"Gal!" Lara panted for greedy breaths as her eyes darted all over. What came into her view was a room, and facing her was Maya with her hands crossed, papers in hand. "Hello Lara, you're going to spill everything that you know about Andrew, and don't try any bullshit with me because I'll know."
Her stern voice sent shivers all over Lara's body. "What is this place? Where am I?" Her questions went unanswered as Maya leaned further back into her seat. "I'm the one asking questions, and we'll start with…" Her hands sifted through the documents at hand before she found what she was looking for. "…. What is your relationship with Andrew? Who are you to him? A lover? An older sister? A friend? If you come clean, I could get your sentence reduced."
A smirk washed up Maya's lips as she saw Lara's figure, tense as she broke into beads of sweat. "I'll talk! I just don't want to go to jail!" Lara's tense voice shot through, chipping at Maya's smirk. "If you're not answering my questions, then stay silent! Or do you want me to use more…suggestive means of making you talk?"
Lara's chest heaved, her wrecked state contrasting with the cool and collected state of Maya across from her. "Your question, Andrew sees me as… as a friend. He said that he would make sure that I would see to the very end of the act!" Her words elicited a frown on Maya's brow. 'Act? The same bullshit that white-haired woman was talking about!' She mused, clearing her throat. "Okay, Lara, there's no need for you to be so tense. After all, with you being calm, both of us could get what we want. You a shorter sentence and I my answers with no issues. So try to calm down."
Focusing on her breathing, Lara forced herself to calm down, which seemed to do the job. "There we go. Now we can continue. Next question, you've travelled with Andrew from Stillwater to Silvercoast, so I'm sure that you have a good understanding of his abilities. What are they? And don't leave any out, regardless of how small they are!" Lara paused, her breathing still shallow as she forced herself to recall. "He mainly uses scalpels with his telekinesis to kill people, if not just use telekinesis. He also has another ability where he can mix weaves. He can take the weave of a person and give it to another; he's done this to me twice already. And he can bring people back from the dead!"
Her last statement took Maya by surprise. "Okay, calm down, Lara. Are you sure about what you're saying? Bring people back from the dead?" Maya's brows furrowed. "Yes! I'm certain of what I'm saying, despite it sounding absurd. He's brought me back from death multiple times." The air fell silent. Maya now looked at her documents before looking at Lara. 'She doesn't seem to be lying; however, bringing people back from death? Just what am I dealing with here?'
Maya couldn't help but wonder as she focused her gaze back on Lara. "Let's go slow here and unpack this. You said that he can mix weaves. What does that mean?" Lara tried to calm herself down, still tense. "Weaves, that's what he calls the abilities! He can take the ability of one person and mix it with another. He mixed my silk with poison from a corpse and another from a grandma at the motel." Lara looked at her hands, not only cuffed but with obstructions preventing her from shooting her silk.
Her legs were detained as well with heavy chains. "That's very interesting. Going to the motel, do you know what he did?" Lara bit her lower lip, her body shuddering. "You don't have to rush here; I want to help you, Lara, so go slow." Silence settled before Lara continued. "When we got to the motel, there was a killer. At first, I thought it was the two; however, it was some grandma. She used black silk, similar to mine; however, hers could crush people and poison them. It was here that he forced me to…"
Lara looked down, her gaze avoiding Maya's. "What did he force you to do, Lara?" Lara's lips parted, hesitant. "He forced me to kill the grandmother. I didn't want to die, but he kept on bringing me back, repeatedly, till I finally killed the grandma. After that, he told me that death wasn't something I wanted. Like he knew what was on the other side. I remember little because of the pain."
Her eyes tearing up while Maya fell silent. 'And here I was, thinking that I was dealing with some kid who gained some abilities and went on a killing spree. There's no way that any of this is true. Her brain refused to acknowledge any of this before the image of Andrew popped up in her mind. His still face, dead eyes, and aloof air always clung to him. 'There's no way that Andrew could know what's on the other side. Am I dealing with a kid or some kind of god?'
"You said that he brought you back from the dead; how did he do it?" A question she found stupid, and yet her curiosity compelled her. "His blood, there's something about his blood. Every time I was close to dying, he would feed me with his blood. Not just death, but the headaches as well. His blood helped deal with the fever and make a breakthrough into the first league." Maya leaned forward, her curiosity spiraling.
"You have drunk his blood; how recent was it?" Lara paused. "About two days ago." Maya silently clicked her tongue. "Damn it!" Sensing her frustration, Lara went on. "However, sometimes he would have bathtubs of his blood, and I would bathe in them in the mansion we were in before moving." Maya's sour attitude quickly washed away as a desperate smile spread across her face.
She helplessly threw her documents onto the metal table, a heavy sigh leaving her lips. 'If this is what I'll kill by the end of the year, what prevents him from killing me on sight?' Her mind drifted back to the deal she had made with Drissel during her captivity. "Lara, try to calm down next time. We can take a break." Her words echoed in the room before her figure left. "Well, that was something I didn't think we would get out of her." Corwin chimed in from the side, his face equally dumbfounded.
"A person capable not only of fusing abilities but also of bringing people back from the dead. How are we supposed to deal with such an individual?" His question met with no answer as the two made their way out of the tent, the base in Stillwater. "Should we tell Callahan about this? After all, his daughter is with such a monster." Maya raised only to be shot down. "I think it's best to leave Callahan in the dark for now; after all, his daughter isn't quite clean here."
"Lara says that there's something special about his blood. There was a mansion that he bought, and from Lara's words, we should have some traces of his blood there." Corwin, however, stopped, his gaze narrowing onto Maya's back. "Why did you want to involve Callahan in this?" Maya turned back, feeling the skepticism shot at her. "Now that I recall, Callahan had a sample of Andrew's blood for testing, though I don't know if he got rid of it is all." Maya had a resolute face, one from which Corwin couldn't read anything before resuming his walk with her.
"I'll have the sample retrieved then, as for you. Have some rest before you interrogate Lara once more. Having a person like Andrew revealed to the public will attract all kinds of unwanted attention." The two disbanded shortly thereafter. 'There has to be something more that Maya's hiding. Could she be faking her reactions and already knows all of this?' Corwin mused as he made his way to another tent, which was packed with all kinds of surveillance equipment.
"Do you have a read on the target?" His inquiry met with a sharp response. "It would seem that they are now following Elara, a friend of Charlotte, though they haven't made a move on her, merely watching from the shadows!" The response background noise to Corwin as he recalled the two months in which Maya went missing before his focus went to the operation meant to uncover Andrew.
"Have a document on Connor about the Grayson operation!" He barked, his gaze fixed on the monitor, which showed two figures perched on a rooftop looking at Elara. "From now on, take extreme precautions with the target. It would seem that he can bring people back from the dead, so he'll be a real pain in the ass to deal with!" His words still something he hadn't properly computed. A soldier made their way into the tent with the files Corwin had demanded.
[{Operation Scisscorline}]
The file read in bold red before he skimmed through the pages. 'Times where the target would realize that he was under surveillance despite nothing for him to work with.' The piece of text made Corwin narrow his gaze. "Does he already know that we're watching him?"
His murmur met with a reassured response from one of his men. "We have made sure that there was nothing he could find, sir! We're the best of the best for a reason!" The man operating the monitor shouted, his tone beaming with confidence which flew past Corwin's head. "Yeah, but that hasn't seemed to be the case with this target." His words were inaudible to his men. 'To think that there would come a day where I would have to be monitoring a godlike being.'
A sigh left his lips, focusing back on the folder at hand with momentary glances at the monitor.
. . .
"We came all the way here just to watch her sleep?" Charlotte lazily inquired, her eyes rolling to the side as her legs dangled over the edge of a five-storey building. "Since you're so impatient, how about we make our way and ask her how her sleep was." His words elicited a sarcastic chuckle from Charlotte. "Real rich Andrew."
*Whoosh*
Andrew leapt off the building, and Charlotte followed suit. His telekinesis caught her before the two made their way into the apartment Elara was seeking refuge in. "It would seem someone's here." A voice echoed through the air; Charlotte's casual air was now replaced with tension. "Yeah, there are prints all over the floor. Though only one set of pairs. Probably some random person looking for a place to sleep." Another interjected, the two making their way down the stairs.
"We're not running some charity; it was a lot of hard work cleaning this place and some random hobo just gets to sleep? At the very least, they have something on them they can use as currency and pay off their rent." The two arguing voices quieted down as they arrived at Elara's door, in one's hand glowing red and the other gleaming iron. "Hey! Who do you think you are?!" Charlotte's voice echoed through, making the two figures stop and take notice of Charlotte and Andrew.
"Who the fuck are you two?! If you're looking for a place to sleep, go to the refugee camps. If you want to stay here, then you should be able to pay up." Charlotte let out a short sigh.
*Whoosh*
The two figures were thrown back, away from Elara's door. "The person inside is my friend, and the two of you aren't quite trustworthy individuals at a glance!" Andrew made his way up the flight of stairs, his tone flat as always. "Let's see how you handle that without bloodshed, Charlotte, Charlotte. Don't disappoint me." His scalpels gleaming with his blood.