Mutant Hunt.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus and his team checked all their equipment for the third time that day. The doctor watched the cityscape and wondered what could be so dangerous about his quarry. Big Ben stood off to the left in his field of vision from atop the roof of the London Jericho Center.

Klaus hated this place. It was yet one in a startling number of centers around the world, but this one was designed all wrong. It was crude and brutish, not at all suitable for scientific research. The facility here, as did the one in America, made use of restraining collars to suppress the mutant captives' powers. Klaus wondered if the facility engaged in torture like the American Center did.

Klaus didn't understand the need to torture mutants. Certainly he did not like them any more than the other Jericho Center Directors, but there was no point to torturing them. They held no special information and testing their threshold of pain served no scientific purpose.

Of course, the blatant disdain for mutants as inferior freaks and the use of restraining collars caused a pathos in the other Center Directors that caused them to loosen their security. Breakouts were epidemic in America, followed closely by Britain.

That was why Klaus was in London that cloudy morning with his team of specialists. A mutant was loose. This mutant, according to the London Center's registry, was one of the most dangerous that they encountered to date. The mutant somehow was capable of draining the energy out of a person simply by making eye contact with them. Klaus was not entirely sure that such a thing could really happen, but the Jericho Center of London had done no considerable research on the specimen to test its powers. Typical.

Klaus checked his time. The operation would begin shortly. He signaled his helicopter pilot to take off and radioed ground surveillance. Once he was confident his team was in place, he took his strike team to ground level. Klaus always went with the strike team. Watching his men engage the mutant would give him some evidence upon which he could estimate how a mutant's powers were triggered and what could stop them. Then he'd exploit that weakness. Not all mutants could be collared, and for the ones that couldn't, it took a little more finesse to put them down.

"Ok, you know the rules," Klaus said. "Wear your eye protection. Do not engage the mutant from the front. We overwhelm him."

Klaus put on a pair of sunglasses. "Keep tuned to the police frequencies. If you hear reports of people shriveled, we move."

[Dallas Walker]

After a brief stay in lovely NYC, Dallas Walker once again found himself on the streets of London. So much nicer than the sewers had been, and much more peaceful than the tiny burnt out house he had chosen prior to returning.

So far, this trip had been a pleasant one. He had fed at his leisure, leaving a trail of untraceable and unrecognizable corpses in his wake, all while taking in the sights and sounds of the city like any normal human tourist would...

Now he was seated outside a small pub, drink in hand. He wore a wide brimmed hat that hid most of his more...unique facial features with his usual tattered suit. Dallas grinned widely at the people walking by, completely unaware of the task forces patrolling the city searching for him.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus' team walked the streets looking like nothing more than a group of tourists. Meanwhile his sentries were posted around town hidden out of sight in full combat array or disguised in the open.

His helicopter circled the sky, looking for signs of wide spread panic. So far all was quiet. It was two hours since he started the patrol. He was feeling good. He had all day. Dallas Walker would eventually make himself known. Apparently the mutant made mention of a "need to feed" during his stay in the London Jericho Center.

Klaus was banking on the notion that this urge was strong enough that Dallas wouldn't be able to restrain himself for very long.

[Dallas Walker]

Ugh, starving.

He was on his second course of the afternoon, wanting more. But keeping people still long enough for him to indulge was a trying task, especially with a herd of them heading in the opposite direction...He'd managed to snag one last tasty treat before the streets had cleared, draining him until the Need began to subside. Dallas tossed the body aside, scanning the area for his next meal. Or something else - a group of tourists were obviously ignoring the warning signs, or the several shrivelled up corpses he'd left in his wake. He grinned widely at the approaching men.

"Well, gentlemen, come to join the feast?"

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus ignored the statement. Any time wasted talking would only give the mutant more time to escape.

The seven people in Klaus' unit leveled rifles at Dallas and fired off one round each of a tranquilizing bullet. Each of them also had a clip of live rounds in case things got worse. According to the dossier, Dallas showed no signs of physical strength, speed, or endurance beyond the average human. Likewise, he showed no special resistance to toxins and other biological and neurological agents. His skin held no particular protective property outside the norm.

He was just "gifted" with the ability to somehow drain the life out of people. Klaus would find out how soon. For eye protection, everyone on assignment with Klaus wore a set of UV protected sunglasses. Klaus had more heavy-duty eyewear for each person depending on how well or poorly the sunglasses did to hinder Dallas.

"Fire," Klaus stated.

[Dallas Walker]

Seven people fired, and seven darts hit Dallas. The grin was quickly replaced by something akin to shock, followed by hysterical laughter. He pointed at Klaus, a smirk firmly planted on his face as he took a step forward.

"You're from Jericho, right? I've escaped from there twice, what makes you think you can keep me?"

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus didn't answer. He leveled his own weapon at Dallas--a pistol version of the rifles his men carried. On his belt he kept a syringe. Once the mutant was slowed by the darts, Klaus would be able to close and inject the mutant with the true tranquilizer.

From the buildings his snipers would be getting into position to fire on the mutant as well. He looked at his watch. Five, four, three,two--

"Sir, we are in position. Mutant is surrounded by building cover. Sky Eye locked onto the mutant's position and is ready to track him where he goes."

Klaus smirked when he heard the news. His team had the mutant at their mercy this would end shortly.

"Fire."