WARNING: The following contains spoilers for X-Factor #6 by Leah Williams, David Baldeón, Israel Silva, V.C.’s Joe Caramagna and Tom Muller, on sale now.
The different groups that have sprung up across Krakoa have given the X-Men and their allies plenty of advantages they didn't once have, including pooling their powers together in stunning new forms like the resurrection-capable Five or the universe-hopping S.W.O.R.D.
X-Factor just revealed the newest such trick -- by pooling Eye-Boy, Prodigy, Prestige, and Daken's powers together, the team can effectively become the greatest lie detector ever.
X-Factor has been tasked with investigating mutant deaths before someone can be resurrected by the Five. That sometimes means interrogating their fellow mutants, such as their recent interactions with Siryn. The former X-Force leader has now died twice, with no true indication of what really happened to her. Northstar, Polaris, Daken, Prodigy, Eye-Boy, and Prestige each take part in the interview with Siryn, who denies knowing anything about her demises and claims they must have just been accidents. After the interview pushes too hard, Siryn storms out of the Boneyard. Polaris follows after her, while the rest of the group conduct a "veracity report."
All four of the assembled mutants have powers that come with the underlining advantage of being able to spot lies, and by working together they can effectively make the word's most powerful lie-detection system: Eye-Boy's various varieties of vision come with an innate ability to decipher micro-expressions, body language, and non-verbal cues. Prestige's impressive telepathy includes the ability to pick up on emotions associated with memories and thoughts, giving her the ability to tell if someone is hiding something. Daken's enhanced senses, coupled with his ability to control and detect pheromones make it physically impossible to lie to him.
Prodigy's ability to absorb the knowledge or talents of anyone nearby allows him to not only pick up on the knowledge of the suspect but to also mimic the sharp lie-detecting abilities of someone like Eye-Boy. One of them could successfully interrogate someone, but the entire group working in sync can confirm someone is lying with absolute certainty. This could prove to be an incredibly useful tool for Krakoa going forward. The four might not necessarily be a mutant technology -- as they do not achieve any previously unattainable goal with the syncing of their powers -- but are still a very impressive showing of how this age of collective mutant progress can lead to previously impossible things.
X-Factor will be able to investigate the deaths of mutants with relative ease now, and could even prove useful profilers and investigators if another branch of Krakoa (such as X-Force) are in need of it. It could even be of use in uncovering seeds of division on the island -- if X-Factor was investigating all mutant deaths when Krakoa first began, then perhaps they could have uncovered the mystery of Kate Pryde's murder quicker and made it a public matter. Together, X-Factor just created the ultimate lie-detector -- and if it's used right, it could end up being one of the most useful tools on Krakoa.
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