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(For Fisher, Tses and Sledge)

I figure we should have one of these to coordinate what happens, who posts when and what not.

The main idea I had with this thread was having Harlan place an ad where he offers to recruit mutants with talents that can help him solve cases. Fisher shows up for the job and Harlan figures out the best case to put Fishers talents to the test is the bank job Tses and Sledge did together. The first posts would be between Fisher and Harlan as the exposition is done, but once Fisher figures out Tses was involved, she gets to join the thread.

I figure that at first, it could be through phone calls, because Fisher wants to protect her but at the same time, make some money out of Harlan AND find out who this Sledge dude she was with is. If the phone call is long enough, you two could even skip some of Harlan's turns.

During the investigation, they may find a way to track sledge down (no clue how yet, we could improvise something during the thread or plan it beforehand here) and that's when Sledge gets to join the party.

I don't have any particular ending planned, because half the fun of roleplaying is not knowing what will happen and finding out as the thread develops a life of its own, but any obstacles, sudden muse short circuits or brilliant ideas can be discussed here without clogging Cbox or waiting for all four of us to be online at the same time.

Let me know if you guys want to add anything or if something doesn't work well for you.

>>"No, I wouldn't agree."

Celeste's blushed reaction was quite telling, but when words weren't crossed, the answers could be misleading. Was she being truthful and simply embarrassed at having been asked such a question or was she still in the mutant closet, so to speak?

>>"Those who hide their mutations are just better at lying."

Touché

>>"I am still wondering if you are just a better liar than the rest or if you are really worth the money and the trouble..."

"Those are not mutually exclusive. Find me a private eye who can't lie and I'll find you one without a job." he replied non-chalantly. Lying was a requisite in the business, just like it was with lawyers. "I'm worth every penny and I'll give you no trouble once I'm on my way" he added as he raised his arm, guiding her to where his private office was located. The lobby was no place to discuss cases, no matter how big or how sma...

>>"Locate a human sized roach and inform me of its location."

To this, he dropped his arm and furrowed his brow. He darted a look at Ellie to make sure she wasn't pulling a fast one over him and his receptionist simply shrugged her shoulders. He brought his eyes back at his potential client and found her face straight and serious, instead of laughing hysterically at her own joke. He looked around, just to check if there were any hidden cameras, any repressed laughter or titters and found none. Then he turned back to Celeste.

"Is this for real?" he asked, then added in disbelief: "A classy girl like you wants me to find... a giant cockroach?"

It just made no sense. They weren't a special effects company and the sign outside clearly stated they were private investigators. He wondered if under those sleeves the girl had needle marks, though her eyes and face looked quite healthy. No, no... something else was going on here and he wasn't going to run outside and start asking people if they had seen giant pests around their kitchens.

"If you're serious, I'm going to need more than just that" he said in an almost warning tone, letting her know that he didn't appreciate being taken for a fool and if she was yanking his chain, this meeting was pretty much over. "If such a thing as a giant cockroach exists, then I need to know everything you know about it."

Harlan paused and pretended to consider for a bit. Gosh, this decision was so difficult. Oh my God, whatever shall I do? Such compromise!

He then waved his hand, dismissing the whole thing and simply said: "Totally acceptable."

He never intended to have Jacob on the payroll. There was no way he could pay him more than what he made on his car shop, with a mutation like the one he had, and repossessing from the less fortunate? That's not where the money was. Why use a wonderful mutant talent to do something that a guy who never finished high school could do just as well? No, no... there were cases and there were cases, some more difficult than others, and he had no intention to drag Jacob to pull stuff off his own crew could do with ease. But when his crew had it difficult, then it was 'bring in the mutants' time.

Still, pretending he was conceding when he really wasn't was typical business practice and Jacob probably saw through it, being in charge of a business himself and probably used to the tactic.

Now, regarding his family, this was another nugget of information left to guesswork, and Harlan's first guess was that Jacob's reaction was protective. Ergo, he didn't want his family to be exposed, ergo, he loved them or cared for them, ergo, this was a man who probably had been raised with morals or loyalty and cared about others, therefore... don't hand him anything that remotely seems like he's screwing over some innocent fellow. In Harlan's business, sometimes he worked for the good guys while others it was pretty difficult to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Add to the fact Jacob wasn't interested in hurting the less fortunate and Harlan got a clear picture of what he could get away with and what he couldn't.

"So, I take it locks are game if they're simple enough instead of electronic. How about guns? They have moving parts and zero power except for a bullet and a finger. Can you lock a gun and force it not to fire? Force a grenade not to explode? Can you imagine the possibilities in a hostage situation? This even goes out of my range of expertise..." he said as his brain was quickly analyzing multiple scenarios. "You said you can sense machines. If I gave you a tiny device to 'sense' and get used to, then slipped it in a suspect's pocket, could you track the suspect by sensing the device? A cellphone might be too electronic, but how about watches? Could you tell where people are by sensing their wrist watches, even tell their numbers?"

A barrage of questions indeed, but if they were going to work together, it was very convenient to know the man's limitations, lest he find out mid-case that Jacob couldn't lock a gun when one was being aimed at them.

There was nothing that could tell you more about a man than the place they called home. Jacob led Harlan upstairs, where he lived, right above his own shop. That meant he was a practical man, much more interested in things working out for him and being comfortable than in looks, status or luxuries. Either that, or he just liked saving a lot of money on gas or commuting.

The way he had furnished his living room also revealed something about his character. Six TV's? Harlan didn't even see any of the cameras downstairs. Was it a lack of trust in his employees or clients? Simple paranoia, or maybe a need to have control over everything that belonged to him? Maybe both, he was probably a man who likes to be in control and doesn't like surprises to catch him unawares.

"Juice, thank you" he said, when offered something to drink. He noticed on the open fridge that there was milk, water, orange juice... but no liquor. That reinforced his belief that Jacob liked control. Maybe he didn't like losing it from getting drunk, maybe he had quit years ago from having lost control at some point in his life or maybe... he was just out of beer. There WAS such a thing as overextending yourself over the details.

A chair with a cushion shaped after the man's ass. Comfort. Routine. A hard working mechanic needs his rest and entertainment over a large TV. When Jacob demanded to know more about what Harlan wanted, asking for the whole truth, Harlan's kneejerk reaction was to lie, but he immediately realized there was no need to do so. Jacob's attitude had changed and Harlan was really interested in being able to use his abilities and expand his contacts. He wanted Jacob to feel comfortable and in control and a string of bull would likely achieve the opposite.

So he gave the man the whole truth. He sat on the empty, less used chair, holding the drink Jacob had provided.

"There are mutants who use their talents to help mankind and do good and there are others who use them to steal or commit crimes. Me, I use mine in my line of work, just like you do, and make my money legally, excelling at what I do best" he said, taking a sip from his orange juice. "There are many licensed private investigators in New York, but many of them don't touch mutant cases with a ten foot pole. Humans have limits and many detectives count on those limits to discard theories or suspects, but mutant powers add too many variables to the equations. Most mutant cases are usually referred to the MRC unit in the NYPD."

Harlan leaned back in his chair as he spoke, trying to make his pitch sound business like, since in the end, that's excatly what it was. He was just concerned that Jacob might think Harlan was being a bit greedy or predatory in his approach to the current mutant/human situation.

"I assume with such a large screen in your living room that you're probably familiar with a certain video of cops beating down on a poor mutant girl. This has made mutants trust the NYPD even less than they used to. Add to that the fact that P.I.s usually avoid their cases and you're left with a market that no one is looking after. In order to succeed in such endeavours however, I need contacts. I need to know what I'm getting into, who I'm dealing with, what can other mutants do and if they can do things that can help me, then pay them for their services" he said, ending on that line so Jacob could easily connect the dots, that this was a business proposal they could both profit from.

"Your talents are excellent to run a business like yours, but they can overlap quite nicely to help me potentially solve some cases. I've worked with insurance companies over frauds involving vehicles and it'd take an ordinary mechanic weeks to find out what went wrong, and not just that... You said you can tell what's wrong with 'anything mechanical' and that opens up a lot of doors, not just cars" he said, as he drank from his glass again, then placed it on the floor.

"That's why I'd like to know the extent of your 'gift', so I can know what I can throw your way and what I can't. And there, Jacob, is your why."

...Aaand it all came back to trust, it seemed. The man was a stonewall, who kept his emotions well hidden, but even showing no reaction was a reaction in and of itself. Not every person would stay calmed and collected after seeing another man pop his hand off and then putting it back in place. It took a very special kind of 'I've seen all sorts of crazy things in my life' to take such a display in stride. This was actually a good sign, the only problem was, Harlan felt he had gotten on the man's bad side. He had given Jacob his name, but he was being given the 'sir' treatment already.

Sliding a hand behind his back, he produced a wallet and from it he pulled a business card which he offered to Jacob.

"I'm a private eye, nothing less and nothing more" he said, knowing full well that that wasn't enough. He needed to 'give' information and in his line of work he was much more used to getting it, not giving it. "I work with insurance companies, banks, lawyers, but I've been branching out lately and trying to take on cases that involve mutation. In this business however, one of the greatest assets a mutant can have is contacts" he said, now starting to get to the point. "It's difficult to find contacts, when they're trying to hide from persecution, so you probably understand why I'm being cautious with whom I tell" he said glancing back again at Jacob's mechanics who were still not paying attention, "and whom I don't."

He clasped his hands together, leaving the card in Jacob's posession, with his name, telephones and company address. "My car does need a tune up and someone to check on that 'turning to the right' noise. If you suddenly find you turn out to be something more than just a mechanic, let me know. We could be talking business" he offered.

"At age six!? That's impressive!" he said, feigning surprise and making it sound like another compliment. "At that age kids barely know their way around a screw and it's usually a big, plastic, toy screw!"

There was no set age for mutation to strike. Sometimes kids were born that way, other times, they'd lived their humanity long enough till puberty struck and the gene got kickstarted and other times, the mutation laid hidden, waiting for a fateful moment to strike and get activated.

His mind immediately flashbacked to the sight of a katana blade, coming down at his arms, slicing through like his wrists weren't even there. Every time he felt stressed or worried, nightmares of that day would still pop up in his mind with different results. Sometimes his mutation never kicked in and he bled all over the place until he died, other times, they hacked him up to pieces, again and again, until he just couldn't assemble himself together.

Harlan shook his head, noticing he had lost track of the conversation and decided to get this 'are you a mutant?' stage over with. If the man was just a curious mind with a knack for machines, then fine, he'd probably just spook him a little or might get himself kicked out of the shop if he was a hater as well, but if the man was a mutant, then this 'show you mine if you show me yours' approach might bear fruits.

He looked around, trying to discern if his other mechanics were busy and not watching, and once he noticed they weren't paying any attention, he grabbed his right hand with his left one.

"Can't say I'm that inclined to taking apart things" he mentioned, as he pulled a little and the blueish glow of his lid portals became obvious, his hand separating from his wrist just a couple of inches, then quickly snapping them back in place. "Unless it's my own body. It's a gift I've had for a while, though not since age six" he added. "Would you say your 'gift' with engines and lawnmowers is a lot like my own?"