sparks fly, sam winchester [ 2 ]

037. bank robbery

"None of the cops ever called me back. Not after I told them what was really going on. Uh, they all thought I was crazy. First off, Juan Morales never robbed the Milwaukee National Trust, okay? That, I guarantee. See, me and Juan were friends. He used to come back to the bank on my night shifts and we'd play cards."

"So you let him into the bank that night, after hours." Sam says.

"The thing I let into the bank... wasn't Juan." Ronald states. "I mean, it had his face, but it wasn't his face. Uh, every detail was perfect, but too perfect, you know, like if a dollmaker made it, like I was talking to a big Juan doll."

"A Juan doll?" Sam asks.

"Look. This wasn't the only time this happened, okay?" Ronald gives Sam a file folder. "There was this jewelry store, too. And the cops, a-and you guys, you just won't listen. Both crimes were pulled by the same thing."

"What's that, Mr. Resnick?" Sam asks.

Ronald picks up a magazine of "Fortean Times" and holds it to his chest.

"Chinese have been working on 'em for years. And the Russians before that. Part men, part machine. Like the Terminator. But the kind that can change itself, make itself look like other people." Ronald says.

"Like the one from T2." Dean smirks.

"Exactly! See, so not just a robot, more of a-a-a, a... Mandroid." Ronald says.

"A Mandroid?" Sam asks.

"And what makes you so sure about this, Ronald?" Dean asks. Ronald holds up a finger, widely smiling.

~ ~ ~

"See, I made copies of all the security tapes. I knew once the cops got them they'd be buried." Ronald says as he puts a VHS tape into the player. "Here." He fast forwards through the tape. "Now watch. Watch. Watch him, watch, watch! See, look! Th-th-- there it is!" He pauses the tape. "You see? He's got laser eyes."

The hunters share a knowing look at the realization it's a shapeshifter.

"Cops said it was some kind of reflected light. Some kind of "camera flare." Okay? Ain't no damn camera flare. They say I'm a post trauma case. So what? Bank goes and fires me, it don't matter!"

"The Mandroid is-- is still out there. The law won't hunt this thing down -- I'll do it myself. You see, this thing, it-it-it kills the real person, makes it look like a suicide, then it sorta, like, morphs into that person. Cases the job for a while until it knows the take is fat, and then it finds its opening. Now, these robberies, they're-- they're grouped together."

"So I figure the Mandroid is holed up somewhere in the middle, underground, maybe. I dunno, maybe that's where it recharges its, uh, Mandroid batteries." Ronald says, looking at a map.

"Okay. I want you to listen very carefully. Because I'm about to tell you the God's honest truth about all of this." Sam says. "There's no such thing as Mandroids. There's nothing evil or inhuman going on out there. Just people. Nothing else, you understand?"

"The laser eyes." Ronald says, cutting off Dean's attempt at talking.

"Just a camera flare, Mr. Resnick. See, I know you don't want to believe this. But your friend Juan robbed the bank and that's it." Sam says.

"Get out of my house! Now!" Ronald yells.

"Sure. First things first." Sam says.

+++

The three are in their motel room, their research on the wall.

"Man, that has got to be the kicker, straight up. I mean, you tell that poor son of a bitch that-- what did you say, remand the tapes that he copied? Classified evidence of an ongoing investigation?" Dean laughs. "That's messed up."