magnetic ◊ criminal minds

xlviii.

xlviii. the return
( season six )

"WHERE is she?" The glass doors to the Behavioural Analysis Unit flew open without a hand to physically pull them open. The culprit was a man with a peculiar helmet who was levitating off the ground. Magneto. Even just the tension with him in the room was different than when they had first come face-to-face with him, enough to make the entire room have a feeling of dread and fear wash over them, paralyzed in the face of the danger he presented.

The BAU agents in the bullpen were quick to pull their guns. Everyone around was unmoving, as though frozen in time. Before Morgan could get a word out, the guns were taken from their hands and instead pointed back at them, controlled by Magneto.

"Where is she?" he repeated, his anger growing by the second.

"It- it would help if we knew who you were talking about," Reid stammered, hands raised in surrender.

Erik Lehnsherr narrowed his eyes. "Lyra Lehnsherr," he seethed, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You think I would waste my time on the rest of you?"

Hotch saw the commotion from inside his office. With alarm, he grabbed the phone, but after dialling a number, to call for backup, he received nothing but static. That did anything but relieve the growing panic - the fear for his agents who were now at Magneto's mercy. He had to step in, talk him down until someone had an opening. He carefully stepped out his office, hands raised at his side to show he meant no harm.

"You're surrounded by the FBI," Hotch said steadily. "You know this won't end well."

Magneto gestured around him. "Your team are the only ones in the building who know I'm here," he said. "Where is Lyra?" he demanded, lacing his words with venom.

"She isn't here," Hotch said. Even if she was, he thought, he would not tell him. Who knew what he wanted with her?

Magneto scowled, the firearms of the frozen agents in the air now as well. That was not the answer he was looking for.

"We aren't here to harm them," said a new voice. Charles Xavier wheeled in, giving Erik a stern look. A few others were with him. "We need their help, we don't want to threaten them." He turned his head to address the agents. "I apologize on behalf of my friend. We would like your help. Perhaps we can talk someone more private?"

That was how they ended up in the briefing room, the BAU team and the mutants. Most were seated around the table, some standing. Magneto was lurking by the door, arms folded over his chest. Rossi was standing across the room, watchful eyes on Magneto. He did not know what was going on, but he did not like it. It was suspicious.

"Like I told the Professor, I was on the way to pick her up, and I found her motorcycle and her phone, but no Lyra," Pietro said to the agents. Charles had asked him to recount the events so that the BAU team could be filled in enough to help them find Lyra. "I went to her place, she wasn't there."

"Yeah, and she clearly isn't here, either," Scott said, irritated. "We should be out there looking, not wasting our time here!" he shouted, on the verge of tears. Pietro nodded in agreement. It was Charles who suggested they go to Quantico to get help from Lyra's coworkers, though many of the others thought it a waste of time. Why could they not just handle this alone? It would go quicker. But he insisted, and for the X-Men, it was hard to say no to Charles Xavier.

"Scott, please," Charles said, shooting him a look. "If we want to find Lyra, we need their help. They spend the most time with her."

Scott folded his arms over his chest, looking away. He was right, but that did not mean he had to like it. In his eyes, it was the BAU's fault Lyra was missing. Whoever had taken her, why had they not been able to stop him first? Lyra was not your typical serial killer target, after all.