God DAMMIT!

Ty had mentioned he was into 'urban exploration' but he didn't say he was a freaking SPIDER! He kept going up and down buildings and for a moment, Harlan suspected the man knew he was being tailed. Then again, there was a big chance he was just avoiding the tail as best he could and it would have worked had Harlan stuck to just going on foot.

He had gone a different route instead. Chasing after Ty over the rooftops was the easiest part. The man was the only person running over them, so he was easy to spot from on high while his body remained below. The problem was... whenever he had his head doing fly over reconnaissance, his body had to stay put and Ty would get a lead. He'd then had to go back down and run like mad once he had reattached his head to catch up with the guy and it was the hiding in the alleys that were giving him the most trouble.

He had lost him once this way, but as soon as he saw the reddish mane pop up on the rooftops again, the chase went back on.

By the end of it, Harlan was pretty tired, sweating profusely and convinced that wearing a suit to chase someone down was a terrible idea! His black shoes were there to create an image of professionalism, they were not made for running at all!
He was in the middle of huffing and puffing as he caught his breath when Harlan realized Ty had stopped running. The man slipped out of an alley in a casual stroll and mingled among a crowd. Harlan hid his body behind a wall and once again sent his head to do a fly over and look from on high.

The reddish mane slipped inside a building almost too quick for his eyes to notice. Was it an apartment building? It looked abandoned. Ty had mentioned being unemployed, not being homeless, but then again, who mentions that in a job interview?

Harlan waited. There was a chance he or she lived there or that they had just picked this spot to meet. If he didn't see anyone coming in, he'd have to go in himself and confront Ty but it'd be much better if he managed to get his hands on two birds with one stone.

Tses didn't know how she managed to ditch the fedora wearing con. Perhaps he never started following. She thought he said something on her way out, but it was hard to tell and she had scrambled down that fire escape so fast her feet and hands stung a little. She was fit enough the job towards the abandoned building didn't take super long, but she was getting winded halfway across town. Traffic was bad, people kept getting in her way, and she was pissed off to start with. Needless to say, when she saw the construction zone she was relieved and uncertain.

Slowing her pace, she approached with her hands behind her neck, trying to slow her breathing. Her phone was still clutched in her hand, and as she walked in she spotted the red hair of Ty. She gave him a look. It wasn't a good look. In fact, it was a 'I want to kill someone' look. Thankfully, Ty was trying to help, so killing him was unlikely. But whoever this person was he had been working with had better stay away, because if he so much as set one foot near her, fists were going to fly.

"I hope...you did some thinking while you made you're way over here. Because I am thiiiis close to blowing up Manhattan." Tses snarled. Not necessarily at Ty, but towards the general population of New York. For once, taking a little precaution, she avoided the words robbery, bank, burglar, con, and any mention of Sledge. She didn't want him on her doorstep ever again, if it could be helped.

"Thinking? I spent the last six blocks trying to lose a man whose head can come off," Ty said dryly as Tses showed up. Looking around, he began to feel...paranoid. He had to be smart here, even if his bright idea could cost him. "Glad ya made it, Honey~" he said with a cheesy grin, mouthing the words 'play along.'

Walking over, he wrapped his arms around her in a hug, then whispered in her ear. "I think I lost him, but I'm not too sure it's safe here. Turns out I helped investigate a bank heist involving you and some guy. We need to play this smart so nobody goes to jail." He released the hug, eyes scanning the room.

Up, honey. Up. You should have scanned up.

The good thing about abandoned buildings is that many windows have broken glasses or are flat out missing boards or sliding doors. It's easy to sneak in a floating head and the lid portal in his neck made no noise, which was one of the greatest perks his mutation had.

He had decided to go in the moment he saw the woman enter the building. Peeking from a floor above, he saw their bodies from their shoulders down and managed to hear most of what he said, till the point he called her 'honey'. Sure enough, he knew her, he hugged her and Harlan couldn't help but feel sorry for Ty. As far as he knew, the man was simply trying to protect his girl, but he was standing between Harlan and his check.

The detective flew his head out the way he had come in. His body was standing still, waiting in an alley, but the moment he saw it, he ordered it to move and reattached himself without stopping. It was a move that took some practice, but he was an old hand at it. Still, he always checked his troath with his hand whenever he had come together and readjusted any misalignments.

Harlan opened the side of his coat, where his gun was holstered. His hand touched the hilt of his gun, but he didn't pull it out, thinking what could the consequences be if he entered the room armed.

He had offered to help Ty, mostly because he was interested in the man's mutation helping him in future cases but aiming a gun at him or his girl would definitely burn that bridge. Then again, the woman had said he was 'this close to blowing up Manhattan' and the last time he had entered unarmed into a room with dangerous people in it, he had come out a headless, handless mutant.

Decisions, decisions...

Harlan flicked the holster's belt open with a finger, making drawing the gun a quick and easy process, but he left it holstered in. He'd try the peaceful method first. He'd try talking. It was worth a shot, metaphorically speaking.

The detective entered the building as silently as he could, but abandoned buildings have a tendency to gather up trash, papers, dirt and scrap. His shoes made that distinct gravely noise as if he was stepping over sand, so he quickened up the pace to get to the entrance of the room they were holing up in before they managed to make a run for it.

"Going somewhere?" he asked as he reached the doorway.

Honey. He was going to pay for that. It was too sweet, sticking in her mouth like candy with nothing to wash it down. Play along. She didn't want to play anything. She wanted blood. She wanted revenge. She wanted to kick someone's ass for making her life difficult, and sadly, she couldn't time travel to kick her own. So she'd have to find some form of surrogate to take the brunt of her anger.

Some people like to talk things out. Peaceful negotiations, avoiding confrontation, all that jazz... it wasn't exactly up Tses alley. A scrappy little street punk, she didn't get where she was in life by playing it safe. She got there by using caution, intelligence, and when the moment presented itself.... violence. Usually more violence than anything else. Explosions were a favorite, but when all else failed a good fist worked well. There were reasons her hands were always bandaged, her knuckles heavily padded and the age old scars covered. There were reasons she could be considered 'catty', just like there were reasons she was labeled as 'temperamental'. All of those reasons collided when a figure stepped into the doorway; a figure that she was quite certain was going to turn her life into hell if he had his way.

So she did the first thing she thought of.

She shot forward the few steps necessary to reach him, fist back, and WHAM!!!! drove it into the mans face as hard as she could. She expected impact of fist to nose, maybe some blood... maybe a satisfying crunch of knuckle to cartilage. But none of that happened. Instead....the man's head....flew off. Like...golf ball getting knocked off a tee, like, book pushed off a dresser, like, moving through the air FLEW OFF.

Guy whose head can come off. She should have paid attention to that part of Ty's conversation.

Well...opps.

"Time for plan b." Tses said, and scrambled towards the staircase, hoping Ty was quick enough to follow. They played this game before. She just hoped he could do it again.

"Oh ****"Ty grumbled as Harlan barged in and he let go of Tses, who obviously wasn't paying attention to him. But...that wasn't exactly unusual. After all, he did touch her.

But he really was mostly aggravated that the bastard followed Ty all this way. He was determined, that was for sure..."OH ****!" he exclaimed this time as Tses charged and punched Harlan's head off![/color]" That was a new one.But then again...his head came off.

"Plan B works!" Ty agreed, taking off and darting up the stairs after her. "I know, I know," he murmured. "I'm in trouble..."

He expected a 'DAMN!' or maybe an 'Oh, my!' or maybe even a 'Goodness gracious!' from her.

He did not expect a knuckle sandwich to fly so fast and so hard against his cheek.

The punch hit him so efficiently that Harlan's lid portal failed to remain stuck to his neck. His head was easily dislodged and since keeping it afloat required a conscious effort from his part, all he managed to see were blurs as the surrounding environment spun out of focus, stunned as he was.

His head ended up smashing against a dusty, wooden door, then face planting into the floor. His body stumbled, but did not fall, leaning against a wall and raising a hand to touch his aching face, only to find empty space. In the distance he heard curses and footsteps as Ty and his girl made their getaway.

Ow.

He opened his eyes and saw dirty linoleum. It was still blurry and moving in waves as his eyes adjusted and the stars started to disappear. He didn't have much time for lying around, they were getting away!

He didn't move his body, lest he blindly trip over his own head. Wobbling his aching skull aloft, he managed to scan the room and slowly float towards his body, as his arms stretched and his hands managed to grab his face.

OW!

His thumbs touched his broken lip, then patted off some dirt he could feel on his nose and forehead. He then lifted his head up and placed it over his neck, spinning it 180 degrees to the rightful position.

The detective took to the stairs, where he could hear their footsteps going up. Judging by the way Ty moved through the rooftops and the fact the girl had entered the bank from above, it seemed like they both thought going up was the best route of escape. Harlan climbed as fast as he could, not being a slouch in the physical fitness department, but the lovebirds had a decent lead.

He would need a distraction to slow them down.

Leaning over the rail, to the side of the stairs, he looked up and managed to see the bobbing heads of his fleeting targets, almost three stories above him. His hands popped off from his arms and shot upwards, heading straight for their manes.

Hey, it might be frowned upon at a school yard, but in real life, hair pulling was a valid tactic!

In the moments after removing Harlan's head, Tses' street experience got her halfway up the building, easily climbing the first few stories with an athlete's stamina. She was slim and shorter than many people, but she had an agility that kept her safe, especially in times like this. She didn't expect the man to catch up. She figured he'd still be trying to find his head wherever it had fallen downstairs. The only sounds she heard were Ty's footsteps behind her as they raced towards the safety the rooftops offered. But then...

Something grabbed her by the pigtail.

There are a few things you should never do to Tses: try to kiss her, show affection, compliment her, those were the ones most people knew of. Mess with her pig-tails... that was also pretty high on the list. The stream of cussing that erupted from her mouth could have probably made a sailor blush, and she quickly caught the railing to keep from falling over as she tried to see what had grabbed her.

She thought she saw a hand.

She was pretty sure she saw a hand.

She reached up and grabbed at the---what the hell was was that she just touched where the mans arm should be? It felt like empty air, but something else was there. There was no description for it, but something was wrong and very off about it. She didn't even think to glance at Ty. She was too preoccupied in freeing herself. She didn't do well with people tugging her hair. She didn't do well with people chasing or threatening her either.

Things were going to explode, one way or the other.

No time to think, she dug her nails into the skin like a cat and tried to yank it away. She didn't care if the hand wasn't attached to anyone, which she was pretty sure by now, it wasn't, but she was going to try her best to harm it anyway she could. Girl's could scratch pretty darn hard when they wanted to.

Take that, you Adam's Family Freak.

Ty was very close behind Tses when he suddenly saw something rush at her from behind him. Before he could respond, he felt something yank at his long, shaggy ginger-colored hair. He let out a similar stream of curses as he tried to untangle the grip on his hair. Reaching back, he could tell it was just a hand, which was...disgusting.

He struggled on the stairs, almost falling back, but then he got an idea that was sure to make the hand let go. "You son of a--" he began, but the next sound one heard was the sound of Ty turning and slamming the back of his head into the wall. There was nothing pretty about it, and he too was bound to feel the repercussions of it. But Ty didn't care.

Sure, the pickpocket was sweet, he was gentle, and he was an all-around nice guy. But he was also determined, reckless, and a ginger. And you damn sure didn't pull his hair.