REPLACEMENT; criminal minds (1)

𝙏𝙒𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙔-𝙎𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉

Every-time they laid their lips on one another, it was like they forgot to breathe because it didn't seem important at the time. Derek wrapped his arm around Maya's waist and turned around to where she was on top of him, looking down on him. Maya never wanted him to let go because his arms felt like a home, she'd always be welcome to...

PRESENT

Rossi points out that there has to be a pretty severe compulsion if the guy's chopping off two legs in a week. The team then discusses whether this could be a profit-based crime, and Derek asks what a leg costs on the black market.

JJ doesn't answer but points out that in 2002 a whole shipment of tendons was sent from South Africa to America for sale to private medical concerns. Which is a great piece of trivia, but without a per-unit valuation, it's impossible to tell whether stealing one leg could possibly be a profitable endeavor.

They decide to check every possible point of connection. The fact that the two were both organ donors, the black-market possibility-everything.

_____

When they land in Mexico, Rossi, Maya and Derek interview the first victim who was at the hospital. The victim doesn't remember how he was abducted so Rossi tries simple hypnotism, looking for memories of sights or smells he might have noticed while he was supposed to be under. He then remembers a garage door and states someone has turned a garage into an operating room.

"Based on the way this unsub treats his victims. We need to look at this case a different way" Reid declares as the team is now at the station and gathered around, looking to the board that was now set up for the case. "We know it's not for profit and we know he's not a killer" JJ states and Maya sits up in her seat as she looks to JJ and Reid who led the discussion, "Then what is he?".

"A scientist, or at least he sees himself that way" Reid corrects. "So, his victims are like test objects to him" Maya adds, "And if we're right, we're not going to see the usual signature or consistent victimology because there's no compulsion, sexual or otherwise" Reid informs.

"So, there won't be a trigger or a stressor either" Derek realizes and Maya scoffs annoyingly because that doesn't leave a lot for the team to give an accurate profile or even give one at all.

"We do have the unsubs medical technique. And based on the remnants of Hubbell's surgery, I think the unsubs experimenting" Reid declares, only confusing the team more and more but think, perhaps, the killer is trying to see if he can transplant entire legs.

This sick unsub wants to see if he can put a foreign leg on someone else's body.

______

The team doesn't have a solid basis for this guess, but it turns out to be right, as a new victim hobbles his way into an emergency room, with the last victim's leg crudely attached to his own right stump.

Maya, Reid and Derek get the call and head to the morgue. That's right, he's in the morgue. Even though his leg had only been cut off a short time ago, and the new one freshly attached, he has already succumbed to gangrene and sepsis. As Reid explains what happened, Maya and Derek notice him aggressively touching his head.

"Reid, are you getting a migraine?" Derek asks and Reid sighs, rubbing his eyes slightly.

"No. No, I haven't had one of those for months, ever since, um..." Reid trails off and bends down to look at the victims wound while Maya knits her eyebrows in confusion and carefully watches Reid who thinks the whole situation doesn't make sense.

"This unsub is supposed to have a background in science, right?" Reid asks and Maya nods, "I mean, that's what you said" Maya states, shrugging her shoulders.