2013.10.15 - Hired Hunter

Logan waited in a dive bar. Something was eating at him. He wasn't sure what it was, but something on an instinctual level was setting himself on edge. Nursing a mug of beer he just soaked up the atmosphere. The bar didn't have the good stuff but it would do. It wasn't piss water and that was the important thing. Dressed in a leather jacket, pair of jeans, cowboy boots and a black tanktop Logan looked right at home.

The bar wasn't much. A place that would have allowed peanuts to hit the floor if it were a decade of two earlier, wood lined the floor, the bar was a dark brown. Black tables and chair lined up the place along with a few booths. The place wasn't really much to look at, but it had a jukebox in the corner, darts and pool in the back, and it served liquor. What wasn't to like?

It isn't a place unfamiliar to Mystique. Nor is the mask that she wears today, one which has gone by the name of Tonya Harris. Green eyes, brown hair, brown leather bomber jacket and hiking boots always intact. Everything happens for a reason with this particular mutant. Today's reason is something else which is hardly unfamiliar to her. Tracking the Wolverine.

The woman strolls right up to the counter and takes a seat beside the scruffy old mutant. He would recognize the personality, know her current alias. But, he could look past the disguise, as well. He always could. That's part of the game, right there. "Why so glum, dearest? This is your natural environment, you should be positively thriving around here. Never to worry, I'm here now. Things are only to get more interesting."

Her scent caught his attention before she sat at the bar. He always saw through her, but Mystique always had a way of picking some pleasing forms. "Why are ya here darlin'?" he asked remaining neutral. Sometimes when Mystique showed up it was dangerous, sometimes it was sexual, but it was always interesting. "How ya been," the dark colored eyes looked at Mystique, "Tonya." She had so many identities and masks it was hard to say who she was going to be next. "Ya look good," the man turned back to the beer and took a long swig.

"Of course I do," Tonya automatically replies while folding one leg over the other and leaning forward onto her elbows. All attention is on Logan now, though her reasons remain her own. Maybe she's trying to figure out where to put the bullet this time?

"You have the look of someone that has too much time and not enough direction. As it happens, I have a solution at hand for you. I have someone that needs to be watched. You're a good tracker, and your ..overindulgent drinking proclivities won't necessarily pay for themselves, mmh?"

"I ain't a hired gun Tonya," Logan said while drinking his beer. There was probably a catch to who she was tracking and a reason for it. The question was: Were they hindering Tonya from doing something or did they cross her? "Why me?" he finished his beer then looked at Tonya.

Mystique and Logan were always going to have rocky relationship. Sometimes they tolerated each other, other times hated, and everything else in between it seemed. "Can't ya call on Creed?"

"No, of course not," Tonya replies with that same sense of ease. "You're a hired Wolverine, and all that happens to entail." There she pauses, slowly grinning back at the Canucklehead. "Because, despite your demeanor and reputation of being a loner, you happen to look out for your own. You misunderstand my intentions, dear. I'm not looking for you to -kill- someone." She can handle those matters all on her own, thankyouverymuch. "I want you to help keep someone safe."

"I want you to look after Nightcrawler."

Nevermind the fact that SHIELD also happens to want the teleporter brought in for questioning.

"Why? No bullsh*t reason. You want me to do it then ya gotta tell me why," Logan threw out the gauntlet. Asking for Nightcrawler to be looked after had a story to it. "And I may add more to my price." He was at least considering it. Turning his attention back to the bar Logan tried not to stare at Tonya. Mystique did know how to make a good looking woman. She was an effective killer because of this. And he looked away from her ust for those reasons.

Mystique gives Logan the blankest of stares when he asks her why. -Why.- Kurt hadn't done anything wrong, why would anyone be after him?

One simple reason.

"Heee's..my..son."

Here sits the Duchess of Genosha, a woman wanted by countless countries, a woman who had been targeted for assassination, right on Genoshan soil! People across the globe are starting to recognize her. By proxy, wherever Kurt happens to go, they recognize her when they see him.

"You understand the political process, no? I rather have my hands full helping watch over the development and security of an entire country. I want to be sure that he's safe."

Logan rose from his seat. Suddenly a "Shnkt!" cut through the air and two claws were on each side of her face. "Don't tell lies 'bout Kurt!" The Elf was someone Logan would have called brother. Mystique trying to pull this game was enough to piss him off. His eyes blazed with anger thinking this was just some kind of game. "Gimme the real reason," the middle claw pressed against her chin. By now people were clearing the bar and Logan didn't give a damn. Mystique was pushing her luck in a big way.

Blink. In but a moment surprise has come and gone with Mystique, sitting there with a thin sneer drawing its way across her face. With the bar clearing out from the display her green eyes slowly melt into solid yellow orbs, skin giving way to true blue, brown hair shifting to red.

"Do you not see the resemblance? I thought it was rather obvious, myself. Perhaps a DNA test is in order?"

That smug expression only continues to linger as she draws a hand up, lightly running the tip of a cobalt finger along the edge of a claw until a thin line of blood breaks free. "In case you've spent too much of your time in a drunken stupor instead of staying up to date on current events, there have been some attempts made at my life. We have two options available, Logan. Either someone helps to keep my son safe, or someone takes a lucky shot on him and I go on a genocidal rampage. So, what's it going to be?"

"I've seen the resembelence, never smelled it like he might've spent some time away," the middle claw lowered. Slowly the one on her right went away too, "I've seen it, just didn't want to believe it." There were too many awkward conversations that could have followed, it was easier to ignore the obvious. "I'll watch him darlin'," he looked at her, "Keep yer money. He'll be safe. They'll have to get through me," finally the last claw, the one with the blood, went back into his skin. Crimson formed at his ring finger knuckle as her blood wiped off on his flesh. Looking into the woman's yellows eyes he saw the resemblance and the eyes of someone he was attracted to. It was probably the whole, "I want to kill you," way about her. Looking away Logan gave Mystique privacy if she wanted to look like Tonya again.

Wiping away the blood on his hand Logan watched Mystique snag herself a drink. He pointed to his mug, "I could use one too," he said knowing this deal probably had some tight strings connected to it. Kurt would be looked after though and it was only done so the elf could stay safe. Logan wasn't going to leave a friend out in the cold like that, even if his mother wasn't the best of all people.

Hook, line, and sinker. Mystique takes a healthy drink straight from the bottle before setting it down on the counter next to Logan, rather than filling his mug on her way past. No words accompany the motion, she knows plenty well who the bigger drinker is between the two of them. As far as she's concerned this little 'favor' has just been paid up in full.

"Try not to kill anyone on your way out."

"We're not done darlin'. -You- put him in this position. You owe me," Logan snarled looking at Mystique as she was leaving. In his mind things were not square between them.