magnetic ◊ criminal minds

xxxv.

xxxv. the fight
( season five, episode eighteen )

HUMANITY has always feared what is different. Erik Lehnsherr was right when he said that. Lyra was not sure she had ever really met a human who did not, somewhere deep inside, fear mutants. Whether that fear presented as fear or hate. Some might say that the fear of mutants is justified. That they were too powerful. Dangerous.

That was among the things Lyra was forced to hear as she went to pick up her coffee at her local coffee shop before she went to the office. Two men were talking, very openly, about their hatred of mutants at a table near where she was waiting for her drink to be ready. It was beyond irritating and Lyra was trying her best not to lose her cool.

"Fucking muties are all ruining our hang outs," said one of the men. "Even this place."

It took Lyra a moment to realize they were looking at her while they were saying this. She scowled. She could not wait to leave. She finally got her coffee and turned to leave. She had to pass by their table to leave. As she went to walk passed them without problem, one of them hit the drink out of her hands.

"Fuck off, mutie bitch," the man sneered.

"Fucking faggot," the other hissed, in case they were wrong on the mutant front. Why just hate mutants when you can be homophobic, too?

Without thinking of the consequences, Lyra punched the one closest to her right in the nose. There was a satisfying crack.

"Aw, fuck!" he cursed, quick to clutch his likely broken nose. His friend went to hit her, but she kneed him in the crotch before he could touch her. Then, she turned and left, not caring about the scene she made and left behind.

She was still irritated by the time she got to Quantico. Not only did she lose three dollars on a coffee she never got to touch, but now she had bloody knuckles. She was not sure which annoyed her more. Considering she had a case, Lyra did not have time to stop and wash the blood off - so healing it would be pointless, because the blood would still be seen.

"Hey, Lyra- what happened to your hand?" Reid asked the moment he ran into her.

"Punched a guy. And kneed his friend in the balls," Lyra signed in response. Her frown deepened. "And I didn't even get my coffee."

Reid frowned, but decided not to press her. "You should get that cleaned up," he suggested. "We have to be on the plane."

Lyra wordlessly agreed.

♢

It was on the plane that the team was properly briefed on this case. According to Hotch and his friend, Sam Cooper, who lead his own Red Cell team, they only had three days before the trail went cold.

"What do we know about the past years' victims?" Rossi asked. He handed Lyra a mug of coffee, having gotten one for himself as well. Lyra nodded in thanks.

"The Tenderloin district has a high concentration of drug addicts and homeless people. All the victims have been transients," Reid stated.

"So, this UnSub's choosing easy targets that won't be missed. He's not concerned with the challenge of the hunt. All these victims are part of a larger plan," Morgan said, file open in front of him.

"Which he executes on the same few days every year," JJ said.

"Like a ritual," Lyra supplied.

"Reid, did you find any significance to the dates?" Hotch asked.