Recent Posts

Jacob was not... and expressive man, so to speak. It was clear he kept many things to himself and his face was not one to show too much emotion. There was a twitch however and it made Harlan think he had touched an exposed nerve. Should he continue going down this path? Would it benefit him in any way to know these details? Would it benefit Jacob to talk about them?

Harlan was no psychologist, though he had read books on the subject and he knew talking about things helped relieve the mind from carrying terrible weights on your conscience, but... the problem was Harlan wouldn't know what to say back, like a professional psychologist would. He'd probably go 'hmm' but have absolutely nothing remotely similar in his entire life to share, compared to a military man deployed in Afghanistan and Irak. He couldn't go all 'I know what you're feeling' because he really didn't have a clue.

Then again, he did have his very own harrowing experience. He kept it in for months after it happened until he talked about it with his father and just getting it out of his chest made him feel relieved afterwards. Maybe pricking directly about it was not the right way to go. Maybe he could be the first to breach an uncomfortable topic in his life, so Jacob may feel inclined to do so as well, and if he didn't, hey, he didn't have to.

"I usually keep my clients in the dark regarding my mutation. While useful, it can be distressing to see for some and keeping it under a lid helps me figure out if my clients are haters or not beforehand" he said, grabbing a big bite out of his food, chewing and swallowing. "Those who know, I usually tell them I can 'split' my hands and head at will, but... that's a bit of an exaggeration."

Harlan was an actor. He could pretend to feel things he wasn't feeling at a whim, he knew where to look, how to change his facial expression and how to make them seem real, but over this topic he didn't really need to act. It was a traumatic experience and remembering it always brought the same disturbed expression to his face.

He had been victimized. He had been completely helpless about it. He thought... no, he KNEW he was going to die and the two men were laughing about it. Maybe sharing this was too much too soon? No, he had already started, might as well tell it all but keep it short.

"I can't do it at will. These cuts were forced upon me and they can never be closed again. I was beaten, tortured and strung, so my tormentor could prove to his goon how he could slice two hands with one stroke of a sword."

He said it quickly so he wouldn't have time to embellish it, though the temptation to do so was there. He always tried to make himself look like less of a victim when he told it.

"I didn't know I was a mutant back then. I was just 23 at the time, with my whole life ahead of me and I was sure I was going to die..."

He then remembered how his dreams of being an actor evaporated that day. Who would want to see movies with a mutant as the star? He'd never be able to hide his condition, wih the sort of press and scenes actors get. They'd only use him for the freaky roles. 'Beheaded guy No. 2' and all that.

"...and in a way, I did" he added as he bit down on his bratwurst again.

Harlan was glad that Ty was quickly getting it, but when he mentioned being able to see every single person going to check on the safety boxes he frowned a little. "Best not tell that to the bank manager" he said, thinking that permission to enter the vault and mess around in such a way with the privacy of their clients could be revoked. "I'm hoping getting that load of information doesn't give you too massive a headache" he added. For anyone who heard him say that it might have seemed like he cared, but in reality he was hoping to use Ty on several objects if the first didn't pan out any results and headaches could hinder them greatly.

When they arrived to the bank, Harlan talked to the manager and explained to him a little what they intended to do. The manager was pretty neutral about the whole thing as he led them to the vault, but Harlan kept a friendly and positive attitude that this could yield results. They had already prepared the vault for their visit and the detective was quick to pester the manager with questions.

"Have you got a list of what was taken yet?

"Well, they left a terrible mess and most of the contents in the boxes is private, so it's difficult to sort out. We DO know of some things they took though and it might not have been that much, but the list is not complete."

Harlan turned to Ty, trying to put him up to speed on his suspicions.

"The mutant or mutants didn't take much, leaving a whole lot of money and valuables around, but they did have the time to burn something. I think they weren't that interested in stealing from the place, but on destroying evidence or something important from one of the boxes"

"They stole a ring among other things. The owner reported it missing when we contacted her and it does show up on our records."

Harlan clapped his hands.

"Hah! I told you, didn't I? I told you!" he said to the manager, who actually responded with a small smirk. The detective once again tried to put Ty up to speed.

"I not only suspect there were two mutants, but I've had an inkling feeling that they're not just mutants and friends, but they're also..." Harlan said, making a hand motion to the manager to finish the sentence, which he did.

"...Lovers as well."

Harlan smiled. "A heist is usually a job people plan over with folks you trust. You don't just rob a bank along with a guy you've just met! If the bank was stolen by a duo, however, it makes me wonder, what's the one person people usually trust the most?"

"A lover?" the manager asked, well aware that was the answer Harlan expected.

"A lover" he confirmed. "There's money and valuables all over the place and it gets left alone but a ring gets stolen? I bet the girl took it. Or the guy to give it to the girl. Or the guy to give it to the guy or the girl to the girl if... you know, but any way you see it, there's passion in the mix and an attraction to glitter."

They reached the vault and entered it in the company of two security guards. The large box of twisted metal that held the safety boxes was still there, but other than that, the whole place was clean and all the boxes had been removed. The manager then addressed Harlan.

"The police will be taking this away this week to their lab, but if your... uncommon approach can give you quicker results, then I see no harm in trying it."

"I hope so as well" Harlan replied. "I wouldn't be surprised if my friend here sees this couple working on your box. It just makes sense that they planned this together. Over several nights. Intimately plotting, for the adrenaline rush and the thrills, like a mutant version of Bonnie and Clyde. Love at first crime."

He then urged Ty to touch the twisted metal frame and do his magic.

They traveled on Harlan's car on the way to the bank. During the trip, Harlan managed to get in contact with the manager to let him know he was on his way and he also let Ty look at the pictures the cops had shared with him, as he put him up to speed.

"Those pieces of plastic and metal on the floor? That's the security camera. The video feed shows the last second of filming and you can see bits of it flying off everywhere, blown to pieces, before getting cut off. The cops found no bullet and it doesn't look like it got hit by a blunt object" he said as he took glimpses of the pictures Ty had on his hands while trying not to lose focus on his driving.

"The perpetrator entered through the roof. Whoever did this managed to 'pop' open locks from the safe deposit boxes and from the top door. The inside of some of the locks were bent a little, enough for those not to work anymore and the key that opens the top door no longer can do so, so the thief managed to violently move the inside of the locks somehow. That made the cops suspect they were dealing with a mutant, since they found no traces of explosives anywhere, but what clinched it was the alarm box..." he said, waiting for Ty to get to the picture of the box that had been smashed in.

"You'd think someone took a hammer to it, but if you look closely, you won't notice a round shape like most hammers have. See those dents on top? That small, rectangular-ish shape? That's not the shape of a hammer's head, the dents are knuckles and that's a fist. The same fist that smashed in the rest of the boxes, so the cops are suspecting a super strong mutant who has some sort of 'violent magnetism' power, since the locks are metal and the camera has metal parts, but I have a different theory" he said, now pausing for effect. "You rarely ever see that sort of mutant combo. Super strength and magnetism? No, mutation usually pushes a person down a specific path and those two don't seem to match, unless... there were two mutants."

It made perfect sense. One mutant delicately popped locks open and the other was a musclebound oaf who got tired of waiting around and smashed the rest of the safety deposit boxes in. The approach almost implied the genders of the mutants but that was inconclusive. It could perfectly well be a she-bear and a magnetic dude and there was no way of telling... until now.

"What do you think?" he asked, not really expecting much since Ty was just now looking at the pictures instead of having them for days like Harlan had. "If you touch the case where the safety deposit boxes were in, can you see the mutants?"

Mademoiselle, I reload this very thread and your avatar and sig changes every time. Whatever it was, it's no longer bugged anymore.

When Mr. Fisher described what he could do, Harlan raised an eyebrow. That was quite a claim the young man made and it was difficult to believe. He'd expect someone with such a talent to have exploited it enough to make a decent living, but the man's looks didn't seem to match Harlan's expectations. Maybe the headaches he got were quite impairing, enough for him not to abuse his gift or he was simply the first phony of the day. Nevertheless, the private eye had a trinket prepared for the ocasion.

They had decided to look for people with specific skills and prepared for each of these, so psychometry was no exception. Harlan turned his chair around and when he turned it back towards Ty, he had a small box in hand. He opened the box and there was a lighter inside, quite the recent acquisition, so it didn't have much history besides its own making at the factory.

It was easy to assume that the lighter had been used to light a cigarrete, a candle or a fire and that would have been the easiest way to determine if the applicant was a fraud. In reality, the device had never been used to light anything. Harlan had taped it to his forehead last night and slept with it placed between his hairline and his eyebrows the whole night through. He cleaned it and his forehead from any traces of tape or glue the next morning. It would take a mutant who could see the past to know what he had done with it, since the odds of someone taking a wild guess and nailing it were infinitesimal.

"Very well. I didn't know any of the applicants would have drawbacks like headaches or such, and I didn't prepare for that, so if you'd rather not do this, feel free to back down. However, if you are up to it, I have this little object here and I would like you to tell me what I did with it last night" he said, keeping his tone as neutral as possible while looking at Ty straight into his eyes, to see if he was trying to cold read him or get any clues from eslewhere.

Harlan then placed the box in his desk and with a wave of his hand, he gave permission to Ty to pick up the lighter and do his thing.

A small light on his desk phone lit up as Harlan was reviewing some cases in his computer he hadn't had any progress with. One of them was a small bank which had been the target of thieves that made the local cops suspect it was the work of a mutant. The bank didn't hire Harlan's agency, opting to let the police handle it, but the insurance company did. Ever since he had let his contacts and regular clients in different banks, law firms and insurance companies know he was taking 'mutant' cases, he'd get a call from them whenever 'something out of the ordinary' popped up.

One of his hands flew off his wrist and pressed the speaker button on his phone as he talked.

"Yes, Penny Mae?"

"You have a visitor interested in that ad of yours and my name is not Penny Mae."

"Splendid. Have him come in" he said, ignoring her corrections like he always did.

The visitor would be pointed to the end of the hallway where Harlan's office was. The detective wore a white, long sleeved shirt, his tie was loose and the blue suit jacket was on the back rest of his desk chair. He quickly popped his hand back to his wrist, pulled the hems of his shirt to hide the lines in them and prepared to meet the newcomer, hoping he wasn't the first fraud to step into his office today.