Connor didn't want to believe in the super natural however nothing else made sense. Nothing ever did with Andrew. Any case involving him would either lead nowhere or lacked any form of logic to be taken as an actual case. The truck incident with the death of Adrian kept popping up in his mind. Another case that went nowhere.
After weeks of checking hours of footage, they not only found nothing but the case was dismissed by the precinct as a series of bad luck. 'There's no way something like bad luck could be at play here. All of this has to be coordinated.' His eyes looking at the string of deaths that one way or another had Andrew's name on it. The death of the two officers, no traces could be found. Pauline's daylight death involving snake poison made no sense and now the death of the Adrian family came off as an unlucky event.
"If it weren't for the fact that Adrian was related to Brittany, I would have seen this as nothing more than bad luck." He crashed back into his seat, cupping his face as he pulled his hair back. 'We believe that he could be something inhumane.' Claire's words would pop up from time to time as he looked at the board.
"Connor, it's way past the limit and it seems like you haven't made any progress." Rowan said, barging into his office and he saw the distraught Connor. 'I guess I'll have to go for that then but there's no way he would believe that. Even I don't believe it' The idea of telling his deputy captain that the suspect wasn't human would make him look insane and damage his image.
"I haven't been able to crack this case. I'm disappointed in myself as a detective. To think that these deaths will go unsolved." His gaze landed on Pauline's corpse which personally stung him. "As much as I would like to have you chase ghosts, you have other duties to uphold detective Connor." Rowan placed a stack of papers, his face unamused. "This is what you've been missing and I expect all of this paperwork to be done by tomorrow morning."
Connor let out a deep groan as he moved his chair to his desk his eyes already baggy and worn out from his time spent on the Andrew Grayson case. He pulled out a photo of Andrew, his eyes dissecting every inch of his face. "There has to be a way to break you. Human or not, I know that you have your limits Andrew."
. . .
"You said that Brittany reached out to you and said what?" Connor asked, him and his niece indulging in their dinner. "She said that she too had her suspicions of Andrew and wants us to work together to get to the bottom of it all. Of course we think that it's nothing more than a trap on their end." Connor took her words, a look of intrigue washing on his face.
"Once again another case that could be related to Andrew led nowhere. This time way too much into chance. Even if he's not human, what do you think he is?" Claire paused, taken aback with Connor's words. 'So it would seem facing a wall made him to come to this realization as well.' A light smile forming on her face. "Well that we don't know that yet, Kevin thinks he could be an android. Jason with his insane thoughts came up with an alien."
A fight from way back then began to surface. When Connor had faced Charles and Andrew and was required to fight a lady called Drissel. 'If Andrew is anything like that woman I had to fight then he could be some sort of super human. Maybe all of this could be some government project.' His eyes narrowed as he began to recall how Drissel had been fighting against him. "Could you ask Brittany for Andrew to get involved in a fight? And make sure you have it recorded as well, there's something I want to check with how Andrew fights."
Claire tough visibly caught off guard gave a light nod. "I'll try however what does this achieve? Want to know whether Andrew can fight or what?" Connor shook his head. "I don't doubt that he can fight, I'm sure he can. It's how he does it is what I'm interested in." Connor after the meal reached for his coat and went back to the precinct to deal with the paperwork dumped on him.
. . .
"Hey Andrew, have you ever gotten in a fight?" Brittany asked as the two sat under the bleachers, watching the game that unfolded with half interest. "Yes. Why?" Brittany let out a hum, her eyes narrowing. "It's nice to know that you would fight for me but the extent is what I'm curious about."
As if following her words, a group of students surrounded the pair, their faces unfriendly. "Hey, Andrew! You wouldn't mind if we were to have a small chat with you, right?" One of them stated, reaching out to Andrew and placing their arm on his shoulder. "I don't mind." Andrew was led by the group behind the bleacher, isolated with some of the members taking their phones out. "I'm sure why we're bothering you. You faced Adrian and it would be an embarrassment as us senior students to let the fact slide."
The one who had called out to Andrew posed, folding the edges of his shirt by the wrists and balling his fists. "Let's see how you can hold your own!" He threw his punch, Andrew barely dodged it followed with a holler from the crowd. Subsequent punches followed only to meet the air. "Fight back since you're so good at dodging!" The man switched his format, now taking a boxing stance rather than his flailing from before.
Andrew balled his fists and the spark between the two began.
*Bam-Bam-Bam*
A flurry of punches landed on the dude's face while none landed on Andrew's body. Brittany made her way, watching from a distance with a smile on her face. The one sided fight however didn't last long as another person threw himself into the mix and faced against Andrew. This time some of the punches landed on him but Andrew's fighters were in no condition to keep on fighting.
In a blink a storm of attacks were thrown into the makeshift arena. Andrew was quickly overwhelmed and his figure crashed to the ground, kicks and punches landing on his figure while Brittany did nothing more than watch from a distance. The situation lasting twenty minutes before the rage of the group finally dissipated. "Next time don't try to show off too much. You even dared to touch two of your seniors, we should break one of your arms to set an example."
A comment was made as the crowd now streamed behind of the bleachers and broke up with smiles and cackles in the air. Brittany ever so slowly made her way to Andrew who was now still on the ground, rivulets of blood streaming from his head and dust staining his clothes. She crouched down, her smile evident as she lifted his chin to have him face her.
"Not bad, however your showing off was too much for some people. Get up already." There was no look of rage on Andrew's face, as if he had already anticipated for the maul of the crowd. "But from your performance, people won't casually pick on you so that's good." Brittany's hands dusting off Andrew's clothes, her actions showful rather than actually getting any dirt off him.
His face was battered with multiple scars, his lips bleeding and his hair ruffled up. "Could you do something with your hair? Add a style to it rather than the banality it is. I don't mind the pony tail you have but I like your hair to fall." Her words coming off as ignorant of his situation. "Let's get you to the nurse already."
. . .
"Just as I had suspected." Connor said as he watched the video which had now began to circulate within the school grounds. His hands clicking his mouse, reviewing the footage from Claire's phone, his index pointing at Andrew. "His style shifts constantly. When he's dodging, when he's fighting one person and then the two people." Connor paused as he fast fowarded to when Andrew was being mauled by the mob. "I get that he had to fight but did it have to be this brutal?"
Claire was equally baffled when she saw the footage for the first time. "That's Brittany for you. I still don't know how she managed to get such a huge crowd to fight Andrew." Connor moved to the side giving Claire reigns of his laptop. She watched how Andrew fought from start to end. 'I doubt that I would be able to face him if this is what he's capable of then. Maybe those martial classes were actually needed.'
Connor rose to his feet, pacing back and forth attracting Claire's interest. "Is an actual point of seeing Andrew fight?" Connor divulged of his interaction with Charles and Drissel. "Well even if we do know this, what actual purpose or advantage does this give us? We know that he can fight, we could have guessed this by now already."
Her tone flat, her face apathetic. "It might seem like something trivial but this gives us an insight into his relationship between Andrew and Charles is. It's more similar to Brittany's than actual friends." Claire pushed back the laptop, still unsure of the goal Connor was trying to achieve. "So far Andrew presents himself as a person you can use, not just to Brittany but any one around him to an extent."
Silence settled between the two. "This could mean that the people behind Andrew aren't simple. If they aren't government related then they're someone who we shouldn't have bothered because it's clear that they know about us by now. I'm certain of this and from their lack of intervention means that they are treating Andrew the same way as us. Like a test subject. It would make far more sense for Andrew to be super human than alien like or an android."
The more Connor talked, the more it seemed to connect with Claire. "He looks like he's been conditioned to fight like this. I don't know how it took him but if he really is a super human then that could explain his perfect routine. But for the other deaths, maybe there are more like Andrew who take out such tasks to aid him in his test. Or maybe they too have their own reasons for doing this."
Claire felt a shiver crawl down her spine, her scalp tingling. "If this is the case then should we keep on looking into Andrew? Because we're doing what they want if we do. Playing into their palm as nothing more than test subjects." Connor made his way to the sink and poured himself a cup of water before jugging it down. "If we do happen to stop then it's hard to tell what happens next. They could choose to dispose of us and wrap this whole incident. Maybe organize another disappearance with us making it the end of us."
A morbid silence settled, neither talking as they felt their purpose engineered rather than genuine. "For a person like Andrew, it would be best to keep him locked up rather than let him roam as he pleases. I'll try to see if we could have him arrested on my end but on your end, try to avoid any form of contact with him. This goes for your group as well."
. . .
"Brittany, we have to talk about Andrew!" Andrew was missing on school grounds, a leave after the beating he took from the day before. "What about him? Is there any form of progress you have made with him?" Her question on Andrew a bit too casual for Claire and Eliot's taste making it come off as odd.