Puzzled - lockewrites - Criminal Minds (US TV) [Archive of Our Own] (2024)

It was a murder case that had brought the team in from Quantico. The unsub had been killing people seemingly at random. Among the five total victims so far there was nothing connecting them. It was as if the unsub wanted you to come, wanted to be caught. They continued to leave little clues at each scene, small puzzles that became apparent to be leading you to his location.

Finally Spencer had pieced it together, an address. Hotch sent you and Spencer to go investigate, instructing you to call for backup if anything felt off. The drive over was filled with conversation about the unsub’s intelligence. Both you and Spencer believed your unsub was highly intelligent and was leaving clues at the scenes to toy with the FBI.

The house looked abandoned but you and Spencer were cautious not trusting the unsub to lead you somewhere without giving an ultimatum. You never made it to the door before everything went black.

You woke up in a darkened room, blinking a few times as even the dimmest light seemed harsh. Calling out for Spencer you heard him respond from behind you at the other end of the room. Then a voice rang out in the room. He introduced himself as the orchestrater of the game you were about to play. A series of five puzzles needed to be solved before you could leave. If you managed to solve them all you’d be released and told the real location of his hideout.

It had taken only moments for you and Spencer free yourselves from the duck tape binding you wrists together. The first of the five puzzles lay on the table. A poem but each word was color coded.

“Look Spencer, he’s trying to make it difficult”

“It’s almost to difficult. Which color should I start with”

“I don’t know, looks like we’re reading the rainbow” you responded, Spencer had probably solved it already.

“Did you seriously just reference that kids show”

“You mean the awesome kids show with LeVar Burton. Yes. But anyway, what’s it say”

The poem was The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes, a favorite of yours and the color coded words all related to soldiers and war. There wasn’t much relating to those topics in the room, not until you found a small statue on the bottom of a bookshelf in the corner. The bottom had been hollowed out and replaced with a wooden box. The lid had three small wheels which you determined must open the box. Again there was a small piece of paper with a hint as to the combination.

“Time for my area of expertise”

“It’s not an area of expertise, it’s just a hobby” Spencer debated.

“Whatever you say”

You turned your attention to the wooden toy, moving pieces around to try and open the box. Spencer was reading the riddle out loud so that you could both solve it. Spencer was trying to solve the riddle, thinking the solution would be the amount of rotations for each wheel. You believed the rotations came from the numbers in the actual riddle.

“Solved it!” you shouted as the lid popped open.

“But I hadn’t even solved the problem yet”

“You over think things sometimes. This is why I would be the Doctor and you my companion.”

“I disagree, clearly I would be the Doctor.”

“You keep telling yourself that my trusty companion. Next clue!”

The next three puzzles became increasingly more difficult, echoing the escalation of the unsubs killings. They had you breaking apart the floorboards to open a chest buried under the floor. Spencer hadn’t appreciated your Narnia references at that so you switched to quoting Harry Potter. This had you and Spencer debating on what houses the rest of the team would be in. Hotch was a Gryffindor, Morgan a Slytherin but Garcia was either a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Neither of you could agree.

Another puzzle had you translate and decode a letter. Afterwards the only way you could read it was using a mirror. You did the magic mirror speech before Spencer held it up to see. The unsub congratulated you over the speaker system yet you could here the worry in his voice. Guess he hadn’t expected two FBI agents with IQ’s as high as his. Either that or he actually believed he had created difficult puzzles.

By the time you had completed the final puzzle it seemed like your unsub had regretted his plan. However, he did hold up his end of the bargain and gave you the proper address. Calling the team for backup you headed over to the real home to make the arrest.

“Ok so know that we’ve escaped call Garcia. I wanna know what she thinks her Hogwarts house is. Loser pays the other 10 bucks”