When the team landed in Colorado, Logan texted Spencer to tell him that Remy had passed on the message, and let him know that he was still looking for the girl.
He and the team rode in to the station in silence and entered, ready to get to work. The sheriff strode over to greet them with an anxious smile, but he looked relieved to see them. The whole team noted, however, the curious look on his face when he greeted Hotch. As Hotch went through introductions for the rest of the team, the sheriff kept shooting him furtive glances. When Hotch got to Reid, the sheriff frowned, cocking his head at the young man and looking like he wanted to ask something, but he just absently returned Reid's awkward little wave, making Morgan snicker, and then led the team towards the conference room he had set aside for them.
Halfway across the station, it happened.
"Hey!" A Deputy blurted. "Ain't that the mutant fed from the news?!"
Spencer immediately cringed, and the team turned. The sheriff looked at Reid and his eyes widened.
"… I KNEW I'd seen you before!" He crowed, and Reid looked like he wanted to disappear. He hadn't thought about this, in all the chaos. While he consciously understood that the entire nation had seen his face, he hadn't considered that he would have to deal with LEO's who knew he was a mutant. But to everyone's relief, all the sheriff seemed to care about was that he didn't have to worry about that constant "where he hell have I seen him before" in the back of his head for the rest of the day. Now that Reid (and Hotch) had been identified, he happily accepted that and was ready to move on. Some of the deputies didn't seem like they would be so calm about it, glaring at Reid's back until he disappeared into the conference room.
"Here's all we got, Agents." The sheriff sighed, waving his arm to indicate the evidence boards that were set up.
"Can I get a map of the area?" Reid asked. "That will show all the abduction and dump sites?"
"Sure thing." The sheriff nodded. "Easy enough. Uhhh… the parents of the first victim should be here in about an hour. The second victim's mother will be here this afternoon. Her father will arrive tomorrow morning. He's in Florida. They divorced after their daughter, uh…" He trailed off.
"Third victim's parents have asked if you wouldn't mind coming to them… they're takin' their daughter's loss pretty hard…"
"Of course." Hotch nodded. "Emily, Rossi… would you meet with them, please?"
"You got it." Rossi nodded.
"If you don't mind," Reid said, "I'd like to take a look at the most recent victim."
"Uh… Not much left of her, uh… Agent?"
"I'd like to see what I can." Spencer pressed.
"… Alright. I'll have someone drive you over." He peeked out at the deputies. "Uh… you know, maybe I will."
"Anyone is fine, Sheriff." Spencer said. "I won't always have the luxury of dealing with people who are tolerant of who and what I am."
The sheriff gave him a look that was almost admiring, and then nodded. "Whatever you want, son." He said, then looked back at Hotch.
"JJ, I want you to wait for our first couple to arrive and talk to them. Morgan, you and I are going to check out the latest dump site."
The sheriff looked around the room at everyone. "… Ready, break?" He asked, and several of the Agents grinned.
"Close enough." Rossi mused, and they all filed out.
"Eric!" The sheriff called, and the deputy who had called Reid out looked up. "When the Aubuchons arrive, please let Agent Jareau know. She'll be talkin' to them." The man nodded agreeably. "Mark, take Agents Rossi and Prentiss to see the Wilhelms, please. Brent? Take Agent Reid here over to the ME to see the latest remains."
To his credit, Brent did his best to keep a straight face, but his eyes darkened and his features tightened. Several other deputies glanced over at him. "Amanda, come on out with me an' the Agents to where the latest body was found."
And everyone scattered. Though they tried not to be obvious about it, most of the station watched as Brent approached Reid, eyeing him.
Reid steeled himself and nodded, saying "Thank you, Deputy. I appreciate your time."
The man sighed, and said "Right… let's go." And headed for the door. Reid followed, firmly keeping his gaze ahead of him.
They got into the car, and headed off down the road.
"How far is the ME?"
"… 'Bout ten minutes." Brent mumbled.
"Deputy… this isn't a large community."
"I guess."
"How well does everyone know each other?"
"Everyone knows everyone else, I guess. At least on sight. Not small enough that everyone knows everyone else's name, and everyone's business."
"Hm." Reid said, as he reviewed some information in his lap. "Did you know the victims? Personally, by reputation, anything?"
"Not too well." Brent admitted, glancing over. "I mean, they're teenagers. My wife and I are only just talkin' about havin' a family. Our friends are all in the stages of marrying and starting their own families."
"So you're too young to know the victims through the connections of friends and their kids, but too old to know them through your own friends."
"Yeah." Brent nodded. "I mean, I got a coupla friends with younger siblings their ages, but…"
"Do you know of any of these younger siblings that knew the victims?"
"Nope."
"Mm-kay…" Spencer mused, then sat back with a sigh, frowning in thought.
After a few minutes of silence, Brent, who had seemed very restless, finally just opened his mouth and blurted, "If you're a mutant, why are you a Fed?!"
Startled, Reid blinked up at him. "Uh… well… I actually had my eyes set on the FBI before I knew I was a mutant." He admitted. "When my abilities manifested and I recognized them for what they were, I thought that meant the end of it. But… I guess that… I just wasn't ready to let it stand between me and what I really wanted."
"Huh. So… what can you do?" Brent asked, sounding nervous, but also very curious.
"I have impenetrable psychic shields, that I can expand to protect people around me, as well… and I can also create and control light. Mostly, I solidify it into protective shields. I'm about as offensive with my powers as I look like I would be, physically."
Brent looked over and eyed Reid up and down, and then finally relaxed slightly and chuckled. Reid allowed a little smile to touch his lips.
"You know the X-Men?" Brent asked then as they pulled into the parking lot.
"I do."
"What are they REALLY like?" Brent asked, getting out of the car. Reid followed.
"You REALLY wanna know?" He asked with a slight smile.
"Yeah! Come on… between us…" Brent prodded, walking towards the front door with Reid.
"Honestly? They're just regular people. It's a whole school with them, for mutants. There are mutants there from ages nine to sixty! And it's like any other school, for the most part. You have kids struggling to find themselves, the teenage dating dramas, which can get a bit more dramatic with powers involved…"
"Oh shit!" Brent blurted, eyes wide.
"You have the well behaved, straight A students, you have the kids who struggle academically. You have the rebels and the pranksters… though pranks tend to be a bit more creative… Kids who are coming to terms with their sexuality… These kids have homework. Math, science, reading, history… and then, on top of that, they have training sessions in which they learn to control their powers. These kids actually work HARDER than normal kids, because they have that BIG extra thing of powers to worry about. But they have friends. They date. They fight. Just like normal kids. And the adults, well… they do all that too. Some of the X-Men have dated each other. Two of them are married. Some of them have kids."
"Wow…" Brent murmured, frowning as they entered the morgue in the basement of the hospital. "So uh… I'm gonna wait by the car. That body is a bit, uh… much for me." And he made a face, turned and hurried away. Spencer grinned, and walked over to the ME, who was looking just as amused.
"Wearing your iron stomach, Agent?" He asked, and then whipped back the sheet covering the remains.
All eyes turned when Deputy Brent Walker and Doctor Spencer Reid walked into the station, laughing.
"Oh my God!" Brent was howling, stumbling slightly. "Oh my God!" Reid was grinning, apparently telling him a story.
"And so Gambit says, 'I do b'lieve dat dis side of de hall is for de boys. And dat de girls are on de other side? An' f'give ol' Gambit if he's wrong, but ain't dere rules about crossin' over to t' other side, so t' speak?' And so the kid says, 'you guys don't exactly follow that rule up there,' and Gambit says back, 'But up here, we all be adults. Consentin' adults. Down 'dere, you all be minors. So Gambit suggest 'dat your femme dere, get back over t' 'er own room. And you two keep 't y'own side of de hall, 'less Gambit report what y' been doin.' So the girl RUNS, and Gambit says to the boy, 'An' you chill out an' grow up. Nuthin y' haven't seen before. Ain't like you don't got none. 'Less y' got somethin' y' need t' be tellin' us?' And I was horrified, but Wolverine was just trying not to laugh."
"Oh my God!" Brent continued to cry through his laughter, which had gotten weak, but no less mirthful. He dropped into a chair and scrubbed tears from his eyes. "Oh my God, I'm dyin'!"
"What the hell are you going on about over there, Reid?" Emily asked, grinning at the near hysterical officer.
"Just telling him about some of the dumb stuff that Gambit's done." Reid shrugged.
Brent, in the meantime, turned to his colleagues, pointed at Reid and said "Oh my God guys, seriously… this guy has some MAJORLY funny stories about the X-Men. I mean… REALLY funny shit! I thought I was gonna crash the car on the way back, I was laughin' so hard!"
The other officers just GAPED. Hotch gave Reid a funny look, and Reid , still grinning, winked at him. Hotch's funny look turned into a little amused quirk of the lips, and a nod in recognition to Reid for actually managing to win over one of the officers.
"Did you find anything new?" Hotch asked, as Reid followed him into the conference room.
"Well, there WAS something." Reid said. "All the girls were clean. Like… of anything and everything. I called Garcia while I was there, and had her check into some stuff for me, and then compared that with the Medical reports and stuff… And all the girls were using SOMETHING. One of them had photos on social media sites where she was drinking and smoking. One of the girls used recreational marijuana. Another girl was on Methylphenedate for her ADHD. Two of them were on birth control. Absolutely NOTHING could be found in their systems."
"This guy is doing more than just getting them healthy…" JJ concluded. "He's getting them as physically perfect and… NATURAL as he can."
"So… Is this some ritual need that he has?" Rossi tossed out. "Or is he wanting to HELP these girls?"
"And if that's the case," Morgan tacked on, "why kill them?"
"What if they didn't appreciate what he had done for them?" Everyone turned and stared at the laptop that Garcia had suddenly appeared on.
"What now, kitten?" Rossi asked, moving to sit down.
"Well…" Garcia said, tapping away at her keyboard. "Think about it. All three girls were medically underweight, colored their hair, used colored contacts, one of them had actually had a nose job! They also all went to tanning salons."
"They were all trying to conform to the unrealistic standards of beauty that society perpetuates." Hotch concluded.
"With Photoshop." Emily snorted, scowling.
"BIG TIME." Garcia nodded. "What if he tried to show them their natural beauty, and they couldn't appreciate it?"
"And he considered the project a failure." Rossi nodded.
"… that's brilliant, PG." JJ smiled.
"And very possible." Hotch admitted, turning and staring at the evidence board.
"But we're missing something very important." Morgan admitted with a sigh.
"What?" Garcia asked.
"Motive. Why is he doing this?" Morgan asked. "If this is actually what he's doing."
"There was no evidence of abuse beyond the murders themselves…" Reid pointed out. "No torture, no sexual assault, nothing. If he was doing this for his own purpose, it had to have been something sexual. He was making them conform to the ideals of natural perfection, if it was really for him, what would he have done with them once he had them there? Surely there would have been SOME indicator of some other kind of ritual need that he had to fulfill… I think Garcia's theory is the most likely."
"JJ, Morgan, Prentiss…" Hotch said. "Tomorrow, we're going to go to the high school and talk to some of their friends. See if you can get an idea of the victims' feelings and practices in regards to their physical appearances. If any are willing, show them the pictures of the two victims when they were found. See what they think the victims would have felt around their appearances after the UnSub was finished."
The team was just sitting down to dinner at a diner down the street when Reid's phone went off.
"It's Logan." He mumbled, excusing himself the moment his butt had hit the seat. "Order for me!" And he trotted outside, answering. "Hey!"
"Hey, darlin'." Logan greeted. "Found her."
"And?"
"They were all pretty freaked when I told 'em you were a Fed. And they were pretty baffled when I told 'em you wanted to recruit the girl. But uh… She's quite the surprise."
"What do you mean?"
"She's older than she looks. She's twenty four, and a college graduate. Her name's Kalifa Ahmed Al Karim."
"What is she doing living in the sewers?!" Reid wondered out loud.
"Her eyes. No one would hire her. She spent a year after college trying ta find a job before she ended up on the streets. Her family cut her off when she went ta college. They're some… fancy high class folk from Saudi Arabia."
"Anyway, while she grew up here in the States, apparently her grandfather arranged a marriage for her to some guy. Kalifa wanted nuthin' ta do with it. She applied to college and ran away. Her family had returned to Saudi Arabia and left her here."
"Hm…" Spencer frowned.
"She's a citizen." Logan told him. "Born here."
"Okay. So… what did she say?"
"She said she'll sleep on it. I'm goin' back in the mornin'."
"I really appreciate it, Logan."
"No problem, kid. And besides. I like the idea of gettin' this girl outta the sewers. The more we can help like this, the better."
"Right. Well, I'm at dinner with the team."
"I'll let ya go, then."
"Thanks again, Logan. I love you."
"You too, pup."
And Reid hung up, returning to the table with the team.
"Did he find her?" Hotch asked.
"He did." Spencer replied, and relayed all that Logan had told him of the girl.
"Interesting… did he say what her degree is in?" Rossi asked.
"No. I think he just made initial contact and made her the offer. They're supposed to talk again tomorrow." Reid said, and grabbed the cup of coffee set at his place. "Mmm. Thanks guys. What did you get me?"
"Club sandwich." JJ said.
"Sounds great." Reid smiled, sipping his coffee.
In the morning, Spencer was woken by his phone. Grumbling, he fumbled around and brought it to his face. "Doct'reed…" He mumbled.
"Mornin', darlin'."
"Logan. Hi."
"Kalifa's with me."
"She agreed?!"
"She's agreed to come with me ta Xavier's place. We need ta evaluate her control over her power. As long as she passes, she's willin' ta come in fer an interview with the boys."
"… Great work, Logan." Spencer sighed, smiling. "Thanks."
"Sure thing, kid. See ya when ya git back."
"Give Remy my love."
"Oh… I intend to." Logan drawled, ending with a low chuckle.
"… Uhg. You're as bad as he is sometimes." Reid groaned, and Logan laughed and hung up. Spencer dropped his phone and stared at the ceiling for a moment, then got up, got dressed and headed down to the hotel's dining room. An hour later, Hotch showed up.
"Ah. So THAT'S why you didn't answer when I knocked to wake you."
"Good morning." Reid greeted with a smile. "Logan called me this morning. Kalifa has agreed to interview for the position."
"Good!" Hotch exclaimed, moving to get coffee before joining Reid at the table.
"If she accepts," Reid continued, "she can go straight into the FBI Academy since she already has a college degree."
"That's excellent, Reid." Hotch agreed, peeling a banana as Morgan walked in and went straight for the hot stuff. He joined them a moment later with waffles and bacon, even as Emily and JJ came in, followed closely by Rossi.
They ate their breakfast in companionable silence occasionally interrupted by a comment or conversation here and there, nothing work related, but once they were done they all shifted into work mode, Hotch gave them their assignments, and they headed out for the day.