A/N It's been weeks sense my last update...sorry about that. Anyway, this chapter is Grissom's POV. I don't think I pointed out EXACTLY what his super power his...

BETA: LLK

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.

Superhero Challenge

Discovering the Unknown

Chapter 3

"I remember that case," Grissom said thoughtfully, "I can't imagine why anyone would kill over a hat."

"Here I am, going through an early mid-life crisis, and all you can think about is the cases details?" Greg asked with a shocked tone.

"You can see through things and you classify that as a crisis?" Warrick asked, turning to look at the man. Greg simply shrugged.

"I only remember that case because it's when I discovered my gift," the older man explained. Sara looked at him, confused.

"Gift?" she scoffed.

"What else would you call them?" Greg inquired.

"Annoying!" Nick and Catherine responded at the same time.

"Well, mine is quite useful," Grissom added.

...

Grissom walked out of his office after speaking to a very nervous Greg Sanders. He shook his head in disbelief as he went over the younger man's excuse for wanting the rest of the night off. Who got that upset over a dead rabbit?

He walked past the break room, peering into it quickly as he past. Catherine was lying on the old couch with her fingers massaging her temples. Before he could even think about stopping and asking what was wrong, Jim Brass approached his side.

"The wedding planner, John Boris, was found half dead on the corner of forty-fourth. He is at Desert Palm, but they don't expect him to make it," the police captain explained.

"Any good news?" Grissom asked.

"Yeah, there was a man speeding away from the scene when we got there. So far he has admitted to placing the anonymous nine-one-one call then leaving as soon as he heard the sirens. Now we are just waiting for you to collect any evidence," Jim finished as the duo came upon the lab's exit.

"Aaron Kris, meet Dr. Grissom," Jim introduced the suspect with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. The man crossed his large, extremely muscled arms over his chest.

"Why am I here? I've already told you all I know," he said defensively.

Grissom sat down in the steel chair across from the suspect as a strange sensation overcame him. He couldn't see anything anymore; it was all white. There was no trace of the interrogation room left. He couldn't hear anything besides the shrill, continuous ringing. Suddenly, the sound faded and his vision came back.

It didn't seem like any time had passed, or that Jim had responded to Aaron's previous comment. The several minutes that seemed to have past in the white abyss, only lasted a few seconds. Jim looked back at him with an inquiring expression. Grissom acknowledged him with a small nod of his head before turning back to the suspect.

"Which is?" he asked. The man scoffed and leaned forward in his chair.

"I found the guy on the side of the road and got out to check things out. I stuck around after calling the—you guys, until I realized how bad that looked," The Aaron finished before grumbling something about tourists writing down his plate numbers.

Again the sensation overcame Grissom, but not as strongly. He could tell where he was, but surrounding Aaron's head was a white cloud and all the sound was drowned out by the ringing. Unlike before, the vision went away rather quickly. Grissom blinked several times.

After an hour of going in circles with the suspect, seeing the light, and hearing the sound, Grissom walked out of the police station and back into the lab before stepping into the break room. Catherine was long gone, leaving Warrick in her place. He seemed uncomfortable and awkward in the chair farthest from the door. For a few minutes, both sat quietly in their thoughts.

Grissom went through every symptom he could remember from his genetic hearing loss—the problem he had gotten surgically repaired—but couldn't find anything that explained his previous encounter.

He looked up at Warrick, trying to decide if it was the right time to speak. The man before him looked exhausted. Warrick had his elbows propped on the table in front of him and his head in his hands.

"'Rick, would you mind helping me with something?" Grissom finally asked.

"Sure, anything to get my mind off things," Warrick agreed. He stood up and walked to the cupboard that held the staff's coffee cups inside. Grissom watched as Warrick reached for the metal handle with haste, but when he pulled to open the door, it ripped from its hinges.

Grissom stared at him with intrigue, but didn't say anything to his subordinate.

"Maybe now isn't such a good time?" Warrick said, his words twisting into a question. Grissom nodded and left the room, hurrying for the Trace lab.

"Hodges, you enjoy working with me, right?" Grissom asked. Regret flooded his system as soon as the lab tech answered.

"Of course, sir! Working with you is very enjoyable!" he said with a little too much enthusiasm. Grissom silently rolled his eyes, but the other man was too busy putting his things away as fast as he could. He walked out of the room, knowing that Hodges was only two steps behind him.

"So, which case do you need my help with?" Hodges asked once the two had entered a layout room. Grissom turned to look at him.

"This is, uh, more personal," he answered, watching the man raise his eyebrows incredulously, and then look around the room.

"Okay, tell me what you need me to do," Hodges said, seeming to be extremely proud of the fact he was helping his boss. Although, Grissom knew that he only went to the lab tech in order to keep his team from worrying.

"Lie to me."

"Um, okay?" Hodges' confused expression broke through the haughty sneer. Grissom sat in the chair nearest to him before explaining.

"I need you to say a series of statements. Vary from lies and truths randomly, but don't tell me which is which." Hodges seemed eager to help as he pulled up his own chair.

"Once, when I was twelve, I was dared to eat a beetle," Hodges started his list as Grissom jotted down the question and his answer—determined by the presence of the white cloud and loud noise, or lack of.

The two went through many of these experiments before Grissom sent Hodges away, but first making him promise to keep quiet.

Grissom now sat in his office, going over the results he had written down. It didn't make any sense to him. He hadn't made one mistake; he knew when Hodges was lying and when he was telling the truth. It also explained how he had known what had happened to the late wedding planner and Aaron Kris. Grissom leaned back in his chair, contemplating what he was going to do about Hodges' overactive imagination and big mouth.