magnetic ◊ criminal minds

xxx.

xxx. stryker
( season five )

LYRA arrived to work early in the morning, where she ended up in the elevator with Rossi. He glanced over at her. "Show me a picture of your girlfriend," he requested. "She is your girlfriend, right?" Lyra nodded, ears tinted red. She took out her phone and showed him a picture of Ororo. While she valued her privacy more than anything... well, she was also proud to be able to call Ororo her girlfriend. "Lucky girl."

"Shut up." Rossi did not know sign language to Lyra's knowledge, but he got the idea from her embarrassed look paired with a glare.

"Not so fun when you're getting teased, is it?"

"Hey, the others tease you about your million divorces, not me."

It was upon getting in the briefing room that everything went terribly so quickly, Lyra's good mood immediately vanishing.

"Alright guys, Strauss wants us working this case. Colonel William Stryker's gone missing. Along with his entire team of soldiers. The director wants that to be our top priority right now," Morgan said once everyone was seating around the table in the briefing room. On the screen behind him were pictures of Stryker and the more high-ranking officers.

Lyra grit her teeth. Top priority, for a monster like him? She would not stand for that. Not after everything. "He's not missing," she signed. The others stared at her.

"What are you talking about?" JJ asked after a moment of silence, eyebrows furrowed.

"Stryker isn't missing. He's dead."

Morgan just told them he was missing, how would Lyra know any additional information? "But Morgan just said-" Reid started, only to cut himself off when Lyra abruptly stood up.

"He's dead, like he should have been twenty years ago. I'm not wasting my time on a dead man who deserved to die," she signed before storming out of the room, leaving behind a tense silence.

"I'll talk to her," Hotch said after a moment. "You can get started on the case, we'll catch up." He stood and walked out the same door Lyra did. He ended up finding her sitting on the tiled floor of a dark hallway, glaring at the wall in front of her. "Are you okay?" he asked her softly.

"I'm fine," Lyra signed. You did not have to be a profiler to see that was a lie.

Hotch planted himself on the floor beside her. "I won't push you... but you have to have an explanation for thinking Stryker's dead," he said, eyeing her carefully. It was not like her to snap like this. At least not in front of the team.

Lyra closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the wall. "He's a piece of shit. He's... in part how I got my scar," she signed hesitantly. It was better to tell him than anyone else. "The things he's done to me..." She thought of Logan, who suffered at his hands as well. She thought of all the mutants he used, abused, experimented on. Of Kurt. Of the children. "To my friends... to mutants... to who knows how many others..." She shook her head. "Even if he was alive, he doesn't deserve to be found."

"How do you know he's dead, Lehnsherr?" Hotch inquired. Despite the questions he had for her, about her past, he held true to his promise and did not push her.

"Magneto killed him." Before Hotch could ask how she knew that, she continued. "I lied. When I said I didn't learn anything when I talked to him when he was held prisoner."

Hotch frowned. "Lehnsherr, what-"

"He said he would kill Stryker for what he did, and he did. Magneto isn't a villain, Hotch. I don't care what happens to me, I am not going to stand by and let us waste time on someone like him instead of someone who really needs saving." Lyra stood. "I'm calling off the search," she signed, an angry glint in her eyes. Something Hotch thought he'd only see in criminals like Magneto.