“Crime of the New Century” is episode nine of season one of Mutant X.
Brennan is running, being chased by three GS agents and with some annoying camerawork. They apparently catch him, but he quickly takes out all three. Four more appear and Jesse arrives as well. Brennan runs, splitting up the agents, and each take down the ones they are fighting. Afterwards, one nearly hits Jesse over the head, but Brennan zaps him. He now apparently owes Jesse $20; the first one to use their powers lost the bet. Even if it was to stop the other being hit.
A man uses a code to enter a house. Inside, he puts on some glasses, which show lasers on the stairs. He deactivates these and makes his way to a child’s room where a boy is in bed. The boy wakes and burns the kidnapper’s hand. His mother wakes up and calls out the boy’s name, Josh. She and her husband go to Josh’s room and discover it empty, with a rope out the window.
Proxy Blue is talking about the kidnapping of Joshua Valentine, the 10-year-old son of the hero Corbin Valentine. Emma asks who he is; he’s the astronaut who saved his shuttle crew when it crashed into the French space station. Adam enters and tells them that Lisa Valentine is a New Mutant and so is Josh. He can’t see Eckhart doing something unsubtle like kidnapping. Josh’s power is thermal transfer. This looks to be a run of the mill kidnapping with a New Mutant twist. Corbin has a K&R policy so Emma and Adam will pose as insurance investigators; she will throw off the real ones. Shalimar will track the physical evidence and Jesse and Brennan will provide tech support from the Sanctuary. And they start arguing over who is in charge when the others leave.
According to Adam, Lisa didn’t want anything to do with Mutant X. Emma thinks she will find out she is a psionic pretty fast. The Valentines’ house has a substantial FBI presence and they introduce themselves to SAC Wendy Stone. There hasn’t been a ransom demand yet and the house has a highly advanced security system, so the kidnapper is presumably a pro. When Emma looks at Lisa’s mind, she sees a wall. Shalimar is outside but is going to come back later, due to the number of agents around. Brennan and Jesse are now arguing over pizza.
The kidnapper is treating his burn and Josh is, oddly, wandering around free. He wants to go home. He can go home when his father pays. The kidnapper didn’t know about Josh’s powers and wants to know how he did what he did. It happens when Josh is afraid. His kidnapper locks him up when he leaves. At the Valentines’, Lisa gets a glimpse of her son and Emma senses this. She explains what she saw to Adam.
Eckhart is talking to this week’s minion, about how he convinced the FBI to back off. Josh’s mother is a telepath, and that connection should be used. The latest minion is SAC Stone.
The kidnapper and Josh are on a ship; the former was out getting food. That wasn’t terribly well prepared; a single kidnapper leaving their kidnapped victim unattended whilst they pop out for burgers. For a supposed pro, he doesn’t seem that professional.
Shalimar has found residue on a tree outside the house; she smells sulphur and it’s petroleum based. Stone comes over and sends her away, thinking she’s a souvenir hunter. You’d think someone working for Eckhart would know what Shalimar looks like.
Emma is trying to get Lisa to talk, but she denies any knowledge of her gift. Even though Emma explains that she’s a telempath and she can sense Lisa’s link to her son. They could find Josh together. Lisa wants the FBI to do their jobs. There’s another vision of Josh, and then a ransom demand comes in.
The vision of Josh was of him in the dark and pennies falling around him. Symbolic, not literal. The oil and sulphur is marine oil, suggesting a dock, and the money gives them the word Lincoln. Which leads to Lincoln Salvage, that went bankrupt last year. Jesse and Brennan turn up at the boat where Josh is being kept and rescue him. The kidnapper escapes and Jesse recovers a satchel.
The kidnapping is resolved rather quickly, because there’s more to the plot than that. There are a few twists.