magnetic ◊ criminal minds

xlvi.

xlvi. swimming with sharks
( season six )

"HEY, Lyra, how was your weekend?" Prentiss asked, sitting down on Lyra's desk. Morgan and Reid were there as well.

"Funny you ask. I met Ororo in Baltimore so we wouldn't have to do a full drive, and we decided to see a movie," Lyra signed.

"Oh, how was it?" Reid asked.

"I don't know. We didn't get to finish it. We got kicked out for talking."

The others were silent for a moment. "You... got kicked out for talking?" Morgan repeated, seeming to catch on to what had happened.

"But you don't talk," Reid said, confused.

Lyra raised an eyebrow, waiting for it to click. "Reid," Prentiss said softly. "They were kicked out because they're mutants."

"Oh," Reid realized, eyes widening a little. "Are you okay?" he asked Lyra.

She shrugged. It was not like it was the first time that had happened. People took one look at her unusual hair colour and decided based on that that she was a mutant - of course they were right, but she did mot deserve to be treated any differently because of that. It had happened when she was on dates as well. It happened often back when she dated Emma, though they had had bad experiences simply because they were dating someone of the same sex as well.

Hotch walked out of his office, gesturing toward the briefing room. They joined him, Rossi and Garcia in there. "Um, okay, in the last week in Mendocino County, California, five bodies have been recovered on beaches," Garcia started, putting up the pictures of the bodies.

"Are those bite marks?" Reid asked.

"Yep. All the bodies were found with multiple bite marks, but the causes of death in each case is multiple stab wounds to the chest," Garcia confirmed, shuddering a bit at the thought of the bodies.

"Parts of them were eaten? We're dealing with a cannibal?" Prentiss read.

Morgan pursed his lips. "After the last cannibal we had to deal with, I am not excited," he said sourly.

"Is our UnSub a mutant?" Lyra signed in question.

"What do you mean?" Hotch asked her.

"Well, look at the bite marks. It's like an animal's, but the size of a person's," she signed, looking at one of the pictures in her file.

"It's also possible it's just someone with sharp teeth," Rossi pointed out. Lyra shrugged. That was much less likely, but fine, she would entertain them.

"In some cultures, cannibalism was used for medical purposes under the belief that because the human body could heal itself, it could heal other," Reid stated. "It was especially popular in the 17th century, but died down by the late 19th century. Usually, though, it's a last resort for starvation."

"So either this guy is deluded, or starving? You think he could be homeless?" Prentiss said.

"It's too early to tell until we learn more," Hotch said.

♢

"That's a lot of fishing nets," Prentiss said as she looked over the crime scene photos. The team was now on the plane, looking over the case further.

"They look planted," Reid noted.

"It could be a statement," Rossi said. "'This is what happens to people who ruin the environment'."