Hello readers,
I want to thank everyone who reviewed and or faved/ alerted. Ya'll are great!
I hope you enjoy this chapter and comment.
Chapter 3: Observation
Logan watched the people around the target, curious as he watched them. Glassy eyed and needy, he could smell the lust rolling off their muscled forms. Bobby, lean and athletic against the lumbermens natural bulk, appeared to be the weakest in a battle for the one available female. Only it wasn't a female they were after.
No sir, not a female.
Their quarry was slender, to say the least, though Logan couldn't see much from the dark corner, the other man had chosen to hide in. Long fingers caressing a deck of cards as he shuffled, the eyes of the men around him riveted to the simple movement. One going so far as to reach out and touch the smooth white skin of the dealer's wrist, earning a grin from the figure as his reward.
Logan saw the slightly elongated eye teeth.
These men were being controlled somehow. Of that, Logan was certain, sitting at the table were proud men, unflinching and loud. They wouldn't have been pawing at this shadow in the corner of a bar, the light barely reaching them.
He just didn't know how this little runt was doing it.
"He could be a telepath." Suggested Ororo, coming to sit next to Logan, her eyes trained on Bobby as he was dealt cards from the dealer, his eyes just as glassy as the others, spellbound by the seemingly enchanting figure.
"No, I would have sensed him."
"Do telepaths automatically know one another?"
"Something like that. Telepaths have similar brain waves, which is how you can spot them. This guy doesn't have that."
Logan nodded, quietly noting that no one had brought up the Professor's mistake in the target's gender. "What's the plan?"
"We watch, see how he works. Bobby was required to have an earpiece. We can reverse it and listen to the conversation." Said Jean, settling down into the chair facing away from the table, her hand resting on a small control pad, working on modifying the earpiece in the kid's ear.
"I'll go order something for dinner."
"Steak...please."
As Ororo passed by the table to get to the bar, the air shifted causing the scents from the corner to where Logan was sitting.
Apple blossoms and warmth, the pheromone almost masked by the heat. So, that's how he was doing it. Base instincts kick in and they all start feeling that old magic happen and the target gets his fix. A rather efficient power, almost perfect with the exception of the frequency in which the mutant seemed to require it, that along with the bodies left in his wake, made this power pretty easy to track if you knew what to look for.
The only problem now was catching the thing without him turning that pheromone on them.
Ororo came back with three plates of food, the bartender behind her carrying drinks.
"So, what have I missed?" She asked once the man had left, her gaze once again picking out Bobby, among the other cardplayers.
"All I have is the usual poker talk." Said Jean, salting her french fries before smothering them in ketchup.
"What about you, Logan?"
"Looks like he has some animal in him."
"What makes you say that? Do ferals give off a certain smell or something?"
Logan ignored Jean's mirrored statement, taking a bite of his steak instead.
"He gives off a pheromone. It's drawing them to him."
"..."
"So he smells?"
"Something like that."
It was Jean's turn to be quiet as Logan grinned to himself.
"We have to see how this ends then." Said Ororo, sipping delicately from her cup of coffee, cringing at the bitter drink this late at night.
"You're right, the Professor would want to know how this mutant causes the exhuastion, in his victims."
"We're in for a long wait then."
The two women looked over at Logan, his eyes glued to the darkened corner where the mutant played dealer. His hands coming up every so often to touch one of the men.
"Cause this kid is just getting warmed up, that scent's gonna get a lot stronger by the time this game is over. The ones that don't shut down from overload are the stronger ones."
"So what are you saying then? He's looking for the strongest? Then why play cards?" Asked Jean frustrated at the lack of knowledge she had on this new breed of mutant.
"You could say that, but he's also looking for the guy with the most luck or smarts. In other words...he's lookin' for a mate."
"Oh, my god." Whispered Ororo, going through all the mating habits of every animal she knew, only coming up with dead males in the end.
"You better hope the kid doesn't have the balls for this game." Said Logan, his gaze flashing to Bobby before concentrating on the target once again.
This was gonna be a long night.