User blog:Affectos/'Towering Tyler' Mini-Series

I just put the close on my mini-series between Tyler and Felix. Since the pieces are all split up in the Agents Logs, I decided to put them up on here in order.

Towering Tyler
"We have two other guys in HARP...why me?"

"Short straw. Besides, can you see Blaine doing undercover if technology wasn't involved? "

Tyler shuddered, but still glared at Bri through the Farnsworth, "Still...I'd feel safer if you were here. I'm getting ansty being isolated."

"You have your Sabine though, right?" Bri asked as she took a sip of her coffee.

Tyler checked the door to his dressing room before he pulled diesel-punk pistol out of a drawer and showed it to her, "Of course, but there's not exactly somewhere to store it when I'm on stage...especially near the end of the routine."

After a ping had popped up in El Paso, Tyler was selected to go undercover at a strip club to find the artifact from the inside. For the last month, he had been going under the name "Towering" Tyler Garcia and has become the headlining act for the Jackalope's. He knew for sure that there was a Magic Mike artifact somewhere in the building, but even with Bri and Nikki feeding him info from the film, he was still having issues finding it, but he was narrowing it down to a piece of costume from the set, namely the titualr character's vest.

Bri attempted to hide a laugh, "Touche, but you think you know what the artifacts is? Escher is getting tired of covering for you at the ice cream parlor and Blaine's taken to swearing in Klingon to your IKEA helpline."

It was Tyler's turn to smile, "Yes, I think it's the vest that one of the other guys here wears for most of his act. I plan to bag it tonight after everyone leaves. After that, I plan to fake a family emergency to get the hell out of here."

"That's good." Bri leaned back and took another sip, "You know...you mentioned in passing that you get to keep your cowboy outfit and the money you've made...could I request a private show when you get home?"

Tyler blushed as he stashed the Sabine into one of his holdsters, "Well, I'll consider it..."

A loud rapping cut him off, jolting Tyler back to reality, "Tyler, you're on in ten! Get your ass out here, we've gotta full house tonight!"

"Duty calls." Tyler said as shut off the Farnsworth and stashed it.

Bri smiled slyly as the Farnsworth blinked off...only to see Felix leaning in the door way of the HARP Office in the refelction of the glass.

Spinning in her chair, she panicked a bit, "How long have you been there?"

Felix gave a small laugh, "Enough to know that Tyler isn't undercover in a production of 'Singing in the Rain' like he said he was when I caught him spinning around on pole in the Valentine Aisle..."

Aces Wild
~''Why do you have to be a moral theif? I'm struggling here with a four of spades and a five of diamonds with a six of diamonds, jack of diamonds, and an ace of spades on the flop. I might try to play this out into either a straigt or flush. Any luck on finding that artifact?~''

~It'd be easier if I knew what was looking for, not just who owned it!~

Escher had sent Tyler and Felix off to an underground poker game in Prague where it was being suspected that the House was using a luck-based artifact to make sure that they always won. Escher picked Tyler for his charisma, and Felix to get in and filch the artifact while no one was looking, and Tyler's high-stakes game was doing just the ticket.

To help them out, Tyler had brought along three artifacts to help them; two of them were bracelets from the Creery Sisters, a set of five sisters who managed to fool scientists into thinking that they were telepathic. The bracelets allowed wearers to communicate telepathically, but the more bracelets being used increased the chances of the wearers being caught. To counteract it, as well as to better his poker skills, Tyler had also brought Gus Hansen's World Series of Poker Bracelet. To keep them hidden from sight, he had slipped them on as anklets so that no one would question why he was was wearing an oddly familiar bracelet and a woman's bangle.

~''Look, all I know that it was used during Peter Darke and Johnathan Freedman's study into luck. They must've done something right to imbue the artifact with good luck. I might try to ride this out...thank god they took one of Frank Abanale's checks~'' Tyler thought as he took a look at his cards

Felix slunk through the office ~Anything would be a help...~ He lifted a painting off the wall to find a safe, much to his delight ~''Found a wall safe. Want to bet that the artifact is in here?~ A laugh from Tyler was he needed to hear ~This is going to take a few minutes to break into...so, how was your month undercover?~''

''~Well, opening night was a huge success and I snagged the artifact that night afterwards. Next performance was a real trainwreck.~ Tyler watched as a two of clubs came up on the turn ~Come on...papa needs a three...~''

~Funny...I don't remember Jean Kelly wearing a pair of assless chaps in 'Singing in the Rain' Tyler...or should I call you 'Towering Tyler'?~

Tyler gave a gulp at the table that his opponents took as a sign of a bad hand, raising the stakes to see if he'd fold, but Tyler called them

''~How much do you know? No, better question, how do you know? Only HARP knew, and only Steve would've seen through that lie when you caught me in Valentine Aisle...~ He paused ~You little eavesdropper! You listened in when I called Bri!~''

~''Oh, I did more than just listen. Remember that mirror I brought to Bermuda?~''

While Tyler played it cool at the table, inside he was groaning now that he realized that he had a nice, shiny mirror in his dressing room.

Back at the Warehouse, Juan was perusing the Aisles when he came across the stand for the Creery Sister's Bracelets. Realizing that two of them were missing, he picked one up to figure out who was using them where.

''~Fine, you got me woven in your web of blackmail. What do you want?~ ''Tyler asked as he watched the dealer perpare the last card.

~I don't want anything from you.~ Felix smiled as he popped the safe open, ~''Well, maybe the occasional inside joke and some teasing about how good you look in a coybow hat and holdster; maybe a stallion or bronco joke here and there. Don't worry though, I'm good at keeping secrets. No one will know about 'Towering Tyler', the cowboy stripper. Hey, does BIGL and a survey mean anything to you?~''

''~Yes! It stands for 'Belief In Good Luck'. Darke and Freedman gave it to several test groups to answer. Somehow this place must've gotten their hands on a spare one.~ Tyler watched as the three of spades flipped over, causing the other players to groan as Tyler revealed his straight ~Felix, how does splitting about, oh...$50,000 sound to you?~''

-

Juan set the bracelet back on the shelf, smiling to himself as he continued back to the Convention Aisle to meet Aden...

This One Time At Anthro-Con...
Tyler hesitantly knocked on the door to the artifact testing lab. "Felix, you in here?", he called out.

"It's clear, you can come in." came the reply.

Tyler walked into the room full of shelves and tools. Various artifacts were stored in purlple boxes or bags. A black baby carriage sat in the corner surrounded by a wire fence. Felix sat at a counter, jumper cables in one hand and the other holding the hilt of a sword. "Tyler. What can I do for you?" he said, not looking up.

The HARP agent looked uncomfortable for a a moment. "It's about the whole 'Magic Mike' thing last week," he said. "It remeinded me of the first time we met, way back at Anthro-Con."

Felix calmly turned around to face his co-worker. On the outside he seemed steady, but Tyler noticed an alertness in his eyes. "What about it?"

"Well, you said you're not the kind to blackmail, so it made me wonder why you'd want to see me in that...costume. And in particular why you'd want me to know you knew. It just made me think of what happened, or could have happened, in that hotel room." Tyler stopped and took a breath before continuing. "Be honest, if I hadn't scared you off, would we have ended up in bed?"

The question seemed to surprise the feline agent, he dropped the cable onto the blade of the sword, which caused it to rocket out of his hand an embed itself in a wall. It took just a second for him to recompose himself. "Honestly, probably. I thought you were attractive for a lion. I mean, sure I just wanted to take your cash, but I'd always take advantage of a cute target. Not that I'm going to chase you now," he hastilly added, seeing Tyler's wide eyes. "Bri scares me, I don't want her thinking I'm trying to steal you."

"So you were spying on me last week be because you think I'm attractive? But don't you and Juan have something going on?"

Felix shrugged. "Not really. We got too high before anything happened."

Tyler sighed, "Well, at least puts to rest any worries I had about that day.  Thanks for answering." As Tyler slid out, he quickly popped his head back in, "If you want though, I'll extend that offer of a show to you as well..."

Spring Cleaning
 Spring Cleaning 

"Thanks again for helping with the rummage sale," Tyler said as he handed a box to Sandy, "With the others out after chasing a Wundt artifact, I was worried that I'd have to haul our stuff to the tables myself."

"That's okay, didn't have much else to do in the Warehouse anyways." The psychic agent replied.

Univille was having it's yearly rummage sale again, and the HARP Consultants always had a table of nick-nacks that they bought from their travels. It was actually suprising how much they could make of some t-shirts and mugs.

"Okay," Sandy said as he placed the box out in the hallway, "Bri's note said that there were a few things in the closet that needed taking care of."

Tyler lead the way to the master bedroom and opened the closet, "Bri wants the leather catsuit that she wore during that one stealth mission to be sold.  Also, we have a few ugly sweaters that a thankful person keeps sending us each year.  Mustard is not my color."

Sandy laughed as he began pulling the wool knitted sweaters out. As he reached out to grab another hanger, he grabbed a most peculiar outfit. It looked like a cowboy coustume, but there was a mesh undershirt and a leather jockstrap hung between the chaps.

When Tyler saw what Sandy had pulled out of the closet, his face went pale, "I can explain...."

Sandy raised an eyebrow at Tyler, "Let me guess...you weren't 'Singing in the Rain', but rather 'stripping round the clock'.  I knew we had Jean Kelly's Umbrella already, so I knew that you weren't headlining in a musical..."

Tyler flushed scarlet, "You're not the only one who saw through my lie...you see, HARP had me go undercov-"

"Wait, back up," Sandy stopped him mid-sentence, "I'm not the only one who knows about your short-lived career as a stripper?"

Tyler looked at him sheepishly as he sat down on the bed, "Felix not only evsedropped on Bri when I called her once, but he may have also played peeking tom with Justus von Liebig's Mirror."

Sandy laughed again, "That cat!  Why am I not suprised?"

Tyler stood up and looked the outfit over, "So...what to do with this?  I can't sell it without raising eyebrows in Univille, Felix would just buy it off ebay just to torment me, and Bri is expecting it to be gone when she gets back..."

Sandy smiled, "Well, you could always stash it in the Eros Sector.  No one would bother to look there."

Juan was doing inventory, and his next stop was the Eros sector.

As he walked down taking inventory, something odd stood out to him, instead of missing an artifact, there was an all new one hanging up. It appeared to be a stripperific cowboy costume. Looking at the tag, his eyes went wide as he read the title: "Towering Tyler Stripper Outfit"