A/N: SURPRISE! I've been thinking about coming back to the 'CM' world for a while now and here I am. (grins)

WARNINGS: Super power elements, adult themes, gore, violence, language… Yup, sounds like my typical list.

DISCLAIMER: Oh, if only…! But I only own anything in my dreams. (pouts)

Sooo, before I chicken out completely… Let's go! I REALLY hope that you'll enjoy this one.

The Others

Of Monsters and Men

Dr. Marcus Leonor, who just celebrated his thirty-fifth birtday, had a look of disgust and confusion in his pale blue eyes while he stared at the newest experiment that'd fallen into his team's hands. The creature, who'd only been given a pair of loose white pants to disguise his most private parts, was huddled against the room's furthest corner. The trembling being's arms were wrapped tightly around his legs while a pair of moist yet fully alert hazel eyes kept shifting between him and his colleagues. Dr. Leonor wondered how much they actually saw without glasses or contact lenses.

He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his shortcut dark hair. "Male, caucasian appearance. Caught four days ago", he began his report, his voice giving only the slightest hint of his true emotions. "Estimated age eighteen. Test results show a exceptionally high level of intelligence. Has, however, ceased to co-operate, thus making further tests impossible. Showed a great deal of physical resistance upon capture."

One his young trainees, a undeniably beautiful young woman with neatly braided long black hair and dark eyes that'd been hidden by glasses – Veronika Ivory – frowned while observing the specimen. "What are those bandaged spots on…" Catching his look of warning she changed the intended word. "…its back?"

Dr. Leonor's nose wrinkled. A shiver of revulsion went through him. Freaks, such as this one… "Those would be the places where the subject's wings were. We had to have them removed for security purposes. They're being researched as we speak." He would've gladly done quite a lot more but doubted that his higher-ups would've agreed on such approach.

They called themselves humane. Dr. Leonor wanted to snort at the thought. Hypocrites, all of them, so good at looking the other way while others stained their hands for them. By now they should've admitted that the world had to be freed from this… dangerous plague.

It was there for only a second but Dr. Leonor caught it anyway. A flash of shock, remorse and rage in Veronika's eyes. The girl was getting too attached to these beings. It might turn out to be a problem.

"Don't worry", Dr. Leonor stated in a clipped tone. "The wounds are treated accordingly. After all, we're not the monsters here." He turned sharply on his heels, sparing the repulsive creature a one more look before leaving. "Now, it's time for its next dosage. I'm sure that you don't want to be here to see it."

He heard something not much above a whisper before the door clicked closed behind his crew. "Please… I mean no harm to anyone. I swear." Wasn't that what they all said? "Please, let me go! I…"

Aside the steps it was completely silent after that, the closed door swallowing down the rest of the monster's sentence.

It wasn't until he was alone in a elevator with Veronika Dr. Leonor spoke next. "Do not forget why we are here, Veronika", he cautioned her in a hard, cool voice, staring at the numbers creeping up with the elevator. "We're here because these beings are a threat. We're here to find out how to cure them, for the sake of us all."

Veronika glanced towards him briefly. Even without looking he could see her arched eyebrow. "What if there isn't a cure? What if they don't want to be cured?"

"Then we'll simply have to deal with them as we would with any other threat to humanity." They'd almost reached their destination. Soon the doors would open. "Now, I really want you to ask yourself a question. If terminating these monsters is the only choice we have, will you be able to live with it?"

Stepping out of the elevator Dr. Leonor noticed that Veronika's hands were shaking while she squeezed a file as hard as she could. It was that of the creature they just went to see. 'Warren, Scott', said the sticker on top of the file. Personally he couldn't understand why they insisted on naming those monsters.

Fourteen Years Later

The case had been long and gruelling. Four young men had already been murdered in cold blood before the BAU-team had been called in and while they struggled to find the necessary straws two more innocent souls lost their lives. They were on the verge of despair by the time the killer finally made a mistake. To their surprise he ended up removing his glowes to close the latest victim's eyes, leaving a nice and clean fingerprint for a pair of careful eyes to spot. It was also around then Dr. Spencer Reid also noticed that the murders were scattered remarkably neatly around a certain place.

The killer's name was Jonathan Thomas. And his hideout, his one sanctuary on the face of the world, was his childhood home. Which also happened to be the childhood home of his latest victim and brother, Ryan Thomas.

None of the teammembers expected that Jonathan would actually still be in the house when they'd get there. That's why they felt comfortable with sending in just Spencer and Derek Morgan, with a pair of police officers standing by outside. Derek even allowed Spencer to go and investigate the second floor on his own.

It's a law of the universe that nightmares always begin when people least expect them.

Spencer's eyes flew wide when he entered one of the bedrooms to find Jonathan sitting on the floor, arms wrapped around his legs and rocking himself back and forth, back and forth. He wasn't sure which one of them was startled worse when their eyes met.

"I… I didn't mean to kill him", Jonathan whimpered. "I didn't mean to kill any of them, I swear." The nineteen-year-old, still painfully young with his overgrown blond hair and scared brown eyes, revealed his hands. They were crackling with electricity. "I can't switch it off. I can't… I can't switch myself off."

Spencer gulped. It was almost impossibly hard to maintain his composure. "I know how you feel." He took a cautious step forward, then another. "But you need to calm down. I can help you, but you need to calm down."

Jonathan shook his head furiously. Some tears rolled down the teenager's cheeks. "You can't help me. No one can. They… They gave me the cure, and even that didn't help."

A gasp left Spencer and he was almost sure that his heart skipped a beat. A wave of dizziness crashed through him, along with unpleasant memories. "Jonathan…"

It seemed that the teenager had already made up his mind. The tears fell harder while Jonathan's hand rose higher. "STAY AWAY!"

That shout was, apparently, enough to alert Derek. Running steps began to dash up the stairs. "Reid!"

There was a flash of sheer terror in Jonathan's eyes. That pulse of emotions was all it took. There was a flicker of white, blinding light until Spencer was already flying. He crashed against a nearby shelve and fell heavily, enough so to lose his focus for a moment.

The first thing he saw once he came back to himself was Jonathan, standing on the edge of a window. His lips opened but he wasn't fast enough. The boy disappeared, right before his very eyes. And even without hearing the sickening sound of the landing the agent knew that the tormented soul was gone.

Fighting back tears right there was one of the hardest things he'd ever done.

Derek Morgan didn't know what to expect when he rushed upstairs, as fast as he possibly could. All he knew was that it was one of the most terrifying situations he'd ever been in. A wave of relief crashed through him when he found Spencer, pale and bleeding but alive.

"Jonathan, he…" Spencer gagged dryly. "He jumped."

Derek shivered and marched towards the window, peering down. True enough, the police officers that'd been standing outside were working on the teenager's body. Not bearing to look at the heartbreaking sight for another moment he refocused on Spencer.

It was easy to see how hard Spencer fought to regain control over himself. "I'm okay." It might've been a lot more convincing if the genius hadn't been ghostly pale and seemingly ready to throw up right there.

Derek scoffed with frustration and disbelief. "Reid, you're not fine! Your back's bleeding!" He sighed, marching towards the younger man before the other could make a move to stop him. "Just let me give it a look, okay?"

Spencer's eyes widened. Where in the world could that amount of fear possibly come from? "Morgan, don't…!"

But it was too late. Derek had already grabbed Spencer's shirt and lifted its hem to see the damage. At first he could only stare. Then, slowly yet surely, his eyes began to widen. "What the hell…?"

It couldn't possibly be real. In full truth Derek had hard time believing his very own eyes although he'd always had the perfect 20-20 vision. Yet there it was, right before him.

At first Derek saw the blood stained, ivory colored feathers against the pale, tormented skin. And then he fully registered the wings. They'd been folded to a position that had to be painful and restrained by duct tape to ensure that they wouldn't be seen through the shirt. Hell, he could name several occasions when he'd patted Spencer's back and never caught a thing. He might've been amazed by the genius' ability to disguise his secret if he hadn't been numbed by shock.

Spencer swallowed loudly. Those eyes were looking at him as though expecting anything. "I… No one was ever supposed to see."

Derek stared at his best friend, his eyes wide and his heart hammering a million miles per hour. Without him noticing it his hand withdrew from the other quickly, just before he would've brushed the wings. "Reid, what the hell is this?" And then, of course, he voiced the most dangerous question of all. "What the hell are you?"

What the agents didn't know was that from the house right opposite to the one they occupied a eager camera witnessed everything. Jonathan's glowing hands. Jonathan's fall. And, of course, Spencer's tied wings. In a matter of minutes the video clip was all over YouTube.

Another twenty minutes later a pair of stone hard dark eyes watched the sight of light dancing on Spencer's feathers. The video's quality was good enough to leave no room for doubt. The observer gritted their teeth before taking a cell phone and dialing.

"Sir, I just came across a online video that's becoming viral very quickly. I already made sure that the video is deleted but there's something I want you to know." Those careful eyes spotted the tattoo easily. "I believe that it's Subject 8205B."

"Impossible. That particular creature was terminated almost fourteen years ago."

"That's what I thought, too." Those dark eyes flickered towards the laptop's screen once more. "How do I proceed?"

TBC

A/N: And that's how it begins. Uh huh, it seems that our genius has been keeping quite a secret… (gulps)

Soooo…. How was that? Any good at all? It's always EXTREMELY nerve-wrecking to start a new story so it'd mean A LOT to hear from you. (glances with hopefull eyes)

In any case, thank you so much for reading! Who knows, maybe I'll see you guys again one day.

Take care!