CM/HL fic idea, pt. 1
As MarbleGlove mentioned, Criminal Minds and Highlander both deal with serial killers... Just from opposite points of view. Unfortunately, I haven't found many crossovers online, perhaps because of their separate running periods (90s v 00s/2010s) and vastly different genres and takes on the serial killer characters. But what HL fan wouldn't want to see an immortal get psychoanalyzed? Seriously, our beloved, long-lived characters are *messed up*.
And Duncan is just way too careless. He gets caught up in police business all the time and headless corpses dog his trail (though I suppose perhaps the show just doesn't cover the gory clean-up), all beheaded in the same highly unusual manner: clean, one stroke, very sharp implement, cauterized, and if they find the kill site there was a huge mess like a localized electrical storm. Since there isn't blood spatter everywhere, the authorities probably think the blade used to behead the victims is what's doing the cauterizing. Extremely unusual. Plus, Duncan's rather cagey about himself and his past.
I picture this as after Tessa's death, but before Richie's. After Duncan beheads yet another serially mortal-killing immortal, the BAU, who were originally looking into the other immortal's murders, are turned onto Duncan. Because, knowing him, he was seen rather publically with the soon-to-be-missing (a head) person of interest in the case. The 'evil immortal' wasn't considered to be a truly likely unsub until after he disappeared, when Penelope looked even further into him, and found that his birth records were suspect, even though he was actually fairly well-known in his field. So, Duncan, who was seen arguing with the guy, gets investigated-- the BAU needs to figure out if the evil Immortal of the week disappeared in connection with the serial killings, or if it was just coincidence (Guess who on the team believes in coincidence? That's right, none of them). But, in her thorough examination of her records, Penelope discovers something else not groovy: although his records are all technically perfect (thanks to Duncan's anal retentive and money-no-object attitudes, he gets his papers done by a mortal friend of Amanda's), she also turns up quite a few police reports. Ex) Duncan and his now-deceased fiance and unofficial(?) foster son (who was himself often in trouble with the law, albeit for less serious matters) were caught in a hostage situation. When the hostage-takers separated MacLeod from the group, he somehow survived and all the hostage-takers killed each other- not in a blowout, but one by one via traps and surprise attacks bare-handed and with a sharp object, despite having guns. The hostages describe the head hostage-taker getting more and more agitated, sending out more underlings. During this entire time, MacLeod, an accomplished martial artist was unaccounted for. And on, and on...
The BAU discovers that MacLeod was fairly tight-lipped towards the police. He took in his foster son, Richie Ryan, after dropping burglary charges against the boy (who claimed that he responded to the intrusion by pulling a sword). Later, he bailed Ryan out of jail several times and provided for the boy, uprooting him from his former social circle, whom Ryan fell out of touch with, and providing for all of Ryan's needs, including his first subsequent job. That seemed pretty controlling. Eventually Ryan moved away, but while he was with MacLeod, MacLeod was very much in charge. A friend from Ryan’s delinquent past (I know of 2 past girlfriends who showed up on the show, but I forget their names), when questioned by the BAU, professed that Richie fell out of touch after being taken in by MacLeod. Make that the first ex-girlfriend, whom the BAU called up due to being arrested with Ryan in the past. She was involved in selling drugs and got the clan MacLeod involved by staying with them-- Mac was very stern about the whole thing, dumping $$$ of cocaine(?) down the sink and eventually setting off to defeat the Immortal mob boss in mortal combat. She mentions that MacLeod was very stern, very in charge, and at first what with Richie just disconnecting from his old life she was somewhat wary of MacLeod running Richie’s life, but he ended up helping her out of a bad place. He was actually an upright guy, she says.
Duncan's early-series family life gets even more suspicious to the BAU. In the series, we don’t really see many (if any) of Tessa’s friends. Such a reportedly friendly, kind, beautiful person having so few friends seems off to the BAU; in fact, it's a textbook hallma of abuse. I imagine that keeping the secret of MacLeod’s immortality making her feel as though she could never fully confide in anyone but him, combined with the anticipation of having to move in order to keep people from noticing his lack of aging, was like an invisible barrier between her and the rest of the world. In the series, Duncan acts as family patriarch. He’s sweet, sure, and always trying to look out for his family’s best interests, attempting to protect them. But he expects to be in charge. He values Tessa’s and Richie’s wants and needs, acting to best provide them, but his word is law. To the BAU, though, this smacks of controlling, isolating behavior. It seems as though MacLeod, possible unsub, wanted Tessa Noel to be his, and only his.
And Duncan is just way too careless. He gets caught up in police business all the time and headless corpses dog his trail (though I suppose perhaps the show just doesn't cover the gory clean-up), all beheaded in the same highly unusual manner: clean, one stroke, very sharp implement, cauterized, and if they find the kill site there was a huge mess like a localized electrical storm. Since there isn't blood spatter everywhere, the authorities probably think the blade used to behead the victims is what's doing the cauterizing. Extremely unusual. Plus, Duncan's rather cagey about himself and his past.
I picture this as after Tessa's death, but before Richie's. After Duncan beheads yet another serially mortal-killing immortal, the BAU, who were originally looking into the other immortal's murders, are turned onto Duncan. Because, knowing him, he was seen rather publically with the soon-to-be-missing (a head) person of interest in the case. The 'evil immortal' wasn't considered to be a truly likely unsub until after he disappeared, when Penelope looked even further into him, and found that his birth records were suspect, even though he was actually fairly well-known in his field. So, Duncan, who was seen arguing with the guy, gets investigated-- the BAU needs to figure out if the evil Immortal of the week disappeared in connection with the serial killings, or if it was just coincidence (Guess who on the team believes in coincidence? That's right, none of them). But, in her thorough examination of her records, Penelope discovers something else not groovy: although his records are all technically perfect (thanks to Duncan's anal retentive and money-no-object attitudes, he gets his papers done by a mortal friend of Amanda's), she also turns up quite a few police reports. Ex) Duncan and his now-deceased fiance and unofficial(?) foster son (who was himself often in trouble with the law, albeit for less serious matters) were caught in a hostage situation. When the hostage-takers separated MacLeod from the group, he somehow survived and all the hostage-takers killed each other- not in a blowout, but one by one via traps and surprise attacks bare-handed and with a sharp object, despite having guns. The hostages describe the head hostage-taker getting more and more agitated, sending out more underlings. During this entire time, MacLeod, an accomplished martial artist was unaccounted for. And on, and on...
The BAU discovers that MacLeod was fairly tight-lipped towards the police. He took in his foster son, Richie Ryan, after dropping burglary charges against the boy (who claimed that he responded to the intrusion by pulling a sword). Later, he bailed Ryan out of jail several times and provided for the boy, uprooting him from his former social circle, whom Ryan fell out of touch with, and providing for all of Ryan's needs, including his first subsequent job. That seemed pretty controlling. Eventually Ryan moved away, but while he was with MacLeod, MacLeod was very much in charge. A friend from Ryan’s delinquent past (I know of 2 past girlfriends who showed up on the show, but I forget their names), when questioned by the BAU, professed that Richie fell out of touch after being taken in by MacLeod. Make that the first ex-girlfriend, whom the BAU called up due to being arrested with Ryan in the past. She was involved in selling drugs and got the clan MacLeod involved by staying with them-- Mac was very stern about the whole thing, dumping $$$ of cocaine(?) down the sink and eventually setting off to defeat the Immortal mob boss in mortal combat. She mentions that MacLeod was very stern, very in charge, and at first what with Richie just disconnecting from his old life she was somewhat wary of MacLeod running Richie’s life, but he ended up helping her out of a bad place. He was actually an upright guy, she says.
Duncan's early-series family life gets even more suspicious to the BAU. In the series, we don’t really see many (if any) of Tessa’s friends. Such a reportedly friendly, kind, beautiful person having so few friends seems off to the BAU; in fact, it's a textbook hallma of abuse. I imagine that keeping the secret of MacLeod’s immortality making her feel as though she could never fully confide in anyone but him, combined with the anticipation of having to move in order to keep people from noticing his lack of aging, was like an invisible barrier between her and the rest of the world. In the series, Duncan acts as family patriarch. He’s sweet, sure, and always trying to look out for his family’s best interests, attempting to protect them. But he expects to be in charge. He values Tessa’s and Richie’s wants and needs, acting to best provide them, but his word is law. To the BAU, though, this smacks of controlling, isolating behavior. It seems as though MacLeod, possible unsub, wanted Tessa Noel to be his, and only his.