Pinkerton Bestiary Log 10: Lookalikes (Serial Novel)
There is one last class of shapeshifters that is so broad they are really less of a class and more practitioners of a particular art. This would be the lookalike class of shapeshifters or shapeshifters that imitate other humans. This is one of the great fears everyone has in our world. No one wants to guess incorrectly when two men are pointing at each other, claiming the man in front of them is a fake. Fortunately, this is less likely than you probably realize. I won’t lie and say the danger is minimal because it isn’t, but, generally speaking, the creatures are much easier to spot than one might imagine. A person is more than their body, and mimicking another person’s behavior is far more difficult than most realize. In fact, I’d argue almost too difficult for the typical enchanter, who’s usually devoted to fast and easy power. You’re in more danger of a government operative disguising himself or herself as one of your companions because such an operative will at least take the time to study their target’s movements and mannerisms to make up for the lack of accuracy when it comes to their physical appearance. But I suppose there are shapeshifters who devote themselves to their craft, so I’ll address the tells and what to do should you need a subtle eye.
First of all, the key is not to lose track of your agents during an investigation. If you lose track of someone, there might be cause to raise an eyebrow, so you should never be alone—do as I say, not as I do here. This standard rule will prevent such creatures from infiltrating your group. This is also why we keep our groups small and privacy to a minimum—three if the group will always be together and larger groups of an even number when there need to be multiple fronts during an investigation.
If this precaution fails, the next obvious thing to do is to inquire about the said subject’s relations or friends or to casually bring up some random detail only you or a handful of people would know about. I say “casually” because if you are too direct, then the shapeshifter might detect the ruse and sift through their host’s memories and thereby be able to divine the answer. Whatever details you drop usually need to be wrong and assumed. So, for instance, you might say something like, “I was told your uncle Bob will be here Friday.” The Bob in question can be a cousin, or the uncle could be named Ed. If the person is genuinely themselves, then they should correct you mildly. If they are not, then they should agree to the statement without much thought. But be sure to run this test multiple times if possible. One test is seldom enough to confirm anything. I’d run it at least three times, again, if possible. If you’re pressed for time, I’d try to use the test once and combine it with other data.
The other data in question should be changes in facial expressions, body language, gait, eating and sleeping habits, and so on. Any consistent disruption in these habits should be noted. The advantage to dealing with these types of creatures is that their main purpose is mostly spying or infiltration, so you’ll seldom be dealing with an immediate threat like an assassination. In such circumstances, keeping an eye on your partners and other standard habits will prevent the assassin from getting too close. But in the event that they do manage to slip by, look for things like the shifter eyeballing a specific person for no obvious reason, a reluctance to talk despite the situation requiring frequent communication, and any other oddities in behavior. But again, please remember that no one thing in isolation should be taken as proof.
If you are entering a situation where such shifters might be possible, my personal recommendation would be to demand that your group select a trinket. Your group will show each member their trinket before the mission starts and never bring it up, unless someone is suspicious of an intruder. If a shifter is suspected, then pulling this object out of your pocket quietly and showing it to one person at a time will signal the others to do the same and reveal the shapeshifter when they do not recognize the maneuver.
But be sure not to act in an obvious manner when you do this, and do not react when the suspect does not respond as they ought. For example, I like to unscrew the knife in my cane and pull it partly in and out of the cane’s shaft as I talk to each person. This signals my agents to pull out their trinkets, and I can move about at my leisure.
Once you’ve located the shifter, corner them, run a final test through casual conversation, then confront them. As to killing the beasts, I’m sad to say there are so many variations of this particular shifter that it would be difficult to give you a clean way to do it. In most human shapeshifter cases, the shifting is secondary to something else. Some vampires can mimic a human if they’ve been interacting with magic. Faries will be able to do it, and, of course, there are more human variants whose sole talent is shifting. There are also potions that can accomplish the same thing. Dispatching the creature will depend on the type of beast you’re facing.
I plan to delve into the subject of runes in more detail later, but for now, I will say that in some cases—not all, but some—one can stick a rune on the shifter’s person, and this will ground out the magic, revealing the culprit’s true identity. This has worked for me in the past. There was a vampire who liked to rob banks by impersonating the security and breaking into the vaults later in the night using his advanced speed. It took us some time to figure the whole thing out. The security cameras only showed that the vault door would be thrown open by some unseen force, then several items would disappear during the period no one noticed the issue. Well, we knew it was an inside job because the alarms weren’t being set off when the door opened, and we thought it odd that the security guard had a habit of leaving his door open throughout the night. I eventually looked through the security footage frame by frame, and, by Providence, I found a single shot of the security guard rushing down the hall, carrying several bundles of cash. The next night, we posed as private investigators hired by the bank, which we in fact were. And I asked the guard to show us the vault and to open it so we could look for clues. As he stood up, I stuck a rune on his back, and this melted the vampire’s illusion. We let on like we hadn’t noticed anything, and when the vampire stepped into the vault, we closed the door behind him.
A stronger vampire would’ve been able to break through the door, but this man was a newborn. He’d also killed the man he was impersonating, so we didn’t feel too bad about throwing the vault door open a few hours later and letting the sun have him.
I reiterate that runes will not always work. The reason I don’t really consider this group a part of the shapeshifting class is because the means to accomplish this particular shifting are so varied. Not every case can even be classified as magic or supernatural. Some are the result of experimentation or ancient genetics that are misattributed to mutation. These humans are purely physical and can be handled the same as any man, but, at least, the defensive tactics I’ve described here will be applicable in all cases.
The last thing I’ll mention about this situation is again to stress that these beings are easier to spot than media would lead one to believe. The reason is that an imitator will appear very uncanny once one spends any amount of time talking to them, unless they are very, very well-trained. The reason for this is simple. People’s mannerisms are connected to the types of bodies they have. A man might smile more than usual because he likes his teeth. A woman might tilt her head down to hide the length of her nose. Plus, the muscles usually rest differently on the face. People carry different levels of stress and tensions in their facial structure, and while most don’t notice such subtleties while spending every day with someone, a quick change in the facial structure is always very jarring. To put it simply, even when every physical quality is identical, the person looks different. Perhaps it’s because we have souls, and those souls alter the way we use our bodies.
