After more than a year, an actual update! Shocking, huh? Sorry about the delays (blame college) and I'll try and update a bit more regularly from hereon in!

Part Four

Logan leapt nimbly over a moss-covered log and landed in a crouch, senses on full alert, every muscle poised and ready for action. He put his head on one side as the screech of tyres on asphalt sounded – Cyclops was safely on his way then. Logan turned his attention back to the faint scent of the other mutant.

It was extremely weak – Logan was willing to bet the lack of scent was a factor in the mutant's genetics, a camouflage mechanism. He was no scientist, but he was damned good at thinking like a military man. If he couldn't even smell the thing, then chances were he wouldn't be able to see it either. This left the one other thing he always relied on: his super-acute hearing.

Sinking to his knees, Logan closed his eyes, taking slow, deep breaths, trying to calm himself and block out any external distractions. (Huh? Where the hell did I learn this?) He shook his head to clear it of stray thoughts, and began breathing slowly again. His heart rate began to slow, and his ears were tuning themselves in to the sounds of the woodland – night birds calling, insects chirping, the low murmur of talk from the bar, the wind rustling through the leaves …

Something whimpered. It would have passed any human or even the rest of the X-Men by, but Logan was up and running towards the sound before it had quite died away. The thrill of hunting coursed through him – it had been too damned long since he'd done this, just cut loose and run …

He skidded to a halt next to the tree he marked mentally, and dropped to his knees, pulling away the dead leaves and dirt and sticks piled up around its base, until his reaching hands touched living flesh. Silently he paused, and drew back. He popped the claws in his right hand and held them poised and ready, before reaching with his left and pulling at whatever lay crouched on the ground under cover.

"Dada?" it gurgled, big, green eyes blinking up at Logan, who promptly staggered back and fell on his rear with a thump.

"Dada? Pick-pick?" it called again, wriggling in its position on the ground. Logan groaned in annoyance. A kid – what's more, a baby? What was a baby doing hidden in the woods like this? And what did it think it was, spoiling his fun like that? He'd gotten all wound up for a vicious fight job and now he was going to wind up playing nanny.

"Kid, you just ruined my evening," he informed the toddler, who promptly crawled over to him, and started tugging at his jeans. "All right, all right!" he grumbled, lifting the well-wrapped little thing into his lap. A boy, as far as he could tell, about eighteen months old, and definitely a mutant. Massive green eyes – Logan was willing to bet the kid could see in the dark – tiny little furred ears, rather like you'd see on a panther, clawed hands and feet, as the little one was barefooted, and, goddamn it, a furry little tail that was twitching underneath the blankets tucked around it. Hell, it even had whiskers and a furry little nose!

Its hair looked human though, and the rest of its face was fur-free, as were its hands – paws. The little thing also appeared quite fearless, scrutinising Logan boldly, before reaching out to pat his face. "Kitty," it pronounced, stroking one of his sideburns with claws safely retracted. Logan glared at the toddler, only for it to curl up against contentedly against him and start sucking its thumb.

Logan sighed deeply. Why did kids insist on gravitating towards him? Bad enough that Artie kid he'd carried back to the Blackbird now followed him everywhere, but if this new addition insisted on calling him "Kitty", he'd never hear the end of it – besides which, they already had one Kitty at the mansion, which was more than enough, considering the havoc she caused by running through people instead of around them. "Kid, you've got a few things to learn about me. Number one, I'm not a nice guy, and two, I hate being called Kitty – understand what I'm saying? My name is Logan. Got that? Lo-gan."

The little boy regarded him solemnly, and removed his thumb from his mouth. "Kitty!" he announced happily. Logan rolled his eyes, and got to his feet, still cradling the little boy in his arms. "Okay," he sighed as he began walking, the little mutant gazing at him raptly. "Let's see if we can get this right before we arrive at the mansion. My name is Logan…"