The sun was hidden by the overcast of clouds above Washington DC. The streets were bustling with people going about their daily business. A small child dressed as a pumpkin wandered past with his parents, making me smile lightly. I came to a halt on the sidewalk as Echo stopped to sniff at a tuft of grass that seemed very interesting to him.

"Nat?" A familiar voice called out from behind me. I turned my head to see Penelope Garcia walking towards me, dressed as colorful as usual. Spencer Reid was trailing along behind her, his arms full with brown paper bags.

"Hey, Penelope." I said with a smile. She grinned back brightly but her gaze was set solely on my 3 year old golden retriever.

"Oh, my god. Whose this!" She exclaimed excitedly as she bent down to pet Echo.

"This is Echo." I said with a smile as Penelope cooed over him. Echo's tail was wagging fiercely as he tried to lick her face.

"He is so precious. I love him. I didn't know you had a dog." Penelope said

"Yeah, I've had him since he was a puppy." I said with a smile

"I would pet him, but my arms are full." Spencer said from behind the three full bags.

"Do you need a hand?" I asked him with a sympathetic laugh

"No, no. I'm good." Spencer said earnestly as he adjusted his grip

"Are you sure?" I asked him

"Yeah. Thank you, though." Spencer said

"We were just headed to my place, do you want to come with? Dogs are very welcome." Penelope said

"Sure. Yeah." I agreed

"Great." Penelope said with a bright smile. The three of us began to walk down the street. I followed Penelope and Spencer, not knowing where is was that she lived.

"So, what is all this for?" I asked

"My party next week." Penelope replied

"Oh, of course." I nodded. Penelope had invited the whole team over for a party at her apartment. It will be my first social gathering with the team, which should be fun. It will be nice to hang out with them outside of work.

It didn't take us long to make it to Penelope's apartment. She unlocked the front door to let us in, stepping in through the door first.

"Thank you. Okay, just put everything on the counter and I will put it away later." Penelope said to Spencer as he stepped inside behind her.

"I like your altar." Spencer said as he looked into her apartment. I stepped in after him, allowing Penelope to close the door behind us.

"Thank you." Penelope said

I glanced around Penelope's apartment. It was just as I had imagined it would look like. It was extremely colourful and happy, like a larger, more extravagant version of her office at work. Echo was sniffing around intensely, excited about the new smells and new environment.

"Yeah, there's still a lot to do before the party next week and I'm scared. I've never had the whole team here before." Penelope said. Spencer had placed the bags on the counter and began to unpack them. It made me smile lightly since Penelope said she would put it away later.

"Why are you doing a day of the dead theme?" Spencer asked

"Well, um, my stepfather's family always made a big deal of it in Mexico, and my name is Penelope Garcia after all, so..." Penelope trailed off awkwardly. "Hey, could you check my refrigerator and see if I have enough hot sauce?" She asked Spencer, seemingly changing the subject. She then looked at me. "You can let Echo off his leash, if you want."

I nodded and bent down to unhook Echos' lead as Spencer quickly went over to her fridge and opened it up, bending over slightly to look at the contents. Echo happily began to wander around her apartment, sniffing the ground as he went.

Penelope looked over at me and held her finger up to her lips before she tilted her head back and held up a small bottle to her eyes. She squished some fake blood onto her cheeks at the corner of her eyes to make it look like she was crying blood.

"You have some jalapeno sauce here next to this jar of eyeballs, but I think you're gonna need more." Spencer said as he closed the fridge door. He had the hot sauce and the jar of eyeballs in his hands as he turned back to us.

"Depending on how much guacamole you plan on making. You okay?" He asked her once he noticed the fake blood and her strange expression

"You didn't even flinch. JJ's right. I told her I wanted to go scary this Halloween, and she just laughed at me and she said that I don't have a scary side." Penelope said sadly

"I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, you probably do." Spencer said earnestly

"Yeah, I'm sure you could have a scary side." I said encouragingly

"Really?" Penelope asked

"Yeah. The building blocks of the human personality are complex, varied and multifaceted. It's essential to one's mental health to want to express these hidden personalities, and it's just a fact of nature that everyone has one." Spencer explained

"Everybody? You have one?" Penelope asked

"Oh, absolutely. Yeah." Spencer said. I wonder what Spencer Reid's hidden personality is. I also want to know what mine is, I actually don't think I know.

"Okay. Okay. I want to see it. I want to see Dr. Spencer Reid's hidden personality." Penelope said

Spencer was evidently caught off guard. His mouth was agape as he stared at her with wide eyes. "Right here? Like right now you want to see it?" He stammered

"I have fake blood running down my cheeks. Right here, right now." Penelope said as she put her glasses back on

"I'm kind of curious now, Spence." I said with a laugh. I almost caught myself off guard when I called him Spence, it must be because I have heard him being called that so often that it stuck in my mind. Spencer seemed a little surprised too, his eyes widened even more than they already were.

He then quickly collected himself. "Okay. Once you see it, you can't unsee it."

"Okay." Penelope nodded

Spencer ran his hands down his face before he brought his hands to the back of his neck. He grunted for a moment before he looked up at the two of us. "I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, did that guy just fire five shots? Or did that guy just fire six shots? You're gonna have to ask yourself a question. Do you feel lucky, punk?"

Spencer was right, once you see it, you can't unsee it. He blew on his hand once he was finished. That was definitely one of the weirdest experiences I've had.

"That was Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry." Spencer explained

"Oh." Penelope nodded. I could tell she was just as thrown off as I was.

"I mean, I know it's not as effective as my dominant personality, but I feel like there's..." Spencer was cut off by Penelope

"Hey, look, we gotta go." Penelope said.

"These eyeballs, do they need to be refrigerated?" Spencer asked her as she began to rush towards her front door

"No. It's cool." Penelope said over her shoulder without stopping as she moved quickly towards her front door

"Is it work?" I asked Spencer as Penelope left out the front door and left us in her apartment

"Yeah, Hotch messaged us." Spencer said as he checked his phone.

"Okay, I have a dog to round up." I said as I glanced around, looking for Echo.

"Echo." I called out. I smiled as I listened to the tapping of his paws on the floor. He came around the corner with his tail wagging. "There you are." I bent down and attached his lead back to his collar again.

Spencer reached down and rubbed Echos head gently. Echo lent into him and raised his head, trying to lick Spencer's hand. Spencer laughed softly as he straightened back up again.

"He's so sweet." Spencer said softly

"Yeah. He is." I said with a smile.

The two of us then headed outside, I closed the door behind us and we headed to go find Penelope. I wanted to make a joke about Spencer's dominant side, but I decided to keep it to myself, not wanting to fluster him anymore than he already was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, I recognise that face from somewhere." Rossi said to Hotch as we walked into the round table room. We were lucky to have Hotch back, he had a fast recovery after his time in the hospital and he was finally allowed to come back to work.

"It's good to have you back, Hotch." Derek said as he placed his hand on Hotch's shoulder

"It's good to be back. Thanks." Hotch said. Everyone quickly took their seats, noting the files laid out on the table. I took a seat besides Derek and Rossi

"And under the heading of no rest for the weary..." Hotch trailed off

"A woman was found dead yesterday near Provo, Utah, buried under a pile of rocks. Her face was smashed. Pretty much everything smashed." Penelope said, bringing up images from the crime scene.

"Twenty four hours later, she's still a Jane Doe?" Spencer asked

"No personal items were found at the scene, and the severity of her injuries made official recognition impossible." Hotch said

"So Provo missing persons has like zero intel on her." Penelope said

"Well, it looks like the victim was tortured. Lacerations on both arms and a burn in the neck area." Derek said

"It could be the killer's way of silencing her, literally and figuratively." JJ said

"The robe she's in almost looks ceremonial." Rossi added

"Yeah, the UnSub must have changed her clothing." Spencer said

"Could be a straight-up woman hater. Took away her clothes, her voice, her identity." Derek suggested

"And then covered her with rocks. Might be a concealment or an expression of remorse." Alex said

"It looks like a makeshift tomb, if you ask me." Rossi said

"That's what I was thinking." I mused. The similarities to a tomb was blaring.

"Have there been similar killings in the area?" JJ asked

"None that we know." Hotch answered

"I'm impressed, Hotch. How'd you get the brass to let us investigate a single, isolated murder?" Rossi asked

"I told them that the ritualistic nature means that he's forensically sophisticated and organised, and he's likely killed before." Hotch said

"And likely will kill again." Alex added

"Which means we can't waste time. Wheels up in 20." Hotch said, ending the meeting. Everybody got up, heading to collect their go bags so we could make it to the airport in time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The airplane engine hummed in the background as we flew in the air. The noise was familiar and strangely comforting, and the plush seats were only adding to the comfort of the aircraft. I sat beside Spencer on the sofa that ran along the left side of the plane. The only thing that wasn't comfortable was the case file that sat in front of me.

"Single victim, unidentified. Not much to go on." JJ said.

"Let's start with the basics. Those rocks were heavy, so our killer's most likely male, probably in good shape." Derek said

"There could be more than one UnSub." Alex suggested

"Newsflash. We just got lucky with dental records. Our Jane Doe is Gloria Carlyle, 24 year old grammar school teacher. One red flag, and it's pretty scarlet, carmine, crimson. She used to belong to a utopian-style sect in town. She joined right out of high school." Penelope said over the phone, her face was cast onto the screens on either side of the plane so we could see her.

"Used to belong?" Rossi asked

"Mmm-hmm. She left the sect three months ago, and she moved in with her boyfriend." Penelope said

"Do we know the boyfriend's whereabouts?" JJ asked

"He's in Alaska, so his alibi's as solid as a pre-globally warmed glacier." Penelope said

"Garcia, is this sect run by a man named Herbert Sykes?" Spencer asked

"Wonder boy, yes, it is. How'd you know that?" Garcia asked

"Five years ago, a teenage girl was found dead on the ground of his compound. It was determined to be an honor killing of sorts. The girl was stoned to death." Spencer said

"The rocks appear to be the cause of death in Gloria's murder as well." Alex said

"The red flag just got redder." Rossi said

"All right, Dave, you and Blake find out what you can about Gloria Carlyle from the medical examiner. Morgan, Solace, Reid, go to the crime scene. JJ and I will talk to Gloria's family as well as have a chat with Herbert Sykes." Hotch said

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The air was hot, so hot in fact that Spencer Reid had taken his cardigan off and rolled up
his shirt sleeves. The three of us, plus the Sergeant, were climbing up to the location where the victim had been found. The terrain was rough with several rocks and crevices littering the side of the hill.

Spencer had his arms held out on either side of himself to try and keep his balance as we walked up. Derek was ahead of us beside the officer, walking with ease. I kept an eye on Spencer as we walked, making sure he wasn't going to fall back down again.

"A couple of fossil hunters nosing around up here found her." The officer said as he made it to the top

"Those rocks?" Derek asked, gesturing to the large rocks that were scattered around the place.

"My men moved them off her body. But that's all anyone's touched them." The officer said.

We finally made it to the top and stopped walking. My heart was beating quickly in my chest from the steep climb. 

"These are sedimentary conglomerates with rounded clasts." Spencer explained

"If you say so." The officer said, not really understanding what Spencer said

"That means geologically speaking, they don't belong up here. The rest of the canyon is tertiary rhyolite volcanics, which means the UnSub must have brought these rocks with him." Spencer said

"Which would be noisy and time consuming. So the UnSub obviously felt comfortable enough up here to take the time that he needed." Derek said

"He's probably been here before." I said

"Sergeant, how wide was the radius of your initial search?" Derek asked

"We canvassed out about 200 yards in all directions. We didn't find anything." The sergeant said

"Well, we may need to push out a little further." Derek said.

I lent in to Spencer to ask him a question."Is there anything you don't know?"

"Yes, in fact, something I don't know, or something no one knows for that matter, is what dark matter is. You see, most scientists can only speculate what they think it is...." Spencer trialed off when he noted my amused expression

"You were joking, weren't you?" Spencer asked with a laugh, realising he had gone off on a tangent.

"Yeah." I nodded with a laugh. "But, please, keep going." I gestured, allowing him to keep telling me about dark matter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four of us had finally decided to traipse back down the cliff again. Derek was leading the way while Spencer, the sergeant and I were walking slightly behind.

"What used to be up here? The dirt road leading in seems rather substantial." Spencer asked

"Salt mining. Hauled the stuff out by the truckloads. These hills filled a hell of a lot of salt shakers." The sergeant replied

"Actually, less than 6% of salt in the United States is used for food. The vast majority of it goes for de-icing roads and snow control." Spencer said

"Guys, over here." Derek suddenly said. I looked over at him to see he was staring down at a woman's body. The three of us walked over to take a look. She was partially covered in branches, and her position made it look like she had fallen, but she wasn't dressed as someone who would have been hiking or walking out here.

"You're right. The killer's been here before." Spencer said

"And he seems to have a preference for blondes." Derek said

"It looks like she fell." I said as I glanced up at the cliff above us. If someone had fallen, or been pushed, from up there, they would probably land exactly where the victim was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The body we had found had been identified as 22 year old Abby Stafford. Her purse had been found near her body with her ID inside. The next morning, a third body had been found. This time a man was found hanging from a tree in a park, he wore brown robes and had been branded with hot iron on his neck. This UnSubs MO keeps changing with every kill.

The entire team was now standing in front of the police officers, prepared to give the profile of this UnSub.

"We're looking for a physically fit male from his late 20s to mid 30s. He's brazen, confident, and organized." Hotch said

"This person may be a moral vigilante. Abby Stafford had drug issues. Gloria Carlyle moved in with her boyfriend. Parker Mills was a sexual deviant." Derek said

"Moral vigilantism typically has its roots in repression and guilt. This generally manifests itself in low self-esteem and self-loathing. By punishing others, the UnSub may also be punishing himself." Spencer said

"He's also literally branding his victims. We're not sure why, but he's likely marking them as his own." Hotch said

"His organizational skills suggest someone who can get and keep a full time job." Alex said

"But the work is likely low level. His impaired social development would not allow him to move very far in the professional world." Rossi said

"Consequently, this is someone most comfortable working in solitude, having minimal interaction with others." JJ said

"And this makes it a challenge to determine how and where this person is choosing his victims. The two female victims were reserved and studious." Derek said

"Parker Mills lived quietly in the margins of conventional society." Spencer added

"So the killer may frequent or work in locations that attracts this type of person. Uh, placed of solitude, contemplation." JJ said

"Museums, gardens, parks, and bookstores." I added more placed

"His choice of a city square rather than a remote canyon means he's gaining confidence." Rossi said

"But the recklessness of killing in such a public space suggests that this confidence may be stemming from a delusion. He may believe he's in a place and time that makes him invulnerable." Derek said

"And if his delusion is gaining in strength, then his next killing may be riskier and more dramatic. Thank you." Hotch said, ending the profile.