Disclaimer:The Predator franchise is owned by 20th Century Fox. Criminal Minds and all characters associated with the show belongs to CBS Television and the show's producers. I own nothing but the stories in my head. Please don't sue.

Criminal Minds:

Party Crasher

Chapter One

It's a hot Saturday afternoon in late July. Little Susan Daniels is walking down the street with her mother. In one hand she carries a gift wrapped in glossy blue wrapping paper and tied with a yellow ribbon. In her other hand she clutches a plastic wand, designed to look like it's made of wood and makes "magic sounds" when you wave it around. Over top of her clothes, she wears a black robe with a Griffindor patch over the left breast. Her friend Stephen Johnson's birthday is today, and he's having a Harry Potter themed party. They turn up the walkway of a modest one story house with a white picket fence around the yard. Mrs Daniels knocks on the door, and a moment later a man dressed as Hagrid opens it.

"Charlie!" laughs Mrs Daniels, "You look incredible!"

"Stephen insisted that everyone at the party dress as characters from the books," he replies, "Even us grown ups."

"Well, I think you look great," Mrs Daniels tells him.

Stephen's dad looks over Susan's costume. "Let me guess," he says, "Hermione?"

"Ginny," she corrects him, "'Cause of my red hair."

"Of course," he replies, "How silly of me. Well, come on in. Just put the present with the others. We're just starting the first movie right now."

"Okay," says Susan as she walks into the house, "Bye Mom!"

"Bye, Sweetie," says Mrs Daniels. To Mr Johnson she says, "I'll be by at about 8:00 to pick her up."

"Sure you don't want to come in?" he asks, "We're going to be ordering pizzas pretty soon."

"Thank you, no," she replies, "I'm afraid I don't fit the dress code."

"Okay," he says, "See you at 8:00."

Mrs Daniels turns and walks away, turning to give Mr Johnson a smile and a wave goodbye. Susan had been to many of Stephen's birthday parties, and she felt quite comfortable leaving her with the Johnsons. Mr Johnson closes the door and heads back to the living room, where his son and his friends are gathered around their TV watching Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone.His wife was there, dressed as Professor McGonagall, setting out the snacks. Susan sits down with the other kids and watches as Harry's obnoxious cousin Duddly finds himself locked in the snake pit at the London Zoo. Seconds later, the living room window seemingly explodes inward. The children scream as they're showered with broken glass. The screaming continues as blood splatters on the television screen.

Thousands of miles away, at FBI headquarters in Quantico Virginia, Aaron Hotchner of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit is quietly watching the team's technical analyst, Penelope Garcia, hard at work at her computer. It never ceases to amaze him just how effortlessly she seems to do anything on a computer. She appears to be cataloging the BAU team's recent cases, while at the same time be programming new security firewalls for her computer system, and unless he's mistaken, is also playing a game of Tetris (and winning). A rare smile creeps upon Hotchner's face. He doubts even their resident genius, Doctor Spencer Reid, could perform three such different (and difficult) tasks simultaneously with such ease. Hotch takes a moment to regain the stoic facade he adopts at the office, then clears his throat. Garcia jumps at the sound and turns to see her boss standing in her doorway.

"Sorry," he says, "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's quite alright, sir," she replies, "Can I help you with something?"

"I hope so," says Hotch, "I have a bit of a problem. It's Jack."

"Is he starting to act out because of his mother's death?" she asks, "Because I totally understand. When my parents died, I totally went off the rails . . ."

"Oh, no it's nothing like that," Hotch replies.

"Do you need me to babysit?" asks Garcia, "Because I would totally love to. And I'm sure he'd really like visiting my place. I've got comic books, movies, video games. . . "

"That's not what I was going to ask either," he says, "But the reasons you listed as why you'd make a good babysitter are why I need your help."

"Okay, now I'm confused."

"Career week is coming up at Jack's school," explains Hotch, "And Jack wants me to arrange a field trip to the office to show his class how we 'catch bad guys' as he puts it."

"Of course he does," says Garcia, "You're his hero."

"The thing is, Haley and I always tried to keep him away from what I do. I mean, he knows the basics, that we catch bad guys, but the gruesome details. . ."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

"If Haley were still alive, we'd try and get him to settle for going to her work for Career Week. But now. . ."

"It's no longer an option."

"So now I'm stuck trying to figure out how to make a Career Week presentation for a First Grade class, that not only explains what we do in a way that kids Jack's age would understand, but also. . ."

"Won't give the kids nightmares?"

"Exactly."

"Okay, give me a few days and I'll figure something out that'll be fun, educational, and nightmare free."

Just then a female agent, an attractive blonde named Jennifer "JJ" Jareau, the team's Communications Liaison, quickly walks up to Hotch with a stack of folders in her hand. "You're needed in the meeting room, Hotch," she tells him.

"We have a case?"

"Yeah," she says, "A bad one."

Aaron follows JJ to the meeting room. Already there, seated around their table, are SSA David Rossi, SSA Derek Morgan, SSA Emily Prentiss, and Doctor Spencer Reid. Aaron takes a seat as JJ passes out the folders containing the specifics of the case. Then JJ picks up the remote control for the large computer monitor built into the wall and brings up the new case. Displayed on the screen is a family photo of a husband, wife, and their teenage daughter. They're of Latino descent and appear quite happy.

"This is Manuel and Victoria Ramon, with their daughter Angela, from Miami Florida" begins JJ, "One week ago, someone did this."

She presses a button on the remote and brings up a crime scene photo of Manuel and Victoria, dead on their living room floor, their heads removed. Then she brings up a second photo, this one of Angela's bedroom. The bodies of six teenage girls, all in their pajamas, and all missing their heads, are laying sprawled on the bedroom floor.

"Originally the Miami PD thought it was mob related. Manuel was a prosecutor with the District Attorney's office, and his wife was a police officer with Miami's vice squad. Between the two of them, there's no shortage of people who would want to see them dead. They figured their daughter and her friends were just collateral damage. Tying up loose ends to ensure there were no witnesses."

"Why were her friends there?" asks Reid.

"She was celebrating her Sweet Sixteen by having a slumber party," replies JJ.

"And they don't believe this was a mob hit anymore?" asks Rossi.

"Not after this," says JJ, and she presses another button on her remote. This time a picture of the Johnson family comes up.

"This was the Johnsons," she tells them, "Charles, his wife Rebecca, and their son Stephen. They were celebrating his 11th birthday last Saturday when this happened."

She pushes the button on the remote again, this time bringing up a crime scene photo of the Johnson house. They see a photo of Charles, Rebecca, and Stephen Johnson, along with about a dozen other children, all strung up by their heels and missing their heads.

"The same guy?" asks Derek.

"According to the ME report, it was the exact same weapon that killed this family and their guests as that killed the Ramons. And from the preliminary reports, it looks like it was likely wielded by the same unsub."

"And how do you know that this wasn't a mob hit too?" asks Hotchner.

"With the first family, that was a possibility," replies JJ, "Both parents were in law enforcement. But this second family has no such connections. The father was a high school gym teacher, and the mother was an elementary school teacher. They had no connections with the mob, or the first victims, aside from being killed by the same unsub and with the same weapon."

"A family annihilator," says Reid.

"One that doesn't just focus on families," adds Emily, "This guy kills families who are celebrating an event, and killing their guests as well."

"And it looks like he's escalating," says Morgan, "The first victims were left lying where they fell, but the second victims are all strung up by their heels."

"I've heard enough," says Hotch, "Everyone, grab your go bags and get to the jet. Wheels up in thirty."

With that, the entire team springs into action, going to their desks and collecting their gear before heading off to the company jet that will take them to Miami in a matter of hours.