"Sorry." The young agent pulled his legs back to let his superior pass. "Try lifting your legs once in a while..." he muttered under his breath.

Hotch turned and gave his subordinate a stern look. "What?"

"Nothing." Not even looking up from the case file, Reid lifted his hand to wave his superior off.

None of this was lost on the rest of the team who exchanged glances and frowning looks. What was going on with their young colleague?

Hotch decided to let it slip for now, but should it happen again... They'd already had a serious conversation about this kind of behavior once before, but apparently there was the need for another one. Getting his coffee, he returned to his seat and continued to let his profiling skills work their magic on the files before him.

-o-o-o-

Having settled in at the Tulsa police station, the BAU scattered to their designated locations.

The park Rossi, Morgan and Emily visited was virtually deserted even in daytime, and was only inhabited by homeless people – which were not too interested in talking to federal agents.

Only one elderly woman wanted to speak to them and that only because Morgan approached her and asked if she needed help as her shopping cart had tipped over. As they gathered up the woman's worldly belongings, they talked.

As it turned out, the woman agreed to talk to Morgan, but refused to go on record with anything. She knew she wouldn't be a reliable witness, and didn't see the use in being humiliated in the witness stand should it come to that.

Sitting on a park bench, the woman told Morgan that she had seen the young woman in the picture, Maggie Harper, a few days earlier. She had walked through the park like she had been looking for someone. Unfortunately, the homeless woman had seen nothing else, but a few moments later she had heard screaming coming from behind a small hill. Not wanting to get into trouble, she had quickly turned to leave.

Morgan wrapped his arm around the elderly woman and thanked her for her help, and assured her that she had indeed given them very valuable information that they could use. The woman smiled a toothless smile and nodded.

"Good", she said. "Now maybe I have a place reserved for me in heaven."

And with that, she took her cart and limped away.

Morgan caught up with Emily and Rossi, and they decided to return with their new information. Upon arrival at the station, they were greeted by Hotch who wanted to know if they had come up with any new info.

After a short discussion, they decided to sit down at the three desks they had occupied at the station and make the profile. The people moving around them paid them no attention as they continued on with their business.

"Deirdre said that Maggie looked like she was searching for someone in the park", Morgan said as he sat down at the table.

"She knew the UnSub." Hotch stood by the window, looking at his team. "Proving that the murder was premeditated. It wasn't a blitz-attack."

"No, this was very much planned. The location was carefully selected", Emily stated. "A park no one walks in at a time when people are normally somewhere else, and the people who are actually in the park don't want to get involved."

"He knew what he was doing." Rossi flipped his notebook open and scribbled a few lines down on the fresh page.

"I mapped out the comfort zone", Reid interjected and walked swiftly to the whiteboard where the large map was pinned up. "It doesn't help us too much, though. Tulsa is a big town."

"Where are we on the victimology?" Rossi asked as he looked up from his notebook.

"Not too much is connecting the victims. We only..."

Hotch was interrupted by one of the detectives of the Tulsa police station walking up to the team. He was followed closely by two uniformed officers, all of them looking very resolute. Passing Hotch and Rossi, they stopped in front of Reid.

"Spencer Reid?" The detective reached into his pocket as he spoke to the young agent.

Reid looked at the officers who had approached him, and a frown of insecurity came over his face. "Yes?"

"I'm detective Urich", the man said, his expression never changing. "These are officers Howard and Fawn. We'd like you to come with us, please."

"Uhm... Sure, but may I ask why?" Reid was baffled. This wasn't the detective assigned to the case they were working on. What would these men want to talk to him about in the middle of an ongoing investigation?

"It's better if we talk about this in private. Please come with us, Dr. Reid."

"Excuse me, detective Urich", Hotch interjected as he stepped closer to the men. "I'm SSA Hotchner, Dr. Reid's superior. What is going on?"

"We need Dr. Reid to come with us." Detective Urich seemed to get more and more annoyed by the second. "I suggest you stay out of this, agent Hotchner."

"Can I just know what's going on?" Reid tried, putting a marker back on the table.

"You need to come with us, Dr. Reid." Detective Urich put emphasis on the entire sentence, stressing its importance. "Don't make this harder than it already is."

"That's it, detective Urich", Hotch exclaimed, taking yet another step forward and giving the suit-clad detective one of his sternest looks. "You can't just come in here and demand one of my agents to follow you without a proper reason."

Detective Urich sighed. "Very well then."

Giving a slight nod to the officers behind him, he reached behind his back and pulled out a pair of cuffs. The next second, Reid found himself spun around by the two strong uniformed policemen, (and) his arms being pulled behind his back.

"Spencer Reid, you are under arrest."

"For what?!" Reid cried while struggling against the men and the metal shackles clasping around his wrists.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?!" Morgan yelled as he dashed around the table, catching one of the officers who were just about to push Reid down over a desk. Holding the policeman's arms, Morgan dragged him away from the young doctor. Unfortunately, the other officer had already pinned the junior agent down, and the cuffs were tightly in place

"On what charge?!" Hotch demanded, gripping detective Urich's arm and pulling him off the young doctor.

Detective Urich tore loose from the senior profiler's firm grip and gave him a stare.

"Murder."

"Murder?!" Reid's mouth fell open as he heard the word uttered, and he desperately turned to his superior. "Hotch!?"

The officer being held by Morgan tore away and turned to give him a glare, looking almost like he wanted to pounce on the agent. However, he seemed to decide against it, and instead took the other arm of the cuffed agent.

"You're making a mistake, agent Urich!" Hotch tried once again to grab the younger detective who was arresting his subordinate.

"Unfortunately not, agent Hotchner. There has been a warrant for his arrest issued in Virginia." Taking hold of the young agent's arm, the detective began walking towards the holding cells of the station while reading Reid his rights. "Spencer Reid, you are under arrest for the murder of Natalie Travers in Lorton, VA. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have a right to an attorney. If you can't afford an attorney one will be appointed to you..."

"Hotch! I didn't kill anyone! Help!" Reid yelled desperately while trying to turn as he was dragged forwards in the hallway.

People began turning around and watching the scene being played out in front of them. After all, it wasn't every day they saw an FBI-agent be arrested for murder.

Hotch rushed after the officers and cut them off before they reached the holding cells.

"I'm his lawyer! And no one talks to him if I'm not there! Not you, not another detective – not even the goddamn donut delivery boy talks to him! Got it?!"

Detective Urich nodded. "Will you please step out of the way, agent Hotchner. You can talk to him once he's been signed in and put in the cell. You'll get your time in the interrogation room once he's been transferred to Virginia."

"Oh, I will. And I'll talk to your superior as well." Hotch reluctantly stepped to the side and glared at the man who was taking his agent into temporary custody. He knew there was nothing he could do at the moment, but as soon as he would step into the interrogation room as Reid's attorney, the detective responsible for this would have hell. Pure and simple hell.

"Hotch...?" Reid almost whimpered as the agents dragged him towards the holding cells. Struggling against the strong hands holding him adamantly, he tried to turn his head to get a glimse of his superior. All he could see was the shoulder of officer Fawn, who matched him in length but outweighed him by at least 100 pounds.

"Don't worry, Reid!" Hotch called after his young subordinate, as he watched him being taken away like a common perpetrator. "It's gonna be okay! It's just a mistake; I'll take care of it!"

The doors leading to the cells slammed behind the men, and Hotch instantly turned around, rushing over to the desk to collect his things.

"Hotch, what the hell was that!?" Emily asked agitatedly.

"I don't know. But I'll find out." Taking his briefcase, he rushed off towards the cells. He needed to talk Reid down. Then he needed to make a phone call to Lorton, VA.

-o-o-o-

A/N 2: Now, let's see where I can take this little puppy..!!